Meetings

We are introduced to one of the two friends that were almost killed in the first unleashing of creativity.

The train into Seattle is nearly empty, at least to the couple of others riding it. To me, it is full of the characters accompanying me. For some reason, they won't disappear. We ride in awkward silence for hours, after the harrowing plane flight from New York to Oregon. Not sure why we didn't just fly straight to Seattle, I think.

"Because the SeaTac airport is still closed after I almost destroyed it," the masked man says almost sheepishly. Ah, yes. The first time I unleashed creativity.

"Wait, seriously?" The eagle-winged boy seems impressed. "Wish I could've seen that."

"Aren't you always following me around anyway?" The man teases.

"I wasn't that time, you're the only one who got through," the boy replies sulkily.

"Shh," I hiss, making sure the other train riders don't hear me.

Minutes later, we pull into the station. I hurry off first, and my characters follow me. We nearly race down the street to the address my first friend gave me. I ring the doorbell.

~~~~~~~

At the sound of a doorbell, I hop out of my chair, where I was typing on my chromebook, and open the door of my apartment.

Standing there is one of my best- and strangest- friends.

"Hello!" I say. "I haven't seen you in forever! Come in!"

"Hi," she replies. "Um, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, anything." We go inside, and sit down in my tiny living room. "What do you want to talk about?" Her eyes dart around the room, as if seeing things that I can't.

"Them." She points. I turn to see... people? Not just any people, but the characters she controls in one of our most in-depth stories.

I jump up, grabbing for the pistol I keep in the side table by one of the tiny couches. I face them, pointing it at one of them the most villainous man I know (I mean, I helped shape him), and some of the other most dangerous people I know, besides the characters that I control.

"Jay?" I say, voice shaky. "Please tell me that you have illusion meta-powers."

A girl with silver wings, who looks like my friend but more badvent, answers. "That's more his thing," she says, nudging the spiky-haired man.

"Can't deny that. But this isn't an illusion," he says.

"I'd put that down if I were you," the gray-haired man warns.

"I'm not stupid," I snarl. "I know who you are, and just how dangerous you are."

"We're not here to cause trouble," a glowing boy with eagle wings says as he steps forwards, hands up as if in surrender. "We're actually... hoping you can help us."

I lower the pistol a little. "How would I be able to help you?"

"They've been plaguing me since they were written," my friend replies. "I was hoping you and our other friend... that together, the three of us could reverse whatever this is."

"How?" I reply. "Like, write them out of existence? I don't think that they- or my characters, for that matter- would like that very much..." I stare at the gray haired man, never letting my gaze wander. I marvel at seeing our words become flesh, looking exactly as I expected, but totally different at the same time.

"Not out of existence!" The spiky-haired man exclaims. "Just... back into our own world."

"How..." I run a hand through my newly cut hair. "How the hell are we supposed to do that? I don't even know... How did this even happen?" I turn my gaze to the spiky haired man. "How did you get out of your world in the first place?"

My friend interrupts. "Don't you remember? It was seventh grade, when we wrote about all of this. The SeaTac airport... you and our other friend almost died."

"Well, then why don't you just write that they went back into their story?"

An idea is forming in my head. "Wait... Can you bring my characters into existence as well?" my voice comes out rushed, and I have to take extra care to pronounce my words so that they can understand me.

"I'm not sure. Mine coming in was a complete accident."

"Oh... Did you try putting them back?"

"No. I'm not sure how I would. That's why I came here."

"Maybe get your other friend," the silver-winged girl suggests. "The three of you should think of something."

"Yeah, I'll call her, one sec..." she grabs her phone, setting the gun down and dialing a number.

~~~~~~~

I watch as my friend slips out of the room to make the call.

"Great. Pretty sure if neither of you have an idea your other friend won't either," the masked man says.

"Shut up," the others chorus.

"We'll fix this," I promise. "We have to fix this."

"But... it's like with anything. How do you move on afterwards? What will you do when we're back in our own dimension?" The silver-winged girl inquires.

"I..." I hadn't thought of that. "I'll just move on with my life, I guess."

"Right. Because it's that easy," the masked man scoffs.

"You would know, wouldn't you," the glowing boy teases.

"Of course I would," the masked man replies sagely. The others laugh, and he crosses his arms. "What?"

"Nothing," they chorus. The grey-haired man snorts, obviously amused by their banter. The fire-haired man and his son have said nothing so far.

"Well," I interrupt, "If we're going where I think we are, prepare to meet up with some other familiar faces."

"This friend doesn't have your... problem," the spiky-haired man notes. "Who say the other one does?"

"Who says she doesn't?" I reply. "Though she's probably taking it better than I have." I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "I haven't dealt with this well. I've been trying to get rid of you for so long that I haven't been thinking of what it would be like to just live with it, keep you around, you know." I glance up.

"And this strikes you now?" The masked man says incredulously.

"Keep your sarcasm to yourself," I snap. "I'm trying to be serious."

"We should wait until we meed up with your other friend before we hash this out," the silver-winged girl insists. "I have a strange feeling that we aren't the last bit of trouble your going to run into."

Author's Note

Partially written by Crazy Dragon Lady.

Reviews

[Locke Redwyne (night sy..]

also in the last paragraph change meed to meet
get grammarly
it'll check most of that stuff for you

[Locke Redwyne (night sy..]

also add to the beginning of my pov: at the sound of the doorbell,

[Locke Redwyne (night sy..]

illusion powers to illusion meta-powers
"Them," she points
I face them, pointing it at one of them the most villainous man I know
i changed that line
in the doc of this i'm making, i changed "who looks like my friend but cooler" to "who looks like my friend but more badvent"
masked man?
also: "but... it's like with anything," doesn't make any sense
also in the line "right. because it's that east" should be "right. because it's that easy"
don't capitalize the T in the line " 'And this strikes you now?' The masked man says incredulously."

[Jay_Bluefire]

eep
ten characters

[Jay_Bluefire]

masked man is Dn

[Locke Redwyne (night sys)]

uh
reread that
bc that doesn't make sense
besides you were describing him as the silver-haired man before
but i would rather the masked man
bc i was pretty much having that if someone had an elemental kinetic power as their main power, their hair turned that color

[Jay_Bluefire]

what no I wasn't... was I? um...

[Locke Redwyne (night sys)]

yeah you were

[Locke Redwyne (night sys)]

maybe it was gray haired man but still