I smiled wide as the familiar sound of circus music filled my ears while the bright performing lights of the tent graced my skin with welcoming warmth. The familiar ropes and platform towers in their familiar spaces as I now stood in the empty circus tent.
"Is this a circus tent?" I smiled wide as Lili's confused voice filled my ears. "I never really got to see one before. Only in pictures and stuff."
"I'll have to show you our tent then." I chuckled a little as I gestured out to the area around me. "Because when it's empty like this, it's nothing really. Wait till it's full of people. Their excited faces and endless cheers." I smiled wide as I looked out toward the empty stands, the echoes of cheers ringing in my mind as the goofiest smile took over my face. "It's the most amazing feeling."
"Would make sense there still cheers within your mind despite it being empty at the moment."
"Well even when it's empty, it feels like a second home." My voice softened as I lowered my arms to my sides. "Technically it is our second home. I spent nearly as much time here as I have in the caravan."
"Razzy!" I snapped my attention over toward a voice that was suddenly to my right. I smiled softly as I saw that it was my mind's depiction of my little sister.
"Mirtala." My voice was soft as I knelt down so the little girl could run straight toward me and jump into my arms. The interaction felt real as I wrapped my arms around her while her little arms wrapped themselves around my neck. "Moya kroshka." I whispered the words to myself as I squeezed the little girl tight.
It's been only a few hours, but I already miss her and the others more than anything.
"I'm guessing she's the sibling closest to you?" I let my little sister go as Agent Nein's voice echoed in my head.
"Kinda." I smiled as my brain's depiction of Mirtala gave me a confused look before reaching up to tug on my jacket.
"Let's go to the forest! I wanna play!" I chuckled as I reached down to take the little girl's hand off my jacket gently before gesturing for her to go first.
"Of course, printsessa." I smiled softly at her as she gave me a wide smile, just as Mirtala in the real world would give me whenever I called her as such. "I'll catch up in a moment, okay?"
"Okay! Keep your promise, rytsar!" I blushed at her old nickname for me as she ran off ahead. "Queepie! Razzy's coming!" I stood there smiling like a fool as she ran off with joy.
"Mirtala is my little sister," I spoke softly as I felt my heart ache with the thought of not seeing that smile in person for two more months. "Her and my older sister are probably the two closest to me. She looks at me like I'm truly able to change how my family is viewed in this world and has faith that I can do it. The rest of my family believes it too, yeah, but Mirtala has always been the one to say that I was going to be the knight of the family name. Her rystar." I couldn't help but chuckle a little as I placed a hand over my heart. "She's a weak spot to me in a way."
"And your older sister?" Sasha sounded curious as I felt pride swell in my chest at the thought of my older sister.
"Frazie? She's awesome! She helped me with my basic training as a psychic. She's the fellow psychic of us older kids and always had my back. She's the best big sister you can ask for! Especially since she actually understands me and everything else within my head." I tapped my knuckles against my skull for emphasis as I laughed a little to myself. "Her and Dion know me the best."
"Dion?"
"He's my big brother. He's also the oldest of us kids. A bit of a dick sometimes, but he has his heart in the right place most times. Just has a hard time of showing it." I shrugged a little as I decided to ramble about the rest of my siblings. "Queepie is my younger brother and is the youngest of us. He doesn't care for being the baby though and rather get left alone most of the time. Though Mirtala never lets that be a thing. In her eyes, being alone is the worst thing, and it's her job to make sure Queepie is never lonely." I laughed a little as I remembered Queepie's angered face as Mirtala decided to change the station on the little radio he was dancing to. "Even if Queepie hates it at times."
"So your family is a big part of your mental foundation. Quite normal for most, but good to know."
"I honestly haven't been too far in my own mental plan. I don't think I've gone any further than this, personally." I looked around the empty circus tent a little more before looking over toward the exit where Mirtala ran to. "I don't doubt it gets a little more unique the further we go."
"A circus tent and traveling home on a beach isn't unique enough for ya?" I could tell Lili was smirking by the tone of her voice as I started my way toward where Mirtala had gone.
"Well, this is normal for me, after all."
"Pootie!" I blushed hard as I exited the circus tent to be welcomed to a forest line. At the very front of it, my older sister smiled wide as she sat high up on one of the tall pine's branches. "Great for you to join us."
"POOTIE!?" I heard Lili's laugh chorus within my mind as I pouted at her reaction. "Fucking Pootie. Oh god, nothing is better than that."
"This is why I didn't want you hearing it." I mumbled to myself as Frazie's projection gave me a wide knowing smile.
Damn, even in my mind she seems to know when she's embarrassed the hell out of me.
"Dobryy vecher, sestra." I let the Grulovian greeting roll off my tongue as I made my way a little closer to her. "Poking around as always?" The older girl locked her legs around the branch with ease before spinning around on it so she was looking at me upside down.
"I'm practicing, actually." She gave a smirk as she gestured toward me with a knowing look. "Unlike some."
"I don't need to practice as much as you." I gave her a smirk right back as she scuffed and rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say, hotshot." She spun on the branch once more so she could sit comfortably on the limb once more. "I hear the gremlins looking around for you. Go join them before they end up hunting you down." With that she hopped up onto her feet without using her hands with a wide smile. "See you around, rechka."
"Rechka?" I heard Lili's curious voice as I smiled softy at her nickname for me. After a moment, the older girl disappeared as I heard Sasha speak in awe.
"Teleportation?" I nodded as I smiled with great pride at my sister.
"It's her best ability! That and tracing psychic waves. She's really good at finding people and teleporting exactly to them." I chuckled a little as I remembered why exactly she calls me rechka. "It's actually why she calls me rechka. It means Little River. Whenever she was told to go find me, she would teleport to where my psychic energy was and I was always by some small body of water. Normally little streams and rivers I found near our old campsites and forest areas."
