Orphans should be treated better, right? I mean, they didn’t choose to live without parents, they didn’t want to live with total strangers. I mean, their situation is out of their hands, isn’t it?

That’s what Arven was thinking while walking down the winding path from his orphanage to the market.

He hadn’t had anything to eat for over a day, so it would suffice to say that he was ravenous.

He could steal some food from the vendors but Arven despised stealing.

But Lord, Arven despised the sickly, clawing feeling in his stomach even more.

Smiling ever so cheerfully, he slowly walked over to the vendor’s fruit cart and quickly looked for any peeping eyes.

There weren’t any.

Good.

He could get away with this.

And boy, was he close.

“What do you think you’re doing?

He hastily dropped the apple and spun around to see a girl about his age with her hands on her hips, glaring at him as if he just spat on her.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” He whisper-yelled at her, checking to see if anyone was listening.

“Um, excuse you, but I believe you’re the one who’s stealing, not me.” She quipped.

“I mean, you’re not wrong but-” He muttered.

“But what? You know, I ought to tell the vendor, I’m sure he hasn’t been working hard so that little thieves like you can pull stunts like this.” 

“Hey, hey, let’s not do that. I promise to never do it anymore,” Arven pleaded with her, his desperation showing.

This wasn’t the first time Arven had done the stealing gig. There was one time he had gotten busted and had received quite a beating. He didn’t feel like having a do-over of that.

“I don’t believe you,” The girl sniffed, “It’s quite disappointing, to be honest. Are you not fed? Is this not enough food at home? If so, there are other ways of acquiring food, you know.”

“Okay lady, shut up. I haven’t eaten because I live in a godforsaken orphanage where food isn’t abundant, you hear? And we have little kids and all who need food to grow up well so I gave my food to this little, sweet girl named Emma, you hear? And I cannot physically endure any more of this so I decided to take one little apple because I’m not fond of dying of hunger, you hear? Do you hear me, woman?! Do you-” 

“Is there any problem here, kids?” The vendor interrupted, looking at them suspiciously.

Before he could speak, the girl said, “Nothing, sir. My friend and I were just having a small argument, it’s all okay!”

Right, he was friends with the kooky girl who couldn’t let him avoid dying in peace. 

“Alright. Well, scram, you’re blocking the cart.” He shooed them away.

For some reason, they started walking together.

“You shouldn’t steal, you know that?” The girl spoke up after a while, sitting down on the bench.

“Yeah, well, I shouldn’t die either.”

“That’s faulty logic. You’re insufferable.”

“Says the woman who’s going to indirectly kill me by being the reason I don’t have an apple in my stomach right now.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled out a loaf of bread from the bag she was carrying and handed it to him, “Take it.”

“What?” He asked, puzzled, his moody behavior immediately vanishing, “No, it’s yours. I shouldn’t.”

“No, it’s okay,” She laughed, “Take it. I don’t want to indirectly kill you now, do I? Besides, I can just buy another. Plus, I wasn’t exactly behaving that well with you back there, so accept this as an apology.”

“Thank you so much,” He breathed out, taking a huge bite, “What’s your name?” 

“Hey, don’t speak while eating, you might choke!” She scolded, “It’s Nienna Ridley, by the way.” 

“That’s a weird name.”

“Oh yeah? What’s yours?”

“Arven Kimsdale. Dude, this bread is good.”

“And my name is weird?” 

“Nienna, come on! We’re going to be late for your lesson!” A middle-aged man yelled, standing at the end of the street.

“Well then, Arven Kimsdale, I guess this is goodbye,” Nienna said, dusting herself off.

“Yeah, well, thanks for the bread,” Arven got up as well.

“Try not to die!” She joked, chuckling at the weird expression on his face.

He watched her walk to the man he supposed was her father and thought, ‘I guess there are some good people in this stupid city.’

Nienna had just met an interesting boy.

She was walking back to where her father had agreed to meet when she saw a boy about her age try to steal some food from one of the vendors.

She had called him out on it, of course, how could she not? That wasn’t acceptable.

Which was why she was surprised when he got frustrated with her. She wasn’t the one who was breaking the law, yet she was the one who was about to get chewed out by the thief?

But her anger was gone after she learned about his reasons.

She couldn’t relate at all, her family was quite well off with money and she never had to go through days with nothing in her stomach. 

They sat down for a while and she gave him his bread. That kind of bread was quite rare and it was rarely in stock, which is why she was in an especially good mood when she found it. 

But that doesn’t matter, he was starving and she had food.

She learned that his name was Arven Kimsdale. She thought that was the weirdest name ever.

She found him annoying. She bet that he found her annoying too.

But it was refreshing, talking to him. He had no idea about who she was and what her family name meant.

Her father, Lukas Ridley was an important figure in the financial industry so the Ridley family name meant quite a lot in many areas of society.

To be frank, she was quite tired of all the formalities around her. She just wanted to be treated like every other girl. She also wanted a friend.

Being home-schooled isn’t the best way of making friends unless your target audience was 50-year-old scholars who only spent time with you because of the wealthy fee they received from daddy dearest. 

“Nienna, is everything okay?” Professor Wanton said, snapping her out of her trance.

“Uh, yes sir! I apologize for spacing out.”

“It’s quite alright, dear. Besides, it’s about time we end this lesson. I’ll see myself out.”

“Okay, sir. Goodbye!” she stammered, watching his retreating back.

Alright, what should she do now?

There wasn’t anybody else in the house so she had no one else to talk to.

‘I guess I’ll just read.’ She thought.

She entered her father’s bedroom and sifted through the shelves of books he had. None of them struck a chord of interest with her.

She was just about to leave when she saw some of her father’s documents lying on the floor.

‘What a clumsy man.’ She internally laughed, arranging them neatly on his desk when two words caught her eye.

Ava Ridley.

That was her mother’s name.

Her father had told her that her mother had died while giving birth. She was always quite comfortable with that. Sure, she had wanted to know what a mother’s affection would feel like, but hey, she couldn’t miss what she never had.

Her curiosity piqued, she started reading.

