Sord in Prosperity - Hope Beyond the Apocalypse

EP. 125 - DAISY

THE DOOR TO THEIR room creaked open. Sord and Robbie stared at each other, anticipating a tearful, searing life-lessons admonishment from their mothers.

Then it closed, leaving only a crack. They heard a girl's muted voice speaking outside.

"Okay if we go inside?" they heard. "We won't wake them if they're sleeping."

The door crept open. Sord noticed four fingers grabbing the edge, nails covered in purple polish.

Daisy's head peered through. "Are you two awake?" she whispered.

Robbie was closest to the door and glanced back at Sord, then threw his covers over the bed. He didn't want to be seen wearing a butt-open hospital gown. Not by a girl.

"Sure?" he replied hesitantly.

The door opened fully, and three mid-teen girls walked into their room.

"Are you decent?"

"We're anything but decent," Robbie joked. "But you can come in. It's not like we're dead or nude or anything, but the only thing between you and mother nature are these damn thin hospital gowns."

They giggled.

At five-foot-eight, Daisy was happy she could tower over most boys at sixteen, though she also understood most would soon catch up and overtake her. Her eyes drooped slightly down her face, which always made her uncomfortable. She never felt droopy, but thought of herself as ebullient, effervescent, and ready to take on the world.

Because the Durango facility was sealed off from outside air, people could dress accordingly at the constant seventy-three degrees. She and her two friends were wearing colorful tights and light sweatshirts covered with high school patches.

"We skipped out of PE classes to come see you guys," she beamed.

Sord was dumbfounded. This was the girl. He'd thought about her since their first meeting six months earlier at a Durango-Hesperus teen event. Something about her hazel eyes and auburn hair. He remembered asking her a question he thought was so stupid at the time. 'How can your hair be so impossibly beautiful?' Though he was sure they said more than that, he could only recall that one embarrassing remark.

"I hoped you'd remember me," she confided, staring at Sord.

"Daisy," Sord exhaled, forgetting that he was covered in various bandages and dressings.

"Ouch! Poor guy!" She put her hand outward and took a step toward his bed, as if to place her hand on his leg beneath the sheet. Then she backed off, thinking this was too intrusive.

"Oh, Sord remembers you," Robbie smiled wryly. "He may not recall, but he mentioned you a lot when he was delirious from loss of blood."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Really?"

"Yeah. I assumed he was pretty close to dead, pale as a ghost and losing consciousness, so I told him to think of some reason for living, and your name came up. Funny, he couldn't remember if it was Daisy or Veronica or something else with 'V.'"

She chuckled as did her friends. "He did okay. My given name is Veronica but my parents named my dog Veronica before they had me. I guess it was so confusing when I was a toddler because they'd say my name and our dog would always come wagging. So, they eventually started calling me 'Daisy' because I liked to plant daisies in the garden with my mom."

Robbie knew Daisy was focused on Sord, so his best bet for sympathy and attraction was with her friends.

"I'm Robbie," he said, smiling broadly at them. "Robbie the, uh, racnine gladiator and overall adventurer into the unknown wilds."