SUPERWORLD

Mary I

"You could have said something!" Mary cried.

"Like what? Thanks for stoppin' by, 'Mare, oh, by the way, I'm an alien'. You wouldn't have believed me, and if you did, you would've shot me or taken me in for a reward." Doc countered.

"That's bullshit, and you know it! We were friends, and friends don't fuck each other over like that, they help each other!" She slammed the door in his face. She'd heard enough from him, and looking at him just made her angrier.

Mary Eng never had many friends, one or two in school, but they all left eventually, some moved, others betrayed her, and some just got sick of her. Doc was the only one who had stuck around so far, she wanted to think Adi and Kamy would stick around too, but that had to be proven still.

Before all this, before she tried to rob Aditya, she would come to visit Doc at least twice a week. They'd shoot the shit, Doc talking about who he sewed up that week and Mary telling him about her latest score. Agnes had always been there too, but she never did anything except stare, she felt more like furniture than a person, and now Mary knew why.

She is just fucking furniture. A goddamn robot!

Mary slumped against the cheap door of the motel and let herself sink to the ground.

Stupid. So stupid. Who the fuck is that color? No one's skin is that fucking color. You live in New York, you've seen literally every shade people come in. You should've known something was up, stupid!

There was a knock at the door.

"Go away!" Mary shouted, cradling her head in her own arms.

"Mary? It's Aditya, can I come in?" Adi wavered on the other side of the door.

"Look, I'm not in the best mood right now, so—"

"Please, let me help." Adi demanded.

Mary pulled herself back into her feet and wiped away her tears, composing herself. She took a deep breath, then opened the door. Adi jumped like a deer who just spotted a hunter and she had to stop herself from laughing. Heinrich barked 'hello'.

"Ehrm...may I...well..."

"Come in before I change my mind." Mary sighed.

The dog entered before its master and Mary guided the pup to the bed with her.

"R-right." He nodded, hurrying inside.

"I'm not going to talk to him, if that's why you're here."

"Oh, heavens no. He blew right past me when I was coming over. I just...well, I wanted to see if you're ok."

"My best friend just told me he's an alien, do you really need to check if I'm good, guy?" Mary forced a bitter smirk as she threw herself on the bed.

"Right, of course, I meant...I just want to help."

"I'll be ok, Adi. It's not the first time I found out someone close to me was lying." Mary grumbled, eyes affixed to the ceiling, hand absentmindedly scratching behind Heinrich's ear.

"Oh...I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's whatever. Besides, you should be happy, now that Doc is on my shit list, you move up to number one. You're my best friend now."

"Oh...wow. I mean, I'm honored, but we've only known each other for a little while..."

"I know, kinda sad, isn't it? The guy I tried to mug just a couple weeks ago is now my best friend."