The End Bringer 14 (Patreon)

XIV – PROTECT – XIV

The sun was shining brightly and the park was way too busy. They had opened very recently, only about a week ago, and it seemed like everyone had come out to the amusement park for a good day. It was nearly eighty degrees, almost swelteringly hot, and everyone was baking under the sunlight. 

I was a frozen icicle, and none of my vaunted spells could seem to fix that. 

“Told you girls not to ride that,” Dad said, almost mocking the both of us as he sipped some sort of sugary slush drink that cost way too much. 

“Sh-sh-shutup!” I shouted, and Amy glared with me, adding to strength of my words. “It was fun!” 

My tone disagreed with my words but he should not be allowed to look so damn smug. Amy and I were soaked. We had been daring enough, or foolish enough, to ride the logride. Now everything was soaked, and warm as the sun felt, the water was ice cold. A warm day in New England did not mean the water would be even close to warm.

“We should’ve made him go,” I whispered conspiratorially to Amy. “He would’ve if we’d insisted.”

“Y-you’re not wrong,” Amy said, though she was smiling as she did it. We did kind of have it coming, after all. “Still, someone had to hold the drinks.”

I grumbled good naturedly, and we got up and began to walk a little deeper into the amusement park. Dad was present, but not overly so. Mostly he hung out while we went on rides, meeting us every hour or two and spending the day on his own. 

It felt a little childish having him around and checking in on us, but I was in the mood for a little childishness. Nothing quite like the blood-and-guts environment of the hospital to suck the childhood out of you. Plus, just seeing Dad so… interested in my life was nice. 

The day had been going pretty great. Amy had managed to relax a lot ever since we’d arrived. The opportunity to relax wasn’t exactly something that she got very often. Here, she seemed to be, at least partially forgetting the mountain of patients waiting for us back at the hospital. 

A crying kid interrupted my introspection, and Amy’s gaze snapped to him in an instant, all pretense of enjoyment gone in favor of her self imposed duty. 

The kid had scraped his knees on the hard concrete, and was young enough that crying about it was still his response. Five, maybe six years old. Just old enough that he might actually remember this event as an adult. 

Amy made to go towards him, but I grabbed her hand and shook my head. The boy’s mother knelt down and instantly began soothing his injury, while Amy looked on. 

“Amy… today isn’t about healing. Today is about being happy? Okay? Having a little fun. I know… you haven’t brought it up since I… uhm… smacked you. You’ve been really sad since then though, and I hoped getting away from the healing might help.” 

Amy actually smiled at that. “It’s not just the healing. Still can’t believe that. All this time, and all I needed was a good smack across the face to… to fix the problem.” 

I wasn’t exactly certain if any smack to the face would’ve fixed her particular problem. It might’ve been something about my power, but I didn’t think mentioning that would be a good idea at the moment. Instead, I decided to tread delicately, and give her an out if she didn’t want to talk. “Ah… you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“I… will soon. It's just kind of… embarrassing I guess. Really. Embarrassing. Gross, even,” she admitted. 

“Hey, I’m sure it's not that bad. It’s just… you’ve been spending an awful lot of time at the hospital and I…” I trailed off, distracted by something behind Amy. 

“It's… pretty bad. But on the upside, Carol is overjoyed that I’m spending so much time at the hospital. I…” 

I tried to focus on the girl but, to my surprise, a guy was motioning towards me from behind her. 

I cocked my head, uncomprehendingly, pointing at myself with a question. The boy grinned as we made eye contact. He was… cute. Handsome even, so what in god’s name did he want with me?

Oh. The healer thing, surely. 

“Uh, Taylor? What?” Amy asked, turning around, spotting the boy. She turned back to me with a wry scowl and drawled, “Really?”

“Sorry. He was distracting,” I said sheepishly. “You were talking about Carol?”

“Ignore them, Taylor,” Amy said sourly, ignoring my attempt to return the conversation to her original topic. “They just want to talk to you for the fame,” 

“You don’t know that for sure,” I said, wondering inwardly why I was trying to be optimistic. “He might just be interested in my body!” 

She snorted. A full on, embarrassing snort, that made her hand shoot to her nose to cover it. She flushed a full red, which made her freckles stand out even more than the sunlight did.

I snickered at her a little, hoping she wouldn’t be offended. “Er… he’s actually still trying to get us to come talk to him. Want to?” 

She turned and looked over her shoulder, a little warily. 

“Not… really. Vicky… she was always dragging me on these terrible double dates with her and Dean. I couldn’t stand them… but…” 

She seemed to debate something inwardly for a moment. If my guess was right, and Vicky was the cause of the charm, then dates like those would have been torture for her. No powers involved, I wouldn’t enjoy going on a double date when the person I was interested in wasn’t coupled with me. It wasn’t hard to guess exactly why she’d hated those dates so much. 

That more than anything, prompted me to grab her hand. 

“H-Hey.” 

“Vicky isn’t here, Amy. So… why not talk to them? If they’re pigs I can smack them with my flute or something. Alright?” 

Amy blinked. “Wh-what does… what does Vicky have to do with anything?” 

I eyed her knowingly and she cringed a little. 

“Well. Okay. But your Dad might have some issue with it,” she said resignedly. 

“He’ll get over it. S’not like he’s acted like much of a parent until recently anyway,” I said, and instantly regretted it. “Er. That came out harder than it should’ve.” 

Amy looked at me, concerned, but I walked around her heading for the boy. I left feeling like I had a responsibility to drag my even more antisocial companion into the sunlight, but my confidence absolutely dissolved as I realized I was walking towards social interaction. I slowed with each step, Amy following me the only reason I didn’t actually turn and run. 

He was… hot. Dark skinned and tall with muscles that indicated he worked out regularly. His friend showed similar time in the gym, though he was more wiry and spindly. He was black as well but looked a little more hispanic than the boy who’d motioned us over. I was taller than both of them, which somehow managed to embarrass me further as I approached, but he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he grinned as we approached, looking a little nervous himself.

“You, ah, wanted something?” I asked hesitantly.

“We were… well. I’m Isaac. This is Nicholas,” he said happily. He pointed at one of the stalls, one where you throw a large baseball at milk cans. “We were about to challenge each other see? But, neither of us want the prizes, so we figured we’d see if we could win them for you two, eh?” 

His voice actually cracked at the end, and his friend laughed at him for it, slapping him on the shoulder. 

My first thought was why? I didn’t have very high self esteem and I knew I wasn’t even slightly attractive. Amy was prettier than I was, but she was as embarrassed about the sea of freckles that decorated her face as I was about my wide mouth.  Then again… they were offering. 

“Uhm. S-sure? I guess,” I said stepping on my back foot as Amy came up behind me. 

“Can we get your names, ladies?” Nicholas asked, speaking for the first time.