imperfect (6 page)

“
Hi, Jaiden, it’s me,
Kristi. I’m borrowing someone else’s electro-slate to send you this
instafication because I kinda lost mine. I’ll explain more about
that later. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow…or rather, later today.
Bye.”

The urge to yawn overcame Kristi; she
couldn’t suppress it and the yawn escaped. The leopard mimicked
Kristi and let out a yawn as well. Its maw stretched, fangs
glinting when they caught the light.

“
You must be exhausted.
Why don’t you sleep in my bed for tonight? We can talk more after
breakfast when you’re not feeling half dead,” Chelsa said. With a
firm grip on her arm, the older girl led her to the single mattress
in the room.

Kristi weakly protested, “Let me sleep on
the floor. I’ve caused you enough trouble for the night.”

“
Nonsense,” Chelsa said in
a don’t-argue-with-me tone.

Kristi opened her mouth to argue, but then
closed it when she realized she was too tired to argue back. Under
normal circumstances, she would’ve considered this whole situation
absurd, but today hadn’t been a normal day, so she let it slide.
Before she knew it, she was sound asleep.

It didn’t surprise Kristi
that
Chelsa was already up and about
before her in the morning. As usual, Kristi was the last one to
wake; what else was new?

Chelsa was making instant oatmeal with a
portable bio-fuel stove, stirring the pot with a wooden spatula.
She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, but looked up when she
noticed Kristi moving.

“
There’s a change of
clothes for you in the bathroom if you’re up for a shower.” Chelsa
nodded her head towards yet another door in the room Kristi failed
to observe last night.

The bathroom, like the rest of Chelsa’s
living quarter, was small but tidy. Kristi twisted the doorknob to
the bathroom; it refused to turn.

“
You have to press the
knob to the right a bit,” Chelsa said, watching Kristi struggle
with the bathroom door. With a reluctant creak, the door swung
inwards, permitting her to pass through.

The shower Kristi took refreshed and drained
all the sleepiness out of her, probably because the hot water
wasn’t working. And there is no faster way to wake oneself up than
stepping underneath a jet of ice-cold water first thing in the
morning.

Next, she slipped on the clothes Chelsa had
left for her on the counter. The V-neck shirt and jeans hugged her
body comfortably; not too tight nor too loose. Satisfied with her
new outfit, Kristi did her best to untangle and braid her hair. It
was quite a challenge since her hair seemed to rebel against all
attempts of being tamed. At last, she restored the bathroom to its
original condition and stepped back out into the main room.

Chelsa had finished
cooking breakfast and it smelled divine. Kristi nodded thanks and
appreciatively accepted the bowl of cinnamon sugar oatmeal Chelsa
offered. Then she started to sit on the wheelie chair, but halted
when she realized the droid-leopard perching there.
It takes skill not to notice a large cat sitting
in the chair you were planning on sitting in,
Kristi thought to herself sheepishly.

The leopard hissed at her, not pleased for
having almost been sat upon.

“
Geez, no need to get all
catty on me,” Kristi said. She backed away from the chair in case
the feline decided to pounce on her.

Chelsa cracked up. “That
was
hilarious!
You should have seen your face when you saw
Ghost!”

“
I’m pretty sure the
saying is, ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost’,” Kristi said. For
some reason, her response made Chelsa laugh again. “Now what?”
Kristi didn’t see anything funny about the situation.

“
My leopard’s name is
Ghost. I wasn’t talking about the idiom,” said Chelsa.

Kristi looked over to Ghost who stared
evenly back.

“
Ghost won’t bite you
unless I command him to,” reassured Chelsa.

“
Okay. I think I’ll eat
breakfast standing though.” Kristi scooted away from the
one-hundred-pounds-plus leopard and lifted a spoonful of oatmeal to
her lips.

“
Pet him. He likes being
stroked.”

“
I think I’m
fine.”

“
You aren’t scared, are
you?”

