Chapter 41.

Anonymous Voice.

Damien Reyes.

Time/Area: August 2nd, 2013. NYC

“Yeah, just find a seat anywhere; not many people on this thing anyways.”

“Thanks.”

I sighed, walking down the small city bus aisle as the hiss of the brakes ended, barely feeling the kick as the bus lurched off away from Mercy Foundation and deeper into Manhattan.

I found a seat on the green, slightly worn, leather chair positioned at the back of the vehicle, trying to ignore the expressions of the people already sitting down. Not because I was afraid they were looking at me (they weren’t), but because they were looking at their phones.

All of them.

And if it wasn’t their phones, it was the on-board television stationed directly next to the emergency exit hatch on the roof. It didn’t matter: each screen was all likely showing the same news.

Monsters.

Are.

Real.

I rubbed my temples as I sunk back into the seat, straightening the polo-shirt I had changed into before leaving the house.

Pastor Joseph had taught on ‘Trusting God through Uncertainty’ today, and it was a great break from the tension I was feeling. But it didn’t last long; the moment I got out of church my problems came rushing in like a storm again.

I still don’t understand why we didn’t just go with Jason.

I shifted my head to my right, gazing at Bronze street out the window as it passed by our bus.

Simpler Times.

I cleared my throat, not really having the energy to think out to Terry,

“I already told you,” I let out another sigh, “I’m just more comfortable going to my church…my family’s old church.”

I tilted my head, “Plus, Mrs.M said it was okay as long as I took the bus back. We’ll see Jason in like half an hour.”

Hmph. I still think this whole thing is a waste of time.

“The bus?”

No… this whole ‘church’ thing. I don’t believe what that man on the stage was saying, and you shouldn’t-

“Hey,” I spoke a little louder than I should have, sitting up before glancing to my left across the aisle.

There sat some random guy probably in his thirties. He raised his eyebrow at me.

I gave a half-hearted wave before quickly turning back and lowering my voice,

“Hey,” I was now at a whisper level, “I do believe it, and that’s that. You gotta respect people’s beliefs dude…”

Hmm, sorry, I suppose. I just don’t see how some man in the sky could give you so much peace. I mean, Damien…even my previous host understood common logic.

I absently rolled my eyes,

“This is coming from the magical monster in my mind that gives me superpowers.”

That’s not magic; it’s science.

“Whatever,”

But it is interesting to me. Do…do you really think even I fit into some grand plan of the universe? A monster?

I froze at that, but then found my lips tugging at a smirk.

“So you were paying attention, huh?”

Be quiet, Damien.

I chuckled a little, but then answered his question,

“Yeah, yeah then I guess you would.”

…

I could feel Terry go silent, causing me to sigh once more,

“There he goes again.”

I yawned, feeling sleepiness take hold of me.

“Probably enough time left for a nap,” I thought, leaning back in the bus cushions.

I closed my eyes, letting sleep envelop me.

-

Oh….Hello, a-again. I-I am getting…better at this…also Eng..lish.

I looked around, somehow feeling my heart beat increase in speed as I looked around the void of my mind.

It looked like the common area.

But…it wasn’t.

“Terry?!” I shouted, only witnessing the color of pure blackness in every direction.

Who was speaking?

Why was the voice…so familiar?

Terry Terry Terry Terry, no it’s not. O-oh..I forgot that you can’t really…remeeember.

I began to freak out, trying desperately to wake myself up.

Nothing was working.

“W-who are you!?”

Names…so…meaningless. I’d like…a title, though. A…anyways, I guess I don’t need to check up on youu that much now that this seems to be working.

“What’s working?! What are you?!”

I’m the…saaame as you?

Well, a little different.

I don’t have that…that thing in your…spine.

But…we are siblings, still. It’d be nice for you to reach us before…the water b-breaks?

The heck?!

Ah…Decay needs me…a s..issue…shame…a shame we couldn’t…talk more?

When the time comes, I will need you. You possess..unique traits these…brutes wouldn’t understand. Human-like…brain. Hahahhaaa, I cannot do this alone? Can’t?

NO

W-won’t.

Wait

Bye Damien.

WHAT?

-

I gasped, sitting up as I awoke from…a bad dream?

I once again ignored the clearly concerned guy across the aisle from me, desperately trying to collect my thoughts as my head pounded with pain.

Something…just happened.

It sounded stupid, but that was all I could remember.

I knew I heard a voice… and it was speaking to me.

It wasn’t Terry, but it felt…familiar; almost as if it was like Terry.

I gulped, nervously pressing down my fingernail against the flat side of my arm.

I dragged the nail over my skin, leaving a tiny line of black liquid in its wake.

