“I have no idea, but some look fairly easy,” Nikki replies.
“Do you think we should try them?”
“I do. We might as well. There’s nothing else to be done.”
“So … which tasks?” Nikki thinks for a few moments. “List what we want? We only need a pen and paper for that. Although I didn’t think to bring any …” They search through their pockets but find nothing. “Do you have anything?”
I search my pockets, but I don’t either. “Do we have to list it on paper? It didn’t specify.”
“Oh, you’re right.” Nikki smiles at and I laugh a bit. “Even if it doesn’t work, we don’t lose anything. So,” they say, “what do you want?”
I think. “Like … right now? In general?”
“I know as much as you do.”
“I want to know what’s going on.”
“Anything else?”
“I want to get my cards from my house. I couldn’t find them when I went earlier.” I consider more. “I want to get better at a lot of things. Like Rules, like riddles, like storytelling, like singing. And I want what I do to have significance. I want opportunity and a future to look forward to; I want to be friends with you forever, and I want a boyfriend or two or three. I want to learn another language and I want to see more films. I want violent sex, new cards, to be around friendly people, an explanation for what happened two days ago, to get to know you better, a really good song I can relate to. I want all of this. I want to go to the beach with you, to be held, to be kissed, to feel relaxed. Everyone I don’t like … I want them to go away and leave me alone, but I don’t want to be lonely … never to be lonely. I want to be around people I like all the time, and I want to make them happy. I want everyone to be happy.”
Nikki raises their eyebrow. “I’ve never heard you say so much out loud.”
“I’ve never spoken so much … I don’t think it was entirely my choice.”
“Meaning?”
“I said things, but I didn’t think about it. And not just like not thinking before you speak. Even that needs some thought. I just spoke. But it’s all true.”
Nikki’s eyes look brighter as they hear my explanation of what happened; I suspect they want to try to. And I’m probably right because they soon start listing what they want: “I want to know what’s going on. I want to be successful – I want to be the best. I want to be in charge, and I want a cat. I want degree in physics and a gun and a dartboard, and many books to my name, and to know the secrets of all things in this world. And I want sex too. A good book to read, and a few shots of peach Schnapps. A night of frenzy, but no repercussions, to write a musical. I want to take whatever power is influencing the announcement of my desires and make it my own; I want to be better than whatever runs this world, be that a person, laws, or something else.” Nikki laughs. They breathe faster. “I want everything. There isn’t a thing that could exist that I don’t want to own.” They’re in such a good mood. I laugh with them, and after a while we both calm down. “Oh wow, that was something. But now I want water.”
I say nothing. I replay the moment. The words sounded like they flowed as freely as mine did, and they definitely were personal. Though I’m not the judge of the task, I’d assume we’ve completed it.
“Nikki,” I say. “How do we know that we’ve got the points?”
Nikki turns more serious again, although they still possess a smirk. “Good question. If I remember correctly the last page in the book had a large zero written at its centre when I looked through it early. I assume that’s where it’s recorded.” I take out my book and flip to that page. I’m not surprised by the large six at the centre of the page. Nikki sees this, and we exchange a gentle high-five.
“Congratulations to us on our first five points.” They show me the note. “It’s gone blank. I guess we can’t repeat the task then.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Shall we go for another?”
“Might as well … but we should probably head back soon. Your parents might wake.”
“I’d say we’ve got a good three hours before they do.” I guess my expression betrays my reluctance to stay out that long since Nikki continues, “But it might be better to play it safe since this is the first time we’re doing this. So how about we ‘Survey the town’ on our way back. It should only take about an hour to walk around it. Hopefully that’s sufficient … but if not, we can have a stroll when it’s light out.” I nod to this and we depart from the car park.
On our way, we take notice of a convenience store. It’s positioned at the corner where a main road curves into our town and it’s completely dark. “Have you ever seen that placed closed?” I whisper.
“No ...” says Nikki, stopping. “It’s 24 hours. Would they close just because of these books?”
“No idea. They might.”
“I wouldn’t. This whole thing is concerning but people still need to make money. At least for now.”
