"World was in the face of the beloved-,

but suddenly it poured out and was gone:

world is outside, world can not be grasped."

r.m. rilke

Kit

"I will drive you back to where you live," I insisted, tugging Mar into the car. She shook her head and pulled against my grip.

"No," she said, snatching her arm away. "Take me back to the market, I have to find Karl."

"All right," I conceded and released her. "And then I'll drive you both back home."

Mar mashed her lips but got in the car. The ride back to the market was heavy, she remained silent for the ride. It hadn't been long since we left, thought it felt like an entire lifetime had passed.

"Tell me you won't do something crazy."

My gaze met hers in the rear-view mirror.

"Why did you give Rocky that device?"

I deliberated. I couldn't tell her the whole truth; I wasn't sure I believed it myself.

Did she have a special ability?

There was no answer besides the electricity that hummed along her skin and the fact she had fixed the device. Then again, maybe it was just a fluke. But if I went further, I risked exposing myself. She was already suspicious and I needn't give her any more reason to question my livelihood.

"I wanted it fixed and I heard rumors of someone who could fix even the most obscure things. I knew it wasn't Rocky, but I figured he must've had someone he outsourced to."

"And the tracker?" She asked.

"Well, I didn't want to lose the thing. It's sentimental," I lied. She seemed convinced enough, nodding and leaning her head against the window.

"Those aren't great answers, but I'm not going to make a fuss since you saved me....and because I got you into this mess."

I nodded, acknowledging my terrible answers and my role in her preservation, but I didn't go further. I would stop pushing her.

"What will you do now?" I asked when we pulled up to the market.

"I'll figure something out," she said and exited the car. She didn't even flinch against the rain. "I don't want to risk any more trouble, Karl and I will walk."

"Are you sure?" I asked, but she slammed the door shut.

I rolled down my window, hollering to catch her before she went too far.

"Mar, wait," I said, she paused briefly. I fished for the bag of pills out of my pocket-I'd snuck them from Eleanora's gifts when she was fighting with Jake. The rain was barely noticeable as I stuck my hand out the window; my attention was solely directed on her.

"Please don't anything stupid," I begged. She chewed the inside of her cheek as she reached into my palm. When her skin brushed mine, it was less like a shock and more like a pulse of information. A flurry of feelings crossed within me. Hurt. Fear. Pain. Sadness. Washing through me so quickly and forcefully it was almost overwhelming. Just as she snagged the bag and her skin left mine, I caught softer feelings as well. Hope. Pride. Bravery.

Something small, something sweet. Was it love?

Watching her leave sent my circuits haywire.

A few moments later, Eleanora emerged in the rain and almost ripped the passenger door off its hinges when she opened it.

"Where the hell have you been?"

I sighed.

"We have a problem. Please get in, I'll explain everything."

She complied, folding her limbs to get in. Her grey coat was off in an instant, discarded to the floorboards. Her presence in my passenger seat was so different than Mar's. Her eyebrows shot up, waiting for my explanation.

"I think I found her, the one we're looking for." I said, but the words didn't feel real.

"What do you mean?" Eleanora asked her voice much softer this time.

"She gave me this back," I said and unclasped my hand to reveal the device. With a flick of my thumbnail, I turned it on and the digital jingle played.

"Oh my god," Eleanora said, her mouth opened into agape. It took her a second to close it. "But what's the problem?"

"She's in danger."

Mar

The market was winding down when I entered it. People were starting to pack up and share their parting words with each other. Until next time, they'd say. A palpable sadness permeated the market. We didn't usually stay this late, so it was rare that I'd experience the sorrow. I searched for Karl hastily, finding him still chatting with his friends. He looked up at me and I ripped him to his feet, crushing him in a hug.

"Mar?" He asked, wary. "What happened?"

"Misty got taken."

"What?" He exclaimed, pushing away from the embrace to see my face.

"I tried to help her," I gasped. The consequences of the past few hours started to settle in. My breathing came too rapidly, my head felt heavy.

"We should get back," Karl said, uneasy.

