//------------------------------// // Your love alone pulled me through // Story: She's Gonna Kill Me! // by Echo 27 //------------------------------// The hospital was a mad frenzy of doctors and staff running this way and that, their cries and calls to each other of information or for aid sounded like the storm of gunfire I had only escaped a short time ago. A staffer on the site would rush past my room every few seconds, none of them the team assigned to my quarters where I’d been temporarily confined as the hospital staff tried to cope with their sudden arrivals. “I need an IV-” “Put the pressure right there, hold it tight!” “I promise, Mrs. Holiday, your husband is going to make it, it’s just going to be difficult for him these next few weeks-” “I need that IV right now!” “Please, just hold down your bandage until I get back, I’ll only be a little while-” “Nurse, get any extra help you can, this man is going to die without our help-” The facility was on maximum overload, the casualties from the massive gunfight crippling the entire system as it was flooded with more arrivals than the hospital could prepare to cope with. There’d never been anything like this in the history of the city, and there was no way to prepare for a catastrophe of this magnitude. Not only did the hospital staff have to deal with treating their patients, some of them so violently wounded that they were hardly recognizable as human, but also the police force was struggling from the staggering loss of numbers and the security necessary for so many injured Wanyama members. It was so nightmarish a situation that nearby hospital staff had been sent over to aid with providing care, and even then the place was still a chaotic freneticism. Sergeant William Collier was dead, Jester’s knife having found his heart right at the very beginning of the melee. He’d bled to death there where he’d stood, help unable to save him in time. He’d kept his promise to bring the police, though, and I’d been told he would receive a hero’s farewell for his deeds. He’d died trying to help the home he loved. He, along with Officers Danielle Barret, Felix Velasquez, Joe Horton, and twelve other officers, would never return to see their families again. In their death throes, their last struggles against their enemy, Wanyama had struck with a vengeance. I’d been ordered to remain on my bed, shivering slightly as I lay there in my torn and threadbare clothes, feeling extremely out of place in my grunginess- this hospital was too sterile and neat to hold someone as dirty as me. Sunset sat on one of the nearby chairs, drained by the night’s events and the toll it took on her. She looked utterly woebegone, covered in dirt and scratches, hair a tangled mess and clothes and dirty and torn as mine. She was exhausted, with no sleep over the past 24 hours and both of us were far too wired to be able to claim any sort of rest. It would be a long while until either of us could sleep. The events surrounding tonight would not be an easy thing to leave behind, at least for a while. Neither of us said a word, she bound by exhaustion and I kept to silence by her presence. I stared at her unabashedly without end, drinking in her presence with a hunger I’d never felt before, an ache inside that she filled by mere sight alone. She was tussled, tired and exhausted, yet never before had I been so drawn to someone before. She was not pretty, she was not beautiful, she was more radiant than even the sun itself, the wholeness of the world unable to compare to the light that dwelled within her. She would never admit to it, but she had done more than save my life- she had saved the city from the one who had held it in his grasp, and given the West End a chance to restore its soul and leave its history of violence behind. She had done what rival gangs in full force and assassins in their months of planning had not achieved even once over Jester’s decades of work here in the city- she had beaten him. Not just beaten him, but broken his powers and made him human again, allowed the police to finish him off once and for all. She, Sunset Shimmer, a tiny little girl that stood five-foot-two and barely weighed over 100 pounds at best had achieved something the greatest fighters of the West End hadn’t ever had the chance to achieve. Maybe she sensed me staring at her, maybe she just caught me gazing, it didn’t matter- Sunset looked over at me and looked me straight in the eye, our gazes locked together for a time. “What?” she asked. “Is everything OK?” How could I tell her what she’d just done? How could I explain the magnitude of what she’d just achieved? Would she ever truly understand how deep a wound she had just healed? A whole city had just been spared of its darkest evil, something that had fought against it for decades. She was the savior of a city that was not even her own. She rose from her chair slowly, stiffness and pain slowing her movements. “Hey, are you alright?” she asked gently, sitting down beside me on the bed. “Do you need me to go get the nurse, do you need anything?” I couldn’t think of anything to say that would ever fully say what was in my heart. “You are so beautiful,” I managed. Sunset rolled her eyes and shook her head, her tussled hair falling across her face. “Should’ve known you’d say something stupid,” she said quietly, still unable to hide the small smile on her face. She gave me a slow, lingering kiss on the cheek and added, “I’m proud of you. You helped to do a noble thing today.” I had done nothing except be bait. Yet here she stood, having directly neutralized our enemy and taken away his power. She was a heroine… and I loved her. I loved her more than anything in the world, more than I’d ever loved anyone. She’d freed me from fear of Wanyama forever, their mark on my palm now able to fade into a distant memory. She’d freed my family from its history- now Estevan, my own violent past, and the stain the gang had left upon us would disappear forever and rot in a jail cell where it belonged. She had saved the West End from itself, from the endless cycle of violence and cruelty and hopelessness that had held it back for so long from finally walking forth into the future. It would be a long time until it could see that, but through her, the West End now had a chance to truly live. And she’d done it without my help. No longer was she the weak, wounded girl I’d known for all those months. She now stood tall and proud, possessing a strength that was unique to her and her alone. She was everything she was ever meant to be, and I loved her for it with all of my heart. As far as I’d decided, my days of searching and wondering were over. I could never possibly hope to find someone as beautiful and as amazing and smart as Sunset was- today had shown me enough to know I wanted to marry her someday. There was a shuffle of noise outside and the nurse assigned to my room came in, somehow looking even more ruffled than we were. I guess she’d been getting tossed about to so many areas in just a few minutes that she’d been pretty well wrung. But still, despite her obvious exhaustion, she greeted both of us with a smile, immediately setting to work. “How are you feeling right now?” she asked, setting out the various equipment she needed to perform the checkup. “Anything you want to tell me, anything feel like its broken?” I looked down at her nametag, reading Krystal. I shook my head. “No, I’m in one piece,” I said. “Don’t think there’s anything I can do about the broken tooth, though.” “No, I don’t think you can either,” she said, looking inside my mouth for any additional damage. “Unfortunately, looks like you’ll have a little bit of a gap for the rest of your life, if you can suffer it.” I felt the empty space where my canine had been, pretty unused to the void where part of my own skull had once been. Guess I’d have to accept that puppy was never coming back, I couldn’t even remember where I’d spat it out. “Let me see…” she grabbed a small clipboard from the counter, looking over my profile. “You’ve got multiple lacerations across your body, the most severe ones being the one across your chest and underneath your eye down the cheek,” she read off. “You’ve got a fair amount of severe bruising, too. You must’ve taken quite a beating.” I shrugged it away and promptly winced as the pain resurfaced across my body in agonizing form. My mind flashed back to when I had woken up from the Sirens spell only a short while ago, and the wretchedness I felt then- I decided what Wanyama had done was infinitely, infinitely worse. “Does anything hurt to move?” she asked. “A whole lot hurts to move, but I’ll get over it,” I said gruffly, trying to ignore that my ribs were still throbbing madly. Man alive, I’d never hurt this bad before… Ms. Krystal looked at me with suspicion and I knew she didn’t believe me for a second. “Can you take your shirt off?” she asked. I felt myself suddenly get much hotter and I could see Sunset standing in the corner starting to giggle. “Uh, what?” “I need to check to see if you’ve got any broken ribs,” Ms. Krystal said, clicking her fingers at me. “Besides, I’ll need to clean and dress your wounds anyway. Take it off.” “Umm…” I complied, though not without a sense of trepidation as I was going shirtless in front of a complete stranger. With a massive effort to push through the pain, I grappled with my shredded shirt and tossed it aside onto the