by CS Patra
Right now, he was sitting in his room and looking out the window. They had several guests and he had already said hi to them all. Somehow, they were much nicer to him than his own family was. A few even offered to give him help with anything that he needed. They had tried to convince his father and mother that he wasn't wasting his time. They tried to tell them that he had a real gift. Although, it fell on deaf ears.
"We never had this problem with Harrison." He heard his mother murmur once. "He actually listened to us."
Yes, it was true that Harrison listened to them except for the one time when he went out in the road. He went out and darted right in front of a car that couldn't stop in time. Everyone tried their hardest to save him, but it just wasn't meant to be. He died, Ash lived, and his parents became insufferable to their living child.
It wasn't that Ash harbored any ill feelings towards his older brother. If anything, he felt terrible that he had died so soon. It would have been nice to have someone in his corner. His brother was a little spoiled, but he didn't hate Ash's existence. It was hard to tell what kind of person he would have become in the future. Maybe he would have become a doctor and their parents would finally lay off Ash.
The party was lively, but Ash had disappeared into his bedroom. It was the one place where he could find some solace. He could be with his things and not have to deal with the chatter below. His room was his favorite place to be. He could work on old projects and come up with new ones without worrying about anyone butting in. If he wanted to, he could go to bed early and not see anyone until morning. He was already planning to do that.
It just didn't feel fair. He had everything except for support. It was hard to follow his dreams when he didn't have anyone in his corner. It hurt to know that he had to do everything by himself. If he wanted to patent his ideas, he would have to find the way. He went to the bathroom at that moment to wash himself up. He needed to clear up his thoughts.
As soon as he was done, he wiped his face with the towel and unlocked the bathroom door. He took one step outside and was immediately tackled down by someone. “What the_”
"Ashton!" The woman gasped in front of him. "Ashton!"
He had no idea who this was, but her curls were a mess and she was babbling some nonsense that he didn’t understand. She grabbed his arms and was saying something regarding an experiment. As for Ash, he tried to pull her off and get some answers from her.
"Who are you?!" he demanded. "How do you know my name?! Tell me or I'm calling security!"
"No, don't!" she stopped him. "I'm not here to hurt you! I'm not here to steal your money. Believe it or not, I am your friend. I'm here to send you a message."
"A message?"
"Yes, this is very important. You must go to the underground tunnel tomorrow evening and meet your siblings. You will get all the answers you want and you will realize your true power."
"My true power?" Ash repeated. "My siblings? What are you talking about? Are you drunk?"
"No, Ash. I do not have much time so listen well. You know where the underground tunnel is. I know you have been there many times before. You know about this place because you are desperate to be a part of that world.”
Ash snorted and brushed a loose strand of hair that had fallen in his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you do. The underground tunnel leads to an arena under the bridge. You’ve walked down that path many times. I’ve followed you down there.”
“So what if I have?” Ash asked. “Are you stalking me or something? I still want to know how the hell you got in without anyone knowing. I know we didn’t invite you. My parents would never invite someone like you to this party.”
The woman ignored his words. “It doesn’t matter how I got in. What matters is that you follow my instructions. There is a storm headed your way. They are after you. If you are not careful, you will be caught and killed. Every answer you want will be at the underground tunnel tomorrow evening. You must go all the way to the arena. The show will be free to the public so you do not have to pay anything. You have to go there. You have no choice."
"What's waiting for me at the underground tunnel? I just know that is the place where people fight their robots and creations."
"There's so much more than that. The truth behind your life will be revealed. Trust no one out there, Ashton! Everything is a lie!"
“Why is everything a lie?” he asked.
“Just believe me. You want the truth behind your life.”
"The truth behind my life?"
"Ashton, are you up here?" His father knocked on his door. "Who are you talking to?"
Ash looked at where the woman had been and tried to figure out what she had said. She came and left just like the wind. He still didn't know how she had gotten into his room without anyone noticing her. It didn't make much sense, but he was intrigued by her message.
"Yes, Father! I'm here!" Ash replied. "I was just talking to my... reflection! Yes!"
"Well, the guests are getting ready to leave. You better come down and say goodbye."
"I'll be there in a second!" Ash looked back at where the woman was and thought about everything that she had said. Everything was a lie and there was more to his life than he knew right now. He didn’t know who to ask nor did have any idea who that woman was. How had she gotten into the house without anyone noticing her?
He looked at his windows and saw that no one had tampered with them. His door was locked as well and there were no other holes made in there. It was like she had teleported into his room. Normally, he would brush this off as ridiculous, but he was willing to believe anything now. Maybe teleporting was how she got in here.
