Zee and I stepped out of the car onto the Furnace Memorial Park. The grass was new and green, the trees were still young, and people of all ages walked or ran around the beautiful place. Zee and I didn't come there to play. We mournfully walked to the large obelisk the center of the park. In my prosthetic hand, I clutched a bouquet of red roses, and Zee was carrying a white bouquet of the same type. The obelisk had a square around it, on which was inscribed many names.
"Should we look?" Zee asked, and I felt a sickening pang in my stomach, remembering the last time I had to search for Donovan without knowing where he was.
"Sure. As soon as one of us finds one of the names, tell the other, okay?"
I started to glance at the names, looking at some familiar ones. When I first looked, I found the 'M's, and Toby Merchant's name stuck out at me like a sore thumb. I started to hold tears back, trying to keep them away by reminding myself that people were in the area and that Zee and I were getting shadowed by a government agent. It didn't work. A big, fat tear fell on my navy sports jacket. I got a nice suit to wear for this event; later, there would be a memorial. It took me some convincing to wear the suit at all, but in the end I didn't mind, so long as it wasn't black. And so, I have a navy sports jacket, gray trousers, and a purple tie. Zee had similar requirements, but his was gray with black pants a blue tie. Names, names, so many names. I look at the 'O's and Gary Owens pops out as well. I may not have liked the guy, but I felt sad for him too, sad that he became more of a monster than he was.
On and on I went until I finally got to the 'R's.
"Zee." I choked out, looking at the name inscribed in the white stone, clear as day: Simon Rojo-Flores. I heard his footsteps get closer to me.
"Oh man." he replied, and put his hand on my arm, but I knew it would have gone on my shoulder. The doctors at the hospital could take away many things that Furnace had given to me, but something they could never get rid of was my height. As of now, I stand at two meters tall, and doctors suspect that I still may grow.
"It's like we're standing in front of his gravestone." I sniffled, and resisted the urge to rub my nose on my jacket, because it's not a prison uniform and I can't just ruin it like that. We weren't standing directly above Simon and the other dead; the government didn't know what to do with all of that nectar, all of the bodies of the rats and the blacksuits and the berserkers, so they gave all the bodies to scientific research. I don't know what's to come of it, but it makes me very scared.
"Yeah, kinda sorta. Imagine how he'd be laughing at us, a bunch of bawling babies." Zee chuckled, but his voice also cracked and when I looked over, tears were running down his face too.
I put down the red flowers by the monument, where many others would be soon. "Rest in peace, Simon."
"Yeah man, I hope you're somewhere better." Zee added.
Zee and I stood there silently for a long while before he tapped me on the elbow. "Want to go find Donovan now?"
I nodded and the two of us set off to look over by the 'D's, and this time, Zee was the one who found the name.
"There he is, Carl Donovan."
"Eugene." I added, snickering through my tears.
"I can't believe you got him to tell you his middle name, Alex." Zee punched my arm, probably for ruining the moment.
Looking at his name causes memories to hit me like a battering ram: when he glared at me when we first met, when he let his guard down in the cell, when he saved me from the skulls, when we were making escape plans, when he was taken by bloodwatch, when I saw him, IVs connected, and when I held that pillow over his face and killed him. I let the tears flow, knowing full well that they'd come out for him. My face must have looked like a waterfall with me standing there and sobbing.
Zee bent over and put the white flowers down. "I hope you're eating a cheeseburger, wherever you are, Donovan."
"Yeah, I'll bet he is scarfing one down with Simon right now, telling him embarrassing stuff about us." I giggle, but I was also sad.
"I bet Donovan's telling Simon about the time where we reenacted Indiana Jones in the cell for him." Zee said.
"Or maybe Simon's telling Donovan that I wore a poncho for a while when I was fighting topside."
After a long pause, I straightened myself up. "Want to go for a walk?" I ask.
"Yeah, that sounds nice."