It
was always odd, that when you least want it, the softest noises can
sound like a car bomb.
Especially
when it echoes down an empty corridor.
The
door closed with a whispered click and it worried Emma that Jesse
might hear.
It
did strike Emma that this whole thing was in a way humorous, three
broken figures locked in a room, hiding secrets and planning an
escape.
But
an escape from what? that voice returned.
From
a world that we desperately not want to be ours.
Coward.
it mocked.
We
don't belong here.
Then
why are you keeping this from Jesse?
Because
we don't want to hurt him.
Liar!
No!
It's
because you don't want this Jesse. This wasn't the Jesse you
remembered. He's broken, go get a new one, right?
"No..."
her voice escaped from her lips.
"Emma?"
She
turned from facing the door. Adam stared at her; questions filled his
eyes.
"We
can't just leave Jesse like this."
"And
what do you expect us to do?" The older man quizzed.
"We
tell him. At least let him know that we aren't abandoning him."
"Will
Jesse be left alone?"
A
question so simple that left Adam and Emma silent for a few moments.
Brennan sat on the bed and the question he asked, hung in the air.
"I
have a theory, but I'm not too sure whether it's solid."
Bobbing his head, Adam sat on the desk and contemplated on something.
"If we're here, then where are this worlds' us?"
He
had a point.
"So,"
he continued, 'if I'm right, we actually, in a sense, switched
places."
"And
if we go back to our world?"
"When
we get back to our world, my theory is that the original 'us' of
this world will return as well."
"Jesse
won't be alone?"
"I
don't think so, no."
Brennan
shifted on the bed, causing the sheets to ruffle. This whole thing
felt like a clandestine affair. It felt wrong.
"Explain
this whole thing to me again." Brennan demanded.
"It's
like this," Adam sighed and focussed his attention on the
elemental. "Imagine your life and one day you're faced with a
choice. You choose A, and you live on with it. But you could've
taken choice B, so therefore somewhere out there, a parallel universe
is created where you chose B."
"And
this universe..."
"Could
be spawned from any of our different choices." Adam finished the
sentence.
"Just
how many universes are out there?" Brennan joked, not meaning it to
be an actual question, but leave it to the ever-thinking Adam to
answer something like that.
"Too
many to keep track off, probably an infinite amount."
An
infinite amount Emma pondered.
"And
I caused this with my powers, throwing us all here?"
"Yes."
"Nice
to know that. Okay... I think I've got it." Brennan clasped his
hands together and smiled sarcastically.
/i/bInfinite
possibilities/i/b.
What
if?
"Brennan?"
Emma kneeled next to Brennan, placing her hand on his arm.
I'm
asking you again God, please let this be a dream. Let him tell me
what I want to hear.
"I
want you to tell me, how we came into Mutant X.," she gently
questioned him.
"What?"
He looked lost.
Adam
joined in the confusion, "Emma?"
"Brennan,
please, just tell me."
"I
uh... you ran into me at a club." He began.
She
nodded, even though Brennan wouldn't know she had.
"You
kinda blasted me with your whole empathy emotion thing, then you ran
out. The next thing I knew was that you came back again to the same
club later that week."
Thank
you God. She smiled in relief.
"Then
we ran from..."
"The
GSA," she was smiling wider now and laughing, this was the Brennan
she knew.
"Yeah,
sucks when you got caught though, we had to go save you."
Her
lips felt dry, her palm sweaty- her heart in shock. She exchanged
glances with Adam. "Adam, your turn. How did it happen?" her
voice was barely above a whisper, fear grabbed from within.
"What's
going on?" Brennan fell into the hold of confusion once more, if
this was frustrating and scary to Emma, she couldn't even begin to
imagine how it must be for Brennan.
"It's
as Brennan told," Adam spoke out. "But Brennan," he turned to
the other man, "You were the one that got caught by the GSA."
"Wait!
What does this mean?" He sounded desperate to know, he was
desperate to understand it. Emma held on to Brennan's hand tighter
in hopes of comforting him.
"It
means, we are from separate realities."
She
hated it when she had to cry, but the tears rolled down her cheeks,
falling softly on Brennan's arm. "You and Jesse are from
different worlds from Adam and I."
"No
Emma, we aren't." the scientist hid himself in the shadows; the
darkness muffled his voice as well.
"Adam...
you aren't telling me everything are you?" she said, the emotion
threatened to break and force her into complete silence. But she
needed to know.
"No."
he simply said, but no explanation.
Right
there and then, all Emma could think about was to not care about this
anymore. Go to back to her room, lie on the bed and never wake up
again. This world's Shalimar had the right idea. Or was she even
from this world? Guess we'll never know.
"Damn
it, Adam!" Brennan bellowed. "I need answers!"
He
didn't even flinch, no emotions present. It was as if Adam had
forgotten how to feel, forgotten how to be human.
"I'm
not from your reality Emma. A part of me wants to, but I'm not. I
can't lie to myself and to you."
"What
do you mean Adam, you're not making any sense." She asked, her
knees were beginning to hurt from kneeling so long, her hands going
cold.
"The
moment I woke up in the hospital and saw you, I knew something wasn't
right. In my world, Emma, you died half a year ago."
There
have been a lot of 'what's' and 'how's' the whole night,
Emma didn't feel like adding anymore to the list.
"In
my world, you died with Tyler,"
She
flinched, still hurting from his death, or it seems now she had died
with him. It had this strange feeling. Which choice had she made to
cause that?
"But
in this world, Shalimar's dead, and Jesse was so close to death, I
couldn't take it. I know I've failed everyone, like how I had
lost you."
"How
is that possible?" Brennan with more of his questions, it was
getting very annoying.
"The
gateway that opened, somehow went into different worlds and
realities, like when you have a cross line on a phone conversation,
putting us all in one world. This one."
"None
of us really know each other? We aren't really the people we know?"
God,
Brennan no more questions! Why did he suddenly want to know
everything?
Sighing
and shaking his head, Adam drew back into the shadows again. "No,
not the one's we know. In a sense we're all strangers."
Whether
intentionally or not, Brennan withdrew his hand from Emma's. Her
hands were left empty and cold.
Strangers.
That
was the last thing Emma heard, standing up and trying to take it in,
Emma turned, reaching for the door and nearly colliding with the man
in the wheelchair.
Jesse...
His
face told the truth, he had heard everything, knew everything.
Slowly, he moved out of her way and let her pass through.
She
almost smiled, hesitated for a moment but she left and rushed down
the corridor.
Run,
run as fast as you can, the voice said, They can't
catch you, you're the gingerbread man.
But
I'm not the gingerbread man.
She
ran past the rooms, remembering Jesse's hurt expression, felt the
pain he was feeling.
No
you're not, but at least it rhymes. Where are you going to go Emma?
What are you going to do? You don't belong here, neither do they.
I
don't know.
You
don't know?
No,
I don't know.
That's
not good...
-------
