Young Writers Society

Wilson watched the girls rush to comfort Amy and decided not to crow her, but did lean in a little.

“It’s a lot,” she said quietly. “It is a lot to take in. Especially when you’ve been having a bad time for a while. These things can be overwhelming. But I’m sure whatever or whoever brought us here, on purpose or by accident, or by sheer happenstance, will get you guys back to your homes.”

Hablex thought over Wilson's words. It would be wise to assume the only way back was the way they got here in the first place, by whatever power or person might have transported them. She did not want to think about whoever or whatever it was, whether they had good reasons or not.

Such a curious predicament.

Amy wasn't sure what else to say. She'd read a lot of books, and even if books were supposed to help people understand their reality, she wasn't sure if she could think of any book she'd read that would help her understand this.

Understand how to get home.

"I want to be back in my time," she said. "The future will come when it comes...."

She trailed off, thinking of the burning towers. One thing she did know from books (and movies) was that, if that was what meant to happen, there was nothing she could do to stop it. September 11th, 2001.. About exactly five years. There was so much else she didn't know. She didn't know what year it was to everyone else, and she didn't want to.

"You know, my mom is from England. She grew up there," Amy said. "I've been a couple of times. It's really nice. I mean, I'm American, but. She raised me with a lot of British traditions and movies and books and shows..."

Amy wasn't sure what telling the others about her mom had to do with anything, but she wanted to change the subject. She thought. Thinking of British things. The TV then started playing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A classic. Back when it was originally released, her mother had seen it and it had reconnected her with Britain. A little taste of home.

She relaxed back in her chair and started to watch the movie.

Wren knew Amy was trying to change the subject, but she was happy to go along with it.

"I've never been outside of America," she quietly said, sitting down in the chair closest to Amy. "I've always wanted to go, but my family is always busy with our cafe."

She looked over at the TV.

Something was bugging her, but she couldn't figure out what. She tried to focus on Monty Python - she had of the movies before, but never seen any of them. And that should have made it easier to focus on. But every single joke went right over her head, and she was barely registering what was actually on the screen.

And then it clicked.

She got to her feet and looked over at Wilson. She was trying to figure out just what her realization meant - Wilson wasn't bad. Wren was sure of that. So why couldn't she stop herself from feeling so suspicious?

"...Wilson?" Wren said. "Why did you say that you were sure we'd get back to our homes, but didn't include yourself?"

There was a pause. Wilson might have been willing to give an answer, but Wren didn't give her a chance to. She was felt like she was on the verge of something important - maybe, just maybe, figuring out what was going on with Wilson would give them a way out of here.

"It was bugging me after you said it," Wren said, looking right at her, "because you have to have a home to go to, too. And I thought that maybe it was because you currently don't have one, but then I remembered what you did when we first got to the cabin."

She took a small, barely noticeable breath.

"...You said you made the food and drinks," she pointed out. "I know it was the cabin that did that, but you were okay with it. It was only when I started doing the same thing that you started to get worried."

There was another pause - Wren had thought of something else that was off, too. "And earlier you mentioned you weren't from 'here' like Hablex, so I thought you were from another world, too. But you know everything about how Earth works."

She faltered, suddenly unsure of what else she had picked up on. Maybe she was just overthinking things, but she had to at least point out what she had noticed.

"...And you mentioned not having parents," Wren softly said, "but you didn't say it like you were sad about it. It was like you were just stating an obvious fact."

Wren took a final deep breath.

"I know I might just be jumping to conclusions. Maybe there's a simple explanation and I'm missing it. But I'm starting to guess you're not as human as you look-"

As the final sentence left Wren's lips, she finally picked up on all of the little changes that had happened over the past few minutes - the hair, the eyes, and the clothes. But none of those were what caused her to frantically cover her traitorous mouth with her hands, to give a startled little yelp, or to make her eyes wide with horror.

She had said the last few sentences with The Actor's voice.

