There were dark splotches marring the large mirror in the bathroom. Over the many years, moisture had seeped slowly inside the mirror and oxidized the silver backing. Each splotch was different. Some were nothing more than a pinprick whereas others were several inches across. It was the patterns, particularly along the edges of the splotches, that were the most intriguing part. Ever-branching fractals reached outward from the source of each blemish.

Trust liked this mirror. To him, it was the perfect embodiment of everything he believed. People were like mirrors. Some were clean and polished, others were corroded or broken, but all of them had pure beginnings. Somewhere along the lines, everyone got worn away here and there. Some people, like this mirror, spent their entire lives in situations seemingly designed to hasten the degradation. Also, just like fractals, the closer you looked, the more intricate they became.

As Trust shuffled stiffly into the bathroom, he gave himself a look over in the mirror. All ninety-seven years looked back at him. He placed his fingertips on his cheeks, just below his eyes and slowly ran them down his face. The effect was to pull his wrinkled skin somewhat tighter and smooth out the numerous wrinkles. Even with his face looking twenty some years younger he still looked old.

Trust sighed and let his face alone. Where had all the time gone? It didn’t seem all that long ago that he was young, outside almost all of the time on one adventure or another. He missed traveling. It had been years since his last trip. He didn’t worry about people losing their sense of trust, though. He could feel it regardless of traveling. He’d also known other Earthly Personifications who stopped traveling when they reached a certain age. Seemed that the universe knew when the difficulties of getting back home would be too great and so left them alone. Still, he wouldn’t mind just one more adventure.

Of course, as soon as he began to think wistfully of such things, his body decided to remind him why he didn’t go out much anymore. His knees ached, his back couldn’t straighten, and the knuckles on his hands were mostly locked in place preventing him from performing any fine or precise movements. Even breathing was becoming a chore these days. He’d gotten so used to the wheezing noise he made every time he inhaled that he hardly noticed it anymore.

“Now what’d I come here for?” he asked himself after finally turning away from the mirror.

He’d come here for something, he was sure. He didn’t actually need to use the bathroom, so the most obvious reason for being there could be ruled out. Trust began to retrace his steps in his mind since that was usually a good way to remember what he had forgotten. He’d been sitting in his armchair, reading Ivanhoe. Wamba had just been disguised as a priest to infiltrate the castle of Reginald Front-de-Bouf where the others were being held captive. Trust doubted any of that had caused him to come to the bathroom.

A faint chime sounded from his watch and he instinctively checked the time; half passed noon.

“Right,” Trust mumbled.

He shuffled over to the sink where he kept his pills. He had two alarms set five minutes apart on his watch. The first alarm was usually enough to get him to the bathroom and the second one reminded him why he was there in case he’d forgotten.

“Morning, noon, and night,” Trust grumbled. “Fist full of pills, it’s a wonder I have any room left to eat anything else.”

Complaining aside, he downed the pills with a gulp of water, grimacing as he felt each one slide down his throat. It wasn’t painful, but neither was it something he’d ever quite gotten used to.

“Lunch…lunch…lunch,” Trust repeated as he left the bathroom behind and made his way into the kitchen.

His meals were all pre-made for him by his daughter, Maggie, and all he had to do was remember to eat them. She came by a few times a week to check in on him, make sure he was doing alright, and to make the meals. He was glad Sofie had convinced him to marry her and have a family. He was well into his forties by then. He’d always known it would be difficult to explain his disappearances to any potential wife and so he’d avoided that sort of relationship, but Sofie was persistent. Before marrying her he’d told her about his true nature. She didn’t believe him, of course. She’d thought he was inventing some outlandish excuse to get out of marrying her. They were married for only a few months when she witnessed him disappearing. Fortunately, he didn’t end up in some far-off land and he was able to call her on the telephone within just a few minutes. She was hysterical at first but eventually calmed down and helped arrange his bus ride home. That was the only time she ever saw him vanish like that, but it was all she needed. After that it was all smooth sailing. Another gift from the universe, Trust assumed.

Having kids was another hurdle he didn’t think he could overcome, but again Sofie convinced him to give it a shot. Maggie was the result of that endeavor. Sometimes Trust wondered if Sofie regretted their decision since she was left alone with Maggie so often while he was off on his adventures. If so, she never said anything or complained, but she also never asked for a second child. Trust missed a lot of important parts of Maggie’s growing up due to him being gone so often. Sofie and Trust had to tell Maggie why he was gone so much and why it was always so abrupt and unannounced. It certainly made for an interesting evening, sitting down with her and trying to explain it all. She was perhaps eleven or twelve at the time. He still didn’t know if Maggie ever believed them, but she called him Trust from time to time so she certainly hadn’t forgotten about it.

