Arlington (Book One)

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

As the first week of my term nears a close, I can't be more relieved with the workload I have. I can actually sleep at this point and I don't feel like I am drowning. Leaving classes on Friday I make my way over to Voyager. I know Alexander said he needed to meet with me, but he didn't specify why. I wonder if his dad will be joining us for said meeting. Knocking on his office door I smooth down my button-down and fix my ponytail. Alexander throws the door open and I see a gentleman in a chair.

"Aviva!" Alexander says with a smile.

"Hi, sorry I am so late, the subway took forever!" I exclaim walking in.

"That's quite alright," Alexander says taking a seat at his desk.

"Aviva, you remember my dad, right?"

"Hi, Mr. Caspian," I say

"I told you that you can call me Benjamin," he says shaking my hand.

"Of course," I say taking a seat next to him.

"Dad, Aviva has a few questions regarding her mother," Alexander starts.

"That was a while ago, but I will do my best to answer them," Benjamin says.

"I want to hear about how she died, I know she was saving someone, but I need to know more of what happened," I say.

"That's an awfully difficult conversation for someone to have about their own mother," Benjamin says.

"I need to know," I say in a serious tone.

"Well everyone was at work considering it was a Wednesday afternoon. I remember her calling me to let me know that she would take the job and she rushed off. I felt that something was amiss, so I said I would help take care of it. Once I arrived the gang war was still very much under wage and there were a lot of shots being fired," he says thoughtfully.

"What happened next?" I ask him.

"It becomes slightly blurry after that, but I remember watching her be shot... repeatedly... as she shielded a civilian. She shattered all of the guns after that, the bullets just stopped, it was the most unearthly calm I have ever experienced. I rushed over to her I could see that she had already almost bled out. I held her in my arms and watched as she just fell to particles that scattered," he says.

"There was never a body? There was never a way to confirm that she was indeed one hundred percent dead?" I ask, and Benjamin looks at me surprised.

"No, it was just assumed. She never reformed to our knowledge..."

I sit there contemplating everything and an eerie silence crosses the room. I think of the woman I saw in my apartment. How many years has she spent floating in broken particles? How many years did she not know if she would die or reform? Time almost seems stretched out when I dissolve my form. I can't imagine the infinite hell of not being able to pull yourself back together.

"Aviva, is everything alright?" Benjamin asks.

"Her mom has reformed," Alexander says in a quiet voice.

"What do you mean?" Benjamin asks.

"She went after my father; she probably would have killed him if I hadn't shown up. She's not the same woman, I don't even know if I could call her human anymore," I say quietly still processing.

"That's impossible!" Benjamin exclaims.

"There is nothing in this universe that is impossible, to think that it too merely limits your mind," I mumble.