Fate and Choices

Twelve - At the Edge of the Island

★★★

I was sitting behind a small dinner table, sipping a cup of tea. The morning sun greeted me as it breached from the big windows on my right, displaying the grand volcano from the distance.

Morning has broken... I thought, in the end, I couldn't sleep a blink. I don't know what to do... what should I tell Gabe? Is there any way out of this?

I recalled the conversation I had last night with Satoshi.

"...missy, you found out," he said. His face on the hologram flickered, however I could still see his sad and fearful eyes between the clearer frames.

"Of course I will, eventually," I said and sighed, "some nerve you have to hide things from me,"

"...we all had to. The boss told us to. We don't want you to do something reckless as you did last time with the boss," he answered curtly.

I clenched my fists tight and gritted my teeth.

"In the end, is that all you guys are?! Mindless puppets who follow whatever order he has for you?!" a scream escaped my mouth, "you do realise that I have every right to know what's going on, don't you? Do you have any conscience at all?!"

"Missy, we're doing this for your good-" he said.

"By shoving things under a rug?! By not finding a way to help both me and Gabe?!" I shouted.

"Of course not! We've been working tirelessly to find something else! Do you have any idea how many hours did I spent in front of the computer lately?!" he argued.

I kept quiet and hung my head.

"Is there... really no way to..." I said.

"I'm sorry, missy. We've been working here for you more than a decade. If we have found something, surely you'll be healthy as everyone else by now," he answered, "we couldn't find any other comparable healing magic... or technology... to..."

Is that... all I'll ever be all my life? I thought and buried my face in my hands, a parasite clinging onto other people's lives? 

I looked up and spotted the papers strewn around on the table. The data. The pictures of Gabe and his family.

I don't want to be a burden. At least, I thought I could help for Gabe with his search... but we're already at the southernmost town of the western region... I thought, if we can't find them here, then... are they all gone? What should I say to him?

I sighed and tidied up the papers.

But then again... if they're still around, then... I thought, if I had to see them one day...

Then I heard footsteps coming towards me. I quickly put my papers inside my sling bag. I looked up and saw that it was Gabe.

"Hey..." he said and gave me his usual bright smile.

"Morning..." I said and tried to smile, "are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, about last night..." he said and sat down next to me, "Rave, I'm sorry for leaving you alone last night... I don't know... I just... lost consciousness and suddenly-"

"You must be really shocked, don't blame yourself for that," I said and patted his back, "we got help from that theatre man too, and all is well,"

"Yeah, he told me how he came upon us last night. Thank goodness," he said and sighed, "...I'm sorry about your hand... does it still hurt?"