Forgotten

Trent looks to his sister, the worry coursing through his eyes. "I just... saw on the news. They were reporting on weather-caused road accidents. They talked about a semi that went into the ditch, avoiding hitting this woman and her kid."

He swallows hard. "The driver was injured and taken to the hospital... it was late last night. They showed a picture of the truck... I know it was Eric's."


Ryder chuckles at Thirteen's comment about him being family. "You're pretty important to me too," he agrees.

But reverting to her previous statement, he shakes his head. "Love is complicated, Thirteeen. It shouldn't be, but it often is. You'd think if someone didn't want to see you that they didn't love you... but that isn't always the case. You can't really assume anything. But one thing you can do is be satisfied with who you have around you... and with who you are. Because you're important and you are loved."


Gage returns Sapphire's hug and grins at her as she sits down. "You kidding me? If I get tired of you, I get tired of the only company I got, so I better not."

His eyes twinkle to show that teasing aside, he could never get tired of her coming over. "Hmmm... the whole day?"

He fingers the package he'd just set aside before Sapphire had come in. "Well.... we could.... start by giving you this."

He scoots it over to Sapphire, slight color in his face. He didn't want to give her her gift in front of her parents tomorrow. He didn't even know if he'd done a good job or not. But it was all he had. He'd never given someone something like this before either, so he didn't want it sitting on his mind all day. If she didn't like it, or laughed at it, then he could get it over with and they'd have the rest of the day.

Gage hadn't had money for much of a gift, but he'd been able to find a deep blue and black picture frame that was just the right size and he'd emptied his loose change jar to get it. And framed was a sketch done with his own hand that had taken him hours under his dim light at night, trying to perfect it. He'd sketched a closeup headshot of Sapphire and himself together, working from memory and a mirror. Captured in the delicate pencil strokes was life in the eyes, as if they could shine right from the paper. Depth showed in the shadows and even the smallest details were captured ever so carefully with the one pencil he had. Facing each other, the faces were smiling faintly and an invisible wind toyed with loose strands of their hair.


Alec squints, trying to figure out where Ryan was coming from. It was hard to understand though. But after being brainwashed by the Agency, how could one expect him to understand simple kindness anymore? It was an act, an emotion that had been stripped from him, the day he'd joined the Agency. He wasn't an Agency baby... he'd had a life before that and during his service, he hadn't been like Gage, sheltered from the world. Yet there was so much he'd still missed out on or forgotten. ...And that was a hard fact to realize, let alone accept.

But maybe on a day like today... when loneliness had made its mark... when kindness had been shown regardless of the past... when a heart had just taken a small blow just enough to cause a tiny crack... maybe the hard facts could be recognized.

"I didn't believe them when they told me I'd been brainwashed or made into a robot by the Agency," he mumbles, still with his arms around his legs. He searches Ryan's eyes. "That's where I come from... the 'bad guys.'"

Shifting his weight, he finally scoots his legs down and picks up the rest of his french fries to finish them off. "Maybe they were right," he finally concludes. "I can't feel anything anymore. I know I did once... but I guess I've forgotten what it was like."