Save State Hero -ch23- (Patreon)

Rubbing at his eyes Edmund just about slammed down into the chair rather than sit in it. Causing the desk he worked off of at home to shudder and clatter with the force of it.

“Holy fuck, Eddy, what the hell are you doing?” groaned Romina from the couch. She was laid out across it.

The two of them had managed to start moving again a few minutes ago as the hangover started to lessen.

Whether it was the medication or that they ended up fooling around again, Edmund didn’t know. Nor did he care.

If she felt better he was fairly certain he could convince her that sex had healing properties for a hangover in the future. That was more than worth believing in the effect for him even if it wasn’t real.

“Sitting. Sitting heavily. Hard? Rough. Sitting, though. I just… sorry. Kinda still waking up, I guess,” apologized Edmund with a sigh. “Still kinda surprised and… all that… too.”

He couldn’t deny he really was surprised that his relationship with Romina had finally evolved. Evolved, then sprinted past a lot of the normal steps he’d expected in between.

To be fair, we did kind of date… or something… as friends for quite a while. It just didn't’ have a romantic edge to it.

I guess?

Ugh.

This is harder than I thought it would be.

Only now do I realize “getting the girl” isn’t the end. It’s just the start.

“Errr… okay, yeah. Yeah,” Romina allowed after a pause. She reached out past the empty bottles and the very same spot she’d been laid out on when they went at it on the table, and grabbed the remote for the tv and held it up. Turning the tv on she let out a slow sigh. “That’s fair. From friends, to a firefight, to… to fucking. In twenty-four hours. I get it. Sorry. I guess I’m adapting as well.

“Didn’t think I’d be laid out on your couch in nothing but a t-shirt and my panties watching tv. Damn near in the same spot what we… what we did here.”

Aaaaaand she’s feeling as awkward as I do.

That’s good.

Right?

Right.

Turning to his laptop that was docked on the desk he taped the power button. The keyboard in front of him turned on as indicated by the numberlock key lighting up. Followed by the monitor exiting standby mode.

He stuck his thumb on the reader and waited.

“News isn’t saying much about what we did. Other than the United Nations liberated a country that’d been taken over by a super,” Romina said from the couch. “That’s what I saw on my phone. News on the tv doesn’t seem any different.”

Edmund sniffed and nodded his head. That sounded about right to him, really. There was going to be somewhat of a media blackout on this he imagined.

If anything, they were more likely to downplay what’d happened. To hopefully discourage it from happening again elsewhere.

Edmund got the impression that was like hoping that a firework factory wouldn’t explode while someone set fire to the building.

Everything’s fine until it isn’t.

Then it’s just explosive.

Blinking, Edmund realized that his home-screen was up and he could use the computer now. Reaching for the mouse he flicked it to the browser.

“Nah? Not gonna say nothing?” Romina asked.

“Sorry, just uh… beautiful partially naked lady on my couch. I’m catching up,” Edmund mumbled as an excuse. He knew her well enough that flattery like that, when she wasn’t expecting it, worked a little on her. “As to the news… yeah, they don’t want it talked about. The less said the better I’m betting.

“They don’t want people getting ideas. I really think that’s just stupid. That’s the stuff of unicorn’s, kitten whisker’s, prayers, hope, and that there’s a diet out there that you can eat what you want and still lose weight.”

“Wait, is that a thing? What’s it called?” Romina asked suddenly and with high-energy. The top half of her peeking up over the couch as she looked to him. “I’m so sick of grilled chicken and steamed vegetables.”

“I… no. No there isn’t,” Edmund said, looking at the now very disappointed Romina. “Sorry.”

“Tch, lame.”

Romina flopped back down onto the couch. A moment later and Dog hopped up onto the back of the couch, then slowly crawled down on top of Romina.

“Hey there you fluffy war criminal,” Romina said, her hand coming up to pet Dog as he laid down atop her. “I saw what you left for me. I cleaned it up you little jerk. You missed. This time. I swear I’m going to get you groomed so you have less to work with.”

Dog merely meowed at Romina and then began to purr very loudly.

Edmund turned back to his computer.

The situation was so eerily mundane and reminiscent of how they’d often spent time together, that he was having a hard time sorting out the fact that they’d been intimate now. That this was different, yet also the same.

“Doesn’t feel that different. Between us. I’m glad. I was worried for nothing,” Romina stated from the couch. “I’m over the news. Let’s see whats on prime.”

Grinning, Edmund couldn’t help but feel close to Romina with that sentence. She was clearly going through the same thoughts he was.

In the search bar Edmund put in Kine family law and waited.

The response was immediate and gave him the answer he needed.

One he didn’t want either, but he’d secret suspected.

They operated in the county his parents and sister lived in.

