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Sky remained squeezed between a backyard tool shed and a wooden fence, shivering and hungry. She had spent two nights hidden at the same spot. Her ears still resonated from the blasting horn from the second time Morgan had started it without warning her. She wasn’t far from the house where she had stayed with Morgan. The proximity didn’t worry her. Eventually, she would need to move on, but she wasn’t ready to go yet.
They wouldn’t find her in her hiding spot. She felt confident about that. Possibly a false sense of security instilled from a silly childhood memory. It was when she was thirteen, if her memory wasn’t fooling her—in the other life, with Hugh—when a group of the Corporeal teens organized a big manhunt game. Hugh had told her that manhunt was just a teen way to make hide-and-seek sound cool. A group searched for the hidden players in a predetermined neighborhood. When found, you joined in the hunt to find the others. During this game, she hid in a spot just like this one—between a shed and wooden fence. They never found her. She had heard them search the shed but never the space behind it. Only much later, once all the teens had given up and returned home for the night, did she come out. Hugh had been angry at her for not coming out earlier, saying he had been worried sick. He often worried about her.
Now it was her turn to worry about him, hoping he had managed to escape unharmed. She had remained still in her chair when she heard the gunshot from the main entrance at the front gate. She had been scared that he had been shot but was quickly reassured when she overheard the call from a woman in agony, calling for the others, telling them that he had escaped with their car. It was at this moment that the intruders remaining in the house had hurried out, giving Sky the chance to drag herself to the kitchen and remove the chains around her legs. She had waited in the garage, listening carefully. Someone was sent back to finish searching the house. She’d knocked them out with a whack of her chains. With her victim’s gun for defense, she chanced an escape through the backyard. She hadn’t seen anyone else since leaving the house.
She glanced over at the gun next to her. It was much bigger than the tiny one Catch had brought home from school. She felt strength by its presence. She knew the strength was only an illusion. Without the ability to control herself, this strength became a weakness.
Catch had been so brave to stop her from shooting a man that he didn’t even know. He didn’t deserve to be injured by her lack of self control. Her inability to control the pull of her own finger on the trigger to shoot the brother she not only loved but admired. Why was it so hard to prevent herself from controlling that one miserable finger?
The gun was powerful, but she was weak. She questioned her desire to keep it. The gun would endanger Morgan if he came back for her. She couldn’t trust herself with it. She decided to keep it for now, promising to throw it away at the first sign of Morgan. She didn’t want to harm anyone again.
The longer she remained hidden, the more these ideas bothered her. The gun’s presence was a nagging reminder of her weakness. She had enough of betraying Morgan. She must act now to show that she had control of her life. To prove that she wouldn’t let herself injure those around her again.
Leaving the hiding spot, she disarmed the gun and placed it on a brick. With the butt of an ax she’d found in the shed, she struck the gun. The impact from the blow resonated up her arms and into her shoulders. The strike did little to damage the gun. But it felt damn good to feel like she was taking control of her own decisions.
She raised the ax again and swung another violent blow. She did this again, for Catch, and again, for Morgan. She lifted the ax another time, but something caught her attention and stopped her before swinging it down.
A drone was coming toward her. It wasn’t a surveillance drone, but the type of drone that was armed and that could shoot her. It was a government-issued drone.
She hurried back into the narrow space between the shed and the fence. She pressed her back against the shed. The overhanging roof almost reached down to the fence, providing a cover and preventing the drone from getting a clear view of her. She held the ax tightly, focused on calming her breathing. The drone remained out front of the shed, hovering near the ground, waiting for her. She turned onto one knee, prepared to leap out.
You got this, Sky, she repeated to herself. She charged out, swinging the ax and striking the drone to knock off one of its four propellers. The drone toppled sideways, hovering slanted, it flew circles around her. Sky spun around, three hundred and sixty degrees with the ax held out, striking the drone in its core. The drone sputtered and crashed to the ground.
She approached it, circling behind to where it could not shoot her. She gave it a final blow to finish it off. That was when she noticed a piece of corrugated cardboard taped to its body. There was a message written on it written with a black marker. She dropped her ax and pulled it off to read it.
––––––––
Catch -> Summerset and Sixth Ave,
next to Suzy’s Sex House.
Be Careful,
Your brother
***
The pink neon sign to the sex shop glowed its light on the pedestrians that walked by. Sky remained on the corner, examining the unmarked, windowless, and rundown building. Could Catch really be in there? There was no way to know if someone was inside. She didn’t understand how it was possible for Morgan’s and Catch’s paths to have crossed. Catch should have been in the hospital’s care, and Morgan was a wanted man on the run.