I watched as the black slowly shifted colors into a rosy red, spreading this way and that across the hairs of my arm as I began to bleed. I had started doing this just to practice speeding up my regeneration abilities, but weirdly enough, cutting myself felt…oddly soothing.

I shook my head, tensing the limb as a brief flash of crimson rushed through the veins and flesh of my arm. The light was muffled from underneath my skin, and when it had dissipated, so had my cut.

“How close am I?” I wondered, quickly wiping my remaining blood on the bottom of my jeans. I leaned into the aisle of the bus, glancing at the glowing sign plastered above the driver’s cockpit. It read, in those weird digital letters: Next Stop, Draxon.

I then glanced back at the window, noting Mr.Drake’s bagel shop as it passed by.

Almost there.

—-----

Once I was out of the bus and it had driven away, I felt a lot better about whatever dream I had. I didn’t even really remember what happened; all I knew was that it was scary.

I headed down the lengthy sidewalk of the neighborhood, ignoring the expected but painful ‘For Sale’ sign on Jason’s old house as I approached the front driveway of the Mabel mansion. I passed the yard entrance gate, careful not to step on the violet shaded gnomes sitting beside the two double doors of the house.

The hum of a car engine echoed behind me as I walked up to the door.

I turned around, waving at Mrs.M’s van as it pulled into the driveway. I could see Mrs.M smile at me as she parked the vehicle, not a second passing before the black doors in the back slid open to reveal an excited Jason,

“Hey dude!” Jason greeted, slamming the car door shut before running up to me.

We fist bumped, “Hey,” I returned the greeting, “is everyone..?”

He nodded, “Everyone should be here in a couple of minutes. They’ll meet us in our room.”

I nodded as he darted inside.

After I had said hello to Mrs.M, I followed Jason up the stairs and into our room where he had turned on the TV again. The reporters were recapping what was said earlier this morning, and the headlines flashing below their figure were coming and going.

Right now, the headlines were what anyone would have assumed.

Police don’t know what to do.

People wonder if communications will be shut down nationally.

School Systems are Just as Confused as ever.

What are the monsters? Aliens??

CDC releases report: If the monsters were some sort of virus, containment would be crucial.

Please try and stay indoors.

Hot topic: Families in other countries.

-

Jason was on his bed, pulling off his polo shirt to change into a normal one.

I copied this, walking over to my dresser, “You think they’ll shut down travel?”

Jason laughed from his side, “They already shut down travel between countries by plane, all cruises have been canceled, and the only thing left- national travel- will probably be shut down too. I don’t even think you can visit Liberty Island anymore.”

I let my finger trace the ever so visible scar outlining my life changing stab wound, letting my hand drop as Jason finished his predictions.

I found a simple brown shirt to put on,

“So people might be confined to their states? Jeez...I thought that this would move slower.”

Jason and I went back to our beds.

He had on a blue short sleeve,

“Yea..” He said, “Who knows, if New York gets really bad, they might close in the city.”

My eyes widened.

Could that happen?

Could they actually just keep us in New York?

I shivered at the thought. I mean, New York was basically a separate world, but…wow.

“Hey,” I started as Jason turned up the volume, remembering something we had discussed earlier, “You think the next big thing is the water supply?

Jason groaned, falling back on his bed, “That would really send the city crashing.” He said, “I just…don’t you hate how we know all this but can’t do anything about it?” He breathed.

Then, Jason thought, “How you know all this…”

I frowned, “I know right.. but who’d believe us?”

Jason sat up, muting the TV before glaring at me, “Well, your friends for starters...your girlfriend.”

I shook my head, “I’m not afraid of her not believing me.” I reasoned, “I’m afraid that she will, and then be scared of me.”

Jason groaned again, grabbing his bed pillow before hurling it at my face,

I allowed it to slump against my shoulder, laughing lightly at the gesture, “Oh c’mon,” I said, “I thought we were on the same page.”

Jason stood up,

“I’m just saying,” He raised his hands, “that was a semi-okay reason at first, but now, it’s just dumb.”

I stopped smiling,

“Well that’s not very nice..” I coughed.

Jason fell back onto his bed, laughing,

“I’m just saying..”

He turned over to face me, “I don’t think secrets matter much when...well… monsters invade, right?”

I nodded slowly, “Yea..but-”

BANG!

I sat up, Jason swinging his head towards the door as it was blasted open by Melissa Embers. She stood tall, kind of like she was some kind of model, before stomping into our room. She was carrying some kind of file folder at her side… Did that thing say ‘Classified’? Oh boy…

“GUYS!” She shouted, despite us being right in front of her, “I HAVE THE SOLUT-”

Selina came sliding past her before she could finish, “Hey guys!” She greeted, grinning as she playfully dove at me.

