Before she knew it, Jackie walked into the night. Within the cold darkness blowing against her as she tiredly walked up across the crackling, dead leaves. She didn’t belong here, and she didn’t care.

She hiked up the slope that was the forest trail, up the wooden steps caked into the dirt terrain, gripping one of the pale barked trees for support for her aching legs. Some sort of other flora Jackie couldn’t identify roped around the trunks of the trees and entangled in the ground. They were brittle, spiny, easy to break after hurting yourself first. It wasn’t pitch black yet, just a filter of cloudy shade, which Jackie thought was weird. Either due to her still having Athernet on, or the city’s lights were that strong to travel this far.

Making it atop, Jackie looked towards the city below. She could still see Steppe Avenue alight, but the noise muffled from afar at least. Buildings and skyscrapers still undergoing Shiftication, the neighborhoods and suburbs tucked away outside the major city, almost in a circle.

Would’ve been a nice sight had it stayed still.

Heralding the Transitional Shift of night, it was like the air was wavering, sputtering, at a frequency that Jackie wasn’t sure her brain could measure out, only notice. Was it fast? Was it slow? Both all at once? Her mere human eyes could only understand that it was a disturbance. Simmering, heralding an oncoming Transitionary Shift.

She picked up the pace to meet it, making a turn and heading start forward.

Jackie found that she was dragging her feet as her leg ached to remind her every microsecond, the dead leaves and brittle plants scrapped against her shoes. She definitely overdid it, and she dreaded the aftereffects in the morning. She reached into her bag, knowing it was already open, and pulled out a banana to munch on.

It was funny, how she was worrying about her legs when it’s completely possible she might not need to, after this. What she really needs to worry about was the fallout after this choice. She would have to practice lying and half-truths at an advance level to trick her first-responder father and lawyer mother. Would the elevation cause her to not even care about lying, about anything?

She cursed herself over the lack of more research, but it wasn’t like this wasn’t anything but a spur of the moment decision. She swallowed the last bit of the fruit, as she steeled her resolve. No use in doubt now. The folly in this case is better than anything available to her, now.

But she didn’t have time to stew with that choice, as she made it. Jackie walked into the flat, open area that’s soon going to be the epicenter of the supernatural.

Greeted was a very strong word, but there were four other girls waiting there. All of them looked her way as she entered the location. They then returned to whatever they were doing before Jackie came.

First instincts were to say hi despite this, but she elected to hang back, rest, leaning against a tree closing her eyes. They’ll get comfortable soon enough, Jackie betted on, just needed to give them space.

Ten whole minutes passed and not a verbal grumble was muttered.

Jackie at least glanced at each one, to gauge who they are so that she wouldn’t make an awkward situation even more so.

One had dark brown, curly hair, was small and generally young looking. Her dressing sense was pretty urban, leather jacket, torn jeans. She was squatting, arms over her knees, looking…angry? It didn’t seem like she was angry from the rest of her body language, but her face seemed like it was permanently disgruntled. Half-closed eyes, small lips, just a completely disinterested disposition. She, at least, didn’t find it rude to look at people, as she shifted her attention to everyone every so often.

The next was the one that didn’t have a place of her own, because she kept moving. Asian girl that wore much less than any of them, cargo shorts and one of those vacation shirts 50-year-old grampas wear, pink with multi-colored flowers on it. She even had a safari hat, that Jackie guesses it’s holding her hair, with shades on top. Jackie was surprised that she got all the details, but the others aren’t constantly dashing about for her to get a good look. And out of the group, she’s the only one that looks like she actually wants to be here, as she peered up and around for any slight sign for the Shift.

This one looked to be older than the rest, a young woman, over 18? Long ginger hair, at her shoulder blades, doughy green eyes, she overall looked exactly like what all the guys wanted. Pale skin, red lips, wearing business casual in the form of a white wooly sweater and black skirt, with tights-clad legs. Every part of her was good-looking…but she was completely and utterly paranoid. She shook where she sat on a fallen tree, squeezing her hands together against her chest, fidgeting down to her lap, then she rubbed her shoulders for one reason or the other and completely stopped when she felt Jackie look at her, frozen like a deer in headlights. Just waiting for anything or anyone to try something. The red lips were being sucked at by her in nervousness, completely making the lipstick lose the effect.

