Jenna sank into the chair next to Henry’s bed, and Henry adjusted the bed into a seating position using the remote…

“So, you’re coming home today?” Jenna questioned, folding her legs and leaning back into the chair…

Everything was done to flaunt her superiority to Henry, but the girl in question was too preoccupied with focusing on everything else in the room…

Henry’s eyes darted around like a criminal being chased by the police – not sure where to go, but knowing she had to run anyway…

Honestly, Henry was trying to figure out just how exactly Zeel left the room, and the only plausible explanation she could think of was the window…

But that was a steep drop unless he swung down the branches like a Climbing God, which was unbelievable for different reasons entirely…

Needless to say, Zeel was an absolute mystery in Henry’s eyes, and when she thought about mystery, Henry couldn’t help but think about her missing father…

‘Could he be?... No!’ Henry reasoned, at war inside her own mind…

“So, you’re coming home today?” Jenna questioned again, knowing Henry’s attention was divided…

“Yeah…” Henry replied absentmindedly, peeking all over the room as if looking for something…

Cleo and Thomas were off to the side, discussing something important with the doctors, and from the scrunched expressions on their faces, Henry knew it had something to do with the very expensive bills…

“And you’re excited to come home?” Jenna continued her subtle interview…

“Yeah, sure…” Henry replied, once again absentmindedly…

Jenna quirked a brow “And you’ll do all the dishes from now on?”

“Yeah, sure…” Henry answered…

“And you’ll take all your pills like you’re supposed to?” Jenna finally questioned, knowing just how much Henry foregoes certain pills to smoke some weed…

Henry’s face scrunched and she finally realized the strange questions Jenna was asking “What the fuck are you saying?”

“Nice to see you’re finally paying attention to me…” Jenna mocked, gesturing at everything in the room “Just what the heck are you looking for?”

“It wasn’t a coma… You need to be unresponsive for at least a week to be in a coma, and I was unresponsive for two days at most…” Henry sighed and finally looked at Jenna “Why do you care anyway?”

“We may not like each other but we are step-sisters!” Jenna replied, whispering so Cleo and Thomas could not hear their argument “Henry… you were in a fucking coma… things like that mess with your head and cause you to realize what’s important…”

“Oh, I know what’s important…” Henry mumbled, waving her hands in the air “My mom and I moving from this shitty town as soon as possible…”

Jenna sighed and gestured for Henry to look at Cleo and Thomas “They are discussing how to best pay for your hospital bill, so that means they are in it for the long haul…”

Henry folded her legs and sat upright on the bed “I have seen more relationships than you, so trust me when I say that talking about money is usually the end of relationships…”

“Well…” Jenna glanced at Thomas and Cleo and sighed “I hope when it falls apart, neither of them are hurt badly…”

“Someone always gets hurt…” Henry replied, thinking back to that one person her mom dated that was a bit too violent “And they’re not always the one to suffer… sometimes, we do…”

“Sounds like there is a story there…” Jenna noticed, wanting to extract any information she could since she didn’t know Henry at all…

Henry was pretty secretive about her matters, and Jenna was beginning to grow concerned that she may have been living with a hidden serial killer…

Henry snorted “Not a story worth telling…”

Jenna shrugged “Yet I am so curious…”

“Girls…” Cleo walked over, leaving Thomas to discuss further with the doctors “Henry… the doctor says we can take you home today, but you’ll have to come back tomorrow to complete the paperwork…”

“Or we can skip the paperwork…” Henry amiably suggested, blinking her eyes innocently “After all, they are just gonna tell me the same thing as all the doctors before – ‘you can’t drive or do anything too strenuous'…”

“And maybe that’s for the best…” Thomas stated, joining the talking girls now that the doctors had chosen to leave him be “I mean, this is your third episode in as many months as I’ve known you… and we both know that’s not long…”

“No thank you… Thomas…” Henry stated, ensuring she emphasized ‘Thomas’ to show him that as much as he tried, he would never be family to her…

“Henry…” Cleo frowned, reminding Henry to be kind to Thomas and Jenna, but Henry dismissed her concerns…

“It’s fine, honey…” Thomas intervened, brushing Cleo on the back “Henry… why don’t you get dressed so we can go home…”

“Okay…” Henry hopped out of the bed, and went to change in the bathroom…

------------------

Zeel opened each and every locker in the room, picking anything useful from whatever he found inside…

By the end of his search, Zeel had found some pocket cash, three bank cards, two IDs, and four condoms…

Of course, he threw the condoms away since he wouldn’t need them…

There was also plenty of clothing found in the lockers, so Zeel ripped different parts of clothing he liked, and sewed them together, creating something entirely new…

