The Fates (Book I) - 2014 Watty Award Winner!

1.8 - Mr. Campion

Dear Readers: Back to Veriton we go, to say hello to some familiar faces... and some new ones, too :)

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Scene 8: Mr. Campion

A.D. 2015

He looked upon the flowers in his hands.

There were still several campions among them. But the loveliest was gone, for he had given it and watched it run away.

He would do best to forget that she existed on this earth.

And yet the earth felt different, now he knew she did.

“Ryder!”

He glanced up at the sound of his name. Rose from his seat and smiled broadly at the woman rushing toward him.

Sleek brown hair, bright blue eyes, a dainty dancer’s body underneath her graduation gown. He loved her more than he’d remembered. For he saw her and he felt at home again. It was a feeling that he’d missed, for far too long.

Noelle enveloped him in an enormous hug, as if the big bouquet weren’t even there between them. “So sorry to be late! How long have you been waiting?”

He blinked. Handed her the bouquet. “Not long at all.”

“That’s good. I’m really sorry—Veriton is always slow about administrative business,” she explained, rolling her eyes, clearly glad to be done with this place. “They took ten hours just to reprint my ID. To fix their own mistake, which I only just learned could’ve prevented me from graduating.”

She looked down at the new card, raised it up to show her brother.

“At least it’s not spelled ‘Champion’ this time,” she noted cheerily.

He grinned. “Let’s hope they get it right on your diploma too.”

“Agh, I’m not hopeful. But hey, we should go! Already super late. The public health school has the worst guest seating section, as it is.”

They left the lobby of the administrative building, passing through the wrought iron gate, the little garden. Ryder pretended that he wasn’t fazed, revisiting that place.

“Thank you sooo much for coming, Ry,” Noelle effused, clinging closely to his arm as they traversed the Yard. “You have no idea how much it means, especially since Mom and Dad can’t make it.”

“You know that I’d cross oceans not to miss it, sis.”

“And so you did! You only just got back from your deployment, right? How was it—and how does it feel, knowing that was your last?”

Ryder smiled wistfully. It felt… a lot of things. As much as he’d missed home, and peace, a part of him felt that the battlefield was where he most belonged. As if he had been born there, in another life.

“Well,” Noelle broke through his distant thoughts, “I guess that’s a loaded question, for another time. Like over lunch today. Here, snag a seat… I’ve got to get in line.”

They had arrived at the rows of white folding chairs.

“Hold the flowers for me? Thanks for them, by the way—I always love it when you get bouquets with campions. They’re of a rare breed. Kind of like you,” his little sister chirped. She kissed his cheek and donned her cap.

“How do I look?” she asked him, indulging in a model pout and playful twirl, her gown several sizes too big for her small frame.

Ryder reached to set her hat straighter in place. “Like a high school kid trying to finish grad school.”