OUTWORLD: Chronicles

Half of a Broken Moon

"Oh, Garth," Rollie mumbled. She traced a dirty finger over a short message that had been written in ink: "R.H. & G.T."

"I miss you," Rollie whispered, her voice frail and trembling. She closed her eyes, and her mind flashed back a few weeks: her, shambling to the hospital, dreading what she would see and hear there and finding her every fear realized. Holding Garth's paw as heart monitors chimed his passing, bawling as nurses tried to stabilize him to no avail. A heart defect, they had told her afterwards.

Rollie opened her eyes and the tears came. "I miss you so much."

She lay back on the sofa, clasping the photo to her chest, as if she could bring him back with the soft beat of her heart. Her abusive childhood, this horrid world, her crappy job... he had made it all bearable.

And now...

Rollie slipped off her shoes and rested her socked feet on the arm of the sofa, shutting her eyes and trying to sleep, not wanting to be in the waking world any more. She curled into a submissive ball and cried. Soon enough, her hiccupping sobs became snores.

***

Rollie awoke to a soft breeze that tickled her cheek fur and lifted her hair. She snorted and sat up, noticing that her tatty sofa had disappeared; in its place was what looked like an ornate park bench. Surrounding that was a lush green, with flowers poking up in bunches. A small stream burbled along not five metres from where she sat, and soft sunlight turned her face the colour of straw.

Far too nice to be Jessica Prime, Rollie mused. Where was she?

She swung her legs out over the side of the bench and placed her feet on the grass. The soft blades felt like a thick-pile carpet under her socks. "Uh, hey?" she called out, unsure if anybody was even around – or if she'd want to talk to them. "Hey!"

"Rolo?" A voice raised her small pointed ears, and she turned in the direction from which it had come – and her heart soared as she looked behind her. "Garth?" she breathed.

The very Hedgehog smiled as he walked around the bench and sat down beside her. "Hey."

Rollie's arms were wrapping around him before she could even blink. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I've missed you so much!"

Garth laughed and eased himself free of her embrace, a wide smile on his muzzle. "How you doing?" he asked her flippantly.

"How am I doing?" Rollie snarled. "How am I doing? You! You... you bloody left me!" Her elation had mutated to betrayal and anger in a nanosecond and she felt a jolt of shock as she spoke, but it was coming thick and fast. "How could you do that to me?" She sobbed convulsively and pounded her fists against his chest. "How could you just leave me on that planet?" she howled.

Garth let her rage and cry, that trademark look of patience never leaving his face – his kind face. When she gulped herself to a standstill, he spoke once more. "I'm sorry, Rollie. I'm sorry I couldn't stay."

"Oh, you're sorry?" Rollie growled. "Thanks a bunch, Garth. That makes this easier for me."

Garth sighed. "Rollie, you think it's been easy for me?" He ran a paw through her messy hair, and she felt her rage melt away. Her eyes brimmed again – and so did his. "I miss you as well." He sniffled.

Rollie embraced him again, resting her head against his neck and nuzzling it softly. "I miss your weird cooking," she whispered.

Garth chortled through his tears. "I miss your terrible choice in music."

Despite herself, Rollie found herself chortling with him. "Your scratching."

"Your snoring," Garth laughed.

"You leaving your pants everywhere," Rollie shot back.

"Hey, I had to deal with your horrible socks everywhere."

Rollie's enthusiasm began to drain as soon as it had come on. "I... I miss your smell," she mumbled.

Garth's smile likewise faded. "Rolo?"

"I... I miss your voice," Rollie croaked. She began to cry again as she stared into his face. "I miss you."

Garth took his paw in hers and squeezed it gently. "You remember the night we belted out 'Cotton Eye Joe' word for word at Kerry's Bar?"

Rollie tittered, but more despair rose up to poison the moment. "I... I can't even look at the karaoke stage anymore. Not without..." She lapsed into another round of uncontrollable sobbing. "I'm half of a broken moon," she wailed. "I'm being pulled down, and you're drifting away. Away from me."

"Rollie!" Garth slid a paw under her chin and lifted it slightly, peering into her eyes. "Look. I know I can't be on Jessica with you anymore. I know this has all been so hard for you. But I can tell you one thing." His eyes twinkled. "You, Rollie, Rollie, my love... you are not alone."

Rollie snuffled hopelessly. "But I am!"

"You are not alone," Garth repeated firmly.

Rollie yelped as Garth suddenly dissolved into scatters of light. The bench and green were evaporating as well, and Rollie was falling. Falling through darkness. "Garth!" she cried out. "Garth! Don't leave me!"

***

Rollie let out a pained grunt as she fell back against the sofa, her mind spinning. She felt warm drool on her chin, and realized that she had been dreaming.

"Just a dream," she muttered muzzily, trying to refocus, and then trying not to when she remembered the world on which she was waking. The TV was still blaring some inane drivel featuring one of the made-to-order pop quartets so common on Jessica, and more sand was whipping past the window.

"Not alone?" Rollie grunted unhappily, recalling Garth's words. "Yeah, right. Not alone. What a pile of..."

She abruptly felt a stirring inside her, and it had come from... no. Surely not.

Her paws went to her belly. Rollie began to cry once more, but these were tears of joy, and she stood and walked to the window, looking out on a neighbourhood she had once thought bleak and cheerless.

Her world was already that much brighter.