赤裸裸的滑稽故事

By the time Myka and Peter reached the hospital, Sadie had woken up. They took her directly to Bell to be checked over. But when they said they would be going back out, she reacted unexpectedly.

Sadie\'s expression fell, and tears welled in her eyes. Finally, she jumped from the exam table and ran to the door to stop them.

"Don\'t go!" Sadie said, putting herself in the doorway to keep them from leaving.

Peter looked down at the scared girl and then over at Myka.

Myka took in a gentle breath and then knelt before her.

"Sayds," he began with a soft smile. "I know you\'re scared, but Bell will be here with you the whole time."

Sadie sniffled but didn\'t move.

"I don\'t want you to go," she said mournfully.

Myka felt a heavy tug in his chest at her words.

"I know," he whispered, reaching a hand to her.

Sadie took his hand and then closed the distance, hugging him tightly.

"Stay here," she insisted quietly, then looked at Peter. "Please?"

Peter knelt down beside Myka and joined in the hug.

"We don\'t want to go either, Sadie," he said. "But there might still be people out there in danger."

Sadie pulled back and lowered her head.

"I\'m scared," she said.

Myka rubbed her hand with his thumb.

"We all are," he said.

Sadie looked up at him.

"You\'re scared?" she asked.

Myka nodded.

Sadie looked at Peter.

"Are you?" she asked.

"More than I want to admit," he smiled.

"Then stay with me," Sadie said. "If we stay together, we don\'t have to be scared."

Peter smiled.

"I would love to stay here with you, Sadie," he said. "But there are still people out there that need us."

Sadie lowered her gaze.

"Are there more monsters?" she asked quietly.

"We don\'t know," Myka replied. He lifted her chin to look at him, giving her a kind smile. "That\'s why we have to go."

"We need to make sure that everyone, including you, is safe," Peter continued. "We have one more thing to do out there, and then we\'ll be back."

Sadie swallowed and looked toward the ground.

"Promise?" she said softly.

"Promise," Myka smiled, replying immediately.

Peter hesitated. He looked at Myka with concern. He didn\'t feel comfortable making that promise. What if something happened? Sadie was already suffering. What if they made it worse?

Sadie looked up at Peter, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Do you promise?" she asked. "That you will come back?"

Peter swallowed, but he smiled and nodded.

"I promise," he whispered.

***

After getting Sadie settled into a room, Myka and Peter immediately set out for the gate. They radioed one of the patrol teams to meet them there while Alice radioed Corrine to update her on the monster that had made its way into the Safe Zone.

As they traveled to the gate, they didn\'t talk much. Instead, Myka was focused on what he could feel from the ley line while Peter was processing all that had happened throughout the day.

When they neared the gate, they saw that it was, in fact, open. A golden portal where, only the day before, they had seen pure grey rock. They agreed to stay back and observe while they waited for the others to arrive.

Peter looked at Myka. There were a lot of things he wanted to ask him.

"How could you make that promise so easily?" Peter asked quietly.

Myka furrowed his brow and looked at Peter.

"What?" he asked.

Peter felt a wave of irritation. He looked at Myka, a flare of anger in his words.

"You promised Sadie that you would come back."

Myka continued to stare at Peter with confusion.

"And… that makes you… angry?"

Peter let out a soft growl.

"It\'s not a joke, Myka," he said. "When you promise something like that, it\'s more than just words."

Myka sat up straight and tilted his head, trying to understand why Peter was upset.

"I know, Peter, and I meant it."

"You can\'t promise something like that. You have no idea what could be out here," Peter said, turning away.

"No," Myka replied. "But I know I will do anything to keep that promise."

Peter swallowed and continued to look away.

"You made me the same promise before you went to Spring," he sighed.

"And I came back," Myka replied.

"I brought you back!" Peter snapped with another growl.

Myka was surprised by Peter\'s reaction. But before he could say anything, Peter was already pulling back.

"I just mean…" he said. "That you don\'t know… and Sadie\'s already been through a lot. If you break that promise… it could scar her."

Myka swallowed, watching Peter fold his pain back into the box where he kept it inside his heart. A box that Myka was determined to someday replace.

"I know," Myka said softly. "But Sadie needed the hope."

Peter looked at Myka, receiving a gentle smile in return.

"When a kid asks you to promise something, they look you in the eye. Because a promise is binding to them," Myka whispered with a sad smile. "It is the ultimate contract. So, they need to see that you mean it, that this is the real deal."

He paused, chewing his bottom lip, and let out a sigh.

"Sadie is, unfortunately, a lot like Alice," Myka continued. "They both know that things… don\'t usually work out. They need reassurance and can\'t say exactly what they mean."

Peter swallowed and nodded. Remembering the conversation between Sadie and Alice at the hospital. Alice knew that Sadie needed to hear how Holden died. It was the only way that she could believe it was real.

"When Sadie asked us to promise that we would come back," Myka continued, "she looked at the ground. She wasn\'t really asking that we promise to survive."

Peter thought back, Sadie had looked at the ground when she first asked, but she looked up at him when he didn\'t answer right away.

"She was telling us that she wanted us to come back. That we matter to her, that she wanted to see us again," Myka smiled. "She wanted to know that she mattered to us enough to try."