3
The next day, Jennifer and Natalya were on the way to the chemistry lab after classes had concluded.
“You know, I had the time to think about your club.”
“And?”
They both stopped in front of the door and Jennifer glared.
“I'm definitely not joining your lame club. But congratulations, you found a way to make Dora look even more pathetic and managed to assassinate her reputation for good.”
Natalya raised her voice in confusion.
“Huh? I thought clubs made people look awesome. You know, people who do things are automatically more interesting than people who are lazy bums.”
Jennifer scoffed and raised her eyebrows and one side of her mouth into a smug smile.
“I sure hope you guys don't actually do this.”
“Do what?”
“You're right, people who do things are cool. But only if they do them alone and out of free will, not in a little designated wank corner in a school room like a bunch of holed up rats.”
“Of course it's gonna sound bad if you describe it like this. But how would you explain sport clubs then? Surely you can't think they're nerdy or lame, right?”
Jennifer waved with her hand in front of her face.
“Athletic people give off a cooler vibe by virtue of being fit. It's something completely different. Also their clubs are more official and more competitive as well as more combative for lack of a better word.”
Natalya smirked under her mask.
“Sounds like excuses. Are you sure you're not the only one who thinks about her this way?”
Jennifer scoffed.
“Pfft. If you can't refute anything I said and have to refer to my emotional state you have already lost and have run out of arguments. Shut up and get your fat ass inside.”
After opening the door they both entered.
“Excuse me”, Natalya approached a young man with glasses and fluffy hair which made him look like a sheep whom she recognised as a substitute teacher.
“Have you seen a sixteen year old girl with long, fuzzy black hair pass through here? Maybe she did anything suspicious you can think of?”
“Hmm? Well, let me think, hmm.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes.
“Let me expedite your thinking process.”
“Jennifer, what are you up to?!”
The ruffian slammed her lower arm against the young man’s throat and pushed him against the chalkboard which created a white cloud.
“Loser! Have you seen Emma recently?!”
“Jennifer, stop! We'll get in trouble!”
“I said relax! He's not even a real teacher!”
“Yes!”
Under tears, the substitute teacher confessed.
“I tried to stop her when I saw her run out with supplies!”
“What kind of supplies?!”
“S-s-”
“Suhsuh what?!”
Jennifer raised her fist.
“Sulfuric acid, acetone and hydrochloric acid!”
“Hmph.”
She dropped him and stepped outside with Natalya.
“Oh Emma, what have you gotten yourself into.”
“More importantly, what have you got US into?! We are so expelled!”
“Relax. Obviously that nerd can't tell on us, otherwise his career is over before it even started.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean ‘what do you mean’? Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? Think, you dumb horse! What do you think will happen if the school director finds out that this dude allowed a student to vanish under his supervision with chemicals needed to make drugs?”
“Oh. I understand it now.”
Natalya sighed and grabbed a tissue to wipe the sweat off her face under her mask.
“Wait, you think Emma was trying to make drugs? Why?”
“I think she was trying to help me. What a dumbass! Now we are all in trouble.”
“Still, this doesn't explain why we found her all beaten up and why she was poisoned.”
“Maybe she got mixed up in shady company. Right after she performed her foolish little experiments and inhaled a few too many fumes.”
“Either way, we should wait for Dora. Let's head to the cafeteria.”
“Yeah.” Jennifer nodded in exasperation. “Let's.”
“What am I doing with my life? I am soooo getting expelled. I started talking to myself out loud. Not like it matters anymore.”
Dora whimpered in self-pity as she crouched past the lunch lady and sneaked into the storage room. Various food items were stored here and looked brittle in their mantle of ice, from chicken over vegetables to fish fingers and fries.
She then looked over her shoulder and took a deep breath.
“Squeak!”
“Huh?”
Looking forward and on the ground, Dora noticed a little rodent in grey fur and immediately lightened up.
“You must be Retsuko the rat. Come here.”
Dora took a step forward and went down on a knee, spreading out her hands to offer the pet rat a ride. However, it vanished, along with the entire storage room and was overridden by a white vastness. One of her hands began to ache.
“Eh?”
Dora looked left. Then right. Finally she got up and turned around.
“This is definitely not the storage anymore.”
Her eye twitched. The teenager fell to the ground and slammed her fists to the ground causing them to slowly sink into a cold surface and resonate in a crunching sound. She then raised her upper body and slumped backwards, then she screamed before rolling around.
“Ahhh, cold cold cold!”
Dora got up and frantically looked around, but all she could see was falling snow and a seemingly never ending ocean of ice and snow.
“I'm going blind! I'm cold! I will dieee!”
Dora tried her best to run through the snow all the while wildly pinching her cheeks.
“This is a dream! It's not possible! Retsuko, become huge and save me!”
Minutes passed. At least Dora assumed that, as even after such a short time it had become difficult for her to judge the passage of time. Her phone had run out of batteries. The sun looked pale and white and almost artificial as it hung above the horizon, but refused to provide warmth. Or perhaps it did provide it, but lost the fight against the atmosphere and cold. Meanwhile, Dora tried to come up with theories about what was going on. Maybe she was asleep and had been caught in a gas leak? Or she had been abducted by aliens like in a movie. Perhaps she stubbed her toe, fell unfortunately and then died and this was her personal hell.
Regardless, she just kept trudging through the snow, snot coming out of her nose that immediately froze and stuck to her face. Her eyes were in pain and felt dry while her skin turned numb and felt like it was going to tear like paper if she made a hasty movement.
Dora came to a halt.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
A sound that came towards her. Despite not knowing what it was, Dora felt a weird sense of relief as it at least meant some kind of diversion.
She could make something out in the snowy fog, a rodent-like shape.
“R-Retsuko, have you come to save me?”