bed. “You seem a little more hesitant to strip down than last time,” Sunset teased. “Wow, you’re making this even more awkward than it already was,” I remarked, feeling enormously self-conscious as the nurse checked me over for hidden injuries. I looked a right mess, my flesh various shades of black and blue from the bludgeoning I’d received. Even if I had no broken bones, it’d be a long while before I’d fully recover. I had a pretty long course of pain pills ahead of me just to make it through. “If it’s any consolation, even with them beating the stuffing out of you, you still look really hot,” Sunset offered. I let that one sit for a little bit before responding by saying, “OK, that’s kind of arousing but still not really sure that’s helping me feel any better.” “Don’t get mad, she’s just being nice,” Ms. Krystal chided with a gleam in her eye. “After all, who doesn’t want their wife to think they’re sexy?” It was a zing so perfect I never would’ve been able to conjure it up. Sunset went deep red and gave an “Eep!” of embarrassment as she promptly stopped her joking. I gave a barking laugh, ignoring the pain that came along with it. “Oh, how’s it feel now, huh? What, can dish it out but can’t take it?” “Wait,” the nurse said slowly, looking back at Sunset. “You two aren’t..?” She’d actually been serious. I felt myself go a little red but couldn’t hide a smile as I looked over at the girl who’d saved my life. “Nah, we’re not… we’re just…” “I don’t think you can say you’re just friends,” Ms. Krystal remarked. “Oh, no, we’ve been dating for a while,” Sunset replied, “A couple months now, just- well, um, we’re not…” Ms. Krystal flickered between the two of us, a disbelieving expression on her face. “Please, don’t even try to hide it,” she smirked. “I mean, I’ve only been married for fifteen years and I don’t know the obvious when I see it.” “Damn,” I said under my breath. Sunset and I had just gotten schooled and I loved it. I didn’t know what to say in response so I remained quiet, simply gazing at Sunset with a stupid sort of smile. Even now, after all she’d been through and how bedraggled she looked, I’d never get tired of that view. She caught me staring again, her face still pretty red. “What?” she asked, a smile starting to grow on her lips. “Nothing, just enjoying the view- Ow!” Ms. Krystal had just poked me in the ribs, feeling a particularly nasty bruise across the lower portion of my ribcage. “Don’t mind me,” she said all too innocently. Blasted woman was loving this. Sunset shook her head, laughing faintly. “You are so stupid, you do realize that,” she said. “There’s times I don’t even know what to say to you.” “At least I’m hot- by your standards,” I grinned. “Got that going for me, you’ve got a much longer list of positive attributes, so what’s it gonna be- short list or the long list?” “You,” Sunset said, now struggling to hold back from laughing, “Are the kind of person who’d be cracking jokes in the midst of a tornado. Like it’d be going right across your house and you’d try to find some terrible pun-” “So my brain doesn’t work all that well around beautiful girls,” I said lightly. “Worse things can happen-” “See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. You have no filter and you don’t even care who’s listening-” “Course I’m not gonna care!” I fired back. “The most smoking-hot beach body beauty I’m ever gonna meet is my girlfriend and she just torched the most dangerous guy in the city while saving my rear twice over- all in the same night. That’s so beyond the realms of a turn-on that I can’t even think of a word for how devastatingly attractive you are.” Sunset was a shade of crimson so deep her face had somehow gained the achievement of being a darker shade of red than her hair and she was utterly silent, unable to summon a single word to get me to shut up. I’d won this one so badly it wasn’t even fair. “OK, since you both seem to be done, I’m just gonna say that both of you are really, really weird,” Ms. Krystal said, suddenly snapping me back into reality and making me understand why Sunset had been so embarrassed. I’d actually kind forgotten she was in the room. “Anyway, it doesn’t seem like you have any broken bones, but your ribs are pretty severely bruised,” she told me. “You’ll be fine, and I’ll see if they’ll discharge you before the day’s over, but you’ll need to take it slow for a while- a couple weeks, at a minimum. I’ll see what I can do about getting you a prescription to help with the pain, and the rest I’ll leave to you. Just get some rest, take it easy, and get lots of water and sleep. That’s what is going to help the most.” I looked over at Sunset and I could tell by her change in countenance that she was thinking of the same thing. “I was told… before we were brought in, one of the EMT guys told me that my mother was at this hospital. She was a shooting victim, probably was brought in around eight in the evening…” Ms. Krystal scrutinized me. “I’ll see if they’ll allow you to go find her,” she said. “I don’t know where she is, but be prepared for her to be in intensive care. A lot of the people in there today- it’s not good, dear.” I nodded, mentally preparing myself for what I was going to see. The aftermath of an unbelievable day of violence would be pushing the unit to its breaking point. “Stay here until I get back. And, if I were honest, I’d do something about getting some better clothes, yours are torn pretty badly,” she added. “I can help you with that, if you’d like…” “I can go,” Sunset volunteered, rushing over to kiss my cheek in goodbye. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, alright? Wait for me.” With a small wave and a smile she was out the door, off to head for the exit and to the nearest department store for something serviceable. “You’ve got quite a girl there,” Ms. Krystal remarked pleasantly. “She really cares about you.” “She’s perfect,” I said firmly. “She’s better than I ever deserved.” “Then for goodness’ sake, marry her!” she replied brightly. “If what you said about her is true, and that she saved your life, that’s someone you may want to hold on to!” I smiled. How intriguing that I’d only been thinking about it just a moment ago. With a smirk of understanding, Ms. Krystal was off to see if I could be granted permission to seek out my mother. It took about an hour for Sunset to return, holding a pair of jeans and a simple grey t-shirt in her hands. “I’m sorry I took so long, there’s not actually a whole lot out here when it comes to clothing out here downtown so I had to head down the river to reach our part of town and the traffic was pretty thick.” “It don’t matter. You came through,” I assured her, taking the clothes and fishing out my wallet. “How much was it all?” “Oh, it’s not a big deal,” she said dismissively. “I’m just helping you out, it’s what we do, right?” I hated the thought of her spending her money on me, I always having paid for both of us whenever we’d gone out and about. “Come on, you know I don’t like it when you-” “It’s alright,” she insisted. “You’ve always spent a lot of money on me, it’s OK for me to spend a little on you. Relax.” Maybe I should’ve fought against it a little, but tiredness and anxiousness to see my Mom was too much, and I relented, tossing off my old pair of paints and slithering into my new jeans and shirt. “They feel good,” I remarked. “Thanks.” “It’s not a big deal, you know I’d always help you out if you needed it,” she said bracingly. “I mean, that’s sort of what-” I cut her off by grabbing her and pulling her into a deep hug, squeezing her tightly and not letting go. “Thank you,” I said again. “Just… thanks.” She put her own arms around me, her head sinking into my chest as she gave a long, lingering sigh of contentment. She understood me well enough to know that I meant far more than words could ever say, more than I’d ever be able to say aloud. “Your welcome.” She pulled away from me and looked up at me, her face now strained with tension. “We should go see your Mom. Are you ready?” I felt a chill course through me, knowing what I was probably about to face would be something out of a nightmare. Not just because of my Mom, but because we’d be entering a section of the hospital that would be packed with the broken and dying from the horrors we had barely escaped. It would be difficult to accept. “I- I don’t know,” I confessed. “What if- what if she’s..?” Sunset leaned up and kissed my forehead gently, a soothing gesture she’d used to help calm me before. “No matter what happens, I won’t leave your side,” she promised. “I’ll be with you through it all.” I felt a lump in my throat, gazing down at this beautiful woman with all the love in my heart burning like a fire. I’d never believed I could find anyone like her, and yet, somehow this priceless treasure had chosen to grow and live and laugh and love alongside me. I’d never deserve someone as wonderful as her. Our hands together, we walked out of my assigned room to ICU on the floor above. The moment we reached the doors to the unit, we could already hear the screams and smell that metallic stench of spilled blood. I shot Sunset an apprehensive look as we stood just outside the threshold, already assaulted by the sounds and smells of the aftermath. “It’s gonna be bad in there,” I warned her. “It’d be worse to leave now,” she said determinedly. “Let’s go…” It was worse than I’d imagined it could be. Nurses and