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Maynia -- Day Thirty -- 1,833 words
I looked up at the house that I stayed in these last several weeks, I’d already had some people ship off most of my things from the house and now here I was, ready to leave Samheinrock as I glanced the ‘For Sale’ sign on what used to be my driveway.
‘Mreow..’ I glanced back down at the carrier I was holding and spied Jaden as he let out yet another long, almost sad ‘mreow’, “Don’t worry lil’ guy, the next town we’ll be in has a bigger space for you to roam around in.” I cooed at him through his carrier.
“Hey there luv, let me help you with that.” Z stepped in as he had some of our bags on his shoulders and gently took Jaden’s carrier from my hands, giving me a wink before he turned back towards my car. I silently watched him load the remainder of our things in my trunk before he rounded the car to put Jaden in the backseat, my hand grazed something in my jacket pocket while I watched him work, I pulled it out to look at the picture Dr. Bliant had with the man from Ms. Chip’s and my mom’s nightmare.
Now that I could recall some of mom’s features, I saw that she actually somehow resembled this man.. May my lifeblood be enough. I turned the picture around and grazed a thumb on his signed name as I remembered the wordings on the note that was in dad’s journal—G.H. Hammond.. could he be.. my mom’s father..?
“You ready to go, sweetheart?" Z walked back towards me as I pocketed the picture and looked up at him. He had a slight smile on his face as he pulled me closer to him, “Let’s drop by at Jack’s first, that alright?” I smiled back at him then and patted him on the chest before I answered, “Lead the way, soldier.”
“Mrs. Heins, let me take over from here. You should get some rest, you look tired.” She gave me a small smile as she patted Jack’s hand as he lay sleeping on the hospital bed before she replied, “I should, shouldn’t I? Derek could use the company now that he’s out of the hospital, anyway..”
I hesitated before I decided to just ask Mrs. Heins how he was doing, she had a faraway look in her eyes when she answered me, “He—seems to be distracting himself well—trying to get back in the force.. even after he’d lost a brother and—well that earthquake a few days ago..”
That’s right, the vibrations that really came from Lancaster Tower were all chalked up as a sudden earthquake by the people of Samheinrock. I rushed Jack to the hospital that night and made up a story on how we encountered Diana on the roadside—how she became violent and resisted to be taken in for questioning for the death of my grandfather—as she took a shot at Jack, before the earthquake took her by surprise and made her slip and fall to the mountainside’s edge. They didn’t need to know what happened in the mines. They didn’t need to know about Shiela.
I heard Mrs. Heins let out a sigh as she stood up from her chair and gave me a tired smile, “I’m glad Jack has you for a friend, Luke.. I’m—really sorry about Dr. Alfred. He was a good man.” She looked at me sadly and gave me a comforting squeeze to my arm before she turned to head out the room.
I glanced back at Jack before I let out a sigh and decided to make a quick trip to the cafeteria, just out the door, I spotted Mrs. Heins down the hall as she patted Z on his arm and waved him towards Jack’s room. Z then waved goodbye at Mrs. Heins before he caught my eye and started heading towards me, “Hey, is Shiela here with you?” I asked as he got closer.
He briefly looked behind himself as he rubbed the back of his head before he turned back his focus on me, “Yeah.. she just wanted me to make sure Mrs. Heins wasn’t around ‘cuz you know..” Ah.. that girl knew how to pick her battles.. I smiled at the thought of Shiela purposely avoiding Jack’s mom before I noticed Z now had a serious expression on his face.
“Listen Luke, I—still wanna keep you guys updated on.. wherever Shiela and I find ourselves at.. when we leave town. I just—maybe you’ll change your mind..?”
“Yeah.. you do that, keep us updated. We don’t want to forget the knucklehead in this trio.” I tried to keep things light, but I knew what the real stakes were here if I decided not to leave.. But I couldn’t just leave Jack alone, especially once he woke up—
I stopped with my inner ramblings when I spotted Shiela walking towards us, I took her in as I really looked at her—committing every feature of her to my memory. She stopped beside Z and looked at me with those rich green eyes of hers as she tilted her head towards Jack’s room, “May I..?”
