Capítulo 20: Chapter 17
Saturday, March 17th, 2029
GAVIN
We walk in through the front door of Kevin's apartment building. We're climbing the stairs slowly to the third floor. Kevin walks ahead of us as he pulls out a small silver key from his pocket. "She kind of gets a bit pissed when I forget my key," Kevin says, laughing. "So I make sure to avoid that fight as much as I can."
"I'm sure," Iris responds. We walk over to it as he sticks the key into the door and twists. It opens easy enough, and inside I see a small house cat sitting content on a heater beside the wall.
"He yours?" I ask.
"She….and yeah. Her name's Mittens." And the award for most creative cat name goes to…
"She's so cute!" Iris says, going over to pet the cat.
"Hey, Tam, I'm home!" Kevin calls out.
"Did you happen to eat while you were out??" A voice calls back.
"Uh…yeah," Kevin replies back.
"Is that a 'Yes I did, yeah' or a 'No, I didn't, yeah?'" the voice calls back.
"The second?"
"Well, did you manage to at least fix the muffler?"
"First thing tomorrow," he calls back.
"That's what you said yesterday." The body belonging to the voice steps out from the other room, a woman, Tammy, roughly the same height as Kevin. Her deep black hair is in long braids that goes just past her shoulders, she's wearing an orange top with a long white skirt.
"Oh, we've company, you should have told me! Who are these two, Kevin?"
Kevin looks from us to Tammy, "These two, well, that's the thing. I was going to go do that, but I saw these two out drowning by the beach. I had to go and save 'em."
Tammy gives us a "is he bullshitting?" look. I smile nervously. "Then they told me they had no place to stay so I figured we could help 'em out."
"Mmmmhm," her arms are crossed. Then she sighs, "Well, they can stay for dinner. We don't have any guest rooms so you can bunk on the couch. I catch you thieving jewelry I'm set to cut you," She warns in a raising voice.
"N-No thieving," Iris says with her arms raised.
She nods, and then smiles a hair. "As long as we got that covered we can be fine friends."
"Thank you so much!" Iris says. She smiles at this and nods her head.
"But that means that you have to go get that muffler fixed now," she says, pointing to Kevin.
"Agh, okay, okay, I'll do it. Mind getting them something to change into?" He asks.
"No problem. You better hurry up now, dinner will be waiting on the table when you get back," she says, smiling.
"Alright, give me a kiss before I go," he says.
"That…will also be waiting for you when you get back," Tammy smiles and winks as she walks into the kitchen.
Kevin has a half-exasperated look on his face as he quietly laughs. "That woman, sometimes I swear…"
"She seems like she really likes you," Iris says.
"It's my duty to love her, so I do, I guess she's the same way, ha," he replies. "Alright, I'll be back soon, you two go follow her and she'll help you out."
"Okay, thanks once again, Kevin! I can't even begin to thank you," I say.
"Think nothing of it," He says, walking out of the door.
We're standing in the small living room together, I turn to look at Iris once more. "Those two are really sweet, and they're living this normal life," Iris says.
I take her hand in mine, "These are the people we're fighting for, the peace we're going to create."
She looks back at me and smiles, her eyes sparkling. She comes in close and kisses me. "Then we'll continue to fight, and we'll make this a peace we can live in."
"Hey, are you two coming or what?" Tammy asks, peeking her head into the room.
"Y-Yeah, we're coming," I say.
Iris looks at me and giggles. We go arm in arm to follow Tammy into the other room, which I find out is both Kevin and her bedroom. The entire apartment only spans four rooms total, each of them seemingly smaller than the last; The living room, the dining room/kitchen combo, the bedroom and finally the bathroom. The bedroom consists of two dressers alongside the wall and a king sized bed opposite of it. Tammy walks in and opens the top drawer on the left dresser, pulls out a blue blouse, and after analyzing it puts it back. "This is a tad difficult because I don't know what you wear, both of you," she says.
"Anything will be fine, it doesn't have to be extravagant or anything. Your worst outfit would do," Iris says.
