Current...Past...Sin...Alexander...Forum...Notes...Survey...D-land

The Unaccounted For Key.
2003-04-09 - 3:51 p.m.

When I arrived back at the school, Ella and Alexander were in the classroom dueling. As I entered, Alexander looked up at me and smiled. I returned the gesture and sat down against the wall to watch both of them duel.

After a short while, they finished, Alexander winning, naturally. I was amazed at his skill; he was beautiful and graceful when fencing as well.

I then remembered that I had forgotten to give back Alexander's key--But where had I put it? A panic overcame me suddenly.

Alexander, noticing my anxiousness, asked, "What is wrong, Sindor?"

"The, I mean, y-your key--I don't remember where I put it," I admitted ashamedly.

Alexander said, "Do not worry, Sindor; we should look for it now, though, but I am sure it is around here somewhere."

I nodded, still feeling terribly clumsy. Alexander, Ella, and I looked all around the areas of the house that I had been in that evening: the kitchen, the classroom, and the entrance hall, but we couldn't find it anywhere. I felt doubly terrible, near tears, in fact.

Alexander held my hands in his and said, trying to calm me down, "Sindor, do not worry, please. Try to remember what exactly you did with the key."

"I� well, you gave it to me upstairs�" I began. "And then I walked downstairs and unlocked the door� Judas was there� I think I left the key in the lock� I saw Henmi and Adhemar coming so I forgot to take it out� Then Judas walked in�" I stopped abruptly. "�He wouldn't have taken it, would he?"

Ella said, "I would not put it past him, Sindor."

"I-I'm so sorry, Alexander!" I looked to the floor, feeling my tears threatening to spill. When had I become this clumsy, I asked myself? I had always been so aware of little things like that before Alexander had come to me, when I had been a thief. But now, it was different.

Alexander held me in his arms for a moment and said, "Shh� It is not your fault if he did take it. I will get it back, Sindor, so do not worry."

I nodded, but still felt extremely guilty.

Alexander turned to Ella and said, "We should probably go get your coffin, Ella. You should sleep upstairs where you can be hidden, rather than in the basement."

Ella nodded. "We can go feed while we are out as well."

Alexander said to me, "You stay here, Sindor. We will be back soon."

I nodded, watching the both of them exit the school in haste. I still felt terrible, so I staggered up the stairs and into our bedroom, laying down on our bed and crying.

A while later, I heard Ella and Alexander arrive back at home, dragging the coffin in with them. I heard them bring it upstairs and into Ella's bedroom. After they exchanged a few words, Alexander left Ella in her bedroom and came into ours.

"Sindor?" I heard him say from the doorway.

I stifled a sob and hid my face in my arms.

He walked over to me and pulled me into a sitting position and hugged me tightly. "It is not your fault, Sindor� Please do not feel bad�"

"But it is my fault!" I cried.

"Shh�" Alexander soothed. "I told you, everything will be alright. You do not need to worry. I promise, Sindor, I will get it back, and then we will have nothing to worry about�"

I nodded, not feeling any better, knowing that I had put our whole family at risk by my clumsiness.

Later in the evening, Alexander carried me to our coffin and laid me down inside. He followed me in, and then closed the closet doors. We slept in our coffin inside the closet that evening.

When I awoke in the evening, I remembered that I had promised to visit Henmi, so I told Alexander, who was still a bit sleepy, that I was going to the tavern but that I'd be back soon.

It took little time to arrive at the tavern.

I thought I might try going in the back door instead of the front door, so I walked around to the back and knocked softly on the door. Adhemar answered it immediately.

He blinked in surprise. "Arnon. Oh--You were coming over tonight, weren't you? Well, come in, then. But try to be quiet, alright? Henmi is still sleeping."

I nodded and I entered through the back door, closing the door behind me.

Henmi lay on his back on his bed, his left arm curled around his bear. His face seemed troubled, the dark circles under his eyes more prominent.

"He looks tired�" I mused quietly.

"That is because he was up during the day working," Adhemar whispered back. "I told him not to, but he will not listen."

"Why is he working during the day?" I asked, concerned.

