Endeavor

by Scott McElhaney

  SEVEN

  I didn’t get a chance to find out who those armed men were, but it appeared that they probably weren’t police or military. They were most likely just a couple of hunters who had heard the lady’s screams as well. The events that followed next were all a blur to me. In the span of maybe a half an hour, several police and medical professionals had taken over the scene. Everyone seemed to want answers even while they tended to Crickett and me.

  That was her name, by the way. Crickett – just like the insect but with an extra ‘T’. She was an eighteen year old girl who’d gone missing about a week ago. These are the details I’d gathered just from all the conversations going on around me. My name, as far as Crickett had been concerned, was Sky Angel. I had no idea at the time what she had been referring to the first few times she’d said it. It was only when the medical people tried to guide me onto a stretcher that I realized the name she’d given me.

  “If you can understand us, Sky Angel, we merely want to take you to the hospital just to make sure you’re alright,” one of the men said, patting the stretcher that was lying on the ground.

  It was in that moment that I realized I still hadn’t spoken to these people. The only person who had heard me speak since I’d arrived were Crickett and the serial killer. I’d been in a sort of catatonic state during those moments when I hadn’t been crying. It had gotten to the point where even Crickett had taken it upon herself to lovingly console me prior to the police arriving. No one realized that I’d just lost my parents, my Sensei, my friends, Ariel, my teachers, and my video games and books. And beyond all that, I’d also just discovered a world that made no sense to me at all, frightening me in more ways than I’d ever been frightened before. I later felt bad when I realized that a beautiful woman who had been kidnapped, tortured, and nearly murdered had been holding me in her arms and shushing me when the police arrived.

  “Sky Angel? You mean that Crickett had been talking about me?” I asked, turning to the girl who was being carted away, “My name is actually Vastian and I don’t want to be separated from her!”

  I rushed over to the bruised and battered woman who was being carted away by two people. It felt like a dozen police had suddenly closed in on me as I finally reached Crickett and took hold of her extended hand. Two people still held each end of the stretcher as she lie there looking over at me.

  “Are you going to be okay, Crickett?” I asked, “Was he the only one who’d been hurting you?”

  “Yes, I never saw anyone else,” she tried to smile at me, “Are you coming to the hospital, Sky Angel?”

  I realized in that moment that I had some cautious or protective police hands gripping both of my shoulders. Perhaps they didn’t really trust that I meant her no harm.

  “I… I don’t know. I need to go home,” I muttered.

  “Where’s home?” one of the police asked.

  “I’m… well, I don’t know really how to… I…” I stammered.

  “Take him to the hospital and get him checked out,” the policeman nearest me hollered to someone, then he turned to me as he placed his hand on my wrist, “You’re a hero, kid. You’ve no idea how many lives you’ve probably saved by intervening when you did. We’ll get you taken care of and find out where your home is.”

  EIGHT

  Little did these kind people realize that I knew quite well where my home was. I had lived my entire life somewhere beneath their world and I was fairly certain I couldn’t reveal such a thing without appearing a little insane. At the same time, I had to wonder if it wasn’t something that these people were ever supposed to know about.

  On the other side of the woods, Crickett and I were taken past dozens of media-types who wanted photos, videos, and answers to a million questions. I’d only seen such things in the VidFilms I’d watched over the years. Every experience on this side of the waterfall had been new and quite alien to me so far.

  It was during my ride in the ambulance that I pondered the separation of our worlds. The number one question in my head was the most obvious one – Whose world was fake? One of us was living a lie and as far as I could tell, both of our worlds seemed quite real to me. I could no longer investigate the world I grew up in, but with all that I’d seen and experienced over the years, I had to assume that it was all real. That would mean that we were currently on a multigenerational spacecraft headed toward Kapteyn C in the Pictor Constellation.

  But, what if the world of my childhood were truly the illusion? What if we were already on another world or perhaps even back on Earth? What if my family had been existing all this time in a massive underground bunker with fake data? What if the three thick windows on the bridge were really placed in front of video monitors that played out VidFilm illusions before us all this time?

  I lie silently on that bed inside the ambulance as I pondered these questions. The funny thing was, you couldn’t really fake a waterfall, a pond, and a massive forest. The easiest thing to fake would have been the world where I came from. What really was the difference between an underground bunker and the whole world I’d lived in up until this very moment?

  That was the very moment that I started hyperventilating. I started gasping and panting as the medical personnel in the ambulance put an oxygen mask over my face and pleaded with me to calm down.

  “Sky Angel, please look at me,” a blonde-haired lady leaned over and almost forced me to look at her, “Breathe… breathe…”

  Our eyes were locked together as she very animatedly breathed in and out, causing me to imitate her. Soon, I felt alright again. It seemed that I needed to stop thinking about home if I wanted to appear at least a little normal.

  “You okay, Sky Angel?” she asked.

  “Vastian,” I said with a slight nod, “Vastian Fox.”

  “Vastian,” she repeated, still holding the breathing mask over my face, “According to Crickett, you fell from the sky to save her. According to your right arm, you truly are an angel. According to her take on the way you broke that guy’s elbow, your fighting skills are like that of an angel as well. Did you fall from the sky, Vastian?”

