(GE Copy)

Chapter 4: He Was Not Alone.

“It is a frightful thing to have to explain something deeper than the surface. Most of the people that will not understand will be prone to blindly shun it in explicit vulgarity... And most of those who do understand, will be reminded of far too much to carry forward. Yet without the meat, there is no substance to a story. It is the fight between the clout of it’s efficiency, and the coddling lie that protects the listener heart.”

In the wake of the an overcast sky outside, his reflection emerged through the glass, as his face neared it. Noticing his pale complexion in front of the dark bits of cloud rolling outside. “I was a fool...” This had been all morning. The glassy lens of his eyes magnified the luminescence in every corner of the unlit house; where dusty rays of light contrasted the darkest pitch gleaming over the walls in onyx. His hands blistering as the skin peeled another layer from his pads, debating whether to remove it he found another layer starting to snag underneath. Pity befell his eyes from it, onto himself, though in reality it was himself that he had pitied most. The fault in the things he did to get here. Once free, he was now a freewill bondmen, the pride of wanting to escape and the reality that he handed himself in. “When will she be here?... Or, will she abandon me because I ignored her?” Hazily, his eyes blurred image on image as he swayed, with a tranquil melancholy straining him to the place he stood; like hundred pound weights on his ankles which brought him peace. He knew he could let it all fade, this trance, the spell cast over him but he longed for his redemption. He sought to see another glimpse. Her.

“Boy!” The distant voice ushered him to the adjacent room. He knew that room, but he was never allowed to go here. This was odd as he was unable to get to where he was without crossing that space. Somehow he was flushed with a joy of trust and of reward, whilst his captor beckoned him to his knee. Aaron knew better than to sit there and placed himself to the chair opposing him, slowly sliding off of it as though it was tilted on it's side. Aaron crashed against the ground, looking up ashamed like a child who wet himself.

“You know your place, that makes things better.” Though the shadows over his face were thick like the London fog, he could make out some pleasure in his silhouette “You may be like a son to me yet. Under my heel, and yours onto you. I give you this lesson in kind, because you love them, you will choose for them as I to you, and in turn I will choose for them in your stead.” Aaron began to cry a happy tear of compassion, a lifeless longing being fulfilled by the desire he was artificially instilled with. His tears felt like dry liquor, wondering why he spilled so much onto the floorboards. Watching it evaporate from his feet like mists of fire.

They moved to the closet. Behind was another door, and behind that was a dresser. They pulled out the drawers together, moving it's massive weight to expose the stairs. This was of course the main entrance to the basement, which in disarray was in need of being cleaned thoroughly. From below Aaron could feel the presence of a maleficent being who he tried to ignore. A reoccurring memory flashed though the now lucid concerning state, begging to see his friend, that she might save him from this imprisonment. From his slavery. His mind thought to flee, but his fortitude pushed to numb his mind of this panic.

The voice reaped from below in a rattling tone that superseded his sensory. “I'm still here... I'm STILL HERE!” Loudly breaking him from his concentration.

“It must be removed, remove it and become my son!” His captor demanded.

Aaron felt the anger inside him billow, the blindness of his new family. The dark mass that he could only feel from afar shuttered away from him terrified, screaming more maliciously while weeping in frightful tears. A nauseating contrast that confounded Aaron to remove himself from all emotion until it was done. He blinded himself but knowing this, he also realized it caused him to fall, like a memory which spoke deeply inside him. Reminding him of his faults. He tripped, falling beside the stairs rather than the foot which he landed. Aaron laid beside the creature now shivering uncontrollably. Overarching Aaron, the mass assaulted him, begging to be shown mercy as it did. Aaron could see a face under the liquid miasma, one of saggy skin over bone. The eyes, burned out, seeping as ash which made up the form. A stagnant musk filled the boy’s mouth. Aaron begged that he could change his mind, to leave this nightmare, wishing he woken up before every time he noticed, when he could have avoided all of this. His hand brushed against a soft mass. It's strands falling apart in his grasp. The ghost's head, falling off from existence, weeping inanimately. “How could you?” The tears falling from Aaron's face like an ocean that shielded him in anger. His memory playing a resemblance of ignorance that never actually happened, to times prior in this dream when he heard her die in the night and pretended it was nothing. Pretending that if he ignored this, that she would still yet come to him. That he purposely mistook that which he had heard for his own ego, that the world would merely change for him. But it didn’t.

Gripping Aaron firmly, the malignant mass pulled him in closer, consuming him, choking him. In a volume he could not withstand, the voice shook him like the last vivid blood curdling scream of someone before death, condemning him in anger. “YOU DID!” Forcing Aaron from his dream in a convulsion that soon ended as he tried to realign himself with the world once more. Quieting into his bed with a stark fear that lingered. His mind retracing every element, trying to make sense of his nightmare. His friend, the ghost. He had been so angered by that moment that he smitten himself in a lustful rage. Unable to change the memory of what happened in his mind, he let it go though it still haunted him. But creeping from within, like a voice he couldn’t simply ignore, it returned in his every absence and pranced to spite him.

He looked to his walls, his window, his closet, to the lamp the ceiling, and bedpost. Anything to get his mind off of it. Each time his mind returned, and each time he tried to focus more intently on the distraction. Aaron traced patterns between the kernels on his ceiling but it lead back again. His ears peered for sounds out his window and he stared out there but the intensity wore off like a sedation which fell him back onto needless worry and contempt. The dream even now still seemed so very real, even in his sobriety awake but apparently he was still not quite conscious, being clawed back into a slumber without logic or reason as some dreams do.

