𝚁𝙰𝙸𝚈𝙰
Sacks Tower is silent, absent even of the hum of electricity.
There are signs on the walls providing directions to the laboratory, but I don't need them. I already know the way. I've run it countless times, countless nights through the same halls lit by the same flickering lights, a kunai grasped in my hand. I know that when I get there Eric Sacks will be waiting. I know he's going to have a gun pointed at my head and I know he's going to pull the trigger just as I throw my kunai and realize it and my belt had disappeared into thin air without me realizing.
But I can't stop any of it. I never can.
It's as if my body is programmed to reenact the same sequence over and over again and no matter how hard I fight I can never change it or stop it. I have to sit and watch as I confront that evil, conniving billionaire, trying to figure out when and how that damn kunai disappears from my grasp every time. And hoping and praying and begging to wake up before I have to stare down the barrel of that pistol, waiting for the crack and BAM and—
"Hey."
There was a voice in my ear. It made everything blur.
"Hey, wake up, Em."
It was deep and soft—calming. I could feel the breath and warmth of him next to me.
"You're okay." I felt him wipe away the tears on my cheeks I hadn't known I'd shed. The Sacks tower blurred into nothing as I forced my heavy eyes open. Raphael was watching me intently, one hand resting lightly on my cheek, green eyes filled with concern, as they always were.
I hated it. God, I hated seeing that pity and that guilt constantly overwhelming him. And every time he looked at me like that...
My eyes burned. "Why am I so fucked up?" I whispered. Why can't I just be normal?
Raph's eyes hardened, the pity evaporating in an instant so he was fixing me with this expression of disbelief and anger. He grasped my face fiercely, bringing me close. "You're not fucked up," he murmured, kissed my forehead. "Try to get some sleep."
─── ─ 影の啓示 ─ ───
"Sorry I'm late!" I called, pushing open the door to the zoo's back room with my back, Red grasped in my hands. "People kept stopping me, it's a zoo out there." I smiled hearing Lauren's outburst of laughter as I turned and walked inside, transferring Red to my shoulder as I looked up. My manager was standing beside a tall guy who was dressed in CPZ attire near the huge cage filled with gliders. He looked South American with his dark skin and curly black hair. I shot him a friendly smile as I approached the two.
Lauren smiled sympathetically, traces of amusement still evident. "Don't worry about it. This is Matias," she gestured to the man next to her, "the new keeper."
Matias stepped forward, holding out his hand. "You can call me Mat." He looked older than Liv and had some sort of cool accent. His eyes were a dark, amber-tinged brown.
I shook his hand. "I'm Raiya. And this is Red." I hooked a thumb at the glider, whose whiskers I could feel brushing against my ear. I couldn't tell if he hadn't noticed the five other sugar gliders in the room or just didn't care.
Mat smiled, his curious eyes stuck on the young marsupial "How old?"
"Around five weeks." I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tell him about the whole illegal part of Red being here, but Lauren answered that question for me.
"Raiya's friends found him orphaned in Australia," she explained, drawing Mat's attention. "They decided to bring him back instead of leaving him to the wilderness."
I watched the keeper's expression turn grim before she hurried to resolve it.
"Technically, it is illegal. But everything has been taken care of and he's officially zoo property. So there won't be any problems there." She turned to look at the enormous cage against the wall behind her. "These guys are from Australia as well, they're even the same subspecies as Red, which will help a ton in the integration process. Which brings me to my next point." The director's gaze fell on me. "Matias and I have been trying to decide the best way to integrate Red while he's still bonding with you. We can't assume the gliders in this colony will instantly adopt him and take care of him: he still needs a parent, and these guys are only about one or two weeks older than him."
I raised my eyebrows, waiting for the solution. "Okay, so what do you guys have so far?"
Mat crossed his arms. "We think about one more week will establish the bond before he can permanently live with the others."
