//------------------------------// // 2: Escaping with Twilight // Story: Living With Twilight // by Kendandra //------------------------------// “You can’t stay here,” were the first words of a half-baked plan that was forming inside Ethan’s head. The plan, which we’ll call Operation Blunder for now, consisted of four steps. Step one: panic. Step two: pace back and forth. Step three: panic again, but slightly less this time. Finally, step four: actually come up with a plan. Thus, Operation Blunder B was concocted. Unfortunately it contained much of the same steps. “Why can’t I stay here, again?” The unicorn asked in a polite tone. Scientists have often asked the question if there is anything more irritating in the universe than someone acting calm when you’re upset. It turns out there is, but it isn’t pretty. “I don’t live here. This is just where I work and people come in and out of this office all day. Others will see you.” “And if others see me? They’ll… turn me into a science experiment?” Twilight said with a giggle. “Yes! Maybe. I don’t know….” Ethan paced around the room. “Look. This isn’t exactly a common situation. It’s it best to error on the side of safety, right?” “Do you really think so low of your species that they will abduct a new, peaceful life form just because I look different?” Twilight frowned slightly. “Are you going to tell me some mumbo-jumbo about evil dances and being gobbled up in big tasty stews?” Ethan paced around the room and ran his hands through his hair. “Ugh…. How can I explain the horrors of humanity to someone who doesn’t even have hands? Oh!” Ethan spun around and snapped his fingers. “Frankenstein! It’s just like Frankenstein.” “What?” “Oh, right. I guess I shouldn’t expect you to know who Frankenstein is.” Ethan quickly reached for his rolling chair. His fingers gracefully rolled up and down the keyboard of his computer, pressing buttons at a speed that most hackers in movies would envy. He was Mozart and the computer, his ivories. Soon he had completed his search and with a few clicks of the mouse his labor was done. His task completed, he uttered the famous words. Words that were spoken right before the devastating final blow in combat. Words mouthed moments before an Olympic-class gymnast shows off a maneuver. Words once uttered by many a famous magician right before they perform an impossible feat of prestidigitation. Or, in Ethan’s case, words that are spoken before one takes part in the forbidden dark ritual of YouTube video sharing. “Watch this.” Twilight huddled around the strange glow of the computer screen. On the computer screen a man in a tux was lecturing the audience about the horrifying nature of the film that about to play. “What is…?” Ethan shushed the unicorn. “Just watch it. It’s a haunting tale about how humans can’t accept things that they don’t fully understand.” Twilight stared at the computer screen for a moment. “But…. This is a historic moment! First contact! I shouldn’t waste it watching a movie!” The unicorn placed her hooves on the side of the monitor. “How does this thing work anyway? Where’s the projector?” She picked up the keyboard with her magic. “Where do the film reels go?” “Just watch it!” Ethan ran his palm down his face. “You want to experience human culture? There’s a classic part of it.” The human quickly walked to the office door. “You stay here and watch that.” He opened the door just a smidge and peeked out the crack. “I’m going to figure out how to sneak you out of here….” Without waiting for a rebuttal from the unicorn, and from the nearly two minutes he had spent with her he was sure she would have one, Ethan slipped through the door and closed it quietly. Ethan’s current plan, if a single notion could even be called a plan, was to check if the coast was clear down the hallway that lead to the staircase. If he was lucky everyone on the top floor would have gone home already. Now it’s a common known fact that there’s no louder sound than the sound of a person’s own footsteps when that person is trying to be quiet. Except, perhaps the sound of their breathing. Ethan was struggling to tiptoe from his office door so he could see down the hallway. The sun was falling fast and the hallway window was bathing the corridor in an orange light that made Ethan feel uneasy. As he walked down the hallway he nervously poked his head into each office he passed, checking to see if he was hopefully the only one working late. He made his way to John’s office. Thankfully, his eccentric friend appeared to have gone home. “It looks like I’m actually in luck.” Ethan whispered to himself. “Everybody has gone home.” As Ethan made his way down the hallway he passed by an ornate wooden door. If ever he needed proof that the universe was working against him, it was provided as he passed the door. It so happens that not only was the door open, but the light in the office was on. Not only was the office door open, light on, but the office resident was inside. Not only was the office door open, light on, currently occupied, but the office