Dear Lukas,

Please pass this on to the Boss from me.

The situation here is quite bad. There is this new disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It’s called COVID-19. Many are dying. Many industries are flailing. 

Enclosed are detailed notes about every important event from this year, please make sure nobody but the President herself sees them.

Regards,

Ava Ridley

Well, it would suffice to say that Nienna was so surprised that if her mother’s letter came to life and shook her eyeballs out of her eye sockets, she would feel better than what she was feeling right now.

Arven was feeling quite happy. 

He ate about a quarter of the loaf and brought the rest back to his orphanage where he shared it with everybody else. With his stomach and heart bursting and warm, he went out for a walk to enjoy the beauty of the city in the nighttime.

Now, how did Nienna feel?

Nienna felt woozy.

Nienna felt confused.

Nienna felt scared.

Nienna felt… very hungry.

Aggressively biting down her dinner, Nienna’s mind was racing.

 Her mother was alive? Where is she? Why is she there? Who is she with? Why does she know the President? How does she know the President? Why is she talking to the President? What is she even talking about? What the heck is a COVID-19? What is a Donald Trump? How is she even contacting her father? 

Did her father keep her existence a secret? Did he even know she was alive before this? Does he know where she is? Does he know why she’s there?

Why was Nienna not told about this?

She had to talk to her father about this.

Shoving the documents in her bag, Nienna ran out of the house, hastily making her way to where her father works.

Unbeknownst to her, she had left the zip of her bag open and the documents fell out.

And who was there to pick it up? Ah yes, no one else but our dear Arven Kimsdale.

“Hey! You dropped your…” He drifted off when he saw that the person had already disappeared from his sight.

“What’s this?” He murmured, reading through the pages, “Is this a story idea? No, can’t be. What’s a COVID? What does 19 have to do with COVID? This can’t possibly be real. What the hell is this? Wait. Ridley? Isn’t that the girl’s name? This is confusing. These pictures cannot be fake. What did I find?! What should I do with this? I guess I’ll keep it for now…”

His cheery mood was wrecked. Arven didn’t know what to do with the new information he had accidentally stumbled across.

He ran his hand through his hair when his eyes took notice of a certain face wearing a frantic expression.

“Hey! Nienna Ridley!” He shouted, trying to get her attention.

She spun around so fast that Arven thought her head popped out of her socket.

“Well, well, we meet again.” He said, holding the documents behind his back.

“Yes, yes, so we do,” She muttered, distracted, “Hey, did you see some pages lying around somewhere here?”

“Pages, hm?” He questioned, rubbing his chin while bringing out the documents from behind his back, “You mean pages like this?”

She snatched them out of his hands and stuffed them into her bag, firmly securing the zip.

“Did you read them?” She asked, a bit worried.

“Well, yeah.” He gave her an honest answer, a bit freaked out by how tense she was.

I mean sure, he thought the lady was a bit uptight, but this much over a document she found at the end? It was a bit wacky.

“Is the lady who wrote the letter your mom? Where is she anyway-” He started talking again to try to ease the tension when she cut him off.

“I don’t know. She’s supposed to be dead, you know? My mother, she’s supposed to be dead. I was told she died while giving birth to me. Heck, we visit her grave every year on her supposed birthday. I don’t know if this woman is my mother, I don’t know if this woman is pretending to be my mother. I don’t know where she is and why she’s there and I don’t know anything about what she reported in those godforsaken documents. And I don’t even know if my dad knew she was alive, I don’t know how they’ve been contacting each other. I just don’t know, okay?! My whole life has been turned upside-down and I don’t know what to do. I was just about to go talk to my father about this when I lost these pages and I panicked and I heard you say my name and well, here we are!”

Nienna was panting. Nienna was shouting. Nienna was very close to dissolving in a puddle of tears. 

“Okay, okay. Relax. Breathe. It’ll all make sense soon, I think,” Arven said, trying to be comforting, “See, this all is pretty hard right now. But it probably won’t make sense if you go running to your father. I mean, he kept it a secret from you. If you want to know more about this, he’s not the best source of information.”

Nienna calmed herself down, “Alright. What do you suggest?”

Arven chuckled, a roguish grin settling on his face, “This was supposed to be seen by someone right? So they know about its contents. So, I suggest you go straight to the source. Madam President.”

“Do you think this’ll work?” Nienna asked Arven, hiding behind a tree.

“I think it’s worth a shot,” He mumbled, his eyes darting left and right, trying to see if anyone was near.

“You don’t have to do this with me, you know that?” Nienna uttered, “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Yeah, it does! I read the weird document and I’m curious. Plus, I was bored at the orphanage and this is way better than changing diapers,” Arven stated, “Let’s go over the plan one last time. A guard will get out of that gate,” He pointed towards the little wooden door near the edge of the building, “According to one of the older kids at the orphanage, he goes out to smoke for 5 minutes before he goes back to his guard post. That’s when we go inside and try to find some clues.”

“And like I said 10 minutes ago, this is the riskiest plan ever and we’re bound to get caught,” Nienna scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Eyes that were a bit red around the edges.

Her frustration and anxiety had caught up with her which had resulted in a little crying session a few minutes ago. But dear lord, who could blame the girl? 

“Alright, okay! There he is!” Arven shushed her, discreetly pointing at the guard pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

“Okay, run now!” He whispered and bolted towards the door, with Nienna right on his tail.

“Hey! You kids! Get back here right this instant!” The guard spluttered, dropping his cigarette.

The guard brought out his walkie-talkie and yelled, “All units! Prepare for case 955! There is a breach!” 

Meanwhile, Nienna was tearing her hair out while she waited for Arven to open a locked door.

“We’re busted! We’re done! The President is going to have us executed! Why did I listen to you?!” 

“Alright, okay, execution or whatever. Get in now,” He ordered, finally having jimmied the locked door open.

With alarms blaring throughout the whole building, Arven and Nienna rushed into a dusty little room, trying to hide from the guards.

“Being the President, I would’ve thought all of her rooms would be sparkling clean,” Arven joked, coughing from the amount of dust that went into his mouth.

