Glitches

Glitches - Chapter 10

The group walked quickly and quietly through the darkened city streets.  They walked together but were spaced out and separate.  I tried to follow suit, but I was busy fussing with my nose.  We’d left in a hurry and I hadn’t even had a chance to wash my face.  So I’m sure I was a sight to behold.  Sumner had snagged me a bag of ice just before we left and so I was trying to walk in a straight line and keep the ice on at least for a little bit to help as much as possible.

The gang was walking quietly and deliberately.  If it were up to me I’d rather be talking, or laughing to diffuse some of the obvious tension that was starting to get to my head.  They were here all for me after all.  That was way too much stress for me.  I began to feel like I had this demand to perform like a circus monkey all of a sudden.  There is this expectation and stress that I will perform when the time comes.  All of a sudden I just wasn’t so sure about this.  

As I straggled behind this cluster of people that moved and breathed in step with one another I figured that each one was here for a purpose.  Even Cat.  The only thing I could figure was that they most likely represented the different councils and skills.  If that were the case I wondered if maybe I could figure out which was which.  Walking at the back of the pack through the middle of the street I had time to consider each one in turn.  

I already knew Sumner was a Glitcher.  And a really good one at that.  I thought I was going to die at his hands after all.  Yolanda was obviously a TK, he’d seen it with his own eyes.  Thinking about it, it would seem like Beatrice was an Empath.  But she also ghosted right in front of him.  So he wasn’t so sure which house she represented.  And Derek was obviously a Juggernaut, but I couldn’t figure that out just from looking at him.  He was the weakest looking person I have ever seen.  And that left Cat.  I didn’t even know what to do with Cat.  Was she a ghost?  Was there a council that I hadn’t even heard of yet?  

As the group emerged from a side street into the main city quad they began to fan out.  ‘What was happening?’ I wondered.  ‘Where do I go?’  I decided that they knew I didn’t know what to do so they would obviously cut me some slack, right?  So I found a park bench just inside the quad and sat down.  

I noticed that people were milling about here and there.  Someone was playing music on a guitar and over on the other corner I could a few kids practicing parkour.  There were couples walking and talking as they held hands.  And the group was busy doing this and that… all of which I didn’t understand.  Cat was the most deliberate of the group.  She had run into the center of the quad and dropped something on the ground and then ran straight towards me.

“Well hello busy.” I commented as she came my direction.

“That is definitely going to leave a mark.” She hollered as she continued past.

“Have some respect for your elders!” I yelled at her back as she continued running.

Once the group individually finished walking the quad they all turned simultaneously, as if by some unheard queue, and began walking my general direction.  I tried to look occupied nursing my nose, I had to do something to avoid looking at them all.  It was a daunting sight to see them purposefully heading my way.  What had I gotten myself into?  What was about to happen.  I couldn’t wrap my brain around it.

Yolanda stopped in front of me about ten feet away.  Sumner pulled up on her right a moment later.  And then there was Derek stepping out of the trees and walking over with all elbows and knees.  Then there was Beatrice again standing close to Derek and avoiding my gaze.  What was her deal?  I mean seriously?  Had I put her off that badly?  What was going on here.  I just didn’t like any of it, being in the dark and feeling like I’m the last to know anything.