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Reprogrammed: Book One, Chapter Five
Mar

Galaden is talking on and on about something I don't know again. "You see, judging by the torque put behind the work, the trajectory of the object in question…" That is all my mind can take. Even though he is directing this to me, I slow down to walk by Cyeran.
"Do you know what he's talking about?" I ask, confused.
Cyeran only gives me a look and begins complaining again. "They shouldn't be coming with us," he says angrily. But we're the ones following them…
"Uh-huh," I hear Rueka agree in the background. "Really?" Her eyes are fixed on Galaden. She knows she's the only one paying attention.
"Just be glad they brought us with them," I somewhat scold Cyeran after he curses them again.
"We were doing fine on our own!" he growls. I can see a snarl curl his lip. It's when I follow his glare that I know why. Rueka is looking at us.
I see nothing wrong with her. I have actually felt more comfortable since meeting Rueka, especially when she answers my questions and tells me what Galaden means. Her eyes fall on me. "How are we doing?" she asks. There's a strange sound to her voice, and she won't stop glancing at Cyeran.
"Good." I answer, not really knowing what to say. Rueka narrows her eyes. They trail over to Cyeran. His face hardens. The wall goes up again. I can't see any emotion any more. I can only feel safe when I wear the same face. So I do. Rueka's eyes go from Cyeran to me and then back. I guess she finally gives up and goes back to talking with Galaden. Cyeran is done talking though. After staring up at him for a few minutes, I draw into myself again.

How can I know it will be the last time it will rain like this? The water comes down on me, soaking my clothes and washing the dirt from my face. I hear someone walking into the alley. I lean back against the wall, letting the rain fall down the stone into my hair. A person stops in front of me. Without even looking, I know it's Cyeran. A few minutes go by before I look up. He's dripping with the water. I laugh at how he looks like some of the small wet animals that run by every now and then. The rain keeps splashing onto the ground, making tiny happy sounds.
"I hate this rain," Cyeran hisses. I'm hurt. How can he hate it? I like the rain. I feel bad liking it when it makes him upset.
"I like it," I say anyway, laying back. I close my eyes again, listening to the tiny sounds.
"You like everything," he fusses grumpily, stomping over to our shelter. "You're too happy, Mar. You have to hate some things."
I have never liked his attitude. He never likes anything. I just go back to what I was doing, not listening to him again. He curses the rain before sitting down beside me.
He sighs before talking. "You're a waste of my time. Do you know that?" I hear this a lot. It used to make me sad, but it doesn't any more. I don't believe him. I know Cyeran. If he didn't want me around, he could leave me any time and not care. I just keep hoping that he does care. "You have too many emotions. There's no way I can help you when you can't control yourself." My eyes are still closed. I'm glad I can't see his angry face. I guess I should listen to him. He is my brother. He's just so mean sometimes.
While I'm not listening, I slowly feel myself fall asleep…

"Mar!" Cyeran scolds me. I open my eyes. We are way behind Rueka and Galaden, and Cyeran is looking at me angrily. "Daydreaming again," he grumbles, beginning to march off.
"I like my memories," I tell myself, angry at Cyeran, before following after him. Something is going on between Rueka and Galaden. It looks like Rueka is fussing at him about something, but he still looks eager. I run to catch up. I have always loved running. Cyeran and I did it all the time after we took food or clothes. I'll never know why we did. I just thought it was fun.
As soon as I get near them, I can hear Rueka yelling, but I don't know what she's saying. Cyeran is standing there, arms crossed, the same cold look on his face. He gives me a glare to try to get me out of talking to Rueka. I walk over to her anyway. I'm not going to let whatever his problems are get in the way of my talking to Rueka. I step up to her so I can hear her conversation.
"What's wrong?" I ask in the middle of her string of yelling.
She turns to me, her look barely different. I guess she didn't like my barging into her proving her point. "Our friend Galaden here seems to think he can just charge into the town mindlessly without ever scouting the surroundings or the place itself." She gives him a hard look and continues. "I am trying to make him see it is sheer stupidity!"
