Accidents Made Right 2: Kakorrhaphiophobia

Chapter 4: This Is What Falling In Love Feels Like

I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, my mind only thinking about the woman at the valley.

I've never seen anybody as beautiful as her... no, don't do this Matthew. She's an enemy, you can't fall in love with her...

But she's so beautiful... and afraid. Why would she be afraid? I could tell she wasn't afraid of me or Steve, so what does she have to be afraid of?

I heard a knocking at my door, followed by Josh saying "Hey, can we talk about the mission?"

"Yeah, you can come in!"

The door opened automatically, then Josh walked in, waited for the door to close, then sat down on the bed as I pulled my back up to sit along with him.

"So, how was it?"

"I'm... not sure. Steve's promised to start training me, but... there was something else. During Steve's ambush, there was a woman," I tried explaining, but my thoughts immediately drifted to her when I mention them.

Josh looked at me knowingly, smirked, and said "I see. Let me guess, you've immediately gotten a crush on her, but she's an enemy."

"Yeah, but... that's not all. I managed to look in her eyes, and... she was afraid. Not of me or Steve, but if something else. Like... like if she failed her mission, she would regret it."

"Well, failure is something everybody regrets."

"Not like that. It's... hard to explain."

Josh looked at the ground, thinking, before he said "There's something I want you to know. Steve told me not to tell you, but I think you should know regardless."

"What?"

"Steve... managed to place a tracker on her. He says the tracker showed her going to one of Robert's unknown bases, possibly his main base."

"If it's unknown, how does he know it's one of his bases," I asked.

"He knows she had to go back to a base to repair her suit, or to report her mission. And since Robert likes all mission results to be given directly to him, Steve managed to connect the dots."

"So, we may be able to capture him?"

"Maybe, but the thing is, it said the tracker then teleported to one of Robert's known bases, so that could also be where Robert is."

...

"Can I do anything to help, with anything?"

"No, unfortunately. You're still a recruit, and you won't really be able to help the soldiers with supplies."

...

Josh patted me on the shoulder, got up, then walked to the door. Before he exited my quarters, he said "Don't worry, you'll elevate us soon enough."

I thought back on our conversation, trying to figure out how I could help. Eventually, my thoughts returned again to the woman.

Maybe... maybe she's afraid of Robert? Maybe she doesn't want to fight for him, but is being forced to?

Wait a minute. Maybe, I can use my powers to see through her eyes, figure out where she is, and convince her to join us!

I got up, pride and determination flowing through my veins as I tried activating my powers.

Think of music, how it's one of the few things I can actually enjoy without needing physically feeling. How it makes you feel all sorts of emotions every time you listen to a song.

My body electrified with yellow electricity, and a single image hit my brain. A prison cell, with the window showing... something familiar.

I quickly stopped using my powers and searched through my drawers for a specific letter. Once I found it, I picked it up, took a long deep breath, then opened and read it.

To: My Two Beautiful Children

If you're reading this, I've likely passed away, and your father has given you both copies of this letter. That, or you looked around my room while I was asleep.

Anyways, I wanted you both to know that I loved you both with all my heart. I may regret not getting to show you the town where I was born, Creation Town, and see it's beautiful waterfalls and cliff views. But I do not regret all I was able to give you.

I have loved you both will all my heart, and I know it will be hard for you to recover from my death. But as long as you stay hopeful that things will get better, then things will get better.

I love you, with my heart, mind, and soul.

Love, Your Mother.

...

I love you too, Mom, I thought, before looking  at a picture inside the letter that almost perfectly mirrored the view in the prison. Seeing this, I put the letter back in the dresser drawer, next to the letter from my brother Elijah, before I closed the drawer.

"Alright, now how am I gonna get in that prison? Also, why is she in a prison in the first place," I said to myself.

"No, one thing at a time. First I figure out how to get in there. Then when she's free, I can start asking her questions."

I proceeded to head out of the U.S. facility and to someplace near the prison. I made it to a clearing between two forests, and in the middle was a calm river that went into a waterfall, down into another forest.

I looked around the cliff-sides surrounding the lower ground, and found a massive black and red futuristic prison on the right cliff-side.

I was about to head to the prison, but I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I focused my attention on the other thing, and saw burned ruins of an old camp. I used my super speed to run down the side of the cliff then headed to the camp.

Once I got to the camp, I stopped, and slowly walked through the mess of mostly burned tents and bones.

What happened here, I thought.

My leg brushed past a skeleton's arm, so I looked own and saw a female and male skeleton, barely burned, in the middle of the camp's ruins.

I kneeled down to observe the skeletons, and I saw a letter, contained inside the only remains of a pocket from a pair of jeans.

I grabbed the letter, then began reading it.

To: Steve Berkan

So, son... if you're reading this, then we're gone. And you had to survive on your own in this cruel world. I know you're probably scared, and are still dealing with your grief.

Heh, it's not very surprising how hard it is to write this. Your mother's always been the more creative one... but anyways, I just wanted to tell you... Robert will try to fool you.

He'll have already torn you and Rowan apart, and faked his death. And, before you start wondering, we know... knew, Robert's plan, thanks to Rowan's mother. If it wasn't for her... this letter would never exist.

So, no matter what happens... don't lose hope. Try and stay with Rowan, fight to be with him. We know you love him, and we couldn't be happier.

We love you, and always will. And... thank you, for giving me... us a reason to fight back against Robert.

Love, Your Father, James Berkan.

"Oh, burning hot dogs. I... I need to give this to Steve," I said, but looked at the prison. I looked back at the letter, then back at the prison.

"Fine, that can wait. The mailman has a life to save."

Funny story. Matthew's "cusses" were originally going to be organized. For example, certain cusses would be replaced by certain phrases. But I decided I wanted them to be different each time.