A Self-Study Within A Broken Mind

I came back at lunch time, getting lost in the written pages from before, this time centralizing upon the time Lila told me about who she really was. Thirty minutes passed without my notice of just reading back what I noted down before. It was shortly after I tried to erase my connection to the box left behind by Rebecca, becoming a baby that Lila had to care for. It was likely before Kara showed up again, before Fyntn, and before Tarne was exposed as Akier. While being much more annoying back then, it was much simpler than having to convince someone to erase a memory from their mind. I stepped into the room where the three lay sleeping. Rather than ask for Fyntn to stop by again, I picked up the Keir from the floor and called forth the AI James Denizen. He appeared out of a gray shimmer, gaining color by the second until he looked solid. When I passed my hand through him, he phased out to the colors and a ghost-like figure underneath at the entrance point. “Hey, James,” I said. “Kara ...

Miero, 23rd of the Second Sevis, Rebirth, Year 1651 of the Ahedis Calendar Tiarto awoke one night from a nightmare and noticed a light beyond the darkness of his room. He almost brushed it off as D.A.P.S. They always worked in the dark, wearing lenses that allowed them to see where human eyes failed, named "verete" for whatever reason. If the light was on, this wasn’t them. D.A.P.S. Industries delivered food to houses every sid. Tiarto learned about them when he tried to catch the regular thieves in the act. With a broom in hand, he waited and attacked the presumed burglars only to meet Mack, the lead of the operation. The industry had long been known for their honorable conduct and vetting of employees to limit the incidents of theft. "Oh, right," Mr. Averco said when Tiarto explained his encounter. It had been a few sids since it happened, but the old man was rarely at his own home. "Those guys. It must have slipped my mind. Yes, they update the food. Makes i...

That wasn’t just one story,” Lila said the second I formed up in the untethered space. “It was like five separate stories that intertwined.” “Well,” I said. “That’s what most stories are. What do you think of secondary characters otherwise? Do they just serve the purpose of the main? Don’t they have their own paths that led them to interact with the lead?” Lila rubbed her temples in thought. It was a lot to understand that each tethered story she put together had dozens cast off from the central one. Those were often left untold. “That’s crazy,” she said. “You mean each of the other ones had other stories in it, but never tethered because the thread stitched together the main’s story?” “If you want to think of it that way, yes,” I said. “But it’s ok, Lila. Those stories are often omitted. Like the drunk man in the samurai story. Didn’t he seem like a small character for Dokuto? All he did was ask whether he had a family. They talked for a brief moment, but what if the old man had a ful...

I came back to the library after the 4th of July holiday time away to find Finn sitting on the stairs. Could he feel it like Rebecca when I arrived? I studied him while out of phase, but he didn’t seem to notice me or be on alert at all. The dull-o-cap still glowed beneath his hair resulting in a cool effect. “Hold on, Jack!” Rebecca called from the bathroom upstairs. “I’ll be out in a few!” Finn lifted his eyes to look around, but found nobody. “Jack?” He asked the room. I sighed and phased into physical form. “Hey, Finnelgamin,” I said and waved. “What's up?” He met my eyes and looked up to the ceiling. “Exorcism,” he said, as if he were pondering the meaning of life itself. “Of that ghost you left for Rebby in granny’s house. We’ve been reading up on how to do it best, but I’d rather be with Eva.” I smiled until he met my eyes again. “What?” “Nothing,” I replied. “So you and Eva an item now? Since when?” “What do you mean?” Finn asked. “Oh, that’s right. Rebecca said that ...