He focused an a strong emotion to pacify his morning upon a false teat, simply blocked the reality out once again, as he did in his dream until all was quell and numb. Aaron gripped his spinning head, as it made him dizzy. He couldn’t explain why, he could see pieces of his conscious scattered upon the floor like shards of glass, glinting, fading as he lost sight of them. The delusions taking the air out of him like a loose rug which was yanked from under him. He began to wonder if he had recently gotten sick, when his skin itself felt like a tight wrap, constricting him.

From the hallway, his mother called him. He had been in bed a long time, and being woken up from his meditation, he felt uneasy. It should be known that this morning itself had been an entire week since he had the encounter on the hill. His hands were still latent with soreness, though mostly mended by now. He got himself up, puttered out the door and realigned himself with the open senses which seemed like a child learning to walk as he staggered.

The sink faucet poured deeply, It ran as his equilibrium fell out from under him. He gripped the counter firmly with astonishing strength as he went down, despite his weakness of mind. The sink still pouring out, entrancing him to almost see within it. Vision leaving his body, resetting back to his eyes frequently. He could see the kink and the bend in the pipe, the water trap. With enough focus, his sight could follow the drain all the way along. It took him deep into the system of elaborate pathways and through lands of vibrancy which was submerged under a catastrophic surface which warred over top past the threshold. Everything was too loud, that it hurt his ears, hearing the house he was in crunching in his inner ear. It was like the climax of food poisoning, without the toilet custody. He gripped himself awake again, back in front of the sink. He turned off the faucet, unable to bare looking any deeper into it. The sound enough was felt like a river passing behind his ears. He simply regained his composure and walked out to the couch to deal with his sickness safely.

He sat there for most the day, passing it away indoors. It was the last day of his weekend before returning to school the morning after. “Are you feeling any better?” His mother consulted with him. “I can cancel you for tomorrow if you need.” Until this point, he had a headache which was finally subsiding. He looked to the clock feeling his strength returning. The clock tolled four thirty five, and the peace of comfort began to renew him. Seemingly from nowhere.

“No... It'll be fine, just need a good nights rest.” Until now, he had been fighting with himself in ways he knew that he wasn't able to comprehend. Something internally. All he knew, was that on the outside, if he could focus hard enough on something else, he could look past his ailments long enough to take his role in the day.

The thought that he treasured most right now was when he met with her, the ghost. It was the deep emotion which distracted him from his torment like a high dose of painkiller. However, a thought peeked in from time to time, to remember the spiritual horror she instilled, was like that of his nightmare. Guilty to defend her, he found some logic to justify her with, constantly having to rediscover this thought each time it passed. It was as though he had no memory, but a deep conscious state speaking instead, until these thoughts became nothing more than background noise and he returned to the world around him. His thoughts become barren for a moment, as they scuffed off without him, he drew a blank. Like waking up, and his mind finally reset. The sense of every sound and every feeling in the air returned as though his sickness had faded in it's entirety, the last tipping point of it's assault. The headache, like a soft blanket against his head instead of the rocks and ash that it was a few minutes ago.

He would continue to think about her, as to stave away the illness as a defence when he felt weak. He thought about it so much, that it began to take a new form each time, each passing thought being more and more homely, developing in ways he knew didn’t happen, but wished that they did. It became his new favourite fantasy. Perhaps he had fallen tragically in love after all, but he wouldn’t be giving his friends the satisfaction of being right on that one.

The next morning, he woke up. He felt as though he had forgotten something, and after half an hour he returned to it. The same memory he clung to before sleeping, and the curse he fought internally that came with it. Though, this morning it was a quiet struggle, forgetting the source his thoughts came from. He had spent an unhealthy amount of time harbouring this, reinvigorating it to think about his apparent crush that and selectively handling the nightmare that came sandwich-packaged together. So much that Zackery had to intervene “Dude, you've been out of it all morning.”

The distraction fostered a deep vengeful frustration in Aaron. He leaned back pretending to have heard it, for the moment's it would buy him time to reconsolidate his feelings. Hopefully with less angst “Just trying to remember something.”

“If I don't remember something in like five minutes I give it a rest and if it's important it'll come back to me.”

“Well, I don't...” Aaron passively instilled. “And it did come back to me. It's been...” For a moment, he could understand why it brought him joy. His frustration turned to the bliss for sharing his passions. “It's been something really special. When I met her... It was so bewildering, between excitement, and fear, of serenity, loyalty, endearment, and adventure... Danger... Everything that made me feel alive, visceral, I guess I'm just excited for the next time I get to feel it again.”

“Well, that's just so nice for you that after all that hiking in the woods, that only you got to experience it.” Zack griped, picking his teeth with the plastic fork but the canned meat would not budge.

“You wanted no part in that adventure.” Sophie chimed in, her eyes fixed on the ceiling panels.

“Well maybe I changed my mind.”

“Then there is no point in taking it out on Aaron. After all, you can't change what you felt then, after the point. It’s you're fault, really. You can only regret your decisions.

“Oh eat your salad! That’s the biggest B.S. I’ve heard all week, and Helan H. is teaching us Canadian Political History”

“Past has been written,” Rejecting her Salad a second time. “The pen is in your hand and everyone can tell when you use white out.”

“When did this come on?”

“Hormones... I’m just giving back your energy to reflect upon. Example. These ceiling panels have stayed the same since we first sat in these seats five hundred and sixty eight days ago. Only the light changes them, between the north and south oscillating sun patterns of the year which bends our perception of them in different wavelengths. There are only twelve panels that have been altered. Column H panel twelve, according to compass orientation, where Nate Hackworth let a science experiment loose. Column J panel sixteen and four adjacent tiles when the foodfight broke out and Rick the janitor had to take the panels off for cleaning. N three, where the transfer student dented the asbestos board with an apple and probably increased his morts by point eight percent in a single day after he ate it anyway. And panels twelve through seventeen after the water damage incident when the chem lab students tossed an acidic experiment on the roof and deteriorated the tar roof. They have been both as we originally seen them, and as they currently are now. You can't say that there were macaroni and flavacol (Aspergillic acid) on the ceiling the day we showed up there, because that's what you'd say now that its there, and not then before it happened.”

