HUMAN SPIRIT

HUMAN SPIRIT; Ch. 17

It was an hour past midnight. While Julius and Veronica were catching up on sleep, a very ambitious Tina was trying to convince Huck and Finn the Abstract was real without showing them. Needless to say, they had reacted funnily to her sudden exclamation. Huck was muttering PG comments about how Tina was a lunatic. Finn, more refined in logic, was combating Tina’s strange claims with hypotheses and philosophical jibber jabber. But it was past one AM, and she wasn’t going to stand for it. So she angrily told them to hush, and she pulled a necklace out of her shirt. It bore two silver dog tags, and the boys leaned in to see it.

“This will make you two shut up,” she said. Finn squinted in confusion.

“How?” he asked. She gave him a look; Finn was always the one to question her logic. As faithful as he was to her, Tina would constantly consider the possibility that Finn was going to leave her. And after that, all she’d be left with was Huck. And she couldn’t bear the possibility.

“Just grab one,” she said tiredly, and they did so. Tina, with one hand already on the necklace, snapped her fingers with the other. And like that, they were Shipped. She tried to ignore the exclamations of bafflement as they crossed the chasm, rolling her eyes. Never once did she really consider the consequences of proactively showing the two boys this world.

The Abstract world was always sunny, even if there was no sun. So the moment they arrived, they all reacted with squints. Not together, though. The Abstract world had a tendency to separate any means of a group. Within sight, Tina saw Finn down the road dressed in a dashing suit, but Huck was nowhere around. She, too, was wearing the female version of a suit. Pencil skirt, flow-y white blouse. She didn’t know what provoked the Secondary Universe in making all the Commuters wear suits, but she didn’t complain. 

Finn eagerly made his way over to her with a baffled, estranged expression. She immediately regretted bringing him along, because the moment she laid eyes on him, she realized he was hot. Not the most gorgeous person she ever saw, but his physique challenged that claim.

Needless to say, she felt like ripping the suit off of him as soon as it was on. But that wasn’t her main intention. Her reason on bringing the boys here, she knew, was to indirectly prove to them that Leonard was alive. But Huck was out of sight, and she couldn’t break into an explanation without him.

“Have you seen Huck?” she asked, but Finn didn't hear. He was looking around like a tourist in some foreign city, and paid no attention her. “Yo, earth to Finn? Where’s Huck?

“Heck if I know…” he trailed, looking at the skyscrapers. Suddenly, Tina’s wrist was grabbed. She turned, expecting to see Huck, but instead, saw a burly man in a white uniform. He put a cuff around the hand which he grabbed.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” she exclaimed.

“Tina Pierson, you have broken your Swear of Secrecy, and are officially penalized for the actions you have taken.” Before she could realize what was happening, her other hand was cuffed. She started struggling, but at the immediate sign of her backlash, the man pushed her up against a wall. He started reciting the Abstract world’s version of the Miranda Rights. Finn had, at this point, noticed the commotion and turned around.

“What’s wrong, erm… officer?” he asked. Compared to Tina, he was completely calm.

“Ms. Pierson broke the Swear of Secrecy. She, and any other Commuter affiliates partaking in her crime, are to be wiped of their memories pertaining to the Abstract world,” he said. That presumably meant Tina, Huck and him. A white police car was parked off the side of the road.

“What?!” Tina exclaimed. The man pushed her into the backseat of the car. “You can’t do that! He’s a Commuter, too!” The door shut, locking on impact. At this new information, the burly officer faced Finn with a weird look.