by P.J. Lowry
After the success of seeing Paul in concert, Lizzy needed to get back to the list and keep momentum going. It had been a few months since Lizzy had started the list she felt a true sense of accomplishment seeing that a third of the list had been completed. Eleven of thirty items was a lot, and she wasn't ready to slow down. She had more tasks to do but before anything could be done, some had to be interpreted the right way or they risk not doing the right thing and messing it all up. So when she looked back at the next several tasks on the list, many of them stumped her. She had no clue where to go from there.
Neither Gale nor Anne could make sense of them either, no matter how hard they racked their brains, they couldn’t figure out what the hell Hayden was referring to when he wrote the next several items down.
Another week had passed until someone reached out to offer a little help. There was a knock at the door one morning, and Lizzy strolled over to the door unsure who it was. When she opened the door, it was one of the men from the firehouse. One of the younger men that Hayden was working with before he passed away, named Crispin. He was a young and handsome young man so when he entered the apartment, both Gale and Anna liked what they saw but did their best to keep their glee to themselves. After she let him into the apartment, she was very confused. "What is going on, Crispin?"
"Well, I was talking to Jared last night.” Crispin started. “He told me that you guys could use a little help with the list."
"Jared told you about the list?” Lizzy asked. She was a little surprised at first but it soon passed as she realized Jared had told her for a reason. Considering how much they were struggling at that moment with the list, any help they could get would be great.
"Well, Jared told me you guys are stuck." Crispin confirmed, "He showed me his copy of it, and when I read it one of them popped out. I came by on my day off to help you.”
"And which part of the list are you going to help us with?" Anna asked, using the question as an excuse to get close enough to smell his neck for possible aftershave or cologne.
"The one about going epic and reaching level sixty." Crispin said, almost laughing. "Did Hayden tell you about our online game?"
"I remember him saying something about it." Lizzy replied looking back at the other girls before turning her attention back to Crispin. “What was it called again?”
“Secrets of the Sword.” Crispin answered. “Hayden got into the game because I was so deep into it. This is a very complex role playing game. We were playing together for over a year before he passed away." he paused for a moment, "So when I read the part about going epic, I knew this was something I could help with.”
"Yeah, what the hell does that mean?" Anna quickly asked, hoping the handsome young fireman might have the answer.
"In this game, Hayden and I were both Paladin Knights and the term "go epic" means you reach level sixty which allows you to upgrade a lot of your stuff to what is called 'epic' gear. The last time I checked, he was in his mid-fifties so he never made it to his goal."
"I'm not one for playing video games, and I don't think that..." Lizzy turned to face the other two girls. They shook their heads to indicate they had no idea.
"I am actually volunteering to help Hayden's character reach the level needed to complete the goal.” Crispin informed her. “I just wanted to ask for permission before I actually logged into his account and started to level up."
"We’ve been trying to avoid using ringers, but since you are a friend of Hayden's I guess that doesn't count." Lizzy paused for a few moments, "Are you able to log in from here so we can see it?"
"Of course." Crispin walked over to the computer and opened a program from an icon that Lizzy always saw but never realized what program it opened. They watched with mild curiosity as highly detailed game loaded up and Crispin logged in as Hayden's Paladin that was named 'Dameos'. He was defender of the human race from other side, which consisted of orcs, demons and trolls. Lizzy could tell the game was well made but it wasn't something she never even knew Hayden was playing in his spare time. She and Hayden had their own computers, so when he was playing this game on his desktop, she was using her notebook or reading an actual book on the couch. Crispin explained that Hayden didn’t play that game too often, logging on only once or twice a week and most of the time that was when she wasn’t even home or working late at the restaurant. This made Lizzy feel a little better as she didn’t want to think she had been ignoring Hayden to the point where he had to turn to video games to amuse himself.
"Wow, this is quite amazing." Anna said as she watched him play. She really couldn’t comprehend what was going on but was more interested in the player rather than the game.