“And what did I say about the ceiling tiles when we first sat here?” Zack mocked, reaching for her Salad, still hungry.

“You were ogling Patricia who just grew a pair over the summer,” Hovering her hands three inches her chest. “Not a lot was said. My point is, you were too busy shitting your pants after hearing there was a ghost and telling us to do it on our own, that you opted out of joining us. Your fault, not Aaron’s.”

“And I regret it.” Stabbing his conquested greens.

“You wouldn't have if you were there...” Aaron returned, peeking in with warm reminiscencance.

“If I was there, we probably wouldn't have gotten caught by flesh hungry orcs.” Stuffing his mouth with a heaping sporkful. Silence overtook the table, the snide smirks of disbelief holding themselves in. Zackery retained himself “...It's just made you so happy, that I wish I had the balls to have joined in after all. Can I say that, or am I breaking the chronology of the universe?” Pointing the plastic at Sophie.

“You're more than capable of changing your future.” Sophie inserted, guarding her unopened pudding container from the invading tyrant. “Of course, then people from around here also believe in a dystopian idea like fixed fate by chemical nuances, but they also believe object based deities and butt gremlins so I wouldn't put too much weight into it.” Opening to consume the healthiest part of the meal before it was reposessed.

Piping in, Aaron instilled. “Still wouldn't have saw anything if you did, coz everyone pissed off after I passed out.”

“I probably would have passed out the same,” Zack confided. “It's a miracle you made it where you did being so high up... But I wouldn't have left a man behind.”

“Well, I won't be finding you any shortcuts in the future.” Sophie promised, tilting her chair backwards to the sky with her pudding being fed by gravity towards her.

“How much do you suppose is out there?” Aaron put out there, his mind wandering back to it's admiration. “That something like this could be in our own back yard. How many more oddities exist?”

“Who say's you weren't just lucky?” Zackery reasoned, his tone bleak. “All our lives and this is the only big thing that's really just popped up out of nowhere. The rest is shadows dancing on the kitchen table and getting four ketchups with your burger for the price of three.”

“It's supposed to be like that, you get it right?” Unable to reach his eyes to them, ashamed of his unreceived passion. “If it was everywhere, it wouldn't be special. I guess... More to say is that what we saw shouldn't have happened either. But it did... She told me that people had forgotten how to travel the... Whatever she called it, and that it was probably for the best. What happened when I was being taken as a slave seems to be the least of our worries... Still, I can't get it out of my mind, just how incredible it is. This could be every day of our lives, something so beyond real that you stop and wonder... Castles in skies, valleys that never end, cities built inside miniature contraptions, Minotaurs, and centaurs, the kind of which that aren't made PG for television audiences, amazons, a space so infinite that can be travelled with a single footstep, maybe even super heroes and magicians, where real life actual anime cat girls fight with blades longer than all reason and thicker than Mrs. Gerelda's left thigh. Imagine if so much as even any of that could become a reality... But that's just the surface, I mean, inside... Deep inside... If the real adventure is something that we can't explain in words, but reshaped who we are as people, and we become badasses...”

“I've always been a realist...” Zackery denoted. “Sophie, I swear you do these things to irritate me.” The pudding finally detached from the plastic, reaching her mouth in bliss. She melted from the satisfaction of the waited surprise. The rest of his words muffled out as a result.

“You've always been a grumpy elf.” Aaron chuckled in a seriously manner.

“I have not!”

“Hey... Guys...” Stranger appears. “Can... I like, join your DnD game?”

“I feel free.” Aaron continued, the sun now leaning on their sides as they left the facility. “That's my main takeaway, and I want to use that freedom to find more.” Feeling the warm glow of light that imbued him with feeling after the dense six hour daily detainment of class. He basked tasting the air as he breathed easy. A spark gleaming behind his eyes.

“I'm not against you, I just... Where do we look?” Zachery apologized for being the grumpy elf he was all day.

“Anywhere, everywhere... If we look hard enough, we can probably see it...” Aaron stopped for a moment. “I wonder if I can still find that cave I emerged from.”

“After your adventure on 'Everist hill', I'm not so certain I want to break my legs climbing to the top of it just to play hide and seek with a golden goose.” The grumpy elf cleared his throat, guiltily shy of that fact.

“You do believe me that it happened, right? I know you think it's really convenient.”

“I'll believe it when I see it...” Zack defended respectfully. “It's not that it's not worth it, just... I'd like to find one a little closer to home.

“Shame too...” Sophie admitted. “I was so let down having to wait for Aaron, that I was just happy to go home. I could have grabbed some esporial data on the tunnel if I just had the desire to go back there... A short sight I suppose.” Turning the corner, they shunned one gas station for another. most the high school crowd crossed, mostly illegally, for the closer stop.

“Sophie, about these weird contraptions I hear you got,” Zack questioned “You got any that could magically help us find the great beyond and save us a trip?”

“Would a toaster and a nine millimetre do?” She answered, “Or was that hypothetical?”

Clarifying, Zack simplified. “Anomalies...” Sophie thought about it “Our kind of anomalies.”

Understanding, Sophie dispelled. “I can't really borrow dads atherial-esperometer like the last night. He's still kinda suspicious, putting a hair on the door handle with the thing. I might have something else tucked away somewhere if you want to come over. Hold that!” Sophie ejected, dodging off into the nearing ally out of sight.

