Worry & Doubt

Coral didn't feel well.

She'd gone to bed early and woken up late, yet she still felt tired, had done for the past week.

The pit of her stomach churned, and her throat felt like there was something stuck in it no matter what she did. She'd read online that these were signs of anxiety, which would be about right, but the confirmation just made it worse. There was nothing she could do about it.

She couldn't find it. It was out of her abilities. She'd even asked someone else to help, but…

Coral turned over in bed, too lethargic to get up but too bored to try to sleep.

Her phone beeped from where it lay on her table. Coral sighed and thought about reaching for it, but the more she thought about it, the more tired she felt.

Maybe she should just sleep…

The beep came again.

Coral forced herself up and checked her phone. It was a message from Melody.

"Let's meet today for lunch."

The heaviness in Coral's chest abated slightly and for a moment Coral forgot about how bad she felt.

"Alright," she typed, then deleted. She felt so tired, and she wouldn't be able to pretend in front of Melody. Other people, maybe, but not her. "Tomorrow," she typed instead. "Too tired today."

She sent off the messages then collapsed back onto her bed, clutching her phone to her chest.

She knew she had to find it but had no idea how. Just thinking about it sapped the energy from her.

Maybe she should just… sleep…

--

"She's said she's too tired today," reported Melody, setting her phone down on the table. She was sitting in a booth of one of the cheapest fast-food restaurants in the Walled City with an empty burger box and half eaten french fries in front of her.

Across from her, Misha frowned and looked to Bran beside him. Neither of them had eaten but Misha had gotten a coffee. "What do we do then?" Misha asked.

"Do you know if she's been feeling tired for a while, not just today?" Bran asked Melody instead.

The girl nibbled one of her fries. "Sort of," she said, "but that's kind of normal for her. Coral pushes herself a lot. She's not just good at spots, she's a really good student. She spends a lot of time studying and doing old test papers."

"Really?" Misha asked in surprise.

Melody giggled. "She doesn't look like it, does she? If anything, I look like the nerdy one, but no, that honor goes to Coral. I like reading, but only fiction."

"Romantic fiction?" asked Bran. Misha shot him a look which he ignored.

Melody blushed and nodded. "But usually not boy-girl stuff. I usually read…" She glanced at the two boys across from her and blushed harder while squirming in her seat while clutching her cheeks.

Misha looked to Bran in confusion, but the latter just shook his head.

"Do you know why Coral wants to find that book?" Bran asked.

He and Misha had staked out Melody's parent's bookshop in the hopes of running into the girl herself in order to find out where Coral lived. Melody, despite how much she was acting like an airhead now, was not stupid and only agreed to talk a little about Coral herself and only in a public place - no addresses.

"I have no idea," said Melody. "I'm not even sure where she heard about it."

"It wasn't from you?" asked Misha.

He received a look of pure condescension for his efforts. "You think I'd be interested in an old book like that?"

Misha thought about asking what her parents thought about her opinions but decided not to.

"What's your interest in the book?" Melody asked.

Misha decided to let Bran handle that question.

"We believe the title of the book may have a memetic trigger within it that can cause viral-like reactions in a recipient's brain," said Bran without batting an eye.

Melody looked away from Bran and to Misha. "What's your interesting in the book?" she repeated.

"I…" Misha looked to Bran for help. He wasn't so much worried about not being able to explain his theory about the characters in the name, he was more concerned about what he could and could not say to a normal person about all this magic stuff.

And as always, Bran came to his rescue.

"Do you know about epilepsy?" he asked Melody.

The girl thought a moment. "Oh, chou-fung right?"

"Close enough," said Bran. "Some people who have it can have their seizures triggered by certain visual elements - flashing lights, things like that. There was even a famous episode of a cartoon show where the flashing lights of one of the monsters ended up causing widespread seizures among the children watching."

Melody gasped. "That's horrible!"

"It is," said Bran, "but that's why we're worried about Coral. We think that this book might be something similar. Something that can cause something to go wrong in a person just by looking at it."

Melody sat back in her booth seat, fries forgotten, a profoundly worried look on her face. "You mean…?" Her gaze dropped to her phone that was still on the table. "You mean that book caused Coral to be like this?"

