Exhaustion washed over Cleo as the professor droned on about electrical systems. She fought to pay attention, but she hadn't been sleeping well at all. And that was when she could sleep in until 2 p.m. if need be. Today, she'd had to force herself up for classes. Since they were at 8:30, she really had to get up early. Coupled with the fact that she'd been kept up until three the previous night trying to not tear a hole in the fabric of reality, she could barely keep her eyes open.
She bookmarked the textbook pages dealing with the material the prof was discussing and did her best to keep taking notes. Unfortunately, her handwriting was an illegible scrawl and she couldn't seem to find the keys she needed to use to type.
It's fine. I'll rewrite it all later. After a nap.
Cleo focused all her remaining energy on getting as much of the information recorded as possible - no matter how messy or incoherent her rendition might be.
When the lecture finally finished, Cleo mentally patted herself on the back for getting through the day. It was the second day of classes for the semester and she was already barely keeping up. It didn't bode well for her future, but she had to keep going.
She refused to give anything up to that thing that had cursed her. Well, anything that hadn't already slipped through her fingers as she tried to maintain normalcy.
"Hey, Cleo!"
The voice startled Cleo and she almost fell out of her seat. She glanced to the side, where Kelly was grinning at her.
"Hi." It was the best reply she could manage. Cleo straightened herself out and put away her tablet and stylus.
"Were those your notes?" Kelly asked, staring at the tablet in awe. Apparently Cleo hadn't closed the app fast enough.
"I'm rewriting them later," Cleo said, trying to defend herself.
"Hey, no need. Here, I'll send you a copy of mine. What's your school email again?"
Cleo held out her hand and Kelly handed her the phone she was going to record the information on. She typed c.yang2617 and handed it back to Kelly.
"Great! I'll send you my copy. No need to rewrite everything."
"I'll probably rewrite it anyway," Cleo muttered. That was a way to make sure it stuck in her empty head.
"Seriously, girl, you work way too hard. It's only the second day of the year."
"Second day of the second year of an intensive program," Cleo replied. "I can't afford to fall behind."
"Girl, we don't have any tests or assignments for at least a week. If you never take a break, you'll totally burn yourself out."
"Thanks for the advice." Cleo finished putting her stuff in her bag and stood to leave.
"Hey, we were thinking of heading to a cafe later. Wanna come?"
"Can't." Cleo mentally batted away prophetic images as she thought about her much-needed nap at home.
"Come on! New year, new leaf. You're always moping around by yourself, Cleo. Come make some friends." Kelly grabbed Cleo's wrist and tugged her over to the group waiting for her.
"Cleo's coming?" Ronin asked with a grin. "Sweet."
"I can't. I have to - "
"Come on, Cleo!" Delilah laughed, hanging onto Ronin's arm. "Just one time. We'll never bug you again, I promise."
Don't make promises you don't intend to keep, Cleo thought as no fewer than nineteen images of them bugging her after this came to mind, whether or not she came this time.
"Let's go." Kai moved to her other side and Cleo realized she was not getting out of this. She closed her eyes for a moment, lamenting the loss of the next two hours, and followed them out of the school.
They wanted to go to a bit of a hole-in-the-wall place a couple blocks away and two levels down. Cleo mustered all the focus she had for the stairs, then quickly closed the portal that had started opening under her feet before anyone could notice. It was nice of it to offer to take her to the bottom so she wouldn't have to worry about falling, but she was normal.
Normal.
Normal people didn't use portals.
As they wound between the buildings, Cleo couldn't bring herself to pay attention to where they were going. She just followed Kelly, who was still holding her wrist. Not tightly, but enough that Cleo didn't feel like pulling away.
"You'll love this place, Cleo," Kai said with a grin beside her. "It's got all kinds of cool stuff. Mostly dessert-type stuff, but there's some pretty good snacks. Oh, and don't get me started on the coffee."
Cleo let the words go in one ear and out the other. She didn't care about this cafe. They were out of almond milk today, which would be a bummer considering how many of the desserts used it.
