Vanya's Journals, Entry 55: Stuck at Home "It seems to me," you say thoughtfully, "that Vanya was desperate to find a family... perhaps subconsciously."
"What do you mean?" You can hear the skepticism in Sally's voice.
You lean back in your chair and gesture at the journal. "Well, look at her! First it was Mr Frog - somehow she actually thought he would make a good grandfather. Then it was Scylk, who she wanted to be her 'father'. Now, she wants to call Katie her sister."
"You don't understand... She went through her entire life without a good family," the woman says softly. "Then she lost her sister, the only person she had." The woman lifts her eyes to yours. "She's never had anyone she could count on. Everyone disappears."
"No," you correct her, "She disappears. She runs away. In her own words, she 'leaves everyone she knows and loves behind her.'"
Sally's voice is just above a whisper: "Not always..." She turns her head from you, and that's all you get out of her for a long while. Screaming, crying, crackling flames; burning buildings throwing smoke: the sounds and smells of chaos are always the same, on Everoc or Parasol. But they're the sounds and smells of death, too. Though not as horrific as the attack on 48D, it wasn't something you wanted to experience twice.
Inside my new boots, my ankle throbbed painfully with blood... it was clear something was very, very wrong. When I foolishly made the mistake of trying to flex it, knifing pain stabbed upwards from the source so intensely that it brought tears to my eyes. I bit my lip to keep from yelping. My pulse quickened, and so did the terrible throbbing pain,
thump, thump, thump with every passing heartbeat.
Struggling to keep myself calm, I glanced over at Katie’s form, curled up in a fetal position. I could tell that she wasn't in any condition to help me, but then again… neither was anyone else.
"Katie?" I said in a tight voice, wincing. "Katie?"
She lifted her head, her dark hair hanging in her eyes. "Vanya?" Her voice menaced with tears.
"Katie, there's something wrong with my foot."
There was silence for a moment, and Katie stared at me blankly before asking in an absent, childlike voice, "Did they shoot you?"
I shook my head quickly. "No, I think it's just twisted or something. What should I do?"
It sounded almost as if she was only half-awake. "What should you do?" she echoed softly.
"Yes! What should I do?" When she didn't answer, I grew frustrated. "Katie! Please, focus! This
hurts!"
She blinked, slowly looking around, and then propped herself up on an arm. "It didn't hurt so bad when you were throwing us in here," she said with a thoughtful air.
"It
did hurt, I just didn't notice it as much with the adrenaline pumping. But what should I do
now?"
She stared at me for the longest time... a kind of dead, lifeless gaze. It was almost as if she was looking right through me, seemingly disconnected from reality. It was only later that I learned she always did this when overwhelmed. Finally, she said, "You think I know?"
"Wha-" I stopped, confused.
"I'm not a doctor, silly..." She sounded slightly apologetic, but her eyes seemed to brighten as she said, "My pocket PEA! I could use that." She sat upright and slipped it out of her purse pocket, turning it on. "I could call Trebor if I had his number."
I quickly turned her down. "No, don't call Trebor."
She turned a curious, confused eye towards me. "Why not?"
I hesitated, not really wanting to explain. I'd never trusted him much, but I trusted his new attitude even less. "He's probably busy with other things," I lied, desperately wishing she would focus. My ankle still throbbed with pain, drawing my mind towards it irrepressibly. There wasn't really any way to avoid thinking about it. "We shouldn't bother Trebor."
"Hmm," she said, nodding absently. "Maybe. I should make sure my dad knows..." In a slothlike manner, she began feeling at herself for her PEA, and finally found it. I expected her to start tapping away, but instead, she just stared at it, confused. "It's broken..." she mumbled at length. "It can't be broken..."
Suddenly, she twisted around towards me. "Wait, did you say you're hurt?!" she exclaimed, scrambling over. "Where? How bad is it?"
The clear-headed Katie was finally back, and I thanked Armok for it, grateful beyond words. "It's my ankle," I explained, pointing at it with a finger. "I think it's broken or something."