  I closed my eyes for a moment, then finally nodded, “I jumped from the cliff at the waterfall. And how does my right arm identify me as an angel?”

  She looked down at my arm and then took my hand in hers and lifted my arm. With her other hand, she gestured toward my tattoos.

  “We’ve been visited by probably five to six angels over the years and every single one of them had designs on their right arms that couldn’t be scrubbed off. And every single one of them could fight an armed assailant with merely their bare hands as you’d done today. Everyone already knows including the media and police, so there’s really no need to pretend,” she said with a kind smile, “Why’d you come, Vastian? Was it to finally save the world from this serial killer?”

  “I…” I looked into her blue eyes wondering if she wanted the truth or not, “I came merely to save Crickett.”

  It was the closest thing to the truth that I could offer. I’d have never leapt from that cliff had I not seen a woman who was about to be murdered. Why did I ultimately sacrifice my whole life? I only did it because Crickett was about to drown in the hands of a horrible man. I still couldn’t even imagine what would cause a man to mistreat a woman in such a way.

  “One person?” she asked, perhaps wishing that this ‘angel’ had an enormous purpose.

  “Is she not worth it?” I asked.

  She smiled widely as her shoulders seemed to relax, “The gods are so good to us. I’d love to believe that there’s an angel up above who would sacrifice his divinity for me. And then when that angel is asked why, he’d reply simply ‘is she not worth it’?”

  I sighed, wondering just what it was that these people believed in. This lady then reached over and tenderly raked her fingers through my hair as she seemed to gaze upon me. Then she disappeared from my field of view since it appeared that I was now apparently in control of my own breathing.
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  “We’re here!” someone hollered.

  “Welcome to Endeavor General Hospital, Sky Angel!” one of the other guys patted me on the leg.

  “Endeavor,” I breathed, “Really?”

  NINE

  Again, I found myself being rushed through a corridor of reporters. This was clearly a society very much like those on Earth where all our VidFilms were based upon. Everyone was so anxious for something new and exciting and they wanted details right away. The only news they managed to get from me was in the form of the inconsiderate question “is the killer dead?”

  I’d accidentally blurted that when I heard one of the reporters rudely say “the killer could return for her.” That was the very moment that I regretted not killing him. That was when my mind searched for a million solutions in a fraction of a second. That was when I hoped for the off-chance that I’d fractured his skull and caused fatal internal bleeding. That was when I hoped that the broken elbow had somehow severed an artery and caused fatal internal bleeding. That was when I blurted that stupid question “is the killer dead?”

  You can imagine what all the headlines were after that. Besides the number one headline which informed the world that Crickett was found alive and safe, there was the headline from her savior which asked “is the killer dead?”

  Now fast-forward past about two mind-numbing hours of brain scans, x-rays, and blood tests, and that’s where you find me seated upright in a hospital bed sipping a tall glass of something they called raspberry spritzer. I absolutely loved it.

  “Vastian Fox?” a well-dressed man asked as he entered my private room holding an electronic pad similar to my own.

  “Thank you for not calling me Sky Angel,” I said, still sipping the cool beverage through that pink straw.

  He chuckled as he approached the side of my bed and held out his hand to shake. I glanced down at his hand curiously and then returned my attention to those penetrating eyes of his. I took his hand and felt his firm grip as I shook it.

  “Funny thing is, the name seems to fit. Not to worry though,” he said as he stepped back and leaned against the wall, “We’ve been through this many times and every single time, the guy or girl with the decorated right forearm is proven to have no past whatsoever, no family, and absolutely no history here at all. Say what you want. Come up with excuses. Feed me whatever wild and crazy story you like. In the end, no one on the entire planet will be able to say that they’ve met you before. Does this sound like a scenario you might be able to agree with?”

  I shrugged, “Am I a bad guy or a good guy here? Or wait – better yet, are you a bad guy or a good guy?”

  He pointed at me and then chuckled, “That’s the answer I expected – a non-answer! Listen, I just really want to know how it is that your people arrive here onto our planet. We monitor the skies non-stop, so it’s clearly not-”

  “I’m sorry, but who are you again?” I asked, purposely interrupting him.

  “What can you tell me about Kapteyn?” he cocked an eyebrow as he appeared to examine me.

  “Never met her,” I blurted, trying to hide my shock while probably failing miserably, “Is she someone I should know?”

  He shook his head as he grinned, “So this is how we’re going to do it. You fail to see that I’m your closest friend on this side of the barrier. Tell me, Vastian… how’d you get the door to open?”

  Thankfully I’d already made my decision about this shifty and arrogant guy. I’d figured that this guy was nothing less than an enemy, so that question that he’d hoped would glean a reaction from me fell completely dead. I smiled right back at him and explained that the doorknob to this room was the kind that you simply twisted.

  “You have family and friends who are concerned about you. They’re hurting. I can get you back there if you show me the door. That’s a promise,” he said.

