Chapter 6: Involved

Picture will be up by Tuesday. Taking a break for Thursday. Studying for Midterms. Resuming on Monday.

Chapter 6
Involved

“Who are you?”

The man drew in a breath with his cigarette and blew out a long tendril of smoke. The tendril looped and twisted in the air until it spelled out:

Detective Eason Schwind

“I’ve been looking for you two,” he spoke.

“Why?” I asked.

“You two were involved on the subway incident yesterday.”

“Says who?”

He puffed on his cigarette. “Witnesses.”

“And what do you want?”

“Just to talk.”

“Seems that’s what a lot of people want.”

“Well, you’ll have to humor me unlike others.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out a badge.

“Or I can always take you in.”

I bit my lip.

“Okay,” Grace smiled.

I found myself in the Honky Tonk again within the hour, sitting with not just one person who wanted to talk to me but two.

At this rate, I’ll have a throng of people clamoring to talk with me.

The detective stared me, puffing a cigarette indoors. No one dared to stop him. The employees and the customers just sat there, watching him smoke. They saw a policeman and were afraid. I just didn’t care. Grace’s attention was occupied by a slice of cake.

“You sure you don’t want anything?” the detective asked.

“I’m fine.”

“This is on you, right?” Grace covered her mouth full of food as she mumbled out the words.

“Yes.”

Grace ordered herself a cup of coffee and more sweets.

“Tell me what happened on the train ride,” he spoke.

“There was an accident. I didn’t see what happened, but I didn’t wait. So I left the car and entered a service exit.”

“Is that what happened?” He glanced toward Grace.

She looked up from her food and was ready to reply but the detective stopped her.

“Good. Keep it that way.”

My brows furled.

“I uphold the law,” he stated. “But there are things out there beyond our ‘law.’ And there are people who fight those things. I keep them safe.”

Grace cheered through the food in her mouth. “You’re awesome!”

A wisp of a smile appeared on the detective’s face. “How much do you two know?”

“Nothing.”

“Just that there are Affects, Aspects, and Icons,” Grace chewed.

“And how do you know these things?” he asked.

She sipped her coffee. “I did my research.”

“Where?”

“Libraries.”

“That must have taken a long time.”

“Not when you’re motivated.” She bit into a raspberry cream-cheese pastry.

“Your last name is Lovenson, correct?”

A shadow darkened her face.

“That explains it all.” He took a deep breath through his cigarette. “Would you like to know more?”

“Yes,” Grace replied without hesitation.

Why is she so interested?

“People have Aspects, and no one knows why. There are theories. But the important thing is, we use our Aspects to protect ourselves against Affects.” He let out a puff of smoke.

“And where do Affects come from?”

“Some say they’re the aggregate of the dark thoughts and emotions that we hide, that we express when we think no one’s watching, that we pretend that we don’t have. They collect and form these creatures. Some are special and unique, and others are generic and plentiful. The unique ones could be specially tailored – a dark reflection of someone or something.

“And then, there’s the other theory: Affects are the world flood come to purge us.”

“What?” I asked. “You’re saying the world wants us gone?”

“That’s what some people say. And some people agree with it.”

I could see Grace’s hands clench tightly around the silverware in her hands.

“There are two organizations: one protects people from the Affects, and the other fights alongside the Affects. What I want to know—“ He leaned forward toward us. “Is where you stand.”

“I will protect people,” Grace stated immediately.

“And you?” The detective turned toward me. “Where do you stand?”

“On my own.”

The detective’s eyes flashed over me.

“And what is your Aspect?”

“Don’t know.”

“What does it do?”

“My cell phone reacts to Affects, and I can hear them.”

“Hmm. You can find these creatures. Your ability is important to us.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want to be involved.”

“Well, it seems that you are.”

“Why do you say that?”

“That Nightmare targeted you earlier. And the other side will come after you too.”

“Nightmare?”

“The horse Affect. Your ability could be a double-edged sword. A two-way transistor. It wouldn’t be wise to stand on your own.”

“Then, I’ll stand with him,” Grace stated.

“What?” both the detective and I blurted.

“He’ll need me to protect him, and I can use him to find other Affects,” Grace answered.

“Don’t use me.”

“It’s mutual use,” she smiled. “I’ll keep you safe, and you’ll wind up finding Affects whether you like it or not. They are targeting you.”

She was right. I knew it. I didn’t have to enjoy agreeing though.

“Fine,” I said ruefully.

“Well, you two make an interesting couple.”

“Don’t we?” Grace smiled.