The mist cleared up and revealed a large creature, around seven or eight feet in height and ten feet in length. Its fur was auburn mixed with dirty looking, dark red spots. The ears protruding from the head seemed dull and lacked the sharpness or triangular form you'd expect from this animal, as if something had taken a bite from it. A huge thick green stalk was sticking out of the middle of its torso. And the one eye visible to Dora had white foam flowing out of it, bubbling like a hot bath which only made her desire to go home grow further.
In a monotonous, swift voice Dora proclaimed.
“Wait, you're not Retsuko, Retsuko is a rat and you're a, hmm, squirrel. A giant squirrel, a Ra-Ratatosk?”
She both wearily and warily took a step backward as the giant creature slowly turned its head to face Dora, revealing brain matter and even more foam, this time red squirting from the other side.
It screamed and prepared to run. And so did she.
Dora stumbled in place and almost tripped as she turned around and rushed into a sprint.
Her heart and lungs were aching and blood began rushing back into her extremities. She clenched her teeth. However, it was not good enough. The poor weak girl fell over the high snow, onto her back. She raised her arm in a lost hope that it would somehow stop the horrible enraged creature that was terrifyingly swift for its body size as it leaped towards Dora Ray.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for her as she started to come to peace with the fact that she would die in a few blinks of the eye.
“Ora!”
A large milk can came flying from the side and slammed with a metal sound into the Ratatosk, as Dora had called it.
The squirrel beast was torn from midair and screeched as it rolled across the snowy plain, twitching and coming to a halt as soon as the plant stalk broke its fall.
“Don't just sit there, get up!”
Tears came over Dora’s face as she was finally allowed to hear a human voice. Human steps approached her quickly and she found herself being held under someone's arm. The sun blinded her, so that was all she could make out.
“Who are you?”
“I'm saving your behind. Let's go.”
Dora rocked up and down as her saviour made rapid short steps across the snow to avoid sinking in. Behind them, she could hear the growls and panting of the oversized rodent that was trying to get a snack.
As they made progress, Dora could make out the face of the girl who saved her. Despite her looking young, around in her early twenties or late teens, her hair was white. It was styled in a peekaboo or emo hairdo and covered one of her eyes in a triangular arc. Underneath that arc, she wore old-fashioned sunglasses with a dark blue rim. Dora recognized her shoewear to be snowshoes which must have been the reason why she could avoid sinking into the snow with proper footwork. Fitting with the shoes, the young woman also wore a dark brown winter jacket which, according to Dora being pressed against it, must have been warm and fuzzy.
The student's heart was beating faster as she heard the Ratatosk approach.
“We're almost there! I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to toss you.”
“What! No!”
“Brace yourself!”
“...”
Her voice became demonic upon the utterance of the next word, with a deep tone that sounded as if the air, no, as if reality itself was being violently cut by her vocal chords.
“ABR.”
A dark blue top hat appeared in her right hand as if conjured from thin air.
“By the way, my name is Harriet.”
The next thing Dora saw was her face and body being shoved down that hat, then pure darkness. The light sensation of floating overcame her followed by a soft impact. She must have landed in the snow along with the hat.
Somehow, Dora managed to peek out the hat by placing her hands to the sides until she felt a silky textile to the touch and pulled herself up.
Looking backwards, there was a set of metal stairs leading down towards a basement or bunker locked by a door.
Curiosity overcame Dora, so she felt compelled to gaze towards Harriet who braked with her shoes and turned around on the spot gracefully.
“ABR! Smoke!”
Darkness covered the snowy field she had been standing on, and as it changed back to normal, so did Harriet’s attire change. In place of a winter jacket she wore a dark blue leotard that accentuated her toned legs, revealing strong pale thighs and wedge heels which made her appear taller than before. A black cape covered one of her arms and fluttered in the howling wind. On her head was another top hat and below it, a birdlike white mask with a long, sharp thin beak akin to that of a hummingbird obscured Harriet’s face.
“Face me.”
With bloodshot eyes and a foaming mouth, the ferocious rodent lunged at the magician.
“ABR, deck! Shuffle! Reshuffle, reshuffle, reshuffle…!”
A set of cards appeared in Harriet’s gloved hand. With incredible speed she shuffled them and produced one card after another between her middle finger and index until she was satisfied with the result and finally came to a stop.
Dora gasped. Tears flowed into her eyeducts and rushed out. The squirrel got ahold of Harriet's other arm with its razor-like incisors and tore it off as easily as people eat chicken from a drumstick.
Harriet raised her voice into a demonic battlecry to the point where Dora could not tell whether it was due to battle spirit or pain, but regardless of that, it gave her goosebumps.
“ABR! LOCK DECK! REVERSE CARD!”
Harriet flipped the card between her fingers and presented it to her adversary whose head came flying off, leaving behind a sputtering arc of blood before it finally landed at Harriet’s feet. With a wet squish sound she kicked it away. The squirrel’s body twitched violently.
The magician turned to Dora who gasped as she got a glimpse of Harriet’s grey eyes. She bowed to grab her severed arm and placed it under her black cloak. After turning around on the spot, she presented her arm reattached to her shoulder as if nothing had happened.
Dora couldn’t help but contort her face into a wide grin in hype which caused her skin to hurt due to the cold and stiffness. Sparks appeared in her eyes as she marvelled at the sight before her.
“Whooaaaa! Just like in my anime shows! Heck yeah!”
Harriet stumbled towards Dora, exhausted.
“Ah, a macska rúgja meg..”
Quietly groaning in pain, she lifted the top hat with Dora’s head sticking out which would serve as a bizarre sight for any bystander. With echoing steps she made her way down the stairs and opened the heavy metal door by turning the creaking wheel with one hand. The wind’s cutting howl’s were finally shut up and the two girls were given precious respite. Or were they?
