Apostasy
Chapter Seven
We drove two vehicles, two rollers to traverse the rugged terrain, and due to the length of the trip, we expected to stumble upon Apostasy between five and six arduous hours. We left the house at fourteen hundred hours with plenty of fuel, water, food, weapons, explosives, and blankets for the frigid nights. Apostasy set approximately two hundred and forty miles west of Defiance, and the terrain brutalized the vehicles. I removed my wallet from my back pocket because the bulge hurt my hips as I drove. One spare tire for each vehicle, and I had hoped we wouldn't hit any impassible terrain. I placed the spare tires on both vehicles, and made sure I aired them up proper because I didn't have a good assessment of the dangers.
"Are we going to save your sister or kill everybody?" Irisa asked. Her face flushed with worry. I patted her on the knee, and gave her a stern look.
"I just want my sister back," I said. "I don't think anybody has to die over that."
Rynn took plenty of time mapping out the path between our home and Apostasy with all the gas stations marked on the map. "Just so we don't have a fuel problem. I want to make sure we know all the fuel stations between here and Apostasy," Rynn said. We had enough fuel to make it to Apostasy, but only enough to make it a quarter of the way back. I took the lead, and Rynn followed behind me, and when we drove, it was at a moderate speed of fifty-five miles per hour. We spent so much time in the roller that it became fetid. When we stopped for a quick bathroom break, Irisa and I both complained that we'd need to clean out the car thoroughly upon our return to Defiance.
Within two hours of driving, we stopped by a small town called Utopia, and they had two stores that sold fuel. It didn't take us long to fuel up our vehicles, buy some snacks, and other things to eat. Rynn walked back to my vehicle with the map, and pointed out Utopia, and then said, "A good two hours and ten minutes left," she said. "We're right on target."
"It has been awhile since I've traveled this far west," I said. "It has changed a lot."
"Yeah. I think the last time was right before you moved to Defiance," Rynn said.
"Yeah," I said.
"It's the same old crummy place to me," Irisa said. "I came through these parts about a year ago."
Apostasy…
The heat and humidity beat us badly, but we didn't let it stop us from what we had to do. Apostasy's size was no more than five hundred people, but they had ark-hunters frequenting the place daily. We parked on a hill on the opposite side of the community, and watched it from afar. We wanted to get as much intelligence as needed before we entered the town. Irisa looked through the binoculars, and gave a field report. Immediately, she noticed four cops patrolling the streets with po-tech pistols riding their hips.
"The brothel is on the far edge of the town," she said with a straight face. She spied on the whorehouse for a moment, and then said, "Several young Iraths are soliciting men in front of the establishment."
She handed me the binoculars, and I looked at the girls prancing in front of the brothels, but I didn't see Ireena at all. I feared that she might not be in Apostasy, but I believed what Star said. In some ways, I thought I was insane to believe a child about the whereabouts of Ireena, but I did. At the same time, I thought I might not easily recognize her because they kidnapped her at the age of twelve. She was a bony, twelve-year-old girl, not much there except a cute smile. Now, she would be sixteen-years-old, and I could only imagine that she grew up some, a lot, and I feared I'd overlook her. I saw her everyday up until the time the kidnappers stole her, so I felt pretty confident that I could recognize her. "You two stays here," I said. "I'm going in like any other ark-hunter."
"Are you sure?" asked Rynn with a calm demeanor.
"I want to get a feel of the place," I said. "This town preys on Irathients."
"It's slave town," Irisa said as she stared into Apostasy. "Nolan told me to always avoid this place."
"By the power of Irzu, I hope it burns," Rynn said.
"How will we know when to come in?" Irisa asked with a grimace.
"You'll know," I said as I reached into the vehicle for my backpack. It had three grenades in it, and I expected to use them. My gut told me the people who kidnapped my sister lived in Apostasy, and I could only imagine how many other settlers stole Iraths from their families. I took the main, dirt road into the city, and on the edge of town, an old, metal guard shack stood with two officers on the inside. Above the door of the shack was a sign that read, "Law Shack." One of the guards stepped out of the shack, and immediately made me sign in with my full name, so I did. At first, I thought I recognized the man from an ark-fall, but I couldn't tell. His rough skin was off putting, and from the way he coughed, he sounded sick.
