Followed

Someone was following them. May hadn't noticed. But she was eight. And while their parents had never been specific, they made sure Paul knew her mind didn't work the same way as theirs. She was "special." Not that he noticed often. That was just how eight year olds were, yeah?

The point was, May didn't pick up on it. Paul had.

At first, he hadn't. The city, Aquarin, was apparently the capital of this world. There were a lot of people, and it wouldn't be weird if someone was on the same street, or even took the same turn.

But Paul didn't have any earthly idea where he was going. He'd accidentally led them into a circular street, only to come out the same way they'd come in. They'd also walked down a sad street, with dilapidated houses that looked like they belonged in an apocalypse story. There was still a figure following them.

Paul couldn't make out many details. He was fairly certain the figure was a man. But he was wearing a black cloak that covered most of him, even casting his whole face in darkness. The figure's blackened hands were clasped together. And not black as in dark skin, this was more like someone's hands had been charred. When the figure moved, Paul could see black pant legs and shiny black boots, but he rarely saw him move. Usually he was just standing on the street behind them, or one time in front of them. They passed where he stood between two houses, hood boring into their backs.

Paul didn't like this, didn't like it at all.

"M tired," May complained.

Her voice was groggy, and she stumbled when she spoke.

It hadn't always been like this. Paul had been a normal teenager once. In fact, he'd been a normal teenager a few days ago, literally less than a week. His dad worked, and then came home to join them in the evenings. His mom didn't work full time. She was usually at home, watching him and May. Paul went to high school during the day, and played video games in the evening. Lots and lots of video games.

He wasn't ready to be an adult who took care himself, much less someone who took care of his sister. They were only seven years apart, depending on the time of year. But with his limited knowledge, he was pretty sure he shouldn't tell her the whole situation. She'd freak out.

Paul smiled. It wasn't his most convincing look. "Me too," he agreed. "Let's find someplace to sleep, yeah?"

He grabbed her wrist and turned, pulling her down several quick illogical turns.

He looked as far behind him as he dared. Yes, they were still being followed.

What did the figure want, anyway? Was he planning to rob them? Enslave them? Did he want a horrifying thing people didn't like to put into words? Hell, Paul didn't know how this world worked. Maybe the figure needed minors to power some sort of evil spell. And did any of it matter? All the options he could think of sounded terrible.

"M hungry," May complained, breaking him from his thoughts.

Sort of. He was sweating. His hair was wet. His grip on May's wrist was slick. And it wasn't from moving.

He was hungry too, but they didn't have money. He was more confident they'd find someplace to lie down than something to eat, assuming they lost their tag along.

He hadn't meant to become some kind of bum back at home. It was just, he was just kind of average at school, and he was outright bad at sports. Any job he wanted seemed like it would be out of reach by the time he got out of school. Hell, any job he didn't want, like flipping burgers or picking garbage, also seemed out of reach. But he was good at video games, and the real people who talked to him in the zombie game thought he was cool. Why not keep playing?

Well, he couldn't play here, Apparently, he couldn't even escape their stalker, and it was stressing him out.

"Paul?"

"I know."

"Know what?"

"I just know!"

"But-"

"Shut up for a moment." He didn't yell, but he did growl it out through clenched teeth, which was basically as bad.

Paul didn't know the layout of Aquarin, obviously. But he could near some people, and see lights. He turned them in that direction. If they couldn't hide from the figure they should get somewhere with witnesses.

Paul pulled May that way. Between his squinting and clenched jaw, he was going to get a headache later.

They quickly reached a street where the buildings were very close together, and people were on the cobblestone road. Yellow or gold light came out of the windows. Paul could hear music and smell food coming out of some. The ones that didn't have that seemed to be . . . hotels? Maybe that wasn't the right word, but they were places to sleep.

There were performers out in the street too. Someone was singing, another was preforming magic tricks. May gave an excited cry and pointed at a juggler.

Paul brought her closer, letting her watch, while he took a sat on a nearby stone wall. There was some kind of garden behind him. The plants grew tall and seemed soft. Maybe if they slept in there, no one would notice. . .

No. Wait. Then they'd be alone, with no one around but the mysterious figure. Was he still following them?

Paul scanned the area. Yup. Still there. He was sticking to the shadows, at the back of crowds or between buildings. You might not notice him if you weren't looking for him. But Paul was looking, wasn't he?

He looked away, and tried to slow his racing thoughts. Sleeping out of sight was out of the question. They needed witnesses. He hadn't had to worry about that the past few nights they'd been here.

There was applause as the juggler bowed.

Maybe he could sell something so they could spend a night in one of the buildings?

In his back pocket he had his phone. In his other back pocket, he actually had one of those solar chargers. He phone wouldn't run out of juice. But here, it could probably only be used as a camera or a light. And would he be both willing and able to sell it?

In his front left pocket he had keys. Again, the house didn't exist here. Would he really be able to sell those?

His fourth and final pocket had his wallet. It had currency that wouldn't be any good here, and an ID for someone who didn't legally exist in this . . . world? Plain? Dimension?

Paul sighed.

He had fantasized about being sucked through a portal to a strange new land before it literally happened. Most people did, right? It was a chance to start over with a clean state, none of your previous failures mattering. And if you were lucky, the new world would be better than the last, less hopeless and depressing. If you were really lucky, maybe you'd end up super powerful.

Well here he was, and if he could become super powerful, he had to work at it. He didn't know what to do. He was not prepared to just arrive in a new town on a new world with no money or resources and make things work out okay. And he was being followed and he had May to worry about and. . .

And it was getting awfully quiet on the street in front of him.

Paul looked up. The juggler was gone, done for the night maybe. The crowd had dispersed. There were still people walking the street, but they all seemed to be going somewhere, not clumping up like before.

And where was May?

Paul got up, but he was barely aware of his own movements. His eyes were wide, but it still seemed dark around the edges. It was like he was in a tunnel, with how distance everything looked and sounded. All he could focus on was his sister. Where was May? He'd lost his fucking sister.

Well, be careful what you wished for indeed. He should've told her the situation after all.