‘It was never going to work’? How would you know? You never even tried to see if it would!

Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 3rd Generation
Current Date: February 19, 2058

Character: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human – Demi-God Moon & Time
Age: 38, physically about 26
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
 

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I don’t know where the dream came from. I don’t even know if I can rightfully call this a dream because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. It was borderline a nightmare because it involved Quinn looking at me as though I was some weak and pathetic being who couldn’t even be trusted to wipe my own arse and even just thinking about that hurts.

I love my twin; I adore him. He’s half of me and that will never change but we’ve both adapted to the fact that this pull might never truly go away. I’m fine with that; I can feel it in the back of my mind and in my soul, but it has faded into something that is just part of the background for me now. I have Jayne in my life and he’s my missing half, as far as my forever-life is concerned. We wouldn’t be bonded if we weren’t meant to be.

Jayne talking to me the way Quinn did in my dream would destroy me utterly. I don’t think I would know what to do with myself if it happened but I know it won’t. Just as I know that Quinn would never act toward me in the way his dream self did. That’s why I’m trying not to think about it too much because it was just a dream, a very bad one.

I’m still confused as to where it came from, though. I think that, in a way, this is why I’m still thinking about it and making sense of it.

My twin has never once belittled me for the fact that I could get us lost just heading into school even though it was a near-straight line, so to speak. It was the same path every time we headed and the same could be said of the hallways we roamed between classes and the dorms. Thankfully, as we were younger, there were markers everywhere on the walls and floors and I could follow that but, the fact that Quinn shared more or less all of my classes kept me from getting lost.

In the dream, though; in the dream, he wasn’t quite so willing to keep me from getting lost. We were young, not even teenagers. He wasn’t mean, not at first. He seemed helpful, telling me that I had to try these new methods he’d thought of for me to find my way around on my own and I kept on telling him that none of these methods were ever going to work, how could they? Just about the only place I never got lost was in the house but that was because it only had so many rooms and so many places for me to be at. It made sense that I wouldn’t get lost, right? Right.

When I started telling him that his methods wouldn’t work, he got angry. He started yelling and telling me that I was an idiot; that I was stupid. That I never would amount to anything because I just wasn’t willing to even try anything that would help me. The insults kept on coming and each of them hurt a little more than the last. An annoying frustration, a useless idiot, a pathetic brother he felt chained to.

To no one’s surprise, when I woke up, though I felt bad after I’d calmed down, I called him. It was barely four in the morning and even now I’m surprised the call was answered. It was Collin who picked up the phone and after I’d sufficiently calmed down after talking to Quinn and mumbling endless apologies, I called them back by late morning to apologize for waking both of them up.

I spent the afternoon with my twin because I think I desperately needed the confirmation that we were all right and that he didn’t think any of those things about me even though I knew better and here we are now. I’m tired, the bed looks so inviting and I just want to curl up to Jayne and forget the dream has ever happened. I’m just worried about the fact that it might come back tonight but I don’t know that it will. If I have to, I’ll pop in one earbud with the no-dream whatever low-sound waves, or beat, or whatever it is that helps the brain settle into a certain pattern. It doesn’t work often but I figure it can’t hurt.

At this point, all I want is just proper sleep and while I can think of a few different ways for me to be worn out enough to not have to worry about dreams, I just don’t know if I can find my way into being able to have that kind of energy at this point. So, the earbud will do. Earbud and Jayne-cuddles.

Final Word Count: 801

If I came from a universe you never existed in, I think my life would have been worse off.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 3rd Generation
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human – Demi-God Moon & Time
Age: 37, physically about 26
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
Final Word Count: 755 words
 

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Growing up wasn’t easy. I know how our story goes, I do.

In the beginning, there was only one. That somehow, two came to be, is one of those things but there was supposed to be one. Being the older ones of the two, just barely, in a way, I guess I was the first one out of the tank, I think that I always felt as though I had to keep Quinn safe. With the speech thing and the fact that Quinn didn’t socialize much, I always stayed at his side.

The only time I couldn’t was during gym classes because I was exempt. He always got so moody during those classes. Really sullen. It never felt good. Collin usually was exempt from Quinn’s moods, so I was grateful for that though I didn’t like it either, not at first. I felt as though it made me the third wheel of sorts when all I had in mind was keeping my brother safe and sound from the world.