I wanted to scream. This was excessive.

She leaned forward to whisper to the detective.

I bit down on my lip, but then I heard clearly what she said.

“Watch, he’ll be full of angst and bite down on his lip,” she whispered to the detective.

I stopped biting my lip.

The detective chuckled. “If that’s what you two desire.” He stood up and began to leave. “Oh. Two pieces of advice. One: Aspects have limitations. Find them out quickly. Two: you aren’t the only independents out there. Watch out for a man draped in black. I’ve been searching for him.”

“Okay,” Grace nodded.

“Hey,” I stated.

The detective looked at me.

“There’s no smoking indoors.”

He looked down at his cigarette and extinguished it with his fingers. “My bad.” He then exited the Honky Tonk, pulled out his lighter, and began smoking once again.

Grace smiled at me. “So. Where now?”

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee

Chapter 5: Haze

Pictures should hopefully be up this weekend.

Chapter 5
Haze

“Hi! I didn’t know you were in this class!” Grace smiled at me as I sat down next to her.

“Do you know why there are so many people here today?”

“We have a midterm,” she smiled. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

It all made sense now. How could I have forgotten? But it didn’t matter. I was ready. This was a different class than yesterday's, and I studied every day. Yesterday was the only exception. The period was fifty minutes long. I was done within twenty-five. Grace was done in fifteen. She left before I did, but when I walked out of class, she was waiting there.

“How’d you do?” she asked.

“Well.”

“Confident, aren’t you?”

“And you?”

“We’ll see,” she smiled. “Where are you off to now?”

I had an hour break before my next class. I would spend it where I usually spend it.

“The library.”

“Why don’t you get coffee with me instead? I want to talk about where we go from here.”

“Forward, aren’t you?”

“I think you have the wrong idea,” she laughed. “I want to talk to you about Aspects.”

“You mentioned that yesterday.”

“We’ll talk about it over coffee.”

“Why over coffee? Why not right here?”

She smiled. “I haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

I found myself in the Honky Tonk, our campus café. I hadn't ordered anything. She sat across from me with a cream cheese bagel, a fruit and yogurt parfait, two chocolate hotcakes, a cup of coffee, and a cup of orange juice.

“You won’t eat anything?” she asked as she took a bite of her hotcakes.

“I ate already.”

“I love food.”

“I can tell.”

“What’s your favorite dish?”

“Are we going to discuss what Aspects are?”

She took a sip of her coffee.

“Haven’t you ever thought about smelling the roses?”

“I’m allergic.”

“To listen to someone?”

I bit down on my lip. “Only when it’s important.”

“But how do you know what’s important? Maybe Aspects revolve around your favorite food?”

“Do they?

“No.”

I stared at her. She took a bite of her bagel.

“Answer the question, and I’ll tell you.”

“You tell me to come with you to coffee to discuss what happened yesterday, and now, you’re bargaining to me the point of this discussion for information about myself?”

“That sums it up.” She drank from her orange juice.

“Gummi bears.” I muttered.

“Really?” she laughed. “I never would have guessed!”

“What’s an Aspect?”

She was still laughing, covering her mouth with one hand and gesturing for me to wait with her other hand. I bit down harder on my lip.

“Aspects are a power that only some people have. They can tap into an element and manifest it in a form. It’s kind of like magic.”

“And you can call upon this anytime?”

“You have to have your Icon with you.”

“An Icon?”

“It’s an item used to call upon the Aspect.”

I thought about the items she had on her. I glanced at the ribbon in her hair.

“No,” she smiled as she took a bite of yogurt.

I looked at her and saw her grey blue light beneath her eyeliner. My eyes scanned over her concave nose and down toward her puckered black lips.

She covered her mouth. “Bingo,” she said as she chewed some food. “My lipstick is my Icon.”

“And your Aspect is a shadow sword?”

She half nodded and half shook her head. “Shadow Mimicry.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll see.”

Cryptic. Just what I need.

“So, what do I have then?”

“I don’t know. Describe to me how you knew something was on the train?”

“My phone rang. You answered it, and I knew something was on the train.”

She took a bite of her chocolate hotcakes and thought for a moment. “I’d say your phone is your icon.”

“And my Aspect?”

“I don’t know. How did you know something was on the train?”

I thought about exactly how these events transpired. “Whenever someone answers these strange phone calls, I hear things that lead me to these creatures. Sometimes I can even see echoes forming a picture in my mind.”

“I’d say that you’re tuned to hearing Affects.”

“Affects?”

“Those creatures.”

“What are they?”