Zack, redundantly reaching out to hold whatever it was she was asking him to hold before catching wind. “What this time?” He asked before a series of property damages occurring in earshot.

“She find another cat, or?...” Aaron guessed. A pile of garbage exploding as said feline fled over top. Sophie dead set six fee behind it, straying over the road and moving traffic. That is about two meters for our imperial audience. The cat weaved in between the kicked in hole of the chain link fence, and widdled it's ass through as it did. Sophie vaulting over the six foot tall enclosure in hot pursuit despite the entrance just a few steps to the side.

Scratching his head, Zachery marvelled. “We'll be sure to see him in missing on the bulletin board in the coming days.”

Strolling along, the cat now clearly out of sight “You satisfied yet?” Aaron inquired, walking the exhausted cat officer back on course.

“I just wanted to snuggle the little rascal.” Sophie defended huffing defiantly. “His agility is impeccable for his skin to bone ratio... And I really wanted to ruffle the thick dense fur behind his neck to see how stiff it was.”

“Cat did not look like it wanted to be your best friend.” Walking up to the parking lot, counting the pocket change in his hand.

Zachery cracking his neck as he stretched. “You know, by the time we get our snacks, out of Sophies place, and on the road... It's gonna get late.”

“We could play hookie” Aaron suggested “First thing in the morning just ditch, that's like six more hours in the day.”

Sophie shook her head. “I'm not able to.”

“Scared of ruining your perfect attendance?” Zachery teased, making for the soda pop gummies and icing filled wires.

“It is a necessary account, as is per the agreement of our stay here, entrapping and vestigial as it is.” Getting her mind off the runaway friend. “We've come to this land full knowingly, in acknowledgement of it's standings. Such is the contract for it's protections, perverse and unfair as they may be upheld. That said, the merits of a systems dependency should be equivalent to that which it gives, and where contractual breaches occurs, so to does our hand after the point. In simple, I live as a normal child of here, and daddy gets tax credit to buy me cool stuff, but all that goes out the window when they start overreaching their grubby hands beyond our constitution.”

“We're in Canada, I'm not sure we even have one.” The cashier utterly complacent to the discussion as he rang up the drinks and counting out the twelve to so penny candies.

Their conversation about legal moralities continued, which, to spare everyone that snore-fest can be summarized as that it took them all the way to Sophies house on [street] to finally finish. As insightful as it was, they were glad to arrive and have something better to talk about.

Knocking on the door, they could hear some low toned machinery operating in the background. Soon after it ceased, Sopie entered in. Aaron and Zack following in behind her. The small living room stretched out like a trailer, with a bedroom and a bathroom along the long wall and an open kitchen on the right with the back door around the bend. One stairwell along the far left. Front windows all shuttered closed for business with a small vent of sun peeking through. On the left was a way into a study of sorts, with it's door ajar and some computer parts functioning out of reach. Sophie knocked on the stairwell door, though it was open. An accompaniment of more electronics reacted upon the signal and the radio turned on beside her. “Sophenya?”

“I brought some friends over, their just up in the livingroom.”

“A'ight.” His voice in stereo from the bottom of the steps.

“He's usually quite busy and doesn't like people snooping around, so come with me.”

“It’s not our first visit, Sophie, what’s up?...” Zachery questioned. “You know, I think I know why you might be so weird... Boring house, dad's always busy, never knew your mom...” Walking into Sophies bedroom “Do you ever do anything? It's spotless in here, no toys, pristine, new carpet smell... It's too perfect, kinda like...” Opening the closets Sophie flicked the leaver on the bottom of the slider, pulling back the fake wall. “You... don’t live here...” Inside practically spewed junk, that sprawled the floor and shelves. Electronics and devices of welded metal, loose wires and the smell of cats. “Now this explains everything.”

Walking to its precipice, Aaron cracked a joke. “Well, I can tell who's gonna go for the science degree in three years.”

“I'm not that interested in learning like my dad is.” Sophie admitted solemnly, “He's much more into it than I am, I just use my knowledge to improve my life however I can.

“With contraptions that would make the mouth of Nicola Tesla salivate like an all you can eat world cheese buffet.” Zarchery added. “This shit could rip his panties off at fifty metres.”

In somewhat shock, Aaron questioned. “Are these... Also things that you can't tell me what they do?”

“Some...” Sophie admitted. “Like... Uh... Um, most, most of them yeah, that's a definite no...” Things crashing behind her, her eyes shooting open. “Close the door, now!” Aaron turning to fetch the request, he heard a cascade outside his sight returning to a murmuling and Sophie's tabloid style rescue dive.

“Nermer-mer-ner-mer. Ner-ner-nerm.” It spoke, a fluffy calico, that Sophie had firmly grasped by it's scruff.

“He likes... To dart for the door.” She explained.

Returning to her, “What tells me your dad doesn't have cat allergies...” Aaron asked, picking up the stranger.

“He doesn't know, not since, well, he forbade me from keeping them.”

“I wonder why...” Zachery pitched, crawling into the hoarded techropolis. “So, cats been knocking this shit down, or is it usually this messy in here?”

“I really should clean it up, I'm sorry, but it was short notice and...”

“Where do I put him anyway?” Aaron asked.

“You see...” Closing the closet panels and she opened yet another back wall to the rest of the partitional garage space “We built this space ten feet from the back wall and made a false front to the house like a garage to allude away from this existing. We're the only people who know of it, it's like a panic room in case of emergency because of my dad's controversial science. He's always worried that someone will come in the night to either steal from us, or take us hostage. Not that they could get through the security measures but, he's...”

“A mad scientist?” Zachery finished.

“A brilliant man?” Aaron contrasted.

