I throw my backpack down beside my desk and fall onto my bed. Two weeks of sleeping in and doing nothing. Okay, that's a lie. I'm going to be bored in like a day and a half. I'll need things to do to keep myself busy.
I look out the French doors at the snowflakes starting to pile up on my balcony. Something strange catches my attention. Taped to the window pane is a small metal tidbit. A flash drive with a silhouette of a dog bone on it.
Weird choice of logos. Maybe this is a sign. Should I give myself a superhero name? The Great Bonehead!
I laugh as I read the note attached:
Malware was working on this, but only you can figure this one out.🌷
I click the capsule into the USB of my computer and a video clip starts by itself.
Noah.
Dad is older. Is there some gray in his beard? Never noticed that. He is standing on a balcony. The Amalfi Coast is behind him– I'd recognize it anywhere. We visited my uncle there the summer before Dad was killed. Got the creepiest marionette on that trip. I digress.
I was notified when the previous secret files were accessed. I figured the clips would make it back to you somehow.
He pauses and a weird feeling starts to fill my chest. I know the words don't quite make sense. What he is saying breaks the time and space continuum or something. Like the static building under my warm covers on a cold Manhattan night, I am on the cusp of something big.
Did he know the whole time that I'd be a part of this? Did he foretell the downfall of Matriarch?
He clears his throat.
I am so sorry I haven't been there for you in this tumultuous time. But I knew you'd be in good company.
My heart starts beating faster.
I apologize for making this so short, but I know dangerous people are still tracking me.
"Still!?" I ask Computer Dad.
But he doesn't have to come out and say it. The screen cuts to some video snippets.
They are current. Footage of Abe and I at the concert from the venue's balcony, me talking to Malware under the bleachers from their point of view, and me clutching Clay's injured body to mine as I see Matriarch and Abe before me in Time Square.
I know how to find your friends. But first, you have to find me.
Before I can swipe to a new browser page and search flights to Italy, Dad adds something else.
I love you and I miss you, Noah. And I am so proud of you.
My breath catches. I've needed to hear these words for years.
Now, go give our dog his bone, and he will tell you–
Dad goes quiet, for I am already up and out of my chair with the flash drive in my hand. As I grab my coat, I ignore how much trauma I will later have to unpack, finding out Dad is alive. Instead, I am calculating how quickly I can get to Central Park to give Balto his treat.
-End: Season 1 -