Our childhood wasn’t great. It was a conflicting time in my young, young life. I wanted to keep Quinn safe from the whole world and he was happiest when I was with him and so was Coll but, at the same time, I wanted to spend time with others. I wanted to spend more time with Jayne because I really liked him, but I didn’t know how to bring it up at all.

I can’t remember the exact moment when we finally came to a sort of agreement that we could be apart. It was probably a little before his second surgery, I think. It feels like forever ago and, in a way, it is. I mean, it hasn’t been that long, but it feels like that long.

There are days when it still feels a bit like a fairy tale that I got to spend time with Jayne. I know that things weren’t easy between us either and I still do blame myself for that. Myself and my protective mindset over Quinn, even when Collin was with him. Letting go of that mindset is—was—hard.

Over the years, though, if there is one thing that I’ve realized is that there is a very set group of people I need in my life and if they’re not in my life, I don’t think I would survive. At the top of that list, of course, is Jayne. It might not have been that way when we were younger but he’s at the very top of that list now and nothing will change that. Right after Jayne, Quinn comes, and right after Quinn, our parents. There are others that have made it on that list, and it would hurt like hell if they were to be gone but I think that I could likely manage to survive those.

Jayne, though…

I can’t imagine living without him. Not just for the fact that he makes sure I don’t get lost, or that he’s the proper half of my soul. At one point, we were just on the roof one night. We were talking about the stars in the sky and other potential planets. I’m not even sure how that came onto the subject. The very odd and random thought that came to the surface, during that discussion, was that if I’d somehow been born to a universe where he never was meant to exist, my life wouldn’t have been worth it, I don’t think.

I can’t even claim that it would just have been worse off than what a normal life would have been. I feel like, even though I might not have known that he was meant to be part of my life, you know, if I were to live in a different universe where he wasn’t there, I still somehow would have known that there was something missing from my life, and I would have been unable to properly function.

It might seem like a strange way to look at things but it’s true. He’s part of my life, he’s important and he’s just my everything. In this life, if he were to be gone from it, I wouldn’t come back from the pit it would throw me into. If, in another universe or even an alternate reality, he wasn’t at my side, I don’t know that my life would make much sense.

In the long run, I’m very aware that it’s possibly quite far-fetched but it is what it is, and nothing will change that. Nothing.

You see me as I really am and who I aim to be. An agent of chaos.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – New York City
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human
Age: 32
Current residence: New York City Ruins, New York
Final Word Count: 783 words
 

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There are days when I wonder if the world hasn’t gotten worse since the mock ice age. I know that this isn’t the case, but the few people I’ve come across who just push the boundaries a little too far make me shake my head in absolute confusion and then, well then, the rest is history.

I still come across plenty who still think that since I somehow don’t care to be around too many people at once, I must be an idiotic brute, deep down inside. Someone who has no idea how to read social cues or how to deal with a situation that might require it. People need to remember that it’s not because you’re not talking to everyone and making daily social calls that you don’t know how to handle people.

I’m an introvert. That hasn’t changed with the end of the world. I still don’t like being around too many people and working with Jayne was just enough of a drain for me to manage my days just fine. I know it probably sounds weird when I put it that way but it’s a long story. I can handle dealing with plenty of people a day, just not at once. Working as a mock orderly at the retreat was just what I was needing, job-wise.

Now, the retreat was something altogether different from the clinic where I’d briefly worked before; that clinic had its fair share of nutcases, to use a common word that seemed to be, well, common, to the people. People weren’t quite that out there at the retreat, though some toed the line. I’ve met all sorts while there, too.

I once thought that with the world changing as it had, the nutcases, as they were, had mostly gone the way of the snow and disappeared. I was wrong, of course, but that’s to be expected, isn’t it? There still are people who require to talk to head doctors, and I think that it’s just a good thing that a few have somehow survived the snow.

Others will avoid these very doctors as though somehow even just talking to them briefly would ruin them or change their lives forever. I just don’t understand them. Though, with them not being quite right in the head, I suppose that trying to understand them is moot, as is trying to make them understand that seeing a head doc isn’t going to hurt them, either. It’s usually quite the opposite.

