Welcome to Myopia

The Chapter In Which Alicia Dies... maybe

As Alicia walked further away from the suburbs she found that her surroundings grew denser and wilder and stranger. Some of the trees had fluorescent leaves, or looked like powder puffs; the sky was greener than ever, and was the grass blue? It was shifting that way, slowly. And strangest of all, the sidewalk remained. No blood spilled on it or anything. (Alicia wasn't sure why she expected to see blood spilled on the sidewalk, and tried not to think too hard about that.)

The forest looked more like a rainforest now, like you might find near the equator, and the climate had changed accordingly, but there was still a perfectly maintained sidewalk in the middle of it all, unlittered by leaves or anything. Everywhere Alicia went, it seemed, there was a sidewalk. It was the lone constant in her life, the sidewalk that never ended.

She also noted, with relief and consternation, that there were no animals to be found besides herself.

This is where she was proven wrong.

After another twenty minutes of walking, Alicia was met with a shining silver gate labeled THE ZOO.

Behind it were many cages. They all appeared to be empty, with space in between them for walking. Were the animals transparent? Well, the gate swung open easily, so Alicia decided to step inside to explore. It wouldn't hurt.

A tree branch snatched her up.

***

Mark cried. His knee hurt; he had bashed it in, having fallen from the tree in his backyard straight down into the hard concrete, into the sidewalk.

It was likely dislocated. He knew that, but wouldn't tell anyone. His parents were quite used to him limping around. He injured himself all the time, to the point that most no longer believed it.

Then again, he didn't know that many people. Rather - he knew a lot of people, but they didn't know him.

Mark was twenty-six years old, twenty-six, and he acted like a child. No job, living with parents, harmlessly irritating, hopeless. That was all. Yet there was something more to him than video games and a desire to blow bubbles in his milk.

First of all, Mark knew that unlike most other boys (twenty-six years old or otherwise), he hated to show off his injuries. They were marks of shame and failure, not of courage, and they drew attention to him.

But he'd always wanted attention! More than anything in the world.

But he didn't. He wanted to hide somewhere behind a tree, and watch the passerby ignore other passerby, him feeling smart and secretive and special in his isolation. Because attention would make him just another human. Everyone got attention. Outcasts did not; they were a minority; the pain of minorities was only justified by their status as minorities.

Mark never thought this consciously, but his mind knew it, in a place he couldn't reach yet. After all, he was insane. The insane know nothing.

Mark chuckled to himself, slightly, and cringed. His knee felt like it was being grilled over an open fire. The situation immobilized him. He did not panic; this was a suburb, a good little suburb with tree-lined sidewalks, and one of these lovely neighbors would help him.

A businesslady jogged by.

"Hey, miss -- !"

She was fast. Too fast to be polite to crippled twenty-six-year-old children. That was okay; after a few hours the pain in Mark's knee would subside, and he would get back home again. Somehow.

Well. Something about her -- the businesswoman -- seemed... unfinished. left out. And her hurry was too much of a hurry. And that look on her face! And what was that necklace she wore?

If only he'd gotten to take a closer look at the woman. If only she had helped him get out of this damn -- !

He needed to find her.

Sighing, Mark poked at his wrist until it displayed medical information. Hearbeat, hormones, blah blah. Why wouldn't it tell him how to treat his knee, or how to get someone's attention, or how to be taken seriously by at least one person, one time?

He felt something tickle his back. Hoped it wasn't a spider. Closed his eyes tightly.

When Mark opened his eyes once more, Earth was as dark as when he had closed them.

Mark found himself suspended a few hundred feet in the air, too surprised to scream.

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