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Part 7 - Equilibrium (cont.)

I quickly apologized and she was even quicker to correct, "Nonono...I just know I can't answer your question the way it deserves right now because there's so much on my mind and I have a touch of the spirits too. But soon, I promise."

In the meanwhile, she realized she had a phone with her and it had a camera. I'd forgotten that as well, but I preferred not to tempt fate and my heart for photos I actually wanted to keep to get tossed in the belly of my brimstone beast. She took a few quick snaps of the play area, the pub, and our table with me flashing a few smiles and goofy looks. She even took some selfies standing and sitting right next to me. 

She admitted, "It's a limited camera but I should be able to off-load them to my computer when I get back." Another complication but I held my smile, especially as they finally called her up for the last game. 

The race itself was flashy. The world shot rainbows all over the place. She flew around curves and tossed all manner of projectiles at everyone else. I just cheered, with the last bit of oomph I had, yelling her name from my raw throat and clapping my achy hands. When she crossed the final finish line in second, like she began the night, I met her with laughter and my arms wrapped around her.

My girl definitely kicked butt!

I polished off the last of my drink and, before I could warn her, so did she. Another wide mouth and a cough as she smiled and said, "Woooo!" 

So that was it. No more games to play. Some left to watch and the score to be counted.

Lina slipped her windbreaker back on and gathered her bag. I raised an eyebrow. She told me, "I'm good. I had fun. I played. You were here. And we made it to the end. And we didn't have to spend anything. That's really all I needed. Unless you want another drink or some more food?"

God, no. I was done. We got up from the booth and our server thanked us for coming. I left him a tip and my thanks. Lina snapped a few quick photos on the way out and asked another server when the next one might be. Before Thanksgiving but after the middle of November. She entered a quick note on her phone along with the number of The Salty Lemon.

Outside, it felt late, later than I was used to. The nearest cross-street was desolate aside from the occasional car puttering through. The music from inside trickled through the door. The parking lot was still cramped but no one was trying to leave. 

There was enough of a chill in the air that Lina's windbreaker looked nice, but I would be able to manage as I was all the way back. We walked beside each other. 

The woods loomed off to the left, swallowing up whatever light the twirly, amber lamps cast. Far off, a train whistle sounded. I gave a quick look around as we came to the first street corner. No speeding drunks in any direction. No scary movie cliches either (flickering lights, echoing footsteps, suspicious shadows, or dramatic music). 

Lina ducked under the same tree as before. It looked bigger later at night, like the darkness had fed it more than the sun did. It didn't try to reach out to grab my girl as we made our way back to my complex and my front door. 

After Lina had a pleasant, quick trip to the bathroom, I did nigh-unspeakable things to the toilet with everything I'd been holding back for the last few hours. I emerged with my lower-bits exhausted but my throat almost as happy as it was a week ago. A little heated milk made up the difference. 

Between sips from her cup, Lina asked, "Is it alright if I spend the night?"

She even needed to ask at this point? "Always. I can wash your clothes you have on for morning and you can borrow something of mine to sleep in."

"Aww. Thank you so much! I'm sorry I didn't even think about how late things would get and not have a change of clothes or a plan. I was...heh...just thinking about the games." She gently massaged the lip of her cup. 

I settled next to her on the couch. "Everything okay?"

She sipped her toasty milk and sighed. "Yeah. I was just thinking about what you asked. About my very first game. Only Greg and a few family really know that much about it." Another sip.

Interesting...

With a deep breath, she said, "The very first thing I can clearly remember in my life is sitting in a baby swing as my mother looms over me and says, 'You're going to die'. I didn't understand but I cried as she scowled at me. I felt hot with tears flowing down my cheeks and my diaper getting wet. I knew I was scared and I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what to do."

My early-morning tiredness dashed away as I sat up and shot out, "What a fucking bitch! How the fuck could she say that to you?!"

Lina cradled her cup against her cheek. "She was...is...a very hard person to spend time with. She didn't really want me that much, at least so far as I can tell. I had a lot of trips to the doctor for one thing or another and she remembered every time and...held me responsible for all that. But then, at age three, I was diagnosed with the worst sorts of...things. Things that still haunt my fears. Things that needed to be removed...but which would leave me 'half' a daughter. She freaked out that I might not be able to have the grandkids she really wanted."

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "She would always leave me at the hospital and go visit ex-boyfriends for comfort when my father had to work. I'd have nightmares neither would come back for me. I'd often wake up shaking with tears and the bed soaked. But the nurses were the sweetest. Always patient and kind with me. They helped so much, especially Beth."

Lina set her cup down on the table. "Beth had a few kids. And one of them got tired of his Gameboy, so she brought it to the hospital and gave it to me. I had never received a gift before and I'd never seen a game either. I was way too young to play but I played anyway. It was Tetris. My very first game. I'd hold the button and launch blocks at the bottom as music played. I could make them fill up the fastest. I would sit in a chair for a long, excruciating treatment or wait trembling on a gurney and it would help ease the pain and fear."

She gestured to her side. "Then I got Dr. Beary Nice. He was this lavender teddy bear with a little doctor coat, a plush stethoscope, and a black-thread smile dangling off his face. He was sick too, so they put us together and we played. Somehow, he always beat me...the lucky smirker."