And finally, the last one. She had a laptop, extremely rare nowadays and would’ve thoroughly impressed Jackie…if it wasn’t literally being held up by tape. Covered in random peeling stickers, the hinge coverings broken off, exposed. She was chubby, very wide chubby, and while Jackie couldn’t see much due to the PC, what she saw were wrinkly, fading, and bland clothing. Her worn, black square-rimmed glasses reflected the light shining off the screen, and she had hazel, messy hair.

Jackie quickly looked herself over with her augmented phone’s “screen”, after seeing that. Same ol’ face, blue eyes, golden blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail. Wearing her Cedar High sweat suit, fairy blue with white stripes in a Y formation, no school insignia so it was easy to wear. She did note how some hair strands were kneaded, stuck, to her sweat forehead still. She fixed such by wiping her forehead, sighing to herself.

The safari girl ran to her, backpack in hand which started Jackie from her phone. The girl popped opened a white bo—A first aid kit and handed her some eye drops.

Oh right. She cried earlier…

“You can keep it, Missess Lady~” the safari girl chirped, before running away. Jackie tried to raise her hand to say “thank you” but… She looked at the drops, twisted the top and applied the solution to her eyes anyways, blinking and then wiping the excess, useless tears…

Caught the attention of the squatter, it seemed.

“Guess that has Athernet on it?” she asked. Even a fairly cute voice, if not low and gruff.

Jackie hoped she didn’t sound too immediate as she answered, “Yeah. I checked the forecast again, the thing we’re waiting on should be any second now.”

“Sweet,” was all she said.

Yet another full, tangible minute passed.

“Saw the simmering when I came up, too,” Jackie added so the exchange didn’t feel empty.

“Yeah, thanks. Been sitting out here for hours and my fucking legs and shit’s been killing me. Ass is numb at the point you’d think I got spreaded and hammered from behind…”

Even if all the signs pointed to her being capable of that, it still shocked Jackie, completely wide-eyed and blinking.

It took a few seconds after for the young girl to realize the reaction, “Oh, sorry, you’re not alright with cussing? I’ll stop. It’s just that I use it for commas, practically—”

“No,” Jackie refuted, “It’s that…”

“Took you for a loop, huh?” She couldn’t help but smirk.

Jackie laughed a bit, though strained, “Yeah.”

“The thing about reality-warping waves,” the girl with the laptop started, “Is that they sort of, uh. Do things their way. It’s the reason why we’re redrawing calendars and using countdowns as we rewind clocks, after all. It’s all estimated, it could be up to hours or yesterday, it happening.”

Jackie looked down, shaking her head, “Right…”

Jackie folded her arms, tapping on one of them.

“So, are you guys friends, a group--?” Jackie asked.

“Nope,” “Curly” said and only said.

It took a total of 10 minutes to have somewhat of a conversation and that was it.

“Lady” practically had fidgeting hawk-eyes throughout the “conversation”, relaxing in resignation when it was over as she put her twiddling hands on her lap (scared of her breathing for a bit). “Safari” seemed to get more agile despite looking around a tree for some reason despite the focused location. “PC” was just chuckling at a joke that the rest couldn’t see and responding to it with clammy keyboard strikes. And the one Jackie have some sort of rapport with acted as if it didn’t happen, “Curly” seemingly lost in thought.

People didn’t have to talk to Jackie, she’s not that self-important. In fact, the sentiment seemed to be more or less dying in their generation, as her father grumbled to her and her mother begrudgingly all too frequently. Being here told each other more than words could ever do…but it would be nice to hear some.

Anything. Even a non-sequitur. There’s already enough uncomfortable pressure building, adding the awkwardness of people gathered so unfathomably close yet not interacting for 30 minutes now and--

“Anyone up for saying why they’re here? Don’t have to, of course, I just wanted to make small talk…I could start, if it makes it fair,” Jackie said, standing on her own now, facing the others. Even “Safari” stopped in place when she asked.

Each of them had their way of looking at Jackie yet said nothing in response.

She looked up to the sky. Felt like it was cliché.

“I admit, my life was as normal as a girl like me could manage to get. Have awesome parents, a comfy home after having a pretty bad move, high school was amazing—and I admit that I was very lucky on that front. Then…it was all taken away, slowly. The schools ended, I lost my friends to a stupid…stupid argument—my parents’ jobs are either stalled and they had to consider joining the Transitionary Point group thing, it just…spiraled out of control. This whole thing beaten me down and I couldn’t even fight back.”

