by Lee, TD
“Yeah, don’t worry kid, you’re covered in school, I told them you were in a recovery camp from the world ending event paid by SAVE. Your mom believes the same thing so you’re fine at home, all of your bases are covered,” Dom explains. For how bored she looks, she definitely knows how to take care of business when need be.
“So you lied to them?” I say quizzically.
Dom sighs, a bit annoyed, "Yeah, because explaining to them that you're with an alien traveling throughout space in a box that's bigger on the inside would make so much sense to them.”
“Oh, you’re right, um, thanks,” I say.
“Well, Ridley, would you like a ride home?” Adele offers.
Even though I’ve been running a lot throughout my day, it’ll be nice to see how the city has been recovered. “No, I’ll be okay. I’ll walk.”
“Okay, you get home safe then, give me a ring if you need to. Please come to my agency tomorrow evening. I will have you accompany Dom,” Adele says before I walk away.
“Alright, tomorrow evening. Got it,” I say.
“Until then, get some good rest.”
“You too.”
I walk away from Adele, Dom, and Shiko. I wander through the streets and everything seems as I remember. Disaster Relief definitely did their job. A bunch of buildings look exactly how they were, same with the roads. The people are the same as usual, just wandering about. This is life as I knew it. Something big happened, it gets fixed, people are going about as normal. It’s interesting seeing it this way. The role of a superhero is to protect the civilians and general peace after all. They did their best, especially Hiro.
Although, something has been weird to me since that last world ending event. Safety mode didn’t work. That has never happened before, so I’m wondering what happened to cause it. Adele might know, I’ll ask her tomorrow. It seems like Adele knows a lot of things so I’ll definitely learn a lot from her. Or at least I hope I do.
“Where have you been!” an angry yell travels into my ears. I turn around and find an angry Ainia charging towards me. She collides into me and knocks me to the ground as she continues to yell at me, “Where have you been!? It has been a month!” She holds an umbrella up against my throat and presses down which makes it hard for me breathe.
All of Ainia’s yelling is getting other people’s attention. People are staring at us like we’re crazy. I don’t blame them though, this is a really weird situation to witness.
“I-I’m sorry, I was in a recovery camp,” I manage to say between my long breaths. If the story that Dom gave everyone is that I was in a camp, then I should continue to vouch for that.
“Yeah, well why was I not told this!? As your guardian I deserve to know this shit!” Ainia yells, but quietly under her breath she adds, “They even pulled some of my funding.”
“Sorry, it was a spur of a moment thing,” I try my best to explain the lie. “Um, can you let me up please, people are staring.”
“Oh my God, what’s she doing?”
“Can you believe she’s a superhero?”
“What kind of superhero does that?
“No wonder they pull her funding, she’s so violent!”
Ainia looks around and her cheeks turn a bit red in either embarrassment or anger, I’m going to bet on anger. She moves off of me and stands up. I stand up and dust myself off. Ainia’s still angry as she glares at me. “Next time, report this to me.”
“Oh, um sure, sorry.”
“Let’s go,” Ainia snarls at me as she takes the lead.
I follow her, asking, “To where?”
“Your house, where else? I need to successfully take you home so I can prove that I’m doing my job as a guardian. Not that I wanted to do it in the first place,” she angrily grumbles. She’s so angry that I can feel the anger radiating from her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she snapped if someone just looked at her wrong at this point.
While we’re walking, Ainia’s still grumbling about. Nothing will calm this girl will it? I wonder what her problem is? Didn’t she have an issue with a superhero or something before? Blind Justice I think was the name. I wish I knew what her deal is with the guy. Adele might know, since it seems she knows everything, so I can ask her that tomorrow too if I can.
Once my house is in view, I see a woman standing at the front door. This woman is dressed in a long flowing white dress with a blue jacket. She’s wearing tall boots with black leggings. Her hair is a strawberry blonde fashioned in a bun. Even though it’s not too cold out, she’s wearing black gloves. To her side is a large briefcase. She’s scarily still, she’s not really moving at all.
