Now You Miss Me

O N E

T h e  E n d :

Daniel J Atlas

This place is perfect. Have I mentioned how clean the Eye is? It's beautiful. Everything is labeled and color coded. I am clearly among my people.

We're walking down the staircase, and I can hear Merritt shuffling along, Jack's stealthy steps, (cultivated over years of pick pocketing, I presume) and Lula's confident quickstep.

I smell the cleanliness of the Eye if that's even possible, it smells sanitary and mysterious. Do those things go together? They should. Out of the corner of my eye I see Lula and Jack holding hands. I groan inwardly.  Human attachments...  who needs them?

I smell her before I see her.  Back when she complained about fitting into tiny trapdoors, when she used to look at me like she actually valued what I said, I got somewhat used to her scent. It tattooed itself onto my senses.

"Hullo freaks... " she says,  trademark smirk in place. But there's something else there. Barely noticeable,  I taught her well after all, but there. Her voice wobbled for exactly half a second. Her eyes flit over each of us, coming to rest on Lula's face. She tenses, her eyes flicking from me to her. Then they flit down to Jack and Lula's joined hands and she relaxes. Only for a millisecond, though.

Henley Reeves

There they are. There he is.

Oh God what have I done?

The gorgeous mop of hair that added to his arrogance is gone. Somehow this is fitting. My leaving clearly taught Danny he can't control every little aspect of life. It seems predictable that he would change something about himself,  to prove he still had control over some of them.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a sliver of red, lipstick apparently. My eyes flit to a girl,  an attractive brunette. A girl? My heart squirms, then hardens. Replaced already? Alright then. I sneak a look at  Danny and yep, as expected, I am being analyzed.

Him and the girl....

Then I look at her hand intertwined with Jack's and look up to find him staring at me with befuddledment on his face, as expected, it quickly morphs into fury.

"Back, are you? Decided we were worth your precious time huh?"

"Jack.. " Dylan warns, his voice warning , placating.

"No Dylan, just no. He won't say a fucking word, he didn't really care", he snarls, pointing at Merritt, "and him?" he sneers, pointing at Danny "he wouldn't risk cracking his precious facade, I mean,  come on we all know if he actually cared about her, he'd have abandoned it a long time ago...and.."

"JACK THAT'S ENOUGH!" roars Dylan.

But the damage is done. That little voice in my head,  the one that whispered they don't need you anymore silly, they're working as a singular organism now.. Don't you get it Henley? you were the weakest link, is back in full force,  and there's nothing I can do about it.

Daniel J Atlas

I see her face crumble, and I know Jack's gone too far. She simply looks at all of us, turns around and goes into a secluded room located behind the curtain.

A phone call breaks through the silence that follows .

"It's mine",  says Dylan, picking it up and covering the mouthpiece. "Deal with this",  he mouths,pointing at all of us, then at the box Henley just went into, then walking away.It reminds me of a confession booth .
The box, that is. Fitting,  if anyone needs to get stuff off their chest, it's Henley.

But I've spent too long in my thoughts. When I come out of them, Jack is looking slightly less angry, more like annoyed and also has the look of a kicked puppy. Come on Atlas, think, what happened?

Yep, got it, after Jack's outburst and Dylan's phone call, Lula, ever the peacemaker,  wrenched her hand from his and said, "The hell dude? You didn't even hear what she had to say!"

Jack, defensive, flippantly replied , "Wasn't interested in what she had to say, really. "

But I know better. I know about the advice Henley gave Jack about being out of the spotlight and how to deal with it. I know how, after she left, for a month, Jake spent 4 hours in front of the punching bag everyday, snapping at everyone. I know he's hurt. We all were. Some more than others though....

But back to the present. Lula rolls her eyes,  mutters, "Typical, " under her breath and stalks off in the direction Henley fled in. But not before turning, pointing at Jack and saying, "We are NOT done taking about this, buddy." ignoring  Jack's groans and the, "But babe...." that follows.

During this whole exchange I haven't moved a muscle. I decide now is the optimal time to do so. Walking across the room, I see a jug of water and a glass. Taking it, flipping it and producing a new glass, I go over to Jack, offer him the water,  and say simply, "Cool off man."

"Listen man, bout what I said", he begins, "I wasn't thinking man, I'm sorry I was just confused." He smiles sheepishly, "we cool?"

Deciding the kid's had enough for a day (we all have, really) I reply, "think nothing of it my friend,  we all have our *clears throat* questionable moments."

"Now that that's all patched up", comes Merritt's heavy southern drawl from behind us, "is anyone else curious as to what Lula and Henley are up to?" he says picking up the glass and pointing to the wall of the make shift confession booth.

"Merritt don't you dare", warns Jack.

"Just a friendly suggestion..  Jeez! No takers then? Alright alright. " Merritt replies, unfazed.

"Can we have a drink please?  It appears we all need one." I suggest.

"God, yes." agrees Jack.

It has been a long day,  but hey- Thaddeus Bradley's the good guy, Arthur Tressler and his lunatic love child are behind bars, the people have stopped trusting privacy hounding Octa, Dylan's finally got some answers and a girl I never thought I'd see again just waltzed into our lives.

Things could and have, been worse.

Then again let's hope they get better.