Chapter 4: Waking(4)
I had the best sleep of my life.
For some reason I did not have that dream. I felt happy yet confused at the same time.
I had dreamt the same thing every day for the last 6 years. Ever since I went through my Waking. Something could have happend to me. I checked my body for anything off.
There was nothing wrong with my body.
My powers?
I tried to activate my powers. Nothing happened.
Or rather nothing changed.
Wait, something did change, I felt stronger.
It was still the same Physical boosts but it was more effective than before. Nothing too great but something nonetheless.
I was both dissapointed and relieved.
Tears fell down my face. I did not feel like crying. I didn't know why the tears were falling. I blinked and they stopped flowing.
Maybe my body wanted to let me know how good it felt after a proper sleep. These were probably tears of happiness. Why someone would cry when they were happy made no sense to me. But the torturous chittering sound was gone. I hoped I would never hear that insect like noise again for the rest of my life.
I looked at the time. It had passed ten thirty. I had missed breakfast and barely had enough time for the shower. The orphanage had shower timings, once in the morning and another later in the evening. Mama said the reason it was done this way was to conserve water. I knew that it was to cut costs, she couldn't fool me. I had read almost all the books in the library, I knew a lot of things about a lot of things. Instead of a physical library, we had a digital one. So, I had access to almost the entire catalogue of books at my fingertips, except for the ones that were restricted based on age limits.
I raced to the showers, wouldn't want to run out of water fully covered in soap would I. Having taken the fastest bath of my life I wore whatever clothes were on top of the neatly stacked bundle in the storage compartment under my bed.
Gen wasn't in the room, he had probably gone to central along with Jeana and Mama to complete the adoption.
"Ready?" I heard James yell after catching a glimpse of me running from the shower back to the room.
"Gimme a second.." I echo back.
Now, fully ready, I grab the metal rod and run out of the orphanage with James closely in tow. I take the fast route, directly under the sun while fully employing my ability. I out paced James easily. He had to go through the shade, the sun would be too hot for him. He had fainted a couple of times trying to follow me before.
I ran right into Reach's and stood under the nearest air conditioner. I could easily survive the sun, that did not make it any less bearable.
"Well boy, why are you here at this time of day?" said Karn. Karn was one of the senior workers. He was quite nice to us. Most of the older men had something in common. Size. All of them were large and muscular. The newer ones were a little lankier but you could see developing muscles on them.
"I want something made with this." I said holding out my metal bar." I want to make twenty three pendants out of this."
"Damn son, where'd you find this?" He said inspecting the rod.
"I went diving in the trash compound and I found this." I lied with a straight face.
He shouldn't be able to notice me lying. Lots of things end up dumps, he wouldn't know every scrap material.
"Don't lie boy. There are no imperfections on this. It's also pretty clean. There is no way you found this in the dumps."
How did he figure that out? Observation really was an important trait to have huh? I used my ability to try to get myself out of this situation.
He remained staring down on me. I couldn't come up with anything. There was only one other option here. I had to come clean.
"It fell off the side of one of the Filly trucks a few days before. They didn't stop to pick it back up. So I claimed it."
I had to come clean. Not completely however. There was no need to further incriminate myself. And this reply should clear any doubts. He could not confirm this. If the truck drivers themselves did not know of it, how could he get it checked.
"Heh. Aren't you lucky eh? Got your hands on some good material. I'll help you out with this little project of yours."
Safe.
"Huff.... Huff... Huff." James made his way to the air conditioner." Why can't you wait for me?"
Now that I thought about it, why did I not wait for him. Yep, just to rub it in that I would always be faster than him. Also, if I made it to my destination faster, that gave me more time to rest. I'm pretty sure that was how it worked.
"You are too slow buddy." I said.
He gave me the stink eye. I returned the best smirk I could have ever given.
"Step on lads, we got little jewellery to make." Karn beckoned us to follow him.
We followed him to the machines, greeting the other workers on the way.
He pulled up a display on one of the desks and drew directly onto it. Most displays could be drawn on or written in. The Millicans made good technology, its why they were a lot richer than other lands.
"You have to make the pendant thin, coin size would be perfect. We have some scrap we can poke holes in to pass some rugged string through. You can always change the string as per your liking, don't worry about its style right now." He said, as he drew a simple diagram of the pendant. "Do you have something you want on the pendant boys? oe do you want me to give you a couple of ideas." He looked at us expectantly.
He seemed to gradually gain more excitement in this project as he drew.
"We have this logo..." James said pulling out the torn paper from his pocket.
"Give it here." He gave it a look over. "This works, looks clean, looks good."
"Let's scan that and start cutting this."
He put the paper under the display and pressed a couple of buttons, the logo popped up on the display, which he zoomed into, checking it again. "No issues in the scan. Lets move on."
"One of you load the material into the cutting machine and strap it in place, I'll start cutting it."
I carried the pole to the machine and slid it in. The straps were a little high up for me to reach easily. As I jumped to get a grip on it, a large shadow grabbed it from above me and strapped the stick in place.
I looked behind me. A crowd gathered behind us and one of the workers just helped us. It seemed our little session caught their attention as well. The more the merrier. I was not complaining. We all would have fun with this.
"I've got some spare steel on me, send me the dimensions and I'll get it ready to put on top of the pendant." One of the workers said while moving back to his station.