“Depending on who you ask, sometimes both...” Sophie replied, moving the tech avalanche from the wheel tracks.

“And to think that every time we came over, he was always just made cookies...” Zachery commented.

Aaron still defensive. “Sounds more paranoid than anything... If someone wanted to hurt him, they'd have much worse than a few burglars...”

“Hence the panic rooms. I natively sleep in the first facade, and my dad sleeps in the other down stairs so I've partitioned my space off to half the size, also... Why, my bedroom is now my storage room. It used to be one large space but...” Unlocking the final security “Chestore likes to sneak out with me.” Inside the other half of her once was full ten by twenty bed room stood a table, and a collection of balls, stuffed animals and supplies. That and about a dozen frick’en cats.

“You see, I've trained them in secret. Since I first studied their existence, they've been the greatest source of anomaly that keeps me awake at night, screaming their cries that pierce into my soul... Or... For the lack of understanding there of. You see, they exhibit qualities of mimicry, like apes but with a higher level of intellect to such a degree that I swear that they are mocking us. I have spent the last couple months of secrecy training them to crack and eat nuts like squirrels which is utterly inconceivable for the first half. It wasn't until I exhibited a behaviour that would put me beneath them that they actually progressed not out of my admiration but in a spite of it. The cats actually picked the skill up almost instantly after realizing they could use it to entertain themselves only given that an audience was present. Cats, are actually using us for entertainment instead, and only when convenient for them.”

Aaron rose his hand, being cut off by Zachery “It's best just to let her keep going.” Some baggage viable from the last time he cut her off.

“Kratoes the destroyer, with his itty bitty toes, and their crane like claws is a spangled mut breed who doesn't share most of common values, BUT! Instinctively still speaks when he has an opportunity to overthrow the more pure of breeds, in rebellion for the mark of his birth. You see, they also exhibit shows of vanity to define superiority. It's an aristocracy of appeal, often breaking into violence like a prom pageant gone horribly 'Curtain In Five'. You know, where Leanna finally gets her revenge on Breah who's been ragging on her the whole movie... I hear that's a dirty expression, but I never understood why. And it just end up in a gang war of pedigree with scratch posts and fish pates. I'd go so far as to say the discovery of catnip itself has sparked the rivalries of cat cartels to incorporate the use of humans as mere drug and delicacy farms. Giving us dead animals in our beds, not as gifts but a show of dominance to keep the humans in check. I once ate one of the birds to find the cat rather disgusted but revelled in the show of my submission after the initial shock. 'Course, it's a working theory that requires test subjects. Would you like to take some of these cats home with you?”

Picking one up, Zachery astounded, “This one has a collar...”

“I'm gonna pass.” Aaron declined, lowering the calico onto the floor.

“What happened to upholding the laws anyway? And who stole twelve of your cats to warrant this much theft?” Giving the poor prisoner some well met attention.

“They came to me...” Sophie excused, taughty in voice.

“...Yeah, I highly doubt that.”

“...Who am I refuse the ameris-submissive-ownerships of their culture!” Practically jumping up and down in a tantrum.

“I'm calling the number on this one...”Aaron announced, reading the heart shaped engraved metal of Zachery's new friend.

“Reads elecrtomagnetic pulses eh?” Walking out and about. The fresh air was a relief from the stagnant scent of the cat haven and a poorly maintained litter box. Now equipped, the gang was nearly back to finding mysteries to solve. “Like just the pulses, or?”...

“Yeah... Just the pulses.” Sophie admitted, shamefully in behind, carrying her device in a bag down the street.

“No tasers this time?” Aaron asked disappointed.

“Other than a lightning sharp wit...” Zachery added.

“No... Just this...” She confessed. A clear air of regret passing her as they walked ever nearer to the destination.

“Hey, it's a heart warming day, don't be so glum.” Zachery consoled, knocking on the door. An older woman opened the door passionately. The wafting smell of fresh baking and window cleaner billowed out. Probably having seen them coming as she swung the door momently after their announced arrival. “Hey, is this your cat?”

“Colonel Sandles!” The Lady exclaimed. Her husband in the background reading a paper. “We gave up hope years ago.”

“Like... Sanders?”

“William thought it was funny to call him fried chicken because hes a tabby.”

“Still do!” He announced in the background, still intent on his paper. “Named him Colonel, coz he’s always got his ass in the air too.”

“It was the compromise, coz he has the little slippers looked sandy like a beach.” Playing with paws of the unappeased cat.

“Looks like he's been fattened up nicely, sizzle real nice on the stove.”

“William, cut it out!” Picking up the colonel into her arms. “Anyway, where was he, Sandles was gone for so long?” Scratching their heads to come up with a decisive answer, that would not end up incriminating their friend. The friend which had at this point found a way to slip out of the situation entirely.

Trotting firmly away, “That was awkward.” Zachery confessed, finally caught back up to Sophie after giving the old lady a shotty answer. The cat no longer in tow. Fortunately she was just happy to retrieve her long lost companion but Zack would rather be far away from there as would Aaron. “You didn't have to dip out like that. Only reason we found you was the trail of slurppy.”

“I don't like his owners.” She grumbled under the willow of someone's front yard.

Arron, consoled “Neither do we, but their the rightful custodians.” Playing the judge.

Zachery beside himself. “Don't tell me you have a criteria on your cat-nappings, you chase down any cat you find. You're like... The lady who is gonna have thirty seven cats one day, eating cat food while they’re served beef wellington on the bone.”

