When My Heart Became Ice - Chapter 13

[[ D E J A • vu ]]

Stop reaching for me . . .

Kyth entered Gym 7 with Syn and Hykuma. She had on a blue shirt and black slacks; nothing too special. Hykuma wore a white sweater over a turquoise top, black Capri’s and her normal bangles around her thin ankles. Syn simply wore his usual long sleeved shirt and jeans. He didn’t care.

Hykuma kept a hold of his hand as they glanced around, looking for Nyun.

“Hey,” He sidled up from the sidelines. “Kyth, how are you?”

“Fine,” She answered. “It was only a couple hours ago I last saw you.”

He shrugged. “Something could have changed,” He had a sly grin on his face. “Anyway. Want to dance with me?”

Kyth looked up at him, and then shyly nodded, letting him take her hand in his.

As the two made their way onto the dance floor, Syn watched Kyth with narrowed blue eyes. He’d never seen her so… Unsure before. She seemed flustered, she was blushing.

Syn was possessive of almost everything that he thought belonged to him, and Kyth was definitely his.

His bristled slowly, and Hykuma noticed. Her arm wrapped around his gently and she murmured, “Calm down, Syn. They’re friends.”

“My Kyth,” He hissed, but lowered his head to rest his forehead on her shoulder.

Hykuma gave his hair a soft kiss. “Good boy,” She told him.

He mumbled.

The party was upbeat and definitely filled with Reachers. Bounding leaps took slim, pale bodies from one side of the room to the other, gracefully landing without even the slightest sound. The jumping around to the music was certainly interesting to watch; while humans mostly bounced on their toes or only jumped up an inch or two, Reachers leapt up to five feet in the air, falling with unnatural grace and then rising again, showing their endurance.

The perfect human being.

A rainbow of hair and eye colors showered them as Nyun led Kyth into the swarm of dancing and jumping Reachers. Everyone would glance at her and quietly realize that Kyth Kimata was actually at a party. And she was smiling! Who was this man beside her that made her smile, made her blush?

Excitement filled her as Nyun took her hands and gently guided her into smooth, rocking dancing motions. She felt like an idiot, just swaying to and fro like this, but everyone else was acting like idiots too, so who cared?

As the song ended, everyone on the dance floor calmed down to a murmur. Soon, the next song was on. It was slow, steady; a song to dance with partners.

Shouts of complaining rang through the gym and the Reacher who was acting as DJ merely bumped the table with his elbow and the song leapt over to another upbeat rock song.

Nyun and Kyth laughed.

As they continued their awkward swaying motions, Nyun said, “Hey, you’re still underage, aren’t you?”

“You are too,” She pointed out.

“Eh,” He tilted his head. “I’m almost 21.”

“Why you asking?” Kyth looked up at him.

“They brought beer,” He shrugged. “I don’t drink it much unless there’s an occasion but I wanted to know if you would like to try some.”

“Ugh, no,” Kyth shook her head, shuddering. “I hate the stuff.”

“You’ve had some already?”

“Nuh uh. I just hate the stuff because of what it does to you. Especially for Reachers, who get drunk twice as easily, it is not a good idea to even have a sip of the stuff.”

“Really?” Nyun tilted his head, and then shrugged. “Makes sense, I only have a shot every two months or something like that.”

“Not many ‘occasions’ huh?” Kyth smirked.

“Nope,” Nyun chuckled.

They danced for a few more minutes, and Kyth suddenly spotted Syn. He was shaking. Hykuma either didn’t notice or already had him under control, because she was glancing off in the direction of some of her Infirmary friends.

Kyth stopped dancing, watching Syn.

Hykuma hadn’t noticed, and he was definitely angry about something. Really angry. He looked like he was actually going to use his powers.

“Oh my god,” Kyth said, and she darted swiftly through the crowd, shoving people out of the way to reach Syn.

Too late, he had leapt.

Hykuma let out a shriek as he disappeared from her arms, and Kyth swiftly shoved her foot against the ground, darting in the same direction as Syn: the beer table.

The beer table? What was he going to do there?

Was he that desperate for a drink?

To Kyth’s utter shock, Syn grabbed the nearest bottle and smashed it to the ground. Everyone immediately shrank away from the table. Syn wasn’t attacking a person; he was attacking the beer.

Hykuma’s eyes had filled with tears as she stood there watching him as he broke bottle after bottle, screaming like someone had just torn out his heart.

Kyth watched in horror. Syn had never been like this. Ever.

Once every bottle was broken, he ripped the table cloth off the table and shoved it to the ground. It soaked up the alcohol. Syn smashed his fists against the table, sending splinters flying everywhere. His fists dotted with blood from where slivers of wood had buried themselves in his skin.

He shook as though he had just come out of the water after a swim in Alaska.

His eyes blazed with hatred.

The whole gym had gone completely silent, staring at the bloodied Syn, who this time was covered in only his own blood and streaks of beer.

Hykuma watched him for a moment, tears streaming down her face. After a while, she finally stepped forward and touched is arm.

He immediately turned, looking down at her with his hate-filled eyes.

When he saw her, his cobalt blue eyes dulled, and he slumped against her, trembling heavily.

Hykuma’s arms came around him and she sat, letting him rest against her.

“Shhh…” She crooned him. “It’s okay… It’s all gone, you got rid of it all, Syn… It won’t hurt you…”

Kyth stood there, staring blankly.

Since when did Syn experience so much agony?

Nyun swiftly began directing everyone out of the room, and everyone left in a hurry, telling him that he’d be the one cleaning up the huge mess. Alone.

