Arcade's Dungeon

Hunter Hero 22: Savannah's Revenge

Savannah bawled so hard through the rolling pictures of children with their families at the end of the movie, showing their birthdays, telling the ages they disappeared or died, Mom and Dad came out to check on us.

     "Cade," Mom whispered, walking to the end of the hall and squinting at the bright light of red flickering on us, candles on a birthday cake with people in the background singing a girl a sweet sixteen, and stopping just short of seeing Savannah bent over on her knees and trying to muffle the sound but also struggling to breathe. Mom just sighed and slowly tiptoed around to stand beside the couch and see what was making Savannah so badly wail into her hands. The bright eyed brunette, bobby pins keeping immaculate hair out of her beautiful face as she blew out the candles and the lights all came on in the room, people cheering. She was absolutely glowing. "Savannah, honey, it's fine to cry. You don't have to smother yourself like that. Please don't hurt yourself and sit up."

     The next scene was bright enough that I could see Dad slightly down the hall, standing in front of the bathroom door, with a scrunched face and a tight t-shirt. I read the cop joke on it, but was in a solemn enough mood myself that I just looked away and back to the screen of two people standing against a white wall with a wide blue backdrop behind them of the cleanest ocean I'd ever seen. They both wore sunglasses and floppy hats, deep tans and wide grins. Different pictures showed them experiencing and trying different things, a collage of their post-college trip around Greece. Or, what was their post-college trip until the young man was dropping down on one knee in front of her, picture after picture showing them a second later in different frames, her about to gasp and trying to hug him before he even got all the way down.

     And then it abruptly cut to him kneeling in front of her grave and putting flowers down.

     And then to a set of twins together in a bassinet, one pink, one blue, and them taking the same picture every day up until they were in their twenties and the one that always wore pink was gone.

     Then there was the mother with her six kids, all of them grinning like a bunch of rascals and somehow they hadn't worn her down yet, and then all of them lined up and looking down an aisle as a casket was carried by. The littlest ones were in the laps of their older siblings, their faces dazed like they had no idea what they were there for.

     Mom was wrapped around Savannah from behind as I got up to turn the movie off. It'd just finished the FOR OUR DAUGHTERS, GIRLFRIENDS, SISTERS, COUSINS, AND MOTHERS section and was moving onto the FOR OUR SONS, BOYFRIENDS, BROTHERS, COUSINS, AND FATHERS part.

     Dad flicked on the light as the TV went dark. I closed my laptop and went to put it in my room, passing by Dad who only lingered enough to see Mom comfort Savannah before looking at me at my desk and chiding, "Really?"

     I shrugged. "She asked to see it."

     Dad looked back towards Savannah in the living room. He reached up to rub a tired face before stepping closer to my room. "What was that movie?"

     "System Failure." My laptop plugged in and was ready for school the next day. "You know, the movie I said I'd buy so we could watch it together, and then you said you already knew enough about the horrors of the system and didn't need to watch it after reading the reviews."

     "And it seems I dodged a bullet."

     "I do have it on my bucket list to see you cry someday."

     "Cade," Dad frowned, actually perturbed to hear me say that.

     I just shrugged again. "You didn't even cry when you broke your ankle after falling off the roof. You still get back up there and clean it like nothing happened."