Floor 100.
Marcello stepped from the singular elevator that would bring you up to the top floor.
In front of him was a long but wide glass tunnel hallway about the length of a football field, leading to a red locked door. The floor was covered with a thin, wavy green carpet.
He wasn't sure how he would feel being this close in proximity to John Doe. For real, this time. In the hours leading up to this, he had felt a weight deep in his stomach, as if he'd swallowed a dumbbell. The last meeting never left his heart. Now, he was oddly calm, almost feeling weightless as he glided down the carpet. There was something else. Something he hadn't felt for over seven years. His dark eyes gleamed and his lips curled open into a happy smile.
He was a quarter-way down the hallway. Three-fourths of the way to John Doe. The rain pounded on the thick tunnel glass.
It was so fast that he couldn't see it, but he sensed its presence just in front of him. 'What!?' It was only there for an instant, but the sensation of that aura was so powerful that it ripped him from his reverie. Instantly, the nervous blue aura surrounded his rigid frame.
"Hello?" a voice from behind him called out.
Marcello turned, staring at the boy with a waif-like figure, who stood just outside of the elevator doors. He wore dirty, possibly bloody? Pink socks. He had long bleached hair that swished in front of his face and pink painted fingernails. Slung over his back was a heavy pink electric keyboard. Wild blue energy flowed freely around him. Shading the hallway in a rippling sapphire.
'That's the…That's the same energy I just felt. I don't know how, but this kid was somehow in front of me just a second ago. He's phenomenally strong. I really, really can't afford to fight him right now!' Looking below his right eye, he saw the 'KTA' lettering inked across his smiling face. 'Yeah, there's no mistaking. I saw this guy's picture before.'
Marcello stiffened, seeing the boy move.
Autxmn half skipped, half galloped toward Marcello.
Marcello's energy flared defensively, but as he looked on, he relaxed, feeling no malice come from the boy, just a blue sense of curiosity.
Stopping less than a foot away, "You're just like me!" Autxmn had a star-struck expression, poking at Marcello's energy.
"Woah, woah, cool it," Marcello mumbled, taking a half-step back, putting his hands forward, trying to calm the wild child.
"My name is Autxmn! What's yours?"
"I'm Marcello," he said, staring, confused at what was happening.
"Wow!" Autxmn beamed, "Marcello is my favorite name!"
"Alright…"
An orange frantic light waved wildly around Zoe. She looked up above her head. 'YES!' She snatched it out of the air. 'An Eight of Diamonds!' The face of the card began to glow.
"Wha—" Zoe felt the air squeezed out of her lungs as she was violently lifted into the air. Stars filled her vision. Her card limply fell from her fingers as Conor held her up, grabbing her in a bear hug from behind. His cloudy purple energy stormed around him.
His iron-like arms squeezed, ready to break her at a moment's notice.
"Interesting," Zheanni poked at her orange aura. "I mean…you're kinda strong," she shrugged. She looked at Kholwa. "You think you could take him?"
Kholwa looked offended at the question. "You really think I couldn't?"
"Hm?" Conor's arms shifted around Zoe. She squirmed uncomfortably as his hands passed across her chest, squeezing. A confused look stung his face. "Yo, what the…" He dropped her.
Zoe landed hard on her butt. She scrambled backward, slamming into the closed elevator doors. Her shoulders dented them. She stared up at the three, tears streaming down her face, panting.
"What?" Zheanni asked Conor in an accusatory tone. "Why you buggin'?"
Conor had a disturbed look on his face. He looked down at Zoe as if she were a rat on the sidewalk of New York. "That ain't a dude, bruh. I think it's one of…those."
"What'chu mean, 'those?'"
"You know what I mean. It's disgusting! It's unnatural. It's bad enough what Autxmn's doing-"
"You've been talking to Augustine a lot, huh?"
Kholwa crouched down, trying to get a better look at Zoe's face under her hat.
"Ain't no way." Zheanni pulled Zoe to her feet and ripped the bucket hat off her. She raised her eyebrows, watching long locks of white hair fall past his shoulders. She stared into the large, dilated eyes of Zoe. "You again!"
"Take off your shirt," Conor ordered, glaring down at her.
Zoe shakily moved her hand, unzipping the boiler suit half-way, pulling it down off her shoulders. She quickly crossed her arms. The cold air of the corridor flicking her skin.
Conor stared, studying her.
"Why are you always popping up everywhere?" Zheanni asked.
"You know her?" Conor asked.
"Nah. But this is like the fifth time I've seen this bitch."
"Well," Conor turned, his eyes leering at the girl, "Who are you?"
Zoe was frozen. Her gaze was fixated on her feet. Her lips quivering, mumbling something to herself. Was she praying?
"You guys are scaring her," Kholwa said.
"So who's gonna kill her?" Conor asked.
"She looks like she's thirteen." Kholwa stared at the girl. "Here," she walked to Zoe. Zoe flinched hard as Kholwa reached out, backing up, hitting the elevator doors once again. Kholwa zipped up the boiler suit for her. "We don't need to do anything to her."