Galaden doesn't seem angry at all. Actually he looks even more eager. He makes a weird sound almost like a cough before he answers. "The town appears to be nothing near malevolent. The ruins themselves are listless! The solitary route to attain any sense of direction and begin to comprehend this area's decimation and any inhabitants therein is to enter and scour the premises. Perhaps you believe striding about the perimeter a more innocuous option?"
Once again, I completely have no idea what Galaden is saying. Whatever it is, it doesn't make Rueka happy. I swear she starts to shake because she's so angry.
"I can do without your brand of sarcasm." I can see that she is done talking. I guess trying to understand Galaden is even hard work for her. She turns away, maybe trying to keep from hitting him. I've seen Cyeran much angrier, though.
Galaden keeps glancing over at the town, a weird look on his face. "Would you prefer to circumnavigate the area?" He is smiling just a little.
"How you're using words wrongly on purpose!" I guess Rueka understood that. I didn't. Again.
"Oh!" Galaden suddenly shouts, "We should ask him!" He looks really happy about something and is glancing over at the town more than usual. Rueka isn't listening. She's turned away, tapping her foot. I don't know what Galaden is so excited about at first: Galaden gets excited about just about anything. But then I see then man slowly walking on the street of the town. From this distance I can only see a dark shape, which makes me remember the Siphon.
"Galaden…?" I ask slowly, making sure it gets his attention.
It gets Rueka to look, too. She turns and stares at the town. That even gets Cyeran's attention. After looking at Galaden angrily, he turns toward the town.
Rueka's face changes. "Galaden…" she warns, "don't you even—"
He takes off.
"You fool!" she yells after him. I start to get scared, something I've only felt before when I thought Cyeran was going to hit me. Rueka paces back and forth, saying things about Galaden, I guess. I don't think they're very nice.
"What if that's a Siphon?" I ask anyone, staring closely at Galaden. Soon after, I feel Rueka's hand on my shoulder. It's not a very soft comfort – in fact, she almost squeezes my shoulder off but it's the first somewhat gentle touch I've felt for a while.
"She's not a child," Cyeran scolds right as Rueka opens her mouth to say something, "Don't treat her like one." He pushes between the two of us, breaking Rueka's hold on me. As he passes through, Rueka raises her fist, ready to hit him.
During all this, I guess we had forgotten about Galaden and the danger. But now he is running back toward us, the man stumbling slowly behind him. They're close. We must have been distracted a long time. His coming breaks Rueka away from hitting Cyeran, but she turns her furious punch into a gentle backhand across Galaden's face.
"That's for not listening!" she fusses. "Now, who," She glances at the man coming toward us. "or what, is this?"
Now that he's close, I can see that he is not a Bioanim. He doesn't look anything like one of those creatures. "He's one of us," I say quietly, watching the man carefully as he shuffles toward us.
"What's his name?" Rueka asks firmly. She looks at him almost like he makes her sick.
"I have no earthly notion. I could hardly recognize a word he was communicating to me. The sole sound I did extricate was 'Mina.'" Mina. It sounds like a name. As the man comes closer, I hear him whispering it. He's making strange movements with his hands, almost like he's twisting something. He looks sad and – I can't really describe it – broken. His hands and face aren't (how would I say it) tight like ours. It's almost like someone had pulled at his skin until it just stayed where they pulled it. His hair is long and white. In the sun, it looks sort of yellow. All of his hair, even his beard, is scraggly and dirty. His fingers are really skinny and dirty and long. He looks almost like us grown-up street children with how dirty he looks, but old.
I hadn't seen a lot of old people in Gulyen. I saw them come out of their houses every now and then. They would always be almost bent over, someone helping them walk around or would have a stick to help themselves. Because I didn't see them very much, they would shock me. I would watch them, curious. Cyeran would always fuss at me about it. He said I was too curious. He always yelled at me. "You're stupid curiosity is going to kill you someday!" I wouldn't listen to him, like always.
Something about this old man looks different, though. His eyes look deep, but somehow flat, like something is missing. His body isn't bent over, but his head hangs low. His hands still make that weird movement. I look behind him at the town. What could have happened to him there? When I look back at him, I suddenly realize what is different. Old people in Gulyen would look angry sometimes, but never sad.