“I don’t really know. I just know that they’ve always been there and most likely always will be.”

“Well, this was enlightening,” I stated as I rose from the table.

“Where are you going?”

“To forget that any of this happened.”

She stood up and grabbed me. People began to stare at us.

“But you can help people with your ability!”

“So?”

“I can’t find where these creatures will strike, but you can!”

“I don’t even know how to use this.” I held out my cell-phone to her. “And I don’t want to. I don’t want anything to do with this.”

“But you’re here already!”

“I never asked to be.”

“What do you want then?”

“I just want to go through life, undisturbed by the noise of others.”

I pushed her hand off of my arm and turned to leave. My phone began to ring. I looked at it. Blank. I looked at her. She was already shoveling food into her mouth. I couldn’t see her eyes – they were covered by shadow. I looked at my still-ringing phone and exited the Honky Tonk.

I walked to the park. The phone was still ringing. People nearby stared at me as if I were crazy to let my phone ring. I moved into a well secluded area surrounded by trees. I sat on a bench and stared toward the sky.

Strange. I don’t remember seeing clouds earlier.

The phone stopped ringing.

From behind me, I could hear something racing across the ground. The intervals of the sound were two by two within a second. It was a gait of some sort. A fast gait. And it was coming right at me.

I leapt from the bench as something crashed through it. I lay on the floor and turned to see an Affect in the shape of a horse. Its eyes were blood red. It had a mane of black flame. It turned and faced me. It pinned its ears back and began to stamp a foot. It charged toward me.

I couldn’t utter a sound.

A cloud of smoke swept in and surrounded the creature. Its body began to blister and boil. The smoke was corroding it. It neighed in howling-agony – another sound like the lizard Affect's that no animal would never make. It tried to escape but the cloud hovered with it. Within moments, the Affect was bubbling ooze, and then, it was gone.

Grace suddenly ran through the trees.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “I heard an Affect.”

“Did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“The smoke.”

“No, that wasn’t me.”

“No,” a voice stated. “That was me.”

A man in a white half-trench walked out from the trees. He was puffing away at a cigarette in his mouth.

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee

Picture Delay Again

I apologize but the Picture for today's post won't make it on for a while. I had a car accident today, so the art will be delayed for a while. The next story post will be on Thursday.

-Jon

Chapter 4: Redux

Chapter 4
Redux

Most of the passengers were too busy arguing among themselves to have noticed what had happened in our car. Some knew there were two people in there, but they never checked, and we never waited to find out if they did. Our car was damaged by the monster and Grace’s sword. We had to get out. We snuck out a broken window and walked along the tracks until we reached a service door. We entered and followed the path toward the next station, which was also my stop.

We walked out the service door. News of the accident had already filtered into the station. People saw us exit the service door and eyed us suspiciously. The only time people care is when there’s fear and suspicion.

We continued toward the exit. Behind me, I could hear someone talking about the two of us and from where we entered. I heard a new gait, heavy and quickening by the moment.

“Run!” Grace sprinted past me, but I could see a smile.

I ran with her toward the exit.

“Somebody stop them!” a voice yelled from behind us.

Grace hopped over the exit rails, and I swept my card as I jumped over them. I looked back to see the security, the police, chasing after us.

I turned and ran up the stairs and found myself alone. That’s how it was. Protect yourself. I turned to my right and began to run. My apartment wasn’t far away, and I knew the alleys I could turn into to avoid being seen. I knew how to navigate without being caught. I turned right on the next alley and continued until the second opening on the left. As soon as I turned onto the new alley, I began to slow my pace and mute my footsteps. Soon, I was standing in front of my building. I lifted the keys from my pocket and inserted one into the doorknob.

“Hey!” a familiar voice called from behind me. “Where did you run off to?”

I turned to see Grace.

“I ran home.”

“You never escape someone by running to your house! You’re leading them to where they can identify you!”

“You seem knowledgeable about this.”

“It comes with the territory.”

“Well, I don’t want anything to do with that territory.”

“But you’re already in it,” she smiled.

I opened the door and walked in.

“Goodbye!” she shouted.

I closed the door.

It was a long day, and the day wasn’t over yet. I still had to cook and do homework. But I let it slide. I was tired. I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep.

My alarm rang at 7:30AM, right on time. I wasn’t up immediately. I lay on my bed as it continued ringing. I finally rose and turned it off. I slept far more than my usual eight hours. I turned on my computer, loaded some music, and did my exercise routine. I checked my e-mail and saw one new e-mail. It was from Listentoyourpeers.org.

