The year’s 2054, June 13th. A city not far from New York seemingly overviewed by hills and mountains but in reality is hidden from the world. The city of New Ckhuna. It’s near time for change and progress as all the schools are close to graduation and moving up to the next grade. Above the city, sitting on the lowest hill is a cul-de-sac that forms around a circle and in the centre being a base pad that’s current use is for horticulture. In one of these houses along the cul-de-sac lives a girl named Jackie, currently at her desk. She’s talking to someone on the phone, writing things down.

She has a very enhanced and busy set-up. A microphone to her right, four computer screens facing her and the ones at her sides she can move to her liking. A notepad in front of her and to her left leading to around the screens being figurines, acrylic stands and different knick knacks. Her room is painted a dark blue with white speckles and white cracks along the corners. Posters of different media and polaroid pictures of moments hanging from the roof. 

The sun shines through the blinded window, saying goodbye as it sets slowly. Jackie turns her head and glances back to her notepad. 

“Listen, sir. I’d love to keep discussing this with you but I’ve got another thing to do but would we be able to resume this next week? If that’s possible. I’ve got rehearsals for a festival on Saturday. Graduation. Look if you want more answers, talk to my dad okay? Alright bye!”

She hangs up the phone and slumps her head into her arms, groaning in defeat. “Jesus Christ..” She looks at her screens analysing what she has currently. A music project. She huffs and touches the screen to save what she has and then moves herself down to turn off the computer. She gets up from her chair and stretches her back, glancing on the little messy floor and thinking of tidying up. She decides to, picking up dirty clothes and placing them near a dresser. Grabbing dishwear and placing them on top of the dresser. She moves over to her bed and opens the blinds before making her bed, placing her plushies and pillows where she thinks they’ll fit. As she gets up from the bed to charge her phone, someone knocks on the door. 

“Come in!” Jackie calls out.
The door opens. It’s her dad, Ray. His hair’s tied up and he has sweat forming on his head. “Hey sweetie, are the girls still coming over tonight?”

“I think, they haven’t said anything about not being able to. They all stay at the foster home anyways.”The year’s 2054, June 13th. A city not far from New York seemingly overviewed by hills and mountains but in reality is hidden from the world. The city of New Ckhuna. It’s near time for change and progress as all the schools are close to graduation and moving up to the next grade. Above the city, sitting on the lowest hill is a cul-de-sac that forms around a circle and in the centre being a base pad that’s current use is for horticulture. In one of these houses along the cul-de-sac lives a girl named Jackie, currently at her desk. She’s talking to someone on the phone, writing things down.

She has a very enhanced and busy set-up. A microphone to her right, four computer screens facing her and the ones at her sides she can move to her liking. A notepad in front of her and to her left leading to around the screens being figurines, acrylic stands and different knick knacks. Her room is painted a dark blue with white speckles and white cracks along the corners. Posters of different media and polaroid pictures of moments hanging from the

“Well that’s me and Aunt Osie done with our exercises.”
“That producer from the studio’s gonna call you about stuff. I was trying to tell him that the movie night was happening tonight but like, I couldn’t ‘tell him’ tell him you know?”

Jackie puts her phone down on a charging mat.

“I know honey, I’ll talk to him. I’m gonna go for a shower and then maybe an early night. You girls can stay up all night if you want and again, tomorrow you don’t have to join the party downstairs if you don’t feel like you want to.”

“Thanks dad. I would give you a hug but you’re all sweaty.”
“Yeah. Ossia’s gonna go down to the shops and get snacks. You wanna tell her what you want?”

“Yeah.” Ray moves out of the way to let Jackie out of her room as she closes the door behind her and walks downstairs to the kitchen. In there is Ossia, Ray’s sister. Drinking some water and leaning on the counter top. She turns her head around, hearing Jackie come in.

“Sup fluffy?”
“Dad said you were going to the shops?”

“Yeah, you want stuff for movie night?”

“Yeah. You want me to make a list?”

“Go ahead.”

Jackie walks around the counter and grabs a tablet from the fridge.
She places it next to Ossia and starts to write with her finger.

“Nice nails.”

“Thank you. Karsyn did them. Uncle Danny brought home some crystals from one of his missions and I really liked the colour of it. I was thinking of getting the swirls and specks coz it had them but she only brought over just gel polish and her acrylics and I really didn’t wanna bother her so they’re just plain colour.”

“Ah. I don’t think it would’ve bothered her. When was this?”

“Last week. The crystals and the nail polish. Crystals on Wednesday and nails on Friday.”

“Ohhh right. She works saturdays. I get you.”

“Yeah. But I’ll ask for the same thing next time and ask for the swirls and specks. Here’s the list.” Jackie hands Ossia the tablet.

Ossia takes a look, pulling out her phone and taking a picture of the list.

“Okay. I’ll see what they have. I’ll be back! By the way Ray’s in the shower!”
Ossia places down the tablet and walks out the kitchen then out the door.

“I know!”

