The Franklin Estate, Etson - Monday

“I’m telling you, mom, I’m feeling fine,” I complained as I set the table for four while my mother once again tried to help. It hadn't even been a minute since she arrived and she was already fussing. “Might not remember much, but I can still set a table.”

The first time I had spoken to her and dad since the memory reset had been a surreal experience. They had just returned from their latest cruise and Sara had made sure to tell them my situation right away. While I didn’t want to make them worry, she told me it was procedure. It wasn’t like I was trying to keep them away, I just didn’t want them to know how big a problem it was.

Of course, they already knew. Acting like I wasn’t thrilled to see them alive and well after literal centuries was the hard part.

“Nonsense, Anthony. You should relax and let us handle it,” my mother said, heading back into the kitchen to grab silverware, cups, and napkins when I put down the last plate.

“Got the pork!” dad announced as he walked in from the car. He was holding a bulging thermal bag. “Got the meat straight from the farm, so you know it’s going to be good. How are you holding up, Ant?”

“I’d be holding up better if mom would let me set the table in peace,” I complained.

“You’re still fighting?” he laughed. “I thought she busted you out of that when you were a teenager.”

“Matthew!” mom protested indignantly. “I didn’t bust anything. Don’t say things like that when Sara’s around.”

“She’s not here now, and I’m just calling it like I see it,” dad offered without remorse. While mom was distracted, I grabbed the silverware out of her hands and continued to set the table. “Just in the kitchen here, Ant?”

“There’s space on the stove for it,” I told him.

He entered the kitchen. “And a big pot of rice, I see. Got eggs?”

I scoffed. “Of course we have eggs! Did you think we’d plan to have pulled pork and rice and not buy eggs? What are we, savages?”

“Of course not, dear,” mom said as she set cups down at our table, looking proud of herself for helping even if it was just a little bit. “He’s just making sure.”

About my memory, no doubt, but I didn’t say it. There was no reason to get worked up; they just cared. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with it alone for long. Sara came out of our bedroom with a big smile. She winked at me just as I noticed the Warmeowger shirt she wore, and I fixed her with my best deadpan look while trying to hide a smile.

“Sara Franklin, you are a shining light in this dark world,” my mother announced as she met my wife in the hallway and embraced her.

That was the first time I heard Sara’s name with my surname, and I loved the sound of it.

“It’s good to see you, Delilah,” Sara greeted.

“And your hair is as lovely as ever!” mom continued, reaching for and bouncing one of the Angel’s curls. “I was just telling Matthew that I want something similar to what you have going on. Wasn’t I, Matthew?”

“She sure was,” he confirmed before popping his head out of the kitchen. “Hey, Sara.”

“Hello, Matthew,” Sara greeted with a smile.

My mom stopped playing with my wife’s hair. “I think maybe green? Or pink. Or blue. Oh, I haven’t decided yet. What stylist do you go to?”

“You’re impressed by her hair, we know we know,” my father said from the kitchen. “If you want to sneak in more help then I could use a hand, Delilah.”

My mother turned to look back at me before patting Sara on the shoulder. “Tell me over dinner, dear. I’ll set up an appointment.” Looking at me again to make sure I wasn’t on my way to dad, she quickly joined him.

“Really? The Warmeowger shirt?” I quietly asked, picking some lint off of her shoulder when she joined me.

“It’s never going away. You tease me, I tease you. Besides…” A mischievous look appeared on her face. Her voice lowered, becoming more husky. “If you really have a problem with it, then take it off of me later.”

I blinked. “Sara, are you flirting?”

With a satisfied smile on her face, she patted me on the chest. “You’re not the only one who can learn, Ant.”

“Sara, where do you put your butter?” my mother called. “I need it so I can fry up these- Never mind! Found it!”

“Why don’t you let me handle that, Delilah?” Sara asked with a good natured roll of her eyes. She pointed me towards the couch and gave me a small shove before heading into the kitchen.

With a smile I couldn’t contain, I sat on the couch and closed my eyes, just listening to Sara interact with my parents.

It was a surprisingly mundane yet treasured experience.

