Ajax

In a world of superheroes you have to be careful of protecting your identity. Especially against any villains or your nemesis.

Unless they somehow willingly reveal theirs to you.

Even after Splitter had wiped his face from countless memories, I was still constantly aware of his face. Since he had recognized me in passing before, it seemed that he found it only fair that I knew who he was. A truce. He wouldn't reveal my identity, I wouldn't reveal his.

Then I got hired at his cafe. Long story short, resentment has built up over many months. I refuse to call him his real name in private, and he constantly hassles me about my personal life.

Well, more like he's concerned for my emotional well being and I tell him to 'piss off'. Regardless, we have no respect for each other.

It all started when I had a panic attack after work, and I uncontrollably shrunk down.

Right. I can size shift, albeit uncontrollably, unless I'm wearing my suit. He can wipe memories, and make people hallucinate. He is brains, while I'm the brawn.

He found me outside the cafe shaking, and brought me to his house to 'calm me down'. We both know he was just trying to learn more about this weakness.

Ever since then he's pretended to care, checking up on me constantly. He even went around and got my number from our coworkers.

Finally, after constant prying, he put his plan into place. He stole my pendant. A small charm that I use to control my height. Usually I have it slotted into the upper back of my suit. But this weekend I was having a rough time with some rather… personal anecdotes. So I carried it around with me for a few days. It suppresses my 'larger' emotions, making it risky to carry around twenty four seven.

I was careless.

I had it in my bag, but when I clocked in, I had put it in my locker and switched the charm to my pocket.

I didn't even notice the lack of weight until I clocked back out.

It wasn't in my apron, any of my pockets, my locker, or anywhere on the ground. It was just gone.

He saw me stressed out.

Everyone had already left.

He cornered me in the break room.

"You took it." If only looks could kill.

"Autumn. You can't just go around feeling numb all week."

"Oh here we fucking go. Don't act like you give a shit about me." He always did this. Put up the sympathy act.

"Please, just listen to me."

"No! You always do this! Give it back or I tell the media where our dear little Sight Splitter lives."

"Autumn!" He grabbed my arms. "Please."

"Don't call me that goddammit! You have no right. Fucking give it back." I used my body weight to rip my arms free and shove him back. I could already feel the room getting smaller.

"Whoa whoa whoa wait! …Can we at least do this somewhere that won't destroy my ceiling?"

"I can do whatever I please to your god damned roof if you don't give me my pendant!"

"I want to give it back. But I want to talk first. Please."

"I have no reason to trust you." He almost flinched at that.

"You really feel that way? After… after everything? I thought…"

"After everything?! Every lie you tell me to get closer to me? Every time you've broken my trust? Forcing me to keep your identity secret? Kidnapping me? Stealing my one hope for some semblance of being normal?! How dare you?" He shoves something into my hand. My… pendant.

"Autumn. I really do care about you. All I want is for you to stop forcing yourself to be fine. I heard about your friend. I just want you to take real time to grieve. Please just take the next week off. If you need more time, I don't mind covering for your shifts."

what?

"If you don't mind, I'd prefer to keep this here with me. Or in your locker. Just so you don't bottle this all up. I won't cause any trouble. If someone does, I can take care of that too. Just be you for a while, okay?"

"How… how did you hear about him…?"

"The crash was all over the news. I recognized his car. He came into the cafe pretty often to see you."

"I…" I didn't know how to feel.

I pressed the charm back into his hands. Letting myself cry.

Everything came crashing down in my mind. And ever so slowly, the room became bigger.

Fate is a cruel thing.

The red thread was just another thing my kind could not partake in. None of my family has ever found where theirs led. Something else we could only watch.

For humans the feeling of it was just an inconvenience. A thread so small it slips past their perception. For us it was heavy rope that itched at our fingers.

Most of us learned to ignore it. It was just another part of life. Another burden, another curse.

My parents didn't understand why they, out of everyone, were not soulmates. After all, they didn't share the thread with anyone else in the village. How could soulmates be destined if they were too far apart to ever meet?

The others in the community had thread that sagged on the ground for most of the time, but mine was always… higher.

Everyone told me that whoever it was likely lived in a larger building, so they lurked on taller ground.

My fear never quelled.

It realized.

I had only just moved away from my creek side home, and into a cabin just down the trail. I wanted solitude. The family I had was… talkative. Couldn't do one thing without the whole neighborhood knowing. The risk of getting caught was more comforting than having all of my thoughts and feelings exposed. Ironic as that was.

So, after several days of hiking, I moved in silently. The tension from my thread slacked the closer I got. Even after 'magically' tightening again, it would always limp down soon enough.

Maybe someone else already lived in the walls of that cabin. Maybe I would be the first in my area to actually find their soulmate. It was an oddly exciting feeling, even when mixed with the nerves of being away from the safety of the village.

When I got there, my hope was swiftly crushed. The interior of the paneling was covered in cobwebs. There was no sign of previous tenancy. I had to start fresh, and alone. While that was what I wanted, it was disappointing none the less.

