#violetvinyard

With the sensor now filled with gel, the applicator was withdrawn, only to return in another spot on the EEG cap. Baby tensed as the cold tip poked at her skin. Peach squeezed her hand a little tighter in reassurance.

“Now, the In-Between is… Imagine a Venn diagram,” Marielle went on. “Each of the two circles are each dimension. The place where the circles overlap is where the dimensions overlapped when they collided. Except that since dimensions are a lot more complicated than two perfect circles, there were possibly millions of overlaps created all over the universe. It’s more like a… ah… I don’t remember the word in English.” She waved her free hand as she searched for the right word. “You know, un barbouillis. No, that doesn’t help you at all… Like a child’s drawing? That doesn’t make sense?”

“A scribble?” Peach suggested.

“Yes, a scribble,” Marielle exclaimed. “It’s a big scribble that overlaps at random, and is always moving. Time and space and light and matter—everything we know the universe is made of wouldn’t work the same way in there as they do out here.”

“And Void spots are like doors to the In-Between?” Baby completed. “Places where we can travel to that overlapping zone?”

“That’s the main theory right now, yes,” Marielle confirmed, picking up the second syringe, as she had used up all the gel in the first one. “The only problem is, we can’t test out that theory because so far, nothing, no one has been able to go into a Void spot and come out okay. Except—”

Marielle stopped midsentence, but Baby knew exactly where her statement had been headed.

Except you.

the in-between WIP intro | the in-between worldbuilding series

Frozen in his seat, Teejay gripped the handlebars of his motorcycle, eyes glued to the Void spot looming before him. Around him, his new teammates hopped off their bikes without a second thought, already pulling out their equipment and surrounding the building. 

“Hey! New kid!” Piotrowski barked, snapping him out of his terror. “You know you can’t stabilize a Void spot by staring it down, right?”

Teejay swallowed. Or at least, he tried to. His mouth was too dry for his throat to do anything more than contract uncomfortably. 

“Coming, Chief,” he sputtered, stumbling off the motorcycle. He scrambled to remember the stabilizing protocol as he followed one of the other field agents around the Void spot. 

Void energy tracker out first. He fumbled to turn the little silver device on. Numbers flashed onto the screen. Back at IBIP headquarters, during the final exam of his training, he had been able to identify what each of them meant just as well as he could recite all the iconic quotes from his favourite movies. Now, they were just a jumbled, meaningless mess.

At least he could still remember which button was the “record” button.

Once he was sure the tracker was sending the data back to HQ, he stuck it back onto his belt and reached into his backpack for his Void spot stabilizer. His trembling fingers closed around the handle of the blaster-like device.

“You okay there?”

Teejay jerked his head up. One of his teammates, a large man no older than thirty with cropped dark hair, eyed him with concern. Teejay dug through his memory for the man’s name. His last name was Ellis, that much he knew.

“Yeah,” Teejay managed. “Just, uh, still getting the hang of this.”

“Do you want a tip?” 

Teejay gave a little nod.

“We’re supposed to apply counter energy from the stabilizers in a uniform way,” Ellis reminded him, “so you should position yourself exactly between me and Reese.” He motioned towards the field agent at the far end of the Void spot, who already had her stabilizer aimed in front of her.

“Okay, got it. Thanks.” Teejay started towards the other field agent.

“You’ll be fine,” Ellis called after him with a reassuring smile, heading back to his own position. “Good luck.”

Teejay gulped again, having learned nothing from last time. The walls of his throat clung together in protest. 

The radio on his belt crackled to life.

“Stabilizers on nine,” Piotrowski ordered. “This is gonna be a big one.”

With a shaking hand, Teejay adjusted the dial on the side of the stabilizer and pointed the tip towards the center of the Void spot, his hand poised on the trigger. It seemed so tiny next to the giant black hole that for a moment, he doubted any of this would work.

“Ready,” Piotrowski called. “Three… two…”

Teejay took a deep breath.

“One.”

He squeezed the trigger.

the in-between WIP intro | the in-between worldbuilding series

Within twenty minutes, Peach pulled her banged up Honda Civic into the employee’s parking lot of the IBIP’s headquarters. Following the directions her brother gave her, she found her way to the medical building, usually reserved for treating field agents who got banged up on one of their missions.