The guard looked at me for a second, down at his sign in sheet, and then back at me, "Okay, Rusty Brand. Don't bring your god here, and we won't have a problem," he said with an awkward smile. "You look familiar," he said with a grimace. "Do I know you?" I looked directly at his name tag, and it read Cobin. The name didn't sound familiar, but his face, on the other hand, resembled a marauder that Ircuz beat.
"I don't think so," I said with a smile. "I just came in from Las Vegas. I came to Apostasy for the Iraths." Irathient sex slaves were the number product in Apostasy according to the rumors, and I knew I had to play that angle so I won't look out of place.
"Don't we all?" the guard asked.
Apostasy smelled like any other fledgling town: sewage and death. I walked into the small city with my po-tech pistol on my right hip, into the lawkeeper's office, and stood by the door until one of the two deputies acknowledged me. One of the deputies looked familiar to me for some reason, and I tried my best to remember where I saw him. He was a tall, somewhat rough looking older Caucasian man with a scruffy face. He had his legs up on the desk, and saw me when I came into the establishment, but never properly acknowledge me. It was highly possible the kidnappers built Apostasy on the backs of Irathient women, and the reason the men seemed familiar was because they kidnapped Ireena.
"What can I do for you, boy?" He asked. I had talked to Derrick Shooty a lot as a child, and due to living in the Badlands, he was the only black guy I knew. Most Iraths hated him including Irocuz, but because he paid them script every month, they tolerated him. Mister Shooty ran multiple businesses throughout the land, and he told me when a man called another man a boy that it was a sign of disrespect. I hadn't seen him since my tenth birthday, but I remembered that lesson.
"I wanted to see about some employment," I said smilingly. "A lawkeeper's job."
He laughed at me, and then said, "We'll never hire the likes of you in Apostasy." He laughed again, and then when he stood up, I realized where I had seen him. He was a marauder, a thug who often stole the booty of other ark-hunters. It all made sense to me now of who kidnapped Ireena and why. It occurred right after the Miami, Oklahoma ark-fall when fifty or so ark-hunters charged for Miami at the same time. After Irocuz and I tussled with a group of ark-hunters, we traveled down to Old Tulsa, and set up a small camp site. The gate guardsman tried to attack Irocuz in Miami, and he beat the ark hunter within inches of his life. I'm not sure why he let the man live because we met up with his rowdy friends later.
The terraforming obliterated the entire city of Tulsa, Oklahoma , and over two hundred thousand people died after a series of devastating earthquakes. When the debris hit against the planet, a lot of it fell on the city, and completely eradicated the population. I was young, maybe four-years-old when it happened, and I remember how stressed it made Iroza. We had calculated that another ark would fall within a day or so in the general area that would make us a fortune.
I started a fire, placed on some pow burgers, and cooked them slowly. "Nia brobra," I said as I turned the meat. I felt joyful because of the possibility of a hardy bounty was imminent. Irocuz lay on the ground silently, and kind of laughed. I basically told him, "I'm famished."
"Nia brebra," he replied. He basically told me, he was starving, and it was a game we often played with each other. The Irathient word for hungry was "Bribra," but because the variations were so close, we all had our own words for explaining our hunger. I always said, "Brobra." Irocuz always said, "Brebra" And when it came to Momma and Ireena, they always said, "Bribra." It was a family thing. As I sat on an old log, cooked the food, and Irocuz dozed off, a vehicle stopped approximately one hundred feet from our position. Irocuz hopped off the ground, and darted to the tree line to take a position, and then when the marauders came up to the camp, they acted irascible.
"Where's my damn pow burger?" One of the scruffy men asked. His face tattered and worn, and from the looks of it, he lived a horrid life. I didn't say anything at all at first. They smelled of urine, sweat, and it was close to being unbearable. "I'm talking to you, boy."
"You're breaking ark-hunter code," I said calmly. Due to our family sop Irocuz absconded to the woods, and I thought I'd better handled the situation with some sense. I knew my father laid in wait for me to move out of the way before he put a bullet in them, so I waited before I signaled to fire. "It's unlawful to enter another hunter's camp uninvited."
"There's four of us and one of you," the other guy said. He was the same guy that stood across from me. His name tag read Franks. He was much larger now than four years ago; however, his attitude hasn't changed at all. The night had overtaken the day, and I could barely make out the facial features, but I remembered Deputy Franks. He kicked me while I sat on the log, and then I stood to my feet. He pulled out his po-tech pistol, and pointed it at my head. I tensed up, and looked right down the barrel of the gun, but I didn't want to signal to Irocuz while the animal had a weapon to my head.
