Living Life (Lina POV)

It had been two months since that fateful day that her boyfriend had died, along with several of her friends, and her best friend had fallen into a coma. Lina was slowly picking up the pieces of a broken life, but it was a hard thing to do. She knew she’d fallen into a depression. She hadn’t left her room much for the first month except to go see Amani at the abyssal hospital.

Those visits had grown more infrequent over time. She tried but she just didn’t have the energy anymore to be able to go out very often. The daily visits had turned into once every two days, then three, then once a week. She’d tried to get a job in the meantime, but her heart really wasn’t in it. She barely was able to send out a couple of applications and nobody responded.

Her parents were very understanding of the situation and mostly left her alone because she’d asked them too. She thought she just needed time. She wasn’t sure, but what other choice did she have? She didn’t want to die but…she wasn’t sure she wanted to live very much either. She mostly stayed in bed, watching Netflix on her laptop. She felt like she’d gone through half Netflix’s catalogue by this point.

Today was one of those rare days that she had been able to muster up the energy to make the drive to see Amani again. Not that she thought her friend would wake up any time soon, but it was the one thing she felt like she might be able to look forward to in future. The prospect of reuniting properly with Amani and the idea that maybe her life wasn’t completely ruined was really the only thing that kept her going at all.

And now she sat beside her friend, in the same chair she’d sat in a hundred times before. She was out of hope that she’d be there when Amani woke up. It’d probably be a phone call sometime far off in the future. But still she visited. Lina was at least still loyal to her friend like that.

She stroked her friend’s arm gently and spoke to her. She really didn’t have anything much to say, but she spoke anyway. “I’ve started watching old people shows. I’m watching Seinfield. That’s how bored I am.” She chuckled faintly. “No it’s actually not that bad. I even laugh at it sometimes.” She said. Lina sighed. Her heart ached. Amani would have loved to make fun of her for watching a show they both hated their parents talking about.

She missed Amani dearly. That was the truth of it. She missed everybody that had been taken away from her that day, of course. But Amani she’d been friends with since primary school. Amani had always known what to do and how to handle things. As a power reader, she’d known who to stay away from or cozy up to, and it made their lives, even as abyssals a lot easier than otherwise.

Amani had been a light in her life for the longest time, being there for her when her first boyfriend cheated on her, sharing in the frustrations of schooling, seeing their favourite movies together. Now that was all gone. Amani lay there motionless, her spirit seemingly drained. She was alive, but only technically. Her light was gone.

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…unless?

Lina became aware that the machines were beeping differently. She looked at them and she had no idea what they meant, but something was changing, that much was clear. “Nurse! Doctor! Please, somebody help!” She yelled frantically, looking worriedly at her friend. She heard fast footsteps outside as somebody ran into the room.

The doctor took one look at the machines, and one look at Amani, and started to smile. “She’s waking up.” She said simply. Lina looked back at her friend as her eyelids started to flutter. Tears filled her vision as Amani opened her eyes for the first time in two months. Lina put her hand to her mouth. “Amani?” She asked, scarcely believing it.

Amani for her part, gave Lina a confused looking smile. The doctor got the power reader’s attention, and shined a light into her eyes. “Pupil response normal. How do you feel?” The doctor asked. “Uh, fine I guess. How long has it been?” Amani asked, her voice sounding a bit raspy. “You’ve been in a coma for two months. Take it easy, we’ll run some tests to see if you have any permanent damage.” The doctor said, smiling and walking quickly out of the room.

As soon as there was room, Lina launched herself at her friend. Amani hugged her back. Lina could feel her friend putting all her strength into it, even though she was still weak. “I thought I’d never talk to you again!” Lina exclaimed, noticing she was sobbing. Amani chuckled lightly. “I’m here now. I’m awake.”

The doctor came back to run some tests and shooed Lina out of the room. A part of her really wanted to stay, but she didn’t mind too much. Her friend was awake now. That was enough for her. In the meantime, she called Madi to let her know the good news. Psyched, Madi said she’d be right there. Lina sat in the waiting room for another hour by herself, before Madi arrived.

In that time, she felt happier than she had in months. She’d got a piece of her life back, one that she was beginning to lose hope she ever would. Amani was awake and back again. Things were going to be okay. Lina and Madi waited for another half an hour before they were allowed back in.

“She’s going to make a full recovery. We’ll have to keep her here for a few more hours, but because she’s awake, we can use magic to speed up the recovery process now. She’ll be able to be discharged tonight if you can take her home.” The doctor said to Lina. Lina nodded and thanked her, before heading back inside the room.

“Madi!” Amani exclaimed. “You’re okay!” Madi responded happily, the two of them hugging tightly. Madi and Lina sat down in the two visitors chairs, while Amani leaned back in her bed. They caught their friend up on everything that had happened in the last two months, which were mostly negative things. But there was an undertone of hope there. Now that Amani was awake, things might get a bit better.