She waited for the streets to be clear to approach the door. She knocked, placed her ear against the door, and waited for a response. Nothing. She pushed against it. It was unlocked. She entered the cinema.
“Catch?” she cried out softly, looking across the empty viewing room. The door closed behind her. She noticed something strange at the top of the inclined floor. Markings on the back wall.
She called out again before advancing toward the back. The place was empty.
On the back wall, she found a message written in what appeared to be lipstick: For Sky. Beneath the message was an arrow that pointed down to the floor, where she found a remote. She picked it up and turned it in her hands. She pressed the PLAY button.
The lights dimmed. A projection on the screen started to play.
“Mother, take a seat,” said Catch from the video. She sat in the nearest row, eyes transfixed on the blank white image projected. In the recording, close-ups of bodies moved near the camera’s lens. The scene focused, revealing a pure white room with black leather furniture.
“Are you seated mother? Really you should sit down...”
Catch entered the scene. He walked away from the camera with a limp. He turned to face the camera, leaning up against his cane. He smiled. A smile radiating with joy. She paused the video, overwhelmed. He appeared so happy, she thought, despite all that happened to him. He wasn’t even angry at her for shooting him. She wept, grateful to see her son well and joyful. She forced herself to calm her emotions and to listen to what he had to say. She pressed PLAY.
“You must be wondering why you are here. If you do get this message... Morgan said he would send you to come and meet us. Morgan seems to know what he’s doing, so I remain confident you will see this. Your friend Morgan has done some crazy stuff. It really makes no sense, but I do trust him. I really do. Long story short, I went back to his mother’s place, knowing he’d go back to see his mother. The FBI was there to stop us, but with Morgan’s help we escaped. They wouldn’t leave me alone, mother. Morgan’s too important to them. They think he’s dangerous and part of the terrorist group. I know he’s not. They think I know things...but I don’t.
“I won’t let them lock me up either. We will keep running from them...” Catch paused to listen to someone offscreen trying to tell him something. He told the other person to wait.
“I’m sorry, mother. I really started to believe that you had lost your mind. That somehow you imagined all this past with a guy that nobody had ever met. It couldn’t make sense to me. It still doesn’t. But earlier, Morgan told something important. He told me that you were brave. That you were like a sister to him. He wasn’t even angry at you for trying to kill him. I’m sorry I doubted you...but everything was just too weird for me.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Sky said to the screen. “You saved Morgan’s life.”
“I have someone I want you to meet,” said Catch, waving for the other person offscreen to come join him. A girl appeared next to Catch. She put her arm around him. “Her name’s Summer. I met her in the hospital.”
“Hi, Sky, thanks for shooting Catch,” she said. “Without you I wouldn’t have met him.” She waved at the camera.
"She does have a twisted sense of humor, but I’m sure you’ll love her.” Catch offered Summer a quick kiss.
Sky paused the video to appreciate the sight of her son again. His eyes were glowing.
She restarted the video.
“You’re probably wondering where we are. I wanted to wait for you, but we couldn't take the chance. It’s just a matter of time before they come for us. You should leave the cinema after watching this. I wouldn’t want them to find you either.”
“Tell her,” Sky could hear Summer whisper to Catch.
“Don’t be angry. We didn’t want to miss our chance. Especially with the FBI after us...” Summer could be seen nudging him with her elbow, clearly wanting him to get to the point.
“We are going to New York to enter the secure location. We’ll be safe and comfortable in the Red Tower. You can come in to see us there. Don’t be angry, mother. You said it yourself, being angry is pointless and does more harm than good... So that’s it I think... Stay safe. Love you.”
Catch blew a kiss at the camera and walked over to the camera. The projection stopped.
Sky wasn’t angry. Sad, yes, but angry, not at all. Who was she to know if they were making a mistake?
She didn’t know where to go from there. Perhaps she should join them in the Tower. She didn’t want to be questioned by the FBI either. What could she tell them? That nothing was real? That she had travelled from another reality without having her memory wiped clean? They would think she was insane.
She would worry about that soon enough. Now, she just wanted to sit back and close her eyes and enjoy her son’s smile, the glow in his eyes, and the sweet kiss he had given to his girlfriend named Summer. These moments mattered most. She wanted to cherish them for as long as she could.