"Don't point your weapon at me," I said with a grimace. The other men stood around laughing, and kicking dirt on my food.
"I could kill you right now," he said with a scowl on his face. I had my hands in the air, and watched his hands closely, but he didn't have his index finger on the trigger. Immediately, he took my sidearm, but didn't check me for my po-tech ankle pistol, and in hostile situations in the field, nobody did a thorough check for weapons. I wasn't worried about Irocuz at all because we didn't survive the Badlands out of ignorance. We constantly prepared for every possible outcome in the wilderness, and because of my size at the age of fifteen, they dropped their guard. They didn't see me as a threat at all, and I believed that was the reason I got away.
"I got a goddamn rope in the roller," Franks said with a grimace on his face. At the time, I didn't understand what he meant when he referenced a rope. It was a reference to some historical atrocities committed in the Old World. The men discussed amongst themselves about stealing my booty, roller, and killing me. Quietly, I backed away from them, and absconded to the thick brushes, and watched them as they confabulated about killing me. I let out a bird sound, and then suddenly, a gun blast, and two of the marauders went down immediately. The third guy tried to run back to the roller, and I came out of the tree line, shot him in the back, and listened to him screaming in agony. Deputy Franks hopped in his roller, took off, and left his dying comrades to die.
One of the guys struggled to breath, and I walked over to him, grabbed his po-tech pistol, and commandeered it. When I walked away from him, Irocuz walked up, and said, "Kuga umaca!" That translated to "Kill him!"
"Tro briaga fasa wae!" I said. That translated to, "The threat has stopped!"
He walked up to the man, and shot him in the head. Turning back to me, he stared like a father does at his son, and screamed, "Badlands, Teetick es." That translated to, "This is the Badlands."
"Oot, Pappa!" I said. That translated to, "But, Pappa!"
"Inyee hena snea enyee," he said. I stared at him for a moment, and then sat down on my log. The fire and dirt ruined the meat, and now I lost my appetite, and didn't feel like making any more. I stared at the dying flame, and then packed up the campsite, and Irocuz wouldn't let me bury the men. In time, hellbugs would devour the bodies, and he didn't care. It wasn't the first time he killed people, and just let the bodies rot. He just repeated, "Inyee hena snea enyee." That meant, "You have to be strong."
Now, I stood in front of the marauder who escaped, and I was no longer the fifteen-year-old kid. I was my father's son, and I had every intention of killing Deputy Franks, but not now. Finding Ireena was the goal, and to leave Apostasy without her would be a failure. I walked out of the lawkeeper's office, and heard one of the deputies say, "Good riddance."
I walked into the gravel street, and young, human girls played quietly in front of the hovels that set about ten feet away from the main road. One of the human girls had a younger Irathient child on a leash, and it enraged me in ways that I had never imagined. It reminded me of one of Irocuz's favorite sayings: when evil is allowed to exist, it permeates through every crevice of society. Several vendors walked the thoroughfare selling candies. I could smell the candy popcorn, caramel apples, and cotton candies in the air. There weren't any Iraths merely playing outside, but plenty of them solicited miners and ark hunters in front of the Sexpot, the club at the end of the corner. It appeared the humans ran Apostasy, and used the Iraths as sex slaves. Across from the Sexpot was the Cum-Lately, and it had another group of girls on the outside of it. The Bazaar was on the next street over, and it took up the entire block. Most of the homes were nothing more than Old World shipping containers that had been transformed into hovels.
I walked up to the brothel on the right, and one of the Iraths said, "You don't want to be around here too long." She said it plainly and clearly." She stepped in front of me, and then said, "The ark hunters don't take kindly to you black ones." She laughed. "I don't mind though."
I smiled for a moment, and said, "Ireena, vo inyee presana?" That translated to, "Do you know Ireena?"
She looked at me for a second in shocked, and then said, "Ireena, ni presana," she said in astonishment. "Tommy, inyee na?" She said, "I know Ireena. Are you Tommy?"
"Tommy, nia," I said. "Ni gayadae haddia Ireena solicita." That translated to, "I am Tommy. I came to take Ireena home."
