Saturday
After a relatively uneventful day of wandering around town with Christina, I go back home and get to sleep. In the middle of the night, I get a call.
It's Christina. Is it happening tonight, too?
"Hey Simon…" Her voice is shaky. Or maybe it's just the call. "I think I'm having another panic attack."
"Don't worry, I'm here for you. Concentrate on your breathing."
"It- It's just that- Luke died."
I hate hearing that. It makes me sick. Every time I'm reminded of Luke's death, my stomach churns. My head aches and I unconsciously grit my teeth. What happened to him shouldn't have ever come to be. I'm not sure who to blame, but violence is never the answer, ever.
Because it's wrong.
"Yeah. I know. Don't worry, I'm here. I'll heal you no matter what happens."
She goes on for a while. I might not get much sleep tonight. She does this a lot.
Christina has bad mental health. She has frequent anxiety attacks at night and is mildly depressed. She never says a word of it to anyone but me.
I'm glad that I can help her, that I can be there for her.
I need to help people who are weak, like Christina. I'll do anything I can for them. I can't stand seeing people in pain. Just the thought of Luke's face is enough to get me nauseous, I'll do anything in my power so that I never have to see anyone suffer.
Eventually, she talks less and less on the call, until she says nothing at all, finally asleep.
"Goodnight," I whisper into my phone.
I wake up in the morning and walk through my morning routine like usual. It's too bad there's no school today.
Bored, I pull out my phone and text Christina like always.
"Good morning, got any plans for today?"
"None… Want to go bowling? I'll drive."
"Sounds fun!"
"Great. I'll pick you up in a few hours."
Yay!
Rubbing my eyes tiredly, I stumble downstairs for breakfast.
"Good morning, Mom."
"Good morning, sunshine. I'm making pancakes, want any?"
"I'd love some."
Smells delicious.
I sit down at the table and fiddle on my phone while I wait. As I scroll, it becomes apparent that my hands are abnormally shaky at the moment. I must be stressed out. This happens a lot, so it isn't a big deal.
When the pancakes finish, I eat up my portion and head back to my room.
"Love you, Mom!"
"Love you too!"
My stomach hurts. I wonder if it was the pancakes? I hope this isn't the stress too.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She's half an hour earlier than I thought she'd be.
"That's Christina! I'll get it!" I shout to Mom from my room.
Quickly putting on my socks and shoes, I run to answer the door.
"Heya!" Christina greets with a smile.
Heya?
"Hey."
"Sorry I came over so suddenly."
"No problem. Being early is fine with me. I was bored anyway."
She said 'suddenly' instead of 'early'. Weird. It kind of makes sense, but you'd expect someone to say "early."
"A-ah."
"What's that?"
"Nothing. Are you ready to go?"
"Yep. Let's go."
I walk out of the front door and wave goodbye to Mom.
"Follow me, I parked back here."
Christina leads me to her car as I follow behind her. We walk down the street and her car is parked on the side of the road at the end of the street.
Weird.
Actually, on closer inspection, this isn't her car.
"Did you get a new car?"
"Yeah. Like it?" She asks cheerfully.
It honestly seems like a bit of a downgrade.
"It's nice."
This feels so strange. It feels wrong. All of these minor discrepancies are feeling much more weighty.
Something isn't right.
"Hey…"
"Yeah?"
"About last night…"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Did you really mean what you said about me?"
She stops and thinks for a moment, "Of course I meant it."
My heart skips a beat.
Who is she?
This is bad. I don't think I'm able to keep the discomfort off of my face. My face is definitely pale. She'll find out I'm onto her. She will- what will she do to me?
The stomach ache gets even worse. It pinches at me, begging me to stop moving. Pleading that I step away from the car.
No, I can use this as an excuse to escape. I can't just turn her down, I don't know what she'll do. If I play off my visible discomfort as illness, I might be able to escape.
First, I'll try one more test to be safe.
"Yeah, I don't think we should eat out at that restaurant anymore. My stomach hurts. Want to go to the movies instead?"
"Sure! I ate breakfast earlier anyway."
Our plan was to go bowling.
"One second, I'll be right back, wait here for me. I need to use the bathroom."
"Alright."
Casually, I turn my back and start walking away, but she follows me.
This is bad.
Opening my front door once again, she follows close behind me.
"Back so soon?"
"Don't worry, we're on our way out."
"Alright, sweety."
I walk to my room and stop at the door.
"I'll be right out Christina, no need to follow me into the bathroom," I force a chuckle.
