Fan Fiction ❯ Dark ❯ Gaff ( Chapter 5 )

“Dark?”

 

There was no reply. Rain came closer and shook her shoulder.

 

Dark shot up to her feet, bumping heavily into the desk. Rain jumped back, startled. Dark stared back at her with hard eyes, and then she eased herself back into her chair.

 

“Sorry,” Rain apologized. “I just wanted to see if you were awake.” Then, with concern: “How are you feeling today?”

 

“I'm fine,” Dark murmured.

 

“Then are you ready for another session? Let me know if you're too tired.”

 

It was a surprise to Rain that Dark had actually showed up for tutoring. She had been cutting school. Rain would periodically glance in the direction of Dark's empty desk during the classes they had together. She was used to taking pages of notes for Dark. Now she doubled her effort, whether Dark appreciated it or not.

 

Dark had been increasingly agitated lately, easily angered. Rain knew that the monitor had been set to keep Dark's powers under control. The overall effect left her on edge. Being around her was like being around a caged animal.

 

It wasn't fair, and Rain wanted to tell her father that. Dark had lost the last of her family. But they were afraid of what she might do. They were afraid of her power. The monitor kept her abilities under control by administering a shock to her entire body if certain areas of her brain went active. Dark knew this. It wasn't right, Rain thought, that she wasn't allowed to have feelings, that she had to be controlled by threat of injury. But without a better solution to offer, Rain kept these thoughts to herself.

 

She didn't want to believe that Dark was dangerous. But in the back of her mind, Rain knew she could be. Even though Rain's father hadn't sustained any serious injury, the fact remained that Dark had used her powers on another human being. The lab wasn't about to let that slide.

 

“I'm fine.”

 

“Okay,” Rain said reluctantly. “If you say so.” Dark wasn't looking at her. “Oh.” Rain looked down and ejected the cartridge from her notebook. She handed it to Dark. “Here. Bio notes.”

 

She watched as Dark pulled out her computer and began the download. When it finished, she handed the cartridge back to Rain. Rain noticed that there was a different picture on the screen's background. It was a photo of a small, dark-skinned boy with big brown eyes standing in front of a grey house, holding a cat in his arms.

 

“Is that your brother?” she spoke up without thinking.

 

“…Yeah.” Dark gazed listlessly at the screen. Her tone of voice was flat.

 

“What was his name?” Rain asked gently.

 

“Hano.”

 

“He was your younger brother?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Dark gave up the information easily enough, without enthusiasm or strain. Rain remembered then that she was not supposed to talk about Dark's brother. Her father had told her not to bring it up. It was a sensitive issue. In spite of this though, Rain felt she needed to know. Dark was still a person. She must have had feelings.

 

The picture on the screen disappeared as Dark opened the lecture notes. Her eyes moved to show that she was reading, but her face showed no interest in the material.

 

Rain pulled up a chair. “It must have been nice having a brother,” she said as Dark read. “I'm an only child, so I spent a lot of time by myself when I was a kid.” Dark didn't acknowledge her. Rain continued, regardless. “I was too young to remember my mother. Even though she was the first person I lost that was close to me, I couldn't feel anything because I didn't really know her. I was too young. I guess I always felt guilty about that. For not crying for my mother.” Rain stopped herself from rambling. Dark continued to read. Rain could have said more, but she held back. Dark probably didn't want to know anyway.

 

Dark mumbled something. Rain didn't catch it.

 

“What was that?”

 

Dark read off in monotone: “`Laws of natural selection: more offspring are produced than can survive; offspring differ in ability to survive; those that survive longer reproduce at higher quantities; those who reproduce pass on their traits to their offspring.'”

 

Rain offered a smile, even if Dark had just completely ignored her. “That's right. Remember it for the next test.”

 

Dark was silent for a moment longer. She closed the notes. The picture of her brother returned. She spoke up again, eyes on the screen, “When we were kids, our cat had kittens. Hano was so excited.” She took a breath. “Next morning, I wake up and my father was drowning them in a water bucket.” Dark's eyes met Rain's. “He looked at me and thought: `I should have done it to you.' He didn't say, but I could hear him thinking in my head.” She looked back at the screen.

 

Rain didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. Had it been one of her friends, she would have reached for her hand. But this was Dark. And Rain didn't know if they were friends.

