CHAPTER 3 – A NEW REALITY

“Wilson Milson,” a voice introduced itself across the room. Alex turned, putting name to face with an older man around his forties reclining in a chair with his feet propped up on the desk in the center of the room. “Come on over, don't be shy. I’m here to answer any questions you might have, so make yourself comfortable. Pull up a chair.” The office was large and spacious, yet apart from a large leafy plant in a corner, it was also devoid of decoration and furnishings; other than the sole chair to the desk that Wilson already occupied.

“Pull up�"” Alex confused glanced about. “�"what chair?” His eyes narrowed upon Wilson and voice turned flat, “You’re sitting in the only one here.”

Wilson sighed, feigning disappointment. “You oddities are always so stubborn.” The man closed his eyes for a few moments and reopening them gestured behind the boy. “Look.” Dubious Alex turned, startled to see a chair staring back at him innocently. Had it been there all along?

“No way…that wasn’t there before.”

“Such bad vision, you should get your eyes checked.” The man took his feet off the table and leaning forward elbows resting on the desk’s dark wood. “Go on pull up the chair and sit, we have a lot to cover I’m sure. No doubt you have questions. Oddities always do.”

“Tha-that chair wasn’t there when I walked in…how? Where did it come from?” Sarcasm infected his next words, “Thin air?” What was he expecting? Magic? An illusion? A trick of the light?

“Hmm…well kid, do you believe in magic?”

The guy was kidding, right? Alex gave him a knowing smile, expecting the man to laugh and discredit his words. When Wilson didn’t, the youth turned skeptical.

Was this guy serious? He wondered, does he really expect me to feed into his delusions? Maybe he’s a magician? Magician or not, I didn’t walk who knows how many miles through a pitch black wasteland to some moron.

You can think all you want but if you want answers ask an adult. Give them a straight question and they’ll answer you the same. Swallow your pride and ask, Alex. If you actually listen there’s a good chance you only have to ask a particular question once.

Alex made a face; he was doing it again, pulling up his fiancé’s advice when applicable. Her voice was as confident as it was intelligent; firm of character and equipped with an all knowing ego. Her words, her voice spoke so clearly in his mind that he could almost feel her presence in the room, standing as always by his side. For a moment, for a second he caught a wisp of her perfume, a rosy aroma accented by spice. Light green pupils snapped to the corners of his eyes and dilated as they fixed upon nothing, not a shadow, not an outline of his beloved. The knot of hope that twisted in his heart unraveled as quickly as it had formed leaving only bitter disappointment; a tang of which fitfully curled around his taste buds as the imagined scent fled from him and retreated back out of existence, dissipating in the wake of reality.

Pushing a piece of paper towards Alex, the dark haired man held out a pen. “Before we begin, err…what’s your name?”

“Alex.” The boy said, taking the pen and skimming the printed words before looking up. “What’s this?”

“Right now you’re an unknown, Alex, a mystery and illegal alien. This document puts you under the Oddity file as a…special citizen of sorts.” 

Alex put pencil to paper, making a mental note to ask the man about what an Oddity was later and filled out the document with what information he had.

“And this here.” Wilson taking the paper waved it at Alex, “Is all the information we have on you. Call it your personal file if you will.” The man slipped the sheet into a white folder and hit a small yellow button on his desk. No sooner did a well-dressed man walk in. He took the folder, before taking his leave just as quickly. “Good thing you’re not a minor. Or things would’ve been a whole lot more complicated, you know with guardianship and all.”

“Well, I just turned, nineteen last month.”

“Oh, so in June was it? What day?”

“Don’t you mean July?”

Wilson gestured to the calendar on the wall. “Today’s the tenth of September…though you did come from the Dark Realm so your memory’s probably skewed.”

“No it’s not. Its July, I know because I took a test in one of my college classes three days ago.”

“College?” Wilson laughed. “No school teaches classes in the summer…well except Corpus, but they’re special.”

“That doesn’t make any sense…colleges would make more money in the summer.”

“Summer is a season of relaxation and exploration.”

“Whatever. Wait, what do you mean by Dark Realm? And who were those people who dragged me here?”

“Ah, you mean the watchmen. They're employed by the city and monitor the Dark Realm. When oddities like you appear, they deliver them here for explanations.”

“I’m not a criminal.”

“I never said you were.”

“Wait you still haven’t answered my other question, what is the Dark Realm?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m not an Oddity, I didn’t fall into this world; I was born into it.”

“Oddity? What is�"?”

“Oh that. It’s just a term referring to those who fall from the cliff. You guys are a rare bunch, seeing as only fifty or so have come through in the last century.”

The Dark Realm…the cliff? Did Wilson mean the haze? “So I make fifty-one?”

“You do indeed. Congrats, kid.”

“The name’s Alex.”

“Hmm…I see…your parents went for the generic.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“You can take it any way you like.”

“Insult it is.” Alex said dryly. “So where am I?” Another world? Or was this the definition of the afterlife? He was afraid to say the rest, afraid of the potential answers. But this was probably all a dream and he, getting worried for nothing. He’d probably already blown this out of proportion. This world, being born into it rather than falling…his mind had really come up with something special this time. Or had it? Falling off the cliff should have woke him up right? What if he was he stuck in a coma?

He took a breath, pinching himself to calm his nerves. Regardless of his current state, he hoped Krystal wasn’t too anxious. Picturing her freckled face frozen in its fiasco of puckered lips, puffed cheeks and furrowed brows, made him smile. A unique expression of apprehension, vexation, and anger. It was cute as long as the anger wasn’t directed at him.

“Oh, you’re in Boston,” Wilson said, blue eyes sparkling. “It’s one of a handful major cities in the best country in the world; the United States of America.”