We both laughed as she pushed me back onto my pillow,

“How was your morning?” She asked, pulling me back up with her hands before taking a seat next to me.

Melissa glared at Selina, walking over to Jason’s bed before calmly laying down beside his knee,

“I said…” She took a deep breath, “I HAVE THE SOL-”

“Heyyyyy!” Hiru announced, running in the room before stopping between our two beds,

“What’s up dudes?” He asked, grinning as he gave me and Jason a high five.

Hiru always gave off ‘older sibling’ vibes whenever I saw him, which shocked me, since he was an only child to my knowledge. Maybe it was because he hung out with Selina a lot when she was younger.

We all said hi to Hiru.

Well, everyone except for Melissa: she was staring daggers at him,

“EVERYONE, SHUT UP!”

Everyone did, the room finally going silent as Melissa was given the floor.

She coughed, almost surprised,

“I, uh… have the solution!” She proclaimed, raising the file she had brought in so we could all see.

It, indeed, read ‘Classified’.

Jason blinked from beside her, “What’s that?”

She glared at him.

“Oh, oh, my bad,” He laughed slightly, “Continue.”

She groaned, setting the beige colored folder down on Jason’s lap,

“It’s an Ember file on those three witnesses from the News...you know, the ones getting all the attention lately?”

She paused for dramatic effect, “I stole it from my dad’s office,” she said, “Your welcome.”

“You broke into Ember?” Hiru clarified, finding his seat next to the left side of Selina, “Like…Ember the private defense company?”

Melissa was taken aback, “Don’t sound so surprised,” she muttered, “That skyscraper is basically another house for me.”

“Still,” I scratched my head, “Did your dad just leave this on his desk? It says class-”

“Yep.” Melissa nodded, laughing, “That’s actually exactly what he did.”

If crickets lived in my room, they’d be chirping at that moment.

Melissa coughed, “Uhh yeah,” She sighed, “I mean, did you guys not watch the news? My dad literally said that he’d ‘focus on other problems’.”

She paused, “That’s just code for ‘I don’t care’.”

“He doesn’t care?” Jason asked.

Melissa rephrased her words, “Well, he does care,” she admitted, her tone of voice wavering slightly as she explained, “But like, hundreds of these sightings are now being reported, and Ember is kind of busy sorting out which were real and which are fake.”

Melissa shrugged, “He’s not going to waste time on the most popular three right now; the police have that under control. Plus, my dad’s company is in the process of handling some big top secret stuff right now, so he’s pretty busy.”

We all nodded; it wasn’t like we could expect every major force in New York to work on this thing. We probably had no idea the amount of problems this whole ‘monster’ thing was truly creating, and authority figures were probably swamped.

Selina sighed, “This is kind of worrying… how many sightings have been reported...”

I nodded, agreeing, “ and all at once too.”

Selina bent her head slightly, “D-doesn’t seem a bit too coordinated, though?”

Hiru perked up at that, “That’s what I was going to say,” He agreed, “It’s not like a bunch of brainless monsters just decided to show up now. I mean, I haven’t seen one, but I’ve heard enough from Selina to get the idea.”

“Unless…they aren’t.” Selina suggested.

Jason glanced at me for a split second before going back to Selina,

“What?” he asked.

“Well,” Selina started, “Unless they’re like…not brainless.”

Melissa laughed, “What, you think monsters chow down on some humans and then decide to meet for tea later?”

“No,” Selina huffed at her sarcastic remark, “But it would explain a lot of what has been going on.”

“Like…” I pressed.

“Like you getting attacked specifically, or like only one monster being caught on camera, or-”

“I don’t know, Selina,” Jason started, “I mean, why would a monster want to attack Damien?”

“I don’t know, Jason,” She shot, “Maybe because they can somehow sense his magical freaking powers he got from some radioactive puddle?!”

“You don’t know if they can do that, though-”

“I mean, it seems like a reasonable thought,” Hiru interrupted Jason, “Why else would a monster…just one… apparently ignore an entire neighborhood to attack Damien.”

“Yeah,” Melissa added, “From what you guys told us, it sounded like this thing was on a mission.”

But…for who?

What If what they were all theorizing went beyond what I already knew?

Could it really be possible that…something was…sending monsters?

If that was true, that means that monster had to know where I lived…it had to know me. It had to know Jason.

“No…that would be too crazy.” I thought, trying to shake the idea away. But I couldn’t stop myself from recalling the conversation I had with Terry a couple days ago regarding something similar.