I step up closer to him. "What's your name?" I can hear Cyeran lunge at me, but I guess the others are holding him back. The old man doesn't know I'm talking to him at first, I guess; but then it's almost like he wakes up. He lets out a laugh like he's crazy. I'm forced to take a step back as he lurches forward and raised his head for the first time.
"It's been so long since anyone has asked me that! Or asked me anything really! Falen, my name is Falen." His scratchy voice fades into a series of giggles. Cyeran finally pulls me back. Since I don't hear any yelling, Rueka must have let him. My eyes stay on the stranger. I want to know more. "Who's Mina?" I ask anyway, pulling away from Cyeran.
His eyes go flat again. He hangs his head. "Mina--" he whispers over and over again. After that, he doesn't say anything else. I've broken him again.
Rueka quickly comes over to Falen and takes him with her, roughly grabbing him by the arm and kind of dragging him behind her. "We'll head toward the town with him and search it out a bit. You two stay her a while," she calls over her shoulder, giving us both warning looks. She probably means for it to scare us into staying. Neither one of us is phased by it.
As soon as they are running toward the town, Cyeran turns me to face him. "What were you doing? When I pull you away, you stay away!" Cyeran is angry, but for the first time, I don't feel like I've disappointed him and need to listen.
"You're just angry because I did something you wouldn't. You're angry because I'm not following you like a child any more." I look him in the eyes, not backing down.
"That isn't why--"
I cut him off before he can finish. "I didn't see you walking up and asking him. Seems like I'm the only brave one," I snap, proud of myself.
Cyeran's face reddens in anger, but he tries to hide why it really is. "The guy's crazy! Didn't you see that? And you start asking him questions! What's wrong with you?!" Any person would think he was worried about me, but I can see right through it. He's only angry, and that's because eh can see he's losing his hold on me.
"When have you ever cared about me? You only do now because I'm not doing everything you say." He opens his mouth to say something, but I keep going. "You've only cared about yourself." Right after, I wish I had never said those words. I can't even look at Cyeran's face.
Rueka's call breaks me away from him, though. They want us to head toward the town. Without looking back at Cyeran, I start walking.
These are my first steps in the right direction, I guess.

Description
Reprogrammed: Book One, Chapter Five
Mar

Galaden is talking on and on about something I don't know again. "You see, judging by the torque put behind the work, the trajectory of the object in question…" That is all my mind can take. Even though he is directing this to me, I slow down to walk by Cyeran.
"Do you know what he's talking about?" I ask, confused.
Cyeran only gives me a look and begins complaining again. "They shouldn't be coming with us," he says angrily. But we're the ones following them…
"Uh-huh," I hear Rueka agree in the background. "Really?" Her eyes are fixed on Galaden. She knows she's the only one paying attention.
"Just be glad they brought us with them," I somewhat scold Cyeran after he curses them again.
"We were doing fine on our own!" he growls. I can see a snarl curl his lip. It's when I follow his glare that I know why. Rueka is looking at us.
I see nothing wrong with her. I have actually felt more comfortable since meeting Rueka, especially when she answers my questions and tells me what Galaden means. Her eyes fall on me. "How are we doing?" she asks. There's a strange sound to her voice, and she won't stop glancing at Cyeran.
"Good." I answer, not really knowing what to say. Rueka narrows her eyes. They trail over to Cyeran. His face hardens. The wall goes up again. I can't see any emotion any more. I can only feel safe when I wear the same face. So I do. Rueka's eyes go from Cyeran to me and then back. I guess she finally gives up and goes back to talking with Galaden. Cyeran is done talking though. After staring up at him for a few minutes, I draw into myself again.

How can I know it will be the last time it will rain like this? The water comes down on me, soaking my clothes and washing the dirt from my face. I hear someone walking into the alley. I lean back against the wall, letting the rain fall down the stone into my hair. A person stops in front of me. Without even looking, I know it's Cyeran. A few minutes go by before I look up. He's dripping with the water. I laugh at how he looks like some of the small wet animals that run by every now and then. The rain keeps splashing onto the ground, making tiny happy sounds.
"I hate this rain," Cyeran hisses. I'm hurt. How can he hate it? I like the rain. I feel bad liking it when it makes him upset.