owner was none other than Ethan’s boss: Walter Penumbra. Walter was the Chief Executive Officer of the Penumbra Star Corporation, a manufacturing based company that made high quality drill bits. Diamond tipped drill bits, to be specific. They also dabbled in lower-end diamond jewelry. As it stood, Walter didn’t like the business’s core market, but as he would often joke: Where else could he work? His name was already owned by the company! Penumbra Star was a family company passed down through old money in the Cleveland area. Walter’s father had run the company and so had his great-grandfather. And while he never had married, Walter was still expected to pass on the position to an heir. Now Walter was a decent guy. He was a hard worker, devoted to his family’s company. If he had any real character faults it was probably over-devotion to his family’s company. At his core, Walter was very much like Ethan. A tad lonely, if he was honest with himself. Walter always had a stuffy air about him. He was a down to earth gentleman, but his position in the company always made others weary of his presence. Thankfully he had found some friends, to use the term loosely, with his fellow coworkers who shared the top floor. And while he often made them work late, he was understanding and only did so because the company truly needed the extra work. Power, though he possessed it, did not turn him into an evil man. Then again, perhaps he just didn’t have enough power. Yet. All and all he was a fair boss. If you preformed you were rewarded. If you failed. Well. Ethan didn’t fail. He certainly liked his job. Despite the current situation Ethan was in it was for precisely this reason that he snapped to attention Walter’s office when called. “Ethan?” Ethan turned to a nearby tacky plastic potted plant and shuddered. “Why now?” His whispered to the fake plant quietly. Sadly the plastic potted plant was not equipped with circuitry designed with the capability to answer philosophical questions about how an incomprehensible sequence of events could produce one particular outcome at a particular time. If it had been, two things would have been true about this universe. One, that the future would have been easily predicted. And two, that the janitorial staff would no doubt pour water on the fake plant anyway, destroying the circuits. “Ethan, could you come in here for a moment?” Walter said in a quiet, yet commanding voice. “Um… I’m kind of busy at the moment.” Ethan poked his head in the CEO’s office. “I’m just getting ready to head home.” “Well, then I’ll make it quick.” Walter said with a smile. “I just need your signature.” “Uh… sure…” Ethan said with a nod. Like all of the high ranked employees on the top floor of the building, Walter was dressed in spiffy black tie wear. When he stood up, his exaggeratedly tall and svelte form was imposing. Yes, if asked he would gladly recount his college basketball years at his cushy Ivy League school. He could have gone professional, you know, but sadly he injured his knee. Currently, he was doing that thing again. That thing Ethan hated, engulfing Ethan in his shadow. His office had a desk lamp situated behind him, presumably to illuminate the paintings on the wall, but it mostly seemed employed to cast Walter’s shadow across his desk and overtop of whoever he was talking to. “What do you need me to sign?” “This here.” Walter slid a large pad of paper across his desk. “It’s the RFP for that mine in Canada.” He flipped through the pages until a signature line appeared. “I just need you to sign here acknowledging that we reviewed this on Wednesday.” Ethan reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his trusty “World’s #1 Accountant” pen and began to sign. “Uh… sure.” Walter looked down and frowned. “Is something wrong, Ethan? Your hand is a little shaky.” “Just… uh… excited for the weekend. You know… it’s Friday, eight o’clock and I’m eager to head home.” “Well, I’m sorry this couldn’t wait then.” Walter said with a nod. The tall man sat down on the edge of his desk and folded his hands. “We need this agreement. If we don’t secure a new supplier soon… I don’t want to think what would happen to this company. My family’s company. I just want to do everything possible to keep this company alive, you know?” “We all do.” Ethan said. Under normal circumstances he would have smiled at Walter, but was far too frazzled at the moment. “Is that all?” “You need to sign the next page too.” Walter tapped the document. “Though nothing that can be done but to apply a little more elbow grease. Sometimes I wish there was a magic genie that could just solve all our supply problems.” Walter laughed. Ethan started to date the signature. “Well those are hard to come by.” “Yeah. Not too many genies floating around. Probably went dead with the fairies and unicorns.” Walter broke into a hearty laugh. “Do let me know if you come across one though.” “Walt, you words are… so ironically chosen right now you couldn’t even know.” Ethan said to his friend nervously. “Well you know…” Ethan twisted the pen, retracting