Silverlight Revised
One full year had passed since the death of a loved one that had been held very close to Alisia’s heart. This death had added one more thing to her relatively short list of why she detested the national holiday reserved for lovers and couples. The echoing sound of her fingers gently tapping and brushing across the smooth plastic keys of her computer seemed like her only comfort on this day. She frowned while pushing back a loose strain of black hair that continued to free itself from the elastic hair tie and kept tickling her nose.
Her blue eyes narrowed as frustration was growing inside while she typed up the data showing in a separate window on the glowing screen. Why go visit a soul that has become stone? They are not truly here with the living anymore. She found herself thinking after her eyes glanced at a message window flashing from her brother. Roughly she clicked the box, instructing him to leave her alone and went back to her other task. The box began flashing again with his asking to know what was more important than paying respect to family.
Her thoughts began to linger on emotions, traditions, and actions of humans as well as some demons when a family member has passed away. This agitation caused her fingers to type hastily which resulted in errors with spelling before finally she slammed her hands hard upon the poor keyboard, while her body had shot up into a standing yet hunched over position with her breathing heavily. Why can’t beings of flesh and blood be more like technology? Why can they not be more like what a lot of this country refuses to use? She thought hotly.
Her breathing began to quiet down as the glare of the screen reflected in her eyes to display the random text that had appeared on the screen in the document from the initial hit the system took. Her shoulders began to loosen as she released one heavy breath while closing her eyes and hanging her head in a sign of defeat of her own mind. Her brother continued to message her to ask if she was still there only for her to ignore his inquiries.
Why do they need to pester me? Why must they keep interrupting my research? She opened her eyes and shifted her gaze to the side to look at a flower with twelve dark and light alternating purple petals. Its tongues shifted a bit while the alternating red and white dots seemed to have a small glow to them. She began to ponder about how to test its uses next but that train of thought was interrupted by the sudden sound of racing feet outside her sturdy door, which had begun to creep carefully open to reveal a teenage boy standing in its opening.
She was trying to enjoy the silence of the hum of the fan from her computer but the silence was interrupted by her brother speaking up. “Hey, Alisia, you getting ready or are you ready yet?” he questioned curiously as two young twin girls came to a stop behind him and stopped to stare at Alisia.
“No, I’m not ready and I’m never going to be so go away.” She hissed coldly with her jaw tightening.
“Come on, you can’t keep dodging and keeping out of paying your respects to grandfather.” He pointed out sternly and stood his ground under his elder sister’s glare. “You gotta face it one day that he’s gone so get off your butt, leave the computer and research, and let’s all go see his grave.”
“Forget it.” Alisia snarled as she stood straight and her fists gripped at her sides as she turned to fully face her little brother, who was actually the third oldest and she was the second oldest.
He frowned snorting a bit annoyed at her stubbornness. “But all you ever do is work and it’s not even fully paid work. You keep jumping and volunteering to take jobs others turn down and the floral company never says no because they know you’ll take anything!” he snapped trying to get through to her. “It will help you if you just make closer and if you-”
“No it won’t!” she shouted with her eyes tightly closed and her head lowering as she shook it roughly with her fists trembled along with the rest of her body.
His expression softened with compassion and pity she was having such trouble dealing, or lack thereof, with her grief. “Alisia…” he whispered softly as he took a step closer.
“Going to some stupid patch of earth that’s been dug up and replaced, going to see some dumb stone representation of a soul is not going to do anything except remind me of what I am trying to forget.” Her voice was trembling and almost a hushed whisper.
“No it will help. I know it’s hard but it’s better than sitting in a dark room, studying stupid plants all day and night, and wallowing in guilt because of refusing to accept as well as refusing to move through your grief.”
When he said the words stupid plants her right hand shot behind her back and pulled out from under her shirt a silver revolver. She had it aimed towards his head with a deadly cold stare as she pulled the hammer back, all this taking place in under two seconds. “Go ahead and call my job stupid again, I dare you.” She hissed but he didn’t dare speak, “you are just like everyone else who refuses to give into technology. You know how I know technology and research is the better choice of my time than pitiful emotional crap?” he silently shook his head for his answer.
“Because technology gave grandfather the ability to have these guns, because it gives me a way to defend myself as well as others to defend their selves, and because it can save lives along with furthering our knowledge about what is around us.” She kept her aim steady as he took a step back with his arms out with the twins cowering behind him. “I don’t have to fear any manner of creature with grandfather’s guns he left me. I don’t have to fear what’s to come if there’s research to be done because I’ll know what to do and I don’t plan to take time off just to go and deal with, what you think are, underlying emotions that need to be faced.”