Kyth watched Syn carefully.

Only after he had stopped trembling and only shivered every once and a while did she feel safe to sit down and talk to Hykuma about what had happened.

Before Kyth could ask the question, Hykuma answered, her voice shaking as Syn had been, “He hates alcohol…”

“Yeah no duh,” Kyth laughed nervously. “What… I mean… What happened to him…?”

“It’s just a bad memory…” Hykuma stroked Syn’s hair softly, and he curled tighter, giving a shiver before becoming still. “A very bad memory…”

“Am I allowed to know, or…?” Kyth looked down at Syn. She’d never seen him so vulnerable before. It was almost… Scary.

“Syn’s father…” Hykuma began, and she took in a shaking breath before continuing. “He was an alcoholic… He spent most of his days drunk out of his mind… And… He beat Syn’s mother… He never did it while Syn was around, but… He beat her good…”

Kyth looked down at Syn.

“So that’s why he doesn’t like alcohol, because it hurt his mother…?”

“Mm hm…” Hykuma looked anxious. “He… He hates it so much because… He… Came home one day, and he saw his father beating his mother… And… He…” Hykuma stopped, covering her face. She let out a sob into Syn’s white hair.

Syn’s head came up slowly and he wrapped his arms around her, laying his head against her left shoulder.

The two sat there in near-silence, the only sound in the whole gym Hykuma’s weak sobs. Syn looked straight ahead with dull eyes halfway closed.

Was he in pain?

Kyth stepped away, allowing them both to calm down, and she walked over to Nyun.

“What happened?” He asked in a quiet voice.

“Syn just panicked,” Kyth told him. “He’s fine now…”

“All right…” Nyun still looked anxious, but he knelt down and began cleaning up the gym. Kyth followed.

“Shh, my Syn…” Hykuma whispered when he began to tremble again. “Let me see your hands… You hurt them…”

Syn quietly sat back, legs folded underneath of him, and lifted his shaking hands for Hykuma to see. She took them gently in her own hands and then carefully turned his around, getting a good look at them.

“I have to take them all out,” She told him. “We’ll have to go to the Infirmary.”

Syn nodded quietly and watched Hykuma stand. He looked ready to protest, but slowly, he stood, shaking.

Kyth turned to watch him. She’d never seen any Reacher so shaky on his own two legs, let alone Syn.

He stood there for a moment, swaying, as though he were so fragile he would fall over once the window gusted through. Hykuma gently took his arm, supporting him, and led him out. He leaned against her heavily.

Kyth continued to clean up the mess; this time in a hurry.

Hykuma led Syn all the way back to the Infirmary and laid him in a bed. He stayed on his back, arms to his sides, shaking heavily. His eyes stared up at the ceiling.

Carefully, she removed all the splinters in his hands with tweezers. Glass cuts were treated and cleaned—most of them had already healed—and his hands were bandaged.

Once she had finished, Hykuma sat down in the bed beside Syn.

He looked at her.

Quietly, she murmured, “You could have told me it was there… We could have left…”

He shook his head. “They’d just drink it…” His voice was hoarse.

She stroked her hand through his puffy white hair. It was so soft and silky...

“It’s okay…” She crooned so gently. “It’s all right, my Syn…”

He looked at her with sad blue eyes, and then sat up. He gave her a pitiful look and she moved closer to him. He reached his head towards her left shoulder, sniffing at it.

“Do you want to see it…?”

“Mm hm…”

Carefully, Hykuma lowered her left sleeve, pulling her sweater off.

Syn stared at the scar that ran down her shoulder.

He leaned his head forward, laying his lips against it. Slowly, he gave the scar a lick, and then another. Hykuma watched him, looking sad.

Syn continued sniffing and licking at the scar, and Hykuma let him. He did this sometimes when he felt vulnerable, and if this helped him get him back on his feet, she’d let him.

“I’ve always wondered why he’s so obsessed with that scar,” Kyth’s voice made Hykuma jump a bit. “Sorry.”

“N-no, it’s fine,” Hykuma gave Syn’s hair a gentle stroke and he stopped, pushing his nose against her shoulder before laying down, curling up, and putting his head in her lap.

“So can you tell me why he’s obsessed with that scar?” Kyth’s head tilted.

“You don’t know anything about his past…?” Hykuma asked, watching her.

“Nope.”

“Well then…” Hykuma laid her hands over Syn’s hair, gently stroking it. “I told you earlier… His father was a drunk… Beating up on his mother… And Syn… He had his first attack.”

Kyth’s breath nearly caught in her throat.

“He picked up the closest knife he could find… And he killed his father… His mother began screaming at him, and… He killed her too…”

Kyth was horrified.

Syn…

“His… Best friend came along a couple hours later, wanting to play… And… Syn got upset again when he asked what happened… And his friend was killed as well…”

His mother, father, and his best friend all in one day. Kyth was shaking.

“A…And then…”

“A girl…” Syn interrupted, his voice quiet. “Came into the house… Wondering why the door was open… Why blood was spilling out… And she saw me sitting in the puddle of my family’s blood… And she screamed…”

“He attacked… H-her…” Hykuma said slowly. “But… When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t dead… He had just stabbed her… In the left shoulder… He couldn’t kill her, even after he had killed his family and his friend… He then collapsed… And… The girl stayed with him ever since…”

Syn sat up slowly, looking like a puppet, and he put his arms around Hykuma’s middle, tightly. If there was one thing he was most possessive of, it was Hykuma.

The one person in the whole world that could stop him from killing.

[/blockquote]


I don't want you.