The Search Begins

You have not had the best day so far. Meeting a Normal is usually preferred to meeting one of Them, but this Normal has suffered two days of total isolation and as such, is a little, hmm, how does one say?

Delirious.

You drag Daniel to a bed in an open apartment. You collapse on the floor next to the bed. You thread your fingers through your hair in exhaustion.

Nearby, you notice unopened boxes of poptarts and granola bars. Your stomach growls. Sneaking a glance at the Normal, you snatch a pastry out of the only opened box. You rip into it and devour the poor breakfast snack like an animal. It was your favorite flavor after all: strawberry.

Daniel groans in his sleep and rolls over. He's still passed out. You wonder vaguely if he's dreaming. That wouldn't be good.

***

i look around. the world is spinning. a large, gapping hole, red, swirling, teeth, rows and rows and rows and rows of teeth, under me, above me, everywhere i look. i am powerless, trapped, alone, scared, terrified, alone, and It is hungry, free, eternal, proud, laughing, eternally.

I wake up, choking on a scream. I'm staring at my blinds, and for a half-second, I'm terrified that Hope was just another dream. Then I hear the sounds of eating, and I whip around, losing my balance on the bed and getting tangled in my blanket.

"You- You're real?" I ask. I hope I don't pass out again, but just the sight of another human being fills me with indescribable euphoria.

Hope nods and clears her throat.

"I'm real," she says, her voice patchy from the poptarts. I struggle out of bed, stammering about getting her some water.

Water is currently the only thing in my fridge. I didn't want potentially spoiled food in my small apartment, so I brought what few refrigerated items I had and stocked them in the grocery store. The water I put in the fridge is to test its cooling properties. The water was chilled.

I rip a bottle out of the plastic covering and hand it to Hope, who had followed me to the kitchenette. She looks at it for a second, and then me, and then opens it and chugs the water.

"You were thirsty, huh?" I say, like an idiot.

She regards me. "Yeah," she says, "So, now that you're awake, can you help me look for my Seer?"

"Your what?" I ask. My hands absently fidget by my side.

She scrunches up her nose like she just smelled something nasty.

"I meant the triangle."

"Oh, right, duh." So, it was called a Seer? I file that information away for later. It was a weird name, but no weirder than the thing itself.

"What does it look like?" I ask, even though I already know.

"It's about this big," she makes a triangle with her fingers, "Really black, like black-hole black, and it has white hairs that wave around and-" she stops and stares at me.

Too late I realize I've been nodding along like she was saying what I expected her to. Which I did, but I was supposed to not know what she was talking about. I should have made a weird face. I make a weird face.

"Uh, sounds really weird," I say. She doesn't respond. "And you called it a Seer?" I start to blabber out of panic, "That a super weird name. What does it even do? Predict the future?" I was never good at acting and I'm 99% sure she's figured me out.

"You've seen one before." she says, "Are you a Different?"

"Uh, yeah!" I have no idea what a 'different' is, but I roll with it. Lies upon lies. My heart does a backflip. "You caught me," I put my hands up, "I'm a, uh, I'm different."

She narrows her eyes. Then she leans in and stage-whispers, "What is your guardian like?"

"My guardian?" I ask in surprise, and then quickly ad-lib, "Why, he's just the best! Just great at, uh, guarding, and all of that."

"He?" She frowns, and then mutters, "Mine just makes fun of me, doesn't even give me a clue…"

I swallow hard and curse myself.

I have no idea what she's talking about.