Inside the fridge were the sealed glass containers, each stacked and labeled neatly to show which meal was which and the date they were supposed to be eaten on. He pulled out his lunch and carried it over to the microwave. Most of the meals needed to be microwaved. He popped the corner of the lid open to vent the steam and then set it to heat up.

He liked watching the food rotated in the microwave, the soft orange light illuminating the inside. While he waited for his meal to heat up he heard the click of the mail slot and perked up. He rarely got anything in the mail. Maggie had figured out a way to stop him from getting all the junk mail and she handled his bills and things. There were only a few people who wrote to him anymore, and those were growing more and more infrequent as each year passed.

He left the microwave to finish its job while he went to see who had written to him. It was no easy thing for him to bend down and pick up the mail but he managed it by bracing himself against the wall with one hand while scooping up the solitary letter that lay on his doormat beneath the mail slot. It took him even longer to stand back up and his back popped and creaked several times along the way. He was dismayed when, upon examining the letter, he found his eyesight was too weak to make out the writing on the envelope.

“Where’d I leave my reading glasses?”

He went to his armchair first, thinking he left them there when he got up to go take his pills. The book was there, but he didn’t see his glasses. He walked over to the bathroom but couldn’t find them there either.

The microwave dinged and Trust left off on his search for the glass for the time being. He didn’t want to forget about the food in the microwave and have it go bad on him again. Maggie wouldn’t like it if her hard work in preparing his meals went to waste.

The fragrant and hearty smells of lasagna greeted him when he returned to the kitchen. He hurriedly grabbed a hot pad and removed the dish from the microwave. He grabbed a fork on his way over to the table and began to eat. He tried to make out the handwriting on the envelope a couple more times during his lunch but with the same results. He was just about done eating when he heard his front door open.

“Hello, dad?”

“In here honey.”

Trust hadn’t been expecting Maggie to come by that day but he was always happy to see her and would never complain about an extra visit. Maggie came around the corner and into view. She had a few bags of groceries in hand, damp from what looked like rain, and her hair was windswept.

“Is it storming out today?”

Maggie gave him a smile and a kiss on top of his head as she passed him on the way to the kitchen counter.

“It’s not too bad out,” she said while laying out the groceries on the counter. “How are you doing?”

“Oh, I was fair to middlin’ until I had this lasagna,” Trust told her with a wink. “And now I’m doing pretty good.”

“You already take your pills?”

Trust nodded. “All nineteen of them.”

“And how are you really feeling? Your back doing alright?”

“It’s about the same.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything else. He’d never told her, but Sofie used to make the exact same expression when she thought he wasn’t being totally honest with her.

“I wasn’t expecting you today,” Trust said. “Did you just feel like making an old man smile?”

Maggie grinned and patted his cheek.

“I just thought you could use a few things and I was already out running some errands.”

He helped her put the groceries away and then they sat down in the living room to visit for a while.

“How’s the boys?” Trust asked once they were settled.

“Wild as ever. Dan’s doing football again and Craig wants to try out for the track team.”

There was a pause, unusual for Maggie’s visits, and then she pointed over towards the table.

“I couldn’t help notice that you’ve got a letter.”

“Hmm? Oh, right,” Trust chuckled mildly. “I misplaced my reading glasses so I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.”

“Do you want me to read it to you?”

There was something in the way Maggie said it that gave Trust pause. It wasn’t her usual, let-me-do-that-for-you, tone of voice.

“Um, well, sure if you don’t mind,” he said. “I don’t know who it’s from.”

Maggie retrieved the letter from the table and was reading over the envelope silently to herself when she sat back down.

“Who’s it from?” Trust asked when Maggie began opening the letter.

“Secrets,” Maggie replied, almost as a question.

Trust nodded.

“You’ve met her before,” Trust explained. “She came to your wedding reception, tall woman, about my age, from Ukraine.”

“Oh, one of your…

Maggie trailed off, gesturing vaguely with her hands.

“Yes.”

Maggie nodded and then began reading the letter.

