Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 30 - Four Days Later - I

  "The world is not fair. It never was fair. We tell ourselves it's fair so we can wake up in the morning willing to step out the door and pursue those things worth fighting for. Nobody was born equal, and nobody had the same chance to survive. We struggle. We endure. We pray that we can find that one person who makes it all worth it in the end, and when we find them, we cling on until it's painful; until we have broken and healed and broken again ten times, a thousand times over. And we know, inevitably in our souls, that no matter what comes, we will one day be separated from our better halves.

  We are insane, every last one of us."

  ~Cinza, the Rallsburg Diaries

  Natalie's phone rang.

  She was outside at lunch, in the corner of the blacktop. Quinn sat a few feet away, and the rest of the gang formed a circle around them. Mitch was telling a story about a pair of shoes and a prank he'd pulled on Kelsey, and they were all laughing at it—Kelsey harder than the rest.

  Natalie picked up her phone, still laughing. She answered, not even bothering to check who was calling.

  "Natalie."

  Color drained from the sky. Every bit of mirth faded away. The rest of the group kept laughing, but Natalie's world had turned to ice in a split-second. She didn't know what was coming next, but it didn't matter. Any voice that sounded so broken, so utterly laced with melancholy and defeat, could never speak anything good.

  "...Yeah?" she finally answered, terrified what might come next.

  "Natalie..." She heard a choking sound, the sound of coughing.

  Natalie knew what was coming next, but she couldn't pull the phone away from her ear. It was stuck there, in horror, unable to move an inch. She felt like she were falling. Like someone had just shoved her off the top of a tree.

  "...'s dead."

  The phone clattered to the ground.

  Quinn looked over at her. His expression fell. The rest of the group still hadn't caught on, still laughing, still listening to Mitch's story.

  Natalie panicked. She grabbed her phone back up and bolted, straight into the field, heading for the fence line. Is this it? Did someone... Was that the thing on the news? Oh god, what's going to happen now?

  "How?" she asked breathlessly, sprinting across the open field, confused yells chasing after her.

  "I... it doesn't matter." Hailey's voice got a bit stronger, though Natalie could hear her pulling away from the phone every few moments. "There's... there's gonna be a funeral tomorrow. I thought... you know. I thought you could come."

  If there is a funeral, you aren't in immediate danger. It is not you.

  Natalie slowed down. "I..." What do I say? Of course I'd go...

  But you'll be revealing yourself. This is dangerous.

  It's... you know, one of us. She was nice to me back home. And Hailey needs me. I've gotta be there.

  You are taking a risk.

  I have to do this.

  Natalie replied so forcefully that the voice disappeared without another word. She slowed to a walk while her friends caught up to her. They reformed the circle in the center of the wide green field. To her relief, nobody else seemed to be watching them.