Tammy looks at her for a moment and then smirks, "Honey, if you're going to dress you're going to dress to impress! You…what's your name, leave so I can pretty up…" Tammy looks for a name.
"Iris."
"So I can pretty up Iris, and your name?" She asks.
"Gavin."
"Okay, just take anything from Kevin's dresser quick if you think it'll fit and get changed in the bathroom, we're going on an adventure here," Tammy says.
"You don't really need to do that," Iris says, blushing.
"You look like you've had some bad times, let's let the good come out and shine out of you."
I laugh and walk over to the dresser on the right and scavenge through them. I pick out a red shirt with an image on it of what seems to be a young boy flying among crows, his arms are covered in flame. Next I go into the drawer below and pull out some blue jeans that are probably a few sizes bigger than me. Seeing this, Tammy looks behind her and grabs something off of the top of her dresser and tosses it over to me. A belt.
"He always throws his stuff on my dresser because it's closer to the bed," she says.
"Thanks," I laugh.
I grab some socks and a pair of briefs from the last two drawers and shut them all, walking out of the room. I navigate my way to the bathroom and close the door behind me. I let my exhaustion all exit me at once as I lay my head against the wall.
Who would have thought that Iris and I would have kissed? Who would've thought I would feel…happy before this is even over? I just wish I could forget everything and pretend that this was our life, living in peace here. No, we have a job to finish. The rest comes after, the times that we'll enjoy will come after, whatever vision comes around be damned. I am going to fix this, and things are going to be okay. Iris. I picture her face in my mind's eye, her brilliant hair catching the sunlight. It is all I need to wake myself up.
I take my wet and soggy shirt off and throw it on the ground, it sloshes as it hits the tile. I unzip my pants as I strip down and breathe easier. I put on the briefs and slide the pants on, I have to hold them to me as I was correct in assuming they were a few sizes too large for me. The belt comes on easy enough and then I slide the shirt over my head, it fits well enough.
I pass by the mirror and stop when I do. I turn to look at the bags under my eyes and just how messy my hair is, which is starting to dry from our near-drowning experience. Out of nowhere I begin to yawn, and I let it come through. No time for sleep just yet, but when it does come it is going to be one hell of a nap. I grab my clothes off of the floor and take them with me out of the bathroom. I find the laundry basket just outside of the bathroom and gently place my clothes inside and walk through the hall to the now-closed bedroom door.
I give a small knock. "Hold on! She's not finished yet!"
I back away from the door and walk into the living room. Curious, I walk over to the shelf hanging on the far side of the room, on it are several picture frames. I pick one up, but notice that it is completely empty inside. I look to the one beside it, no photograph or cute couple picture or anything. I'm scanning each frame from left to right, but there isn't a single picture in any of these frames. Strange. I turn to hear the shutting of a door, but then I see Iris standing in the hallway. She's wearing a veiled purple shaul-like top over a white blouse with a frilly blue skirt. Her hair is made up and she's wearing the slightest hint of eye shadow and lipstick.
I can practically feel my jaw hit the floor. "See? Absolutely speechless!" Tammy says.
"No, this was stupid, I shouldn't…" Iris says, looking away.
I walk up to her and turn her towards me. "You look beautiful, absolutely beautiful," I say. She smiles and throws herself into a hug, cuddling her head in the small of my neck.
"Alright, I'll go get dinner started," Tammy says quietly before she hurries off to the kitchen.
I stand with Iris in my arms, holding her tight. "Tomorrow we're going to need to head out…" I say.
"Let's not worry about tomorrow. Let that come tomorrow. We'll do anything tomorrow to save the world, but just let me have tonight right here, right now," Iris says, looking up and connecting her lips with mine. We stand connected for what seems like forever. We pull apart to breathe and she looks into my eyes and I hers. "Can right now just last forever?" Iris asks.
"I wish."
We wander our way to the couch and sit down, Iris cuddles up next to me.
"So, talk to me, I want to know more about you," I say.
"Me?"
"Yes, of course you."
