Abby and I finish throwing our belongings and supplies onto the boat before boarding. I untie the knot holding the boat in place as Abby starts the engine. The boat hums and the propellers begin to spin as we start our journey.
“What’s in Santa Barbara?” I finally ask.
“Owen…,” Abby trails off for a moment before continuing. “Owen and I were a part of the Fireflies, have you heard of them?”
I put a finger to my chin and think for a moment, “Hmm, I think I’ve heard of them.” I chuckle slightly, “Weren’t they working on some kind of cure?” I scoff sarcastically. “I mean look around,” I motion my arms around, “There’s no cure for this shit. It was a fool’s effort.”
Abby’s body language tenses up and a cold look shows on her face. “My father was the one making the cure,” Abby grimaces threateningly towards me, her words as sharp as knives.
“Oh?” I gulp. “That’s… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Abby looks at me, teeth bared and her eyes resembling the fury of a wolf ready to pounce at their enemy. She stares at me like this for a moment before turning her face to the side and sighing deeply. “It’s… okay. You couldn’t have known.” I see a cloud of deep seeded sadness cross Abby’s face as her posture shifts, “And you were right, the likelihood of a cure was really slim… but we all believed.”
I look at Abby with concern, I can tell just how much she’s hurting. I get up and take a seat next to her.
Abby shifts in her seat slightly as I sit, “Well… my dad,” Abby visibly swallows, having a hard time with this conversation. Her face darkens, “He was murdered right as the cure was at our fingertips by this lunatic of a man.” Abby’s fists clench and her eyes begin to water.
I put a gentle hand on the small of Abby’s back. “Abby, you’ve been through so much loss, haven’t you?” I look at Abby with tender eyes.
Abby makes brief eye contact with me and sits up straight, as if trying to push away the feelings she was not ready to deal with. “Yes, I have, but I’m still here, so I have to keep fighting.” Abby pauses for a minute, “After my dad was killed, that same guy also shot and murdered the leader of the Fireflies. We disbanded and shortly after, Owen and I joined the Washington Liberation Front,” Abby takes a breath, “Owen, before he passed mentioned hearing brief messages about the Fireflies trying to regroup.” Abby smiles to herself for a moment, “I told Owen he was stupid for believing it.”
“Ah, so you’ve always been this kind,” I say playfully, trying to lighten the mood.
“Heh, funny,” Abby rolls her eyes before returning to a more serious demeanor. “Now that I have nothing left, I… want to see if what Owen was hearing was right. Maybe to honor him, I don’t know.” Abby rubs her arm to soothe herself.
“Well, I’m with you,” I say sweetly. “Let’s go catch us some Fireflies,” I grin reassuringly at Abby.
---
Through group effort, and a lot of staring at a map confused, we appear to make it to Santa Barbara. We dock our boat on a broken-down pier. Abby’s excitement is palpable.
“We finally made it. Jesus,” I say, gathering my items and stuffing them into my backpack. “I was pretty sure we were lost back there.”
