​

(Reggie)

“Jack!!” I shouted over Seth’s shoulder. Jack looked at me, and his eyes lit up. 

 

“Reggie!!” He called and sprinted to me. 

 

Seth ducked out of the way and Jack hugged me so hard I couldn’t breathe.  I felt myself melt into him a little. He was in so much pain. He’d been so alone for so long. 

 

He turned suddenly and reached for Andrew. “This is Reggie, Andrew!” Andrew stared at us and made no discernible facial expression. “I assume she’s gonna get us the fuck outa here.” Jack turned back to me and raised an eyebrow. “You’re here to save me, right?”

 

I felt my insides dance a little and I squeezed him around the middle. I thought I still saw a little spark in there, even if it was only because Jack was glad to be rescued. “Are you trying to get laid *already*?”

 

He smirked, “I’m *always* trying to get laid.”

 

Andrew squeezed by us.  “Yea there’s nothing in his pocket,” he said on his way past, “he’s just happy to see you.”

 

“Yea I can tell.” I felt like there was electricity in the air and my whole being tingled.  I pulled Jack away from the door and Seth swung it shut. “Hey Seth,” I said without looking away from Jack, “you got a bedroom, right?”

 

“Seriously?”  Seth paused, and I would have answered him but Jack was *looking* at me so intensely. “Ok then. Right this way, I guess.” 

 

We followed Seth out of his computer room and he stopped at a door between there and the living room. He opened it and stepped aside. “Alright, kids. Have fun.” He said and moved toward the living room. 

 

—

 

(Seth)

I went to the living room to find Andrew looking at the screen with Jack’s feed still playing on it. I switched it off remotely. 

 

“That’s not something we need to watch,” I said with a chuckle, and Andrew shifted his attention to me.  It occurred to me that Andrew might have feelings about what I spent most of my time doing here, but I couldn’t tell if this was enough for him to figure it out. 

 

“So that’s how you knew where to find us,” he said. 

 

I nodded. 

 

“This is a lot of screens for just one guy,” he continued. 

 

“...Yes,” I said at length. 

 

Andrew shrugged. “You don’t wanna tell me. That’s cool.”  

 

This was awkward. 

 

I didn’t speak. 

 

“I wouldn’t be mad,” he said after a long pause, “if you were conducting a massive surveillance project. You’re not the one who watches me— although I assume you will be after this?”

 

“Um..” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. 

 

Andrew sat down on my couch. “Chill out man. It’s fine. I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

 

Again, I didn’t say anything. 

 

“Do you have coffee?” Andrew asked me, and I was glad for the excuse to leave the room.  I grabbed a bottle from the fridge and took a moment to breathe. 

 

*Be less awkward. Be less awkward.*

 

I went back and sat next to Andrew on the couch. I handed him a bottle of cold coffee. He opened it and raised it to his lips just as the noise from my bedroom increased significantly in volume. Andrew paused, and his gaze slid to the door. 

 

“That kid gets around, doesn’t he?” Andrew said. 

 

“It would appear so,” I said, “isn’t he older than you, though?”

 

“He still seems like a kid to me.” Andrew shrugged. “I’ve seen him at a few different ages, and they all seem pretty much the same.”

 

“He does have a Peter Pan-esk quality about him.”

 

Andrew scowled a little. “Is there any way that we don’t have to *hear* them though?” He asked. “Jack likes to hear his own name, so I feel like she’s gonna just *keep on saying it*, and that might cause me homicidal levels of annoyance.”

 

“Oh, of course!” I leaned forward and tapped the surface of my coffee table. A screen lit up on its surface displaying the layout of my apartment. I tapped on my bedroom and activated a dampening field. 

 

Andrew leaned forward to have a look. “You can control your whole house from this table?”

 

“I can control my whole house from a lot of places.” I said. “I also have an ocular display, which sort of pops up in front of my face and I’m the only one who can see it. It’s nice to have something solid to tap on though.”  I drummed my fingers on the edge of the table. 

 

“That is fucking cool,” Andrew said. 

 

“So.. you said Jack likes to hear his own name. Am I accurately concluding that you two..”

