Blessing In Disguise

Two

After those horrendous hours- was it even more than one? -Talia settles me into a pattern of function. Because she's caring for me herself, I have to wonder what her father thinks. I end up asking her after several rounds of alternating sleep and consciousness into my stay.

She responds by telling me, "Ra's assumed partial responsibility for your death, and brought you back accordingly. He wished for you to become one of his pawns, so that he could bend your father to his will. I made my attempt to free you as soon as possible, sneaking you away, and I brought you here. He assumes you have perished, I do believe."

"So, where is 'here?' Why would you help me out anyway? And what if he finds out?"

"Jason, one question at a time. First, we are in a secluded region of southwestern Asia, though I am not sure what country out of a few. Secondly, I assisted you because I feel that I owe it to your father, if that is what you call him. Lastly, I do not know what if 'he' finds out. I suppose I would have to sneak you out somehow."

"Please figure out a plan," I plead. I don't mean to be whiny but I am just back from the dead and somewhat paranoid. "I mean, it's not like I'm not grateful for your help, 'cause I am. It's just that I want to know I've got something worked out if things go wrong. Street kid logic."

"Ah, yes. Your... messy background."

This is how it goes. One more day followed by a second, and then one more, where I do the same thing. Of course, there are exceptions. The dialogue will change dramatically, depending on the mood one or both of us is in. If she is angry, the conversation is short-lived and sour. If I am sad, it is simple and slow.

However, she does present me with a company I cannot help but be grateful for. This afterlife, or second life, I guess, is highly lonely. I don't have anyone I used to-actually, other than Talia, I don't have anyone at all.

It becomes our routine that she will come into my room in the early morning, just after the sun comes up, and she will pull back the drapes. I will wake and she will help me dress and eat. Then, we will chat until lunch, or almost until. In one of these chats, she mentions that I spend my days in bed because she is trying to heal me enough to get me back home to Bruce.

Somehow, I trust her to be telling the truth.

One day, she presents me with a calendar and a black marker. The days since my resurrection have been marked off already. In the two days since, I've marked Dick, Alfred, and Bruce's birthdays. Now, sitting in the sun from the afternoon-lit window, I am warm and busy, a rarity nowadays.

I am attempting, successfully on the most part, to recall all my old friends' special days. To be more accurate, they are, or were, anyway, Dick's friends that put up with his kid brother. As I am finishing, Talia comes in.

Though she is usually gone after lunch, sometimes the woman will come in to make sure I am resting. In the last few days, I have been a bit more restless, wanting to get up and go places. I assume now is one of those times.

"Those names, are they important to you?" Talia asks. She gestures to the scrawled list in the margin of August. It's an eventful month, for no reason at all. I respond, "Yeah. Old friends and almost-family."

She makes me lie down, proving my assumption correct, and she moves to close the thick curtains. She waits with me until I start to doze off, and the whole time she is humming an Arabian lullaby. The sounds of her childhood, I think.

When I am almost asleep, I hear the chair beside the bed shift a little. The door clicks shut and I am alone, but not unconscious. I lay in the bed and think, a bad idea. Dark things come to mind.

What if Bruce doesn't want me back in the manor? Where will I go? What if-no. When I return, will Dick and Alfred still love me? It occurs to me that I don't have many options, but I finally pass out as I'm starting to get far in thought.

The wild thoughts before I sleep become a part of the routine, as do afternoon naps in addition to my regular night sleeping. Talia and the setting are also constants, making me settle into something I'm not sure is entirely concrete. As if to prove it, things start to change again, although not too drastically this time.