Page 10 of The Pale Rider
“Was I at another research facility when I was a child?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“I had a nightmare. A man dropped me off at a scary hospital. I didn’t want to be there, and they were hurting me. He left me anyway and didn’t look back. I tried to fight, and one man straight-up hit me.”
“That was a memory, not a nightmare, Speedy. Don’t fight it when they come. Not all of your memories are happy softball games.”
“Why was I at a research facility as a child, then again as an adult?”
“All I can tell you was that your father was an asshole. I’m sure you gathered that from your dream.”
“But I could feel that I loved him from the dream. I wanted him to come back and save me. Why would I love him if he did that to me?”
“Everyone wants to love their father no matter how much of a dick they are.”
I asked, even though I knew I would probably get a grunt in return.
“What about you? Do you love your father?”
Aeron grunted, and I didn’t think he would answer.
“You could say they programmed me to love my father no matter what he does or doesn’t do.”
“Did your father do anything as bad as mine did?”
Aeron got up and stormed out the room.
“Yeah, he created me,” he snapped on the way out.
What did that even mean? I knew why Aeron couldn’t tell me more about my past, but why was he so secretive about his? There wasn’t much we could talk about right now. It wasn’t like I could ignore him and binge watch TV. I clearly enjoyed reading based on my tattoos, but I had nothing to read on, and the previous inhabitants of this cabin didn’t leave a single book behind.
I wasn’t taking this. If he wanted this to work, he would have to be honest with me. How could I trust him that he was telling the truth about all of this if he couldn’t even tell me about himself?
I followed him out of the room. He slammed his bedroom door in my face, and I just kicked it right open. He spun around panting when he realized I was in his private space.
“Get out!” he roared.
“No!” I yelled. “You ask me to trust you with your crazy tale. You tell me you have the solution to all of this and can end it. How am I supposed to believe anything you say when anytime I ask you about yourself, you just grunt at me?”
“Believe me, Ariel, if you think the story I told you is ridiculous, you will think my past is totally insane until you get your memories back! Be patient!”
“You won’t even tell me your last name! You lied and told me you didn’t have one!”
“That’s because I don’t!” he yelled. “None of the four people you will meet have them, so don’t bother asking us.”
“Are you related?”
“In a way. We have the same father.”
“And he didn’t give you his last name?”
“He doesn’t have one either.”
Aeron had this slight accent that I couldn’t place. Was that common where he was from? Since he was finally answering questions a bit, I decided just to ask.
“Where are you from, Aeron?”
His mood instantly changed. He got this smirk on his face and pointed to the sky.
