Where Light Dies

30. Sweet Dreams

"How's your family?"

"They're fine."

-- Carlisle, Base camp -- 2016 --

A week had passed since Reyna got her family back. She had returned to her former self, maybe even happier than before. It was a rare sight to see Reyna being carefree, even to the ones who'd been with her in Harrington. Now she was sitting in a bar, under the fluorescent lights of Carlisle base chugging down a bottle of beer. She felt as though all her troubles were slowly dying down, as if a curse had finally been lifted.

"Have they healed yet?" asked Blake, sitting across the table. He was sipping at his glass, eventually placing it back down on the table. It had been a while since they had a drink like this. Blake was surprised that she hadn't changed in the least. After going through shit like she did, people often tend to change. Yet for some reason, this girl stood unwavered.

"Physically, yes. Mentally? That's a completely different story." Reyna set the drink back on the table. "It'll take a while for them to bounce back."

Blake leaned back, his eyes now laced with concern. "Do they, um, remember you?"

"Probably, I don't know."

"Gonna take a while isn't it?"

"The doctors said they may never come back. To the people they were that is."

"I'd be surprised if they returned to their old selves. That wouldn't be very normal."

"Well if they do get their memories back I'll take it as a bonus. At least they aren't dead," she said blankly, staring at her bottle.

"That's enough Rey," Blake bellowed, grabbing the bottle away from her. "You're not even eighteen yet."

"What's eighteen got to do with any of this?" She snatched bottle back from his side of the table.

"It was a, thing, back in the day," Blake said, shrugging his shoulders.

Or so I heard...

"Well then, lucky me!" she exclaimed, chugging the down the fizzling brown liquid.

"That's gonna screw up your liver Rey."

"It's just beer four-arms."

Blake felt a nerve twitch. It was surprising how well she could irritate others.

''You better shut up before I tell Haines that you've been falling over."

"I swear if I have to attend one more of those sessions, you'll wish you were dead."

"You can't even get up a flight of stairs Reyna. It's high time you paid him a visit."

"You know he's right about that part," said another.

Both of them turned around, surprised to see Mark standing right behind them. "I've got good news."

"Fuck that Mark! How long were you standing there?" Reyna snapped.

The beer had kicked in all right.

"I just got here. Is she high?"

"Just beer!" she mocked, pointing to a chair. Mark sat down, looking at Blake.

"You wanna know or what?"

"Let's start then."

"Ryan. He remembers."

It took a few moments for her to process that. "What? No, no way."

"Your brother's been asking for you."