"Speaking of forest," Sasha started to speak before taking a moment to seemingly take in the area through my eyes. "Does this area look familiar to you?" I scanned around the forest line before giving a small shrug in reply.
"I honestly don't know. Nothing unique is popping out to me."
"Maybe you should walk around a little?" Lili spoke this time as she seemed to get excited by the idea. "Maybe it'll lead you to something special! Or something that jogs your memory a little!"
"Good thinking, Miss Zanotto." I didn't have to see Lili to know she was probably smiling proudly toward Agent Nein as I slipped my hands into my jacket pockets before looking straight into the forest ahead.
"I'll go straight in then. That way if it leads to a different area or something, It's a straight path back out if needed."
"For the best, Razputin." I gave a small nod in reply as I started to make my way into the forest. "An Aquato, huh? I honestly didn't think a psychic of that would ever appear here at Whispering Rock."
"I always wanted to come here." I spoke softly as I kept my eyes straight ahead as I walked past some of the tall pine trees around me. "I read in little pamphlets my Nona found that it was a perfect place to go for young psychics. Especially those that want to become Psychonauts. Ever since I wanted nothing else than to get into the program."
"Is that your goal, young man? To be a Psychonaut?"
"Yes. But I also want people to see me as more than a curse upon humanity." I put emphasis on the word as I made my way deeper into the forest. "I always wanted to help people, and I know these powers will help me do so as well, but once people find out my name they see me instantly as some kind of living plaque. Like I'm a time bomb with a short fuse that will end their lives within a second's notice. I want to make people understand that we're not my family's history. That Lucrecia isn't all we are." I took a deep breath and released it slowly as I placed a hand over my heart. "I want to give my family a new start. A new beginning. I know once people see how I can help them and that I desperately want to, they'll see the good that comes from the Aquato name."
"That you're much more than you're family's past."
"Exactly." I felt that I hit something with my foot as I snapped my attention toward the ground. "What the fuck?" My eyes went wide as I saw that it was the familiar little meat flower that Lili and I had found earlier in the day. "Lili, do you see this?"
"Hey! That's the meat flower from Basic Braining!" Lili's voice grew confused as she continued. "What the hell is that doing in here?"
"I promise I don't have any real connections with meat." I raised my hands defensively as I looked over the little plant. "My family is nearly all herbivores, honestly."
"That's quite curious. Maybe it's there due-." Sasha's suddenly stopped as it seemed he was interrupted. "Sorry, I'm getting a notice from Agent Vodello, give me a moment here." I heard Sasha move away from wherever he was as Lili's voice pipped up.
"You should take a look around a little more. Maybe there are other things from Coach's mind that are in yours. If so, it might explain why things got so weird today." I nodded as I agreed instantly with the idea.
"Exactly. Good thinking, Lili." I started my way deeper into the forest as I kept a keen eye out for any other differences within my mind. Suddenly, I did see a small white rabbit cross my path and stop right in front of me. "What the-?" I stopped suddenly as I tilted my head at the rabbit.
"Have a history of rabbits?"
"Nope." I popped the 'p' with a lot of emphasis as I took a step closer to the rabbit. "Hey there, little guy. Where'd you come from?" The rabbit turned around from me and started hopping its way in the opposite direction. "Thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Chase that bunny, Raz!" I smiled wide as I started running after the little animal.
"Exactly what I was thinking!" The rabbit was much faster than me, but I was able to keep up a good bit with it as it ran through the thick forest. Slowly, but surely, the forest scenery started to change. From the welcoming bright greens of evergreens and pines, it switched to darker spruces and a not-so-friendly looking atmosphere. I came to a halt as a large tower appeared in the distance as I quickly realized that the animal was leading me directed toward it.
"I know I've seen some shit," I started as I looked over toward the large brooding tower as details started to become more defined to me. A large vine-like substance that seemed like a path to the top spiraled around the tower in many little twists and turns. It reminded me of some of the older European fairy tales that Nona would recite when I was younger. "But this gives like, evil stepmother vibes at the very least."
"Was going to say, that definitely gives Rapunzel vibes." Lili's voice was curious as she seemed to be left in thought for a moment. "I think we should check it out. Maybe it'll answer some of the questions we have." I started running toward the tower without a second thought as Lili continued. "I think something is colliding with your mental plane though. Like some kind of wavelength is altering it with another."
"So like in True Psychic Tales where a sleep broadcast was altering people's dreams and unconscious?"
"Exactly! Just like in edition 306!" I smirked as I got to the base of the tower a lot sooner than I thought I would have. I started making my way up the vine as I decided to tease the fellow psychic.
"And I'm the nerd, huh?"
"Shut up." I snickered just a little as I tried my best to keep my footing on the vine. With each step, I felt this pit in my stomach grow. It was as if everything in my being was telling me something was wrong with this place. As if I wasn't meant to be here and something dreadful was going to occur because of it. I swallowed hard as Nona's voice filled my head.
Always listen to your gut, Pootie.
I leaped across a gap within the vines as I continued making my way to the top.
It's the body's natural tool of survival. One that will out-smart your own mind at times.
The dreadful feeling started growing even more. I had to push past it, so I decided to move faster with each second as I knew I had to get to the top. I needed to know what was up here. We both do.
So when you feel that nasty twist in your stomach and your body gets that weight in it,
I lowered myself just a little as I had finally reached a window at the top of the tower. The sounds of screeching drills filled my ears as I felt my stomach hit the floor.
Then you have much more to fear than what you think.