the tip. “You always have my support. Except right now. I have to head home for the evening.” It seems that every person has an object that follows them throughout the important parts of life. For some people it’s a car that never seems to break down despite its terrible age. For others it’s the unwanted bag of coffee grinds that is continuously re-gifted at each holiday until it makes its way full circle. For Ethan it was his “World’s #1 Accountant” pen. It was given to him on the day he moved to the top floor of the company building. It was the pen he used to sign the paperwork for his house, which he loved dearly. It was the pen he used to sign for his car, which he loved dearly. And, of course, it was the little LED light on the top which he used to signal and extra-dimensional being that he was on the other side of a mystical portal. Which he did not love dearly. Often a pen is called an instrument of creativity. For the universe, which hated nice guys, Ethan’s “World’s #1 Accountant” pen was slated to be an instrument of Ethan’s misery, for reasons which have yet to be explained. In his rush to get out of the Walter’s office, Ethan left his pen on Walter’s desk. Now at the time such a detail seems trivial, but this small action would soon start a chain of events that would drastically change the lives of those who worked in the top floor of the Penumbra Star building. “Have a good evening, Ethan.” Walter said with a smile. “Oh. Are you going to be at John’s on Sunday?” “Uh? Yeah. Yeah.” Ethan bolted out of the door and closed it behind him without another word. He quickly made his way back to his own office. The walk back down the hallway was much different than the one away from his office. His movement was much faster. He cared little about the sound of his footsteps or breathing. His hand fumbled with the door handle. Much to his relief, the unicorn was still sitting in his roller chair and watching the video on his computer screen. Much to his dismay, the unicorn was still sitting in his roller chair and watching the video on his computer screen. “You’re back.” Twilight said, not taking her eyes away from the screen. The light from the black and white picture flickered against her face in the dark room. “I don’t think this film is about what you think it’s about. Have you ever watched this Frankenstein?” Ethan walked over to the unicorn and ran his hand through his hair. “Well, no. It’s an old film. But its message is ingrained in human culture. At least here in America.” “America? That’s… the country.” Twilight said with a nod. Ethan balked at the unicorn’s comment. “That’s… right. How did you know that?” Before the pony could answer, Ethan spoke again. “But that’s not important now. We need to get you out of here.” He reached down and pressed the power button of his computer. “Where are we going?” Twilight asked with a tilt her head. “My house. At least until I can figure out what to do with you.” Ethan reached over to his coat rack. He pulled his coat off of the hook on the wall. “Here… put this on.” Twilight stared at the coat suspiciously. “I’m not sure that will fit my anatomy.” “I meant like this.” He tossed the coat over the pony’s back. The coat draped over the unicorn’s form, covering up most of her. Ethan pulled the collar of the coat up and over top of the pony’s head. “There… now you’re… inconspicuous.” Ethan chuckled nervously. “Inconspicuous?” Twilight’s snout poked out from the coat. “Are there many quadrupedal coat wearing creatures in the human world?” Ethan ran his hand through his hair. “I could do without the sarcasm!” “Sarcasm? I was actually asking a legitimate question. Though I take it that the answer to my question is no.” Twilight chuckled. “You have no idea how excited I am to learn about human culture!” “Shh!” Ethan opened up the door to his office. “Okay, here’s the plan. There’s a staircase at the end of this hallway. We’re just going to quietly tiptoe down there, past all of the offices, and then down the staircase. From there we’ll take the back alleyways until we reach my house. Hopefully no one is out at this hour.” Ethan sighed. In reality, he lived in the city and avoid people during the walk hope was an impossible task. He was more likely to encounter a blizzard during a volcano eruption. Or a real live unicorn. So then again, maybe there was a chance. Ethan pushed the unicorn, who seemed to take offence to her backside being touched, through the door and out into the hallway. He then began the arduous task of trying to silently sneak the creature down the hall. A task which was first filled with silencing several questions from the unicorn and then trying to get her to walk quietly. Now when Ethan was given an office on the top floor of the building he was ecstatic. The top floor offices were outfitted with nice desks, nice bookshelves, and nice windows with nice views. Even the plants that were placed in the corners were a higher quality than those placed on the floors below. They were still fake, of course, but they were more expensive