“Trust, I hope you’re well. This winter is long. I look forward to us both seeing warmer seasons. Perhaps I hope in vain. Every new day for me now is a welcome surprise. Perhaps it is the same for all of us who see this many years. I’m glad to hear your daughter is taking care of you. Life is quiet without adventures, as you use to call them. I like the quiet but none of us ever get everything we want. Tell your Maggie she is a good daughter, and to make sure her husband and sons treat her well. Good women are rarely praised enough for their unseen labors and loves. Kiss her on the forehead every chance you get and make sure she knows you love her. You never know when the day will come that you won’t be there to remind her of that.”

Maggie looked up over the letter and met Trust’s gaze.

“Did she know I’d be reading this to you?”

Trust shrugged.

“I don’t think so. We often tell each other about our families, those of us that have them. Secrets was married, once long ago, but it…well it’s hard for us, you know? Always getting pulled one way or another.”

“Do you see her often?”

“Heavens no,” Trust laughed. “She lives in Ukraine!”

“The envelope’s postmarked from New Jersey.”

Trust sat up straighter in his chair.

“Well, last I heard from her she was still in Ukraine. Keep reading, keep reading.”

Maggie scanned the letter until she found where she’d left off.

“I found another one. I think he will be my last one to find. I think it has done us all some good to know each other. I hope the others will be able to continue finding more of us after you and I are gone. The boy I found is very young. He is only a child but I’m sure he’s one of us. He and I were both brought to witness the same event. It was not an easy thing to witness. The boy ran before I could talk to him but I have found where he is from. I thought I could go meet him, since we’d already met, in a manner of speaking, but he ran again as soon as he saw me. I never had the way with children. His address is below. Please be gentle with him. I think he is Fear.”

Maggie lowered the letter once again but neither of them spoke. Trust had met nearly all of the current, known Earthly Personifications. He’d never intended to become the official spokesperson for them all but had sort of wound up in that role. The last one he’d met and introduced to the others was Sympathy but that had been a few years ago. He hadn’t really expected for any others to be found in his lifetime. If Secrets was correct, this would probably be the youngest one yet. Trust remembered his early years, how difficult and frightening they were, being called off to unknown places without any warning, and then left to fend for himself while trying to find his way back home. Everything always seemed to work out, and for the most part people seemed to just gloss over his disappearances, as if they were only somewhat aware that he’d been gone for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Only those closest to him ever really seemed to notice and remember. It was the same for all of the others.

Trust felt he had gotten off easily. Arriving to places where a great trust was being bestowed, or an act of incredible trust was taking place, was not exactly a frightening event in and of itself. If Secrets was right, Trust could only imagine the sorts of things Fear would be witness to. In the early days, back when Trust was only just beginning to find out that there were others like him, he heard stories of older Personifications who had gone insane. It seemed that having the ability to reach out to one another helped deal with the strain and, with luck, he’d be able to find and help the boy.

“I guess I’m going to need to go on a bit of a trip,” Trust said finally.

Maggie looked shocked.

“You can’t be serious, dad! You can’t just go and vanish yourself off to New Jersey.”

“Honey, calm down,” Trust said with a wave. “I won’t be vanishing, that’s not really how it works.”

“So, you’re going to, what, drive there?”

“Well, seeing as I don’t have a driver’s license anymore, and frankly I don’t think I’d be able to handle a car if I wanted to, I was thinking I’d take a plane.”

“Oh,” Maggie settled back into her chair a bit but was still clearly on edge. “By yourself?”

“Well, you could come with me if you’d like. I certainly wouldn’t mind the company. Your mother came with me the last time one of us was found. Sweet young woman, going to college now and doing fine.”

“And you’re going to do…what exactly when you get there?”

“I usually just introduce myself and ask if they’d like to talk.”

“What, like, ‘Hello, I’m Trust, good to meet you’?”

“Something like that. So, what do you say? Do you think you could spare a couple days to help out a little boy? I know some of what he’s been going through, but if Secrets is right, and he’s Fear, I can only imagine the things he’s seen. There’s not a lot of other people in the world who know what it’s like and I’m sure he could use a friendly, understanding face.”

“If I say no you’re just going to go on your own,” Maggie noted and Trust shrugged. “Alright, let me talk to Mike and make sure he’ll be alright with the boys while we’re gone. When did you want to leave?”

“As soon as we can,” Trust replied.

He was worried about getting there in time, both for Fear and for himself. Secrets was right about every new day being something of a surprise and he felt he was nearing the end of those surprises.