Jackie held her tightened fist with her other hand.

“It’s like those prescription drug commercials,” Jackie sighed. “Sure, you’re more than likely to suffer from the hundred other symptoms. But this whole thing’s been ruining my life so badly, I’m risking it with a smile on my face again. And make it last, this time.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” “Curly” said, “With that mean-face you have. Thought you were some undercover junior cadet, with the way you looked coming in.”

Funny, that. Jackie smiled, for the first time in a while.

“Seriously man; you were rushing in and looked at us like you were scanning the area and I was waiting for it, with those red Terminator eyes you had,” she continued, exaggeratingly leering over, jutting her neck forward as she turned her body from left to right. Everyone chuckled, with “Safari’s” being the highest.

“Sorry, sorry! Again, it’s been a rough few… ‘awhiles’,” Jackie explained, but not in exasperation. “If that makes the kind of sense that doesn’t but you still sort of get it…”

“I live for that kind of thing,” “PC” raised her finger upward. “But I’m sure you all figured that out already. It’s fuel for my lump-of-coal-soul.”

“…Y’all some interesting people—but hey, I seen weirder…stuff,” pursed “Curly”, she was really trying to honor Jackie’s request that she didn’t actually voice or even made. She shot up, unnerving “Lady”, and stretched, “Buuuuut to answer your question…”

Yes. This was it. Something that Jackie never knew exactly what she needed: people that understand.

“I’m just doing it to get it over with,” “Curly” said bluntly. What’s more, everyone else hummed and muttered in agreement.

And with that, Jackie left alone in these dark woods, ultimately feeling alone once again.

She pressed her lips back. She hoped no one caught her struggling to not show her struggling to hold back her tongue.

“Life’s been consistently shitting on me ever since I popped out, might as well let it do whatever since it’s all broken,” “Curly” gestured her hand forward, as it laid backwards on her propped knee.

“Protection for me…” everyone turned to “Lady” not because it was respectful, but the fact she even spoke, her voice not at all matching her looks and could be higher than the others present. “Just in case, for many things that could happen...”

Soft and shrill. She continued, “Shifts, bill collectors; Shift-warped bill collectors that also have siVis as well…It would just be…nice to have… assurance for once…”

“You sound really familiar, by the way. Like at the point of it itching at me,” “Curly” interjected.

“Oh. I’m…honored that you do…” she thought hard about and decided to say.

“Safari” decided to hop in before anything else happened, “Me? There isn’t a reason-reason; I just wanna.” And that was all she wanted to say before being on lookout for the danger.

Jackie looked over at the PC “PC” has, that being the thing to look towards than her face. She had to betray the emotions inside herself to ask, “And you…?”

“PC” shrugged, “I want to get it, figure out how to manipulate it to keep me going without food or water, become a new world shut in. Better odds than me not going for it on the other hand, I guess.”

“Fair,” Jackie replied, keeping it professional and not sure she’s winning, “Completely fair. All of you.”

Amidst her continued prolonged angst, she lifts her head back up from its drifting downwards.

“Names,” Jackie looked around at her alienated-at-arms, “Again, if you all want to.”

“Man, you’re probing hard for a normal person-and-not-totally-a-sting-operative or my name isn’t Maddie,” Maddie answered first. “And it’s not,” she added with a sly smile.

“River,” River replied tapping away.

“Kobayashi Aiko! I was gonna scream my whole name when it happened, but it’s taking so long!” she said, keeping her eyes peeled.

The last one twisted her lips shut, gave up and then sighed, “…Tracy.”

Jackie wanted to verbally thank them but offered a nod. Botched attempts for conversation need to be ended, then let the mood left after simply be and never dwelled on.

It’s just not the time for small talk. The world now just doesn’t allow for it.

“But hey, I’m surprised you gave a fuck talking to us,” Maddie mused, her shoulders shrugging. “Nobody wants to straight up talk anymore…”

…Jackie noted the sheer seconds the irony instantly swooped in.

“Can you blame them…?” Jackie was more surprised that Tracy replied so quick, much less the conversation actually picking up.

“Hell no,” Maddie answered, “But it’s… I guess weird all the same. It’s not even on the principal of like, not wanting to deal with anybody. It used to be people annoyed people, so they steered clear. Hell, I annoyed people because people annoyed me. We’re like, social creatures or whatever and we’re too busy looking at what fresh hell reality’s gonna make us eat shit on. Like I said, everyone’s too scared to talk.”