The woman suddenly turns her head and notices me and Ainia. She grabs her briefcase and turns her whole body to us. Suddenly, she bows down, greeting us with an almost robotic tone, “Hello, are you Ridley Law?” She stands straight back up. Looking at her eyes, they’re rather large and green and her face is rather emotionless. She reminds me of a doll.
“Um, yeah, that’s me,” I answer back.
“My name is Scarlet Eternabelle, an echo scribe. If you wish it, I shall seek you out. If you hope for it, I will transcribe your emotions. From any end of the world, I will be there to guide your words. Pleased to meet you,” she introduces herself with a soft voice and another bow.
“An echo scribe?” I question. Never heard of an echo scribe before, but they sure sound kind of cool.
Ainia rolls her eyes and scoffs, “A glorified typewriter is what they are.”
“We provide our services to those who wish to convey their feelings into a letter. Many people are often lost in the ways they should convey their emotions, so we assist with those wishes,” Scarlet explains.
Without being phased at all, Scarlet opens her briefcase and grabs an envelope. She hands it to me. Suddenly, Scarlet’s voice starts cracking as she says, “This is your letter.”
What should I be expecting from this? Slowly, I open the letter. In it is a beautifully typed out letter:
To my best friend Ridley,
Thank you for being the friend that has stood beside me throughout my life. You helped me in more ways than you could have possibly imagined. There are so many things I wish I could express and say, but I have never been good with speaking eloquently. Regardless, your support has never been out of my heart. Even within our conflict and argument, I never forgot the love and support that you gave me. You’re honestly a loyal and marvelous person. While you may not believe it yourself, the truth stands within your actions and words. There was an air of doubt that you carried with you, but you’re an amazing person with great potential. Just search within the depths of your heart and you’ll find what it is that you want to do. You might not believe me at all, but I was always envious of your forward personality. You’re not afraid to put your words and feelings in display to others, at least to me. I admired the honesty you had with yourself, that’s something I wish I could’ve done for myself.
I love you and everything you have done for me. Please don’t let my death affect you too much. I know that’s ridiculous for me to say, but the world is wonderful. Do not grieve, live. Live on and experience the world. There’s so many things out there that makes it worth living. Meet amazing people, be their friend. Love the world.
Keep that fire in your heart burning,
Hiro
Without even noticing it, tears fall from my eyes. You just had to send yourself off like this didn’t you?
Tears start forming around Scarlet’s eyes, her voice becomes even more shaky and saddened, “It’s so unfair. These emotions that weren’t able to be conveyed in person. My condolences.”
“Was anyone else given one of these letters?” I ask, wiping a trail of tears off of my cheek.
“You and lady Garfield were given these letters and both have been successfully delivered. Lady Garfield had just woken up in the hospital and she too received a bittersweet letter,” Scarlet answers, still shaky with her voice.
Sadie? She’
s alive? A long sigh of relief exits my mouth. Good, she’s alive. I never thought I’d be happy that Sadie, someone that I hardly know, is alive, but I’m glad. She was in really bad shape last time I saw her. For Hiro’s sake, I’m really glad.
“Is Sadie still in the hospital?” I ask Scarlet.
Scarlet nods, answering, “Yes, she will not be discharged until tomorrow as far as my knowledge recalls.”
“Oh thank you,” I say. I should go visit her, it’s only nice right? She was Hiro’s girlfriend after all, in only makes sense.
“If you plan on visiting lady Garfield, she is in recovery ward of the post-anesthesia care unit located on the eastern wing of the hospital, it is indicated with the number four and is displayed on the side of the building in a vibrant red. The post-anesthesia care unit is located on the third floor,” Scarlet describes.
“You know a lot, thank you,” I respond a bit shocked with how descriptive Scarlet’s directions were.
I turn around and start walking away from my house. Yeah, I’ll go visit Sadie, it’s only nice right? Even though I’m pretty tired since I’ve had a long day, or month or however I’m supposed to look at it, it’s only polite. Maybe she doesn’t want to see anyone though. I wouldn’t know though.
