"The Fall" - Chapter Two (Complete and Revised) - "Guardian" (Adult Content)
The Fall
Chapter Two
"Guardian"
Glancing at the clock, Nathan was unsettled by the 20:09 staring back. A fortnight ago he would have undoubtedly found 20:02 or 20:22 looking back at him. For months, it had been an absolute rarity to look at the time, or any series of numbers, without observing a coincidental sequence of digits. But eleven days passing by without it occurring — not even once — seemed almost as improbable as the evermore distant ubiquity of the sequences.
He couldn't escape the thought that he'd somehow angered the gods. The numbers and the coincidences had began to provide him with a feeling of connection. To what, or to whom, he did not know. But with them no longer in his life, for the first time in a long time, he felt truly alone. Unfortunately, he knew the opposite to be true. For the first time in years, he was not alone, and he understood that he may not be again for some time. The loss of divinity from his life, in response to accomplishing what seemed to have been so clearly asked of him, was an uncomfortable irony. Part of him wished he'd never gone to that bar, and never saved the girl.
Ellie's presence was becoming insufferable. There was no good reason for Nathan to be so irritated, but reasons nevertheless, continued to stack up. He had no desire to converse with the girl, and yet the fact she'd said not a single word since she arrived was a bother to him. The habit she'd adopted of flicking through the top one hundred on his smartscreen, only to ultimately settle on the same live stream every time, was becoming infuriating. Even her dietary habits had begun to anger him. Only three floors below was a kitchen offering the most diverse range of exquisite dishes available in London — and yet day after day, night after night, she ungratefully continued to order nothing but fruit and the same boring salad to eat.
For these reasons and a million others, Nathan felt he couldn't stand to bear her in his penthouse apartment any longer. But most enraging of all, was her appearance. Without the makeup she had been wearing during their first encounter, and now dressed in the clothing he'd encouraged her to order on the second day of her stay, she appeared so very different. If not for the emotionless expression that seemed to burden her face in perpetuity, one might easily overlook her stolen innocence. She looked far too young, and far too pure, for him to have any chance of convincing himself that it would be acceptable to send her back out into the city alone.
The searching of his mind for a suitable way to be rid of her was interrupted by the sound of a bite and the turning of a head. Ellie paused, looking at Nathan anxiously with an apple in her hand and a mouthful of fruit she seemed too afraid to chew. Nathan relaxed his shoulders and his jaw. He hadn't realised he'd been staring across the couch at her in an irate trance. He turned his attention towards the smartscreen, not at all surprised to see the journalist Chloe Petrov's live stream looking back. Chloe was an exceptionally beautiful woman, with lengthy red hair and piercing grey eyes, so bright they took the appearance of polished silver. A mere thirty seconds of her face might have provided Nathan with the aesthetic therapy he needed to elevate his mood, but Ellie's misinterpretation of the situation denied him the opportunity.
In the hopes of appeasing his frustration, she switched to the next live stream. Nathan turned his head away from the adrenaline-seeking teenagers scaling a skyscraper on the screen and towards Ellie, who, still refraining from chewing the apple in her mouth, appeared to be seeking his approval.
"No." He said, attempting to communicate that she did not have to switch the stream for him.
Misunderstanding once again, Ellie clicked her way to the next stream.
"That's not—"
Nathan's words, intended to offer clarity on why he had told her no, were cut short. A glimpse of the live stream now occupying the smart screen took complete hold of his attention, and his heart began to race.
Two night's prior, while watching Chloe's channel, Nathan and Ellie had learned of a serial killer operating in the Eastern district. The murderer had been making a show of his kills by streaming them on the chain. Chloe's plea to the community of London, begging them to flag the stream and to stop providing the killer with the audience he sought for, had clearly not been heard.
The video on screen, and most notably to Nathan being viewed by 34443 others, depicted a middle-aged man strapped to a table in a dimly lit room. His arms were spread out wide and bound with rope, and he had a thick layer of duct tape wrapped around his mouth. The terrified man's puffy eyes begged for mercy towards the point-of-view camera upon the killer's head, as they circled their prey slowly.
"You deserve it." Whispered the killer, before offering a sinister chuckle and raising a large hunting knife into the visibility zone of the camera.
Pouncing from his seat, Nathan snatched the remote from Ellie's hand and quickly switched the stream back to Chloe's feed. "You don't need to be seeing that." He said, realising the little he knew her to have witnessed and experienced in her short time, was likely far worse.