It took less than a week for the human to notice something was off. I don't know how, but they did. It was obvious by how they started searching around the house manically. Looking around outside, sighing loudly when there wasn't anything.

It took me two more days to understand why.

I was in the kitchen stealing grabbing some of their basic ingredients to stock up, when I noticed it. The thread around my finger moving back and forth when I moved across their counter. Leading straight to their bedroom.

Everything started spinning. Lights began pulsating across my vision. My heart followed, pounding in my ears. I ended up dropping my bag from how hard I shook.

'It couldn't be.'

'T-that's impossible.'

"No. N-no no no no no…"

'This isn't happening.'

'Please… no this isn't happening.'

'Not to me… w-why to me…?'

'Fuck fuck fuck…!'

'I should go back.'

'I need to go home.'

My thoughts were going too quick to notice the thumps across the floor over my own heartbeat.

To feel the small vibrations from the floor over my own shaking.

To hear their breathing over my frantic gasps.

Something tugged at my finger. Just enough to bring my attention back from the panicking.

My head swung up.

Their shadow was cast over me, blocking the small hope of moonlight seeping through the windows.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't cry.

I couldn't scream.

No matter how much I wanted to.

My eyes lingered on the cursed thread rising from my finger to theirs.

Now more than ever I wish the damned thing could be cut.

They didn't move. Were they in awe? In shock? Were they confused? If the world was perfect they could be sleep walking. But, then again, in a perfect world this interaction would not exist.

Minutes passed while we stared at each other. A standoff of wills. Who would break first?

The answer was them.

While I was still in the middle of a moral crisis, they reached their hand towards me.

My body decided that it could start functioning again as soon as I saw them move.

I staggered backwards, I didn't have any plan set. Without any emergency holes built, I had nowhere to go.

Except down.

My rope was hung off the side of the counter, I could go down it fast. Rope burned hands was a risk I was willing to take.

If I had any time to give this idea a second thought, I wouldn't have done it.

But I was desperate.

My feet almost slipped under me numerous times as I sprinted to the counter edge.

Their hands followed in quick succession, and I was lucky enough to evade them every time they attempted to grasp me.

My heart raced rapidly, I had no time to hesitate when I got to my hook. I threw my legs off the edge and narrowly caught the rope with my hands. Gravity did most of the work as I slid closer and closer to the ground.

Until, the distance stopped getting smaller. The wind rushed past me as the rope was lifted into the air, with me at the bottom.

I tried to swing myself to the counter yet again, but they held the rope still.

Soon enough I was brought to their face.

Unlike the anger or confusion I expected, I saw only concern..?

Maybe they pitied my horror. My futile attempts to outrun them.

Yet the hint of fear in their eyes silenced that thought.

Their hand started to clasp around me, and with one last ditch effort I tried to climb up. To their other hand. I knew it wouldn't work. I knew they would still catch me. But sometimes fear is stronger than common sense.

With a sense of finality their fingers embraced me in their warm hold. I didn't even notice my shivering until it stopped.

"Shh-shhh… hey hey hey… it's okay."

"I won't hurt you."

"What is that..?" Violet looked up at Asor almost disgusted at the object he pulled out of a gift bag.

"Oh I didn't see you there. Not used to you being out on my desk like that." Asor looked back over at her, stopping halfway through the room.

"I was waiting for you, it's weird they called you into the physical office. What is that?"

"It's a dog leash. Prize from a company wide raffle they do annually." He presented the leash and collar with a vinyl logo on it.

"We don't have a dog."

"They don't really do research for this kind of thing, they just put you in the raffle and you get what you get. Big company, they don't care about individuals." He stuffed it back into the bag, settling the bag next to his desk.

"God your job sucks."

"Well it pays for all the fancy cheese you eat. Regardless I'll probably sell it or give it to a friend." He relaxed down into his chair.

"I didn't say you had to do that. You got it for free didn't you? I could cut it up and use the metal rings. The clip would be nice too."

"You really find use out of anything huh?"

"That's literally my entire thing."

"I suppose you aren't wrong. Let me cut it up for you. When you're done I'd be curious to know what you use this for." He grabbed the leash and pulled out some heavy duty craft scissors he bought for her several months prior. The leash had several layers of biothane to cut through.

"Sure. But it may take a while, you know how much I procrastinate."

"As always. Here you go, I'll leave it by your vent." He set the pieces of the collar by an adjacent vent. "For now, I'm tired from all that social crap at the event."

"So you want to hang out with me…?" She was used to this by now.

"Yes." He lifted her into his hands, slow as usual to not stir up her motion sickness.

He brought her back over to his bed, laying down gently with her upon his chest.

Thousands of years protecting this mountain range for what? Just to help hundreds of missing humans back home? Just to be built upon like land…. just to be poked and prodded for sport? Forced to hide from view. Forced to kill and scare those tiny beings away? Forced to spend all my time protecting those that have caused me the most grief?!

Life has become a chore, trying to remain hidden when I all I want to do is live.