Dora was snoring comfortably while the wind howled in a raging storm. A furry surface was paid out beneath her and warmth finally returned to her body, granting a comfort she had been longing for ever since coming here. No, since being taken here.
Something soft and jiggly squeezed against her back. Dora yawned lazily and turned around, intending to put her hand on the fur blanket she was wrapped into. However, it landed on something else that she squeezed happily.
Dora opened her eyes slowly with a content smile.
Her eyes shot open widely, her smile was replaced with a worried frown and her face turned red.
“Whaaaat?!”
Dora’s hand rested on Harriet's jiggly breast. The other girl opened her eyes. Sitting up she rubbed her eyes.
“What's this commotion?”
“How can you be so calm? What have you done to me?!”
“Calm down. A human’s body is the best way to conduct warmth to another. I had to do this or you would've died.”
Dora stood up quickly and looked down at her body before looking back up.
“Oh no. Oh noooo. I am naked, too. Enough with your excuses! You're a pervert! Get out, now!”
She threw a jerry can from the ground towards Harriet who caught it.
“Heh. I guess you'll come around and thank me when you're less sleepy.” This was the first time Dora saw Harriet smile ever since meeting her.
However, she frowned and looked around hastily before finally finding some clothes hanging at the wall. She put on a brown jacket with white fur attached to it as well as brown pants. When she returned, Harriet was dressed as well, albeit skimpily as she had her leotard on again.
“What a horndog. What have I done to God to deserve this?”
“Either way, we can't do much while there's a blizzard raging. You should sit down and conserve your energy. While we do have ample access to water, we don't have a lot of food in here.”
“Food? Wait, what is this place?” Dora looked around. There were steel walls illuminated by a gently warm light coming from what seemed to be oil lamps.
“It's a bunker designed to wait out dangers. I assume they're not limited to blizzards, though. The lamps are powered by whale oil in case you wondered.” She pointed at the Jerry can which depicted a large waterborne mammal.
“You need to eat. I hope you like beans and spam.”
While Harriet cooked with a gas stove, Dora was sitting on the fur blanket.
“What day was it when you came here, Dora?”
“Maybe the fifteenth. Why?”
“I see. I arrived ten days earlier. That means time passes significantly faster here.”
Dora raised an eyebrow.
“How long have you been in here?”
“Around three months.”
“What?!” Dora was in shock. Even with her supernatural abilities, it must have been an excruciating task to survive here for so long.
“I have been going around, looking for a way to survive. Bunkers like this are strewn around, so they were a big help. However, I haven't a single clue as how to leave yet. The only thing I know is that it must have to do with the mark which acts as a sort of invitation or key in bad taste.”
“Mark?”
Harriet left the spoon she used to stir the beans in the metal can and took off one of her gloves. Dora almost retched as a rotting odour waft through the air from the magician’s green deformed hand that had already been covered in grey moulding spots.
“I saw something similar on your hand. Luckily it's not as advanced for you yet. I intend to get rid of it for you as soon as possible.”
“How so?”
“I have no idea. But my guess is that if it allowed us to come here by being in a specific spot, it should also allow us to leave the same way as long as we can find the exit. By the way, just to make sure, you did come here through the school's cafeteria’s frozen storage room, right?”
“O-oh that's right! Are you a student as well?” Dora got excited.
“I'm a little too old for that. I'm actually the lunch lady.”
“That would explain why it smells so good here! Aside from that nasty hand.”
They both laughed heartily.
Minutes later, Harriet handed Dora a bowl with piping hot food.
“Aren't you going to eat, too?”
“Don't worry about me. I already ate when you were asleep.”
“I almost forgot.” Dora blew on the spoon and took a bit from the beans mixed with pork. It was hot, but a great feeling after being subjected to merciless cold. Little tears of joy formed in her eyes.
“Why was I asleep? I don't remember anything.”
“After we arrived, you lost consciousness. You were out almost immediately, so I took your clothes off, wiped your body with a towel dipped into hot water and went to sleep with you.”
Dora blushed deeply.
“As I said, we will be stuck here for a while. So you should get comfortable and try not to think too much. After the storm blows over, we'll head outside and try to find clues on how to escape this frozen hellscape.”
“I'm boooored. So bored. Ninety nine cans of be-”
Just as Dora began singing, Harriet squatted beside her and held out an empty spam can towards her.
“What do you see?”
Dora raised her eyebrow.
“It's just a red metal can.”
“Be more elaborate. Tell me everything you see.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Dora scoffed and rolled her eyes before exclaiming in an annoyed tone.
“There's weird symbols on it?”
“What kind of symbols?”
Dora groaned.
“Ugh, I want to go home! It's boring here and cold! We've been here for how long now, days?”
Harriet shook her head and sighed.
“It's only been two hours.”
“And what do you need me to do to explain this to you? Aren't you an adult here? Use your superpowers to get us out of here!”
“It's not that simple.”
“Why not!” Dora raised her voice.
“There's nothing I can do until the blizzard subsides. We have to stay put.”
Dora repeated Harriet's words in a mocking tone.
“We have to stay put.”
She got up.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm going outside now. I don't care if I lose a few toes, I'm going home. I want to go to my mama and drink hot chocolate.”
“Do you really think you can make it home if not even I could?”
“I'll find a way.”
She strode confidently to the metal door, placed her hands on the cold wheel and turned it.”
“Stop!”
As the door creaked, the blizzard raged with the deafening force of nature, immediately turning coating Dora’s eyebrows and hair in white snowflakes.
“See? I'm still alive. I'm going home.”
“Dora-”
“What?”
