Sun Stealer. Walking In Circles (7 page)

             
“How do you do it?” he asked me as he touched the tiger.

             
“Same way you do it”, I smiled at him.

             
There was no easy way to do it and there was no point on dragging it any further so I just asked him.

             
“Do you remember Saphid?”

             
“Who?” he wondered with a smile.

             
“Saphid, your little tiger. Do you remember Shadea?” I kept asking.

             
“Almas, what are you talking about?” he laughed, “Are you drunk?”

             
“Do you remember how I used to sing to you when you cried ‘Leo, my little baby, my king…’” I asked with tears.

             
“What is going on here? Who are you?” he mumbled.

             
“I am your mother”, I whispered.

             
“What?” He fell on ground and scared the tiger, “Get away from me!” he cried.

             
“It’s okay Leo, he will not hurt you. You are a wild one. You are a descendant of the hidden land of Anomaly. You are not alone Leo, we are all here and we are immortals just like you”, I cried

             
“Stop calling me Leo! You are not my mother! You are a liar! Liar!” he cried.

             
“But I am not, my love. I am sorry about the pain I am causing you but you need to learn about the truth. You were stolen from me by Sia, your grandmother. I searched everywhere for you! For years, I have walked around with a huge hole in my heart. A hole that could have never been filled. A mother cannot live without her child. You have a family who loves you Leo. You don’t have to be by yourself anymore!”

             
I reached my arms to hug him but he just pushed me away. We were both crying for a moment until he just took off and ran away from me. I fell to the ground and cried my heart out as I haven’t cried for years and I wasn’t sure whether it was a cry of sorrow or relief. The wild cats came closer to me and roared aloud in solidarity.

             
“Give him time, Almas”, Leonard tried to encourage me.

             
We were outside feeding the hungry cats and dogs. It was an early morning hour and I was exhausted from the long night at the zoo.

             
“I don’t know Leonard… you should have seen him. He was terrified! He looked at me with contempt”.

             
“Almas, we don’t know what his grandmother was feeding him throughout the years. It is not easy to find out everything you had believed in was a lie”, he tried to cheer me up, “At least you found him and you know that he is well and safe”.

             
“Yes, that’s true. Years of emptiness have come to their end. So tell me this my love, how come I still feel that hole in my heart? What do I need to do to make it go away?” I cried.

             
I sat on his lap for a long hour and just cried. That was our custom ritual, one we have practiced so well over the years. Every now and then, I allowed my self to break down to pieces and he gladly picked them up and tried to make a happier puzzle out of them. There was nothing this man couldn’t contain and for that, I would forever be grateful to him.

             
“I remember”, I heard a quiet voice coming from behind.

             
That was Leo, my son. He was standing right behind me. I was still outside, playing with my animals, when Leonard decided to give me some time alone and went inside the house.

             
“You talked to Sia?” I asked him.

             
“I didn’t have to. I remember your voice. I remember how you sang to me. I remembered it the first time I saw you”, he explained.

             
“You did?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

             
“I have always wondered about my past. I was having visions and my grandmother had never given me answers when I turned to her. The experience we had at the zoo brought everything back to surface”, he explained.

             
“Do you remember your father, The beast?” I asked with joy.

             
“The beast is my father?” he wondered.

             
“Yes. Yes he is and he will be thrilled to learn you are alive!” I jumped with joy.

             
“Almas…” my son hesitated.

             
“What is it Leo?”

             
“The beast… I once saw him at my grandmother’s house”, he said.

             
“Are you saying your father knows his mother is alive?” my heart pounded.

             
“I recognized his face from the news. When I asked my grandmother about him, she said he was there as a part of his campaign but I didn’t buy it. A candidate as himself has nothing to look for in the valley”, he explained.

             
“Do you think he knows about you?” I feared his answer.

             
“I don’t know”, he whispered and stared at the ground.

             
“Well, there is only one way to find out”, I smiled at him but he didn’t react to me, “What is it, Leo? You don’t wish to meet with your father?” I gently petted his cheek.

             
“There is something you need to know”, he looked into my eyes, “It is about The beast and the system”.

              We both sat down on the ground.

             
“We are all aware of the new election’s system. People are elected through social networks and their popularity is measured by it. But what people don’t know is that not all of the numbers are real and not all of the profiles exist. The system fakes them to its own benefit. They promote the ones they are interested in and erase the ones they don’t. If somebody they are not interested in manages to gain a lot of supporters and fame points they simply take him down”.

             
“Take him down?” I wondered.

             
“Steal his identity…” he whispered with fear.

