Rewind Hero

Chapter 15

The next day, Monday, I went to class as usual. I came home just as usual. When I did get home I walked through the door and met Rachel on her way out.

"Hey Rach, what's up?" I asked as she blew right past me and out the front door. I've rarely ever seen her in such a foul mood. But it's good that she's gone, now I just have to wait until my parents get home and I can tell them the plan. I sat around until six when mom and dad got home.

"Hey Danny, watcha doin home so early? I figured you'd still be at Violet's." Dad said, hanging up his coat.

"Well, I normally would be, but, it's about Rachel." Mom suddenly looked terrified from her spot on the couch and stopped taking off her shoes so she could look up at me.

"What is it? Is everything ok? Where is she?"

"Mom, no, everything's fine. I mean, I don't know where she is, but then again, I never do. It's just that I'm worried about her and I want to do something about it." Mom looks relieved and she lets herself fall back onto the couch, exhausted.

"Oh." She sighed "What were you thinking?"

"An intervention. All of us together, maybe some of the aunts and uncles, her old psychiatrist and her friends from the war." Dad put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me close to him, a tear forming in his eye.

"Now how about that, Diane? Not a bad kid we raised, eh? We're just lucky he got your brains." I hug my dad back and mom gets up to join. We stand there in a circle holding each other and quietly cry. Our collective fear and concern bring us closer together to unit against the dark that accosts our loved one.

Mom called up Rachel's old psychiatrist and dad called Uncle John and Aunt Delilah. Rachel has come home recently so I went upstairs to check on her. I knock on her door and a voice from inside says

"Come in."

I enter and Rachel is sitting in a computer chair facing her monitor reading some article about the ongoing effort to rebuild places affected by the war like Vietnam, Laos, and the now unified Korea.

"Hey. Still mad at me?"

"I was never mad at you. I was pissed at mom and dad for treating me like a child." She said, the scar on her face glowing in the blue light of the computer screen.

"Oh. Well, they just want to help you. We all do. This drinking thing, it's gonna end up killing you."

"No it won't." I didn't expect that response at all, I stood there stunned.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean a lot of things have tried to kill me. A guy who shot acid out of his hands tried to kill me. A guy who could make lasers come out of his eyes tried to kill me. The goddamn Chinese army tried to kill me. They all failed. So I think I can handle a little whiskey, don't you?" The acid was coming out of her month, not the hands of the villain-soldier Burner. Her words even hissed out of her mouth like burning acid. I back off and sit down on her bed. I notice her phone is laid there. I pick it up and open it.

"Right. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you." I say to cover that I'm actually stealing information from her phone, I scroll through her contacts and find someone listed as "Sgt. Dopey". I remembered his name from some of Rachel's stories. I copied his number down as quickly as I could.

"It's fine, little brother. Just try to remember that I know what I'm doing. I can take care of myself."

"Right. Sorry."

"It's ok. Hey, can you hand me my phone?" My heart skips a beat as I enter the last number into my phone and exit Rachel's contacts before setting it back to the way it was before I opened it and handing it to her.