Veridi Gothca

Chapter 5 Picking up the pieces

I could feel metal and concrete crumbling around my legs as I ran down the road, all my body wanted me to do was run home to safety. All the metal and medical tech began disintegrating off of me and fell to the cold road beneath my feet. I looked at the street signs to see where I was, one sign said I was on Poe Street, but I was still far from home. I had to get home, even if it meant getting there on foot. I shambled from block to block, through the green-lit streets, still processing what had happened. Should I ask for help? Should I go to the police? Maybe there was something Mom could do. All I wanted to do now was go home and forget everything that's happened. I was still getting used to moving, It was almost strange to use my legs again, I thought I would have been trapped in my own body for the rest of my life.

I wasn't sure how long I had been walking around since it was still dark, and I couldn't call Mom or anyone without my holo-tool. My feet were aching and I was hungry and exhausted, but despite all that, it felt good to feel anything in my body even if it was mostly pain. There were still people out driving so it couldn't have been that late, I wondered if I should hitchhike back home. Eventually, I found myself in a familiar neighborhood. I looked at a sign that read (Emerald Hills). I was finally in my neighborhood, thank god. I walked further past all the houses until I reached one house, home. I weakly knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I knocked again. "Hold on!"  A familiar voice came from inside, it was Mom. A few painful seconds later an audible gasp came from behind the door. My heart began beating hard as I heard the sound of the door unlocking. - "Hi Mom." I said quietly. I couldn't help but smile as I saw her, then I began crying.

Mom hugged me and brought me inside. - "Emma! Where have you been? And...oh my god you're standing, but how?"  I wanted to tell her so much, but I didn't know where to begin, I was so tired. - "Dad, he helped me walk again, but he's..."  I wanted to tell her, but I couldn't. - "He's what darling? Where's your father?"  She said, desperation filling her voice. The words barely escaped my throat, everything hurt so much. - "They shot him, at the hospital."  I croaked. - "What do you mean they?"  She said desperately. The loud whirring of a helicopter interrupted us, was it looking for me? - "I don't know, they had guns, I think they were soldiers."  I told her. - "Soldiers?"  She said quietly. She stood up and took my hand, helping me upstairs. Slowly we got to the top. "Alright try to get some sleep please, I'm going to look for your father. Hopefully, he'll have some answers."  She said. I noticed she was shaking slightly. "Aiden what did you do?" She whispered to herself. Mom quickly went back downstairs and then left to go into her car.

I shambled into the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a mess. I turned my neck to look at what Dad had grafted onto my spine, it was a long, sleek black device with faint glowing green lights coming out of it. When I touched it with a few fingers, my neck stung deeply. "Ouch! What is this thing?"  I groaned as I recoiled from the pain. My neck had dried blood around it. I washed as much off as I could and then I stumbled off to bed, I wanted to forget everything that had happened tonight and wake up to everything being normal again.

I drifted in and out of consciousness throughout the night, having the strangest yet most vividly real dreams ever. I felt like the world was in VR but I could feel everything as if it were the real world. Dad spoke to me about something but I was too confused to understand most of what he told me. I could feel something grab, and then shake my arm. I opened my eyes to see Viola. - "Emma, you're awake! Mom told me about last night, she said you can walk again."  She shook me excitedly and then hugged me in a way she never had before. - "Whoa hey, I'm still not a hundred percent, I'm still pretty sore."  After I said that, I noticed she had started crying into my shoulder. "Hey...what're those for?"  I asked her calmly. She sniffed and then wiped her eyes. - "After hearing about Dad I was so afraid we had lost you too. You were with him, right? What happened at the hospital?"  She asked me, eyes red and puffy.