“My perfect excuse is that I have ten different flavors of anxiety and I’m a bore,” River droned as she typed, seemingly making more words on the laptop versus the ones she formed from her mouth. “Nothing triggers selfishness like mass existential dread.”

Tracy bounced her head lightly, side to side, again finding her words, “Good point… You’d think by now that… We’d all come together and have some bond in the face of literal reality. It’s a cliché sure, but it’s tried just as much as it’s true…”

“Meh,” Maddie spat out, “That only happens when we’re sure we’re all gonna die or some shit. But fair enough, yeah, if I had to be optimistic…” She couldn’t help but laugh at the suggestion she made.

“What’s wrong with optimism…?” Tracy queried.

"Hey, optimism is a valuable resource and I ain't wasting the last drip of mine,” Maddie retorted. She shook her head, “But this particular situation… Nah, there’s no use in it.”

“We can only be put through so much of the human condition before our wills are broken,” River butted in.

“See,” Maddie gestured at River. “Glasses gets it.”

“This… Is so beyond it, it’s not even fair, even considering that existence itself is some cosmic, constantly expanding-until-either-it-snaps-or-entropy-consumes-faster, explosion of chaos,” River explained her view. “We’re not at a limit nor at the bottom of our lines. We’re broken, simple and clean as the song and as that.”

“…Holy fucking shit, glasses,” Maddie exclaimed, without being loud, “Who the fuck hurt you?”

River looked at Maddie and without a trace of irony in her voice said, “I more or less broken myself. What can I say that I haven’t already?”

Out of all the silent lulls, the following one hit the hardest. Jackie winced under its pressure.

“…And this is why I don’t say this or the rest of my routine…” River mumbled out.

“… Do ya’ want a hug?” asked Tracy.

“Eh,” River quickly answered, “I’ll suffer in silence, remove the baggage with those terms.” She returned to her laptop, “Shouldn’t be too long, now…”

Jackie heard Aiko behind her, her swooning filled with absolute joy.

“And then here’s the masochistic tourist…”

“I live here, actually,” Aiko replied to some words and ignored the glaring ones. “And no, I don’t actually do these things for pain, that’s…Kinda boring of a goal, really. It’s better to just do it, who cares about some point? I’m here for me and I just wanna do stuff! Points are for actual lives people live!”

Maddie only blinked at her. And like the masochist comment, she ignored that she didn’t have any interest in and returned awaiting the Shift, wherever it is.

Maddie turned her head to Jackie, “Ok, I’m kinda glad that you seem like just a girl scout. These people are fucking weird.”

Jackie only laughed in response. A laugh to save face, to signal neutrality that could be taken as agreement.

“I guess what I was trying to say was…” Maddie mused, “It’s been a while someone wanting to shoot shit with me. One of the good things I’m good is running my mouth and even the people that give me the chance are clamming up. Shit’s bad…”

“…Yeah,” Jackie said, entering the conversation that she didn’t exactly get, what she wanted…but glad to have something all the same. “It has been for a while.”

“Seriously,” Maddie began to rant, “Y’all notice how… Like, motherfuckers start talking like they’re in some movie?”

As it clicked in for each of the girls, at their own pace and based on their own experiences, they started to chuckle.

“Right?” Maddie smirked as she continued on, “Y’all know! Every single person just start—”

She cleared her throat as she cut herself off.

“Talking more quickly—Talking so seriously,” her attempts to keep her voice stern caused the rest amusement and laughter. “We can only talk like we’re in Shakespeare or some shit—Oh no! I meant, shite and I always have…”

Maddie gesturing, holding up her index finger in such a cartoonish fashion caused Jackie to lose it: her hiccupping laughter causing the other to lapse into similar fit.

“But, but…” Maddie hushed herself, “We gotta engage in the conversation—hovering over the topic despite knowing—nay, etched in our very consciousness, what we’re all fucking talking about; because avoiding it sure as hell clears up something that’s so confusing!”

Jackie found herself snorting, wiping her eyes for the excess tears she thought that she exorcized. As she tried to catch herself, she saw River covering her mouth, Aiko clapping in amusement, and Tracy’s face crumbled into an honest smile the first time she’s seen her.

