The city of Cognito was a strange place.
Anyone outside of the city forgot it even existed, and yet everyone knew of its existence. When you asked some person on the street about Cognito, they'd always light up with recognition. "Oh, yes, Cognito. 'Fraid I don't know much about it." And then the conversation would take a new turn.
People wouldn't know the very basics, like what state it was in. It was never brought up in any political debates or discussions, never visited by politicians. They, of course, had their own people for politics, but they always seemed to either abstain from any votes or just never showed up.
Cognito's name must've been some kind of ironic prophecy. This was the no-one and nowhere city.
Even in Cognito, Emi found the city strange. She would sometimes creep into the rusty, old fire-escape, far too high up for it to obey any kind of code, considering she lived on the 32nd floor, and look below. Sometimes it was just to get that rush of fear, to remember that she was human, to feel the spin of vertigo as her vision sank into the muted, gray-filtered colors of brick and cement and steel. To sting her eyes with bejeweled city lights, since the sun never seemed to be out when she was, the city an eternal overcast. Sometimes to stare at the numerous gargoyles and other statues on the various ledges of her building and others. It was only fair, since they always seemed to watch her.
Sometimes it was just to watch the people.
She knew for a fact that there were a lot of people in this city. The amount of students in her district's school told her as much. And yet, she never seemed to see the people walking the streets of Cognito. No businessmen, no students, no mothers with their children in strollers.
When she walked back home from school, she maybe saw a person every three blocks. She didn't know where her classmates disappeared to. She didn't want to, really.
This was the no-one and nowhere city. She had stumbled in by accident, recognizing Cognito, and feeling the urge to go back the way she came.
But she didn't.
She was a nobody girl who was scared of the something world.
So she stepped through the city limits, and when she got far enough in, she saw the blinding city lights in the empty buildings and was determined to make it home.