"We're not exactly experts on glider bonding," Lauren added humorously. "But I figure you can bring him here and while you work your shifts he can hang out with these guys. Then you take him home, hang out, bond. And by the end of next week, he'll be ready to join the colony without losing that bond between you." She paused to hear my opinion.
I glanced between the two and nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. When do we start?"
─── ─ 影の啓示 ─ ───
"So you are from here?"
Petting Red, I shook my head. "I was born in Arizona and I moved here about..." I bit my lip, quickly doing the math in my head, "six years ago. What about you?"
Matias nodded thoughtfully. "I am from Argentina, I grew up there with my family and studied English. I came to America about nine years ago, started working at a zoo in California. Then I come here." He gestured to the interior of the Tropic Zone building, referring to the Central Park Zoo as a whole.
As one of the Tropics educators called in sick, Lauren had decided to offer me a chance to earn some extra hours as an educator—despite my recent promotion to assistant-keeper—while also making some integration progress. So Mat took one of the new gliders—Alice, the oldest and most relaxed from the colony—and strolled around the Tropic Zone building with me and Red, acquainting the two animals with each other while also doing my job. They got along well and attracted an incredible amount of curious zoo-goers; I was answering more questions about gliders than any of the other animals. And more kids than I could count had asked to hold Red, who was too afraid to leave my grasp. So Mat let them pet Alice, successfully creating a curious crowd of people that had only just dispersed.
"Hey, I need–"
I quickly spun around upon hearing the familiar voice among the chattering masses and Casey Jones instantly halted, his horrified gaze falling on the animal grasped in my hands.
"Why are you holding a rat?" He demanded.
I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Mat, who looked both confused and amused. "That's Casey, he's my friend somehow," I explained drily. "Casey, this is my coworker, Matias."
Standing an uncomfortable distance away, Casey nodded his head in greeting. "Hey, man. You got one too?" He was still talking about the gliders.
"They're sugar gliders, Jones. Stop being a wuss."
He sighed and came closer. "You know, I didn't come here to be insulted," he grumbled. "When did you get those things anyway?"
"Most of them got here today," I answered. "This guy got here on Friday. His name is Red."
Casey looked down at the marsupial uncertainly. "Since when do you carry around monkeys during your shifts?"
Matias chuckled quietly.
"Since yesterday. I got promoted," I announced dramatically. "Assistant sugar glider keeper."
"About time," he mused.
Right. I rubbed Red's ears and let him chew on my finger. "So what do you need help with?" I looked up when he didn't reply right away, and I couldn't help but grin knowingly upon seeing his hesitant expression. "Oh, you need girl advice."
"Please? I finally got a date and I have no clue what to do."
"About what?"
"Everything!" He groaned. "What am I supposed to wear?"
"Well, where are you going?"
Casey shrugged and my jaw dropped. Beside me, Mat coughed to conceal his laughter.
"Please tell me you're kidding."
Casey didn't seem to understand. "What?"
"You don't even have an idea?"
He shook his head.
"You were planning on asking her? Are you kidding!?"
He shrugged. "What's the big deal?"
"I have never been on a date before but if my man showed up and asked me what I wanted to do on the first date there probably wouldn't be a second."
The idiot still wasn't catching on.
"You gotta plan!" I explained. "If you show up without a plan you're gonna look like you don't care."
"That's ridiculous."
"Well deal with it. What did you say to her when you asked her out?"
He thought for a moment. "Just if she wanted to hang out."
"Okay, so that should be something fun and laid back. What does she like to do?"
"I dunno."
"Casey!"
"I'm kidding!" He laughed. "She's usually chasing a story but when she's not doing that she's doing something like walking around a mall or going for a run or something like she's constantly looking for something to do, you know?"
I nodded, already running through options in my head. "Do you think she'd like axe throwing? There's a place in Greenpoint across the East River, it's around a bunch of different bars and restaurants so you can go wherever based on how it goes."