"Oh my gods," she whispered, kneeling beside me. Her hands hovered above my boot in indecision for a moment, but she eventually backed away. "I probably shouldn't take the boot off... it might hurt it more than it already is."
"I was about to say that," I agreed, biting my lip at the painful thought. "You mentioned hospitals after Reudh rescued us... should we go there? And how are we going to
get me there, anyway? I can't walk!"
Staring at the floor, she shook her head, puzzling it out in her mind. "I know a minor healing spell, but even the best aren't good for much besides cuts... We need a doctor." She raised her eyes upwards with a purpose, motioning for me to stay put as she began to walk away. "Vanya, everything will be okay, I promise! You'll be fine! I know what to do. I'll be back soon - don't let anyone move you, okay?" As she turned, jogging out the door, she called out again, "Just stay
right there!"
Sitting alone in the entryway to a Parasol bathroom is usually boring... but when in excruciating pain, it's awful. My arms and neck were getting stiff from holding them in place for so long, and I tried to reposition myself at one point... a mistake I paid for dearly. Tears started to roll down my cheeks, and I was too afraid of moving to brush them away.
Fortunately, no one came through, probably from all the destruction just outside the door, and ten minutes or so later, Katie returned in a rush, practically dragging a protesting medic along with her.
"I really don't have time for this wild goose chase, miss!" the old, white-haired dwarf was saying. "There can't be anyone injured except the people we've already treated because... oh." He stopped and walked forwards, removing a PEA from a medical kit as he knelt down beside me. "Goodness... You really
are injured, aren't you..." he said softly. "Don't worry: I'll have you fixed up in no time. Can you tell me where it hurts?" he asked, looking into my eyes.
Katie answered for me indignantly. "It's her ankle, like I already told you! You've hardly listened to a single thing I've said!"
"I'm a Parasol Security Medical Officer," the man answered in a harsher tone. "I told you I was very busy when you found me." He stopped, and his patronizing voice returned as he spoke to me again: "Can you tell me
which ankle hurts?"
"The left one," I said quickly, hoping he would hurry up and get it over with. "But it's under the boot." He immediately reached for it, and I cried out in surprise, "No! Don't touch it!"
He gave me an impatient glare. "This is my job, Miss."
There isn't that much more I remember, largely because he gave me a painkiller that made me woozy for a while... It's all really blurry, and my memory is usually better than that. My ankle was sprained, as it turned out, and the reason it throbbed was because it was swollen - all big, ugly and purple, with a dark bruise running up the back of my leg. Sprained ankles took months to heal back on Everoc... and unfortunately, on Parasol, it's only slightly better. Science can only take you so far towards repairing organic life, which is something Parasol seems to refuse to accept. The doctor gave me a dose of something - nanobots - he said it would speed up the healing process a little, but not by much. I was going to be bedridden for a couple weeks, and Katie was going to be able to leave whenever she wanted. That meant I'd be alone... and I didn't like the thought of that very much.
It's funny how things never really end up how I expect.
~~~
"Dad, I told you a hundred times already, we were just coming home with groceries!"
"
GROUNDED!" Kenzon roared.
It was the middle of a loud debate between Katie and her father, and I was still a little woozy from all the medications. We'd gotten to her apartment with a lot of difficulty - as Katie couldn't afford a "hoverchair", I was using crutches. The ones at Spearbreakers weren't nearly as fancy, being made of wood... they were so much different from Parasol's metal-and-plastic version. I'm sure my ankle would've throbbed even more if it hadn't been for the painkillers, with gravity pulling all the blood to my feet.
"
Grounded??" Katie exclaimed. "Are you serious? Why? What did
I do? I would've sent you a message, but my PEA broke!"
"You should've taken care of it! I'm tired of discussing this with you," Kenzon said angrily, his eyes narrowed. "You claim you were going to get groceries, but the reports from the phone company say your signal was coming from Shallowroot. What were you even
doing over there? Do you have
any idea how dangerous and run-down that district is? No. I've had it. You're grounded, and that's final."
