Wizardness

He sat up and pivoted to get out of bed. His legs didn’t move. They stayed put. He got a nice back crack out of his effort, but the legs had stayed where they were. He glanced down at his atrophied legs, then he looked to the ceiling, tears formed at the edges of his eyes. He groaned.
    "It was a dream,” the man wailed. “I was running. RUNNGIN! No, no, no, no.” dropped his face into his hangs, sobbing.
    He felt a shadow fall over him. It was her. She was in the door way. He could feel her disgust radiating towards him. Instead of looking at her, to bear the weight of that withering look, he blindly groped for his wheel chair. He pulled it close and managed to get himself into its confines.
    The door way brightened as she left. He felt lopsided in his chair, one arm was higher than the other. He reached under his thin, boney butt and found a book. He pulled it out. The cover read “Dominic’s Journal” he opened the first page.
    "My therapist said this would help me deal with the trauma of losing functionality of my legs. I’m not sure how. June 7, 2053.” Below it were a series of tick marks. They went on for pages. Dominic finally found the end of the hashes. He crossed it, turning it into a five.
    He glanced at the top of the page and began tapping groups of fives. 73. Dominic grunted. He tapped his wrist augmentation, “Is today June 7th?”
    A disembodied voice replied, “Yes, Dominic, it is June 7th, 2072.”
    Dominic wrote a giant 20, below the last tick mark and closed the journal, only to open it to the back of the book. There was another set of tick marks. He added another mark. This was a fresh tick with a completed 5 next to it. He glanced at the top of the page reading “Days since a suicidal dream.” There were 6 tick marks. Out of the corner of Dominic’s eye, he could see a number of pages removed.
    "Sir, might I recommend that you write your dream in your journal. That’s actually what Dr. Willard suggested you do. You can learn quite a bit from your dreams.” The disembodied voice caused Dominic to jump.
    "Fuck off.”
    Dominic wheeled himself to the bathroom to get through his morning routine. Fortunately, the bathroom was designed with his needs in mind. The toilet had a mechanism to slide him over it. There was a lift in front of the sink that locked him in place and let him brush his teeth.
    He made his way to the kitchen. She was watching the news. “20 years ago today, Dominic Reyes - "
    "Turn that shit off.” Dominic cried.
    "No, Dom. I’m going to keep watching it.” She sounded like she’d be crying. Her voice was thick. She stood, so she could see him over the back of the couch. “I haven’t watched it since -”
    Dominic cut her off, “Fine, do whatever you want.” He tapped his wrist, “Play playlist 4. Increase noise cancellation to maximum.”
    He could see her lips moving, but couldn’t hear what she was saying. He turned to the kitchen and pulled a meal out of the freezer. He tossed it into the convection oven and waited.
    He felt himself get hugged from behind and his music abruptly stop. “Dom, they released all the video. It vindicated you. Someone hacked the Global Space Agency and got everything. They just played it live for the first time ever. The GSA was blindsided by it.”
    Dom felt a kiss on his cheek, “They proved you’re the hero I always knew you were. I never doubted.”
    Dominic’s ear piece rang, the caller ID indicating it was GNN. “Dom, you should answer that.” She whispered.
    The oven dinged. She got the food out for him, poured him some juice and a mug of coffee while he was struggling to decide if he should answer.
    "Hello?” He answered unsure.
    "Hello, is this Dominic Reyes?” A professional sounding voice rapidly asked.
    "Yes, this is Dominic.”
    "Great! Viewers, I am here with Dominic Reyes. What reaction do you have to the hacking of the GSA and leak of video evidence that you’re a hero?”
    "I have none. It’s always been my position that I acted in the best interest of Earth. I have not watched any coverage of my actions in the past 20 years and have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    "I’m going to share with you the video now. We’re showing it live on air too.”
    "Good-bye.” Dominic ended the connection.
    On the news behind Dominic, he heard an echo of his good-bye followed by audio of the event. Dominic buried his face in his hands crying tears of relief. A dam burst. Years of self-hatred and regret flowed through those tears.
    His wife, Julia, held him through it all. He reached up and hugged her back. He felt her tears on his cheek. "Dom, you know I’ve always believed you, right? I have always been here. Now, everyone else will believe you too.”
    Dominic’s food grew cold, untouched, on the table.