doctors ran about madly in a desperate rush to find what could be the only thing to save their patient’s life, too many of them absolutely covered in blood that was not their own. The sounds and the smells of death and terror were almost overpowering now, a torrential assault upon our psyche with each and every step. Even though she’d spoken boldly, Sunset was wide-eyed with horror at the chaos and stuck close to me for comfort. “We need to hurry up and find where she is, I don’t know if I can take much more of this,” she whispered urgently. I nodded, unable to summon a single word. This was horrendous. I looked over at the desk at a roster, scrolling down through the list until I came across my mother’s name, a room near the end of the ward. We’d have to walk through the entire hall to reach her. “Just endure it,” I said bravely. “She’s down there, come on…” We walked through, unseen and ignored by all as we made our way through the madness, the staff too busy with their own patients to bother with us. I didn’t look into any of the rooms, afraid I’d see a face or hear a voice I recognized when I was so unsure that I could take it. I could barely stomach the sight of my own Mother. Sunset was the first to look through the glass, giving a gasp of horror at the awful sight. “Oh…” My vision filled with the tears at the sight of my mother, my one and only mother, laying there with only the smallest breath of life still in her lungs. So many machines were connected to her she was more machine right now than a human being. Her chest went up and down in a weak, erratic pattern as if each breath were a struggle, a laborious task filled with effort that fought for the chance to keep living. She was barely alive, perhaps only kept alive because these machines prevented her from slipping into the void where I couldn’t follow. Her sheets were a soft white, clean and sterile- just the opposite of what she’d been the last I’d seen her, and she looked like she’d been cleaned up since she’d been attacked. I remembered one of the medics are Wanyama’s gereza saying she’d been fighting, but I’d expected better than this! This was like… like… “It’s like she’s barely holding on,” Sunset said mournfully. I could only nod, too torn and broken by the sight to find the strength to speak. She had to make it through this, I couldn’t handle the pain of losing her, of having her death on my conscience- another item on a very long list of sins I’d committed. “Ah, we were told you’d be coming,” said a husky voice behind me and I turned to see a very tired doctor coming towards me, hand outstretched- I could see bloodstains on his fingers but I took it anyway. “My name’s Dr. Kerrigan, I’m one of the staff here at ICU. Your mother was put under my care.” “How is she?” I asked croakily. Dr. Kerrigan gave a sigh, wiping his forehead. “She’s… most likely she’ll make it, but she’s still at the point where it could go either way,” he confessed. “The bullet thankfully missed her lungs, but it also struck bone and caused some severe splintering- a lot of bone shards went flying inside her body, becoming tiny little missiles. That’s why she had such heavy blood loss.” “What’s happened to her since she’s been here?” Sunset asked. “We’ve done some surgery to remove the splinters and we’ve done what reconstruction we’ve could, but she’ll never truly recover,” Dr. Kerrigan answered. “I can’t say for sure –it’s all too long-term to be truly certain- but she may suffer pain and trouble breathing the rest of her life. Her lifespan was most assuredly shortened by a few years because of the trauma.” He was being blunt, brutally honest, pushing me to a point that I could barely take. Guilt threatened to overwhelm me with every word- my Mom was going to be permanently damaged because of me. “We got told that she was awake earlier,” I suddenly remembered, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. “How was she when she was conscious?” “She was very, very weak,” he replid. “But she was able to have lucid conversations, she could respond to people. It was all very exhausting for her, so we gave her drugs to help her sleep. It’s probably best for her to stay that way for a while, so she can heal without undue stress.” “Could… could we-” “Go on in? Certainly, I’ll be back to check up on you three in a short while, I need to return to my other patients- today’s the worst day I’ve ever seen in my life, I doubt there’ll be another one like it… Say, weren’t admitted her as a patient yourself?” he asked me. “Yeah, I was. Just mild injuries, I was told I should be released today.” “If I can find the time, I’ll tell them that you’re cleared to leave,” he said. “You can stay here with your mother for as long as you need, however.” Sunset and I said our thanks and he departed, walking quickly away to deal with the catastrophe that was today. He’d been pretty blunt, but he’d meant well- most likely he was pretty spent himself. We opened the door to Mom’s room and took seats next to the window, simply watching her slow, shallow breathing as she lay there in a deep slumber. Every inhalation was another jab into my heart, my mind wondering if the next breath would be her last, if I would be forced to watch my mother truly leave me forever. I was too hurt, too damaged to truly take it all in and I eventually became numb- my body’s coping mechanisms as my emotions began to shut down. “You should say something to her,” Sunset told me softly. “Maybe if you’d talked to her, she’d feel a little better.” “She’s asleep, Sunset, I shouldn’t be trying to wake her,” I replied dully. “It could help her rest, to know that you’re safe,” she suggested. “I’ll bet she was really worried about you, not knowing where you were in the midst of all this…” I shook my head but rose from my seat and knelt down next to my mother’s bed, gazing down at her face- worn, rough and weathered from years of abuse and pain and sadness, whether it be from my father or my own actions. How she had suffered because of Wanyama, because of her family’s sinfulness nearly destroying her. What could I say to make it up to her after this? “I’m sorry,” I said softly, brushing her dark hair from her face, careful so as not to wake her. “I’m sorry this has happened to you. I’m sorry for everything, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. Guess I’m kinda worthless, huh?” Sunset shifted behind me but said nothing, knowing I was trapped in another world beyond anyone’s reach. “I’m sorry for my father, and all that he did to hurt you,” I continued. “Estevan was a god-awful piece of human garbage and Lord knows you were better than he ever deserved. You were so sweet and kind and passionate that you were something he couldn’t understand. I hated seeing what he’d do to you, how he’d mock and torment and torture you day in and day out for so many years. I wish I could’ve done something to stop him… And instead of helping you heal, I became his replacement. I never laid a hand on you, but I kept on hurting you by following in his footsteps. I became one of Wanyama’s fools, stealing and hurting and tearing people apart with drugs and violence and so much stupidity that I never even stopped to consider what you wanted. I failed in school, something you so valued, and kept getting myself arrested even though I sure as hell knew better. I messed up a lot, didn’t I? And then, even after all the progress I’ve made, even though I’d left all of that crap behind thanks to a pretty girl named Sunset Shimmer, here you are- someplace where you can’t hear me, and I may never see you again. I want to see you smile, to hear you laugh again. I don’t want my failure to keep you safe from my mistakes to be what took you away from me. I can’t protect anybody, especially you. I’m so sorry that after all I’ve done, even when I try to make it up to you and keep you safe I still mess up. I’m gonna walk away from the fight this time. I mean it this time- I’m sick of having to see the mess I saw tonight. I don’t want to have to constantly fight for a right to be seen and heard and make people know I’m there, because I don’t think there was ever a point to it. I think it was just me being some dumb kid who’d gotten so caught up in having to fight to stay alive and ended up just fighting everything and everyone. I’ll use my hands for something else, I’ll- I’ll learn to be a welder or a carpenter- just… anything better than this. So please, do me the favor and stay alive. Come back to me and Sunset and show us your smile again. So you can hear me say sorry for real.” Her breathing was steadier than it’d been before, her breathing deeper and more relaxed. I looked at her monitors, seeing a decrease in her heart rate to a gentler, healthier pace. I guess Sunset had been right after all… A hand on my shoulders and she turned me around, putting her hands on my face and pulling my head down to hers. “Today, I finally started to understand what you’ve had to endure,” she said quietly, rocking me back and forth in a slow, gentle rhythm. “I always knew you’d suffered, but it wasn’t until I was there and I saw who he was did I really start to get it. I want you to know that I am so, so proud of you for walking away when there were so many there that were too foolish, too scared or too weak to turn their back on him.” She pulled away just a bit to look up at me, a radiant smile on her face. “And then you did better. You stood up