“
No, I’m not.”

“
Pet him.”

Ghost let out an annoyed huff and leapt down
from the chair. He glanced back once at Kristi then stalked out,
looking as peeved as a droid-leopard could look. Kristi seated
herself in the now-empty chair and ate the cooled oatmeal. Chelsa
came over and nursed a mug of black coffee.

Kristi couldn’t prevent herself from
observing Chelsa. Before her eyes was another Accident that had
survived into her teens, a feat Kristi had believed only she had
accomplished. If Chelsa noticed her watching, she showed no signs
of it.

“
Who are you exactly? Why
are you here? Where are your parents? When did you move into North
Region?” Kristi’s questions spilled out from her.

“
Where to start…” Chelsa
said.

“
Why don’t you start from
the beginning? That’s usually a pretty good place to start.” She
gulped down a sip of coffee so strong it could’ve passed for an
extra-concentrated caffeine pill.

“
As I said before, I come
from the East Region. Things weren’t pretty back there. I was
constantly framed for any crimes that happened simply because I’m
an Accident. Eventually, I decided I’ve had enough and left.”
Chelsa collected the empty bowl from Kristi then continued on. “I
found this room by accident; I was searching for a place to sleep
and somehow ended up in the room behind the wall. To make a long
story short, I installed the scanner lock to keep out intruders. My
security system worked pretty well until now because all intruders
have one thing in common: altered genetics.”

“
What about your parents?
Aren’t they going to worry about you?”

“
My parents don’t care
about me. Enough said about me. What’s life like for you around
here?”

“
Most people here just
ignore me or treat me like I’m a three-year old,” Kristi said. “It
must’ve been pretty bad in the East if it caused you to
move.”

Chelsa nodded her confirmation. “I’ve seen
new-born Accidents left out for the street patrols to pick up. You
risk your life by being an Accident in East Region. Tell me more
about yourself.”

Normally, Kristi wouldn’t
act so open around a stranger. On the other hand, Chelsa
did
just save her life
and struck her to be trustworthy person. “I have lived here all my
life and have a brother named Jaiden. My real parents left me when
I was little and Maria and Don adopted me. There really is nothing
much interesting to know about me.”

“
How did you end up being
captured by the electro-slate thieves? To my knowledge, they don’t
take prisoners,” said Chelsa.

Kristi told Chelsa about
narrowly escaping the gang by stumbling into the TV room by mishap
and returning to the room later that day to further explore it. She
described her awe while watching
The
Phantom of the Opera
and how she ran into
Wilson when exiting the room.

“
Speaking of DVDs,” Kristi
said, “How did you get a copy of
The
Phantom of the Opera
? I thought the
government had destroyed all fictional films.”

“
Alex gave it to me,” she
said. The corners of her eyes tightened. “He also taught me how to
make the DNA scanner I placed outside on the brick wall. Alex was a
good friend of mine,” she added when Kristi shot her a quizzical
look.

“
From the East
Region?”

“
Yeah.”

She watched Chelsa subconsciously play with
her hands, almost dropping the mug precariously balanced at the
edge of her knees.

“
Do you want me to wash
the dishes?” Kristi indicated the bowl and mug in Chelsa’s lap. She
wanted to do something helpful for Chelsa; a small action of thanks
in return for the help Chelsa gave her.

“
That would be great. You
can use the bathroom sink. I’m going to find Ghost and make sure
he’s all right.”

After rinsing the utensils and leaving them
besides the sink to dry, Kristi returned to the main room to find
Chelsa typing something on her electro-slate.

“
That was fast,” Chelsa
said. She exited the message she was typing on her
slate.

“
Is Ghost still upset
about me?”

“
Nah. He’s fine.” Chelsa
prodded Ghost, who was curled up at the foot of the cot, with her
foot. “You’re not used to visitors, are you?” she asked the
leopard.

