KEEPING THE FAITH

ＦＩＶＥ

JULIUS

I'll do anything to get Kedah back. I'll climb every mountain, I'll endure every temptation that comes my way if I could only get her back.
I miss her.
I wonder what she looks like now. She must be beautiful. I wonder if the scar on her cheek is still prominent. My heart painfully throbs as I think of her. She's the girl I love. That will always love, no matter what happens. No one can compare to my Kedah.
I remember the first time I saw her. When she was sitting on the floor in the hallway, the flesh on her feet raw and bloody. She was dirty, ashes and dirt covering her face, legs and arms. Her braids were tangled. But her eyes were so fierce and bright.
She was so strong, even then.
A tear drips down my cheek, and I quickly wipe it away.
I can't cry now. I have to be strong. For Kedah.
I've spent the hours after I got home yesterday praying until my knees became blistered. Praying for strength, praying for safety, and praying that Kedah will be okay.
I just hope He heard me.
A knock sounds on the front door of my apartment.
I run my hands through my unruly red curls and try to compose myself as I walk towards the door.
It was Malachi, and he hands over the disk to me.
"You want me to stay here with you?"
His angelic face was concerned.
"Nah. I'll be fine. Thanks, Malachi."
"Julius," he catches my arm and I turn to face towards him, "be careful. Temptations are powerful things."
"I will, Malachi. Where is Gad staying?"
"The Vaughns have personally volunteered to take care of him while you are gone. Being in the foster care system is too dangerous for him, as you experienced three days ago. Their house has more protection. I will check up on him every once in a while to see how he's doing.
"Good. Alright then. Goodnight, Malachi."
"Goodnight. I'll see you for the departure tomorrow morning, Soldier."
He leaves, and I shut the door behind him.
That nickname hasn't left since I got back.
Sitting down at my kitchen table, I press the button on the disk. Just like yesterday, the blue glow of the hologram springs forward, and I see her.
I see Kedah.
My heart leaps in my chest at the sight.
She looks sick.
Shadows are under her cheekbones, and her once bright, green eyes are now dull and dim. She now has a metal arm and leg, and it seems as if her actual limbs were back. They seemed very intuitive.
But it still breaks my heart to see that her real limbs are still missing from her body.
She's lying on her stomach on a bed, drawing on a sketchpad. I watched as her agile bronze fingers danced across a page, forming something.
Then, as I looked closer, I realized what it is.
A bird, soaring in flight.
It looked so real, so free, almost like it could fly off the page.
"I wish I could be free," she whispers.
Oh, how I wish she could hear me. I wish she knew I was here, watching her every move longingly. I wonder if she misses me?
Or has she forgotten?
How could she forget what we've been through together? All the monsters we killed, all the training we had to go through before we were ready...
Our first kiss.
Ten years ago, I kissed her. And I've never forgotten it.
I pray she hasn't forgotten either.
I watch as she sits up. Her eyes light up...
What-or who-is she looking at?
"Tee!"
She sounded pleased. A young man about my age steps into the room. Whoever he is, Kedah seems to trust him.
"Hey! How are you holding up?" he asks. He sits on the floor in front of her bed.
"I'm alright. How 'bout you?"
For some reason, the vein in my temple pulses at the sight of how happy she is with him.
Oh, shut up, Julius! It's not like he's kissing her or anything! He's just...comforting her...
"That's awesome! So...what have you been drawing?"
He picks up the sketchpad and flips to the page with the bird.
"Wow, Kedah! This is amazing! You're a true artist!"
Is it just me, or did her bronzen cheeks color slightly?
No, it's not my imagination.
Kedah's blushing. Hard.
"Aww, I'm not that good," she plays with a strand of her beautiful, black hair, curling it around her finger.
"Not that good?! Kedah, this is incredible! I've never seen a robin drawn with this amount of accuracy before!"
Her cheeks darkened even more. I didn't think that was possible.
"Tee, stop it. I'm flattered, really."
"You're worth flattering."
She stops, her mouth hardening in a thin line.
I nearly bring my fist down on the disk.
For now, I kept my eyes trained on Kedah.
Tee blushes and fingers his ear nervously.
"S-sorry...I-I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying."
Kedah seems to jerk awake and quickly says, "It's fine, I was just going to say that Julius who taught me."
Tee straightened.
"I see. He must be very good."
"Oh, he was. He was the best in the church."
I smiled and felt my neck heat up.
Kedah chuckled.
"We hated each other at first. We didn't want to be in the same room together."
Tee's jaw clenched.
"So then why did you two go together to fight the monsters?" He asked.
Oh, now you got her started. I smiled in thought.
"I didn't want to go with Julius at first. Someone had to do it, Tee. Why couldn't it be me? Plus, if it came to keeping the people that loved me safe, I would sacrifice myself to keep them safe. If it came to keeping my brother safe, I would put my life on the line, Tee.
"I've protected him my whole life from the beatings of my father. I had to drop out of high school to take care of him because my mother was always gone. She was gone for 'business meetings' But she always came empty-handed. Her paycheck was spent at casinos.
"They died in the fire. I escaped by the grace of God with my brother in my arms."
Tee stood there, a single tear ran down his cheek.
He quickly wiped it away when she finished.
"Well...I hope that your Julius arrives safely to retrieve you. But anyway, I came here to take you to lunch. It's past, so I don't think Kelligan is going to be happy about that. You know how...punctual he wants you to be."
They walk out, and Kedah's whole demeanor goes completely blank. As if she was a robot.
Confused by her change in behavior, I quickly turn the hologram off.
Tomorrow is the big day.
Tomorrow, I start my quest to find Kedah.