"That's awesome. I think she'd like that, she's always looking for new things to do." He hesitated. "Will she think I'm weird, though?"
"Casey you are weird," I said. "And if she doesn't like that then she's not worth it. Just...don't be too weird on the first date, if that makes sense."
"Right, okay. So what else?"
Despite never having been on a real one myself, I lectured Casey about the do's and do-not's of first dates, reminding him to shave, shower, be on time, compliment her, hold doors open, offer to pay the bill, and ask her questions, but don't interrogate. There's a fine line between the two.
Matias—bless that man—took care of all the questions and curious people that were interested in his glider, Alice, while I helped Casey. I reminded myself to buy him a coffee or something as thanks.
After I poured all my advice out onto Casey, he was finally beginning to look more confident about his date.
"I think I got this," he said, bouncing slightly on his feet.
I grinned. "Great. Let me know how it goes tomorrow."
"I will." He took a step back. "Thanks for the help."
I watched with a smile on my face as Casey Jones disappeared into the gradually lessening crowds of people in the building, wondering just how long this infatuation will last, or if Casey truly is interested this time. With a sigh, I turned around to look at Mat.
"Sorry about that," I said sheepishly. "He was so nervous I thought he was going to cancel his date if I didn't do anything."
He just shrugged. "It's no problem, this job is nice," he said truthfully, petting Alice. "I like these people."
I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket but ignored it. "Really?" I asked. "Why are you a keeper then?"
Matias smiled and looked down at Alice. "I like animals more."
I laughed. "Me too."
A young boy dragged his mother over to us, pointing excitedly at the gliders in our hands, asking what they were, what their names were, if he could pet them. Matias crouched down, letting him pet Alice while I made conversation with the kid's mom, telling her about sugar glider behaviour and the new enclosure that would be ready for them soon. Throughout the whole interaction, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Someone really wanted to get a hold of me.
When the two of them walked off to enjoy the rest of the zoo, I told Matias I'd be back before retreating to the back room and pulling out my phone. Fifteen texts and four missed calls. From Mikey. Probably still trying to find the skateboard Raphael hid.
Before I could open any to read, my phone started vibrating from another incoming call. Mikey's caller ID popped up and I quickly answered it, prepared to scold him for disrupting me during work—which I constantly tell him I'm not allowed to answer my phone during. But he interrupts me before I can even open my mouth.
"Raiya!" He cried. "Thank god you finally answered! I really screwed up, something happened and I dunno what to do! I can't call Leo, he's gonna lose his shell! Please help me out, dudette, I'm losing my mind! I think I'm gonna throw up."
What the hell? "Calm down. What do you mean something happened?"
"Please don't be mad at me," he begged.
I sighed. It was probably something ridiculous like losing one of his nunchucks somewhere in the sewers. "I won't," I promised. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Just tell me what happened."
"Okay," he said. "I was skateboarding way outside the lair and I found this cat, right? And I saw him trying to get outta the sewers through a grate but he couldn't fit so I lifted it up out of the way and I let him out and…" He hesitated for a moment before saying quietly: "someone saw me."
author's note
OH SHIT HAHAA
I bet y'all can guess who saw Mikey ;)
So I imagine Matias looking something like Juan Pablo di Pace. He's a really nice guy, and I'm thinking about 29 years old.
I've been waiting a long time for the opportunity to write this next chapter so I hope I can manage to get it written and publish it for you guys soon! But no promises because I can't seem to get my shit together lately lol
ANyways, I ordered a grad dress and hopefully it fits so I'm a little less stressed now (bless) but now I gotta worry about hair and shoes and makeup ugh plus its still cold af were I live and the sun is not coming out which is an ISSUE because I need to start tanning I'm too goddamn white lmao
ALSO the support I'm getting from you guys is INSANE and I'm always so so excited to see the reviews you guys leave me! You are seriously the best and I appreciate your patience so much! :D
