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Capheus Dialectical Journal

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Capheus is the first of them, after Nomi, to tell anyone about their connection. “Mother,” he starts, “I have something important to tell you.” He pulls up a chair next to her bed and rests his hand on the blanket covering her leg. She smiles at him, and it’s truly a testament to the medication that her smile is not tempered by pain any longer. “Anything, my zebra.” So he tells her, and she is surprisingly good about the whole thing. She waits until he finishes explaining, until he finishes confirming that they do truly all exist, how else would he know Korean or Icelandic lullabies? Capheus’s mother’s smile only widens as his story goes on, and when he concludes it she clasps their palms together, intertwining their fingers. “My son, you …show more content…

Do they all have mothers?” she asks. Capheus tries to remember. “Kala does.” “The Indian girl?” his mother confirms. “Yes. Nomi has one as well, but her mother does not see her for who she is.” Through the psycellium, he feels echoes of the pain that each ‘Michael’ brings. His mother looks confused, and Capheus remembers that he didn’t explain that Nomi is transgender. He knows that his mother was likely taught that people like Nomi are repugnant, but he knows his mother well enough to also know that she will not care. “Nomi was named Michael when she was born. Her mother doesn’t accept that she is truly a girl.” Sure enough, all his mother does is nod. “A mother’s love for her child should be unconditional,” she says. “And the others?” “Lito has a mother. He talks to her in shouts on the phone sometimes, but he loves her. But the rest of them, no.” Capheus feels that ache too, constant and underlying in Riley and Sun. “No?” she inquires, clearly wanting to know more. Capheus thinks he might have an idea where this is going, so he …show more content…

“Thank you, ma’am.” A frown creases Shiro’s forehead. “There’s no need to call me ma’am, Will. Didn’t you hear?” Will feels heat rising to his cheeks. “Then thank you, Shangazi.” “Auntie? Well, I’ll take what I can get. It was a pleasure, Will.”

Now it’s Wolfgang’s turn, and he shifts on the chair as though it is covered in ants. Shiro knows patience, and she waits quietly while the boy finds his words.
“My father killed my mother,” he says eventually. It’s horribly casual, the way the words tumble out of his mouth, but he can’t think of any other way to say them.
The woman’s eyes widen slightly, but that is all the reaction she shows. She is no naïve little girl; she has seen firsthand the ugliness that the world is capable of. “He was a bad man, your father.”
“The worst,” Wolfgang spits. “She loved him, I don’t know why, but she did. And now all I have to remember her is the expression he wore after he beat her to death.”
He doesn’t know why he’s telling this stranger these things. He’s never told this to anyone, not even Felix. But maybe it’s some part of Capheus bleeding through, making him trust this woman without any hesitation or qualms. Of all the people to tell, this is the one he trusts

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