Before I walk too far, Scarlet asks me, “Am I dismissed from your service?”
“Oh, um, yeah. You’re dismissed,” I say quizzically. Is this how this service is normally operated?
“Very well then,” Scarlet says and bows to me again, “it was a pleasure to have delivered this letter to you. Please consider an echo scribe in the future if you ever need to transcribe your emotions.” As soon as she finishes speaking to me, she quickly walks away with all of her belongings in hand.
With that, I start walking away from my home, but before I could too far again, Ainia calls out to me, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Sorry, I wanted to go to the hospital to visit an acquaintance,” I say.
As I start walking again, Ainia grabs my arm and forces me all the way around. “No, you’re going inside of your house, you’ve caused me enough trouble,” Ainia orders me. The grasp she has on my arm gets tighter and I can feel her tug on me.
Why is she being so controlling all of the sudden? She mentioned something about funding earlier too. No matter how hard I try to pull, she has a really strong grasp on my arm. “Hey, I don’t think you’re in control of what I do,” I say, wait did I just say that? Did I really just say that?
Ainia’s expressions become shocked for a brief moment before they return to anger. “What did you just say?” she questions me, much like I’m questioning myself.
“W-well, you, uh,” I stammer.
“You can’t even get your words out,” she snaps at me, angry brows furrowed.
Got to center myself, breathe. A couple of deep breaths come from my body and I say, “I’m going to the hospital.”
“No, you’re not,” Ainia angrily replies, she tugs a bit harder.
“What does it matter to you? You don’t care about what I do, why does it matter that I don’t go inside my house now?” I ask, a bit irritated.
“You’ve caused me enough trouble, I don’t want anymore,” Ainia replies.
We won’t get anywhere like this. All I want to do is go to the hospital, but something as simple as that is something that Ainia’s against. What sort of trouble did I cause her? Does it have to do with her being my guardian or whatever? Hell, I didn’t even know I would be gone for a supposed month since all it felt like was a day. She won’t understand that though, will she?
There’s a middle ground somewhere. “How about you go with me to the hospital and then I’ll head straight back here. I’ll go straight home, I just want to go to the hospital for a little bit,” I suggest. This is probably the best middle ground I can think of.
Ainia stares at me for a moment, then throws my arm aside. She grumbles, “Fine, you better make it quick.”
“I’ll try,” I respond, a little surprised she didn’t put up a longer fight. She finally releases my arm and follows me as I make my way to the hospital.
The hospital isn’t too far away of a walk. Being back in the city like this is really weird especially after that trip to another planet. I’m really glad to be back though, visiting an alien—er, foreign planet was really interesting and all, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. At least not back to Veritas again. The simplicity of the buildings here are just much more to my taste. Even though the buildings here are still pretty technologically advanced in their own right, I can do without the galactic technology. Plus, the buildings here are great for everyone since there aren’t literal giants walking around.
The usual large TV monitor is in my view. No matter how many times there are world ending events, it never seems like this building ever gets destroyed. The TV will always be there. Currently, the TV is broadcasting some sort of commercial about protein bars. Definitely nothing I’m interested in at all.
The TV then cuts to the news. It shows Lancelot, the Mobile Knight flying through the air. What is this? Next it cuts to a picture of the newest pilot for Lancelot. They already replaced Hiro? Was he really just that expendable? I stop moving just to stare at the TV as it continues to show clips of this new Lancelot pilot. The news then flashes clips and a picture of the pilot for Guinevere. Even Sadie got shafted?
“I’m so sorry,” I mumble to myself. Does Sadie know that she’s been replaced?
“Why aren’t you walking?” Ainia asks, annoyed.
I look over to Ainia, quickly responding, “Sorry, just got caught up with the news.”
“Well stop and keep walking,” Ainia says, even pushing me a bit with her umbrella.
I turn to start walking again. The TV cuts to a different news story involving the superhero murders again. That’s still happening?
