No one needs to know about the monster in the basement. If you’re lucky and you leave it alone, maybe you’ll even forget about it.

Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs
Current Date: November 16, 2022

Character: Eden Jordan
Race: Human
Age: 25
Current residence: Wenzhou, China
 

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We’ve recently discovered that neither one of us has any lost love for anything horror. Growing up, I was never very interested in watching television. My parents were usually busy doing whatever it was they did while they weren’t home, and I spent my alone time reading books. Even from a young age, I didn’t spend all that much time outside. What memories I have of my school years when I was a child and not yet a teen are filled with my being a lonely little boy with no friends. Something that seems about right.

I used to believe—I still do, though I know better in a way—that I was invisible. Unless I approached someone first, it was as though no one could see me. It was an exhausting thing for little me and I didn’t like to approach others. If I did, it was on a rare occasion and while it never ended terribly, I don’t have many memories of times when I stepped forward and it ended positively. Or well, more than one would expect of two kids meeting.

At this point in my life, I know that I’m not so much invisible as I seem to have a face that most people don’t really remember or don’t care to pay attention to. I don’t really know how to put it. Most people still don’t seem to notice I’m there other than Qiu and I cannot put into words how glad I am for that. I don’t know that my life would have changed in any positive way from what it had been since I moved here if not for them in my life.

My work crew seems mock-immune to it but only partially so. I might be working with them throughout the night, but they seem to miss me whenever I walk on by or if I’m not in their direct line of sight, it’s the strangest thing. I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve lost count of how many times someone might have been looking for me and wondering if I came in at all despite the fact that I’d already greeted them, and we’d exchanged a few words some hours earlier.

Anyway.

As a child, I used to read a lot.

As an adult, I didn’t really see a point in the idea of starting to watch movies or even shows when I hadn’t before. I was fine living in a world of books and more books. With Qiu at my side, we spent a lot of time just settled close while I was reading, and they were either playing games on a tablet or even just listening to music. Movies and television were part of their lives and slowly, I allowed myself to discover these things with them.

We’ve watched things set in fantasy, and we’ve watched things with a science fiction setting. We’ve watched a few comedies though I couldn’t really get into those. Up until recently, we hadn’t really bothered with horror but, as Halloween approached, I guess we’d both decided on giving it a try. Maybe we just didn’t pick the right movie. I don’t know. I didn’t care for it, and I know that Qiu didn’t either.

There was a scene at one point where the one person that I suppose might have been considered the villain of sorts told the movie’s not-quite hero that no one needed to know about the monster in the basement. A monster of which we’d only caught glimpses at this point. A monster that could have been fake as it could have been real. There was something that if they—the not-quite hero—were lucky and they left the monster alone, they would possibly even just forget about it.

There were no jump scares to that movie, though there were in a couple of others we tried to watch. In the one with the supposed monster in the basement, it was mostly all just sort of psychological. It was hard to follow because it was also a foreign movie with plenty of subtitles to try and keep up with and just, all in all, neither one of us was impressed with it. I think that we’re going to be keeping to other types of movies. We watched a series—two trilogies, I think they were—that took us more than just a day to watch each. Every movie was close to three hours each and it was just, it was epic. That’s the kind of movie that had my attention and it was hard to look away.

I remember how we made sure to take breaks between each movie because they were so long but if given a chance, I think I would have tried to binge them and that’s saying a lot from someone who doesn’t care much to watch anything on the television.

Still. It’s been a discovery.

Final Word Count: 819

This is so far beyond what I’m capable of. I don’t know how to help.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs
Characters: Eden Jordan
Race: Human
Age: 25
Current residence: Wenzhou, China
Final Word Count: 828 words
 

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The mess on the floor before us is something I’ve never had to deal with up until now. I know we’ve been staring at it for the better part of ten minutes now and no one has done a single thing to try and fix it. Our best option is to just pick up what we can with a shovel, I think, and the rest with the mop. The whole pallet needs to be brought back into the backroom so that we can take care of this.

I wish I hadn’t been working today. I wish it wasn’t my problem to deal with this. Not that it should be my problem, I’m nowhere near the title of manager or even support, but I’m the one who has been on this team long enough at this point to be the one people come to when things like these happen if the other two aren’t there. It’s rare that they’re both absent; usually they’ll make sure that one of them is always present on the schedule, but it is one of these things.

