Chapter 112: [29] Close Encounters of the Bus Kind 29 [From Beyond Arc]

Close Encounters of the Bus Kind

[29]

“Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up…”

This made no sense to Nadia. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. This made perfect sense to Nadia from the perspective of all the craziness going on. But it was still somehow a step above aliens, superpowers, dream worlds, and anything else she may be forgetting.

A glitch in the matrix was the first thing that popped into her head, and it wasn’t the first time she had arrived at that thought recently. But it was a different matter entirely to look at two versions of the same thing and have no reasonable explanation for why they were here. If the world was a simulation and she was just some character programmed into it, then what did that mean?

Was Beyond some sort of software company? Did people from Beyond play this world like people played online role-playing games? Was that it? Was that the answer? Was she, her life, her experiences, and everything she ever knew just lines of code in some incomprehensible program beyond her reckoning?

It actually made a weird sort of sense. Of course, superpowers weren’t possible in any sort of reasonable, rational, grounded world. Aliens didn’t just abduct people and turn them into teenage girls because they made a mistake about the human species. Reality doesn’t just shift to give someone different parents. They don’t suddenly get a family out of nowhere. That’s what happens when you update the server and correct continuity errors and adjust things, so they make sense. Maybe you lose someone’s elder sisters, but don’t worry, you can patch it in when they’re not looking and let them think it was all on them.

This is still a crazy theory, but it made more and more sense with every moment she thought it through. It was the only way she could really explain the craziness resting on her table. Maybe it was a necklace that Luna found somewhere, and it could be the necklace of one of her sisters but that would be an even crazier coincidence that they had exactly the same necklace and that was what set her mom off.

It more sense if everything was a simulation. Can’t get together with the woman she loves because it would somehow break the program with the interaction of their powers in the simulated reality. Then why do they allow her a choice? Is it a real choice or is it just the illusion of one?

She had to sit down. The computer desk chair was too rigid for her needs and the bed didn’t provide enough support unless she just flopped down on it like she was ready to make snow angels in the blankets. She grabbed the two necklaces but kept them in separate hands, even though both Ginas existed in contact without any problems. She didn’t know if the same rules applied to whatever this was. Better to not accidentally create an explosion. Sometimes, she wondered if she absorbed far too many weird podcasts during her quiet drives. But the weirdness was in the world, and she couldn’t ignore it.

The notion that the world could be a simulation shook her to her core and yet didn’t feel like a big deal at all. What was she supposed to do? Everything is a simulation. Reality is unreliable. Does it really matter all that much?

Yesterday, before all of this, when Paul was prepping the bus for the team, he was just gonna live his life day by day. Look forward to the antics of his passengers, enjoy a casual chat with Erin, and return to the usual grind. The days didn’t really matter. Everyone he ever knew or would ever meet would one day die. Everything he did, everything he made, every word he said, whether inscribed on the Internet or spoken into the nearest ear, would ultimately be erased. The sun would one day swell into a red giant and then poof into a white dwarf, probably taking the Earth with it and every trace of every human to ever inhabit it.

And even if you consider the possibility that the atoms which constituted the key essence of the life of Paul or Nadia managed to embed themselves with the memory of his or her existence, there was always entropy. The universe expands forever with untold eons of star stuff flying to distant stretches. But, eventually, all that’s left are dying black holes and the last sparks of particles. Even if reincarnation or an afterlife existed then she feared that be more of the same, but with endless pointless torture or endless pointless joy. Not that Nadia would shrug off the joyful possibilities of a heaven that appeal to her.

If the world is a simulation, then none of it ever mattered.

But a little voice inside her soon countered.

Yeah? So what? Then, it’s pointless. Give it a point. Draw a finite shape in the horrors of the infinite. Enjoy life. Love. Be sincere. Share. Have silly little moments like at the shopping center with trying to figure out a disguise for Louise, even though there’s no way that her mom ever would’ve come to the conclusion that her daughter got duplicated.

