OUTWORLD: Chronicles

Half of a Broken Moon

A hot wind blew through the streets of Jessica Prime's capital. Sand from the deserts surrounding the city hammered against anything that would put up resistance.

Inside Kerry's Bar, at the edge of the city's central industrial sector, the environment was more pleasant. A cozy glow came from tabletop lanterns and overhead fixtures, and a small air purifier provided a modicum of comfort to those sitting at any of the tables.

Right now, however, at this early hour, there was only one paying occupant, her denim dungarees, pink T-shirt and scuffed PAWZ basketball shoes putting her at odds with the quaint vibe of the joint. A Hedgehog, she was shortish and skinny, with light brown hair that looked as if it had been hacked about with blunt garden shears. She sipped intermittently at an espresso that had gone cold long before now, barely even noticing that it had stopped producing steam. Her thoughts were elsewhere, and she felt that that elsewhere was where her thoughts would remain. She stared out of a nearby window, looking at nothing in particular.

"Hey, Rollie!" A gruff voice attracted her attention, and she looked up from her tepid coffee. A middle-aged male Dog was calling to her. "Yeah, Seb?" she asked of him, hating the mournful quality to her voice yet feeling entitled to it.

"I'm closing, Rollie," Seb told her, sympathy on his face despite the firm declaration of intent. "It's getting late. You best be on your way home."

Rollie played idly with her coffee, stirring it with a spoon for no reason other than to give her paws a reason not to shake. "Don't want to go home, Seb. Nothing there for me." She slammed the spoon down on the table. "Not now."

Seb sighed. "Oh, Rollie. Go on, get yourself home. The sandstorm's dying down, and no telling what critters might be roaming the streets at this hour."

Rollie fixed him with a look, a silent plea to let her stay, but Seb held firm. "I close for a reason, Rollie. See you tomorrow, yeah?"

Rollie stood and moved to the door, giving Seb one more look before leaving. "Yeah."

The wind had indeed died down, but the night was no less desolate to Rollie. Jessica Prime was a hole, and this city was pretty emblematic of that fact. Empty soda cans rattled and pinged a sad song as they rolled away from her kicking feet, landing in piles of sand left by the dying storm.

"What a cruddy night," Rollie mumbled sotto voce. Her remark did not differentiate this night from any other, but she voiced it nonetheless.

She walked for a few more streets and finally turned onto the thoroughfare where she lived, walking up to a drab, shabby residential block that housed her apartment. One short clamber up the grubby stairwell later and Rollie was flinging open the door to her home, such as it was. It was sparsely furnished, and cluttered with detritus: pizza boxes, magazines, the usual leftovers of an introverted urban existence.

"Hi, honey, I'm home," Rollie sighed. Despite her remark, there was no one else present.

She yawned and collapsed onto her ratty sofa, grabbing the TV remote from the pizza box-festooned table next to it, aiming it desultorily, and flicking on the tube. "What delights await us tonight, then?" she asked nobody, kicking her feet against the far end of the sofa.

The question was as pointless as her earlier soliloquy; a habit, nothing more. Her eyes weren't even on the TV; they had landed on something else. She reached over to the table and picked up a small photograph that rested on one of the pizza boxes. It was a picture of her; she was smiling.

She wasn't the only one in the frame, however. Next to her stood a tall, handsome male Hedgehog, with a wide expressive face and glinting eyes. It was a face she had once loved.