Rising Shards

I could understand why Oka wouldn’t want me to see a memory of her hurting someone. But her reaction to the last door, the face she made, suggested that wouldn’t be what was past it. Kalei read the look the same way I did.

”Wait, wait, wait,” Kalei said. ”That whole story you said isn’t what’s gonna be the last door?”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Oka said. “Zeta…before we see this…”

“Whatever it is, I’ll be alright,” I said, more to say it out loud to get myself as ready as I could be.

“Right,” Oka said. She still froze when we reached the door. ”It’s like. I get that I had a crappy childhood. I’m not that broken up about it. So if you want we can see more of that instead of this. I have plenty more crappy childhood memories. Maybe if I concentrate really hard I can bring that up. Or maybe I can bring the Kilander one back...”

”I think I’ve seen enough of all that,” Kalei said.

”I’d genuinely rather look at more of those though,” Oka said, maybe more to whatever unseen entity caused the void visions than to us. ”I confessed the vine whip thing, isn’t that enough? That feels like it should be enough, right? We can go back and maybe even see that moment in person, right?”

”Is this other memory that bad?” I asked quietly. Oka thought about it for a second.

”I’m maybe more scared about it, at least,” Oka said. ”Maybe definitely more scared about it.”

”That might be why your vision is making us see this.” I said.

“It’s like the dentist, Oka,” Kalei said. “You may not have flossed, but if you grit your teeth and deal with them telling you how you should have been flossing, then you’re done and you get a little bag with like toothpaste and a new toothbrush!”

“That…actually makes sense,” Oka said.

“The void you said I have to be the one to open this,” I said. “Would it help you if I did?”

Oka nodded. I didn’t need her to say any more. I pushed in on the door, and everything went blank.

I didn’t feel like I was floating, but I couldn’t really tell where my body was. I could see something though. Oka was sitting in a car. But she looked different, she was definitely close to the age I knew her at, but her hair was long.

“Thanks for driving me to this, Dr. Diast,” Oka said. “Is it too much of a hassle?”

They were in a city, on a highway. It was nighttime. The streetlights above passed over them.

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Diast said.

“I feel kinda bad,” Oka said. “Berin said he really wanted me at the dinner thing he’s hosting. It’s just a building over. He said he might even come try to grab me if he needs me to stand by him for a speech.”

“You can’t spread yourself too thin, buddy.” Dr. Diast said. “I know your inclination is to just zip to people in need, but tonight, just have fun.”

“But the Kilanders…”

“I think you need to avoid them tonight,” Diast said. “Doctor’s orders.”

Diast flicked Oka in the forehead. “Is that doable for you?”

“I think I can dodge them,” Oka said. “But…then what? I don’t know how to dance. I don’t even know what to do at a dance.”

Diast strummed on the steering wheel.

“My advice: I was super shy at my first dance, so I just hung out at the tables. Find someone sitting out there, make sure they’re not a creep, then just bring em out to the dance floor and just let your body move around to the music. I can’t dance either but there will only be like one person there who can dance and everyone will know because they’re that cool guy who is a weird little dance expert.”

“Wow,” Oka said.

“Trust me, I spent a lot of dances sitting at the tables being jealous of that kid,” Diast said. “Awkward flailing dancing is better than spending the whole night like that.”

“Like the good dancing kid or the jealousy?”

“The jealousy, if you’re the weird little good dancing kid don’t hide that!”

“I don’t think I am.” Oka said.

Oka started putting her hair up.

“Another fun thing you can do, just scream as loud as you want. If you really wanna get ready to dance, just walk in there and start screaming. When you’re in the dancey loud music-y part I mean.”

Oka giggled at that. The car reached its destination.

“Call me if there’s trouble,” Diast said. “Wait, you don’t have a phone. Use a payphone or borrow someone’s if it’s an emergency and you have to bail. I wrote my number down.”

“I have it,” Oka said.

“And stay away from the Kilanders tonight,”

“I will,” Oka said. “You’re very wise, Dr. Diast.”

“Nah, I’ve just been to a lot of dances,” Diast said.

Oka pulled something from her purse and put it on her face.

“How’s my mask look?” Oka asked. Diast gave a thumbs up and drove off. Oka froze outside the arena. She took a deep breath, and marched in. Oka looked nervous but didn’t run as she waited through lines. She stormed onto the dance floor, filled with tons of Cani, and just screamed. The music was loud enough to drown it out, so she screamed more. Someone bumped into her, and she fell over.

Nobody noticed her for a second. Because nobody ever noticed when she tripped. She looked up to see someone holding their hand out to her. My hand.

“Hi, this is sudden, but can you dance with me?”