Alex drove for over one hour to get to Marianne's house. It was in the suburbs of the Capital. A small two floors house, with a garden on the back and a lake just five minutes away walking. The neighborhood seems rather calm in the early mornings. There's enough space between the houses for everyone to have their privacy.
He drove an electric service van, so it wouldn't be suspicious to be parked for many hours on the street. For that reason, he had to dress the part, instead of his normal oversized look. He feels it itching everywhere.
The only good thing about it was the silence. In the house there were too many people, even before An or Diego moved in. There was never any silence there, which is why he didn't even blink when Rachel suggested the early shift. He would be there in the early hours, wait it out until after lunch, and leave.
Across town, Megan's day began uncharacteristically early. She usually wakes up around ten to meditate and prefers to work out late in the evening. Today she woke up before sunrise, hurried up and now waits on a busy street downtown. The sun light begins to show, and she watches as the people move along. Some starting their day and others ending it.
The young woman with the red shoes leaves an apartment building. Her shoes are the only standout feature from her usual all black attire, black hair, and dark brown eyes. She's about to begin her morning jog, one that she did every day.
Megan knows her schedule by heart and starts following her on a bicycle, creating a safe distance between the two. Wherever she passes by, people often give her a second glance. An objectification that Megan frowns upon.
Back in Marianne's neighborhood, Alex watches as kids are kissed by their parents before leaving for school. How partners wish each other a wonderful day at work. It all seems rather distant to him, like a movie that you must suspend your disbelief to fully enjoy. Dragons and happy families are the same to him, and watching these people go about their day, he knows in his heart that it's all for show. That those partners don't care for each other and that their children will grow to resent them, since their love is nothing but a mask.
When the woman with the red shoes and Megan arrive by the river, she stops to rest a bit, drink some water, check her heartbeat. An older woman passes by and accidentally drops her purse. She races to pick it up and give it back. The elder smiles and so does Megan.
No matter what the woman does, the simplest of actions would warrant a smile. She sits by the river appreciating the moment. Megan reaches for her tablet and draws, trying to capture this moment.
The next stop is the cemetery. She enters and Megan keeps her distance when she sees her crying next to an urn.
Should I go there? Hold you? Would that make it all better? Would you want me to?
Megan isn't close enough to hear what is said. If it's a prayer, sharing her week, the newest developments in her life, or just saying she misses the person.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
The woman gets up and looks in Megan's direction. Megan hides right away, not in a swift movement, one that would award some attention, but smoothly.
She knows she wasn't spotted because the woman right away looked back to the urn instead of heading in her direction.
Need to be more careful, though.
Megan looks again, notices that the woman is distracted and leaves.
***
It's almost three in the afternoon and nothing. No sign of Marianne Olsen.
Alex is certain that if she really exists, at least she isn't around there. He told Rachel he'd stay today until six, but she wouldn't know that he left earlier, and he could use the time to be by himself peacefully.
How should he enjoy the solitude? What would make him happy now?
He decides to take a lounger route back to the house, driving calmy, taking side roads instead of the main ones. All to lead him to his older house. The one he lived briefly.
The only place he ever felt safe enough to be happy.
He parks across the street from what's left of it, ashes only. Ten years later and nothing flourishes out of it.
This will always be our place, Amy. He holds his necklace, a silver A tight.
***
Back in the house of the movement, Ánh is in the operations room modifying her computer when Diego arrives.
"Want to go to the park? Have a water ice?"
She nods, and he changes their appearance. She laughs at his choice of disguise. He would often reverse their gender, make them younger or older, change up their ethnicity, anything that he could imagine, and always to surprise her. With the others, he never tried so hard. Rachel wouldn't appreciate it, Alex would rarely need it, and Megan he was sure she wouldn't find it amusing.
He grabs Ánh's hand and kisses her forehead. They get into the car and he puts a pen drive with her favorite songs. Diego can't understand a single word, or even pronounce the names of the artists and songs. She sings it with her whole heart and switches to some artists from Puerto Rico. He sings and she hums the melodies.
When they get to the park, the parlor is gone. It was a while since they last went there, so it wasn't easy to pinpoint exactly when it closed. Diego smiles, but inside his mind, millions of negative thoughts enrage him. Ánh tells him that they'll get it someplace else.
They keep strolling around, Ánh tries to make jokes, and Diego only fakes a smile. She makes small talk, commenting on the glorious weather and how the forecast showed that it would stay that way for the next few days. He keeps smiling, but when she tries to grab his hand, he flinches and takes a step further from her.
Ánh looks up and sees the Institute. Some days, she misses part of it, but never regrets leaving. This is the only thing in her life that she's sure to have done right.
She jokingly pushes him when she spots another water ice parlor and runs there. Diego makes the effort but doesn't order anything.
They drive back in silence.
***
Later that day, Rachel comes by the gym while Megan is working out.
"Ánh showed me Marianne's daughter."
"Sofie," Megan punches the fighting robot harder this time, "what about her?"
"There isn't anything up there other than a birth certificate. Do you know something that can be useful to us?"
Megan shuts down the robot, removes her gloves and sits on the floor.
"She was always sick growing up. I wished many times I had the power of life instead of death to save her. One day she just got better. It made me believe in miracles." Megan almost shows a smile.
Rachel looks at her and decides to keep her distance.
"For a while, our lives were perfect. Then, our father died. Then, I died... I mean, to the world... to her. Everything that happened was too much for her to handle. Not right away, but I guess one day it became unbearable. She killed herself a few years after the massacre," Megan concludes in the same neutral tone.
She puts her gloves back on, gets up, and turns on the robot again.
"It haunts me that I had then the power of life and still couldn't save her."