"Yeah," Lizzy said as she watched from a distance. "Interesting." She had heard of this game, but never really saw it in person and was interesting by how Crispin manpowered through the fictional reality. There were castles, villages and even rivers and lakes for the character to get around while questing for items and reward. It wasn't her cup of tea, so she was very pleased that someone was willing to step up and take care of this for her. She could tell from her distance that Crispin had been playing this game for a while as he motored through enemy combatants and got quests done with ease as he already knew how to complete them. Lizzy didn't want to sit around and watch forever so she went to her own computer and decided to use the extra time and the person helping out to do research to help her complete the rest of the jobs listed in the list. She attempted to look up websites that gave details about Hayden and his past life. To help with that she opened an account on websites meant for people to contact each other from days past. With it she used it to look up old photos, names and people. She had a hard time finding anything, but then she caught a lucky break. There was a picture of Hayden in his high school football days. He was dressed in full gear but had his helmet off. There was also a cheerleader that was behind him with her arms around his neck giving him a big hug. At the bottom it was the name she had been looking for: Shannon. The mystery woman with her arms around her husband was someone from his past. Then she came across another clue when she reading quotes. The line said 'Hermys are not accepted where you're going boy!' and that got her back up. She peeked into the living room to check up on Crispin who was more then settled into the game. He had already levelled Hayden’s Paladin a level since logging in, and Anna kept watching and pretending to be interested in what the handsome young man was doing.
Lizzy walked up to Gale who was reading a magazine on the sofa. "We need talk, my room." Gale put down what she was reading and followed Lizzy into the bedroom where she took the laptop and showed it to her. "What exactly does this mean?"
Gale read over the line and took a deep breathe. "Man, are people are still harping over that little piece of shit."
"I want to know right now." Lizzy said. "What the hell is a Hermy and why couldn't someone take it where they were going?"
Gale took a deep breathe and looked back at Lizzy. "Are you sure you want to hear about this. It isn't exactly Hayden's finest hour."
"I want to know about it, I don't care what it does about his image. I know who my husband really was."
"Really? Because you had no idea he was an alcoholic and obsessed with an online role playing game. Do you want me to add thief to the list?" Gale was never one to beet around the bush and she was up front and in Lizzy's face. She paused for a moment and back away. “I’m sorry about that. This whole Hermy thing isn’t something any of us like to remember.”
Lizzy paused for a moment and realized that Gale was trying to protect her and her image of her husband. But she wanted to know the truth, not a half truth that she lived. She wanted to know everything. "I want to know. What makes you think he's a thief?"
"That list is his confession." Gale said as she pointed at it. "He said give Gary back his Hermy. We all knew what a Hermy was, and who owned it. The only thing I didn't know was who stole it from him."
"Oh." Lizzy said as she looked at the
list. "So by saying that it's time to return Hermy to Gary... he's basically confessed to being the man who took it away in the first place.”
"Pretty much Liz, but that's not the whole story." Gale walked over to a chair in the corner of the bedroom and took a seat. "When Hermy disappeared, Gary took it very personally. It was an item that he valued a great deal and when it was stolen, he literally flipped out. He accused several people of taking it away from him. He even started a fight in the middle of the cafeteria and it took several people to pry him off the person he thought had taken it. Then when he got home, after being suspended, he got into a fight with his own family and accused his father of taking it away from him. The police had to get between them and that's when everything changed. It took less than twenty-four hours for Gary to be expelled from school and charged with several crimes ranging from disturbing the peace to assault. The judge agreed to give Gary probation if he agreed to attend a military school of his father’s choosing. No one ever heard from Gary again after he left that week to attend his new school."
"I can't believe it." Lizzy said as she sat down. "Losing one item caused all this to occur in someone's life? What was Hayden thinking?"
"He wasn't." Gale replied, "But both he and Gary were only fifteen when that happened. Were you an angel when you were that age?"
"Not even close." Lizzy confessed, though she never remembered something like this happening in her past.
"Neither was I." Gale said, "And no one had any idea how Gary would react to something we all thought would be so simple and childish."
"Such as his Hermy?" Lizzy suggested. "I assume it was going to be returned the next day?"
"That’s very likely but a lot changed in less than a day. Hayden never had a chance to give it back before it was too late." Gale seemed very saddened by this. It was not something she was proud of. "I’m sure it tore Hayden up with guilt over what happened."
"But he wanted to make it better." Lizzy said as she picked up the list. "Right here it says give Gary back his Hermy. That means he still has it and likely kept it for the expressed purpose of returning it. So all we have to do is find it cause it's likely here, find out where Gary lives and pay him a visit and give him back the Hermy he's likely missed for a very, very long time."
"Do you really think it's here?" Gale asked.
