MUJANG (The Red Seekers)

-Three

The two guards left her at the entrance of a house. An open house with a shed extension on it.

She looked around at the zinc roofs and simple outlook of the house,and didn't notice that someone was approaching till the person stopped right in front of her and waved a hand over her face.

Her eyes slowly moved from the roof to the face of the person that'd just waved a hand in her face.

It was a woman.

She was on a light yellow dress and her hair was blonde and slightly wavy. She looked like she was suddenly frightened as she stared at the eyes of the girl in front of her, coupled with the blood-stained face.

"Who... Who are you? What are you?"

The woman's hand was on her chest as she looked the young girl over.

The girl was silent and just kept looking at her.

Just then, a guard came by.

"Elena, she's a Mujang. One of the captives. Lord Cromwell ordered for her to be brought here," The guard explained.

The woman, now known as Elena, slowly nodded.

She just couldn't speak.

Her hand was still over her chest and she was still in the process of calming herself down as she looked back at the girl who was still staring up at her with those weird blue and green eyes.

"Your...name?" She asked after gulping once.

The girl just kept staring at her.

"What's your name?" She asked again.

"I don't think she's going to speak. Her name is Karen. I asked one of the Mujang captives few minutes ago," The guard said, then looked from Karen to Elena. "What if she's actually dumb?"

They both looked at the girl who was still staring up at them.

"Perhaps not. Maybe she's just...terrified," Elena said.

The guard looked at Karen.

"She doesn't look terrified to me." He paused a little before speaking again. "If she's really dumb, then she's at the right place. The home for autistic, abnormal children."

Elena's expression went from frightened to angry as she frowned at the guard.

"You can't call those children abnormal!"

"Then what are they?"

"You silly pighead! They're normal children. Their deafness doesn't make them abnormal! They're still humans like you and I!"

The guard gave a little chuckle.

"You're still as crazy as I remember," He said, then turned and started to walk out. "The Karen girl is under your care now," he added, walking out of the little shed extension as he mingled with the people walking around outside.

Elena's gaze went back to Karen and she couldn't help but feel a little shudder.

"Follow me," she said quietly, then turned and started walking inside.

Karen followed without a word.

The interior of the house was made with painted cemented walls and there were several designs and pattern on them.

She followed as they walked into a slightly dark room filled with several scattered things lying on the floor. There were several wooden toys there on the floor, fallen chairs, books.

Karen stepped over them carefully as she followed the woman.

They walked through a doorway and entered another room. A brighter one.

Her eyes roamed around at the several children there all doing one thing or the other.

For a while, she wondered why these children were packed up in here, then she remembered the discussion between the woman, Elena, and that guard. They'd said something about deafness.

Her eyes kept traveling around the room as she stood at a spot.

Does it mean that all these children in here are deaf?

"Come on." Elena touched her arm and she moved her gaze back to her, then followed behind her as they made their way past the children.

Most of the children stopped what they were doing and stared at Karen as she walked past.

Most of them cringed at the sight of her, but she didn't mind.

It was none of her business.

She kept her eyes fixed straight on them as she walked past.

A little baby there suddenly began to cry loudly as she walked past, and one of the nannies there had to walk up to the baby and carry her up.

Karen looked away, then, and kept walking after Elena.

Elena led her into a room, leaving the door open.

Her eyes travelled through the room while Elena watched her.

The room was not large but it was spacious enough. There was a bed with a green quilt on it, Two pillows, a table and a chair at a corner, a mirror and a wardrobe. Her eyes went over the ceiling and walls.

"Err. Karen?" Elena called and she slowly moved her gaze to Elena.

"The bathroom. You need a bath."

She looked at the direction where Elena was pointing at.

It was on open doorway and from where she stood, she could see the silver bathtub inside.

Without a word, she gently started to unzip her dress from the side. The dress soon pooled at her feet and she stepped out of it, then followed Elena as she led her to the bathroom.

She went to the sink as Elena prepared her bath and turned on the tap, watching as the water ran down from the faucet. She, then, placed her small hands under the running water and bent as she splashed the water on her face.

The dried blood on her face melted into the water and trickled down her face, then into the sink.

Splashing water on her face again, she slowly looked up into the mirror in front of her as the blood mixed with water trickled down from all parts of her face.

She stared at her image which was staring back at her on the mirror; stared at her two-coloured eyes, then her b****y face and her scattered hair.

Her hands which were gripping the edge of the sink started to tremble and she held onto the edge tighter.

Her eyes were turning glossy and she was trying to fight back the incoming tears with all her willpower.

At that moment, she could no longer see her recent image on the mirror. All she could see was herself swinging her mother's sword and slicing it through her mother's neck.

All she could see was the blood splashing on her face. On her dress.

Her hands trembled even more and the tears finally escaped and rolled down her cheeks.

What had she done!

"Your bath is ready," Elena's voice echoed through the small bathroom.

Karen splashed water on her face once more and then turned towards Elena. She looked at the tub before she finally started to walk towards it.

The small tub was now filled with water and foam.

Almost to the brim but not to the brim.

