Susan groaned as she leaned on Anna's shoulder, slowly making her way to Marina's car. She felt as if her head was going to split open. The painkillers hadn't kicked in yet, but she was feeling better than before.
Marina, Charlie, and Rosa were already standing by the car, waiting for the two of them to arrive. There was something strange about the car. It was almost spotless, the black and green exterior was damn-near perfect. Susan hadn't seen a car in such good condition for years. Well, other than cars owned by the government.
Anna seemed to have been thinking about the same thing, and spoke up: "Where'd she get a car like that?"
Susan shrugged. "I don't know. I guess former idols have pretty deep pockets."
When they arrived at the car, Marina turned to them and smiled. "Alright, let's go!" she said and opened the driver's seat door. "Susan, you ride shotgun, it's only fair considering your injuries."
"Thanks!" Susan replied and opened the passenger seat door. Marina looked at the other three. "Alright, one of you guys has to sit in the middle, who's it gonna be?"
"Not me," Anna and Charlie said almost simultaneously, but Rosa, who was on her phone, said nothing. When she realized what had happened, she looked up with an annoyed expression.
"What?! That's not fair, I wasn't paying attention!" she argued. Charlie shrugged and opened the door. "That's your loss," she said and signaled Rosa to take a seat inside. Rosa clearly wanted to argue and looked to Marina for help.
"Don't look at me, this is your problem," Marina said and started the car. Defeated, Rosa sat down in the middle and sulked. Charlie and Anna took a seat on either side of her and fastened their seatbelts. When everyone was ready, Marina placed her foot on the gas pedal and they drove off.
Buildings rushed past them, so fast that Susan could barely make out any details. She stared out at the streets outside, while Marina's and Rosa's chatter blended into the background.
"Stop your whining Rosa, I'm not pulling over," Marina said and looked into the rear mirror. "Just wait until we arrive, you can eat then."
"But I'm hungry!" Rosa answered and tried to throw her hands in the air, but couldn't lift her arms because of how cramped it was. "I haven't eaten since lunch!"
"There's probably some kind of restaurant close to the new headquarters, just eat there when we arrive."
Rosa leaned forward in her seat, positioning herself so that she could see Marina more clearly. "Yeah, there's "probably" a restaurant, you say? And what if there isn't? I don't wanna be stuck there without any food!"
Marina pushed Rosa back into her seat, an annoyed expression on her face. "Look, Rosa, I'd love to go eat somewhere, but I'm in a hurry and need to go take care of some stuff, so I'm gonna have to drop you guys off and then hurry on my way. And if there's no restaurant nearby, just order delivery food or something."
"Do you know how expensive that is?!" Rosa protested. Marina shrugged in response. "You can send me the bill, I'll cover it.," she said and glanced back. "Squidbeak pays for meals. Once you guys can settle into the new headquarters, we can set up a cafeteria or something."
When Rosa groaned in response, Marina glanced back. "Look, I don't know why you're complaining, Rosa. You're getting free food and getting paid to do this, you're the only one here complaining."
"That's just because the newbies are too scared to speak up about it," Rosa answered and leaned forward again. "Ask them, and you'll see."
Marina pushed Rosa back into her seat and turned to Susan. "You hungry?"
Susan shrugged and looked back out the window. "I mean, not really," she answered. Her mind was more set on the streets outside. The sidewalks were full of people. Inklings, octolings, jellyfish, blobfish, and many, many more. Those were the people that had come too late to Splatsville. The ones that had no place to be. When they had arrived in Splatsville, having heard rumors of a new Inkopolis, they ended out in the streets. By the time they arrived, there was no space left. So, they lived out there, on the streets.
Susan and Anna had arrived in Splatsville right around the time when there was very little space left in the city. They'd lived out on the streets for the first few months. But, luckily for them, the lady that lived in their apartment before them, passed away from old age. With a little help from Margaret, they were able to get it before anyone else could. They had lived in that apartment ever since.
"What about you two?" Marina continued, addressing both Anna and Charlie. Anna shook her head and Charlie shrugged. "I mean, I'm not particularly hungry, but food would be nice in the next hour or two," she responded in a nonchalant tone. Marina glanced back at Rosa. "See? You're the only one complaining."
