Easy Letting Go

“H-Hello?”

“Frankie. What are you doing with that boy?”

The joy of her favorite animator saying her name was quickly overweighed by the fear of the situation.

“How are you-“

“I watch everything in this city. You think I can afford not to keep track of my degenerate population?”

“I’m sorry, but- what, did I do something wrong?”

“I have been working my skin off to make sure my employees leave that child alone. I can’t have you using him for your project.”

“I wasn’t going to do that! Not anymore…”

“I want you to forget about him and go do something else.”

Frankie’s grip on the cellphone tightened.

“Why? If he wants to hang out with us, then- let him hang out with us! Who are you to say what’s-“

“I know his relative, the one he’s staying with. She was an old employee of mine who left when the stress of the work environment got to her. At the time, the rest of the staff hated her for it.”

Frankie swallowed.

“We were crunching hard and we deathly needed her talent. Afterwards, some of the crueler employees suggest we go pay her back. When they checked up on her they found she didn’t need the help. The woman was, and is, poor. She cannot even afford her stay in this park, much less her great-nephew’s.”

“But you- you let her stay anyway. Right?”

“Do not commend me. I am not proud of it. We keep a tight leash around here… to tell the truth… well… like it or not, I suppose I’ve been waiting for both of them to die.”

“That’s… horrible…”

“It’s the truth. I don’t like it either. But I do want the boy’s last days to be peaceful. I can’t let you ruin that for him.”

“I'm not going to-“

“You’re just going to let him down. Even if you try to befriend him, even if you do everything in the world to make him happy. You will only make the end that much more painful.”

Frankie shuddered.

“Kind of a sick way to think of it, don’t you think…?”

“Ms. Pop.”

“You just want us to give up on him? You think he’ll find it easier to die if he goes out without a single friend?!”

“Ms. Pop.”

Frankie panted. Some kids looking for a place to smoke stopped near the alley before seeing her and leaving.

“I'm going to leave you for now.” Miyano continued. “I have much work to do for both my animation and my park- a very important guest is returning soon, and my attention can’t afford to be divided anymore. I won’t lie. I won’t have the time to watch you anymore to make sure you don’t hurt him. But if there is any empathy inside you- any maturity to understand this situation- please, leave Nate Cavefield alone. Let him die exactly as he lived. Nothing less. Nothing more.”

Miyano hung up.

Frankie dropped her phone to the dirty concrete and cried.