to them and you kept your honor, even when they tried to drag you back down and make you just like them. You showed how far you’d come and that they were never worthy of you. They called you a Dragon? That person never existed, just something Wanyama made up to try and keep you down. You were never a dragon, you were always you- and that’s someone better than they ever could be.” Sunset and I sat there together as we waited in the quiet for Mom to wake, watching her as she slept a little more peacefully than before. We kept track of her progress, sitting there next to her while the other would stretch their legs or go get some food. I made a call to Manny around lunchtime, asking him if he’d be willing to drive my car up to the hospital from my house. “Yeah, I got you,” he replied. “You sound tired.” “Haven’t slept yet,” I replied. “I feel too wired and I wanna be there when Mom wakes up.” “You gonna need anything? Any help for anything?” I hesitated before answering, “Yeah, see if you can find me a good realtor I can look into.” It was something I’d been considering since the moment Mom had been attacked. While Wanyama was certainly defeated, there were still plenty of low-ranking members or surviving fanatics that would try to hunt us down. The West End would become a much better place, but that would be over time- and without us there. It had finally come time for us to leave, this having been the final warning. I’d need to talk it over with Mom when she was healthy enough –In other words, convince her we’d need to leave- but I was certain it was the right choice. “Yeah, I can do that,” he said. “I know a few people who’d help you out, just gimme a couple days… so how are you all doing? You and your chica?” “I’m pretty beat up, but I’ll be fine. Sunset’s in better shape than I am, she’s good.” “Not what I meant, my friend. I meant how are you doing?” “Truthfully, just tired, and still a little in shock. It was pretty bad last night, if it hadn’t been for Sunset…” “So it’s true, then,” he said. “West End’s been buzzing all day, mi ariete… about a young girl bringing down the magic man.” “It’s more than what I can say over a phone call,” I replied. “Besides, I don’t know if we’ll ever want to talk about it.” Manny was silent for a bit, then said, “Try to get some rest, mi ariete. It’ll do you good.” “Yeah, yeah I know,” I replied. “Thanks, I’ll meet you out in the parking lot when you and Karina get here.” I headed back up to Mom’s room, watching as the activity around the hospital had slowly decreased and seeing a surplus of nurses and doctors sleeping anywhere they could, absolutely exhausted by the ordeal. Most of the work by now was done, all that they could do was monitor the progress and hoped it stayed positive. Other times, I would walk by a room and hear the sounds of grief as yet another soul lost its fight to stay alive. Whether Wanyama or the police it didn’t matter- the ones they left behind all shed the same tears. “Hey, Sunset, you wanna go grab something to eat real quick while I- Oh!” I gave a start as I realized we were no longer alone in the room, as my Mom’s employer, Mr. Rich, had taken a seat right next to the door. “Mr. Rich, I- I wasn’t expecting you,” I stammered, trying to be presentable. I’d never been in the presence of so much money in my whole life. He of course wore an unbelievably expensive suit, cuffs made of pure gold and studded with diamonds and I could see a chain hanging from his pocket made of pure silver. I suddenly realized why people said he had shared in multiple pro sports teams- the aura exuding from him alone would make anyone believe it. “I wasn’t expecting my best maid to be shot, either,” he said, rising from his seat to shake my hand, which I did so a little weakly from shock. “I came by to offer my sympathies- to the both of you. I can hardly imagine what the past few days have been for you.” I nodded, which was probably not the best answer but it was all I could manage. “Your mother, as you’re probably aware, has spent a great deal of time at our estate since we took her on. I apologize if that’s been of any concern to you.” “No, it’s fine, sir, I understood,” I replied. “It’s not the first time she’s had to work long shifts like that.” “She’s also one of the few people my daughter has taken to quickly as well. I believe you and she go to the same school, so you may have seen her around- she tends to stick to herself, but somehow your mother cracked her shell and charmed my daughter. I wanted to let you know she’s become a great source of comfort for the family.” “Thank you, sir, she’ll be glad to hear it when she wakes up-” “Oh, I’m not going to stay long- I’ll actually be heading out of country for a few weeks on a business trip. I just wanted to stop by and speak to you for a little while- Oh, I almost forgot. I told my staff at the estate to set aside the funds your mother would be earning for her work, for as long as she’s away, I’ll still pay it.” “Whoa,” Sunset said from the corner, and I sat there in shock. That was a lot of money, it’d be a huge help towards starting a savings fund for a new house or apartment, if that’s what it came to. “Thank you, sir, that’s- just wow, thanks.” What else could I say? “No problem at all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be going- even executives have flight schedules!” He prepped himself to leave and had just made it to the doorway when he paused. “By the way,” he added, turning around. “On the estate, there’s a nice little gatehouse where your mother’s stayed at before when we’ve needed her overnight. I’ll let my staff know that she’s welcome to it while you search for a new home.” He left before I could say another word, leaving me to stand there slackjawed. How had he even known I was going to do that? He was the super-elite, the unbelievably rich that never needed to worry about things like that- Wow, he was smart. “Did- did that just happen?” Sunset asked me, looking just as stunned as I was. “Umm… maybe?” I was still more or less floored by it all. “Come here, quick! She’s awake!” Sunset called to me, beckoning me animatedly as I walked back into the ward with two bags of Burger King. “Wait, you’re serious?” I rushed through the ward and nearly slammed into the wall, skidding across the floor to look inside and see my Mom was- “You’re alright!” she said happily, too weak to do anything but move her head and look at me. But she could smile again, she was alive and getting better! She gave a small squeak of dismay as she looked at me with additional scrutiny. “But what happened to you- oh, your face and your arms-” “Doesn’t matter, I’m fine,” I said quickly, tossing my food aside and rushing to her side. “Just a bunch of cuts and bruises, I’ll be fine. How- how are you, how do you feel?” “Well, very, very tired,” she responded. “But I’m alive, so I guess that’s pretty good.” “Yeah, it really is,” I said emphatically. “I mean, just- yeah!” “What happened to you, though? Are you well, did they hurt you?” “Just a little bit, the missing tooth’s the worst part and that ain’t much,” I said, giving a gappy grin. “It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s never gonna happen again. He’s gone Mom, they got him- Jester’s dead.” That might have been too much information to say, but I couldn’t wait. The man who had destroyed her husband before she’d even met him and had nearly taken her child was dead, she deserved to know. “He’s- what?” “Yeah, Mom, he’s gone. It’s done, Wanyama’s finished. They’re finally done for.” She smiled but even as she spoke to say her delight, I could see a thing glazing occur across her brown eyes. She wasn’t fully back yet, she may not even steady enough to understand what I was saying, but her happiness came from the fact that I was happy. To her, that was enough for now. I could tell it’d be a while before she’d be back to some semblance of normality. We had a long road of recovey ahead of us before she’d be able to go back home. Which made me start thinking about how much this was all gonna cost… We talked with Mom for a little while, trying our best to be as considerate and gentle as we could, knowing there was only so much she could take at once. She was only awake for a little while, for about an hour later she was asleep once more, the drugs and physical exhaustion having pulled her back into the dreaming world once again. We let her rest and Sunset gave a sigh of relief, having finally seen she’d indeed make a healthy recovery. We tore open the bags of Burger King I’d brought earlier and feasted, not really caring that it was all cold. It was the first thing we’d eaten all day. I kept throwing glances at Sunset every now and again, watching her with rapturous adoration. I was running out of ways to avoid it and honestly the timing may never have been better- I needed to tell her, and soon… “Hey, Sunset?” “Mm? What’s up?” “Nothing, just wanted to talk to you about something,” I said casually, though inside my heart was pounding. “Sure, what is it?” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin and turning to me. “Just… I dunno, I just wanted to say-” There was a knock at the door and it was Dr. Kerrigan again, looking a little more relaxed than when I’d seen him earlier, though admittedly just as tired. “Everyone doing alright?” he inquired, walking in to check on my mother. “How about you two?” “We’re fine, just a little tired is all,” I replied, watching as he wrote down various items and notes on my mother’s checklist, searching for anything of concern. “She was awake not too long ago, she was kind of out of it…” “That’s to be expected, she’s had to take a lot of medication,” he remarked. “I’m rather surprised she was even up at all, to tell you the truth.” I scrutinized him as she shuffled about. His movements were jerky, awkward. He was distinctly uncomfortable about something. “Is… is everything alright?” Sunset asked, apparently having noticed his discomfort herself. “Well, yes and no,” he replied, turning to look at me with an unhappy expression. “Your mother is going to be fine, but… Would you come to my office for a moment, please?” I was a little confused but I nodded and went off with him through the ward, finding his office in a secluded back corner of the area. He offered me a seat opposite his desk, sitting down himself as she shuffled a stack of papers and set them aside in a folder. “So, what is it you needed to tell me?” I asked. He looked at me seriously, a rather grave countenance falling upon him. “I don’t mean to pry, but when your mother was brought in, information regarding her was released to me- where you live, her occupation, things like that. Also some information about you, as you were her nearest next-of-kin that we could contact, so we’ve had to compile data regarding your family- whether you liked it or not.” I wasn’t too terribly surprised, but I nodded anyway. Where was he going with this? “You see, the reason we do such a thing sometimes is because many patients that come through our doors come from areas of poverty- they can’t always afford the treatment right away, so our financial offices help create plans alongside the patient’s insurance. That way, the families can have some idea of how they’re going to care for themselves as well as finalizing their payments.” Slowly, as if it were a creeping shadow, the smallest sensation of dread began to rise within me, the slumbering beast awoken by his words as the tiniest inkling of understanding spread its way across my brain. I knew why he had brought me here… “How bad is it?” I asked, my mouth starting to dry. “Well, you see, the compounding problem was that not long after your mother was admitted, you were brought in as well,” he said, opening a folder and presenting it before me. “Our offices had to work fairly quickly to make an estimate, but when I saw it I thought it’d be best to discuss the matter with you as early as possible, so as to give you as much time to think as you’d need. Now, keep in mind this is a rough estimate made from general ideas of your treatment and your mother’s continued treatment, so it probably will be a little less than what you see here…” With growing trepidation, I slid the folder over to me and began to read the paperwork inside, instantaneously overwhelmed by the sheer mass of text and numbers before me. It was a colossal effort, the very point of which seemed to be to knock me flat out. Treating my wounds, which had been relatively minor, was a huge deficit already. And Mom’s… Mom’s was so monumental that I could hardly believe such a number existed. The cost of her treatments she’d already received, alongside her future needs and probably therapy and continued medication, were upwards of $200,000… “I know it’s pretty bad, but that’s why I wanted to speak with you,” Dr. Kerrigan said, pulling out some leaflets for me to examine. “There’s ways that you could easily make this more manageable and help to reduce any unnecessary stress from all of this...” He spoke a lot of financial words and wisdoms I didn’t understand. I didn’t need to. All I cared about was that no matter what we did, no matter how affordable we made it, Mom and I would be trying to pay this debt off for the rest of our lives. Combine that with the fact that she never made that much money to begin with, any extra debt was a massive concern to our very survival. And we had to get a new home, somehow every single expenditure coming down and flattening us all at once. We would never recover from this. We may never even survive it… The light of the moon shone through the nearby window as I sat huddled in the corner, overlooking my sleeping mother who lay peacefully, out of reach from the problems that plagued the rest of the world- ones that threatened the lay their hands on her the moment she returned to the normal world. I checked my phone and saw it was a little past three in the morning. Sunset had left around ten, so that meant I’d been sitting here alone for about five hours. Still no sleep, making it about two straight days I’d been awake. I didn’t need it, how could I sleep when I had to figure out a solution to all this? I flicked through my phone, swiping away the various apps I still had opened. I paused at my messages, reading through Sunset’s last words before she’d gone to bed, sent to me at about midnight. I know you’re worried, but I promise we’ll figure this out. There’s always a way. Now and try to get some rest! But I couldn’t. I couldn’t get any rest, I couldn’t sleep with so much on my mind. I had to figure out a way to sell the house, to find a new place to stay, figure out where I’d be staying because I wouldn’t be in the city a whole lot longer, and money- holy hell, figuring out the money was a nightmare. The entire issue of expenses was enormous, more than I could certainly handle. Neither of us could handle this! We were stuck with this debt for the rest of our lives! I buried my head in my hands, trying to force my sleep-deprived brain to focus, pressing so hard into my eyes I began to see fireworks. “Come on, think! Think for once in your damn life and make yourself focus!” I hissed at myself angrily. “There’s no way you can fight this one, so start trying to think!” I wasn’t very good. I was good with my hands and fighting more than I was anything else, despite my decent math grades. I couldn’t figure out a way to get the kind of money we’d need- somehow, putting my time into the lottery didn’t seem like a wise financial decision. I left the room and went out into the night, walking through downtown as I tried to figure out a solution. I wanted a chance to breathe without waking Mom and make a little noise if I needed to. I really wished I was twenty-one so I could hit up one of the bars, but I knew I’d get carded at this time of night. I didn’t look like I was in high school, but I didn’t necessarily look like an adult, either. I found myself disappearing into the city, watching as the only ones still out at this hour were the despairing, the drunk, and the devils. It wouldn’t be long now before the early riser would be up and about to make their way to work- school would be starting in just a few hours, actually. I wouldn’t be there, more occupied with my own difficulties here. Mom was my sole focus right now. “Hey- hey, you!” a drunkard yelled, calling over to me from across the street, positively drowning in booze. “Hey, you got- you- you got any spare change? My drink left me for my wife- my wife left me for a drink- no, wait, that’s still wrong…” He became distracted by his own ineptitude and fumbled over himself as he tried to correct his failing speech, each attempt becoming more slurred than the last. I moved on, walking down the streets in silence. I found the river and walked down its side, meandering through the parks and gardens that dotted its path. They’d done a beautiful job, really, turning what had once been a bunch of abandoned industrial complexes into verdant riverfront property. I could see tugboats pushing their cargo upstream, slowly moving against the current towards whatever destination awaited them, their lights barely visible in the early morning light. I’d been out for so long now that the sun was starting to rise. I’d probably need to go get something to eat soon enough. But that’d cost money, a luxury I didn’t have much of. What was I going to do…? I found a fast food place nearby that was prepping to open, the hours on the door saying they’d be open at six. I could hear my stomach growling and I knew, despite my misgivings, I’d need to get something to eat. For what would probably be the last time, I’d spend my money on some fast food- the rest of the money I’d earn would be only required spending. I refused to saddle my Mom with the kind of debt we’d racked up. I didn’t want her working herself to exhaustion, dying for a sum she’d never be able to pay back. I’d take the brunt of it if I had to, but that was the long and short of it. I would not let her pay for my mistakes yet again. I spent much of my day on the phone, splitting time between talking to realtors and getting advice from Manny about my next move. He was a good sounding board for various ideas, though he could offer no good suggestions for where Mom should be headed next. “Have you thought of moving out of the city? Just heading somewhere else?” he asked. “I have, but Mom isn’t healthy enough to carry on big conversations yet,” I answered. “I’m seeing how much we could sell the house for right now, but I can’t do anything since my name isn’t on the deed. It’ll be up to her once she’s able to make the choice herself.” “I’d recommend it. The West End’s reeling a bit right now, but Wanyama’s remnant and the other gangs here will be rushing to fill the void left behind by Jester and his elite. It’s gonna take