EA Big owns it all, I got nothing
This chapter is dedicated to my little sister, I don't think I tell you enough how proud I am of you and how thankful I am for you. I wouldn't be where I am today without you.
Chapter 6: Much ado about Psymon
Psymon pushed the indeglo button on his wristwatch to check the time.
"Only twelve eighteen? Geez." he whispered. Only him, Brodi and Moby were still awake, Moby didn't allow himself to let his guard down after his event with Psymon earlier. They sat in the dark room quietly, the lights in the surrounding hallways were all on, so they could see if anyone was coming.
"Seems kind of stupid, doesn't it? Just sitting here, waiting for someone to kill us." Brodi said quietly, they didn't want to wake anyone. Psymon slightly chuckled at the comment, Moby said nothing, he simply sat quietly. "So what if this IS it?" Brodi asked Psymon, Psymon cocked an eye in an odd fashion.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if we don't live to see another day, do you think your life was worth it? Do you think you left an impact in this world?" Psymon chuckled again.
"You and your Buddhist stuff, man." Brodi stayed stone faced.
"No, seriously. We're being faced with death, can you look back at your life and say you made something out of it?" Psymon thought about it then shrugged.
"I don't know, I guess, I'm sure I've left an impact on some peoples' lives, whether good or bad it remains to be seen, but I think for what time I've had as me and not Stark, I've used well." Brodi smiled and nodded.
"Cool." Psymon re-adjusted himself on the couch, being careful not to wake Zoe and Kaori, who both sat nuzzled against him like a human pillow. Brodi then spoke again. "So what's your favorite memory?" Psymon looked at Brody with confusion again and smirked.
"I'm sorry?"
"Your favorite memory, what is it?" Psymon tilted his head back to think.
"I answered the last one, what's yours?" Brodi nodded and smiled in reminiscence.
"When I was about fifteen, sixteen maybe... I was raised in the Catholic church, was cool enough but all the rules made me a wuss. As I got into my early teenage years I felt this urge to just break out, you know? When I turned fifteen or sixteen I wandered into a Buddhist temple once, just to check it out. It was like a whole new world to me. No church laws, no Catholic mandates, no manmade prerequisites that decided whether you were a good person or not, it was simply the law to love everything because everything is precious." Moby made a slight gagging sound, Brodi and Psymon looked at him with their eyes, then Brodi continued. "The more I went, the more I felt free to be myself, you know? I learned true happiness through inner peace, and I learned to hold every day precious because you never know when it could be your last. I got to be me and I was finally happy with who I was." Psymon nodded to the story thoughtfully. "So what about you?" Psymon smirked and looked down at Zoe sleeping on his side.
"Well, it was a while ago, not entirely sure of when exactly it was because of the accident, you know..." Brodi nodded. "It was when Zoe and I were younger, she was still just a kid, I was in my late teens, this was after our parents were killed. We were having a hard time finding a permanent place to live. We were bouncing from relative to relative, they could only take us for so long because, well, Zoe and I were always a little different from the other cousins." Brodi smiled as Psymon smirked from his statement. "I guess it was when I was in my late teens... yeah I guess I was about eighteen or nineteen, Zoe had just finished her freshman year of highschool... Obviously I couldn't afford to go to college, so I was working crappy jobs wherever I could find one in order to keep us going. I remember we had a horrible little basement apartment, just a sitting room, a bedroom and a bathroom. We had to use our landlord's kitchen and I slept on a couch in the sitting room. I just remember being so discouraged because I wasn't able to give my little sister the kind of life her friends at school had, and I started to really get bummed out. Whenever I was able to work enough hours to make a decent income, I wouldn't be around to help her with her homework, make sure she ate properly, take care of her when she was sick, just little things that the other kids took for granted." Brodi listened closely and nodded along with the story, Moby even seemed to be listening but trying to appear to not be paying attention. "So in her grade ten year, I got hurt at work and had to take off a month without pay. It doesn't sound that bad, but the bills and rent add up quickly. I remember sitting there one night, thinking she had gone to bed, and I just worried. I worried that we would get kicked out of our apartment, I worried that we wouldn't be able to earn enough to eat, I was just worried about how we were going to get out of that situation. I was so worried that night I even began to cry, I was scared and angry at the same time, I felt like I was letting Zoe down. Anyways, she came out of her room and seemed to know right away what was bothering me." He looked back down at Zoe and ran his fingers through her hair on her scalp, she twitched her nose slightly in her sleep while he did so. "I remember her giving me a hug and telling me that she wasn't afraid... I thought at first she didn't understand the situation. She told me even if we did lose the apartment and had to live on the street, she wasn't afraid as long as I was there to look out for her. It was that very moment I knew we would be okay, yeah we would have our hard times, but we would always have each other. At that moment I knew my life had purpose, and I knew that I had a little sister who would love me and be proud of me no matter what." Psymon looked up at Brodi, who nodded with fascination.
"So, that's why you put her first even now?" Psymon shrugged and raised his eyebrows.
"When I was Stark, I missed too much of her life... far too much. For me she literally went from fifteen to twenty-three overnight. She had some rotten experiences over that time, and I wasn't there for her. The one thing I promised her I would always do, I didn't make good on. I love my little sister, and I'm going to make sure she's always in good hands, even if that means putting my own life on hold." Brodi nodded quietly.
"Awww... That is so sweet." a tired female voice said from the corner. They looked into the corner and saw Allegra sitting alone on the floor.
"What are you doing over there? Come over here, there's room." Allegra hesitated and then quietly walked across the room and sat next to Brodi. She tripped over Nate, who was stretched out on the floor, waking him.
"Well." Brodi chuckled softly. "Since you two are up, why don't you guys stay on watch with me for a bit and let Psymon get some sleep?" Nate mumbled and nodded.
If you haven't read my other story "Psymon's Secret" you are likely REALLY confused right now, again, go read it and come back to this later.
If you have already read it, I think this chapter was a nice wrap-up closure for that story. It explains a little more about the past of Psymon and Zoe and explains why it is that Psymon is maybe at times a little too over-protective of her. And no that is not a story from my own life, Psymon and Zoe are an extreme case that I bulked up for storyline reasons, there are very few similarities between those two and my sister and myself... well besides the overly-protective part ;). Keep on reading folks!