             
“So these crimes are committed by our own authorities?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

             
“They believe that in order to preserve someone on top, they need to keep all the others at the bottom. They decide who will be in front and who will be in the back. And it is very easy to achieve that. Twenty years ago, people voluntarily shared their private information. They used to treasure almost everything through smart technology and the network. The system collected it for years and now humanity’s privacy is just a vague utopia we once used to have”, he explained.

             
“So no matter how hard we try, somebody is pulling the wires back stage. Somebody has a complete control over our lives”, I stated.

             
“What is worse is that nobody even dare to question the system and not due to fear but due to lack of time or interest. The system is very smart and they achieve their goals simply by attracting the attention of the masses. They promise them fame and success is just around the corner, all they need is that number of supporters, be part of that kind of circles, have a certain look and it’s theirs. So one can spend his entire life by following someone he admires, thinking one day he will get there while all along he was just feeding the system. We are not living our lives the way we desire, we are just a channel that the system live through. Take all the documenters for example; they spent hours on documenting, hoping one day they will get the story that will promote them and give them the life they want. Their actions include violating the law and snitching to the system. The evidences they provide can doom one’s destiny. Only their documentations are far from reflecting reality”.

             
“Walking in circles…” I mumbled to myself.

             
“What did you say?” Leo wondered.

             
“Before you were born, we had a little witch named Sia, who used to play with people’s life. She used to document by drawing symbols over the walls. You know that witch very well my love, you were also a tool in her sick game. These days the witch turned into the system, and the drawing turned into documenting. They both do the exact same thing; play with people’s lives and rewriting history. So how do we do it? How do we break the cycle?” I wondered aloud.

             
“I know the system from within Almas. There is not much we can do…” he said with sadness.

             
“Why did you join them Leo? I am not judging you my love, I just need to understand…” I asked him gently.

             
“My grandmother told me, the system might uncover us and that I can protect us from within. She always said ‘if you can’t beat them join them’. I didn’t wish to spend my life in labs, which desire to study immortality. I thought it was just the two of us in the world”, he explained.

             
“It’s okay my love, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You have your family with you. I just need to find a way…” I thought aloud, “What if… what if we use their own method? What if we continue their own story line just so we could change its ending?” I offered.

             
“What do you mean, Almas?” he was confused.

             
“It’s Simple. They create a distraction? We create one of our own. They steal identities? We steal back!”

             
“Steal?” he wondered.

             
“Well, I have been accused of worse. They do call me ‘Sun Stealer’ for a reason”, I winked at him.

             
“Sun Stealer”, Leo smiled and paused for a moment, “My grandmother always used to tell me the story of the Sun Stealer. The story about the young warrior with the spirit of a tiger, who never left without a fight. She used to be my hero. I never thought she was real. I never dared to believe she was my mother”, he said without looking. He didn’t want me to notice he was tearing.

             
“You are my hero Leo”, I whispered with tears in my eyes.

             
“Dark beast has another press conference this afternoon”, I informed Leo and Leonard.

             
Both of my beloved men were sitting at the parlor, getting to know each other. I told my son he could trust Leonard, that he was the only one who knew my secret.

             
“This time I will definitely need my red dress”, I smiled at Leonard, “I need to see his first expression once he notices I am standing near our son”.

             
“Just remember he may not know anything and this could be shocking for him so please be gentle, Almas”, Leonard asked me.

              “Hey, that’s the skinny geek we found online!” Diamond entered the house.

             
“Leo, please meet our sweet guest, Diamond, who doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut”, I smiled at him.

             
“Leo? Wasn’t his name Liam?” she wondered.

             
“Yes… yes it was. Liam is his stage name…” I tried to explain without arousing her suspicion.

             
“Oh, speaking of stage names, mine is Diamond. I used to be a big singer until my identity was stolen. Do you think you could help me with that? You work for the system right?” she asked him.

             
“Not now Diamond! We need to get to the city”, I got out of my bedroom.

             
“Look at you, all dressed up. You allow her to walk around like that in the city of sins?” she turned to Leonard who couldn’t stop laughing.

             
“Goodbye Diamond!” I shouted with a smile and waved at Leonard.

             
“Goodbye and good luck!” Leonard blessed us.

              The place was packed and we couldn’t move. Leo and I tried to push ourselves to front raw so we could grab Dark beast’s attention.

             
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to begin”, the host announced and the hustle slowly faded out at the auditorium.

             
First came to the stage, my dear friend Kujo followed by some guards and after a long moment of anticipation he finally arrived. Dark beast, my love, the father of my child, he took the stage with all his glory.