"Yes," I agreed and followed Karl out of the market. I walked along side of him in a daze, halfway between emotionally destroyed and vengeful. When we snuck back through the fence, I told Karl to go inside without me, I needed to grab something from the junkyard. He nodded and headed back, searching above him nervously for drones, but the rain-heavy skies were blissfully clear for the moment.

I weaved through the cars to where I stashed my tools and then to the red SUV. With a glance over my shoulder, I unlocked the car and entered it. There was no time like then to really test it. I had to know if it worked, if we could actually ever get out of here. And with the pounding rain and the roaring thunder, it would be almost impossible to hear. The thing with repairing cars, was that I could fix every single component on it but I'd never know how well it worked until I drove it, until I turned over the engine and heard her purr. I turned the key in the ignition and the engine made a wheezing noise, but didn't catch. The oil pressure gauge bobbed pathetically.

"Dammit!" I exclaimed, frustrated tears pricked my eyes. I tried the key again, this time pumping the gas pedal a few times before turning the ignition. The starter clicked for longer this time and the engine wheezed a little louder, a little closer to a full rumble before it sputtered and quieted. Defeat fizzled in my extremities, anxiety thumped in my chest. I slammed my hands against the steering wheel and cried out.

Distracted by my fit, I didn't even notice the figure standing next to my window.

"Mar!" the voice shouted on the other side, pounding on the window. After a moment of fright, I realized it was Karl. I opened the door, my survival instincts kicking in.

"Karl! What are you doing out here?" I scowled and slammed the door shut, starting to drag him back toward the workshop. "You shouldn't be out here."

"It's Magda. She's sick," he said. Only a second passed as I processed his words before I sprinted back to the workshop. Karl was right on my heels. Just like our market trips, he followed me carefully, putting his feet where I put mine. Our dance extended through the junkyard and over the fence to the track.

The whir of a drone sent both of us flying to the ground. I half-covered Karl's body with my own as I craned my neck around to find the drone. It was just to the right of us, maybe 300 feet and heading to cross over our path back inside.

"Wait," I whispered to him, fighting off a shiver in the freezing mud. We watched the drone as it got closer with an intense buzz, its propellers flapping and fighting against the rain.

"Why is out in this weather?" Karl asked. I didn't respond, I was frozen by fear as it moved in front of us. Dread filled me when it looped at the end of the track and headed our direction.

"Karl, you have to go. You have to go right now and run straight to the windows and go inside. Don't look back, don't wait for me. Just go!" I said, kicking off of him. I was pleased when I heard his feet smacking against the pavement as I ran straight toward the drone. It didn't even see me coming.

"Hey!" I screamed at it. The eye that dominated its front zoomed in on me before zooming closer. Idiot.

"Human," it said in a grating electronic voice. "Identify."

I stumbled backward slightly and it followed, getting closer until I ducked under it. It spun around, but not quickly enough to dodge the screwdriver in my hand. The metal point burrowed through the motherboard, a pulse of electricity rolled up my arm like I had been shocked. They force of hitting it sent me off balance and we both tumbled to the ground. The pathetic thing crumpled under me.

Fifteen seconds sat between me and the machine sending out a its distress signal. Fifteen seconds for it to be completely disassembled. It beeped frantically as I lifted it over my head and brought it down to bust open over the hard ground. The beep died when it splintered opened and rain washed its exposed components. It must've looked savage. Animalistic. Brutal.

The drone lay filleted on the asphalt, no more than senseless junk. I gathered the pieces, wiping the rain out of my eyes, and put them in my satchel. Walking back to the workshop became a chore. All of the energy had been seeped from by body. Then I remembered Magda. My speed increased and I hoisted myself through the window and onto the workbench below.

Warm light of a lantern filled the room, positioned next to Magda's bed. Her face was obscured as she laid on her side, curled into herself and covered with her blankets and Karl's.

"What's going on?" I croaked, my satchel fell from my shoulder and landed on the concrete floor with a thump. Their postures confirmed what I feared most. Karl sat by Magda's head, holding her hand. Alfred by her feet. Magda coughed when she saw me and turned her face away.