Tremendously distraught, she was on the verge of tears. "But dad, I can't just stay here! You've kept me cooped up here my entire life! I've been out on my own before, and I'm fine! I was helping Eltsha out - nobody's paying for her food!"
Kenzon continued firmly, "It's for your own safety, Katie. If someone's trying to kill you, and not even
Division Three's mall is safe, then Shallowroot is a deathtrap!"
"But dad -"
He interrupted her, fuming. "I'm going to hire a pair of guards and station them outside the door for your protection. I've already hired a private investigator. Until we catch and deal with these thugs, you're staying home, end of discussion." With that, he turned and stormed away.
My friend turned to me quietly, hanging her head. "I'm sorry stuff likes this keeps happening," she apologized dejectedly. After a minute, an ironic smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. "This means I'll have to stay home and keep you company, though, so you won't have to be by yourself."
"
I'm sorry, Katie..." I said, shaking my head quickly. "It's not your fault at all. He shouldn't act this way towards you, and I wouldn't need to keep you here... I'd be okay by myself."
"Oh, hush," she said playfully, thinking better of giving me a friendly punch. "You'd be bored as anything, and you know it. C'mon, let's get you to your room so we can prop your leg up."
~~~
The next two weeks were the quietest I’d had in a long, long time. It was a blessing in some ways, but in others, it was a curse... I didn't like laying still. Even while cooped up in Mr Frog's laboratory, I'd at least been able to get up and walk around. At the same time, my being idle didn't mean nothing ever happened.
As soon as he found out I was injured, Reudh started to visit me. He didn't come every day, even though I'm sure he wanted to... he would spend a couple hours with me, just listening or talking, or doing whatever else I felt like. It felt relieving to talk to a guy that wouldn't judge you, or try to "fix" your problems... he just listened, and that's what I really wanted. We became good friends during those weeks, far better than we ever would've become at Spearbreakers. I kept thinking he'd eventually "figure out" I was an elf and go away, but he never did.
Trebor came once every day or two, too - not to visit me, though. In fact, he only ever once came into my room and said hello... No, he actually seemed to
like the fact that Katie had to stay home, in a way. He even told her so, saying it meant she wouldn't have to come over to his place to work on the memoirs, and explaining that his family wouldn't like her much. While Kenzon was away at work, he and Katie would work on their memoirs in the sitting room, and she was always careful to leave my door open so I could hear them. Katie would often cry at first, but the longer they worked, the more Katie was able to come to terms with what had happened. They were going to write everything out, starting with the beginning of their service, and finishing with the final battle of 48D. I wanted a copy of the finished work, so I could paste bits of it into my journal... something I've since done a number of entries back.
As to my journal, it sat on the bedside table those two weeks. It's amazing how much you can write when you don't really have anything else to do... it only took a few days to get past where I'd left Spearbreakers, and past my travels on the bloodplains. Then I got to 48D... and I stopped. I didn't want to write about it, really... especially not considering how I was part of the reason they were dead. It was too soon.
I wasn't bored for long. Katie came to the rescue, just as she always did, and brought me a few of her books. There was a book about vampires I remember in particular... it was my favorite. Although I know "real" vampires - the vampires Parasol and Ballpoint created - aren't anything like they were in the book, it was so chilling, and I ate it up, hating when it ended. Katie brought me other books of hers, and I read those, too. I'd never actually had access to books like that before, and it made the inconvenience of a sprained ankle bearable.
Her father came to visit me once after his daughter had fallen asleep... I was reading with my lamp on, slumped against the headboard, a blanket covering my chest and legs. My injured ankle was propped up on a stack of pillows, just like it always was.
"Vanya..." he called quietly, knocking on the open door.
Frowning, I put my book aside. "Mr. Kenzon? Is something wrong?" I asked. It was unusual for me to visit... he usually chose to ignore me.
