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pianorose17 — One Last Goodbye
Published: 2018-10-04 22:30:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 4468; Favourites: 8; Downloads: 0
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“RUN!”She barely even recognized her own voice as she locked the doors, shutting out the rebels who’d just set off a ticking bomb. They’d broken into the laboratory and accidentally initiated the self-destruct sequence, and now they had less than two minutes to get out alive.
She recognized the three, though she doubted they knew even her name... but she knew theirs well. Joshua... Samantha... Killian... their faces haunted her dreams, burned into her memory by some supernatural force that drove her to them.
She still didn’t fully understand it, but she knew that she knew them... somewhere... the dreams she had with them were too real to be anything but memories from a life she hadn’t yet lived- or one she lived long ago, she wasn’t quite sure. She’d seen the three many times before, and each time her actions had been reflexive, conscious thought coming well after she’d done whatever she could to help their cause. She’d barely even spoken to them, but she’d done her share of sabotaging the Regime, helping them take down a corrupt system she’d been born baked into with no apparent escape.
Today she’d be free.
In two minutes she’d be free of everything.
“What are you doing?!” The girl- Sam- asked, dark eyes wide as she tried to open the glass doors.
“GO! I’ll clear your exits!” She called, typing her access codes into the keypad on the door to open all the building exits.
“You’re locked in with the bomb!”
“I know,” She answered simply, “Now go!”
The blue haired boy- Josh- stared in shock for a moment before shaking his head and pulling Sam away from the glass. “Come on!” He called, half-dragging Sam down the hall. She protested, kicking and screaming, but couldn’t quite break free.
“Let’s go!” Josh called.
The black haired boy- Kill- blinked, looking somewhere between perplexed and perturbed, frozen where he stood.
“Go,” She repeated, smiling a little, “I’ll be fine.”
He seemed to study her, eyes skewed like he was trying to sort indiscernible puzzle pieces. He quirked a thick brow, as if mentally asking himself Do I know you?
“Go, now,” She repeated.
“Who are ye?” He asked aloud.
“Go!”
“Killian!” Josh called over Sam’s shouting.
He bit his lip as he looked at her one more time, then bolted down the hall.
She watched them as far as she could as they sprinted away, then turned towards the security camera display on the monitors. Relief washed over her as saw them leave the building, and she turned back to the bomb.
00:42
Less than a minute left...
At least they were safe. They’d live to finish fighting, live to see the Regime crumble and honest people. Sam and Josh would no longer have to hide in the shadows, and a Killian wouldn’t be confined to human size. Sam would find her sister, Josh his brother, maybe Kill would find all his family, or at least he’d be with Josh... they’d be fine. They didn’t need her.
At least, not alive.
Her eyes blurred at the thought. She loved them so much... and they would never know her name.
No, it was better that way. She didn’t need a name. She wasn’t their friend... not here or now... maybe she never really was or would be... she knew them, yet she didn’t... all she had were visions, dreams, intangible images that still didn’t make sense.
Except they did, to her. She seemed to know intuitively who they were: people she loved. It didn’t matter where or when. Those intangibles were as real to her as the glasses on her face. She knew Sam loved anime and had a mushroom allergy, that Josh hoarded journals like squirrels hoard nuts and couldn’t resist cherry pie, and that Killian loved spacey sci-fi movies and pumpkin spice lattes. She knew the sound of Sam’s laugh, Josh’s screech and Killian’s purr. She could practically feel Sam’s hand in hers as she dragged her to the boardwalk, Josh’s wriggling in her arms when she tackle-hugged him, and the steady thrum of Killian’s pulse when she latched onto a fingertip or flopped on his chest. Her heart ached for moments she’d never experienced with them... and as the timer ticked on, the reality fully dawned on her that she would never get the chance.
She’d dreamt about it so many times, about each of them, dreamed of the day she’d finally go right up to them and introduce herself... now the chance was gone. She’d never get to speak or to them or hug them or even say goodbye... not that it would make sense to say goodbye when she’d never even said hello...
Why hadn’t she spoken to them? She wasn’t shy, and yet the times she’d actually seen them, she’d never said anything to them, just quietly helped bring their shipments through or distracted security. What had held her back? Why couldn’t she just have thrown her lot in with them and joined the rebels?
She sighed as the answer bubbled to the surface: she was more useful working quietly from within. It was better they didn’t know her. If they were friends, they would’ve tried much harder to stop her, maybe gotten themselves killed or imprisoned... no, it was better this way. She didn’t want them to mourn anyway, she wasn’t helping them for recognition.
00:10
She rubbed at her eyes, her chest heavy in her last moments. She wished she could hug them, just once, just to hold them close for a moment. There was no time left to say how much she cared, no time to tell her story, no time to share with them those dreams...
00:08
She’d never play Mario Kart with Sam, or drag Josh to the weed house, or hear Killian play guitar...
00:07
Soon she’d be nothing but ash and smoke and energy... and no one would know who she was... or what she’d done... and why...
00:05
She clicked frantically through the video camera footage to take one last look at them... Sam... Joshie... Killifish... she didn’t matter to them... she never would...
00:03
It didn’t matter. She still loved them, the mere sight of them reminding her. It was worth it for them. Their lives mattered. Hers didn’t.
00:02
“Goodbye...” She laid a hand on the screen and closed her eyes, imagining an embrace with all three of them. The friends she’d never had yet knew and loved like family...
00:01
She took one last breath before the blast, and met oblivion with a smile on her face.