At Time's End

Chapter 17 - Pictures

Entry 145                 Date: 9.3.2727

Today is his birthday. At least it would be, if Ms. Hawks hadn't murdered him. And for what? For just saying 'no' to killing a small child? If only he had ran further away before Ms. Hawks found out... Of course he ran, but not far enough. Though I know he didn't have time, he would've at least sent me a card.

And of course Alice found out. Of course she found him, and executed him. Of course she did. If only he had never accepted that mission, or even that entire job... 

But there's no point in dwelling in the past. I guess all I can do is monitor Alice for now, to prevent someone else from getting sent a letter in a black envelope, telling them that their loved one was executed for "not following clear" -ly insane "orders."

Eterna called today. I figure I told her about him at some point. I don't remember when... but she knows nonetheless. She asked if I was alright, and of course I am. He wouldn't want me to wallow in self-pity, would he? I guess if he's looking at me from somewhere, he's either laughing or crying at this point. 

She came over for a while. I think she thought I was going to cry - I could make out the outline of a tissue box in the bag she was carrying. I didn't. As I mentioned, he wouldn't want me to.

Happy birthday, Red Millheart. I wish you were... alive.

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I got up. My neck was painful from not having a pillow - I decided to use the blanket as a blanket in the end. Eterna and Karmella were talking surprisingly quietly. I could still hear them, but I could hear Karmella more than Eterna, which was incredibly uncommon. I hope Eterna finally got over her childhood memories. 

I took the pillow out of the vent. Someone clearly needs to clean that vent, as the pillow was incredibly dusty. I'm pretty sure that dust is from 2620, max. 

As I went down the stairs, Eterna's room fell eerily quiet. It could be nothing, but I decided to get back up and check in on them anyways. 

There were pottery shards on the ground, along with two distressed people and Minttens, the mint-colored sace, sitting contently on a table where I presume the pot used to be. "Oh."

"Sorry, he's like that sometimes." Karmella picked him up from the table. "Come on, Minttens. Calm down." The sace seemed happy at having destroyed something valuable. It was, however, a fool, because the pot costed 2$ and I have like ten of those around here.

"It's okay, those are cheap. Uhh, Karmella, hold the little goblin, Eterna, go make breakfast, and I'll go get the vacuum." Eterna and I left Karmella to calm down the sace. 

"So, uhh. Saces sure are nice...?" I tried to start a conversation.

"I guess." She laughed. It didn't work, so I figured I should just get straight to the point.

"Also, how's life with Karmella?" Eterna almost fell down the stairs, but I'm not sure if that's related to my question. "You weren't arguing as usual this morning."

"Uhh, yeah. She's.. alright, I guess." Her answer seemed oddly restrained.

"You're rubbing your neck again."

"What? I'm not lying!"

"Yeah, but you're uncomfortable, aren't you?"

"Um. What... do you mean?" She rushed over to the kitchen counter. "Anyways, Karmella is probably waiting for the vacuum? I'll just start with the breakfast."

"Wai-"

"This needs my focus, alright?" I gave in, realizing I won't be getting any info about their friendship at this stage, and went to get the vacuum. I could already hear the little gremlin child yelling from Eterna's bedroom as I got up the stairs. 

"Hi." I started the vacuum. Minttens immediately started hissing at it. 

"Oh come on, Mint! Calm down, it's just the vacuum."

"Maybe you should go to the kitchen to wait? I think this'll take a while."

"Yeah, sure. He hates the sound."

"Also, Eterna said she wanted to talk to you." Lies. "I guess you could do that at the same time." Karmella looked... surprisingly happy at that? I started to feel bad for lying. I hope Eterna actually does want to talk to her.

As I was cleaning the no longer intact pot from the ground, I stopped to look at the old pictures Eterna had on the walls. I don't think Eterna put them there, though, and it used to be my room, and I certainly didn't put them there, but I guess Ignus used it before me. After all, the room I'm currently living in is his study, not his bedroom. That would explain why I didn't recognize anyone from the pictures.

I knew Eterna's family rather well. Mom sucked as a mom, so I spent a lot of time at her place instead of home. Her mom was a literal angel, always trying to accommodate me despite me not even being from her family. Eterna's dad wasn't there a lot, but he was funny. That's all I remember. I don't know how they're doing now, but as far as I know they're alive and well. Her more extended family was also there sometimes, there's her two aunts who despise each other, and their husbands who became friends somehow. 

So, because I know them so well, it doesn't make sense why I don't recognize anyone from the pictures. There was always a young man, maybe in his fourties (reminder: twenties for us 21th century people). He seemed happy in most of the pictures.. except one.

The picture seemed to be one taken at some sort of an anniversary. It looked like it was from his workplace..? I looked a bit closer at the other people in the picture. While skimming, I noticed someone familiar... my mother. Why the hell was she in that picture..? 

Before I knew it, I was done with cleaning. I knew Eterna would question me if I lingered for too long in her room, and I didn't want to explain. I decided to just rummage around on the computer and see if I can find anything. 

But, I couldn't plan for too long, because I soon heard some yelling from the kitchen and sprinted down the stairs to check if everything was alright.

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AN: thanks for reading this far! i just remembered that this was supposed to be a 1k writing exercise, and boom: now it has 17 chapters with more to come. :D