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Etson - Tuesday

“Hey, heard you had another episode. Thought I’d give you a call and see how you were doing,” the familiar voice on my phone said.

I glanced at Sara, who continued to drive with an innocent look on her face. “Seems everyone knows about it by now. How’s it going, Jamie?” I greeted, turning the radio down.

“She’s being a pain in my ass,” came Ashley’s voice. “She wants me to teach her how to weld, and I keep telling her there’s classes for that.”

“Or, I can learn from the best crafter we’ve met, Ash,” Jamie retorted. “I’m not going to go get some second rate education when I can learn from you.”

“Hi, Ash. Jamie, you want to learn how to weld?” I asked incredulously. “Since when did you have any interest in that kind of stuff?”

“Why’s that so hard to believe?” she scoffed.

The sound of someone snatching the phone came through loud and clear. “She doesn’t just want to learn welding, but fucking underwater welding. You know, the most dangerous kind. That answer your question?”

“You can’t see him, but he’s nodding,” Sara called.

“That kind of stuff is super dangerous, yeah,” I said. “Makes sense, though. You always wanted that risk factor, Summers.”

“I mean, it’s not like when we went to Jamestown, right, Ant?” Jamie huffed.

“You mean how everything went wrong?” Sara asked, glancing my way. “Remember that, okay?”

Tilting my head forward, I thought about it, trying to remember.

Jamie laughed. “That’s exactly it. Talk about risky, right? I’d kill for that kind of thrill again. Do you at least remember that?”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me over the phone. “Not particularly, on account of my memory. What went wrong?”

“Don’t worry about it. Going over it will take too long and I don’t have that with Ash here,” she replied. Based on the noise and Ashley’s swear, Jamie had grabbed her phone back. “But this isn’t about me. How are you, Franklin?”

“Well, Summers, I imagine I’m just as peachy keen as I could possibly be,” I answered, partially sarcastic but mostly honest. “Haven’t had any issues since the day after. Still don’t remember anything, but I’m not forgetting anything, either. Oh! Jeff regaled me with a tale of how you cut off Greg’s hand.”

A pause. “Who?” she asked.

“Smoke guy in Pittsburgh.”

“Wasn’t his name Gary?”

I snorted. “Suppose it doesn’t really matter now.”

“Either way, yeah. He was the absolute shitstain with little dick energy,” Jamie laughed. “Yeah. That was a real feel good moment. He absolutely deserved it after what he said to me.”

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“Do I even want to know?” I asked.

“Nah, I don’t want to make your wife mad at me for getting too graphic,” she answered.

“Oof, sounds real bad, then,” I said, glancing over at Sara. She nodded.

“It was. But if you’re doing alright then I’m going to pester Ash about welding some more.”

Ashley sighed. “Sara, could you send her halfway across the damn planet for me?”

“Sorry, Ash, that’s not a miracle I’m willing to perform at this time,” my wife said, not hiding her smile from me. She reached over and set her hand on my leg, and I placed mine on top of it, interlocking our fingers. “Besides, you clearly don’t mind the company. Why don’t you teach her?”

There was silence for a moment before Jamie responded. “She just stomped off.”

“One of those stomps where it’s clear she’s not really mad?” Sara asked.

“The very one.”

“Then you better chase after her, girl.”

“Good call. Talk to you two eventually. Franklin, Franklin.”

“See ya, Summers,” we said at the same time, and I hung up.

“They really get along well,” I chuckled.

“It’s too bad they won’t come to Florida,” Sara said. “I mean, I can see why they wouldn’t want to - it’s Florida - but it’d be nice to see them again.”

“Maybe over break?” I asked. Classes had been surprisingly simple to get back into, and I wasn’t nearly as worried as I had been when I first woke up here. As it turned out, having literal centuries of easily parsable knowledge made some things easy, mental turmoil notwithstanding. Maybe a bit too easy, but it gave me something to do.

She thought it over before nodding. “Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. Boston isn’t too far from Pittsburgh, either. We could visit Leo on the way there or back.”

“That sounds great,” I said, turning the music up before leaning back in my seat. I sighed and closed my eyes, enjoying the simple comfort of holding Sara’s hand. Things were finally starting to feel like normal.

