Chapter 1~ The Beginning
It’s funny... when you’re on the verge of death, no matter how upset you are about dying, you can’t help but smile at the memories that flash by in your slideshow. I never would’ve thought that I’d end up passing like this. My baby is gone, my wife... gone, and I’m dying over something as minor as a common cold... I guess there things that are worst than death...
I remember how things once were, with me being one of the most feared men in the city. A young buck, that lived his life without fear or regret, love or compassion. There was one thing that did scare me, however, and that was allowing myself to get too attached with anybody. Therefor as a young man, I only let people get as close as I wanted them to be; because in the line of work I was in, that was your safest bet. And no... I was nothing like a special agent, or secret assassin of the CIA... as a matter of fact, you could probably say that I was the worst enemy of the institutionalized front line army of the self proclaimed “justice” system that monitored our streets. Yes, I was born to the slums of Middlebrooke, Oquakie in 1973, front line of the neighborhoods self proclaimed justice system.
Before my time, an explorer by the name of David Schuarner had returned from the impossible mission of traveling beyond Solar galaxies. It was said, that while him and his team was on the excursion, they stumbled across a planet called Earth. It housed beings that were almost exact replicas of our own people and animals here on the planet Svaisha. In his report, he spoke on how the technology they had was mildly advanced, but the leading forces of the planet were incapable of tapping into the source energy, the energy that connects all living beings. He determined that this flaw made the leading inhabitants primitive, thus transforming a potentially beautiful world into a chaotic one. And just like our society, it is driven by the poor and controlled by the rich. Everything was going great until he caused a scene by saying that us, in Middlebrooke, should have no say in what should happen with our community. Stating that based off of his observations, we were even more primitive than the leaders of the beings inhabiting the planet Earth. This statement, that originally should have just caused an uproar, ended up creating civil unrest leading to civil wars. This time period was known as the white death, vanishing as fast as it came, leaving a slew of dead bodies decorating the pavement. After all was said and done, Dr. Schuarner gave a sincere apology and went into hiding. However, the incident created a rift between the sub- planets Ecstacia and Oquakie, and though delegates from Ecstacia tried to mend the gap, the separation remained.
The way that our society was set up was that your wealth was simply determined by hard work and where you were lucky or unlucky enough to be born. To give you an example, those like myself who were unlucky enough to be born on the sub planet, Oquakie, could only make a living joining a gang and succeeding the former Don, that was the highest status we could hope to achieve. Whereas, being lucky enough to be born on the sub planet Ecstacia, you’re given all the tools you need to be the best at whatever it was that you wanted to be. It was the difference in living the life you wanted to live, and living the life you had to live. Ecstacia, from far away, appeared to look like a purple planet with a sort of luminescent glow that encased it. Rumored to be a beautiful planet for those with class, it took great lengths for the average Oquakian to reach the planet. You either saved up enough currency to catch the Tributhium, something like a giant luxurious cruise ship, or you studied extremely hard to surpass the chain of basic knowledge exams, build a resume, and create a jaw dropping experiment that you’re expected to present in front of 3 high level officials to judge, so that you could gain access to one of their prestigious colleges. Either way... the task was damn near impossible. The only people in Oquakie that had any form of real money was the leaders and entertainers, the rest of the majority was dirt broke. So broke, in fact, that the majority of our focus was geared towards survival, good education was a luxury that most of us couldn’t afford.
If you let my pops tell it, Ecstacia and Oquakie, during his younger age, worked hand in hand. He said it was like Ecstacia was the brains, and Oquakie was the body. The men in Ecstacia were smart, but not good handymen. Their bodies wasn’t built for hard work. Men in Oquakie were built for war; compared to the men of Ecstacia, we were tanks to their bicycles. He’d always brag in his drunken stupor, about being able to steal many women; to which my grandmother would respond by hitting him in the back of the head with whatever she had in her hand. He’d always talk about how the men of Ecstacia were just angry because Oquakie men could and, in a lot of cases would, steal their women. He claimed that this was where the tensions between Ecstacia and Oquakie begun, and what set the course for the white death. He would start getting into the war story, but my grandmother would always cut him short, and send me off to bed. She’d tell me that the only story I needed to pay attention to was the story of our founding fathers and mother, The Great Shadi Svaisha, The Infamous Shevain Oquakie, and the Beautiful Ecstacia Wiles. The story, as it goes, was that there was a man and his cousin, that set off on a journey to find another beautiful planet they (and a few friends) could escape to during this massive war. The man that started the journey and planned everything up was a young male of the darker complexion. He was Shadi Svaisha, and his cousin, of the lighter complexion was Shevain Oquakie. They grabbed as many people as they could and zipped off the planet before it was too late.