She looked at me for a second, and then pulled me into the club, sat me down at a table to the rear, and sat on my lap. It was partially full, and most of the occupants were humans. The young Irathient girl on my lap smelled sweet, but she had a scar on her right cheek. It looked like somebody purposely cut her. "Peeia," she said as her eyes pointed to the young Irathient girl across the room. I looked over at the young girl, and she wore her hair long. She had on a golden dress, and the blouse was cut off to show her midsection. She stood quietly on the other side of the room, and I immediately recognized her to be Ireena. I pulled out fifty scripts, and handed it to the girl for her help.
"Inyee ga!" I said. I was telling her to go, and she quickly hopped off my lap, and scurried out the front door. I had eyes on my sister, and she was now a teenager, but worked as a prostitute. The idea of men abusing her daily burned me on the inside. Somehow I envisioned myself in her shoes, and the girl that I saved from the Badlands, that was my family, and that I loved was now thrown into a life of prostitution.
I looked around the bar for a moment, and I already knew about the bouncer in the far corner of the establishment. He had one po-tech pistol on his hip, and a bulge on his right ankle that I assumed was a gun. He didn't have on any armament, and that was one of the first things I checked. There was another bouncer who stood near Ireena as she danced in the far corner. He was slender, about one hundred and fifty pounds, and his pistol hung loosely on his hip. When he went to draw his weapon, I expected their to be some lag time because of the way he wore his belt. He wore cowboy boots, and I expected he had a pistol in at least one of them. I looked closely at his crotch for a possible weapon, but I didn't see anything at all.
I approached the bar, and the bartender looked under the counter for a moment, and I heard something metal slide from underneath it. I assumed he had a weapon in reach or a weapon already trained on me. His eyes were close together, and he had a craggy face. It was rugged and uneven, and he looked like the sun punished him. His eyes were unwelcoming, but I ordered a small whiskey, and then set back down. Another man approached the bar, and he greeted him with a smile, and it was as I expected.
One of the ark-hunters traversed the floor, and walked over to Ireena, flashed some money, and then took her upstairs. I quickly gulped down my whiskey, walked out the club, and then around to the back of the building. I climbed up the side of the whorehouse, and then checked in several windows until I found the room where Ireena was located. The entire room had an ugly, red wallpaper with hearts on it. A vanity mirror set to the front of the room, and a walk in closet off to the right of the room. The ark hunter, a frumpy man about twenty-five-years-old, pulled off his clothes, and stood in the middle of the area nude. He then shoved her on the bed violently, and smacked her a few times. It was aggressive. She screamed, and tussled with the guy, and I realized immediately that it wasn't foreplay. I quickly lifted up the window, pulled out my charge blade from my left boot, and slit his throat. His blood splattered on the floor, shot out of his neck, and I knew he wouldn't last long. The more he struggled the faster he bled, and I stood behind him as he flailed his arms, and the blood spew into the air. I looked at Ireena, and told her to be quiet because she let out a loud scream until she recognized me.
"Tommy?" She asked.
The man stumbled off the bed, and tried to run for the door, but I beat him in back of the head. I knew his screams alerted the rest of the ark-hunters throughout the facility, but I didn't care. He fell forward onto the door, and broke it completely off its hinges. He landed in the middle of the hallway, and then some Iraths screamed from down the hallway.
"Tommy, viti no," I said with a grimace. I ran over to Ireena, hugged her, and what I said translated to, "It's me, Tommy."
Quickly, she hugged me, and then put on her clothes, and ran over to the window. She looked back at me, and said, "Ga ee nay." That translated to, "Let's go."
"Rynn es iddie bubowa," I said. "Ga!" That translated to, "Rynn is on the hill. Go."
"Miat ibra inyee?" She asked. That translated to, "What about you?"
I looked at her for a moment, and then said, "Deputy Frank, nia nay kuga." That translated to ,"I am going to kill Deputy Frank."
"Inyee presana?" She asked. That translated to, "You know?"
'Ni presana," I said, "Papi moregyniae." That translated to, "I know. Pappa died."
She began to sob, and said, "Inyee kuga Deputy Frank. Cheti freggiae nena." That translated to, "Kill Deputy Frank. He kidnapped me."
"Soya," I said as she climbed out the window.
