Episode 12-Nefarious Sloth (9)

The maw of Fenris Wolf closed around Marcus, who gradually vanished.

"No!!"

I quickly ran to him and grabbed his arm, but the dark mist coiling around Fenris was spreading to me. We were completely shrouded, and now we were falling.

(Ah, shit, here we go again.)

It was short-lived though, just like me. Although, just like me, the fall had big impact.

"Ah, fuck!!"

I face-planted onto the ground, my right cheek pressing against some dirt and gravel. It kinda hurt, and I didn't know if I broke any bones, so I decided to remain in place and mentally analyze my body. Basically, I laid still.

I was content to lie there, but I felt someone grab my arm and hoist me up.

"Why are you just lying there?"

It was Marcus. He looked a little battered; some grass clung to his hair, but he seemed fine. Whatever Fenris did, it had no scarring effects. I answered his question.

"I like to let the agony writhe out of me."

He gave me a quizzical look, but he turned away to check our surroundings. His face fell. I mimicked his movement. We were in a trailer park community. It was grungy, messy, and littered with God-knows-what. I did see some cigarettes' butts, beer cans, and food wrappers.

(This must've been where he lived. Marcus's old home before the System Introduction.)

It was described in passing, but now it sprung to life. All the gross, disgusting details. The stained windows of certain trailers, the overflowing trash, the dirt mixed with broken bits of glass - all the little details you can never see from a written book. It felt real to me.

(He used to live here. All this squalor, he had to call this home.)

It reminded me of my old neighborhood. It was gross too, but not as much. What I hated about my old place was the false nature; it looked nice but was filled with bad people. It felt like I was living in a lie. For Marcus, he lived poorly, and it didn't lie to him. It showed the ugly truth.

(Why the hell are we here?)

I must've said it aloud because Marcus responded.

"I don't know."

(This is Fenris's antics, I'm sure of it.)

My mind raced to find an explanation. My brain went into overdrive.

"We ain't free, not yet. We're still in your head, Marcus. Still stuck in the Illusionary Pleasure. Or Prison, more accurately."

(Fraggy, you there?)

My Fragment was mute. Were they tired from narrating? Why do it in the first place if that'd waste energy? I mentally admonished my Fragment.

"Okay," I said. "Let's treat this like a game. What's the next objective? Do you know?"

"Uh, yeah, I think," Marcus said absently.

I looked at Marcus and saw what he was staring at.

"Wow, that ain't trippy."

It was a younger version of Marcus, walking out of the trailer park.

***

Ethan and Marcus were still sleeping. Maxine was still pale.

"Aliana, where do you think he came from?"

"What, Ethan?"

"Yeah."

"Where do you think he came from, space?"

"Why the attitude?" I grumbled.

"He's like us, Alicia."

My instincts and my speculations ran like crazy chickens in my head. Maybe it was a gut feeling, I don't know.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "That he's human?"

My friend was slightly taken aback from my suggestion. "Uh, what else could he be?"

"A monster...?" I whispered.

Aliana went silent. Instead, she stared at Ethan's sleeping face. It was usually contorted into an angry grimace, or a similar expression. It was relaxed now. It seemed concerned, as if he was having a nightmare.

(I'm glad my magic worked.)

The slips of paper I was inking earlier were incantations. It was an art that my Constellation sponsor gave me. It also seems like Ethan knew, which is why he asked in the first place.

I wasn't going to do anything to him like my Constellation suggested, but I wasn't going to trust him either. I had to be careful.

"Eeh... Ow, my head..."

Maxine was waking up. She was about to rise out of bed until I spoke to her.

"Don't! You're still sick!"

(Wait, do drug overdoses count as sicknesses?)

My definition was fuzzy, but I knew Maxine wasn't feeling well.

"Keep resting," I tried to say gently.

I barely knew Maxine. I didn't have the right to coddle her. I could only perform what was acceptable, and try to stay within my boundaries to make her comfortable. I couldn't control her and order her what to do. In the end, my words were only a suggestion.

"What happened?" Maxine asked.

(I guess I have to explain it to her.)

"You got lured by-"

(Wait, what I'll say might traumatize her.)

Maybe I shouldn't tell her yet. It seems like Ethan knows her better. He was also the one who saved her, so he might be a better choice.

(Will he though?)

Ethan acted crass, unforgiving, and callous. He assaulted a kid in front of other people, and seemed remorseless

(But it's weird...)

It seemed like Ethan cared for others. Marcus, Maxine, maybe even Aliana and me. The realization unnerved me.

