Soldier In Me

Seven: Supported

It was common for those who lived in the city to walk or use public transport since there weren't many places to park.
Hadley had said it was good for me to walk because it practiced my prosthetics. So we parked on the edge of the city and walked the rest.
Even with my cane, I fell a lot, but Hadley stood there ready to catch me at any time.
The end of the block was home to a community center. From Jazzercise to drug recovery, the center was just a bunch of rooms that were rented out every day.
Today room 102 was rented out by The War Children Support Group.
When first being told about this place I was angry, absolutely pissed off. But I had been spending most of my nights in the lab acting like I was a detective, so I didn't have much energy to fight it.
The room had a series of chairs in a circle, most were filled. I sat in the chair and waved Hadley goodbye as she left.
Next to me was a boy who had a cane like me, but for a different reason. His face was covered in scars, burnt by a gun backfire. I had seen it before. His eyes were foggy and dead.
I looked at all the people as the chairs filled up. Some were injured, some perfectly healthy.
Ah, the war children. The most diverse group known of. All sorts of people with one thing in common: they were thrust into war at a young age.
Most people had chosen to leave, but some had chosen to stay. I was one of those who stayed, as was John.
In this group though, the members had all opted to leave, I was the black sheep and felt it the whole time.
Besides that, the community was accepting and understanding as I was made to step and tell my story.
I did, sort of. I told them all about choosing to stay and being forced to retire. I never mentioned John or Hadley.
The uncomfort of the whole situation made me as thankful as I ever have been when the host announced the session end and encouraged everyone to come back next time.
It was still midday in the city when I came out onto the sidewalk. I didn't see Hadley yet so I decided to stick to the area.
Next to the community center was a pet shop that had animals in the window. There was a box of puppies and of kittens.
I leaned in as far as I could without touching the glass. An orange kitten touched the glass with his tiny paw. His hair was frizzy and insane.
The door's bell chimed off the hook as I stepped in, cringing as the door slammed behind me.
The air inside was cold, but I suppose it was accommodated for the animals. Each animal was in a cage, some shared larger enclosures but most were alone.
There was one cat that caught my eye. It was a dark color of grape in the shop's lighting and was surely black in regular light. The longhaired cat looked up at me.
What struck me though, was his back legs were prosthetics. They vaguely resembled a normal pair of legs but were more like plastic pegs.
Despite that, the cat got up on all its feet and walked to the edge of the cage.
I kneeled down, my leg making a slight creak. I poked my finger through the bars of the cage.
The cat grabbed it, his claws out. But he had no intention of hurting me, it was more playful than anything else. He licked my finger and let it go.
There was a tag on his cage, it read: Name: Simon Gender: M Age: 10
When I noticed Hadley I dragged her inside without a word.
"You know what they say about black cats." She chuckled, kneeling by me.
I looked at her. "No."
"They say black cats are evil magic doers." She put both hands on her face, feigning fright.
I watched Simon rub against the bars.
"Well, I don't believe in magic."
My leg creaked again as I stood up. I walked up to the counter and slammed my card on it, scaring the young man at the table.
"I want to adopt him."
The man gathered himself. "Which one?"
Hadley interjected "Simon. The cat."
I looked at the man's name tag, Jerry. Jerry knew what we were talking about. "Are you sure? He's pretty old and dis-"
I wanted to slap him with my metal hand. Fortunately for him, he stopped when he realized I was missing two of my limbs too.
An older employee came out from the back and I turned to him instead. He brought me into his office and he interviewed me. He asked for my ID and Hadley saved me on that one.
He put the ID into this machine that performed a security check. When it came up clean he handed me a tablet and I used a pen to sign all the necessary papers.

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It took Simon a while to get used to the house. I can't blame him, took me a while too.
He eventually learned where the litter box was kept and where he should go to eat and drink (in the kitchen).
He was really gentle and loved sitting on me. After a while, I wouldn't close my door because he'd always scratch it to get in.
I didn't mind when he sat on me early in the morning, even when his back legs dug into my stomach.
I moved around a lot in my sleep, so during the night, he'd often sit at the edge of the bed, sometimes visiting Hadley.
When I pet him I felt his soft fur against my fingers and it made me calmer. When I pet him he'd always roll over to show his belly as a way of telling me to pet there.
Simon didn't seem to be held back by his prosthetics. He stood proudly on all four feet and while still mastering stairs he didn't let a fall stop him.
I picked him up when he fell but he jumped right out of my arms to take another try at the stairs.
I filled up his food bowl and saw Hadley approaching.
"The end of the years' coming you know?"
I chuckled "Yeah. Why?"
"This city's fireworks are famous, best in the country. We won an award for it." She waved her hands to mimic them.
"I know. I've seen them once... briefly."
"Well, that makes my request a little less special because I wanted to ask you if you'd like to see them with me."
No, it still was really special.
The time I'd seen it I was on a bodyguard mission. I was on foot, one of many that surrounded a car that held the head of the country. The emperor's car moved slowly across the dirt path to a military base tucked deep into the woods. He was there on business, but we didn't know what business.
I held my gun, told to shoot on site. I could see a small bit of the fireworks show obscured by tree branches. The little I got to see was beautiful.
"I'd love to go with you, Hadley."