  “I can only assume that you missed everything from the past few hours,” I said, reaching over and hitting the medical alert switch, “I have no idea where I came from or who my family is. I now have only one enemy here and that’s the man right in front of me. I’ll get your name – I promise.”

  “Oh, I have no problem sharing my name. The name is Idris and my father sported three Cords around his right arm just like your own. Unfortunately, he died when I was too young to know all the right questions to ask,” he winked at me, then he departed without another word.

  TEN

  After I’d finished my soda, or spritzer as they called it, I decided that I’d certainly overstayed my welcome and besides, I needed to start plotting a way to somehow tunnel my way back home. It had been during those two hours of medical scans and tests that I had almost broken down twice. I realized that I had the choice to either remain heartbroken, or to do something about it. Unless it were four aces that I was looking at, I had never been one to settle for the hand I’d been dealt.

  I slipped out of my hospital bed and started searching the room for the clothes I’d arrived in. I didn’t even care if they were still wet from the large pond. I was currently searching the nearby closet when someone entered the room.

  “Hey, what are you lookin’ for?” a female voice asked from the other side of the open closet door.

  I leaned back and looked toward that unfamiliar voice. It was the motherly nurse who’d brought me the bright red soda a few minutes ago.

  “My clothes,” I said, gently closing the door, “I didn’t want to leave here wearing these fuzzy pajamas.”

  I held my arms out and looked down at the blue and white striped pajamas I’d been given a couple hours prior.

  “You can’t leave!” she gasped a little too incredulously, “What I meant to say was that Patient Welfare still needs to come down and meet with you to make sure you have satisfactory care in place beyond these doors. And besides, Crickett’s been asking for you.”

  She was clearly blocking my way to the door as we stood there face-to-face. Well, she was about six inches shorter than me, so I guess face-to-face wasn’t really accurate. Nevertheless, I still had that motherly healthcare professional in the room for the time being. If I challenged her and tried to slip past her however, I was fairly certain she would be a lot less motherly or professional.

  “Can I see her?” I asked.

  She nodded with a smile, “That’s actually why I’d stopped by. Before your hasty escape, would you mind paying her and her family a visit? I’ll see to locating your clothing for the time being.”

  “If Patient Welfare is holding me up, would you see to expediting that meeting as well?” I asked.

  She nodded then gestured for me to follow her as she turned and headed out of the room. I looked down at my current state of dress and suddenly wondered if it would be customary to be seen this way. Since this was a hospital and I was supposedly a patient, I decided I had no choice but to follow this woman.

  She didn’t even look back as she led the way down a brightly lit corridor. The doctors and nurses that littered these halls were easy to spot as they all wore the same blue scrubs that I’d seen on many VidFilms. If it weren’t for my VidFilm experience, I’d have been significantly lost and confused. None of this existed in my world before today. This was clearly the world of VidFilm.

  “Over here,” my guide whispered as she touched the door handle, “Please keep in mind that the search had finally been called off about two days before you rescued her. She’d been officially declared dead.”

  I didn’t understand why that was important for her to share with me, so I shrugged as she opened the door. I followed close behind her while she entered the room.

  “Vastian was quite anxious to see how you were doing,” she said as she stepped aside and allowed me to enter the room.

  Crickett was seated in a bed exactly like my own. Beyond that bed however were two people with VidCams and microphones aimed at me. On this side of the bed was an older woman and a teenage boy. It was the older woman who lunged at me like a panther. For the first time since
I could remember, I’d been in such a state of confusion that I hadn’t been prepared for the attack. This hundred-pound woman crashed into me and crushed me in her arms, causing me to stumble backward a step.

  Thankfully, common sense insisted to me that this wasn’t an attack. Common sense identified this woman who strangled my midriff as probably Crickett’s mother. The young boy with the buzz cut behind her stared at me in awe. I held this woman in my arms, wondering what those muffled words were that she’d been saying into my shoulder.

  I glanced over at Crickett and smiled when I discovered that she appeared to be very alert and well. Crickett was smiling warmly at me in return. I kissed the side of her mother’s head, then asked her how she was doing.

  “How am I doing?” this curious woman leaned back as she blurted those words, “You brought Crickett back from the dead and you ask me how I’m doing?”

  I was shocked just then by a firm kiss right on my lips. It only lasted about three seconds, but it was clearly enough for the media people to get excited behind those VidCams. They actually high-fived each other as I returned my attention to the woman who was still in my arms. She actually looked like an older version of the woman sitting up in the hospital bed. Crickett was a longhaired brunette with giant doe eyes and perfect tulip-petal lips. The woman who had just kissed me and still had her hands on my hips was a brunette as well who kept her hair tied back in a ponytail. About a quarter of her hair had gone gray. She too had giant doe eyes but with creases around them that gave away her age. And those lips that had just kissed me were probably as smooth and alluring as her daughter’s at some point in the past.

  “Is Crickett your daughter, ma’am?” I asked.

  “Yes, oh, dear lord… where are my manners?” she released me and rested a hand on my shoulder as she gestured toward the bed, “Crickett, my daughter, is the one you rescued and that’s my son, her brother, Harrion. And yes, I’m their mother, Astrid.”