“Pepper?”

He slowly lifted his eyelids to see the warm glow of yellow eyes looking back at him. Amprage was lying on his bed and slowly nudging him with his cold metal nose. Pepper moaned, lifted his hand, and rubbed his face. “What is it?”

“Do I get to go with you today?” Amprage asked.

“I dunno, Amp…” Pepper said softly as he stretched as best as he could under the bedsheets. “What time is it?” He quickly tapped his holodex to life. “What the— Amp, it’s five in the morning! Why are you waking me up so early?”

“Because I am excited. Is it time to go yet?”

“No! We don’t have to leave for another two and a half hours.” Pepper reached up and brought his pillow down over his face to smother his frustrated growl. He tossed and turned for the next hour until he finally decided to get his morning started.

A hot shower and a quick breakfast later, he was being driven to the first day of his community service. His dad gave him a light fist bump and told him to keep an open mind and an open heart. He certainly didn’t care for this pep talk. The frustration was already eating at him, and the only thing his father’s words did was stir his anger.

He erased the thought, determined not to dwell any further on the matter. Instead, he gazed at the wooden sign fastened high above the entrance to the ranch. “Equine Sanctuary.”

A small jostling movement below caught his attention. He looked down to see Amprage’s butt wagging back and forth with the small metal tail he had given him. He couldn’t help but chuckle. He is really acting out the whole personality profile.

“Pepper, we’re here. I must say this is very exciting.”

“Says you. You’re not the one who has to do any work. Why are you so excited, anyways?”

“Because… everything is new. New experiences, new adventures, new opportunities. Who knows what awaits us?”

A small breeze brought the strong, distinct scent of horse manure into Pepper’s nostrils. He covered his nose at first, but then realized there was no point. He was going to be working in this environment for a while—better toughen up now and get used to it. He began to walk down the long dirt and gravel driveway, which brought him to a small home.

The old ranch house was a single-story dwelling that looked only large enough to house one bedroom. The fresh coat of baby-blue paint was unable to hide the rough, coarse, and weathered wood paneling underneath. There were red shutters on the windows and a white wooden bench seat in the center of the wooden porch, which was wrapped around the entire home.

Pepper drew closer and heard a soft voice talking. Then he saw a small woman walk around the far corner of the homestead. A black cowgirl hat sat upon her head and her dirty blond hair was wrapped around her neck. Pepper was able to make out her soft blue jewel-like eyes, and she smiled at him and began to wrap up her conversation. She put her phone in the front pocket of her bedazzled, studded denim jacket and pulled it taut over the black button-up shirt underneath. Pepper watched her walk through the ankle-high grass in her black boots, which stuck up over her jeans.

“Careful,” her soft voice greeted him.

Pepper slowed his pace, and confusion washed over him. He slowly tilted his head and waited to discover what it was she was referring to.

The woman nodded to him and looked at his feet for a second before her eyes returned to his. “You’re about to step on a snake.”

Pepper screamed and backpedaled. His legs leapt up and down and he staggered all over in a circle, trying to see where the creature was. His response caused Amprage to jump back as well in terrified surprise.

The familiar began to spin around, scanning the area. “Pepper! What is it? What is wrong? Is there danger? Danger! Danger! There must be danger. I shall seek it out and protect you, for that is what the personality profile is telling me to do!”

“Calm down, you two babies. It’s just a simple garden snake. I said something to make sure you didn’t harm it. It’s more scared of you than anything else. I mean, come on, how would you like a massive giant a hundred times bigger than you stepping on your body?” She smiled and shook her head playfully. “Eli Gardner,” she proclaimed and reached out to shake his hand.

Pepper was still trying to catch his breath but accepted the gesture. “Pepper Walker.”

“I assumed so. But what I didn’t anticipate was this little guy!” She beamed with excitement and knelt down and reached her hands out towards Amprage. “Who must you be, huh?”

The familiar turned straight towards her and jogged over. “I am Amprage, Pepper Walker’s familiar and loyal companion.”