"Don't you guys got work to do?" growled Karn.
"A little thing like this won't take too much time old man, let us have some fun too." came a voice from the crowd.
Karn shook his head and tapped the display a couple more times.
"Got it." came a voice from the previous worker from his station.
"I'll bring some of the spare string from the back." Another one of the workers spoke while walking away from the group.
"Why is everyone doing this for us?" James asked me giving me the funniest look I had ever seen from him.
"I think they are having fun with this more than us. They might also be taking a break right now and have nothing else to do. Either way, it works for us." I say looking at him.
CHKKK
CHKKKK
ZUMMMMMM
We turned our heads to the sound. The machine had started cutting the pipe. And for a single moment I wondered if I really should have given the pole for this. It was too late to think about that now.
The machine's hand slowly entended over the length of the pipe and from its hands shot out equally spaced lasers, cutting into the metal, separating it into tiny coins.
The both us just watched as the men just grabbed the coins and made pendants out of it.
"Here you go!"
We both were stunned at the pace at which they assembled everything and presented it to us.
Just like that, we had twenty-three pendants neatly arranged in front of us on a workstation. It looked amazing. The metal felt cool to touch and I noticed that the logo could only be seen from straight on. It looked blank from almost every other angle. That was pretty nice, Mama wouldn't be able to see it considering how we were all shorter than her.
For some reason, mine felt a little heavier than I expected something of that size to be. I lifted some of the others and they all seemed way lighter than mine. I did not think much of it, maybe it was a little thicker than the rest. I shrugged to myself as I wore the heavier one around my neck.
James also wore the one he picked up.
We thanked the workers, grabbed one of their bags, filled it up with the rest of the pendants and ran right back out all the way to the orphanage.
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~3rd Person~
Karn looked at the backs of the sprinting boys.
"Old man, what was the material they brought?" The man who asked for the designs asked.
"At first I thought it was normal painted steel. But it cut way to easily. Steel usually takes a couple of passes on our machine but this took only one pass."
"Huh? The logo was supposed to be easily visible the way I had the machine inscribe it. But it was barely visible in the end."
"Was there any scrap from the process? A little off the ends?"
"Nope. Fully used."
"What about the portion that was strapped onto the machine. The machine couldn't cut through it."
"Can't find it. The boys probably took it."
Karn had tried to bend the coins after seeing them being cut on the first pass. Those metals usually bent pretty easily, but this one stood strong as the pressure he applied increased. He had wanted to check out the material but he would not take them from children. He crubbed his curiosity and gave the pendants to the kids.
'Well, its fine if those kids got something rare. Orphans have it rough enough already, they would definitely enjoy a little windfall.' He thought turning back into the workshop.
"Back to work lads. Break times over. We still have four contracts to complete by the end of the day. Get off your asses." He yelled to the workers and walked to his workstation.
Fun time was over.
Work was eternal.
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We made it back to the orphanage and had made it just in time to watch both Gen and Jeana leave.
Running to the both of them, I pulled out two pendants from our bag and thrust it to the both of them.
"Pendants-" James started.
"-for the both of you" I finished.
We were still huffing, having run all the way back. I had run with James under the shade this time.
The two looked at it curiously before putting it on.
"Now, you will remember us whenever you look at the pendant." James said.
"And it looks cool." I slipped in.
In terms of fashion, it did indeed look cool. Black ornaments went well with almost every combination of clothes.
Jeana beamed at us," Thank you James, Thank you Stryke. It looks beautiful. I will never take it off."
Gen touched the pendant on his neck and teared up.
"Nooooo-" I started.
"Cry baby Gen is back guys." James exclaimed.
Suddenly I was enveloped in a tight hug along with James. Gen held us tight. I let him hug me and slowly returned the hug even tighter. James did the same in tears as well.
I would not cry. I wanted to send off my friend, my family with smiles. It was not an ending but a beginning for him. And he deserved a happy beginning. I did not even feel sad. I was happy for him.
A few minutes later, Mama Kemp walked out with Mr.Hunter and the rest of the orphan children followed.
Everyone hugged the two leaving and shed tears for them, some outright crying.
"Jeana, I hope you are happy forever from now on." I said as a grabbed her little hand.
"Un." She replied shaking her head, she then gave me a hug." Bye Stryke, I wont forget you and everyone."
"We will always be there for you J." James chimed in.
Finally, Mama Kemp lifted the two, one by one, and gave them a tight hug.
"I will miss you two." She said. "If anything happens, you can always call us, we will still be here. Take care of yourselves okay?"
The two nodded and then walked toward Mr.Hunter and they all walked out of the orphange. The two kept turning back and waving.
We waved back.
We watched them get into a large car and drive away.
As they went away, my smile slowly faded. I felt empty. It hurt. I felt a lump in my throat.
I walked back into the orphanage with my head low.
I missed them already. I did not want them to leave. I wanted all of us to stay together. Though I refused to admit that out loud to anyone.
I looked back one last time. Hoping that one day I would see them again and they would be as happy as possible.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
1Manager1
1Manager1 A slower chapter. Writing the perspective of a child is kinda tough huh? Hope the 3rd person stuff worked well. A little mystery there for you.
And I intend to keep Split Skies free for everyone.
Also how do people churn out 2k words daily goddamn.
Well anyway, point out mistakes please, I would appreciate that.
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