It was after about half an hour of chatting that Madi asked the question that had been burning on Lina’s mind since Amani had woken up. “So what did you see? It was that gamer girl that fucked with your powers, right?” Madi asked. Amani sighed heavily. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. That girl is something else…” She trailed off.

Madi leaned forward, almost excitedly. “Is she more powerful than Mathias?” She asked. Amani groaned. “Oh god, please don’t bring up that creep.” She lamented. Madi raised her hands up. “Please? This could be important.” She justifed herself. Amani sighed. “She wasn’t when I saw her, but she has the potential to be more powerful than him. By a lot.” She said.

Madi’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?” She asked eagerly. Amani nodded, rolling her eyes. “Reading Mathias gave me a headache and knocked me out for a couple days. Reading that girl sent me into a coma for two months, so yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Madi was almost dancing with excitement at this point. “This could change everything! Amani, please come with me to tell him!” She said.

Amani groaned again. “You already tried to get me to work with that weirdo once, you promised you’d drop it! He freaks me out.” She said. “I know I know but you don’t have to work with him! Just come with me to tell him! If you’re right, he’ll make sure we’re safe and have good lives. He’ll take care of us.” Madi replied.

Amani looked to Lina for help. Lina had a vague inkling of what this what about, but she didn’t really remember. She remembered Amani talking about it when her and Madi had gone to meet with the man at the Opera House a couple years ago, but not much else. Instead of talking to Amani, Lina decided to ask Madi about it.

“What do you mean he’ll take care of us?” She asked. Madi turned to her. “Look, I found out he existed because I got lucky. I made friends with another power reader who talked about him. Apparently he has a whole bunch of them working for him to find somebody powerful. Nobody knows what for, but the guy I talked to said he was looking for power and potential.”

She gave Amani a meaningful look. “Amani and I went to talk to him, to see if she could work for him. She ended up not wanting to after meeting him. He told me that if she ever found what he was looking for, to come talk to him, and that we’d be rewarded well if we did.” Madi explained.

Lina digested the words and turned back to Amani. “You didn’t believe him?” She asked. The power reader sighed for a third time. “I believed him. I just don’t like him.” She clarified. “And he’d give us a better life?” Lina pressed on. “Yes.” Madi said. “I don’t know.” Amani replied.

“But it’s worth a shot, right? Look Amani, life is pretty bad without the Beastie Boys. If he could make it better, that’s worth a shot.” She said. “This is fucked.” Amani muttered. “Fine but if this goes to shit, I told you so.” Madi cheered, and Lina was left wondering what the hell Mathias wanted with this information. Then again, she supposed it didn’t matter, if it got them a better life in the abyss.

The next day, with Amani discharged and the three of them getting a good night’s rest, they made their way to the Opera House, with Madi having contacted Mathias ahead of time to set up a meeting. This seemed to be really important to him, so he’d made time immediately.

And now, standing in front of the man, he didn’t seem to be anything special. Certainly he didn’t look powerful like Madi and Amani had described him. He looked like a well dressed, well off man in his 40s, with his white suit, black undershirt and red tie. He was well kempt, and if Lina had been interested in older men, she might have found him quite attractive.

The only thing odd about him were his eyes. She couldn’t seem to meet them directly. Any time she tried to, she ended up looking at his forehead, his nose or his chin. Her gaze almost seemed to bounce off them. She wasn’t sure why, and she found it somewhat unnerving.

“We think Gemma Rose, The Gamer, is the one you’ve been looking for.” Madi summed up. His expression immediately grew more interested. “How sure are you? I assume you were the one who read her, Miss Amani?” He asked in his gravelly sounding voice. Amani nodded, clearly a bit uncomfortable.

“Reading her put me in a two month coma. I only just woke up yesterday.” She said. Mathias nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you girls for bringing this to my attention. I’ll see to it that you’re well taken care of, and if you’re right, you will be handsomely rewarded. Sophie!” He called. A few seconds later, and a woman in a business suit walked in, looking to be his secretary. “Yes boss?” She asked.

“See to it that these girls are housed in the best accomodation we can find and that they’re safe. I can arrange something in here or outside our barrier if you’d prefer?” He asked them. “In here’s fine.” Madi answered for them, and he nodded. “In here it is then. Put them in our finest guest suite.” Mathias spoke to his secretary and she nodded.

She started to tap around on the ipad she was holding. “Max!” Mathias called. In lumbered a hulking brute of a man, who must have been the sole reason the ceilings were so high. He easily towered over two metres, wore a black suit, and a comparison to the Hulk would not be unwarranted. “You remember how you wanted to go after The Gamer? Take some readers and find her.” Mathias said simply. The brute smiled. It reminded Lina of a shark. “Time to go hunting.” He replied.