I linger in the doorway for a few moments.
“Groceries,” Cherie finally says, breaking out of her Mirror state. “Can we get groceries tomorrow—we just got back from Paris and we don’t have much for tomorrow. We don’t have to get much since we’re leaving on Sunday again.”
“Of course,” I say as I nod. “We can do that.”
“Goodnight then, Ethan.”
“Goodnight, Cherie, I reply, despite it only being about six o’clock in the evening.
I arrive back at my apartment and kick off my running shoes into their usual spot. I shower, shave, and relax in my bed. My phone chimes twice. I reach for it on the nightstand and two new messages are displayed. One is a profile of a girl, 31, also a Sitter. According to her profile she has been a Sitter for 6 years… must have been among one of the first groups. She is attractive, long flowing brown hair and azure blue eyes. A little message at the bottom has an address to meet up at and a red button says no, and a green one says yes. I figure what the hell… at least it’d be good to meet someone who has been doing this longer than three days—the fact that she’s pretty definitely doesn’t hurt. I click yes. The second message is a simple plain text file from Katharine, the caseworker, she asks me to come in before I head to see Cherie in the morning. Probably just a checkup… or at least I hope it is not because I am doing a terrible job.
I think to turn on the TV, however I know what will be there—hopelessness, sadness, more injustices, and grief. Instead I stare out the window of my view of the city at night. There aren’t so many lights anymore—there aren’t as many people around anymore. Maybe the city has abandoned us… then again, maybe we deserved it. I don’t know exactly what I’m thinking about. I just know that we’re hurting ourselves by our actions. I hope that things will get better, but I know that the truth is that things will probably get a lot worse before they do.
5. Bending the Rules
I step into the C-Shapes Field Office. The same secretary smiles as she recognizes me. “Here to see Kathleen, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” I laugh as I shake my head.
She presses a button on her console. “She’ll see you now… it’s 2B… just in case you forgot that too.”
“I remember.”
“Ethan,” Katharine says as she shakes my hand.
She seems happy to see me. I take that as a good sign. “Katharine…”
“I contacted your cases,” Katharine says as she pulls out a small notepad of paper. “Don’t worry now, this is just kind of like a follow up—just making sure you’re doing okay and being safe out there. You’re not in any kind of trouble or anything… just wanted to go over a few things with you.”
“Oh,” I say as I nod. “So how am I doing?”
“Generally great,” Katharine says as she looks over her small notes. “I mean you seem to be interacting well with your two Unstables. You’re making sure they’re taking their Calm, which is the most important thing, and you’re not pushing them or being argumentative with them—which we both know is a smart move.”
“Anything I’m doing wrong?”
“You carried Cherie from your car into the apartment.” Katharine says as she bites the end of her pen and looks somewhat displeased. “You know that that kind of contact put yourself at serious risk.”
“She had an anxiety attack and I needed to get her back into her apartment where she would feel safe.”
“Next time force her to walk,” Katharine says as she nods. “I understand, I mean you’re new at this, but next time… if it happens again—do not put yourself in that type of situation. Remember a hand to the shoulder for comfort is fine, but keep your guard up and always keep a safe distance. I know that to you she may appear just a small, skinny, fragile, and even beautiful woman… but know that without warning she could turn Aggro on you and in that kind of compromised position, you would certainly have lost your life.”
“I understand,” I say, despite the fact that I still feel no regret for doing what I did. However, I get what she is trying to say. Perhaps I lack a healthy amount of fear that I should have… then again, as she said—I am new to this. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“I think you just forgot. Which is okay, we all make these types of mistakes in the beginning… because, well, we don’t fully understand what they really are or what they’re capable of.”
“Is there anything else I’m doing wrong?”
“Your old friend Noah,” Katharine says as she nods. “I know that it must be really difficult because you had a past. I know that circumstance has led you to basically face each other once more, but I want you to know for certainty that your old friend is not there anymore. He may seem like the same person at times, or you may want him to be—but he will never be who you remembered him as.”
“I’ve been realizing,” I say as I look away for a moment.
“I could see about reassigning you.”
“No…” I say as I shake my head. “I’m good. I admit that first day I kind of hoped he was still in there somewhere, but I know that he is a completely different person now. I’m working to separate the past from the present and I think everything will be fine.”
“Good,” Katharine says as she places the pad of paper back in the drawer. “Aside from just those two concerns… they both think you are a great Sitter, and you’re doing a great job. You’re Sitting with Cherie today, what are your plans?”
“Groceries, I’m… going to take her somewhere. She thinks we just returned from Paris and that is why the fridge is empty.”
“Be careful, with what happened in East Chicago yesterday people are a little on edge.”
“What happened?”
“You haven’t been watching TV?” Katharine asks as though she is asking if I’ve been forgetting to breathe properly.
“I saw the thing about Texas and Alaska seceding, and Hawaii quarantining their Unstables… but last night I was beat—I just didn’t…”
“Texas and Alaska are no longer a part of the United States, they have stopped all traffic of C-Alysium into their states and are systematically killing all of their Unstables. The military can’t, or will not step in at this moment as we need to keep our forces up in case of a massive Aggro case. Plus, as the government sees it right now, there is no point in us normals killing each other—the president figures that once we release a cure everything will be patched up.
“They’re just going to kill them all?” I say as I shake my head. “What if a cure is found soon—then that is just murder.”
“They’re even eradicating the vegetables, I guess a few too many Aggro incidents have pushed them over the edge—they were never really truly onboard with the C-Shapes plan to begin with. This is an unfortunate, but eventual thing that was going to happen. Alaska was lost days ago… the news is just slow to report on it. Then again, they were never really onboard with us either. Hawaii is doing the most humane thing they can think to do, given how afraid the population is… at least they’re still administering Calm, they’ve just relocated them all in case things take a turn for the worse… if you’re going to be a good Sitter—you really have to keep up on this.”
“Got it,” I say as I nod. I’ve never been a fan of news nor politics. It all starts to seem like a giant cluster-fuck in the end. “What happened in East Chicago?”
“An Amnesiac went Aggro in one of the most violent cases we’ve seen. He tore his sitter apart and killed about six other people before the hunters were able to take him down. They estimated they fired about twenty rounds before he was finally brought down. So people in the Chicago are a little on edge—just take that into consideration, for yourself and your Unstable.”