Adhemar sat down next to Henmi on the bed and brushed a few stray locks of hair away from Henmi's face, a look of desperate concern on his face. "He feels that because you are gone, he needs to take all of your work, your responsibilities, and make them his own on top of the work he already has. I try to help him, but he does not want me to. It is as if he feels he must do everything. Why, Arnon?" He looked up at me.

I felt at that point that I knew the answer to this dilemma. "He is scared�" I answered, looking to the ground.

"Why?" Adhemar asked, confused.

"He was afraid of our uncle� so afraid�" I began. "Our uncle was so cruel to Henmi� And when he left us the tavern, Henmi was scared that he'd come back, that he'd hurt Henmi more� And that is why Henmi works too often� He is afraid our uncle will come back and be displeased if he is not working� and he is afraid of what our uncle would do to him if he wasn't working�" I trailed off, looking back up at Adhemar.

Adhemar bit his bottom lip unconsciously, looking slightly angry. "I would never let anyone hurt Henmi."

"You should tell him that," I said.

"Arnon, I don't want him to work any more�" Adhemar said, defeated. "Just look at him; he looks terrible. He's so tired� working so much is hurting him�"

"He won't stop�" I said simply.

Adhemar opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and turned his head toward Henmi, who was rubbing his eyes sleepily. Henmi yawned and opened his eyes.

Adhemar said softly, "Oh, I'm sorry, Henmi� We shouldn't have been so loud�"

Henmi blinked and looked up at me, then back at Adhemar. "Ah--Adhemar, you said you'd get me up when the sun went down!"

"And you said you wouldn't work during the day," Adhemar replied.

Henmi blushed and looked away angrily. "Stop reading my mind�"

Adhemar was silent for a moment, before looking to the ground and saying, " I'm just worried about you� I'm sorry�"

Henmi's angry face softened with understanding as he turned back to Adhemar. "�It's alright, but I should go work now." Henmi pushed off his covers and swung his legs off the bed, but Adhemar moved one of his legs behind Henmi and pulled Henmi closer to him, not letting Henmi get up.

"A-Adhemar, I have to work�" Henmi said.

"Your brother came to see you, Henmi�" Adhemar said softly. "You would put work before your brother?"

Henmi stiffened in Adhemar's arms and looked to the ground, obviously debating whether or not to persist with the argument. A moment later, he sighed and let himself relax in Adhemar's arms. "No� I wouldn't�"

Adhemar turned Henmi's head towards his own and kissed Henmi tenderly before pulling Henmi into a more comfortable position in his arms. "So, Arnon�" Adhemar began. "How goes it at the school?"

I sighed and sat down on my bed across from them. "Alexander gave me his key to open the front door last night for the fencing lessons, but I lost it� or someone took it�" I began. "I left it in the door when I opened it� Did you see the key in the door when you came in, Henmi?"

Henmi shook his head 'no.'

I sighed again and said, "Then it must have been taken. By Judas, most likely� I feel terrible�"

"Don't worry about it, kid. Alexander'll get it back," Adhemar said. "Ah, but that's kind of nostalgic� I used to do that kind of stuff back home�"

Henmi said, surprised, "Stealing?! Adhemar, why?"

"Hey, everyone did it over there," Adhemar said. "Grave-robbing is a hobby in my country."

"Grave-robbing?!" Henmi said. "Adhemar!"

"Yes, lots of people were buried with all of their possessions on them," Adhemar began. "Thousands of years ago, people believed that you needed to be buried with all of you possessions so that you can use them in the afterlife. What nonsense. So people nowadays go to the old tombs and take everything."

Henmi said, "Adhemar--"

"What?" Adhemar asked. "What are they going to do, use the stuff? We could make more use of all of their possessions than they could. They're dead, after all�"

Henmi sighed. I smiled and remembered reading about Egyptian tombs in books when I was a child. When I was little, I didn't believe that people actually did break into the tombs, but hearing Adhemar's account, I changed my mind.

"One time, I went into one of the pyramids with some of my friends," Adhemar said. "It was loaded with interesting stuff." Adhemar held up a necklace that was around his neck and said, "I got this from there. Neat, eh?" The necklace was an amber tooth, attached with black wire to a gold-colored chain. I thought it was interesting, but Henmi seemed not to like the idea of grave-robbing. I did agree with Adhemar, though: What use would the dead have for all those artifacts?