The fifteen year old girl made out a silhouette as her eyes adapted to the endlessly passing storm of white. Her eyes widened and a blood curdling scream escaped her mouth. Spittle came flying her way as the creature before her screeched in an animalistic roar. Dora could not move. It was as if paralysing needles had pierced her skin all her body over and prevented her from doing anything. Her knees were shaking and her legs as well as her arms felt like limp noodles.
“ABR!”
A demonically deep and sharp voice explained behind her, in the bunker.
As the tears in Dora's eyes dried into a painful, cutting icy mess, she could get a clearer view of the thing in front of her. It was a giant squirrel’s head, twitching with rage and suspended from the ground with the help of what appeared to be grey, red and blue tendrils. They wriggled frantically like agitated snakes and allowed the severed head to propel itself forward. It was like a déjà vu.
Only moments after Harriet had exclaimed, something began to form around Dora’s legs, then abdomen and thorax, then head. They were wooden boxes in different colours, red, green, blue and purple which turned independently into place and obscured Dora’s vision as she was encased into a rectangular box.
The separate pieces began turning again, making whooshing noises. Dora’s vision became muddled and she felt herself close to passing out. All of this happened so quickly, all these new sensations and experiences, so otherworldly and bizarre that her mind couldn't comprehend rapidly enough to keep up.
The teenager clenched her teeth and screamed through them in a comically deep voice.
“Uhhhhhnn!”
That was due to the fact that the boxes had seemingly anchored themselves to her separate body parts. Every time they turned, her abdomen, thorax, legs and head were turned with them at rapid speeds in an unnatural manner which would have killed a person instantly under normal circumstances. But to her fortune, or misfortune, nothing has been normal for Dora for the past few hours. Vomit came out of her mouth as dizziness got a hold of her; it became difficult to breathe. Her heartbeat reached what felt like the speeds of a bolide.
“ABR!”
Dora whined and grinned in pain.
She knew that she was in a lot of shit now. When Harriet exclaimed those bizarre letters, it was a guarantee that something nightmarish impossibility would creep out of the corner and punch Dora right in the face with sheer brutality.
However, rather than a punch, it was a stab.
A thin sword whistled through the air as a blade came flying through the wooden box as easily as a hot knife through butter. It took Dora’s left side vision as the metal entered her eye. Weirdly enough, there was no pain. Which didn't necessarily make it that much better as the sensation of seeing it all happen still persisted as well as the feeling of something entering her head as if she had run into a wall.
More swords followed; one entered the heart in her breast. The next found its way into her abdomen’s duodenum. Two more for her legs. Yet there was a strange absence of cuts or damage. There was only the feeling of being shoved. Perhaps it was closer to being punched after all.
Dora hyperventilated and repeated to herself multiple times.
“This is not real, this is not real, it's a dream, I'll wake up soon, this can't be real.”
“ABR!”
Dora clenched her fists so hard, her fingers and nails began to hurt and she was afraid they might break.
The boxes rotated once more, with the swords still lodged inside the wood of the construct and the flesh of the desperate teenager's flesh.
Like locked inside a vise, Dora’s body twisted into different directions. The desire to finally close her remaining eye and just let it all happen overcame her, but it was beaten out by the primal need to see all the weird spectacle. Loud creaking and crunching flooded Dora’s ears and finally the expected pain kicked in as her bones and skin twisted and turned in all directions akin to a full body, inside out Chinese burn. She screamed in terror and agony and the split second in which all this happened felt like an eternity. Exhaustion from the sharp pain dragged her spirit down as it would her body if it wasn't locked into place. Finally, everything snapped into place and the wooden magic boxes fell apart. The physical pain vanished alongside the flaps; they simply turned more and more transparent until they were gone. Sweat ran down Dora’s head and drenched her hair. She could only stand in place, paralyzed and slumped over, falling onto the ground as her legs gave in. After all of this happened within seconds, a new type of panic assaulted Dora. For a moment, she didn't understand where she was, but as she saw Harriet in front of her, she began to comprehend that they must have swapped places. The white haired woman herself was in front of the severed head abomination. At her feet, the remains of wooden panels faded out of existence, which meant she must have gone through the same experience as Dora during the process of swapping. Kicking at the monster with full force, Harriet somehow managed to keep it out and seal the heavy metal door without sustaining any damage. Dora allowed her upper body to hit the floor and began laughing maniacally while patting down her own body until tears overcame her.
When Dora finally woke up, she found Harriet laying upside down beside her in an L-shape with her long pale legs resting against the wall. After the harrowing experience Dora had passed out quickly from exhaustion and stress and slept for a whole eight hours. The clanking of metal as the blizzard raged against the bunker door finally became too loud to ignore.
“Good. You're awake.”
Upon hearing that voice, the memory of Harriet exclaiming for ABR along with flashes of images flooded into Dora’s brain; she could clearly see herself get twisted apart again and she could have sworn that the pain returned as well. She whimpered and gritted her teeth.
Harriet opened her mouth lightly in concern and spoke gently.. “Are you alright?
“It's… it's nothing. Yeah.” Dora waved her hand
“Hmm, alright.”
Harriet's head then slumped to the side as she held up a cylindrical can between her index and thumb in front of the teenage girl.
“What do your eyes see?”
Dora sighed. White vapour floated out of her mouth as her breath was enveloped by the cold. “Why do you keep asking me that? Just look at it yourself. Please, stop trying to give me a lesson.”
Harriet's eyes opened wide as understanding flooded her brain.
“Wait, you were thinking I was trying to patronise you this whole time?”
She rolled over and sat upright in front of the student all the while grabbing a second fur blanket from the cupboard nearby and carefully covering Dora with it.
