The word hit me like a bolt of lightning. It excited and terrified me.

My name. How long had it been since someone had said my name? How long had it been since someone had actually acknowledged my existence, since someone had shown that they had the slightest idea who I was, since someone had shown me that I mattered to someone out there? There it was. My "weak connection" to this world, strengthened once again with just a single word.

"Joshua," she said again. "Please."

I knew it was selfish. I knew that I didn't deserve to be liked, loved, respected, acknowledged. I knew that it was better for everyone if I just faded into obscurity, to be forgotten. What I did was not something you can forgive; everything I felt from that point on was my fault, my punishment.

"Joshua," she said again. I could have sworn I heard another voice along with hers, but there was no-one else around in this eerie scene.

Or was there? I looked over my shoulder again to check, but sure enough, there was only Alice.

Aril and Laura and Alice were asking me to come to terms with so much. To accept that what had happened wasn't my fault, that it was the fault of chaos; the fault of random chance; the fault of no-one. There was no-one to blame, least of all me, and that there was nothing I could have done differently.

But that wasn't true. I could have done something differently. I could have stayed with them. I could have waited in that wreckage rather than fleeing like a coward. I could have called for help. I could have done something to save them. Instead, I chose to look out only for myself, and the guilt was tearing me apart.

"Joshua," she said again. Every time she said it, I felt stronger. Every time she said it, it felt like more voices were adding themselves to hers, but still I could see no-one; still I was unaware of any other presences.

And where were they now? I thought. What was the result of my running away? I had escaped that horrific situation, and to what end? I had just assumed that they–

I had just assumed–

I had believed–

I didn't even know if they were alive or… dead.

Tears came to my eyes as this thought occurred to me. My selfishness really knew no bounds. I had been so wrapped up in my own personal self-pitying that I hadn't once tried to find out whether or not they were still alive, whether someone had been able to save them, whether my guilt was justified.

My parents. Alice. They had taken the brunt of the damage from the crash, but somehow I had walked away from it. Didn't it stand to reason that they, too, might be able to pull through?

"Joshua!" came Alice's voice again. Once more, it felt like she wasn't alone.

I thought back to my ride home with the stranger, and seeing the ambulance's blue flashing lights marking the site of my sin. How had that ambulance got there so quickly? How had someone known that it had happened? How did–

Was this, too, the work of chaos? Random chance? Things happening without a reason? And if so, was it possible that, as much as it had the power to destroy lives and take away precious things, it also had the power to save?

"Joshua," said Alice's voice. It seemed softer this time, but full of warmth. There seemed to be echoes, repeating her words after she'd said it. "Joshua. Joshua. Joshua."

Dammit. What was this?

Did I really want this? Would the pain really go away if I jumped?

I looked down into the murky depths below. It would be so easy to just let go. It would be so easy to just leave this all behind. But–

"Joshua, please don't do this," said Alice's voice. It sounded different. Weaker. Weary. Scared. But unmistakably still her. "Joshua, please. I'm here. It's all right. I'm here. And so are–"

I looked over my shoulder again.

Alice was standing there, but not the Alice who had been there a moment before. This Alice was bruised and battered, with stitches and bandages on her face. This Alice was wearing some baggy, loose-fitting clothing that was easy to put on. This Alice was holding herself up on a pair of crutches and looking absolutely exhausted.

"Alice?" I said in a voice barely more than a whisper. "Is that really–"

Time seemed to stand still. Could this really be–

"Yes," she said. "It's really me. Please look at me. Please see. Please understand. Please come back to me — back to us."

Us?

I looked at Alice. Her eyes were full of tears and she looked like she would keel over at any moment. I twisted my body and turned around atop the barrier to look at her more closely, but I didn't step down — not yet. I needed to understand for sure.

"Joshua," she said. "You don't need to do this."

As I looked at her, the ominous dark mist surrounding us seemed to lift slightly, and colour seemed to slowly fill the world, as if someone was adjusting the controls on a television. As the world — my world — gradually came back into focus, I could tell that Alice was not alone. Flanking her on either side were two figures in wheelchairs, and behind them was a small group of people. A group of people whom I thought I recognised.

A group of people who had had my back all along. A group of people to whom I had reached out for help. A group of people who–

"Joshua," she said again. "You see us, don't you? All of us."

"Yes," I whispered.

"Joshua," came my mother's tired-sounding voice from one of the wheelchairs either side of Alice. "Please come down."

"Joshua," came my father's voice from the other side. "Don't do this."

As they spoke, my vision became clearer still, and I saw that the figures either side of my sister were indeed my parents. They looked even more bruised and broken than my sister, but they were still fighting on. Chaos hadn't taken them; chaos had, perhaps, saved them.

Tears came to my eyes again.

"Oh, God," I said. "I'm sorry."

Those two words weren't enough. But within them was everything I'd been holding inside. My guilt at leaving them behind. My lack of concern for them. My focus on myself. My shutting out of everyone dear to me, and my embracing of a world that was full of self-inflicted horrors; but a world that was mine.

I wailed, and stepped down off the barrier. I couldn't stop the tears. I sank to my knees before my sister and parents, and cried. I cried, and cried, and cried. It didn't feel like it would ever stop. It felt like my soul was pouring out of me; like my very life force was flowing out of my tear ducts and plopping onto the pavement. It was exhausting, but refreshing at the same time, because I knew that these tears were not for an ending; they were for a beginning.

I heard a "clack, clack, clack" sound as Alice hobbled over on her crutches to me, and I became aware of being surrounded. I felt a hand on the top of my head and one on either shoulder. The feeling gave me a sense of comfort.

I was home.

*

Joshua blacked out, but he was all right — just exhausted. We decided to take him home. One of his friends from college had picked us up from the hospital in his car, so we loaded him into the middle seat at the back and put our parents either side of him, with their wheelchairs folded up and put in the boot. I sat in the front.

"So," I said, turning to his friend, a guy with messy brown hair and glasses. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"I can't say for sure," he said in a low voice. "But we didn't see him for a few days. We just thought he was ill. But then we heard about your accident, and we got worried. We tried to go over and visit him, but he wouldn't let anyone in. The lights were all off in the house, but we knew he was home — some of us wandered past and just looked in on him occasionally, and we saw him through the windows sometimes. But he still wouldn't see anyone."

"Uh-huh," I said. I winced as one of my bruises throbbed a bit.

"Then a couple of days ago, he came to us," he said. "He just wandered in like a zombie, said nothing, gave us a piece of paper and then ran away. Hang on."

He fumbled in his chest pocket and withdrew a crumpled, ragged-looking piece of paper.

"He gave us this," he said.

I unfolded the scrap of paper and looked at the words on it. A couple of lines down I started to cry.

"Yeah," said Joshua's friend. "Pretty intense stuff, huh."

The note was like a confession and a suicide note all in one. He felt sorry to be alive — what a horrible way to feel! — and just wanted the pain to go away. The note ended with his plans to be at the bridge, and asked anyone reading it to come at the time he'd written and stop him. It had ended with just one word.

"HELP."

"What does it say?" asked my mother from the back seat. I turned around and looked at them. It looked like Joshua was sleeping soundly, so I passed the crumpled note to her. Within a moment she was in tears, too, as was my father, who was reading over her shoulder.

He'd been in pain. A different kind of pain to what we'd been feeling, but still pain. He'd been blaming himself for what happened to us when really it was no-one's fault at all. He'd been feeling guilty for running away from what must have been a horrible sight. He'd started to think he didn't deserve to be alive. That must have been awful. I couldn't even begin to imagine how he felt.

I'd always been a bit harsh towards my brother in the past, as he'd always been a bit of a loner and didn't have many friends besides the group who'd shown up today. But I could tell now that he needed help and support, not a little sister taking the piss.

I hoped I could help him feel safe. I probably wouldn't be able to do it by myself, but I hoped that I could at least play a part in his recovery. I didn't want him to feel that lonely again.

I felt I was getting closer to a resolution. I knew after the experience I'd just had that I wasn't going to see Aril again.

I understood now.

My door opened. Alice walked in.

"Are you all right?" she said. "I had a bad feeling."

"Yes, I'm fine," I said, uncharacteristically calmly.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

Silence fell between us. I looked at her.

Alice. My sister. My little sister. She shouldn't be here, and yet here she was, standing before me as if it was perfectly natural. I knew that she couldn't really be here, and I was starting to question everything I'd experienced.

But for now, she was here. Looking at me. Her eyes were on me, and right now it felt as if they were looking right through my body and into my soul.

