Glitches in My Code

Strange and common

(This is a Harris Burdick inspired story. Thought I might just get that out there, and happy Halloween!)

"I need to get out of here! I need to get back to where I was, where I want to be! I don't want to be here, I just want to be back where I was! This isn't right!" I cry, banging my fists against the door. I fall to the floor, collapsing in on myself and beginning to cry, sobs wracking my body. I am nothing but a ball of flesh and bone, cloth and tears, shaking and shivering on the floor. I don't know how long I lay there before I hear a noise other than the creations of my own terror and sorrow.

The door creaks open slightly, revealing a frightened looking teenager, eyes wide and glistening, though it is unclear why. Her eyes are odd; two different colors surround her irises. She opens the door a bit more, then a bit more, then a bit more, until it's far enough open that she can step through, and she does so, grabbing a light from beside the doorframe.

She has long dark hair that falls in a messy braid down her back. One eye is a smoky grey, while the other is a glowing green, and her skin is almost dappled with a tan, some spots darker than others, but it is obvious she tends to be in sunlight. The way she stands makes her look like a bird on edge, prepared to take flight at any moment, to flee.

"Who... Who are you? Why are you here? I've never you seen before, and nothing is supposed to be in here, much less a person..." She shakes her head slightly, staring at me.

"For your first question, my name is Glenn, and for your second, I myself have no idea what I'm doing here. I... I woke up here, I think... I don't remember coming here, and I don't know much that would help. Now, can I ask you a few questions?" I reply, and she nods, though she seems to take a moment to decide. "Where am I? Who are you? Why am I here?!" I exclaim, barely keeping myself from jumping up, afraid of scaring her.

"You're in a closet in this house, my name is Aria, and I have no clue why you're here, but I don't think the reason is a good one." She replies, shrugging as she continues. "I don't know why, but I just have this gut feeling that something isn't right and that I should trust you. Do you know what I mean?" She tilts her head slightly, as though trying to look past my eyes, into the darkest depths of my mind.

I nod, deciding to stand up, but when I try to do so, my legs give out beneath me, having fallen asleep after I had lain on them for so long. Aria grabs my arm, steadying me, and I manage to stand up completely straight, noticing that we are about equal in height. She peers into my eyes once more, her eyes pulling my own towards them. Suddenly, her head whips around, and she shoves me unceremoniously back into the closet.

"Someone's coming! Stay silent until I come back, okay? I'll see if I can get some water or something for you and bring back what I can. It might be a bit, though..." she whispers, fear lacing her quiet voice. I nod, and with that, she quickly but quietly shuts the door, and I listen as her footsteps fade away to silence.

Quite a while later, after possibly hours of nothing but thirst and hunger, silence and fear, the door creaks open, revealing a pale Aria, eyes dull. She hands me a bottle of water, a fork, and a plate with meat and a kind of grain I've never seen before on it, silent. She watches, still silent, as I gulp down the food, along with the water. I hand her back the plates, silently nodding my thanks, and she hands me another bottle of water, whispering to me "save it". I nod my agreement, and she shuts the door once more.

At some point, I fall asleep, and I wake up parched, but not hungry. I force myself not to chug the entire bottle, taking small individual sips. Mere moments later, I hear a noise, one that I've heard twice now, and both times were because of Aria, but this time I'm unsure. My heart pounds, sure I had seen the doorknob turn, or at the very least heard it turn. I gulp down what water remains in my mouth, slowly getting to my feet in case I must run. A minute passes. Nothing. Another minute. Nothing. Eventually, I manage to calm myself down, but just as my heartbeat returns to normal, the door opens, revealing Aria standing there, terror written across her face.

"We have to go! Now!" She pulls me out of the closet roughly, and I notice a backpack on her back, apparently stuffed to the brim with what looks like non-perishable food, tools, and water. I almost ask her about it, but then think better of it, running out of what looks like it could be a basement or a garage through a door with no window. We step outside, into sunlight, surrounded by a thick forest.

We continue to run until we are both completely out of breath, though we manage to get out of sight of the house, which seems to be completely surrounded by woods. We keep moving, walking this time, until we reach a stream with large boulders on either side, jumping over the stream and sitting on top of two boulders. She pulls two bottles of water out of her bag, then puts one back, noticing that I had somehow managed to keep a hold of the one she had given me previously, despite all the running through the woods. We sit in silence for a few minutes, drinking our water and catching our breath. She pulls an odd contraption out of the many pockets of her backpack, placing it in the stream and attaching her now empty water bottle.

"Hand me your bottle when it's empty. I'm filling up this one now. This helps to purify the water and makes the bottles easier to fill." I nod, downing the last of my water and handing the bottle to her, putting the refilled bottles in the backpack.

"Why are we running away from that house? Don't you live there or something?" I ask, confused, as we keep moving farther and farther away from the house. She laughs, more of a bark than a laugh, and shakes her head.

"Not in the slightest. I guess neither of us were supposed to be there, huh?" She glances at me, lopsided grin on her face, but doesn't stop walking. I lengthen my stride a bit, catching up to her.

"Then why were you there? Don't you have a home of your own?" I ask, slightly concerned, but she doesn't reply, just shakes her head slightly and stays silent, and we walk in silence for a while before she says anything, seeming to come back from wherever her mind had gone.

"Sorry about that... I just don't really like to talk about that kind of stuff. I've been on my own for as long as I can remember, sneaking around and living on my own to survive, learning to leave less of a trace as I go. I've never really had much of a home to call my own, or even someone to call my own. I've always been alone, and it's always seemed like it would stay that way, so I'm not really used to opening up about myself. The few times I have, it's caused nothing but pain for me, so I've blocked it off as a possibility." Aria glances at me, sheepish and almost apologetic.

We walk for a bit more in silence until the trees start to thin until the thick forest eventually transforms into a grassy plain. The grass is knee-high, but parts like the red sea with every step, springing back as though nothing happened when you move on. This seems to calm Aria a bit, as it makes us harder to follow, though we are extremely visible out in the open. We continue until we reach a place that seems t be familiar to Aria, as she bends down on one knee and pushes grass aside, searching for something.

She looks up at me and grins, bigger and somehow more lopsided than before. She pulls something out of the ground, a handle attached to what looks like a trapdoor, and, in fact, is. She jumps down into the hole below, and I follow, choosing to take the ladder on the wall instead.

"Whaddaya think? This is everything I've collected over the years." Her voice rings out in the darkness once I reach the bottom of the ladder.

She strikes a match and lights a lantern, turning slowly so that I can see every object and crevice illuminated by the light. The cavernous room is filled, floor to ceiling, with everything under the sun. Everything from bottle caps to bejeweled plates, lion pelts to t-shirts, fills the area, glittering and shining as though covered in glass dust. I feel something fall onto my arm and look up to the ceiling, seeing shining flecks scattered across the stone like stars. Her eyes glitter like emerald and smoky quartz in the firelight, and they shine with barely suppressed tears of joy, most likely from being back in this place.

She cries out to the objects, to me, to the world.

"This... This is my realm! This is where I belong, among the strange and common, all grouped together under one shimmering roof. This... This is my home." 

Hope y'all liked this one! It's another one like Monkeys, AKA a school writing prompt response I thought I'd share. Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed it, and comment if you have anything you want to say!