"I like it," I say anyway, laying back. I close my eyes again, listening to the tiny sounds.
"You like everything," he fusses grumpily, stomping over to our shelter. "You're too happy, Mar. You have to hate some things."
I have never liked his attitude. He never likes anything. I just go back to what I was doing, not listening to him again. He curses the rain before sitting down beside me.
He sighs before talking. "You're a waste of my time. Do you know that?" I hear this a lot. It used to make me sad, but it doesn't any more. I don't believe him. I know Cyeran. If he didn't want me around, he could leave me any time and not care. I just keep hoping that he does care. "You have too many emotions. There's no way I can help you when you can't control yourself." My eyes are still closed. I'm glad I can't see his angry face. I guess I should listen to him. He is my brother. He's just so mean sometimes.
While I'm not listening, I slowly feel myself fall asleep…

"Mar!" Cyeran scolds me. I open my eyes. We are way behind Rueka and Galaden, and Cyeran is looking at me angrily. "Daydreaming again," he grumbles, beginning to march off.
"I like my memories," I tell myself, angry at Cyeran, before following after him. Something is going on between Rueka and Galaden. It looks like Rueka is fussing at him about something, but he still looks eager. I run to catch up. I have always loved running. Cyeran and I did it all the time after we took food or clothes. I'll never know why we did. I just thought it was fun.
As soon as I get near them, I can hear Rueka yelling, but I don't know what she's saying. Cyeran is standing there, arms crossed, the same cold look on his face. He gives me a glare to try to get me out of talking to Rueka. I walk over to her anyway. I'm not going to let whatever his problems are get in the way of my talking to Rueka. I step up to her so I can hear her conversation.
"What's wrong?" I ask in the middle of her string of yelling.
She turns to me, her look barely different. I guess she didn't like my barging into her proving her point. "Our friend Galaden here seems to think he can just charge into the town mindlessly without ever scouting the surroundings or the place itself." She gives him a hard look and continues. "I am trying to make him see it is sheer stupidity!"
Galaden doesn't seem angry at all. Actually he looks even more eager. He makes a weird sound almost like a cough before he answers. "The town appears to be nothing near malevolent. The ruins themselves are listless! The solitary route to attain any sense of direction and begin to comprehend this area's decimation and any inhabitants therein is to enter and scour the premises. Perhaps you believe striding about the perimeter a more innocuous option?"
Once again, I completely have no idea what Galaden is saying. Whatever it is, it doesn't make Rueka happy. I swear she starts to shake because she's so angry.
"I can do without your brand of sarcasm." I can see that she is done talking. I guess trying to understand Galaden is even hard work for her. She turns away, maybe trying to keep from hitting him. I've seen Cyeran much angrier, though.
Galaden keeps glancing over at the town, a weird look on his face. "Would you prefer to circumnavigate the area?" He is smiling just a little.
"How you're using words wrongly on purpose!" I guess Rueka understood that. I didn't. Again.
"Oh!" Galaden suddenly shouts, "We should ask him!" He looks really happy about something and is glancing over at the town more than usual. Rueka isn't listening. She's turned away, tapping her foot. I don't know what Galaden is so excited about at first: Galaden gets excited about just about anything. But then I see then man slowly walking on the street of the town. From this distance I can only see a dark shape, which makes me remember the Siphon.
"Galaden…?" I ask slowly, making sure it gets his attention.
It gets Rueka to look, too. She turns and stares at the town. That even gets Cyeran's attention. After looking at Galaden angrily, he turns toward the town.
Rueka's face changes. "Galaden…" she warns, "don't you even—"
He takes off.
"You fool!" she yells after him. I start to get scared, something I've only felt before when I thought Cyeran was going to hit me. Rueka paces back and forth, saying things about Galaden, I guess. I don't think they're very nice.
"What if that's a Siphon?" I ask anyone, staring closely at Galaden. Soon after, I feel Rueka's hand on my shoulder. It's not a very soft comfort – in fact, she almost squeezes my shoulder off but it's the first somewhat gentle touch I've felt for a while.
"She's not a child," Cyeran scolds right as Rueka opens her mouth to say something, "Don't treat her like one." He pushes between the two of us, breaking Rueka's hold on me. As he passes through, Rueka raises her fist, ready to hit him.