"What?" I asked. Her constant gaze was starting to make me feel a bit uncomfortable. Still she stared.

"Come with me," she said. "I need to show you something." She reached out her hand.

I took it.

The static sound again, and my room was gone.

Once again, I was back on the bridge, standing in the middle of the road. Alice was in front of me. She was within arm's reach, but she'd never felt so far away.

"Why are we here again?" I asked.

"Again?" she said.

"Yes, again," I said. "I seem to keep coming back here."

"Perhaps it means something," she said, mysteriously, but didn't elaborate. She just turned away from me to face the side of the bridge. I had a bad feeling.

I wanted to walk towards her, but found myself rooted to the spot. I just watched as she took a step forward, then another. She looked like she was in a trance.

"Alice," I said.

"Yes?" she asked, turning her head to face me. She stopped walking.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Bringing this to an end," she said. "This is what you want, isn't it?"

"No," I said.

"Don't lie to me," she said. "I know you want to put all this behind you and move on."

The bad feeling got worse. I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

"No, I…" I began. She turned away and took another step towards the edge of the bridge. She had come to the side of the road and was about to step onto the pavement.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Stop," I said, meekly.

She did so, and her head turned to face me again.

"Why?" she asked.

I said nothing. I couldn't think of an answer. Why should she stop? I had no right to control her.

She turned away again, and took another step forward. Now she was on the pavement.

"Stop," I said again, a little more strongly than before. Again she stopped, and turned to me.

"Why?" she asked again.

"Because I don't want you to," I said.

"That's not true," she said. "You want this to end. You want me out of your life."

"No," I said.

Again she turned away, and again she took another step. By now she was at the barrier at the side of the bridge, and I knew that if I made any more mistakes she'd be mounting the barrier and possibly–

"Stop!" I said forcefully. Again she did so; again her head turned to face me.

"Why?" she asked again.

"Because this isn't how I want it to end," I said.

She smiled.

"Now we're getting somewhere," she said.

There was a flash of light, and suddenly Alice was replaced by Laura. She leaned back against the barrier of the bridge and grinned at me with an expression that made my skin crawl. This wasn't the Laura I knew — or was it?

"Say it again," she said.

"This isn't how I want it to end," I said again without hesitation. "This isn't the way it should end."

"Isn't it?" she asked. "Why not?"

"Because it's not right!" I asked. "There's no reason to it!"

"No, there's not," she said. She didn't elaborate.

I wanted to walk towards her and — I didn't know what I'd do when I got to her. But it was irrelevant; still my feet were rooted to the floor, and all I could do was watch.

There was no reason to all this. There was no reason to what had happened. There was no reason as to why I was the one who was still alive and yet–

"No, there's not," she'd said.

Wait. Was this…

"Chaos," I muttered under my breath.

"Good!" said Laura, giving me a condescending slow clap as she walked towards me.

"I'll beat you," I said, not entirely convincingly.

"You'll beat me?" she — it? — said with a mocking tone in her voice. "You'll beat me? You're the one who brought me here."

I was stunned into silence for a moment. What was she talking about?

"But you're Laura," I said. "Aren't you?"

"And who is Laura?" she asked. She'd walked right up to me by now, and pressed her body against mine. It was an exciting sensation that made my skin tingle, but I couldn't think about that now. "Who is this girl?"

She stepped back and gestured at her body with a rather grand flourish.

"Who is Laura?" she asked again. "Who is this girl so precious to you?"

"She's–" I stopped and amended my statement, though I didn't know what was accurate any more. "You're my friend. My only friend."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked, a smile creeping up the corners of her mouth again.

"Yes," I said, though my voice made it plenty clear that I wasn't really sure.

"How did we meet?" she asked, moving close to me, putting her face right in front of mine. I could lean forward and kiss her right now if I wanted to.

"What?" I said.

"I said, how did we meet?" she said. "If I'm so precious to you, surely you must remember that."

I looked into her eyes. My skin crawled again, but at the same time I felt excited. A combination of fear and eroticism that wasn't altogether unpleasant, but–

"I don't remember," I whispered. It was true. It had been bothering me, recently, and there was apparently no sense in hiding anything from Laura, or whatever this thing that looked like her, was.

"No," she said. "You don't. Do you know why?"

She leaned her head over my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"There is no reason," she whispered.

Suddenly, she was gone from next to me, and standing in the middle of the road again. I swallowed.

"There's no reason," I repeated.

It was starting to make a twisted sort of sense. Why all this was happening. What Aril, and Laura, and Alice all wanted from me — or, more accurately, what I wanted from them.

"There is no reason," I said again. Was that true? Could I accept that fact?

"Yes," she said.

"There is no reason," I repeated, like a mantra. "There is no reason. There is no reason. There is no reason!"

"There is no reason for what?" she asked finally.

I closed my eyes, and felt tears welling up in them. I took several deep breaths; in, out; in, out. I shivered and clenched my fists. Then I opened my eyes and stared at Laura — or whatever she really was.

"There is no reason that I'm the one who was able to walk away while Alice and my parents didn't," I said after a pause that felt like it was years in length.

"That's right," she said in a low voice, walking towards me. She grabbed my collar. "There is no reason. That is the essence of chaos. And that is what you are coming to understand. Am I wrong?"

Was she right? Was there really no reason? Was it just fate? No, that's a reason. Destiny? No; another word for fate. Luck? Perhaps. Karma? No.

Chaos?

"Yes, you see it now," she said in a harsh whisper. "There is no reason. You can work and work and work to be the best you can be, but still there are times when everything is beyond your control. Times when you cannot predict the future. Times when everything seems without reason. Those times really are without reason. That is chaos. That is the way of the world. That is what you need to accept."

I closed my eyes.

I could see it. The smashed, mangled wreckage. The broken window through which I made my escape.

The bodies.

I was the one who had survived. I was the one who had escaped. Was that enough? Would that take away the guilt I felt?

I had left them behind. What I'd done was unforgivable. I'd left them to–

I opened my eyes again. Both Laura and Alice were standing before me, both oddly expressionless.

My body was still motionless, but something was different. Could I move?

I took a step forward. Yes, I could.

I turned towards the barrier on the bridge and walked forward. I stopped after a couple of steps and looked over my shoulder at Alice and Laura. They were still standing completely motionless, staring into the distance.

Whatever Laura, Chaos, or whatever she was had said, I wasn't sure I could accept her words. I couldn't just eradicate my guilt by accepting that "shit happens," which is basically what she was saying.

The accident may have been the work of random chance — of chaos — but my response to it was not.

A sudden flash of light. I glanced over my shoulder and Laura was no-longer there. Alice still stood staring into the distance, though. I turned back to the barrier. Just moments earlier I'd been watching Alice walking slowly towards this barrier; now it was my turn. Something was trying to push me over the edge here. Literally.

I felt myself climbing up onto the barrier — by now, my body felt like it was moving on autopilot. I stood on the side and once again looked down into the murky black miasma below.

I wouldn't be coming back from that. There would be no return from it.

Should I?

I weighed up my options, feeling oddly rational about the whole thing. I pictured Aril's face in my mind as I contemplated.

If I fell now, no-one would mourn me. There was no-one left to mourn me. My parents and sister were — well, I'd left them behind, and that guilt stayed with me, making me feel physically sick.

On the other hand, something else was telling me that if I fell now, there would be no answers, no resolution. Just an ending from which there would be no return.

Did I want that? It was certainly the easy option. Was it worth sticking around to try and find those answers, though? Did they even exist? Or was this another example of Laura's — Chaos' — "there are no reasons"?

I didn't know.

That loneliness I felt constantly kept gnawing at me, though. That feeling that if I were to jump right now and never be seen again, no-one would know; no-one would care.

"What makes you think that?" said Alice's voice softly behind me. I held on to the bridge support and looked over my shoulder. She was facing me. "I care."

"Do you?" I asked. "Do you care?"

"Yes," she said. "I care."

"Then prove it," I said.

"How?" she said.

"Say it," I said. "You saved me once before by saying it. Say it again."

There was a pause, and she looked down at the floor. I swallowed.

She looked back up at me, her eyes wide.

"Joshua," she said.

I ran.

I kept running. Into the night. I didn't know where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to be as far away from that horrifying sight as possible.

I ran. The cold night air whipped past my face; it stung, and made my eyes water, mingling with the tears that were falling from pure fear.

I ran.

I stumbled.

I fell.

I lay on the ground, just staring at the night sky. I didn't know how far I'd run, or how long I'd been running for. I was still in the middle of nowhere, though, but right now I didn't care. I was scared; my body was in "fight or flight" mode, but everything hurt too much to go any further.

