FoldUnfold Table of Contents ACT I ACT II ACT III EPILOGUE

ACT I

A Meggie once told me, "Nobody in this world will ever want to be with you." These words were etched into my mind within the first month using crutches. I didn’t want to believe them, but as it happens, in an environment like the backrooms, cripples are seen as dead weight.

I wasn't sure what I hated more: The useless looks of pity, or the delinquents who thought I was an easy mark, trying to steal or con the few wages I managed to earn. As broken as I looked and felt, I refused to be reduced to a beggar!

I remember Mother telling me stories about how newborn sick kids were always thrown away as trash because it would be impossible to raise them in these conditions. Now even as an adult, I'm scared that nobody will one day want to build a life with me. Sometimes it seems like only my bed wants to support me.

Everywhere I go I get greeted with questions like "What happened to you?" or "Are you a Wretch?" a little kid asked that last one, as if he's never seen firesalt burns before! Who HASN'T seen them after the Veiled War!? I hear apartments in the frontrooms charge rent. If that were the case on Level 11, I would've been thrown out into the street long ago.

I tried to prove myself once, trying to work for the B.N.T.G. They made me the storage room custodian, but that job didn't happen to be as easy as I thought. Even dusting was tedious. Sometimes after doing the floor-level shelves, I'd need to call the guards to put me back on my crutches. I cried myself to sleep more than I'd like to admit.

I didn’t leave the job because of my weakness. That would prove everyone right about me being dead weight. But in the end, the decision was made for me by management.

Two months before my firing I headed to Malt Mart to distract myself with shopping for supplies. There I met a man with a stick. He introduced himself as Edward, and asked me where the store was at. I told him to go in front but he said that he didn't know where the front is. He was blind, so I had to guide him to it. I later cursed myself for giving him the same useless look of pity others had given me.

A baker at Malt Mart pitied me enough to give me a box of yesterday's stale bread. I asked Edward if he could pick up the box for me because it was difficult for me to use my hands and crutches at the same time. He helped me, no questions asked! I needed help with bringing all the supplies back home and he just did it! Nobody ever before did things like this for me! It was kind of amazing!

When I asked him why he did that, he responded by saying "I'm a simple man and I help those that help me." Even now I remember exactly how he looked. He was a dark-skinned black haired man with a characteristic blue bandana over his eyes and a white hat.

The day I came back home after meeting him I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. He was a gentleman, easy to talk to, and for the first time in a long time, I felt useful to someone. A week after that, we met by chance at the same place, and started a habit of sharing dinner every other day in the park at the mid-point between our places.

During our time together he started wearing sunglasses over his eyes instead of a bandana, which warded off the delinquents. "It's basic psychology. Back on earth, you can get away with having an unarmed guard standing in front of a door and most people won't try to get past him." is how he described the deception.

But yesterday, when we had dinner, I told him how I'd been fired earlier that day. When I saw that same expression of pity on his face I'd seen everyone else give me, that was it. I snapped. I said some awful things, and after we screamed at each other I stormed off.

It's strange. I feel awful for it, but I couldn't stand seeing that look on his face! It hurt worse than all the pain I've ever felt in my legs since the day of the attack!

Diana, laying on her bed, put the pen down on top of her brand new diary. Her feelings had to be shared with something, and it may as well be a diary if not Edward. The last couple days had been too exhausting, and even her hatred of the M.E.G. couldn't motivate her this time. It took even more of her remaining energy reserves to pry herself from her bed and make breakfast. Or dinner. Whichever mealtime it was in a level where the time of day didn't matter. Her apartment was only comprised of a bedroom, kitchen, and living room, all of which she found cramped and depressing, despite knowing very well that cramped was all that her body could physically handle while on her own.

It was then she noticed a draft blowing from her living room. She frowned. Had she opened the window and forgotten about it? No. Come to think of it, she had heard the groan of the rackety fire escape a few minutes before, but assumed it was delinquents on their way to the roof. The fire escape lay outside her living room window. As suspicion gnawed at her, she collected her crutches and rose to her feet. When she exited the bedroom, she came face to face with an intruder!

