“Our problems?” I said. “Yours, you mean.”
“It’s to my understanding that your friends are planning a celebration– a ‘party,’ as it were– later this evening. Now, I can only imagine you would wish to go to such an event, especially considering just recently you tried to see these friends, and grew overly emotional at the very sight of them,” Malek explained.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. A bold-faced lie, and I’m sure he knew it; unfortunately, even if he didn’t see me do it, that stupid tie between us probably made it that much easier for him to get a read on my intentions.
“The way I see it, Jason, we’re met with a few options. On the one hand, we could leave this place, travel to an entirely new solar system together, and leave this life behind; grant you a true ascension to the status of my equal– I would even be willing to say no final test required, as you seem to have proven yourself in tapped-ability and raw potential alone already– and roam this universe as overseers of life, as weavers are meant to.”
“I’d rather look behind the other doors, if that’s alright,” I said. Malek smirked, and nodded understandingly. What an ass.
“On the other hand, I could skip the leap of faith in your putting this life behind you, and seize this opportunity to wipe out your ‘loved ones’ all at once. It would be quick, painless, and we could move on from there; I would even be willing to stay near this planet for you, if you’d like that.”
“And option three?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“Well, I suppose the third option branches off of options one or two, depending,” Malek thought aloud. “We could enact the final test, wherein you and I fight to the death. If you lose, I find another Wanderer, and if you win… well, we don’t really have to worry about that.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. “If I win, that means you die? Do you actually not care if that happens?”
“Maybe I’m just confident enough in my ability to not overly-concern myself with such unlikely possibilities.”
“No, but you must recognize it could happen,” I argued. “I mean, you said it yourself, I’ve already proven myself in pure ability and potential alone. That means you already see me as more than any Wanderer before, right? So…So I could kill you.”
Malek was silent for a moment, which was new. Honestly, it was kind of more unnerving than when he wouldn’t shut up.
But it also got me thinking. I mean, after all, this synchrisoty thing worked two ways, right? So I must have had some semblance of an idea whether or not these conjectures of mine held any water. Where would the thoughts come from, anyway? Sure, I could think them, but it had to spur from something. Even if it was just my instinct, my inclination from what I knew about him, that had to be backed by some kind of mental, emotional, whatever connection to Malek.
“Do you… Do you want to die?” I asked. Malek looked up at me, and I stared into his old, foreign eyes. For the first time, I could have sworn I saw some kind of sadness in them. Exhaustion. Real loneliness. “Is it really that awful for you? Partnership or death?”
“You understand, more than you realize,” he muttered. Good golly gosh, this guy was all kinds of twisted.
“Alright, fine,” I said, backing up a bit. “Let’s fight, then. If you want to finalize this stupid test, then let’s get it over with.”
Malek chuckled, his sense of bravado sliding back into the forefront, and he held his hand up, freezing us in time without a second thought.
He put his hand on my shoulder, and I tensed up.
“No, Jason,” he said. “That would only be after the festivities. Clearly though, that’s what it will take for you, so… I aim to please.”
Malek walked away, and then turned back to face me. I’ll be honest, it took me way longer than it ought to have to understand what he was doing.
“Wait, don’t!” I shouted, bursting toward him. Right as I did, though– like, literally, mid-air (moon-air?)– Malek snapped his fingers, and like that, he was gone.
But it wasn’t just that he was gone. No, if anything, he was still there. Malek was probably sitting pretty right now on the moon. I, meanwhile, was stuck. Not stuck in place, I fell back onto the moon-ground.
I was stuck in time.
Nothing moved, and when I moved it felt like trudging through gelatin. My mind was racing, but that was about it; I guess he’d blessed with that much.
But the world wasn’t spinning, the clouds didn’t swirl. No slightly floating pockets of dust every time I pressed down with my feet. Nothing.
“Ox,” I said inside my suit. Ox appeared next to me, and I gestured all around us like that was enough for him to get my point. Shame on me.
“We are in a frozen frame in time,” Ox said. “What are you curious about?”
“Why!?” I said. “How!? How do I get out!?”
“You don’t,” Ox said calmly. Too calmly. We were stuck in time, man! “Malek does not hold a permanent grasp on the laws of time. Eventually, you will be released.”
“Eventually isn’t good enough, Ox!” I shouted. “I…I need to go!”
“You cannot.”
“Well, I’ll do it anyway!” I said, getting ready to take off.
Even lifting off the ground felt arduous, though. Moving around like this felt heavy as all hell. Not to mention, the crippling anxiety was very quickly… well, crippling me.
“Dammit!” I shouted. “Ox, what am I gonna do!?”
“Relax,” he said. “You must relax.”
“How am I supposed to relax right now, Ox!?” I argued. “My friends are about to die, and I’m too busy literally living in the past to do anything about it! I can’t stay here, Ox! I…I have to…I have to–!”
“Jason,” Ox said. Shut up, that’s what I had to do. “Now is not a time to grow paranoid. It is times like these when you must be brave, if not for yourself, then for the sake of others. That is what the Wanderer does.”