A piercing sound shattered the silence of the night. I jumped. It took me a moment to identify the source of the sound as my phone in my pocket, which had somehow survived everything that had happened unscathed.

Uneasily, I pulled the phone out of my pocket. I glanced at the screen. It was 2:30 in the morning, and a number I didn't recognise was calling me.

Who was it? I didn't want to answer, but I figured if someone was calling at this hour, it was probably important. Perhaps it was–

"Hello?" I said in a cracked voice, tapping the option to answer the call.

"I'm sorry to disturb you so late," came a voice on the other end of the phone. I didn't recognise it. It was speaking urgently. "But I'm afraid I have something you need to hear right now."

“What is it?” I said breathlessly. I felt like I had just run a marathon. Perhaps I had.

“There’s been an accident,” said the voice. “Involving your family. We need you to–”

I didn't hear the rest. I took the phone away from my ear, and the horrifying realisation of what I had done crept up on me.

I had been in an accident with the rest of my family, for whom it might already be too late, and instead of trying to help them… instead of trying to help them, I had just run away.

Why had I done that?

Fear, I guessed, but it didn't make me feel any better. The fact was, they were lying there in that wreckage, and somehow, miraculously, here I was, all but unscathed — physically, at least — and I had done nothing. Nothing at all.

I'm an awful person, I thought. I am the worst person in the entire world. My family have never done anything but support me and look after me, even in my most difficult times, and when they needed me, I just turned my back and ran away. I am an awful person. I am weak. I am terrible.

Guilt flooded my body. I felt it creeping in through my skin; it was a horrific, crawling sensation, like a million insects had burrowed into my flesh and were now working their way through my body. I scratched my arms, but the sensation didn't go away.

I threw up, and just lay there breathlessly looking at the pool of my own vomit for a moment. I became aware that there was still a sound coming from the phone.

I pressed the button and hung up. I didn't deserve to hear it.

*

Eventually, I walked back to the road and managed to flag down a passing motorist. My disheveled state caused them to take pity on me and give me a lift home. As it happened, we weren't far out, and the late-night driver was going the right way.

We passed the blue flashing lights of an ambulance as we drove through the dark night. I turned away, my heart hurting.

"Whew, that looks nasty," said my companion. "Hope whoever was involved in that is all right."

I shivered. I was involved in that, and I was all right, but–

"Mm," I said absently, trying not to let my voice betray my guilt.

The drive continued in silence for a while. Apparently my companion didn't like to listen to the radio.

"So, what were you doing out here by yourself at this time of night?" he asked eventually.

"Car broke down," I said, trying not to let my voice shake. "Just want to get home." I'd worked out the story before he asked it. I hoped it was convincing.

"Ugh, bad luck for you," he said. "You don't have breakdown cover?"

"No," I said. "I'll get it sorted tomorrow."

Silence fell again.

"Thanks for this," I said, grateful for the kindness of this stranger.

Kindness I didn't deserve.

*

When I finally got home, I thanked the stranger again and watched him drive off into the night. I unlocked the door, went inside and went straight up to my room. I lay face down on my bed and just cried.

At some point I fell asleep, because when I raised my head again, light was starting to come in through the window. A new day was beginning, for some of us anyway. Others hadn't been so lucky.

I groaned and sat up. I retrieved my phone from my pocket. The battery had gone flat at some point during the journey home, so I plugged it in to the charger. Nothing happened for a moment — it normally took a few minutes for it to get enough charge to do anything if it was completely flat.

Last night felt like a bad dream. Perhaps it was a bad dream.

I staggered to my feet and stood up. I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was filthy. I turned away, and walked out. I looked in on my parents' room, and there was no-one there; it was made up exactly as if it was expecting its occupants to come home any moment. I looked in on my sister's room — it, too, was made up perfectly, as if nothing was wrong.

But something was terribly, terribly wrong. These rooms wouldn't see their occupants again.

There was no way.

It was impossible.

Not after what I'd done.

I went back to my room. The phone had sucked up enough charge to turn itself back on, and I saw that there were ten missed calls, all from the same number that had phoned me last night. There was a voicemail message, too.

I couldn't bring myself to listen to it.

*

I opened my eyes, and I found myself standing on the barrier at the side of the bridge. Aril was still leaning on the pillar behind me. He looked bored.

I looked down. The water below still looked like a swirling black mass of evil. One part of me just wanted to cast myself into that abyss and never be seen again; the other knew that was a terrible idea.

That other part of me was standing behind me, looking bored.

"You're not going to jump," he said calmly.

"Why?" I asked.

"You already know why," he said. "You know perfectly well why."

"But it was my fault!" I said.

"Was it?" he asked, his voice still infuriatingly calm and rational.

"Of course it was!" I cried. "I left them behind. I left them to… to die."

"Oh?" he said. I was facing the other way, but I could tell from the tone of his voice that he'd probably raised an eyebrow. "And if you'd stayed, what would you have done?"

"I…" I trailed off.

What would I have done?

I had no answer.

"Exactly," he said. "Now come on down."

I thought about what he had said. Silence hung over us. Time seemed to stand still.

"No," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't deserve to live," I said.

"Why?" he asked again.

"Because I'm the one who walked away," I said. "And I'm the one who has least to offer. I'm pathetic. I'm nothing. I'm worthless. No-one cares."

"Is that true?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I have you. I have Laura. I have Alice. Like I said before. But it's not enough. None of this is real. None of you are real. I can't accept this. I can't go on like this."

"Now you're starting to understand," he said. His voice hadn't raised once during this whole conversation, while I wanted to scream and shout everything I said. It infuriated me, but not because he was being condescending; it infuriated me because I knew he was right.

I turned around carefully, and stepped down off the barrier. Aril showed no sign of relief or exasperation. He just looked at me.

"Good," he said. "I think I'm done here."

He extended his hand to me. I took it. He shook my hand once, then my vision filled with a bright white light. It blinded me and disoriented me. My skin seemed to tingle. Something indescribable felt… different. I couldn't describe it.

The sensation soon passed, and I felt a rushing of wind — or did I? I wasn't sure what was real any more — and eventually the light faded.

When my eyes recovered from the brilliance of the shining white light, I was standing in my bedroom. It was dark. I glanced at the clock radio.

2:30.

I stood up and looked around. All was quiet and peaceful. I was disoriented. I couldn't tell whether it was night or day; whether I had just woken up or if I was hallucinating. I glanced over to where the clock radio should be, but the display was blank.

There was a momentary sound like radio static, and the surroundings of my bedroom disappeared, only to be replaced by the empty, darkened corridors of the college.

No-one was here. I could see a hint of daylight off in the distance, but no evidence that anyone was alive; no evidence that this building had not been abandoned for years.

The static sound again; this time, the corridors were replaced by the darkened, foul-smelling innards of the long-forgotten supermarket. There was no-one here, either, and the stench of the spoiled food was overpowering.

Static again; this time a place I'd passed by many times before but hadn't given a second thought — the bridge over the river on the way from my house to the centre of town.

I stood still, waiting for the static sound and another sudden shift, but it didn't come.

There was a dark mist in the air, though looking up at the sky I could tell it was still daytime. There were no cars on the street, though, and not a soul to be seen in any direction.

I was standing in the middle of the road, a place I'd passed many times before in Laura's car or on the bus but had barely noticed at all. I walked over to the edge of the bridge and looked down. It was a long drop into the water below. The water didn't look normal, either; it seemed to be a swirling mass of darkness from which there'd be no return if you jumped.

I shivered slightly. The thought of jumping off this bridge had never even occurred to me in the past, but now it was at the forefront of my mind, as if someone was urging me on to mount the barriers at the side of the road and just let myself fall.

"No," I said, even though there was no-one to hear me. My voice sounded very hollow and lifeless in the empty surroundings.

Was this Alice's world? It certainly fit the description. There was no-one around, and there was an almost palpable aura of loneliness about the place. I imagined my sister walking these streets by herself, that defiant expression on her face, and I felt a tear fall from my eye.

The silent urging to leap into the miasma below continued in the back of my mind. I ignored it.

"No," I said again. "No!" I shouted, louder. "No!" I cried. My voice echoed in the empty streets.

The static sound again, and suddenly I was sitting back in the cinema next to Laura, who looked completely engrossed in the film. I gasped, and she turned to face me in surprise.

"You okay?" she said. "It's not THAT exciting."

I looked around. There was no evidence that I'd been anywhere. Was all that in my head?