“Hey, we don’t have time for wisecracks. Now, what will we do…” Nienna trailed off, her eyes stuck on a little metal door at the end of the room.

“What do you think that is?” She mused, gesturing at the door.

“Only way to find out,” He said, walking towards it.

Nienna huffed but walked after him anyway.

“Hey, it’s open,” He frowned, “that’s a bit unusual.” 

“Well then,” Nienna muttered, “Let’s see what’s inside.”

“...A tunnel?” Nienna voiced, her eyebrows scrunched. Walking through the door, she hadn’t expected much but a tunnel was one of the things she didn’t think she would find.

Arven closed the door behind him and sighed, “Well, the good thing is that they won’t find us here.”

“Let’s go.” Nienna declared, watching Arven’s eyebrows shoot up.

“You want to go? Weren’t you the one who didn’t want to do this all along?”

“Well, yes,” She sighed, “But I bet there are hordes of guards outside the door, so where else should we go?”

“Okay then, lead the way,” Arven said.

“This is like an adventure, isn’t it?” Arven spoke after a while, “And we could find a dragon at the end and slay it and all, and we’d be heroes and someone would write a book about us.”

“That sounds like an awful book. No plot twists or anything,” Nienna laughed.

“You want a plot twist?” He spat, “How about… I am secretly a vampire and I kill you and drink your blood? Boom. Plot-twist.”

“You would be terrible at writing books,” She voiced, chuckling at how dejected the poor boy looked.

“Yeah, well,” He mumbled, “Wait… what the heck?!”

Arven had expected to see something like a dragon or a treasure chest, he didn’t expect to see a… place.

“What is this…?” 

“What the heck do you kids think you’re doing?! Where are your masks?! Dear god, there is a worldwide pandemic going on and you can’t be bothered in protecting yourselves?! Wear a mask right this instant!” An old lady bellowed, catching sight of Arven and Nienna standing with shocked expressions on their faces.

“Um.. miss, where are we?” Nienna spoke, her voice shaking.

“Are you kids kidding me?! This is NEW YORK and there is a goddamn PANDEMIC going on so WEAR YOUR MASKS!” The lady shrieked, accidentally spitting on their faces.

“Hey lady, say it, don’t spray it,” Arven snarled, wiping it off his face.

Nienna could swear she saw the woman go red, “Such insolence! I ought to call your parents right now! Ring them up right now on those little phones you kids are so in love with!” 

Ring them up… on a phone? What’s a phone? 

‘Alright, Nienna,” She calmed herself, ‘We don’t know what a phone is but asking the lady that would infuriate her even more. Think this through.’

“Um, kind miss, we don’t have any masks so we can’t wear them,” She mumbled.

“Well, you kids should be darn happy I found you before a cop did. Because I am a loving, sweet and forgiving soul, I’ll give you the spare masks I carry, yes, even to the insolent boy.” 

She opened the gigantic purse she was carrying and brought out two masks, “Here you go. Now, don’t take them off!”

“Thank you so much!”  

“Thanks, I guess…” 

“Alright, off you go, you’re blocking my way to the subway.” She pushed them away.

“Stupid old hag,” Arven said.

“Hey… wasn’t New York something my mom was talking about in her report?” Nienna said, 

Arven’s eyes widened and he gulped, “And there were mentions of a worldwide pandemic too.”

“Are we actually in the place my mom is in…?” Nienna breathed out, “Alright, I think I need to sit down for a bit.”

“What do you think a phone is?” Arven asked.

They were sitting on a bench they found vacant. Wherever he was, it was a pretty place, Arven admitted to himself. 

“That’s not something we need to worry about right now. Hey, let’s go back. We seem to speak the same language but we don’t know this place. We don’t know anything about any of this.”

“Okay,” Arven decided, “I’ll go and check if anyone’s at the door we came through and I’ll come back. You wait here. Don’t go anywhere.”

Nienna watched Arven leave without a word.

With him gone, Nienna finally allowed herself to feel her tumulting emotions.

The mask she was wearing was making it hard to breathe. She felt like she was suffocating.

Her chest was heaving and her breaths were uneven. She was so scared. 

She hated this feeling. She hated feeling lost and alone. All her life, someone was always there with her, she always knew everything to be certain.

She never had to live while not knowing where she would go next.

Her life was predetermined and she liked it like that.

Was this why Arven wasn’t panicking? Was he already familiar with this feeling?

She admired him at that moment. He was so finely attuned with living in the uncertain that he wasn’t even acting out of the ordinary while being in a place that wasn’t on the face of the world.

Professor Wanton had her memorize the whole map of the world. With her immaculate memory, she knew that a place like New York doesn’t exist in the world she knew about.

Well, she thought she knew that.

“Hey,” out of nowhere, a girl she didn’t know spoke, “You okay?”

Arven was getting frustrated.

Here he was, standing before the door, pulling at the doorknob with all the strength he had in his body.

The door wouldn’t budge.

They were screwed.

Making his way back to Nienna, he thought about the worst-case scenario.

He would be stuck in this place forever. Somehow, he would get separated from Nienna who was the only person he knew. He would never be able to go back ‘home’.

Home. 

Arven didn’t have a home.

He never considered the orphanage as one. None of the caretakers cared about him and he was sure they wouldn’t notice him gone. The younger kids were indifferent to his existence and the older kids were a pain in the buttocks. 

He never really liked anybody there. Well, except a little girl named Emma.

She was nice to him. She always got happy when he played with her. He considered her as his little sister.

He’d miss her.

He wondered if Nienna had any siblings.

Thinking about Nienna herself, he felt bad for her.

He was surprised he did.

He hated all the entitled rich people he saw walking around every day. He didn’t hate the fact that they made money, good for them, but the fact that they wasted an excessive amount of money pissed him off. That money could be put to good use by places that need it. 

But Nienna was different, he guessed. 

He thought she was an entitled nosy little rich kid when he first met her at the apple cart but after she had given him bread she didn’t necessarily have to, those thoughts changed.

