Feeling

Chapter Seven

“Hey.”  I blinked my eyes open, the nap I was enjoying suddenly interrupted by someone jabbing their foot into my ribs.  Whoever they were, they were standing over me, the sun obscuring their face.  They nudged me again, gently.  “Justice.  Are you okay?”

I held my hand over my eyes to block out the bright light and saw none other than Theo standing in front of me.  I sighed in relief, closing my eyes and letting myself drop back down.  “I’m doing just great, Theo.  Everything’s fine.”

“Is that why you’re lying down next to a dumpster in an alley?”  I shrugged without opening my eyes; it just seemed like too much work.  “The smell doesn’t bother you?”  I shrugged again.  “Justice, get up.”

I blindly waved my arm around until my hand landed on a fabric of some sort.  I patted that fabric comfortingly, chuckling.  “Theo, you work too much.  Stop focusing on the bad and concentrate on the good stuff in the world.  Just let your worries go.  Things will work out.  Lie down and take a nap like me.”

His hand clamped down around my wrist, stopping me from patting him.  “Justice, what are these are on your arm?”  I didn’t respond, but I knew what he was talking about.  They were everything I needed in this world.  “Justice.”  He yanked me upright, forcing me to confront the mid-afternoon sun and the harsh light of reality.  His face was only inches from my arm, glaring angrily at my skin.  “Justice, what the fuck are these?  You shouldn’t be using illegal Links at all when you’re working for us, but using this many at a time is just--”

“Oh, get off your high horse.  I know what I’m doing here, Theo.  I’m an Link addict.  If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s knowing my emotional tolerance levels.  This is just a common street mix; Relief and Sympathy.  Don’t you know anything about mixing?”  I squinted at him, searching his face for some emotion other than anger.  “Haven’t you ever tried Links before?  Links besides that of your fancy-schmancy company?”

“God damn it, Justice, I’m taking these off of you.”  There was a sudden pain on my arm as he ripped one of the glorified stickers off me.

“No!  Stop it!  Get away from me!”  I started smacking at his hands whenever they touched me and just flailing about in general.

“Ow!  Stop...moving!”  He held me down as he finished pulling them off of me and then yanked me up to my feet.  He pulled me along behind him, ignoring the sounds of complaint that escaped me.  “We’re going to get you sobered up and then figure out our next move from there.”  He opened the door to a black SUV and helped me climb inside before buckling the seatbelt around me.  As he shut the door, my head lolled against the cool window and I sighed at the feeling of glass on my forehead.  He climbed into the driver’s seat and the car roared to life before rumbling down the road.

I was pretty much sober by the time we pulled up outside of the fast food restaurant.  “How did you know where I was?” I asked Theo, opening the door of the car.  He held his hand out for me to use as leverage while I stepped down and I took it gratefully.

“I made you swallow that GPS, remember?” he asked, grinning at me as he slammed the door shut behind me.  “Aren’t you glad I did that now?”

“I’ll admit that it wasn’t your worst idea ever...probably.  Especially considering what happened.”  I got in line so we could order our food.  “But you obviously knew that it would happen, so my main question here is...why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you have the Memento Moris kidnap me?”

We stepped up to the register just as he chuckled.  “Going straight for the tough-to-answer questions there, aren’t you?  Order your food first and then we’ll talk.”  I ordered the first thing I saw on the menu and sat down with my tray of food, drumming my fingers anxiously on the table while I waited for Theo to order, pay, and join me.