She just smiles with a tilt of her head and stands behind me within arm's reach. I open the door just enough to fit through so that she can't see the inside from her angle. She still thinks it's the bathroom. This really can't be her. She's been to my house a thousand times.
Despite having known that this "Christina" couldn't be the real one for so long, it's just so hard to believe. Over and over I find myself reconfirming the situation in disbelief.
Twisting the lock in place behind me, I pace around the room in thought.
Where can I go? I can't stay here forever.
The window catches my eye. I slide it open, but an insect screen stops me from escaping. My fingers run along the edge of the screen, scraping for some kind of latch.
How do you take one of these off!?
"You okay in there?" 'Christina' asks.
Why interact with me while I'm in the bathroom!? The noises of me opening the window must be strange.
"Yeah. Why don't you just wait in the car?"
She doesn't respond.
My mind continues to shoot about from one idea to the other, trying to flee the current situation. Suddenly I spy my pocket knife on my wardrobe. Thank god I used to be a boy scout.
I flip open the blade and cut diagonally across the insect screen. Just in case, I keep the knife in my pocket. I'm completely against violence, so I wonder why?
I hang my right leg out the window first and look down. My vision starts to spin as I look at the top side of our bushes from my bedroom window on the second floor. That's a long fall.
The door knob begins to shake. She must not be buying it. The sounds of the lock mechanism on the knob jingle vigorously.
Without any time left, I grab the edge of the window and hang myself down. I need to shorten the falling distance as best as I can. There's a bush under me, maybe that will cushion the fall? After that, I'll sprint towards the woods!
Through the silence of my room, the faint sound of the door unlocking echoes.
How'd she do that?!
I immediately react by letting go of the window sill.
Thud.
My legs impact the ground after crashing through the bush. It hurts like hell. My legs sting all throughout and I can feel the bone in them somehow. It isn't broken, I think, but I can feel the bone's location. I'm sure I can still run though! I have to. My clothes are torn a bit by the sharp branches of the bush too. My arms and legs are scratched up a bit.
I stand as fast as I can and sprint into the forest. Each step I take fuels the fire of pain in both my legs.
I can't look back, but by now, she probably walked to the window and saw me running.
There aren't any sounds of footsteps following me. She must be far gone. She'll follow me, but there's no way she'd jump after me. No doubt that she'll walk downstairs and out the door.
I left her in the house with Mom, but that thing is only after my gem. Wait… what if Mom is taken hostage? What do I do then? Maybe if I don't return home there'd be no point in taking her hostage. A threat like that is worthless if your target doesn't even know you are making it.
I'll run away from home.
…
Who knows what else that creature can look like? I can't talk to anyone, or let them see me. Can I really live my life like that? Running away from shadows until the coast is clear, in constant fear and paranoia? That sounds far too similar to someone I hate.
In that case, my next course of action needs to be hiding close to the house. Christina, the real one, is still going to stop at my house in around twenty five minutes. My little game of hide and seek needs to last only that long. Actually, I can message her to speed up.
With uncanny timing, I receive a message from Christina on my phone.
"I'm at your house. Sorry for being early."
Well that saved me!
I don't even need to message her.
I sneak around and look at the front of my house. Christina is standing there.
Her car still isn't, though. Meaning… That's the fake!? How'd she send a text from Christina's number? If her phone got taken, could she have been killed?
No way! Not in the timeframe. Not to mention, if it had access to Christina's phone and messages, it would've already known about our plans for today.
Yes. Christina must be safe.
I feel like I've heard something like this on the news before, a method for scammers to imitate someone else's phone number. It's scary to see in action. This creature must be pretty smart.
I'll hide around the side of a house two houses down from mine. That'll let me have a good idea of when the real Christina arrives and hide me decently well.
It's nerve wracking not fully understanding the situation. I'm not fully sure of how that thing used Christina's number, so it's scary to message her for help. It's probably safest to just wait this out.
So I do. My mind can't sit still, constantly bouncing around along with my accelerating heart rate and ragged breathing for what feels like hours. Yet according to my phone, two minutes have passed.
The fake with Christina's face begins to walk around. She's searching for me. If I had run to the forest, it wouldn't have a shot of finding me, so it just walks up the road patiently. If it doesn't find me now, it'll likely just wander around this street until Christina arrives. Since I accidentally let that slip, it knows Christina will show up eventually. If I simply run away now, Christina could be killed.