My spine burning…

Something may be watching us.

Could that really be true?

Jason went silent, simply grabbing Melissa’s ‘liberated’ file folder before opening it quietly. I was rather tongue tied at the moment. I was conflicted on what I should say, and what I definitely shouldn’t. And what was this…nagging feeling in the back of my head? I felt like I should’ve been remembering something that my brain felt physically incapable to recall. It felt like I was trying to picture something that didn’t even happen, yet…it felt so relevant.

“I mean, think about it: how has there only been one picture taken now?!” Selina asked as Jason went through the information, “I mean, I know they affect cameras somehow, but c'mon.”

She pointed at our muted TV- it was displaying a picture of the monster,

“That thing was like...twelve feet tall, and it just vanished?! It’s almost as big as my Dad’s ego!”

Hiru rubbed his chin, “Yeah… but I’m still confused on how people turn into monsters.” He said, “there must be something that triggers the infection.”

Jason was staring daggers at me at this point,

“Tell them already!” He thought, glancing up from the folder to meet my eyes.

I rapidly shook my head, “No, they’ll think I’m a freak!”

Jason squinted, “Freakishly annoying, maybe!”

Selina waved her hands in front of my face,

“Hey?” She coughed, “I’ve been saying your name for like a minute.”

I blinked, exiting whatever psychic chat we were having,

“S-sorry, I zoned out for a bit.”

Before Selina could question this, Jason gasped, pointing at one of the papers he had combed through within the folder,

“D, it’s Henry!”

Both me and Hiru coughed,

“The annoying one?” I asked.

Hiru glared a little in my direction, “Is it Mores?”

Jason nodded to both of us, “He was one of the witnesses...for the one in New York Harbor?”

I tilted my head, “He lives by the harbor?”

Hiru nodded, “Yea, his parents are both Ferry captains.”

“Where exactly was the monster sighted?” Selina asked, dropping the questioning look towards me and shifting it towards Jason.

Jason hummed as he dragged his finger across the page,

“Got it.” He declared, his finger stopping, “The monster was sighted literally on one of the docks...really late at night too.”

Hiru sighed, “I should probably call him...see if he’s okay and all. He likes to walk the docks at night to think.”

Thinking is something that boy does?

“Yeah,” Selina chirped, “Then you can ask him the details.”

I thought for a minute, a better idea coming to mind

“Actually, me and Jason could go talk to him.” I suggested.

Jason frowned at me,

“Why?” He thought, “I hate that guy.”

I glared,

“We know the most about the monsters, so we can ask the right questions!”

We were getting pretty good at this whole mind reading thing.

“Why?” Hiru asked, breaking our conversation.

I coughed, turning back to face Hiru, “Well uh… we would probably know what to ask him about...since uh- We’ve both seen a monster before.”

Hiru’s face tightened, “True... but I don’t know if you two are the…right people for this.”

He went on, “Especially after you said those things about him.”

I blinked, “Well..they were true…”

He just sighed, “He denied your claim, guys. He says he never even saw you at the park.”

Me and Jason glanced at each other before looking back at Hiru.

Jason cleared his throat, “Um..did you expect him to actually tell the truth? Don’t give him too much credit.”

“ANYWAYS,” Melissa cut Jason off, “I got it!”

She laid out the plan, “Damien and Jason will go talk to Henry, Hiru and Selina will stay here with me to help with the other two witnesses!”

Why did she always yell so much?

My ears thought that it was wildly unnecessary.

Selina nodded, “Well, I suppose that really covers it. We’ll try to figure out how to contact the other witnesses. I don’t know if any of them would be willing to speak to some teenagers, but uh…we could always say it’s for a school newspaper.”

“Does our school even have a newspaper?” I wondered aloud.

Melissa shrugged, looking up at Jason to be met with the same gesture.

“Well, if we don’t know, the random guy I’m calling probably won’t either,” Selina laughed.

She looked down at her phone, “It’s twelve thirty now, so J and Dami should go ahead and leave- we’ll try to dig up some more info here.”

Selina stuffed her phone into her pocket, “Not what I was planning on doing with my Sunday, but it beats home.”

Melissa laughed, “Agreed,” She said, “And if nothing exciting ends up happening with this, I guess there’d be no shame in just hanging out here..?”

She glanced at Jason for approval.

“Oh yeah, of course!” He said, “You guys can hang out here for however long. I didn’t really want to leave my aunt here by herself anyways.”

“Aww, look at Jason, being the good nephew.” Selina teased, eliciting more laughter from Melissa.

Melissa nodded, "Yeah, he's a great boyfriend."