He didn’t despise rich people, no, he just despised how they would waste money.

His thoughts all vanished when he saw Nienna talking to a girl they didn’t know.

As he speed-walked towards them, he heard the stranger girl laugh.

“Who are you?” He asked- no, demanded, staring down at the stranger girl.

“Emma Johnson, you are?”

His heart stopped for a second there.

Emma? Was it a sign? Could he trust her?

“Arven Kimsdale. Why are you here?”

Emma sighed, “Boy, did your parents not teach you anything about politeness?”

Arven almost laughed, “Nope. Didn’t have any to teach me.”

The girl was taken aback. She bent down and whispered to Nienna, “Your boyfriend is kind of a-”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“I’M SURE AS HELL NOT HER BOYFRIEND!”

“Alright, alright!” Emma laughed, “Arven, I was just talking to your girlfriend- whoops, sorry, friend because she seemed to be panicky, for some reason.”

Arven glanced at Nienna, “You okay?”

“Yeah…” She muttered, “I was just feeling a bit lost because we’re new to the city right?

Picking up on her hint, Arven spoke up, “Oh yeah, yeah we are.”

“Speaking of which,” He breathed through the mask the annoying hag made him wear, “Do you have a phone?

“Yeah, have anyone to call?” Emma said, taking a small… thing out of her pocket.

“Um, no. Just wanted to see what it was. Back where we’re from, we don’t have phones.” Arven said.

Well, that is technically true.

“Seriously? Where are you guys from?” Emma asked, her voice laced with shock.

“Can’t say,” Arven smiled, hoping that would work.

Emma’s slight frown dissipated and she let out a hearty laugh, “Okay, okay. Stranger Danger, I guess.”

“Why are you guys here anyway?” Emma asked them.

Nienna piped up this time, “Oh, uh, we’re here to see my mom. Yeah. My mom and dad are separated, you could say, and this is my first time visiting her here. I have her address written down here somewhere, you think you could help us out a bit?”

‘Dang,’ Arven thought, ‘She’s quite smart when she’s not whining.’

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” Emma replied, leaning in to read the address Nienna was showing on her mother’s letter.

“Hm… I think that’s an apartment complex, probably. You should probably call a taxi and have yourself driven over.”

“Could you… get a taxi for us?” Arven asked hesitantly, not entirely sure if he phrased that correctly.

Now, he didn’t know what a taxi was but he didn’t want Emma to know he didn’t know what a taxi was.

“Yeah, sure!” 

Emma made a piercing whistle and moments later a yellow contraption magically made its way towards them.

“Alright, you guys! I’m going to go now!” Emma smiled cheerily and shook their hands.

“Thank you!” Nienna shouted at Emma’s retreating back.

“Alright, well, was anyone at the door?” Nienna asked Arven in a hushed tone.

Oh yeah. He forgot about that.

“Oh.” She muttered, dejected, having been filled in on their latest situation.

“What should we do?” Arven asked her, an anxious feeling creeping up his bones.

Nienna let out a short breath, “Well, if we’re in the same place my mother is in, I guess we accomplish the purpose we did this all in the first place-”

“Gathering information,” Arven interjected.

“Yeah, and the best source right now would be my supposed mother. Let’s go to her,” Nienna said.

“Lead the way.”

Silence.

Arven was sweating bullets. Here they were, in a big… thing with seats and a wheel and something was making it move. Back home, they would walk to wherever they had to go. This was freaky!

Nienna couldn’t believe it. How was something like this made in the first place? How is it moving? It was so comfortable and efficient! This was wonderful!

Arven’s head snapped up when he felt the weird contraption jolt and stop.

Nienna’s ears almost killed themselves when she heard the taxi man utter the horrifying words her father had made her promise to never say.

Arven chuckled and was delighted in the new ammo he had just gotten to add to his arsenal of cuss words.

“Kids, I’ll have to change the tire. It’s going to take time so I suggest you get another taxi,” the man told them, internally groaning over the tire he’d have to change now.

Arven and Nienna climbed out of the taxi and started to walk away.

“Hey, you kids! You still have to pay, you know?!” The man called after them, hoping they’d come back.

Arven and Nienna both stopped and turned to each other and asked the question they both had in their mind:

“Do you have any money?”

Nienna’s eyes almost popped out and she whispered, “What do we do?!”

Arven scratched his head and let out a short laugh, “Run.”

Staring at his retreating back in disbelief, Nienna turned around to see the livid taxi man realize that they didn’t have any money and ran for her life.

“HEY, YOU GET BACK HERE! DON’T MAKE ME COME AFTER YOU- okay they’re gone and I don’t want to run. Kids suck these days.” The man grumbled, walking back to his car.

“ARVEN, STOP! HE ISN’T FOLLOWING US, SO SLOW DOWN!” Nienna yelled, her breaths running short, trying to catch up with the boy.

Arven skidded to a halt and turned around, “How did breaking the rules for the first time in your life treat you?”

Nienna, who had by then caught up to the laughing male, hit him on the head and almost shrieked, “You absolute idiot, it did not treat me well! How are you so relaxed, you imp?!”

Arven stopped laughing and let out a dramatic gasp, “An imp?! Nienna, you’re wounding me!”

Nienna straightened up, finally having caught her breath, “What should we do now? We don’t have any money, any knowledge about this unusual place and we don’t have any access to super friendly strangers like Emma who can help us.”

“You kids need help?” Someone piped up, “I’d help you out… for a price, that is.”

‘Nienna wanted a super friendly stranger,” Arven thought, ‘yet she got a super creepy one instead.’

“What do you mean ‘for a price’?” Nienna questioned, looking straight into the stranger’s eyes.

He looked like a normal man. With green eyes and brown hair, and a fairly average height, nothing about him made any alarm bells ring in Nienna’s head. But the ‘price’ he was talking about worried her. She was pretty sure the stranger had heard their conversation so he’d know that they didn’t have any money.

“I mean that I’ll help you out with whatever you want if you do me a favour,” The man clarified, “You can take a minute to think about my offer, I’ll just wait over there.”

The man walked away from Nienna and Arven.