The forest plan seems safest at first, but not only does it put Christina in danger, I would also be in a nightmarish position. I'd be in constant fear that whoever I talk to is a fake. I'd never be able to tell.
I could always also message Allen, Sarah, Dylan, or Rachel for help. But… isn't one of them the monster right in front of me? Dylan definitely isn't because I know his ability now. Allen, Sarah, and Rachel are a different story though. As much as I hate to believe it, any of them could be this monster. Messaging Dylan could be safe, but I'm afraid he might notify his friends. Knowing him, even if asked to come alone he'd bring friends anyway.
I hadn't considered it until now, but even if I call for backup, would anyone except for the real Christina believe me? Accusing the person in front of me of being a shapeshifter isn't exactly convincing.
My safest option is to stay right on this street for Christina to save me. Her power isn't amazing, but it'll be enough to defeat a fake!
Ten minutes remain and it walks up the street towards me.
Where do I go? If I stay behind the houses I'd have to make a break for it through the gap between the yards. If it happens to see me, it's all over. No doubt it'd outrun me. My legs still hurt and they're all scratched up.
I could easily move farther from my own house without being seen, but that's probably what it wants!
I've got it. I'll head straight backwards, to the forest. Then, from the woods, I'll move to the back of my house. She can't see me that way, and I can keep an eye on her.
This will be a precise maneuver. If I run back to the woods before that thing is directly in front of the house I'm currently behind, it'll be able to see me.
This is going to be close. I'll use the faint sound of footsteps to try and locate the perfect moment to start moving.
I sneak along the wall behind the house, sticking my back to it.
Closing my eyes to focus on my hearing, I count off the very faint footsteps from the sidewalk. The birds chirping and the occasional car going by drown out the distant sound. Even the wind can overpower the sound of its footsteps.
One step.
Wind.
Two steps.
Bird.
Three steps.
Four steps.
Car.
Five steps.
I continue counting off the steps until they sound like they're behind the house.
Now's my chance.
I run as quietly as possible to the woods.
As soon as I take cover in the trees, I twist my head back to see if I was spotted.
It's not there. It must still be in front of the house.
I walk through the woods and take cover behind my house. The tall grass and branches constantly scrape against my cuts, making them sting again. Being able to casually walk again is such a relief.
I sit down behind my house, back against the wall, and take a deep breath.
My hands shake and my stomach begs me to vomit.
Not now.
I'm scared. This is awful, but I think I won. Only two minutes until Christina is here.
As soon as I calm down, fear washes over me in a second burst.
I hear footsteps close by in the grass. They move fast, straight towards me like a wolf after its prey.
It found me!
Shit!
I throw myself to my feet and sprint diagonally towards the woods.
It's close behind me, and it's much quicker than me.
Whether it's fear, morbid curiosity, or despair, I can't help but look over my shoulder to see it again.
That thing is horribly misshapen. Its face is still Christina's but its legs are shaped like a horse's back legs, bent completely crooked. It still has the skin of a human, but the bone structure looks so unnatural. Despite how hideous it is, no human can compete with a horse in terms of speed.
Its arms are significantly longer than a human's and seem to have no bones. They move like a snake and grow out towards me.
The fingernails on the snake-like arms grow out in an instant like knives and fly towards my head.
I'm a dead man.
It's best to just give up.
I've always liked to consider myself someone who could cope with death. Besides, I've had enough with this fear. This is the most awful feeling I've ever felt.
I'm terrified.
If I struggle to live, who knows how painful it'll be? My life's been great, but lately I've been really stressed. Maybe this is a relief?
Besides, I don't stand a chance against that monster. Asking anything more of me is cruelty. I did my best. What more can I do?
I relax all of my muscles and allow myself to die painlessly-
No! I can't! I'm scared!
In a sudden desperate realization, I throw my body to the side and fall to the floor. That could've killed me… but I lived. The knife-like nails missed my neck.
That's when it hits. The pain.
My shoulder bleeds profusely and my vision struggles to focus. It hurts like hell. In all of my life I've never felt pain like this. My left shoulder shoots a fiery yet sharp stinging pain throughout the entirety of my body. I reflexively grasp at the wound with my hand and curl into a fetal position.
Biting my lip, I force myself to open my eyes and see how bad the injury is. That's when I see it.
My left arm lies on the red, blood soaked grass in front of me, completely detached from my body.
A shrill scream of pain tears from my throat in agony. Hearing the sound with my own ears I can't even recognize it as my own. The sound is more fit for an animal.