Weaving her way through medical personnel in bleach-scented halls, she caught a brief glimpse of herself in the glass of a vending machine. She grimaced. She hadn’t taken the time to get properly changed before dashing out of the house. Her hair stuck out in all directions, and her Red Hot Chili Peppers tee had white toothpaste stains running down the front. Was this how she wanted her little sister to see her for the first time in nearly five years?

She didn’t have time to dwell on that too much, as a group of people in scrubs jogged by her, yelling orders at each other. One of them mentioned “the girl”, and Peach knew exactly who they were talking about.

Smoothing down her hair, she raced after them until they pushed through a set of heavy doors. There, she was stopped by a large man with a radio strapped to his shoulder.

“Authorized personnel only,” he informed her, holding her back by the shoulders.

“I’m her sister,” Peach snapped, shoving his hands off her. “Penelope Arroyo. I have ID to prove it.” She plunged her hand into the pocket of her sweatpants, only for it to come back empty. She’d forgotten her wallet in her room.

“Authorized personnel only,” the bodyguard repeated.

Peach glared up at him. “My sister is in there,” she cried, pounding on the man’s chest with her fists. He barely flinched. “I have to see her!”

“Let us in,” a male voice demanded behind her. Peach whirled around. Teejay stood there, holding up his IBIP lanyard with a shaky hand, his eyes red and puffy.

The bodyguard narrowed his eyes at them, then stepped aside without a word.

Once the doors swung shut behind them, Teejay remarked, “You know, you really shouldn’t go around picking fights with men twice your size.”

“I can’t believe you’re still finding things to shit on me about at a time like this,” Peach hissed.

They were in a much quieter hallway. Voices and the beeping of several monitors echoed from a single lit room at the end.

Teejay motioned for her to follow him, and they made their way to the doorway. Inside, doctors and nurses hovered over the bed, calling out all sorts of medical lingo at each other. Peach strained to see over them, desperate to catch a glimpse of the person on the cot.

The sea of people parted just long enough, and Peach’s heart broke.

She was so pale. That’s the first thing Peach noticed. Her usually rich, light brown skin was so sickly, and with her long, black hair splayed out on the pillow beneath her head, she looked like the ghost of a child in a horror movie. Her eyes were closed behind the oxygen mask that looked too big for her face. She looked like she had just narrowly escaped death.

But she was alive.

Baby was alive.

It took nearly a week before Baby woke up.

Peach was right there, of course. Ganesh had graciously allowed her to take as much time off as she needed, so she barely ever left the medical centre. Teejay still had to work, but he dropped by as often as he could, bringing food for Peach and some of Baby’s favourite snacks in case she woke up.

Peach was curled up in a chair in the corner of her room, trudging through another one of her many works in progress, when a cough prompted her to jerk her head up. Baby’s entire body shook as a second cough overtook her. 

Peach nearly flung aside the laptop and rushed over to the bed. She grabbed the glass of water sitting on the table and, helping Baby sit up a bit, lifted it to her lips. Most of the liquid spilled out of the sides of her mouth and onto the front of her hospital gown, but her coughs subsided somewhat. Peach was under orders to find a nurse as soon as Baby woke up, but she didn’t want to lose these first moments alone with her.

“Baby,” Peach said, smoothing Baby’s hair out of her eyes. “Baby, speak to me.”

Baby sunk back into the pillow. She stared blankly up at Peach, blinking slowly.

“Do you know who I am?” Peach asked.

“You…” Baby croaked, eyes void of recognition. Her voice was so thin, so frail… 

A knot formed in Peach’s stomach. “Take your time,” Peach told her gently, although her thoughts were swirling. What if Baby didn’t recognize her? What if she didn’t remember who she was? Or Teejay? Or— 

Peach picked up one of the many boxes of polvoron that had accumulated on the table over the last week. “I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to eat this stuff yet,” Peach said, ripping off the plastic wrap and opening the box, “but I have your favourite.” She pulled out one of the snacks and dangled it in the air. “Cookies and cream.”

Baby made a feeble swipe for it. Peach held it away.

“Oh, so you remember your stupid polvoron, but you don’t remember me?” Peach joked. Her voice quivered.

Baby silently made grabby hands towards the polvoron. Peach relented and, opening the wrapper for her, placed it on her hand. Baby slowly brought the snack to her mouth and stuffed it in, chewing slowly. The powderiness of the polvoron and the dryness of her mouth triggered yet another coughing fit, and Peach scrambled to get her more water.