Shadi was a bright man, a hard worker, and probably the farthest thing from pampered. He went through tons of trials and tribulations that helped shape and mold him. He soon caught the eye of the beautiful Ecstacia Wiles, a young lady that Oquakie was trying seduce with his looks for some time. Oquakie was the silent but deadly type. He always seemed to know the happenings of everything going on regardless of whether he was told or not. Loved by the ladies for his good looks, he was used to getting everything he wanted, and more. And Ecstacia Wiles was his idea of more.
She was the only lady on the trip that he had not seduced, and he liked the chase. Of course, he shared this with his only cousin Shadi; making Shadi extremely hesitant to start a relationship with Ecstacia. However, Shadi’s hesitant demeanor only enticed Ecstacia’s appetite even more. Ecstacia was a bright young lady, carried herself with class and a certain type of dignity that made even the gods jealous. She was the closest thing to the physical incarnation of beauty, and this fact set her far apart from the other gals. She was often lonely, and lost the entirety of her family to the war. She was wounded, but still kicking, trying to find a way to fit in with the women of her society. This trait of hers, tagged along with the fact that there was no filter on her mouth, interested Shadi enough to let her in as close as friend level.
They shared many conversations throughout the journey, and thus, their bond grew significantly. So good in fact, that it didn’t go unnoticed by his cousin. There were many times Oquakie advised Shadi to leave her alone, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t. He knew everything about her and she knew everything about him. They shared such a close link that even through the actions he did not make, she could tell something was wrong. Finally, things came to a head, as the stress between Shadi’s interactions with his cousin started to clash with the stresses of trying to find a stable place to stay. He was fighting his feelings between Ecstacia and his last piece of family. Ecstacia finally became fed up with the seemingly two- faced Shadi, and threatened to leave him alone completely if he couldn’t come up with a good reason as to why he always seemed to enjoy her company one day and pretend like she didn’t exist the next.
Shadi refused to say anything dealing with the conversations between him and his cousin, and so, broken-hearted, Ecstacia turned to Oquakie who welcomed her with open arms. Not feeling a hint of remorse towards his cousin’s agonizing pain, however, Oquakie played along with the story of a two- faced Shadi and finally achieved his goal of seducing Ecstacia. For the first few days, Oquakie played the role of the caring partner, completely winning over Ecstacia’s broken heart. Though Shadi was taken aback by the events that took place,he still cared deeply for Ecstacia; saying things like, “I don’t care if she hates me, just make sure you treat her right.” Seeing as though Oquakie never missed a chance to tell his cousin about the wonderful advances he felt like he was making towards Ecstacia, anyone could tell that there was tension built up between the cousins. But one call, turned the tables on this love sick triangle forever...
“Oquakie, you’re wanted in Ecstacia’s quarters.” On that day, a glorious fight broke out on the ship between the cousins over a few smart ass remarks that was made by Oquakie. Something to the extent of a child that Oquakie would partake in producing, but not in raising. The fight alarmed the entirety of the ship, and was eventually broken up by the male friends they had on the ship. Knowing of the events that took place, a young friend of Ecstacia’s, simply known as Bon Bon, ran to her quarters and alerted Ecstacia of the things that was going on in the ship. Ecstacia rushed in quickly to stand by the side of her “lover”, Oquakie. Being upset over what she thought she knew, she helped Oquakie up and, without giving Shadi a chance to explain anything that happened, took Oquakie back to her quarters to tend to his wounds.
