Those Hollow Lies

Closure III

08/21/09 – pretty late.

I didn’t know if walking the streets was such a smart thing for anyone to do, but every time that my mind started to jump at shadows I reminded myself of all the training that I had been through and everything that I was capable of after everything I had done at The Quarter. We still hadn’t all returned, though I had returned twice in the last week to see if I could find Roz, but she wasn’t there. In fact, no one was there. I could only guess that everyone was enjoying the leave and spending time with their loved ones after coming so close to losing it all. I had to say that I was pretty happy to be back home again in my old bedroom. I hadn’t had the time to really miss my dad with how busy we had been during the mission, but now that it was all over I could feel it. I was just relieved that I had done the right thing and made sure that he was okay by putting him in that safe house. It might have caused some temporary friction between us, but I felt much better now. He kept asking what I planned on doing and then pulling a face whenever I told him that I hadn’t made up my mind yet. I left out the part about Roz being gone, just so he could hold back on the lecture or the speech that he’d come up with for the occasion.

Walking down the street, I just happened to glance into a late night diner and what I saw forced me to do a double take. Sitting in one of the booths was a girl with the unmistakable mocha hair with the waves I just loved running my fingers through. She was nursing a cup of coffee in her hands when I entered, but her eyes didn’t look up to greet me until I was sliding into the seat opposite her.

“I realised that for as long as I have lived in Chicago I have never actually explored it.” She said, her eyes returning to the hot drink on the table.

“And so you found yourself a late night diner to explore? I hope you didn’t order the food or else you might never explore again.”

“Just the coffee.” She smirked, gesturing to the cup unnecessarily.

“I went to The Quarter to look for you earlier.”

“I’ve been out for most of the day. I promised I’d give Joe a hand moving and he made sure I made good on that promise.”

I laughed softly and nodded my head in understanding. I had done the same thing the day before and it was surprising just how much stuff Joe had for a man who had been invisible for a considerable number of years. “At least we won’t be close enough to babysit for them.” I said with an optimistic smile. The twins were identical and beautiful, but I had no idea how anyone could cope when two came along at once. Plus, named after Rosaline we were already joking that they were going to be a handful.

“I don’t think I could handle that. One of them started crying when I was there and I felt the need to scream into a pillow.” I laughed at the image and then mumbled an apology to Roz who was looking at me with a glare in her eyes. “Anyway…why were you looking for me? If you wish to return to a normal life then you can just go back to it. You don’t need to come and inform me first. I never really expected you to stick around after this mission anyway.”

“You didn’t?” I didn’t know whether to be hurt by that admission or not. “That’s not exactly why I was looking for you. I wanted to talk with you. I don’t even know if I want a normal life again. I-I’m not really sure what I want to do with my life.”

“You what? But you used to go on and on about it. You made such a big deal about family and being free and all the rest.” Roz waved her hand as though she could wave the thought away. I could remember the speeches she must’ve been remembering pretty well and I didn’t blame her for wanting them out of her head as quick as they came in; I did have my moments of driving her completely crazy.