FRAGMENT_017
Children whose faces she did not recognize. A song she felt was being hummed directly into her soul.
"Mara! I've told you many times to wash your hands after playing. You look horrendous! And please groom yourself better! Beauty is more valuable than you think in this world."
"Come now, It's time."
Then, A flash. She felt a sharp ringing sound and something humming in her ear.
Her vision distorted as though something that should be there wasn't.
For a moment, her vision returned.
"PLEASE, NO!"
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?"
She heard noises. blurred faces. Once again, her vision distorted. Blood. Screams. Things too horrible to describe.
She was covered in blood. It was everywhere. Wet, damp, and metallic.
"Mara..pleaseforgiveme..."
Mara gasped. She woke up, once again, in a cold sweat. It was worse this time, Worse than before. These were visions she had seen already but had labelled them as nightmares and moved on. For some reason she did not understand they felt more...more...-
she didn't find the words.
"Maybe I should just get one of those energy pills which can keep you awake for days. Sleeping is becoming a chore now." Mara sighed whispering to herself.
There were still hours before sunrise. Not that it mattered. The sun hadn't been visible through the clouds in years. Day and night existed only as measures of continuity. They stopped being nature a long time ago.
A chill crawled down her spine. She felt it again—that gaze.
Mara moved to the window.
The hooded figure stood across the street, clearer now. The same one she'd seen the previous night. The same one from the market that afternoon. With distance and stillness, she could tell now that it was a man.
He lifted a small signal pager. It blinked once.
Then he turned and vanished into the unlit stretch of the road, slipping into a narrow, dim alley as if inviting her to follow.
Mara felt a heavy choice upon her now. She was not the type to give a damn about anything other than her day-to-day survival. That was so, until she met Sene.
As much as her mind told her to not follow the man her intrusive thoughts overpowered the sense of reason.
She knew it was a bad idea. To follow someone into an alleyway in the city this late at night when patrol drones and all the craziness of the city would be out. Yet she felt as though if she didn't go, it would put her in more danger than if she did.
She looked towards Sene, thinking if she should wake her up. However, looking at her serene expression as she slept peacefully in a world of dreams which was probably infinitely better than the ones Mara had, she felt as if disturbing her and dragging her into this would be a crime punishable by God himself, if such an entity existed.
"...What do I do with this sleepy idiot" Mara sighed softly.
She wore her coat and walked towards the door slowly, gently brushing hair off Sene's forehead and smiling at her.
"I'll be back before you know it. Sleep well Sene. I.." Mara hesitated.
Her heart knew what she wanted to say but she did not have the courage to finish the sentence.
She stood there a moment longer, memorizing Sene's face. To anyone watching, it would've looked strange.
Mara didn't care.
As she opened the door she recalled the previous night's incident and was careful to analyse her surroundings before she walked out.
Once she confirmed that she was in the clear she continued walking. She had decided to carry the keepsong with her.
She cupped it into her hand and held it close to her chest looking for a sign of something. However, it was as still as death. A part of her knew that none of these strange occurrences would have taken place if she had followed her usual policy of ignorance and not picked up the keepsong. Yet she did not regret her decision, not yet at least.
She could still see the beeping signal faintly and followed it into the alleyway of sector 12 opposite to her room. This area had no neon lights or holosigns illuminating it. She was careful to avoid it usually when returning late.
It was a perfectly invisible spot to carry out all sorts of shady business. although, nothing ever escaped the city's notice forever.
She stood in the middle of the alleyway. Her heart was beating faster and the eerie silence made it so that she was made aware of it. The signal was now gone. The alley was cold, quiet and could frankly make you think that you were about to be killed any second. It was like the spots in those ancient murder mystery movies she had seen snippets of when she had snuck into the directorate museum a while back.
She decided to call out for the hooded man. It was like playing with fire, but she had no choice. She mustered up courage and shouted-
"Show yoursel- mmmph!"
She felt someone move so quick it was almost like the wind. Before she could complete her sentence, someone grabbed her from the behind and closed her mouth.