“It is pretty scary. They might just want to give it a few days?”
“They might. Wait. What’s the time?” I look at my phone and it’s apparently 07:01. “You sure?” I say I am. “There’s absolutely no-one.”
“Absolutely no-one?”
“I mean, have you seen anyone other than us?”
“No,” I say. “Except for those lights when we left.”
“But no-one else.”
“Does that matter?”
“Yes. Those lights might be exceptions. Surely, we can’t be the only people out right now. I mean at least the police should have been watching that board, or cornered off the area or something. But there wasn’t anyone. That’s not just a bit odd; there’s no way they wouldn’t be there.”
“You sound concerned.”
“I am very concerned.” Nikki turns around. “We need to get back as soon as possible.” I agree; we don’t know what’s going on any more and we could be in more danger than we realised. So, we hurry.
We don’t see any other people for at least ten minutes and by then we’re about halfway back. But as we enter the neighbourhoods we slow; this is where we saw the lights in the first place and now we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. We do our best to keep low and out of sight from any lit windows – there are few, but grow more frequent as we approach Nikki’s house. In a way, I’m glad of it because it’d it be almost impossible to tell where we were without those lights.
We stop when we see motion in one window; it’s fast and I almost didn’t see it, but it was definitely movement.
“Who lives there?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I can’t think right now.”
“Why are we being so sneaky about making our way back home?”
“Good question … it feels dangerous, so I feel like we should.”
“But maybe we’re just drawing more attention to ourselves.”
“You think we should just walk?”
“Maybe … but I guess we can’t assume anything right now.”
“You’re right … we can’t assume anything. So, it’s best if we don’t get noticed at all.” I nod, and we keep moving. But I look back at that house to watch for any more signs of movement. There are none, but just as we turn a corner the light goes off.
“Nikki,” I whisper. “The light went off. In the last house we past.”
“I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing.” We go silent. And without us moving or talking, it’s so quiet I can hear my blood in my ears. Then there’s a creak that would have been normally been inaudible. We can’t see that far back without the light, but the sound of the door is almost certainly from that house whose light turned off. I feel uneasy from the sudden conflicting desires to run and go still. Nikki starts moving and I force myself to follow. We’re going faster now, sacrificing discreetness for speed. We’re about four minutes away. That felt like no time at all yesterday. Now it’s far too long. Assuming we’re not lost. I’m not entirely sure we are where we think we are. If we are where we think we are, then Nikki’s house is about to come into sight after we turn the next corner. But it’s obvious that beyond the next corner something is wrong: there’s a carpet of light spilling over from street around that corner; it’s painful to look at and we stop. I have the overwhelming impression that this light is here because they know we’re going this way. They’re showing us we’ve been found out.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I look at Nikki, but they keep going. I suppose we don’t have anything better to do. We can’t go back, and we can’t go any other route without running at least a similar risk. Although, what risk even is there? It could just be that everyone’s woken up and they’re concerned about the unusual darkness – in fact this isn’t an unreasonable time to get up normally. But why just this one section of street? Why just the section where Nikki’s house is?
We reach the corner and peer over, shielding our eyes. Every single house has its lights on. But looking at it, it’s one of the most normal things I’ve seen since I woke up. In the context of all that’s happened, however, that makes it very abnormal.
“This doesn’t seem right,” they say.
“Not at all.”
“Right. My house is really close now. But there’s no way for us to hide any more – if we were ever even hidden. So, if we’re still going there, we’ll have to just run and hope.”
“If we’re still going there?”
“We could try to find somewhere else to go, but I don’t know where, and it seems riskier to be wondering around aimlessly. But I don’t feel good about this, so I’m really considering it.” I tell Nikki about my feeling of being found out. “I think you’re right. We’re not hidden right now, but that means the longer we stand here the more danger we’re in. The best we can hope for is getting inside and locking the doors. Agreed?” I do agree. “Let’s go then.”
Nikki steps to the side, sets their gaze on their home and sprints. I run after them.
All the lights go off at once.