I was gonna need a tissue soon but, if I broke down, then Lina would be sad too. So I swallowed, hid my face in my warm milk, and reminded her, "You made it though. And now you get to share what you were given with kids that need it too."

Her smile bloomed as she clutched her hands and nodded. "Yup. It's amazing! And...for them and all the rest, we really should be getting into bed so our heads don't snuggle any more tables."

Two in the morning and I was sure feeling it. Lina stripped down so the laundry could get started on her gamer clothes. Underneath, her underwear was peach pink with a set of delicate little bows. I knew just enough gaming to note, "So you had Princess Peach too?" 

Lina giggled, mostly because we were both out of it enough at that hour to find my lame quip funny.

I let her rummage through my closet and I washed up first. Drying off, I found she had groggily-assembled a few things. 

The first she showed off was a black, straight pencil line skirt with a plain, white button blouse and a navy cardigan. I hadn't worn any of those in forever. She called it, "The Babs Apprentice outfit with a little librarian."

The skirt, with its bright buckle, was big (slipping over her knees) but it fit. The blouse, however, puffed all over and the sleeves swaddled her hands. Not that she minded.

Next up was an ill-advised dress I'd tried to forget I owned. It was one-half black sports bra sewn onto a length of decades-old furniture upholstery covered in gaudy flowers. She could definitely take that, so long as she promised never to wear it outside. However, Lina definitely wore it better than that abomination deserved.

Last, she showed a fuzzy, fair-pink negligee that suited her nature far better than mine. No see-through bits and a white-lace trim along the bottom. She looked decent in just it, but I recommended a pair of matching leggings from a little further down the closet to keep her warm.

As she plucked the leggings off the rack, she noticed my swimsuits all together. "These are cute too!"

I smiled gently and advised her. "Those definitely won't fit."

Chuckling, she agreed but noted, "If only it were still summer. I love swimming. For years, I used to only feel comfortable in pools. Oh well."

Now, wait. No reason to write it off. This was a warm October so far and it was supposed to be quite toasty on Thursday. I also noted, "It's the day of the long lunch session. In the past, I have used that time to go to the pool on Wade Avenue for psychological recovery. Can't promise the weather will abide but we can give it a shot."

Lina beamed with that possibility on her way to the bath. I stayed up to make sure her clothes went on through to the dryer for the morning. I doubt she remembered drying her hair as she started to chew on the towel. I got her in the negligee and leggings then she crawled under the covers and was snoring just a minute later. 

I set several overlapping alarms for morning, including one I would have to leave the bed and think about to turn off. The night was still and peaceful as I got under the covers with her.

She squished her face against her fist. I led it aside so she wouldn't have a sore, red spot in the morning. I brushed her hair back where it had fallen forward and fell asleep beside her.

Oh shit! 

The storm was already in sight. It wasn't like the others that came across the lake. This motherfucker was a storm between universes. 

The clock was ticking. We were standing on a dune which was about to be sublimated. I fought off the Scratchers with just a fallen branch. Lina was at my feet, frozen in pain. Fucking Scratchers!

One bad hit from their bulbous, leaky claws and your life was jumbled up with the lives of a dozen different versions of you. You remembered dying in a war which never happened, singing songs from another place, and mourning the love who was your best friend in a different skin. 

But Scratchers were just the advance guard. They were opportunistic fucks. We didn't have a name for the others. Where Scratchers just poked the foundation of you, the others excised every trace of you from all realities. One touch and every chance you ever existed was gone. 

It made the rest of the team go mad. Infinite realities out of a greater infinity suddenly, forever culled. The Cats were our early warning system but the Scratchers took out our last Cat.

"Lina!...God...Please wake up!"

I shook her gently but persistently. If we could make it to the emergency shelter then we might be able to wait out the storm. 

She winced with a silent scream, as though untold other versions of her had their legs sliced off at that instant. Her eyes snapped open. 

"Valkyrie."

Not on this world. I corrected her, "Phoenix Rise."

Her head rocked, dipping between things she believed to be true. 

"Babs..."

With everyone else lost, I was in charge. In charge of ruins. But Priority One still stood. The signal could not be allowed to pass through. If it did, then that would be the end of everything. 

I set my feet in the sand. This had been where we first met all those years ago. We played, carefree, as the wind off the lake blew through our hair. We never knew we'd both be recruited.

Lina coughed, fighting back the dust in her mouth and the labyrinth in her mind.

"How did we get here? What happened? Did I oversleep?"

If only. I helped her to her feet. The tempest blasted again, gnawing us with sand. Lina clung to me with her arms around my waist. No one and nothing would take her from me. 

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I stood against the wind, howling with horrors within. We were at the edge, the cusp of an unrelenting maw. I held out my hand. 

You will not break her. You will not take her. We will not yield. We will not fall. 

The Scratchers were ready for another round and the others for their first. I held my hand and focused. I will protect her with every ounce of my strength. 

Then, at the pits of darkness, the sun broke through. It was as pure as golden honey. The shrieks died off and the clouds began to break.

It was a beautiful day.