“It’s risky,” Arven commented, looking at where the stranger was standing.

“I agree, but what can we do? The only way we can survive here is by reaching the place my mother lives in,” Nienna pointed out.

“Yeah. You know, I didn’t expect you to make decisions like this, I always pegged you as a meticulously careful person,” Arven mused.

“Honestly, so did I. I always seem to panic whenever something doesn’t go as planned but somehow, I feel oddly calm now. I always had a ton of goals set for me so it would get overwhelming at times, and a single mistake would send me over the edge, but now I know that we have a single goal which is to find information. So, as long as I’m on a path that’ll accomplish that, I’m okay,” Nienna said with a weirdly serene face.

“Though,” She continued, “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to get involved with a shady man, you don’t have to put yourself in danger anymore. Thank you for everything you’ve but you don’t have to-”

“You don’t have to do this, you don’t have to do that… Hey, lady, I've decided what I want to do and I want to do this with you, okay? So quit worrying about me, I’m comin’,” Arven grumbled.

“But we don’t know what his demands are, you could end up badly hurt, you know? Do you still want to go?”

“Nienna, it looks like you don’t know what ‘I’m coming’ means? It means that I am coming.”

“Are you kids done discussing it yet?” The stranger called out.

Arven gave Nienna a final this-topic-is-over-and-I-am-coming-whether-you-like-it-or-not look and said, “Yeah, we’re done! We accept your offer,” 

“Okay, good! First, I have a couple of conditions you kids need to follow. One, you can’t talk to anybody about this. Two, since you’ve agreed, you can’t back out, and three, you must do everything I say. If you break any of these, I’ll exact an injury on you. But, hey, that shouldn’t be a problem, right? There’s no danger if you just listen to what I say!” The stranger finished off with a sickly sweet smile.

Nienna swallowed hard and spoke in a rough voice, “Okay, we’ll accept that. In return, you will have to abide by your rules as well when you help us out,”

The stranger broke out a Cheshire-cat-worthy grin and said giddily, “Okaaaay! It’s a deal!”

Nienna and Arven looked at each other with unease and asked the question they had in mind,
“What are we supposed to do?”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Arven mumbled in shock.

Lying in front of him was a human who was not moving. Or breathing.

“Are they…” Nienna’s voice broke off, her throat closing in.

“Dead? Why, yes they are. You guys are supposed to bury him. Should take about a couple of hours,” The stranger chirped, “Again, don’t you even think of backing out, okay?”

Nienna and Arven eyed the stranger with distaste and glanced at the dead body. 

It was cold and stiff, the legs bent at a weird angle. The eyes were open, dull and lifeless, which makes sense since the owner of said eyes was dead themself.

“Well, who would’ve thought this was the ‘price’,” Arven laughed weakly, “This has to be the most interesting thing I’ve ever done.”

“It’s funny, you know,” Nienna said with a quivering voice, “The first time I met, I caught you doing something illegal, and here I am, doing something illegal. Yeah… funny. Super funny. Funny, funny, funny.”

“What’s so funny?” The stranger’s voice spoke from behind their backs, “If it’s so funny, I’d rather you tell me while digging up the grave, understand? Now, come on! Get working!”

And they got working. Sweating and grunting, they started digging up a hole to put the body in. The stranger didn’t help, he just watched them intensely while talking to his phone-thing,

Hacking away at the ground, Nienna’s body ached. She hadn’t ever done anything like this before and she was certain her arms were going to fall out of their sockets at any moment. And judging by the strained look on Arven’s face, she was pretty sure that he hadn’t either.

They were burying a real body, Arven realized. They were burying a body. They were breaking the law. This was way worse than snagging a couple of apples from the market. He didn’t want to do this, he knew this was wrong, but he had to. For Nienna and her stupid, stupid, so-extremely-stupid mother. 

Still, he didn’t regret telling Nienna that he’d do it with her. The worst thing after this scenario would be having her do this alone. 

“That’s it,” He heard Nienna’s faint voice, “I can’t do this anymore and I definitely can’t have you do anything like this either.”

Her body was weak, she still stood strong and yelled, “Okay, we’re not doing this anymore! You don’t have to help us and we’re not going to continue. We won’t expect anything of you and we won’t tell anyone about this either,”

Arven saw the stranger bring his phone down and chuck it away. Arven saw the stranger walk slowly towards Nienna. Arven watched as the stranger said the word he’d later dread:

“Condition number 2, you can’t back out.”

And Arven watched as Nienna’s eyes widened when the stranger let out a maniacal laugh and punched her.

There was screaming. There were tears. There was something on Nienna’s face, something red. Nienna’s throat was sore, which made her realize that it was her who was screaming. There was a salty taste in her mouth which made her realize that it was her who was crying. 

Her mind went blank as she saw drops of blood on the ground. Oh, so that’s what the red stuff on her face was. It was blood. Her blood. 

She felt like laughing. All of this was happening because she couldn’t keep her stupid curiosity to herself. Here she was, in another world with an innocent boy who she dragged along. Well, she told him he didn’t have to come, but either way, it was her fault. 

She felt someone shake her shoulder, gently at first which gradually became rough as the person realized she was in a daze.

“...ienna. Nienna, can you hear me? Hey, answer me. Nienna? Nienna?! For the love of everything good, say something! Hey! NIENNA?!”

The fog cleared from Nienna’s mind as her eyes focused on Arven's worried face.

Nienna scanned her surroundings. The man was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is he?” Nienna spoke in a weak voice, wincing as that hurt her face.

“Oh, he ran away. More importantly, how do you feel?” Arven asked.

“Just peachy. Considering the fact that my nose is probably broken and that we are left alone with a dead body, I think it would suffice to say that I feel great. I feel so happy I might cry, which the pain might make me do either way,” Nienna stated with a sardonic smile.

“Ha-ha. You’re mighty funny. So funny that I want to smack you,” Arven said, his eye twitching.

“That’s an awfully rude thing to do to someone who probably broke their nose, you know,” Nienna countered.