Although the low temperature numbed her senses, the smell of rust mixed with iron pervaded her little nose on the regular. Therefore it was a welcome diversion to have a new odour nearby. Dora dug her fingers into the blanket first to warm her stiff hands before burying her face into it. It was soft like a mother's touch. She took a deep whiff from it and tried to picture what kind of animal it had belonged to. A sharp pain raced through Dora’s face like snapping millimetre thin branches when vivid memories returned, memories of the giant relentless rodent predator and its severed head. Was the owner of this blanket’s fur one of its relatives? She lowered the blanket quickly and took a deep breath, but kept it nearby, on her lap to rest her hands on it.
“Look at my eyes. Look closely.”
Dora complied despite herself and raised her head. Harriet's eyes were grey and seemed, upon closer inspection, to be shimmering like water reflecting sunlight.
“It's not that I'm trying to give you a lesson or anything, or that I could just look at it myself and come to a conclusion on my own. I can't.”
Harriet chuckled.
“I have to keep my vision going. It doesn't have a specific name, so let's just call it ‘Altersight.’ We are in an alien world right now, Dora.”
The girl on the opposite looked more awake as the sleepiness from her eyes faded which filled Harriet with hope as she was finally getting through. She rubbed her arms vigorously until colour started to return to them. Both Harriet and Dora made it a habit to do this regularly, but it could only help so much. Both their lips exhibited an unnerving light blue colour.
“Therefore I must keep a lookout at all times for things that might be dangerous, not only to your human self, but also to me, but especially to you.” The young woman's voice became quieter and deeper.
“They could pop up at any time, without warning. Beasts beyond human comprehension, even more terrifying than any human creation. Phenomena too difficult to describe, even for me. Think meshes of wire manifesting from thin air and forcing their way into your blood canals to rip you apart from the inside. Anything can appear at any moment. You are never prepared enough for what is lurking out of sight. That is why I'm trying to stay awake for as long as possible, so we can make it out of this hellhole in one piece. In fact, I'm relieved that you are spared the sight, spared of the terrors and phantasmals I see on the regular.”
Dark gloom and shadows spread more with every second over Harriet's face. Until she lit up again with a smile. As if her gears shifted. Her voice rose both in tone and volume.
“I wasn't even sure about whether this thing is a can to begin with. I just guessed. To me, it looks like a frog that constantly keeps changing colours.”
Dora couldn't help but laugh at that as the tension faded slightly, yet the rant about the dangers remained in the back of her mind. She coughed as freezing air entered her mouth and trachea. Something had spilled out of Harriet that needed to be spilled, whether she wanted to or not. Just so she could cling onto her sanity, perhaps, and having a normal, sane human listen to her helped with that.
“Hell, you yourself look like a sentient sleeping bag to me this whole time. I don't even know what you look like and I won't until we get back home and I can look at you properly. So please, believe me when I tell you that I'm not doing this out of malice. I truly need your help so we can learn more about this world, learn something that will help us survive and, ideally, help us get out of here.”
This whole Altersight ordeal intrigued the teenage girl. She wanted to experience it for herself and see what Harriet saw. A whole other world hid right beside the one Dora saw. On one hand it seemed useful as it seemed to allow Harriet to spy new things, dangerous things even that might catch the unwary off guard. On the other hand, a whole other world of information was lost to Harriet now as even lowering her guard for a moment could prove fatal to both of them. Dora finally understood that Harriet relied on her to provide information on this matter and now guilt embraced her. She had mistaken genuine intent for malicious patronising, only because Harriet was her senior.
“It looks like letters.”
“Letters? Are you sure?”
“Yes. They're white symbols, printed onto the can. However, they're nothing I recognise from the real world, but they're pretty similar to Latin letters.”
“I see. So that means there must have been life here before. Someone built these bunkers then, or at least went inside them before. Not necessarily humans, but something more sophisticated than wild beasts at least.”
“That's all good, but how will that help us? Also, wasn't that obvious from the start?”
“Hmm” Harriet shook her head. “Not necessarily. Those things, like that bunker, food, fuel and so on all could have popped up by themselves from the start along with the creation of this world. Think of it like a natural phenomenon rather than a man-made creation, like a hill or a river or a mountain.”
Dora nodded. Then she raised her eyebrow.
“Wait, what makes you think this world was created?”
“Well, on one hand it seems too simple to be something from our real world. It's just a massive snowy plain with occasional man made structures and traces sprinkled in. Also we have only seen a single creature so far. Doesn't all of this seem suspicious to you?”
“I guess it does? It feels like something concocted in a dream.”
“Exactly! It's like a dream made manifest. Also, where are all the humans? Or at least, inhabitants? If they have bunkers, shouldn't they actually be inside them? Especially during a blizzard? It's all so weird. If I had to hazard a guess at gunpoint, I would say that it's like a world that was either made without much thinking or one that resembles more of a specific scenario rather than an actual organic world. Perhaps we could build off this information and use it to our advantage, to get home even.”
Dora smiled. Perhaps there really was hope to get back home. Also, she was impressed by the amount of information the girl proclaiming herself to be “the Magician” could glean from simply a few letters on a metal cylinder. She must have been an extraordinary person. Dora looked at Harriet all the while avoiding directing her sight towards the door. She had no plans of getting anywhere near it again, but anxiety overcame her as this was the only way outside, so she would have to face her fears eventually. Even when she was asleep, the scraping of Mother Nature’s howling winds against the metal door couldn't even be stopped by Dora’s human need to sleep, so that the sounds penetrated the paper thin walls between reality and dreams and reverberated in her subconscious. It pissed Dora off now that her childish impatience led to such a huge scar on her soul within moments.
“By the way, what is this A- A- ABR thing you keep mentioning?” Dora struggled to pronounce it, but forced herself to. Shivers overcame her and she could feel her hands begin to shake. This, however, was not due to the frigid environment.
Harriet sat there wordlessly.
“Umm, hello?”
