The Peacock Key

hedge of protection

Jack awoke to the sound of metal tearing into wood, and pieces of flooring fell like hard, dirty hail onto his head.

"Watch out, Jack! We’re coming through the floor!" Love yelled as loud as she could. She hoped he heard her and that the large, serrated kitchen knife wouldn't accidentally tear into his skin.

"Careful, Dee! He might be sleeping, and we don't know how close he is to the floor!" Love shouted.

"Love, I am a professional at things like this," Dee replied.

"At what? Making holes in the foundation? Ain't that the truth!" Love joked.

Dee had always been an interesting character. She had grown up with Love in their home village and was one of the children who walked with Love after their parents were barricaded behind the mesh. Though Love and Dee had very different ideas, they seemed to be alike in more ways than either cared to admit most days.

Dee was short for Deception. Her mother had given her the name to ward off the hungry wolves that waited to devour such a kind soul as her family tended to create.

Dee’s mother was mostly looked at as the epitome of evil in the village they came from. Her outward appearance and the way she presented herself were true to her own name—Seductive, or Seddy to most people.

But Seddy was kind to those who knew her in her natural state: being a mother. The children loved her. She was warm and kind and knew each child by name. Nothing like the rest of the village women, who either kept their children under constant watch, never trusting them to follow their hearts' desires, or considered them a nuisance and demanded they behave as decreed by the adult leaders in order to be deemed "safe." Seddy was different; she loved not only her own children from the depths of her heart but also loved all the others in the ways they were lacking at home. She always knew what a hurting child needed and always provided just enough to keep the love flowing freely and avoid the very problem that now plagued this new place.

Seddy’s memory lived on through the stories told while the refugee children made their way toward the well. Her guidance is what Love had pulled from to form the ideas she always came up with to help her fellow orphans on their journey. Love was always at Dee’s home back in their land because her own parents were split up and neither seemed too concerned with raising Love or nurturing her emotional needs. But Seddy was enough, and for that, Love was grateful. After all, it's how she made it all the way with no one left behind.

"Thank God you figured out how to break through!" Jack was relieved the moment his eyes could see light shining into the dark, cold basement he was bound in.

"Come on up, Jack," Dee reached down her hand to help Jack gain his balance.

"Jack, this is Dee. Dee, this is Jack. You already know the story, but Jack might be interested in knowing yours. I will put on some tea and bake some cookies, Jack—would you like a sandwich? You've got to be starving by now."

Love had showered and was dressed in a stunning dark blue floral dress with red flats. Her hair was still wet, but her wavy curls were forming around her face and made her look like a slice of heaven on earth. Jack couldn't look away from her.

"Hello...? Earth to Jack. Come in, Jack," Love waved her hand in front of his face. He suddenly realized he hadn't responded to the questions she so pleasantly asked him.

"Oh—sorry, I guess I'm so disoriented from being locked in the dark so long. Yes, ma'am, food would be amazing right now. I'm not picky; anything would be better than this empty tummy." Jack pounded on his stomach so hard he nearly knocked the wind out of himself.

"Haha. Careful, Jack. Those hands of yours seem to be trying to kill you," Dee pointed out, a profound truth that even she was shocked by judging the look on her face once the words poured out of her lips.

Love had started walking toward the kitchen but stopped in her tracks after hearing Dee's words.

"Dee! That’s it! That’s the thing. I have been screaming this from every rooftop I could find... yes, Dee! Everyone's hands are trying to kill them. Destroy them. And no one is even recognizing themselves doing these things. It's like the face and the hands are separate entities, and the hands are the only ones who know what's happening. So the face is blaming the people around them while the hands of the same face are doing the things to cause the problems. It's NUTS."

Dee and Jack looked at each other and then back at Love. Their faces were contorted in a way that made them look like the joker on a playing card.

"So. What you are saying, Love, is that we are being deceived by... our... selves?"

"Perhaps not by yourself, but it could be that another self has stepped in and created a veil to hide and divide the two spaces. Jack, I told you the story about where I came from and what happened when our family tried escaping the village seeking a way to repair the land or find new territory. I think that is when this separation occurred, and somehow, the head and the heart, so to speak, were split in two. Our parents were stuck in the head of this place, and we were tasked to get to the heart of the matter. We didn't know then that was the reason, but I believe this is where we are. The heart of existence itself."

Dee was obviously angry. She could usually hide her emotions under the guise of another, less vulnerable one, but when it came to anger, she simply never could control herself.

"Love, that's ridiculous. How in the hell would that even happen? You live in a world that no one here believes in. It’s so annoying."

Jack piped in, a surprise to even himself. "Wait a minute, Dee, you must not have been made aware of the crazy spectacle that happened this morning before a room full of people that had labeled her crazy. Was it not broadcast?"

Jack looked at Love for a response. She was looking down at the ground, stuck in her own world of what he could only assume was defeat. "Love? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Jack. I was thinking about... well, never mind. I should pay more attention to people when they are speaking. It's quite rude of me. Can you please repeat?"

"Does Dee not know about the giants and the events of today?" Jack had moved closer toward her so she could focus on his words and see that he was concerned.

"Umm... I suppose not. I was so busy trying to get you from under the house and freaking out about the mesh boundaries that just reappeared that I forgot about mentioning it."

"Holy sh*t. Love, why don't I help you get some tea, and you just take some time to rest? I am worried about you." Jack really did look concerned. It was unusual for him, and he felt quite uncomfortable sitting in this feeling.

"No, it's fine. But you can tell Dee about what happened today if you don't mind, Jack. I keep making it all about me, and it's obviously getting on everyone's nerves."

"It's not getting on my nerves, but I'll explain. Dee... where'd you go?"

Dee had ventured off to the laundry room and sat Indian style on the floor with a pair of earbuds loudly playing her favorite heavy metal. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be acting as if she had a right to be angry.

Jack was not sure what happened that gave her that right, but he never enjoyed getting in the middle of arguments enough to even ask.

"You know what, she will come around. For now, Love, how about a sandwich?"