I signed to Alfred, "what happened?"

His eyes cast to the ground briefly before he signed to me, "I don't know. She has a fever. Won't eat."

Tucking myself between her and Karl, I placed my hand on her warm cheek. Studying her face, I wondered how many more chances I would have to look at it.

"What can I do?" I asked, my eyes searching hers. The brown irises were cloudy with the film of aging. Despite everything, her wrinkled lips pulled into a smile.

"I just need some rest, that's all," she soothed, patting the top of my hand on her face.

"I brought you more pills," I said, reaching into my satchel and open the tiny bag. When I tried to place the little pill in her mouth, she closed her lips and turned her face.

"No," she murmured.

"Magda, they will help you feel better. You need to take them," I said firmly, trying to keep the wobble out of my voice. It was such a strange position to be in, caring for her one she cared for me all these years. The roles had reversed in an instant and suddenly I understood those looks she shared with Alfred and the way she tried to teach me about the cruelness of the world without ever denying me true knowledge.

"They make me too fuzzy," Magda complained, though her voice was brittle. Her skin looked pale and her eyes were too wide, too afraid. She coughed and her whole body seized into itself. My chest burned with anxiety.

"Okay," I said softly to Magda. "Okay, I'll stay up with you."

I wiped tears from my face and turned to Karl and Alfred, "You two get some sleep."

"I'm staying up, too," Karl said. Alfred made a show settling in at her feet as well. It reminded me of something.

"Oh," I said and shot up to my workbench. I dug through the drawers until I found the small ugly speakers that I had pulled from one of the cars. I managed to solder the wires back together, and while it looked a little less than appealing, it was perfectly functioning. I brought the speakers back to Magda's bunk and grabbed Alfred's music player from his mattress above hers. I plugged the auxilary cord into the player and hit play.

We waited in silence for a few moments before the first chords started and the tiny speakers produced a surprising amount of sound.

For the rest of the night, I hit replay on the player after it cycled through all twelve songs. Karl and I took turns refreshing the cool cloth on Magda's forehead every 20 minutes and massaging her stiff hands. The night passed slowly, though we all fell asleep some time before dawn and awoke to the garage door ripping open.

"Why are you all on the floor?" Hatsui asked me, accusation in his words. I blinked against the sun and looked away from him to Magda, who slept soundly in her bunk next to me.

"Whatever, " he muttered and went into his office. The door slammed but it didn't wake Magda. I placed a hand on her forehead finding it warmer than before, heat penetrating the cloth I had laid on it. She coughed in her sleep, a miserable noise that sounded like choking. Magda was going to die if I didn't do something, but lately all of what I had done had gotten people hurt. Maybe it was time to take myself out of the equation. Maybe it was time for a miracle.

Until that day, I had never knocked on Hatsui's door. I didn't expect him to say yes, so after knocking I entered. He looked up with anger and surprise.

"What do you want?" He growled. The monitors on his desk painted his already graying skin an unhealthy green pallor.

"Magda is sick. You have to help her, you have to get her to the clinic."

"And why," he dragged, "would I do that?"

"Please, I'm asking you to save her. I'll do anything," I begged, my voice barely louder than a prayer.

"You don't have anything to offer me. You're nothing," he said.

"Please, I'm asking you with everything I have. Please help her."

His intense gaze fell upon me, a frown pulling down his features as he analyzed me. My knees quaked against each other and eventually I dropped the ground, my hands clasping in front of me. His eyes moved to the door for a moment, staring through it and then his eyes moved back to me.

"No," he said after a long moment. "Now get out."

I was frozen on my knees as the words sat between us.

"Get out!" He yelled.

The moment hung in the air between us, filtering into the workshop as everyone listened to what transpired between us. Suddenly, I felt too full, too heavy with loss and fear, too much world. It was like I kept drinking in this despair as if it fed me, like I desired this anguish, until I was too full of it and ran over. Misery spilled out of me.

"You're a monster," I whispered, leaving his pathetic office.