 

“Yea we fucked.” Andrew said.  He took a sip of his coffee. “But that’s not why I know that. Sometimes I just know things about people.”

 

“When did-“

 

“The moment I was awake this morning,” Andrew laughed. “He practically pounced on me.”

 

“Ooh, I was fetching Reggie when that happened.”

 

“It took you until the hospital to fetch Reggie?” He asked. 

 

“I mean we talked a bit... Time is weird here.  It doesn’t always.. match up.”

 

—

 

(Jack)

Reggie and I became one.  We breathed in unison. We communicated without speaking.  We saw each other laid bare, as we really were, wounds and all. We shared a loneliness so deep I thought I might drown if I didn’t fill it.  I needed her so desperately, and she needed me. 

 

I could see everything. She didn’t know her place anymore. She didn’t know who she was. She made herself busy with self-appointed jobs, but none of it meant anything.  Reggie didn’t understand her nature. She understood nothing. 

 

I felt myself fall into her. 

 

Reggie was like a drug. 

 

The more I took of her the less I remembered myself. Even her voice in my ear, desperately repeating my name, couldn’t ground me to myself. My body was not mine. It was hers. 

 

We cried out in unison. 

 

Our body shuddered. 

 

I wanted to hold her but she wasn’t there. I wasn’t there.

 

We were the same. 

 

*What’s happening?  I think we... merged. That’s what Seth said before. He said I merged with Artemis. Seth.. Seth!*

 

“SETH!!”  We shouted when we gained control of our mouth.

 

*I don’t think he can hear us. We have to stand up. We should put something on. Wait wait, stand first. Stand up. Ok. Where are our cloths?  Around. Ugh. There’s a robe on the dresser!  Does this feel familiar to you?  What?  Being stuffed in the same body, or..? No being... mixed together. Doesn’t this feel familiar? Like when we were kids and I’d go Outside, and you’d be there, and we’d become each other. I remember when we got older and you wanted to be your own person. Of course I did. Don’t you want that?  Doesn’t everyone want that? I don’t want that. I never wanted that!*

 

Our knees buckled and we crumbled to the ground. I felt her grief swell up inside us. It burst past our lips and we pressed our fists and our forehead into the floor. 

 

*Its ok. I’m here. It’s ok. No it isn’t!  No it fucking isn’t!  Nothing is ok!!  I’m alone ALL THE TIME!  No you aren’t. You’re with Seth, and Artemis— it isn’t the same!  I can’t!! I can’t feel them!  I can’t know them!!  We’re all SEPERAT!!  And I don’t—*

 

We split apart and I scrambled to wrap my arms around her. Reggie sobbed and pressed her fists to the sides of her head. I still felt connected to her. Like I was a part of her, even now as I occupied my own *separate* body. 

 

“It’s ok,” I said as I rocked back and forth. “It’s ok, I’m still here.”  

 

There was a knock at the door. I yanked a blanket off the bed and draped it around Reggie. I grabbed the robe from the floor where it landed when we separated and threw it on before I opened the door. 

 

Andrew looked at me, then past me at Reggie. “I got a weird vibe,” he said. “What’s goin’ on?”

 

“I dunno!  Some weird shit?” I said. “We need Artemis. I think Artemis can help.”

 

—

(Reggie)

 

I sat on the floor. 

 

Empty 

 

Jack sat with me until Artemis got there. 

 

I didn’t move. I didn’t look up at him. I couldn’t speak. I just sat there. 

 

Artemis sat on the floor in front of me. He held my hands. His were warm and comforting. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Jack said. “I don’t..”

 

“It’s ok, Jack,” Artemis said gently. “I’m glad you’re safe now.”  Artemis squeezed my hands. “Reggie?  Can you hear me?  Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

 

I fought to close my fingers around his hand. 

 

“Good, Reggie. That’s good.” Artemis said. “Squeeze my hand if you want to go home.”

 

My fingers felt weak, but I tightened my grip again. 

 

“Thank you, Reggie,” Artemis said, “you’re doing so good.  I’m gonna pick you up now.”

