Sitting on Celeste’s porch, I watched the dancing flames at the center of the field of boulders. As soon as I had arrived, I had unraveled one by the red thread.
“Can you still reravel it?” Celeste asked from beside me.
“I don’t think so,” I replied. “Once I let go of a string, the unraveling’s done. No going back.”
Celeste stayed quiet for a moment as the fire began to die. “Are you alright?”
I groaned. “No! I’ve been working on the – ” I stopped myself from saying more at the sight of Celeste’s expectant face. She wasn’t part of the Strokes. And there was a reason my department was secret. I had to watch what I said.
“I found something,” I said. “Or a… hint of something.” This was nearly impossible to explain to Celeste. I couldn’t tell her I found a video on the device I’d been investigating. Hidden in a music application of all places. I also couldn’t tell Celeste that the video was locked and my next step had to be finding the damn password, if it was even there!
“You’re clearly frustrated,” Celeste said after I had been silent for a while.
“Frustrated?” I scoffed. The fire sputtered out, leaving nothing but charred grass where the boulder had been. “That doesn’t even begin to cover how angry I am. I spent so long looking for something only to find it and…” I sighed, slumping forward onto my knees.
“Yfiowejtehifuoijmewktjhweiuforjwekmfjeghiuojaklmdwlkoiefaguwe when you talk about your problems. Does this have anything to do with Leslie?”
“What?” I sat up, glancing at Celeste in confusion. “I’m not talking about Leslie. Why are you bringing them up?”
“Well the last time you were here – ”
“Oh right, that,” I interrupted. “That turned out to be nothing. I had no reason to be worried.”
“Swotiejkdowia pattern,” Celeste muttered.
“Hm? What? What about a pattern?” I asked.
Celeste sighed, an odd look of concern crossing her face. “You should really get back on that medication,” she said.
“I already said I’m fine,” I replied.
“Seriously, stop it!”
I leaned away from Celeste. What was happening? Why did she seem so angry?
Celeste clenched her jaw. “You spent gods know how long worried about a thing with Leslie that ‘turned out to be nothing’ – which, byweteiwojfdkmu still haven’t told me what that was about – and now you’re fixated on a new thing. You need that medication, Dax, stop fooling yourself.”
“I’m sorry, are you physician?” I responded.
“No, but I’m your friend and – ”
“Stop.” I stood up, then turned to face her. “My worries with Leslie were because I didn’t know how to bring something up. The conversation happened, we’re fine now. And the reason I’m ‘fixated’ on this new thing is because it’s my job.”
“Sorry,” Celeste replied. “Iweuowaeme. Sorry.”
We remained quiet as the sun began to set. “Thank you for worrying about me, though,” I told her. “Honestly,” I said with a chuckle, “I think the only reason I’d need it again is if I went back into the System.”
To be continued…