some serious time for this place to get better.” And I knew it. I thanked him for the help and put the phone away, rubbing my eyes in an effort to keep myself awake. I was pretty exhausted now, getting close to three straight days of no rest and little relief from stress. “You look worried about something,” Mom said to me as I came back into her room. “You should be sleeping,” I chided gently, walking over to her side. “Don’t be worrying about me, you’ve got your own issues to think about.” “You’re my child. I’ll always be your mother and that means I’ll always worry about you,” she said. “Now what’s the matter?” She sounded more focused than yesterday, more conscious and awake. “I’ve been talking with Manny, that’s all. I’m thinking that maybe, when you’re all better… we don’t go back to the house.” She looked surprised by that, and a little confused. “Why’s that? Do you not think we’ll be safe?” “No, I don’t,” I said with a shake of my head. “I know it’s a big thing to drop on you, so why don’t we just focus on it some other time when you’re feeling a little better?” “I’m feeling a little better now, really,” she said. “Dr. Kerrigan came by while you were gone, they’re going to move me to another ward since I’ve stabilized. I’ll be able to start getting better more quickly, they said.” “Hey, that’s great. See, you’ll be back on your feet in no time!” I said encouragingly, feeling a pit in my stomach as I knew that also meant long, expensive therapy that added to that very big sum of money we’d owe. How on earth was I going to break the news to her when I could barely handle it myself? Maybe I shouldn’t tell her. “Something else is bothering you, isn’t it?” she guessed, seeing through my defenses and making me freeze inside. “There’s something you’re not telling me.” I didn’t know whether to lie on the spot or tell her the truth. I tried to say something but ended up fumbling around and just simply settling for nodding my head. “What’s wrong, then? Why won’t you tell your own mother?” she pressed. “Because… don’t worry about it, Mom, it’s nothing,” I said dismissively. “You leave it to me, alright?” She gave me a look that said she didn’t approve of me keeping secrets from her, but I held my ground. I’d done enough to ruin her life- I wouldn’t let this be another addition to an overly long list. I switched the subject and tried to get her to talk about other things, telling her about what was going on outside. She’d occasionally ask questions as to what had happened to me after she’d been shot and what had happened to Jester and Wanyama, but I was hesitant to give her too much information about that. It had been a messy business and I wasn’t sure how well she’d take it in her condition. Afternoon came and went, and I looked down at my phone, reading it was about two. School would be over by now, so Sunset would probably be coming on by to visit soon enough. I hadn’t heard much from her today, unusual since she usually kept up with me pretty well when we weren’t together. I kinda wondered if she was trying to catch up on any extra sleep- after all, she’d been up for almost as long as I had. Hey, you been doing alright today? Haven’t heard much from you, I texted her. I sat there for a few minutes, playing some music from my phone that I knew Mom liked- anything that was traditional Hispanic was usually her thing, having grown up in the culture that I had tried to avoid. I got a ring and I saw Sunset had fired back, a short text reading, I’m fine- just busy. Might not be there for a while, OK? Wait for me! :) Alright, sure, I replied, a little mystified as to what she’d be doing that was keeping her busy. Sure, she was part of the school’s welcoming committee, but no students were incoming this late in the year- it’d be pointless. So what was she up to..? There was a knock on the door and the nurse for our room, a Mrs. Reindhart, poked her head inside. “Excuse me, ma’am, but you’ve got a visitor. She’s been rather insistent that she be allowed to see you.” Mom and I shared a look of confusion. Who would be visiting right now? All of Mom’s co-workers had promised to visit on the weekend so it couldn’t have been them. “Who’s trying to visit?” I asked. “Her name was… hmm, hold on- yes, she introduced herself as a Miss Melody, she said she’d met you before,” Mrs. Reindhart replied pleasantly, not realizing she had just dropped an absolute bomb in the room. Octavia… what the hell was she doing here, how had she even known what was going on? Much less figured out that my Mom had been a victim of a shooting? I’d always figured Octavia was unbelievably superficial and brainless, not the kind of person to have any clue as to what was going on the in the world- not that I was great at it, but still- I was flabbergasted, and a little on guard knowing that she was here, trying to see my Mom. Maybe it all showed on my face a little, because Mrs. Reindhart’s smile faltered a little and she asked, “Should… should I tell her you’re not available? It’s entirely fine to say that if you all would like some privacy-” “N-no, it’s… it’s fine, let her in,” I said a little hesitantly, not sure if this was really a good idea. I had plenty of reasons to be worried about what Octavia would do- after all, the foolish girl had nearly gotten me arrested and been a thorn in my and Sunset’s side for a while- probably her being here wasn’t anything good. However, no matter what she tried to pull, she’d be on my territory. I had the permanent advantage here. Mrs. Reindhart disappeared and returned shortly, followed by a pretty girl with long dark hair. “Here you are, Miss Melody. I’ll be back to check on you all shortly, is that alright?” She left, leaving the three of us in a rather awkward position as none of us wanted to be the first to speak. I had no inclination to talk first, intent on making Octavia explain why she was here. I’d have to be decently polite since I was accompanied by my Mom, but I had no reason to be courteous- this was of her volition, not mine. Octavia stood there looking strained and distinctly uncomfortable, a small instrument case in her hands. She had the look of someone who was very upset, her face taut and eyes wide for whatever reason had brought her here. She looked like she was dressed for a recital more than visiting a hospital, wearing a button-up shirt and a low-length skirt, one less revealing than what she usually wore. She was noticeably subdued, too, if I had to be honest. Maybe my Mom had pity on her, not knowing the enmity that existed between me and Octavia, for she was the first to break the silence by asking, “Well, I certainly don’t know you… I’m guessing you’re a friend from school?” Octavia went red, avoiding my mother’s gaze as well as my own. “Well, not really, ma’am,… umm, we just… we’ve known each other for a while now- I guess.” Well that much was true. She wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t exactly admitting the entire blacklist of crimes she’d committed against Sunset in the name of jealousy. “Oh, that’s alright. I appreciate you coming to visit,” Mom said kindly, trying to help Octavia relax and open up. “What instrument do you play?” “Oh, I’m a cellist, usually, ma’am,” Octavia said hurriedly. “But I like to play string instruments a lot, so I thought- I brought my violin from home,” she added quickly, holding the case up for added emphasis. “I thought that maybe- I’ve studied music a lot- I just wondered if- I thought it might help you feel better. I owe- I’m just trying to help, I think-” She was struggling- struggling a lot, actually. I’d never seen her this out of sorts before, not even when I’d called her out for putting Wanyama’s mark all over the school. It took me a while to realize that she was struggling to hold back tears. “It’s OK, sweetheart, no need to feel anxious,” Mom said sweetly, waving a hand as if to push Octavia’s tension away. “I’d love to hear you play. I’ve never had a concert just for me before.” This was why I loved my Mom- she was so non-judgmental, always ready to believe the best in a person, always wanting them to feel at home wherever they were. She was the perfect foil for the young girl who’d tormented me for so long, who had mysteriously shown up at my mother’s bedside without warning, without provocation or reason. Octavia opened her violin case with delicate precision, her fingers working intricately to extract her instrument- a beautifully crafted thing, its wood sleek and well-polished, its strings tight and neatly trimmed. It was obvious she took great pride in her work. I suddenly realized I’d never seen Octavia play before, either. In all the times we’d been around each other, it had usually involved insults and screaming, never a discussion of our passions or joys or talents- I’d never seen her as anything else but a bully. She raised the violin to her neck, plucking the bow from her case and began to warm up. It was short and simple at first, just random notes as she felt her instrument and tried to make herself comfortable. But as I watched her, I could see something was off. She was strung too tightly, her movements jerky and forced, brittle motions that gave the impression she was set to shatter- Her bow dropped to her side, her arm hanging limply as the other still held her violin up to her chin. I looked up and saw –to my utter astonishment- something I’d never seen Octavia do, something I didn’t know