A couple of weeks back, I came across a case—not even a patient, just someone roaming the streets in the middle of a pretty heavy downpour—that left me scratching my head. I’d seen the woman quite a few times at that point. She didn’t live very far from where we did but up until that point, she’d just been minding her own business.

I’d been out in that rain, myself, because it hadn’t been raining by the time I’d stepped into the store. The rains have been coming out of the blue lately. One moment the sky will be clear, there will be a few clouds doting the sky, the next, it’ll be pouring like there’s no end in sight, but it’ll only last a short while before it’ll stop.

I tried waiting it out, but it didn’t look ready to stop at any point, so I braved it and headed out.

I nearly ran right into her. She was dancing in the rain, not wearing a whole lot and just seeming to be quite gleeful. I hadn’t seen her as she came out from around the corner quite suddenly. I just barely managed to take a few steps back to avoid her. She cackled at the sight of me, she told me she was an agent of chaos that I was seeing her as she really was and how she aimed to be. I might have stared at her for a minute before I just made my way around her and kept walking.

Now, her behaviour doesn’t mean she’s not quite right in the head, but it wasn’t exactly normal behaviour, not as far as I’m concerned. I’m no doctor, though. I did bring her up briefly to Jayne when I got home—and undressed nearly outside our door to not drip everywhere inside since I was just so damned soaked through. The item I’d gone to pick up from the store had been, thankfully, untouched, if you would, by the rain. It had been a glass item that had only required being dried out to be put to use.

I’ve only seen her in passing since and you can bet I’m actually keeping half a distance from her.

If there’s a way to make you eat those words, I’ll find it.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human
Age: 31
Current residence: New York City, New York
Final Word Count: 754 words
 

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I know that a lot of people seem to live by the statement that vengeance is a dish best served cold. Personally, I don’t really believe in vengeance. Getting even won’t make the hurt be any less potent. Hurting someone just to prove a point won’t bring back the person you miss because of the one you just hurt. Who knows, maybe it’s just me. What we do, it isn’t about vengeance, it isn’t about getting even, it isn’t even about getting back to people.

I believe that what we do is about making something right again. I’m sure that plenty of people would claim that it’s a fine line to be toed but it is what it is.

We don’t go after the so-called bad guys because we feel that the people who have been hurt by these people need to be avenged, we go after these people—or even some smaller businesses—because these people need to be stopped before they hurt anyone else. That, I think, is the big difference here. What we do is about helping others more than avenging anyone. It won’t change a thing if I decide that my dead pet rat needs to be avenged as its death was uncalled for. It won’t bring it back.

I don’t have a pet rat, by the way. I wouldn’t even know what to do with a pet of any sort.

To be honest, it’s quite rare that we’re face to face with the people we deal with. Most of the time, we’re behind the scenes, dealing when no one’s around which, you know, best time to do things at this point. We are around, though more as part of the general populace, when people do get arrested. We keep track of things on the television, we keep track of what goes on in the world of news reporters and the rest.

I remember, one of the most recent jobs we’d worked through, the same night, there had been more cars than I personally would have deemed necessary that suddenly—not to us—rushed to one particular building. Out of that rush in of cops and news vans—we weren’t the ones to tip them off—about half a dozen men came out, handcuffed and being walked to the waiting vehicles. Of course, I was amongst the group of curious bystanders, just watching.

The boss of the small group being taken in turned to face a reporter who was speaking rather rapidly into the live camera she was facing. The boss—a slightly older man, to not call him a gentleman because he was everything but—almost tried to reach out to the reporter and, while being held back by the cop who’d been walking him to a vehicle, he screamed out that he’d make that reporter eat her words, there was a way and he’d find it. The poor woman looked shaken for a few seconds before her professionalism came right back up to the surface and she kept on reporting.

According to a very good source, only five of the six are currently behind bars. The sixth one—an underage teen—was released but still is under watch, just in case he might try something. I can’t imagine he will, but you never know. Loyalty is a strong bond to have with someone and it can change the way you do a lot of things.

As far as I know, no one has even reached out to the reporter and she’s still doing her job just fine and without any set backs. At times, in situations like these, we might keep an eye on a few people following these jobs, just to be sure they’re well and safe, but most of the time, the people being put behind bars are good about uttering those big, big words but they don’t have anything to back up what they’re barking about.