“Aaaah…” Jackie realized why it was so funny, and the dread nestled right back into its usual spot between her chest and stomach. “I’m starting to talk like that…”

After hearing that, everyone stopped laughing slowly, looking at Jackie.

“That’s what this shit’s been doing to me…” she can only shake her head. “Us… We’re fucking losing our minds…”

And that statement stayed within each of theirs, as a lull of silence followed and a return to their respective postures ensued.

“Also, man is your voice deep as shit.” Maddie just said without any semblance of filter. “Like. Fuck. You’re making me feel just as inadequate as the dude you’re gonna end up with…Or chick—hey—I don’t care, you fuck whoever--!”

It was Jackie’s turn to blink at her, “I… Try? Or didn’t, to sound or make it better…?”

“Seriously,” Tracy said with conviction Jackie’s sure that she built up after her personal lull. “First Jackie and then River. These digs are getting a bit too close.”

“I mean, they’re not digs so much as observations but,” Maddie continued, “I’m sorry? I sort of just say what I say. It’s not really disrespect but more of a reaction, but you can blame me for the reaction if it makes y’all feel better?”

“Again,” River said in a monotone, “Bore or Soren Kierkegarrd wannabe but less talent or a good enough excuse.”

Tracy inhaled and begun again, “Sorry to butt in…”

“By all means, shove your ass into my face, hun,” Maddie said without a missing a beat.

That completely destroyed whatever Tracy begun to say, sputtering only came out, “It… It’s that… You’re… I mean, your tone… It’s really too much, as you proved right now!”

“Yeah,” it seemed like Maddie only agreed that her tone’s overbearing. “Look, even if we don’t see each other again, take solace that I came into this shithole 2 weeks early and nearly died like two times trying to settle in. That’s like, example one of why I’m such a piece of shit--“

“wHY WOULD I TAKE SOLACE IN ANY OF THAT?!” Tracy bellowed, not out of anger but sheer confusion and mostly fear.

“Y-yeah,” Jackie piggybacked, absolutely dumbfounded, “That’s just. That’s just terrible.”

“Totally,” Maddie replied. “But hey, at least I didn’t like go deaf or something because my hands would ache day by day for the amount of sign language. And flipping people off, possibly.”

“…Okay,” Tracy conceded.

“But for real,” Maddie shrugged, palms upward. “I’m honest. I can’t help to be honest. I’m a pretty sucky, honest asshole of a human being. But for as much as there’s me being a jerk, there’s enough reasons that can tell you that and you can cut your losses and hate me. I don’t do that bullying powerplay bullshit, I said shit back at those asshats too.”

“Regardless,” Jackie found herself saying. She had to be careful here, conversating with strangers is one thing, the fear of turning argumentative and tainting the common ground; it’s another to criticize a stranger’s way of life. She continued, “I think we can all agree that we’re all trying to deal with our crazy…crazy lives in our own personal ways. If Maddie expresses that through her way, I can’t blame her for that. And yes, it’s going to be rather confusing to others not in on it. But I’m sure we all can be cool with it and we can take steps to understand it.”

“And you’re suuuuure you’re not a police cadet-?” Maddie looked at Jackie, eyes opened, chin resting on her palm.

Jackie smirked, finding herself against the trunk of her trees, folding her arms. “I just try.” She noticed that she was smirking, felt the muscles of her face relax from relearning such an action. “…Or maybe I-“

The air around her, around them, rolled over in over itself. The wind stopped; the air turned still. The sounds swallowed silent, the color of the night washed mute. The external consistency of the world around them began to blur, dim into an wispy white and the mood completely and utterly gone.

Jackie barely got a glimpse before it waved over her, she only caught the transition. River “hupped”, made a sound as she scrambled her laptop off and got up.

“Ohohohoho,” Aiko sprinted over to join the improvised huddle the girls drifted together, “Is it time?! It is here?!”

Another wave, inverted, coming from behind them as their surroundings smeared shades of what looks to be green. The effects that they can barely gauge the first time around worsened, with the simmering Jackie saw before creeps into the sickly filter.

River shook her head, “This is just the beginning; it’s presence disrupts the path area that it’s heading towards by forcing reality into a really serious game of Red Rover--!”

If it wasn’t the surround trees snapping forward but not breaking didn’t cause them to jump, it was their electronics reaching critical mass, screens not only turning white, but blaring simple patterns of sound bites and vibrating at random speeds causing them to drop them.