What do you choose to have value, what do you give a point to? She looked down at the necklaces in her hands, the impossible duo. Quietly, she set the one she found exactly back where she found it. Walking over to the nearest bathroom, she cradled the necklace that Erin had given her. Using a couple pumps of liquid soap and some elbow grease, she delicately cleaned the necklace so that all traces of garbage stains and smells were gone. It still had the hint of a discoloration but only if you knew where to look.

After gently drying it off, Nadia walked back to her bedroom and checked the spot where she had left the other necklace. There was nothing. Somehow, that’s exactly what she expected to happen. Glitch corrected, error fixed. Go on your way, little NPC. No need to even read the patch notes. As you were.

Somewhere in her mind, she connected the details that the necklace appeared right where Luna was sitting, and it would’ve been an easy thing for a little girl to sneak into her room and grab a little thing like that without being heard. Luna was pretty sneaky, and she had her secrets. Nadia could press her, but she doubted she would say anything more than she already had.

It only occurred to her then that it would’ve been interesting to make a mark on her necklace and see if it showed up in the other one, like a double image. Oh well. She had plenty of other things to concern herself with.

Her mother would be coming upstairs soon, with a lot to say to her daughter. The necklace seemed dry enough already for her to wear it prominently and proudly.

Despite that intent, she still tucked her escape bag under the bed, especially to hide her fancy cell phone. Unfortunately, being without her cell phone meant there was basically nothing to do in her room. It would be too much trouble to get up and out of bed to turn on her computer and everything else was even further out of reach. The plight of the teenager, she snorted.

She heard footsteps on the stairs and sat up. It could’ve been anyone. Even though her siblings had been downstairs for the entire day, it made sense that they might eventually come up to get something out of the rooms. She told herself that it was probably one of them. At the same time, she sensed that it had to be her mother. And she was right.

Her mother was still wearing the same clothes from earlier decorated with the Turkish flag. Her eyes were rimmed with tears as she made her way up the last few steps. She wiped them away. Nadia braced herself. She was used to being manipulated by parental tears. In response, she sat a little straighter in bed with her head raised and her chest out so that her mother would easily be able to see the necklace, even from this far away.

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Taliah set her hand on the door frame and quickly inspected the lintel for dust. She found a few questionable spots but cleared her throat and straightened much like her daughter. “Sweetie, I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart. I was wrong. I was especially wrong to react like that and take away the gift Erin gave you…just because I was scared. I dream so many beautiful things for you. I don’t want you to make any mistakes. Not that this is a mistake, but so many of our family members have suffered because they were different. I know who you are and how you feel are things you cannot change, but I hoped I could hold you back from the dangers of the world a little longer. But that was wrong. Please forgive me.”

This felt so familiar to interactions with Paul’s mother, but with the key difference that she had offered up an adamant and unqualified mea culpa. Paul or Nadia couldn’t ask for more. She embraced Nadia‘s mother and they talked for a while.

Most of what they talked about didn’t directly hit on the subject at hand, verging towards worries, hopes, years ago, and grandparents. Taliah didn’t appear especially comfortable with the idea of talking about her daughter’s girlfriend and the same sort of prospects for a relationship and marriage, but she kept respectfully quiet and encouraged positive sentiment. It was kind of an odd moment though when she brought up protection.

“I don’t want to talk about uh… about about intimate things, but I just want to make sure you are protecting yourself.”

It didn’t take long for the subject to desperately and vividly become one that Nadia really didn’t wanna discuss with her mother. The invocation of dental dams was her limit. She trusted Erin and it honestly felt like neither of them had been especially sexually active before the alien encounter anyway. Although, she suspected that Erin at least had a little more experience than she did.

The uncomfortable section of discussing things with her mom soon passed but a key problem remained. Even though she hadn’t gotten far, Nadia had attempted to run away from home against the directive of her mother. It turned out for the best that they didn’t talk when emotions were at their height, but they still needed to do something. As a consequence of her actions, her mother proposed having Nadia help out a shift at the restaurant.

