Super Glitches 5: The Soldier's Vow

Haunted Hotel

"I'd rather be a cannibal, baby, animals like me don't talk anyway,

Feel like an ambulance chaser of faith,

Pray I could replace her,

Forget the way her tears taste,

Put another ex on the calendar,

Summer's on its deathbed,

There is simply nothing worse than knowing how it ends,

And I meant everything I said that night,

I will come back to life,

But only for you, only for you..." The tone changed for the end, crooning, tugging at my heartstrings. The lyrics suggested something sadder than the melody and chorus said.

I recognised the song and followed the next lyrics in my head. Calendar by Panic At The Disco, if I remembered rightly. The one song to ever move me to tears, played at my sister's funeral. She was a great girl; Jess, her name was. So kind, so sweet, so hyper yet so very intelligent. She taught me everything there was to know about time travel and got me my job in the Time Police despite me being only thirteen. She would sing all the time, distracting herself from her work. Eventually she was caught out by a stray piece of time debris hitting her on the back of the head. 

"Put another ex on the calendar..." I zoned back in two choruses (ish) and a verse later, a single tear tracing down my cheek.

"Summer's on its deathbed,

'There is simply nothing worse than knowing how it ends!

'And I meant everything I said that night,

'I will come back to life!

'But only for you, only for you, only for you, only for you..." And so it went on, the singer's voice cracking with emotion. The person twisted a strand of my hair around their finger, still gently stroking it.

The person sniffed and shifted their weight, adjusting the duvet. My brain finally kicked in and I remembered everything. The sudden rush of fright I felt was insane and I jumped backwards, my skull connecting with someone's ear. They yelped and jerked their head away. That person flicked my arm and I realised that there was an arm around my shoulders, hugging me to this mystery person's side. I looked up and smiled. A rather irritated Shaade was staring at me, not impressed.

"You nearly ripped my ear off," he scolded, moving it back and forth. I watched it, checking for any damage. There was none and I deemed him okay.

"Your ear is obviously acrylonitrile butadienestyrene," I muttered. Shaade's eyes widened and he slid down, off the pillow and further under the sheets so that he could look me in the eye.

"What the heck does that mean?" he asked in amazement. I grinned.

"You may look smart and act clever and high class but I'm the one with real intelligence," I said happily. Shaade looked at me with a deadpan, 'just no' look. I smiled sheepishly and decided to explain.

"It means that your ear has high impact strength," I murmured. Shaade laughed suddenly, startling me, and pulled me into a tighter hug. He sighed contentedly and rested his head on top of mine giving me a minor static shock. He rubbed one hand up and down my arm and sighed again.

"You and your long words," he said. "Ah, it cracks me up."

"You frighten me," I said timidly, faking wriggling away. Shaade laughed and turned it into a mock roar, grabbing me with his other arm and tugging me towards him, head higher than mine once more. He regarded me for a second, looking deep into my eyes.