“
I should get going. My
parents are probably having a heart attack right now since I’ve
never been out after curfew. Do you want to come with me? I’m sure
Don and Maria would be more than happy to meet you.”

“
Thanks, but I’m afraid
I’ll have to decline your offer.”

Kristi masked her
disappointment.
Perhaps Chelsa doesn’t
want to attract any unnecessary attention to herself,
she thought.

“
You won’t tell anyone
about me and my rooms, will you?” Chelsa asked right before Kristi
stepped outside.

“
Of course
not.”

“
Good. I knew I could
trust you.”

With that, Kristi stepped back into the
alley and ran home as fast as her legs allowed. The sky seemed to
be just a little bit bluer than usual and the sun seemed to shine
just a bit brighter.

I think I’ve found a
potential friend
. Aside from Jaiden, there
was really no one in the city she trusted. Not even Don and Maria.
As much as she appreciated her adoptive parents for taking her in,
they never established a close relationship with her.

chapter seven

[ Kristi ]

Kristi pounded up the
driveway to the mansion, then skidded to a
stop. She took a double-take; none of the lights were on. Not
even the porch lights. Maria and Don’s solar-car was still parked
outside though, so her parents should be home.

She pressed her thumb onto the scanner to
unlock the front doors, but it rejected the thumbprint. Frowning,
she tried again. Same results.

What the heck?! Is the scanner
malfunctioning?

Kristi resorted to old-fashion pounding on
the door. She waited for someone to let her into the house, but
nobody responded to her knocking.

“
Jaiden!” she shouted.
“Maria, Don! Can someone unlock the door for me?”

No reply.

Kristi stepped down from the front door.
Something small and white peeked out from the corner of a sculpture
of a frog. She squatted and tipped the ceramic statue over to
retrieve the object. It was a note written on a piece of paper.
That was strange; who’d use paper when they could just leave an
electro-note or send an instafication? Paper kills trees and
therefore, the Earth.

Kristi had to squint to read the barely
legible handwriting scrawled across the index card:

Find Jaiden and locate the others.

--M & D

She reread the note once,
and then twice, making sure she didn’t misread it.
“Find Jaiden and locate the others.”

“
Ha-ha. Real funny joke
Jaiden. Stop messing around with me.” Kristi stood up, brushing the
dirt from her jeans. “That was a really lame prank. What did you
want me to do? Run around screaming?” She waited, hoping to lure
Jaiden out from wherever he was hiding.

A branch above her shook and a plump,
black-capped chickadee angled its head at Kristi.
“Chicka-dee-dee-dee,” the bird whistled. On the last “dee” it
flapped away.

“
Jaiden, this isn’t funny
anymore! I admit you scared me, okay? Are you happy now? Please let
me into the house.” Her voice sounded painfully small.

A silence settled over the
area; no Jaiden, Don or Maria appeared. Kristi’s mind began jumping
to conclusions.
Wilson’s gang wouldn’t
dare harm my family, would he?

“
The stables,” she said.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” But Kristi did know why she hadn’t
thought to check the stables for her family; Maria and Don never
rode droid-horses and Jaiden should be assisting Professor Smetana
at this time of the day.

Kristi dashed to the barn, praying that the
horses were still in their stalls and unharmed. She briefly crossed
her fingers then unlatched the barn door.

The droid-horses were gone. She was the only
person in the building. Or so she thought. Two shadows loomed over
her. Kristi tensed her muscles, ready to sprint in an instant if it
was Wilson’s gang.

“
Are you ready to
go?”

She relaxed, recognizing Chelsa’s voice.
Ghost padded to Kristi’s right shoulder and nuzzled her. She
squirmed, the droid-cat’s inch-long fang grazing her earlobes.

“
You followed
me?”

Chelsa nodded. “I’m too curious for my own
good. I guess something bad happened from the looks of it.” She
handed Kristi the paper note she had dropped.

“
Thanks.” Kristi crumpled
the paper and shoved it deep inside her pocket. “I think that—
”