I nodded, and tried to take a deep breath. It was still shaky, but I did it, and I did my best to take everything as it was in that moment, and just plan what to do next one step at a time. Then a thought crossed my mind.
“Wait a second… how are we not totally frozen? I mean, you I get, I guess… but what about me?”
“It is because you are inside the suit,” Ox said. “The suit, as well as the Wanderer title itself, is keeping your mind racing, and body functioning.”
“How?” I asked. “What the hell can this thing not do, exactly? I mean who made it, anyway?”
“We did,” Ox said. “Ox first started crafting it as a sort of armor; over the 1,641 generations, we have all added bits and pieces of additive functions to bring us where you are now.”
“Like the function of living in a frozen slate in time,” I muttered.
“Do you wish to criticize your all-things-considered beneficial situation, or formulate a plan for once you break out of this moment?” Ox asked. Wow, the sass on this holographic mouth!
“Alright, fair enough,” I said, pacing around. It was very tiring, what with the air being all stuck in place as it was. “I think that Malek must have known I’d break out of this eventually, right?”
“We imagine as much,” Ox agreed.
“But when I come back, will any time have passed?” I wondered. “I mean, will I slip back into the following second and so on? Or am I gonna get hurled into whatever present everyone else is experiencing?”
“If you think of time as being like a fourth dimension–” Ox began.
“O-Ox, Ox Ox,” I interrupted. “No science lessons, please. Just… which is it?” He stared at me, disappointed. “Sorry, but we don’t have time– no pun intended– and you know I hate science.”
“In all likelihood, you will be hurled back into the next moment ahead of you.”
“Okay, so no matter what, Malek couldn’t have planned for me to actually stay here.”
“Correct,” Ox said. “We figure he wil
l aim to wait, before attacking.”
“Why?”
“Malek’s objective, among other things, is for you to understand that you are alone. That you are not a hero, nor a villain, as they do not exist by his set values. He will want for you to see this, we theorize by revealing your title to the rest of your friends. Thinking you would not recognize the lack of time lost, he expects you to rush in, revealing yourself to them in an act of heroism.”
“That seems a little petty, doesn’t it?”
“Perhaps, but when have you found Malek to be righteous, or for that matter mature?” Ox with the hottest burn of the year, right there.
“Okay… so what should I do?” I asked. “Flying in would be bad, right?”
“It would only help in fulfilling Malek’s plans,” Ox said. “But perhaps if you attend this party, try to warn others of the incoming battle, and get the crowd to disperse, it may do some good.”
“Will they even listen to me though…?” I said. “I mean, the guys will probably just be blown away I was even there, and beyond that why would they just leave for no reason all of a sudden? Just because I said so?”
“That is dependent on you, it would seem,” Ox said.
“Alright… cool,” I murmured. “Well… I guess now we just wait, yeah?”
“Indeed.”
So, you know, we just kind of waited. It took something like twenty minutes, but eventually I saw things slipping back into place, and lucky me, my internal clock/holographic ghost friend could tell exactly when we were back in the present.
“We are back in the present,” he said. See? Told you.
“Alright, awesome…” I trailed off. “I mean, the party isn’t for another, like, three hours.”
“You wish to find a disguise?” Ox guessed.
“Oh, you know me so well already,” I said. “Alright, let’s go find some clothes, Ox!”
And off we went, as I prepared for the party that would, in a lot of ways, change my life forever.
Sorry to end on such a dramatic note, but, you know me.
13
Party Crashers
Alrighty so here’s how we were looking: I had a red hoodie, a white, basic, Red Sox cap, black jeans– which I never wore by they way, because, you know… fashion and stuff– and I had my three month scruff. I also bought some lensless glasses, because that’s just too easy a trope to pass up, and with that my disguise was complete.
I also got a call from Bell, and because I’m a petty son of a bitch, I ignored it. He left a voicemail though, and I listened to that.
It went something like: “Jason, I know you’re upset with me, and I know you might end up going to that party tonight, and I just… I respect your drive, really, and I understand that you care about these people a lot; it’s all very admirable, really, and I’m proud of you for that, but… You need to be careful, Jason. If you’re not, someone could get seriously hurt, and I know that if you let that happen, it would hurt you just as badly. It was wrong of me to say I didn’t trust you, I do, but I said it’s a two-way street– it is… Just be careful, Jason, please. Do that much for me. Trust me when I tell you thinking things through is the smart move, no matter what your heart says. I trust that you’ll do the right thing, whatever you find it to be. Have a good night, Jason.”
So, that was a real gut punch. I immediately felt like a massive jerk for getting so upset with Bell earlier– not so much Bentley, weirdly– and part of me also hesitated to actually go, but despite all of his words of warning… I just had to.
The old me would have taken all this stress and anxiety and robbed someone who didn’t deserve it, so all things considered, I felt this wasn’t a terrible decision, you know? I was just going to see some buddies, and very possibly protect them from a homicidal alien maniac.
I waited a good hour or so after the party’s starting before I actually went in. I just wanted to be sure Malek wasn’t about to just nuke the place or something, so I kept an eye out that everyone got inside safe and sound.
They did, so after a while, I crept out of the brush on the other side of the street, and made my way over.