“Hey, if your electro-pulse-resonator-thing goes off, maybe it'll guide us right back there.” Aaron teased, wavering with serious tones surrounding his awkward discomfort from being ditched. “Big old anomaly, getting into more trouble, cat adventure to save mittens?... Look,” Dropping the act. “I don't like being the guy who has to be on the front lines of someone elses dirty deeds, but I'm not gonna get in the way of the cats poly-ownership culture or whatever. Think of it like weekend custody. Kid's gotta see his parents from time to time.”

Looking up at them, she wiped the snot from her lip. “You know... I really wanted my device to go off back there, to open the possibility to excuse me to keep him, don't think I hadn't thought of it. Flicking one switch to generate it's own feedback and drag you guys back into it for me... Though you'd probably leave me to do it alone... In which case I would only be trying to fool myself. It's been a long time since I felt this pain, and panic of what I’d do. And they’ll morn him too, the cats... Some of them... Some of them are assholes who are glad to see a competitor like Butter Biscut leave. It makes me sick to my stomach, the frantic worries over them, the mysteries I'll never understand...”

“But that's cat nightmares, cat nightmares are different than normal ones.” Aaron sympathized beside her. Fixing himself on a less thorny garden rock. “Cat goes missing, cat gets injured by an unexplainable source, cat returns in the middle of the night seeking vengeance, Mysterious meows from another dimension, their all traumatizing things and no one understands why.”

“Thank you...” Sophie apologized, catching the frontliners gaze onto her. “This pain is unlike any other, unique... It's one of the few mysticisms I have left in my life. The mystery of why this pain is so different from the rest. I will treasure this.” Staggering in behind, arm curled around her ribs. The sadness on her face turning to merely a pleasant melancholy.

“Well...” Aaron, returning his composure. “Don't go around torturing cats or anything to figure out that mystery now... So... Tell me.” Trying to evade the conversation. “Why do these pulses matter?”

“Because the real equipment would possibly get us killed by an Ochalian. Using your tech is the only covert methodology despite it's inefficiency. I think I'm gonna barf...”

Zachery lifting her icy cup into her face. “Sugars.” Abiding submissively, she took a hit from the placebo stomach aid.

“And what,” Aaron inquired, rhetorically. “You have magical portal finding equipment?”

“Nothing like my dad has,” Renewing herself again. “If you wanted oddities I could find you particle destabilizations, and misaligned strings, duplicate mass and temporal displacements but until the world is ready for that kind of horsepower, we got radioshack gadgets. Better quality, albeit, but primitive.” Still catching the slick in her throat. “If we look for low frequencies below five hertz and lower the 'volume' then large signals should be a result of strong collisions between two opposing forces. You said that you entered a point which lead you to another dimension, this dimension should have it's own electric signature, thus a clash between the two polarities... Assuming the working theory. It's essentially a divining rod that works on a batteries and bubble gum.”

“I'm gonna try to unpack that suitcase.” Zachery opened. “It's like a radar for entering Avalon?”

“Authorian Avalon, or nineteen eighty eight's Star Patrol, Avalon? And it's not a radar.”

“Two thousand six's Reverries Dark Entanglement, Avalon With Eric Bungerment and the guy who looks like he ate too many corndogs but became a badass anyways... Iven Passedguss!”

Aaron vaguely remembering something along the grape vine piped in. “They had the controversy with casting a giant to play a dwarf right?”

Sophie broke into laughter. “Makes me wish I watched it!” Still shaking involentarily “From the gist, it think it works that way. Two spaces interexchanging simultaneously, at least that's what I got from the trailer. Sure, while we're at it, we can call this thing the Avalon stick and find the jar of Narnalaid while we're at it.” Laughing to herself, exclusively, finding great pleasure in her repetitive reaccount and adaptation of the devices name. All of which were less than properly received. It wasn't that funny, at least not yet. But it would be.

Nowheres near where the ghost had been spotted, the lot wandered without a substancial reading. At Zacheries request, hoping to find something close to home. That such request lead them to the top of a hill. Having rounded it twice, and resorting to cut through the side of someone's property to access the summit. Their temporary lead dwindled off at an unfulfilling blurble of a response. The area, despite the lack of access, was far too close to someones back yard to yield so much as a pixie's piss stain, nor the rustic turd of a mythical cocobirb. “You suppose we should cut through a different lot on the way out? In case someone sees us... I mean it's not the States but, I know some people here that go to the ranges.”

Aaron passing it off. “Your brother never gave a shit when he did it...”

“My bother's in jail dude, he's not a great role model for trespassing logic.”

“Well, there is piss all up here.” Secretly looking for a better route off the mountain just like Zack.

“Found a cache, that's about it.” Sophie announced. A small green, and very much real life canister the size of a horse pill dangling from her hand, still focused on the staggering signal. “I'd like to say there is nothing here but the rapid inconsistencies might be the result of the closing of a gateway, more than the opening of one.” Aaron opening the cache to write his name on the list, and soon closing it without a pencil to write with.

“Could be Football...” Zachery suggested, holding an old discarded TV antenna. At least five houses within sight still baring the inundated technology from the peeks viewpoint.

Shouting and hollering could be heard from a halftime game that distracted the owners oblivious to the three kids who dipped just past their window on the way out.

“So, this thing really does work, right?” Zack inquired. “I mean, I saw the stockpile of gear which is impressive and all, but... This noise maker, it's not like that one movie where the kid tells his friend they'll rebuild him but he's really just dies in the end, right?”

“Is that what happens?” Aaron asked “I missed the ending. Is it really that depressing?”

“Yeah, just a sheet factory, lied about the whole thing... Had me crying for like three days... Shit... Yeah, no, now that I think back...”

“I think I remember that, everyone figured you just hit puberty or something.”

“Yeah, no, it was the movie.”

“Guys! Please, we're going nowhere with this.” Sophie exclaimed, Zachery almost raising his hand. “I don't mean the movie.” Zachery lowered his half mast arm. “We're walking aimlessly, we've got to have learned something from this right?”