"Yeah," I said, "No, I'm… I'm just going to step out for a moment."

I made my excuses, walked out into the lobby and headed for the bathroom. The lights were on and the staff were standing around looking bored, but there didn't seem to be any other members of the public here. It was quiet and peaceful, but not the lonely sort of deserted in the landscapes I'd just seen.

I entered the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I had bags under my eyes, and my face was pale. I looked ill. I felt ill.

I ran the cold tap for a little while and washed my hands, then splashed the cold water on my face. The experience I'd just had meant that I wasn't quite sure if I was asleep or awake, so this was a vain attempt to figure it out. It didn't help.

I sighed and looked at myself again, staring deep into my own tired-looking eyes.

"This is getting too much," I said. "This needs to end."

"I quite agree," said Aril, stepping out of one of the toilet cubicles. I jumped and turned to face him.

"Jesus," I said, my pulse racing. I wasn't sure how many more frights I could take today. "What are you… actually, no, I'm not sure I want to know."

Aril ignored me. "You want this to end, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"And you're starting to figure some things out, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. It was true. Though there were almost as many unanswered questions as there were things I was starting to get a handle on.

"Then we need to start preparing for the end," he said.

"The end?" I asked. He was being mysterious, and I didn't like the… finality of the words he was using.

"Yes," he said. "The end. If you want this to end, it makes sense that you need to prepare for the end, right?" He sounded exasperated.

"Oh," I said. "Right. Yeah. That makes sense."

He sniffed and scratched his cheek.

"The only way you can reach an answer is by yourself," he said. "Alice and I are here to support you, but that last step has to be yours alone."

"Uh," I said. I didn't really know exactly what "step" he was referring to.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said.

"No," I said. "I'm not sure I do."

"Are you sure about that?" said Aril. "Think about what you've experienced today."

I thought back over what had happened. I had no idea what was real and what was just in my mind any more. Everything overlapped and blended into each other like wet paints on a canvas. Only there wasn't a clear picture forming; just a mass of colours, none of which made any sense, and none of which seemed more "right" than others.

I contemplated the feelings I had experienced on the bridge. A strong, hard to resist urge to launch myself into the dark miasma of the river below, perhaps never to be seen again. Something was telling me to do that, but at the same time, part of myself felt like it was holding me back, that it would be a terrible idea.

"Think," said Aril. "You're getting somewhere."

I pictured the bridge.

Suddenly, the static sound again, and I was there, standing in the middle of the road. Aril was leaning against one of the pillars at the side, gazing at me nonchalantly.

"Right," he said. "Now what?"

I said nothing and looked around. Aril was the only soul around; the only movement in any direction.

"Do you want to jump?" he said.

"No," I said immediately.

"Why not?" he said.

"I don't know," I said.

Or did I?

I thought about this for a moment, and walked to the side again. I looked over the barrier, and down to the water below, which still looked like an evil black miasma rather than normal water.

I knew in my heart that if I jumped into there, I wouldn't be coming back.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"I'll ask again," he said. "Do you want to jump?"

"No," I said.

"You sound pretty sure," he said. "Why not?"

I thought as hard as I could. Why didn't I want to jump? Why didn't I just want to disappear? It would be so much easier if I just wasn't here any more. After all, no-one needed me. No-one cared about me. I was all alone. I had nothing, and no-one.

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind.

When I opened them again, I saw things a little differently.

"No," I said out loud, knowing that Aril had been listening to my thoughts. "That's not true at all, is it?"

"You tell me," said Aril.

"It's not true that no-one needs me," I said. "It's not true that no-one cares about me. I have you. And Alice. And Laura."

"Is that enough?" he asked.

"No," I said. The sudden, natural response that came out of my mouth without me having to even think about it surprised me. "No, it's not enough."

"And why not?" he asked.

"Because," I said. "Because none of this is real, is it? You're not really here. I'm not really here. Alice isn't really here. All of this is some deranged fantasy conjured up by that chaos beast, whatever it is, and it's driving me crazy!"

I started to shout, and I could feel my cheeks getting hot as I became angry.

Was I really being toyed with like this? Was everything that I had experienced so far a lie? It certainly didn't feel like it, but something in my mind was telling me that it was true.

"Oh, we're here all right," he said, a slight note of menace in his voice. "But perhaps you still have a little way to go before you completely understand the situation."

"What?" I asked. "What don't I understand yet? What is to understand? This is chaos we're talking about! Chaos! Its very nature is that it is unpredictable and difficult to understand! It's irrational! It doesn't make any sense! And I'm sick of it!"

Aril smiled at me.

"Let me ask you a question," he said. "What is it that you want?"

I just stared at him, my fists still clenched from my previous outburst.

"What?" I asked.

"What is it that you want?" he repeated. "What is your desire, right now? What do you want to do? Where do you want to be? What, more than anything, do you want to happen?"

"I want…" I paused and considered this for a moment. What did I want?

The answer came quickly.

*

It was dark. The low murmur of the guy talking about some play on the radio was putting me to sleep — particularly when coupled with the hum of the engine and the pattering of the rain on the windscreen and the roof. It was fairly peaceful, but the back seat wasn’t very comfortable and I was starting to feel my usual sensation of travel sickness. I wasn’t sure when I started getting it, but it was always unpleasant. It just made me want to curl up in a corner and groan, and that’s not really practical when you’re sitting in the back of a car — not least because my mother usually told me to sit up, and also because Alice was sitting on the other side of the back seat, sound asleep. I doubted she'd have appreciated my head in her lap. I was pretty sure she'd only been dragged along on this trip to pick me up because my mother was paranoid about leaving her in the house by herself.

I closed my eyes. The car gave an occasional bump on uneven parts of the road, but the motion was mostly fairly relaxing.

“So, did you have a good time?” I heard my mother’s voice saying. “You look exhausted. Hope you didn’t spend all your time drinking and carousing.”

“No,” I grunted, in a vain attempt to try and close off the conversation before it began. I really wasn’t in the mood.

“So what was the best bit?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “It was all pretty fun.”

I was going to think back on what had occurred over the last few days, but the bubbling feeling in my stomach wasn’t going away, so I just found myself thinking about that. Thinking about it didn’t help, of course, since focusing on it just made the feelings worse. The more conscious I was of them, the more I thought I was going to throw up. I tried to think about something — anything — else.

“Oh, come on, Jan,” said my father slightly irritably. “Can’t you see he’s knackered? Let him rest. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, and I’m sure we can talk about it in the morning.”

“Sorry! Sorry!” said my mother in a mock-flustered tone, as if she had somehow offended me with her questions. “I’ll shut up.”

My father didn’t rise to her bait, and instead turned the radio up. Whatever it was the voice was talking about was terribly boring, but I was thankful for the distraction — both for my own gurgling stomach and from my mother’s incessant questioning. She never did quite know when to stop.

A few minutes passed, and no-one except the droning bore on the radio said anything. I was aware of Alice stirring beside me, but she didn't wake up. Eventually the programme came to an end, and it was time for the news. The radio gave the distinctive “pips” that signalled it was on the hour, and the newsreader announced that it was two o’ clock in the morning. I didn’t really listen to the bulletin; the smooth, soothing voice of the female newsreader washed over me and made me relax.

Patterns swirled behind my eyes. I recognised this as a sure sign I was tired. I knew that if I opened my eyes again, those patterns would still be there; hypnotic, washing over my vision. I focused on them, trying to make sense of them, and felt my consciousness slowly, gradually drifting away. I was falling asleep at last. Hopefully by the time I woke up again, we’d be home and I could just get into bed.

I don’t know how long I slept for, but I was awoken with a start by a sudden noise. It was my mother screaming. My eyes snapped open, but it took a moment for me to figure out what was going on. My mother was frantically grabbing for the steering wheel and there, in the driver’s seat, where my father should have been… was no-one at all. At least, that’s what it seemed like.

I blinked, and he was back again, wrestling with the wheel. But it was too late. The car was in a skid, and it was heading for the barrier at the side of the road. I didn’t know what was beyond it as it was still dark, but I had a bad feeling. I looked over at Alice, who was fully awake, and staring at me with absolute terror in her eyes.

The car, which was still moving at a fair speed, crashed straight through the barrier and into the blackness beyond. I felt the world spin sideways, and I knew that there was a drop beyond the barrier. I didn’t know how big it was or how long we would fall, but I knew that we were probably not coming back from it.

My stomach felt like it was in my mouth as the car went into freefall, still spinning and rolling in the air. The world felt like it was in slow motion. I wanted to look around, to work out what was going on, but I couldn’t — I was being thrown around too much.