Bon Bon, who carefully analyzed the scene, later decided to side with Shadi. She showed up to the door of Shadi’s quarters and knocked. There was no answer. She repeated the action several times, and still there was no answer, so Bon Bon, being small enough, climbed into the vent and slid into his room. Shadi was in the shower so she sat on his bed and patiently waited. She noticed the sound of faint whimpering overshadowed by the shower head until finally a burst of emotion, the sound of a solid blow to the wall, sent a shock down her spine. Everything calmed, and then the shower turned off.
Startled and slightly embarrassed that what appeared to be a young girl saw him in a towel, Shadi quickly jumped back into the bathroom and slammed the door, “What the hell! Can a man not get his privacy no more?”
“I tried to knock on the door but you wouldn’t answer,” a quick witted Bon Bon replied.
“So you just take it upon yourself to break into somebody’s room?!” he argued through the door.
“Pretty much!” she stated flipping through pages of a magazine she found on his desk.
Becoming frustrated with the smart remarks an infuriated Shadi shouted, “Get out!”
Knowing that he wasn’t the type to really throw a woman out, she calmly responded, “But I have a question...”
Attempting to calm himself, and feeling slighted by the events that took place, he sighed, “Ask me tomorrow under better circumstances”
“But I’m a friend of Ecstacia’s...” she teasingly stated.
“SO WHAT!” he snapped fussing through the cracked open bathroom door.
Bon Bon leaned on the door to gain eye contact between the crack that was left open to speak through, “Sooo..... I can help out with your relationship issue.”
Shadi paused, giving into his deepest emotion, “Are you blind? There is no relationship between us, now go away!”
“That’s not what your eyes say,”she said, her voice shifting to a more sincere tone.
Catching himself, and gathering his feelings, Shadi quickly declined, “That is what my eyes s-”
“And that’s not what her eyes say either...”she stated with even more sincerity than before.
Taken aback by the comment that was made, Shadi gave a long hard pause, reflecting on the pain that was in Ecstacia’s eyes as she stormed away holding Oquakie, “Could that pain really be for me?” He thought to himself.
“So you’re interested, yes?” Bon Bon interrupted.
“You have five seconds to say something interesting, or you’re out of here!” he stated with sincerity in his eyes.
“Deal, but can those five seconds start after you get dressed, because I like to look at peoples’ eyes while I’m talking to them,”she stated, reverting to her original smart-alick tone.
“Agreed,” Shadi quickly got dressed and prepared some snacks for them to eat while they spoke.
“It’s about time you started acting like you had some manners!” she said while sipping her tea.
“I’m still waiting for somebody to find some,” chuckled Shadi.
“It’s good to hear you’re in a better mood than before,” smiled Bon Bon, “ So let’s get down to business!”
“Great, so what’s this information you have to share with me?” he stated with a smile, sounding slightly drowsy from the day’s events.
“I already shared it with you. Now... you have to share with me,” she continued to sip her tea.
“WHAT?! Are you serious right now?” a shocked Shadi responded.
“As the war back home,”she calmly stated while continuing to sip from her glass.
“You didn’t tell me nothing!” Shadi exclaimed.
“You are not what I expected Mr. Svaisha, I figured you’d be able to figure it out,” she teased.
“Well I didn’t, and now you know, so what was it?” he said rhetorically.
“I told you what I saw in Ecstacia’s eyes, and now, you have to tell me what I don’t know,” she responded.
“How do I tell you that when I have no clue what it is that you do know, or think you know?”he aggravatingly replied.
“Ooooh good one Mr. Svaisha!” she laughed as she took another sip from her tea.
He calmed himself, realizing that she was toying with him, “Ha ha ha very funny. Now out with it. What do you know?”
“I know you make a wonderful tea!” she laughed.
“I know that will be your last sip if you continue to play with me,” he said with an evil grin.
“Alright, alright. I know that the two of you had a little thing going on, but never made it pass 3rd base. More like little toddlers that love each other, but doesn’t know how to properly show it. The two of you connected on multiple bases and just as you all would get close, you’d run off with your tail between your legs.”
“Hey-” he interjected.
“Like a wimpy little dog...” she continued.
