Chapter Text
Chapter 1: magic cocaine
JUANA
They are stuck together, and the giant grabs onto them and pulls them apart. They probably reach for each other as the giant shoves too many of them into the metal cages and dunks them in boiling oil. This giant was the god they worshiped. One of the many. Why would their God betray them….
“What the fuck you thinking about to have that look?” Hyrim asked, looking at Junana. “I was thinking what if the chicken nuggets were alive and thought of us as God's… who betrayed what they would feel.” Junana answered Hyrim honestly. “They made a whole movie and show for that.” Hrim answered. Issac pushed passed to get to the office.
There were only about 7 people here tonight. Junana, Hyrim, Whyyat, Isaac, Sophie, Amber. And the dishwasher but Junana didn't really bother to get to know her name. Sophie came to the kitchen area. Junana hated her because she had this “I'm in charge and everything has to go my way or no way” attitude. And was a bitch to everyone. He hated her as a boss. “Junana, I need you to take out the trash Tonight.” He nodded. “No problem, ma'am." He actually liked taking out trash. It gave him a second or two to actually listen to a song and chill. And working in the kitchen made him sweat a lot, and the cold air felt good.
He walked to the break room and pushed open the door. Amber was on call with her son. “Listen, sweetie I'll be home in..” she looked at her watch. “40 minutes… yes, I know I said 11 tonight. Listen sweetie… just make him a PB&J… yes I know I'll make it up to you… I love you sweetheart.” She hung up. God she's perfect.
“Billie ok?” Junana asked while pulling on his hoodie. Amber nodded. “They're having me work an extra hour so he's having to make Kody dinner.” She said, He nodded. “I'm sorry you couldn't be there.” He said.
She nodded and thanked him. He slid in both air pods. He grabbed the trash barrel and dragged it out back. God I hate Christmas time, He tossed the fist bag in. There was a drip of something into his sneaker. His phone buzzed. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls the buzzing phone from it. It was Arran. “Something bad is about to happen.” Read the first message. “I drew the death card.” The second said. Junanna groaned, he was tired of all his methed up bullshit. After Laura died he got super superstitious. He was about to ignore it when he saw something. He turned on the phone light and screamed.
The body of the dishwasher was laying propped against the wall. There was no clear cause of death but she just stared into Oblivion her eyes glazed over and she was no longer in this universe. Able to see colors and shapes not known to mankind's Living consciousness. Junana backed up and dropped his phone. He heard something move. He made a run for the McDonald's building.
AMBER
She hated that green-haired cunt. She was the person on shift who acted like a cunt because her dad owned this particular location. She clocked her break off. She was about to put her gloves on when she heard the scream. She and Hyrim walked towards the door. Juana busted through. “CALL THE COPS!” he screamed. And shut and locked the door. “Someone… killed…” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. The others had come into the back. Amber went outside and looked around.
“Veneass’s dead.” She said, Everyone was now a little freaked out. “Oh my God Ashlyn’s in the car.” Hyrim said. His girlfriend was waiting for his shift to be over. Issac and Whayyat tried to hold him back but he made it outside. When the doors opened Sophie made a big decision and made a run to her car. “What the fuck?!” Amber yelled.
Sophie made it into her car. She started digging through her purse. “No fucking way I'm dying. I'm too hot.” She said she couldn't find the keys. She dumped her purse into her lap. She found the keys and slammed them into the ignition. She pulled out and pulled onto the highway. She sped out and left.
“What the fuck?!” Amber asked again staring out the window. Hyrim and Ashlyn came back in. Whayyat was in the Conor on his phone with 911. “Oh God how could this be happening to us?” Amber asked.
CHLOE
Living as Summer pretending to be Celeste Ann Winslow was almost too easy. She was lying on the couch for a little more than 3 hours before her shift. She was using an AI app to show what she would have looked like now.
She used a photo of Chloe’s insta. There were also a whole bunch of Grief Groups. It was mostly the old insta accounts of people she went to high school with. She looked at all the photos of her from before.