The monster's running comes to a stop, but its arms bend back around to get into position for cutting off my head.
Suddenly, both of the snake-like arms fall to the ground. They crash at speeds much faster than gravity, so powerful that they smash a small hole in the dirt around them.
It's Christina. If she was even a second later… I can't even bring myself to imagine.
"Don't worry, I'm here! Are you alright!?"
She runs towards me from the street. She must have seen me as she passed by in her car and heard the scream. Thank god I had the sense to run diagonally. If I ran straight, the house would have blocked her vision of me. She might not have been able to tell where I was. If I gave up and let it kill me instead of dodging, she wouldn't have heard my scream either. I bet the creature would've killed her by shifting into me next.
Stumbling back to my feet, I change directions and begin running toward the road, toward Christina. I can't balance with my missing arm and fall on the floor once again. My vision is fuzzy and black speckles dance through the world around me. Christina catches up to me and stands between me and the monster..
"What is that?" Christina asks in horror.
"I have no clue… It's hardly human," I manage to say in between breaths. The pain makes it hard to speak. I desperately squeeze my shoulder to stop the bleeding, but the blood continues pouring. If only I could heal myself… but, it's not about me right now! Christina needs to make it out alive too!
The thing retracts its arms and reshapes its legs into a person's.
Two Christina's face each other.
"This sure is unsettling. Can you put on your real face?"
The fake scoffs and it slowly mutates itself again.
It shifts slowly almost as if it wants to be theatrical. I saw it shoot its nails out. It can obviously mutate faster.
It retains a female's body but gets shorter. It's around average height with brown hair and blue eyes.
"Rachel?!" I can't believe it. I didn't know her well, but we were friends.
The monstrous woman looks at both of us, "Who'd you expect?"
"A shape shifter," I gasp for air to inform Christina. "We can't know for sure… that it's really Rachel, either… That thing can take any form it desires. It'll… be a tough opponent. We can't even run… It would outpace anything."
"I'm up for it," Christina forces a grin. "I'm sure that I'll be able to protect you. Heal me if I get injured. We'll make a good duo."
"Yeah," I don't know how well I'll be able to help with one arm, or how much longer I can stay conscious, but I'll do whatever I can.
The creature speaks, "I really am Rachel. Although, I didn't want to fight you both at the same time. I figured that the easiest target I knew of was Simon… No matter, I doubt I can lose."
"Why are you fighting us?" I plead. "Killing isn't the answer!"
"Oh, but it is. I have only one wish and I need it to come true. I already have three gems. If I have both of yours, I'll be unstoppable. Of course, I would've preferred having four gems before taking on a real fight."
"W-Who's gems did you take? Who'd you kill!?" The words taste awful in my mouth.
"I took Luke's after he already died and I 'took care' of Sarah. Don't worry, she isn't dead. Killing is wrong, after all. However, even though as a human being I'm opposed to murder, if it is necessary, I have to allow it. I'm not a bad person, I just need to do this."
"Why? What's your goal here? We can help you!"
Rachel only sneers.
"Stop, Simon. It's too late. She's off the deep end."
"Off the deep end? How dare you! I'm perfectly normal!"
"Is that how you see yourself?" Christina laughs.
"You're a rude bitch aren't you? This battle is fated and I have nothing to do with it. When I kill you here, it will only be because I had no choice."
"Who's making you?" I try to reason.
"Me. My circumstances require this much."
"But what is it that you want from all of this?"
"… You'd never understand."
She really is crazy. She can't even explain what she wants. This is the most fear I've ever felt. It's true fear. She really will kill us if we mess up. I don't ever want to feel pain like this again.
I wonder… would giving up hurt less?
"Well, we can no longer talk, so Rachel, back down now or face our wrath!" Christina threatens.
"Time to test my new power!"
With those words, someone was guaranteed to die here.
We're a decent distance apart. It'd take even Rachel a couple of seconds to close the distance.
Rachel's arms extend again like snakes while her finger nails grow out into razor blades.
Christina puts out her hands and points them at the flying snake-arms, "C'mon!"
The arms are slammed into the ground once again.
Christina's Delusion, I know it all too well. She can't take care of herself so she puts her weight on others. Thus, she can add additional gravity to objects around her. Kyle sure is a genius. I would've never understood why she had that Delusion. Gravity manipulation, but more specifically adding weight. She can't "carry her own weight", so it's passed on to someone else.
With her arms stuck, Rachel's legs bend and twist into a horse's and she runs straight towards me and Christina.