“A familiar, huh? Well, I must say I have never heard or seen anything like you before!” Amprage leapt up with his front paws and snuggled up to the stranger. She giggled and began to rub him as if he was a real dog. “Oh my gosh, you are adorable, Mister!”

“Can you even feel that?” Pepper asked, cocking his head down towards the metal golem.

“Yes, I can. I am able to sense the essence that is within the human hand and can measure the slight differences it makes within the concentrated essence surrounding the environment. So, though it would not feel the same as the human sense of touch, it is the digital equivalent.”

“Well, aren’t you the little brainiac? How did you get to be so smart?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, how did you know all that, Amprage?” Pepper said.

“The familiar rune has a satellite card built in. It allows me to stay connected to the company’s mainframe database. It helps me to search for information that enables me to have more genuine dialog with my bonded,” he replied as his head tilted between the two.

Eli stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “Well, you are certainly welcome here anytime.” She giggled and turned back to Pepper. “So, welcome to the Equine Sanctuary.”

“Thanks, I guess. I didn’t know this place even existed,” he replied, grabbing the back of his neck.

“Not many do until they get in trouble and are sentenced to community service.” Eli arched an eyebrow with a smug expression, but it was erased after a second or two and she returned to her bubbly self. “I started the sanctuary with the intent to help Rift War veterans heal and recover from their mental, emotional, and physical injuries. We also rescue horses that were slated for death in slaughterhouses.”

“Helping two things out at the same time, huh?” Pepper asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Exactly,” Eli chimed back, raising her hands and rolling her eyes as if the answer was obvious for all to see. “Why not do two great things at the same time? At least, that’s what I always say.” Her hands returned to her hips and a confident, proud expression formed on her face. She gave a serious nod.

However, she soon laughed again and waved for them to follow her. “Well, what I can say is that this is no ordinary community service situation. Yes, you are here to serve out the extent of whatever it is you did. But here you have a chance to truly help others who are trying to recover from something else that they did. Not everyone’s wounds are seen externally, so I expect you to be kind and friendly to all the visitors. But just be mindful that not everyone is ready to sit and hold a conversation with you. Many of our veterans only want to speak through their spirit and let it connect to the horse they’re spending time with.”

“Okay…” Pepper replied in a drawn-out fashion.

“Look, Pepper, I get it. It sounds weird; it seems different and unusual. But it is nothing short of magical. I can’t explain it, but there’s something about being in the presence of these large creatures that does something for the human soul,” Eli said, leading them towards a sizeable barn.

Pepper could hear the horses calling out within the building. He put his hands in his pockets and scanned the area. Bales of straw, buckets of oats, and large troughs of water were placed throughout the barn. But all of that was meaningless when he saw Andrea walk out of one of the stalls.

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She turned towards them and propped her pitchfork up against the stall door. Pepper could feel his heart start to beat faster and faster. She walked towards them, removing her work gloves and sticking them in her back jeans pocket as she closed the distance. Her hand reached up and she ran her fingers through her blond hair, draping it off to one side. Then she slowly turned her gaze towards him.

Their eyes locked onto one another and their gaze was only broken when Eli interjected. “Andrea told me she would be happy to help show you the ropes and get you started. You’ll be in good hands with her.” She smiled and winked at Andrea before turning and walking off.

“Hey,” Andrea said with a bashful smile.

“Hey,” Pepper replied. A lump was beginning to form in his throat and he felt embarrassed to stand in front of his crush. “I didn’t know you volunteered here,” he finally got out.

“Oh… um.” It was now Andrea’s turn to have an embarrassed expression. She reached down and tugged on her left pants leg to show a small ankle monitor. “I wish I could say that I volunteer, but in reality… I was voluntold. Community service for the win. Just like you.” She pressed her lips together and her eyes flashed at him.

Pepper was speechless. The more he looked at Andrea, though, the more he realized how hard it was for her to accept the position she was in. “Well, do you at least want to show me around and what I can start working on?”

A small smile reappeared; it looked like his question had helped relieve the internal struggle she was going through. “That isn’t a half bad idea. This way.”

