Chapter 93: [10] Close Encounters of the Bus Kind 10 [From Beyond Arc]

Close Encounters of the Bus Kind

[10]

Nadia’s visceral reaction to the man at the front door was to turn him away. He just felt wrong in so many ways, like some slimy thing that happened to push its way into a human skin. She did her best not to let her disgust show, smiled for the strange man, and inquired, “What is this about?”

“As I told your mother, it’s nothing bad. You’ve done nothing wrong. There was just an incident last night around the airbase. An accident. A small amount of noxious chemicals was released. The federal land surrounding the base is diligently monitored and photographed. We believe that a bus you were riding in passed through an invisible vapor threshold for contamination. Technical jargon, but that’s what I’m supposed to say. I’m just here to make sure everything‘s fine.”

Her mother responded first with a rainstorm of frantic questions about what was the government doing that could endanger her child just traveling along a road. She pointedly declared that they weren’t going to sign any sort of medical or legal waiver, and she knew several lawyers who would take up their case if something illegal was going on. The strange man waved his hand and calmly assured her there would be no paperwork and this was just done as a courtesy to check in with people who may have been affected.

Still, her slight mother bristled and blocked the doorway like she was ready to tackle this intruder. Reaching out, Nadia touched her mother on the shoulder and said, “Mom. It’s alright. I can answer a few of his questions. And maybe he can answer some of mine.” That felt like a small but profound victory for Nadia pressing the issue forward.

The peculiar man shifted and looked even more awkward than he already was. He noted, “I deal with discrete matters, so I am afraid there are a lot of things I can’t discuss about government interests…but I’ll see what I can do.” After checking with Nadia, her mother finally opened up the door and a path for the man to enter. Rather like welcoming in a vampire, Nadia randomly thought.

The cacophony of game excitement stilled as her siblings on the front couches locked their eyes on the mam. Her sister with stark red hair especially gave him the stink eye. The “agent“ regarded the match and commented, “Go Turkey.” Her siblings reacted as though he just let loose some flatulence.

Slinking his way down the area by the stairs to the kitchen, a joyous cry went up from the group over by the air hockey table before they noticed the unfamiliar company. So-called Agent Cross managed a timid wave at the group before clearing his throat and inspecting the table to his left. Raising his head, he inquired, “Would it be amenable if we spoke in the backyard? That way we won’t bother anyone or these festivities.”

On this point, Nadia‘s mom looked to her daughter for the answer. Nadia wasn’t keen on being alone with this creepy guy, but the backyard appeared easily accessible through a sliding glass door and her mother seemed eager to keep an eye on them. She shrugged but nodded.

The backyard was positively full of sights. It had the layout of a garden with a central gazebo featuring a covered keyboard mounted on a stand. Its close resemblance to a piano excited all the nerves in her about what was coming later. An herb and vegetable garden lined the far wall beside a koi pond with a gently flowing fountain. Some patio furniture flanked a small, sealed bar area. A cozy, kid's play place filled the rest of the space.

Agent Cross cleared his throat and coughed lightly against his hand after firmly shutting the sliding door. A quiet moment later, he remarked, “Funny thing. For the life of me, I was so sure that Turkey didn’t qualify for the World Cup this time. But here they are. A bit peculiar. Perhaps it’s that thing they talk about on the Internet where people remember one thing happening but it’s actually another. You know what I mean?”

Nadia did, but she really would’ve preferred pushing aside this tangential topic for whatever this strange man was here for, so he could finish and leave. Doing her best not to encourage him, she hesitantly responded, “The Mandela Effect?”

The agent gave a quick smirk with a finger pointed to his head and then tipped towards Nadia. “That’s the one! Funny thing too. It’s very regional how some people are convinced Nelson Mandela died in the 80s versus when he actually died. No one from South Africa is ever confused about that. Little history lesson for you, it’s also interesting that South African activist Stephen Biko died, beaten to death in state security custody, in 1977 with tens of thousands attending his funeral. Then, the film Cry Freedom was released in 1987, bringing global attention to his death and other injustices. See, most people hear a snippet of world news many years ago and vaguely remember a film, then they try to put those memories together in a way that makes sense. Memory is funny like that. It can feel like the entire world changed in an instant, but it’s just what you remember. What do you remember about last night, Miss Baris?”

Nadia refused to sit, folding her arms in front of her. “I had a volleyball competition. The team went to a match with Wentworth High. Someone got injured, which was kind of a downer, but we won. Then we made our way back along the usual route we take when we compete with Wentworth. There were delays and cell service went out for a while, but we eventually made it back late and I decided to stay with a friend overnight. That’s all.” She leaned towards the sliding door and saw that her mother was keeping her eye on them.

Agent Cross pulled out a paper pad from his pocket but didn’t make any notes. “Do you remember the name of your bus driver?” Although Nadia was tempted, she figured it would be easier to shrug and say, “It was just some guy, I didn’t really pay attention.” She did wonder, if the agent found out about Paul Moore, then would they try to hunt him down, and would a missing person report be filed? Or had reality already corrected, Paul never existed, and there was a different driver in his place?

She anticipated the agent’s response, but he just smiled idly and commented, “That’s fine. Any oddities you saw during the trip? Around where did you get delayed? We are reporting there was a plane crash and any information you can provide about an explosion or a light in the sky you may have seen would be very helpful in providing clarity for the survivors of the flight crew.”