Partially due to the fact that Ethan liked us, but also due to the fact that he might not be as evil as he seems.

Ethan existing out of the premade spectrum I placed him in was weird to me. He seemed unhinged and evil, but maybe he was more than that. Still, I don't know. I might be assuming a person's character again.

(Characters, huh.)

Sometimes Ethan felt like a self-centered person. Like everyone else was beneath him. He would scoff at other people and pay certain attention to others. It was that double-standard that I disliked in people. Why not treat people fairly? Even if you disliked or hated someone, you didn't need to go out of your way to treat them with malice. It's even worse when you treat people better than others. It was like playing favorites with people.

Maybe that's why I disliked Ethan. He scoffed and acted superior to others, but had the nerve to act nicely to the people he liked. I think that's why he scared me. It's that two-faced personality.

(Well, not like I can do anything about it.)

Maybe it was trauma on my part.

(Yeah, maybe it is that. This situation would make anyone crazy. Why didn't I think of that?)

Why DIDN'T I think of that? Why did I immediately jump the gun and assume he was evil?

(It's probably his attitude. He should work on it.)

I scolded Ethan in my head, and I cringed from thinking like a parent. Although, this situation forced people to grow up. We needed to. There were too many adults acting like children, and not enough kids acting mature. The rave downstairs was proof of it.

"Alicia, you there?"

Aliana's voice roused me from my thoughts. I felt thankful. I didn't want to get lost in them.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I think Max is gonna be sick."

"No, no, I feel fine."

As Maxine said that, sweat glistened off her skin, and her mouth grimaced.

Then she puked onto the school roof. Again.

***

"So, do we follow them?" I asked.

"I don't know what else to do, so yeah, I guess we should," Marcus said.

We walked in the trailer park, following the younger Marcus. I thought we were alone, so when we passed by a person, the crap was scared out of me.

"Holy shit!"

I jumped, but the person didn't pay attention to us, as if we weren't there. We were like specters. Dream logic, I guess.

"Hey, they took a turn!"

The older Marcus pointed at his younger self, and it was true. They walked out of this trailer park and took a left turn. We chased after them.

"Do you know where they're going?"

"Yeah, I think."

Marcus's voice dropped a pitch lower. He sounded sadder.

(What a simple word, 'sad.' A three letter word that doesn't begin to describe what he must be feeling.)

"Hey, are we walking on memory lane for you?"

"Yeah," he repeated.

(Shit.)

Marcus's childhood wasn't sunshine and rainbows. Learning about it messed me up for a day, since it was so depressing. Now I was going to see it in person. How would Marcus feel, having to relive it?

"Oi, I'm here, you know? Look at this like an adventure. A really messed-up adventure, but one you don't have to trek alone."

"I- okay."

Marcus seemed hesitant and pensive, but he finally responded.

"Thanks, Ethan."

"No problem."

"Like, thanks for everything."

"Okay, let's not talk like that."

"Why not?"

"Well, haven't you seen the Discord memes?"

"No, I never used the app."

"Oh."

We caught up to the younger Marcus and took a short break, slowly trailing behind them. In the mean time, I talked to the older Marcus.

"Well, the phrase 'thanks for everything' has some dark connotations. Like, the person is thankful, but they won't be there to thank you anymore," I explained.

"Oh, suicide."

"Bruh, at least sugarcoat it."

Marcus laughed and said, "That's kinda funny when you say it."

"Why?"

"Well, you are brutally honest."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you say it as it is. That's what makes you a good friend."

The small compliment filled my soul with a light, warm feeling. I smiled.

"Thanks, man."

"Are you thanking me for everything?" Marcus jested.

"Nope, I ain't going that far!"

After our short conversation, we finally caught up to the young Marcus.

"Here we are," the older counterpart said.

"Who's that?" I pointed out.

The younger Marcus approached someone, a girl his age with fiery red hair. She looked happy and carefree, sitting alone on a park bench. As she saw younger Marcus, she got up and waved eagerly.

The Marcus right next to me answered my question.

"That's Angela. She was my childhood friend."

(Oh.)

"Wait, 'was?' Past tense?"

(What happened?)

Marcus's backstory didn't cover his childhood extensively. It mainly focused on his teenage life. What was I going to see?

"Hey, what is gonna to happen?"

Marcus sighed and said, "Well, I'll guess we'll have to see. Not even I remember."

Like that, we watched the younger Marcus play with this "Angela." A memory that had no precedent.

(We're encroaching onto new territory.)

I never read this moment, and Marcus never remembered. We were about to go beyond the boundaries of the story I knew.