Arven’s eyes widened and he whispered, “Shoot. I forgot about that.”

He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her, “I guess you can stop the bleeding with this, I don’t know how though. Maybe try pressing it against your nose?”

At that moment Nienna realised that every stupid subject that Mr Wanton, the old man taught her about were useless.

Right now, she was aware of the reason her nose was bleeding in detail and could probably write a killer essay on it but she didn’t know how to stop it.

All of the years of studying ended up being pretty useless.

“Yeah, maybe that’ll work,” Nienna reasoned with herself and pressed the piece of cloth up hard against her nose.

Too hard actually. The pressure made her eyes well up with tears again. 

Which was something Arven didn’t notice. He stood up and brushed himself off and said, “I think I’ll go ahead and check out the area. You stay here and try to fix your nose, or well, try not to die of blood loss. Also, this time, don’t talk to strangers. The last stranger we talked to got us into this mess after all.”

With that, he strutted off with his hands wedged into his pockets.

‘Well, technically I got us into this mess, but okay.’ Nienna thought to herself.

It was late evening now. It had probably been a day since her life became a mystery to her. 

She sifted through her memories of this day and thought, ‘Wow, a lot has happened in 24 hours.’

The memories that stood out the most to her were the times she was absolutely pathetic.

‘I mean, first of all, panicking as soon as I arrived in the new place? That’s so disappointing. There I was, sitting on a stupid bench while the guy I brought along– I didn’t force him but still– was off actually doing something that would help us… which ends up being exactly what’s happening right now! I didn’t think through my stupid actions and ended up getting my stupid nose broken. If I just would’ve complied with what the crazy man was saying, the dead body would’ve been buried by now and he would’ve taken us to where my mother is. And speaking of that, am I seriously that foolish to sneak into the President’s residence all over a stupid letter that might as well have been fake? And what is up with all of this anyway?! A whole new world, what the heck? Why was this world kept secret from us? If this world exists, then where exactly do we live? I don’t think these people know of our existence but is there someone behind this? And whoa, wasn’t that exactly why I broke into the residence? To get information about this crazy world and my dead mother? Okay, perhaps my reasons for doing this aren’t exactly stupid but I sure as hell am.’ Nienna ranted inside her mind.

She let out a sigh. Dang, yelling at yourself in your mind sure is tiring.

While she was in her process of self-hatred, she didn’t notice someone come up behind her.

“You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future,” The person said sharply as Nienna turned around.

Clad in blue clothing, the burly man donned a weird, navy coloured hat pulled out handcuffs.

“Um… I’m sorry, who are you? If you don’t mind, would you mind going away? You’re disturbing me.”

Another man came up to the burly one and spoke in a low tone, “The tip was right. That is a dead body.”

“Alright, missy,” The man pulled her up, “We’d rather you came with us peacefully. You don’t want to cause any problems, right?”

Nienna was just about to retort when she caught sight of an object her father warned her against.

“One click and you’re dead. Just like that. Not many people have it, you know? Only important members of society are given one, and I was given one today. Now, dear, don’t touch it. Unless someone puts your life in danger. Remember, it’s just one click.”

Having her father’s words reverberate in her brain, she dropped her head and allowed the men to handcuff her arms and lead her to a car, similar to the one she rode before.

Nienna was sweating bullets. The men could end her life with one click. They could kill her if they wanted to.

They possessed the ender of lives.

They had guns.

Arven was not having a merry day. He was in a whole new place and he didn’t know jack about it. He was with this unpredictable character of a woman who is having a panic attack at one moment and is sitting with a bored face after her nose has been punched in at the next. He’d only known her for one day but she was the only true friend he had. It was stupid, sure, but he genuinely felt like she was his friend. I mean, she ended up pissing the psychotic guy off because she didn’t want him to have anything to do with the dead person. I mean, that’s a pretty friendly action, right?

Arven scoured the whole area before deciding that there was no immediate danger. He headed back to where the dead body and his new best friend were.

Whoa, he never imagined himself saying that. Especially the ‘best friend’ part.

They were in a forest-y area. It was a pleasant sight. The tall trees rose into the sky which was of different hues of pink, violet and blue. 

Arven felt content for a second.

Just a second, though.

His cheery mood instantly dissipated when he saw hordes of people at the place. That annoyed him.

He couldn’t see Nienna though. That worried him to a great extent.

He didn’t really understand what was happening. 

He stood behind a tree and kept watching, his eyes growing wide when he saw the dead person being carted off into a vehicle.

“They found us out,” He muttered.

“Indeed, they did,” A new voice spoke up.

Arven’s head snapped to his side and he let out a small shriek when he recognized who the person was. Turns out there was another person from their world in this one.

The whole thing was a rush. She was taken away from the dead body to a new building which was quite far from the forest she was in. She was in a daze, her mind couldn’t recognize the words that were being exchanged between the two police officers.

Yes, that’s what they were. Back at home, police officers existed too but they never had guns. They just had these sticks they used when it was necessary. Nienna didn’t really like the concept of that but it was better than using a gun.

They got out after a while and took her to this holding room which had bars as one of the walls. There was a man in there as well who smelled like tobacco. He kept looking weirdly at her.

Before putting her in the room with bars, the policemen took her to a woman who treated her nose. It still hurt but at least it hurt less now.

She didn’t know how much time had passed since then. Her mind just wouldn’t work. There were so many guns in the area. At least 15. She saw every officer with one. They didn’t even seem nervous about being next to one.

“It makes a loud sound. Something like ‘bang!’. You see, it’s dangerous right?”

If there was a ‘bang!’, it would be over for her.

Her dull eyes finally moved away from the wall they were staring at when a woman came and unlocked the barred gate and said, “Yo, little girl. You’re out.”

Nienna stared at her blankly when the woman clicked her tongue, “Hey? You’re free to go now, you know? Your momma came to get you. Though, I didn’t know that she had a daughter. So, c’mon, let’s get you out of here.”

Nienna’s eyes almost popped out of her head when the woman said ‘momma’.

She hastily got up and followed the woman to a desk that had a woman with fancy clothes sitting behind it. 

