(Perspective Change)

Caleb’s eyes opened to a bright blue sky.

Morning…already?

For a second, Caleb hoped what happened with the man was nothing more than a nightmare. Just a neat story he could talk about with his parents at breakfast.

Caleb sat up slowly, in a daze.

The sight in front of him, however, was far from what he expected:

Water as far as the eye could see, extending to the horizon with no end in sight.

The sound of rushing water flooded his ears as he tried to make sense of where he was. He looked down to see himself sitting on a bed of sand.

A…beach?

While far from an unpleasant sight, Caleb had no idea how he ended up in a place like this.

Caleb sat there confused and aimless. He couldn’t get himself to think or analyze his situation.

Strange.

What a strange, strange feeling.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t a bad feeling. He felt like he belonged there.

It felt like…paradise.

He stared at the ocean. Even as the waves viciously raged at his feet, Caleb just sat there, listless.

Something caught his eye, however, pulling him out of his trance.

Standing a few yards away to his side was a young girl in tattered clothes. Her bright red hair flowed in the strong winds.

She stood staring at the waves. As he glanced at her face, he saw a tear streak had run down her face. Contrastingly, her face showed little emotion, as if whatever weeping she did before had run its course.

Curiosity got the better of Caleb.

“Hello?”

She flinched, but otherwise had no reaction.

In that moment, the waves increased in power, brushing against Caleb’s legs.

Regardless, he sat still, as if his body was glued to the spot. He kept his eyes on the red-haired girl.

To his surprise, her head darted in his direction.

As his eyes locked with hers, Caleb could make out the color of her eyes:

They were shining gold.

She stared at him, her expression shifting to one of confusion and apprehension. Still, she said nothing.

Ironically, Caleb started to feel like he was the anomaly in this situation.

“Where is this place?” Caleb asked.

Nothing.

While the girl kept her gaze on Caleb, her expression shifted back to one of apathy.

The waves were now brushing against Caleb’s chest, yet he sat like a stone statue, unable to move or react.

All he could do was talk to the girl.

“Are you doing this?”

“……”

“Make it stop…please…”

“……”

Water blurred his vision.

“Wake up.”

Caleb awoke with a sharp gasp.

He sat up deliriously, struggling to take in his surroundings.

His view was dark and hazy, and his ears were ringing.

Where…am I? Where…was I?

After a few seconds, He rubbed his eyes with a hand to take another shot at it.

No luck…

“Hellooo! Anybody there?!” No one responded.

Damn it, why can’t I remember anything?

Though his eyes weren’t up to speed, he could feel himself regaining control of his other senses.

Despite his blindness, he stood up and tried to move forward.

After a few inevitable bumps and stumbles, he stopped abruptly as his sense of hearing started to return, though that wasn’t the reason why.

Along with it came the sound of gut-busting laughter. It was a high-pitched voice.

Confused, Caleb called out.

“H-hello? Is someone there? I can’t see anything.” The laughter just continued.

I have no idea what the hell is so funny about this situation!

“Aaargh!” He collapsed to his knees in complete exhaustion.

What’s wrong with me? Sure, the laughing is pretty irritating, but it shouldn’t cause this sort of extreme reaction from me.

The laughter eventually died down as he moped, contemplating what sequence of events could have possibly resulted in this.

Then, suddenly, something clicked.

The odd feeling throughout the day.

His encounter with the strange man.

The DREAD.

It all came back to him in an instant.

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And, just like that, his vision returned.

He found himself in the man’s house, or, more specifically, his hallway. The house seemed entirely empty.

Feeling off, he rushed to the bathroom where he had gotten the man’s “medicine” and looked in the mirror.

He didn’t notice anything weird at first, but a close inspection of his face revealed a glaring change.

His eyes, originally brown, have turned a distinct gray color.

“Wh-what the…” he blurted out.

He burst out of the room.

That guy did something to me, and I don’t want to stay around here to find out what.

