The Despairing Tribulations of a Doomed Boy

Chapter 21

Amelie reached out and touched his hand. She almost held it, but then drew back. Otto looked up at her face; her despair, mirroring his own. She tried to give him an encouraging smile, but it was weak and lopsided.

Frida rolled her wheelchair close to the two teenagers so that her front wheels were touching Otto's feet. The creatures carrying the torches followed by her side. She leaned forward in her chair and examined Otto's face with scrutinizing eyes that read every tired line around his eye, every dirty smudge, the pale tint of his skin from missing meals, the tracks of tears, and the sad drooping of his lips. And perhaps she saw more than that. Perhaps she saw the years of anxiety that wasted away his confidence, his fear of being around people, the deep sadness of not belonging anywhere or fitting with anyone.

"My dear," she said tenderly, "What does your nose-button do?"

Otto shook his head one last time, but gave in to her questioning. "It destroys the world," he said.

Frida leaned back in her chair without saying a word or changing the look on her face. She looked from Otto to Amelie, who was looking at Otto with a pained look of sympathy. "I see," Frida said. "That does pose a bit of a problem, now, doesn't it." She went silent. "If law-enforcement take you, they will certainly want to keep you under close control."

Otto's shoulders slumped.

"I'm not a fan of perpetuating the rogue rebellion," Frida said. "But I don't like the prospect of a young man like you being locked away forever..." She squinted as she spoke. "Destroys the world, huh? How unbelievable. To think there are buttons that could be so destructive... How have you not pressed it yet?"

Otto shrugged, "I've had a nose casing on my entire life."

Frida nodded.

"Just let me go," Otto said, "I'll go live in the middle of nowhere. I don't need to be around people. No one will know where I am and I'll never press my own button." Otto got excited at the thought of living alone some place where no one would bother him, but he'd be free. No more locked in a room, no more meals surrounded by depression, no more being snubbed by anyone. Just peace.

Amelie looked up at him again and smiled—genuinely smiled. The corners of her eyes rose with the corners of her mouth. And in the dark shadows of the room her cheeks reflected the torch's light making her whole face look bright. "You could stay with me and my family," she said in a quiet voice. "We live in the woods near the river where no one bothers us. Or at least we did..." her voice dropped. "I don't know where anything is anymore."

Otto and Frida nodded.

"Well," Frida said. "I suppose I can't let you be locked up simply because of what horrible curse you were born with. But getting you settled as a hermit might be challenging, things being as they are. I suppose this is a moment when Clara's connections might actually be useful, as much as I hate to admit it."

"So what do we do?" Otto said.

"We'll have to find Clara. She can help with some of this. I'm sure even in this mess, she has built up a network of some kind."

"How do we find her?"

Frida smiled. "I'll send these little ladies out," she said putting her hand on the head of one of the creatures again. "They're very good at finding things."

"They're girls?" Otto asked. He looked at them, really, for the first time. "Oh," he said, taking notice of their anatomy. They were very obviously girls.

Frida pushed her nose-button again and the earth opened up above them. The fading light of evening streamed in. The earthen walls made a ramp for Otto, Amelie, and Frida to get out. The creatures walked beside them, holding on to their hands or shirt, like toddlers.

On the grassy field of the park stood a crowd of people waiting for them to emerge. Dr. Piero was there. With him stood Detective Koi. Next to her, and surrounding the hole was a group of men in military uniforms. Others stood a short distance away, holding rogue anomalies in custody. The rogues were in straitjackets and nose casings and huddled together. At their feet, still in a deep sleep, was Pieter. He, too, was wrapped in a straitjacket and fixed with a nose casing.

Amelie shivered and started to back down the ramp, but a soldier grabbed her arm before she got far. Another grabbed Otto's right wrist.

"Be very careful with him," Dr. Piero said to the soldiers, "Put the nose casing on him before you trigger the end of the world."

Otto struggled against the soldier's grip. He pulled and twisted and pushed against the man until another soldier grabbed his left arm. Then all he could do was kick.

Another soldier walked over to them from where he had been standing with the rogues in custody. He had two straitjackets in his arms.

"No!" Amelie cried out at the sight of it.

"We'll have to take that hoodie off of her first," one of the soldiers said. "It won't fit right with it on."

"No!" She screamed louder. She kicked at the soldiers with all of her strength.

"Nevermind her," Dr. Piero said, "Get him under control first. He's the important one."

The man with the straitjackets changed direction and headed towards Otto.

Just then, either by unspoken order from Frida or on their own accord, the dirt creatures joined the fight. They grabbed and bit the soldiers's legs; jumped at their arms and bit those, too. With loud cursing and shouts of pain, the soldiers loosed their grip on both Otto and Amelie just enough for the two to break free.

"Run towards the courthouse!" Frida called above the commotion of the soldiers.

One of the soldiers pushed his nose-button and a brick wall appeared just in front of Otto and Amelie as they fled.

"Don't push your nose-buttons!" Dr. Piero said. "If anything should make Otto's button go off, we're all doomed!"

Otto slid to a stop in front of the wall. He hesitated to know which way to go around it, but Amelie did not. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the right, but by then he had already turned left. The two pulled each other in opposite directions before recoiling back to each other like a spring that had been stretched apart and then let go. First, their shoulders hit together. Then their bodies turned toward each other and they slammed into each other with such a force—partly from the momentum of pulling away from each other and partly from sheer confusion—that they knocked each other off their footing. Otto started to fall forward into Amelie, but took a step back to balance himself. Instead, Amelie fell on him, toppling him backward to the ground. She landed on top of him, her face hitting his before she could catch herself. Her nose-lever hit hard on his nose-button.