Rosa looked like she wanted to complain, but just leaned back and stared up at the car's ceiling.
When a few minutes of awkward silence had passed, Charlie spoke up. "Where'd you get a car like this, anyway?" she asked Marina. "I haven't seen a fancy car like this since before the flood."
Marina chuckled and scratched her head. "Yeah, I suppose I stand out a bit, driving around in this."
"And where'd you get it?" Anna asked, curious. Marina had to pause a bit while a group of people crossed the street, but when she drove off again, she spoke.
"Right before the flood, a friend of mine went on a trip to Octopia and asked if I could loan him one of my cars. I don't know why, he had a perfectly functioning car, but I assumed he just wanted to show off to some girls over there or something. I wasn't using this one, so I loaned it to him."
"How many cars did you have?" Susan jumped in, curious to know how much money a pop star owned. "Three," Marina replied casually like it was perfectly normal to own three sports cars. Before Susan could ask more about it, Marina continued in a dry and hollow voice.
"I thought he died after the flood, and never thought about it again. But right before I moved to Splatsville, I found him by sheer chance. He was an absolute mess when I found him. He'd settled down in a small house, but was missing both of his legs, and his mind wasn't in the correct place either. I tried to help him, but he was lost long before I got there."
She paused for a few moments, staring blankly out on the road. Susan stayed quiet, not daring to say a word. After taking a deep breath, Marina continued.
"I couldn't really do anything, so I had to leave him there. When I found him, there were no mental hospitals in Splatsville. No good ones at least. I didn't want to drag him into a large, confusing city, and lock him up in a place where he'd be treated like an animal. So, I left him there. He had plenty of food and access to a natural water source. He'd survived there so far. So I didn't see a reason to drag him away from a place where he seemed to be slightly happy."
She paused a bit. "But he still had the car, locked up in a small shack. It had stopped working long ago, but after a few hours, I was able to fix it enough to drive back to Splatsville. When I had settled down, I was able to restore it back to its former glory.
They all remained silent for a while. "Did you ever go back and find him?" Anna asked cautiously. Marina was gripping the steering wheel unusually hard like she didn't want to think about the answer to that question.
"I did," she said after an uncomfortable moment of silence. "When Splatsville's Mental Hospital opened, I went to check it out, and it looked more legit than any other mental hospital in Splatsville. It looked like they actually wanted to help people. I thought, maybe, I could bring him there, and they would help him get better."
She exhaled and continued. "I drove back to where I found him, but when I got there, I couldn't find him. I searched the house, the shack, and couldn't find him anywhere. Everything was intact, so he hadn't been attacked. He still had plenty of food and water, so he hadn't moved because of that. Not that he could go anywhere. Desperate, I began looking for him, calling his name."
Her voice was trembling, and she took a long, deep breath to calm herself down. "Eventually, I found him. I don't know what he was thinking at the time, but in the state he was in, I don't think I'll ever know. I suppose he wanted to go somewhere, to reach someplace and began dragging himself in whatever direction he thought was the right one. But he didn't get very far. I took him back to the house and buried him close to the oasis in his backyard. I didn't want to bury him in plain sand, I wanted his grave to be decorated with flowers. I know it'll never be enough for him to forgive me, but it was at least something. After I buried him, I left, and drove back home."
No one dared to say a single word for a few moments. After a while, Marina broke the silence. "Sorry," she said and rubbed her eyes. "I didn't mean to bring down the mood like that."
"No, it's okay," Charlie responded quietly. "We all gotta talk about this stuff at some point."
"Ya know, Marie told me I was supposed to be like a role model to you guys," Marina said. "Guess I failed on the first day."
She laughed an awkward laugh, but Susan could see a single tear run down her face.
"Don't worry, we won't tell her you broke down on us," Susan said. Marina quickly wiped the tear away and glanced at her, smiling. "Thanks. Although, she'll probably find out about it eventually. Marie somehow knows everything that happens."
The five of them laughed, before falling back into silence, as they drove on into the night.