He bolted out of the front door, picked up his bike and rode in the direction of his house, which wasn’t too far away.

After the house was out of sight, He relaxed a bit, and let his mind wander.

He rewound the events in his head, a few questions surfacing.

WHO THE HELL WAS THAT CREEP!?

Where did he even go? There’s no way he just ditched the place with a random stranger unconscious on the floor.

His mind shifted to the gaseous substance and blue aura.

That…had to be some kind of hallucination, right?

He nodded to himself, content with that conclusion.

Yep, that dude definitely has some freaky skeletons in his closet. I don’t know what he put in that tea to make all that happen.

One thing’s for sure, I hope I never see that weirdo again.

As he made the final turn onto his street, his rumination turned to the laughter he heard, and how it reminded him of the giggling in front of the grocery store…

…or at least, he made what he thought was the final turn onto his street.

When he stopped in front of what he thought was his house, he realized he didn’t recognize the area.

That’s odd. I could have sworn I made the right turns. It’s not like I don’t go that route often.

He looked towards the intersection for the name of the street he was on.

When he read it, his blood ran cold…

This isn’t my street. This is…this is definitely the area of town where the recent killings have been going on.

He took a good look around and confirmed his suspicions.

It was a complete ghost town.

After some mental backtracking, he realized that the street where he encountered the strange man was the same street where the last killing occurred.

Wh-what? How did I end up there?

How did I end up here?

Was I…about to become the next victim?

Caleb stood frozen, floored.

“I just want to go home, man,” he mumbled, pleading to no one in particular, and dipped his head onto his bike.

This is some sick joke.

It’s like the universe just randomly decided to screw over this one random high school kid’s day. Make him go insane.

He didn’t move, as if the universe was going to stifle any opportunity to get back to normalcy.

“What did I do to deserve this, HUH?!” he whined to no one in particular.

“How confounding.” To his surprise, someone responded.

I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

As he chuckled weakly to himself, he lifted his head up from his bike, fully prepared for whatever may or may not be there.

As expected, he looked towards the source of the sound and didn’t see anybody. He quickly noticed, however, the silhouette exposed by the moonlit sky…on the rooftop of the two-story house in front of him.

“A runaway failing to understand the inevitable effects of their own actions, that is.”

“What the—” His mouth shut instinctively as the figure jumped off the edge of the roof.

They jumped with the grace of an elite gymnast. It took them about 30 feet above the ground Caleb stood on.

They landed cleanly on one knee, as if the jump was completely routine, a short distance away. The only thing Caleb could make out was short, flowing white hair.

As the figure stood up, however, Caleb could better see the woman in front of him.

She wore a black, high-necked tunic dress. It covered her entirely minus her hands and feet, which were covered by gloves and boots, respectively.

Her eyes conveyed an unwavering look of fierceness and fury, unnerving him.

She’s…clearly not happy about something!

All of this was far past the realm of normalcy for Caleb. Even after his encounter with the man from earlier, this display left him speechless.

The woman’s hand was enveloped in a hazy bluish white aura.

“You understand the restrictions placed on you under Purvita laws, correct?” she said, inching towards him.

“Wha-I-I-“

In what seemed like a split second, or perhaps he didn’t notice the missing time in his fearful sputtering, the woman had closed the distance to about a few feet. Her relentless stare remained piercing through his own.

Her aura-filled hand was outstretched about a few inches from his chest.

“I strongly advise that you remember immediately.”

Caleb couldn’t understand a thing she was saying, but the threat this aura posed to him was clear.

Only one thought flooded his mind in that moment:

She is going to kill me.

I’m gonna die. Just like that.

His teeth clenched, as anger and resentment clouded his mind.

I have to do something.

I don’t know if she’s the cause of the recent crimes or if she’s in cahoots with that other guy or what.

Whatever is going on, it’s leaving people either dead or missing. I’m not about to let myself become another news story for people to gossip about!

