Roger looks down for a moment as he turns off the car, nodding his head.
"Yeah, my sister used to live with me, but she…" He paused, smiling sadly yet again. "She grew up." He says with a hint of pride in his voice.
He gets out of the car and leads you to the front door, opening it to find a bit of a smaller and less luxurious house than Jean. The living room sat to the front right of the door, the kitchen and dining room on the left. Down the hall were a few doors, but where they led, you weren't sure yet. The couch was a natural looking color, and actually looked comfortable; the kind of old couch that held many memories, and it somehow added comfort to it. Roger shakes off his jacket and hangs it at the door on the coat rack, placing the keys in a bowl that sat on a table at the door.
"It's not much, but it's where I live."
I look around the house at each decoration and furniture. It felt a lot cozier than Jean's house, more homely. "I like it," I say gently as I place a hand on the couch. "It gives off that warm, like, campfire sort of vibe. I dunno, I think I just prefer smaller houses."
I squint at Roger, wondering if he really didn't have more work to do. It occurs to me that he is quite human, which leads me to wonder how human the other cyborgs are. But, he's the only one with a noticeable technological side. I read his arm band earlier, and it had the numbers 0002 on it.
Roger turned to look at you as you spoke, giving you a warm smile.
"Campfire vibe? This is a house, I don't have a campfire, apologies."
He enters the kitchen and opens the fridge, pulling out an apple.
"Are you hungry? I don't really need to eat much, but I like to buy food in case my sister ever visits."
He tosses the apple in his hand, staring gently at it.
I accept the apple and take a bite. wow! it's sweet. as apples should be. nice. and cold. wow it's a rea l cold apple.
"I keep wondering if I have a brother or a sister. What's your sister like?" I ask as if his description would jog my memory. Hopefully Tyler can meet with me soon.
Roger sits down at the table and sighs heavily, a gentle grin resonating on his face as he thinks back.
"Her name's Astrid. She loves autumn and walking around town," he pauses as he furrows a brow. "I think we should get some sleep now, it's been a long day."
He stands up and makes his way to the couch, rearranging the pillows in a way you could sleep better as he tosses a few blankets onto the couch.
I nod to Roger in gratitude, and we exchange our goodnights as he heads to his room, wherever that is. I fall on the couch only to realize I still have my earpiece in. I turn it on, wondering if Jean and Anubis are still on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Jenny? Why the fuck did you turn off your shit? And where the hell are you?" Anubis replies in anger, but I'm pretty sure he can't care less what happens to me. He sounds awfully tired.
"Is, um, Daniel listening too? I just wanna apologize. I'll be back as soon as I can, and I didn't rat you guys out or anything. Sorry for any trouble I caused."
Anubis sighed heavily, clearly exasperated.
"GG's asleep. This whole thing stressed him out so he got high again which made him tired."
There was a bit of a pause before Anubis continues.
"I don't really care what you do, but what do you want me to tell him?"
I groan, rubbing my forehead. Of course he got high again. Nice going, Jenny.
"I mean, I don't know. You know him better than I do. Just tell him that we didn't get caught. That's probably what matters most anyways. And I'm sorry. That too. And thanks, A," I mutter quietly. Guilt overwhelms me, but I hope they'll forgive me.
Anubis is quiet for a few moments, possibly in thought.
"Alright, well, whatever. I'm going to sleep so I'm turning off my earpiece." The other end was silent after that. Roger's room was silent as well, leading you to believe he went to sleep, or whatever form of sleep he does.
I roll my eyes when Anubis hangs up before I can say goodnight. Damn, why'd I have to make him such a bitch?
and now i go to sleep give me the dreams!
North, West, South, East, where are you going? Are you going North? You're certainly not going South.
Turn around, you're surrounded by smoke. Gun smoke? Marijuana smoke? Campfire smoke? Fire is the only certain thing right now.
You've gone far North, but East gazes at you longingly. Do you see the West?
Check your compass, it only provides smoke; that is, if you can see it.
You hear the keys. The front door opens and closes.
It is not snow, it is ash. Try not to choke on the dust, it could clog your lungs. You are safe now. Trust me. It is in my hands as it always has been.
"Please don't think any less of me. I just don't want to be like him."
"Please don't think any less of me. I just want you to be happy."
"Please don't think any less of me. I just want to be myself again."
He's pointing the gun at you again. You know who it is now.
"Forgive me."
BANG!
You jolt awake, feeling a little cold in the house. It felt empty. Is Roger home?
I lift myself up and off of the couch, hoping to wake up enough to shake off the dream. At this point, I'm positive they mean something, but I don't know what they mean. Or maybe I do.
Am I allowed to help myself to breakfast? Will his sister randomly visit? Somehow, I doubt it. I open the fridge hesitantly. Maybe Roger is home, and I can ask? But, I don't know where it'd be. Should I call Kai?
As you open your phone, you notice a text from a number that wasn't saved.
"Hey, it's Anubis. Figured you didn't have our number so I figured out what yours was. Text here if you need anything."
You decide to ignore the message for now, but felt a bit better knowing you had a way to communicate with him now. You find Kaiholo's number and dial the number, listening to it ring only once before he picked up.
"Are you okay?" He asks immediately upon answering.
"Are you going to ask that every time I call you?" I snicker. "I'm actually being slayed by a dragon right now, but he wanted me to tell you I said hi and that he apologizes in advance for stabbing me." I close the fridge and start to circle around Roger's house, inspecting pictures of what I assume to be his family. I grin ever-so-slightly. "I'm okay, Kai. Are you?"