Both Aaron and Zack look at each other. “Sophie, you might grasp things pretty quickly but the rest of the world works with triangulating answers with more than one source, I'm not sure what we got to go on so far after one flop. It's your tech, you're the better judge.”

“Triangulate... No... Ariel, Electromagnetic forces, mineral composition, conductivity, remote distribution creating reactive energy convergence.” Aaron reached out, placing his hand on Sophie's shoulder. “Interference! We need to be away from receivers. The signal that is picked up on a receiver creates a small discharge of negative ions as it creates a signal, in most cases this can by an antenna, or a metal object.” Finally noticing the physical contact from Aaron, her composure completely diminishing. “Um... You're breaching the social standard for interaction, are you going to say something ice breaking all cool like and whimsical?”

“Ffffuck no... Lets keep moving, we can talk along the way.”

Nodding submissively, Sophie continued their journey, making for the Happy Valley; which if you have ever been to happy valley, you will know that it is a very real place, and ironically rather depressing there. Upon the shotty shoulder of road, and the countless traffic, their first break from the dangerous road was appreciated and lead them up a steep incline towards Cartright. The arid landscape became lush with the nearing residential houses until the top zagged along. And avoiding the gate at the top, they opted for a dirt trail leading them into an abandoned storage yard. A bed of needles covered the corners of the expanse with patches scattered about in disarray. Entire snowmen could be made if it, were made of snow and not prickly fire starter. The heaps of abandoned metal and concrete piping about the lot had collected their share of the tinder. Truly unused or altered for a great length of time. The signal returning barely but more stable. Biking paths scoured the area, covered in graffiti, a definitely hotspot for the local youth. All was barren save from a few squirrels as Zack skipped the odd stone towards the stockpiles, knocking the front door to many rodent residences.

The path they chose narrowed into a deer trail, until down the line, the signal cut into quiet rough static. They kept going with the odd stability in between but the signal was still faint here. From what little they could guess was that a break in the hilltop above them opened the airway for their lead to whatever caused the resonance. Below them, towards the visible township was the hill which they had snuck onto earlier, now shaded by the evening sun that fell on the other side of the hill. Their stomachs reminded them of this, with sight to the pizzeria, maybe even both of them. The shade was a cool solace that rejuvenated their fleeting ambitions from the blistering sun prior. They were coming to the point where they’d have to make some choices on the evening.

When reaching the hills' visible edge, the signal returned with a low rhythmatic appearance. The sign of a clear signal, and though they had a path down to renew their stomachs and a weeks allowance to dine anywhere, the promise of a great oddity pressed them a great dividing choice. To their left, empty bellies and the hope that Sophie's con-trap-sham bore some merits. The right, civilization and the shame of leaving empty handed. Their debate spanned fifteen minutes, tired and hungry. “A little further, we know how to get down. If the signal doesn't get much stronger or cuts off we can come back here tomorrow.” Aaron convinced the group; being as he managed to sway them further. A short term incentive can stretch men many miles down a dirt road and to some degree, it did. No thought about how one would eat, having reached another world though.

Crawling up the hill, their peek ascension met in the crux pass between two valley walls, and descending the lead brought them into a path that was well used. Littered with sinkholes and tire tracks through the muddy river around the large rocks, they hopped from stable ground to shoulder frequently. Apart from the distance, the signal increased dramatically. So much so that even Zachery whose cynicism that had caught up with him, couldn't comprehend how a device could pertain such a mystical rhythm. It's wave form was like a voice though synthetic, a textured wavering voice between oscillations that almost spoke words into Aarons ears. Zack, being of greater profoundment could make out small distortions with a clarity that rivaled the greatest of headset speakers. Living, analogue signals. He felt a second wind, though his legs became like Jelly at this point. Aaron as well being reminded of his trek, now invigorated with finding it's source despite the infliction to her stamina.

The path brought forth a shallow valley, like most of the hills here, with a large hilltop to their right that split them away from home. They began to encompass it but once again the signal found itself lacking in sight of the town and it's clairvoyant tone now bleeding into static. They traced it back to the overview of Happy Valley instead, only a few hundred feet behind them. Crawling the short side which was more of the shoulder at this point, they could spot a nook about a hundred feet down the side. “No wonder my feet freaking suck right now, we're so high I can see stoners from up here.” Zachery added.

“I'm starting to remember why we bring you.” Aaron complimented. “Big mouth, but every so often something golden comes out of it.”

“You making something of it? It's like a thousand feet to the orchards, we can see the dump from up here for Pete sake, am I not allowed to gripe? It's a surprise my feet aren't singing the blues to you themselves.”

“Preaching the choir my dude... Hows the hum?”

“Getting better...” Sophie replied. “The low end is unimpeded, meaning we're getting the imperfections of the electromagnetic resistance. In other words, it should be in direct line of sight.”

“I've been eyeing this hideaway for a bit now,” Aaron confessed, his eyes fixated onto the spot in question. “I don't know why, looks like a perfect place to hide something. Likely you can only see it from here with how shaded it is. Like a wall in the front side... But I think the real reason is, it looks really inviting. Like my heart longs to go there... Signal or not. It's calling me. I’m not letting this passion leave me this time.”

“Hundred feet or so down, yeah?” Zack assured. “I'm not walking up that one for nothing. We got all this open space... Yeah, if it's in sight, there's a whole fucking lot of it in front of us making this signal. Could be that hill across the bowl, could be up top, my money’s on the dump, could be off on the peek way the shit over there. Sorry, parden my fucking french, I'm just...”

“Beat? Me too,” Aaron’s voice like a refreshing oasis “But I forget all about it. When I look down there.”