"Well, I once punched this one kid from my school's teeth out," she says.
"Really?"
She looks up to me and giggles, "Yeah, he kept sticking his gum into my hair."
"When was this?"
"Uh…second grade?"
"So you were like…"
"Seven."
"Wow, you're quite the killer," I say.
"And that lead to other people saying quite the same thing, and that's how I got the reputation I had back there…" She says, trailing off. I put my hand on her head and keep it close, brushing her hair.
"They obviously saw how kick-ass you were and got jealous, obviously," I say.
"Obviously," she repeats.
"Are you a movie person or a book person?" I ask.
"Hm?"
"Which do you prefer?"
She snuggles in tighter, putting her legs up on the couch behind her, resting her head on my lap and looking up to my face.
"Honestly, I prefer movies. I've got kind of a short attention span, to be honest," she laughs.
"Understandable."
"Hey, which do you prefer?"
"Me? I'm more of a reader, honestly."
"Oh," she says, looking down ever so slightly.
"That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the occasional movie, which is your favorite?"
"I've always been impartial to Lilo and Stitch, the Disney one," she says.
"What other one is there?"
"I don't know, maybe someone made another, I haven't watched anything new in the past few years to be honest."
"I don't think there's been much if anything to watch."
"True."
"So, Lilo and Stitch?"
"Yeah, I like the idea of this weird alien getting the chance to be a part of a family with creatures that are nothing like him," she says.
"Well, not nothing like him. Physically, maybe, but they both cared for each other."
"Yeah."
"Sometimes that's all that matters," I say, placing my arm on her shoulder.
"And your favorite movie?" She asks.
"Mine's an oldie also, The Sixth Sense, you ever hear of it?"
"Yeah, my dad talked about it once."
"I'll admit, I'm a big sucker for a big plot twist," I say, laughing.
"Hey, you two, dinner is ready!" Tammy calls from out in the kitchen.
"Great, I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely starving."
"Yeah, me too," I lie.
Iris sits up and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. I stand up, she follows, as we both walk into the kitchen. A smile is brightly lit on my face.
SARAH
We've been driving for what seems like forever. We've crossed into Wyoming now. We drove past Indiana and Ohio, Andy even pointed out the college that Gavin was going to on the way. I'm thanking every divine being out there for the emergency funds Jay left in the glove compartment. I don't know how else we would have refilled up on gas without it. Not counting the money spent on gas we have about three hundred dollars to keep us going until California.
We've been using the small transmitter that Jay gave us, well, it is part transmitter and part receiver I guess. It has a little electronic display on the front that shows a number that is slowly decreasing. Right now it shows 1,100, just changing from 1,101.
"So, 1,100 miles until we reach John? How much longer of a drive is that?" I ask, turning to face Andy.
"About…Seventeen hours, maybe a little more, maybe a little less."
We pass by a large sign that says "Welcome to Laramie! Home of the University of Wyoming".
"I'm going to find somewhere to rest here," I say, driving into the town.
"No, we should keep on going."
"Andy," I say, turning to face him, "We need to stop. I've been driving for…six hours now. I'm exhausted."
"Let me take over then."
"I'm not letting you drive now." I say. "No offense, but just not now, not after what happened. We both need some time to rest…and not even mention eat. I know you haven't had anything to eat for as long as I have," I say.
"Okay, okay, but we'll need to head out soon, we're really strapped for time," he says.
"You think I don't know that?"
"I didn't…"
"I'd continue going, but what use would we be half asleep and starved? What do we gain from throwing our lives away like that?" I ask.
"You're right," Andy says.
"You're damn right I'm right. We aren't robots, we need time to rest and process everything."
"Okay, I understand. Why don't you ask the woman up there for some directions around here?"
I slow the car to a near halt as we pass by a woman who looks to be in her mid twenties rocking what seems to be a large yellow sundress. Her orange hair is almost too bright against the sun for me to keep staring. "Um, excuse me, ma'am?" The woman turns around and looks from us to our car.
"Well, what a ride do we have here?"
