But she was too proud to let them see her cry. Crying was for private...not in public.
****
Gemma endured the funeral luncheon, feeling too distant even to relate to his brothers. Most of the people simply talked around her. They were Sam's friends and acquaintances. He had always been the out-going one; she the silent, listening wallflower, preferring to hide away in her garden.
They're just here for the free food, anyway. None of them ever tried, or cared to get to know the real me...
Sam was ever, only, my real encouragement...my support. My one true love.
But still...Gemma wouldn't let them see her weep. After all, she was too self-conscious to ever cry in public.
****
The garage sale was a success. There was little left to do. The house was sold; possession date set for next week.
She had rented an apartment in the city; the movers had already taken off, loaded with the little she felt she would need to survive.
Gemma would follow in the dilapidated pickup truck. When she was done with it, she intended to give it to Bella.
Don't need that memory haunting me.
Bella would never pay her for the vehicle, so it would just be a free gift.
Not a single neighbor had shown up to wish Gemma good luck.
Oh, well. It's as if it was all a daydream. My life with Sam, seems but a nightmare...dream yard gone...others enjoying what we built...
Gemma swallowed the lump in her throat. As she stepped into the cab of the truck, a tiny tear escaped, and travelled unnoticed down her cheek.
Chapter 1
From birth to puberty, Loni lived almost exclusively with his mother. She was of another race, and taught him many things others would not want him to know, but then, they couldn't tell what she was showing him. She was both slave, and free...mind free.
Among the things she taught him was to show mercy, forgiveness, and love; emotions the rest of his world regarded non-essential; conditions totally unfamiliar in their society.
His mother was no more than a child herself, when she gave birth to Loni. Together, they grew up, climbing the catwalks at the top of the dome, watching from above, as the workers tended the gardens that fed them.
Loni never knew his father; he had been eliminated soon after the boy was conceived, and mother, put among the unclaimed, to be taken by another partner, after she delivered.
But somehow, long after the appointed time to separate mother from son, she had managed to avoid detection.
Then the day came, when males entered the birthing quarters, to cull the older ones they had missed, tearing them away from women who had long hidden them to protect them. Most of the children went obediently, but Loni chose to fight.
In the ensuing battle, Loni accidentally knocked over a lamp filled with hot oil. The raging fire spread swiftly; took two days to put out, and when the blackened shell finally cooled, it was realized a number of females, and young infants, had perished.
This was a society in which, to ensure a clean bloodline, baby girls were never allowed to live. Instead, genetically altered women were brought in to bear the young, and the crime of killing one of these, or the males born to them, was unforgivable. Someone must pay!
It was discovered, Loni was to blame!
When they found him, for the first time in his life, the young boy learned the meaning of discipline. First, they used a round, flat, iron skillet, applying it soundly to his posterior, until he could take no more, and begged for mercy.
When his screams had quieted, and turned to mere whimpers, they took him away to the physicians. These brutal beasts held him down, one on either side, and carefully poring acid into the ear channel, intending to deafen him, burned away even the outer ear flap in the process. Loni was now scarred for life.
But, as was stated previously, Loni's mother had taught him many things. He could still understand those around him, every word they said, and...he was aware of many more facts, they would not want him to know. Extraordinary and never anticipated by this race, not admitting such a fact was possible, his people were unaware, Loni was already a telepath.
Upon his recovery, Loni was immediately put among the flawed, to work in the gardens. The youth didn't much mind that work station; he had always loved the growing things, but, from then on, his fellow workers, and the overseers, became a constant affliction in his young life.
****
"You stupid little Flaw!" exclaimed the face, at the grate, peering in at him. "What the devil you doing in there?"
Loni did not dare reveal to the overseer, that he'd spent the night in the drainage tunnel; that the separated twins, Galar and Scar, were responsible, had locked him in.
The pair always worked together to corner him. Even though missing a leg, Galar was quick on his crutch, using his arms to trap, or send his victim close to that one powerful arm Scar had left. Twice Loni's weight, and both, taller than he, the bullies found great pleasure in tormenting the supposed deaf-mute.
With an exaggerated movement, the overseer unlocked from the outside, the barred gate covering the drain tube. Swinging it outward, he motioned for Loni to step out.
"You stupid male, don't you realize you could drowned in there?"
Loni peered around the corner of his prison, not quite ready to accept that his oppressors had finally gone away, half expecting, at least Galar, to be nearby waiting.
"Get you back to the sleep quarters!" impatiently ordered his liberator, with a growl. "And... as your punishment, you'll miss