Edward strolled down the streets of Level 11 carrying a bouquet of flowers. After hearing nearby footsteps he called out: "Excuse me? Is someone there? I'm blind, and trying to find building 1984. I got a little turned around, is this the right street?"
"Yes, it is. Aww, does your sweetheart live there?" The voice that answered him sounded like an old woman's.
"It's complicated." Edward smiled sheepishly.

"Well don't give her those. Honestly, the man who sold those to you should be ashamed of himself, selling rotten flowers to a blind man who don't know the difference!" the woman ranted, outraged on Edward's behalf. "Here, let me see those. This one's the only good one in the whole bunch, a nice pretty one too. Next time try getting a feel of the petals to make sure they aren't withered."
"I'll try to remember. I don't get to buy them often."
"Come on, I live in that building, I'll help you reach it." Edward felt the old woman take his arm.

Since becoming blind, Edward had to survive on the information he bartered to the Eternal Repository and the good will of others. He'd developed people skills out of necessity.
"Who are you visiting?" The old woman asked.
"Diana Stewards. Have you two met?" Edward asked.
"Indeed we have! The day she arrived she threw a fit at me for looking at her funny! Sometimes I wonder if she quit M.E.G. or they threw her out!" the woman prattled.
"Sounds like Di!" Edward chuckled.

Diana was one of the few people who understood the hardship of being disabled, and he was more afraid of losing her than he was at the time he'd realized his eyes had stopped working. "And yes, she left the M.E.G.. She couldn't trust them after…"
"Oh I heard all about the incident! It's a real shame. They're so focused on finding a way back to earth they hardly bother keeping the people here safe in the meantime! Severe tunnel vision problem if you ask me! Still doesn't excuse her behavior, but it's nice that she found a tall handsome man! Keep up whatever it is you're doing, she's been less rude to the rest of us."

As they arrived at the entrance to their destination. the old woman's voice took a more serious tone. "You two oughta be more vigilant. There's some burglar or other running around, robbing the elderly and people with disabilities."
"That would be the last thing we'd need," was Edward's answer.
"Here, take this. Just in case. Don't worry about me, I have a backup in my purse and a third one in my nightstand," the woman insisted. Edward felt her press a revolver into his hand.

"Ma'am this really is too kind! I'll find a way to pay you back!" Edward thanked her. On the one hand, a gun wasn't as practical in the hands of a blind person. On the other, he didn't want to be rude, and guns held great value for bartering.
"You can pay me back by taking care of that Diana girl. No one else is lining up to and Lord knows she needs it!"

Upon entering the building and briefly traversing the hallway, Edward heard the old woman unlocking the door to her apartment.
"This is my stop. You'll find Diana's apartment on the third floor, fourth apartment on the left-hand side from when you go through the landing door. The stairs are at the end of the hall," the woman informed him.

Edward waved goodbye as she entered her apartment and proceeded to the stairs.
"One… two…" Edward counted the landing doors as he scaled the stairs, stopping at the second one. Upon going through it, he heard Diana's scream at the end of the hall. One, two, three, he counted the doors in his head as he darted down the hall. With his left hand brushing the wall, with his right hand he let his cane fall to the ground to make room for the gun.

"Shut the fuck up bitch! Geez, if this is what the BNTG was feeding you they won't last the new-year," the burglar grumbled as she searched Diana's kitchen. She'd bound Diana's hands and thrown her crutches out the open window. The burglar was a tall woman with long white hair, with cruel eyes that reminded Diana of a cat's.
"HELP!!! PLEASE ANYONE!!!" Diana screamed.

"I already cased the place, no one else is home. Frankly, I thought you wouldn't be either. Y'know there's plenty of people who would pay well for a woman who can't run away," The burglar paused to look back at Diana. "But your looks would be a hard sell, you look half dead already. Your organs on the other hand…" she pondered out loud. Diana was as furious as she was afraid.
"HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF, TREATING OTHER PEOPLE LIKE THIS!?!?" she yelled.
"Comfortably, actually. The longer you shut up, the longer I won't be tempted to start the surgery here and-"

Thump.