Once Baby’s coughing subsided, she managed a frown. “Your... hair,” she said.

Peach self-consciously smoothed it down. “Yeah, it’s a mess,” she admitted.

“It’s…” Baby opened her mouth as she searched for the words. “Short.”

“Oh!” Peach laughed. Tears pricked her eyes. Baby did remember her! “Yeah, I chopped it off after the Shift. Much cheaper than getting a therapist. You like it?”

“What’s… the… Shift?”

“Oh…” Peach’s heart sank again. Baby had no idea what had happened to her, to their parents, to millions of people all around the world. To the world itself. “It’s… I think it might be best to wait a while before trying to explain all that to you.”

“No!” Baby objected. She coughed. “I want… to know.”

Peach should have prepared for this moment. Ever since she received the news that Baby was alive, she should have known she would eventually have to tell her. But she had been hoping it would be some doctor, or some social worker, or even Teejay—anyone who was more equipped to talk about it than Peach was.

Peach took a deep breath. “The Shift is…” She paused, taking a moment to organize her thoughts. “The Shift is what took you away, five years ago.” She reached over and gently squeezed Baby’s hand. “But now you’re back, and that’s all that matters for now, okay?”

“Five years?” Baby repeated. Her bottom lip trembled. Her eyes welled with tears. “I was gone… five years?”

Baby began to sob, and her sobs turned into strangled coughs. Peach’s head snapped up as the lights in the room flickered. The heart monitor accelerated. A nurse ran into the room.

“She’s awake?” the nurse cried, rushing over to the bed and shoving Peach out of the way. “Why didn’t you come get me?”

Peach didn’t have the chance to answer as more medical staff swarmed into the room, tearing her away from Baby, until finally they shoved her into the hallway and shut the door in her face.

Another two weeks passed, and finally, they could take her home. The doctors confirmed that despite being malnourished and dehydrated and extremely weak, there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with her health. It was a miracle, one that baffled everyone involved, and after countless more tests, Baby was given the green light to leave the medical centre.

But she still wasn’t completely theirs.

“What the hell do you mean, we have to take her back every day?” Peach demanded, storming after her brother through the halls of the medical centre. “What kind of bullshit is this?”

“It’s just two hours a day, for five days a week,” Teejay clarified without looking at her. “They want to know what happened to her while she was missing.”

“I know what happened while she was missing. She wasn’t with us,” Peach objected. “And now that she’s back you’re just gonna… gonna let them steal more of her time away from her?”

“You heard Dr. Connery. If they can figure out how she survived the Shift—”

“You didn’t see how she cried when she realized how long she was gone,” Peach snapped. “When I had to tell her that Mom and Dad are dead, and Tammi and Deepika and that other girl she was friends with are gone, and whoops! She’s an adult now! And as if that weren’t enough, there are literal black holes that open up randomly in the middle of the street! Can’t we just let her have a normal life?”

“Nothing is normal anymore, Peach,” Teejay exclaimed, whirling around to face her. “I know, it sucks. But if Baby can help us learn anything about the Shift or about Void spots or, heck, how to keep the world from falling apart, don’t you think we should make that sacrifice?”

Peach glared up at him. “It’s bullshit,” she seethed. “Absolute. Bullshit.”

“Ate? Kuya? Is something wrong?”

Peach and Teejay’s heads snapped around at the small voice from the end of the hall. Leaning on her crutches, Baby peered at them. She was no longer in her hospital gown, but in one of Peach’s Sailor Moon t-shirts and a pair of jeans that her thin frame swam in. 

Their scowls were gone in an instant, replaced with warm smiles. “Nothing’s wrong,” Teejay assured her, although Peach could still detect some sourness in his voice. “Are you ready to go home?”

Baby nodded slowly, and hobbled towards them.”Where is ‘home’ now?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“We live above a restaurant now,” Peach declared, slinging Baby’s arm over her shoulder. “The restaurant owner gives us free food all the time. She makes the best pancit. You’re gonna love it.”

Baby allowed them to drag her out of the building, and Peach felt a pang of frustration, knowing that soon, they would have to bring her back.

final notes:

writing all of this after getting through a good 3/4 of the draft was such a trip because everyone has gone through so much character development since kjdgkjgf.