First Interlude

Maggie Grimes wasn't homeless, she was on the run. Had been for over a year now. Or was it two? Hard to keep track sometimes.

She wasn't always on the run. She used to live in a small, cold, dirty apartment on the other side of the city. The place made her miserable, and her pills made her miserable, and her job made her miserable, until the job fired her. And then she couldn't pay rent, and then she couldn't refill her prescription, and she kept meaning to, she really did. But money was tight, and besides that stuff always made her feel sick, she'll be fine for a few days off of it, wouldn't she?

And then suddenly, Maggie was ENLIGHTENED. And she realized that she couldn't take the meds. The meds were how The Eyes were keeping tabs on her. And The Eyes knew everything there was to know, everything needed to end the world, but no one else knew!

So Maggie left the apartment and went on the run, now enlightened. She tried to enlighten others, she really did, but they wouldn't listen! Why wouldn't they listen? It broke her heart.

Today, Maggie had enough change in her cup to go see a movie. She didn't really care which one, she just wanted to go someplace that was dark and warm and would distract her from her fear of The Eyes. She bought her ticket and coughed, a deep hacking from deep within her chest.

She entered the little theater and went to find a seat that was out of the way. Mary Poppins was playing. Let's go fly a kite. It was mostly kids and moms in the audience, but she could see some lone adults sitting down to enjoy the film as well.

She paused when she saw a small group of friends (siblings perhaps? They looked alike) in Goth clothes, sitting in a row of seats behind her. Two girls and a guy. It was the girl in the middle who caught her attention. A short, pale girl with half of her hair shaved off, the other half was long and wild and blonde and pink and orange. Her eyes were mismatched; one was a sapphire blue, and the other was an electric green. She was eating popcorn and gummi turtles. The girl saw Maggie staring and waved happily. Maggie turned back around and faced the screen, feeling uneasy.

The room darkened and the screen sprang to life.