He gulped and finally got the nerve to speak after silence lingered for several moments. “Alisia, put the gun down now and just listen to me. You’re hurting and that won’t stop unless you face facts as well as reality instead of hiding away in your room, toiling away on researching flowers and plants that the company finds that no one else volunteers to even touch.” Unfortunately for him she did not lower the gun nor even flinch so he decided to attempt to continue. “Why would I lie to you? I’m your brother and I would never tell you to do anything that wou-” he was cut off as a bullet whistled past his face as it left a light scrape across his cheek before sticking into the wall behind him.
“Why don’t you keep going, little brother, and we can find out just how bulletproof human flesh can be.” Alisia snarled darkly as her eyes began to gain a reddish hue to them as they narrowed upon him.
Silence was left between them in the tense air and before he could speak another voice broke through. “Jalo!” the woman’s voice sharply snapped and drew the teen boy to look over to their mother. “What did I tell you about Alisia?” she questioned as she came to a stop next to him with her hazel eyes on his.
“I…I just thought…”
“You just thought to bother her when she’s busy with her work for her employer. Why must you continue to disobey me when I tell you something?” the woman said with a heavy sigh.
Jalo turned his hazel gaze down before looking up to their forty some year old mother with brown hair pulled and twisted back into a bun. “I’m sorry but I just thought maybe it would help her to visit grandfather.” He tried to sound strong but by his weaker tone and expression it was easy to see he was feeling defeated.
“You are too much like your father who thinks going to face something head on is the right way for someone to deal with everything. Alisia has dedicated herself to improving the plants of Flora so one day our city-state can flourish and survive without relying on any aid from the Royal Family from the Capital.” She scolded sharply with her hands being placed on her hips. “Take your sister and go wait outside for me and we’ll go while Alisia can take care of herself.”
“…Yes, sorry mother,” he responded quietly and turned to the twins before leaving with them to do as told. Their mother looked to Alisia who glared icily back at the stern look from the woman. She reached out and roughly shut, or closer to slammed, the thick door shut before walking off to leave her second eldest daughter alone once more in the silence of her room.
Alisia felt her grip on the gun tighten along with her jaw as her eyes took on more of the reddish hue. The silence broken only by the hum of the computer fan lasted for moments longer before the air was distorted by gunfire. She shot off her remaining five bullets into her door and was nearly panting with her shaking breath. Slowly the gun began to lower with its smoking barrel as her eyes closed with tears slipping free that she had been holding back.
She stepped back then turned as she walked past the shelves that held different potted plants both with blooms and those without. She would drop the gun on a nightstand by her bed and pick up a picture inside a wooden frame. She turned and pressed her back against her cool wall before sliding down it slowly to come into a sitting position with her knees bent. Gently she touched the glass as more tears slipped free of her lower eyelids.
Grandfather, I’m sorry…I’m sorry… was all she could think as she gazed at the grinning elderly man in the photograph with her in his military uniform. “I miss you so much.” She whispered softly while pulling and hugging the frame against her chest along with her knees coming closer for her to bury her face into them. “I’m sorry for letting Jalo get yelled at. Please, forgive me.”
During this quiet crying she didn’t notice the shadows kiss on the desk starting to change. The red and white dots began to softly glow while the tongues began to quietly vibrate. While this went on, Alisia’s memories became more focused on the times she missed with their grandfather and thus the sadness in her heart grew. The more this sadness grew the brighter the dots on the silky petals began to glow. A soft colored mist began to be pulled from Alisia and this mist took on an orb form as it floated over to the purple flower.
The plant fed for nearly twenty minutes before its source drifted off into an exhausted slumber. The glow from the flower ceased once the last of the emotional energy was consumed. It returned to its dormant state yet now held a few scales on each petal. The quiet air was filled by soft breathing and the hum from the still running computer which also provided a gently glow to the room from its illuminated screen with its white document background.
Gradually the flashing icon began to move away from the jumbled mess of letters and numbers on the screen. The icon jumped down once then twice before it began to spell two names without any keys being physically pushed:
Lanet Silverlight…….
The flashing icon came to rest after the seventh period and remained there as if acting like the heartbeat of the computer.