Chloe Petrov's stream now showed revolving text expressing that she would be back shortly, inviting the question as to whether she too had gone to watch the murder.
"It's not fair."
Nathan's eyes widened with surprise as he landed back on his seat. He turned and looked towards Ellie, curious to learn what had finally, after all this time, inspired her to speak.
"It's not fair that you all get to live up here in the heights." She turned her eyes from his back towards the screen. "Safe."
"You live here up here too now." He responded, poorly masking his dissatisfaction with that fact. Hoping she didn't notice his revealing tone, he followed up his words quickly. "But you are mistaken, girl."
Ellie placed her apple on the table and shifted her back against the arm of the couch, turning her body to face Nathan. She lifted her bare feet onto the couch, took hold of her ankles, and tucked her head behind her knees, showing only her eyes peering over the top of them. "How?"
"Safety's an illusion." He explained. "Much like security." Directing his attention towards the curious girl, he continued. "While those inhabiting the lesser districts might spend their time worrying whether they will be murdered for their shoes or fail to feed their loved ones, the majority here in the heights waste theirs terrified by the notion of exile, and the potential loss of comfort they've been too preoccupied to enjoy."
"Does that happen often?" Asked Ellie. "Exile, I mean."
"Every day." He replied. "And with the daily duty increasing as often and as much as it has been, the one hundred thousand living in the heights will be fifty at best by the end of the year."
Ellie collapsed her forehead onto her knees in despair. "This world is so shit." She muttered.
Nathan laughed silently amidst an involuntary nod.
"But at least you guys have a proper police force up here." She argued. "You'd never have to worry about serial killers like that."
"Ellie." Nathan called, prompting her to lift her head up from behind her knees and look at him. "You mean we don't have to worry." He corrected. "But again, you're mistaken."
Nathan rose to his feet and walked over to the bar, pouring himself a generous glass of bourbon. "The keepers are not police." He explained. "They're private contractors that operate purely at the behest of the governor." He sat back down on the couch facing Ellie and took a sip of his drink. "And believe me, there are plenty killers here too." He continued. "But they make no show of it, and are wise in picking their targets."
A look of fear washed over the girl's face.
"You don't have to be afraid though." He added, hopeful to abate her discomfort.
Ellie lowered her knees and crossed her legs, placing her hands on her stomach and leaning forward towards Nathan. "Are you afraid of exile?" She asked.
Nathan took another, larger sip of his bourbon. "It's highly unlikely that I will ever face exile." He said with assurance. "But even if so, I'm quite certain I would not be." He added. "The only thing that really frightens me lately." His voice lowered, and he downed the rest of his drink before finishing his sentence. "Is the fact that so little frightens me anymore."
"What does that mean?" Ellie inquired.
Nathan looked at her. For a second he considered explaining what Eldridge had done to him, but he decided against it.
"I don't believe you." Ellie exclaimed. "I could hear your heart pumping when that live stream was on."
"Trust me." Nathan pleaded. "That was not fear."
The girl leaned backwards again onto the arm of the couch. "Then what was it?"
As Chloe's face popped back up on the screen, Nathan was rescued from the need to respond.
"We all wanted decentralisation. But with decentralisation comes responsibility."
The distraught look upon Chloe's face suggested she had just witnessed the murder. She continued her plea, staring straight towards the camera.
"With no central authority on the chain to remove this monster's stream, it falls on us to make the decision that this is not what we want, or what we want our kids to be watching."
As tears began to trickle down Chloe's cheeks, Nathan wondered why he felt that she had never looked so beautiful than in this moment.
"I have flagged the stream. I beg you all to do the same. Let's not make role models of mur—"
The smart screen switched off. Chloe's face was replaced by the reflection of Ellie's, who once again held the remote in her hand. Nathan turned his head directly towards her, presenting a frustrated curiosity.
"If you're not afraid of anything." She began. "Then why don't you stop him?" Ellie's plea seemed as serious and as desperate as Chloe's had been. "You saved me." She added, her voice full of praise. "But you could protect all of them too."
The idea wasn't new to Nathan. The rush he had felt from rescuing Ellie had been followed by days of imagining what it would be like to return to hunting, and making prey of those preying on the weak. But the more he considered it, the more it seemed like an absurd fantasy. He may have been somewhat super, but Nathan knew he was no hero.
Rising to his feet, he began to make his way back to the bar to pour yet another drink. "I'm not who you think I am." He confessed.
"No." She objected. "You're not who you think you are."