The door slams shut. Jackie stands there in the kitchen zoning out for a bit before snapping out of it and looking at the sink. She walks over, crouching down as she opens the cupboard and sees the crystal that she was talking about in a zip lock bag. The crystal has the texture of compressed sand with grains accompanying the bottom. Dust gathered on the sides of the bag. Jackie debated on taking the crystal out and having a closer look but she decided against it, closing the cupboard door.

She walks back upstairs and sees her phone buzzing, immediately rushing over and picking it up. Someone’s calling her. The contact name says ‘Uncle Danny’. She accepts the call. And put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Hellooooo Jackie! How are you?”

“I’m..fine? You called me, what’s up?”

“Well Ray’s throwing that party tomorrow right?”

“Yeah, coz I’m graduating.”

“Well I had an idea. You and the girls come over to the observatory and just have a time, you know? Bring blankets, pillows, your consoles and you could play that one game from, like, 2023?”

“I get you.”

“Yeah and then if Ray asks I’ll let him know.”

“Yeah. I’ll think about it. That producer guy was trying to talk business with me and I couldn’t handle it. So dad’s gonna talk to him.”

“Ah, yeah I think that’s easier. He’s been in the whole music field for a while.”

“Yeah. I’ll text you when I make up my mind alright?”

“Okay! Have a good slumber party!”

“Thanks Uncle Danny.”

“Bye bye, love you!”

“Love you too.”

The phone hangs up. Jackie huffs as she walks around the room and decides to take the dirty dishes from the dresser and bring them downstairs. After she does that, she comes back up and she’s got a text. The name says ‘Pearl’ and the text says.

‘let us in heathen’

Jackie immediately rushes down the stairs and jumps down the last step, getting to the door and swinging it open. Standing there are four girls, the same age as Jackie.

The tallest girl, Aurora wearing a onesie and taking a sip from a fast food cup.
The girl with ballet flats, Amilei wearing comfy shorts and a long baseball T-shirt, carrying a makeup bag.
The girl with long nails, Cascade wearing a cosy jumpsuit and sunglasses giving a smirk.
And the girl with bags of food, Ivy wearing a silk two piece Pyjama set and sandals while looking unimpressed.

“Jackie!”
Cascade gives Jackie a hug. Jackie patted her shoulder. “You took your time.”

“Apparently one of us couldn’t wait until we got to yours to order food.”

“LISTEN- the deal doesn’t work if you order online.”

The four girls walk in as Jackie closes the door.

“My dad’s in the shower so upstairs bathroom is off limits for now but do you guys wanna play something? Like Just Dance? Or some shit.”

“You have UNO?”

“Yeah.”

Amilei gives a shrug. “UNO then?”

“Sure. By the way, Uncle Danny called and said we could go to the observatory instead of the party tomorrow. Have another sleepover if we want.”

“Oooh perhaps. Did he say anything about the constellations?”

“Why would he say something about the constellations, you know they’re gonna be there.”

“I know. I just like them.”

“I don’t mind. Do you guys mind?” Amilei looked at the other girls.

“Don’t really care. But I’m not saying I don’t want to go. I just don’t have an opinion.”

Cascade and Aurora shrug.

“It’s really up to you.”

Jackie glanced to the side for a quick second. “I’ll think about it. The UNO packets are upstairs, you guys can choose. I’m gonna get the Delta and Beta consoles.”

“Okay!”

Jackie walks over to the closet next to the stairs, looking around at different knick knacks from long ago while Amilei and Aurora run upstairs. Glass awards, merchandise in plastic wrap, signatures and autographs. She carefully dug through boxes until she found two cubes with a sleek design and QR codes on the side. She lifted them up and inspected them before closing the closet door and placing the consoles down. “Ossie’s at the shops so she’ll be back with stuff.”

“You know that box?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s not at the door so he’s probably either taken it or thrown it away.”

“If I’m gonna be honest, I don’t give a shit what he does with it.”

“Or someone stole it.”

“Perhaps.”

Jackie plugs the consoles into the wide screen TV as she grabs the remote to turn it on. “Are you guys still coming to the graduation festival?”

“Yeah, obviously.” Cascade answers, catching a controller that Jackie throws to her. “Your school gives the tutors, we’re not ungrateful shits-”
“Obviously, I just wanted to make sure coz I’ve honestly got that weird feeling in my stomach. And my chest hurts.”
“Anxiety?”
“Could be but I don’t know what, the party or something. I mean even though my dad and uncle aren’t fussed with it, I still feel sick.” She walks back to the couch and sits down in between Cascade and Ivy.
“Hm?”
“I don’t know. I just feel horrible. Uncle Danny phoned me to say if we want, we could head to the observatory and have the slumber party there but I wanna try getting out of my comfort zone. Fuck, I think just talking to that producer is making me feel like this.”
“Oh shit yeah, because of that record deal. And you get to leave the city soon.”
“Don’t remind me. It’s the thought process of going through everything and figuring out where to go in the world. Even the debut tour thing, I’ve got nothing done!” She holds her stomach and sniffs.

“I hope Aunt Ossie comes back soon.”