"The title of the book," corrected Bran. "We're not sure, but we think that's a strong possibility of it."

The girl picked up her phone but didn't unlock it and instead cradled it in her hands like it was a lucky charm.

"How do you know about all this?" she asked after a while.

"It's my job," said Bran. "Misha, here, is my assistant. If you want, I can call up the department and have them send someone to verify our identities." That was the first time Misha had heard of something like that, but after glancing at Bran, he guessed he'd probably just called Helen and have her improve along. Besides, it was mostly kind of true anyway.

Melody looked between the two of them, then shook her head. "No need," she said. "I'll take you to Coral."

"Thank you."

"But… I want my brother to come with us too. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just…" she said quickly.

"Of course. Feel free to bring who you like."

Melody nodded, unlocked her phone and started typing.

--

To my surprise, Melody's brother turned out to be Arthur, one of the boys I'd played basketball up on the roof with. He seemed pleasantly surprised, but his grin faded when Melody explained what she needed his help with.

"Yeah," he said nodding with a serious expression. "Coral's been kind of weird recently."

"Weird? How?" I asked.

"I dunno how to explain it. Sometimes she'll seem fine, then suddenly she'll get really tired. Sometimes she'll even just fall asleep!"

We were walking to where Coral lived in the south of the Walled City. Melody didn't say anything, but I knew this was a cheaper area by the rent listings in the windows of the real estate agents we walked past. Also, just having a lot of agencies tends to mean lots of transactions, and that usually means lower income rentals.

I hastened to catch up with Melody at the front of our merry band. "Does Coral live with family or…?" I asked her.

"She lives by herself," replied Melody. "Her family's from over the border. They used to live here too when she was in primary school, but they've moved back for work now."

"Ahh." I understood the situation. It was rather similar to me and my father's situation. Or rather, had been.

"Also, Misha," Melody said in a low tone.

"Yes?"

She gave me a furtive look. "I'm ninety-nine percent sure my brother has a thing for Coral, and I think they'd go well together, so once we go in, don't try to steal his thunder, okay?"

"Oh… okay," I said uncertainly. I wasn't planning on stealing anyone's thunder but the fact that Melody was warning me not to had me confused.

Before I could ask for clarification, the girl turned up a set of rickety metal steps that spiraled up a wall that looked a little too lopsided for comfort. I followed her up and up until she stopped at the very top. There was a dark passageway here.

Despite the Walled City being a literal mega structure, with walkways above walkways above yet more walkways, but they were very good about getting enough lighting in on each level so that it never felt all that claustrophobic.

Coral's street was different.

All through the journey down it, till where Coral rented a small corner flat at the end, I couldn't help feeling like we were burrowing underground into some illegal cave never to return to the surface again.

I suppressed a shudder.

"Alright?" I heard you whisper over my shoulder.

Arthur had gone ahead to help Melody with the door. She said Coral's family had given her a key when they'd moved just in case.

"I'm fine," I replied. "Just feels a bit cramped in here."

You nodded. "Dragons are of the sky."

There came some angry clicks then a shout from Arthur. "It's open now," he called back to us and we hurried over.

"Coral lives alone," Melody repeated, "so don't make any comments about how messy it is, okay?" She cast a serious eye over us three boys. Only after we all promised did she let us enter.

There was a stack of takeaway boxes next to the rubbish bin by the door and a few tied up rubbish bags next to these ready to be taken out. Beyond that was a single room with sets of drawers against the walls, a sofa pushed up against another, and a bed at the third. On top of every flat surface were stacks of various things from magazines and textbooks to both folded and unfolded clothes.

It honestly wasn't all that messy, I thought, just a little cramped. Had the space been larger I don't reckon people would call it messy at all, maybe just a little cluttered.

"Looks like she's out…" I began to say as I looked over the scene.

"Coral!" yelled Melody, rushing forward, wading through the bags and other bits of stuff on the floor. "Oh my god… Coral!"

I wasn't sure what she was so upset about, but I hurried forward anyway, which was when I saw what Melody had already spotted.

The pale arm sticking lifelessly out from the blankets.