A sweet flowery scent also filled the entire space and as Karen looked into the tub, she noticed the small pink flower petals dropped randomly on top of the foamy water. That was where the flowery scent was coming from. The petals.

"That's a special type of flower," Elena spoke as she saw Karen staring at the petals. "It gives a sweet scent...and here, we use it in bath waters. It's optional, of course. It just...serves as a perfume," she explained.

Karen turned to her and stared at her for a long moment.

So long that Elena started to wonder if Karen had even heard her at all. If she was actually deaf too, adding to her supposed muteness.

Her stare was also creepy, Elena had to admit.

Think of having a young girl with blood trickling down her face, and with two-coloured eyes—One blue and one green—staring at you intently without even blinking.

Elena gulped and fiddled with her sweaty palms.

"Your bath," she said and Karen slowly looked away from her, then, and returned her gaze to the bathtub.

She gently raised a foot and slowly dipped it into the water, pausing as she sucked in a breath immediately the water made contact with her foot.

It was cold, and the feeling instantly shot through her body.

She released the breath she was holding and dipped the foot fully into the water, then put in the other foot before lowering herself fully into the cold, refreshing water.

Closing her eyes, she let her skin get used to the water before opening her eyes again.

She looked up as Elena walked up to her in the tub and opened the lid of a small bottle in her hand.

"What's that?" She asked in a low voice.

"What?" Elena seemed surprised and thrown off for a moment.

Did Karen just speak? Or was she just hearing things?

She looked at the girl for a moment, then shook her head and continued opening the lid, deciding that the girl didn't say anything and that she was just hearing things.

She bent the bottle over the water and slowly, a golden liquid began to slip out from the opening on the mouth of the bottle, and into the water in the tub.

"What's that?" Karen asked again, more loudly and firmly this time.

Elena looked at her again in slight surprise.

So she did speak afterall.

She wasn't dumb.

"It's oil," she finally replied as the liquid kept pouring into the water before she finally closed back the lid and dropped the bottle.

Karen didn't ask any more questions and just started with her bath.

Elena left the bathroom, saying she would return but Karen didn't reply her or even look at her. She left, anyways.

Minutes later, Karen finished with her bath and stepped out from the tub. She walked back into the room, then dried herself with the towel that Elena had left on a chair in the room.

Her blood-stained dress was no longer on the floor and she noticed a different dress on the bed.

She dropped the towel and gently picked up the dress.

It was just a grey knee-length dress. Nothing fancy. Just plain.

When she was done dressing up, she moved to the mirror in the room and looked into it.

Her dark hair was even darker now that it had been dipped in water. And her face was now clean and clear of blood.

She now smelled like those pink flower petals,and that sweet-smelling oil that Elena had added.

She stared at herself in the mirror but concentrated more on her eyes.

Fact is, she'd always hated her eyes.

When she was younger, her fellow children used to avoid her because of her eyes, and little babies cried when they saw her.

She'd been isolated, and as a result, she was always with her mother, Mujang Athena.

She tried not to think of her mother at that moment, and she succeeded as she brought her focus back to her eyes.

It was Mujang Connor that'd reprimanded the other kids and told them that she was no different from them, and that her eyes were simply unique.

Karen, herself, had had a hard time believing that but with Mujang Connor's constant talks and smiles, she gradually began to accept that she was not a different or evil child, afterall. And that her eyes were unique and special.

The other kids started playing with her, then, and they laughed and kicked against the sand as frequently as they could. They were no longer afraid to relate with her. Infact, they started admiring her eyes and wishing theirs had two colours instead of just one.

But here, it was like she was back to the very beginning.

The people here despise her and even the kids are scared. They'd been staring at her like she was a ghost.

She'd lived in Eldon happily throughout her younger years with her mother, Mujang Connor, the other kids, and other adults.

Mujang Connor.

He was a friend to her.

A friend to everyone, infact. And she'd always enjoyed watching him swordfight in a friendly manner with her mother.

Breathing out gently as she got away from her thoughts, she looked away from the mirror and turned her back against it.

Everything just seems to keep coming back to her mother.

She remembered the alligator that'd dived at her and swallowed her whole.

How did she get here?

Just then, the door opened and Elena poked her head in.

"You're done?"

She nodded.

"Come. You have to meet the others."

Karen nodded again and walked towards the door. She walked out and Elena closed the door.

"Can I...know your age?" Elena asked, standing in front of the closed door.

Karen, who had already started walking, stopped and turned around to face her.

It was then that she noticed the thick book and feathered ink in Elena's hands.

"Twelve," She muttered in reply.

Elena nodded and ticked something in her book before she looked up at Karen again.

"Let's go." She started walking down the corridor with her book and ink.

Karen followed behind her and as they turned a corner, she looked down at her palm for a brief moment as she walked. She began to make a green-coloured smoke emit from her fingers, then she gently made it disappear by enclosing her fist. She looked up again as she kept following Elena. They went past a few halls with a few children there, before Elena finally stopped in front of a two-sided door, turned the knobs and gently opened it.