The Unthinkable
In a forgotten part of town, on the top floor of a decaying and equally forgotten apartment building lived a young girl who, as a matter of fact, was also (mostly) forgotten.
But she preferred it that way - even taking great pains to forget her own name
Outside her window, the grey silhouette of the city proper could be seen on the horizon. She wondered about the lives of the people who inhabited the city – the boring day-to-day activities of everyday nobodies interested her the most.
She closed her eyes and imagined their dreadfully dull lives: Cramped birthday parties in small apartments thrown for old people and the faces of the disappointed children that were forced to attend; or simply holding the hand of someone you loved when walking through one of the old department stores with exposed lighting and water-stained ceilings.
And with every ounce of her being, she envied them.
An angry fluttering of wings snapped her attention back to the game she was playing. Also, there was knock at the door.
"I guess I'll get that. Don't anybody look at my cards." spoke the young girl.
More angry wing fluttering and clicking sounds followed.
She rolled her eyes and went to the door.
"You're early-" Outside her door stood not the elderly tenants she was expecting, but a tall and beautiful young woman in a dress whose blue color shimmered and whose patterns appeared to be moving—like the surface of the ocean.
"What are you doing here…again? Wait, what? How do I know you…Oh, my nose!"
Suddenly the young girl's nose started profusely bleeding. "This is problematic and most troubling!" yelled the young girl frantically trying to contain the flow of blood.
"I know what you're thinking but you must 'unthink' what it is you're thinking about or your nose will keep bleeding and then…well, you know."
"No, I don't know as a matter of fact."
The young woman slapped the panicked young girl across her forehead. "UNTHINK!" she yelled. And it worked: the girl's nose stopped bleeding. Of course, being slapped by a stranger didn't really improve her mood. She kicked the strange forehead-slapping, crazy blues dress wearing woman in the shins.
"Oh, you're kicking me now. That's a new one. Feel free to stop."
"Feel free to not slap me, you stupid jerk!"
The woman then asked, "So, I can come in now?"
"Who were you talking to before I came to the door?"
"I could tell you but then your nose would start bleeding again."
The young girl thought for a moment, then said "You're full of crap."
The woman in the blue dress crossed her arms and sighed impatiently. "Very well—it was you. Perhaps we can carry on our conversation inside?"O
The young girl gave the woman a once-over. "Sure, come in. By the way what am I doing outside my own apartment? Seems a bit rude not to stop by and say 'hi' or something."
"Oh, you would have said hi but as you know…here take this." She handed the young girl a tissue before continuing. "But as you know, that would have killed both of you. These nosebleeds are the results of a sort of temporal-quantum entanglement issue."
Just then they both heard voices in the hallway and the young girl recognized her own voice.
As her nose began to bleed the woman raised the tissue to the young girl's nose.
"You're going to smack me again aren't you?"
"Yes, yes I am, Ann." The strange woman replied with a slight smile.
Ann's eyes widened with shock and she felt faint. Just then, the other Ann that they had heard down the hall rushed just closed enough so that they could see her. Other Ann yelled at the woman, "Hey! No real names, remember?"
The bleeding intensified for both Anns. Other Ann threw a paper airplane and then ran down the opposite end of the hallway and disappeared from view.
Ann picked up the paper plane, unfolded it, read it and laughed.
"You can 'unthink' me now, Bojangles."
Bojangles unthinked her hand across Ann's head with more force than necessary. Bojangles hated that name.
"Worth it!" said Ann before passing out from the blood loss.
How I live now
The sound of fluttering grew louder until Ann opened her eyes. She was lying on her couch and could see several of her roommates flying around her, hissing with worry and concern. Most of them were drones but some she recognized – especially The Queen who wore a purple string attached to her left antennae and was perched on Ann's right hand.
In fact most of her roommates had come out – they surrounded her on the couch and formed a defensive perimeter around the sleeping girl. This was, of course, standard protocol for them: Ann was The Queen's closest friend and had fought side-by-side with the colony in The Great Spider War of Several Weeks Ago.
Ann slowly and carefully sat up. The Queen directed several drones to push a glass of water on the coffee table closer to Ann's hand. The girl gratefully took a few sips before placing the glass down and inviting the drones for a swim in the glass. They enthusiastically took her up on the offer.
"I see you're awake."
Bojangles approached the couch but could not get very close without being assailed by angry hisses and clicks.
Ann yawned. "I feel like I slept for a month of Sundays - what day is it?"
Bojangles laughed softly "You've been asleep for about fifteen minutes."
"The last thing I remember is passing out and losing a lot of blood. Shouldn't I be dead?"
The woman in the blue dress laughed again and drew her right hand to her mouth. She took a deep breath and blew thousands of tiny bubbles from her hand – Ann's roommates were gently pushed out of the way. Bojangles then sat down on the couch next to Ann. And when The Queen hissed in protest, Bojangles released a stream of water suspended in midair which she directed towards the kitchen.
The previously hissing roommates followed the stream and soon were happily hissing and clicking in their very own floating water park.
"Better for them to stay in the kitchen –your friend Mrs. Slocumbe is not very fond of your other friends. And to answer your question, yes you should have died, but I have my…talents."
"Who are you, really?" asked Ann.
There was a knock at the door.
"A friend." Bojangles replied with warm smile. "With a favor to ask."