IENDE
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“I understand Rachael doing what she did, but you?” Kyle said. “I know you had something with Eli, but why’d you do it? You seem like a rational guy.”
“I’ve got my own beef with the world. Eli and I had similar views on a lot of things. I feel like I’ve been under control by the world around me all along—mostly trying to change my sexuality—and I was ready to take a shot at the driver’s seat. How many people alive wouldn’t want that? Even so-called good people? The world is already under control by righteous idealists—those with a little motivation, smarts, and opportunity—who get a little power, whether it’s through their position, writing laws, or advising people in power. You put all their shit together, and you have the chains that bind us as human beings. I guess I didn’t see it as that wrong to seize an opportunity to hook up some chains, you know what I mean?”
“Sure.” At this point, Kyle didn’t care much.
“I hope you know I was a genuine friend to both Eli and Victor. I never meant for Victor to be harmed in any of this. But I’ll tell you,” Samuel gazed at Rachael as he spoke. “I’d still push the button if I could. But maybe there is no button. After seeing Bosco . . . I have a lot of regrets and a lot I’m still trying to swallow. Helping you will help me with that.”
Samuel put his hand on Anthony’s shoulder. “Let’s get your rent paid. We’ll take the trash and whatever’s bad from the fridge on the way.”
“Okay, thanks, man,” Anthony said.
“Kyle, why don’t you get in bed and relax,” Rachael said. “Remmie, you too. Samuel and I will take care of things around here and figure out our next steps.”
Kyle slid into his bed. The feel of his dilapidated sheets was heaven. It was almost as if it had all been a dream. But Remmie was next to him on the edge of the bed. She was very real.
Rachael pulled away Kyle’s bandage and took a look underneath. “There’s some fluid, but nothing of concern. You’re going to be fine. But finishing those antibiotics is important. I’m going to make a couple of calls. I know someone who can take a look at you, under the radar. We’ll make sure everything is healing up okay. I’m going to head out for a bit, grab some bandages, some groceries, and something to clean this place up.”
Remmie cuddled up close to Kyle, her warm body feeling like home.
“Tell me about your dream,” she said.
“I’ve had several déjà vus since I got shot. I figure it’s just all the stress, lack of sleep, whatever. But when I was asleep in the van, I dreamed I was another person. I dreamed that I was one of them . . . the ones who implanted these things in humanity, but as a human, if that makes any sense. I guess I couldn’t view it from any other way because it’s just my own mind. I saw a pale green landscape with large debris filling the sky, but not with my eyes. It was more like I saw the energy that made up the light, somehow. Like I shouldn’t be able to see what I saw.”
Remmie inched her head back. “That’s crazy. I wonder what that bullet did to your head. I still think you should go to a regular hospital. I wonder if Rachael wants to watch over us for our sake or to protect herself? And Samuel? I’m not sure . . . I guess I trust him more than I do her.”
“What would we tell the people at the hospital?” Kyle said. “That I slipped and fell into an oncoming bullet? We’d create a whole lot of trouble for ourselves. Besides, Eli checked me out.” Kyle felt cold uttering Eli’s name. “I miss them both.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Kyle pulled himself upright. He kissed Remmie on the lips, a brief kiss. She looked into his eyes and kissed him back. Her lips were soft and they ignited a whirr throughout his body, drawing all his focus to the current moment. They kissed for what felt like a few seconds yet also a lifetime.
“When are we gonna have a date?” he said.
“Date? You’re in no condition, not yet. Besides, I’ll be staying here with you. I need to go home for a while tonight, but I’ll be back before bedtime.”
“That’d be nice.”
She paused at the doorway. “We’re different now, aren’t we? What are we going to do with our lives? Jobs?”
“I want to go to school. I want to learn what Victor learned, study in his field. I know I can do it. He said I was smart, just naïve.”
“I’d like to do the same thing . . . school, I mean. Maybe a surgeon. I realize I can do more than I believed in the past. And now I want to do those things. I want to learn all I can learn, see all I can see.”
Kyle didn’t say it, but he wanted to understand everything as Victor understood it, about the Dames. Kyle wanted to know the truth. He needed it.
“I know there’s our parents and all,” Kyle said, “and Rachael, but . . . would the world be so bad if it were under control?”
“It would probably be better off, but I don’t want anything to do with the idea. I’m sure people will discover it again, and maybe there are more out there trying, or already there. But I think it’s all bogus, so I don’t care.” She grabbed his hand.
“You know it’s not over.” Kyle squeezed Remmie’s hand tight as a rush of clarity flooded his mind. “I can feel them inside me. I believe my dream wasn’t a dream. I feel like I’m awakening, somehow. I want to know what Victor knew. I want to be able to protect us. And the only way to do that is through knowing, through information. The more we know, the safer we’ll be, the more complete we’ll be. Knowledge is power, and to know all there is to know. Hell, that’s all God is, right? The know-it-all who can do anything because he, sorry, she”—Kyle smiled—“knows how to do anything.”
“You have changed, haven’t you? But I think we’ll be okay. The world will be okay. Now get some sleep.”
Remmie lay down beside Kyle and put her hand on his chest. Her forehead touched his. He felt safe for the moment. His tired body was as relaxed as it had been since before it all started, and a deep sleep rapidly overtook him.
And the dream, where he was something more than himself.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A. Morning Gice lives in Denver, CO. IENDE is his first published work.
www.amorninggice.com