During all this, I guess we had forgotten about Galaden and the danger. But now he is running back toward us, the man stumbling slowly behind him. They're close. We must have been distracted a long time. His coming breaks Rueka away from hitting Cyeran, but she turns her furious punch into a gentle backhand across Galaden's face.
"That's for not listening!" she fusses. "Now, who," She glances at the man coming toward us. "or what, is this?"
Now that he's close, I can see that he is not a Bioanim. He doesn't look anything like one of those creatures. "He's one of us," I say quietly, watching the man carefully as he shuffles toward us.
"What's his name?" Rueka asks firmly. She looks at him almost like he makes her sick.
"I have no earthly notion. I could hardly recognize a word he was communicating to me. The sole sound I did extricate was 'Mina.'" Mina. It sounds like a name. As the man comes closer, I hear him whispering it. He's making strange movements with his hands, almost like he's twisting something. He looks sad and – I can't really describe it – broken. His hands and face aren't (how would I say it) tight like ours. It's almost like someone had pulled at his skin until it just stayed where they pulled it. His hair is long and white. In the sun, it looks sort of yellow. All of his hair, even his beard, is scraggly and dirty. His fingers are really skinny and dirty and long. He looks almost like us grown-up street children with how dirty he looks, but old.
I hadn't seen a lot of old people in Gulyen. I saw them come out of their houses every now and then. They would always be almost bent over, someone helping them walk around or would have a stick to help themselves. Because I didn't see them very much, they would shock me. I would watch them, curious. Cyeran would always fuss at me about it. He said I was too curious. He always yelled at me. "You're stupid curiosity is going to kill you someday!" I wouldn't listen to him, like always.
Something about this old man looks different, though. His eyes look deep, but somehow flat, like something is missing. His body isn't bent over, but his head hangs low. His hands still make that weird movement. I look behind him at the town. What could have happened to him there? When I look back at him, I suddenly realize what is different. Old people in Gulyen would look angry sometimes, but never sad.
I step up closer to him. "What's your name?" I can hear Cyeran lunge at me, but I guess the others are holding him back. The old man doesn't know I'm talking to him at first, I guess; but then it's almost like he wakes up. He lets out a laugh like he's crazy. I'm forced to take a step back as he lurches forward and raised his head for the first time.
"It's been so long since anyone has asked me that! Or asked me anything really! Falen, my name is Falen." His scratchy voice fades into a series of giggles. Cyeran finally pulls me back. Since I don't hear any yelling, Rueka must have let him. My eyes stay on the stranger. I want to know more. "Who's Mina?" I ask anyway, pulling away from Cyeran.
His eyes go flat again. He hangs his head. "Mina--" he whispers over and over again. After that, he doesn't say anything else. I've broken him again.
Rueka quickly comes over to Falen and takes him with her, roughly grabbing him by the arm and kind of dragging him behind her. "We'll head toward the town with him and search it out a bit. You two stay her a while," she calls over her shoulder, giving us both warning looks. She probably means for it to scare us into staying. Neither one of us is phased by it.
As soon as they are running toward the town, Cyeran turns me to face him. "What were you doing? When I pull you away, you stay away!" Cyeran is angry, but for the first time, I don't feel like I've disappointed him and need to listen.
"You're just angry because I did something you wouldn't. You're angry because I'm not following you like a child any more." I look him in the eyes, not backing down.
"That isn't why--"
I cut him off before he can finish. "I didn't see you walking up and asking him. Seems like I'm the only brave one," I snap, proud of myself.
Cyeran's face reddens in anger, but he tries to hide why it really is. "The guy's crazy! Didn't you see that? And you start asking him questions! What's wrong with you?!" Any person would think he was worried about me, but I can see right through it. He's only angry, and that's because eh can see he's losing his hold on me.
"When have you ever cared about me? You only do now because I'm not doing everything you say." He opens his mouth to say something, but I keep going. "You've only cared about yourself." Right after, I wish I had never said those words. I can't even look at Cyeran's face.
Rueka's call breaks me away from him, though. They want us to head toward the town. Without looking back at Cyeran, I start walking.
These are my first steps in the right direction, I guess.