"Shut up. I can hear you. Do you think we are the only ones here? Don't be a fool, Mara. Keep your voice down. They never fail to listen. Even these walls have eyes and ears, Im pretty sure you know that already."
Mara struggled to breathe and tried to escape the hold. The hooded man let go of her. Mara panted for air.
Breathe. If you scream, you won't like who answers."
Mara's instincts kicked in. She recollected herself rapidly and turned to face the hooded man in a lousy defensive combat stance which anyone could've broken through.
"Oh, for god's sake you aren't going to win even against a miniature robot looking like that. Calm down hero. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Who the hell are you?? I may not look like it, but I can pick a fight."
"If i wanted to cause you harm you wouldn't be standing here still. Besides aren't you missing something? You should really be more attentive. I thought you were better than some hot- headed fool Mara."
Mara snapped back to focus and noticed her chest. That's when she realized it, her keepsong was gone.
"Curious thing, isn't it? This keepsong. It being of this shape is interesting enough but this material... It's not easy to find ever since they hoarded the very last of it.
He traced the underside. Paused.
"…Oh."
He looked at her differently.
"My my, this might be bigger than I thought. You really are special, aren't you? It's Not every day someone finds something like this and survives in this city. Then again, that might just be luck."
"Give it back..." Mara whispered.
"What was that?"
"I said GIVE IT BACK!"
For reasons mara did not understand she felt as though losing the keepsong was something she could not allow at any cost. It was as if something precious was stolen from her. The weird part about this feeling was that she had only come into possession of the keepsong two days prior to now, yet...
"Jeez, alright alright take it back. I have no interest in drawing unwanted attention towards me anyway."
The hooded man threw the keepsong towards mara. She had increased the distance between them staying cautious. She caught the keepsong and immediately secured it in her hand. She felt relief and it was then that she could recall the words spoken by the man.
"You...you said my name. How did you know my name...? Why have you been following me?"
Mara took pride in being able to live and survive as a shadow in the city keeping her acquaintances to a minimum feigning ignorance over companionship or familiarity. The fact that not only was she being trailed by an unknown person but that the person also knew her name and location came as a shock to her.
"Oh dear, you are oblivious to the world around you, aren't you? Nothing is "private" Mara, not to them, not anymore."
"I don't understand what you're talking about but nothing you said answered a single question of mine. Explain."
"Not the time or the place for that now. I just wanted to meet you firsthand."
"What does that mean?? How long have you been tracking my movements? Is this because of the keepsong? Because I picked it up? Answer me!"
"I told you already to not shout. Are you dense Mara? Be careful about those answers you seek. The keepsong is just the tip of the iceberg."
"...Who even are you? I have no interest in having a stalker or some sort of secret fan if that's what you are"
"haha. I'm not someone who gets to answer that"
"Staying mysterious huh? Then...Why? Why me?"
"Because you didn't forget. For reasons I can't explain someone seems to think you're different"
"...forget? different...? I.."
"Nevermind. Erase whatever I just said. If you finish that thought, you might not survive this night alive."
Somewhere in the distance a holosign flickered. A faint buzzing noise was heard.
"Ah, it seems that's my cue to leave. Please do not speak of what conspired here to anyone. Not even to your girlfriend if you can help it. Keep an eye on her by the way."
"She's not my-"
"I don't care. anyways I'm sure I'll be seeing you, goodbye mara and... stay careful, They're onto you."
The hooded man left like the wind. silent, quick, making zero noise like a code or program being deleted once its purpose was fulfilled.
Mara was left with more questions than answers from this incident. She began walking back to her room in a dazed confused state while subconsciously staying cautious of her surroundings. It was then that she felt something in her right pocket.
A note which had coordinates, a date and a peculiar message-
"You've been here before.
This time,take it with you.
You missed the first correction."
The words had been written with ink that smears if stared at too long
on paper that feels warm, like it's been held and with letters- uneven, as if written in a moving vehicle.