In a rush of adrenaline, he swiped her hand away with a surprising amount of speed.

BOOM.

Caleb wasn’t prepared for the explosion that followed. For a second he thought he glimpsed a massive black wave.

The pressure alone had forced his eyes shut, though luckily it didn’t seem to affect him more than that.

When he opened his eyes, he looked to his side and gawked at the damage.

A massive chunk of the street, from one sidewalk to the other, had been completely leveled.

Holy…

As he looked to the woman in front of him, he saw that her hard stare had changed to a look of contained shock…

…and she wasn’t moving.

Is she…frozen?

Upon closer inspection, he realized that she was moving, just very slowly, as if in a vat of molasses.

It seemed like she was stepping back in an instinctual reaction, but at a snail’s pace.

He was confused, but his adrenaline was begging him to forget about those feelings and just survive.

So, seeing an opportunity, he took off, praying he could find safety anywhere. Just enough that he could sort through all this in his head.

He ran towards what he thought was the closest populated area in the hopes of finding normal people.

After getting about a couple blocks away, he was hit by a massive kick to the back, flooring him.

“I should have expected that someone brazen enough to try something like this would have something prepared. That blubbering was a passable front…temporarily.”

Wincing, he slowly rose from the ground. The woman walked up to him and got into a fighting stance.

“You have quite an impressive Immanence.”

Immanence? What is she talking about?

Caleb stared cautiously at her. She stood still, as if expecting him to make the next move.

This…can’t be a dream. That pain was all too real.

I don’t think I could take many more of those hits, and I clearly can’t outrun her.

My only option is to see if she listens to reason. I don’t even know why she’s attacking me.

He put his hands up to show he meant no harm.

“Wait! If you really plan on killing me, at least tell me why?!”

The woman relaxed slightly, her stoic expression seeming softer.

“Have you…hit your head on something?”

Seriously?

“Yes. I was aggressively kicked to the ground.” Caleb said, a bit angry.

The woman’s eyes narrowed, likely just as irritated.

“That was rhetorical. Do not play games with me.”

Says the woman asking me pointless rhetorical questions at a time like this.

He threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Either way, I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re trying to say here.”

“I have no intention of killing you. I am arresting you. Surely you understand how Purvita laws work?”

“Purvita? I don’t know what that is.” He folded his arms.

“And you truly expect me to believe that? You are not the first criminal to try this.”

“I’m…not a criminal.”

Caleb felt like smacking himself in the head, realizing he was probably just egging her on at this point.

She sighed.

“I can sense your power, that is how I found you. You used the Dark Potentiam right in front of me.” She explained.

“Dark…Potentiam?”

Guess she’s talking about the massive crater I made out of the street.

“Hmph. Honestly, if that is all you have to say, shall we continue? Now it is my turn.”

“Wait! I can’t explain any of that stuff. I’m telling you the truth!” he pleaded with his hands out in front of him.

The woman’s hand, still covered in a hazy blue-white aura, tensed. In that moment, the aura shifted to a fuller, white aura.

She jutted her hand out, sending a cluster of the aura in his direction.

Before Caleb could even react, the aura temporarily blocked his vision.

In that instant, the woman had immediately covered all ground between them, almost as if teleporting.

She swiped her arm in front of him, releasing the aura from her hand. The aura enveloped Caleb, this time damaging and sending him flying.

Everything went dark for a moment before Caleb managed to shake himself back into awareness. He found himself in a pile of rubble.

As he tried to stand up, he coughed up blood, falling back to the ground.

He looked up to gauge his surroundings, and his mouth went agape.

The wall of the house he laid under was completely decimated, the structure struggling to keep the roof from toppling over him.

I…survived that?! What the hell is happening?!

He did his best to push thoughts of fear and distress out as he desperately calculated his next action.

He couldn’t see the woman, so he figured he must have flown pretty far.

He stumbled to his feet, almost slipping, and limped out of the house.

I have to move.

I need to go…anywhere away from that woman.