The warping of noise made this situation worse, Jackie thought. It turned the place into a cosmic echo chamber, as she could hear Tracy’s unease directly into her ear, the tune of technology cacophony as a background… And Aiko’s laugh made… A minute ago? Constantly cut in again. And again. And again.

She noticed this about herself and everyone presented. They were so in awe, there wasn’t movement. There wasn’t much breathing. They just looked and realize that they can barely see as well.

The bent trees begun to spaghettify toward a path that’s just a green, static filtered void. The water-color blotches that once were their surroundings bled into each other in attempt to reshape into something recognizable again. The time-lapse was long as it was short, lengthy with paced interludes that all ended up being brief. The afterimages that slurred into shapes didn’t help matters.

Jackie’s instincts, the circuitry that ran deep as a living being, told her to look down and fast. She did, noting at the corner of her eye that her hand as it swung also slurred away, creating afterimages of her own.

The final wave was culminating under the girls the whole time.

The epicenter was “colored” by all the primary, almost akin to sparkling sodas or vitamin water has color to them, expanding under their feet and rippled in and cross what once was the ground. Then it outlined everything it touched.

The brittle plants, the non-bend trees, every single blade of grass—turned into 3D gridlines but not exactly. While everything of course had lines and structure; the lines didn’t outline so much made patterns, intersects, curves and stack on. So long as it made sense in the sense of the object.

Jackie looked to her fellow youths and her blood ran cold. Then she shakingly examined herself.

All lines. All specs. All their stories told if one outside of their experience looked at them.

They all turned away from themselves to look at what they’ve chose to face.

It looked soft as it came closer and closer, an oncoming flurry of out-of-sync dissipating wisp. But the sheer volume, the complete reach, the unmeasured speed as it comes is why it’s called a Shift.

Or so Jackie or any of them thought that they knew, that they figured out.

No, it was the fact that it broke down the object it steamrolled with ease, right down to the intricacies that a world’s genius could’ve studied for the rest of their lives on; taken apart by every single angle that said genius would’ve never thought to examine, proceeding to continue on with no signs of stopping. And they haven’t seen the end results of that and any other thing it shifted along its path.

Despite being in a zone where the passage of time, the laws of physics, and the flow of logic didn’t matter anymore, Jackie once again looked to the others, getting a true look, before returning to the attention of reality barreling toward them.

This is what a Transitional Shift is.

This…This is it. The metaphysical manifestation of her…everyone’s problems, the source of them all. And by finally facing it, truly experiencing the scale that can’t be measured, she and her fellow wayward girls can finally have their absolution from the machinations of their existential dread. The potential of this going terrible, where this force can warp them all into a fate worse than death, hasn’t strayed from her mind and has instead enhanced this already transcendent scenario. That look she gave to the girls could ultimately be her last. She thought of her life, her friends, her family…Her father and mother that she lied to. But in doing so illustrated the decline, the tragic truth that she was left with no choice in the matter. And she had to make one, anyone, to achieve her catharsis. True, utter, achieved catharsis.

The Shift turned a sharp left, just moments from coming straight for them. The reality-denying phenomenon, with its barely-understandable nature and beyond-natural movements, it had made a very clear, very easy-to-follow b-line towards the other side of the woods.

And like that, its influence faded away just as it came in a sense; out of nowhere and just as easy to manipulate reality.

They all stood there, shocked, disturbed and confused in their own ways.

All the exhaustion hit Jackie at once, panting just as suddenly and fallen on her knees as her aching legs gave out. The only thing that broke the silence was Maddie’s slow, cackling laughter as it gained traction with it’s volume and it’s form—keeping it inside her throat then it echoing from it, all with a joyous smile that any of the girls wouldn’t even bet that she could make at all. Tracy could only be bewildered, until that bewilderment caused shaking, sucking on her lips, pulling at her long hair with a milking motion as her eyes got wider and scared, barely able to form words as she babbles. Aiko seemed the one that took it the worse, excitable energy turned into absolute, dead-eyed disappointment that ceased all her motion. River… Just said the following:

“Oh,” she looked at the Shift continuing down the deep forest. “That’s… Something that it can do, for sure-”

She was cut off by Maddie’s continued laughter that went sharp in it’s audio, as she fell on the colored leaves, so far gone and so far into her hysterics that she didn’t care as she swayed side to side on the ground, clutching her sides with her arms crossed over one another.

