By the time I returned home, it was dark.

But I didn’t mind. Walking in the clean autumn air with the sound of crickets was a sweet send off to a day that had been— as always— stressful.

Unfortunately, approaching the apartment building, I was met once more with the do-gooders who didn’t catch the hint on not to fuck around with me while they were doing their ‘searching for a lost kid’ routine. Meaning, some volunteers were again looking for the boy who vanished . . . Abor? Ebor? Andor?

“Care to help with an important mission, friend?” a young man said to me as I approached.

But before I could say anything, an older person, I think the same woman from before with whom I cussed out, butted in and said, “Oh, don’t bother with him. He’s on the side of perverts and criminals!”

For just a moment, I looked on dumbstruck. The young man looked confused, and his outstretched hand withered some. Then I snapped.

I calmly walked over to the woman and punched her square in her jaw.

She went down like a bag of bricks then scurried back up like a squirrel in search of nuts. But this time, she scooted away from me quick; I took the time to yell at her and say, “Bitch, look at me. I am just coming back from working nine straight fucking hours. This is my home. I am tired. I do hope you find the boy. But, again, just because I don’t want to help doesn’t mean I am on the side of criminals. Get your head checked, you fucking bimbo!” To the young man, I simply nodded, and wished him a good night.

Fucking activists, I swear. Every day a new problem.

Entering my apartment, Felix was nowhere to be seen. Where did that cat-butterfly thing go? As their bond-mate, I felt like I should be more privy to their second-life, but then again . . . did I really have the energy to know? Or care?

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I opened a soda and down it with a salty snack by my side. Looking at the cheesy puff snack, I remembered that first night that changed my life, where I met Felix and Chippy.

Chippy . . . he was the first super-normie I met and yet he was gone in an instant. Died, apparently. Felix was somehow under the impression that he would return, but I didn’t understand the logic in there, coming back from the dead and all that.

But I didn’t dwell on my dear talking chip bag for too long.

Because before too long, I was tired and back to sleep.

And when I woke up, it was the same process: iced coffee. Work.

Day in. And day out.

My life blurred and it all became the same.

Up. Down. Left. Right.

Then, of course, there was forward and backward. And the concept of a center or middle.

Beginning. Middle. And an End.

My daily grind revolved around these basic concepts; having now lived in the strange new world of partial dimensions for some time now, I felt like there was nothing else but these concepts— cosmic mode only exacerbating things by showing me just how little my life was once my immediate working space was shown as a single strange stage with myself as the actor and the audience.

I left for work at a time. Took my break at times and then clocked out to head home, at another time.

Before I returned home a new, but vital, part of my schedule was to practice my magical casting. Once, this practice had been exciting just in itself, but today, weeks later, it was dull; although the chart in my mind continued to climb steadily, which meant that I was getting better at using my magick, it was far from proficiency. At this rate, I would be a hundred before I could move anything more than a candy bar.

And yet, still no sign of Kush. Or Felix. Or anyone else from Full Time.

It was strange that just as I was becoming fully aware of my abilities, I was alone.

And then, after work, and after I practiced, I returned home.

I rested. Remained vigilante for Felix, and had some snacks. Then slept. And then the day repeated.

I was practically on auto-pilot.

A full week went by before I even thought of that woman I punched outside of my apartment complex. But how could I remember her? Everything about my life was the same. And measured. And lacking.

But I continued with my life. Because I knew that something had to happen sooner or later.

Right?

Something was going to happen.

And soon.