she was even capable of… she was crying. Her tears flowed down her lovely face like miniscule waterfalls, dripping off her cheek and onto the lower bout of her instrument, she unable to do a thing as grief overwhelmed her. I didn’t know what had brought her to this, why she had even come in the first place, but maybe seeing my Mother like this was too much for her to take. Maybe, for the first time in her life, her heart just couldn’t take it. “This is all my fault,” she said despondently, unable to stop her tears from flowing. “This is all my fault- if I hadn’t been so jealous, if I’d only had some self-control and- and…” she took a series of short, rapid breaths, her emotions threatening to consume her. “I don’t know what to do… it should be me on that bed. This should be my room.” “Octavia,” I said suddenly, the word spilling out from me before I even had a chance to think. She looked directly at me, her face stricken by a grief she could barely contain as the tears continued to fall. “Octavia, please play something. Play whatever you want to play- I’m sure my Mom’ll love it, no matter what it is.” She gave me a strange look, a mixture of shock and something… something else, a feeling I couldn’t recognize. She gave a deep nod, her long hair falling over her shoulders and shadowing her face. She pushed it all aside and wiped some of her tears away, even though they fell from her eyes unbidden, even as she drew her bow and began to play. Octavia suddenly transformed, her grief that fell from her eyes becoming a real, tangible thing as it became one with her music, assuaging her grief into the song. In a way the whole world ceased its movements and paused to listen, the broken and worn seeking out the sound of their grief so as to heal from their wounds. Somewhere in a memory I’d heard the melody before, not a classical piece but something born of tragedy- a moment in time when the whole world had stopped to remember and grieve because of bloodshed. It was as if Octavia saw the world through sound, a connection to the deeper things of the world when she picked up her instruments and played. A place where she could bring everything, all the pain and joy and sadness and heartbreak, and let it be transformed into the notes on a sheet of paper, playing away her grief until it could reach out and strike her no more. Her tears still flowed as she played, falling onto her fingers as she moved the bow across her violin. Away she had gone, into another world where all her defenses and insecurities melted away, leaving only who she truly was to remain and be seen by the rest of man- a young, broken-hearted girl who had never known her place in the world, had lashed out against it, and now could only be the sound of its sadness. Octavia let her instrument fall from its place beneath her chin down to her side, looking exhausted by her private concerto. Wiping the last of her tears away, she gave my Mother a small bow and said quietly, “I hope you’ll be feeling better soon. I’m very sorry this happened to you.” “I’ll be on my feet in no time,” Mom replied. “Thank you very much for coming to play, it was very, very beautiful. You’re very talented.” “Oh, I just… I just like to play,” Octavia said simply, hastily putting away her violin back in its case and locking it away. “Thank you for your time,” she added, before turning around and disappearing through the doorway and out of sight. “Hey, I’ll be back in a second,” I said before rushing out through the door and out of the ward. “Hey, Octavia- hold up a minute!” Octavia visibly flinched when I called her name, slowly turning around to face me and she looked prepared for- what, an attack? Anger? She looked at me with such a pitiable expression that even in my most furious I couldn’t have done a thing against her. This was not my enemy- she never had been. “I- I just wanted to say… I am so sorry for what I did,” she said weakly, tears threatening to fall once more. “What I did was selfish and stupid and it was all because I was- I’m sorry….” “I- just- don’t be,” I said lamely, unsure of what to say. “I mean, just…” I gave a sigh, trying to organize myself. “Look, Octavia… it was going to happen at some point anyway. Wanyama would have done something eventually, the day we were going to clash was always gonna happen. Yeah, putting their mark on the school was a bad idea, but… you couldn’t know what was going to happen because of it. How could you? You didn’t grow up knowing that mark, you only knew it because of me. So… just let it go. It’s over now.” “I was… I was never very nice to you,” she said. “You or Sunset- at first it was just because I thought you were some ghetto jerk and she was a monster, but when you two got together, you started changing, and I just- I was jealous, and I just started-” I put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a squeeze to try and calm her. “It’s alright,” I told her. “I mean, it’s not alright, but it’s alright- neither of us are gonna hold it against you, so don’t worry- it’s done, it’s over with. We can all be adults here.” She looked up at me with utter confusion. “Why- why are you being nice to me? I thought you hated me.” I shrugged, unsure of the answer myself. “I don’t know, I just… I’m tired of fighting everything and everyone. It’s too tiring to keep up for so long, so maybe it’s time I just let it go. Life’s too short for stupid crap.” She gave a watery smile, a true genuine thing that I’d never known she was capable of. “I guess this is probably… well, I’ll probably be saying goodbye now. For good.” “Why’s that?” “I got expelled,” she said glumly. “I incited a panic, vandalized school property, so they didn’t have much of a choice. Principal Celestia was pretty angry with me, but they could’ve all been a lot worse.” “Oh… so what’ll you do now?” “I- I don’t know, really,” she said. “I still want to play music for a living, so I’ll have to find some other place to finish up my education. I’m thinking of giving my mom a call and seeing if I can head back home. It’s… it’s been a while since I was last back in my own country.” “Oh, OK,” I said. “You… your parents are divorced?” “They split up a while ago, when I was pretty little,” she answered. “When my Mom- she needed time to herself, so I came here to live with my Dad.” I’d never known that. I’d always figured Octavia came from some rich snobby family that had migrated here some time a few years ago and had settled down in the city. It’d never occurred to me to think that Octavia’s home might have been just as broken as mine. It’d never occurred to me at all that she might’ve been just… just a girl. “I don’t think we ever tried to understand each other,” I said heavily. “Maybe we could’ve been friends if we’d bothered to try.” She gave another small smile. “Maybe we could’ve,” she replied. “I’ve… I think I’ll be going…” I outstretched my hands for a shake but she pushed it aside and flung her arms around my neck as she gave me a sudden, sharp hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thanks, and good luck.” I gave a small snort of laughter, unable to think of anything else to do. “See you, Octavia. Take care.” She let go and gave a wave as she walked away, disappearing down the hall and out of sight for the very last time. “So who was she, sweetheart?” Mom asked me as I entered the room. “She was very polite.” “Just someone I knew at school,” I said. “I didn’t know her very well.” “Well, it was very nice of her to come by and visit,” she remarked. “She played very beautifully.” “Yeah, yeah she did,” I said, thinking about how odd it had all been. I took a seat, pondering Octavia and how it had all ended. It was so strange to think that despite all that we’d done to each other, all the screaming and yelling and bitterness and hatred, she’d still come here to play for my mother, someone she’d never met and related to someone she had despised. She’d been heart-broken, human and vulnerable as she had played. Maybe that was the first time I’d really seen her- without her all her defenses and anger, maybe that’s who she’d truly been all along. She’d even given me a hug as we had said our goodbyes. In the end, I was rather glad it hadn’t ended badly. “Excuse me… I hate to bother you, but… time to move…” My world was dark and warm. I felt so comfortable where I was, leaving me with no inclination to move whatsoever. Whoever had put their hand on me was a distraction, a horrible thing that was dragging me away… “Excuse me, but we actually do need you to wake up,” said Mrs. Reindhart, her voice coming through more clearly. “We’re moving your mother to another ward, now.” I opened my eyes to see a fair amount of the staff standing in the room, tending to my mother as they prepared to take her out of the trauma ward and to a less critical location. “How… how long was I out?” I mumbled sleepily, not all steady on my feet. It was the first bit of sleep I’d gotten in a while… “It’s around seven in the evening right now,” Mrs. Reindhart answered. “It’s good to see you got some sleep at last- you’ve been looking exhausted for days now.” It wasn’t anywhere near enough but it was better than nothing. I got to my feet and rubbed what sleep I could from my eyes. “Ready to go, Mom?” I asked. Mom gave me a small thumbs up and said, “Won’t be long now before we’ll be leaving this hospital for good,” she said cheerfully. “Why don’t you go get something to eat