“Watch it-” he said sternly, not liking where she was going with it.
“As if he couldn’t handle the woman in front of him...” she stated slightly frustrated.
“Cool it-” he stated trying to get her to stop talking.
“So, my question to you, Mr. Svaisha, is what are you afraid of?”she stated shifting to a mood so intense that her gaze seemingly pierced through Shadi’s eyes, as if she were speaking directly to his soul.
Tired of the lies and running out of excuses Shadi released his anger with a sigh, “My cousin...”
“Well, Mr. Svaisha, I find that hard to believe considering how soundly you beat Mr. Oquakie, so you’ll have to do better than that,” she stated knowing that there was something deeper.
“No, it’s not like that type of fear. I’m afraid of losing the last bit of family I have. We practically grew up like brothers,” he responded with his eyes full of memories.
“Mr. Svaisha, forgive me for saying this but... FUCK THAT! I’ve watched you and your cousin for a while, and to be honest I never introduced myself because you make me sad!” she stated with a harsh tone.
“What?!” he exclaimed, feeling slighted once more.
“Yes Mr. Svaisha, you are indeed a sad, sad delirious man. This entire “brotherly love” thing that you speak of is nothing more than a self imposed illusion you’ve created to shield yourself from the truth that your cousin is nothing more than a lazy, good for nothing, pompous ass that only survived off of your delirium,” she stated without hesitation
“I am not delirious, I know my cousin’s faults and the role I played in his life. It doesn’t change the fact, however, that he is still my cousin and therefore, still family,” he responded with patient dignity.
“That’s even sadder!” she exclaimed bursting his bubble.
“What about that is-” he began.
“Excuse me for asking,” she interrupted, “but if a man murders your mother, what do you do?”
“I make him pay for it, an eye for eye!” he said speaking out of emotion.
“So what if that man held the title of your father, does that change, things?” she asked intently.
“Well, of course that complicates things a little-” he stated starting to rethink his position.
“Why?” she asked.
“Becau-” he began.
“Wait, don’t tell me...” she inerrupted once more, “Because he’s your father.”
“RIGHT!” he exclaimed.
“WRONG!!! A man is a man, regardless of his title. Therefore what you speak of is nonsense! How could things change just because of his title?” she exclaimed.
“It’s not just his title!” he said quickly catching himself.
“Oh?” she sarcastically stated.
“No, it’s also the memories and the times that you share with your father,” he responded.
“RIGHT, the memories. So riddle me this, if all of those memories are abusive, and bad, and he kills your only form of peace in the world before your eyes, is that man still your father?” she impatiently asked.
“No!” he stated with a head jerking response.
“Why not?”she argued.
“Because he didn’t treat me like a son!” he replied.
“Then how is a man your family when they treat you worse than their enemies?” there was silence in the room. Nothing but the sound of Bon Bon sipping her tea.
“But he’s all that I have left...” he said slightly heartbroken.
She sympathized with his pain and rested her hand on top of his to give him comfort. Her voice softened, but remained stern like a mother, “Only if you let it be.”
Caught up in the emotional strain of realizing a sad truth, Shadi’s common sense began to lack, “What do you mean?”
Bon Bon rolled her eyes, “Basic science, when a man loves a woman he marries her. In turn she becomes his...?”
She gave a long pause waiting for Shadi’s answer. Feeling the pressure of her expectations, he looked for what he thought was the most common sense answer, “...Wife?”
Bon Bon rolled up the magazine she was reading and smacked Shadi upside the head, “FAMILY, DOOFUS!”
“Alright, alright, I got it, family. You’re a hot headed little girl!” he stated while rubbing his bald head.
She massages her temples and starts again, “Okay, try to keep up! She becomes your wife. Eventually you have kids, which make them...?”
“Family...” he stated with confidence, now knowing what she was expecting him to say.
“And then the cycle continues until you have a whole clan of children that you can call your family, and then.... you die. Thus is such in the circle of life, so Mr. Svaisha, the choice is yours. You either attack this moment in life, or live the rest of your life dangling from your cousin’s pubes,” she stated with a mouth full of cookies.
