2020-01-14 - Edge of Reality

Blinking a bit as he looks around, Jonathan frowns as he looks around. Although as he starts walking around, he stops once in while when there's something that he seems to remember. "Hello?" he calls out, to find out if there's anyone there, as his gaze goes to the window, and then to the calendar. "2009..." he mutters to himself.

It's too silent. Too quiet. Making his way from room to room, he blinks as he gets to the kitchen, and sees that calendar. "Why is it cloudy? It's not supposed to be cloudy," Jonathan mutters to himself. Looking around again, he shakes his head, before he moves over to look out the window, trying to see how things are out there.

"Something's not right..." Jonathan mutters, shaking his head again. Looking out the window at the abandoned streets, he frowns. No people? He frowns again, before he moves to find himself a raincoat, just in case. There's somewhere he's supposed to be, and inside the house isn't that place. Once he gets the raincoat, he starts moving for the door.

Jonathan frowns as he makes his way through the empty streets, steps moving him forward a bit faster now. Once he gets out on the boardwalk, he first glances to the sky, frowning at the cold. Then... he comes to a stop as he sees her, and that yellow sundress. Closinging his eyes fdr a few seconds, to face some memories, before he opens it again, stepping closer to her, but moving slowly, to keep from scaring her. "Hello..." he calls out, softly.

The blonde is shaking, terrified. "You shouldn't be here," she says quietly, "It's too dangerous."

"I know... You shouldn't be here either..." Jonathan pauses as he sees... something behind the blonde. Is that something even darker than the rest. "So why don't we both go somewhere inside, where it's warmer and we can both be safe, hmmm?" There's something not right here, but what can it be?

She gives him a look as if she doesn't recognise him, that he is a stranger to him. "Where are we going?" she asks in a tiny voice.

There's a pause as he sees that look, and he needs to take a few moments to remember which day he's at, and that this was their first meeting, or at least some kind of warped version of that day. "Somewhere inside, where we can get warm again. We could go to one of the nearest places, or we could head back to where I live, if you want." Realizing one thing more, he adds, "I'm Jonathan." Offering her a smile, while still trying to keep his eyes open for that blur of something.

"Katherine," she says quietly, eyeing the boy in front of her. Glancing over her shoulder, she suggests quietly, "What about The Sweet Retreat? I was just in there. I ran away but...it's cold and..." She starts shivering violently, not just out of terror but because she is cold.

Jonathan nods as he hears that. "We should get you out of the cold. The Sweet Retreat sounds like a good place to go." A brief pause, before he adds, "You ran away? What did you run away from?" Voice kept as calm as he can, trying to be reassuring.

"The Shadows, they keep finding me," she says quietly as she allows Jonathan to lead her back to the Sweet Retreat, "What if they come back?"

Leading the way to the Sweet Retreat, Jonathan nods as he listens to her. "Do you know why they are finding you, Katherine?" It's said gently, before he adds, "And if they come back, remember you are not alone. I'm here with you."

"It's because I'm...Special," Katherine says quietly, "You must be too, if you're here." She says nothing until they enter the building to stay out of the cold. She is still shivering. But she is slowly warming up to Jonathan's presence.

"I kno..." Jonathan trails off, before he nods again. "You mean special abilities? I think I have them, but I don't really know how to... But yo... someone told me we should not use them very much. I think they can follow us if we use them." He goes quiet again, looking a bit thoughtful.

"That's what my family says, my Uncle says it's not safe to use them," Katherine offers quietly. "I had an incident at home...and that's why I was sent here. I think they just know. They know if you're Special. I don't know how to explain any of it. I'm scared..."

"I'm not supposed to..." Jonathan trails off, before he shakes his head a little. "You were sent here, because you have family here that know more about what's happening. And that's how we met..."

"Not supposed to...what?" Katherine looks around The Sweet Escape, empty and abandoned before she turns to Jonathan looking a little bit confused and asks, "How do you know that? We've met before?"

