March 15, 1991
I know I usually take a year's time before writing another log, but I just couldn't wait to tell you what I did when I left the Mystic Union. Yes, I did run away, but I was fed up with being under appreciated and getting in trouble when I tried to help. Maybe if I made my own rules and played my own game, people might like me more and think of me as a hero. It might not work out, but oh well. There are plenty of heroes, so who cares if I don't follow the path of justice. "I don't like what you did," Clark keeps saying.
Again, who cares? I spent my whole life caring for others and trying to care about what other people thought, but when was I going to be able to care for myself? I'm done caring about others for now. From now on, I'm looking out for me. It might sound selfish, but here's thing. It's hard not to be selfish when all you've got is yourself. I tell Clark, "Don't worry about it. The others are okay without me disappointing them."
The train stopped and I snuck out of the cargo car. I didn't know where Clark and I were until I saw a sign that said, 'Welcome to Wilkeskent. The Heart of the Leycape Region'. Wilkeskent was a small college town with just under 90,000 residents. I walked away from the train station and into town. Boutiques, salons, restaurants, grocery stores, delis, butchers, pharmacies, and the town hall, fire department, police department, and hospital lined the cobblestone and pavement streets. I backed into an alleyway and sat down. The one thing I didn't think about when I left was where I was going to stay. I climb onto a roof and jump down to the other side of the alleyway. I was about to walk away and head to the outskirts of Wilkeskent when someone tapped my shoulder. A female, Bacon Hair with snow white skin, shimmering eyes, and short and straight hair looked at me. "Hey," she said, "are you lost?"
"I mean, I guess I'm a little lost," I replied quietly.
The Bacon girl smiled and said, "Follow me."
I followed her into a neighborhood. We walked about 2 blocks before we stopped at a light blue, wooden, Victorian-era-style, 3-story house. The girl opened the door and we walked into the entryway. The house was elegant and well-built with pink walls, cream banisters, and redwood floors. A lady came out of the kitchen and stopped at me and the girl. The lady looked like the girl, so I assumed it was her mother. "Libby," the lady began to ask, "who is that girl?"
"She looked lost, so I am helping her. Can she stay with us? Please, mom?" Libby pleaded.
Her mom nodded and said, "She can stay in the spare room in the attic. It's spacious enough."
Libby took my hand and started dragging me towards the attic. The attic was indeed spacious and a bit creaky, but it wasn't unable to be inhabited. I smiled a bit at Libby. She looked like she was about 14 years old just like Aleczander. "So," Libby began to ask, "what's your name?"
"It's Zaydi," I replied
Libby nodded thoughtfully and was about to say something when we heard a knock on the front door. We went downstairs and Libby's mother had already opened the door. Standing in the threshold was Aleczander himself. He saw me and questioned, "What are you doing here?"
"Here's another question," I began, "why are you here?"
"Ace said you ran off. She was worried, so I went to find you."
"She wasn't worried. She probably just wanted to chew me out for trying to help Robloxia like everyone else."
"Oh, I get it now. This is just you being petty."
"Just go back home, Zandri."
"I can't."
"Why? You want me back that much?"
"The Mystic Union was destroyed, and Director Wetumpka is dead."
I froze. The MU was destroyed, and Wetumpka was killed all within the few hours after I got out of town? I looked away from Aleczander and asked, "Who did it?"
"Some of the MU members that survived are saying that the X-Rangers attacked due to their rivalry with the MU, but other intelligent people blame Jericho Dawson," he explained.
"Please," I began, "tell me if Ace and Guesty are alright."
"They are. Ace sustained minor injuries and Guesty was relatively unharmed."
From what Aleczander told me, apparently the survivors evacuated and moved towards Westville. I was so stupid to leave just because I felt annoyed and angry. However, when he told me what happened, I realized that I had even more of a reason to never show my face again. Aleczander grabbed my shoulder and asked, "Will you come home?"
I shook my head, my soul still full of guilt. "I don't think I ever will. Go with the others, Zandri. Leave me alone," I said.
"Fine," Aleczander complied, "but I'm still going to visit you.
He leaned in, pointed to Libby, and whispered, "Mostly for her."
I rolled my eyes and flashed a quick smile as he winked and ran out the door. I turned back to Libby and saw that she was blushing. Does she seriously have the hots for someone like Aleczander? I never thought it was possible for anyone to have a crush on and/or fall in love with him. I guess Zandri wasn't hopeless after all. "Who was he?" Libby asked.
Replying with a snarky tone, I explained, "A leech. We call him Aleczander."
I sat down on the windowsill and sighed. Everything is my fault. If I had been there, I could have been able to prevent Jericho or whoever attacked the MU from doing what they did. I wasn't feeling too well, probably due to the ever-loving daylight being beaten out of me mere hours ago, so I lay down on a small cot in the right corner of the attic as I felt an extreme case of vertigo. I closed my eyes and blacked out, but I don't think I was sleeping since Clark didn't wake me up like he usually does when I doze off before bedtime. Something was way wrong because I couldn't feel anything like the clothes on my body or hear anything like the air conditioning going like usual.