The smell finally hits me, and I can only wrinkle my nose. This feels so far beyond what I should have to deal with. We’ll have to count how many are broken—or more aptly, how many are still left intact so that we know how many must be sent out to claims. I’m still not fully sure if the half-baked plan in my mind is the best option but they’re all just sort of waiting on my word and it’s all I can do.

So, I tell them to get the shovel we keep in the back, I tell them to get one of the trash bins and thankfully I’m pretty sure one of them has been emptied just before our shift started. They need to double-bag it. I ask someone else to just carefully move the pallet off to the side so the worst of the mess can be dealt with but until we’ve picked everything up, doing anything else is moot and we’ll drag pickle juice everywhere. This isn’t going to be a pleasant smell to deal with for a while but somehow, I prefer that to the store I remember going to that had had a bottle of deer musk, or whatever, just sort of explode everywhere. That smell had been so gross beyond words.

There are times when I know I underestimate my ability to deal with things like these, but these moments are so rare that I don’t think it’s all that unexpected that I would freeze for a while. This is one of the many reasons why I’ve backed out of the offers they’ve given me to move up to support. I know that this would mean I’d get better pay, but I would also work somewhat longer hours—I still would have plenty of time with Qiu—and it would mean so many more responsibilities on my shoulders that I don’t think I could deal with it.

Having to handle situations like these once in a blue moon is more than enough and I’ll probably be stupidly exhausted by the time I get to the centre to pick Qiu up after work tonight.

Once the worst of the mess is contained, I have someone take the pallet into the backroom and take count of how many cases are intact and how many are missing or broken. We need a clear count for claims to be able to take care of that. With the rest of the small team present, we get to cleaning up what’s left of the glass and pickle juice, we even clean up the shelves where things had splashed and, all, in all, by the near-end of the shift, the store doesn’t smell too much like pickles.

The only way I have a confirmation of this is when the small night crew comes in and doesn’t mention a thing. It’s the only thing that makes me appreciate the fact that we’ve worked our arses off to make sure everything was fine. We’re a bit behind on dealing with our delivery but once I explained that to the night manager, everything was fine, and we were all right. Accidents do happen and while it’s not that great of a thing that we’ve lost so many of the jars for the display, there’s not much we can do about it, at this point.

When it’s time to clock out, I find myself just wanting to go home. I’ve had to wash my hands and arms so often at this point that everything feels dry and it’s uncomfortable. I find myself briefly stopping by a coffee place on the way to pick up Qiu for a small coffee because I didn’t think I could make it there without possibly nodding off. I know, at least, that once I get there, they’ll keep me awake while we head home.

Only you would find a hidden treasure this big. You didn’t even make it look hard.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs
Characters: Eden Jordan
Race: Human
Age: 23
Final Word Count: 709 words
 

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Asking Qiu to be at my side as more than a friend took more courage than I thought I would ever need but they said yes. They even told me that they had been waiting and hoping and just expecting that I would ask them to become a steadier part of my life but they hadn’t said anything because they could feel that I needed time and space. They were the first person to ever mention that but it made me think back to the rest of my life where I knew I’d always needed to have my personal space untouched and everyone somehow seemed to respect it, oddly enough.

Except for Qiu, that was. From the moment I started walking them home after my blood donation, they’d always find an excuse to reach out and touch me. My hand, my arm, my shoulder. It was light but it felt so good in its own way that I looked forward to that touch and it would just make my night easier. It also made me sleep better; I can’t really explain it. There’s just something special about Qiu and that’s all I know. That’s all I need to know.

We started spending more time together once we started dating. It took some fiddling a bit but, as it turns out, their schedule isn’t all that different from mine and that works out really well. We’ve gone out on dates, we’ve spent nights and early mornings together, just cuddling and comfortable and I feel like my life has a whole new meaning; I didn’t think that having someone at my side would change my life that much.

Of course, that’s not to say I think my life would be as it is if it were anyone else but Qiu at my side. They’re the reason why it is as it is and that is that, no one can make me believe otherwise.

Last week, we packed for a day trip to the beach. It was an hour or so by car to get there and Qiu had to drive us because I don’t drive and even after three years spent here in this city, I’m still not all that knowledgeable about which way to go to get to places and without a GPS I think I’d probably get lost so often that it would only make me want to not do anything and just stick to my routine.

