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“Now, can we please see a show?”
“Yeah, let’s go see a show!”
“Yes.”
Piper added onto Schwoz’s comment, while deflating. She saw her brother glance back at her in slight surprise, and give her what seemed like an affectionate look. Too affectionate. She frowned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Henry shook his head, letting his hands fall to his sides. He turned on his heel and began walking towards the large crowd that gathered.
“Oh, and glad you’re not an electric vampire.”
Piper’s frown deepened as she watched Henry walk away. The young adult exchanged confused looks with Schwoz, who was just as in the dark as she was. The hell is an “electric vampire”?
They both decided to follow after Henry, wanting to let Jasper have his moment unbothered. Eventually, Piper caught up to Henry and called out to him.
“Henry, hey, wait up!”
Piper made her way through the busy crowd, eventually catching up to Henry, who looked at her over his shoulder and stopped in his tracks. She stopped running, whipping her head around to see Schwoz still weaving his own way through the large sea of civilians.
Henry turned to completely face his sister, folding his arms over his chest. “What? Isn’t your hotel back that way?”
“Yeah, but I came here to see you, idiot. Don’t you wanna hang out with your dear, sweet sister?” Piper smirked at her older brother, who stared at her in exasperation. She nudged him in the ribs, and began walking past him.
“I mean, I did until you called yourself “sweet”.” Henry scoffed, following in her lead down the sidewalk.
“But I am sweet!”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Well, I’m better than I was!”
“Hmm. Touché.”
Henry gave her his signature shit-eating grin, reaching over to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Usually, she would shy away from the touch. But, she surprisingly didn’t feel like it this time.
Piper looked around to get a better stance on her surroundings. When she and Schwoz first landed in Dystopia, they thought it was dark because of time differences. Before they met up with Jasper, they started to realize that Dystopia was always like this, despite the time of day. Dark. Somber. Gloomy. It was just sad.
The more she saw of Dystopia, the more Piper felt unsettled.
There was a family of four playing what appeared to be makeshift instruments. A glass jar that was supposedly for money sat beside them. Henry dropped in a $20 bill as they walked by.
A group of high school-aged kids passed by them in the opposite direction, completely engrossed in their phones. Too much to notice that a school bus was right behind them. Piper’s eyes widened as she stepped forward to run to them, but Henry stopped her.
When Piper was about to yell at Henry in protest, she heard a loud, sharp alarm coming from the bus. And then it stopped before it could get close to those kids. It wasn’t a typical school bus.
There were what seemed to be bullet holes in windows. Dirty rags were covering the damaged gaps. What goes on inside the apartments was to be heard by the entire city. That includes what sounds like a family arguing. There wasn’t any violence, but the words being said were enough to make Piper flinch.
All of those things Piper could handle. She made sure to not cringe, or shift under Henry’s arm. She couldn’t show any emotion that wasn’t interest in the city her brother has been protecting the past 4-plus years. The young woman glanced over at a corner that had a couple trashcans. Newspapers scattered all over the scene. A gust of wind abruptly washed over the sibling duo.
The breeze was strong enough to make the newspapers weave into the distance. And the sight before her had Piper’s entire body grow still. Her blood ran cold.
Underneath those loose papers was a corpse. It was a man, around Henry’s age, maybe even older. The dead body wasn’t a fresh sighting. It was decomposing.
Piper didn’t react, she just stared at the lone corpse on the ground. She didn’t even make a sound of discomfort, her stare only grew more blank. At his sister’s lack of banter with him, Henry frowned, craning his head towards her.
Henry followed her gaze, his own eyes falling on the graphic scene. His expression grew somber at the sight. Sure, this is far from the first time he’s seen a dead body, let alone in public. But it didn’t make it any less sad to see. Hell, he was more worried about how Piper was reacting to something so gruesome.
“Pipes, you oka-“
Piper immediately detached herself from Henry’s arm, walking ahead of him. Schwoz, who finally caught up to the duo, side-glanced Henry with just as much worry.
“Fine! I’m fine. You know any good places around here? I’m so hungry. Plane food’s the absolute worst!” Getting the memo that his sister didn’t want to talk about anything, Henry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“She’s just like you.” Schwoz whispered to him, causing the younger man to glare at the scientist. Who shrugged, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
“What do you mean, Schwoz?”
“You both have a habit of repressing your emotions.”
“What? Noooo-“
“Henry.”
“…Okay, we’re a bit alike. But I’m getting better at it!”
Henry waved his hands around frantically at the older man, who gave him a stern look that reminded him of Ray somehow. Those two were remarkably similar in some ways.
“Keep an eye on her.” Schwoz warned him. Henry slowly nodded, fixating his attention back to his sister. He and Schwoz walked up to Piper, appearing at both her sides.
“Actually, Pipes, I thought since you’re coming here to visit me, I should probably make you something from home. So, I’m making chili balls tonight.”
Henry couldn’t help but smile at how Piper’s face lit up at the mention of his famous chili balls. That was one thing she would never say no to. He imagined she missed all the home cooked meals, with having to eat dining hall food all the time.
“Can I help?”
“Absolutely not. You’ll burn down the entire place!”
“What? No, I’ve gotten better!”
“Suuuuure.”
“I’m serious! I haven’t burned down a single kitchen at college!”
“I seriously find that hard to believe.”
“Oh you son of a-“
Schwoz watched the siblings bicker in amusement, as the group made their way to Henry and Jasper’s apartment. It felt just like old times.
Jasper Dunlop was a light sleeper.
That wasn’t a sleeping habit he always had. When he was still a teenager, he slept a lot more. Which didn’t stop him from getting to school on time (unlike a certain best friend he has), but sometimes he was prone to oversleeping. Sometimes.
However, since moving to Dystopia over 4 years ago now, that habit slowly dissolved. Living in Dystopia meant always being on your guard no matter where you were, that includes your own home.
What he didn’t expect to wake up to, though, was the sound of someone crying.
Jasper frowned, sitting up in his bed and grabbing his phone from where it sat on the nightstand. He turned it on to check the time. 3:28am.
Who the hell was up at this hour?
Schwoz is a deep sleeper, and Henry was a bit like Schwoz and could sleep through an explosion. Charlotte wasn’t even here. That left…
Piper?
Jasper quickly got up, opening his door to see Piper on the pull out bed that was formerly their couch. She was curled up into a ball lying on the opposite side of Jasper’s line of sight.
Jasper thought about going to get Henry, as he was her brother and would probably be better at coaxing Piper into talking about it. But, damnit, Piper was like a little sister he never had. He cares about her too much to leave her alone.
The first half of Dystopia’s crime fighting duo approached the younger Hart sibling, making sure she knew he was there. The last thing he wanted to do was send her farther over the edge. He took a deep breath, then spoke up.
“Hey, Piper?”