A Midnight Mind

Chapter 11: A Wandering Mind

 Ethan blinked rapidly as he looked around the park. His eyes had trouble adjusting to the inconsistency of everything. 

Whole trees appeared and disappeared. Clouds faded in and out of view. The sky almost seemed to bubble and swirl with different shades of blue and black, sometimes purple and orange blushing on the low horizon. Stars sparkled and vanished like his own blinking eyeballs, and nothing stopped them from appearing in front of clouds or the sun or the moon.

It was all so beautiful. And lonely.

Neil and the others hadn't returned to the Worldmind yet. Ethan occasionally thought he could hear echoes of their voices, or see blurry shadows in human shape, but the sights and sounds of memories of park-goers obscured his senses.

Unsure what else to do, or how to return to his physical body, Ethan started walking across the park, trying to get a feel for this strange place. He wondered if his real self was walking along with him, or if it was still sitting in the grass, or if it was in some kind of coma.

I could be getting better sleep now than I've had in days and not know it, he thought.

He made it to the street sidewalk, heading in the direction of Uncle Vic's house. He wasn't bound for a specific destination; he just got carried away with the strange sights of cars changing colour and houses changing their number of front-facing windows. He considered walking into one of the neighbour's houses simply because he could, but he was still worried his physical form was walking right along with him. 

It was strange to wonder where his body was. He felt like a ghost, which mildly terrified him.

What if I really am trapped? What if my body looks comatose and I get stuck in a hospital, living off tubes until someone decides to pull the plug?

He was in Purgatory. An empty world, alone forever.

No. Surely Neil or another psychic would find him. They had to.

And hopefully they would do it before midnight....

He found himself standing at the doorstep of Vic's house. The door was shut, and would only appear open for a split second before being shut again--not enough time for Ethan to slip through. Cautiously, he pressed his fingers to the door, feeling the smooth, painted wood. It was solid. It felt real. He dragged his hand down to the doorknob, feeling the cool metal. So far so good. He turned the handle, slowly, until it stopped, just about where he expected it to. Then he pushed, and the door opened with it.

Never before has opening a door felt like such a big deal.

He was inside, but he wondered about the consequences of manipulating objects in the Worldmind. From everything he'd been told, he couldn't imagine that the door was actually opening in the real world. Unless, of course, his physical body was still with him. Was he playing with people's memories? Or did memories of the door's function allow him to use it as it would normally be used?

If only I didn't scare off the only people who could answer these questions.

The inside of Vic's house was refreshingly familiar. Ethan wandered into the kitchen first, since it was close to the entrance. The cupboards, fridge, and dinner table were stationary, but the dishes in the sink shifted and warbled in and out of vision.

Ethan thought he caught a glimpse of Pepper on the windowsill, but realized that Pepper probably wasn't psychic.

Then again, cats are weird. Maybe they're all secretly psychic.

Looking closely, he saw there was no cat there after all.

Or maybe Vic sees Pepper there often enough that he's a background memory, like what Neil was saying about the hotel clerk.