Ratix

…and you thought we were alone.

Somewhere in the dark…

If one were to look at these two ragged figures from afar, they would assume them to be either homeless children or migrant workers who had lived their lives on the street. In fact, both these assumptions were mostly correct.

They were some of the least like siblings you’d ever have found, at least until one knew them well enough. Rory Wrytt had dark auburn colored hair and pale skin that was long and usually pulled into some sort of arrangement behind her head. Strands of her bangs that didn’t fit in the elastic holder hung down by the sides of her cheeks and framed her hazel-green eyes and thin face. She was average height, a bit smaller than most sixteen year olds perhaps but not too noticeably. She was noticeably thin however, and had a worn look about her that didn’t fit her youthful exterior, as though despite her age, she'd seen more than enough for a lifetime. Maybe it was wisdom that shown in her eyes, or maybe a secret, or maybe both. Her brother Joss, who was a year younger than her, looked quite different with his light, rusty-brown hair that hung wavy and short about his forehead and ears and his golden brown skin and dark blue eyes. He was tall for his age and built like a surfer, lean and solid, with a lanky form and a limber gait. But the most noticeable difference was the gleam or youth and life that hung about him in stark contrast to the reserved quiet of his sister. As if the cloud that hung above Rory's head had not yet managed to blot out Joss's sunshine.

Rory and Joss had been wandering from place to place as orphans, workers, and forgotten children ever since Rory’s twelfth birthday.

They didn’t like to think of the “before” because they knew they’d never have it again and they preferred not to think about that whenever it was possible.

So instead they kept on keeping on. As far as they could possibly go from the before was the destination they traveled to, something they had decided upon mutually when Rory was twelve years old and one day.

It was four years later now and they had no idea where they were and were quite happy to know they’d never be able to find their way back. They were sitting in a large transit bus that was thankfully not filled with too many other passengers—a grand total of four with the bus driver making five—and were heading towards the exact place that the bus happened to be traveling. The bus was cold but at least dry which was good for them because it was pouring rain just outside the two-paned glass windows, and they would not have wanted to spend the night wet. They’d done that too many times before.

As the bus rambled on down a dark, wet street towards point B, leaving point A in the deep cold with a new cloud of smog as a parting gift, Rory and Joss sat in silence and waited for morning.