I never gave them my e-mail. I opened it.

Take the time to listen to the words of another and the sounds of the city. Who knows what you might hear.

Visit www.listentoyourpeers.org/

I marked the file to delete. I showered and wore the same black jeans, a new white shirt, the same red tie, and the same toque out.

Today was different though. I couldn’t take my usual route because of the events that transpired yesterday. I found myself at the bus stop, waiting for the 73. It came, and I boarded the bus. I saw people sitting next to each other and talking on their cell-phones or listening to their iPods. I sat down on a seat next to a woman with a baby on her lap. The baby began to cry.

“Shhh,” the woman whispered to her child. The baby continued to bawl. No words the mother said would calm the child. No one was listening. The bus began to move, and the engine sputtered and grinded.

The words of another and the sounds of the city. Noise.

“Excuse me.”

I turned toward the voice. The mother smiled at me.

“It seems my child likes your hat.”

I looked up at my toque.

“I’m really sorry to ask this of you, but would you mind letting him see it for a little bit?”

I took off the toque and handed it over to the mother, but the baby grabbed it. The child stopped crying. He put the toque on his head and stared at me. I looked back at him.

The mother cooed at her son who was now calm. The low murmur of the engine soon lulled the baby to sleep.

She took my toque off the baby and handed it back to me.

“Thank you so much.”

The bus continued on its way to campus, and people came and went, never talking to me or another person. But the baby continued to sleep.

I eventually arrived on campus, later than usual. All other days, I’m early to class, and the first one in the classroom. Today, I was late. I walked into the classroom and found it full – another unusual aspect. I saw one open seat. In the adjacent seat sat a girl wearing a purple skull ribbon in her hair. I took the seat.

­Text and Images © Jonathan Lee

Chronic Temporal Lapses

I apologize, but I'm going to be unable to fulfill that statement in the last post. Things have been coming up - Wayzgoose at UCI and my scanner hasn't arrived yet. A picture for Thursday's post should be up sometime during the afternoon. The picture for Monday probably won't be up until Tuesday. And then a picture should appear Thursday/Friday for the Thursday post. I should be all caught up after that and will be able to post the pictures before the text. Sorry.

Chapter 3: Hands

Note: A picture will be up either Friday or Saturday. From there on out, I'll be trying to post a picture prior to a story by one to two days.

Chapter 3
Hands

There was no time to doubt whether or not any of this was real. I had seen enough, and I had no time to decide. I had to act. I turned to the girl sitting next to me.

“I need your help.”

She didn’t even turn toward me. I had answered the phone, and now she was leaving me alone. How childish.

“There’s something on this train.”

She turned toward the window and looked out.

Maybe if she sees whatever-it-is that’s out there, I won’t even have to talk to her.

That didn’t happen. Maybe if I had waited longer, maybe. But I didn’t. I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to answer the questions from earlier.

“When you want to know someone’s name, it’s polite to introduce yourself first,” I said bitterly.

“Well then, introduce yourself!” she laughed.

I bit down on my lip.

“I’m Hank.”

“And I’m Grace,” she smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She lifted a hand toward me. I pushed her hand away.

“Introductions later. There’s—“

“So, do you have an aspect?” she asked.

“We don’t have time to answer questions. There’s something out—“

“If you want my help, you’ll have to have to answer my questions first.”

“What don’t you understand?” I burst. “Something’s crawling outside!”

The other people on the train began to shift uneasily.

“Shh,” she whispered. “Look, do you have an aspect?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Okay then.”

She stood up.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please?” she announced politely.

The other passengers turned toward her.

“My friend has a high fever and is quickly becoming delirious. For your own safety, please move to another car. Thank you!”

The other passengers began to leave. Some quietly walked toward the doors separating the cars. Some pushed aside others with their hands to escape contamination. Truly noble. In the end, Grace and I were the only ones left in the car. I didn’t know what I’d do now. I could still see the echoes pinpointing the creature’s location. It was above us. What would we do? I didn’t know.

The train jolted. The wheels screeched. The lights on the train began to flicker, and everything went black.

I found myself lying on the floor at one end of the car. It was dark, but my eyes slowly began to adjust to the meager light provided by the tunnel lamps. I saw Grace standing in the shadow.

“What happened?” I asked.

Then I saw something else in the shadow—something large and crawling along the ceiling toward her; something similar to a lizard but with limbs far more elongated and a tongue that constantly flicked in front of it.

Grace was facing the creature. She was holding a small silver tube. She removed the cap and twisted the bottom. Black lipstick rose from the tube.