He ran downstairs for a second to ask security if anyone had come in a few minutes ago. To his surprise, they had not let anyone through the gates. No one had gone past them and the cameras had shown that no one had shown up. They looked around to see that no one had broken into the house either. Ash shuddered as he thought about the woman.
She was there. He thought as he went on to say goodnight to the guests. The woman was gone. She wasn’t in this crowd and he was left with more questions than answers.
He had no idea when he was going to get these answers.
Chapter 3 – Jackie
It was another typical morning at work for Jackie Vargas, but she was feeling terrible inside. She had gotten no sleep, because she had been coughing all night. The coughs were so bad that she found herself spitting phlegm and vomiting. By some miracle, she managed to fall asleep at six in the morning. Unfortunately, that left her only one hour of sleep. Judging from the number of orders she had gotten at the pharmacy, today was going to be hell. She couldn't call in to say she was sick, because she didn't give them enough time to find a replacement. Instead, she would have to wing it and deal with customers.
"You don't look so hot, Jackie." Miguel Dos Santos, her co-worker, said when he saw her. Miguel was probably one of the only friends that she had here, he was always concerned for her well-being. She also suspected that he probably had a crush on her, but she couldn't crush back on him. He was the wrong gender for starters. For another thing, she could never see him as anything more than a friend.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, wiping her nose. "I didn't call out of work soon enough and I didn't get much sleep. That's a terrible excuse, but it's true."
"Maybe you should sit down a bit and let me handle the first couple of orders." he suggested.
"No, no. I think I can handle it." she assured him. "I'll fill everything up with no problem."
No sooner had she said that, she began to regret those words. Her concentration was pretty terrible. It was bad enough that she already had concentration issues. She had been diagnosed with ADHD as a young child. Medication helped keep her on track, but this lack of concentration wasn't because of her ADHD now. It was because of this cough. Cold medicine wasn't helping and her throat still felt raw inside.
She had been feeling strange ever since she got this cold. She expected it to go away within a few days, but it was still lingering. While she dealt with customers that had questions, she could feel her own headache getting worse. A part of her wanted to leave early, but she couldn't. She had so many orders to fill before five today.
"Are you okay, Jackie?" Miguel asked for the eighth time that morning. “I still hear you coughing up a storm back there. Maybe you should let me take over filling these prescriptions. You don’t want to contaminate the work area.”
"I am fine, Miguel. I just need to sit down for a little bit." Jackie said, waving the headache off. "Maybe I should take a break."
"Go and take the next fifteen minutes to yourself. I'll take care of the customers in the front," he said. “I’ll finish filling out any orders that you have.”
"Thank you. I promise I'll be back in fifteen minutes."
Miguel had a good reason to be concerned and he was right. There was no need to contaminate the area whether she was contagious or not. Jackie hadn’t been feeling well for the longest time. A lot of people suspected that she was pregnant, but that couldn’t be it. She hadn’t had sex with anyone in ages, she certainly wasn’t having sex with a man out there. However, she couldn’t figure out what else it could be. She ran over to the bathroom because she could feel the food rushing up her throat again. This was that same old burning feeling that she had every day. Breakfast was not going to go down easy, she was fortunate no one else was in the bathroom at the moment. She didn’t want anyone to hear her vomiting.
Jackie kneeled over the toilet seat and proceeded to throw up for the next five minutes. It was highly embarrassing that this was happening at work. She knew that she could take the time off, but then she would get no money. She had to get her own groceries this week. Not that it really mattered because she couldn't keep any food down long enough anyways. She was hungry and afraid to eat at the same time. It was going to drive her crazy.
Maybe everyone is right. Maybe I am pregnant. She thought as she flushed it all down the toilet. Once she got out of the stall, she went straight to the sink and washed out her mouth. The horrible aftertaste of vomit was still in it. There was no way she could talk to anyone about their prescription when she was feeling this way. As soon as she got off work, she was going to buy herself a pregnancy test and see what it said.
It was going to be tough if she did end up pregnant. For starters, she was single and her girlfriend had recently dumped her. For another, she hadn't been with a man in her life and had no idea who the father could be. Her period was taking its time to get there, but she had no idea why. It worried her. Her periods could be irregular from time to time, but they always came. This was something she had to figure out.
When she came out of the bathroom, Miguel handed her some prescriptions to fill. "We're getting a lot of orders for birth control lately."
"Really?" Jackie looked down at them and saw they all came from one place. "The Bradley Institute. Isn't that a birthing center?"
"That's what I've heard, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, you should probably get these filled up. I'm also getting a lot of orders from people with cancer as well."