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The Franklin Estate, Etson - Wednesday

“Warmonger, I need your help!” Mercury - Leo - whined through my headset. “I told chat that I’d get the Angel of Sol Ligatus back for another stream and, when I asked Sara about it, she said I shouldn’t have promised that and she wasn’t coming back.”

“Look, man, that’s on you,” I replied, stifling a laugh as I played our game. We had Minecraft wind-down nights every week, and messing around with Leo while building our own version of Pittsburgh was a lot of fun. “You know how she feels about putting herself out there. The only reason you got her to play once was because it was your birthday and you asked for both of us.”

“Yeah, but you don’t understand,” he claimed. “I have never had so many viewers than when Sara was there. Like, she can’t play Among Us to save her life - sorry, Sara, if you can hear me because you’re God or whatever now - but they absolutely fell in love with her. My channel anniversary’s coming up soon and they want an all star cast!”

I scoffed. “And you haven’t invited me back?”

Leo groaned. “Man, it’s no fun playing with you. It’s like you’ve got a lie detector between your ears. Sure, chat liked watching me flounder, but that’s not the vibe I’m going for. It’s my one year anniversary, boss!”

“Alright, you wore me down,” I said, exaggerating a sigh. “I’ll ask her, but I won’t make any promises. Especially after she caught wind of some of those comments.”

I could almost physically feel Leo cringe. “I mean, they’re internet comments, Warmonger,” he said in a quiet voice. “Not much I can do about that. They’re all like that.”

“Shall I revisit some of my favorite terrible ones?” I asked, fully intending to make him sweat. “Because I may not remember the night in question, but she had a list. It included quotes, user names, real names, and addresses.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” he quickly said. “Hey, that’s something to talk about. While I start working on the Presby, why don’t you tell me how you’re doing?”

“You’re making this too easy, man,” I replied with a laugh. “But I’m doing good. Yeah, can’t complain.”

“That’s good, Warmonger,” Leo said. “I’m glad you’re doing- Oh! Before I forget, I wanted to talk to you about a monster I want to throw at my players in my Saturday game! Since you’re getting Sara to join the anniversary stream-”

“Promising to try,” I interrupted.

He ignored that. “What do you think the challenge rating of the Accumulator should be?”

Smiling, I shook my head. Leo was always talking about throwing system monsters into his games. He swore that one day the sessions would get edited and tossed online, but we were all dubious it would actually happen. Either way, it wasn’t hurting anyone, and from the sounds of it he had a good time.

Leo was really coming into his own, a far cry from the roleplayer who had to wear a mask to interact with people. I was really proud of him.

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Etson Public Library - Thursday

“I look forward to seeing you all again next time,” I said and signed as the deaf community left the library. Their responses were enthusiastic as usual, and I turned to Kayla as she leaned back against a table. “Your ASL has really improved.”

The librarian smiled as she placed a hand on her stomach. “Thanks. Speaking to Bethany so much helped it along,” she replied as she took a moment to herself. “Kind of wish she’d grow up faster. Horrible thing to wish for, but she really worked hard for the team.”

“Yeah. She’s a really good kid,” I said with a smile. “Glad that she’s back with her parents now, though. I’m still not sure if she should use the Memory Orb, but that’ll be up to her and Leo when the time comes.”

“I know, I know,” she sighed with a wave. Standing up, she started heading towards the desk.

The library was nearly empty now that the group was gone. Kayla was in charge of the whole place now, so we didn’t have to clear out once the doors were locked. Instead, she went to her office and returned with a cryptex. I rubbed my hands together as she stood before me, the puzzle held high with her other hand on her hip.

“Alright, psychic boy,” she started. “We got interrupted by your memory lapse, but we’re continuing this scavenger hunt.”

“I’m ready, coach,” I said, only partially joking.

“Are you sure?” Kayla asked, arching an eyebrow. “Because we’re pretty deep into it and you may not have the knowledge to figure out what comes next.”

“Please. I’ve been studying your notes between my actual studies,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and puffing out my chest. “I’ve got this.”

