Trident Trials: The Glimmer

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"James August?" Snapping out of what felt like a trance, I looked up and realized that I had just been standing there aimlessly for probably thirty seconds or more. I hated when this happened. It felt like my mind constantly got lost in the search for something. It was never anything that I even realized I was looking for. "Yes, that's me. Sorry, having a bit of a long day today." I grabbed the ticket from the ticket counter worker's hand and made my way past the gate towards the train.

I was on my way to see another doctor. None of the others that I have seen really helped me understand much of anything. This guy was a little more out of the way than I normally go, and I was nearing the end of my money my parents left for me that, so this one needed to work out. Years of searching for answers ensured I knew just about every doctor within a 200-mile radius. Years ago, I remember waking up and thinking that I was incomplete and changed that. Answers were what I was after and for the last several years, I had done nothing but strike out.

It was difficult putting all the blame on the doctors though, I hardly knew what I was actually looking for. Shortly after my parents died, I left wherever it was I was living before this. Although honestly, I couldn't remember much of that place either. It appeared no one noticed I had left, because no one ever came looking for me. When you have dead parents who apparently didn't have many friends, I guess that's what you get. I traveled for a while with no money, no one, and no real purpose. I crashed in homeless shelters and lived off of what people would give me walking along the side of the street, and that was most of what I did until now. Approaching the end of my teenage years didn't feel quite right. The time passed by so quickly that I hardly noticed.

The longer that I spent just wandering and not really doing anything, the more that my short-term memory seemed to fade as well. Several of the doctors that I spoke to made comments that my diet, exercise routine, and mental use weren't what it should be if I wanted to get better. The funny thing is that I didn't know what getting better would look like. None of the doctors could even tell me what was wrong with me. If they didn't know what was wrong, how was I supposed to judge if I was getting better?

I found my way back into one of the bigger cities in Eden and found a law firm that I hoped could help put me in touch with someone that could tell me if my parents left me anything behind for me. It surprised them to find a fifteen-year-old on their doorsteps without an adult in sight. It also wasn't completely uncommon either, as many kids in Eden were independent of their parents by the time that they were sixteen. All the families remained close and were in constant contact, but parents also wanted their kids to fend for themselves. The training that everyone did in Eden was to learn to be independent and survive. None of us really knew why, but we did it. The planet hasn't seen crime as long as I've been alive, and everything here was usually peaceful.

Having no proper form of identification, there weren't many easy ways for them to confirm that I was who I claimed to be. They took fingerprints, dental records, and blood work from me. After waiting several hours, they could confirm who I was and told me that there was a great deal of money that was left for me in case of my parents' death. He also said that they could have it in a bank account and ready to go within forty-eight hours. I was told that I could stay in a hotel until then and that they would take care of the complete business. Not having done something like this before was something that I just assumed was standard procedure for a company like this to do, but everyone else that was around seemed to look surprised, as if they knew me, or something about me.

It was a feeling that I couldn't quite shake the whole time I was in the building, but when I asked the gentleman that was helping me, he wouldn't say anything, and then just pretend like he didn't hear me. It all felt a little weird, but I just assumed that it was the fact that I haven't lived in a proper society in so long that it was me that was acting weird and not everyone else. During my time on the street, bouncing around, I had little social life, so it didn't seem like such a stretch. The vibe was still weird. I didn't have an option but to ignore it. I desperately needed a shower, and this was a good way to get a fresh start.