“Of all times to put on lipstick, you choose now?” I shouted.

She turned toward me for a single second, but I saw her smile.

Though she was half covered in shadow, an additional strand crawled across her and into her hand. It stretched over the lipstick and formed that long black sword I had seen earlier.

The creature lashed its tongue at Grace, but with a swing of her sword, she sliced its tongue off. Very few lizards can make a sound, but this creature was no lizard. It roared in terrible pain, in guttural anger. It leapt toward her, but she sidestepped the attack and struck the creature with her blade. It crashed onto the floor beside me.

I looked at it for only a moment. It had no eyes, no ears, but its nostrils were flaring and snorting. I could see its tongue regenerating in its mouth as it began to roar. I got up and ran toward Grace. The echoes of the creature roaring showed in my mind that it had already recovered and was chasing me. It lashed its tongue out toward me. Grace was still too far away.

I reached toward her with my hand.

She lifted her sword and struck forward. The shadows crawled across her body and into her sword, lengthening the blade. It extended past me, and I heard it pass through flesh and strike metal. I turned back to see the creature’s skull impaled against the wall of the train. Its body began to bubble and disintegrate. Her sword retreated from her hand and into her shadow.

She then lifted her hand toward me.

Images and Text © Jonathan Lee

Pictures

A finished picture for Chapter 1 is up. Here's a link to it, but it's also in the post.

Hank

Chapter 2: Antithesis

So before I get to the chapter, I'm running a bit late on inputting the pictures. I finally got them scanned and resized, but it was a busy weekend. So, I'll try to get two up before the Thursday post.

Chapter 2
Antithesis

Here I was, lying on the floor of an alleyway with a strange girl standing before me. She wore a purple one piece, a purple ribbon with a skull in her hair, black socks with white skulls, and purple shoes. She wore heavy eye liner and black lipstick. A goth - someone I didn’t need and who didn’t need me.

Her grey blue eyes covered in black flashed over me before she turned toward the kid.

“Hi!” she smiled in the bubbliest voice I had ever heard. “It’s alright. The monster’s gone.”

“What was that thing?” the kid asked.

“A real monster. But don’t worry, it’s gone.”

“Will it come back?”

“No. It won’t.”

“Are there others like it?”

“Yes. But I’ll stop them all,” she smiled.

From her voice, I could tell she really meant it. The kid believed her. I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I was alive. I walked away. I could hear her voice behind me.

“Now run home. Someone must be worried.”

And I heard the kid run off. As I continued out the alleyway, I felt a shadow stalking me. So I looked back and saw the girl following me.

“Why are you following me?”

“Because I want to ask you something.”

“Well, I don’t want to hear your question.”

I turned and continued on my way. She continued following me.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

I ignored her.

“Do you have an aspect then?”

I continued on.

“Why didn’t you try to help?”

I walked faster.

“Hey! Wait up!”

My phone rang. I looked at it. Blank screen. I hit the red button. It continued ringing. I had enough of this. I tossed my phone into a trash can and continued toward the station.

Behind me, I could hear her rummage through the trash to find my still ringing phone. She found it and ran to confront me.

“Aren’t you going to answer your phone?”

“Leave me alone,” I barked.

“Okay,” she smiled. “If you answer your phone. It's rude not to respond. Even with me, your fleeing away from me is a response.”

I looked toward the station ahead. It wasn’t far. I pushed her aside and ran. I could hear her following me. I arrived out of breath. I swiped my wallet against the card detector and moved through the rails. I ran to the east platform. The train was already there. I entered it and took a seat. The doors closed, and the train began to move.

I laid my head into my hands and sighed to myself. Then I heard it – the plain ring of my cellphone. Everyone else has a ringtone. I never cared enough to apply one.

“You really don’t want your phone?” she asked.

I looked up at her. “Leave me alone!”

“I told you: if you answer your phone.”

Which was more annoying? Not a difficult question. I grabbed the phone from her and answered it.

I could hear the sound of metal screeching across metal – the sound of subway wheels grinding on their rails. I could see the echoes bound off the tunnel walls and reflect an image of the tunnel, the train, and something – some thing crawling on the side of the train. There are at least fifteen trains traveling in the city at all times. Which train would it be on? I looked through the window, and a shadow swung by.

It was on my train.

I looked around my car. There were ten other people. One of them was the girl. Here I was, sitting on a train with the strange girl who saved my life previously. I had answered the phone. She said she’d leave me alone. And now, I needed her.

Images and Text © Jonathan Lee