The rest of the morning flew past. He was grateful for having gone to Nate’s gym. Eli brought them some sandwiches, chips, and sodas to enjoy on their lunch break. They found a picnic table under a large oak tree. Andrea carried their lunch and Pepper propped up the two pitchforks they had been using.

He was happy to see Andrea becoming more comfortable in the situation, as if she had decided to slowly lower her walls and let him see what she was going through. She lowered her head and took a moment to herself before she looked up at him and smirked. “What are you staring at? You weirdo.” She chuckled softly.

“Well, one, I was thinking about how similar you and Eli are.” He unwrapped his sandwich and took a hearty bite.

Andrea glanced into the distance. She took a deep breath, and it looked like she was enjoying the gentle breeze. “You know, that is one awesome woman right there. Smart, bold, confident, relentless, and one hundred and twenty-three percent compassionate. She has not once made me feel judged or ashamed of what happened. She’s pretty cool, as my dad would say.” She turned back to him and he watched life come into her eyes. He couldn’t help noticing that her baby pink button-up shirt complemented their blue color.

Pepper had struggled all morning not to be caught staring at his crush. So he just took a glance at her and met her eyes for half a second before quickly looking out across the field again. “So, why are you here?”

“Way to be subtle there, P-dubble-p.”

“P double p? That’s a new one.”

“Gotta keep you on your toes, Owen Wilson.” She smiled and popped the tab on her soda.

“I dunno about keeping me on my toes, but you’re certainly keeping me on the edge of my seat.” She rolled her eyes as he verbally poked at her. “Waiting on you, sunshine.”

“Fine…” She sighed and shook her head. “Apparently stores don’t like it when you fraudulently pay for medications. Especially when they show that you’ve been doing it for two years.”

“Two years?” Pepper’s jaw dropped in shock.

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” She huffed.

“How did you not go to jail?”

A disgruntled look came over her face. “I did. Spent two weeks there and then was given four years of community service. Let’s just say the judge was gracious—very gracious. My lawyer told me I could have easily done eight years in prison for the severity of my crime. But being a kid trying to take care of her dad, never been in trouble before… she felt it was best for me to do community service so I could still help take care of my dad.”

“But why?”

“I just said why I was let out.” She widened her eyes and glared at him.

“No, I meant why were you fraudulently buying medications?”

“Oh.” She paused and looked away but finally met Pepper’s gaze. “Because I love my dad, and I hate seeing him suffer the way that he is. The daily pain, the night terrors, all of it. He’s all I have left. Some people had their families ripped away from them in an instant; mine is fading away before my eyes.”

She paused and took a sip of her soda. A long-drawn-out breath and she continued. “He went to fight for humanity. The result was to return to a destroyed home. Two plots in the graveyard belonging to my mom and older sister. His career gone, his friends dead, and rift poisoning that will consume him until he passes away.”

“I thought veterans with rift poisoning are taken care of? Like, the government has the office and hospitals for veterans and all.”

“I don’t really know about being taken care of. They sure love to say they do, though. The thing is that rift poisoning doesn’t just appear right away. My dad’s, for example, didn’t show up until five years ago. The veteran affairs office claims there’s no evidence to connect it to his service and that it could have been caused any time after the Rift Wars.”

“What? That’s insane!” Pepper exclaimed.

He immediately saw the frustration appear on her face. He realized that what he had said, she had been echoing for years while she watched her father deal with it. “You’re telling me. I feel so bad for him. He basically just sits in a chair and listens to audiobooks. It’s the only thing he seems to enjoy now. I come home and do my best to take care of him and keep things going. He needs his medications to simply try and be normal. There was no way I could pay for the meds, but I still tried. I did everything I could—sold items in garage sales, did the whole online auction thing. But that only covered those damn purple pills for so long.”

She took a bite of her sandwich. “So I started stealing people’s identities. Mostly people who had recently passed away. I started opening up credit cards in their names and paying for the meds that way. I was finally arrested at EliXir. The police were waiting for me, and they had all the security camera footage and receipts showing how much I had illegally purchased.”