We keep running. I can’t see Nikki in front of me at all. But we’re heading to the same place, so if we keep on running we’ll reach their door. Not that that thought calms me at all. I feel weird. Ready to drop. But I can’t stop running. I start losing my balance, but I don't yet fall. A hand on my wrist. It pulls me forward, and I go limp, so I land on my side. I hear a door slam behind me, and then I hear it lock.
“Get up here. We’re probably not safe just standing here. Lock all the windows.”
I’m pulled up. I hear angry clicking, and “Dammit, the lights don’t work”. I shamble to the nearest window, shut it, and just about manage to lock it. I feel safer inside, but Nikki’s right; we’re probably not very safe here either. Still, no point giving up just yet. Except my legs think there is, and I fall to the floor – I didn’t quite realise how much I was shaking. I open my mouth to breathe, but I’m already breathing. Very fast. I let myself go still. I want to get off the floor because it’s not that clean. I need to wash anyway; so much running. Not that I regret anything. I feel awful – a bit sick in fact – but I feel great. So great. This might all be fruitless, and I might die in seconds, but there’s a chance I’ll get to experience something more – I’m pulled to my feet again. Are you okay? That’s not my thought. That’s Nikki asking me the question. I tell them I feel awful but great. I have my eyes closed, and I don’t really want to open them. I can feel them taking me somewhere, so I make my legs move. But they’re still supporting a lot of my weight, so I feel bad for them, even though I don’t weigh that much.
#
I’m lying on top of my sleeping bag. I open my eyes and see a line of light which comes from the bottom of the door in Nikki’s room. It’s quiet. And it’s still dark. So, I guess I haven’t been asleep too long. I get up and feel fine. I’m concerned that Nikki isn’t around, but they’re probably nearby, so I stretch and consider what happened. Nikki’s probably downstairs, keeping watch. Except they can’t watch everything at once, so I can’t understand why Nikki wouldn’t be in the room. I open the door, and check upstairs.
I don’t want to call out to them in case it draws unwanted attention. But then I probably have already done that, so I do call: “Nikki? Are you around?” There is no response, but I spoke quietly. I head to the top of the stairs.
I hear their voice, but not just theirs. I’ve never heard the other voice before, but it sounds calm, although I don’t know about what. I descend the stairs and make myself present in the kitchen where I see Nikki and the adult whom I don’t know talking. Or … maybe I don’t. I look directly at the seat, and it’s empty. I stand there, looking confused. For a moment, I get the impression I’m being smiled at, but Nikki is expressionless.
“Are you feeling alright?” Nikki asks.
“I don’t think so, I feel weird … I heard another voice.”
“That would be the person I’m talking to … ah, this will be hard to explain.”
“Where are they?”
For a moment I think here, but then … my brain feels weird. Like déjà vu, but the opposite. Like I’ve seen something, but I don’t know what I saw.
“If you hear someone talking, repeat what they said as soon as you hear it.”
I try that. I repeat in my mind “Hello. I know talking to something like me is hard. Your friend gave you good advice.” I realise I must have heard these words to repeat them, but I don’t remember them at all.
“Can you understand them now?”
“Yes,” I nod. “This is so weird.”
“It is. But our friend here is who has been causing all the lights.”
“You? Just you?” I ask. I look to the chair where I thought I saw someone, but still see no-one. I try imagining what I see as I see it and it works. I get a stronger impression of a person sitting there, and I can tell vaguely how they are sat, and what they are doing.
“Just me,” the stranger says. Or I say in my head, technically. “I explained it to Nikki a while ago, and now they’re telling me about your lives. If you don’t mind, I’ll let them explain it to you later.” I nod. At least we finally have some answers, even if I don’t know them yet. “So apparently you two have been friends since you moved here about a month ago. Why did you come here?”
“My parents have a relative who lives here, and they worked – work – for him. They were going to expand the company, so they decided to move over here.”
The stranger nods. “Do you like it here?”
“Not really.”
“I don’t either.”
Then Nikki speaks: “Shall we keep on talking, but head back to the Board?” They look at me. “We were waiting for you to wake up before we left.”
“Thank you,” I say.
