Lost Haven - The Scars of the Past

Jaelyn sat up on the couch as she heard the front door to the penthouse buzz open. Blinking sleepily, she glanced at her wristwatch. The glowing watch face informed her that it was nine-thirty at night. Jae yawned and rubbed at her eyes, pondering when exactly she’d fallen asleep on the couch. Jae winced as the overly brilliant white lights flashed on underneath of her mother’s casual touch.

Blinking the spots out of her eyes, Jae turned her head towards her mother. Tig’nara Hart was beautiful by both human and Tieran standards. Jae tucked her chin into the fluffy pillows that crowded the tasteful sofa, her aqua eyes blinking sleepily. Tig’nara Hart stood six feet and two inches in height without her posh Jimmy Choo heels. At a glance it was easy to mistake Tig’nara for a human female. In truth, the Tierans had chosen to immigrate to Earth due to the similarities in their biology to humans. Tig’nara shared the same curves and valleys in her body as her human counterparts. She bore two legs, two arms, two eyes, a mouth and nose just like a human. In contrast, her ears, one on either side of her skull just like a human, were pointed much like a Christmas elf’s ears. Not that one would really notice Tig’nara’s pointed ears from beneath the voluminous waves of curls that swung down Tig’nara’s back and ended at the back of her knees. Tig’nara’s hair would be called ‘blonde’ by human standards, but Tieran hair seemed shaded with multi-facets, like a well cut gem. Tig’nara’s hair shone gold, white, silver, orange, and even burnt red depending on the way the woman was moving. Her eyes were feline in shape but unlike a human, Tig’nara had no pupil. Instead her eyes were a solid turquoise shade that glowed with an eerie otherworldliness.

Jae’s own eyes were human in nature, just like her absentee father’s she assumed. She had pupils much like a human and only the iris’s strange aqua blue shade hinted to her half extraterrestrial nature. Her body was petite in comparison to her mother’s, barely breaking past the five foot five mark.

Jae watched with silent reverence as her mother sorted through some loose papers in a file, her features pinched with concentration. Tierans were notorious for their disdain for showing emotions. To the common eye, Tig’nara’s face would have seemed as calm and blank, but Jae had learned to notice the slight crease in her mother’s lower lip and the fine wrinkles forming in the corners of her mother’s eyes from hours of frowning. Jae had overheard other Tierans tutting over her mother’s blatant facial expressions, complaining that Tig’nara had spent too many years among the humans and was picking up their bad habits. Jae disagreed. She found it comforting to be able to read the tension and frustration in her mother’s subtle facial expressions.

“Good evening Ambassador,” Jae yawned, uncurling her limbs like a cat as she moved off of the sofa. Tig’nara turned her head towards her daughter, a slight upwards tilt in the corner of one full lip telling Jae that Tig’nara was pleased to see her. Tig’nara nodded her head in a silent greeting and returned to shuffling through the folder in her hands. Jae leaned her hip against the back of the couch, her eyes moving over her mother in silent questioning. The moment drew out like a heavy sigh until the tension prickled at Jae.

“You’re home late,” she murmured, wrapping her long arms around her waist. Tig’nara bobbed her head in another silent acknowledgement. Jae worried her lower lip with her teeth, waiting for her mother to speak. The tense lines were forming on her mother’s face again as Jae watched her sort halfheartedly through the capacious file.

“I had to call an emergency meeting with the Tieran Council,” Tig’nara finally answered Jae’s unvoiced question. Tig’nara drew a long, fine boned hand to her brow and rubbed at the taut, honey colored skin. Jae hadn’t inherited her mother’s naturally golden colored skin, but instead had a pale, moon kissed complexion. Jae watched silently as her mother’s face twisted with turmoil.

“Did this emergency meeting have anything to do with Robert Garrick being released from jail tomorrow?” Jae murmured in a low voice, the accusation clear in her tone. Tig’nara’s fingers tightened perceptively around the folder in her hand. Tig’nara lifted her golden head to look at her daughter with forlorn eyes.

“Jaelyn, please listen-“

“No,” Jae snapped, her raven colored brows coming together in a tight scowl, “Don’t act like this doesn’t concern me, mother and don’t act like it doesn’t bother you that Maverick is going to walk free!” Jae felt a sudden flash of satisfaction as her mother visibly flinched. She plowed on with her accusations.

“You were there! You saw what he did to those children. Will you stand by now and do nothing?!”

Tig’nara’s head dipped, her shoulders sinking as her entire spirit seemed to crumble. A sudden shameful wash of regret flowed through Jaelyn as she watched her mother put aside her folder with trembling fingers. Tig’nara moved away from Jaelyn, retreating from her daughter’s accusations and into her private study. She paused before she entered the doorway but didn’t turn to face Jaelyn.

“The Council has made their decision, Jaelyn. Let Earth’s authorities deal with Earth criminals. As a Tieran diplomat, I must obey the Council. You’ll understand…when you’re older.” The door swung shut behind Tig’nara with a resounding thud, leaving Jaelyn feeling bereft.

Jaelyn tried desperately to push back the angry tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Her eyes roved over the empty white walls of the penthouse, begging for any distraction from the tears. Her eyes fell on the display case, the vibrant costume mockingly out of place in the sleek, modernesque apartment. Jae’s anger boiled over as she rushed the case and slammed her curled fist through the glass.

Physical pain burned up Jae’s arm, mixing with the crimson blood that was now rushing down her arm and mingling with splinters of glass embedded in her curled fist.

“Damn it,” Jae whispered, sniffing back the tears that had nothing to do with her battered hand.

Inside her study, Tig’nara flinched as she heard the glass of the display shatter, but made no move to rise and investigate. She didn’t need to see the carnage with her own eyes to know what had happened. Instead, she opened a sealed drawer of her desk. A few faded newspaper clippings and a Polaroid were carefully tucked inside the drawer, gathering dust. Tig’nara’s fingers ghosted over the Polaroid and settled on an article clipped from the front page of the Haven Daily Times. A black and white photo of a dozen shroud wrap tiny bodies lay splayed across the paper with a bold title, “27 Die in Caped Crusade”. Tig’nara looked away from the nightmarish photo, her eyes slipping to the Polaroid and the five familiar and happy young faces under a Youngbloods banner. A single, silent tear rolled down her cheek as she heard the penthouse’s front door slam shut.