She looked at a Halloween photo and almost floated back into the memories…
She was dressed up as Cleopatra. And was hosting this big Halloween party. She was going for a drink of her mom's vodka. “Hey beautiful.” Johnny said. Chloe blushed. She looked over at Bridget from the year above them. She would not approve of her dating a nerd. “Oh fuck off Johnny.” She said and walked away…. A big mistake, she thought.
She clicked through more. Some had her and her friends, almost all of which were dead. She got bummed out and closed the laptop. She had been having nightmares about St. Joseph recently. Jay came into the bedroom. “You ok babe?” he asked. Sitting on the bed. “yea… just thinking about before.” She said, Neither of them talked about it, The Before.
It was almost as if it was another person in this relationship. Someone that was pushing them way. She knew almost nothing about the man she shared her life with. And he knows nothing about me or my world… she didn't want to tell him and make his whole world twist. She cared to much. Not for him but for his soul. She knew that his soul was once Johnny. Or she thought that's how spiritual doppelgangers worked.
She knew his maybe real name was Jay, and that he worked for the CIA Now Nicolas, and he thought her real name was Summer. She didn't even know if this body's real birth name was summer.
“I think about it sometimes as well.” He said. He wrapped his arm around her. “Now we got this life.” She kissed him and he kissed her back. She moved the laptop off the bed. He doesn't need to see it. She thought and truthfully he didn't. He had a tap on the laptop. Now he was going to find out just who the fuck Chloe Stufflebean is.
ARRAN
He listened to the Police Scanner. After Laura died he lost it. Or so everyone says. He started smoking meth and thinking everyone was out to get him. He was convinced that Laura was his soulmate.
He cut off ties with his mom and dad, Junana is the only one who stuck around after. He told Tito to drop dead and he had never seen him since. He took his bicycle and rode to the McDonald's. The police were hanging around. He pulled up to the doors. Junana saw him and told the cops to let him in. They had just got done questioning everyone. They were suspicious of Sophie.
They were on their way to question her. Amber had her neighbor bring her kids to her. She was hugging them and sobbing. She had actually been close to Vanessa. Junana walked up to her. “I'm so sorry Amber.” He said. She stood and hugged him. “I'm just glad whoever killed her didn't kill you too.” There was actually no proof this had been a murder. It could have just as well been an animal he heard. The police said just as much.
Arran walked up and tapped Junana on the back. “Come on, we gotta go.” He said. They walked to Junana’s car. And he loaded Arran’s bike into the back. “Did the cards show how she died?” Junana asked. He had a feeling it was supernatural. Though he didn't know how. The chances of something supernatural happening in the same small city are highly low. But happening to the same people….
They made their way back to the apartment. They walked in and closed the door. Junana saw the meth bowl still sizzling on the table. “You really need to quit smoking that shit. Because if you get busted I got to jail as well.” He said. Flipping onto the couch. Arran picked up 3 cards. “Death, 3 of swords, and the Death card again." Arran read them off. “You dumb mother fucker. There's only one death card in each pack. You just got mixed up two decks. Count them, and it'll be too many dopehead” Junana said, walking to his room.
“Junana, please… come back, you're in danger…” Junana slammed his door. “I only have one deck.”
TITO
He sat up and yawned. This wasn't his room. He knew this because he saw a crib. He woke up and realized he was naked. He tried to think back to last night. The girl jumped out of the room naked doing a backflip with a bottle of tequila, pouring it into her pussy into the pool. “The party…” he mumbled, stirring drunk. He sat up. And pushed open the door. He puked in the hallway.
Eventually, he got to his feet and stumbled down the hallway. He saw a flight of stairs. And slowly walked down each one. Grimacing and grinding his teeth at each one. Holding onto the railing for life, afraid of falling down. He made it. He looked around and saw a family photo. The girl walked up to him. “My friend thinks you're hot.” She said, pointing at the girl, maybe 40 feet away. He smiled. He remembered banging her on the couch. He looked over and said he was still lying splayed out naked. And grabbed his clothes. He grabbed a bottle of Scotch and walked outside.
He was walking down the Ave from the girls trailer. He had dropped out last semester because of all the drama. After a little while he stopped caring about her. After that, he realized he had no friends. Juana is still cool with me, he thought to himself. But even then they didn't talk. He figured most of the people he befriended in collage were fake as fuck.
