Secret World

4

I had spent hours at the library, reading everything I could. From what I could tell I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore Toto. In 2011 there had been a major alien attack on New York. At the cusp of the attack was a man named Loki, and evidently not the Norse God either. A group of super hero's for the lack of a better word had stopped it.
    The names of these people, Ironman, Captain America? Straight up out of child's cartoon that was for sure and I thought my world was crazy with the tide pod challenge. The more I read, the deeper I got, more names popped up and more odd instances that never happened, or at least not in the world I remembered. Flying robots? Whole cities raising from the ground? I was as far from my home as Dorthy had been in Oz.
    When I finally left the library I realized I had been in there way longer then I had intended. The sun was way past noon. Finally on its slow descent back down across the sky, that means before long I would have to keep an eye out of the shadows. I hooked left when I started to leave, unsure of where to go.
    High on my list of priorities was finding a place to hunker down for the night, some place well lit. Who knew what would be lurking in the dark in this realm, maybe those beastly looking dog things I had seen when I ran to the theater.
     Second thing I needed was food, and since in my current plight my debt card had decided it no longer wanted to worked I was screwed because I actually had no money. Things aren't going the way I really needed them to, and begging for scraps or panhandling is not how I wanted to spend my evening.
    Spend my evening, this would be the second evening for me in the same day. And they locked me for a pshyc test for less then this crazy nonsense. I tried to keep an even breath while not letting the events of the day get to me.
    Slowly, since I actually had no real place to be, I wandered my way to a park. It was nice and open, not at a lot of hiding places, and certainly none big enough to hide the shadows I do desperately try to avoid. I sat down on a nearby bench, and just watched as people jogged past. A family sitting for a picnic, everyone seemly content in this world. Maybe that's why everything seemed just slightly off. Everyone was okay with one another, closer to one another.
      "There you are!" I heard the mistakable voice of the kid from earlier, peering over my shoulder I saw him jogging over. His book bag slung heavily over his back, lopsided smile on his smooth baby face. "I've been looking all over the city."
    "That's kinda creepy." I told him, watching as he came and sat next to me on the bench.
"No.. I meant you seemed like you needed.. I meant, you.. I was worried.." The kid stuttered, he had a nervous energy about him. Despite everything going on in the recent events my life had taken it was nice to see him, it was nice to him attempt not to talk over himself.
"I get it, sorry for kneeing your buddy." I told him, fiddling with my hands in my own attempt not to let off how overwhelmed I was.
"Oh, him, he's fine. How are you doing, you were pretty.." The bit his lip for a moment, sad eyes trained on me. "Scared."
"I could say I was a little out of it and confused, that's for sure. Scared and freaked out that's an affirmative unfortunately." I sighed, leaning back against the bench.
"Well, coming back five years later would freak anybody out." He said softly.
"That's just it kid, today was May 18, 2019. And now you're telling me, the news is telling me, everything I've read is saying that it's four years past that date?" I sighed heavily looking out at the park before us. "It's a trip, that's for sure."
     "That doesn't make any sense the snap happened in 2018, why would you think it was 2019?" He asked more to himself then to me.
     "I don't know about the snap, for me that didn't happen. Earlier today, before you found me this morning, it was evening and I was in a movie theater. It was May 18, 2019, and then when I came too in the street, its the morning of May 18, 2023. And it makes no sense." I finally said it out loud, the totality and the weight of my reality slowly crushing down on me.
     "So that meant you survived the snap, and then got brought to this time?" He asked, confusion in his voice, eyebrows pinched together.
      "That's just it kid, the snap.. that never happened, Thanos, he didn't exist." I told him, shifting so I could face him. "I don't know, nor do I understand. The people I read about today, they never existed, or at least not in the capacity that they do here."
     "So you mean Ironman.. Tony Stark.." I could tell he was holding back, his eyes moistening as he looked down.
    "I've never heard of him, and he seems to be something big here. There is no way, even my lack of knowledge of current events, I would of not heard about him, the attack on New York, some place called Sokovia, none of that happened for me." I stressed, I could feel my chest tightening again, my heart thumping heavily in my chest.
     "But you called me Spiderling?" The kid shook his head before looking up at me.
    "Sometimes.. I see things, whether it's the past, or the future, sometimes it's things I can't explain." I explained.
    "You saw Tony, talking to me." He sounded defeated and even sad at my revelation.
    "I guess he was someone you were close to?" This is one the harder parts, people having hopes that I knew their loved ones or that I could commune with them.
    "Yeah, he was.." The kid took a deep breath, before recomposing himself. "Never mind, you must be tired. I know a place you can crash for the night, and maybe somebody will be able to explain what happened. If that's what you want. Couple of them are rough around the edge but good guys."
I looked around, sighing as I watch people gathering their picnics. Orange hues started to grace the world, signifying that the day was coming to a close and time for me to seek shelter. I bit my lip and looked over the kid, he had stood and held his hand out toward me.
"I promise, you'll be safe." The kid said, I grabbed his hand and slowly stood from the bench. "I'm Peter by the way."
"Call me Echo, no offense but I still don't know you." I stated, Echo was the nickname my Aunt had given me. Since it was what I could see, echos of the past or future. It was an inside thing for us, something that I kept close to me as I reached adulthood.