Taking a good inciting gander, Zack tried to empathize. “It's like an ice cream, if you see it, you don't think about the calories you're putting on later, you just see the cream... Now I'm even more hungry.” Holding Aarons eager shoulder, Zachery held him back. “I'm not letting you go enjoy all the fun now, but I want to know what we're doing...” Looking around. “Speaking of such, Sophie's gone, and so is the sound.” Tumbling behind them, a rock slide occurred, however small, Sophie could be seen sliding down upon the debris into the dust and emerged with a large, rusted stone in her hand. “You got the energy for that?” Zack questioned, feeling even weaker.

“About twenty seven percent left, yeah, so once we do this, the battery is dead. I'll try and install a larger capacity for future adventures.”

“I meant you...”

Wavering her hand in sign for ‘so-so’, she crawled to the foothold. Amass the vista sprawling before them, a sovereign air uplifted them about their journey. With the evening sun in their eyes, it's radiant heat was minuscule and the breeze captivated them long enough to embrace their accomplishments. Cool shit or no, it was a great adventure and that this itself was the real gem. Anything else was just a bonus. “Got it.”

“FUCK YEAH! Where is it!?”

“I think...” Using the rusted stone as a shield the tonality of the Avalon stick began to waver, Once sufficiently blocked that only the ambient distortion made it through she cast out her hand. “There, five degree margin, better hope it's close. Angles expands the further down the hill.”

“Yeah!” Aaron exclaimed, skidding down the hill towards the nook.

“Guess he's got an eye for these things after all...” Zachery admitted, slowly scaling down after, shirt over his face to repel the dust cloud Aaron left behind.

Inside the nook was a small bluff with a dimple in it and trees around it's ridge to a tiny crack of an escape down a drop and the rest of the hill. The sides had eroded with a small overhang of grass which the moisture of the water trap worked to renew the soil. Large enough for a party of three, plus a cooler full of pop and maybe a Dakota campfire. The inside was uneven and rocky where most of the ground had slipped out the hill and only the roots remained to retain the sands. “Could probably pan that...”

“Thank you Zack,” Aaron announced, while his friend scooped the dry grains into his hands.

“How is it?” Sophie hollered from above.

Taking his time to sort the feeling he got from it, that seemed diminished from if he had just leapt at first sight. “Odd really... I guess the word I want is 'living'. I feel very alive, it's cool, maybe even damp...”

“That's great, because you're not next to this noisy thing right now.” Sophie lamented. Aaron heard her approach as a large noise accompanied her strides. Trying to lock the device into the signal a little more quietly. “There we go, finally shut this thing up!” Sliding into the pit past Aaron and Zack. Grabbing a branch for support, Aaron yanked her back a bit from the edge of the drop, as sand seeped into their enclosure from above. The noise of her device sniffing out the narnalaid from the back of the fridge. It's pitch more static and crackling slowly in deep pitches that enveloped another like the trickling of echoes from a deep. “It's here.” She announced, moving the sensor.

“I don't suppose it's like a portal directly under our feet, is it?” Aaron wondered, beginning to feel a weight under him. “Explain why all this is dirt missing.”

“If it is, it's the size of your fist. This energy is much more unstable than two points in space colliding, it's moving.”

Zachery and Aaron both sweating at the thought. “That's a big hole.” Aaron shuttered, thinking what kind of antlion could have made it.

Uncovering the dirt from the top, The signal became more of a rainfall of echoes like drops of water plicking off the surface of an endless puddle. “It's... Beautiful...” Everyone huddled in to see the fruits of their labours. A small beam of light cast from between them, glinting off as a mesmerizing deep purple that seemed more navy as their eye adjusted to the shade. Receding the material, Sophie uncovered the prize, cradled like a child as she retracted it from it's earthen womb and the matrix of it's conception. It was large, translucent, and heavy. A real mother of a gemstone, fat like one too.

“Holy shit...” Aaron astounded. A pit of shock sitting in his stomach. It’s many faces shining in the sun like a hall of mirrors. The sun itself seemed to reflect back like it’s own gemstone, outlined darkly, like a lens which could make the brightness no longer caustic to the eye. Just a giant blue ball of light in the sky shining off the fist sized gemstone.

“Do you know how much this could sell for?” Zachery trembled. “It's a damn gem finder.” In each moment they looked onto it, their astonishment grew. Perhaps it was one of the few normal things one could receive from the earth. It was nothing abnormal, but having found unexpectedly with a makeshift device was so inconceivable that it was next near magic. Aaron rejoiced. It was an adventure so unexpected, and mystifying that the abnormality laid in it's journey rather than it's encounter. Sophie was satisfied, having something to return home with to show her dad as they would eventually agree on alone their way home; but not before recuperating in their new hideaway. For Zachery it was realizing the potential for things unexplainable, that after that point, he had doubts no longer. He had witness the miracle of confoundment and had not denied them long enough to devalue the experience before him.

This, was the spark that kindled a life long journey for a man who was not strong enough for the world that he sought to bewilderment him... And another who's real jouney was to remember, He, who took everything away from him, He, that had been forgotten in Aarons new bliss.

By the time they had reached the town, all the restaurants had all retired and the last stragglers had receded fulfilled before the turning of the open placard onto closed. Gas stop chicken and potato wedges filled them, as they parted each to their own house. Now dark, and brinking on the time to rest, Aaron returned joyous. His mother frantic, and his father in seat unabated from the Television looked over smirking before getting his kicks. “Boy... What cow's ass did you stick your head inside?”

Taking to the shower to wash the grime from his face, Aaron smiled. “Don’t think they would have served a bunch of dusty muts like us food anyway.”