He stopped at Speedies and grabbed a soda. He sat at the bus stop and waited. He got on and rode to the mall. His apartment building was right behind there. That night when he was getting up he looked out his window and saw like 3 police cars at the McDonald's next to the mall. “Damn, someone musta robbed that place.” He said to the empty room.
He pulled up the small mirror and did a line of coke off it. His nose stung and he pinched it close and tilted his head back. creak. He got the feeling maybe this room isn't so empty. He followed the noise to his hallway. He opened his door. A blast of heat erupted from the hallway. Black and blue vines grew all over the walls. He stepped outside. He walked to the wall. The night sky was a dark green. “What the fuck?” He asked.
He heard two people talking and hide behind a wall. The two people kept talking as they got closer he realized it was in an unknown language. He krept down the stairs to the first floor. That's when he saw the people. They were all different. Some looked like humans and some looked like the family from wrong turn. And everyone acted as if this was normal. A hand came down on his shoulder.
He freaked. He spun and punched the old man in the throat. He fell over the banister. “Oh my God I'm so sorry.” Tito said while trying to grab the man. Someone jumped up and pointed at Tito. “Agjaigshn agayten!!” He said. “Agjaigshn agayten!” The rest of the people screamed and pointed at Tito. The old man landed on the bar counter and smashed a mug. Someone dropped a pink stick that's a pink fuckin cigarette and a fire started. The man that was smoking the pink cigarette let out a noise Tito could understand. A scream
The man jumped. The fire spreading around him. He ran backwards against the wall and the curtain caught fire. People panicked. But 3 people ran for him. Tito ran back up the stairs. He made it back to his floor when the first one grabbed his foot and pulled him to the floor. He kicked the man in the face. There was a crunch and he felt sick as blood splattered against his bare foot.
He got up and ran. The other two chased him. He shoved opened the door open and ran, he slid past the couch and rolled out of their sight. When they came in and separated he went backwards putting the couch between them again. He ran to his room. The second person, a man in a red shirt, jeans and his hat had symbols that somewhat resemble Adidas, the man rolled him over and started choking Tito. “AGJAIGSHN AGAYTEN!” the man howled and smashed his head against his hardwood floor. Tito barely grabbed the cord and pulled the lamp down. The smashing noise made the man turn. Tito grabbed a piece of the broken glass and stabbed it deep in his neck and pulled it across. Blood poured over his face. I look like Carrie at the prom. He pushed the mans dead body off of him and ran all the way in his room. He closed the door and locked it. I’m stuck. He thought. There was only one way out. He walked over to the mirror of coke. “God please forgive me. For all my sins and the deepest one I'm about to commit.” he said. Doing one big line of the coke.
ASHLYN
Hyrim and Ashlyn stayed at the house after the death of their coworker. After the police had finished questioning them, he wanted to go to his family lawyer’s house, but she convinced him that would make him look guilty. After they got home, she took a bath. And she wondered if maybe that…. Thing… was a part of her boyfriend's friend's death. It was just a coyote….. Wasn't it?... she scrolled through TikTok as he played Skyrim remastered. Her friend Olivia called. They talked, gossiped, she ate. In the days following the rest of her life she would think about how boring, how normal those days were.
Around 3:15am she woke up and went downstairs. She had a dry throat and went to the kitchen. Later she would think this pertericral decision was the worst ever in her life. Even at 16 when she cut herself during her Emo phase. She poured a glass of water and then she saw it. The giant eyeball. She dropped the glass. “HYRIM!!” she screamed. He ran into the kitchen. “What is it babe?” he asked. She could only point at the window. He ran towards the door. He almost opened it. He mumbled something and closed the door. She could have sworn he said “not fucking dying tonight.”
He did make sure every door and window was locked. “What is it, babe?” he asked. She opened her mouth to answer all the windows exploded. She screamed. But not for him.. Hyrim acted like nothing was going on. “Babe calm down.” he casually walked forward. He stepped on a piece of glass that went all they way through his foot. She screamed in fear as blood pooled under his feet.