“WHAT A FUCKING BLUEBALL!” she roared.

Aiko furiously throw her hat and shades into the very dirt; her side-ponytail animating within the arc as it was freed along with the rest of her black hair, “Damn right it’s a blueball! That can happen?! That was it?!”

“Um,” River bluntly replied, “Yeeeah. I think. This seems like a moment where I read something about something and it came into play into real life in the worst, possible way.”

Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhg, erupted from Aiko’s throat, her head skyward. “Screw it! I could’ve worked on learning how to sleep erect in a tree and would’ve lost absolutely nothing! Nothing!”

The rest continued to focus on what’s leaving as Jackie focused on what came by.

The sight her eyes tried to make out is the very land still moving, almost twitching in a sense. Everything lost its color, hues, and textures forever; all a sickly, out of place white now. From what was once grass, trees, dirt, stray litter, and the air itself now tries to interlock, connect, break apart, and reassemble. Sluggishly, without aim or reason, but nothing stopping the so-called rhythm.

But what really painted the scene, what she got out of it, was how close by mere inches it was.

She returned to her senses around the time Maddie regained hers, getting up from the ground and wiping the tears from her eyes and cheeks.

“Fuck me,” she whined out from her raw throat, “That was the single best middle finger I’ve ever received. I love it. I fucking love it so fucking much, oh my god…”

“O-o-o-oh god in-indeed,” Tracy shuddered out, with all the desperation in her voice, “What are we going to do now?!”

“Leave,” Aiko giving her the answer that’s nothing close to what she needed to hear. She tossed her hat into her opened backpack as she rummaged through it in a grumble, “Leave and actually do something. That’s what I’m doing.”

“Well-” River started.

“No!” Aiko snapped at her, “There’s no saving this! We planned for this and it turned out to be the biggest nothingburger of our lives! So I’m going—I’m gonna try to salvage this night—Try and have a good one yourselves!”

She pulled her huge sac onto her back in a huff, leaning over and started to walk off into the night, down the hill they were facing away from.

She proceeded to scream out, cover her eyes and turned away from her escape path and fall on her back.

That awoke Jackie out of her funk, turning to head and attention to the fallen girl and instantly rushes over to her, where she too screamed out and shut her eyes.

“That’s why,” River explained.

“Holy shit,” Maddie in a tone of actual concern. She looked to River, “Continue, Glasses?”

“Well, it’s simple. All that distortion can’t all just disappear in one minute or even one month, the universe is currently trying to snap itself back together. Or rather, the stuff that it can snap back together.”

Tracy craned her head over to River, unabashedly afraid, “So what does that mean?! A-are we suck here?!”

“More or less, unless we chance it,” River put her hands in her pockets. “But I’m sure the Shift researchers will come over and use their ‘technology’ to break us out…”

“…Then hand us other to the cops, we sit in jail, and overall will have to visit some shrink for the next, Iunno, ten weeks until they clear us,” Maddie pointed out. “Sooo, we’re fucked. Spit-roasted.”

“It’s the non-lethal Elephant’s Foot: supreme fuckage on every level of…living—” River tried to reason out, only to be cut off by Maddie’s haggard chuckling.

“C-can I—Can I steal ‘fuckage’ I need that. I need to say that more in my life—" Maddie then coughed, stopping her sentence and her laughter.

Jackie recovered from her spell, but kept her eyes closed. She fumbled for Aiko, grabbing her travelbag’s strap, and pulled as she moved back.

Turns out, she found, that closing her eyes wasn’t the solution. She felt it, feedback that hammered to her bones, hummed through out her muscles, and made her blood felt like it was boiling but never heating up. Whatever it was, it could only be described as reality wavering with her in it. She had to rush, she had to leave to escape that awful feeling and she managed to do so with Aiko in tow, quickly acing the group, opening her eyes and then helping Aiko up.

“…Maybe it’s a sign,” Jackie begun, dusting her and Aiko off.

Everyone turned to her.

“After seeing all that… I’m not exactly saying that I’m cured, that I came to a revelation, but I got the scale. I got the fear. All of this Shift related stuff is a very real threat and maybe I didn’t need siVis to meet it. Because I honestly can’t.”

She met the eyes of each girl, “Maybe we all didn’t need it at all.”

“ImeanIkindadid,” River said in a quiet hush.