I’m pretty sure that they’ve found and still will find plenty more incriminating evidence about that particular group. None of it was planted, mind you. It was just dug up and brought a little closer to the surface so that the people working on the case would have an easier time getting what they need. At times, we’re not even the ones doing any of the work. I’ve lost track of how many people Jayson has found dirt on. We do our job because someone needs to. I think that’s the only way to look at it.

It’s like you don’t know me anymore. Oh wait, you don’t.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – New York City
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human
Age: 31
Final Word Count: 725 words
 

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I don’t know how anyone could think that the world had truly changed since the snow had come and gone. Yes, our numbers have dwindled to near nothing, that’s one thing. Yes, we’ve struggled through the snow, through the rebuilding, through the settling. Has that changed the fact that, fundamentally, we’re still human beings and there still are jerks, as there are prima donnas, as there are those who would rather just keep to themselves and not bother with everyone else?

No.

People will still have petty fights.

People will still argue.

People will still make out in broad daylight, lost in their passion, oblivious to the people around them and I’ve witnessed that last one just recently. It was more than just making out in broad daylight and it still makes me cringe a little when I think about it so I try not to.

On that same note, though, people will still help others as they can, just the same. Not all habits of humanity are bad habits, that’s not the point. I’m just saying that while the snow has possibly changed us all, it hasn’t changed who we are. Not deep down inside.

Petty lover’s spats while they think possibly no one is watching? Check. These same lover’s spats where they don’t care where they are, they’re so heated about everything? Also check.

One such lover’s spat happened in the middle of a work shift. Thankfully, it was no one on my team as I believe that would have been awkward; or well, she was on my team, he was on another group that had just recently come back around. So in a way, I called it a lover’s spat because that’s what it seemed like to me but from what little I gathered of it since they were going at it pretty loudly, was that they had possibly been lovers before the snow; they might have each gone their separate ways when we could finally come back to the surface and now, well now he was back around.

But clearly, she’d changed, he’d changed, he tried to tell her he still loved her and she told him that oh, wait, it’s like he didn’t know her anymore, which, d’uh, he clearly didn’t since it had been years that they’d last seen one another.

As far as that’s concerned, I don’t know that this would apply to everyone. Yes, people can change drastically in the span of even just a few months, so years would make sense but I’ve seen people that just didn’t seem to want to change at all. You still could have come across them some ten years after you’d last spoken to them and nothing would have changed, they still would have been exactly as they had been then.

I’m no head doc, that’s not my specialty. I handled people in a more physical manner and I let Jayne do the talking but I still can tell a few things. It doesn’t take a head doc to tell you that these people, even with all their fighting and arguing, might end up in either one of two particular situations that seemed to be how things worked out back then but still seem to fit nowadays. Either they’ll never talk again, or potentially talk a bit but never grow close, or they’re both the type to let anger turn into passion and just end up shagging one another.

I mean, I’ve heard about make-up sex. I’ve never had that happen in my life and I’d like for that to remain that way because the thought of fighting with Jayne makes me really uncomfortable, but on that same note, I’ve heard about it enough to know that a lot of people seem to turn to sex as a natural something or other once they’ve made up from their fight, as though, what, the adrenaline from their arguing just turns them on? I don’t know.

All in all, though, these two, I’d like to not have to witness another fight, it was sort of sad and I think I like her enough as someone I work with now and again to not wish for her to have to deal with a guy that screams ‘asshole’ to me.

I’m not the best judge of character but at times, I’m pretty spot on.

We couldn’t be more different if we tried, but I think that’s why this works for us.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human
Age: 30
Final Word Count: 638 words
 

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While we all share at least one ‘trauma’ in our lives that has brought all of us together as a working team, I think that none of us are the same. Even when I look at my own twin, I know we’re just so different that trying to put us back into the same mould would result in something that shouldn’t be.

If you were to look in on our team dynamics from an insider’s gaze, I suppose you could be tempted to call us a little group of misfits and yet, we’re not. We’ve adapted just damn fine to what life has thrown our way and we do our work as flawlessly as possible.

