Three Worlds Apart

PROLOGUE

"Mujhe dekho. Mujhe dekho, latika, sab theek ho jaega." Look at me. Look at me, Latika, everything will be alright.

Those were the words Latika remembered. Those were the last ones she remembered uttered from her mother's mouth. 

She remembered her lower lip trembling as she tried to obey her mother's words, looking at her through the strained tears in her eyes she tried not to let fall. She remembered how her mother had smiled a reassuring smile at her and gently wiped at her unshed tears. She remembered the effort of trying to focus on her mother's face instead of the sound of the monsters drawing near.

Those words her mother uttered to her were the only ones she remembered. She did not remembered what her mother said after that. In her fading memories, her mother's mouth moved, but the words were blurred.

But she remembered how after, her mother whispered something to her older brother, Mahdi, before holding him tight. A moment of silence, then her mother let go, picked up a bundle of their clothing at her feet and started off down the alley.

They had to hide. The smell would cover their scent, Mahdi had told her.

At the time Latika had trusted her mother's words. Why would she lie, after all? 

When Mahdi helped her into the dumpster, despite the bile that rose in her throat at the mere smell of it all, she trusted her brother's words and tried to breathe through her mouth. Next came Sevyn, and once he was inside, Latika scrambled to him. Lastly, Mahdi climbed in, holding them both close to his chest with his hands over their mouths as he peeked over the top of the dumpster bin to watch their mother break into a run out the alley and into the open sunlight, drawing the monster's attention to her. 

Mahdi just clutched his brother and sister to him tight as possible while watching the monsters chase after her, trying his best to engrave her features into his mind until she faded from view.

Once Mahdi was positive they were gone, he slowly lifted his head out all the way to check if the coast was clear before climbing out. Urging her, Latika held up Sevyn for him to take in his arms, resting the younger boy on his hip. She came out only after her older brother reassured her a dozen more times the monsters were gone.

Carrying Sevyn in one arm, he extended his free hand to his baby sister as he already began to walk forward. No point in sticking around when the longer they stayed in the same spot, the stronger risk they held of the monsters' figuring out their mother's trick, and once that happened, they'd know where to look. 

Keep moving. Always keep moving and never look back. That's what their father would say every time he packed up everything their family owned and moved from town to town, never staying in the same place more than a few days.

Keep moving. Keep moving and stay alive.

Of course only Mahdi knew that part. Latika and Sevyn were much too young to know. Too young to understand what was going on, too young for their parents to tell them. Not even Mahdi knew the full truth. His father knew telling him would only make things worse.

What Mahdi did know were the essentials. Two things. One was that the things chasing after them were monsters from stories he had yet to hear of. And that all of them wanted him and his siblings dead.

Even that Mahdi had to practically beg his parents to tell him after a close call that almost ended him right then and there. Before that, he knew as little as the other two, just that they were running from things nobody else seemed able to see. 

The first time they began moving was when Mahdi was six, the year Sevyn was born. He came home from playing with some other boys, swearing he saw a wolf, but nobody else seemed to believe him. No sooner had he finished his story had his father pulled him close and tight, nearly suffocating him. That night, he filled their bags with everything the family owned that they could carry. They hadn't stopped running since.

To be honest, once it became clear that supernatural beings apparently wanted him and his family dead, he stopped questioning it.

Whatever his father had previously messed with, it was what it was, and there was nothing left to do about it.

Now that he was gone, much like their mother probably was now, Mahdi was the man of the family, and now that they were alone, he was the oldest. It was up to him to take care of them all. That's what his father made him promise. And now that was what his mother made him promise.

And Mahdi was not one to break his promises.

Latika's little legs scrambled to catch up with him, slipping her hand into his, but he stopped when she began to tug him backward, digging her feet into the ground. 

"Hamen maan kee prateeksha karanee chaahie," she protested in a desperate voice, tugging against Mahdi's hand. We should wait for Mama. "Vah vaapas aaegee. Raakshas chale gae." She'll come back. The monsters are gone.

The monsters were gone, but so were their mother, he thought but did not dare say out loud. Latika was just six years old; no child has the concept of death at that age. 

So for both Sevyn and Latika's benefit, he did what anyone would do. He lied. "Vah hamen milega, chinta mat karo." She'll find us, don't worry.

Because he knew what they were too young to know. What six and four-year-old understood death?

Latika gave a reluctant nod, letting Mahdi lead her away. She kept turning her head to look over her shoulder until Mahdi let go of her hand and wrapped his free arm around her shoulder, gently forcing her to keep walking forward quick as possible without alarming either of them. Not Sevyn already falling asleep on his shoulder (if he were lucky, Sevyn would be too young to remember this day), nor his sister trying to squirm out of his hold to look back for their mother. A childish hope that would never be answered, and a truth he'd try to keep from her as long as he could. An episode of childish panic and tears were the last thing they needed.

"Chalate raho, Latika," he whispered to her.  Keep moving, Latika. All he said. No more reassurances their parents were fine, no more lies about how everything would be okay. Just keep moving. Keep moving and stay alive.

That was all they could do. 

So that's what they did.