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision…

Zeel emptied a wallet and used it to store all the pocket cash he had found…

Then, he placed the three bank cards and two IDs into a makeshift tub of chemicals he had created from the detergents and cleaning acid in the janitor’s room…

Very carefully, Black Lightning arched from Zeel’s hands, and he slowly guided the lightning into the chemical mix, erasing all existing information on the cards…

Zeel’s hands acted like electrodes and forced the color pigment to dislodge the hydrogen elements, making the cards essentially blank slates, free to edit…

Then, Zeel removed the cards from the tub, and placed his fingers on the cards…

With a quick shift into a [Shallow Time-Zone], Zeel scribbled new information onto the cards with speed and efficiency as if he was a 3D Printer…

Everything was done neatly with a backstory in mind, something that everybody would be able to understand…

Zeel even ensured the pigments he added seemed a bit faded, to give the impression of a dirty ID that had been used many times…

“Done…” Zeel muttered, examining the IDs he had just made for himself “I could be an expert forger…”

Every piece of information on the ID was fake, but it was as real as any human anywhere…

That was a bit appalling to Zeel…

All humans created electronic data as a way to protect their interests, but all it does is leave them vulnerable to the thousands of more advanced species in the Universe…

After all the identifications and bankcards were completed, Zeel recovered the wallet from his pocket and placed everything inside, double-checking his attire to make sure everything was fine…

Then, he exited the room and started walking toward Henry’s room…

----------------------

Henry exited the bathroom and found Cleo, Thomas, and Jenna in wait…

“Should we get going?” Henry questioned, pulling her pants a bit higher up…

“Lets…” Jena replied, and started walking towards the door…

Cleo and Thomas nodded, heading for the door as well, but just as Cleo reached for the door, it was opened from the outside…

Zeel’s sensed movement on the opposite side of the door, but he was too distracted at that moment, so he opened it anyway…

Just a couple of seconds earlier, Zeel had experienced something he never thought that he would…

From the moment he got on the elevator, Zeel had been seeing glimpses of Nara…

Her smile…

The way she braided his hair…

Her psychotic moments she thought she hid well…

‘Homo-Superiors don’t get delusions…’ Zeel thought, internally debating his symptoms, but he suddenly paused “Humans have PTSD though… am I becoming like them?”

Zeel stopped in front of Henry’s room and pushed open the door absentmindedly, but when he was greeted by four pairs of eyes staring at him, he was a bit at loss…

“Aaawwwkwwwaarrrdddd…” Jenna sang, gloating at Henry’s misfortune while trying to hide the fact that she was a bit shocked and expectant of Zeel’s appearance…

“Mom… Thomas… this is…” Henry paused while gesturing to Zeel because she wasn’t exactly sure what to call him when his shirt had ‘Marvin’ across the chest…

Actually, now that she thought about it, Henry didn’t even get to the point of name exchange, and Zeel didn’t care to mention his name either…

“This is Marvin…” Henry continued, flawlessly covering her earlier hesitation…

“I’m pretty sure his name is Zeel…” Jenna corrected, trying her hardest not to smirk at Henry’s blunder…

“Can’t my second name be Marvin?” Zeel interrupted, sliding into the room shamelessly…

Cleo coughed “I thought you said it was Croft…”

Zeel paused and if he knew how to blush, he would have…

Never had the Homo-Superior been caught in such a blatant lie…

“Anyways…” Thomas attracted everyone’s attention, but he interrupted mostly to get Zeel’s attention “We should really get going… I have work, and I only got half day off…”

“But Zeel can always join us for dinner later?” Jenna proposed, and Henry quirked her brow, wondering why Jenna would suggest such a thing…

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” Thomas disagreed…

“Me neither…” Cleo added, agreeing with Thomas since Zeel seemed like someone with a couple of loose screws…

“I think it’s a great idea…” Henry made her stance clear, pressuring Cleo with her eyes “You should come by tonight and eat with us… you’re new, so it should be beneficial to get to know Jenna and me…”

“Uhmmm…” Zeel pondered, wanting very much to agree but not wanting to seem obvious…

“It’s… it’s…” Cleo hesitated deeply…

“Fine… why not?” Thomas interrupted, seeing that Cleo couldn’t say yes, but didn’t want to say no…

“Great…” Jenna said, grabbing Henry and dragging her through the door “Just come by the house at 7… it’s 212 Asmi, Reston…”

“And don’t be late…” Henry added, gesturing secretly for Zeel to bring some weed…

Cleo and Thomas shrugged their shoulders, and followed the girls outside the room, heading toward the exit…

Zeel remained alone in the room, wondering what to wear for the dinner…

He glanced out the window, and for the briefest of moments, Zeel once again thought he saw Nara standing under a street light…

But he shook his head the next moment, and she was gone…

“I’m fucked up…” Zeel mumbled…