fakes. However, one of the things had always stood out in Ethan’s mind. The floors were a brilliant cherry hardwood. Nice didn’t begin to describe them. It was clear from the moment he wheeled his roller chair from the elevator to his office that he had hit the big time. He even took pictures of the floors and boasted to his Facebook friends about the classiness of his new workspace. Now, as Twilight’s hooves nosily clopped and clipped against the hard surfaces Ethan wished that he was on one of the lower floors. The unicorn might as well have been wearing tap-dancing shoes against the hardwood floor. Irony, the harsh mistress she was, had taken that which he loved and turned it against him. This unicorn had to go. Ethan gestured frantically to get the unicorn out of the view of Walter’s office. Unfortunately it seemed as though the coat he had draped over her was making it hard for her to see. “I can’t see.” Twilight said, confirming that very fact. Ethan lowered his hand down so it was in view of the unicorn’s eyes. He quickly pointed the way he wanted her to walk and when she didn’t move, he gave her a not so gentle tug in the desired direction. “So far, so good.” He said aloud. He wasn’t quite sure who the message was intended for; perhaps it was for the partially blindfolded unicorn to assure her the plan was going well. Perhaps it was for himself to calm his nerves. Regardless of whoever the intended recipient of that statement was, it was heard by the universe. And the universe hates nice guys. “E.! All done with that Skype call?” Ethan quickly turned around to see that he and the unicorn had just passed John’s office. John was leaning out his door with a wide grin. Now Ethan was not an athletic person. He was a certified public accountant plain and simple. If someone had asked him to run a mile he would laugh in their face. Or rather, he would if he had the courage to. Or at least the ability to run a mile to escape them. Still the physical feat Ethan preformed the moment John’s head poked out of his office was amazing. In less than a split second, he had spun around and placed himself in between the unicorn and his coworker. If hiding a unicorn behind a person’s back were an Olympic sport, Ethan would have won the gold. Which would be quite an achievement if he didn’t possess the only unicorn in the world to practice with. “Yaugh! Hi! Uh… Hello, John! What’s up?” He managed to sputter out. The unicorn bumped into his leg. Ethan nonchalantly kicked backwards with his foot and shoved the creature down the hallway. “Hey!” Twilight mumbled, taken by surprise from the kick. “What was that?” John said as he started to exit his office. Ethan jumped forward and placed his hand on the doorframe, pushing John back into his office space. “Uh! Nothing! Well… it was my… uh… thing. Phone! It was my phone. In my pocket.” Ethan smiled uneasily. John paused for a moment to process Ethan’s jittery speech. “It sounded like that girl you were talking to on Skype.” “Well. Yeah. Yes it did.” Ethan said matter-of-factly. He inhaled deeply as his brain raced for a reasonable explanation. Luckily, as he was discovering for the first time, he was pretty good at thinking on his feet. “It was a text. From her. The girl on Skype. My girlfriend, if you recall. I changed the notification noise it makes when she texts me to be her voice.” He nodded, happy with the lie he had forged. “Yeah. That’s why it says ‘Hey!’ You know like, ‘Hey, it’s me. Your girlfriend… Sending you a text. Probably an ‘I love you’. No big.’” “Ouch! Why did you kick me?” The unicorn grumbled from down the hallway. John looked confused. “Uh what was…?” Ethan took a step forward, making sure to block John’s view of the hallway. “That was an email. Just the notification sound for an email. Changed it to her voice too. Because… I love her so much. I just love hearing her voice. All the time.” He gritted his teeth, glanced over his shoulder, and growled. “Except right now.” John blinked a few times. “Um. ‘Ouch, why did you kick me?’” Ethan paused for a moment. He tried to think of how he could possibly have a recording of a woman asking that question of him. All the scenarios that came to mind were a tad frightening. “Inside joke.” Including that one, now that he thought about it. John paused for a moment. He gave Ethan an incredulous look before dismissing his comment. If there was one thing Ethan’s coworker John was good at it was quickly getting distracted and moving on to completely different topic. “Anyway.” He said, his standard transition phrase. “You finally have time to see this awesome?” “Look. John, I really…” Before Ethan could finish, John pulled his coworker into his office and gestured with his hands widely. Ethan was rendered speechless by the sight before his eyes. Which, considering his day up to that point consisted of a small altercation with the waiter who served him lunch and meeting a unicorn, he was pretty sure he was out of surprises for the day. Though as he thought about it John was always throwing him for a loop. Adorned on the