Jonathan grimaces a little. "Perhaps we should sit down... It's going to sound a bit strange..." He starts leading her over to one of the booths, offering her a seat first.

With a mildly distrustful look and a bit of confusion on her face, Katherine sits down across from Jonathan, starting to dry up little by little but still cold. "What's going on?"

How does he explain this, without making things worse? Jonathan seats himself as well, before he offers her a brief smile. "What I'm going to say is probably going to sound insane, but..." He pauses, before he adds, "Actually, with this whole thing, no people, and the shadows, maybe it doesn't sound so strange. Have you seen anyone else here? The reason why I came out here is that I knew you were going to be here. Because this is where you were the first time we met. This day, but... it was a lovely day, with sunshine and people about. You were wearing the same dress as you are now." A brief pause, before he adds, "And I did not have the abilities back then. That happened many years later." A brief pause, before he adds, "Oh, and I believe it's your birthday?" He goes silent again, still watching her.

There was a questioning look on her face, as if to ask how he knew about her birthday, but his explanations were trying to get his point across to her so she said nothing out loud except a quiet "Thank you." She considered his question and said, "I didn't know the streets were empty until I got out of the Sweet Retreat the first time, I was going to go out and enjoy my cookies and cream ice cream on the beach, but then when the shadows came, I tried to hide here, then I tried running away."

"Cookies and cream, yes I remember..." Jonathan smiles, before he adds, "I think, I'm sure... I know this is not reality. I mean, it's real, but not real... Where I was before I ended up in my family's house and ran here to find you, it was in 2020." A brief pause, before he adds, "How did we get here? And how do we get back to where we're supposed to be..."

Katherine freaks out, letting out a terrified scream, and before anyone or anything could react, a beam of yellow energy shoots from her hand and sends a table flying at the creature.

Frowning as that thing crashes into the window, Jonathan gets to his feet rather quickly, before he blinks at the table flying at the creature. He starts looking around, eyes narrowing as he tries to see where they can get out, and what the table did to the creature. "What are you?" he calls out towards the creature, moving to place himself next to Katherine. "What do we do now?" he asks her, quietly.

"Leave me. Go back to your house, Jonathan. I'm the one they're after. If everything you said earlier is true...they'll still be more drawn to me," Katherine suggests quietly, as the previously undetected second shadowy creature arrives and grabs her from behind, covering her mouth, preventing her from screaming.

"But can I be sure that if I get back to reality, you're still there?" Jonathan replies as he hears Katherine's words, before he lets out a bit of a cry as he somenhow manages to fling something at the creature that grabbed her, using that power he has no idea how he actually controls. "Let her go!" he calls out at the creature, as he looks around for something to use as a weapon if needed.

Katherine is struggling against the dark shadowy creature grabbing her, her eyes pleading Jonathan to leave, to get some place safe. From what can be seen, it looks like she is being stabbed with a needle looking finger in her side. She lets out muffled noises of pain as this happens.

This time, Jonathan tries a different approach. Instead of flinging the object towards the creature, he pulls it from behind the creature, trying to hit the creature in the back. At the same time he tries pulling Katherine free from the creature, rather desperately. "I can't let you go..." he mutters to her.

Falling into Jonathan's arms, Katherine is clutching her side, her face clearly showing she's in pain. "I told you to leave..." she says faintly, "We should go, before they wake up."

As he's managed to pull her free, Jonathan shakes his head momentarily. "And I told you, I'm worried that if..." He nods to the part about going. "Can you walk, or should I carry you?" Starting to lead them towards the doors, even if he will have to pick her up and carry her.

"It just hurts to breathe a little. I'm fine." She leans against him as they walk. "How far away is your house from here?" she asks quietly as they move.

Jonathan nods a bit as he hears that. "Just tell me if I should... A little distance away, but we should be able to get there soon enough," he replies, before he continues leading the way out the door and towards the town itself. "I thought I would lose you back there..." he says, just as quietly.

