IGNATIUS The Colors of Rage

Chapter 5 a Reflex

Emi’s rich blue dress was a style too young for her now. Doll-like. It sprawled around her, ruffled over her chest, and slightly puffed around the tops of her shoulders. No cleavage. No hugging curves. It astonished Iggy that no more than three nights ago, her petite body could hardly contain the bones inside of it, but now, she was full, lively, with more than forty pounds of new muscle and fat and an extra four inches to her height. 

Her eyelids slanted upward in the corners, adding a look of curiosity to her, though she stared with the determination that was intense enough to see straight into his soul. And he’d let her, if he had been presented the choice. 

Her skin released an aura of fun mixed with wisdom. It was so strong that he drowned in excitement just lying before her. Her white, pin-needle straight hair hung in one long curtain of silk that was still growing beyond her shoulders and down along her arms. There in her hair, he expected to see flower petals hidden between the fine spaces of one hair and another or perhaps a small bunch tethered behind one of her ears, but there weren’t any. Even though that’s what she smelled like. Flowers.

She lifted her arm up from her thigh and allowed it to linger above his forehead for a short delicate moment. The pores in his skin squeezed together under the tiny touch of her finger. She twirled a lock of his black hair and pulled it upwards, tracking the motion as if she were measuring centimeter by centimeter how long it had grown, too. At the end, she tucked it around his ear. Her mouth was small in proportion to her heart shaped face, yet her lips had gained thickness and a deep pink color. She whispered under her breath, “I haven’t seen you since you bit me.” 

Iggy lifted his hand and flattened his palm against her soft chest. The smallest movement sent a tight pain through his stomach. A knot that grinded in on itself. Tighter and tighter. His body was heavy. A stone of dead weight. His energy, gone. “What are you…?” he stressed. “Get away… you-you imbecile! I’ll… I’ll-” 

Disregarding his warning, she pressed her torso against his and flattened her arm along the side of his head, fearlessly. Her eyes rocked back and forth, studying the lower half of his face one section at a time. In a hovering stance, a toothy smile formed, and she traced the outline of each of his eyes in a figure eight pattern. “You have darkness around your eyes-" she pointed "-and that means you’re thirsty.” 

“I said..." Consumed by the pain, he closed his eyes and attempted to swallow, but the entire inside of his upper digestive system was completely dried out and burning. "Gah! Leave me alone.”

She sat on her heels and laid her hands on the tops of her thighs. “I thought you’d be at least a little more kind than this.” She gazed at the floor. “You did hold me after all.”

He clenched his fist into his stomach to counterpress the tight knot. “Please,” he growled the words, “leave me alone. Na… Ah! Nansen? Oh, this hurts.”

Her chin tilted. “Nansen and Baine are convinced that you’ve run away. They can’t see you lying here.”

He buried his face into his black blanket, the one he’d always had, and replied, “that’s stupid.”

She laughed. “It’s true! Even better, no one sensed you here at all. When you sleep, a dark shadow hangs over you and hides you very well against your black bed. It’s very weird.”

He turned his head and glared at her. “You are looking at me. Obviously you’re lying.”

She shook her head. “It’s weird especially because I can see you.” She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “They’ve been looking for you for a long time, now. Baine left the house and is searching outside of the walls. There’s really no more fun watching them search, you know? If they aren’t even here anymore. They kept asking why I was laughing.” 

She reached her bare arms down and wrapped a firm grip around Iggy’s left arm. Then, she pulled him up. The hard clench of his stomach made him feel as if he were going to throw up water, and the throbbing, piercing pain of hunger sliced him apart from the inside. As he tottered onto his feet, he hunched over and clenched his chest with a shaky fist while the other clamped around the ball of her shoulder. His joints were loose, wobbling in and out of their spaces. Soon, he melted down to the floor. Her hand held tight, yet as he flattened, her grip slid down his arm and she let him go. She knelt near his head, unable to see his grimacing face beneath his long overgrown hair. 

“You aren’t alright,” she stated partially concerned. “You really need to drink something.”

“I…” he groaned and clenched his fist tighter against his chest. 

“You need to drink. Come on, you have to get up.” She tugged his arm upwards. 

The blistering debilitating pain intensified and reflected in his tone. “There’s no way that I can get up!”

“You have to stop being lazy!”

“I’m not lazy! I can’t-Ah! Get out! Get out!”

“Fine!” She dropped his arm, turned, and ran out of the room. 

The hallways lacked the usual conversing loungers. The only people she heard were the reporters on the downstairs television, but as she rounded the first corner, she spotted Amare opening the door to his room. 

Amare was seven foot tall and massive. His onyx black skin blended in with his black uniform and made him appear to be one solid piece rather than flesh and fabric. Emi ran straight over to him and peered far up into his light brown eyes, as he startled stiff at the sight of her. 

“Please help!” she started first. “Iggy is on the floor. Please, help me pick him up.”

Firstly, he inhaled the scent coming off of her and grinned. His large lips were round on the top and on the bottom, his nose small and short. The smell- it was so calming. Magic. “This wasn’t how I expected the night to end,” he muttered to himself. “I shouldn’t be talking to you or him. I don’t want any trouble.”

She planted her knuckles into the grooves of her waist and drew her eyebrows in. “I approached you. And now, I am ordering you. Help me with Iggy.” She stomped her way back to Iggy’s room arrogantly and he actually followed her. “You see? I found him on his bed, tried to move him, and now… well, look for yourself.” From the doorway, she held out her arms as if she were delivering the picture to him.  

Amare ducked through the door and meekly glanced down at Iggy. He looked back over his shoulder. “He needs to drink. You should already have known this, though… You are educated, aren’t you? Baine and Nansen don’t give you much credit in that area, misogynists, but I know the Silgrias and I know that you-”

Impatient and frustrated, Emi’s cheeks filled with air. Her hands lashed down near her sides as if she were tearing down the sky. “Of course I do! And of course I am! But, he won’t get up! What am I supposed to do? Bring someone up from the basement?!”

A deep chuckle rolled out of Amare’s mouth and he shook his head. “Let me see his eyes.” Emi came to Iggy’s head and slid the hair away from his face. “Mhmmm…” Amare hummed, “he won’t get up. He’s too starved. Do you see the shadow around his eyes? Do you see how dark it is? This is what we call stage two starvation. It can only go one shade darker before death happens. He’s gone far too long without nourishment, and he won’t be able to do anything until he gets it. As his companion, you should take him to the feeding rooms.” 

“Wait!” She held out her hand as if she were going to fly across the room and catch him. “Help me! He’s a full grown person-”

“Have you tried to lift him, yet?”