Adhemar dropped the pendant beneath his shirt again, and, noticing Henmi's dislike at the subject, said, "In that pyramid, all the walls were painted with people. Lots of them were of two men standing near to each other, holding each others' hands, like this." Adhemar took Henmi's hand in his own, and Henmi looked up at Adhemar questioningly.

Adhemar continued, "My friends laughed at them, but I thought they were beautiful�"

Henmi stared up into Adhemar's eyes for a moment in silence, before turning away and saying, flustered, "Don't your leaders prevent grave-robbing? It's stealing, after all."

Adhemar began untangling some of the knots in Henmi's hair, and answered, "Not now. But the English explorers who come to Egypt want them to. The English want to make a museum of all the artifacts. My father was an interpreter for the government, so he would tell me about what the French and English people were saying about the tombs. He taught me the languages later, though." Adhemar shrugged. "But anyway� How are you, Arnon?"

I smiled at his efforts to include me in the conversation. "I'm� really worried about the key�"

"Beisdes the key ordeal?" Adhemar asked.

"Besides the key ordeal�" I repeated. "I am� so happy. Alexander has been so good to me for the past few days. So good, that I am slightly suspicious." I laughed softly.

Adhemar smiled. "You shouldn't be; Alexander really loves you�"

"I know," I agreed. "I love him, too. So much�"

We remained silent for a moment, before Adhemar said, "I don't know about anyone else, but I am sort of hungry� I'd better go get something to eat before I get an urge to bite someone I shouldn't�" He nipped Henmi's ear playfully, causing Henmi to yelp in surprise.

I smiled and stood up. "I'll come along. I haven't fed tonight, either."

Adhemar nodded and scooted Henmi off his lap. "You get something to eat, too, alright?"

Henmi nodded, his face flushed from Adhemar's teasing.

I hugged Henmi tightly and said, "I'll see you later, Henmi. The next fencing lesson is the night after tomorrow, so remember to tell Adhemar to bring you over." He nodded as I released him.

Adhemar stood up and kissed Henmi quickly and said, "I'll be back soon, Henmi."

At that, Adhemar and I left the room together through the back door.

It had been such a long time since Adhemar and I had been alone, but I was almost afraid to give Adhemar any kind of affection, as I was afraid that Alexander would be angry with me because of it.

"You seem different, Adhemar," I said. "A little, anyway."

"Really?" he asked. "How so?"

"You seem� tired, or weary maybe�" I answered. "And you're so worried about Henmi."

"I've always been worried about Henmi," Adhemar corrected. "Let's look by the river, alright? There may be someone there�"

"But you seem much more worried," I said, following him. "You seem hurt, too�"

"I just can't stand to see him hurting himself," Adhemar answered. "I try to help him with work, but he usually doesn't want help. And what am I to do about that? He will not allow me to help, so I am forced to sit back and do nothing while he works himself until he can't stay awake anymore. And look at all of us vampires. We do nothing at all! Nothing but kill and steal� While he is working so hard� I can't stand it� I don't want him to work anymore�"

"I want you both to live with us," I said. "Then you and Henmi could do whatever you pleased, and we all could have fun together every night� But�" I sighed.

"�But Alexander will not let us," Adhemar finished, his voice low and slightly sorrowful. "I do not blame him� I should have never gotten so angry at him� It's my fault, kid. But if Henmi continues to deteriorate like this, I would much rather him live with you and not work�"

"But then he wouldn't be with you," I replied. "He wouldn't be happy without you."

"He is annoyed with me now, anyway," Adhemar admitted. "He does not understand why I do not want him to work�" He laughed bitterly. "He is so used to it that he doesn't realize it is harming him."

"I will talk to Alexander," I decided. "And Ella likes you very much, too. She would want you both to live with us, too."

"I miss her�" Adhemar said. "Terribly. I have been thinking of the time we spent traveling together� I do not know what I would have done without her�" He paused for a moment before saying, "Tell her that I miss her, Arnon. That I am thinking of her."

I nodded. "I will."

We did find someone by the river, but only one person, so we shared our prey before dumping the body in the river. Afterwards, we each said goodbye, and that we would see each other later. I returned home to talk to Alexander.

*All the rights to Sindor (the graphics and text included) belong to Leah Jenner. No reproduction or republication without written permission.