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“Well, this is the place.”
Susie opened the bedroom door, the hinges creaked louder than the rain pattering outside. She entered first, waving her hand in.
“You just gonna stand there or what?”
Kris nodded and entered Susie’s bedroom.
Calling it a bedroom was generous.
The air was plagued with the smell of faded paint, a single beat-up chair stood pathetically in the center as if clinging for dear life, a wrinkled poster of a monster destroying a city hung sadly on a lifeless wall.
Kris curled their lips.
“You can sleep on the bed,” Susie said, closing the bedroom window so as not to let the rain in. “I’m used to sleeping on floors.”
Kris opened their mouth.
“Don’t protest,” she interrupted. “You don’t get a choice in the matter.”
An awkward silence followed as Kris got onto the bed. The blanket was torn, bite marks littered the sheets…..
….a familiar shampoo scent.
“A-are you sniffing my blanket??” Susie exclaimed as she forcefully pulled the blanket away from Kris. “God, first time here and you’re already being a weirdo.”
Kris said something.
“Wha-?! Don’t blame me that your apple-scented shampoo tasted so damn good! Maybe go get a less tastier one if you don’t want me eating it, dumbass.”
Susie threw the blanket across the floor next to the bed, but suddenly recoiled as she clutched her right hand.
“Ack- damn!” she muttered, pulling her left hand to see a smudge of blood. “Thought my healing would've fixed that, guess I still can't heal for crap.”
Kris got up from the bed and scrounged through their pockets, eventually pulling out a single ICE-E branded bandage they had for some reason.
“It’s….it’s nothing Kris. I've had worse injuries than this.”
Kris insisted.
“Look, I’m telling you, it's fine.”
Kris insisted.
“Dude, come on I-”
Kris pleaded.
Susie was taken aback, staring deep into Kris’s eyes as she felt her mask slowly slipping once again. “Fine….” she eventually answered, sitting down on the chair as she watched Kris slowly wrap the bandage. That familiar sting, her twitching fingers with each wrap. Susie was reminded of a memory as she gazed off into the pouring rain outside.
An unpleasant memory.
The sting soon faded. Susie turned back to see Kris just about done tightening the bandage, before giving a thumbs up.
“Heh, thanks Kris….” Susie said, staring at her hand once more. “Not as good as my badass healing, that's for sure.”
Kris asked if Susie could teach them healing.
“In your dreams.”
The two lay back in their respective beds, with nothing but the sound of rain and distant thunder accompanying their wary minds. The day had been long, filled with questions, revelations, and uncertainty. All of it came from a single source.
The prophecy.
Susie stared emptily at her ceiling, head flooded with hundreds of different thoughts that she couldn't brush aside like she normally could. Every time she closed her eyes, she was brought back to the Last Prophecy; its blue glow shone words so preposterous she couldn't help but shatter it with her bare fist. She had simply laughed it off back then. But now, with only her thoughts to accompany her while she slept, doubt began to sink in.
What if the Prophecy wasn't lying? Susie thought to herself as she tossed and turned on the floor. Everything else has been right so far, what's stopping it now?
What if that… really happens?
Susie tilted her head towards the side of her bed, barely making out Kris’s tiny figure amidst the darkness.
“You still awake there?”
The bed creaked in response.
“Do you think….Ralsei is mad at me?”
Kris answered.
“I guess he couldn’t, even if he tried…..”
Susie sat back up and slumped beside the bed, a heavy feeling weighing her down as she could only let out a sigh. “It’s just….a lot, you know? Last week I was in school, wasting away the time eating chalk and caring bout nothing.”
She stared off into the dark.
“Now, it’s as if the whole world is against us….”
Susie curled herself up, knees pressed against her chest so tightly it began hurting; the only constant in her life.
“I’m….I’m scared, Kris. This Prophecy crap? Why….? Why the hell me? I've done nothing but cause trouble my whole life, and now I’m suddenly a damn Hero?”
Susie laughed, a laugh so dry and lifeless it might as well be a desert. “I’m no Hero, I'm just a dumbass girl with dumbass problems no one cares about.
“ I'm nobody. ”
A long silence, heaviness in the air as the rain intensified. Deep down, a part of Susie wanted to run away from all this. Move to a new town, start a new life and become a troublemaker once more.
It would be so easy. To leave it all behind.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to smash.
She wanted to cry.
But….
…..the tears ran out a long time ago.
…..
…..
Susie suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Kris sitting next to her.
Kris reminded Susie about the fun adventures and memories they've had these last few days.
Kris reminded Susie of the friends she's made: Ralsei, Lancer, the Old Man……
Kris reminded Susie about the two of them.
“Kris….” Susie said, before letting out a hearty laugh. “You really say the stupidest, corniest things, you know that?” She laid her bandaged hand over Kris’s, gripping as tightly as she could despite the pain it caused.
“ Don't EVER lose that.”
The two stayed in silence for what felt like an eternity. The rain had finally stopped, and the faint moonlight glow shone dimly through the window.
“Alright enough sappy crap,” Susie said as she laid back down on the floor. “Tomorrow’s the festival, let's try to at least enjoy some of it…..”
Kris nodded, and retreated back to the bed, leaving Susie alone once more with her thoughts as she stared at the ceiling. Kris was right , she thought to herself. Despite whatever perilous journey lay ahead of them, be it the Knight, Titans or whatever that lurks beyond the dark. Susie was confident about one thing:
She wasn't alone.
Susie’s eyes grew heavy; the rain had passed, the silence calming her weary mind. Despite everything, the sun will still rise, and tomorrow will still arrive. There’s no doubt she’ll find herself in the middle of danger once more, but she's content with that.
She had people who cared for her.
She had a reason to keep on living.
She had hope crossed on her heart.