Wren, who prided herself on the whole "having a fake secret identity to draw attention away from being NYC's most popular superhero" idea, had just given away her secret identity because she had gotten too into the moment.

Amy tried to process everything that happened in the last minute. She was about to yell at Wren for talking over the movie and generally being rude, and then her voice changed. And even though this wasn't a VHS tape, the movie paused on cue. Her face was white, and she seemed just shocked by the voice change. After it faded, Amy turned to her.

"You know, it's very rude to talk over movies," Amy told her. "If you were one of my students, who are thirteen, by the way, I'd send you to the Principal's office. I don't care. I don't care about any of this. I just want to relax and watch Monty Python. If you don't, why doesn't everyone else go in a different room? Call me when you figure out how to get out of this place."

Wilson was mildly pleased by the turn of events. People had stopped trying to summon material desires out of the air and moved on from that conversation. Wren’s spontaneous sleuthing was kind of fun to watch and hear, even if it meant she’d have to be more upfront in a hot second.

It wasn’t like Wilson had been deliberately keeping a secret. She just hadn’t thought it helpful or relevant to share who she really was. There was also a small part of her that knew it would be mostly scary and go over people’s heads because conceptually, to most, she was impossible.

Not that it was the end of the world that no one could fully understand or anything.

When Wren’s voice changed though, that made Wilson’s head tilt again. It was kitty curiosity time.

Amy’s complaint was valid and understandable, but Wilson wasn’t really going to listen to that as much at the moment.

“I would call you, but I don’t have your phone number,” she said matter-of-factly before looking back to Wren with a little smile.

“And I mean, you’re right. I’m not human. Not in a strict or literal sense. But it seems like you’re not as normal as you seem either, and that’s okay. What’s it with you- powers? Shifting? Parroting? Was the voice change an accident?”

Wren felt mortified. She was mortified that her secret had slipped out - even if no one had picked up on it yet - and she was mortified that Amy was berating her for talking over the movie. But Amy also hadn't apparently been paying attention to Wilson had been saying and doing all along, so something told Wren she didn't really get the gravity of the situation.

"I think this is a little more important than watching a movie," Wren quietly said, making sure her voice was her actual one.

Some part of her knew that she wasn't reacting more because she'd break down if she did - she had, after all, just accidentally revealed who The Actor really was. Wren wanted to curl up in a corner and pretend she didn't exist, but The Actor side of her knew she had to stay focused.

She looked back at Wilson - searching her for some kind of explanation.

"You're changing the subject," she said. Wren was, too. "I can shapeshift. You weren't there earlier when I showed Hablex and Amy. And the voice change was an accident."

She looked right into Wilson's eyes.

"But that's not what matters right now," she said. "You're comfortable with things like this. Maybe knowing what you are will help us figure out why we're here."

Hablex blinked. As noted previously, Wren changing her voice must mean something more for the people from this world, as she just thought it was kind of cool. And now Wilson might be not be human?

Hablex tilted her head unconsciously, wondering what else she could be, if not skin to everyone else. Now she wanted some kind of secret power that would match one of the other’s.

She and Amy could be the most typical ones out of this group despite being from clearly different time periods or worlds.

“Does you being different mean you might know something about this world, Wilson? Or do you know as little as we do?” Hablex asked.

Amy was too exhausted to process anything anyone else was say. She kept the movie paused, wondering if she could manifest a basement to move to where she could watch her movie in peace.

Sure enough, she saw a door with stairs leading downward. The TV disappeared.

"I'd like to have some peace and quiet," Amy said. "Until you all figure how to get out of here, please leave me alone."

She walked the down the stairs to find more of the same. A comfy couch. A record player. A TV. It all evoked her early childhood of the late 1970s and early 80s. Exactly the way things were supposed to be.

The TV started playing the movie exactly where it left off. At least for a moment, she felt peace.

