Lila sat atop the plateau and watched the second sun slowly glide across the horizon, drowning in its own haze. A massive book lay beside the animated one, and the wind occasionally flipped its pages, breaking the silence that extended for miles.
"I can hear you," the monkey said without turning around, "You don't have to hide."
Goody, who had been slowly sneaking around behind her, stiffened, stood for a moment in indecision, feeling the sand drumming against his visor, and shuffling deliberately to show that he really wasn't hiding anymore, approached Lila.
"Sorry," he rang out, sitting next to her.
Lila looked him over and turned back to her book.
"Everyone's sick of me," he said, glancing down at the pages. "You're probably too."
The spring behind his visor rattled, resembling a bitter chuckle.
"I hadn't thought about it," Lila shrugged, "I just wanted to read alone."
"I got it," Goody nodded.
"What?" said the monkey.
"That you are like me," he looked into her eyes, "You don't remember anything."
Lila looked back at him, and then shifted her gaze to the book.
"I don't understand why, but it's hard for me to ask," Goody shook his head, trying to fill the pauses. "Everyone looks at me in such a way that it makes me feel... um... ashamed."
"Interesting," the monkey almost whispered.
"Is there anything interesting in the books?" he asked.
"Yes and no," Lila lowered her head, "Someone wise wrote in the title that every book is really about you, because you're the one reading it. Like in a mirror, everyone will see their own reflection."
"What is this book about?" Goody said.
"It's an ancient history of the City," the monkey raised her head and looked at the sun, split in half, against which the thin threads of the city towers could be seen, "A very old book, you can't find them in the City itself now. Someone must have stolen it from the library when they ran away. I read about how... we were created."
"We?" Goody asked.
"The animated ones, dummies, toys, slaves, dolls – like you and me," she replied.
"Slaves? How strange that sounds," Goody wondered.
"Yes, that's what the animated ones are called between the first-born and the humans. We were created by humans and have always obeyed them. We have fulfilled their goals and whims. The book says that we were used in the first place, when they captured the first-born in the time of 'the exaltation of man.' Our brothers took their lives for the glory of humans," the monkey said, staring at the sunset.
"Yeah..." Goody said in response, wrapping his arms around his metal knees.
"Weird truth," Lila nodded, "But, as far as I'm concerned, it's better to know than not."
The wind brought sand, which rattled the shell and clattered between the hinges of the animated one.
"Do you think they're still, well, offended?" Goody asked.
"Sure, but that's not quite an appropriate word, they rather hate us," sighed the monkey.
"What does 'hate' mean?" Goody's voice rang uncertainly, and his gaze fell on a lonely paragraph in the book. The monkey puckered up her painted mouth and turned the page.
YOU ARE READING
Heart's tale
FantasyA long time ago, there was a planet on the surface of which a real living Heart was beating. Each of its beat gave life to many wonderful creatures, and humans were no exception. Once, during a mountain collapse, they became afraid that something m...