 

“I didn't cry for my mother either,” Dark said.

 

“And your brother?” Rain asked softly.

 

Dark shook her head. Her eyes were emotionless.

 

“Can you…can you hear my thoughts too?”

 

Again, Dark shook her head. “Now is not.”

 

“I know. You have to keep the Power restrained now. But before?”

 

She nodded. “Sometimes. A little piece of thoughts.”

 

Rain tried to imagine what that was like, to know bits and pieces of the things that people wanted to hide from others. Did Dark always know what other people thought of her? Could she tell if someone was lying or not?

 

“Why don't we go home?” Rain suggested. “You can take a nap, and we can do homework together later.”

 

Dark shrugged as if it didn't matter to her. She shut off her computer and placed it into her carrying case. She followed Rain out into the hallway.

 

The school's halls were empty for the most part, but there were still a few students hanging around. Rain walked quietly beside Dark. A group of boys was walking toward them. Rain, with sudden alarm, recognized one of them. It was Gaff.

 

He was Sugar's boyfriend.

 

Rain avoided eye contact. Dark was staring ahead of her, oblivious to any of them.

 

As they passed each other, Gaff's eyes shifted toward Dark. Suddenly, with one arm, he reached out and gave her a hard shove. She stumbled into Rain.

 

“Hey!” Rain cried out in anger.

 

Dark pushed away from Rain and attacked. Her fist slammed into the side of Gaff's head. He stumbled back but didn't fall. He looked up, eyes burning, and then his fist was flying. It knocked Dark to the floor. She clutched her head.

 

“Stop it!” Rain yelled. She positioned herself between them.

 

“Hey, man…” One of his friends put his hand on his shoulder, tried to pull him away, but Gaff shook him off. The others looked at each other with shocked expressions.

 

Gaff tried to push Rain out of the way, but she fought him. He finally just shoved her, and she fell backwards. Arms caught her before she hit the floor. She turned back and found that Dark had gotten up.

 

Dark helped her up and fixed a look at Gaff. She jumped at him again. Her fist popped his head to the side. He took it and dealt her another one in return. She fell, blood streaming from her lip.

 

A low growl rumbled out from deep in her throat. She surged to her feet. Then something happened. A spasm shook Dark's body. Her head was thrown back. She convulsed, fell to her hands and knees, and vomited on the floor.

 

Gaff looked on with disgust; Rain, with worry. The monitor, Rain thought. She must have just tried to—

 

When her stomach was empty, Gaff stepped forward and planted his foot on top of her head, meaning to push her face down into her own vomit. But he had to grapple with Rain, who was trying to push him away from Dark.

 

Dark shuttled back, and Gaff's foot slipped off of her head. She managed to rise.

 

One of Gaff's friends had his arms around Rain, pulling her off of him. Another was grabbing a hold of Gaff, urging him to back down. “Let it go!” he said.

 

Dark ran forward and punched him in the face while his arms were restrained. His friend's grip loosened, and Gaff charged out of his hold. His fist hit her in the head again and took her down.

 

Silence followed. Gaff stood still, panting. He watched her. It didn't look like she was getting up this time. He backed off, was going to turn around, but she moved. She rolled to her side, pushed herself off the ground. Her legs shook. She was standing. She made a beckoning motion.

 

Gaff's fist made contact with Dark's head for the fourth time. Rain screamed because of the force behind it. “No!”

 

Dark spun from the blow, teetered, tilting back, but did not fall this time. She righted herself, blood dripping from her mouth. She smiled. And laughed.

 

“Bitch!” Gaff hissed. He sent his fist flying. But this time, Dark was already side-stepping, moving out of the way. He hit empty air, stumbling forward. He tried to recover, but was not expecting the sudden kick that connected with his groin.

 

Gaff fell to his knees.

 

Dark was no longer smiling. She viciously kicked him in the face, snapping his head to the side, sending a spray of blood and teeth all over the ground.

 

Rain watched Gaff's body crumple to the ground. She watched as Dark kicked him in the face while he was down. She watched Dark do this over and over again until his face was a mess of blood and his friends gathered around her to try and get her to stop. But she attacked them too. So it was Rain who went over and put her hand on Dark's shoulder. It was Rain who told her to stop. Dark sank to her knees, resting her head on Rain's leg.

 

The expression on her face was very close to satisfaction.