The closet

Sweet is the heating babbling,

of the skiddish drifting sun...

trudging marvelous heaven,

faded rainbows of dawn's sky.

When the worry bee is bent,

to resolution of fate,

and the path extends beneath

your triumphing yet tired feet.

The lullaby of the winds

caressing your heart's slow paces

with the silence of truces.

Beware, of the warrior,

he finds his way to a cause

in any such praised new peace.

Triton Marmoon - ``The warrior''

Both the minister and the president addressed the crowd to appease them. I finally found the strength to stand and followed the flow of the crowd.

- ``My dear people, you have been mislead and lied to, for that I apologize. I failed to sense the uprising spirit of our Elite's commander. Still, we all own our democratically elected president our excuses. There will be no more blood shed tonight and I promise you that this is not the end. I understand your concerns, we both do. We will be making a referendum with a few proposals going forward. These will be presented to all in the theriantrope community and will define how we will be articulating with the humans henceforward.''

I noticed a familiar form in a recognizable sweatshirt stretching the head towards me. My hood covered her face, but I recognized my sweater and her jeans and her posture. I moved silently towards her, signaling my father with a move of the chin. He seemed to understand because he moved towards the minister, whispering at his ear before I reached her. I tried catching Bleach eyes, Dark Knight and Akita's eyes, but in the confusion of all these people that were approaching to hear the speakers it was not that simple anymore. I found Akita and pulled his arm to follow me. He instantly started arguing, but considered the seriousness that should cross my face and subsided. She saw me and slowly retreated, taking cover under the tree line.

- ``What are you doing here? I thought you left?'' - In large strides I reached her. My voice was as steady as I could keep it. I couldn't control the anxiety of finding Sonya in this crowd, specially considering the look of most of them, it looked like a Halloween party. I stopped to examine myself. my bare-foot were muddy, my arms were soaked in blood, but my nerves were in control and I was not particularly hairy. I wasn't feeling or sensing much, so at least I looked decent enough. So I turned through tree line, to find her laying her back against a thick tree trunk breathing uneasy with her eyes wide and unfocused in the direction of all those dark tall trees.

- ``She is in shock!'' - Akita's voice assured me I wasn't dreaming the nightmare I had so often this year, bringing me back from revisiting it.

- ``Sonya, please look at me.'' - Her eyes gazed through the tree tops avoiding eye contact as her heart beat sounded louder than the folks in the clearing. - ``It's me darling, please look at me.'' - I didn't know if I should touch her or it would just amount to the damage, Who knew what she witnessed?

- ``Sonya, are you alright? Can you hear me?'' - Akita tried.

I gave up and placed a hand on her shoulder, but there was no answer what so ever. I pulled her chin lightly so she would look at me and her eyes watered. - ``Are you OK? Are you hurt?''

- ``No! I am... What happened?''

- ``That is a very long story, one I am not allowed to tell!''

She shook violently and freed her shoulder. A glare like I had never seen in her.- ``How old are you, now? A moment ago we were defying god knows who and what and laws... and now you can't tell? Me!'' - Her eyes were defiant, wide with the hope that something I might say would make some sense into this Carnival. Mad is good, right? It is past the loony and before the frightened of me.

- ``It's nothing! you don't need to worry. It's all over now. And don't ask me please, I will have to lie and you are the last person on earth that deserves that or that I want to do that to!'' - I was rumbling faster now, worried I might lose my best friend today or say something I shouldn't. After all she did, after all I did to her and after all she saw... I had no idea even of how much she saw! - ``Let's start by the beginning! What did you see?''

- ``I heard these people coming and I wanted to warn you, but you ran so fast, on bare feet even. Did you know you forgot your sneakers in the bag in my car? And where did you learn to run like that, anyway? You were on all four, all over the place and gone in a second. And then they were so many I figured I would just keep coming this way and see that you were OK. And I came here and saw the president... Oh god, that is the president! I couldn't believe... and all these strange skydivers dressed like your friend earlier and these crazies with wolf-skin all over, like cavemen starving in this forest for ages and... then I heard about our community and about how the president didn't know of the existence of this agency and then there was a body on the floor and everybody was reacting like this was another world and then I looked back at the guys coming after us and... and they were also all in costumes and when I looked back in the clearing you weren't in costumes anymore... and it is all so confusing. The time scale is evasive, the sense is null and the reality... and so incoherent I was just hoping to wake up. And now you come to me and shake me to tell me you can't tell me what the hell you are doing in this ridiculous fraternity nightmare? I have been driving you all night, without a word, and this is what I get? I don't care if the president of our country is part of your brotherhood, you own me... you own me good!''

- ``I do!'' - My head dropped, the weight of the world returned to my shoulders and I couldn't shake it.

- ``So start speaking!'' - Now I was the one who couldn't hold her eyes, ashamed of how I used her and put her in this situation. I was crushed inside, a part of me desired deeply that she would find it all out, so I no longer needed to keep it a secret, but not this way! Not today! Not after how I had been treating her all night! Not as a result of our prominent desire for a civil war.