The Sketch Survivors: The Enemy Among Us

Third Impressions

"Well, here we are," the ranger announced as he parked the car in a lot just before exiting it, along with Soal and Isabel. "I suppose you're going with Isabel?" (They had spoken little on the ride. Isabel knew this man, so he recognized her, but Soal had been silent.

"Yes, I am; you don't need to worry about me," Soal tried his hardest to avoid interrogation, and actually succeeded. "I'll be on my way." Isabel dangled from his shoulder.

"Well, I guess I'll see you again sometime... mister," the ranger waved as they departed for where Isabel was directing Soal. He eyed them suspiciously, especially Soal. Why was he clad in armor? Where did he come from? The ranger did not even know his name. That would be best for Soal.

A short trail (a shortcut) from the parking lot led down to another road, definitely connected to the lot; but this one swerved with many curves in its passage, and camping sites were positioned on reasonable spots on either side of the asphalt. "Hotter! Hotter!" Isabel was overjoyed to be returning, returning to her amusing "hot and cold" game.

When she finally told him to stop moving, they were not standing in front of a camping site, but a glamorous wooden cabin. "Hot-ist," she ordered him to stay put. "Down!"

Soal cautiously allowed her to pull him along by the hand onto a front porch, and then to the front door. She jumped up and struggled to reach a doorbell, but Soal anxiously pressed it as well. He was afraid of what any fairly "normal" inhabitant of 2019 would think of him.

Two somewhat elderly people, maybe in their early sixties, by Soal's speculation, answered the door. One of them was a gray-haired, creased man with a fedora on his head. The other was a leaning, wobbly woman; she was a bag of wrinkles.

"Grampy! Granny!" Isabel was delighted to see them, but she stoked awful memories in Soal with her words. They, too, were very glad to see her return, and the grandfather picked her up and held her in his arms. The two grandparents then shifted their attention to the strange Soal.

"Are you the one that returned us our precious granddaughter?" the grandmother questioned. "We don't see folk like you at Macaw Creek, let alone Pennsylvania. You would be more suited to stay at some sort of convention. Milton, what do you think?"

"Don't be so harsh, Heather," the grandfather, Milton, tried to calm her down, but Soal only thought of this as becoming creepier and creepier. "Alice would accept him. Now let's calm down a bit and do something. Ahem," he was now speaking to Soal directly. "Would you mind an invitation to this humble residence of ours?"

"Y-yes," Soal allowed himself to be generous to the people of 2019, and followed them indoors. The grandmother (mysteriously named Heather) shut the door behind them. Isabel scampered into one of the rooms to play by herself, while "Heather" and her husband sat down to talk with him.

"We are so pleased to have you bring back our missing granddaughter, Isabel," Heather said as she sat adjacent to her husband on a sofa, Soal sitting on another sofa, facing them. He was exhausted, and sighed deeply as he seated himself. "But... well... who are you? Where are your parents?"

"I'll put this simply," Soal explained. "My name is Samuel Lawrence, and I don't come from around here. About my parents: I am lacking in that department."

"Oh, you poor thing," Milton shook his head. "Orphaned, hm? Well, we have another question to ask. Why are you wearing that costume? Forgive me for asking, but we are a curious couple."

"I was leaving a costume party a ways back," Soal tried his best to lie his way through the situation. "when I noticed Isabel on the path. It seemed far away from here, so I took some time out to guide her back home... here."

"Oh, this isn't her home," Milton clarified. "She lives with our daughter, Alice, who is as of now a single parent, busy juggling two jobs and a needy daughter. That's why she often visits our cabin here at Macaw Creek."

"By the way," Heather examined him. "If you really are an orphan, then where did you come from?"

"I just wander," Soal was reminding himself of Porter; a hero in hiding that had to wander and lie to cover up his secrets. "Ever since my parents died, I decided to set off on my own and roam. Sometimes I come to public events, and have a nice time, and then start traveling again. This armor suit helps me feel safe when I'm afraid." Sheesh, he thought to himself as he spoke. I'm never afraid!

"Don't worry... Sam," Milton sat up straight, and concocted a plan of action. "We'll get you out of this pitiful situation. Alice is currently engaged to a hardworking man. Once they marry, they may be able to take in not only Isabel, but you and the man's children (that he kept after a divorce in the past), permanently. Alice has always had a thing for children. She's a teacher and a businesswoman, but she's thinking of leaving both to focus full-time on a boarding school she's now designing in the countryside with her friend."

This was getting scary quickly. That might even be the same cruel boarding school that, under Lint Corp's control, became a feeding ground for bullies and a magnet for harsh policy. But that would not be until the 2080s. Alice seemed like a suitable enough mother figure; he just had to meet her in person to fully realize her potential friendliness.

"We'll let you decide," Heather seemed to go along with her husband's plan well. Milton, being the one that created the idea himself, was feeling very clever. And Soal entered their bathroom to sit down on the polished, tiled floor, to think, after removing his armor to wear only his casual clothes; including the very same red turtleneck he wore on the night Gordon Gulley arrived at the boarding school for the first time.

After several minutes, Soal returned to Milton and Heather in the living room. "I've made a decision," he smiled, satisfied with his choice. "I want to stay with Alice."

"I think we can arrange that," Heather smiled, too. "Just give us some time."

Soal couldn't wait. For the first time in his far-reaching memory, he would have a real family!