AnYi 安亦

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One of your characters has been mistaken for somebody else. Write what happens next.

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‘Wow. They said this place would be sketchy, but this… this is something else. I should leave now, shouldn’t I? Just turn around and go so I can forget all the horrors I’ve seen since I opened that door.’ But I don’t. Despite every instinct inside me screaming that I should run, I turn my eyes from the caged monstrosities suspended above the nearest stall and return to pushing through the throng. To call it claustrophobic would be an understatement, but half an hour of horrifying sights and uncomfortable smells being etched permanently into my memory later, I find myself the twenty-something meters down the street I needed to be. I see the feedback of a disenchantment spell as I step across the threshold, so I tuck my now-unprotected wallet into a hidden pocket of my jacket with a sigh.

For a seedy shop in the underbelly of the city, it had surprisingly good customer service, so it’s less than ten minutes before I’m tucking the various ingredients I’ve acquired into my bag and heading for the door. “Hey,” the owner calls after me, “There’s a back way if you don’t want to go through all that again – it’ll only get you to the shops on this side of the street, but it also heads up into the city if you’re done.” Confident I’ve acquired all I need, I thank him and follow him out. In drastic contrast to the main street, this passage is thin, dark, and completely empty. I know most would consider this inherently more creepy, but I know by now that threats can come from anywhere, so the protection offered by the silence and freedom of movement actually help put me at ease. I start down the passage towards the city.

The passage soon develops into an actual street, complete with shaded off-shoots, the scratching and scurrying of small rodents and birds, and a normal amount of foot traffic; I could almost convince myself I’d already reached the city if not for the concrete sky above me. But it was this, the most normal environment so far, that held the most shocking experience. Walking towards yet another dark side-passageway after I’d passed enough to have stopped eyeing them with suspicion, I hear a voice. I’d heard people talking on this trip, sure, but this feels different. Somewhere deep down, I know this voice. I’m still standing a few paces away from the tunnel, wondering if my curiosity outweighs my desire to leave when he walks out into the light. His spiky blond hair casts thin shadows on his square face, but he is nonetheless unmistakably familiar.

“Dad?” I say, gobsmacked. He doesn’t even look in my direction – just glances over his shoulder as another man steps up beside me. This man is thinner and maybe slightly taller, with floppy dark hair and a nasty-looking scar on his cheek. So, naturally, I grab him by the wrist and try again. “Dad!”

Quickly and forcefully shaking his wrist from my grip, he starts turning towards me as he growls, “I’m not your dad, kid, so just- Cara?!” The gruffness in his voice dissolves as he recognises me, and he throws a worried look at scarface, who’s already turning away with an angry set to his jaw. “It’s… so good to see you.”

‘So you want to go down that road, do you?’ Twisting my face into a pout, I say, “You know, I’m really glad you said that, since the last decade of not hearing from you had me thinking you didn’t give a shit about your family.” I pause to see his reaction and find a lot of pain in his eyes. No regret though. “You know what, why am I even trying? I have an actual parent to get home to.” And with that, I push past them and stride away.

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I see Micah move to go after her, so I grab him by the shoulder and shove him back down the passageway we’d emerged from. There’s fury in his eyes as he turns to look at me, “What the hell, Jake? I know that wasn’t the plan, but it was perfect! Go get her and explain what’s going on!”

“No.” He throws his arms in the air and moves to push past me, but I don’t budge, “We did something wrong; it’s way too early.”

“But-”

“NO!” I try to put steel into my voice, but I can hear it shaking. “You think I don’t want to go talk to her, Micah? Really? She is my sister. I miss her every single day, and then she’s suddenly stood right there in front of me, exactly…”

He’s stopped trying to escape by this point, so I lean against the wall while I take a moment to compose myself. His voice is full of sadness when he finishes the sentence for me, “Exactly like how you remember her.” It’s not a question, but I’m nodding anyway.

“Which is how I know that it’s too early – heck, she hasn’t even found dad yet.” His eyes are downcast when I look up at him. He slumps against the opposite wall and stares back at me for a second, both of us wondering what exactly we do next.

And then he lit up again. “Wait! Yes, she has!” I’m confused – obviously – but before I can cut in he pushes away from his wall and grasps my shoulders. “Remember how today happened for you the first time – what she told you about it when you got home. Just tell her that!”

I open my mouth to tell him he’s officially lost it, but then his idea clicks. It’s still crazy, but it just might work, so I shove him off me and start running in the direction she walked away.