“How is your dad doing now?”

“My cousin came out from Texas and helped take care of him for the two weeks I was in jail. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the community service, but it certainly takes away from hours I could be spending working and trying to earn more to pay for those damn pills.” Pepper shifted his head and grimaced.

Andrea glanced at him but then looked down at her sandwich. “There’s a chance we’ll have to sell the house and move into an apartment. Thankfully Dad doesn’t really move around much these days, so it’s not like he needs a lot of space to do stuff.” A small tear was forming in her eye, and she reached up and wiped it away. “When my dad first started to show signs of rift poisoning… I remember I saved up as much as I could and bought him this top-of-the-line massage chair. He practically lives in that thing now.”

A fresh tear streaked down her cheek, and she quickly moved to wipe it away, as if displaying emotion was more traumatic than admitting to being a convicted criminal. She sniffed and cleared her throat. “I’m so happy I bought that damn chair. It’s been worth every single Flex I spent on it. I just want my dad to be as comfortable as possible with whatever time he has left. You know?”

Pepper’s mind flashed with the images of the GolemCon veterans. “I get it.” The two paused and each took a bite of their lunch. “So… if nothing was holding you back, what would you want to do with your life?”

Andrea huffed. “That’s easy. Sing.”

“Really?” Pepper leaned back in surprise.

Andrea playfully flashed her eyes at him. “I’ve always wanted to be a singer. Ever since I was a girl. There are a ton of videos of me singing in our house when I was a kid. Granted, they’re all securely locked away and will never see the light of day. But they do exist.” She paused and chuckled. “But that dream went down the drain real quick when I got those shiny bracelets added on for the full effect.”

“What? No way. Why would that stop you? If anything, that would help your reputation. Besides, who could fault someone for trying to take care of their dad the way you did?”

Andrea laughed softly, and an overexerted expression appeared on her face. “Uhh, pretty sure Judge Lori Atwater held me at fault for exactly that thing.”

“You know what I meant, goofball.” Andrea rolled her eyes at him. Pepper playfully countered. “You know what, you’re probably not very good anyways. I can just imagine the scratchy voice of a coyote in a trash compactor coming out of you in a sound booth. Heck, they probably don’t even have enough technology to correct the racoon screech sound you would make.”

“Shut up, Pepper Walker. You’ve never even heard me sing, so you have no room to talk.” Andrea slapped her open palm down on the table and pointed a warning finger his way.

Pepper swept his leg up and over the bench seat of the table. Andrea gave him a curious look. He reached out and grabbed one of the pitchforks. He brought the end of the handle towards his mouth and pretended to blow on it, giving a quick tap of his finger as he mockingly portrayed someone on stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, all of the people around the world. We’re excited you’re here with us tonight in Portage, Michigan, as we welcome our world-famous but very own Andrea Brewer to the stage.” Pepper held out the tool handle towards her, beginning to mimic the sound of a cheering crowd.

She bashfully swiped her hand towards him. “No!”

“Oh, come on, put your money where your mouth is. You say you can sing? Prove it. Besides, it’s only me and Amp.”

She squinted at him and huffed but stood up from the table. He continued to extend the pitchfork out to her and she grabbed it and brought it in close to her chest. “I dunno what to sing.”

“Sing whatever comes to mind.”

“Easier said than done, jerk.” She chuckled. Her head tilted from side to side until she finally looked at him. “Okay… this isn’t finished yet. Who knows if it ever will be? But this is the only thing that comes to mind.”

“No judgment.” He replied while taking a seat at the table.

Andrea closed her eyes and gently cleared her throat. She began to hum softly for a moment to find the right note to begin on. Her left hand remained gripped around the pitchfork, but her right hand stretched out, reaching for the heavens above.

“Darkness crashes all around me,

feasting on my inner light…

My soul cries out for a savior,

while monsters feast upon my dreams…

Who will save me from my captor,

when I can’t see victory…

Someone save me from this torment,

please rescue me from reality…”