Vivi

XXI

It took three days for Vivi to start feeling like more of herself. Celine's support helped her realise what a trauma she'd been through, and what a huge task she'd taken upon herself. Vivi got tired of hearing herself say, "I'm so glad you're here."

"I'll keep Shockwave company sometimes so it's not solitary confinement," said Celine on the first day. "Don't even look at him right now, okay? Rebuild the palace so you don't have to keep walking past him."

"I don't think I can do that right now," said Vivi. Being around Celine brought her back down to Earth – at least figuratively – in such a dramatic way. She felt like a pathetic ball of putty and couldn't imagine herself manifesting so much as a thimble.

"Then just don't look at him. I'll explain so he won't think you're snubbing him."

Between episodes of Vivi spilling her guts to Celine, there was time to splash around in the rainforest pool, sail the yacht, eat chinese food in bed and have by turns goofy, sleepy, wild and luxurious sex. This palace was made for company.

One evening (it was 7pm in Colorado, and she wasn't going to let herself fall out of synch), Vivi woke up slowly from a nap, first noticing Celine's scent, then Celine's hair in her face. "I'm so happy you're here," Vivi mumbled.

Celine put down the book she had been reading and kissed Vivi a little more awake. "How are you feeling?"

"Sleepy. Good," said Vivi.

"Anything else?" asked Celine, raising her eyebrow. She had a touch of a French accent right now, because she'd been reading in French. It was exquisite.

"Goooood," repeated Vivi, closing her eyes and hugging Celine close. Celine giggled and squeezed back.

"Hey. Can I talk to you about something more serious?" asked Celine.

"Give me like twenty seconds," said Vivi. She spent those twenty seconds slowly caressing Celine's hair. At last, she opened her eyes. "Okay."

"Shockwave... he kind of seems a bit more humble than he did before. He said he wants to talk to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Like, in a nice way?"

Celine shrugged. "That's my best guess. I think you should try. If you feel up to it."

Vivi did feel up to it. She felt surprisingly decisive.

"Do you want me to come?"

Vivi checked in with herself. "No. I'll be okay."

*

"Hey," said Vivi. She almost wanted to say something teasing like "hey goober". Damn it, Shockwave was a kid.

"Hey," said Shockwave.

"How are you doing?" asked Vivi.

"Whatever," said Shockwave.

Despite his words, Vivi didn't sense much harshness from Shockwave – more like awkwardness. "I... look," said Shockwave. "I'm not stupid, okay?"

Vivi just gazed at Shockwave attentively and nodded slightly.

"You could have killed me. Or handed me over to the police. You didn't. And you gave me back my hearing."

Vivi nodded, feeling the weight of Shockwave's words.

"I'm not such an asshole that I can't be grateful sometimes, okay? I know what you did for me."

Vivi could almost hear the ghost of the words "I'm sorry" hanging in the air. Everything about Shockwave's demeanour said it. She didn't push the matter, though.

"Thank you," said Vivi. "It feels good to hear that."

"You, uh... you've got a cool girlfriend," said Shockwave.

Vivi gave a small smile. "I know, right?"

There was another pregnant silence. Maybe Shockwave wanted to say something else, but couldn't.

"Is it okay if I come into your cell sometimes again?" asked Vivi.

"I mean... yeah, but..." Shockwave trailed off.

Vivi pondered this. "Are you worried you're going to lose control?"

Shockwave looked down. "I get angry sometimes, man... Like... really angry."

Vivi nodded, feeling compassion. "That sounds really scary."

"I mean like, like right now! Right now I'm like, what do you know?, and I'm angry again!... I... don't know, man. I just don't know what to do."

Vivi nodded compassionately for a while. "That sounds really hard," she said at last.

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling now?"

"...Good, I guess."

"Are you okay with it if we leave it here for tonight?"

"Sure."

"I'm really glad we could talk," said Vivi.

Shockwave grunted vaguely. "Night, Morpheus."

"Goodnight."