INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 19: PETRICHOR DUNE

Petrichor led Xaviere by the hand and had them sit on his bed. It was particularly frigid that morning. Although the heater was on, they still felt cold. They both sat on the bed with their legs all tucked in; Petrichor had the duvet wrapped all over her body. Xaviere sat beside her and listened to her speak.

“My name is Petrichor Dune and this is my story. I grew up in The Bronx, New York. I never knew my father, I doubt if my mum even knew. She was…she was a very interesting person. She was fun. She tried her best to take care of us. It wasn’t easy. There were some nights that she would cry herself to sleep. She would tuck me in after singing our song; some weird, cheeky stuff we came up with. I guess she thought I slept really quickly because she would sob a lot after that. We were holding on by a thread and then the worst happened; she lost her job.

I grew up around green bottles; the woman had an alcohol problem but never admitted it. The longest I have see her sober was two weeks; one of the most remarkable two weeks of my life. It didn’t last long. After those sober days, she took a downward spiral, she became worse. It was so horrible. I suffered neglect for years; it was hell. Everything fell to chaos when she started sniffing. That was when the Social Security people took me away.” Petrichor said. She put her hands to her face and tried to comport herself. Xaviere put his right hand to her cheek and wiped away a tear with his thumb. He looked at her straight in the eyes and the said,

“I am so sorry you had to go through all that. No one deserves to live like that. If it is too much for you, you don’t have to continue the story.” Petrichor took a deep breath, shook her head and then said, “You deserve to know. I’ve kept myself secret from you for too long. I need to finish.” She sat up straight and cleared her throat.

“I was in an orphanage for a few years. It was there I got introduced to competitive ice dancing. The rink was my life. I felt free on the ice; unchained. There was a freedom that make with it. That’s how I got so good at ice dancing. Everything was going alright for the first few years. I finally got adopted by the Valentines’.”

“Hold up, so you were once called Petrichor Valentine?” Xaviere asked interrupting her story.

“Yes, yes I was Mr. Xaviere Obiora Williams.” She said mispronouncing his middle name. They laughed about it for a while. He always told her she said it wrong but really he did not mind. He actually liked the way she said it.

“So what then happened?” Xaviere asked.

“They were really nice people. I moved into their house and they took really good care of me. I was put in a very posh school; you know, school uniform and all.”

“The blazer and pleated skirt kind?” Xaviere asked interrupting her again.

“Yes, that kind.” She responded with a light chuckle. “Everything was going well. I had good parents, I was in a good school and I had my ice dancing. The only thing missing was my mom. I never saw my mum again.” Immediately she said these words, Xaviere hugged her. For a brief moment, they said nothing; he had his arms wrapped around her and she had hers around him. It was a really emotional moment for both of them.

“After a while, I started getting the dreams. Whenever I woke up I wasn’t able to remember in whole what happened. It kept going on for a while and it really bothered me. I didn’t tell my parents because I was scared they would send me back to the orphanage. I know, that was a really dumb thing to think, but when you’re a kid that grew up around so many traumatic experiences, you tend to cherish the few good moments you have and nothing is more scary than losing them.

My activation was kinda, well… unique.”

“What do you mean?” Xaviere asked.

“For activation to take place, the inactivated agent must complete a series of training. Most agents do not meet this requirement until they are eighteen years of age; others take a little while longer. With my activation, it was a little bit more complex than that. There is a mechanism in The VOID that prevents you from remembering those dreams. It blocks the memories from your soul. Only after activation can we finally access these memories.

After my fifteenth birthday, the dreams became realer. They felt more tangible. I really wanted to know what was happening to me. A night came and I was fast asleep, receiving training at The VOID; it was combat training. My sparring partner was a little too intense and I took a big hit. A hit so big, it woke me up. I refused to be defeated, so I went back to sleep and transported myself back into The VOID. That was how I got activated. It was really unconventional but they had no choice. I had to finish my training after my activation.”

“So you were already going on missions at fifteen?” Xaviere asked with a surprised look on his face.

“Yeah, I know; pretty badass right?” Petrichor responded with a bit of pride in her tone.

“That’s amazing.” Xaviere responded.

“It is, it is but when you see the fabric of reality hang in the balance so many times, life kinda becomes uninteresting to you. At a point, I began to see human as a problem, an anomaly from a relatively peaceful universe. In a space with objects of giant masses, it is kinda crazy that we, such small beings are the most chaotic, so chaotic, that just our thoughts are dangerous enough to destroy every other thing. So, that’s why I never actually cared for human relationships and all. If I had a mission, I do it. That was my life; well my life until I met you.”

“Wow, you’re just so incredible.” Xaviere said looking at her in awe. She averted her eyes shyly.

“So yeah, that’s me; Petrichor Dune.” She said breaking the ice.

“How exactly did you get the name Dune? Xaviere asked.

“I don’t know to be honest. I guess I just have a thing for sand. She answered. “So what’s for breakfast, WXYZ?” She asked.

“I was just going to have some cereal.” Xaviere said.

”For a gentleman, you seem to be incredibly clueless about some things. How exactly do you offer cereal as breakfast?” Petrichor asked.

“I am so sorry.” Xaviere was said. “How about we do this? I hit the showers real quick and then we can go get something nice at Alice’s. What do you think?”

“That’s not such a bad idea but how about we hit the showers and I actually cook up something nice for us to eat?” Petrichor said stressing the ‘we’ and biting her lower lip. Xaviere did not hesitate to accept her counter proposal. He held her chin in his right hand and slowly placed a kiss on her lips, she did well to return the favor. The lip locking intensified and they were on the bed with their hands wrapped around their bodies. Xaviere was really feeling the moment when she suddenly pulled back.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. Petrichor looked into his eyes and then slowly said, “Go lock the door.” Xaviere immediately jumped off the bed and like an Olympic sprinter, he ran towards the door. He turned around to see her standing there, undress, in all that feminine glory. She grabbed him by the hands and led him into the bathroom. They got underneath the shower and let the steaming water fall on their unclad bodies. Never had an exercise meant to make one clean feel so dirty; slippery bodies and wet skin, this was an experience Xaviere would not forget in a hurry.

After they got out of the shower, just as she had promised, Petrichor made breakfast. She made some pancakes, omelets and hot cocoa. She was everything Xaviere could ever want in a woman and now she just blew his mind with her culinary skills.