Chapter 803 - 803 Side Chapter: An Apology Belated

803 Side Chapter: An Apology Belated

Tyler was a man of many feelings. But in the present instance particularly, he was a man of many, many feelings.

Agony, as a bite too big he mindlessly swallowed suddenly lodged in his throat. Panic, as he squawked and flapped his arms, seemingly evolving to his true and final form as a half-man, half-goose hybrid. Then finally, with a grimacing gulp narrowly saving him from a permanent trip down the autopsy wing, Tyler was left a shadow of his former self, feeling only one thing and one thing only.

Mindfucked.

“Y-You’re a damn ghost,” Tyler stammered, repeatedly and frantically throwing his head back from the closed door of his room to the dark figure huddled and gazing back only inches away. “How did ya…? How could ya…? No fucking way, man. Nah, I’d have seen you, heard you… you ain’t human, you’re a demon, you’re…”

“Is that truly all you have to say?” Amelia asked, completely deaf and detached from his bewilderment. “I assure you there is a rather simple and mundane explanation to address my appearance, but truly… is that all that matters to you currently?”

Hearing her speak again was like being waterboarded down in the arctic ocean – in a good way, of course. Opened his eyes, cleared his head. And now looking at her, dastardly demons and ghastly ghosts were the last things in his mind.

“And umm…” He muttered quietly. “It’s… It’s really good to see you again.”

Amelia simply inclined her head, turning away with her usual callousness. “Naturally.”

Yet callousness was just one side to this two-faced damsel enigma in front of him.

.....

Half the time that he had been admitted here, Tyler had resigned to only ever seeing her again in short bittersweet memories.

After that particular night’s fiasco, having wasted her time, having made a clown of himself putting on the makeup of black and blue, she really had no obligation to be here… or rather, she shouldn’t have to be here.

Yet here she was all the same. And what’s more, he also had the strongest, strangest hunch that the mysterious Samaritan his doctor claimed that had brought him in wasn’t actually much of a mystery after all.

Actions, gestures, swirling all together to form the other, lovelier, side of this two-faced damsel.

“So, umm…” Tyler began. “What are you doing here?”

“An utterly pointless question,” Amelia sighed. “The answer is readily clear. I shall not waste any breath spelling it out for you.”

“Ain’t pointless, it’s just… I thought I ain’t worth a damn enough for you to come creepin’ in the way you did.”

She snorted. “Then evidently, you thought wrong.”

“So how come? What’s the reason you’re here?” He narrowed his eyes. “Hey, it doesn’t have something to do with someone that rhymes with ‘Pig Can’ does it?”

“Oh, by the Divines…” Amelia let out a raspy groan. “I am here of my own accord, not asked, not compelled – but willingly. I am simply here because I wish to be.”

Tyler sat and just waited for the punchline. Any moment now some TV funnyman was gonna slide his door wide open with a camera and crew in tow. The entire hospital staff would funnel in and they’d all laugh and laugh, because clearly that had to be a joke.

Here for him? Yeah, in what parallel universe…

“You seem to be doubtful of me.”

“Huh?” He blinked stupidly at her. “Nah, no, I just…”

“You got hurt,” Adalia spoke over him. “Those idiots from before, I carelessly provoked them and you, deluding yourself capable, attempted to shield me from their wrath, deliberately placing yourself in harm’s way. I let you get hurt.”

“Nah, that ain’t anything on you, Amelia,” Tyler fervently shook his head “You told me to hang back and I didn’t listen. Shoulda trust you got it covered, scary as hell as you can get… but I thought maybe I could look cool in front of you or something, play the hero – didn’t work out too well as you can see.”

“Indeed,”

“And in the end, all I accomplish was fucking your night over, disappointing my fans, worrying my friends… and now I even got you sneaking in here feeling guilty for nothing.”

“For nothing?”

“Ain’t it?”

“Only because you are insufferably adamant to find me of no fault whatsoever,” She said, crossing her arms in front of her. “But if that were actually true, then I would have not bothered myself with coming here in the first place.”

“Amelia…”

“Regardless of what you claim, it is irrefutable that it was my impudence that led you to being confined here. In silence, in pain, and all alone,” She responded, her voice losing the cold, hard edge to it. “I was careless, brash, and truthfully, I had thought of you very little to even expect for you to do as you did…” then, she looked at him, a brief glance, a fraction of it, meeting his eyes, a sincere look fleeting alight in a firework-flash of white. “And for that, for this, I am sorry…”

A man of many feelings, that was what he proudly thought himself to be. But hearing here now, Tyler suddenly found himself playing host to a feeling, an emotion, that not even he could describe.

All he knew was that it felt warm, fuzzy, and that it made him wanna leap out the window and reach for the stars.

Or for a more realistic approach, try and reach for her…

Thankfully, he ain’t so much of a dumbass to try that just yet.

“If you came here just to apologize, then hate to break it to ya, but I still think you’ve wasted your time…” He forced his busted lips to a grin. “Really got nothing here for me to forgive from you.”

Amelia’s lips remained sealed, and perhaps for all eternity now for all he knew after letting slip out that much sincerity there. Her expression was also quite the hard read, keeping all sorts of emotion completely barren – like she felt nothing. One side of her hiding the other, and hiding it well.

“Welp,” He clasped his hands together. “That’s all you’re here for, right?”

She blinked at him. “Excuse you?”

“Don’t notice the booming and flashing outside? It’s Christmas Eve, girl. You got more important things to do than be here getting germs in the hospital, don’t ya? You’re guilt-free, conscious cleared. Go get some candy canes.”

“You rather I go?” Amelia cocked her head at him, a stoic bewilderment in her eyes. “After wishing so badly for my company, you would allow it to slip so easily from your grasp? Would you not rather I stay with you?”

“I rather you enjoy yourself,” Tyler forced out another smile. “And clearly with me, stuck here, I’m not exactly prime for an unforgettable Christmas, you know? Nah, Amelia, go. Thanks for coming, though.”

Any second, unhesitating, he expected to see her lift herself off the chair, make an escaping beeline to the exit – free at last. Or alternatively, he expected to blink once and then open his eyes to the total absence of a fuckin’ ninja in disguise.

But no.

Still sitting, still scoffing, Amelia simply shifted herself to a more comfortable position.

“The only person I would rather be with is most unfortunately currently occupied with her own affairs,” She said. “And how presumptuous of you to think that I’ve only come here to absolve myself of any wrongdoings. I am not so shallow a person, despite what you may think of me.”

“Hey, no, I—! No, I don’t think of you as anything at all! Really! Fuck, no, wait, I mean—!” Tyler winced, an agony rippling emotionally. “It’s just – well, wouldn’t you rather be outta here? You would, right?”

“Presumptuous once more…” She threw him a full gaze. “Perhaps it is not I that is the shallow one here.”

“Fine, I’ll stop. No more prezumtois – or whatever the fuck from me. Go on then. Spill it. What would you rather do right now, then?”

“Again, you would waste my breath on such pointless inquiries,” Amelia sighed again, a harsh, cold look upon her face, “Is it truly not already apparent to you?” but a warmer, softer sound rippling with her words. Two sides showing as one. “Here. I wish to simply remain here.”

A man of many feelings, Tyler claimed. Maybe now though he should probably retire that title to someone else more suited.

Because he hadn’t the slightest idea what the fuck he should be feeling right then.

“Satisfied?” Amelia asked, then before he could get his words out, she continued on. “Now to my inquiries, if I may… that girl from before, who was she?”