With a monotonous voice she replied.
“It's something like a passenger. It gives me power.”
Powers? If she hadn't witnessed those for herself, Dora would have thought Harriet was mentally ill. But at the same time, she didn't want to deal with any of that. Goosebumps appeared on her arms. Dora just knew that this was a dangerous subject to breach. Yet curiosity had the upper hand.
“What are those powers exactly?”
Anxiety overcame the fifteen year old girl as she instantly regretted asking this.
“You reminded me of something important.”
“Wha-?”
The fact that Harriet just avoided the question unnerved her.
“You have to promise me something. It's important. You could say, your life depends on it.”
“Uh?” Dora was taken aback.
“If - no, when we get back home you can never mention anything about them to anyone. Or else-”
Harriet rolled onto her back and raised her legs against the wall, returning back to her old L-shape position. A soft sigh of pleasure escaped her lips when colour returned to her face. Dora guessed that this curious position must have helped Harriet stay awake and focused or something as the blood flow went down into her head. Or it was just the most comfortable position for her. Most likely it was all of that.
“I'll have to kill you.”
A shiver ran down her spine. She wasn't sure whether it was due to the threat or due to how nonchalantly it was uttered like it was no big deal and happened on the regular. Her eyes twitched and her chest started to ache as her heartbeat accelerated.
“Just promise me. Hey are you alright?”
“I'm fine!”
Dora raised her voice in irritation. It annoyed her that Harriet didn't seem to find anything wrong with threatening to kill someone paired with the almost mechanical questions of concern.
The girl in the uncomfortable looking position didn't so much as scoff at the outburst. Perhaps she understood the stress Dora was under or she simply didn't care. Regardless, Dora had no choice but to agree to her terms to ensure her safety.
“Stop asking me already. And, fine, I promise. Geez.”
She pouted and turned away.
“Excellent.”
Harriet reached out like an elongated cat and patted Dora’s shoulder with her fingertips which caused her to recoil. The desire to go back home rose more than ever. She missed the safety of her room and the protection of her mother. Hell, she even started to miss Jennifer who was mostly just bullying her. At least the guilt of being suspicious and recalcitrant towards Harriet faded a little. She remembered how easily Harriet ripped off the giant squirrel’s head. She seemed to be a powerful ally, but Dora also didn't want to get on her bad side if possible. Therefore she made it a goal to be careful. Perhaps she would avoid her altogether after this was all over as this ABR thing or whatever along with the powers and Altersight it granted clearly messed with Harriet’s mental health and judgement, her humanity even. Didn't she mention the awful things she saw? Some kinds of monsters lurking in the background and wires that want to get inside you? Seeing that kind of stuff all the time can't be good for you in the long run. Dora felt scared. At the same time she could not reveal her fear or it might piss Harriet off and make her suspicious. But maybe she already knew? Dora was frustrated. She didn't know what to do in this situation other than to comply like an obedient child, especially since she relied on someone stronger. Her own weakness and helplessness annoyed her.
“After all, a magician can never reveal their tricks.”
The blizzard raged on with no hint of the storm waning in strength. It was so loud, at times it became difficult to hear your own thoughts. Although it was hard for Dora to judge the passage of time due to the absence of windows in the bunker and the fact that time passed differently in this alien world, Harriet reassured her that five days had gone by. On one hand, this worried the teenage girl as she didn't know how much longer she would have to stay here, and the supplies wouldn't last forever. On the other hand, Dora was relieved that she, with the help of her new, albeit strange companion, managed to find ways to distract herself from the proverbial clock’s snail pace. While sleeping had been an option, it was still boring and Dora didn't feel sleepy all the time. Plus, she often saw unpleasant things due to the horrible experiences she had made ever since being pulled into this place against her will, such as being chased and attacked by a giant squirrel creature or practically being torn apart by Harriet's magic tricks. This, along with the biting cold made it difficult to relax and just let the mind wander. Even the fur blankets could only go so far. The lack of specifically handpicked warm clothing meant that Dora could only stay here for so long. Meanwhile, Harriet seemed to hold up better, especially in her exhibitionistic leotard as was noticeable due to her lack of whining. In the first couple of days, Dora liked to exclaim “I'm tired!” and “I'm cold! I hate it!” until she must have realised that it was pointless and all she could do was wait and try to keep her nerves. Still, the both of them frequently rubbed their limbs and tried to stretch and move occasionally to keep their spirits high and their blood flow going.
However, occasionally pain would shoot into Dora’s fingers, especially when she would get glances of Harriet's own hand; it was a sickly greenish colour and gave off a disgusting smell like that of rotten eggs. By now, it has spread all the way past her wrist; it must have been very painful and the fact that Harriet didn't flinch or complain was a testament to her inner strength that inspired Dora. Yet, the sight and odour of it also filled Dora with an instinctive kind of disgust which awakened a sense of sadness and shame inside her, as it wasn’t exactly Harriet's fault. Prior to being pulled into this dreamlike world, Dora had incurred a similar injury on her hand on the way to the principal's office and green marks began spreading through her palm. According to Harriet, it was some kind of invitation which was what allowed the two of them to come here to begin with. That was all she knew so far. For now, Dora chose to refer to this as an “invitation mark.” From time to time she felt a compulsion to look at it and see how far it spread. Luckily it was contained to her palm. Still, it gave off a lasting, stinging pain, similar to a petechial inflammation on one's nail bed. Therefore, she hoped to get rid of it by escaping this world.teach
One time, Harriet caught Dora staring at the dark ceiling while lying on her back and just groaning. That was her cue to approach and offer to teach her a card game.
“Usually, these aren't meant for such mundane uses. But this situation is anything but usual.”
Dora turned around and onto her stomach while suspending her hand on her hands and wiggling her legs around in anticipation.