I couldn’t hear anything. I was sure my mother, father and sister were both screaming in terror at the inevitable fate that seemed to await us, but somehow everything seemed to be muted; a silent, frightening world with no future.

The last sounds I heard were shattering glass, crumpling metal and the sickening crunch of bones.

I blacked out.

I don't know how long I was out for, but I woke up. And somehow, miraculously, despite the devastation around me, I was fine.

I crawled out of the shattered window.

And I ran.

We ordered pizza. There wasn't much food in the house, and after my experience the other day I didn't much feel like going to the supermarket again, plus it meant we'd be able to just sit down and talk about what the plan was.

There wasn't a lot to plan, really. I would go along to the club tomorrow, take something I'd written — which I still had to do — and then submit it. Alice would come along for moral support if I needed it, but quite rightly pointed out that I needed to be the one to do the talking if I could. It was no good her making bonds with people in this world, because–

I didn't finish that thought. I didn't want to think about that right now. Alice didn't belong here, and I didn't know what that meant in the long term. But it didn't matter. We had to resolve this situation, and it had to be soon. Every day we delayed, this "chaos"… thing grew in power, and if it regained the strength it had in Alice's world… well, then, I really didn't want to think about it.

"This is good pizza," said Alice. "Feels like forever since I've had one. Guess it has been quite a while. Hard to get one delivered if there's no-one else alive."

How could she do that? She was so strong. I had no idea how she had lived through the experience in her world and come out of the other end seemingly unscathed, cracking jokes about it. Everyone in her world was dead, and here she was munching on a slice of pizza in a world that was not her own as if nothing at all was amiss.

I envied her. I wished that I could adjust to new situations as quickly and deftly as she clearly could.

"Hey Alice," I said, swallowing the last piece of the slice I was on. "I've been meaning to ask, what were you doing for food? When I went to the supermarket in your world, all the power was off and everything was spoiled. It smelled awful."

"Oh, you know what Mum was like," said Alice, smiling. "Always kept a fully-stocked freezer. Turns out there was enough frozen bolognese and chillies and whatnot in there for several months, especially as I was the only one eating." She grinned at me. "After this pizza, though, I don't think I ever want to eat bolognese ever again."

I smiled at her. I was glad to have her in my life again, even if it was under these bizarre circumstances.

"So, Mr Author," said Aril grandly. "What are we going to write for your debut?"

He produced a pad of paper from somewhere and laid it down on the table. I thought for a moment.

"A piece of creative writing," I said. "I'm good at that." I felt a little guilty building myself up like that, but it was true — it was the one thing I knew I could do, and which I believed in my own abilities at.

"What about?" said Alice, interested.

"I'm not sure yet," I said. I took the pen which Aril had also produced from somewhere and chewed thoughtfully on the end of it.

Then I started to write.

The words flowed naturally and easily. They tumbled out of my head, through the pen and on to the paper. Before long, I'd filled a page.

"Easy there," said Aril. "You're not writing a novel."

"I know," I said.

"What are you writing?" said Alice.

"Oh, it's nothing," I said, a little embarrassed. I turned the pad away from her so she couldn't look over my shoulder. "You can have a look when it's done."

"All right," she said with a smile.

It didn't take much longer to finish. I filled two sheets of paper from the pad in the end. I could have gone on for a lot longer, but I figured it was better to try and finish it where I could. Like Aril said, I wasn't writing a novel, just something to publish in the magazine. That meant it had to be reasonably short, and good.

I wasn't sure it was either of those things.

Alice saw an opportunity and snatched the pad from me with a triumphant "Ha!". I went to stop her, but it was too late. She was already starting to read.

She read. I saw her eyes following each line, then returning to the start of the line, a little lower. She worked her way down the page, then onto the next.

Halfway down the second page, I saw her eyes grow moist.

By the end of the piece, tears were rolling down her face. She said nothing, and just put her arms around me.

"Looks like we're good to go," said Aril, smiling out of one corner of his mouth.

*

The next day, I went to school on the bus again. Alice promised to meet me after school, and we'd go to the club together. She reminded me that I had to do this myself, but she promised to be there to help me if I needed it.

The day passed in something of a haze. All I was focusing on was the task I had to complete after classes. I spent lunchtime with Laura, but don't remember what we talked about. I managed to get rid of her after classes by saying I needed to talk to some teachers about my coursework. She looked a little sad as she walked away. I felt bad for a little while, but she'd just get in the way.

And so I found myself outside the library. Alice stood next to me. She took my hand and squeezed it. I looked down at her, and her wide eyes gave me a look that said "you can do this."

I opened the door and walked in. Alice trailed behind me. I looked around. The club seemed to be assembled at a table at the far corner of the library. I went over.

"Ah, hello," said a guy with shaggy brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses. "Have a seat."

I recognised him. I wasn't sure why. I didn't think I had any classes with him… or did I?

I looked around the group. Something was familiar about all of them — the girl with the dyed red hair, the guy with a blonde bob that I always thought looked like a girl, the big guy with the sour expression on his face. Did I know these people? No, I couldn't.

My mind felt a little cloudy, but I remained lucid enough to sit down at the head of the table, directly opposite the guy who had first spoken to me.

I took out the pieces of paper with my contribution written on them and handed them over without saying a word. The guy in the glasses took them and looked them over. He nodded and passed them around the group.

The redheaded girl was the last to put the papers down. They all looked at me.

"That's really good," said the guy with the glasses. "That's really… brave. Very bold. Are you sure you want to do this?"

My mind remained cloudy. It felt like I was watching a dream, not sitting here talking to these people. I glanced over my shoulder to try and find Alice, but she was nowhere to be seen. I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and opened them again.

I regained my sense of self. What was that?

I looked over my shoulder again and Alice was there, pretending to look at a bookshelf. She glanced at me and smiled, then turned back to the book she was browsing. She looked out of place, but no-one commented on her presence.

"Yes," I said finally, looking right into the eyes of the guy with the glasses. Then I looked around the faces of the assembled people around the table. All of them were gazing at me with sympathetic eyes. "Yes, I'm sure."

I suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to cry, but I didn't want to do it in front of these people. I didn't want to do it at all. But it was becoming harder and harder to resist.

I felt it build up inside me. It rose up from my heart, up my throat and out of my mouth as gulping sobs. My eyes filled with tears, and they started to flow freely down my face.

I covered my face with my hands and leaned on the table to support myself. My shoulders shook with every sob. The tears wouldn't stop. It was horrible to experience, but at the same time it was a sweet relief. I felt like this had been building up inside me for a long time, and letting it out seemed like a good thing to do.

I felt a hand on one shoulder, then the other. Alice?

I peeped out through a gap between my fingers. The sobbing was starting to subside, to be replaced by a dull feeling of absolute misery. I started to feel a little less embarrassed. The worst was over, so I could probably face Alice now.

I wiped my cheeks and eyes and took my hands away from my face. As my blurred vision came back into focus I was surprised to see not Alice standing next to me, but the faces of all of the assembled people from the club.

"What," I said. A sob threatened to prevent me from saying anything else. "What is this?"

They didn't say anything else. They just stood by me. I felt a sense of warmth and comfort.

I didn't understand. Surely this was wrong? I didn't know these people… did I? Or did I? There was something overwhelmingly familiar about them, and it occurred to me that when I had showed up today, not a single one of them had asked why I was there. Did they know me?

No, that couldn't be true, I thought. The only person in my life is Laura. And now Aril and Alice, of course. But before them, there was no-one but Laura. She'd stood by me and helped me out. She'd helped me to be strong, to deal with all this. She'd been my rock.

I felt a bit bad about how I'd been treating her recently, but it was too late now.

"I think we're good for today," said a voice that I recognised as the guy in the glasses. "Do you need any help getting home?"

I took a deep breath and slumped back in my chair.

"No," I said. "I think I'll be fine."

"All right," he said. "We'll print this in the next issue. Thank you so much for writing it."

They walked out and left me sitting there.

Alice came up to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Well done," she said softly. "I knew you could do it."

"Let's go home," I said. "And let's walk. I feel like I need to clear my head a bit."

"Sure," she said. She took my hand and led me out of the library. Once we got outside, the cool breeze felt good on my face. My eyes still stung a bit, but the feeling of wanting to break down in tears had passed. Now I just felt a bit numb.

I didn't quite understand what had happened today, but I knew that it was important. I knew that I'd taken a big step towards resolving this situation. But exactly how it fit into the whole picture wasn't yet clear to me.

