Reminiscence

Chapter .39.

A-I-D-E-N
"Ready to order, sir?" The waiter asks me for the fourth time, tapping his clipboard impatiently.

I flick my irises to the door, still not seeing any sign of Renesse.

"Just a few more minutes, please." I say, and the waiter huffs and heads over to nag some other customer.

I check my watch. Renesse was a mere five minutes late, but the sense of dread in the pit of my stomach grew. I didn't like it when she in particular was late. It just felt uneasy after the last time she was late.

I see a flash of purple in the corner of my eye and turn to look at Renesse, walking briskly toward me, her lithe body weighed down by her heavy backpack. She smiles alluringly and sits down in front of me.

"How was your first day?" She asks, slinging the backpack off her shoulder and making herself comfortable.

I grin. Today was the first day I didn't actually feel worthless.

"The people at the record store are so much fun. It's a small start up for now, but I can tell that the vibe of the store is going to make the place popular in no time."

Her face lights up as she watches me talk about the store.

"I'm so glad! You think I can come over on a weekend or something? I really need some new music at my place." She says and signals for the waiter to place her order.

"I'd love that. How did yours go?" I ask and caress her slender hand with my thumb.

She takes my palm in hers and laughs nervously. "Well, it went pretty well, but I might have started a teeny weeny itty bitty, chihuahua sized disaster in the elevator and might have pissed off our floor coordinator."

"Okay, first of all, you saying teeny weeny chihuahua sized only tells me it was the size of a fucking avalanche. Second of all, what in the shit is a floor coordinator?"

The waiter, now slightly less grouchy, comes to our table for the order.

"Fruit salad and fries for me," Renesse picks out.

I frown at the bizzarre combination. But then again, this was Renesse. What wasn't bizzarre?

"One cheese and tomato sandwich please," I say and the waiter nods and leaves with a passive expression.

"Woah. What crawled up his arse and died?" Renesse wonders aloud.

I raise an eyebrow at her. Sue me for being curious.

She huffs. "Okay okay, I'll tell you."
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One catastrophe of a story and some fries later,

"What?"

"Awh, come on, not you too." She whines and munches on some lettuce.

"So there's coffee in your hair?" I ask, slightly concerned about the state of her hair follicles. I don't think caffeine is a good conditioner.

"Yeah, but most of it fell on my face, so it's good. I'll go home and wash it anyway."

"Did you get burned? Are you okay?" I say and reach for the delicate skin of her face.

"Yeah, yeah, it was a tiny bit hot, but I'm fine, calm down mom." She grumbles.

I scowl and continue to munch on my sandwich. Sure, the waiter was grumpy and might have spat in my food, but it was still good.

She suddenly shifts uneasily, and I see her golden eyes turn dark.

"What is it?"

"Remember how I told you I'd speak to Livia?" She asks, stabbing a cherry tomato with her fork.

I wince as the juice from the tomato splatters onto her fries.

I don't know, but I have this thing. You can't mix two different food items just like that, unless they're meant to be eaten together. It's disgusting. I'm not an orderly person in general, but when it comes to food, I keep everything on my plate in different sections all neat and assorted, because mixing them, even by accident is a crime.

"Hellooo, Earth to Aiden," Renesse says, waving her fork in front of my face.

I snap out of it. "Sorry, I zoned out. You got something?"

She looks away. I can tell by her face that whatever it is, it's not good.

"Remember Little Cunt?" She asks unsurely.

"No, because I totally forgot the dude who held a gun to my head. Who's he?" I say flatly.

She rolls her eyes. "Well, Livia was really nervous and twitchy and I thought she was scared of me revealing her identity. She even threatened to call security. But as I began to force answers out of her, I got the feeling that she was scared for me. She said something about how she was doing all this, keeping up the fake facade just for Johnathan's sake. I think Little Cunt hurt him before. When I asked her why she wasn't trying to ask for help, she...she told me-"

"Wait, Little Cunt hurt my brother?"

She takes a deep breath. "Johnathan wasn't hearing impaired when he was with you, Aiden. And such drastic nerve damage in such a short time is impossible unless he was injured fatally."

I suddenly see red. Not only did this dude have the audacity to steal my life, he was hurting my family. I was going to make him choke on my socks.

I look back at her.

"What did Livia say?"

The swirls of gold in her eyes seem to turn to lead.

"She said that he was your brother, Aiden. Dawn Adams."

It felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs. This can't be. The veins in my arms pulse as I feel the blood rushing to every corner of my body.

"Aiden, it's okay, we'll figure something out, please calm down," Renesse's panicking voice shakes me out of my reverie.

"Why is he doing this to his own family?" My voice breaks.

"We'll find out soon enough." She takes my hand and leads me out of the diner. I feel the cool breeze blow against my face, ruffling my hair.

We come across a pair of swings and Renesse motions for me to sit down.

The rhythmic creak of the old rusty swing dulls the silence but not my thoughts. I was ready to kill that man, but now, we shared the same blood.

I check my watch.

"I've got to head back, I'll catch up with you in the evening, okay?" I say to Renesse.

She nods and continues to swing back and forth as I leave the abandoned park.
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R-E-N-E-S-S-E

As soon as I get back to Animatrixx, my feet find themselves in front of Livia's door again, for one last question.

I turn the knob and step inside soundlessly, to find her look up at me and sigh.

"I thought we established that last time would be the end of our meeting." She says in a dry tone.

"I asked for the truth and you gave me half of it, Livia. Just tell me where Dawn is and I'll figure out how to put an end to this,"

"You think I haven't tried, Renesse? He hurt my baby, he took my son away from me. I fought back and it just made things worse. You and I are the only ones who remember what it was like in the past, and that's why he's out to get you."

I look away. "Please, just tell me where he is. I need to know why."

"Curiosity killed the cat,"  She says, leaning back in her chair.

"It died content."

She sighs and pushes open her desk drawer, taking out a slip of paper and scribbling on it.

She looks up at me, red eyed.

"Just be careful."

I take the slip and nod, knowing careful was the last thing I'd be.

Thank you, SameeraKrishna for your relentless (but cute) bugging.