The comment seemed far too intuitive. With the bottle of bourbon in hand, Nathan paused and turned to look Ellie in the eye. "Now that you're speaking— tell me how old you are."
The inquiry appeared to make Ellie anxious. "I'll be fifteen at the end of next month." She revealed, sounding a little disappointed.
Nathan turned back around and began to pour his drink.
"But that doesn't mean you should ignore what I'm saying." She added, her voice sounding lively once more.
Returning to his seat with his drink, Nathan looked back at the girl. "And what exactly are you saying?"
Ellie crossed her legs and leaned towards him. "Most people don't get to choose who or what they become." She looked down to the floor. "I didn't." Her eyes returned to Nathan's, carrying a hopeful gaze. "But for someone like you, who has everything." She explained. "You do get to choose."
Nathan looked at his drink. He realised that Eldridge hadn't allowed him to decide what he'd become either. But that Ellie was right, and he did have the power to choose who he would become now. He looked back up at her. "You're a wise little girl." He complimented.
"I'm not a little girl." She replied, turning back around to face the blank smart screen. "Not anymore."
Nathan took a deep breath, his lungs filling with intrigue. "Okay then." He said, placing his drink on the table without taking a sip. "I'm listening."
Ellie's face lit up with approval. "Think about it." She began. "I saw what you did to the crew the night you freed me. You obviously have some type of training." She inched her way up the couch, drawing closer to Nathan. "And you are huge. If anyone can bring this killer down— it's you."
Happy to have her believe her own words rather than know the truth, Nathan declined to object and pondered for a moment what level of advantage in combat he would possess if he did bother to train.
"And once that is done." She continued, her voice increasing in enthusiasm. "There are thousands of other girls — and boys — like me out there that you could help." Her focus waded and she looked through Nathan for a moment. "You'd never run out of people to save in this city."
Nathan realised he was feeling better, and that Ellie too seemed to be expressing more energy and emotion than she had done since she arrived.
"Perhaps I could find this murderer." He conceded. "And if I did— I'd stop him." There was no doubt in his voice. "But two more would spring up in his place." He explained. "And what would I do with the next girl I save? I won't have my home turned into an orphanage."
"Then you stop them too." Ellie argued. "And you find the others shelter."
"Why do you think I brought you here?" Nathan asked.
Ellie shrugged her shoulder, declining to offer the reason she appeared to have in mind.
"The outer districts are not my home. But even in the heights people speak of how dangerous the shelters are." Nathan looked at his drink, pondering whether to take a sip. "And since the fall there's nowhere to send an orphan, except a single adoption agency at the border of the heights." He looked back at Ellie carrying a warning in his gaze. "But that is not what it appears to be."
Ellie moved closer to Nathan. "I know the homeless shelters are a deathzone." She admitted. "That's where the gangs are finding most of the girls. But some of the churches are offering shelter too." She explained. "You could take them there." Her eyes returned to meet Nathan's. "There are still good people out there."
Nathan paused. He wondered why Ellie hadn't offered him this information before he brought her into his own home. Though his trust for the church was not nearly as strong as hers seemed to be.
"And I suppose I will need tights and a cape as well?" He joked.
"No." Ellie objected, as if the question had been serious. "You just need to cover your face." She enlightened. "And don't wear such flashy clothes— you'll want people to think you're from the districts."
She had an answer for everything, he realised. Nathan started to wonder why Ellie was so eager to turn him into a hero. He questioned whether it was a result of his actions as a saviour towards her, or whether she'd been listening to Chloe Petrov's inspirational words about responsibility far too often.
"You really want me to try this?" He asked plainly.
Ellie picked up the remote and switched the smart screen back on. "Someone has to." She replied. Offering him a final glance, she leaned back into the couch. "And who better than you?"
"—you can do it."
The first words to leave Chloe's mouth upon the stream reappearing on the screen seemed rather coincidental to Nathan. The observation reminded him of the 34443 viewers that had been watching the serial killer's stream.
"We all can."
Disregarding Chloe's next words, Nathan questioned if the force that had abandoned him had returned. Perhaps he had misinterpreted the coincidences, and now they had returned to alert him to his mistake. Maybe the numbers were never leading him towards becoming Ellie's guardian— but London's.
Eager to lay down and think about how best to go about his potential new purpose, Nathan stood up and walked to the exit of the room. He turned around and looked back at Ellie, her face responding with an ear-to-ear smile, as if she could see from his expression exactly what he was about to say.
"Alright. I'm in."