When she gets around twenty feet from us, a large weight is placed on her.
Now we have her! She shouldn't have gotten so close, now she won't be able to move.
But Rachel doesn't. She stands and keeps walking. She can't sprint anymore, but she continues making her way to us.
What even is she? Is this the power of the gems?
Her muscles bulge. Muscle mass appears out of nowhere and she gains the build of a weightlifter.
If that isn't overpowered…
Christina runs towards the slowed Rachel with a punch wound up.
"Wait! Don't jump in like that!" I caution.
"Trust me, I just had a good idea."
Rachel's arms retract back onto her body. Her torso bubbles and expands. Her whole body begins to contort and grow until she has the body of a massive over-six-foot tall bodybuilder. The only problem for her now is that she's being slowed down by gravity.
Rachel takes a boxing stance and gets ready to block Christina's blow. I know Christina, and I think she may have just bit off more than she can chew. It's hard to imagine this going well. It's a school girl versus the world's strongest man.
Christina throws her whole body weight into a single punch.
Rachel's face gleams with confidence, despite being weighed down so much.
The smirk on her face is instantly wiped off when Christina's little teenage girl punch launches her backwards through the yard. Rachel managed to block in time but it looks like the punch broke one of her arms. The massive muscular arm is bent in half like a toothpick.
"What was that?"
"It worked! It looks like if I add a large amount of weight to my own arm after it's already in motion, it'll keep the momentum. I just hit her with the force of a brick traveling as fast as my fist. Well, a whole lot heavier than a brick," She pauses for a moment. "That'll only hold her for a second, she'll stand up soon, but… I kinda broke my hand."
She what!?
I shamble over to heal it. Her hand is in really bad shape. That punch deals some damage, but the human body can't take the recoil.
I have to remove my right hand from my still bleeding shoulder to heal her. Just taking off my hand reignites the pain. It hurts so bad, I consider not healing Christina so that I can continue to ease my pain, but I power through.
"Are you alright now?"
"Yeah, thanks, but we have bigger problems."
Rachel stands back up after flying back around twenty feet. That blow would've killed a human. The arm she blocked with is mangled.
The mangled arm starts to twist and morph.
She can self heal too? I guess that makes sense, shape shifting can modify the body in any way. But if that's the case…
How do we win?
It's hopeless. We can only try to escape.
My legs begin to tremble. I'm going to die here.
Even with the extra gravity, Rachel runs faster than the average person. She's even faster than me, weighed down!
"Run, Christina! Let's escape!"
"No! I need to defeat her!"
"Are you stupid!? We can't even hurt her! She's invincible!"
Christina thinks for a second and replies, "If I get a solid shot on her head, there's no way it can be repaired. It's an instant kill."
"I suppose, but-!"
I guess that also means she isn't able to shapeshift her own brain. If she did, how would she shift back?
That's her core.
Still, it's no use. I'm afraid. I'm truly, truly afraid.
Rachel slows to a stop and then watches us from a small distance.
Christina takes advantage of the opportunity to look at me and smile, "I know… I know that I've been relying on you my entire life. I've relied on all of those around me. I know that we can't outrun her. I also know this fight is unwinnable. But, Simon, run for me. You escape. I'll hold her off. Notify Allen and the others. You can win together!"
Tears swell in my eyes. I'm terrified, but without hesitation, "Thank you, Christina."
I want to stay and help her… but what can I do? I'm so terrified. The fear is too much for me. I can't handle the idea of death. If I die here… what about my mom and pa? What about my sister? What about me?
My shoulder constantly reminds me of the fear of death.
I don't want to die!
I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.
Without being able to think, my legs take off and I can't stop running.
Thank you Christina.
I run in terribly poor form. My balance is completely thrown off without my arm. I can hardly even run, but the adrenaline forces me to keep going. Blood trickles from my shoulder despite me holding onto it. My legs fill with pain from my previous injuries but I keep going.
The tears that blurred my vision start to fall.
Christina died. She did. There's no way she can fight that monster. Land a blow on her head? That's entirely impossible. It's laughable. My best friend has died. I've known her for so long… I loved her.
But I can hardly think about that.
That is an entirely secondary emotion right now.
No, it's third.
I'm afraid. I can't die here! I don't want to! I don't want to feel pain! I'm terrified.
But… number one…
Deep down in the truest depths of my heart I'm…
Through the tears, a smile creeps onto my face.
I run into the woods and don't pay heed to wherever I'm going.
I'm glad that it wasn't me.