"I wanted to ask you a few questions relating to Katie and the attack," he explained, coming into the room. "She won't talk to me about it, beyond telling me you saved her life."
With a sigh, I pulled myself upright to where I could sit. "She doesn't like that you keep her under lock and key," I said pointedly, folding my hands atop the covers. "She's not sick or injured, like me. She's been here all her life, and she wants to leave."
My comments made him defensive. "I always let her have girls over, and I let her join the Parasol Jetpacking Association after they put the new safeguards in place," he listed off. "I'm not 'keeping her under lock and key'. She's never been isolated."
"Did you ever take her anywhere else?" I asked softly. "Did she ever go offworld, or travel on a boat, like the ones you love so much?" I asked, gesturing towards the sitting room with a finger.
Kenzon was beginning to grow frustrated. "I'm not here to talk about my parenting abilities,
Vanya," he said, making the name sound like an insult. I reddened... it reminded me of my elven heritage, which I think is what he'd intended. "No, I'm here to ask about the attack, so help me out. What weapons did they use?"
I frowned at the change of subject, and then looked to the side, trying to remember. "Missiles of some kind," I said slowly, "and... I think a sniper rifle, but they weren't very accurate with it. Then a machine gun, which
was accurate... and when Katie put up her shield, they launched some kind of fire-filled grenade or something at her, and it hit dead-on."
As I spoke, Kenzon counted on his fingers. "Four people, then," he guessed.
"No..." I said, and stopped. "Well, I don't
think there were four... none of them fired at the same time, and they should have."
Kenzon nodded briefly in agreement, his brow furrowed in thought as he pinched his clean-shaven chin. He began to pace, staring at the floor. "You're right, of course. They would use everything at once, and each would be skilled if it was part of a group. The sniper rifle inaccuracy stands out on its own. Therefore... I feel it safe to assume they/he had an RPG Launcher, a REACH railgun with AI-assisted targeting, and a one-shot guided napalm cannon..." He frowned, disappointed. "...All of those are rather common."
I was slightly impressed. "Is it all that simple? You can figure all of that out so quickly?"
He lifted his head towards me for a moment, slowing his pacing. "I'm a PWI - a Private Weapons Instructor. It's my
job. I can operate all of those, and many more, but
I'm almost 50, and I've been using them my entire life." With a sigh, he folded his arms, leaning against a wall as his puzzled gaze fell to the floor. "It just doesn't make sense..." he mumbled, almost to himself. "Why would someone want to kill Katie? She's never hurt anyone. I don't usually let her expose herself, and I don't have anyone who would try to kill her to get at me, either... It's just not right. We're missing
something, and if I could just figure out what it is..." His eyes wandered as he spoke, and as they lighted on me, he stopped abruptly and straightened. He'd forgotten I was listening. With a brief nod, he started towards the door. "Thanks for your help, Vanya."
"Goodnight, Mr. Kenzon," I said quietly after him, picking my book back up.
"And, um..."
Looking back up, I saw his head poking around the doorframe. "Yes?" I asked.
Kenzon hesitated visibly, seeming unable to meet my eyes. "As a thank-you for 'saving' Katie's life, I should offer you free training... After your leg improves, of course..."
"Ankle," I corrected him.
"Right."
He wasn't attempting to hide how uncomfortable he was with it, and I felt compelled to ask, "Why are you offering this to me?"
"Well, look, Vanya... I offered it to Reudh, and it isn't in my best interests to be rude to you, seeing as you're clearly capable of keeping my daughter safe from whoever's after her..." he explained haltingly, his annoyance steadily increasing. "Just... do you want it or not?"
With a sigh, I said, "Yes, I'll take it." I had the feeling he wasn't really going to train me, anyway, but right then I was too tired to care.
"Okay, great. Goodnight." Giving me a forced smile, he left the room, and that was the last time I saw him that week.
Being stuck at home wasn't boring at all. Well, at least... not for me.
☆
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2279558 times)