"That was a close call. They're going to keep coming after me...can't afford any more close calls," she says quietly. Katherine walks alongside him for a while actually before she finally caves in and asks to be carried. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"We need to find our way back out of this corrupted version of our memory," Jonathan replies, before he nods as she asks to be carried. "I don't mind at all," he replies, as he leans down to pick her up in his arms. "We'll be there soon," he promises, glancing around before he starts moving a bit faster, so they get to the house sooner. "I'm sure we can do something about that wound once we get there."

Jonathan lets out a breath as they get to the house, and inside. Placing Katherine on the couch, he moves to find where his mother keeps the first aid kit. "Let's see what we can do about the wound," he offers. He's not skilled with more than the most basic first aid, but he should be able to do that at least. "Back there, when you told me to leave, I..." he begins.

"It wouldn't have made sense for both of us to die to those creatures out there..." a pale skinned Katherine says faintly, and that statement makes it clear to Jonathan that she really doesn't hold any of her memories of what's to come past the year 2009.

As he hears that, there's a momentary sadness in Jonathan's expression. "If you only knew..." he says, words barely above a whisper. "There's so much ahead of you. Some of it sad, but much of it quite wonderful. If we can only get ourselves out of this mess." There's a brief pause, and a sigh. "I just don't know how..."

"All I know is that they want me, and they're after me for some reason..." Katherine explained quietly, her voice tinged with anxiety, "I'm not even sure where we are or where these creatures are coming from." And something curious starts to happen with her hand, this time a pink glow appears in her right hand.

Katherine, still in some pain, stands up and instinctively follows the orb.

Jonathan nods a little as he hears that. "I don't know much about it. For you, it'll still be many years until I..." He trails off, blinking a little at that pink orb, and stands up as well. Moving to follow it, he makes sure to stay close to Katherine, ready to support her if she'd fall. "Where do you think it'll lead us?" he asks, sounding curious.

"Many years until...?" Katherine prompts him as they walk up the stairs to the second floor. She is following the pink orb but still trying to have a conversation with him.

"If I didn't know this is not reality... I mean, reality as it is, there's still nine years or so until I discover my own Glimmer abilities," he replies, quietly. "I don't know how I did what I did back at the Sweet Escape. Not yet learned how to control things." He walks beside her, still looking like he's ready to catch her if needed. "Where is it leading us?" That being about the orb.

"I wish I knew," Katherine replied quietly as they reached the top of the stairs and the end of the hallway before the pink orb fizzles out. "I wonder why it led us up here. I don't really understand what's going on with me. I barely just learned about being...Special."

Jonathan blinks as the orb fizzles out. "What did it..." He trails off, shaking his head, before he smiles to Katherine again. "I don't know if I really know enough to explain anything at all. But even so, you'll do fine. Just remember what your uncle told you. Don't use it unless you have to." There's a brief moment of hesitation too, before he adds, "And, both for this ability and... other things in life, remember that Journey was right in that song title, Don't Stop Believin'." Clear but cryptic. He comes to a full stop as he notices one more of those shadowy things, reaching out for Katherine's shoulder, to stop her. "One more of them..."

Katherine takes Jonathan's words in, particularly the cryptic last bit about the song title. She did not have time to question it because Jonathan had warned her about another shadowy creature. When she turned around, she realised that she was standing behind Jonathan and somehow felt a little safer, particularly after being patched up.

"Keep an eye out for more of them..." Jonathan mutters to Katherine, before he blinks as the creature takes a swing for him. Finally something he knows how to deal with. And the best way to deal with this is to duck and take a brief step backwards. "You can't have her! I need her!" he growls at the creature, trying to use the moment the creature scrapes against the door to try using his body to slam it further into the door and wall. It might be a bit risky, but it's instincts taking over right now.

Katherine doesn't see any others, and she seems intent on observing their surroundings, out of fear of being ambushed.

Still managing to duck away from the incoming attack, Jonathan grimaces at the voice in his head. "I dare, because I care. And you, get the hell out of my family house!"

There's a sigh of relief as he realizes he's back where he belongs, and Jonathan lays down, but it'll take a long time before he manages to sleep.