So we packed up a bit of food, we packed up a change of clothes, some towels, some sunscreen and all and we were on our merry way. Qiu is the one who had mentioned the beach—not so much for the swimming but for all of the beautiful sights that did surround the beach. I was curious, I’d never been to a beach before and the idea was interesting. As was, and I did warn them, I can’t swim at all and we made sure that we’d only go so far into the water. As was, at this time of the year, the weather had already begun to change somewhat and the water would likely already be more than a little uncomfortably cool.

In the long run, we did walk with our feet in the water and yes, it was chilly, but we spent most of our day looking for treasure.

Of course, I had no idea what kind of treasure we were looking for but, at one point, I found a whole pit that was filled with mostly intact seashells and they were just so beautiful. Qiu laughed and told me that only I would find a hidden treasure this big; they went on to say that they’d been to this beach countless of times and had never found quite so many in a single spot and, somehow, through it all, I hadn’t even made it look hard to find it.

We only took a couple each; those we found were the most beautiful and left the others for other beach-goers to find. I still have those shells, I washed them a little and now they’re sitting on my bedside table. I like these dates, they just feel so nice. Being with Qiu is just a daily breath of fresh air.

With all due respect, you want me to do what exactly?

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs
Characters: Eden Jordan
Race: Human
Age: 22
Final Word Count: 681 words
 

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My job is simple enough and it’s mostly all manual work with just a little extra side of paperwork once in a blue moon and I like it well enough. Sure, it makes me work with a team of other people but this job isn’t about socializing and it’s not centred on clients, though there are clients to deal with every now and again but not half as much as there could be. The afternoon into evening shift works out well with me, it means I can usually catch up with Qiu when they leave their own work station to head home for the night and we can spend a little time together. That shift also works well with my blood donation at this point, too.

I used to work the morning shift, I’d still be in the back, I’d be handling the coming in of the deliveries and the rest but I had to bow out of that particular job when the guy I’d been hired to replace while he was convalescing came back. That and the fact that for the third time in as many weeks, they’d tried to ask me to come in, in the middle of the night, to unload a delivery truck, by hand, at another store, because there had been a mishap in the driver’s itinerary.

I’ve done it twice because I didn’t know better but as it turns out, it’s not something we’re even supposed to handle and I told them as much on the third call. I should have told them as much on the first call but it was my first job in the city and I didn’t want to lose it over something like that. I’d been talking with the guy whose job it really was—he was on medical leave but was due to come back about a month or two later at that point—and he told me that it was something we didn’t have to do, so I put my foot down.

After that, they offered me the late afternoon into evening job with the folks who do deal with the store’s van itself and it’s been a change of pace. It’s just so much more physical a job that over the first few weeks, I was completely exhausted and I couldn’t focus enough to make myself get up on the mornings I was due for blood donations. I managed to adapt to the job but, just the same, after discussing with Qiu while they were at the front desk, I realized that their donation hours ran up to about an hour until after I was done with work so it was fine. Plus, most of the time, I’m scheduled for my donation on my days off so I don’t even really have to rush through.

Giving blood this late also gives me an excuse that I’m usually the last one in and I can walk Qiu back to their apartment, which isn’t very far from mine.

Getting to know them better has been an experience. I always feel a little awkward because, up to this point in my life, I’d been living in this sort of protective bubble that people seemed to respect and they’d never been in my personal space but they seem immune to that and any single time they can get their hands on me—just to touch my hand, my arm, my shoulder—they do so. It sends butterflies swarming right through me. Qiu is a lot more outgoing and playful than I am but I want more of that, I want more of their presence in my life and I think that, after more than two years, almost going on three, I’m beginning to feel ready to ask them if we can maybe try to be a little more than friends.

Every time I think about asking that very question, my stomach flops over and I get stressed out because I think I’m terrified they’ll say no but, unless I take this leap, I’ll never know. So I have to, I know.

You’ve been the only constant in my life up until now.

Timeline/World: Main Profile
Characters: Eden Jordan
Race: Human
Age: 21
Final Word Count: 618 words

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At times I think I switch between being absolutely and utterly introverted and being an ambivert. I mean, at times, I don’t mind socializing but once I’m done socializing I have to spend a lot of time on my own to recharge my batteries but those moments when I want to socialize are so rare that I just don’t really know what to think.

There really was only one person who was a constant in my life before I moved into the bigger city, not even my parents, I don’t remember my parents. I’m not sure if the person in question was supposed to be family or friend, I just remember them being there when I was young and never really questioning their presence since they were all I knew.