As Amy made her leave, Wilson was smiling under the pressure. She laughed a little at Wren's intensity before looking to Hablex, who was very sweet and asked a non-accusatory question.

"I know as little as you guys do about how and why I got here, or where here even is." She decided to leave out the fact that she could check if she really wanted, but that was very taxing in this form and she didn't like to do it often. These things normally worked themselves out in time.

Then she looked to Wren, her smile still remaining.

"And it's bold of you to assume that me being comfortable with the situation might point to me knowing why we're here. Maybe I'm really just that unflappable." She closed her eyes, sticking up her nose with a mock haughty expression and a hmph.

"Can't say the same for you though," she continued, her tone growing teasing as she looked back at Wren. "Which is okay. I mean, I won't go and expose your secret identity to everyone because it's none of my business, but if it gives you peace of mind, I'll expose mine. Not that it was a secret in the first place. I just didn't think it was important or relevant to mention."

"But with that said, the reason I'm super chill with going with the flow is because I am the physical embodiment of time. But uh, don't think too hard about it. You'll hurt yourself."

Wren blinked.

Despite Wilson's insistence that it wasn't a good idea to think too much about what she had just said, Wren did exactly that. Wren was relatively used to weird and strange things. This wasn't really like what she had heard or dealt with before, but it still wasn't too hard to understand.

Time was a person. She could deal with that. Death was a person in some comics - death and time weren't the same thing, but it was the same idea.

"Oh," Wren softly said.

She shifted uncomfortably.

Her hair and clothes returned their normal colors. Her eyes followed suit a second later. Hablex wasn't from her world; Wilson theoretically was, but was also someone who probably knew her secret if she was able to connect with all time.

(Wren guessed that was how it worked, anyways.)

But Wilson being the physical embodiment of time didn't really give her any ideas on what was going. Wren crossed her arms, her expression showing how deeply in thought she was.

"I wasn't thinking you brought us here," she said, absentmindedly. Were there other physical embodiments that could put together something like this? "I was hoping there would be some kind of connection between you and who did..."

She looked over at Wilson. "...Are there other people like you?"


A TV played in the background.

The basement was dark. Startling so, given what this place was supposed to be like. The man - dressed in a too-formal black suit - fumbled around in the darkness for some kind of light. The only light in the room came from the TV. He couldn't understand why the TV was playing Monty Python, but he had long ago learned to stop questioning how these little pocket realities worked.

He started to make a move towards the door.

But when his hand lingered on the handle, he realized that someone was sitting on the couch.

He froze.

Another skit played out on the scene. He didn't dare to make a noise. He took a step back and withdrew his hand from the doorknob. He couldn't see the face of the room's other occupant, but he knew it wouldn't belong to any of the people that were supposed to be here.

He took another step back.

But he was so concentrated on the room's unknown occupant that he wasn't paying attention to where his feet were going. There was a loud crash as he bumped into a record player (?) and knocked both it and its table to the ground. He tried to regain his balance, but he went sprawling out on the ground with it.

Amy heard the crash and screamed.

It was dark in the basement so she couldn't see whoever was there very well, but she knew someone was.

"Who's there?" She demanded. Her heart was pounding.

He didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. He just got to his feet and stared at her in the darkness, trying to figure out what exactly he was supposed to do in a situation like this.

She had said this was going to be break. That he wouldn't have to deal with strangers. So why did he have to deal with one now?

He went to take a step back towards the door, but stumbled again in the darkness. This time he just bumped into the wall, but he managed to accidentally turn on the light switch in the process.

Light flooded the room.

The physical embodiment of time?

Hablex tilted her head, much like a dog did when feeling confused by what a human does. What in the world could that mean? At least it didn't seem that Wilson was a bad person, but was she even a human?

Her head hurt a little. Guess her warning about not thinking too hard about Wilson and her situation did come warranted.

She thought she heard something coming from the new room underneath them that had popped up for Amy. Hablex blinked, as she did with any kind of weird news.

"Did anyone hear that?"