The policewoman came up to her and undid her handcuffs, “Alright, well, you’re free to go now. Don’t get caught up with any more trouble now.”

The fancy-looking woman got up and left the building and Nienna followed her.

Her ‘mom’ ushered her into a car which was much bigger and shinier than the ones she had been in and finally said, “Well, come on dear. You can tell me everything in the drive and I’m quite eager to know about my daughter as well. But first, wait, give your mother a big hug!”

Just a millisecond of pain. That’s what Arven felt before he blacked out.

Before he fully lost his consciousness, he felt himself getting picked up and put somewhere. His mind was blaring alarms but his body said, ‘Yeah, no. We sleep now.’

So sleep he did.

He woke up in a big room. It was well-lit with many comfortable looking couches splayed around. He caught a glimpse of a huge rectangular object that was showing a couple of grown men kicking a ball around in front of lots of people.

He didn’t have time to think about what that was.

“Finally awake? You always took time waking up, that’s why I never saved any food for you back at the orphanage. Thought it’d teach you a lesson but I guess I was wrong, dear boy,” The person said, appearing in his line of sight. 

He knew her. She used to be one of his caretakers at the orphanage. She was the one he hated the most. She was the one who would hit him for having undone buttons. God, he despised her. 

But she vanished one day. No one told him where she went and frankly, he was glad. He was glad that woman wasn’t around to terrorise him anymore. 

But here she was, standing in front of him with that same sick, cruel, playful smile she had when she saw him mess something up.

He wanted to spit on her.

“Why are you here?” He croaked out, still feeling weak and woozy.

“It’s my new field of work. And son, I should be asking you, why are you here? Now, don’t lie to me this time, you know what happens when little children lie, right?”

Oh, he hated her SO much.

“I was playing with butterflies and one slapped me hard with its delicate wing– which isn’t delicate– and I ended up here, have to look at your monkey-like face, you baboon-ish woman,” Arven spit out.

She chuckled, “Oh, bad choice of words, honey,” She picked up a metal bat and swung it near his head, “Next time, I won’t miss. Now, answer honestly or die.”

That was when Arven knew he messed up. 

He had a habit of having his tongue run marathons without even knowing what marathons were. He said too much and he didn’t realize it. ‘Bad Arven. Bad Arven, bad!’ He scolded himself.

He tried to play it off cool and chuckled weakly, “Alright, alright! Simmer down! So I broke into the President’s quarters and found a way to this world. That’s it, okay?”

The woman crossed her arms, “Did you come here alone?”

‘Whoops.’ Arven thought, ‘Now that’s a thinker.’

There were two things he could do:

One, tell the truth. He would tell her that he came with Nienna and she would be satisfied. It’s not as if she knew who Nienna is. And it’s not as if she could do something about it. If she left the apartment, she knew that he would escape. So, telling the truth doesn’t harm him.

Two, he throws his good logic out of the window.

“Nope, I came alone. What, you think I got any friends to accompany me? Why, that’s kind of flattering!” Arven said with an innocent expression on his face.

The woman shook her head and looked at him with fake sympathy, “Told you not to lie.”

She swung.

And this time, she didn’t miss.

Having a mom is fun. That’s what Nienna was thinking the whole time while they were in the car.

She asked her how she came here and Nienna responded honestly… or well, the details she included were true.

She said that she got curious about the President and decided to break into her living quarters and accidentally stumbled across the door which led her here. Then, she said that she found a man who said he’d help her out if she did him a favour.

Her mom didn’t press her for more details. 

Nienna asked her mom how she was able to get her out of jail– she learned what it was now– and her mother laughed breezily and said, “I have quite some influence over some aspects of society here. It was quite easy.”

She asked her mother why she was in this world, she even brought her dad into her discussion but her queries were brushed off with a gentle smile and the words: ‘We’ll come to that’.

Nienna was in awe of her mother. Ava Ridley was a poised woman who exuded confidence, grace, gentility and power. The way that Ava Ridley carried herself was firm but relaxed. If that makes sense.

It took Nienna quite a while to get used to the fact that she had a mother. That her mother wasn’t dead and was sitting right next to her, typing away at a phone just like the one Emma had.

“Ooh, we’re here!” Her mother exclaimed in a chirpy voice and opened the car door, “After you, my daughter.”

Nienna slightly laughed. Having a mother was so fun.

Hand in hand, they walked into a metal box.

Her mother pressed a button and the metal doors slid to a close and Nienna felt the ground ascending.

“Mom… what’s this?” She asked in a worried voice.

“Oh, it’s just an elevator. It’s a faster way of getting somewhere. It’s like stairs but without the climbing.”

Nienna relaxed. She had to admit, elevators were pretty cool.

The elevator stopped moving and the doors slid open. The elevator was positioned right in the middle of the apartment so Nienna’s eyes met the wonders of a rich life in New York…

…As well as Arven lying on the floor, holding his head while a woman stood over him, holding a metal bat.

All thoughts abandoned, she rushed to Arven and said frantically, “Are you okay?!”
She got a cough as a reply.

Well, at least he was alive.

Nienna looked up to see that her mother and the woman were sharing a smile.

“Mother, what’s the meaning of this?” She nearly yelled. 

“But honey, you should surely know. These are the consequences of your actions,” Her mother said.

“What do you mean?!”

“Oh honey, it’s all your father’s fault, really. If only that stupid oaf had hidden that letter, you wouldn’t be in this situation. It’s quite a shame that I have to do this to my own child.”

“Wait,” Nienna furrowed her eyebrows, “Do what to me?”

The sound of a bell echoed across the room and Ava’s face lit up with delight, “I guess she’ll explain it to you.”

“Get the door, Sylvie,” her mother added. Sylvie– the other woman nodded and walked over to a door and undid the lock.

Arven slowly got up and winced. His head was killing him.

“Who’s the ‘she’ you’re talking about?” Nienna questioned.

“According to the context, I suppose that would be me,” I say, smiling at the frightened child.

“The President?” Arven spluttered.