Jackie shook her head, but in agreement with the sentiment, “Don’t get me wrong, there’s still problems that we have to deal with. They’re not gone. Just that we don’t need to get as complicated, as illogical, as weird as them to face them…Is it my survival instincts rewarding me with dopamine, and this is clearly a ‘I’m alive’ high? I don’t know; but what I do know is that I was clearly wrong. And I was going to do something stupid and I got lucky enough to get a wake-up call. Especially when people who do just as drastic stuff that’s not Shift related didn’t get to when they were…”

Jackie didn’t finish and turns out, didn’t need to. The collective silence was enough.

She looked over her cohorts, with a worn but hopeful smile, “Let’s just turn this into our shared noodle incident, and keep on with our… Well, struggle to figure life out. And since we have time to spare until the researchers get here, let’s just talk and hang. I’d love to get to know you all better.”

“Shit man. I know you gotta play the game to get results but you’re doing waaaay too much to get a fuck from each of us. At the same time. In a renowned Hoe-tel motel. With Brazilian oils and buttplugs…” Maddie said… And didn’t last a second without smiling again, wincing a bit, “Ohgodmycheekshurt—Kidding, kidding. Sure, whatever~”

Aiko sat crosslegged, fist planted into her cheek, throwing up her other hand, exasperated, “No, sure, might as well…”

“I don’t really know how to do this… Talk-ing,” River playing up her monotone inflection, “But I guess there’s not much walls for me to dig, seed and plant myself in.”

Tracy looked the closest thing to calm as she could ever manage, as she then again paused and sorted out her response, “Well… Yeah, of course… You’re not all really strangers anymore… Just… Strange people—”

Jackie laughed as Maddie joined her, and the latter was the one to response, “Whooooa, now the claws come out. Teacher aid by daylight, teacher of sass when the lights turn off!”

Tracy smiled and chuckled a bit, and begun to turn to Maddie, was about to retort.

Then she scrambled onto the ground, exclaiming a bloody curdling shout. Jackie once again darted over, only when she kneeled to pick her up was the muscles aching with the culminated fatigue.

“Yeah, don’t look at the area or else it’s going to rattle you with that feedback shock,” River said.

“I WASN’T EVEN LOOKING THERE!” Tracy shouted, hands over her face as she shakes to get up.

“…Yeah, I don’t think she was looking--,” Maddie turned her head and was instantly blown on her back, screaming from the gut.

Jackie darted her eyes, looking at Maddie before Tracy fell down screaming again, “Guys, shut your eyes, it helps it a tiny bit!” She does so herself, “Crap, was there a spot we didn’t see or-?!”

Aiko quickly scanned across the land before making a hard stop and flinch away, “I-I think it’s growing—”

“What do you mean, ‘growing’?!” Jackie shouted.

River instantly went on her knee, clutching the one that’s up, “T-the influence! It’s spreading!”

Jackie felt the wavering against her back, then at her side, then to her other, she felt it closing in at the point of it being the new normal.

And as she was wavering, it all clicked into place, and she was shaken to her core.

“It’s snapping together, it’s snapping together—RIVER WAS RIGHT AND THE UNIVERSE IS TRYING TO CORRECT ITSELF; WE SHOULD MOVE!”

It was too late to try.

They were surrounded at all sides. After hearing River crash down, Jackie took the assault as she opened her eyes wildly, desperately trying to understand the situation. The wavering has grown in influence, closing them all in because it’s shifting about itself, trying to correct, trying to readjust.

They were stuck within the problem the universe is trying to erase.

They’re going to be erased. Thrown away. Removed. Nothing premediated, nothing planned. They were at the wrong place, wrong time, and made all the wrong judgements this day. The universe aimed to correct it all, and it’s terrifying.

They were trapped, on all sides, becoming consumed by the correction of reality. They tried getting up but were corrected. They jumped toward the “walls” but were corrected. They flung a number of things from their bags, their pockets, and everything they could grab, but all attempts were corrected. They screamed out, from all the peaks of their collective lungs but were corrected. They tried getting up but corrected. They tried getting up but corrected. They tried getting up but corrected, again and again and again. They tried to run, they tried to hide, they tried. The wavering then turned outright desolation, as the girls turn into blurs, slowly fading out of reality. They screamed, they pleaded, they withered, and then they quickly disappeared.

Their attempt was to face reality so that they can outrun it, and they ended up falling out of it.