"We were just wondering about directions, miss, if that's alright," Andy cuts in. The woman walks up and brushes her hand against the slick red paint of the ZX Hybrid.
"If you take me around in this speedster I'll tell you anything you want to hear," she says seductively.
"Ma'am, we're just looking for a place to rest, maybe like a…hotel or something like that," I say, hesitating with memories of our last hotel venue.
"Fine, spoil sport. The Calgary Hotel is a few blocks down past the old library."
"Thank you much, Sarah, lead the way," Andy says.
I take off and look through my rear view mirror to see the woman gazing longingly at us as we get farther and farther away.
"This place is radically different than New York," I say.
"Yeah, it's one of the towns where by looking at it you couldn't even tell anything was wrong anywhere else."
"New Jersey was the exact opposite of this."
"Yeah, the area around The Continental Inn was all abandoned like the entire state had been ransacked. I wonder how many others are like that." We drive by an elderly woman sitting on a bench, reading the morning paper. I see her bring her hand back in a flash, she must've gotten a paper cut from turning the page. I can see a speck of red fall and hit the sidewalk.
"Wait, stop the car, up there," Andy says, pointing ahead.
I follow his hand to what I believe is a small child reaching up for the sky.
"What, the kid?" I ask.
"Look above the kid." I do so and notice that the kid is reaching upwards because his kite is lodged within the branches of the tree in what I presume is his front yard. When we get closer I begin to slow down and notice he's screaming something. "Mooom! MOM!" He's calling for his mother to fetch his kite. "Now, watch this," Andy says.
I pull the car to a complete stop at the side of the street. In the next moment I can see the tree branches starting to vibrate.
"Wait a moment…you're not trying to…?" I start, but stop as I see the branches moving faster.
"Hold on, I'm sure I've almost got it," Andy says. The two branches that have hold of the kite are pushed to the side, and it falls gently down to the screaming child.
"That was sweet," Sarah says.
"I think I have a hang of how this thing works. It's not really how you would expect," he says.
"Oh yeah, and how is that?" I ask, putting the car back into motion.
"Well, for starters, it isn't like…throwing your arm out and 'willing' it into motion. Like, it isn't the force here we're dealing with."
"The what?"
"The force…you know, like…Star Wars?"
I look at him once with a confused look on my face and then turn back to the road.
"Never seen it, sorry" I say.
"What? That's almost blasphemous…" Andy says.
"Anyway, you were saying how it wasn't like this force or whatever?"
"…Right. So, like, the world is full of particles."
"Particles?"
"Like, imagine if everything were solid particles, tiny spherical orbs. To simplify it it's like I can connect my body to these particles and extend force out of them. Like, if I reached my hand out-"
"Which is nothing more than theatrics," I say.
"Right, but if I did, then I could influence the particles touching my hand, and those ones touching those particles, extending all of the way out. In a sense that's how it is, except without the need for the theatrics. I can, if I'm right on this, add force to any of the particles surrounding any of the particles around me."
"That's kind of hard to grasp, but I think I understand."
"Hey, isn't that the Calgary up there?" Andy asks.
I turn to see a somewhat large building at the end of the lane. It stands about seven stories tall, roman-like columns line the entrance. On the front of the building is plastered in bright golden letters "CALGARY ENTERPRISES".
To the right of the building I see a parking lot that is nearly packed to the brim with cars that, honestly, don't look half as good as the ZX.
"Let's pull in there, I kind of want to flaunt this thing a bit," I say.
"I see the powers of the Hybrid have indeed influenced you," Andy says, laughing.
"Alright, alright, then I guess we should exit the vehicle immediately before I want to marry the thing," I say, joking.
I pull into the lot beside two white vans and fit the ZX Hybrid in nicely. I open the door to the hybrid and step out to the trunk of the car and prop it open. Underneath the abundance of cans I see two empty suitcases propped underneath.
"What're these for?" I ask.
"I saw them in the inn, decided we might need them if we need to make a getaway without the car. They're for storage of the cans."
