Memory Lane

Chapter 41: Wake

Performed songs: Requiem Mass in D Minor by Mozart (Rachel's operatic song)
Mentioned songs: Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift
Inspired songs: Come Little Children performed by Erutan

Rex stared at the ceiling, eyes adjusting to the lights. He heard the rhythmic thwap of a rubber ball landing on somebody's hand and a small red blur moving up and down as he craned his head to see who was doing that.

It was Falcon, lying on the hospital sofa casually, throwing a ball up and catching it with her left. It confused him for a moment, he could not seem to form words. All his thoughts were jumbley and hazy and his tongue felt weird in his mouth.

Falcon kept staring at the ceiling as well, continually throwing the ball up and catching it. She did seem to register his awareness and was looking at her, so...

"I'm not actually real."

Oh. Falcon just said it so casually, and she was just dressed in a plain white shirt and sweatpants and just looked like she was just having a sleepover with a bored look on her face but her voice sounded so strained- how could Rex be imagining Falcon right there and then? He needed to speak, but he just could not seem to. And his hands felt foreign to him, as if he was detached from his body and they were just separate parts of him.

"You don't have to speak," Falcon said, not even looking at him. "Or sign. Just think at me. I'm not real."

Why?

"You need to be more specific," Falcon said, sounding more like a robot. "You could be thinking of many whys. Why am I created? Why is the center of the Milky Way a black hole? Why does life exist?"

Rex felt his head spin from the big questions, before he determinedly focused on his actual question.

Why are you here?

"Keeping you company," Falcon answered smoothly. "And answering any existential questions you may have."

If I'm dreaming, where's the real you?

"In a rehabilitation center getting fixed for my mental problems. Don't worry, real me won't even know what happened here. I'm all in your head anyways," Falcon replied and Rex bit back a groan as his head pounded a bit.

What happened?

"Please be more specific."

The ball kept bouncing and bouncing. Catch, throw. Catch, throw. His eyes followed the movement as he thought of the proper question.

What happened to me? Am I alive?

"Yes," Falcon said, not letting up in her motions. Rex wondered if dream-Falcon ever got tired. "You got a chunk of your skull replaced with metal plating. You have a new haircut. Your brain is still fuzzy from both what happened and the pain meds. Because of the nature of your injury, you were out for two weeks."

There was no crinkle of thought, no unsureness. Just blank, bored stare at the ceiling.

Two weeks? What happened in those two weeks?

"Your case has been decided, Raptor," Falcon blinked. "You will remain Raptor. But now you will work for the government as parole. You will be pulled out of school for this year for physiotherapy, then you will go to another accelerated course due to your advancement in science and computer engineering."

What about you? You killed someone.

"It has been ruled in self defence, but I was classified as a threat to society. But they believed with rehab I could be made an ideal member of society." This was a particularly aggressive throw, that the ball thumped the ceiling hard before it landed back in her hand. "That is why I am in rehab as we speak."