"We'll get there," said Alice. "We'll be all right."

And so it was that a school day came around, and I had a mission to fulfil. I had to find a club to join so I could make some friends.

It was a ridiculous idea. It wouldn't work. It was too hard.

It actually made me nervous to think about. The idea of talking to people made me sweat. It made my hands shake. But I knew it was the only thing we had to go on for the moment.

I assumed that Laura wasn't going to show up, so I got up early and headed out to the bus stop. I hadn't caught the bus for a while. Too many people for my liking — and too many people that I didn't want to associate myself with.

No, I thought. I have to stop thinking like that. I'll never get through this if I keep alienating myself like that. I can't keep thinking that people are something to be feared and avoided.

I fiddled with my phone as a few people showed up at the bus stop. None of them gave me a second glance. I was glad. I wasn't quite ready for this yet. I continued cycling around between my email and the Web until the bus finally showed up, then pocketed my phone and handed the exact change to the driver without a word. I sat down in a vacant seat and tried to ignore the kids at the back blasting music out of their mobile phones. They intimidated me, even though they were clearly much younger than me. I hoped they didn't come over and harass me.

They didn't.

The bus arrived at college without incident. The younger kids got off well before my stop when the bus arrived at their school, leaving me to relax a little.

I walked into my classroom, not looking at anyone. I sat down. I didn't look around to try and find Laura. If she wanted to talk to me, she'd come and find me.

Morning registration was over before I knew it, and I slipped out as part of the rush. Morning classes also passed without incident. Laura didn't come and find me. I was quite glad. I couldn't face her right now.

Lunchtime came. Time for phase one of the plan — a bit of scouting.

I realised I had no idea where to start.

Alice had made a few suggestions. The college magazine. There certainly was one, but where would they meet? The library? The computer suites? I wasn't sure, so I headed for the library first. Sure enough, there was a scrappy-looking piece of paper taped to the wall inviting contributions for the next edition of the magazine. The next meeting was tomorrow after classes.

All right, I thought. I can spend a day preparing myself for that. But I'd need to show up with something to contribute. What? I'd never read the magazine, so I wasn't sure what sort of thing they were after.

I walked into the library. It was deserted. I wasn't surprised. It was cold and the selection of books wasn't particularly good, making it largely worthless to most of the student population. The librarian looked up with a start from her desk as I walked in, as if surprised to see another living being.

"Hello," she said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes," I said, my voice wavering. I realised I hadn't spoken all day. "Do you have a copy of the college magazine?"

"I think so," she said. "Hold on."

She disappeared into the mysterious office behind the counter and returned with a floppy-looking magazine made of sheets of copier paper stapled inexpertly together. It didn't look like much. Perhaps this wouldn't be so hard.

"It's fifty pence," she said.

It costs money? I thought. Of course it does.

I rummaged around in my pocket, hoping that I still had some change left over. Fortunately, I did, so I handed it over to the librarian and settled down at one of the desks to read my new acquisition. I had a feeling that no-one would be bothering me.

I opened the magazine. Inside it was quite professionally laid out, though the print quality wasn't up to much. You could tell it had been put together using some basic computer software and then just photocopied.

I flipped through. There was a surprising amount of well-written content. There was a full-page writeup on a recent sporting success for the college football team; some reviews of recent films; but what really caught my eye was a section that seemed to feature creative submissions — poetry and very short stories. I read them through and, to my modest eye, they certainly seemed like the sort of thing I could come up with without too much difficulty. I usually got good marks in my English Language classes for my creative projects, so perhaps that could be my contribution.

I closed the magazine and laid it down on the table. As I looked up, I realised that Laura was standing right in front of me.

"Hey," she said quietly. "You okay?"

I looked at her. She looked… normal. She didn't look mad, or upset, or anything. She was just Laura.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm all right."

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"What are you doing?" she said. "I didn't know you were interested in the mag."

"I'm just curious," I said. "I realised I'd never really checked it out."

There was another awkward silence.

"Can we talk?" she said. "Not here?" She glanced at the librarian, who was very pointedly not watching us, but very obviously eavesdropping.

"Sure," I said. I had a bad feeling, but it was probably better to clear the air sooner rather than later.

We walked out of the library and out into the corridor. It was quiet around here — you could hear students milling around in the distance, but you could tell the library was a forgotten backwater by the fact that no-one at all was walking through these hallways.

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly. "I freaked out a bit. I shouldn't have done that. I know you're dealing with a lot of things."

"No," I said. "I'm sorry. I was… confused. I shouldn't have said those things. I… I can't explain them."

"It's all right," she said. She walked a little closer to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "I can't pretend to understand even half of what you've been going through recently. If you say that something weird happened that made you believe… what you said, then I'll accept that."

"That's exactly what happened," I said. "It was… strange."

I sat down on a bench at the side of the corridor and held my head in my hands.

"I don't know what's going on any more, Laura," I said. "This is all too much to deal with. And now I've got to…"

I trailed off. I got a sudden feeling that telling Laura about our new plan would be a very bad idea indeed.

"You've got to what?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said. I changed the subject. "Did you drop by my house recently?"

"Yes," she said. "I… ran into your sister."

I nodded.

"You managed to… bring her here?" she asked. "I was surprised to see her."

I nodded again, but said nothing else.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I'm probably poking at you too much. Would you like me to leave you alone?"

I raised my head and looked at her.

Did I want her to leave me alone? On the one hand, having her here was comforting. On the other, it was making it harder to deal with everything. I felt like I needed to hide some things from her, and lying to her was proving more stressful than I thought. I figured that probably said something positive about my personality. I'll take small victories where I can get them.

"I think… Yeah, I just need a bit of time to think," I said. "Sorry. I just–"

"It's okay," she said. She placed her hands on my cheeks and held my head in place, looking straight at me. "It'll be all right."

She kissed me on the lips and walked away. I was left sitting on the bench in this forgotten corner of the school, more confused than ever.

*

I hope he's doing all right, I thought. I sipped on a cup of tea that I'd made for myself. Aril was just sitting in the corner of the room staring into space. He wasn't being much of a conversationalist.

I stood up.

"Want anything?" I asked.

"No," he said bluntly.

Fine. I walked up the stairs to my room and browsed the bookshelves. They were exactly as I remembered them. I ran my finger along the cracked spines of the many paperbacks I'd read over the years, and eventually settled on a cheesy, funny, teenage "coming of age" book I'd been through several times already. The characters in it were supposed to be older than me, but I'd always felt more mature than them. It made me happy to feel that way.

I took the book and returned to the living room. Aril was still staring into space. Well, all right then.

I opened the book and started to read quietly. Aril still said nothing.

I finished the prologue. Then the first chapter. Finally he spoke.

"Do you think he'll be able to do this?" he asked.

"Yes," I said straight away. I gave my brother a hard time, but I believed he could do it.

"Are you sure?" he asked. There was a hint of worry in his voice. I didn't like it.

"Yes," I said again, not looking up from my book. "We've got to believe that, right?"

"Yes," he replied.

The room became silent again. The only sound was the fwip-fwip of my pages turning. I finished two more chapters.

"I'm not doing nothing," he said.

I closed the book and looked up.

"What?" I asked.

"I said I'm not doing nothing," he said, sitting forward in his chair. "I'm keeping an eye on him. Or his mind, anyway."

"Oh," I said. Creepy. "And?"

"It's…" he began. "You're probably right. It will all be fine. From what I could make out, I think we might need your talents tomorrow."

"Oh?" I said. "Did he pick a club?"

"Looks like the school magazine," he said. "For some reason he's hiding what he's up to from that girl he knows," he added.

"That girl?" I asked. "The one who came over?"

"Yes," he said.

Another long pause.

"I think he's right to do that," he said. "I'm not sure, but there's something… strange about her."

"Strange?" I asked. "How?"

"Hard to say," he said. "I'm just getting a bad feeling."

Aril hadn't been acting like Aril lately. I didn't like it. I preferred it when he was leaning against walls looking bored and occasionally making sarcastic comments. This was all a bit serious for my liking.

"Well," I said. "Not much we can do right now. We'll just wait for him to come home, and then we'll decide what to do."

"Yes," he said. He sounded uneasy. I didn't blame him. It wasn't clear how this was going to end. The only thing that was clear was the fact that it wasn't over yet.

We sat down in the living room. I had brought some coffee in. I was surprised to see Aril drinking it, but apparently he had something of a taste for it, not to mention an asbestos mouth, given the rate at which he knocked it back.

