About 2,000 words

Pursuit Chapter 4

by Quest

Even with anesthetics, it hurt for him to even try to sit up. Some days he didn't even bother doing anything. They stopped giving him food at all nowadays, his condition making it potentially fatal for him to eat as the cold stopped him from digesting his food. He'd give an eyeball or two just so he can eat again, even that bland porridge. Josephine told him last night to stay strong which meant that he probably didn't have a long time left to live. He took another swig from his water bottle to make him feel full even without eating.

A comedy show was playing on the radio this morning. He wanted to laugh at the jokes, but his stomach hurt whenever he tried. Josephine told him that they were going to the zoo today, he wanted to say no because he felt tired, but it looked like it would have made her happy, so he said yes. As he went outside the hospital for the first time in God knows how long, he noticed that the roads of ice had melted back into the water, which meant that they had to travel by yacht.

He took a moment to appreciate the city he lived in his whole life and probably for the rest of his life by how it was going. New Amsterdam was a city full of canals that froze into roads of ice once the temperature plummeted. Adorned on the side of the road were trees that had red flowers for leaves and underneath were its roots that spanned hundreds of miles downward. He rarely had the time to see how beautiful the city was because even before he was afflicted with his condition, he was never the type to go outside much.

His parents and maids always told him that he was sickly growing up, so he mostly kept to himself and never talked to other kids. That was fine for him as he preferred the company of books rather than other children, which stayed true even after he met Ana. He read to pass the time whenever Ana didn't feel like losing in chess that day. He even brought a book with him as he sat on the deck of the yacht. It was a book on the fauna of Wonderland, on creatures such as the Cheshire Cats and Mister Caterpillars.

The latter species had a diet that funnily enough consisted of the very same blue flowers in the hospital he was staying in.

"Young master, we're here," Josephine said as she called out from behind me.

"Coming."

The zoo itself was the same as he remembered from his prior visits. He remembered a giraffe nearly taking him away as he tried to feed it. Ah, good times. Even though it was warmer in this season, it didn't mean that it was warm enough for him to go outside for very long. So, when they approached the aquarium, he nearly sighed a breath of relief. The walls themselves were built to keep in as much heat as possible and to keep as much cold out. The aquarium itself smelled of woodchip bedding and aquarium water.

"Giorgino!" The voice of his mother called out as she spotted him and Josephine. She looked like she was carrying his younger sister, Dionisia.

"Hi, Ma."

"Hello, Giorgino. How have you been holding up?"

"Fine."

"It's your big brother. Say hello Dionisia."

"Hello, Dionisia." His sister repeated word for word.

"No–no you're Dionisia, that's Giorgino."

"Giorgino," It seems that talking is still a work in progress for his little sister, but she's getting there.

"Bah no matter, Giorgino, go say hi to your older sister. She's at the restaurant."

"Okay."

As they went inside the restaurant, he immediately spotted his sister as she waved from her seat. When he got closer, he found red markings on his sister's knuckles. He never did understand why she got into fights so much. If he were in the situation she was in he would much rather try to talk his way into de-escalating it rather than risk hurting anyone over a petty argument. Their father didn't mind all that much since he thought that defending yourself when you're being disrespected was important, especially given what business their family delved in and what kind of people they surrounded themselves with. Their father said that his older sister would make a great capo one day, whatever that meant.

"Hello, Brother."

"Hi, Big Sis."

"So, what would you like to eat?"

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"I'm not allowed to eat anything."

"… Sorry, forgot."

"May I explore the aquarium on my own?" Josephine looked like she was about to argue against it, but then she only sighed.

"Fine, but don't go too far, okay?"

"Okay."

"Call me if you need anything."

He went back to where his mother and younger sister were before he overheard the distinct voice of his mother speaking to someone. He stopped at the corner, so she didn't see him and leaned his head to listen in.

"He's gotten even skinnier now." Gee thanks. "He's only getting worse even with the bloodletting. The doctors say that at this rate the only chance for him to live is to perform surgery directly on his circuits." He peeked his head out the corner to take a look at whomever she was talking to. She was talking on the telephone with someone whom he guessed was probably his father. "Around 30,000." Wait, what was she talking about? Was that the price of the surgery?

