I heard a snore. Peyton was curled into a tight ball on a chair in the corner of the room, suddenly jarred awake when I sat up. She was a light sleeper; it could have been just a creak in my bed.
“Baby!” she rushed to my side, landing on my chest with way too much force. I parted the curtain of pink hair that was draped across my face and drew back. “You’re up!” She shouted.
“I’m am indeed,” I whispered. My throat was sandpaper.
“You need water,” she said quickly. “I’ll get water.” She helped me sip from a plastic cup and began to regale me with the tale of what had happened after I’d passed out.
“I could see it from the jet,” she began, eyes already shrink wrapped in tears. “Brynja and Kenneth had fought to a stalemate, I guess, and then this big thing…I don’t know what it was – a spiky ball on the end of a stick?”
“A mace?” I said hoarsely, taking another sip.
“Yes!” she said, a tear suddenly streaking her face. She wiped it away and continued her story undaunted. “So this mace appears and she swings it, and boom – it was like the Death Star exploding!”
I nodded gingerly. “Wow, good use of a reference.”
“Thanks. So this wave of energy comes shooting out of her and Kenneth. It was like this big crazy blast, like…like when Sauron’s eye in Lord of the—”
“Don’t push it.”
“Okay, so then they disappear. It’s over. Done. They just blinked out of existence. We passed overhead with the TT-100, but there was nothing.”
Holy shit. She did it. It was what she’d wanted and she’d completed her journey. And she’d left something behind: me, and Peyton, and Gavin, and a world that may not even know that they owe her their freedom – maybe their lives. I smiled bitterly, overcome with sadness at the loss, and selfishly wishing I’d had just one more minute with her. What would I have said? I had no idea. I guess that’s where the beauty lies in our stupid, mundane, seemingly trivial interactions. Each one could be the last – your last time to say ‘I love you’ or ‘you mean so much to me’, or to just hug them like you’ve never hugged them before. For no other reason than it just feels right.
Peyton wiped away a pair of rolling tears and sniffed the rest away, straightening her posture. “So,” she said with a bit of eagerness, “there’s plenty to keep you occupied while you’re nursing your injuries.” She motioned to the table at my side. It hurt just to turn and look at it.
I took another sip of water.
“First,” she began, “Steve wants a blurb for his new book, so when you’re ready to type—”
I spat the mouthful of liquid out onto my blanket. “What the…Steve?” I blinked twice. I almost pinched myself to check if it was a dream. “Steve fucking McGarrity? But the blade…in his gut? And the…bleeding?”
“He heals quick,” she shrugged. “At least that’s what he said – some sort of healing factor thingy? The blade missed every major organ and passed through clean, so that probably helped a bunch, too.”
“Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say.
She raised a finger, rolling her eyes up and to the left as if to search her internal hard drive. “Oh, he also told me to tell you to stop being a ‘cockwomble’, and get your ‘lazy old ass’ out of bed soon. I don’t think cockwomble is a real word but I haven’t looked it up yet…”
She then showed me the piles of cards and chocolates and flowers I’d been inundated with, including a scratched, battle-scarred key to the city. “The mayor said you’d left this in her office?”
Damn, she couldn’t even spring for a new one?
After a quick call to Gavin and my sister and my niece and nephew, Peyton and I drifted off to sleep together; she laid gingerly beside me, careful not to press against any of my seven broken bones. I was back at square one with my tumor, but that could wait. I just wanted to enjoy a victory for once, and bask a little, and enjoy right now, not what I’d have to deal with in the future. I smelled Peyton’s hair and kissed her forehead, and she let out a little, ‘Mmm,’ that was my favorite sound in the world.
But as with all humans, that blissful feeling of being in the present moment floated away, and my mind drifted back to Brynja. I realized that as much as I was saddened, I envied her. She was leaving something behind: a legacy that she fought for and created, and that would outlive her for generations. Sure, I had technology I’d rebranded and loads of money I’d pass down, but nothing I’d actually forged myself. As much as I didn’t want to leave Peyton alone in this world, I didn’t want to pass through the Pearly Gates – if such a place existed – leaving behind only Cameron Frost’s leftover bank account.
I sighed.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Peyton asked.
“Nothing,” I fibbed. “Just…it’s been a crazy couple of months, that’s all. Hell, it’s been a crazy day, and I just woke up.” I snorted, and my ribs caught fire when I laughed.
“Well are you ready for one more crazy tidbit…if your elderly heart can take the excitement?”
Like an idiot I laughed again, and clutched my ribs in pain. “Okay, hit me…”
She smiled and rubbed her stomach with both hands. “No, you’ve suffered enough today. I think the news can wait. Let’s just enjoy things for a little while longer…while it’s just the two of us.”
The End
Books by Blake Northcott
THE VS. REALITY SERIES
Vs. Reality
USA / UK / Canada
Relapse (Vs. Reality Volume 2)
USA / UK / Canada
Legacy (Vs. Reality Volume 3)
USA / UK / Canada
THE ARENA MODE SAGA
Arena Mode
USA / UK / Canada
Assault or Attrition (Arena Mode Book 2)
USA / UK / Canada
Final Empire (Arena Mode Book 3)
USA / UK / Canada
NOVELLAS
The Manticore Ascension
USA / UK / Canada
Final Empire Page 36