I look at Jayne whose features—to anyone but us—seem to be so ‘boy next door’ that he’s easily forgotten and people don’t look twice. In a way, that suits me because it means I don’t have to share him with anyone else. It took me a long time to be able to understand my emotions. I suppose that comes from being molested as a child. Younger me just blocked everything away as a result; I was emotionally broken for a long time. There still are days when I’m not completely fixed but that’s why I’ve got Jayne with me to remind me that I’m human; I love him.

There’s Collin who has no nose whatsoever but it doesn’t stop him being a kick-ass person and all those ninja moves he does, they’re awesome—yes, I’m aware that’s a pretty childish way of talking about the types of martial arts he does but I have a hard time remembering the names of everything he knows. My wonderful twin balances out Collin like nobody’s business and that’s a two-way street. I never thought either one of us would be happy but looking at us now, I think we’re as close as we’ll ever be while being as broken as we are. We are happy; I’m not going to deny that.

Caleb, I never thought we’d see that kiddo ever again. Not that he’s really a kiddo but it still feels like it on most days. When he first came to us—to Sai—he was broken, he was beaten into a near pulp and I didn’t think anyone of us expected him to actually properly pull through but he did. He and Sai make a great team in more than one way and while I’ve always been weirdly uncomfortable and protective of having Cale out on jobs with us, he’s proved that he can handle himself just fine and well, Sai’s there to patch us up when it comes to that.

Don’t get me started on Ed, I don’t know that I’d be able to put him or Eli down into words and do either of them justice. With Ed, there’s sweet Erin and their twins, they’re already five, where does time go? I think we all sort of feel like family to the two bundles of energy and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Jayson is still a bit of a mystery to me, even after years of him becoming, in a way, part of our team. He’s still not all that comfortable being around us but I think that’s fine. He’s as different as any of us and he has his reasons, it won’t change the fact that it’s what makes him different that makes him fit in with our team.

We’re from all over the place, we’re all from different backgrounds, we grew up in different ways, we had different life experiences. They don’t make them much more mismatched than the lot of us but that just might be it, huh? That’s possibly what makes us exactly as we are; we’re the best at what we do.

I’ll look back on this event and ask myself if it was all a dream.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 3rd Generation
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human – Demi-God Moon & Time
Age: 36, physically about 26
Final Word Count: 697 words
 

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I know that, at times, my reactions to things may seem somewhat childish but I can’t really help it. I also use the term childish in the ‘young and easily awed’ way, not in the ‘stomp my foot and throw a tantrum’ way. You have to understand that there are things that I just can’t do in life. No matter how much I try to manage them, I just can’t. One of these very things is managing to get from point A to point B without getting lost.

Now; I can get to the heart of our community. I can roam the aisles of the market without any issues; that’s not the problem. I’m talking about the fact that beyond things that have become routine, I have no sense of direction whatsoever. The perfect example of this is that even though I only live like four streets—not even, but taking in the twists and turns—away from my brother, I can’t make it there without getting turned around. Never you mind that it’s just a case of walking down my own street, turning on one, a second turn some houses down, a third and I’m on his street. I can’t do it without Jayne with me or a tracker. It’s that bad.

So how do I get to the market and other things in the heart of the community without getting lost? I don’t know. A sense of something and it’s mainly a straight line there. How did I get to school on Mondays and back home on Fridays? Without Quinn, I couldn’t. So please, don’t ask me to get you something from somewhere nearby if it’s outside, I’ll never be coming back because I’ll have lost my way, it’s just a given.

Three weeks ago, there was a full eclipse, it was a stupidly strong draw. There was the whole darkness thing going on with the sun shadowed and the moon standing in front of it; we could only see the bare outline of the sun behind the moon and it was just gorgeous. I’d planned for that; I can’t help it, I plan for every eclipse because there’s just a strong pull me for. I’m pretty sure it’s even more present for dad.

So we were outside, we were walking in the woods to find that one clearing that we usually go to for these because, well, it’s a clearing and there’s nothing else around to hide the event. I’m aware that we could technically have stayed at home and just plopped on the roof but I prefer to be out there.

Usually, I relied on Jayne to get us there, it’s sort of become our spot, but as we stepped off the main road and onto the forest pathways, I just found myself following the pull and I got us to the clearing without any mishaps, without any wrong turns and without getting us lost. Even he gave me this odd look but I didn’t think much about it at the time, I was too excited for the eclipse. The sky was so clear. It turned out to be one of the better recent ones.

