Rising Shards

I followed the two through the door. We were instantly in a yard at night, in a pleasant looking suburban neighborhood. There was an alley behind us, and some of the houses in view still had lights on.

“Is this your backyard?” I asked, gesturing to the house directly in front of us.

Kalei had vanished.

“Are we gonna get chairs this time?” Oka asked. “I liked the theater setup of yours.”

I spotted a set of lawn chairs nearby.

“Maybe these?” I said as I sat down and fell right through like I was a ghost. I hit the ground not like a ghost though. Oka couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wait, I hear someone.” Oka said.

I heard it too—muffled voices shouting from inside the house in front of us.

“A guy and a girl maybe?” I said as I pulled myself up through the chair. It was weird to be able to stand on the ground but phase through the chair, but everything in the void was weird so I guess I didn’t have room to complain.

The back door of the house snapped open, and a girl stumbled out and fell onto the grass, dropping a bunch of stuff she was holding all around him. An angry boy stood in the doorway for a moment before he slammed it.

“Oooh, drama,” I said. “I see clothes in her stuff, this girl just got super kicked out.”

“What’s she holding?” Oka asked.

“It’s making her cry whatever it is,” I said, cautiously moving in for a closer look. “Can she see us?”

“Nobody in yours could,” Oka said. “Outside of the like ticket taker and stagehand versions of you.”

“Right,” I said. “I wonder what ticket taker Kalei would be like?”

The girl suddenly started heave sobbing as she looked at a brochure. Oka, being braver than me, walked over behind her.

“It says…er, what?” Oka said.

“Wait, what does it say?” I asked.

Oka’s face had turned red.

“It says, ‘Sexual health and you! Our door to door plan is only $19.99 a month!”

“You’re kidding,” I said. As the girl sobbed, I moved closer to confirm Oka wasn’t lying.

“I wish I was.” Oka said.

“Wow,” I said, joining her in having a bright red face.

“Are we super sure this is Kalei’s void temple vision?” Oka asked. “I haven’t seen any sign of her here.”

”Is this some weird video game thing maybe?”

”This kinda reminds me of that Dentist Haircut movie, maybe it’s that?”

The girl started crying even louder and began rolling back and forth. We waited for a while, but she kept crying and crying. If Kalei was with us in person, she’d probably make some joke about how this girl cries as much as I do.

“Maybe this is her mom?” I said. “And that was her dad in the window.”

“She looks a bit young for that.” Oka said.

“Maybe this is a flashback?” I said.

“But why would this be in Kalei’s memory?” Oka said. “I’m not seeing it.”

Something rustled in the bushes behind us by the alley. A casually dressed Kalei stepped out and walked to the girl, who hadn’t noticed her.

“Alright, now we’re getting somewhere.” Oka said. “Kalei looks the same, so this can’t be that long ago.”

Kalei kicked the girl gently in her side.

“Risa,” Kalei said. “I can’t take it anymore, get up.”

Risa continued to sob as Kalei helped her to her feet.

“Let’s get you home,” Kalei said.

We followed them as Kalei brought Risa to the alleyway.

“No transitions or anything, huh?” Oka said. “I’m really missing that theater thing. Kalei’s presentation lacks pizzazz.”

“You think this is her sister or something?” I asked.

“They don’t look alike at all.” Oka said. That was true, Risa had lighter skin and no similar features at all to Kalei. “Maybe if she was adopted…”

Things suddenly started darkening around us. I yelped and felt a panic rush come on, and instinctively clung to Oka as everything went dark.