She remembered Harriet's threat.
“Tell anybody about my powers or ABR in the real world, and I'll kill you.”
A shudder came over her, but she tried to suppress her negative thoughts, at least for now.
The woman calling herself the Magician while introducing herself as Harriet the lunch lady in public, flicked her wrist and produced a deck of cards from seemingly nowhere.
Previously, Harriet had used the very same cards to perform an offensive manoeuvre against the feral squirrel monster that Dora dubbed Ratatoskr. Drawing a specific card, she managed to reflect the damage done to her, so while losing her arm which she then shortly after reattached with the use of her black cape, she decapitated the opposition which was also why it had attacked them the other day at their doorstep. Harriet's abilities overall still remained a mystery to Dora and, despite the fear that comes with the unknown as well as the threat she couldn't help but feel curiosity and the desire to learn more. Maybe the opportunity to witness more of Harriet's skill would arise when they would make their escape. For now, Harriet shuffled her cards. While her fingers developed an unnatural dry and pale look over the past three months Harriet had spent here, she had not lost any of her dexterity or agility. Her skill and discipline must have been extraordinary.
Dora finally got a closer look at the cards’ design. They appeared to be made out of cured leather. A black top hat with two slender looking eyes below it was drawn on top of a dark ochre background on their back; upon closer inspection, Dora guessed that it was made with black ink. The cards’ front meanwhile possessed a dark background, almost black. Dora wondered what was used for this colour. Charcoal? The only thing the layman in terms of handicraft was sure of was that those cards looked old and must have been made a long time ago. They even looked older than Harriet herself who, on one side had the young face of a woman in her twenties, but on the other side had white, albeit still strong and full hair. All in all, she was a mystery, perhaps one made for nobody to be ever solved.
After she finished shuffling, Harriet dexterously threw cards in front of Dora and then herself until each of them had six cards, then she placed one card from the top of the deck face up on the cold wooden floor and the deck on top of said card. The card in question was an ace of spades and what Harriet referred to as the trump suit which will be important later. “You may now look at your cards.”
At this point, Dora learned about the remaining design. Hearts and diamonds that were usually red were drawn with a now slightly faded golden ink while spades and clubs appeared to be silver. Overall, this deck of cards appeared to have been made with a lot of care and skill as well as a long time ago, just based on materials and the degree of wear. The leather seemed slightly torn, yet it was still full of lustre which was a testament for Harriet’s care of them and, perhaps, that of previous owners. The young girl couldn't help wondering what their worth was, both in monetary value and in sentimental terms to their owner.
Harriet spoke with eloquence as if she had planned her words in advance just for this situation.
“This game is simple. I picked it up during my short stay in Russia. It is called ‘Durak’ which, in their language, means ‘fool.’ Just like there can be no winners in life, only losers, the same applies to this game. The last one to rid themselves of their cards by the time the deck is empty loses, is the fool and has to shuffle for the next round.”
A slight smile came over Harriet’s pale lips and grey eyes.
“Anyway, do you have any trump suit cards?”
Harriet tapped her index finger lightly against the ace of spades card below the deck.
Dora took a look at her cards, but felt hesitant about answering the question, knowing that one shouldn't tell the opposition about the cards they have.
“Hmm. It's just to determine who makes the first turn. Do you have any trump lower than a seven of spades?”
“Mmmm.”
With a tone of denial, Dora shook her head which prompted Harriet to lay down a card, a four of hearts.
She explained then with a calm voice.
“I am attacking you then. This is a four of hearts, that means you have to defend with a higher value heart or with any trump suit. However, I'll be able to attack you with further fours or with the value of the card you defend yourself with. Do you understand so far?”
“Yep.” Dora nodded with content and thought about her next move. She placed a six of hearts on top of the four. What followed was a four of diamonds and a six of clubs by Harriet.
Dora raised an eyebrow.
“You can attack with multiple cards at once?”
“Mmhm. That's right. So long as your opponent has enough cards to defend themselves.”
“What happens if you have nothing to beat the attack?”
“Then you have to take the cards, I draw until I have six again and then I attack again. Oh, by the way. When both parties have to draw, the one who attacked goes first.”
Dora sighed and grabbed the cards on the floor to add them to her hand. Harriet drew me cards.
“What a relentless game. I'm already starting to feel like a fool.” Harriet chuckled at that remark.
“I guess it pays off to be aggressive in this game.”
“That's right. However, keep in mind that it's best to know when to be aggressive and when to take a hit.”
Harriet shook her head as Dora defended with a trump king of spades.
“Are you sure about that? Not only did you show me your strongest asset, but also you used it at an inopportune time like this.”
Dora sighed. She felt dumb, but at the same time she realised that nobody is a master the first time they try a profession or a game which was a relief.
She recanted her turn and took the cards instead. Harriet gave her more of the same.
“Hey, not fair, you're cheating!”
“I'm not.” Harriet laughed heartily at Dora’s childish reaction. “I simply forgot to explain it to you. When your opponent concedes and takes the cards, it's fine to further attack with the same ones and force them to take them so long as the opponent has enough cards to deflect those.”
Dora pouted. “Sounds suspicious and made up. But I guess I'll have to accept it. By the way, there's something I noticed. Where are all the jokers in your deck?”
The Magician's smile immediately went black and her hands fell onto the wood floor with a hollow noise.
A dark expression came over Harriet's face. With a quiet, yet determined voice she replied.
“I do not appreciate jokers. Neither in my path nor in my deck. Particularly not in my path.”
Dora raised her hands and fear overcame her, both that Harriet might get up and hurt her as well as a social kind of fear that she might have said something wrong. She closed her eyes and recoiled.
“I'm sorry!”
The seemingly distraught Harriet sighed and put on a gentle smile.