and meet me down in the new room?” “Yeah, I’ll be there in a second,” I responded. “I’m just gonna try and get a hold of Sunset first, she’ll want to know you moved.” “Oh, she’s already here,” Mrs. Reindhart said suddenly. “She went to Dr. Kerrigan’s office a while ago, she had quite a few people with her.” I pulled a face. What was she doing, especially with a bunch of other people? Had the girls come by to visit- but that still didn’t explain why they had gone to talk to Kerrigan. Mom was wheeled out and taken away while I went down the hall to Kerrigan’s office when I was suddenly slammed into the wall by an overenthusiastic young girl with hair the color and texture of cotton candy, only for the weight to be added as the full gang assaulted me, holding me to the wall. “Hey! I didn’t know y’all were coming!” I said, trying to put my arms around the lot of them. Coming out of Kerrigan’s office was Sunset, an excited expression on her face as if she could hardly contain herself. “Of course we’d come to visit, we wouldn’t want to let one of our friends down!” Rainbow said. “We just had a few things to do first, that’s all.” “Well, I’m glad you came, it’s good to see you. Sorry, but Mom just got moved to a different ward just a bit ago, I can take y’all to her, she’ll be happy to see you-” “Actually, dear, we’d like to talk to you, first,” Rarity said slowly, giving a smile that suggested she too was holding something back. I felt like I was going to be the victim of a joke, some secret about me being withheld by all of them. “Is… is there a place where we can talk privately for a moment?” “Hmm? Yeah, Mom’s old room should still be open for a while,” I said, leading the way. When we had all finally settled into the room, I turned to them and asked, “So what’s the story? Y’all look like you’re keeping secrets about something.” AJ gave a happy smile, so strange considering the circumstances that had brought them here in the first place. “Well, we sorta had an idea,- actually, not really us, just Sunset,” she began. “Sunset has been all sorts of worried about you, you know,” Rarity said, despite my girlfriend’s embarrassed appearance at the words. “She told us that you were worried about your mother, and not just because of her health, that you were worried you all wouldn’t be able to afford all the payments.” “Yeah! So we brought ya something to cheer you up! Because Sunset cares about you so much that she went all over the school talking to people and seeing what she could do to oopf!” Pinkie was suddenly interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who had put her hand over the energetic girl’s mouth to silence her. “We brought you this,” Rainbow said simply, handing me a box full of paper. “Maybe it’ll cheer you up a little.” I took a seat and grabbed one of the sheets of paper and began to read: Hey, we all heard about what happened. We’re all hurting with you, and we’re all thinking about you and your Mom. Keep fighting, everybody’s with you! ~ Flash Sentry I grabbed another note, and then another, beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by it all. They were all a bunch of notes from what seemed like the entire school, a smattering of well-wishes and encouragement meant for me and Mom, their sympathy and hopes and kindness pouring out onto us in a display of warmth I never would have expected. We’re praying for you! Keep going, we’re all with you! Your Mom’s incredibly tough, and so are you! Keep pushing! Wishing you and your Mom a speedy recovery! You’ll both be back stronger than ever! YEAH! The entire staff is wishing you well, and our hearts ache for the both of you. We miss you every day! ~Miss Cheerilee I was touched. I’d always been pretty reserved around my schoolmates, keeping to myself and the small group of friends I’d cultivated, usually ending up as someone more aggressive and unpleasant to be around than as truly one of them. Yet here they were, giving me an outpouring of love and faith and treating me as if all the anger and crankiness I’d ever dealt to them didn’t matter- they didn’t even care. Maybe all the preconceptions I’d had about people were wrong, especially the ones about school. Maybe they were pretty good people after all… “Wow, just- wow, thank you,” I breathed. “This is wonderful, Mom will have to see this-” “Well, that’s not everything,” AJ said happily. “You see, we did something else, too…” She held out her hand, bearing an important-looking document of sorts meant for me. I felt a premonition as I reached for it, not daring, not even hoping to believe that it could be what only the smallest part of me thought it could be… A letter of expenses, the multitude of payments and additional fees we’d racked up, the final staggering sum beyond anything I could pay. Yet there at the bottom, printed in easily discernible ink, were the words: The summary of expenses listed above have been paid in full. “Well?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “What do you think?” I started to shake, my eyes glued to the paper in my hand. I could see all that Sunset had done the entire day, walking throughout that school and speaking to every single person she’d come across, explaining to them what had happened and what they could do to help. She must’ve talked to everyone, not just students but the whole staff- all of them. This must’ve taken hours, if not all day… The tears fell onto the paper and I felt my face crumple, their hands coming around me as I broke into a thousand pieces, all the stress and pain and uncertainty I’d felt over the past several days washing over me like a flood. I lost all semblance of self-control and wept unashamedly, my cries echoing throughout the room because no longer could I hold in all the strife and chaos I’d felt as I’d struggled to know what to do next was washed away in the tide of unbearable joy and happiness. I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, I couldn’t stop the sounds that tore from my throat as I sat there, surrounded by people who’d chosen to love me unconditionally, to help me when I’d been at my lowest and bring me back up. And her, sweet, glorious Sunset Shimmer, the girl as radiant as the dawn, full of infinite kindness and love and a strength of fire that had never walked the earth before and would never be seen again. She, fighting through all her own trials and enduring suffering I’d never been able to imagine, had risen from her ashes and saved my life, and now had saved my future. Finally, after all that had happened, I was going to be okay. I don’t know how long I sat there, crying myself until I ran absolutely dry, not wanting to lose their touch for even a moment, constantly reaching out for her hand and finding it every single time, Sunset’s warmth a constant whenever I needed her. Because of her, because of her… Eventually the others began to filter out, whether it be to go get something to eat or to head down to my Mom’s new room, but soon the room’s only inhabitants were Sunset and me. I the thug and she the angel, who had brought me out from the darkness once and for all. “See? I told you it’d be OK,” Sunset said warmly. “Didn’t I promise you?” I got to my feet, trying to wipe my face clean and gain some semblance of control once more. “You did this,” I said weakly, “You made this all happen.” “Well, Applejack and the others helped,” Sunset replied, playing with her hair as her cheeks began to turn a soft shade of pink. “I mean, there was no way I could do it all myself.” “But it was you,” I said, taking a step towards her. “It was your idea, you did this…” “Well, I mean, I was just trying to help and I thought that maybe- I didn’t expect to get that much and mmph!” I grabbed hold of her and pushed her into the wall and kissed her, drinking her in so deeply because now was the perfect moment, the only moment, because I just couldn’t stand to wait another second, because I’d wanted to kiss her for so long, but most of all because I knew I would never love anyone as much as I loved her right here and now. We broke apart, gasping for breath as we stood there, her eyes as wide as saucers with the shock. “You… I’ve waited for you to do that for so long,” she said faintly, putting her arms around me and kissing me again. It was such a wonderful feeling, she as warm as the morning sun, her taste that of a sweet cinnamon, sharp and pleasant, and her lips- oh, her lips were unbelievably, indescribably soft… The moment seemed to last forever, the happiness I felt searing itself into my brain and I knew this was a moment neither of us would forget, a moment in time where our whole world had only been each other. I was in heaven, needing only her touch and her presence to know I was happy, the assuring sign that things would be alright. We finally let it end, slowly as if neither of us wanted it to end. I brushed her face with my hands, not wanting to lose that feeling, that excitement that came with her touch. “I love you,” I whispered. “I love you, too,” she said happily, her smile more bright than a thousand suns. “I’ve loved you for so long, but I didn’t know what to say or how to say it-” “Just promise me you’ll be by my side,” I said. “Promise me you’ll be with me, and you’ll love me through it all.” “All the way to the end, no matter what,” she promised, kissing me once more as we found hope, found security, and found a future in one other. We were going to be OK.