Kaiholo gasps, and you could hear him almost jump to his feet in the tone of his voice.
"You're what? Oh, my God, I didn't even know dragons were real, but maybe it's just-" Your reassuring voice interrupts him.
"I'm okay, Kai. Are you?"
Kaiholo exhales, relieved.
"As long as you're okay, I'm okay." He utters, his voice more relaxed. "So, what do you need?"
I try to hold back my laughing to avoid making Kai feel bad. As I brush some dust off of a certain picture on the wall, I respond, "I'm kind of bored. I mean, I also think we should set up a time with Tyler to get my memory back, but I also wanted to update you on what's happened so far."
I walk back to the fridge to see little drawings held up with magnets. One is clearly drawn by a kid, with the crappy crayon and random stick figures. As I look closer, I notice the stick figure that I assume to be Roger is fully human. There's another pencil sketch next to it, one of much more detail and talent, depicting Roger, but as a cyborg.
Kaiholo gives you an affirmative grunt and utters, "I could discuss with Tyler for something about today."
As you continue, his voice turned curious with slight worry.
"Oh, did something happen? Where are you right now?"
"Fuck yeah," I whisper, getting giddy about the thought of having my memory back.
"Oh, did something happen? Where are you right now?" he says in worry.
I laugh, "Chill, I'm fine. The boys and I did a job, you know, but I got caught and I met this interesting cyborg named Roger. Can you believe we have cyborgs? Anyways, it seems like he wasn't always a cyborg. I'm chilling at his house right now. He's, like, really sweet and kind of shady for a cop? I'm still scared he'll randomly arrest me or something. Oh, lemme know what time and where we should meet. Hopefully Roger can lend me his car or something."
Kaiholo exhales and listens closely to you as you give him the details.
"Okay, I'll let you know what Tyler and I decide on. You're at a cyborg's house? I didn't know cyborgs had houses, but if he's harmless, I'm glad you found another place to stay. Is he home right now?"
Cyborgs don't normally have houses?
I circled back and forth between the living room and the kitchen area, occasionally opening random cupboards or drawers. "I have no clue, I haven't checked. Oh god, I hope I haven't been loud, if he is home that is."
Kaiholo sounded distracted, as if someone was talking to him, but you didn't hear another voice. He returns to the phone and utters, "I actually have to go, maybe I'll let you go to check?"
He says his goodbyes before hanging up, leaving you to wander around the house.
I turn off my phone and sigh. What now?
I head down the hallway to where I haven't looked through before. There are three closed doors. He could just be asleep. I knock on one of the doors loud enough to hear through all the rooms. There's no reply in either, so I assume he left. I open the first door and reveal a messy bedroom with a desk in the corner. The desk has several pencils and papers, which leads me to believe the artist made the drawings here. Clothes litter the floor, and there was also a mattress and dirty sheets.
I approach the desk. There are drawings of several people that I pieced together are Roger's brother? Or something? I look through the rest of the pile and see more pieces of cyborgs like Roger. Interesting. The last drawing is out of the ordinary. It depicts a street at around autumn.
I leave the room to explore more. I open the next door, which has to be Roger's room. The bed is made, the floor is immaculate, everything is in order. On his desk are more cute family pictures. I head out and check out the last room, which is a bathroom. Like Roger's room, it's quite clean.
Well, what now?
You hear the front door open, along with yelling and yelps of pain. You turn your head at the sound, the voice of whoever groaned painfully seemed familiar. Quickly, you rush down the hall into the main room to see two people at the front door. As your eyes fall upon him, you process it in pieces. A strange man in a similar suit to Roger's stepped in, dragging Roger by the back of his shirt collar. Roger himself was barely holding himself up, and only managed to lift himself off the floor with his elbows for a few seconds. His human eye was swollen shut, his robot one wasn't glowing. Blood ran down his nose and out of his mouth, in fact blood dripped from his head, hands, neck, chest, anywhere with skin. His robot half contained dents, scrapes, and other various damages.
The strange man spoke.
"Looks like your special boy over here can't control himself like a normal fucking android. Had to teach him a lesson yet again."
Roger's broken eyes gaze up at you for a moment as he falls back onto the floor, coughing out blood.
"Lucky for you, he destroyed all the evidence against you. Not like we had enough to arrest you anyway, dumbass risked his ass for nothing."
The man throws Roger against the floor leaving Roger choking and coughing as the man glares at you.
"I'd say you can have him, but he's barely functional at this point. No one would want that piece of junk anyway; he can't do anything right."
I rush over to Roger in a panic, but there is no way I could help carry him in. My eyes flicker to the man who's eyes pierce into mine.
"Get the fuck out," I demand, breathing heavily in fear. He rolls his eyes and mutters out a 'whatever,' going back to his car to leave. I return my attention to Roger, who's on his side now, still coughing. "Oh my god, Roger, if you knew they'd do this to you why did you bother helping me in the first place?" I sigh, sitting back on my knees. What do I do? "Can you talk? Or move at all? Do you have a first aid kit somewhere?" I only vaguely remember how to tend wounds, but it shouldn't be too hard, right?
Roger gave you a shamed look as he listened to you question him. He finally nods and points to the kitchen, coughing again.
"Next to the fridge," He begins, his voice sounding off, as if it was through a low quality microphone. He manages to crawl inside enough to kick the door closed, but doing this used up a significant portion of his strength, so he fell back onto the floor, unable to move much.
