by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
"It's Loretta, now," whispers the young woman, staring at me like she's watching a ghost. "They... they said you died."
What should I say? Tell her all? She didn't know my secret identity back then, in the circus. Think, Edulcore, and fast.
But it's her who relieves me from the trouble of coming up with a story. "Edulcore Cicciotto, ex-Olympic runner and metahero," she says, smiling.
"You know?"
"I believe I knew back then. You and your friends were always disappearing at the strangest moments, and the stunts of the Revolutionaries were always in the same places visited by our circus."
"Lorele... Loretta, sorry, can we talk at your place? Right now I should be away from the street."
She looks at the police lights in the distance. "Always with cops on your tail, eh?"
"It seems," I whisper.
A few minutes later, we are in her apartment, a dirty hole, I would call it. "Why are you here, Lori?" I ask after she closes the door.
"Wong dumped me out of the show, Ed. After an... incident here in Vegas, I lost my powers. You remember. I was a contortionist, but my ability was metagene-induced. And it went away just like it had come. Wong didn't think for a minute to keep me with him and the show. I was left out on the street, and I'm still here."
"Come with me, Lori. I am looking for my friends. They are somewhere in the Caribbean. Leave this life. With the help of a friend, I am planning to make a lot of money quickly and leave."
She looks at me, puzzled by my offer. "Eddie, are you a thief now? It makes sense, with your powers..."
"I, too, have lost mine, Lori. No, I am not a thief. We want to play a little with the slot machines. My friend has an ace up his sleeve."
Her face, which for a moment had lightened up, like she had a sort of revelation, is back to the sad smile she sported since the first moment I saw her on the street. Yet my offer seems to interest her.
"What casino do you plan to visit?"
"Boh? I don't know. I mean, I never have been here before. What casino? All! Many, at least. I want to make a lot of money."
Lori looks at her watch. "Shall we go?"
"No, it's too early. I have to wait at least three hours here, before. The police is looking for us."
"Three hours? To stay here, you must pay me, Ed. I am sorry, but my pimp will disfigure me if I don't bring him the money!"
"I have the money, Loretta," I whisper, taking out of my pocket the roll of dollars Turner gave me.
"It's okay, then," she says, looking at the money. With a gesture of the hand, she invites me into her bed. "You seem tired, Ed. Come here, honey..."
This is the moment I feared. What I should say? Back at the circus, just before my "death," I was in love with this woman. Back then, the world was our big top, and I thought that life would be mine forever. I couldn't have ever been so wrong. Now, what I felt for her then is gone. There is still... tenderness for her, but the love is gone.
So much has happened since I last saw her. Above everything else, a face keeps returning to my mind: Vidalia.
Oh, how much I loved her, and it was all a fake. She was enchanting me, but I would have given my life for her.
And then came the Revolution, and all those deaths on my shoulders. Metas and norms, and among them, Vidalia, killed by one of Rothman's men, and her body used as a bomb by Walker.
I have been through so much madness. For the first time, I realize I am so tired, so tired of running, of fighting, of talking. Who am I to always judge what's good and what's bad? What difference could I ever hope to make? I am so tired, and this woman invites me to rest in her bed.
I unzip my pants. And she quickly kneels in front of me.
Oh well. I will rest later!