"I feel so bad for those people." Jackie sighed, looking over at where all the pregnancy tests were. She didn't want to wait to use it. She wanted to pocket one right now and test it out. "Anyway, I've got a few more hours left in this shift. I might as well get all this done."
"Be sure you consult that person over there." Miguel nodded at a woman who was waiting for consultation. "I told her you'd be with her shortly. Are you feeling a little better now?"
"Right, right. I’m all right now." Jackie nodded. "Fill up some of these prescriptions for me, will you? I'll be right back."
She went down to where the woman was waiting and looked at the prescription that she had. "Sorry to keep you waiting, but let's see. Do you have any questions regarding your prescription? Have you taken it before?"
"My prescription is not the thing I'm worried about, Jackie." The woman spoke up.
Jackie blinked. "How did you know my name?"
"Besides the fact that it's on your name tag? I know you." The woman went on and lowered her voice. "I came here to talk to you and deliver a message. It's something you need to know."
Jackie leaned over to make sure Miguel wasn't listening in. "What kind of message?"
"I need you to go here tonight." The woman handed her a pamphlet. "I know it doesn't look like your kind of place, but you will find some answers here. You may even find the answer behind your illness."
Now things were getting a little strange. "What makes you think I'm sick?"
"It's written all over your face. This happens to a lot of us. However, you can be cured. It's not too late for you. I need you to go there tonight. No matter what happens, go there. See what they are doing. And the other thing I need you to know is that everything about your life is a lie. Everything is a lie."
"Everything is a lie?" Jackie repeated.
"Exactly." The woman said. "I have to go. Thank you for the prescription."
"Wait! Wait a minute!" Jackie tried to stop her by grabbing her sleeve. "You can't just give me this information and not explain anything! What are you talking about? How do you know this stuff when I didn't tell you?"
"I'm a friend, Jackie. That's all you need to know about me. Go under that bridge tonight and find a seat for yourself. Everything will be there."
With that, the woman pulled away and walked off. Jackie just stared at her back and tried to figure out what this message was all about. She looked down at the pamphlet and saw that it was for a battle of the bots event. She had no interest in this whatsoever and didn't see how this could answer her questions. Still, if she needed to be there, she was going to be there.
"You okay down there, Jackie?" Miguel asked.
"Um, yeah!" Jackie came back up. "The woman was a little strange, but I'm okay. Anyway, are you a fan of Battle of the Bots by any chance? There's some battle going on tonight under the bridge and I was wondering if you'd like to take my ticket to it."
"Not a fan of those battles, huh?"
"Well, it's not my idea of a good time."
"I wish I could go, but I have to be at the restaurant tonight. I'm working till closing." Miguel had another job in a seafood restaurant and that usually took up his free time. "Maybe some other time."
"Yeah, I guess I can sit and watch robots tear each other apart." Jackie said. "Anyway, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'm not feeling so well."
"Jackie, you should probably leave early. You haven't been well ever since you came here."
“I know, I know.” Jackie wiped her nose. “Maybe I will try to leave early if I can. Thank God I’m not working overnight. I don’t know if I can last any longer.”
“Get some rest, okay?” Miguel told her. “Cancel all your plans for tonight. Just take it easy and take some medicine. I want you to get better.”
“I know, I know.” Jackie murmured, taking off her pharmacist coat and grabbing her purse. “You think you can handle things when you come back from lunch? The other pharmacist should be in by then.”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You need to take care of yourself.”
Jackie went off to clock out and thought about what she had just gone through. She still had no idea where that woman had come from. She didn’t mention her name, but it felt like she knew Jackie.
Chapter 4 – Misty
Misty Zeng hadn't been doing a whole lot when she got the message. Prior to all that, it was just another quiet afternoon where she was trying to finish up her homework. Geometry was taking its toll on her, she was getting tired of proofs. She didn't care for proofs, she didn't want to solve them, and she couldn't see how this could help her in the future. Math was probably one of those subjects that was created by a sadist.
"I don't want to do this anymore!" She groaned, lying down on he
r bed and looking up at the ceiling fan. "No more proofs!"
"Can you be quiet, Misty? I'm trying to work here!" Her sister, Annie, yelled back at her.
Misty rolled over onto her stomach and hugged her pillow. She buried her face in that pillow and tried not to scream. School just started and already she was over it. She wanted to be a sophomore right now. She wanted to be old enough to take driver's education classes and get her permit. Unfortunately, she had to be turning fifteen this year and that wasn't happening until July of next year. For now, she had to rely on her parents or her sister to take her everywhere that she went. In a few hours, Annie would drop her off at piano lessons and she would struggle to play the same piece again and again.