“The ambulance was just arriving when I got there, and things were even worse than I thought, because they whisked her away before Jossi and I had a chance to ride with her.” One of the pooled tears slides down her cheek. “By the time we got a ride to the hospital, she was—we were too late. She was gone.”
Lifting our linked hands, I pull her into my arms and cradle her on my lap. Her head rests against my shoulder, and one of her hands plays with my shirt as she tells me more of her family.
“We never knew our dad. I mean, it wasn’t like there was a revolving door of men in my mom’s life, but whoever he was didn’t stick around to find out about us. So when we lost Mom, there was nowhere for us to go, and since we weren’t eighteen yet, we ended up in the foster system.”
I don’t know what the foster system is, but the way she wrinkles her nose, it’s apparent it’s not a good thing.
“At least it was our senior year, so we only got bounced around to foster homes until after we—I mean, I—graduated. Joss dropped out, choosing to get high instead of trying to climb out of our shitty life. She was just like Mom in that regard. She had no drive to make things better for herself. Which is ironic because, from my point of view, she took the much harder road.”
She goes quiet after a bit, until I finally ask, “And what about you? Did you succeed? Were you able to dig yourself out of your shitty life?”
Her nose wrinkles. “I guess. A lot of good it did me though. I got out of the projects, but I didn’t get far. It took a lot of hard work; I was still working hard.” Her eyes lift to mine, “But I wasn’t planning on giving up.”
“My brave Sors.” I kiss her temple and add, “I have no doubt you would have succeeded.”
The silence turns deafening, and neither of us seem to know what to say. Until words I had no plans to speak suddenly push themselves up my throat to fall from my lips.
“Sone saved me,” I begin. “My planet was dying; it had been for generations. Our scientists unknowingly poisoned our people in an attempt to cure our low birth rates. I was the very last live birth my people would ever have. The end of the line for my species.
“I knew if I stayed, I would die along with the rest of them. But there was a calling for me. At the time, I thought it was the Fates, guiding me to some glorious purpose. My people called me a traitor. I just… I felt like there was something more for me. So I left with little more than the clothes on my back and a pocket full of credits that turned out to be worthless beyond my planet’s atmosphere.
“I made it farther into space than I expected, but promptly found myself creditless, starving, and stuck on a planet where the rains never stopped. That’s where Sone found me.” I look down to find Bela watching me, wide-eyed and rapt. “He fed me, gave me a warm place to sleep, a job, and friendship.Hegave me a purpose, not the Fates.”
Bela’s small hand tightens around the neck of my shirt. “I’m so sorry, Treto. I wish there was some way for me to bring him back to you.”
Letting out a long sigh, I rest my forehead against hers and breathe in her warm scent. My throat grows tight, and it takes me a few tries before I can swallow past the lump forming.
“No,Sorsa,”I whisper against her thick hair. Even though I would do anything to have my friend back, I also know sometimes things, even bad things, happen to make way for other things, better things. “If it hadn’t been for his sacrifice,” I whisper softly, “I wouldn’t have you.”
