Storming the street/ After the rain

Sorry about not updating for the last couple days. I've been on vacation and watching anime, so I don't really have any excuse. But I'll try to make this one a two parter.

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Ryan shook Chad off and hurried after the man with the sunglasses. Clenching his jaw, he almost held his breath. Shit. This day has been just too wierd. The door was swinging shut once he got up to it. He pushed it open and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Gone. The man was just gone.

Twisting back and forth, he sucked in a deep breath, then another, then another. They came quick and fast, getting shallower each time he breathed in. His head started to get light. Stars shimmered in front of his eyes. "What... the... fuck." He muttered. Each word took a breath, so they formed a chorus. "Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck."

He didn't even see Chad come out onto the street, but he did feel the grip of his hand on his shoulder. "Dude... get a grip."

Swinging on the other guy, Ryan's eyes twirled back and forth. "You saw him right?"

"Who? The guy you just threatened in front of the entire bar. Yeah. I saw him."

Pressing the heel of his hand into his eyes, he rubbed them back and forth. "And today is Friday right? Friday, night to be exact."

"Man, are you feeling okay? Because I wouldn't have said anything if I knew that you were going to flip out like this." Chad gripped him by both of his shoulders. His meaty fingers pressing into Ryan's shoulders.

"No, I'm feeling like I'm going crazy." The words tumbled out before he could put a stop to them. But he must be going crazy. Only crazy people saw and heard things that weren't real.

But Chad just told me that Alice was cheating on me.

Or did he?

Ryan still hadn't heard the words. In fact, it could all be a lie. Yeah, in a moment he was going wake up covered in sweat, reach out and touch Alice. "Did you just tell me that Alice was cheating on me?"

"Look man, I just saw her walk into a restaurant with some guy. It really could have been anything." Chad's voice sent another shiver through him. He tried to control his breathing.

"But you did say that didn't you." Ryan's eyes snapped open, staring straight at his friend. His entire face stretched uncomfortably across his skull.

"Um... yeah. Look let me walk you home. You don't look good."

"No. I'm fine." Sucking in a deep breath, he imagined Mandelbrot's fractal. Endless arms stretching out, and within the pattern, new patterns emerged; a flawless formation bringing chaos into order.

For some reason, it calmed him. "What restaurant did you see them at?"

Chad hestitated. His heavy lips curved downward. "Man, you don't want to do this."

"I'm not going to do anything. I just want to make sure she's all right. I'm not going to make a scene." In his head, he kept plunging deeper and deeper into that pattern. His heart still pounded on his ribcage, but he ignored it.

"I'll take you there. But just to look, okay? You aren't going to have any crazy time."

For the first time that night, Ryan laughed. The sound came out like shards of tinted glass.

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Havelin paced the edge of the cell. Nothing about this trip had gone right. Prime wasn't supposed to send him out for another twenty-two days, fifteen hours, thirty-six minutes and ten seconds. But he'd been summoned early. The system had been uneasy that day.

And now he knew why. It'd taken him longer than he expected to hunt down the Consecrant. It should have been even more like finding a green penny in a bunch of brown ones then anything else. But something had blocked his search. Prime couldn't tell him what.

But whatever it was, had trapped him in a cell that was ten feet by ten feet. Someone had carved "Jesus Saves" into the cinderblocks. There was a bunk bed with starched sheets and a stainless steel toilet.

But none of it was real.

Or at least not real like the Consecrant was real. It was hear because it was supposed to be here.

"Oh I can see clearly now the rain is gone," someone sang off-key as they came down the hallway. A shiver shot through Havelin. The person behind that voice was real.

"Who are you?" Havelin yelled down the hallway. None of the other cells had anyone in them.

"I can see all the obstacles in my way." The man finished, stepping around the corner. The Guide wasn't taken in by the average appearance. Instead he saw the coding behind the person. He was supposed to be about 5' 5" and about 120 pounds. The bone structure should be slightly feminine and Caucasian. But the coding had been altered on a surface level and reaffirmed by the Consecrant.

"You know it's a shame that you can't die." The man with the sunglasses whined. "You're really mucking up shit sitting in this cell."

"Who are you?"

"You're really stuck on that. Do you need a designation so you can label me as friend or foe?"

"No, I've already figured out that you're an enemy. But I would like to call you something." He stopped in the middle of the cell, leaving himself relaxed.

The man sighed. "Okay. You can call me Zorbod the Magnificent. Would that make you feel better?"

"No. But it does help. Will you release me Zorbod?"

"Ahh. If I say yes, then you can just wait until I do and then you can pick up Ryan. And if I say no that gives you permission to alter reality." The man smiled. Havelin saw his teeth should be slightly crooked.

"Unless I determine that you're lying."

"Well I always lie."

"Stupid paradoxes are a waste of your time. I'm not going to spend all day trying to figure them out."

"Again, that's a shame." The man came right up to the bars. "But you're late. My plan is already in motion. I certainly can't kill you. But I can keep you there until I'm done."

Raising a hand to the bars, Havelin tried to find the coding for them. But it was a blank slate. The bars were as real as the Consecrant, as real as Zorbod, as real as Prime itself.

The other man grinned.