Simple Needs

$8

Daisy's car had a smell about it that I couldn't quite place. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly good either. It was just somehow there... and I couldn't place what it was.

Daisy smiled, her hands easily gripping the steering wheel as she pulled the car out. The sky was starting to get dark, brilliant colors flashing behind the trees as we rumbled along. Daisy seemed to be fine with the silence that fell over her cloth interior, initially fingering the knob to turn on the radio. Her hands eventually stilled, her eyes had never left the road. The minutes ticked by, the view of the window training my thoughts on random daydreams.

Daisy maneuvered the car so well that I barely noticed when she turned into a street with large, leering buildings that looked absolutely beautiful in the light of the sinking sun. I contemplated them in wonder. The car's pace slowed to a crawl as Daisy parked.

I got slowly out, smiling at the building. Even though most of them looked dilapidated, as though no human eyes had laid eyes on them since they were built, I immediately felt at ease.

Daisy sauntered up to me, seeming to be just as at ease.

"Do you mind if we talk a little bit?"

I nodded, the quiet of the car still seemed to be on both of us.

"How's Theo?" She asked as though interrogating me, seeming to have more than just a polite interest in the subject.

"He's fine. Why?"

"I just haven't seen him in a while. I hope I didn't deprive him of your good company."

I picked at my thumb, sitting down on the curb. "He was going to go to Leah's engagement party anyway."

Daisy sat down next to me. "I suppose that's convenient."

"What are we doing here? I mean it's a pretty spot, but-"

"You'll see."

I nodded, willing the conversation to end so I could watch the steadily sinking sun in peace.

$$$

The first stars had started to decorate the sky when Daisy's hand was touching my arm. She murmured to me and I followed her to an alley between two buildings. The scene wasn't so beautiful anymore. The buildings had taken on a sinister look that put me on edge, and the shadows that Daisy hid the two of us in didn't help.

"Hey, Daisy-"

"Shhh. I think I see them..."

"Who-"

"Rosella, be quiet. I'll explain later."

I kept my mouth shut. The silence was just as sinister as the buildings, but it didn't last long. Boot steps rang out, soft and at a leisurely pace. Loud voices accompanied them. I shrank back into the wall.

"Do we really have to keep doing this? I mean-"

"Theo, just remember how sick these people are."

I gasped. I recognized the voice, but it was a punch in the gut that the second voice confirmed my recognition. I knew the second voice too...

"It makes me feel sick. Every time... I just can't keep doing it..."

"I know. Between the two of us, you were always the noble one, and trust me. This is noble."

I peered out into the street. No one was there yet, but Theo and Leah's voices kept getting closer... closer... I retreated back into the alley. I closed my eyes.

"It doesn't feel that noble. It's not some vigilante justice anymore... it's just wrong," Theo said, his footsteps stopping.

"It's still justice."

It was the same voice at the hospital, before the medicine. Leah.

"It doesn't feel like it." Theo's voice cracked. "See, I can't stop is the problem. It's like I somehow need to do it."

"You're healing people. How can that be wrong?"

"Because I'm just redistributing life. I didn't think of it like that before. I do now. We're playing a part we're not meant to, Leah."

Leah's voice was short and strained. "You didn't think that when it was Rosella, did you?"

"That's different. You know it is."

"How so? She just happened to be your girlfriend."

"What if it happened to Ben? I'm sure you wouldn't let your fiancee waste away in front of you."

"No, but I'm also not the one who's claiming the moral high ground," she said smugly.

"I'm not claiming any moral high ground. I'm just saying that I don't want to do this anymore."

"Theo, sweet, sweet Theodore," I could feel him clench his jaw at the sound of his entire first name. "Who would you say is responsible for Rosella still being alive?"

"You, but neither of us owes you anything. Even if I did, I have to have paid it off by now. We're friends. I don't owe you anything."

"It's not a debt. More like an opportunity to save lives. Do you realize how big this is? How little ordinary people know about soul sickness? I doubt Rosella even knows what it is and she's had it. Don't you understand, Theo?"

He didn't say anything.

"Theo?"

"I don't want to do this anymore, Leah."

"You're not hurting anyone who doesn't deserve it."

"No one deserves it."

"Not even those people who helped cure your Rose?"

"Don't call her that." He growled, acting on all my impulses to do the very same thing.

"You call her Rose all the time."

"Because I'm allowed to. She hates it when anyone calls her by an abbreviation of her name."

"Fine. So did the people who helped cure Rosella deserve it?"

They didn't say anything. He was absolutely silent. I wished I could see his face.

"Theo, just think of the people you're helping."

"I'm not even sure it helps that much," Theo muttered under his breath.

"Oh. Why?"

"I just don't think it does."

"Theo? Is something wrong with Rosella?"

"I don't know. She won't tell me what's wrong, but she hasn't been the same since... you know. She's keeping secrets. Which I guess is hypocrisy coming from me, but still..."

Leah grunted. "Daisy's been texting me about all the side effects of stuffing a ton of souls into one body. Apparently-"

And I didn't hear the rest because I looked down to see a huge rat scuttling between my legs. I opened my mouth and let out a piercing shriek.

The footsteps and voices stopped. Daisy covered my mouth, but it was too late. They knew we were there.