Tusktaker's Secret Part 19

“Thomas…”

“Thomas, when are you going to stop sleeping?”

Thomas opened his eyes. He was lying on the living room sofa, his head resting on Lorka’s lap. She smiled as he looked up at her. The young orcess was holding a small yellow book in her hands. Lorka must have been reading while he was asleep.

“Hey…how long was I out?” he said as he rubbed his eyes.

“About two hours. You were having a nightmare. You kept tossing and turning.”

Thomas sighed and closed his eyes again. It had been a particularly bad dream. But at least he was with Lorka. He smiled as he pressed his cheek against her soft thighs.

“Are you okay?” She asked concern clear on her face.

“I just missed this, that’s all.” He said with a content sigh.

She laughed. “Missed this? You’ve been with me the whole time.”

“I know I just…You know what? It isn’t important. We’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

He looked over at the book she was reading. The King in Yellow, by Robert Chambers. It was an anthology; the first half being macabre horror stories and the second half being mostly romance. Such an odd book. The first four tales were threaded together by a supernatural entity, the eponymous King of Yellow.

“Which story are you on?” He asked.

“Just finished the Repairer of Reputations. It was pretty good. I saw the twist coming a mile away, but it was fun reading a story with a skewed narrative.”

“Yeah, it’s my favorite out of the King in Yellow tales.”

“Did you read the romance stories too?”

“I did but, they just didn’t feel the same. And honestly, I really didn’t like The Demoiselle d'Ys. That story was too sad for me.”
“Why not? It was very well written.”

“I know it’s just…romance should have a happy ending. Tragic romance just isn’t as fulfilling to me as a romance with two people working together against the odds to be together.”

Lorka laughed “Sounds familiar doesn’t it?”

Thomas sat up and smiled. “Yeah, I guess it does, doesn’t it.” He leaned in for a kiss and then…

The front door splintered off the hinges. Lorka and Thomas both jumped to their feet startled by the sudden noise.
Jor’ak strode into the living room, covered in war paint and blood, a large ax hanging off his back. He snorted as he looked down with contempt at Thomas.

“She isn’t yours human. She belongs with her clan.”

Thomas tried to say something but he couldn’t. He put his hands around his neck in confusion as he tried to speak but nothing came out. It was like his vocal chords were paralyzed.

Jor’ak snorted. “Pathetic. He can’t even defend his Aru’ka. What a waste of flesh.”

He motioned to his daughter. “C’mon Lorka, we need to go.”

Lorka turned to her humie lover. “Just say something, anything, and I’ll stay with you.” She pleaded, her red eyes glimmering as tears begin to form.

He tried to say something but nothing would come out. He tried to tell her that he was wrong, that he didn’t want her to leave but he couldn’t speak.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Her clothes melted away, revealing her hunting attire. Her face was painted in the same war paint as her father’s, and the heartbroken look on her face was replaced with cold resolve. “You were right dad. Let’s go.” She said.

The two vanished into thin air. Thomas was alone, still trying to speak. Still trying to get his Aru’ka to stay…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

	Thomas gasped as he awoke, his alarm clock blaring in his ear. He gave it a caustic look before grabbing the damn thing and throwing it into the wall. He’d been having dreams like this ever since he broke up with Lorka. It had been digging into his sleep. Still sleep deprived or not, he needed to get his shit together and head to school.

After taking a shower and eating breakfast, it was time for him to leave for school. His mother wasn’t in the house. She must have gone to work early. Thomas knew she had a new client that needed help setting up a business in the city. He double-checked his bag and grabbed his keys before heading out the door.

Thomas made it just in time for first period. He saw Lorka take her seat near the front of the class. He still saw her every day. The two hadn’t spoken since that night. He’d managed to convince his teachers to move them to new seats. The school had survived its fair share of breakups. The staff quickly learned to keep ex-lovers separated after a particularly violent incident involving a Golden Dragon. Some of the buildings still had visible scorch marks. Really though, Thomas knew Lorka wouldn’t hurt him. He just didn’t want to see that look on her face again…

First period came and went. Then second. Then after a while it was time for lunch. Thomas had made a couple friends since he started going out with Lorka. She’d encouraged him to find his own niche in the school instead of just relying on her. But he’d been avoiding them lately. He really didn’t want to be around people. Not right now. Besides, he wasn’t really close enough with any of them to explain the situation without feeling awkward. So here he was, tucked away in the quiet corner of an unoccupied classroom thumbing his way through a well-worn copy of Watership Down. He had to wonder what Loni, Rakka, and Lorka were up to. Hell, he even kind of missed Nerada. Thomas shook his head as he thought about it. Dwelling on this wasn’t going to make it any easier. He sighed as the bell for next period rang.
The rest of school seemed to drag on forever until it was finally time for English. Ms. Nowi, the particularly dispassionate Sahaguin was going on and on about classical proses and sentence structure. Thomas tried to care, but honestly he just wanted today to be over.  He kept stealing glances at Lorka in between doodling on his notebook paper. She didn’t seem to be paying attention either. He wondered what she was thinking.