As she fumbled in the fog of her brain, a voice cleared it instantly.
"Wow, nice aim, Ferry." The woman's voice echoed behind them. Cleo spun around, sensing the others with her doing the same.
"There's a lot of them, isn't there?" The man beside her grinned sadistically.
"Who...?" Kelly asked, her voice shaking. She let go of Cleo's wrist to back away.
"Team Chaos. I'm Cold Snap, this is Corrosion and this is Ferry. Nice to meet you all." Cold Snap put her hand on the wall and ice spread out across it.
"It's your lucky day," Corrosion added. "You get to play with celebrities like us."
No.
The word pounded in Cleo's head in tune with her heartbeat.
"Run!" Ronin said, and the group scattered. There weren't many places to run in the tight alleys, but Cleo darted after them anyway. Even though she knew it was futile.
Images flashed across her mind, but she ignored them, focusing on getting away.
"Oops, wrong way." Ferry appeared in front of her, Kelly and Kai. Cold Snap was right behind her.
"Exit's closed, kids," she said with a laugh as ice threaded its way across the alleyway to form a wall.
"Where're the others?" Kai asked as they turned and started running again.
"They split up," Cleo said. "Might be our best chance. They can only be in two or three places at once."
"Okay," Kelly replied, her face looking deathly pale. "I don't wanna die, guys."
"Then keep running," Kai gasped. "Up here. We'll split three ways. I'll go left, Kelly go right, Cleo keep going straight."
Kelly nodded as Cleo registered the words in her mind. Straight. Just keep running.
The dread in her stomach told her she wouldn't be getting out of this, though. She'd already seen how this ended. Even so, the adrenaline pounding through her told her to do whatever it took to live.
Kelly and Kai disappeared down their respective alleys, and Cleo just kept pushing forward. Her lungs burned and her legs felt ready to give out, but she couldn't stop. Was it possible to outrun fate?
She didn't know how far she ran through the alleyways. She didn't know how long it took before fate caught up.
Ice threaded a wall in front of her. Cleo couldn't stop in time and crashed into it, shattering the delicate structure. On the other side, Corrosion waited for her.
"Hello," he said with a grin. Cleo turned and ran back, but Cold Snap was there.
"Would you look at that? Someone just wandering around on her own. Doesn't she know that that's dangerous? Someone might hurt her." Cold Snap's expression radiated sick malice. Cleo wanted to throw up.
"Might? I think someone will," Corrosion replied, cracking his knuckles.
No.
No no no.
"Of course someone will. And it may as well be us, right Corrosion?" Cold Snap's grin widened - if that was even possible - as ice crept along Cleo's shoes. It was going to hold her in place. The cold would burn her skin, and then Corrosion would drench her in acid.
No!
Panic seized Cleo and she ran again, pushing her way past Cold Snap. It seemed like the safer route to take.
"Hey! Get back here, you little bitch!"
Cleo ignored the words. Ignored the ice that had clung to her hands and was now crawling up her wrists. It burned. It burned just like her vision had said it would.
She spun around a corner, desperate to get away.
Desperate to escape fate.
Because according to her visions, which had always come true up until now, she was going to die here.
She closed her eyes, screaming internally.
I'm not going to die here! I want to live!
Someone help me! I don't care who, someone!
The name she thought of surprised her, but then again he was the only actual hero she'd ever talked to.
Jumper. Help me.
It was irrational. He hadn't been spotted much anywhere of late. But when there was nothing left.
A strange sensation washed over her, and the ground vanished beneath her feet. When she opened her eyes in surprise, everything was spinning. Her body was battered by something, and next thing she knew, she was splayed on the ground, staring at unfamiliar scenery.
I warped?
Her hazy thoughts came to that conclusion, and then dread washed over her again as she saw that someone was on the floor next to her. A guy she'd never met before.
And he was staring at her in shock.
He saw. Terror gripped Cleo again. After so long, she'd been outed in the worst way possible.
No. No. Please no.
But reality wasn't so easily escaped.