 

Artemis moved to his knees and pulled me tight against his body. I huddled against him. Artemis lifted me off the ground and stood up. I pulled the blanket over my face as he carried me out of Seth’s bedroom. 

 

I didn’t want to see anyone. I didn’t want anyone to see *me*. 

 

Artemis carried me back to my bed. He laid me down and pulled the covers over me.  He left me alone for a moment and I could hear him in the kitchen. When he came back he set a steaming mug down on my bedside table.  I didn’t move, and he laid down beside me. 

 

“You don’t have to tell me what happened,” He said, “but if you want to, I’d like to hear about it.”

 

He put his arm around me. I wanted to tell him. No. I didn’t want to talk, but I wanted him to know, somehow. 

 

I couldn’t talk. 

 

I felt trapped. 

 

My heart started to race. I felt like I was vibrating. Like I could feel each of my cells tingling. It seemed wrong. It all seemed wrong somehow. Something was wrong! 

 

But what?

 

What was it?! What was wrong?! Why was I like this!?

 

Artemis raised himself from the mattress and leaned over me. “It’s ok,” he said softly, “everything is ok. If something is wrong with you, then it’s nothing new. Circumstances brought it to light, and you noticed it, but it has always been there. Breathe, Reggie. Nothing is different. You are now what you always have been. 

[I left the end quote off intentionally. Don’t fix it.]

 

I couldn’t tell if he was speaking anymore. His words echoed around me, and through me. 

 

Had I always been like this?  I couldn’t remember. I used to spend my days Ourside!  It was so different out there.  Something *must* be different now!  Because I couldn’t do my Job anymore!!  I couldn’t get Outside.  The Core didn’t want me!!

 

Why didn’t it want me?!

 

I must have done something. Something must be different!! Something was wrong!!

 

—

(Seth)

 

I gathered everyone into the living room. I didn’t usually have guests over, aside from Reggie. I tried not to fidget. 

 

“Ok so.. things have been interesting. Thank you everyone for remaining calm.”

 

Andrew rolled his eyes. “What are you, a flight attendant?  Where are my exits, what flight am I on?”

 

Jack chuckled. He was still wearing my robe. 

 

“Ok, guys. That’s hilarious. I get it. I’m being very formal.”

 

“Yea just chill out man,” Andrew said, “whatever you gotta say, just say it.”

 

I drew in a breath. “Ok listen, I need your help. I’m trying to study this world we live in, but there’s only so much I can do from here—“

 

“Oh!” Andrew interrupted and nudged Jack with the back of his hand. “Dude needs an away team.”

 

“Oh, like Star Trek!” Jack chimed in. “Does that make him Kirk, or Picard?”

 

“Or Janeway,” Andrew added. 

 

“Come on, guys.  Janeway?  Kirk?  Is my dialogue that poorly written?  I’m obviously Picard.”

 

“Hey, I liked Voyager,” Jack said. “Janeway was badass.”

 

“The acting was good but the script was eeh.”  Andrew raised his hand and wobbled it back and forth. 

 

“Ok guys, back on topic,” I said, “how would you two feel about exploring and helping me gather data?”

 

“Do I have to go back to that weird hallway?” Jack asked. 

 

“I can’t actually send you back there so... only if you happen to find it on your own— but if that happens, yes, I would definitely want you to explore the weird hallway.”

 

“Ok,” Andrew said, “I’m down for whatever, honestly.”

 

“Jack?”

 

“I dunno. It was pretty terrifying out there.” Jack said. 

 

“Ok,” Andrew said, “but won’t it be harder for Marcy to find you if you’re a moving target in basically uncharted territory.”

 

“He has a point,” I agreed. 

 

Jack squirmed. 

 

Andrew was right, Jack was like a child. 

 

“Imma be with you the whole time,” Andrew said. 

 

“And I’m going to be working on some sort of cloaking device so Marcy won’t be able to find you. Period. I don’t know how long that’s going to take, and the safest place for you in the meantime is exploring with Andrew.”

 

“Ok,” Jack agreed with some hesitation, “I’ll do it.”