“I’m sorry this is on you. I had hoped we could find another way. There had been many chances to stop this before, but this was the future that came to be.” His voice broke, and his shoulders slumped forward.
Maybe if I’d joined them as soon as he had asked, I could have helped stop this, or helped contain it. But I didn’t. I’d been too afraid to be a part of the Hero Society to give in and accept that I was one of them all along—too afraid to die again.
I snorted, finding the irony in this moment and acting on the sick humor.
Phillip’s head tilted to the side as he looked at me, curious to my reaction.
“First time I died, I stayed to fight, to save mankind. I guess it’s only fitting that this time I die—on the same day, I might add—to save mankind again, but mostly to save the people I love.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Gwendolyn
I went shopping with Emily and managed to get her some new clothes for the winter weather, some decorations for her room, when it was ready, and some toys. Emily, while growing up was still into dolls, and I wanted her to keep being a kid as long as I could. Of course I already had plans to make her a companion robot like Pops at some point, but for now, we would just have to be there to play with her when we could.
Arthur asked if he could come over for dinner, which of course I said yes. Emily wanted pizza, so I asked if he could pick it up on the way over. I was hopeful for the future for now. Lynn confirmed that Emily had some pent-up emotions that she didn’t want to deal with, but that they’d eventually come out. She’d start at her new school next week, and I prayed the kids here would be nicer to her. I had no advice to give on that front since even now my coworkers didn’t bother to get to know me past my seemingly cold exterior, but I would try to give her the best pep talk I could.
When Arthur came by with the pizza in his hand, he said hello to Emily, who was sitting on the couch watching some cartoon movie I hadn’t seen before, then set the pizza down and scooped me up into his arms. I missed his touch, the soothing effects he had on me when I felt like I was losing it.
“Welcome back.” I kissed his cheek, and his arms squeezed me a bit tighter. When my feet touched the ground again, he brought his forehead to mine and just breathed us in. It was a stolen moment of peace, and from his stance it seemed he needed me to soothe him like I needed him.
“Everything okay?” I inquired, pulling back to look over his beautiful face.
“Yeah. I’m just happy I got another chance at life, so I got to be with you.”
My face grew one of those smiles that I knew he was so fond of. I was beyond grateful to have him in my life. A year ago, before the change, I was a completely different person. Arthur came into that diner and my whole world has been transformed, beyond my imagination. He brought me out of my shell, taught me to love, and that I was so much more than I thought I was.
“I love you.” Those words held so much power for me, and I had hope that with love we could do anything.
His face fell for a quick second before he leaned in to kiss my lips softly.
“I love you too, more than anything.” His breath tickled my mouth, and I smiled. I’d known he loved me, but now I had the words to go with the actions.
After those sweet words were said aloud, we broke apart and got plates out for pizza.
Emily was quiet while we ate, and Arthur kept conversation going about some of the art he’d done recently that she might like. They ended up talking about photography, and her eyes lit up when he mentioned that Draco, from the Hero Society, was a famous photographer. Had his own darkroom and everything.
She was eager to meet Draco and learn about the darkroom.
“Any news on the algae spreading?” I had hoped he’d heard something new about the situation. I hadn’t gotten any updates or been called to help. Which made me think about what I’d need to do with Emily when I got called out. Does a ten-year-old need a babysitter?
I made mental notes to download some books on parenting and age-appropriate stuff for girls.
He choked on the water he was drinking and set it down quickly, coughing over and over until he could speak without his face turning red.
“Phillip thinks he has an idea of how to fix the situation, but he’s still working on it.” He was staring at the pizza in front of him like he’d never seen it before.
“We’ll figure it out. Together.” My back straightened, and my chin lifted in confidence. His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but he agreed with me nonetheless.
“I think it’s cool,” Emily said, and we both turned toward her.
“You guys being superheroes and all. It’s cool.”
My smile grew at the thought that she believed what I was doing was “cool.” I had to do right by her, maybe even be someone she could look up to. I wished I’d had someone to look up to when I was younger. The closest I got to a role model was Lynn.
Once dinner was done, Emily went back to watching the movie, and Arthur said he had to go back to the warehouse to do some work.
We both had lives we had to keep up with outside of each other, so I understood.
“Maybe we can all paint together sometime soon—that was fun.” I tried to make him smile since it seemed like he was a bit under the weather.
“That would be great.”
Maybe it was just my overthinking mind, but he sounded so off. I wanted to make him happy and bring back his bright smile again.
“Thank you for helping me with this new change. It’s been hard, but I feel like having you with me has been the only thing keeping me sane.” My fingers played with the edges of his leather jacket.
“You are my everything…you know that, right? Since the moment I saw you, you have been my world. I’d do anything to make sure you were okay.”
His eyes searched my face, and there was so much emotion swimming inside them. I just wish I could read what it all meant. Instead of trying, I leaned up to kiss his lips and let our hearts talk to each other, communicating in the only way it knew how, with love.
He gave me one last kiss before saying goodbye to Emily and me, then left the apartment.
His departure felt weird, but so much had been going on. Maybe he was just trying to adjust to everything. I couldn’t blame him for that.
Figuring I needed to keep my mind busy, so I didn’t read too much into Arthur’s strange behavior tonight, I got back to work on the spare bedroom. My hope was we could have Emily’s room all set before she started school.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Arthur
The water was freezing around my legs as I waded into the bay.
Every part of my body was screaming to get out of the water and run as fast as I could back to Gwendolyn. Back to love and warmth.
But I’d be a coward if I did. I’d be less of a man than she deserved.
Bile rose in my throat from the toxins already beginning to absorb into my skin. My body shook, and a tickling in the back of my throat made me feel like I had to puke.
This wasn’t going to be a good death, at least before it had been kinda quick. This was going to be drawn out until every bit of the toxicity in the water had poisoned my body, cleaning the bay for everyone else to live.