"It has to be. Hayden would never have added this to the list if he didn't know where it was." Lizzy was about to start looking when she stopped in her tracks and turned back to Gale. "Give it up. What the hell is a Hermy?"
"All right, I'm sorry." Gale said as she hopped out of her chair, eager to help her look for it. "Hermy is a teddy bear."
"A teddy bear?" Lizzy said in complete shock. "This Gary beat people up and almost got a criminal record because someone stole his teddy??"
"Like I said, not the reaction anyone expected." Gale said with a shrug. "From what I heard its brown, has short arms and a missing nose. So if you have a storage room with packed boxes that might be a good place to start."
Lizzy was about to lead her to the storage room, but she stooped two steps to the door and turned back to face Gale. "Did you say it was missing a nose?"
"Yes. Do you know where it is?" Gale asked.
Lizzy walked over to the other side of the bedroom and to Hayden's dresser. She took a deep breath and opened the top drawer and pulled out the teddy bear that she had found when she first cleaned out this dresser. She turned around and showed the small bear to Gale.
"Did it look something like this?" Lizzy asked.
"Holy shit!" Gale said as she literally freaked out. Her mouth was gapped open and she was pointing at it. "That's it!" She walked over and grabbed the bear from her. "I can't believe it's still in decent shape after all these years."
"Hayden had it with him the entire time." Lizzy said as she took the bear back from her. "I think he wanted to take it back, but never had the courage to fess up to what he had done to Gary."
"So what do you plan to do about it now?" Gale asked.
"Exactly what the list says." Lizzy said with a smile as she gave the small bear a hug. "I'm going to give Gary back his Hermy."
"Do you really think that's such a good idea?" Gale asked with a touch of concern. "There’s no guarantee that man is over it. I'd rather not risk facing that man's wrath."
"We're not taking it away from him." Lizzy said with a smile. "We are returning it. I don't know about you but I'd want this back no matter what. I bet for whatever reason, Gary still wants this back."
"All right, but I'm going too." Gale said.
As they walked to the door, Crispin and Anna bumped into them in the hallway. Lizzy looked at them strangely. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, we're all done." Crispin said, beaming with pride. "Hayden's character is level sixty and has gone all epic."
"Already?" Lizzy said as she consulted her watch. "You've been only at it about five hours. How did you do that so fast?"
“Like I told you before, Hayden was not a very active player." Crispin said with a grin, "And he’s never as good at this game as I am. It was no problem levelling him up.”
"If you don't mind." Anna said as she put an arm around Crispin's shoulder, "I'm going to take our little helper here out for lunch since he skipped breakfast. Do you guys mind if I tag along next time?”
"No prob." Lizzy said with a grin. "We're going to take this Hermy back to Gary. Nice work though!"
"No problem.” Crispin replied. “I was happy to help.”
Thanks again." Lizzy said as she gave Crispin a big hug. Gale and Lizze watched Anna and Crispin leave the apartment and couldn’t help but giggle. "Now I need to contact David and get some information on a person we're looking for." Lizzy walked into the living room and sat Hermy in Hayden's ugly green chair while she picked up the phone, sat on the couch and dialled David's number. When you're looking for someone, having someone with access to the police database was the best way to go.
The phone rang a few times before David finally answered. "Hello?"
"David. It's Lizzy."
"Didn't I say I needed some time to get back to you?" David started.
"It's not about that,” Lizzy replied, “Not yet.”
"All right, what's it about then?" David asked.
"I found out what a Hermy is and I need you to help me find Gary." Lizzy guessed that David was aware of the entire history and didn't need to say anything about it.
"Why do you want to speak with Gary?" David asked.
"I want to speak with him because Hayden was the one who took his Hermy." Lizzy replied and waited for David to reply.
It was a long silence from the other end. "What good will seeing him do?"
"I have his Hermy,” Lizzy answered, “I want to give it back."
There was another long pause.
"You have Hermy?" David asked.
"Yes,” Lizzy replied, “Can you give me an address so I can give it back?"
"No."
Lizzy paused for a moment stunned. "Why not?"
"Because this might be dangerous." David replied. “This guy freaks out whenever that little think is the subject.”
“I think you’re exaggerating just a bit.” Lizzy retorted.
“You didn’t know Gary.” David said before you could hear him sighing on the other side. There was another long pause after that. "I want you and Hermy downstairs in thirty minutes. I'll be there to pick you up. We'll take that little bugger back together."