An Angel's Tribute

November 16, 2060

It is not like me to cry. Not when my mother died. Not when Mac died. Never, not a tear. For life happens in such a way that you learn to accept the unexpected losses and move on. Snake’s necklace hangs on my bedroom mirror now, and placing it there I could not help but find myself filled with grief. Frag the emotions that swell deep inside....they’ll eat you alive if you let them. Alcohol can only drown so much. I can still see his face. He kept looking at me in the car as if he had something to say. Dammit!-why does this have to plague me now!? I feel so cold inside.

I know we could not have gotten him out of there. Not me and the halfer. There wasn’t enough time. So, does that justify the act of fleeing for our own lives? A runner takes a risk everyday, and tonight we lost one of the finest. **sigh** Reflections of another notch in time......another day. Another sickening dose of reality.

We were sent to track down a Ghost Hacker. The type equiped with the skill to hack into another’s mind and erase their entire lives. A decker can die this way, toying with powers over the bounds of control. It was experimental, and Snake’s sister was a victim of circumstance. In the end an eleven-year-old boy, whose privileged parents pawned him off to the occupancy of his computer was the "Puppet Master". He had no remorse for what he had done. Snake’s sister was his next door neighbor. She had been his baby sitter at one time, and was just learning how to use her data-jack. Apparently, she was expendable because the boy thought her to be a slitch. How considerate of him to use her as a guinea pig!?? They were both just kids. Children handed to a world that frowns upon any soul who does not fight tooth and nail to survive. Children!!! It makes my stomach turn in knots.

To start the run we had to retrieve Diane’s body. Maybe it would have been better to let her rest in that neat cooling compartment in the morgue, and leave well enough alone. However, Snake needed us for revenge. He needed the closure. Too late now to reverse anything, and still the heart looks back and shudders. I rode in the back of Loki’s van, Diane’s body on a gurney next to me. She was beautiful, and horrifying. They had shaved her head, and the autopsy incisions were still visible. All I could think was that here was this fifteen-year-old girl, lifeless........and I sat beside her like some odd guardian wondering how someone so young could be robbed of existence. Death is a hideous messenger................................sorry, I still get choked thinking about her face. I need another drink.

I could see why Snake adored her so. Maybe justice was served. He died with her, ending his own pain. Onyx shot the boy decker in the head. That was the most horrendous gunshot that ever tinged my ears with its song. Justice---What a word. Seems more like a burden. Perhaps, in the end life was returned to its twisted sense of balance (if there was such a thing in the first place). So, as I pour another drink…..and exterminate reality for the evening........hoping to be able to sleep away the pain in an unconscious state of heart and mind.........I raise my glass in tribute....... "Here’s to you, Snake. I'd only begun to know you, but you are always in my heart. You were a damn fine runner."

~~And so Life continues~~