Chapter Twenty-nine

The Future

Something is different about Eli the next morning. All of his friends notice it right away. He seems happier, a little less tired of life. Of course they wonder why he's like this. It's literally a sudden transformation. He smiles more, tries to make jokes, and sees the good things in life. It doesn't make any sense to the others so of course Richard is more or less obligated to ask.

"You seem happy," he says.

Eli smiles and nods, gutting another fish in the process.

"The others are wondering about you," Richard says. "They want to know what happened."

"Do they?" Eli says. "Then tell them to go visit Peter. He can make them feel better."

Richard turns to him. "You mean-"

Eli simply nods. "I went to him and asked him to make me forget the pain, and you know what? He did it. That boy is a miracle worker. I haven't felt this good since my parents were alive."

"So you still remember Seablite?"

Again he nods. "I wouldn't be able to forget any of that. But know it just doesn't seem as bad, you know?"

Richard, partially satisfied with this answer, lets the topic drop. He'll tell the others after work. He doesn't know what he thinks about Eli's solution to all his problems. It seems like a good solution. As long as Eli doesn't concentrate on the pain that Seablite left him with, the hypnotism will remain in place for as long as he lives. Maybe Eli will even be able to sleep better at night. That almost makes Richard want to ask Peter to take away his pain, almost. He doesn't know why but he doesn't want to ask Peter to take away his pain. Maybe it's because it gives him a motive to go through with this plan. It gives him that extra push he needs to go through with it all.

After work he tells the others why Eli is different. They don't say much about it. They only sneak glances at Peter as he stands apart from them, watching Richard silently. After he is done telling them, Richard wanders off down to the bottom level of the home where the gym is. He needs to escape for a while.

He's not alone down in the gym. Ace is there too, going at it on one of the punching bags. He watches his friend for a moment, seeing how easy it is for Ace's fists to meet their mark. Suddenly he falters and breaks away from the punching bag, leaving it to swing back and forth. Ace begins to cough and doubles over. Richard knows what this means and helps his friend to sit down.

"You shouldn't be pushing yourself," Richard says and looks around for something that Ace can drink.

"Don't lecture me," Ace says as the coughing fit subsides. "I'm fine."

Richard decides to humor him. "Sure you are."

Ace only rolls his eyes and coughs again. "So, Eli asked Peter to make him forget."

Richard nods and gives up his search. Ace is starting to look better anyway. "He did," Richard responds. "He doesn't regret it at all. I think the others might actually do what he did."

"You thinking about it?"

Richard shrugs. "Don't know if it's for me. You?"

Ace sighs. "I don't know. Maybe. We'll see what happens, what I feel like later." He sighs again and leans his head against the wall. He closes his eyes and says, "I'm tired."

"You look it."

Ace shakes his head. "Tired of life, Richard."

Richard blinks at first, letting the words sink in. "Oh. You know you can talk to me whenever you want, right?"

Ace nods. "It's just so hard sometimes to keep living like this."

"Like a freak?" he offers.

"You don't know how hard it was to live with a family who doesn't know what I am or what happened to me, to us in that hellhole."

"I know what you mean," he says quietly. "My sister doesn't know."

"My family knows I'm different though," Ace admits. "It's just the subtle things that they noticed. The nightmares, the puking. I've lied to them. My own family who I should be telling everything to. They don't know, Richard. I can't tell them. I just can't."

"I don't think any of us did," Richard says softly and settles himself against the wall beside his friend. "Peter lived with an abusive uncle and he could've hypnotized him to stop but he didn't. You know why?"

"No, why?"

"Because I think he was too afraid to use it. We're all too afraid to use our Gifts. It's best just to keep it all inside."

"And now we have to grow used to them so we can use them against the people we will rob from." Ace rubs his eyes.

"Are you alright with that?"

Ace nods. "I should be fine. It'll just take a while." He opens his eyes and looks over at Richard. "Is this what you want your life to be?"

"Did I want to gut fish for the rest of my life? No, I didn't. Did I expect to make a plan to rob from the 'wealth? No, I didn't expect that either."

"Do you want to be an outlaw for the rest of your life?" he asks.

Richard doesn't respond right away. He doesn't know what to say at first. It's a hard question to answer. "For now it's a good solution," Richard says. "It'll work for a few years. It'll at least make us all feel better about how they used us."

"And what about after those few years? Do you have an end goal in mind?"

Richard groans. "Why do you have to ask these types of questions? Do you have any idea how hard they are to answer?"

"I want to know the answers, Richard. I want to know what I can expect in life. I want a plan."

"Well what do you expect me to say?" Richard asks. "I don't even know what I want in life. Being who we are, you can expect that life will be tough and that there is nothing we can do about it."

"You just made me feel so much better," Ace responds, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Fine then," Richard says. "How about this: after we've had our fill of stealing from the 'wealth and when we have enough money, we stake our claim."

"And end up as farmers?" he asks. "I don't know. We're all city boys."

"Ace, we survived Seablite," Richard says. "I think we can handle a farm."

Ace sighs. He chews on one of his lip rings before saying, "I guess that'll have to do."

Richard stands and pulls Ace up with him. "Let's get some dinner then. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Ace asks as they walk towards the stairs."

"We are going sub hunting tomorrow. It's about time we start working on it."

After dinner the plans are told to the others. Tomorrow they will set out to the Trade Station, the largest Trade Station out on the ocean. It won't take long. Trips like these are made weekly since Karen and many other people living in the home have to conduct business at the Trade Station. Richard is hoping that they will be able to find what they are looking for. If they don't, they will just have to keep coming back whenever they can until they find what they need. Without this, the plan may not work and all of this planning will be for nothing.