I got us lost on the way home; we had a good laugh about it, I’m not going to lie.

Looking back now, though, I feel like all of this was a dream. It might seem simple to most people, but never once in my life have I been able to set foot outside and confidently just point in a direction and go ‘it’s that way!’, I just can’t do that. Even when I’m preparing to head to the market, I have to take a couple of minutes to situate myself. I prepare myself and tell myself that it’s going to be fine. I turn to face the right direction, I repeat where I’m heading in my mind and I wander off.

So to me, this being able to get us to the clearing without thinking twice about it, it really does feel like a dream. A strange but wonderful dream. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it next time but I guess we’ll see.

You promised to stop.

 
Timeline/World: Alternate Earth – Birds of a Feather
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human
Age: 29
Final Word Count: 607 words
 

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Some promises should never be made because they can never be kept.

I should know, it took me far too long to wrap my mind around that particular fact but there isn’t much I could do about it back then and there’s nothing I can do about it now. These lost promises are in the past and I don’t even want to think about it.

His name was Oleander but for some reason, he seemed to hate it and always was asking us to call him Ollie. He was a childhood friend, someone who came into our lives, made himself comfortable where he was and then was swept right under the rug, near literally.

Ollie’s father was a good person from what I recall. He always smiled when he saw us but it was always a little strained, especially when his wife—Ollie’s step-mom—was around. I recall meeting her just a small handful of times and the first time I did, as we were leaving, I leaned in to whisper to Ollie that I thought his step-mom was a wicked witch. He didn’t laugh. His eyes were sad though there was a smile plastered on his lips and I thought it was real enough but I wish I had known better. We were too young to know better.

He was in our lives for about six months. He spent so much time with us, so much, much time out of his own house. He showed up with bruises now and again but he was tight-lipped about it. I once heard his father tell him that Sonia had promised to stop drinking and things tried to fall into places then but I guess I was still too young to really be able to put the pieces together. I mean, I think we were six. We could understand some of it but not all, not really.

One morning, on a fresh autumn day, he didn’t show up at our usual meeting place at school. His dad didn’t show up to drop him off or pick him up and the teachers wouldn’t tell us anything about him at all.

I don’t know why the memory of Oleander stayed with me for so long. I really had liked being his friend, after all. I thought he’d be there forever and that one of these days, his eyes would be as bright as they were meant to be. My young mind was full of hopes and dreams, after all. Dashed hopes and dreams.

It’s only about five years ago that I found out what really happened to him. We were working on a child abuse case and I don’t know why he came back to me, his sad eyes, the bruises on his shoulders, the forced smiles. I tried to recall the general date he’d gone missing and I went to dig through the newspaper archives until I found my answer. It was only a small column under bigger headers of things but it was there.

Double murder-suicide, Sonia, wife of John, had stabbed her husband to death while he slept and then slit her step’s son’s throat before opening up her own wrists. A small column, that’s all there was. No mentions of funerals, resting places or anything else. I don’t think John had any other family and Sonia, well I suppose she might not have either so that left a family of three without anyone to remember them, though the only one who mattered to me was Ollie. He’d been my friend—our friend—for a brief but important time in our lives and he mattered.

I can officially say we’re lost. I really thought I knew where we were going.

 
Timeline/World: Atheria – 3rd Generation
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human – Demi-God of the Moon / Time
Age: 34, physically about 26
Final Word Count: 532 words
 

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Never take me camping. You’ll wish you’d picked something else to do with your week, weekend or whatever time frame you’ve picked for your outing.

If you take me camping, don’t ask me to take the lead, I’ll get us lost. I have no sense of direction whatsoever and I used to get lost a whole lot as a child. It’s not something I mention often. I don’t think it’s something anyone would be proud of or be willing to discuss at all, as it were.

I’ll just mention one particular incident, we were eight or nine, we—that being my brother and me—were wandering in the forest just on the edge of the property. We weren’t going to wander far, not really. I did have this one thing I’d been meaning to show Quinn though. I had a general idea of where I had last seen it but that was about it. I didn’t know its exact location beyond ‘it’s not very far from the house’ and ‘it was near that one big tree with the crooked branches’.