After we'd all calmed down a bit — even Aril had looked somewhat on edge, which surprised me — I tried to explain what had happened, to the best of my memory.

It was strange. I couldn't remember all of it. It was fading rapidly, like a dream. Was it a dream? No, of course it wasn't, because both Aril and Alice had seen me disappear, and had said so.

Aril and Alice. Two people who didn't belong in this world. My only assurance that what I thought had happened was real came from two people who shouldn't exist.

"Are you all right?" said Alice. "You stopped in mid-sentence."

"Oh, right," I said, catching myself. "No, I'm fine, I was just… trying to remember."

Alice gave me a funny look, but didn't say anything else. I continued trying to explain.

There was darkness, definitely. And loneliness. A feeling of being nowhere. A feeling almost like I'd been completely erased from existence, but was still somehow aware. Perhaps existence had been erased from around me instead. I didn't know. It didn't really matter.

Something had happened to me. Someone was there. Who?

The memory was there, I could tell, but every time I tried to remember it in detail it was as if it was "hiding" in a dark corner like a frightened animal.

"Some girl came over," said Alice suddenly. "She was looking for you."

Laura? Was it Laura?

Wait. Laura was… was she…?

No, she couldn't be. If she was here, then she couldn't have been… but then she did disappear… but that wouldn't make any sense, because this doesn't have anything to do with her.

"No, it's worth considering," said Aril out loud, apparently reading my thoughts. Alice gave him a curious look.

"Do you have to do that?" I asked. "It's weird."

"Do what?" said Alice.

"Root around inside my head," I said. "Him, not you," I added, for clarification.

"Oh," said Alice. "Right." She looked a little confused. I realised that she still had no idea what we were talking about.

"Did you know the girl who came over?" I asked her.

"I thought I knew her," she said, "but I couldn't remember her name."

"What did she look like?" I asked.

"She was pretty," said Alice. "And about your age. I guess she's a friend of yours or something." She paused and gave me a rather childish smile. "Or your girlfriend, perhaps?"

I winced slightly.

"She is your girlfriend?" she said. "Oh, I was just teasing. But…"

"She's not," I growled. I was remembering the confusing sequence of events that had happened the last time I had seen her. Had that really happened? I realised it had come out a little more acidic than I had perhaps intended. "Sorry. No. She's… just a friend. I think. That's neither here nor there, really. You didn't finish describing her."

Alice rattled off a fairly vague physical description that sounded pretty much like Laura. I nodded. Hm. So she'd come back to see me? That was… unexpected. She was the one who had said she needed space and wanted to get away after… whatever had happened. But she'd come back?

I was confused. Very confused. And thinking about it wasn't helping matters.

After a short silence, eventually Aril spoke.

"So," he said. "It sounds like our friend is paying attention to you, at least. If it interfered with you to such a degree that you can barely remember what happened, it's certainly taking an interest. So we apparently know how to attract it. Now all we have to do is figure out how to deal with it."

How do you deal with "chaos" anyway? I had no idea. I was well out of my depth. I was only just coming to terms with the fact that I could apparently step between worlds. And, given what had happened, I was in no real rush to try that again.

Aril once again sensed what I was thinking.

"It's a difficult question," he said. "Logically, the way to beat 'chaos' is with 'law', but I'm not entirely sure how that applies here."

I scratched my head. "Law," huh? I wondered what that looked like. If "chaos" was a confusing mass of conflicting messages that didn't make any sense and "law" was the opposite, then it must be a sense of being firmly grounded in reality, of being absolutely sure of the truth and sticking resolutely to it.

I thought once again about Aril's words — my "weak connection" to this world. I wondered if that was the key somehow. If I could somehow strengthen that connection, then perhaps that would count as "law" standing against "chaos". But how would I strengthen that connection? I had no idea whatsoever what a "connection" to this world even meant — although I had assumed that Laura's sudden departure after the strange events had weakened that connection further.

Hmm.

"You could be on to something there," said Aril. Damn him. Why couldn't he have a conversation out loud like a normal person? "So we need to think about how you can strengthen your connections to this world to ward off the chaos. It's something to try, if nothing else."

"So basically you need to make some friends?" said Alice. "That doesn't sound so tough."

Of course it doesn't sound tough, I thought. You always had friends swarming around you.

I was suddenly wracked with guilt at the wave of bitterness towards Alice I had just felt, but I couldn't deny where it had come from. She had always been much more outgoing and social than I ever was. She had always had lots of friends, and was always spending time with them — going out at the weekends, having people over, having sleepovers at her friends' houses. At least, I assumed that this Alice was the same as the one I had known.

Me, on the other hand… I had always found it difficult to make friends. Any time I even thought about talking to someone other than Laura, I felt choked up and unable to speak. My old problem tended to raise its head — I'd imagine talking to the person in front of me, then I'd imagine the conversations going as bad as it was possible to go, and then I'd walk away without actually having the conversation.

This was a silly way to be, I knew, but it was the way I'd always been. I'd never really trained myself out of it as a young child, which meant it was even harder to do so now. I'd somehow survived my entire school life without really having anyone close to me — apart from Laura, of course — and had come out of the other end relatively unscathed. Well, unless you counted all the terrible things that had happened since then. But I somehow doubted they were anything to do with me having friends or not.

Alice frowned at me.

"You haven't said anything for ages," she said. "Are you all right?"

"Mm," I said, absent-mindedly. I was still considering what we'd just talked about. It made a certain amount of sense. It was perfectly logical that the more people I knew — or who knew me — the stronger a "connection" I'd have. But the prospect of doing that terrified me somewhat. Wasn't there another way?

"You don't sound all right," said Alice. "Are you worried about the prospect of making some new friends?"

I paused for a moment. There was no point in lying.

"Yes," I said simply.

"Hm," said Alice. "Perhaps I can help you out with that somehow."

"How?" I asked.

"Well," she said. "You go to college, right? Perhaps I should come along and try and help you meet some new people. People seem to like me. At least they did before they all, you know, disappeared."

I nodded. It actually wasn't a bad idea. Obviously I wouldn't be able to sneak her into lessons, but there was nothing stopping her coming onto the campus at lunchtime and helping me make some friends. I didn't want to come to rely on her, though. But I grudgingly accepted that I needed some help.

The big question was where to start. I wasn't a member of any of the clubs or societies that ran, and I didn't have any real talents that made any of them a particularly good fit. Also, we were already well into the term, so I figured that they probably wouldn't want to take on new people.

This was pointless, I thought. There's no way this can work.

"Stop it," said Aril.

"What?" said Alice.

"He's thinking about giving up before he's even tried," he said, tapping his fingertips together and turning to address me directly. "That's a poor habit. You need to stop that."

He was right, of course. There was really no rational reason for me to not give this a try. If the person I tried to talk to didn't like me, then all I had to do was move on to someone else and avoid the original person. With so many people milling around the college each day, that surely wouldn't be a problem.

Alice repeated almost exactly what I was thinking. I smiled at her. We were apparently on the same wavelength. That knowledge was comforting.

"Okay, okay," I said. "I'll do it. Where should I start? A club?"

"A club's not a bad idea," said Alice. "It's a good chance to meet people who like things you like. Plus you can meet several people at once. I know that might be a bit scary, knowing you, but it's a good, quick way of getting to know people. And I sort of get the impression we should hurry a bit."

"All right," I said.

"So what club are you going to start with?" she asked, her eyes bright. She was enjoying this a little too much. But given that back in her world, joining a club and hanging out with people was something that was now impossible for her, I didn't begrudge her the feeling.

"I don't know," I said, a sour expression on my face.

"Oh, cheer up," she said. "What do you like doing?"

I considered this for a moment.

"Reading," I said. "And writing."

"So your ideal club is just 'school', then," she said sarcastically. "I'm just kidding. Is there a book club or a magazine or newspaper or something? I used to help out with the newspaper at my school."

"I remember," I said fondly. "I used to like your articles."

She smiled at me. I knew that the articles I read and the ones she wrote might not have been quite the same, given the circumstances, but it wasn't a lie. Her school newspaper was a surprisingly professional production. It only came out about once or twice a term, though, depending on whether or not the club could be bothered. Someone needed to teach them about deadlines.

"I'm not sure," I added. "That's one thing to have a look at."

"What about music?" she said. "You don't play anything, do you? What about singing?"

The prospect of singing filled me with enormous dread, but I knew that the college had a decent choir. I mentally filed it under "possible" — one to fall back on if there was really nothing else.

"And sports?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"Oh come on," she said. "No sports at all? You'll get fat and unfit."

