POV: Drake
The talk and planning with the other Drake had taken longer than he expected. They finally finished and Drake had been double-checking with the Runas about phone recharging when he was attacked from behind.
“Hey!” said the other Drake behind him,” finished-”
Drake spun and hit him in the gut, or tried to. The other Drake jumped back and held up his hands in front of him, palms out.
Drake’s blood pounded and he squared off to fight. Nothing happened. His opponent was regarding him cautiously, no anger though.
Drake blinked. He shook his legs and stood normally, though his eyes flickered back and forth.
“You OK, friend?” asked the other Drake.
“Yeah. Shit. Yeah. Fine.” said Drake. He wasn’t. He felt like he’d been jumped and his shoulder fired needles of pain into him whenever he moved.
“Was that some kind of prison thing?”
“Yeah.”
The other Drake shook his head, “I can’t imagine what you went through. It wasn’t fair.”
Fair? Hard to say. Maybe. Ethan might have had a point about good behavior. He’d have to think more about it.
“It’s OK. No harm, no foul. We’re cool.”
“Good. The data transfer should be done.”
“I’ll have your pictures on my phone?”
The other Drake smiled, “That’s how it works, buddy.”
The men exchanged phones. Slowly, Drake relaxed and smiled fondly. The other Drake did the opposite, his smile evolved into a scowl.
The other Drake’s jaw clenched. “An email admitting the affair? Her friends made fun of me on social media. Her brother? Did everyone know?”
“Pretty much. My Dad had to manage everything, he had the power of attorney, which is why it’s on his phone. It was all still online in my universe. She told them to keep it for when I got out of jail in case she wanted to show cops how mad I was.” Drake said.
“Yeah, I can imagine. Woah! She wasn’t sure if Ethan was my son?! She wasn’t positive he was mine until Ethan was ?!”
“Yeah. Hey, these pictures are awesome! I never got to see the birthdays. And all crazy fun stuff. Fuck, thanks! How are the kids on your side?”
The other Drake grimaced looking at some other unpleasant discovery, put his phone away, and took a deep breath, “Well, you know them. Laid back and doing great. Ethan is almost certain to get into MIT. That video game he made where the camera on the phone tracks eye movement for autistic kids was a big deal. It’s getting him business prospects too. Lily likes relaxing with her friend Becky, she helped that girl lose a lot of weight last year. Lily wants to go into psychology and from there into Family Law. How about yours?”
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It was the same and different. Like two distant painters portraying the same subject using foreign styles.
Drake sighed. “Intense. They’re both intense. Ethan might get into MIT, it’s a stretch. He spends a lot of time training to kick my ass. He, uh, calls me ‘Kai’. Lily likes me, still calling me ‘Daddy’, and she wants to go into criminal defense law. She’s protective. I might have heard Becky’s name. Maybe.“
Both men were quiet. A car accident from a patch of ice created two very different people who impacted others. Somehow metaphors about ripples in the water or pebbles causing avalanches seemed banal.
The other Drake spread his hands, “We could be here all day. I know I could. I’ll have to figure out what to do. So do you, I guess.”
“Yeah. See you later.”
“Oh, hey, friend?”
“Yeah? What?”
“I can’t do anything about your ex-wife or Josh and I’m sorry. I’ll consult lawyers about the ones on my side. Does that help?”
Drake scratched his chin and smiled grimly, “doesn’t hurt.”
They turned to go. Drake’s Sayaka was carrying the shield. Baggage and Mio were waiting next to their respective exits. Runa was making out with the other Runa.
Both men approached them.
“Hey, it’s time to go,” the other Drake said, and gently took her hand.
“Runa. Move it.” He grabbed her wrist with his good arm.
Both women protested.
“Wait a minute! Seriously!” said one Runa.
“What are you doing? Stop!” said a different Runa.
Drake fumed. He’d been living like a monk around these women, trying to avoid even thinking of touching them intimately. And Runa couldn’t go five minutes without sucking face? He didn’t listen to her and dragged her out of the tower.
“Let go!” she yelled.
“Sure.” he dropped her hand. She had been pulling against him and stumbled when let loose.
“What the hell is your problem?!” Runa was still yelling.
“Drake”, it was Baggage’s voice.
“Not now, Baggage. Runa, my problem is that I’ve had my brain zapped by the tower, got a piece of molten steel thrust through me, and I just found out beating up Josh may cost Ethan a shot at MIT. All today! Because you assholes couldn’t tell Mio how to pick someone! That’s what my fucking problem is!”
“You’re mean!” Runa yelled, right in his face.
Drake knew a challenge when he saw it. He’d had to deal with this kind of shit two weeks ago, a couple days before he was let out.
“Drake-dono!” Baggage was even raising her voice to him. Things were out of control and he had to shut it down now.
“Baggage, I said wait! Runa, this isn’t fucking mean. You want mean? I’ll give it” Drake roared.
“Try!” Runa took a step towards him.
Baggage said from somewhere, “Drake, that's not our-”
Someone attacked him. A light tap on his bad shoulder, then a sudden switch with a weak hand on the good one. He spun and retaliated. His shoulder screamed as he drove his fist into his attacker’s jaw. The opponent collapsed right away. One strike. Fuck yeah!
He looked down. It was Baggage. Fallen in the snow. No.
He was being attacked again. He ignored it. Runa was screaming that he wasn’t the real Kai Drake. He kept staring at Baggage.
Sayaka stepped in front of him and stood there. Runa was wearing herself out screaming.
“Hey, Big Man. You listening?” Sayaka asked.
“What? Yeah. Is she OK?” Drake said. He wasn’t sure he was all there. Part of him felt like it was just not engaged with the world.
“Good. See this bird?” Sayaka produced an origami crane.
“Yeah.”
Sayaka threw the bird into the sky. It was flying on its own.
“Where is it going?”
“The Elven Queendom. It’s carrying a lot of messages. One of them is that they aren’t to help you go back unless I am alive and say it’s OK.”
Bitch!
“Kai, I’m not sending you home to those children while you’re like this. Change. Fast.”
“Sayaka-”
“Go for a walk and take a shit. Come back in two hours.”
“Can I talk to her?” Drake asked.
“No. I’m going to add an extra hour unless you leave now.”
Drake left.
He didn’t know what to think.