If so, then he felt guilty that they had to spend so much just to keep him alive. He had to wonder if he was even worth that much money. "I know, but it's our only choice." He ultimately decided that he wasn't going to talk to his mother after all. He didn't want to even think about what she would do if she knew that he was listening in. Talking about his condition was the last thing he wanted to do right now. So, no thanks. He carefully moved away from the room where his mother was, so she didn't hear the sounds of his wheelchair scuttling away.

Right as he was about to think about what to do next, did he suddenly hear the sounds of someone crying? When he went to see who it was, he came upon a young girl with blonde hair and red horns on her head, she was also bawling her eyes out. Seeing as no one else was in the room, which meant it was placed on him to deal with this situation.

"Are you okay?" He said, but what he was thinking was 'I'm an idiot. Of course, she isn't okay, she's crying for Christ's sake!' She looked up at him and then did he notice that she had eerie yellow eyes. Said yellow eyes threatened to break a dam, bringing about more tears. 'Um… shoot. I don't know how to deal with this.' "Don't cry," Brilliant move Gino. As if that will fix all her problems. Truly, genius.

"Mama! Mama!" Okay, that was something he can work with. He could try to find her mother if all that she was crying about was being lost.

"We'll find your mother. So don't cry, okay?"

"… okay." Hoo–boy. What did he get himself into?

"Where did you last see your mother?" But of course, the most logical course of action when you are lost is to trace back your steps to when you weren't lost.

"The place where you see all the lions," Alright, so that meant that they had to go back to the place where the lions were displayed. While he was rather passive during the entirety of his sightseeing around the zoo and therefore, he didn't have the place memorized. He reckons that there were physical maps around to guide lost souls such as they or at the very least guides and staff that could help them around. Said guides and staff could also help in finding this lost girl's mother. This girl? Oh, he forgot to ask her name.

"Say, what's your name miss?"

"Thelma. Thelma Miller."

"I see, cool horns you got there Thelma Miller," She looked confused for a moment before replying.

"El."

"Excuse me?"

"Call me El. That's what all my friends call me."

"Nice to meet you then El. My name's Giorgio, but you can call me Gino."

"Nice to meet you too, Gino," At least she's calmed down now.

"Thelma!" Someone's voice called out. A young woman with similarly blonde hair, horns, and red eyes approached the two of them. That had to be her mother, because who else could it be?

"Mama!" Called it. Now, he just had to escape before her mother noticed him and tried to initiate a conversation. While he can talk just fine, he avoided it like the plague since activities like that tired him out and he never knew what to say.

"Thelma, who's this with you?" Damn it.

"His name is Gino, he helped me while I was lost."

"Thank you for taking care of my daughter while I wasn't looking. Seriously, I told you not to let go of my hand!" El quailed when her mother suddenly raised her voice.

"B-but I just wanted to see the lions more!"

"El, they're closing that part of the zoo because the lions have to sleep now."

"But I don't want them to sleep yet!"

"Thelma." Her mother warned.

"No!"

Well, this was awkward. He couldn't say anything since it wasn't any of his business, but he also didn't know if he should just roll away. And so, he was locked in a standstill of indecision.

"Young master?" The voice of his maid saved him from his indecision.

"Josi– wait, Sally?"

"It's good to see you, young master. How have you been?"

"Eh."

"And who are they?"

"A mother and daughter I reunited with."

"… okay. And why are they arguing?"

"Because the daughter wants to see the lions."

"That part of the zoo is already closing."

"I know. The mother knows. But the daughter doesn't want it to close yet."

"… I see."

"Hey, Sally?"

"Yes, young master?"

"Can you ask mama to postpone the closing of that part of the zoo for a few hours?"

"Young master I'm not doing all that just so you can impress a girl."

"Please?" He opened his eyes big and wide with some forced tears here and there.

"… Fine."

"You're the best Sally!" He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "My favorite!" He won. There is no way this could go wrong.

"Ahem." The voice of Josephine cut in. Oh no.

"Favorite, huh? Well then, I guess you can ask Sally to take care of you instead, young master."

"Ah." He smiled sheepishly at her judgmental gaze. Whoops.

El and Gino went on to look over the lions and only at nighttime did they say goodbye, to the lions and each other. She did promise to visit him in the hospital though. As the night went on he forgot about his illness for a moment and indulged in the life he had before, the one with his family and his maids. Just for tonight, he would be an ordinary seven-year-old boy.