Chapter 187
My mom gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand. “Elliott? Elliott had a son?”
“Elliott had a son,” I nodded.
“But… I didn’t know Elliott had a son.”
“Elliott didn’t know Elliott had a son.”
I was getting a little tired of saying my deceased friend’s name. “Mom, I am sure that your impression of Brandon is less than stellar right now, but I can assure you, he’s a great guy. Once Zabrina took me, and he caught up, he never left my side again. The whole time I was on the ground, he’s the one that was protecting me. When Jamie was administering the serum—it hurt, and I was terrified—but Brandon was right there. And when I woke up in that hotel room, not knowing who or what I was, he was there, too. I don’t blame you for being angry at him. Or me. But… if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, please give him a chance to prove that he is a good friend for me, Mom. He’s a good person.”
Mom was quiet for a second, and I thought I saw the shine of tears in her eyes. All she said was, “Okay.”
And that was enough. I knew she wanted to be angry at someone, wanted to point her finger and say, “You did this to my daughter, to my family,” but the ones who were truly responsible for what I’d become were gone now, both turned to piles of ash at the hands of my sister. If she wanted to be angry at anyone, it should be me, but my mother had already proven she didn’t feel that way.
“I think I’ll go upstairs and rest for a little while,” I said, standing and pushing in my chair.
“Don’t you want some lunch?”
I was actually famished but didn’t want to sit down there and explain things to her anymore. “Oh, uh….”
My mother is smarter than I give her credit for. “Why don’t you head upstairs, and I’ll bring you a sandwich?”
I nodded and walked back to my room, wondering why Cadence or Aaron hadn’t mentioned Brandon’s identity to mom so that I didn’t have to. Surely, it wasn’t a secret. I hoped I hadn’t just revealed something Mom wasn’t meant to know, but I didn’t see what difference it would make. It just would’ve been one less thing for her to be upset about if they’d told her the day before.
Back in my room, I picked up my phone. My friends were in school right now, so I’d have to wait until after Lucy got done with cheerleading practice to call them. I wanted to check in with Cadence to see if they’d made any headway in finding Gibbon, but I figured it was better to leave that alone for a while. The fact that my parents didn’t want me visiting headquarters any time soon didn’t sit easily with me. I knew now, more than ever, I needed to be there. Those were the people that would come closest to understanding me, though I certainly felt like an outsider now more than I ever had before in my life.
Mom brought me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a side of potato chips, along with a cold Dr. Pepper and a couple of chocolate chip cookies. She set them next to me on the nightstand, patted my arm, and left. I wondered how many times she’d thanked God that I was alive the last day or so. I’m sure she was up late last night thinking about all of the things that could’ve happened to me. That seems to be what mother’s do best.
Once she was gone, I decided I desperately needed to talk to someone, and even though I had butterflies in my stomach, it seemed like there was really only one other person who could even slightly identify with how I was feeling. So I called Brandon, hoping he also was on a lunch break from training or they’d given him the day off. He didn’t answer, though, and I didn’t bother to leave a message. I decided to watch a sitcom on my laptop while I ate my sandwich and lose my thoughts in a mindless program instead of pondering everything that I’d brought upon myself through my impatience.
My phone rang about an hour after I’d finished my sandwich and found myself binge watching The Office, which had kept my mind off of things quite nicely. I hit pause and fumbled for my phone, relieved to see it was Brandon. “Hello?” I said expectantly, hoping the word didn’t reek of desperation to speak to him.
“Well, hello there, Miss Findley. How are you?”
Instantly, a smile broke across my face. He was trying to sound all smooth and sophisticated, which is exactly what I needed. I’d had enough freaking out for one lifetime. “I’m okay. Pretty good, actually, all things considered. How are you?”
“Well, I’ve been better,” he replied. “In fact… I’ve just had probably the third most uncomfortable experience in my life, counting watching you Resurrect-slash-Transform and actually doing it myself as numbers one and two.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, not sure if he was joking around or serious. Something told me he wouldn’t make light of things right now unless he thought he could make me laugh or something.
“Uh, you remember how you said Christian was… different?”
“I’m not sure that’s the word I used but okay. Sure.”
“Let’s just say having my IAC put in might give me nightmares, and they will have nothing to do with the little computer chip in my eye.”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. “Sort of like going to the doctor for a checkup?”
“If your doctor is a weirdo.”
Still laughing, I asked, “What did he do? Or do I want to know?”
“I mean, I guess it wasn’t anything too bad, but I was nervous already, what with some person I hardly know cutting into my eyeball. Your sister and Aaron were too busy to go with me, and I said that was fine, because I wanted it done before they changed their minds. So Jamie went along. He’s cool. I don’t mind him. But still, I was a little nervous. I don’t really know any of these people, but I would only call your sister and Aaron acquaintances at best at this point and everyone else are just…”
“People you’ve met?”
“Sure. So, I go in there, and Christian just won’t shut up about how much I look like Elliott. Just on and on. Then, he starts telling me stories about stupid stuff Elliott did, stuff he probably wouldn’t want his kid to know about, and Jamie finally had to tell him to zip it and get on with it already because he had things to do.”
“He as in Jamie?”
“Yeah, though I’d imagine Christian had things to do, too.”
“Like follow girls around at the mall?”
He chuckled. “Maybe. I hope not. So anyway, he tells me where to sit, and it’s like a dentist’s chair sort of, and then he gets this really big magnifying glass and just holds it up in front of my face, staring at my eye, for the longest time. I had no idea where I was supposed to look, you know? And he didn’t say anything.”
I could imagine the whole scenario so I started to giggle. “That had to be awkward.”
“For reals. Finally, he’s like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to make my incision. Don’t move.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Why can’t Jamie actually be the one to make the incision since he’s an actual surgeon and for all I know Christian used to be the guy who carried the shovel behind the elephants at a three-ring circus?’ But I didn’t say that. I just found a spot on the wall and stared at it.”
“So did he actually cut your eye?”
“Yeah. He numbed it first with some drops and then stared at me a little bit longer while I waited for it to take. And then he announced he was really ready to make the incision, which he did with this tiny little blade. And then he used some tweezers to put the chip in.”
“And what is that like? Is it working yet?”
“They had me turn it on to check it, but they said I’ll need to go through some training for how to use it before they want me to turn it on again. Once I was done, Christian just said, ‘Finished.’ I turned and looked at Jamie, and he shrugged, so we left. I mean, I said thank you to Christian, but he was on to something else by then. I seriously think there’s something wrong with that guy. Like maybe he has some sort of a social disorder.”
I thought of my best friend Emma, who happens to have autism, and how she might say something like that, but I definitely didn’t think that Christian was autistic or that Emma would do most of the other unusual things Christian has been known to do. “Maybe he’s a sociopath or something.”
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe he just ate some rotten rodent when he was stationed at Valley Forge.”
Brandon laughed. “I guess that’s possible. So anyway, that’s been my day.”