“How about we change the topic? Have you heard back from your pen pal?” Ivy moves herself to look at Jackie, taking her hand gently.
“Nope. He’s kind of gone radio silent on me but I know he’s not dead because he sees my messages so I think he’s just ghosting me but I’m not hurt. Should I be hurt?”
“Ehhhhh, maybe? I was gonna ask if you feel hurt but- never mind. How about... that boogeyman you keep seeing? What’s his vibe lately?”
“He’s just been staring, like usual. He moves like he’s speaking but I don’t hear anything. It’s strange but I’ve been seeing this guy for who the hell knows how long.”
“And you don’t got a therapist.”
“Tell me something I don't know. Unless we count Ichiesa, but that’s more spiritual stuff.”
“Yeah..”

The three of them sat there in silence for a couple of seconds before Amilei and Aurora came back downstairs with tiny UNO packets in their arms as they run to the floor and drop them down.

“Sorry, we got distracted talking about shit.”

“A certain shit.”
“Which shit were we talking about?”
“‘Out of his ass’ shit.”
“Ahhh. Right. MY BAD-” Cascade plays up as she holds the controller in her hands and starts scrolling through the varied amount of games on this console.
“Had the crazy idea of inviting him but obviously-”
“Not here.”
“Welllll at least there’s still some probability!” Aurora and Amilei sit down on the floor and get the UNO packets set up in their piles which is just mixing them up for an amalgamation of different card options.
“Maybe at the observatory? Have him wait outside and maybe you two can try and talk?”
“Why do we hate him again?”
“He was a shit to me when I started so I’ve been returning the energy. The observatory’s not a bad idea since he knows that place sadly. If it was here, he could spend the early mornings tormenting me so that ain’t happening.”
“Fair enough.”
“If he tries anything, I’ll kill him.”
“We’re not gonna kill him Cas.”

The five of them hear the front door open and Ossie walks into the living room with mesh bags.
“I’ve got scrumpings!”
Aurora and Cascade cheer as Ossie walks over to the couch. “When did you girls get here?”
“Literally after you left. Aura and An’s playing UNO, Cas is…”
“Finding a game to play.”
“That, and Ivy’s helping me to not spew all over the carpet.”
“Aww, why?”
“Nervousness. But I’ve got a thing planned. Could you tell Dad that we’re gonna be here until half-way, then we’re gonna go to the observatory?”
“Of course! Tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll let him know!” She places a hand on Jackie’s head and moves it around jokingly before walking up the stairs.
“Thanks aunty!” Jackie calls out as she takes out her phone and starts to text her uncle.
“So we jump half-way through the party?”
“Yeah. Means tonight we can sort through my closet for something to wear.”
“Comfy and chic.”
“Exactly.”

Ossia walks into Ray’s bedroom and notices it is empty. Bedsheets had been moved and there was still ice cubes in the sports bottle from the workout.

“Ray?”
“...Ossie?” Ray gurgles from the bathroom on Ossia’s right.
“You alright?”
“I’m sick. I’ve just been spewing my guts out, it’s agony. I don’t know if it was the workout or not but oh my god..”
“Oh shit…”
Ossie opens the door to see Ray with his head over the toilet and a small smidge of blood on the walls. Her heart drops when she notices the more than just nauseous state.
“Ray, that's blood, on the walls.”
“I know…My nose started bleeding and then I felt my mouth water…was it the workout?” He twitches with his hands shaking.
“No scooby but I think you gotta go get help, like actual medical help. Or at least get the NHS over here.”
“I’ll be fine..I just need rest. It was probably that workout, we were doing some expert shit..”
“I mean, yeah but still! This isn’t normal. Unless you got some condition thing you’ve been hiding. Look, Dan’s phoned Jackie and the girls are gonna be here for the party until half-way through and then they’re gonna go to the observatory. Should I go down and tell them that they should just go to the observatory anyways and miss the party?”
Ray shakes his head.
“N-no..it’s fine..I’ll just…wear a mask. We’ve got spares.”
“Do you want help to the bed?”
“Yeah..” Ossia pulls Ray up and helps him over to the bed, yanking the sheets up and carefully placing down Ray before noticing something with his eyes. His eyes were a bright seafoam green. The colour outshined the whites of his eyes and it makes Ossia jump at the sight of it. Ray looks up at her.

“What’s wrong?” He croaks, holding onto her arm.
“Your eyes, mate. They’re bright but like, they’re green.”
“Weren’t they always green?” His voice drops as his grip on Ossia tightens and she winces at the sudden pressure. “Ray- you’re cutting off my blood circulation-”
“I think I remember asking you, weren’t my eyes always green?” He asks again but with a scarier tone to his voice.
“Let go of me!” She pulls away from Ray’s grip, obviously scared and confused about what was happening. She then notices Ray’s nose starting to bleed again. “..I’m gonna get you some more tissues and water, then maybe you’ll sleep this off.”
“Fine.”
She nods before walking out of the room and closing the door, leaving Ray in his bed looking at his hands and noticing the sweat but also, the pink jagged lines starting to form around his fingers and knuckles.

WarningSensitive Topics