a purposeful past | s.s

Chapter Ten

"Hey." Domino shoved Specs' shoulder lightly. "Hey, c'mon. Let's go for a walk."

"Sorry," Specs said groggily. "But didn't we jus put ya back on bed rest?"

She scoffed. "You'll have ta try harder den dat ta get rid 'a me."

"Even if I wanted ta, I wouldn't want ya ta get stabbed fa dat ta happen," Specs replied, taking her seriously.

She sighed and tugged on his arm, gritting her teeth against the pain the motion sent to her abdomen. "I wanna talk, now get up."

"Alright, hold it," Specs grunted, fumbling around for his glasses. "Yer gonna end up hurtin' yer-self."

"I appreciate yer concern," she said flatly, tugging on his arm once again.

They both made their way outside, where the sun had long since fallen asleep, wandering around aimlessly before leaning against the front of the lodge.

"So what'd ya wanna talk about?" Specs questioned quietly, looking away from her.

"I've realized how unfair I've been lately," Domino said upfront, wishing he'd face her. What was his deal lately, anyway? "I've been tryna so hard bring back tha Specs dat I knew when I was young-ah, I nev-ah really stopped ta think about tha fact dat dis Specs is clearly even bett-ah. I wanna know ya, Specs. Tha real ya. Not tha one I pretty much made up."

He smiled at her gently, putting an arm around her shoulders with a fond look. Her heart, panicking inside her chest, began to beat erratically. "Thanks, Dom, but I don't think I've changed too much. Dere ain't much else ta say."

"Well, me faddah-" she paused. "I rememb-ah how ya used ta how ya used ta love writin' plays. I'd help ya, sometimes, 'n den we'd act 'em out."

"Really?" he chuckled. "I wish I remembered dat."

Domino looked away, down at the dark, shadowed grass. "Yeah, me too."

"Tell me," he requested, "'bout one of our plays."

She focused hard on recalling the sound of her father's voice, feeling like his words were passing through her own lips. "Dere once lived a girl, a beautiful girl, who lived alone on a hill. She was an unearthly bein', some could say. She had a fryin' pan, which had tha pow-ah ta tell ya somethin' bout yer-self dat you jus couldn't admit."

"Dat's where tha fryin' pan obsession came from?" Specs questioned in disbelief, laughing at her.

She smacked him, and he better have been glad it wasn't with the frying pan. "We had no money, alright? Anyway, tha thing was, though, she couldn't rememb-ah any moments 'a her life, only what was happenin' in tha present moment. Den one day, a boy showed up on her hill, havin' hoid stories. She tells him, 'cause I guess soulmates existed in dis woild or somethin', honestly it was pretty stupid, dat he was in love wit her, as she was wit him.

"So he'd come back everyday, even though she'd nev-ah remember him, 'n listen as she told him truth aft-ah painful truth 'bout how he loved someone who could nev-ah fully love him back. And tha more he fell in love wit her, tha less he started ta remember, too. Finally, he got scared so bad dat he went ta visit a man who was said ta be able ta replace lost memories.

"Tha man said he could help," Domino continued, "'n gave both tha boy 'n tha goil their memories. Only, when tha boy, havin' gotten his memories back, crested tha hill ta see tha goil, she was nowhere ta be found. Suddenly tha man appeared beside him 'n told him dat tha goil had outlived her purpose when she'd been given back her memories. Without her purpose, she was nothin'. But tha boy didn't, couldn't, believe she was truly gone, so he waited by tha tree on her hill fa months, watchin' as two black birds fell in love wit each oth-ah. He named 'em Pierre 'n Marie. I guess Pierre left one day, as did the oth-ah sometime lat-ah, 'n eventually tha boy did, too."