“Jason, are you sure about this?” Ox asked. He wasn’t physically there, but he still spoke through the chestplate, which was… interesting. “There is no turning back from this once you step inside.”
“Yes, okay? I’m sure,” I said under my breath.
“What is your plan if you see someone you know, again?”
“I’m just gonna say I’m the cousin of whoever isn’t in the room at the moment; it’s a foolproof plan, Ox! Now, please, shut up.”
He went quiet, and I made my way to the door.
I was going to knock, but just my lucky luck, two guys from school opened the front door laughing, and made their way out to their car. I took the opportunity to slink past, and enter the premises. They didn’t even give me a second-glance, which was unfortunate to know on Alex’s account, but still pretty good for me.
Music was already blaring, both from the first floor and the basement. The lights were dimmed– which was good for me, I guess, but still really weird– and the amount of solo cups already all over the place… Animals.
Most of the people there were all kids from our grade. There were a few people from other schools I recognized, but thankfully I was a more-or-less nobody without the suit on, so I just kind of crept around.
Everyone seemed pretty happy, which was cool. I had never been a huge party person, but I enjoyed things like this when I could find a pocket of people– more often than not my people– to just sort of spend time with.
I spotted Sam lurched over the kitchen island, sat alone amongst the three chairs. He had a handle of some kind of peach vodka, and he looked really depressingly upset.
Sam had always been more of a happy drunk, which was all the more reason this sight disturbed me. Not only that, but he was alone. Like, what the hell, guys? Where were you?
I hesitated, looking all around at the fifteen some-odd people chilling all around us, and none of them were really paying me or Sam any mind, so I walked over closer, and sat down at the island, leaving an open chair between us.
“Uh… hey,” I said, not looking him in the eyes, and trying to make my voice sound deeper than usual. He looked pretty drunk, so hopefully he bought it.
“Huh…?” he said, looking over. “Oh, hey.”
“This is a party, isn’t it?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be hanging with your friends or something?”
“Uh…” he shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just not the same, you know? With Jason gone and all– do you know Jason?”
“I uh… I don’t, no,” I said. Know him? I hate him!
“He’s my friend– best friend. He’s my best friend, and I acted like a colossal douchebag to him, and now… I dunno, I just pushed him away, I guess,” he said, taking another swig of his handle.
“Hey, easy there,” I said, pulling it away from him. He struggled a second, but it wasn’t hard to overpower him. You know, for a number of reasons.
“Hey…!” he said, only giving it a half-effort, wiping his mouth with the side of his arm. “You’re pretty strong; that was a good grip, I mean.”
“Yeah; it’s just natural, I guess.” Pfft. Naturally cosmic, maybe. Naturally alien. Naturally not-at-all a product of working out. “Look man, you must know somebody here,” I said. “Why don’t you go find–?”
“Hey,” Will said, walking over. He had a water bottle in his hand, and he was looking pretty defensive. What a good friend.
“Oh, hey,” I said, backing out of the seat, and skittering over to the other side of the island, ducking my hat down over my eyes a little more.
By the way, in case you forgot, it was JULY, which meant it was hot as all hell, inside and out. Yet I, for the sake of concealing both my identity and a big-ass chestplate stuck to my person, had to wear a sweatshirt, over a shirt, just to make my proportions look normal, as well as mask who I was. Just thought
I’d throw that out there, in case anyone thought I wasn’t already sweating buckets.
The additive stress of talking to my friends for the first time in months certainly didn’t help, either.
“S-Sorry, man,” I said to Will. “I was just uh… he seemed lonely.”
“Thanks,” Sam said, taking the water and chugging it.
“Slowly, dude, slowly,” Will cautioned. He looked back to me, and scanned me up and down suspiciously. “Do you know anyone here, man?”
“Me?” I said, looking all around. “Yeah, I uh… I’m Alex’s cousin.”
“His cousin?” Will repeated. “Does his cousin have a name?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “Yeah, yeah I’m uh…I’m G-Greg.” Oh Christ… why’d I say Greg!? There was already a Greg! And he was an asshole!
“Greg?” Will said. I nodded. “Alex has never said he had a cousin named Greg.”
“Yeah, well…” I shrugged. “Y-You know Alex, right…?”
Will paused a moment, and then he just nodded, taking a small swig from the handle himself.
“I sure do,” he said. “So, Greg, you just get here? Sorry this sorry s.o.b. Is the first thing you had to see. I swear we’re usually a lot more fun than this.”
“Oh, no problem,” I said, scratching the side of my face indefinitely for cover. “I get it, not everyone loves the Fourth.”
“I told you, it’s not that,” Sam said, taking a breather after all the water. “It’s Jason, man.”
“Hey, don’t–” Will hushed.
“No, it’s… don’t worry about it,” I said. Will glanced at me, and I stepped back even further. I was swaying like a tree in a hurricane over here. “I just, you know, he sounds like a cool guy, is all.” Yeah, real cool.
“He sort of bounces on us a couple months back,” Will explained. “We’re not really sure why– we know it’s none of our faults– but the last any of us saw him, he kinda got into a fight with Sam.”
The Wanderer (Book 1): The Wanderer Page 16