That sentiment did tug at Nadia‘s emotions, but she had to remind herself that it wasn’t a plane crash. At least, she was fairly confident it wasn’t a plane crash. No effect from a plane should’ve done the things that were done to them. She paused and reflected on her feelings from that evening, not that she was going to reveal anything big to the agent, but she was still working through the chasm in her memories between falling asleep blinded by an unearthly light and waking up to this life. It was like trying to probe the space of unconsciousness during surgery, a blank more ruthlessly devoid of memory than the deepest dream. There had to be something though.

Paul had a serious operation when he was four. Mostly, he remembered needing to jump up and go pee afterwards. But evicting his gallbladder was the most memorable one. The void on the operating table felt warm and blank, like being immersed in a dark, tropical sea. That was all she was able to get out of probing the memory. Scratching at the new one yielded phantoms that felt like delusions trying to patch over the emptiness with something close enough.

Only one thing felt firm enough to hold onto as a foundation.

“Crabs.” Nadia just stated that and stopped there.

You are reading story Interactive Short TG Fiction at novel35.com

Agent Cross paused and looked her in the eye. His mood changed. He didn’t seem as dark and mysterious as a moment ago, rather he just seemed bewildered and uncertain. For confirmation, he asked, “Crabs…?”

But there was nothing that Nadia could add to that frank and simple word. Nor did she unfurl or infer any details from that statement. Crabs. Could’ve been anything.

The moment of human sincerity passed as Cross straightened and smirked before playfully croaking, “Craaaab people…. craaaab people…” Nadia raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak.

Cross fumbled with a quick explanation of the reference. Nadia recognized it but didn’t feel like helping him along. Eventually, Cross sighed and muttered, “Kids these days…”

He ruffled his empty notepad and emphasized his original questions, but Nadia had nothing more to add. She could’ve spun the blinding light into a helicopter search beam. And she could’ve teased him with a dozen different snippets of strangeness. But she just didn’t care. There was no real crash or danger, it was just some sort of cover-up like in so many podcasts Paul listened to when driving. And the guy wasn’t even giving away any interesting hints, just old, esoteric rants.

She rubbed around her eyes and forehead while suggesting that a headache was coming on and she wanted to finish. Cross sighed and tucked away his empty notes before asking her to do one last thing.

“Sit in that chair on the other side and lay out your arms.” She didn’t understand why, but he suggested it was some medical test for toxin poisoning and she decided to humor him. Honestly, she figured it looked more like a human lie detector test from some movies she remembered. She held out both her arms on the table with her palms out. He palpated her wrists and gently felt around the veins. She briefly considered if maybe this was a legit test and she read the room wrong before doing her best to relax. She followed his brief instructions and breathed normally.

The usual aches and pains from her regular body were absent, lending an extra muffle of silence. The spotty clouds above with limited haze muted a lot of the neighborhood while the glass and drapes reduced the sounds of the Baris family inside and the television to an anonymous rumble. Cross’s breath lightly whispered like a breeze through an alleyway, drowned out by her thundering heart. Despite everything standing still, Nadia felt a shift like there were layers in front of her and someone decided to swap them around. Her eyes briefly went out of focus before she drew her attention back to Cross and looked him in the eye.

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit…oh ffuu…oh oh… I’m sorry. I have to go… I have to leave. Thank you for your time and have a good day.”

The agent practically stumbled out of his chair, barely catching himself before rising to his feet. His eyes widened and remained vast and trembling. He practically scrambled for the sliding door and shoved it aside. Nadia followed him but noticed he was rushing to get away from her. Was he afraid of her?

Cross stammered over her mother’s questions and desperately assured them that there was no sign of contamination, and everything was alright, but he had to go right now. His hand was shaking on the knob as he fumbled to get it open. Once on the porch, he slowed slightly but still continued to retreat back across the grass and over to the driveway.

He muttered that the Air Force would keep in touch and contact them if they were any further developments and thank you for their assistance, but he didn’t bother giving them a contact number or any further information. At the sidewalk, Nadia watched as he basically started to run the rest of the way. She didn’t see a vehicle, rather it just seemed like he was going to retreat on foot.

Her mother asked her for details and why he was behaving so strangely, but Nadia could only shrug and feel grateful that the experience was over. This time, her mother actually locked the door. Trying to take her mind off that high-grade weirdness, Nadia looked for a spot to join her siblings in cheering on Turkey. The kitchen area seemed reserved for the adults, so she pulled over a chair to sit with her sisters. The younger girl soon joined her and hugged her side.

She got into it but wasn’t up for having her face painted. She watched this new family of hers but felt a nagging concern. It didn’t take much effort to tease out the names of her siblings. The girl around her age with the shock-red hair was Kira and the older one was Leila. The little girl was cutely named Luna. And across the room, still slumping on the other couch, were her younger brothers Erol and Murat.

Including her, that was six. But she’d checked previously and found there were five other girls and two boys. Returning to the information provided by Nadia‘s social media, she opened the same pages and postings as before, only to see they had been amended to say that the Baris family now had four girls and two boys.

Two sisters she had barely noticed and met no longer existed. That thought crushed her with a wave of inescapable nausea, but she was able to hold the cabbage meal down. Little Luna peered at her with concern, obviously feeling the tension and trembling. She did her best to put on a smile of reassurance for the kid even though everything inside her body was screaming.

 

[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!]

Poll below

You can find story with these keywords: Interactive Short TG Fiction, Read Interactive Short TG Fiction, Interactive Short TG Fiction novel, Interactive Short TG Fiction book, Interactive Short TG Fiction story, Interactive Short TG Fiction full, Interactive Short TG Fiction Latest Chapter