Chapter 426: Is This How You Move On?
"...Fucking circus act."
Awena shut off the television in her office without bothering to hide her frustration.
She hated election cycles in America. Every four years, she contemplated returning to Birmingham and living out the rest of her days with a cat and a gerbil.
"Or I could always take Jojo’s approach and start dating someone half my age..." She wondered aloud.
She looked around her office and realized why she couldn’t do that within seconds.
High-ranking government positions leave much to be desired in terms of family life.
A wife/husband and kids are effectively props in American political media. It gives one the illusion of being stable and nurturing.
If Awena dared to step into the public eye with anyone who had more than a three-year age difference, she would have a shitstorm coming after her the likes of which even a chili cook-off couldn’t produce.
Joanne got called a myriad of names when her marriage to Malachi and Bianca came out. ’Cradle-Robber’ was the nicest one she could think of.
For some reason, Awena pulled her phone out of her pocket and started scrolling through her camera roll.
The pictures she settled on were ones from Jo’s wedding. Of course, they were taken discreetly so as not to invoke her ire. Awena felt a bit guilty about that, but she just wanted to admire her only real friend on her special day.
She wasn’t sure if she had ever seen Jo quite as happy as she was that day. It warmed her heart to see.
"Always thought that we’d be each other’s bridesmaids, but I guess things didn’t work out that way, huh...?" The sad tone in Awena’s voice was heard only by herself nd the other inanimate objects in her office.
She reclined back in her seat and stared at the ceiling with a forlorn gaze.
As she closed her eyes, a shadow passed over her window.
Awena jolted from her slumber when she heard a sudden tapping against the glass.
She turned around to find the very same woman who was just on her mind, flapping her wings outside her office.
Suddenly, Joanne’s body vibrated rapidly, and she passed through the surface like a ghost.
Awena didn’t know whether to be impressed or concerned.
"I’ve gotta start upping precautions around here some kind of way. The security openings around here are way bigger than I thought."
Joanne stepped into the room and patted down her clothes. Several parts of her outfit looked scorched.
Awena’s nostrils were filled with the scent of smoke, but she didn’t ask any questions.
"...Got a spare jumper in the cupboard over there if you need it."
"It’d just get burned up when I took flight again." Joanne shrugged off her current jacket.
Looking at her, Awena was positive that she had lost weight. Which was staggering.
Joanne had never been a big or shapely woman as long as she’d known her. Which was why seeing her get even smaller set off all kinds of alarm bells.
"What is happening to you..?"
Joanne looked down at herself, unconcerned.
"...My own fault I guess."
Joanne didn’t think it was much of a big deal. Her body’s current condition was a natural consequence of skipping breakfast and using her powers so strenuously.
If she didn’t eat enough calories in a day, she started to look real anorexic real fast.
"I need help establishing an elementary school. Quickly."
Awena’s surprise at Jo’s appearance was only superseded by the shock of her asking for a seemingly uncharacteristic favor.
"And... you’re asking me for this why?"
"For powered children. So that they can have a safe, stable environment to grow and learn about themselves and their abilities."
Joanne answered like it was obvious, but Awena still wasn’t seeing the urgency. Why would her old friend come all the way here just to ask her for a favor like this?
"I agree that there may be a need for that kind of thing, but we’re talking about something that’s way down the line, Jo." Awena sighed. "There aren’t even enough powered children to fill up a classroom, let alone a school.
Your youngest daughters and those half-troll hybrids are the only ones on record. You’re asking me for something that is at least two or three years down the line. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s a good use of resources right now."
Joanne bit her lip.
She clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white and popped within her flesh.
"...What if it was more urgent than you realized?"
"It doesn’t seem to be." Awena went back to the papers on her desk.
"There’s a virus going around in Japan. People are falling unconscious and then waking up with powers."
"Funny." Awena chuckled.
She waited for Joanne to add something to the conversation, but she was only met with more silence.
She looked up with terror and worry in her eyes. "...You’re joking, right?"