"We?" Conor mockingly placed a hand on his chest. "I didn't realize you were in KTA. That's crazy. When'd that happen?"
"Conor, don't be a dick," Zheanni said. "I was gonna leave her ass be and just snatch that bag off her, but now…I'd say seeing you here is a coincidence, but too bad for you…there's no such thing."
"Bruh, I ain't worrying about this girl, then. She ain't got nothin' to do with us. If we aren't gonna kill her, I'm not tryna drag this bitch everywhere we go all night."
"She's coming with me," Zheanni said. "I'm gonna figure out wha-"
"I'm a nobody," Zoe whispered. "I just bought this bag for my mother, Olivia. I'm just trying to give it to her. I don't know who you are or anything about you guys."
Grinning, Zheanni got on eye level with Zoe. "I guess we'll find out." She whirled around, ready to walk down the stairs. "Follow me," she ordered.
In a flash, Zoe slammed herself as hard as she could into the elevator doors, ripping through them. Time slowed as she looked back toward the three, all of them staring at her in shock.
"AAAHHHHH!" Zoe screamed. A sudden rush of cold air surrounded her, rushing past her ears. Her hands desperately grasped and closed around nothing. The black void of the infinite elevator shaft stared at her as she plummeted, swallowing her whole. Panic clawed at her throat, and her stomach twisted into knots, leaving her voice trapped in the infinite void.
Autxmn cleared his throat. He sucked a breath deep into his lungs. He slammed his fingers on the pink keyboard in front of him, singing,
I've been walking my own path all my life. But society's telling me it's not right. Tried to fit in, but I always stand out. In a world of black and white, I'm a splash of color. A rainbow in the sky, not just another. I'm a creature in a zoo. Different stripes, different spots, in a world so true.
Why tell me to be something I'm not? They laugh when I'm different, it's a heavy plot. But I won't conform, won't play pretend. It's who I am until the end.
The odd bird in the flock, the lone fish in the sea,
This is my rhythm, wild and free. Different tears are falling from my eyes,
I want you to understand, hear my cries,
For the pain that you've caused, for the battles I've won,
Made it hard to find joy, but I won't be undone.
There's things that I've faced, standing on my own,
Painting my world in colors never before shown.
I'm a zebra with polka dots, a fish that climbs a tree,
A howling cat, where silence used to be. I've been a puzzle piece out of place,
Trying to blend in, but it's not my space.
The odd bird in the flock, the lone fish in the sea,
This is my rhythm, wild and free. Different tears are falling from my eyes,
I want you to understand, hear my cries,
For the pain that you've caused, for the battles I've won,
Made it hard to find joy, but I won't be undone.
There's things that I've faced, standing on my own,
Painting my world in colors never before shown.
I've been singing my own song, In a melody where I belong. Let the lions roar, let the dolphins fly, In the circus of life, I'll touch the sky. But I won't be a puppet in your masquerade. I'll be different, unafraid.
The odd bird in the flock, the lone fish in the sea,
This is my rhythm, wild and free.
So let the lions roar, and the dolphins fly,
In this circus of life, where we touch the sky.
In the carnival of difference, we find our song.
I belong.
Marcello sat cross-legged a few feet away. He smiled, "That was really good, Autxmn. Did you make this?"
"Mhm!" Autxmn grinned. "You're the first one who's heard the finished version!"
"But when you're singing," he pointed at his mouth, "Your tongue naturally wants to recede. If you want your voice to really carry and have full control over it, you want to stick it out a bit. So, when you're at the chorus, you can hit: 'The odd bird in the flock, the lone fish in the sea. This is my rhythm, wild and free,'" he sang.
"Wow," Autxmn's jaw dropped, entranced, absorbing every word of his.
"You can really just put a lot more into it."
"Okay," Autxmn started humming, playing chords on the keyboard. "So, like…" he paused, contemplating how to put it all together. He sang, "Different tears are falling from my eyes. I want you to understand, hear my cries…"
"Yeah! There you go!" Marcello beamed. "Just keep riffing like that."
"Hear my cries. It's all lies. Side by side…" He paused, looking up at Marcello. "How do you know so much?"
"In the village I grew up in when I was a kid, I was in the choir."
Autxmn watched curiously as the blue energy returned around Marcello, as he casually got to his feet.
Pointing to the door at the end of the glass tunnel, "Is John Doe in there?"
"Uhh," Autxmn gave an awkward grin. He looked around as if checking if anyone was watching. He nodded swiftly.
"Thank you, Autxmn." He turned, walking down the hallway. After a few steps, he returned, crouching down in front of Autxmn. "You know, Autxmn, you remind me a lot like my friend, Zoe… Would you like to meet her one day? I think you two would really get along."
"Okay, yeah!"
Culian and Bryck stepped onto the second floor, spotting a small quant shop. Culian stopped, doing a double take, a bewildered look crossing his face. "Ohhh, it says Ginger Academy," he cackled, pointing out the sign to Bryck, "My dyslexic ass thought it said something else!"
Bryck rolled his eyes, walking past.