She backed up and then she saw it again. She screamed louder as the wall exploded. Hyrim jumped back. “What the hell?” He asked. She went against the other wall. Like something pulled her. He ran forward and grabbed her arms as she was lifted higher and higher. Eventually, he was holding her arms, and was being dragged to the ceiling.
He was about 4 inches off the ground before they both saw the light. A blinding flash like a tactical grenade from C.O.D. then it clicked and he let go.
Blinding light, fear, being pulled towards the heavens. His girlfriend was being raptured. He let go. She begged him to help. She was afraid. As was everyone. That's why the angles said. “Be not afraid my child. I am an angle of God.” He said. “What the fuck?” She asked before disappearing.
THE BOY
he watched. He saw, now that she was alone, it was his time to strike. The Man had driven him here. The Man was his father. Not really, he had some memories from when he was a baby. But he never told The Man
But the Man told him that this Girl was a “bad one.” And all bad ones deserved to be taken to Hell. That was what the place they came from was called. Not the real hell, but it was so close no one bothered to fix it.
He walked around the side of the house, and he watched as she grabbed a Cookie Dough ice cream carton and put on PJs. He grabbed the screwdriver and undid the outside vent. He bent his back. His spine started popping and sliding. He folded his legs around his chest. He tucked his head under his knee. All bunched up as a giant folded him, he crawled into her vents.
He came out of the bathroom. He had a blueprint of her house, so he knew where to go. He went to the backdoor and unlocked it. He saw The Man step up onto the back porch and enter. The Boy went back to the car.
THE MAN
He was sure this girl had it. Or she knew someone who knew someone who did. There was an Aura around each person who came into contact with it.
If someone had touched it directly, their Aura was crazy intense. This girl was barely a blip. He figured she knew someone who knew someone. And maybe even then that person was not the one.
He walked up behind her. All he wanted to do was take out her memories and look through them. Unfortunately, the TV went to back just as he was behind her and she saw him. She jumped up and twirled around.
“Who are you?” She asked. He pulled up the Tranq gun. The dart went into her throat. She tried to breath and it wasn't able to come out. She started to cry and fell.
He walked up and placed his hand on her head. He started the spell. When The Boy came in. “Someone's here.” He said. The Man stood.
How? In only 5 timelines, this happened. Only 5 out of an infinite number. This isn't part of the plan. He closed his eyes. The headlights slowed. Her eyes quit moving. And the Man stood. And soon, within his vision there were 5 doors.
The first opened, and a young man walked in. “Hey, babe, I'm home.” He said the boy and ran back to his car. The boy chased. And the man pulled a silver 9mm with an extended handle for his large hand. He pulled the trigger and killed the boy. By the time he was done, The Man was feeding her Ka. He knew what he needed to know.
No, this is not good For me. I need him to be alive. For… her….
The door opened again this time he saw them. The Person he was truly looking for. How? What makes this universe different? He wondered. He looked over this one.
This time I came later. Meaning these two will cross over. I just need to keep her alive. For now.
He pulled the tranquilizer dart from her neck and waved his hand over her face. He felt the memories pull out of her head. He stood over her. He felt bad. I hate this part. He thinks as he leaves the house.
He sees the boy sitting on the hood of their car. He's disgusted by The Boy’s thirst for blood. The man drives over into Kansas. He stops on the side of the road. He flashes his hood lights a couple of times and makes himself feel protection for the boy.
The night let out a round of rumbling Thunder and then the building appeared. He hated this place. Probably because I remember mine. He drove up past the sign. Sitlian Orphanage.
They pulled to a stop and got out. The Man saw Father standing, looking down at them. When he got inside, Sister told him Father wanted to talk to them. She took the plate of food to the basement door. He closed his eyes as he heard the inhuman grunting and banging.
He walked to the Master room and knocked. “Enter,” Father said. The Man entered. Father sat in the chair. His cane across his lap. “I need this. You're the man of the house. It's important to save your father.” Father said. The man wanted to scream that he wasn't his real father. But Father had taken him in at age 9.
“What will you have me do father?” He asked. The old man smiled. “Well, I do have one idea.”