AncilChapter 17: Home Is Where The Heart Is.
The lit up ship revealed the surrounding areas. Outside of the ship the canoes were still there but the people that were in the ship weren’t alive. Some lay lifelessly in their canoes covered in blood while some were floating on top of the water. I couldn’t see all of the water in the dark but from the little of it that I saw, it was covered in blood. I couldn’t believe we couldn’t stop the Midnight Robber after all that we went through. The people of San Fernando were dead. There were corpses all around floating in the sea. Was Marsha, Ravi, Melanie, Megan, Sam and Cornell okay? I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell. Ray Carter was okay, but that didn’t count. Ray Carter was all the way in England safe in his house. I stood by the wide open door of the ship and looked down into the bloody waters. I was becoming fed up of seeing all these dead bodies. It definitely was something that was going to scar me for life. I continued scanning the dark surroundings and I saw a few used parachutes floating in the water. Did the Midnight Robber and his team come from the sky? It seemed so.
“I wish I could have done something to save these people,” I said to Ray Carter as I inspected the dead bodies.
“I so too wish I could have saved them. But there is only so much that a man can do.” Ray Carter said.
“What should we do now?” I asked.
“Sit on me.”
“What?” I asked confused. “I’m not sitting on you.”
“You want to get out of here or not? This ship isn’t going anywhere. Take off that hat and sit on me.”
Ray Carter was right that there was nothing I could really do here and the ship was surrounded by canoes and bodies and was pretty useless. So I complied. I took off the captain’s hat and the ship powered down into darkness once more. I sat on top of the metal ball and he told me to hold on tight. He then hovered outside of the ship and over the water. I was able to get a closer look at the bodies in the water and there were also a lot of Blue Devils, Dame Lorraines and Moko Jumbies floating around.
“Wait, did we win?” I asked Ray Carter.
“I still can’t tell.”
It was a tough call. Even Though there were dead masqueraders, there were also dead citizens. Who won? Where was the Midnight Robber? All these questions rushed through my head without any answers. Ray Carter and I kept scoping the city and the damage didn’t seem very extensive.
Ray Carter dropped me off on a dock and joked that I was too heavy. I stood scratching my head trying to figure out what had happened.
“What do you think happen here Ray?” I asked.
No answer.
“Ray?” I called again while looking around. Where was he?
“Oh hey bloke. I was just talking to my wife,” Ray Carter said.
“Oh yeah. I forget that you’re safe and sound in your house while all of this going on. Lucky you,” I said.
“I’m trying to help you as much as I can.”
I didn’t respond but my tears took the place of anything I had to say. My eyes watered and I couldn’t stop it. I stared at the full moon in the sky that lit the corpses floating in the water knowing that it was the end and there was nothing that I could have done about it. All the years of violence and corruption that plagued the country all summed up in this one moment. A fallen nation. A country that rotted and destroyed itself from the inside. Everything that we did and everything that we said all led to this day and it was killing me inside because I felt like I could have stopped it. But in reality, there was not one more thing that I could have done differently. I tried and I failed. I couldn’t stand to look at the bodies anymore because it seemed like they were silently judging me. It was too much for me to bear. I closed my eyes and fell to my knees.
“I want to go home,” I said as hope drained from me. I lost all the positivity that I once had while I was with Megan. There wasn’t anything to be positive about anymore. I was no longer positive Jed. My father was gone, my friends were gone and my country was gone. Hope was gone.
“Home?” Ray Carter questioned.
“Yes home!” I shouted.
“Where is your home?” Ray Carter asked.
I wiped the snot from my face and the tears from eyes and said, “I’ll show you.”
I sat on Ray Carter once again and we flew over and out of the city. While in the air I couldn’t help but notice the activity down on the Uriah Butler Bridge. There wasn’t actually much activity but there were a couple burning cars. I didn’t notice any bodies but that was probably just because of the fact that it was too dark.
It was a relatively long trip to my home in Arima but we eventually arrived, taking a few breaks here and there. I directed Ray Carter to my house which was in a very desolated area in Arima below Calvary Hill. It was a bright red house with a giant solar panel on top of it so it wasn’t very hard for Ray Carter to find. The door was locked but I just used my gun which was still strapped to my belt to blast it open. The keys to the house were connected to the car keys and I had no idea where that was any more. Cornell showed me how to use the exo-suit attached to my leg to keep grounded so I wasn’t flung back by the blast. It didn’t really bother me much that there was a giant hole in the wall of the house where the door used to be because all I wanted to do was go home and probably watch TV, or play some games. I just wanted to do something to get my mind off everything. I was so glad that Ray Carter was there because he made it feel a lot less lonely even though he wasn’t with me in person. While in the house I utilized the solar energy and tried everything from playing video games to watching videos but I just couldn’t get my mind off what had happened.
The day raced on and all that I could have done was just sit and sulk. Ray Carter tried to cheer me up with some of his British humor but he failed. When it started to get dark I decided to go upstairs to my room and try to get a good night’s sleep. I slugged up the stairs to my room and Ray Carter followed after. My room looked exactly the same way it looked when I left it a couple days ago. There were clothes scattered all over the floor and my bed was nowhere close to being made up. I quickly fixed the sheet and sank into my bed. Ray Carter kept me company for a little while but he eventually powered off. I picked up the metal ball and placed it in a little basket on the bed head.
“Off!” I shouted, causing the lights in the room to shut off.
My eyes were wide open as I stared up at the ceiling. The incident in San Fernando was the only thing on my mind. I couldn’t help but think about Megan and what happened to her. I thought about the others but Megan was more prevalent on my mind. I didn’t want to cry again, but I did until my entire face was wet.
I waited patiently for my father’s voice in my head to say something but there was only silence. Not a word. The loneliness began to dawn on me and haunted me all throughout the night as I tried to sleep.
I eventually felt some sort of sleep coming on. I was nodding away into sleep for the night but as soon as I was about to fall asleep I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