Apparently, this was something they had done before and sometimes happened either as chipping in or a punishment. Only a half day on Sunday but she would consider everything resolved. Paul was thoroughly used to working around a restaurant, especially with tidying up, so Nadia eagerly agreed. She was just happy that she wouldn’t have to give up any of her devices or be grounded.

Her mother stayed for a little while just to talk about the day that Nadia had and how other things were with school. She had to fudge and confabulate some bits as well as leave out everything regarding powers, the abandoned Sears, and only vaguely refer to Louise as Odessa’s visiting friend.

Once her mother left her alone, that actually activated a bit of a flood as her sisters and brothers started swarming around the second floor. Plenty of them camped out in the loft with its massive TV and speaker bar. They were all apparently watching some western soap opera television show and Nadia opted to join in while mostly paying attention to her phone. Her sisters touched on the topic of controversy briefly when checking out her necklace.

They hugged and cheered her. Iris, in particular, had kind words. It slowly dawned on Nadia that after her earlier piano lesson, she had planned to test whether she had certain powers by changing a detail of her elder half-sister‘s life. At the time, she figured it would just be a matter of making her a little bit of a gamer who designed soundtracks for some popular franchise. But what if Iris‘s sexuality was a consequence of that? She couldn’t prove that her sister was a lesbian before, and it seemed another futile act to try and lay the blame at her feet.

She had blamed herself so many times for so many stupid reasons. Just let it go. Besides, Iris not only seemed happy, but she couldn’t stop talking about Isabell with a radiant smile. Nadia could only hope that she might find the peace and confidence to talk about Erin that way. A few of the details filtered out to her siblings, but she also didn’t know a great deal about Erin‘s hobbies. She might have to resolve that next time they spoke.

As her frenzied brothers and sisters acted like it was still a part of the earlier game to watch the more mundane, interpersonal happenings on a massive Montana ranch, Nadia retreated to her phone and texted Erin. She did her best to keep quiet about it, lest everyone think she was composing racy love notes.

It didn’t take long for Erin to get back to her. She had plenty to update Nadia on. Because of the social circle connections, they had actually gotten in contact with the other half of the volleyball team which the shopping group hadn’t really been in touch with.

Everyone had encountered some variety of change, Erin informed her. All the girls had the two tiers of abilities as Leslie referred to them. Something natural and innate and something that needed to be practiced. Tatianna, Sasha, Thessaly, Elsa, Audrey, and Marisol.

They all wanted to meet up on Sunday so they could get on the same page. The group that Nadia found herself with this Saturday felt like a big one but counting those six along with Erin and possibly others was incredibly daunting. A group of around a dozen and she was sure to be one of the focuses of attention.

Despite how much she didn’t wanna care about the warnings from her little dream, the prospect of being around people with uncertain powers and her being the one that might pour gasoline on their fire, made her pause and think. She relayed that she had to do some work for her parents at their restaurant and Erin excitedly passed along that this restaurant might be a good place for everyone to show up together.

Nadia had to Google her father‘s restaurant chain. As she probably could’ve expected, it was Turkish but with a blend of Mexican and British flavors in a pub. Looking at Erin’s untempered exuberance and sweet affection restrained her from passing along the bird's nest of tangled things in her mind and heart.

She played along with the appearance of happiness and at the end shaped excited words looking forward to tomorrow before closing her phone and desperately trying to lose herself in the melodrama playing out on the screen.

 

 

[I have a question at the end of the chapter again to help with suggestions for where the story should go. I'm actually not that far ahead this time and I am wide open for possibilities for this particular story. Feel free to add an idea which doesn't show up in the options. Also, if you see any random typos or uncapitalized starts of sentences, please pass them along. I have to cut down on my editing due to release speed and my programs don't seem to be catching lowercase sentences. Thank you for reading!]

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