Her words stung a bit. I wasn't any good at sports, and had always felt a bit excluded for my lack of skill.

"Hey!" she said, apparently seeing my expression. "I was just joking! Stop being so sensitive."

She'd always been like this, joking around and light-heartedly needling me about various things. It was a trait that had always frustrated me back then, but now it was quite endearing, perhaps because I hadn't been around it for so long. I felt a bit sad.

"All right," she said. "Well, we have an idea. You should go to college tomorrow and scout out what clubs there are. Then when you decide to join one, I'll come along and be awesome and help you make friends. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," I said, smiling.

Perhaps this would work after all. It wouldn't be easy for me, but nothing ever was. At least this was doing something positive.

I felt myself filling with resolve. I looked at Alice and her eyes seemed to sparkle. I looked at Aril and he gave me a slightly bored-looking smile.

I felt strong.

"Whoa," said Aril. "You've got quite a pair of lungs on you."

I closed my eyes and balled my hands up into fists. I hope it reached him. Wherever he was.

Of course it couldn't have reached him. That was ridiculous. I couldn't shout between worlds. Could I?

No, that was ridiculous.

I felt Aril's hand on my shoulder. It was cold.

"This will… work out," he said. It didn't sound overly convincing. "He'll be back. I'm sure of it. He's… special."

I hadn't heard him use this tone before. I didn't like it. He sounded uneasy.

BANG-BANG-BANG.

What?

BANG-BANG-BANG.

Someone was knocking on the door. Both Aril and I froze. What were we supposed to do? I looked at him in the hope that he might give me some sort of signal. He looked back at me, but his eyes were blank. I half expected him to just vanish into nothingness to not deal with an awkward situation — it wouldn't be the first time he'd done that, for sure.

I was glad when he didn't do that.

BANG-BANG-BANG.

Whoever was knocking on the door wasn't going away. I grit my teeth and walked into the hallway, trying not to make a noise, or a movement obvious enough to be seen through the frosted glass. I carefully put my eye to the peephole and looked out.

There was a girl out there. I vaguely recognised her, but I couldn't remember her name. Had I met her before? I didn't know.

What to do?

BANG-BANG-BANG.

The sudden sound of her knocking again made me jump, and I bumped into the door, making a sound.

"Bugger," I muttered to myself.

"I know you're in there!" came the girl's voice from outside. "Please open up. I want to talk to you."

I wanted to shout back "no!" at her, but figured that would probably just confuse her. Better to take the direct approach?

I flung open the door and stood there defiantly with my hands on my hips.

"Leave this place!" I bellowed in my strongest voice. "Begone! Away! And never return!"

No, actually, I didn't do that. It would have been fun, but also there was really no reason to. Also, who talks like that outside of books?

I did, however, decide to open the door — slowly and carefully rather than flinging it open dramatically, though.

"There you a–" began the girl. She stopped when she saw me. "What the fu–"

She trailed off. Obviously she knew who I was. I couldn't remember her name, though.

"Alice?" she said. "Is that you?"

I nodded.

"But you're–"

I smiled sweetly.

"No, never mind," she said. "Um, can I come in?"

"It's not really a great time," I said. "Do you need something?"

"I was hoping to talk to your brother, actually," she said, eyeing me warily. "But… I'm guessing he's not here?"

"No, actually," I said, a little more defiantly than I meant to. "I'm not sure when he'll be back."

It wasn't technically a lie. I didn't know when he'd be back. I also didn't know where he was, but this girl didn't need to know that.

Where did I know her from?

"Oh," she said, looking a little upset. "Sorry to bother you, then. I'll… try again another time."

"Okay," I said brightly. "Bye!"

She turned around and walked away. I watched her leave. I felt Aril walk up behind me, though as usual he didn't make a sound while he was walking. I just felt his presence. I also felt a sense of relief from him.

"Okay, that's that dealt with for now," he said. "Now we need to figure out what to do next."

I frowned.

"Do you know who that was?" I said. "She seemed familiar but I just couldn't place her."

Aril scratched his face.

"She's… hmm, how to explain it," he said. "She's important to your brother, though there's something not quite right about her. I haven't quite figured it out yet. We should keep an eye on her, though."

"Uh-huh," I said, looking down the path where she had just walked away. "So we let her go."

Aril nodded. His usual confidence was nowhere to be seen. This whole situation had obviously shaken him up a bit, and it worried me. He was normally so calm and cool about everything, and for this to mess him up? I didn't like it.

"We let her go. But we should keep an eye on her," I said.

He nodded again. He didn't seem to see what I was getting at.

"Should we perhaps follow her?" I said, spelling it out for him.

"Oh," he said. "Right. Yes. Maybe."

"Come on then," I said, pulling one of my brother's coats off the hooks by the door. It was way too big but I didn't have any of my own clothes here, so it was the best I could do. It was cold outside. I wasn't about to go out in the cold without a coat.

I left the door unlocked so we could get back in later. I had no idea where the keys might be in this world, so rather than waste time looking for them I just left it unlocked. This always used to be a nice neighbourhood, at least in my world, so hopefully it was the same here.

Aril followed me out of the door and we set off down the path to follow the girl.

*

She'd left me. She'd made me feel safe, comfortable and warm — holding me, embracing me, kissing me — and then she'd left. I was all alone again. I was back in the darkness again. Where was I? Who was–

Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and I heard a sound. A rushing, roaring, whooshing sound that culminated in the sound of someone's voice, distorted and echoey, like it was being amplified too much and blasted out of some speakers too small to cope with the sound. It was something that I hadn't heard for a very long time. But it was something that I needed to hear — something that I hadn't realised how much I had longed to hear.

It was something that gave me hope. Something that I knew would bring me home.

A connection. A weak connection, but a connection nonetheless. I could make it back. I could make it back. I could make it back.

I closed my eyes and followed the sound. I didn't know which direction it was coming from or even which direction I was facing, but I could tell where to go. I knew what it was. It was calling me. It needed me. It wanted me.

I floated. I couldn't tell how long for. But I could tell I was going somewhere. The actual sound had long since dissipated, but I still knew that I needed to continue onwards. Ever onwards. Follow the sound. Return home.

Where was home? Who was calling me? And why was I here?

My mind kept being clouded by strange questions and doubts, but I shook them off. I didn't need to hear them. I needed to focus right now, to concentrate, to make sure that I got to my destination.

Home. That was where I was going.

Home.

I felt my feet land on solid ground. I opened my eyes, and I was back where I thought I should be. It took a moment to orient myself, but I recognised the open door, the shelves, the cold room in front of me.

I was back home. Back where I should be.

"Hello?" I called, my mind swirling back into place as if it was trailing behind my body by a few seconds. "Aril? Alice? Are you here?"

There was no response. I swallowed and looked around. How long had I been gone?

I closed the pantry door.  I walked to the bottom of the stairs and called up them.

"Alice? Aril? Are you here?" I shouted again. "Hello?"

Still no response.

This was the… right world, right? Doubts started to creep in. The questions started to slip into my mind through the cracks again. They were unwelcome, but the fact I was still alone was making it harder to fight them off.

I looked around the hallway. I saw that one of my coats was missing from the hooks on the wall. Oddly, that gave me a sense of relief. Alice must have taken it. But when? Where had she gone? Why? How would I find her?

It wouldn't do to stand around here. I took one of my other coats down from the coat hook. I opened the door — it was still unlocked, presumably from when Alice had left — and walked outside. I fumbled in my pocket for my keys and locked it behind me.

Now what?

I walked down the path from my front door and onto my street. Which way? I couldn't tell.

I closed my eyes. I wasn't sure why.

"Alice!" I cried out. I didn't expect it to work. If I couldn't see her, she probably wouldn't be able to hear me, either. I didn't like speaking loudly in the street. There was no-one else around, but I was still self-conscious about the neighbours looking outside and seeing me yelling to myself. I gave it one more try, though, louder and longer this time. "Alice!"

There was no response. I didn't expect there to be. Why would there b–

I heard footsteps. They were running. Coming from — over there? Yes, there they were. And they belonged to–

"Alice!" I said, shocked. Part of me wasn't expecting to see her again at all, let alone so soon. She flung her arms around me and nearly knocked me over as she ran into me.

"You heard!" she said. "You heard!"

I wasn't really sure what she meant, but I was happy that she was pleased to see me.

Wait… "you heard"? Had she been the source of the sound? My connection?

"Yes," I found myself saying, almost automatically. "I heard, Alice. Thank you for bringing me back."