“It's not your fault. Let us continue.”
They kept playing until the deck got thinner and thinner and only the ace of spades was left that the both of them set their eyes on. Dora was nervous as it was her turn. She swallowed and laid down two Jacks, one of them a spade to force the trump queen out of Harriet. With a wide grin, she took the trump ace leaving her with five cards while her opponent only had four. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as she watched with bated breath. Harriet attacked with seven of spades. The one she apparently had from the start. Dora deflected with a nine. Then, she forced Harriet to take the king and ace of spades and followed up with all twos, leaving Harriet the loser; all those last moves were played at the speed of a swift knife.
“Hah!” The volume of Harriet's outburst startled Dora. She was afraid that she would get her ass beaten now, but was quickly surprised when Harriet began laughing loudly until tears came out of her eyes like tiny rivers.
“That was great! You played and attacked in proper order! You capitalised on your aggressiveness to gain that ace, so you could continue your aggression and force me on my knees!”
Dora laughed nervously as Harriet hugged her. She felt a bit awkward, but at the same time she appreciated the warm gesture. Her heartbeat quickened as she freed herself again.
“Heh.” She looked at the cards in her hands.
“I guess at the end of the day you'll be left behind with a set of problems on your hand when you do decide to play.”
After a brief pause she exclaimed.
“How about a rematch? I'm the fool, so I'll shuffle.”
And so they continued to play.
Sometimes Harriet lost, sometimes did Dora, and in the latter case she happily conceded and shuffled. Other times, however, she got frustrated:
“You are just lucky!”
“Even luck is a skill.”
“How so? Sounds like an excuse.”
“Luck isn't just about what falls into your lap, but what you make of it and how you deal with bad luck as well.”
“That… actually makes sense.”
As they played, the fifteen year old girl gained a lot of insight, especially when Harriet told Dora about her visit to Russia and the magic show she played there.
“It was at the start of my career when I was about your age and just getting into the magician business! It was so cold there, a francba! Maybe even colder than it is here now! And I was nervous as hell, tried to imagine the audience in just their underwear, but it only made it worse. But in the end my performance that day was wonderful and flawless! The milk tank prison. The broken rings. All followed up by the white doves! So beautiful! And the food… oh Dora, the food over there is no comparison to what we have to shove down our throats over here! The pelmeni, borscht, caviar.” Dora had no trouble imagining it in her mind and listened attentively. Harriet smiled dreamily and her stomach rumbled. Then she got up.
“How about we celebrate our day with a jar of peaches?”
Producing said jar seemingly from nothing, she stretched it out towards Dora. She must have quickly snagged it from one of the dusty shelves and kept it close to herself.
Dora smiled and shook her head while raising a hand.
“I'm, heh, not so big on fruits. Sorry.”
“Please, they're healthy and have a lot of sugar. They'll give you a lot of energy.”
“Maybe another time.”
“Come on, being a picky eater is not good. Just try them.”
“I said no!” Harriet was startled and stepped back upon the outburst when Dora swatted the glass jar out of her face. It slammed against the cold metal wall and broke.
Dora gasped upon the realisation of what she just did and her face softened up immediately.
“I'm sorry, Eszter, I-. I…”
The student girl was in shock. This was the first time she saw the lunch lady taken aback. Eszter? Who was that? A family member? A childhood friend?
The white haired woman walked in stupor to the broken jar, got on her knees and began scooping up the sullied peaches, cleaning them up against her clothes and putting them in her mouth, chewing all the while mumbling quietly “I'm so sorry.” Dora felt terrible, but didn't know what to do, so she covered her face with her hands. A sharp pain spread through her hand befallen by the invitation mark which caused her to suck in cold air through her teeth despite herself. She gasped in shock upon inspecting it further. The mark had spread, not only in surface, but also in depth. Her bones were aching.
After a short while Harriet finally exclaimed.
“The storm died down. We must go. However there's one more thing.”
She was right. The sudden silence was both beautiful, but at the same time unnerving. It felt like a danger was lurking now, just to replace the old one. It was almost confusing.
Striding up to Harriet, Dora raised her head.
“Whether or not we make it home depends on one important thing. Can you act decisively as you did in the card game? Every human’s actions when forced into a corner boil down to flight or fight. It is up to you to decide which one it is. But don't hesitate. Act without doubt and act instantly.”
Firmly putting one hand on Dora’s shoulder, she handed a red flare gun and placed it into the young girl's care with the other. This caused her to gasp as she had never held a weapon before nor seen one outside of TV, even if this was merely a flare gun.
“Use this when you find our point of entrance. This is where we leave. You'll know you're in the right place when your mark begins to ache. Also you'll feel a strange sense of familiarity. It may sound confusing now, but you'll know what I mean. Fire it when you're in danger. Fire it when your gut tells you to do so. Do anything. Just don't allow fear and inaction to paralyse you. You're a smart girl. I know you'll make a prudent decision.”
“But…” There was still doubt in Dora’s heart, and knowing that they'll have to go through that terrible door she avoided looking at and out there into the snowy hellscape, even without Mother Nature raging, filled Dora with steadily growing terror. Yet, she couldn't let Harriet down, not after she took care of her and was so deeply hurt just moments ago. She clenched her fist.
“I won't let you down. But I'm worried about one thing.”
“What is it?
“Aren't you weak? You practically got no sleep.”
The Magician shook her head slowly.
“I am weak in my own regard, yes. But my weakest is still greater than your strongest and therefore good enough to get home. I need you to be at your strongest to make it back there as well. Getting here was free, but getting out of here will drain us both. Remember, nothing good comes for free.”
Interpreting Dora’s silence as approval, Harriet grabbed onto the cranking wheel and pulled at it with newfound strength until the ice broke and a path into freedom was forged ahead.