Which meant something had happened.

Damnit all.

Two steps forward with Romina, one back with the family.

Next Romina will tell me she wasn’t on birth control. That’d just… complete the whole fiasco, wouldn’t it.

Freezing up, Edmund realized he didn’t actually know if she was on birth control. She hadn’t been seeing anyone as far as he knew which meant she didn’t need it.

Nor had she said anything about him needing a condom though, and he was fairly certain she’d have mentioned that. He couldn’t see a situation where she’d want a kid right now at all.

Whatever. Let’s… call Kine family law then.

Edmund pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the last person to call him. Then he tapped it and held the phone up to his ear as it dialed.

“I’m going to call the lawyer people back. Going to do it in the bedroom,” Edmund said and stood up. Moving away from the computer.

He passed by the couch as he went.

Only for Romina to hold up a hand and drag her fingers across his side as he went by.

“Okay, babe,” Romina murmured. “Lunch soon. Think about what you want. I’m getting hungry and we have plans later today. We only have today off so let’s make a day of it.”

Edmund briefly touched Romina’s hand with his own as he moved past her and continued into the bedroom. His mind was circling rapidly over how meaningful that contact was, yet so casual, too.

Entering the bedroom Edmund left the door open and sat down on the corner of the bed. By the third ring the line picked up.

“Kine family law,” said what could only be a receptionist.

“Yeah, hi, my name is Edmund. I got a call from your office?” Edmund tried, really unsure of how to get this conversation going. Then he realized he needed to make sure to add the fake room mate as well. “My room-mate picked up the phone for me then told me about it.

“I was busy with my girlfriend. Didn’t even hear the phone ring at all.”

“Err… yes. Edmund. Returning a call. One moment,” said the woman on the other end of the call. The sound of the call being put on hold felt loud in his ear.

Sitting there, Edmund just stared off at the wall without really considering anything at all. Letting his mind wander.

He could faintly here a tv-show turn on in the living room.

Having someone else in the house gave him a rather content feeling. Except no sooner than he felt it, than he felt a quick flash-flood of memories.

Endless memories with Ellie and their countless children they’d had over the years. Having more as they left the home and always having a few with them as they went through life.

Only for the memories to be snuffed out and shuttled back into the recesses of his mind. Vanishing behind the curtain that was Oz and the Dryad seed’s interference to keep him sane.

Because that’s exactly what they were doing for him.

He knew beyond a doubt that having the lives of that many iterations of himself in his mind would break him. He’d never likely confuse the reality he was in with past memories since so many of them would be in the exact same time frame.

Or nearly so.

“Ah, hello?” a voice said on the phone, rousing Edmund from his own mind.

“Yes, hello. My name is Edmund and I apparently got a call from your office today?” he put out there.

“Yes! Yes. Thank you for calling us back so quickly. My name is Ronald Kine and I wished to speak with you in regards to a legal matter.”

“Uhhuh. My parents get arrested or something? Drug bust? Some type of… narcotic raid? Dad go off and shoot at the neighbors satelite again?” Edmund asked with a shake of his head.

While he hadn’t been home much, and had essentially lived outside like an animal, he’d been well aware of all his families faults. All the terrible things that occured and happened there.

“Ah… that… no. No it wasn’t your parents. To confirm, you’re Edmund Wilhelm?”

“Yeah.”

“You have a sister named Earline?”

Edmund froze.

He had briefly considered that this was in regards to his sister, but he’d also dismissed it. Earline had never been in any type of trouble of any sort in any way.

She’d done fewer things to raise the eyebrow of an officer of the law than Edmund had, in fact. She’d always seemed to be on a trajectory straight out of the park she’d grown up in.

“I do. She’s my younger sister. I’ve done my best to help her out when I could, but my parents make that hard,” Edmund growled.

“Given the state of affairs they were in when the police came to speak to them about Earline, I can only imagine,” Ronald remarked dryly. “I can only imagine. Well, suffice it to say, they won’t be bothering anyone in any way for quite a long time.

“They’ve been taken away and won’t be of any use to anyone. Most especially your sister who actually needs a great deal of support right now.

“She’s been involved in an attempted murder case. Realistically the most they could probably get her on with the evidence they have is maybe aiding and abetting. Though they’ll have a tough time proving she actually knew about it.

“The problem is that the person who likely did it, is pointing the finger at your sister. A number of others involved have done so as well.

“Even without any evidence, there’s the high likelihood that the DA will pursue a case against her even without anything at all. This is… not a very good situation. Often one where they tend to push a deal in front of those they’re going after to get them to sign and end things early. They’ve already moved past getting permission to try her as an adult though. Somehow.

“Now… given that your parents are now… indisposed… I needed to reach out to someone who would likely qualify as her legal guardian. That’d be you, Edmund.”