The stranger gets up, and so does Nikki. They head out the front door and I hurry after them – I notice Nikki doesn’t bother locking it. I suppose with nearly no-one around it doesn’t matter. It’s just us three, as far as we know. As far as I know. I don’t know what the stranger told Nikki.
“So … what’s your name?”
“I don’t like having one.”
The stranger forms a grin – although it looks natural when it’s complete, it took considerable effort to do. “I’m the same way. But I need to call you something. If you don’t mind, I’ll call you Person.”
“That’s fine. Can I call you Stranger?”
“If you acknowledge that is only for convenience and don’t associate my identity to the name.”
“I can do that.”
They nod. “So, what do you like doing?”
I think for a moment. “Video games, singing, card games, reading. I guess there's more stuff, but I don't know what. You?”
“Surviving. From you actions I infer you like this too.”
“Like is … not quite the word for it.”
“Sorry. I have limited experience in talking to people.”
Nikki laughs. “Don’t worry; so do we.”
“You have limited experience, yet you live among people. Why is your experience limited?”
“We don't’ really have much interest in most people. I suppose we see a lot more communication that we participate in.”
“I have not seen much communication.”
“But you have seen some?” Nikki asks. “Where?”
“I’ve experienced three other places like this. In the first I was immediately dispelled when I tried to make contact. In the second I was exiled when the inhabitant grew strong enough. In the one before this, I hid for a long time and saw much, but I was discovered when the inhabitant was strong, and they nearly stopped me from existing.”
“We’re the first not to try and get rid of you?”
“Yes.”
“Why did the others?”
“I attract others like me. Our population grows very fast. We’re not meant to exist.”
Nikki nods. “Is anything?”
“That’s not what I mean.” Stranger becomes harder to see, but what I can see is expressionless. I suspect this is them thinking. “What I mean is our existence here isn’t right – we don’t exist. I’m a content of your experience, and nothing more. We exist where nothing does, yet stuff exists here now. We want to exist, but we shouldn’t have the opportunity to do so. What I mean is … your language is not enough to convey what I mean.”
“We can discuss it another time.” We are quiet for the next few minutes before we return to the Board.
“So,” says Nikki. “We have 16 hours left. That’s plenty of time, but we ought to rest at some point. So, we can keep going until we’re all tired. We should focus on hardest stuff first, while we’re still alert. But first let’s do the easiest task, while we’re all together.”
I look at the piece of paper Nikki is holding out. “The make an ally task?”
“Yep, that one. I want to test a few things out, too.” Nikki takes a page out of a notebook and writes down Stranger. They then take out their book and check. They have not gained 50 points.
“It is not my name.”
“I figured.” Nikki turns to me. “Write down mine; see if it works.” Nikki takes out my book and turns to the last page. I write down their name and a moment later they grin. “It works. It only changed the moment I stopped looking, but it works. Right, now I need to write down yours. Can I?”
“My real name?”
“Yeah. It’s something else I want to test. Like it took my nickname, so it supposedly only takes names we identify ourselves by. In which case, your birth name won’t work.”
“I suppose it’s worth testing … go ahead, write it.”
Nikki nods and does so, while I check their book. I even turn my head away to be sure. And there is no change. “Well, damn. That’s disappointing. But there’s one more thing I want to check. Keep watching.” Nikki writes again, and then the number does in fact change.
“What did you write down?”
“My own name. It didn’t say you can’t be your own ally.”
“True …”
“So, we’ve learnt these things are very specific. Which is useful.” They regard the note of this task for a moment then, nod to their self, and put it in their pocket. “Alright. How are we going to split this?”
“The tasks are assumed to be for both of you,” Stranger says. “I think I will be able to help with some so long as you are the ones to complete them.”
Nikki nods. “We can work with that. We'll divide the tasks up based on who can do them faster.”
And so, we organise the tasks as follows:
Nikki's and Mine:
select a base of operations (10 points), design a symbol (15 points), write an agenda (20 points), give yourself a title (7 points)
Stranger's:
find a communication point (30 points), survey the town (20 points), find the Easter Egg (100 points)