“America?!” Had he fallen into some sort of alternate dimension?

“Yeah…You know it? Despite being an Oddity?”

“I was born there, er…here…I think.”

Wilson nodded thoughtfully, “That would explain your accent and unlike a few of the fifty filed, there was no language barrier. Let me ask you a question Alex. What did you see before you fell off the cliff? Was there anything over there? Describe how you felt, what you sensed, what you thought, explain…” He pulled out a notepad, “Explain in detail.”

Alex didn’t answer right away.

How much should I tell the guy? He wondered. The thought didn't stem up from suspicion, but rather anxiety. There was no way in telling whether the norms of this society were the same or differed from his former. Chances were this wasn't even the same America. Alex feared Wilson’s reaction, what if he said something wrong? No, that wasn’t it, what proof did he have that telling this guy wouldn't land him in a crazy house? Or worse, a government facility. What did Wilson want with this information? Moreover....who was Wilson?

Looking up from his notepad, pen posed, and paper ready Wilson raised his eyebrows questioningly. The curious fire in his eyes was slowly dying, sputtering on the fringes of disappointment. Despite his growing concern for Alex’s extensive pause, the man said nothing.

Alex just wanted to go home, to his fiancé�"wherever that and she was�"to get married and experience his own happy ever after. So in the end, for better or worse, he decided to spill the beans. Thoroughly explaining his experiences from the inorganic eating sand, to the glass-like haze, and finally the jello like water below the cliff. Watching Wilson jot down a last bit of notes, Alex got the impression that the man had heard a similar stories before. Between the story and Wilson’s reoccurring interjecting questions, nearly an hour had passed. Now holding a cup of coffee in one hand, Alex decided to ask a question of his own.

“Hey Wilson, what happened to the other Oddities?”

“In regards to what? Their lives after passing through the haze?” The man said in-between sips.

Alex nodded.

“As far as I’ve heard they assimilated quickly, a few found jobs as builders and puzzlers while the majority attended college or opted to travel. The handful that came through the Dark Realm as children were implemented into good families and schools, or so the records say." Wilson took another sip before lowering the drink to the table. "Counting you, I've only actually met three in the last five years.”

“None of them ever found or tried to find a way back?” Perhaps there was a chance....

“Nope, not that I know or heard of and why would they want to? America is the best country in the world.”

Well wasn't he patriotic.

“Oh…” Eyes drawn to his drink, Alex stared into the depths of the murky liquid. So he was doomed to be trapped here for the rest of his life? His grip around the cup tightened. This was bullshit.

“Not to mention the majority of the Oddities have painted the places they came from to be one torn by war, ravaged by disease, poverty, and fraught with starvation.”

“What?”

“It’s true. One man that I spoke to by the name of Trevor told me that he was transported here after he was mixed up in gang violence? I don’t remember where…it was in a country I’d never heard of. Josica? Jolusia? Something like that I’m sure. Another, a girl of twelve claimed she was transported over while plagued with a disease called…er, Ebola? Or was it canter…no, cancer, maybe? I don’t know, though I’m sure it was terminal. The other Oddity I met by chance�"”

“Well I have to go back.”

“Why?”

“The States…my country isn’t war torn, let alone starving. Though…we do step into a lot of wars that have nothing to do with us…but that’s beside the point. My family, Krystal…I left�"there are people are waiting for me.”

“Krystal? Is that a girlfriend?”

“Fiancé.”

“At your age?” Wilson laughed. “What are you sixteen?”

“Nineteen.”

“Whatever.” Wilson leaned back with his coffee, taking on a serious expression that drew and commanded one’s attention. “Give it up kid.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Give it up. Let it�"her go. No one can breech the Dark Realm. You Oddity’s may be able to pass through it from one side but once you’re over here,” Wilson shrugged. “You stay over here; we’ve done more than enough tests to prove that.”

“What? No…” Alex shook his head, eyes reflecting his denial. “You’re messing with me, right?”

Wilson leaned forward. “Listen Alex�"”

“I came here right? That means I can go back…there’s always a way back.” He licked his lips. “There�"there has to be a sort of time warp. Something, a…transcendence through space, jump through time, a tear, a hole in reality’s webbing.” He stood abruptly. “There has to be something. There always is, you people just haven’t looked at the problem in the right way.”

“Alex�"”

“It’s always the people fixing a problem who are the most the blind.”

“You just haven’t seen The Dark Realm from another angle, a-another point of view.”

“Listen I like your enthusiasm kid and respect your determination but�"”

Alex stood slamming his hands down on the desk. “Fix it!” Disbelief was an understatement; he was in full blown denial. Three of bodyguards outside the office glanced through the office’s glass door in unison, their hands hovering over the gun strapped at their belts. The door was opened and one was already halfway through the door when Wilson exchanging a discreet glance with his men, gave a sight shake of the head.

“It’s just like it is in the movies.” Neither the youth’s erratic tone nor his gaze as hard as stone and steady as budged. “All you’ve got to do is do a little sciency stuff…and fix it.” Though the guard removed their hands from their firearms, regardless, the door closed behind as two of the men as entering the room, they stationed themselves at the back wall.

Alex, so caught up in his dilemma acknowledged only Wilson’s wavering attention. There was neither thought nor hesitation as the green eyed fool, reached across the table and grabbed Wilson by the collar. “I’m still talking�"”

Two guns clicked off their safety as the guards in the room leveled them on Alex. 

“Hands up.” One of the men ordered. Alex releasing Wilson recoiled from the man like he toxic.

“Put those away gentlemen, the boy’s cleared.” Wilson ordered calmly as he pushing back his chair, he stood, leaving his coffee on the table. Rounding the desk, he put arm around Alex, “Come on kid…let’s take a walk.” 

Author's Note

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