“Yes, you’ve been studying. But you’ve also been socializing,” she pointed out. “You always do afterwards because that's the procedure. I don’t want you to get frustrated that you can’t remember something, is all.”

I flashed her a confident smile. “How often does that really-“

“Twice now,” Kayla interrupted. She handed me the cylindrical puzzle box and leaned back against the table again.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked hesitantly after she let out a breath. “I can take you home, if you want. We can take a break.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m good. I like coming up with puzzles for someone like you to crack, psychic boy. Plus, it keeps me out of the house,” Kayla admitted, though it was with a smile. “Jeff’s back to doting on me as much as he did the first few days after we were reunited in the system.”

I arched an eyebrow. “First few days?”

“First few weeks,” she corrected. I stared at her, and she hung her head. “First few months.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” I snickered.

“Alright, alright. Let’s put aside significant others who are too good for us and get to the scavenger hunt, shall we?” she asked. I nodded, ready. “Then your first clue is… Atlanta.”

Hesitating, I looked down at the cryptex she had handed me. “This doesn’t have to do with anything related to G.H. Ostwriter, would it?”

The memories of Moist Flesh: The Memoir Of Enigma Hemingway: One Zombie’s Underwater Journey To Find The Twice Lost City Of Atlantis, Georgia came back to me, causing me to shiver.

Truly, one of the most poorly written books of all time.

Kayla only smiled in response and pointed towards the shelves. Sighing, I slumped my shoulders and turned around, hoping against hope that Sara didn’t give her a copy.

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The Franklin Estate, Etson - Friday

There was some extra pep in my step as I parked my car and grabbed my backpack. Classes were going extraordinarily well, my social circle had never been so tight despite the distance, and the time I spent with Sara was better than I could have dreamed.

Stepping out of my car, I looked up at the cloudy sky and smiled. The afternoon rain was about to fall, and I had made it home just in time. That thought made me tilt my head.

Before, my apartment was certainly somewhere I lived, but it hadn’t been home. I knew I was going to leave it after two or four years, so I never bothered decorating beyond things that were easy to move afterwards. It had taken Sara to turn this place into my home.

Breathing in and enjoying the moment, something seemed to prickle my skin. Instincts that had laid dormant began waking up as I slowly looked around the area.

While it wasn’t uncommon to see no one coming and going from their apartments, the road we lived off of was fairly busy. As I watched, no cars came from either direction.

The sound hit me next. Or, rather, the lack thereof. Normally the cicadas would be in full drone, ruining the atmosphere with what had since become background noise to me. There was nothing. No vehicles, no bugs, not even the air conditioners.

Dropping my backpack, I left it behind as I sprinted towards our apartment. I didn’t even bother closing the car door.

Something was wrong; I needed to find out what it was.

A downpour started as I fumbled with my keys. It was cold, almost freezing, but I got what I was looking for and threw open the door.

A golden ring the size of my head flew towards my face, and I snatched it out of the air. I didn’t need to glance at it to see that it was Sara’s. My eyes took in the rest of the room.

Shining blood splattered against nearly everything. White feathers littered the room, many of them ripped and torn.

My wife, in full Angelic form, had been beaten, mangled, and left twitching on the ground. Her eyes made it seem like she was still alive though likely unconscious despite remaining open. Cuts with a thin layer of frost covered her body in a random pattern.

Behind her on the couch, which had been moved to face the door, sat Aaron, the blue haired server from the Seven-Ten alley. He still wore their official bowling shirt.

Now, though, his hair was made of ice and clung close to his head, which a silver halo hovered over. Six wide, black feathered wings came sprawling out from his back, the top two joining his arms over the back of the couch as he sat there, legs crossed, watching my reaction.

While I was processing, unsure what I was really seeing, he leaned forward and set both feet on the ground. He didn’t stand, but held his hands in front of him as if presenting the damaged body of my wife to me.

“Welcome home,” he greeted, his voice making my skin crawl just as it had before. My eyes met his, and I seemed to be pierced by their silver sheen. He sneered. “It’s good to finally meet you after all these centuries, brother.”