“Yes, that would happen to be me. I’m glad to see that the head injury isn’t affecting your ability to recognize someone,” I say with a gingerly smile.

“But-wait-how?” Nienna stammered, pointing at me.

“Dear child, did no one ever teach you that it’s rude to point? As for your question, it’s quite simple really. You broke into my home and I got to know. Long story short, here I am,” I inform.

Arven directs his question to Ava, “What are you going to do to Nienna?”

Ava let out a short laugh, “Oh, what a sweet little boy. Don’t you worry, the same thing will be happening to you as well, so you won’t be left out.”

“See, you kids meddled in business that had nothing to do with you. It is quite a shame that we’ll have to end your lives. Now, now. Don’t look at me like that, it’s quite painful for me too, you know. Arven, I truly thought of you as my child, oh, I loved you so,” Sylvie explains.

“Yeah, right,” Arven scoffs, “If that’s the way you show your so-called ‘love’, then I’m quite glad you don’t have any children of your own because their life would be hellish.”

Ava sighs, “Look at the way the child is talking back to you, Sylvie, you really should’ve taught him some manners. Look at my Nienna, not a peep out of her. She wasn’t hard to deal with, unlike your problem child.” 

“Ladies, we’re getting off-topic here. Sylvie, I’m going to have to ask you to do a little favour for me. Go and see if our dear neighbours don’t have any problems with noises that sound just a bit like gunshots. If they do have any problems, please use this as an apology,” I say, handing her a wad of cash. 

“Of course, ma’am.” Sylvie complies and leaves the apartment, not before shooting both Ava and Arven a dirty look.

“Alright,” I finally turn to the children, looking at their fear-stricken faces, “It’s quite unfortunate but it has to be done. Don’t worry, you won’t even feel the pain.”

I pull out the gun I’m carrying and signal Ava to pull hers out too.

“Hey, Nienna,” Arven murmured, “What’s the big deal? They’re just holding black blocks. We can take two old ladies.”

“Arven…” Nienna said with a shaky voice, “That’s a gun. One pull of a finger and we’re dead. Just like that. We can’t go up against that. It’s over.”

“The girl is right,” I speak, “With one swift motion of my hand, I could end your life so if you think about resisting, I can shoot you in an area that won’t allow you a quick and painless death and have you meet a gruesome end.”

“You don’t have to do this! We won’t tell anyone about this and we won’t ever create any trouble for you. Please, just give us a chance. Aren’t we your people? Aren’t you supposed to protect us, not kill us? We swear we’ll be good so please, let us go,” Nienna says with desperation.

Ava’s hand wavers, “Maybe we should let them go, they’re children after all. Maybe death is a little extreme.”

I sigh, “You were always the weak one, Ava. That’s why Mother never liked you. Our rules clearly state that all trespassers have to be eliminated. Unfortunately, one of them happens to be your daughter but rules are meant to be followed.”

Ava’s nostrils flare, “Don’t bring Mother into this. If we have to kill the children, then we’ll do it, I’m not weak like you say I am.”

“Actually,” Arven says, “You don’t have to… Alright, Nienna, you don’t look at me like that. Yeah, I’ll shut up now.”

“Can’t you make an exception?” Nienna pleads, “We’re just 15, we have our whole lives ahead of us. We’ll do anything, anything at all!”

“I’m afraid it’s still a hard no,” Ava says, eyeing Nienna with pity. 

“What kind of a mother are you?” Arven spat out, “I mean, I’m not of any significance to you but Nienna is your daughter. Will you be the reason for her death? She came here to find out about you. This isn’t happening because of her ‘oaf’ of a father, it’s happening because of you! Are you going to kill your daughter?!”

“That’s not the right way to talk to someone who holds your life in their hands,” I say.

“And you,” He glares at me, “You should learn to shut up. I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to her.”

“To answer your questions, yes, I will be the reason for her death, as horrible as that is. And no, I will not kill her, she will,” Ava says, jutting her head at me, “I find you very bothersome so I’d like to kill you myself.”

“How nice. Looking forward to it,” Arven mutters.

“Okay,” Nienna gulps, “If there’s no way around it, then at the very least, tell me. Tell me what this place is.”

“This place, my dear, is the real world. This is a place with towering mountains and deep seas. This is also a place with war and disorder. This is the place we chose not to be affiliated with and this is the place that’ll never know of our existence,” I explain.

“I wanted to say that… You always steal my thunder,” Ava pouts, looking at me with an annoyed expression. 

“I steal nothing.”

“Do you hear that thudding voice?” Nienna asks Arven in a low voice, who shakes his head.

“Ah, yes. Back to what we were doing. Now, you children stay quiet and this’ll all end in just a jiffy-”

“NYPD, OPEN UP!” 

NYPD? 

The police?

It can’t be.

I turn to Ava in distrust, “Did you call them? Did you? Did you betray me?! DID YOU?”

“No, I swear I didn’t!” She speaks frantically.

“OPEN UP!” The distinct voice said again.

“If they break in, they’ll take the children and they’ll tell them everything and we’ll be doomed! There, it’s the end for us!” Ava says hysterically, “It’s the end! We’re done for!”

“You fool, stop panicking!” I shout, “It’s never the end! It will never be the end if the police don’t find out. We’ll manage, we’ll get out of this as long as the police don’t catch a drift of this.

I made up my mind. There’s only one more thing I can do. I glare at Ava and yell, “Ready your gun!”

She understands and nods. 

I look at the children and notice how both of them have the same grim expressions on their faces. I guess they know what’s going to happen. Smart children.

I notice the tears filling in Ava’s eyes. I suppose it’s hard for her.

Nienna and Arven look at each other and nod, silently saying their goodbyes to each other. Arven, with tears trickling down his face, looks at me with disgust. I can’t blame him.

Nienna gapes at her mother. She isn’t even crying. She seems to have… accepted it. She seems to have accepted her fate.

I take in a short breath and ready myself and finally say:

“Well, I guess that’s it for you both. Goodbye.”

And just as the door breaks down, I pull the trigger.

-#-

Like the title says, it's the end!

Bye-bye!