walls of his office, covering every square inch were tubes of paper and cardstock held in place with copious amounts of masking tape. “What… the hell am I looking at?” “I built a race track on the walls!” John picked up a toy car and placed it at the top of the on track and let it roll down the tubes of paper. Thus summed up John Ramirez’s work ethic. At every workplace there’s a John. Not John Ramirez himself, or for that matter a functionally indistinguishable clone of him, but someone who fills the same role. John hardly ever gets work done but he’s kept around just because he makes people smile. Every once in a while he does something though so spectacular that justifies his existence. But like many important moments in his life, John was probably sleepwalking when he did it. “I can see th… Is that Edna-from-the-second-floor’s model car? Wasn’t that a gift from her dead grandfather?” “Ah come on, E., lighten up.” “John, I don’t have time for your juvenile antics right now. And don’t get me started on the fact you’re probably charging overtime to stay late and build this… thing! I just… I just don’t have time for this headache now. I don’t know if you noticed but Walter didn’t go home yet. If he sees this you’re going to be in big trouble. And if he catches you with Edna’s model car there’s going to be an HR issue. Get this place cleaned up, go home, and for the love of god I better not see you bill for overtime tonight when I do payroll next Wednesday.” Thus summed up Ethan Donovan’s work ethic. At every workplace there’s an Ethan. Not Ethan Donovan himself, or for that matter a functionally indistinguishable clone of him, but someone who fills the same role. Ethan always gets his work done with time to spare. Then he uses his hard earned free time to work on more work. He’s hated by the rest of the workplace because his output is great and he tries so hard. He’s not ostracized from the coworker social circle though because he covers for all the idiocy around him. “Bah. I bet just a few more minutes and I’ll have a working loop-da-loop.” John said with a dismissive wave. “Whatever! It’s not my problem if you get in trouble! I’ve got bigger things to worry about right now.” Ethan stepped out of the office and closed the door behind him after delivering an abrupt, “Goodnight, John”. Ethan approached the unicorn who was sitting patiently on the floor next to the stair case. He noticed she had taken the liberty of pulling the top of the coat off of her head. Ethan frowned as he approached. “Was that your friend?” The unicorn asked. “Just barely.” Ethan replied with an irritated snort. He reached up and flipped the top of the coat back over the top of the unicorn’s head. “Hey! But I can’t see!” “Tough. Just follow my feet.” Ethan pushed the door open to the stairwell and shoved the unicorn down the flight of stairs. He quickly followed behind her. As it turns out, the universe doesn’t quite hate nice guys as much as Ethan had thought. If it did it certainly wouldn’t have waited for Ethan to make his way down the staircase before Walter Penumbra made his way out of his office, ready to head home. Walter closed his office door and locked it with a small silver key. In his right hand was his briefcase. He carried very little inside it and at heart it was a glorified folder, but he felt it made him fit the image of a CEO so he diligently carried it every day. In his left hand was Ethan’s “World’s #1 Accountant” pen, left by him in Walter’s office the last time they spoke for the evening. Walter was well aware how much Ethan cared for the lavish writing utensil and he was making an effort to replace the pen upon Ethan’s desk before he headed home for the evening. Strangely enough if Walter had simply decided to head in the direction of the staircase he would have undoubtedly bumped into Ethan and his unicorn companion. If such an event did occur, this story would have a drastically different ending. However, Walter instead made his way to the other end of the hallway on the top floor of the Penumbra Star building. He approached Ethan’s door and knocked four times. “Ethan? Still here?” When he wasn’t met with an answer he used his small silver key to open the door and walk inside. Walter approached Ethan’s desk and placed the “World’s #1 Accountant” pen on top of his keyboard. As he turned to leave, Walter’s eye caught something unusual, a large pair of satchels laying on the floor next to the desk. The satchels, decorated with pink stars, seemed very out of place. If Walter had known exactly how out of place they were, specifically from another universe entirely, he might have left them alone. But Walter, not normally a curious man, instead reached downwards and picked up the bags, finding them to be filled to bursting with books. Now Walter, a well-read man, was fond of books. Walter pulled out the first book his hand could grasp. The book was a weighty tome with a dark blue cover. Walter glanced at the title, it was faded and hard to read. “Book of Forbidden Spells,” he said aloud. “Hm. Interesting.”