Not even a few steps in I’m stopped by a voice. “Oh my God, Ridley!?” I turn back and find Mari running up to me and waving. Ainia audibly sighs in annoyance. Mari excitedly talks to me, “Wow, it’s been so long, how have you been?”
“Um, I’ve okay, how about you?” I ask.
“Oh, you know, busy here and there. Just the usual stuff,” she answers with a wide smile.
Ainia interrupts the conversation, “We have to go.” She nudges me.
“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry Mari, maybe we’ll talk again sometime soon,” I say, a bit distraught.
Mari looks at me and Ainia repeatedly. “Oh, I get, okay, okay. Yeah, we’ll talk again later. Bye!” She winks at me and then runs off again.
What a weird girl, but it’s good to see that she’s still friendly.
After walking for several more minutes, the hospital is in view. Scarlet said that Sadie is in the eastern wing with a building marked with the number four. Ainia suddenly speeds up ahead of me, maybe she knows where it is? I half follow Ainia and half look at the hospital buildings to find the right one. This hospital is really big, then again I think Hiro told me that it’s for super people and normal people alike. This place even has specialized doctors and surgeons. Hiro once told me that there’s a couple of surgeons that seem like they can stop time just to perform miracle surgeries.
Ainia does lead me to the right building with the red four on it. She even guides me to the correct floor, but she made me go up the stairs instead of the elevator. We make it to the third floor and I’m visibly and audibly tired from going up several sets of stairs. I’ve moved way too much today. We enter a lobby that’s filled with a couple of chairs and some people. A TV sits in a corner with several magazines stacked on short tables. The receptionist desk sits next to large doors that seem to be only accessible by authorized personnel.
I do my best to compose myself as I approach the reception desk. Several deep breaths come out of my mouth before I ask the receptionist, “Hi, can I see Sadie Garfield please?”
“May I ask what your relation to Miss Garfield is?” the receptionist answers.
“Oh, uh, I’m an acquai-”
Ainia sighs and interrupts my as she shows something in her hand to the receptionist, “Hi, Ainia Freeman, we’re here to talk to Miss Garfield about the world ending event about a month ago.”
The receptionist perks up and says, “Ah, Cutlass, yes, I’ll let you on in. Miss Garfield is in room 308.” She presses a button that opens the door and she directs us through the doors.
“Thank you,” I say as I walk with Ainia through the doors.
We walk through a hallway and try to find the right room. As we walk, I say to Ainia, “Thanks for that Ainia.”
“Don’t be, I just want you to get whatever it is you want to do here over with and seeing you stammer like that was just going to waste time,” she quickly responds.
We continue walking in silence until we’re outside a room with the number 304 next to it.
Ainia leans against the wall and says, “Hurry up.”
“Oh, uh, yeah okay,” I stutter walking into the room.
I walk into the room alone, a feeling of somberness immediately makes my spine tingle. There’s a bit of light coming from the ceiling, but an orange glow shines through the windows. Sadie is sitting up on her bed staring out at the window. The sunlight creates her silhouette and shines onto a vase of lavender flowers. A chair sits at a table with an almost full tray of food on it. A black TV sits on a wall next to a door that leads into the bathroom. A tall table stands next to a wheelchair that sits close to Sadie’s bed. Attached to one of the knobs are two charms.
Sadie hears me walking in and turns her head to me. Her eyes are little puffy, her cheeks a sad red. Somehow, she manages to crack a welcoming smile and voice, “Oh, hi Ridley. I didn’t expect you to come visit.”
“I’m a bit surprised too to be honest,” I say to greet her.
“Pull up a chair, unless you want to sit in mine,” she attempts to joke gesturing to the wheelchair close to her.
I manage to smile a bit, saying, “I’m good.” I pull up a chair and sit near her feet. Now that I’m a little closer to her, I can see a familiar paper and envelope on her lap. Several tissues are scattered all over her bed. “So, you’re really stuck with that?” I ask, pointing to the wheelchair.