"It happened to Celeste. She fell ill yesterday and when she woke up this morning she had powers. From what we’ve gathered, children don’t necessarily seem to be immune to the virus either."
Awena slowly stood up as Joanne spoke. "Why are you only just now reporting this??"
"Obviously, it’s a developing situation. We just found out." Jo lied.
Awena looked like she was about to have a seizure, diarrhea, an aneurysm, and a stroke all at the same time.
"I... I have to call a meeting right now." Awena reached for her phone.
"The kids." Joanne reminded.
"H-Huh..?" Awena was barely cognizant of anything aside from the phone in her hand. "Oh, yeah, we’ll talk about that later.."
She started to press a button to call up her associates when her phone suddenly flew out of her hand and returned to the desk.
"Don’t blow me off like I’m one of your interns, Awena. I need an answer." Joanne narrowed her eyes.
Awena was on the verge of snapping. "Are you fucking serious right now, Jo?! Our country might be on the verge of another state of emergency and you’re only worried about-"
"YES, I’m only worried about the kids." Joanne yelled back. "Someone has to give a fuck about them and get ahead of a bad situation! And don’t forget you owe me!!"
The air between the two women was bitter and cold.
Awena threw her arms up in dismay.
"Jo, what the fuck do you even want from me..? I apologize and I do favors for you and I try to respect your space, but... will it ever be enough?"
Joanne’s lack of an answer was the perfect answer. She didn’t know, so she couldn’t say.
"Do you want me to beg? I’ll beg. If you want me to fall on my knees and cry then just get ready to take a video. But I need to move on. I don’t deserve to have you holding this shit over my head for the rest of my fucking life!"
A single tear fell from Awena’s eye. Joanne didn’t think she’d ever seen that before.
They weren’t women who got to where they did by crying over every little interaction.
Joanne knew that she must have really been hurting her.
And she felt like a monster for still not caring.
"Why... didn’t you help me?" Joanne asked quietly.
Awena seemed frustrated by the question. "Jo, I already told you, I was just fucking scared and stupid and-"
"That’s not what I’m talking about."
Joanne walked around Awena’s desk. Her own eyes were beginning to sting.
"When I wasn’t myself for two years... when I couldn’t control my own voice or my actions, why didn’t you notice that something was wrong with me..?"
Awena’s gaze was one of confusion. But then it dawned on her exactly what period Joanne was talking about.
"You mean the last time we talked before... everything? I didn’t know what to think. You were wearing dresses and heels and red lipstick and you stopped calling me at night... I thought you were using again."
Awena voices her concerns to a few of their superiors. They had Joanne drug tested, but she came back clean.
"I-I tried to talk to you about it, but you... shut me out as I recall...and rather cruelly I might add."
Joanne brought a hand to her head. Her lip trembled as the water in her eyes started to spill over.
Of course, she didn’t know. It was so highly classified that only the former president and his aides were aware. This was of course by Joanne’s own request.
"...I don’t remember any of that." Joanne said quietly.
Awena scoffed.
"So I was right. You were using again."
There was no judgment in Awena’s voice. Their careers were hard ones to deal with and everyone they knew had an outlet.
Some were just worse than others.
However, Joanne had no such issue back then. Though she would have traded those problems in a heartbeat.
"... I was the one being used, Awena."
Joanne’s voice was fragile. Unrecognizable.
It was a sound that disturbed Awena’s heart to hear.
"What are you talking about?"
Instead of answering right away, Joanne rolled up her sleeve.
She showed Awena an indent around the circumference of her wrist.
It looked like an old wound.
But before Awena could ask about it, Joanne crumpled to the ground, crying. The ghastly way she spoke was deeply fragmented.
"I thought I had moved on, I thought I put it behind me, but there’s still so much shit I can’t even remember, and what I have left is just...!"
"Jo! JO!!"
Sound had become nonexistent for Joanne. She didn’t even feel Awena shaking her.
Maybe it was for the best.
There was no way she would have been able to live with herself if she knew she had curled up into a ball on the floor.