Branches Book

BRANCHES

Part 6: AfliYa had never been to the city before. But today was his tenth birthday, which meant he could finally go into the city with his father and go to a Faaatrici. (Faaatrici are wonderful performances actually. A sort of combination between ballet and laser light show, but with more water and Keptarian tenticles.) He and his father boarded the lightrail car when it zoomed into the station and took two seats. A minute or two later a Keptarian woman entered the car. AfliYa thought she was very pretty, but as she got closer, he noticed that she seemed to be hurt, though not too bad. She had marks on her arms and face, and he noticed a wound in the side of her stomach. She looked frustratedly behind her and yelled for some people on the platform. She took a seat as two aliens stumbled onto the bus. There was a human and an another alien that had scales and big eyes that AfliYa had never seen before. Both seemed to be in a worse condition than the pretty Keptarian girl. The two men made their way to seats and slumped into them. The three talked quetly, but the two men didn’t seem to be able to focus well. AfliYa was worried because they seemed hurt. His father told him to stop looking. AfliYa heard the slight hum of the lightrail begin to warm up. The doors to car slipped shut and he knew it was almost time to go to the city. He stood on his knees in his chair and turned around to watch the platform disappear behind them as he left his home sector for the first time. The lightrail began to slide forward slowly. AfliYa stared out the window at the platform and all the people coming and going as he glided slowly past them. Aliens of all shapes and colors and sizes and smells moved in an unending commuting pulse. AfliYa saw three foot tall green aliens with antennas sticking out of their heads. He saw something with six arms and only three feet, that seemed to be talking to be holding two conversations at once. He saw a tall lean alien with a face red like blood and a pair of horns like the ones the baby wagworf Mimi has back on his family's ranch. He saw an alien with no mouth talking to an alien with no ears. He thought it was all beautiful. The lightrail began to pick up speed as it pulled away from the station. As AfliYa’s lightrail car whizzed past the end of the platform he waved goodbye to his home and the people in it for the first time. Then he turned towards the city he was now speeding towards, and what he saw as his first great adventure. The car passed the end of the platform. As it did AfliYa heard a thump, as if something had landed on the roof of the car. He thought nothing of it. He thought he smelled blood.

96