Division Scene Connie L. Smith
cungkring.com : I've had this for years, probably, and never went much farther than it. It was for a continuation to the Division trilogy where Johnny and McKenna are adjusting back to life as regular humans. What do you think? Should I do something with this?
“I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed,” Isaac declared with a raised eyebrow and disappointed headshake, “but you, my friend… You’re a moron.”
“Come again?” Johnny growled, still inclined against the board behind him.
“You have this amazing girl who, despite your many issues, is crazy about you, and you’re just gonna let her walk out the door?”
“You do realize you’re completely alone in your view, right? Everyone else…”
“They don’t know.”
“And you do?”
“Yeah, I do know because I was THERE. I was there when she would barely even leave your bedside when you were dying with the poison. When you could hardly walk, and she let you brace your weight on her, without a complaint, hobbling around the facility with a death grip around your waist. I was there for the end of both battles at the Division when, while the rest of us were legitimately looking for wounded soldiers, she was just running the battlefield looking for you. She loves you. More than any of these guys can possible know, and more than you deserve.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Johnny narrowed his eyes, running his hands angrily through his hair. “She deserves better than me. I’ve told her from the beginning she does, but she never would listen. I can’t give her the fancy life she wants, or the storybook romance, or...”
Isaac laughed, shaking his head again, this time in resignation. “You really are an idiot.”
“You said yourself…”
“I said she loves you more than you deserve. Your antics – by the way – are only reinforcing that notion.” He rose, stepping away from the control board. “Between the two of you, just so ya know, you’re the one operating with a pedestal.”’
Johnny sighed, eyes still aggravated. “What are you even talking about it?”
“All this time you’ve been telling you, her, and everyone else that you can’t be what she wants, and that you can’t provide the life she expects, just assuming that what she wants and expects is some unattainable thing. She doesn’t want all of that. She wants you.” He reached for his jacket, pulling it on as he spoke. “You, on the other hand, decided all on your own that she was this goddess that was kind enough to grace us mortals with her presence. Pedestal. But she’s human. She has faults. And now that you’ve seen one, you’re ready to run in the opposite direction. Well, newsflash, Johnny. We’re not Essenced anymore. Not really. We’re ALL human, and none of us are perfect. And yet you’re gonna hold her being imperfect against her?”
Johnny said nothing, instead staring at a spot on the floor, attention focused, but hearing Isaac’s words clearly. They hurt, mostly because they were true.
Noticing his companion’s silence, Isaac shook his head again, waving his hand as if to dismiss Johnny altogether. He strode to the door, then stopped a few steps shy, turning to once more face his friend. “It’s your life. Do what you want. But I will tell you this. If I ever find a girl that looks at me the way McKenna looks at you… It’s gonna take a whole lot more to drive me away.”
Then Isaac left, and Johnny thought.