"Oh! We can also have the bellhop or whoever bring them up to our room in these!"
"I guess it'll save us money on room service." I begin grabbing cans two at a time and stuffing them into the suitcase nearest to me. Andy does the same with the suitcase on his side. We can fit all but seven of the cans into the two suitcases. Andy shuts the trunk with his free hand and we begin walking to the entrance of the building.
We pass by people who I could easily believe to be celebrities as we reach the door. There is a sign beside it that says "NEVER FORGET, MATTHEW SHEPPARD IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER AND EVER".
"Who's Matthew Sheppard?" I ask.
"I heard about him in school, he was a college student that was murdered just because he was gay about thirty years ago."
"And people memorialize him?"
"It's meant to be like, one of the turning points on people's view on homophobia."
"I don't understand why people have to be so ignorant."
"Yeah, I mean, who cares who you want to fuck?"
"On both sides, Andy."
"Hm?"
"Think of Matt's parents. How do you think they must feel…imagine if The Continental Inn started advertising their business using Jay and Lindsey's likeness."
"Jesus, yeah."
"I don't know, sometimes things happen and people do terrible things, but you also have to think of the living." I press open the door to the Calgary and step inside.
A well dressed man with a smile that is a little too white approaches us and offers his hand to me. "Why, hello there fine patrons of the Calgary! My name is Inigo Campioni!" He says, looking straight into my eyes. His face is smooth and his features Adonis-like.
"Right..." Andy says.
"Really I am Inigo Campioni IV, as my father and his father and even his father were all Inigo Campioni before me."
"So, you're great grandfather was unoriginal, huh?" I ask.
"Ah, but that of course isn't what it was at all. He simply was proud of who he was!" Inigo boasts.
"And who was he?" I ask.
"He was a very famous war general back during the World Wars!"
"That's certainly...interesting," I say.
"Now, who do we speak to about renting a room?" Andy asks.
"Oh, certainly, you would just speak to Terry at the front desk, he'll be the one to help you with that."
I look over to my right to see an older man standing at the front desk, his eyes glued to a magazine propped open in front of him.
"Thank you," I say, walking away.
"Wait! Miss!" Inigo runs up to me, grabbing my arm.
"Could I ask of your name? I want something to associate with that pretty face," he says, smiling.
"Sure thing, it's Agnes," I say, walking away again.
Andy follows behind me, and I don't have to turn around to know Inigo is standing there with a slightly disappointed look on his face.
"Why'd you tell him that?" Andy whispers over.
"Well, when he goes to bed tonight and decides to jack off to me, he'll do so knowing only the name 'Agnes'," I whisper back, stifling a laugh. We walk up to the man named Terry behind the front desk.
"Excuse me, how much is a single room here?"
"Just a single? That'll be about sixty dollars," Terry says.
"Only sixty? I'd honestly been expecting much more," I say.
"That's the times for you," Terry replies. Andy nods and hands over the cash.
"Okay, just sign on this sheet and you can have your key."
Andy does so and I lean in to whisper to Terry. "We can carry our own bags up, thank you."
"R-Right," Terry nods.
He hands Andy the key and then returns to the magazine he'd been glancing at before we came up.
"Alright, let's head up and grab something to eat," I say.
"Great, I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely starving," Andy says.
I nod my head and we both start walking down the hall on the right towards the elevator.
"So, which floor are we on?"
"Third floor, Room 217," Andy answers.
"Alright, not bad at all."
We reach the elevator and press the button. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse, and probably even the person riding it too. I look down to the suitcase full of cans at my side. "Hey, did you bring the can opener?"
"Yep, it's in my bag," Andy says.
"Great."
The elevator dings and the doors open up. Inside are a woman I'd only describe as pompous and an elderly gentleman. We step inside to join them, and then the doors close. We begin to rise up and I can feel the weight of the cans start to strain my arm. The doors let out on the third floor, we get off and ignore the judgmental looks of the others in the elevator. "That guy looks like he could be her father!" They're probably thinking.
If only they knew the half of it.
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