~~~
It's been four years. Four long years since that terrible day. We were supposed to go to Canada for my birthday and for their honeymoon. They hadn't been married more than twenty-four hours. It was a beautiful wedding, and for me, the opportunity of a lifetime to travel and see a whole other country, one that hadn't been affected by the Pulse like we had. It's hard to think about…
~~
The next day, I was pulled out of my parents' penthouse in the sky, and dropped into my Godfather's two-bedroom apartment in another sector. It's not like it should have been a major life-altering situation, because I basically grew up with my Godfather. Most days, he would be at our house, or I at his. But I made it into a life-altering situation…
~~
I never got to Canada, yet anyway. I guess you need lots of clearances to get across the border. I ain't got them. My dad had all the connections we needed to get into the country. He knew lots of people, and lots of people knew him. Everyone was willing to help him, too, because he was a friend of Eyes Only. Eyes Only was a cyber hacker back when I was a kid. No one knows who he was, but he had a lot of enemies. He would interrupt the cable shows to broadcast minute long pieces about what was happening in the corrupt government. Nobody but the everyday grunts liked him, and nobody knows where he went. He just stopped broadcasting. Probably someone found out who he was and 'disappeared' him like everyone else who crossed the government. I went with my dad on an Eyes Only mission once. All he did was go to a restaurant and talk to Rory's dad, he's a cop. It was boring.
~~
I don't remember much about that day, the day my parents died. I remember packing for the trip, and I remember going to the airport, but I don't remember anything between then and when Bling and Cindy were at the hospital with me. In my nightmares, I hear gunshots, but I don't really know how they died. I can't remember that, either. And no one would tell me. They thought it would be better for me to remember by myself. Right. That's what got me here, on the road, a million miles from home.
~~
I left Seattle two days after my twentieth birthday. The nightmares were getting worse, so I packed a bag, took my mom's bike from Cindy's apartment and took off. I called Bling when I got out of the state. It had taken me two days to get that far, and he was freaking. At that point I had lived with him for four years, he was almost as much a father to me as my father. But he would never be my father. I told him to cool down and that I'd see him in a bit. Just before I hung up, he said I was exactly like my mother was at my age. Right. I'll never be like her. She was a genetically engineered super soldier who escaped from the government. I am a twenty- year-old orphan on the run from my past.
~~~
It's been four years. Four long years since that terrible day. We were supposed to go to Canada for my birthday and for their honeymoon. They hadn't been married more than twenty-four hours. It was a beautiful wedding, and for me, the opportunity of a lifetime to travel and see a whole other country, one that hadn't been affected by the Pulse like we had. It's hard to think about…
~~
The next day, I was pulled out of my parents' penthouse in the sky, and dropped into my Godfather's two-bedroom apartment in another sector. It's not like it should have been a major life-altering situation, because I basically grew up with my Godfather. Most days, he would be at our house, or I at his. But I made it into a life-altering situation…
~~
I never got to Canada, yet anyway. I guess you need lots of clearances to get across the border. I ain't got them. My dad had all the connections we needed to get into the country. He knew lots of people, and lots of people knew him. Everyone was willing to help him, too, because he was a friend of Eyes Only. Eyes Only was a cyber hacker back when I was a kid. No one knows who he was, but he had a lot of enemies. He would interrupt the cable shows to broadcast minute long pieces about what was happening in the corrupt government. Nobody but the everyday grunts liked him, and nobody knows where he went. He just stopped broadcasting. Probably someone found out who he was and 'disappeared' him like everyone else who crossed the government. I went with my dad on an Eyes Only mission once. All he did was go to a restaurant and talk to Rory's dad, he's a cop. It was boring.
~~
I don't remember much about that day, the day my parents died. I remember packing for the trip, and I remember going to the airport, but I don't remember anything between then and when Bling and Cindy were at the hospital with me. In my nightmares, I hear gunshots, but I don't really know how they died. I can't remember that, either. And no one would tell me. They thought it would be better for me to remember by myself. Right. That's what got me here, on the road, a million miles from home.
~~
I left Seattle two days after my twentieth birthday. The nightmares were getting worse, so I packed a bag, took my mom's bike from Cindy's apartment and took off. I called Bling when I got out of the state. It had taken me two days to get that far, and he was freaking. At that point I had lived with him for four years, he was almost as much a father to me as my father. But he would never be my father. I told him to cool down and that I'd see him in a bit. Just before I hung up, he said I was exactly like my mother was at my age. Right. I'll never be like her. She was a genetically engineered super soldier who escaped from the government. I am a twenty- year-old orphan on the run from my past.
~~~