Chapter 8: I Think I Fell in Love
Airianna Alinsky
Estimated, May 2025
About 36 months after outbreak
Oregon
Season 1
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"Good to see you're finally awake, you've been out for a while."
"What? Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Ophilia. You have a bad head injury, your mother said you've been shot. You're in our medical bay."
"So I'm not dead?"
"Not yet."
I'll never forget the first time I saw Ophilia. My vision was blurry, my head was numb, and I was very young, but I think I knew, right then and there, I loved her. It wasn't the same as what I would grow up to learn what love really is. It was probably only because she was the first person I've seen in months that was around the same age as me.
I never spoke of her to any of the others when we finally ended up going back home. I actually started to wonder if she was ever even real but I knew the feeling was real. This tugging feeling in my chest was something I couldn't run away from, even years later.
I didn't take it easy like the doctor had told me to, though I didn't listen to Esme much either. I didn't want to slow down, I knew Rue didn't want to either. I could see in her eyes how much she regretted leaving The Circus.
Milo was nice, he was a bit younger than Juna, the two practically became inseparable. I didn't allow myself to get attached to Ophilia, I avoided her, because I knew someday I would have to leave her. I figured it would be less painful that way, I really wish it had been.
"How long are we gonna stay?"
"However long we have to, Airi."
"I know that's not true, Rue. The second things go south here, we're gonna leave."
"I really wish we didn't have to, but we don't know these people, they're not our family. The plan is to stay here until you get better."
"We could be with our family now. We wouldn't have had to be stuck here."
"Are you angry at me? You know I only did what I thought was gonna help you. Timothy's dangerous and unpredictable. I couldn't just sit around and keep you in that position, he could have done worse, Airianna."
"I'm just sick of us always running away from our problems instead of trying to fix them."
"And how do you expect to fix it? The only way it gets fixed is if Timothy is dead, or gets bored and moves on. Were you gonna be the one to kill him? My priorities are to you and Juna. Right now here is better than home so just relax, please. You never know the next time you'll get to."