I gave her a nod and watched as she went in, seeing her walk towards Jack’s form through the door’s window as she leaned over him and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead before she whispered something into his ear—“He hasn’t woken up yet?” I slowly turned my focus back on Z as he asked.
“He’s gained consciousness a couple of times but never really stayed awake long enough. The doctors said all his vitals were stable so they just advised to keep him here for further observation.” I just finished answering Z when I heard Shiela walk out of Jack’s room. I noticed how she met Z’s eyes and gave him a meaningful look before he spoke up, “Ah.. remember Luke, I’ll be keeping tabs on yah! Let me just head back and check on Jaden.” He gave me a quick slap to the back as he backtracked his way out of there, silently giving me a double thumbs up. I furrowed my brows at him before I turned back to Shiela as she asked, “So.. you’re really staying..”
It wasn’t much of a question but a statement coming from her, and I could only nod slowly as I remembered what she said about what would happen to us once she left Samheinrock.
Shiela glanced away and suddenly had an almost sad look on her face as she stared down at the town map, “As for what happens once I leave Samheinrock.. You’ll just all end up forgetting this nightmare even happened.”
“Is that a metaphoric way of saying it or—” I left my question hanging as Shiela focused her gaze on me as she tried to explain, “Think of the energy I share with the Tower like an elastic band, the farther I get away from it, the harder it will rebound back to the Tower, signaling it to send off vibrations that will wipe out any unnecessary memories you had while I was here in this town..”
I furrowed my brows at her explanation, not really wanting to grasp what she was really trying to say, but Shiela only looked back at me as she voiced out my denial.
“It means Luke, you’ll forget every memory you had of our time together.”
I slightly shook my head at that notion, I’d still try to fight to keep my memories of Shiela—I glanced back at her and saw she had her eyes downcast as she spoke softly, “I’m.. really sorry I can’t stay Luke. I need to go or else people in this town would get suspicious—”
I didn’t just have to listen to her worries as a way to comfort her, instead I gently pulled her close to me and leaned down to kiss her. I expected her to push me away but was relieved to feel her hold onto me as she kissed me back. I melded our lips together and kissed her like it was for the last time, I wanted to make this moment last.
I slightly pulled away and leaned our foreheads together, whispering softly against her how I truly felt, “I love you, Shiela.” I opened my eyes to see a tear slide down her cheek and I gently thumbed it away in wonder— because in our short time together, I knew these moments with her were rarer than a mermaid’s tears—she only smiled back at me then, and I dreaded how she would let me down, only to be surprised when she leaned close to my ear and whispered the words I never thought I’d hear from her..
“As I love you, Luke. Wherever I’ll be, know you’ll always have a place in my heart.” She slowly leaned back away from me as she held up her hands to my face, looking back at me with her beautiful eyes “Remember.. I’ll take that chance with you.. and Jack.. if we ever meet again.” She leaned again and gave me one last lingering kiss, but just like any good dreams, our kiss ended and she began to walk away from me. I could only clench my hands as I watched her go, fighting the need to run after her and just be with her.
She gave me one last glance back before I lost sight of her in the suddenly bustling hallways of the hospital—I realized then that, now more than ever, I had a memory to keep close to my heart.
I watched the sun set from atop the hospital’s roof deck, counting the minutes it took for Shiela to reach Samheinrock’s exit until she would completely leave town. Everything was still and quiet when I felt the familiar vibrations that the Tower emitted course through me, closing my eyes as I began replaying the moments I had with Shiela—the day I first saw her as she came to gramp’s clinic, that selfie I had of us at the base of Lancaster Tower, the way I held her when we took Jaden out for a walk, and finally that kiss.. our kiss—
I opened my eyes then and suddenly felt odd—I left the roof deck in a rush, taking the stairs two at a time as I quickly made way towards Jack’s room—a doctor, followed by a nurse, entered his room quickly before I could and I walked in after them to see Jack wide awake as he took in deep breaths, his blue eyes stared up to the ceiling as if in search of something before they wandered around and settled on me.
I couldn’t believe my ears when he groaned out the first thing he could ask, “Shiela… where is she..?”
We still had our memories of her intact.
to be continued...
Image from Pixabay, by Phan Minh Cuong An: https://pixabay.com/users/minanfotos-9565064/ (edited with dreamscopeapp)