Suddenly three men entered into the room, and I fired several rounds as they approached. They were half nude, and off balance. They looked like they had hastily hopped out of bed, and drunk, so that put me at an advantage. I knew I hit one immediately because I saw him go down in the threshold of the door. It happened all of a sudden, and I started pulling the trigger, and then ducked down on the side of the bed. One of the men tried to run around the corner, and I shot him in the left ankle. He buckled. When he fell, his head hit the corner of the dresser, and died on contact. The other body guard lay in the hallway gasping for air, and when I walked by him, I put a bullet in his head.
The Iraths screamed so loudly, and the half naked Iraths ran by me, down the stairs, and hopefully out the building. Out of nowhere, ark hunters on the bottom floor fired aimlessly into the ceiling at random, and I had to immediately duck back into my sister's room. The bullets tore through the wooden floor, but none of the rounds came near me. I knew I had to do something fast in order to abate and terminate the attacks. I pulled a grenade out of my bag, ran into the hallway, and waited for a second.
"Is somebody going up there?" One of the ark hunters asked. I took the pin out the grenade, and knew I had three seconds to throw it once I released the pin. It was a votanic grenade with a blast radius of one hundred meters. Not only would it take out everybody on the bottom floor, but the damage would decimate the second floor too. "You're surrounded, ark hunter."
"I don't expect to live," I said. "I came to die." I tossed the grenade down the stairwell, started counting, and then ran for the window. I screamed at the girls to run, and they did. By the time I ran down the street, the first floor exploded, and when I turned around to see my work, about three men stumbled out of the burning building. The girls in front of the whorehoue ran across the street to the other brothel before the explosion, and avoided most of the debris. A large gaggle of Apostasy citizens charged the burning building with water jugs, and I head for the lawkeeper's station. I had no plans on letting Officer Frank live.
Lawkeeper's station…
The town bustled with people, mostly humans, and the aliens were all in servitude, and even though I was nowhere near the club, I could hear people screaming, and running that way. It gave me the opportunity to handle Deputy Frank inside of the jailhouse. I walked back to the lawkeeper's office, and Deputy Frank sat in his chair with his legs propped up on the desk. He wasn't paying any attention to the chaos happening outside of the jail-house, and I didn't care. People screamed up and down the street, but it was a party night with ark-hunters and miners always yelling. I just stood in his office, quiet, and holding on to my gun. "You back?" He asked. I didn't say anything at all. I looked at him for a moment, smiled, and leaned on his counter. Suddenly, I heard a loud explosion from behind me, and I didn't know what caused that.
"What have you done?" He asked with a grimace.
"Don't touch your weapon," I said. "I'm surprise you don't remember me," I said calmly. Every move he made, I watched, and if he acted like he was going for his weapon, I planned on shooting him in the chest. "I definitely remember you."
He took off his hat, leaned forward, and said, "Should I remember you, boy?" The way he looked up at me I could tell he thought he had control of the situation. His office smelled like human feces, so I thought the other deputy was in the bathroom. The rest of the town attended to the whorehouse fire, and I had my attention on Deputy Frank.
"Of course," I said with a smile. "Surely, you remember me because you kidnapped my sister."
He laughed for a moment. It was a vociferous laughed that angered me. He cocked his head backwards, and let out a roar. When he reached for his weapon, I put two rounds in his chest, and he fell back in his chair. His body convulsed when he slid into the floor, and then he was completely still. I walked over to him as he slobbered, and put a round in his head. Another deputy came out of the bathroom, and he fired one round into my shoulder, and it caused me to fly back against the wall. The jailhouse door flew open. My weapon fell out of my hand, slid across the floor, and then he charged at me, but Irisa shot the man in the head before I could pull the small gun from my boot. He bent over, and tried to reach for me, but he fell face first on the ground. Slowly, I slid up the wall with Irisa's help, and the pain from the round was almost unbearable. Not only did it hurt, but it also burned. She helped me stumble out the jail, and over to the roller parked next to the building. People screamed from down the street because of the dead bouncers and burning whorehouse, and everybody seemed to be in that direction. I grabbed the fuel container from the vehicle, and brought it into the jail house. It didn't take me long to drench the entire building in gas, and then I lit it on fire.
"You're really causing a mess," Irisa said. "Don't worry about the two gate guards. I blew them up with a grenade."