They persist, encroaching on the little space I have to roam in the night. If I did not admire their curiosity and resilience so, perhaps they too would become pests ground to dust under my footfall.

Only a few dozen have actually ever seen me. Terror flooding their faces. Quiet pats against the ground as they stumble away from me. I've heard every reaction over and over again. That it's just a dream, a nightmare. A trick of the mind. Screaming at the horror of me.

A living mountain.

I thought it was going to be the same thing again. Another lone human, lost in the dark. Mumbling about a moving thing. About how it was just a nightmare. But… something was different this time. They were able to document me. Something no other human has been lucky or smart enough to accomplish.

What other choice did I have, but to take them back home?

I hadn't felt the soft skin of a human in centuries. The pattering of kicks and punches faded all too quickly. The cold and panic were too much for any human. Along with the exhaustion of wandering amok for hours on end. The sun had long since set. It had only been an hour prior that I had awoken.

Humans and their naivete. Moving aimlessly across the expanse of my forest. Do they somehow lack the ability to communicate the danger of being lost in the dark? Especially for beings as small and weak as they are.

And yet… they still have me adoring them like the shining dots in the sky.

So close, yet so far out of reach.

Perhaps that is why I can't help but hold them so close to me.

If I had a heart, maybe I would let them go.

If I had a soul, maybe they would let me keep them.

If I had a brain, maybe I wouldn't want them at all…

But I… I am not a person. I am no all powerful being. I matter not in the scope of their life.

I have no right to hold them so far away from their home.

So with one last thought all I can manage is to crush their device between my fingers. Wiping the dust on the muddied earth floor.

In the dead of night my footsteps sound out loud enough to shake the forest.

Leaning down, I settle them against the all too familiar dirt by a long carved out trail.

They will not remember me.

I was stumped for an answer the whole night for how I could mourn the loss of someone I have never met…

But then,

Looking up at the starry sky, I understand why.

We will always be drawn to that which we cannot fathom.

That which we can never understand or reach.

Again, once more. I return to rest in the old crater of the earth I call home.

Tomorrow the humans will gaze upon me as something larger than life.

After countless tries to piece my map back together, and trying to get service, I finally accepted it. I was lost. In the Appalachian mountains. One of, if not the most well known places for paranormal, fantastical, or terrifying encounters. My cousin had to leave for a "family emergency". But we both know damn well she chickened out.

Ava was the one who got me into this trip in the first place, yet her brother decided to start telling her all these horrifying stories from their grandparents. The day before the trip.

Arguably the worst time to tell her that.

So now I was alone in the woods. With only a rechargeable flashlight, my useless phone, pieces of a map that fell apart in the rain, some granola bars, and an old hydration bladder.

I should have left with her.

My ears were already trying to deceive me. Loud rumbles in the distance would send shivers through my spine. I knew what thunder sounded like and this was nothing like it. Thankfully that quelled my fear of lightning causing a forest fire. Although, mysterious slams in the distance is one hundred percent more horrifying.

I've never been one to believe in the paranormal, now I was starting to wonder if I should.

It had to have been a few hours since the sun set. Not that it was very helpful with all the rain clouds hovering in the sky. I had been walking east for a while now. Thank goodness I clipped a compass to my bag at the last second.

If my mind isn't failing me too, then I should be going the right way. Ava mentioned something about emergency cabins around here if you desperately need a place to stay the night. If I'm lucky I can get there before midnight.

"CHRIST!" Another loud slam banged against the ground, so much closer this time. The other ones had to be miles away.

My head whipped around towards the north. Either a new mountain appeared in the distance or I was seeing things now too. I started backing up, then I pulled out my phone. If I wasn't seeing things, I needed proof of what was happening. After a few black pictures I finally fumbled on the flash. I had to have taken over a dozen photos. Half of them were blurry from my shaking hands.

After I likely had solid proof I ran. Booked it further east, trying my hardest to find one of those cabins. "Please be fake. Please be fake. Please be fake."

Before I could get over fifty feet away another slam pounded against the muddy floor.

The mountain moved. It fucking moved. It's so much closer and lower now. I'm gonna fucking die.

Small bangs followed afterwords, as if an animal were creeping up on something. I had to be hallucinating. Some sort of episode. It was just stress or fear. I'm just freaking myself out more. That had to be it. It just had to be.

This time I didn't get time to pull out my phone before another thump landed. It shook the ground. The trees began to sway, while leaves fell and birds flocked away.

Maybe I'm having a nightmare or something. I probably just passed out. I just need to wake up then. Please. Please wake up.

Another thump. To my left. Then another, to my right. Whatever it is, it had to be right over top of me.

A large gust of wind knocked me half over.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

It's just a nightmare. It's just a nightmare. Wake up wake up wake up!

Something akin to a curious chuckle sounded out above me.

"Človek? Vonku tak neskoro…"

What the hell…?

"Ďalší stratený."

I'm going to die out here.

"Musím ťa priviesť domov."

Please be quick.

Translation from Slovak (or rather intended translation, I don't speak the language T-T)

A human? So late outside

Another lost one.