Thump!

BAM!!!

The burglar was interrupted by Edward breaking down the apartment door.
"DI!!! ARE YOU OKAY!?" Edward asked, aiming his revolver in the direction of the loudest noise. The noise in question was the burglar quickly and efficiently lunging towards Diana.
"HELP- MPH!!!" Diana screamed as the burglar pulled her up to her feet, cupping a hand over Diana's mouth.
"Move again and you're a dead man!" Edward shouted. The burglar tilted her head slightly like a curious animal, noticing that Edward was aiming slightly to her right.
"Man?" The burglar said to herself, the gears turning in her head as she noticed Edward's sunglasses.

As Edward corrected his aim, the burglar slowly pulled Diana up to her feet, drew a knife and pressed it to Diana's cheek.
"Can't you see me holding her?" The burglar muttered to herself. "How about this: I'll trade you the woman for the gun. That's more than fair." the burglar proposed. She'd taken her left hand off of Diana's mouth in order to hold her up as a shield.

"DON'T DO IT!!! JUST SHOOT HER!!!" Diana pleaded. Edward frowned, realizing that both the burglar's and Diana's voices came from the same direction.
"Or, you can put Diana down and walk away with your life," was Edward's counter offer.
"JUST SHOOT HER!!! HER HEAD'S JUST ABOVE MINE!!!" Diana screamed.
"So you are blind after all then," the burglar smiled. Diana, realizing her mistake, was now overcome with despair. Edward cared about her too much to shoot if she was in the way, and now the facade he'd tried to use to protect her was shattered. Still, the thing she'd regretted most in that instant, was having ever pushed him away in the first place.

The burglar spoke again: "If that's the case, I think I'll just walk out anyway," she backed slowly toward the living room window, which lead to a fire escape. "Carrying her down the fire escape might be a little tricky though… may be easier to throw her off… oh well. If nothing else I can still get a payday from a blood bank."

Tears were now forming in Diana's eyes as she looked helplessly at Edward as he shouted threats at the burglar. Or maybe… not entirely helpless. While it was difficult, and unbelievably painful, she could still move her leg a little. As the burglar began to back out of the window, Diana pooled all her strength into her right leg, braced it against the wall to her right. And as the burglar finished backing out of the window and, and the fire escape groaned as she set her feet on it, Diana pushed off the wall! The burglar cried out in surprise and pain as her arm was caught between the window frame and Diana's body, instinctively letting go. No sooner had Diana dropped to the floor, Edward fired three shots! All three bullets sank into the burglar, the force sending her over the fire escape rail!

EPILOGUE

"Yeah! It's definitely Cat Eyes!" a Sin Hunter from the Eyes of Argos called up to his partner from the ground, where he stood over the burglar's corpse. The Sin Hunter's partner stood in the window of Diana Steward's apartment.
"It's truly a shame when the sinful escape justice, be it on foot or in death," the second Sin Hunter said to Diana and Edward. "I'm afraid you have us to blame for these events. If we were a few minutes faster we would have apprehended her at her lair and you wouldn't have been hurt."
"It's nothing to lose your head over," Edward replied coldly. He and Diana were huddled on the floor (Diana was in pain after breaking free of the burglar).

"She did say something about getting a payday at a blood bank. That's the only thing that stood out."
"Truly abominable. Too many clinics buy illicitly obtained blood and organs. Sin is sin, regardless of the intent," The Sin Hunter glared at his notebook as he wrote in it, as if the notebook was the burglar that lay slain on the pavement.

Twenty minutes passed after the Sin Hunters left, and Diana and Edward still sat huddled on the floor. Finally, Edward began to stand up.
"Wait! Please don't go!" Diana pleaded, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have pushed you away! Please stay! I-I love you! Please don't go!" Edward paused for a moment.

"I love you too. I-I was just getting up to fix the door," Edward replied awkwardly. After a brief silence he asked: "Are you sure it's not the adrenaline talking?"
"No! I mean it! Even before the break in I realized I loved you!" Diana answered. "I swiped some tools from M.E.G. on my way out. Hold on, I'll get them for you."