Chris V

I’m losing my sense of self as the days go by. Things are getting harder to comprehend as they happen. Marina makes no sense. I don’t make any sense. Can you?

People like us are attracted to each other. It’s how she found me. We’re all destined to converge at one point or another. Yet I only met her. She says there are two others like us in this state. I’m supposed to meet them too.

I had the leave the building when the news broke that Lyle murdered that guy trying to kidnap those two girls. I had to go for a walk. None of this makes sense. The two others who are just like us had nothing to do with any of this. Did Marina tell him where they were? Have I been played? I thought I could trust her.

I click on the button of the intersection pole to be able to cross the street. While I wait for the light to change, I'm unable to look at anywhere but the sidewalk below me. Water is seeping out of the cracks. In no time my ankles are surrounded by a puddle. The light changes but I'm unable to walk. I look up and realize that no cars are even driving nearby. I had no need to wait for the light change. I look back down and the water is now to my knees, then my waist. I'm in the muddle of and endless ocean flooding the city now and it only rises to submerge me completely. Regardless, I can still breathe.

“Why do you think you can make a difference? ” A voice behind me says.

I'm able to move now and as I turn, I see a fish. “What?”

The world around me is confided by a two-by-four glass box. It’s now me and this fish, underwater. “You are scared! You're scared! Why are you so scared?!”

“I’m not scared.”

“Then why do you hide away inside your little head? I’ve been watching you, Chris. You act like you don't see it. You have everything figured out except how to admit it. It's too bad you're such a thinker.”

“This isn’t real.”

I’m going crazy. I’m going crazy. I’m going crazy.

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The fish swims around me. “The guilt over Elizabeth’s is driving you crazy,”

“I'm correcting my mistake.”

The fish laughs. “Stop hiding from what you saw. Freedom isn’t bound by the individual. There’s no such thing as fate. There’s no such thing as destiny. It’s just life, man. It doesn’t have to have meaning, it doesn’t have to make sense. The better you can understand that, the better you can understand that it's pointless. You're so fixated that this road you're seeing only has one ending. Free will doesn't work like that.”

“You're not making any sense.”

“You think too much.”

“How can I not?”

“Insanity always lingers.” Mr. Fish continues to circle around me. “Break yourself from your chains.”

I put up my middle finger.

“Look around you, what do you see?” Mr. Fish says but he's gone now. There’s no one around. The two-by-four glass box is gone but I’m still underwater.

As I look around, I spot something shining in the distance, across the street. I make my way there and the light only gets brighter and the underwater buildings and roads slowy become shrouded in darkness. I look back where I came from and there’s nothing there, the streets have disappeared. The shining light in front of me only gets bigger. I start to run towards it until it's so bright that the light blinds my entire sight.

*bonk*

I run into nothing.

Nothing is in front of me except my reflection.

Oh. Right.

I’m just a fish

-

A hand grabs my wrist from behind. Everything goes back to normal. I'm let go.

I was running inside my head. I haven't moved from the intersection. What a relief.

Marina has her hands on her knees, audibly panting. She signs, “I finally caught up to you.”

“Why did you tell Lyle? I thought I could trust you.”

Marina’s breathing slows down. These are the first noise I’ve heard from her. Once she composes herself, she signs, “I didn’t. He shouldn’t even know about them! I don't have the power to stop him.”

“Then what does he want? Does he know I’m just like you?”

Marina shakes her head, “You think I wanted this to happen?”

“Then what?!”

“Nothing.”

Nothing?

“Then this what he does. He goes after people who are more special than the rest. He wants to find the people who are like us. The people whose threads you see. He has an obsession with my father but has twisted his ideas. Lyle won't stop until he gets what he wants.”

"Why should I trust you?"

Marina takes her time signing. "You agreed, remember? You see how we can stop him. I'm the one who's trusting you."