"I should have burned the entire town to the ground," I said. "This place is a slave camp."
I walked out of the building, and the fire roared behind me. Irisa and I hopped in the roller, and took off out the front gate. It took a few minutes before anybody realized what was happening. The smell of the burning building trumped that of the cotton candy, and I had to move my people out of the area. A few people screamed, "Fire!" But we kept driving until we reached Rynn and Ireena.
Back Home…
Momma and I hugged Ireena so hard that we didn't want to let go. Rynn walked up behind me, and placed her head against my back, and now that all my family was in place, I felt I could finally rest. We had a long cry because of the passing of Irocuz, and Momma prepared his body for burial while we brought Ireena back home.
Rynn guided me over to the couch, and she pulled off my shirt, attended to my shoulder wound, and it was nothing more than a graze, but it hurt a lot. She sterilized a needle with fire and alcohol, and began sewing up my wound. It wasn't her first time taking care of one of my many wounds, but she always did it with caring hands. It took approximately five minutes for her to sew me up, and then I stepped outside on the front porch, and sat down against the banister. Rynn sat in the porch swing, and leaned back as the fresh air brushed across her soft face.
Irisa and I sat on the front porch while Momma and Ireena caught up on life, and I was beat. She laid her head on my lap, and I gently massaged her scalp. She closed her eyes, and appeared to fall asleep, wake up, and then fall back to sleep.
Rynn's eyes looked like she was full of sleep, and Irisa had already given up trying to stay awake. It wasn't an uncomfortable quietness, but everybody kind of sat with a subtle dignity. I just sat on the porch, facing Rynn, and she looked out into the yard. I sat enamoured by her, completely fixated on her every move; it was a love, a quiet love.
"Tommy, wa wedocai nena," she said smilingly. That translated to, "Tommy, stop watching me."
"Prapai, inyee na," I said with a smile. "Nia prelala inyee." I basically told her, "You are beautiful. I am enjoying you." She smiled sheepishly, and then looked over at the pond.
"Viti ahehi wodi shidda es bodi," she said, "Nia trilled." She said, "It's good our family is back. I'm happy."
I looked at her for a moment as she looked down at the ground, and gently rocked back and forth. "Inyee presana miat fefi?" I wanted her to know that we were at a do or die moment. I could no longer live with my heart torn, and my life on hold. My heart hurt because I desired to be united with her, and I asked her if she knew what I wanted.
"Thei," she said softly. "Tiriat. Ni vordi presana inyee oragra nena." I looked at her, and she said, "Marriage. I don't know why you love me." She looked over at the pond, and said, "Oadi ugbe medea yo inyee." That translated to, "My heart burns for you."
"Inyee uado Ni indinee tobra Defiance," I said, "Inka Irisa." That translated to, "You and I live in Defiance with Irisa."
She shook her head in disagreement. "No! Inyee uado Irisa indinee tobra Defiance," she said, "Ni indinee eerah." That translated, "You and Irisa live in Defiance, and I'll live here."
I looked at her for a moment, and I loved everything about her, but she pointed at the ground when she said, "Here." She doesn't change her mind easily, and that scared me. "Ni fefi inyee tobra Defiance." That translated to "I want you in Defiance."
"No, Tommy," she said, "Ni indinee eerah inka Irosa."
"Commick?" I asked. "Commick?" I asked her why did she wanted to stay, and she gave me a long stare, and then said in a brittle voice that she wanted to stay for the farm.
"Haddia sopadi tretra," she said. "Ni tretra. Inyee portae script." I looked at her for a moment, and wondered how she'd manage to farm all the land. She wanted me to send her half my paycheck to help her with the farm.
"Teetick tweda shopa flacki," I said. That tranlated to, "This doesn't feel different."
"Teetick preda es ahehi," she said, "Viti woodi preda," she said as she pointed to me. "Inyee na tro zusone." That translated to, "This land is good. It's our land. You are the man."
I sat back against the banister, and Irisa lay sound asleep on my lap, and even though I didn't like anything Rynn said to me, I had to respect her plan. The women wanted to stay, and work the land, and Irisa and I would work in Defiance, and be the stable income. "Ni uda inyee fachi oragra." That translated to, "I think you fear love."
"Ni yannae," she said softly. "Inyee hena tova oragra es enyee." That translated to, "I did. You have proved love is strong."