I remember not making friends in school, I wasn’t comfortable with anyone in my personal space and somehow, for some reason I still don’t understand, they respected that. Maybe there’s something non-human about me, something that makes people give me my space. I know how rare that is, for human beings to all play ‘by the rules’ as is. I suppose it doesn’t really matter.

When I was eighteen—it feels like more than just three years ago—I moved out of the little home that had been our house for as long as I recalled and I found my way into the big city. Not because I had big dreams or because I had connections, no. I’d just found an ad in the paper about a particular job offer and I found myself interested in the potential job. Mind you, I moved before I’d even gone to the first interview. I had money from small summer work I’d done in the library and the clothes on my back, more or less.

I stayed in a small hotel room for the time it took for me to get to that first interview, somehow miraculously land the job and then find a quiet little apartment with a view of a pretty park. I’ve lived there since. People come and go in my life but they all keep their distance, I still can’t explain it and I’m not going to try and figure out why. I think it suits me just fine to be given my peace when I need it. If I need something, I’ll approach someone and that just works out well.

The only one who seems immune to this distance and bubble thing is Qiu. Not that I have any real proof on the subject but they’re the only person who seems to, I don’t know, notice me without my needing to make myself be known, heard or seen first. Every time I go to donate blood—and I do this often enough—Qiu greets me with the warmest of smiles and uttering of my name that makes me smile right back. I don’t know how many people they greet this way if it’s everyone or it’s just me. I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Somehow I don’t really expect this to grow into something more than a passing-by greeting, though I think that making a friend of sorts in this city would be nice.

Time might tell, I don’t know.

And no, to the one person who seemed to imply I’ve been tired lately because I’m pulling all-nighters to try and catch them when they leave work, you’re sorely mistaken and you can mind your own business. What I do with my free time is mine to decide with and if I want to be sleepless, I will.

Well, okay, no. I would rather not be sleepless but I just haven’t been able to sleep. Doesn’t matter. I’ll crash eventually.

Waiting

Timeline/World: Main Profile
Characters: Eden Jordan
Race: Human
Age: 20
Final Word Count: 569 words

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Closing his eyes, Eden breathed out a low sigh and leaned back into the chair. He shifted his weight a little and grunted somewhat as the curve along the plastic back of the thing dug into his back.

He hated these chairs but he was in there every other week at this point. He still had a hard time understand why he let himself be talked into this but it was for the good of others, so perhaps it was why he didn’t have quite as much an issue with it all, in the end.

If only the chairs were somewhat more comfortable, it would make more sense. He knew these places didn’t really care for the comfort of those who were waiting. Now, the comfort of those who were there for help was something else, but the comfort of either the visitors or those who weren’t seeking medical help wasn’t high on the list.

Peeking one eye open, Eden looked at his surroundings, never really surprised at how people tried but failed miserably to be quiet in the waiting room. He looked down to the small paper in his hand again and closed his eyes once more, opening them yet again at the small sound of the bell that indicated someone else was being called forward.

He looked at the panel, then back to the number in his hand and closed his eyes. Should have come by earlier. He shook his head a little, aware that while the thought made sense, it would have been pointless. His appointment was at ten and coming in at six when there were fewer people so he could get his file pulled up and then go sit in another waiting room for his appointment to come up.

No, it was easier to just come in about an half an hour before hand and deal with the mass of people.

When his number came up, he moved to the front of the window, stepping to the one numbered 4 on the side. He sat down, handed over his paper slips and his card, a half-smile offered to the greying woman sitting there as she made copies of everything and then gave him back his information before he was on his way once more.

I’m here every other week, I almost always end up at her desk, does she see so many people that even my face doesn’t look familiar at all? He frowned at the thought but shook his head. It made no sense to dwell on it.

As he moved to the secondary waiting room, the young nurse behind the counter looked up from typing and smiled brightly. “Morning Eden!”

“Morning Qiu.” He smiled warmly, chuckling lightly as he moved to sit to one of the waiting chairs, content for the soft padding and the fact that at least one person in this whole place had a greeting to offer him. Then again, he saw Qiu every single time he came for his donation and it usually was always the young nurse who took care of things for him.

Eden even had a feeling that perhaps, just perhaps there could be a hint of friendship between them though he wasn’t holding his breath, Qiu was a wonderful nurse but Eden just didn’t know if there could be an interest for anything outside of the hospital walls.

He’d just have to wait and see.