“You have a point, but somebody really needs to teach you some etiquette. Your manners are awful for a little child!” he stated watching her stuff cookies in her mouth.
She looked up from her bag of cookies with irritation written all over her face, “Can we please stop with the little child stuff! I could give you a sample of my hair that would prove that I’m older than you and your cousin’s ages combined!”
“What! No way,” he exclaimed, excited about the chance to work on a new science experiment.
Reading the excitement on his face, she shook her head, “After you come back from saving my friend from that pimp, you can test it out!”
“You’re right, but don’t go anywhere!” he stated, buttoning up his white collared shirt and running towards the door.
“Yeah Yeah, little boy,” Bon Bon sad with a smirk, and with that, Mr. Svaisha was off. He went straight to Ecstacia’s quarters and burst in; catching them right before they were about to get in the act. He confessed everything, from his true feelings for Ecstacia to his fears of losing his last bit of family. To his cousin’s surprise, Ecstacia accepted Svaisha’s request for love, and he proposed to her that night.
His cousin, after losing to Svaisha, also confessed his true feelings, everything from his intense hatred for his goody-two-shoes cousin, and his plan to get Ecstacia knocked up and leave her. And he ended with the comment, “I atleast got past first base, let’s see you get that far with any woman!” As he was saying his piece, the ship’s alarm system set off.
Svaisha rushed to the monitor and noticed that they were incoming on one of the biggest planets they had seen in awhile. Knowing that they were too close to properly land, he immediately jumped on the loudspeaker, “Everybody quickly make your way to the survival chamber of the ship. We are looking at a code 47 and will have to proceed with a crash landing. Again, everybody rush to the survival chambers, code 47. This is not a drill!” he then rushed over to Ecstacia and Oquakie and grabbed both of them trying to pull them into the survival chamber. Ecstacia ran in, but Oquakie snatched away in the last moment and slammed the door, automatically locking it on both sides, “Oquakie, what are you doing?!”
“I’m not your toy, Shadi! You don’t get to choose my destiny!” he yelled back angrily, throwing his arms up, and flicking everybody off while his cousin watched in horror.
“Oqua-” Shadi began in a panic trying to force the door open to save his cousin.
“Hate never dies...” before Shadi could respond the ship impacted. Everything was destroyed with the exception of the survival chamber. Luckily enough, the planet they landed on contained all the right conditions they needed to survive. Even more luckier than that, however, was that as they ventured around the crash site, they came up on a body. It was Oquakie, still alive though paralyzed from the waist down. Shadi quickly scrambled together as many medical devices as he needed to nurse Oquakie to health, however, there was nothing he could do about his cousin’s legs, so after healing his broken cousin, Shadi and the other able-bodied men focused on building a structure that they could call their own. After many months of hard work and dedication, a town was built. Shadi married Ecstacia, as promised, and as a wedding gift, dedicated the city to Ecstacia.
Oquakie and his exploration team found a sister planet to their home planet, Svaisha. A man from Oquakie’s team quickly ran back to Shadi to alert him, and upon exploration, found it too to be livable. Though there was an uneasy vibrational pull that the planet had, and thus, Shadi didn’t want any parts of it. Oquakie, however, was extremely excited about his findings, and didn’t want to let it go. As a birthday gift to his cousin and an extended gift to his new wife, Shadi put it in writing that the newly found planet would be named after his cousin Oquakie, the main planet would be named after his wife Ecstacia, and, as a gift to himself, named the conglomeration of these two planets connected by the Astro-water Svaisha. Everyone was happy, and there was peace forever to come between the two brother planets. At least that’s how everyone always put the story. However, for those who lived in it, we knew that not to be true. And if it was, how did it end up the way it is now...
The winter is a battlefield in Oquakie. The only way to survive it is with the proper clothing and a strong body, neither of which I have as of now. The broken leg caused much of the infection coursing through my veins. The panicking I did to get to the area I was at, caused the infection to spread, and with a storm like this one, I highly doubt anyone would be coming to save me. This was it, “You are the strongest girl in the world, but you gonna’ have to be much stronger, because daddy might not be there to save you this time baby... I’m sorry...”