Needless to say, I got us lost. I got us lost even longer while trying to get us quite the opposite of lost and it wasn’t until I gave up, my shoulders sagging and tears running down my face that I let it be known that we were well beyond lost and that I was so, so sorry and that we were going to die in there and—yeah. Quinn got us out pretty quickly.

I didn’t hold a grudge, I had no reason to. He’d gotten us out of that forest. Quite on the contrary, I adored him all the more for the fact that he’d saved us from certain death—there, my childish mind was being overly dramatic but that’s what it felt like to me at that point. I really had thought we were going to die.

I also more or less forgot all about the item I’d been meaning to show him. That was, until almost twenty years later when I was visiting with Jayne. We were just wandering the pathways and I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were going—that’s about the only time I don’t really get lost that bad—and we stumbled upon the object in question. It looked like it hadn’t aged, not as far as my memory could tell. It still was smooth and shiny, looking almost like an oversized pearl.

We didn’t touch it, though I did tell Jayne about that one misadventure from way back then before we just went on our way, back out of the forest, back into the house to see if my parents needed any help with the food preparations—Dad doesn’t like sharing his kitchen much with anyone but one other person—and we shared a quiet meal. That was that.

The odd object still crosses my mind now and again. One moment I’m telling myself I should be letting someone know about the mysteriously shiny object and the next I’m just shrugging it off because if it had to be a problematic item, it would have done something by now, wouldn’t it have?

I can hear you pining from here.

 
Timeline/World: New York City – Surviving Earth
Characters: Meredith Crawford
Race: Human
Age: 29
Final Word Count: 622 words
 

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I’m not very outgoing; it’s just how I am. A lot of people would probably want to tell me I’m asocial and that I probably never would have been able to work around others if I’d been given a chance to, before the world ended. I can only end up staring at them while I wonder if their brain is broken. I know I look young but I’m not that young. I mean, I’m not that old, I’m not even thirty yet but the short ice age wasn’t two decades ago, it was just some seven years ago. I’d been working for almost a full six years before the world ended so I’ve had some experience with being around others and I was managing well enough.

Others seem to think that because I’m not an extrovert who likes to hang out with a lot of people that I don’t know how to read these very people and they couldn’t be any more wrong. I’ve had to learn to read people to work with Jayne at the retreat. I wouldn’t have survived long if I hadn’t.

All of this little frustration cloud stems from the fact that I actually teased someone I was briefly working with that day about how I could hear them pining from where I was. Their reaction honestly played out in stages.

First, they gave me this deer in headlight look. Like I’d somehow surprised them either by just talking—which I admit I hadn’t done much of since first meeting them—or by telling them that I could hear them pining from my spot. I’m not sure which. At least, at that point, I wasn’t sure which but that resolved itself after a few moments.

Then, they rolled their eyes and scoffed at me. They told me that I was wrong and that they were certainly not pining because pining was a thing of the past and no one had time for that anymore. I might have stared a little because I can’t imagine why they saw the world this way. Sure, we were struggling at first, but I’d like to think that we’ve managed really well otherwise. We’re past the surviving stage and we’ve stepped into the living one but they seemed to believe that pining and ‘pairing up’ as they told me, was for the past.

Then, oh boy, then? They sneered at me and told me that I couldn’t know what I was talking about. That I was such an antisocial—which, asocial and antisocial are two different things though I know there used to be a lot of arguing about it—brat, that I could certainly not even know what pining might have looked like and that I was so young that I probably hadn’t even gotten, and those were their words, not mine, my dick wet. I still shudder to imagine that particular statement in pictures because they were partially right and the thought of ‘getting my dick wet’ with a woman in that particular way actually makes me cringe.

And finally, just for the icing on the cake, they stalked away, muttering about kids these days—I know for a fact that the idiot is at most four years my elder—and about how we know nothing and should just keep our traps shut and shouldn’t bother the adults. They left the work incomplete. I finished both our part of the job, I went back home to let Jayne know about how things had worked out and I went back out to talk to our so-called supervisor for those rare work-days to let her know that I couldn’t be paired with the person in question anymore.

She didn’t object, thank goodness.