Letting out a long and slow breath, Edmund looked to the floor in front of himself. His thoughts weren’t moving very well and were mired down in a quagmire of disbelief.

The idea of his sister getting involved in something like this sounded impossible to him. Impossible and very unlikely.

On top of that, he was deeply suspicious of how someone like Kine family law had ended up with the case. They didn’t seem like a very normal law-firm that’d handle a case of this nature.

He wasn’t very familiar with the legal system, but this felt a lot like it’d be a situation where they gave her a public defender. Doubly so since his parents wouldn’t spend a dime on their kids which meant they wouldn’t have hired them.

“Say I believe all this. Say I trust you. How do I know you’re on the level? How do I even know how you were hired?” Edmund demanded. He’d been scammed before and he wasn’t about to fall into something similar. “Shouldn’t she be getting some type of public defender? You don’t sound like a public defender at all.”

“Honestly? When I heard what was going on. When I heard about a young man that was thrown out of his own home before he was even a teenager. One that lived a lot like a wild dog rather than a child,” Ronald grumbled. “Then a second child that ended up in a situation that they weren’t going to be able to get themselves out of without a lot of effort.

“So I put my practice into this and your sister accepted my offer to handle the case. Payment unneeded. It’s a travesty that this happened in our community and no one bothered to do anything about it. It wasn’t as if it were a secret that you were running wild, either. There’s more than a few police reports about you.”

Clicking his tongue Edmund couldn’t deny that.

In trying to stay alive he’d done what he’d had to and had crossed paths with the law more than he’d have liked to. Thankfully it’d never been anything that’d truly marked him or left a lingering trail that’d ruin his life.

But obviously it wasn’t something he’d completely escaped either.

“Alright… then… I guess I need to head over and meet you in your office,” muttered Edmund, pressing a hand to his brow. “What exactly… you said it was attempted murder?”

“Best we not discuss it over the phone. Better that it’s done in person. That and your sister could really use someone to talk to,” Ronald answered. “She’s been locked up for about five days now and hasn’t had any visitors.

“I only found out about the case yesterday and started moving then. I’ve made progress but it’s going to take time. Her bail isn’t cheap either, I’m afraid. Pretty sure I saw it already set at roughly two-hundred thousand.

“It’s starting to really feel like they want to make an example out of Earline. Either for the park itself, the situation surrounding it, or something else that I’m not sure of yet.”

Two-hundred thousand.

Thats… that’s a lot. That’d take a bit out of my savings but it’s better than leaving Earline in jail. I can let her live with me while we get this worked out.

Start moving that route.

Then… then I guess I go bug Faith and see about getting her moving on this. I’m sure she’s got contacts that she can push on to get this moving.

No judge or prosecutor in the world doesn’t have a price, after all.

Just a matter of finding what it needs to be.

Then an odd thought struck Edmund.

He was operating under the idea that this was Earline being hung out to dry. That she was innocent and being persecuted unfairly.

Yet in the back of his mind he knew that there was of course the possibility of her being guilty. That whatever she was actually being charged with, there was the unlikely chance of her having committing the act.

“Is she innocent?” Edmund blurted out.

“Well, innocent, guilty, that doesn’t really matter, does it? All we can do is provide her the best legal counsel she can get while she’s my client,” said Ronald.

Leaving Edmund feeling like his sister really was guilty.

Though of what, he wasn’t quite sure.

Damnit.

Damnit all.

“Alright. I’ll get out there as soon as possible. Anything I need to immediately aware of?” Edmund asked, shaking his head.

“Nothing immediate. This is likely to be a very slow rolling case. They won’t be making moves until their ready,” Ronald advised. “That and… well… leaving people in jail always gives them more information and puts pressure on the accused.

“People will say all the things they’re not supposed to with other inmates. Those inmates then will often testify about what they heard just to get a break on their own legal matters.”

In other words, we’ll bail her out.

As soon as I get there in fact.

“Got it. I’ll get down there as quickly as I can,” muttered Edmund. “Bye.”

Disconnecting the line he stood up and stuffed his phone in his pocket.

Coming back into the living room he stood behind the couch.

“I have to head down south and help out my sister,” Edmund deadpanned without any preamble.

“Oh,” Romina said, sounding confused. She turned her head and looked up to him with a curious look. “You have a sister?”

“Long story. Guess it’s time to really open that baggage for you about my family. I was honestly hoping it’d solve itself for the most part. That I could introduce my sister to you later on once she’d escapes my parents but… obviously that was a foolish hope,” Edmund admitted.

“Foolish hope, yeah. Right up there with weight loss diets where you get to eat what you want and still lose weight,” added Romina with a rotten smile. “Right?”