Mercifully, the final bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Thomas sighed as he loaded his notebook into his backpack and walked to the school gym to change into some shorts. One thing Thomas had kept up with was his workout program. Lorka wasn’t there to oversee it of course, but he still had the schedule. It gave him something to do. Sometimes, it made him forget about his problems when he was in the middle of a run.  After about 20 minutes of walking/running, his lungs were beginning to burn. He’d almost gotten to the point of being able to run 3 miles. As he ran the last stretch, he looked up on the hill to see a green figure with black hair observing him. Before he could get a better look, it disappeared. Weird. Was someone watching? Or was it just his imagination?

After the run, Thomas made it home without incident and began preparing dinner for his mother. Just a little casserole. Something he could crank out quickly. He could at least play some vidya while he waited for it to cook. He popped out his old copy of Super Fighting Mecha Titans 5-Full Metal. He played through the arcade mode flawlessly, perfecting 5 matches. He just needed one more to complete his run.
Humun S vs Virago: “Win or Lose, Blaze with Fighting Spirit!” Ha, Virago! He’d studied all of her techniques after Lorka trashed him. The two had a more or less 50/50 Win ratio at this point. Thomas should be able to crush her easily, especially since she was just an AI opponent. But the whole time he was distracted. It didn’t feel right. He kept thinking of what Lorka would do in certain situations. Before he knew it, he was at half health. “Damn, am I really this rusty?” he muttered. He missed his window for his Giga Atlas Suplex and by then it was over. Virago gave her signature bow and Thomas angrily turned off the console. It was time for him to check on dinner anyway.

Thomas just popped casserole out of the oven when his mom stepped into the house.

“Hey sweetie!” She kissed him on the forehead before going to the fridge and pulling out a jug of sweet tea.

“So how was school?”

“Meh, not the worst day I’ve had.” He said.

“Oh don’t be so glum, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad!”

“So how was work?” He asked, trying to change the subject.

“Well, we were helping relocate a mu-onna and her husband to the city.”

“Mu-onna huh? Those are rare right?”

“Yeah. She needed help on setting up a seamstress job. They don’t exactly have the best reputations, what with the whole not having a face thing. Hard to do business when your customers get weirded out just by looking at you.”

“Will she be okay?”

“Oh yeah, she’ll be fine. I just needed to help talk to a couple of landlords and start putting out ads for employees. Her stuff is great! I bought this beautiful silk kimono from her.”

His mother’s face lit up as he sat a plate of casserole in front of her. “Mmmm, that smells really good, honey. Your cooking’s the best. “He found himself smiling at her compliment. He really missed her. Having her back was a godsend.

The two ate quietly, Thomas’s mom occasionally pestering him about school. She told him she was dating a man she met on the job. He was happy for her. It’d been years since Dad died. He really hoped she was happy with this new guy.

After they finished eating, Thomas sat the dishes in the sink and made his way to the living room. His mother was lazily flicking through channels on the TV.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed.” Thomas told her.

“It’s pretty early. Are you sure you want to turn in now?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t really want to be awake right now. But sleep doesn’t sound that much better.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I had a dream about Lorka this morning. It was really bad.” He admitted.

She patted the seat next to her. “C’mere, let’s talk about it.”

“So tell me, what happened.”

“I dreamed we were together again. And everything felt so right. Then he dad appeared and took her away, and I couldn’t stop him.”
“You miss her a lot, don’t you baby?”

“Yeah. I really do. I’m sure things have cooled off with her dad since we broke up. I just hope she makes it to college. She’s really smart, Mom. I’d be shocked if she didn’t pick up a couple scholarships. She’s better off without me.”

Thomas’s mom was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “Thomas, from everything you’ve told me about Lorka, do you really think losing you would make her happy?”

“What do you mean?”

“Thomas, I don’t think you broke up with Lorka because you were giving her a better future or keeping her family together. Those are just excuses. I think you broke up with her because you were afraid.”

“That’s not true at all! Jor’ak is really strong and intimidating but I did it to make her happy! I’m not afraid of him!”

“I’m not talking about Jor’ak, honey. I think you’re afraid of not being good enough for her.”

“That's not true at all, Mom!"

“Then why do you keep talking about the break up like you were some great burden on Lorka?”

Thomas didn’t say anything.

“You need to stop being so hard on yourself. You aren’t some kind of weight around people’s necks Thomas. Lorka clearly cares about you; otherwise she wouldn’t have been so upset when you broke up with her.” His mother sighed. “I don’t understand why you’re like this.
There’s nothing wrong with you, Thomas."

“You know why, Mom.”

Her lips creased into a small frown. “You can’t keep beating yourself up over what happened to your father.”

Thomas gritted his teeth. That was the last thing he wanted to talk about with his mom. “I really don’t want to discuss this anymore.”
She grabbed him by the arm as he tried to walk out of the room, giving him her patented guilt inducing stare. “I think you should talk to her, Thomas. Even if you don’t get back together, you should air out your feelings.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Just try, sweetie. I’m not saying you have to do it immediately, but it’s something you need to do.”

“Okay, Mom.” Thomas said quietly as he returned her hug. She was right, he knew it. But he didn’t know how he could face Lorka after what he did. Thomas thought he could distance himself from this situation and it would get easier, but more time passed, the worse he felt.
After saying good night, Thomas climbed the stairs to his room and flopped onto his bed. He had been trying to keep Lorka out of his thought, but he’d ended up worrying about her for most of the day. He missed her a lot. Hopefully, she was happy. She was a strong person. He was sure she was already over him.

“I just hope Lorka is happy” He whispered to himself.