March 16, 1991
It had been a day since I passed out, and earlier today, I woke up in the hospital. Apparently, due to my years of abuse under Xavion, the blows to my head during training, and the damage to my head that I took during fighting Jericho, Paxton, and Mr. Sonohoka, I had severe internal bleeding and a nasty skull fracture. Libby and her mom tried to wake me up for dinner last night, but I was unresponsive. The doctors had to perform at least 4-9 hours of surgery on me. "It's a good thing you came when you did." the doctor told Libby and her mom, "If you waited even the slightest bit longer, I don't think the kid would've survived."
Here's a confession; I'm terrified of hospitals. Even back at the MU, the infirmary always unnerved me. They always remind me of Xavion and the lab I was tortured in. When I woke up, I was groggy, confused and scared witless. I think I was having either a drug-fueled or trauma-fueled hallucination of Xavion experimenting on me when it was only the doctors checking on me. Trembling and panicking, I swatted a doctor's hand away. I continued to fight back until I felt the pain of the IV in my arm. "Hey! Calm down, kid! You're safe," the main doctor said.
When the hallucination wore off, I relaxed. I was still frightened, but I eased up. My head throbbed in almost unbearable pain as I lay back down. The doctor said I had a visitor, but instead of Libby and her mom, a girl of 9 years wearing a pink chiffon dress and black, leather, slip-on shoes, with raven eyes, pale skin, and ginger hair walked in. It was Tsugumi. I guess I'll call her by her real name since we technically weren't part of the MU anymore. She ran over by my side and hugged me in a way that was almost paralleling the day we reunited after 2 years. Tsugumi was softly crying when she spoke the words, "I thought I lost you for real this time."
I felt an overwhelming guilt come over me as I started crying. I perked up when I heard a man say, "Let me in! I need to see them!"
The door opened and a male Bacon Hair with a goatee, a cream-colored button-up shirt, and brown slacks with matching suspenders burst in. Tsugumi and I looked at him, and he looked at us with a fragile look in his eyes. I stared at him for a few moments and then realized who it was. Dad was the man who stood in front of us. "Zaydilyn, Tsugumi," he started to say as his voice started breaking, "is that you?"
We nodded and he rushed over, hugging us tightly. Tsugumi and I began to cry even more. Finally, Tsugumi asked, "How did you find us?"
"I've been traveling everywhere to find you, and when I arrived here, I found Guesty outside," Dad explained.
This was really happening. Tsugumi and Dad were here. It wasn't a hallucination or dream, it was real. For the first time in 8 years, I felt somewhat at peace and unafraid. I became more and more drowsy until I fell asleep, but I wasn't afraid this time. I had Dad, Tsugumi, and Guesty by my side, and that's all that matters.
March 17, 1991
Dad took Tsugumi, Guesty, and I back to Raesdon where he was still the captain of the 26th police precinct. When we walked into the house, I noticed that Isla wasn't there. I scratched my head and asked, "Where is Isla, Dad?"
Dad sighed and looked around. "She died 5 years ago." he told me, "She had cancer."
I looked sorry as I watched a few tears fall from Dad's eyes. I shouldn't have spoken at all. I walked off and wandered into a room that was Dad's office. On the table and the walls, there were newspaper clippings, missing posters, and anything of evidence that related to Tsugumi and I's disappearance. I looked around before finding a photo of Dad, Mom, Isla, and I. I wish Mom and Dad never split up, but if they didn't, Tsugumi wouldn't be here. I walked upstairs to my old room and was surprised to see that everything was the way it was when I got kidnapped. The only thing that changed was the bed that had been replaced by a bed that was more my current size. I heard footsteps and turned around to Dad standing in my doorway. Smiling with tears in his eyes, Dad said, "I never lost hope that I would find you. I thought you'd like a bigger bed when you returned."
"I never thought you were still looking."
"Of course, I was. When I got past Xavion, you had been shipped away already. I had always felt guilty that I couldn't save you, but Tsugumi told me that you were taken care of by good people."
I felt horrible. Dad lost Mom, Kenzie, Isla, Tsugumi, and me so quickly. I hugged him as he fell to the ground and sobbed. Dad is the best person I know and to see him so emotional breaks my heart. What happened in the last 9-8 years, not to mention everything that happened to him when he was a young child to a young adult, had to greatly affect his mental well-being. Dad eventually got up and said, "Come on, I'm going to order pizza."
That night was one of best nights I ever had. We ordered pizza from Domino's, watched TV, and played Scrabble.
I finally got Dad back, and I hope nothing could ever take me away from him again.
((YAY! THE FAM IS BACK TOGETHER! I think I gave Zayden trauma...woops)
This is the picture Zaydi looked at. This was before her hair changed colors, Isla just drew over it.