After Fate Fell

20 • SIX

1 year, 3 months, and 14 days after it all
•SIX•
"Why did you make us come here?" I ask John. We're in Paradise, Ohio, right beside the destroyed high school. We got on a flight from D.C. to the local airport about 30 miles outside Paradise. Then we got a rental car and drove it into the small town where he and I first met. It seems so distantly long ago.
When I came here, I knew it meant the charm would be broken, that we would become more vulnerable because we didn't have to be killed in order anymore. But I knew it was for the better. Strength in numbers. And it ended up helping us defeat the Mogadorians.
Now, I'm just sitting in the passenger seat of this stupid rental car, while John drives silently. This is probably the tenth time I've asked him this question, but he doesn't answer, doesn't even look at me or acknowledge what I've said. Either he's ignoring me on purpose or he's completely focused on something else entirely.

We stop at what seems like the thousandth stop sign on this single trip, and I lose it.
"John!" I yell, grabbing the steering wheel and waving my other hand in front of his face.
"We aren't going anywhere else unless you tell me why we're here. I'm in this car too and I deserve to know what we're doing. You can't just keep me in the dark and expect me to go along. So tell me now John or so help me I will beat the shit out of you."

He looks over at me, the first time he's acknowledged me for hours, since we were on the plane ride. I can see that his eyes are glassy,  has he been crying? Or maybe the tears are just forming and I've broken through his apparent emotionlessness.
"What's wrong?" I ask. "Why are you bringing us here?" I ask again.

He opens his mouth, and I'm glad because he's finally going to speak. I've been clueless in this game he pulled me into for too long.
He breathes heavily, and I can see that he's willing himself to calm down, to talk to me.
"I have to do this," he says.

"Do what?" I ask him, trying not to be too pressing. I feel as if I press a wrong button he will explode.

He looks back up at the road ahead, he looks down the street both ways of the intersection, then ahead again.
I can see in the rear view mirror that there is a car behind us, and wave it on. It goes around us, the driver staring suspiciously in at us.
He keeps looking both ways, or is he just shaking his head? Either way, he is either distracted or trying not to think about something.

I reach up and put my hand on his chin, grabbing it and holding it until he makes eye contact. He looks at me with a sadness greater than anything I have ever seen from John.
"Why. Are. We. In. Paradise. John?"

His eyes go down toward my hand which is still holding his chin, keeping him from moving it until he explains.
"Sarah," he tells me. "Her family."
He wants to tell her family about her death. He wants to comfort them. He probably feels responsible, because if not for him, she wouldn't have come with us. She would've stayed at home, with her family, while war was waged against this planet. But would it have really been safer for her to have been here? Looking around at the ruins of the school and of houses in the surrounding area, I'm not sure. But I know John won't agree with me. He blames himself for her death.

I let go of the wheel. There's no way I can get him to change his mind, to not do this. I know that he feels that he has to do this. So I just let him go.
The car lurches forward.

After a few minutes of mutual silence, he pulls into a driveway of a sizable house. It's odd that I forget what it looks like... or was I ever even here? I can't remember. But I know it has to be Sarah's. I don't say anything as he gets out of the car. I just sit, waiting.
He knocks on the door, and someone answers and he enters. It looks like an everyday occasion. A friendly invitation inside. But I know it isn't. I know what's going on. It's something that shouldn't have to happen. Something nobody should ever have to go through.
Sarah, sweet, kind, and fearless Sarah, who never gave up on any of us... dead. At the hands of those monsters. I remember, in the forest, at the Sanctuary, when she was fighting by my side. I told her to get back, to run for cover. But she stayed, gun pointed, bullets slinging through the air. "I'm not leaving you," she told me. And then she left us all... forever.