Paths Cross

{7}

By nighttime, I was exhausted, my dress soaked and soppy with mud.

I leaned against a nearby tree, breathing out. I didn't even know where I was. I had been running for hours.

My surroundings told me I was in an alley, but I didn't know the area. Hadn't seen any signs. I just knew this place was deserted.

Once I cooled down a bit, I walked over to a bridge and kneeled, leaning over it and started to cry.

I cried because of my loss. My loss of the love of my life. My loss of the little bit of purpose I had left in life. My loss of my friendship with the two best people I had met out of all of my bonds.

Lost in my sob session, I barely had the time to notice the older man standing next to me.

I let out a little squeal and jumped back, startled.

He was a shorter man, with dark skin and circle-shaped glasses on that reminded me of Harry Potter's, but smaller.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Henry Richardson, and I'll be your guide. Are you lost? Hurt? Sick? Is your heart broken?"

I stared at him, furrowing my eyebrows. "What? Listen, I'm a fugitive. A criminal, and yes, I'm lost. Yes, I'm hurt. On the inside." I sniffed, looking around. "Who are you anyway? You look like a homeless man."

Henry paused. "That's because I am." He sat on the bridge's edge, dangling his legs from it. "I'm a homeless military veteran." He sighed, looking down at his feet, which wore old tennis shoes that were falling apart. "You are Nina Rokhlin, am I correct?"

I took a deep breath and let it all out, burying my face in my hands. "Yes." I looked up, meeting eyes with Henry. "You're going to report me, aren't you?"

"Well... I could live properly if I did," he prompted, pointing at a nearby flyer stapled to a tree that had my name on it with a reward of ten million dollars attached. "But I won't. You seem like someone worth living a good life. You're going to have to try real hard to hide. And maybe you should return that scroll while you're at it."

"I can't return that scroll," I said firmly. I stood up, the straps of my dress digging into my shoulders from the weight of the moisture. "They need to be revealed to the public to show how unjust the American government is now with President Jenkins ruling." I shook my head at him. "You don't understand, either, do you? No one does. No one believes me. Because everyone loves President Jenkins for how beautiful and kind she seems. But trust me, she's hiding something. A lot of something."

"And how would you know this, child?" Henry asked, standing up and pacing over to me. He stood across from me, his arms crossed over his chest.

"She's my father's sister."

Henry stood silent for a moment, drinking it all in. Finally he set his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "You do what's best for our people, child. Stand up for what you believe in. For all of us," he said, shaking my shoulders with determination. "You've got this."

"Wait... what? You're on my side? I thought you --"

"I once knew Jenkins well, child. I was one of her best and closest soldiers."

"What happened?" I asked quietly, suddenly shocked and scared at the same time.

"I betrayed her. And she gave me this," he said, leaning down and pointing to the top of his his scalp. It sported a jagged scar, carved vertically across the top of his head.

"She sentenced me a lifetime in prison, and ordered surgeons to put a detonator in my head, so that if I tried to escape, I would be killed by the bomb in me," he explained after he had stood back upright. "It was disabled years ago, before I escaped. I was the one to disable the bomb in my head."

I stared at him, open-mouthed. Just stared.

"Besides, child... you should get a move on. The cops'll be looking for you soon. Just like they're looking for me." He smiled a little, adding, "But its been twenty-eight years. I think they've just about given up trying to look for me."

I nodded. He dug a hand in his pocket and unwrapped a loaf of bread, breaking off a slice for me. "Here. For the way."

"Thank you," I said, accepting his gift graciously. I reached forward to hug him, and he hugged me back tight. "Be careful, child. And remember: fight for what's right."

"Thank you so much, Henry. Really, I can't thank you enough." I pulled away, tears in my eyes. Just another short-lived bond I had to abandon. Just like Morty. Just like Misty. Just like Jesse.

Jesse.

More tears welled up in my eyes, and I turned as I tried to blink them away. "I guess I'll be seeing you around," I said, my voice breaking.

"Same to you. And... Nina, do you want to know how I betrayed her?"

"Sure," I whispered, trying to ignore the burning sensation in my throat.

"I tried to let the world know about that scroll. Just like you. So that is why you cannot fail, child. You can do this. I believe in you."

I stood there, my back to him, a tear rolling down my cheek. "I won't fail you, Henry."

And with that, I ran away, before anyone would find me, and before I started sobbing again in front of Henry.