Jason blushed, visibly trying to stop himself from smiling too brightly, "Erm...uhh, we'll be going now."

Me and Jason got up from the bed, Jason pulling on his trench coat while I tugged on my brown zip-up jacket. To be honest, the whole plan sounded kind of like some school project anyways, but it was sort of relieving to think of it like that.

And hey, like Melissa said, if nothing else- we could all hang out later anyways.

“We’ll call you if we find anything big!” Selina shouted after us, “Make sure you do the same!”

On our way out the room, Hiru slid in front of us, his towering form blocking the stairway,

“Wait guys,” He sighed, “Just..don’t judge Henry too harshly.”

I nodded, raising my hands in surrender, “Okay, okay- we’re only asking questions, Hiru.”

Jason stayed silent.

As we were about to maneuver around Hiru, he spoke again,

“And you two be careful.” He cautioned, “I don’t care what powers you have, you can still call me if anything comes up.”

I laughed, “Jee, thanks Mr.Knight we’ll be sure to do that.”

He gave us a thumbs up before we headed down the stairs, Jason groaning as we reached the front room.

He snorted a little, “Does he think he’s our dad or something?”

I opened the door, Jason locking it with his key once we were outside.

While I was a little annoyed at Hiru’s behavior, I wasn’t mad at him for it.

In fact, it kind of made me smile at how much he seemed to care.

I mean, sure all the older adults did too, but it felt different when it was someone closer to my age.

Someone that’s still a bit more mature than me, but can still relate to my problems.

I could see why Selina trusted him so much,

“Ugh fine.” Jason said suddenly, both of us now walking up Draxon, “Now you’re just making me feel bad.” he muttered.

I blinked, realizing that he was reading my thoughts.

I scratched my head, “O-oh, sorry?” switching topics, “So where does Henry live?”

Jason reached into his Jeans pocket, pulling out the folded Ember record that Melissa had stolen. He didn’t take the whole folder, obviously, but the report on the ‘New York Harbor’ witness was now with us.

It was cool outside and the neighborhood still looked like a ghost town. To be honest, that monster attack in our backyard was probably the most active the city had been for weeks,

Jason unfolded the paper, whistling, “Wow...we are going to have to take the bus.”

Now I groaned, “Why does this city have to be so big..”

Jason shrugged, “My question is: how does Henry wake up this early to take a two hour bus ride to get to Manhattan.”

I took the report from Jason as we turned the corner,

“Two hours?!” I exclaimed, checking for the address portion on the piece of paper.

The Ember report itself looked very official, and I knew that shouldn't have been surprising, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel like I was in some kind of spy movie. Or at least a really bad spy movie. What kind of spy takes the bus?

“Oh,” I breathed, finally finding the address.

Henry lived in St.George.

Which was in Staten Island.

Which meant we wouldn’t be home for a bit.

“Tell me again why we can’t just use Hiru’s phone?” Jason asked, taking back the paper.

We both paused in the middle of the sidewalk, not even bothering to look back for people. Barely anyone was outside today; much less on our street. The news had sunken in fast.

“I feel like it would be better if we spoke to Henry in person..” I explained, “Plus, I think it would be good to see what kind of state the city is in right now.”

Jason shook his head rapidly, “Our definitions of ‘good’ are very different, dude.”

I sighed, taking out my phone to text Mrs.M:

-

Hi Mrs.M! Me and Jason are going to be home kind of late.

-

She immediately responded,

-

Okay Damien. BE-BACK-BY-EIGHT

-

I frowned,

-

Nine? Pls?

-

A couple of seconds passed,

-

Yall lucky I’m so nice.

I chuckled, typing out ‘Thank you’ before stuffing my phone back into my pocket,

“Okay,” I turned to Jason, “I texted Mrs.M- we have to be back by nine.”

Another groan escaped Jason’s lips as he increased his pace to a moderate jog.

I followed him, “Uhh, what’s the rush?”

Jason didn’t stop, “ It takes two hours for a bus to get there, so that’s already four hours in total, and we still have to talk to hi-”

“Okay okay, I get it.” I interrupted, rolling my eyes as we pressed forward.

As annoyed as Jason seemed, deep down, I knew he felt the same way as me. Whenever we got to get away from the house, it felt sort of freeing. Not because Mrs.M was bad or anything like that, but it was just…

I didn’t know; actually doing something, no matter how useless it might turn out to be, felt really good. Even the field trip, which was kind of a disaster, felt better than just waiting for something to happen.

I noticed a slight smirk on Jason’s face as we rounded the familiar corner on the tip of Draxon, turning on the sidewalk that would lead straight to the bus stop,

“Next stop, Staten Island.”