All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 2: Flesh and Skin ~ Willow Polson

"I've been right here. You, on the other hand..."

Emma sat down at the little kitchenette and I realized that I'd totally interrupted her dinner. It was sushi, another thing I didn't expect, but then I really didn't know what I should be expecting of her. I didn't even really know her. The sushi's bright colors started to mesmerize me, and my stomach growled loudly. One of them was a soft pink, like a woman's flesh...

"David," she said sharply, and my gaze snapped up to meet hers.

"What? Sorry," I stammered, then sat down awkwardly on the arm of the sofa.

"Tell me. Where have you been, and why do you look like hell," she said, demanding.

"I told you, I've been looking for you."

"Well you've been doing a shitty job, because this is the same apartment I've had for the past year. You practically wore a groove in the sidewalk. Maybe that's how you found your way back," she said with a little sneer, expertly grabbing a piece of sushi between chopsticks and slipping it gracefully between her perfect pink lips.

"But I didn't... I've never been here before," I blurted out in my defense, which stopped her cold. Even her chewing, but that resumed before the swallowing and the sip of water. God I'm hungry...

She looked me up and down like a specimen. Something in her face and eyes changed.

"What's my middle name?"

I was dumbfounded by the randomness, but tried to play along. "...Wonderbar?" I replied with a little nervous smile.

"When is my birthday?"

"I... I don't know," I stammered, getting more and more uncomfortable.

"My favorite color?"

"Uh... blue...?" I offered in a tiny voice. I slid down onto the sofa where it felt a little safer. What was the deal with the Spanish Inquisition? Didn't she remember anything about what I'd done for her?

After an eternity of her drilling holes into me with her gaze, she motioned for me to join her at the table.

"Here. Eat."

I jumped at the chance to finally quiet the complaining creature in my belly and took what I was offered. Sushi isn't my favorite, but it was food, and free, and right in front of me, and tasted amazing right at that moment. The whole time she was watching every move I made, and I was looking around at the stuff in her apartment. A huge map of the world took up an entire wall in the living room, with red strings radiating off it and pinned to the other walls and the ceiling.

"David," she said, her voice going soft. "The world seems different, doesn't it."

"Yeah, it's weird," I said around my food. "It's like they held a fight and a hockey game broke out, you know? Visualize Whirled Peas. But it's like it's coming true for once. Even the newspaper guy was nice to me. What's up with that?"

"Mayan prophecy," she muttered, stealing one last bite of sushi from the plate, then pushing the rest over to me. "Where are you staying?"

"My same crappy apartment, but the landlord didn't pay the bills with the cash I gave him, so it doesn't even have power or water. I'm gonna kick his ass when I find him," I said, knowing damn well I wouldn't last ten seconds if I tried it. "I might try to crash at the lab after this."

She froze. "Why would you go there? You know it's not safe. That's the last place you should..."

"It's not safe?" I stared at her, puzzled.

"You really don't know. My god." She got up and paced a little, chewing on a fingernail. "You're really not him."

I had been arched over the plate of food like a starving stray cat, but now I sat up straight and started to get annoyed. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but all you've done is stare at me and quiz me like I'm some kind of war spy in a bad movie. Emma, I just wanted to find you, and now here we are! And you're telling me... I'm... not..."

I suddenly looked down at my hands. On the street they'd looked the same in the quick glance I'd given them, but now, in the better light, I realized that there was an inch-long scar on the back of my right hand, and a small black shape in the web between my thumb and index finger that hadn't been there before, almost like an aborted attempt at a tattoo.

I stood up so fast that the chair clattered to the ground behind me. "Holy shit," I breathed shakily.

//A/N

I guess we should change the A/N to E/N for editor's notes as we all know that the brilliant Willow is the author of this chapter! What did you guy's all think....it seriously feels like a WEEK is soooooooo long to wait. It's driving me crazy that 1) I have to wait a week to write an A/N 2) I have to wait a week to see your comments on the latest chapter! That was always the highlight for me. Much sadness.

Still catching up from all my lost work during my sickies, so unfortunately the once a week post will be staying for now.

IN THE MEANTIME! We are almost at a 100,000 reads...We have a super fun little thing for you to play around with that Tom made in his spare time to celebrate this amazing milestone. AND WATTPADERS get to play with it in advance of the launch. Right now it is a beta version, but as time goes on we hope to add some gaming elements such as puzzles and clues and much fun stuff. Guess what chapter it is from??

http://thekarada.com/remoteview/ 

Give us your feedback, so we can improve it as we go.

AND PLEASE BE SURE TO VOTE, COMMENT, and FAN!!

<3

C, T, and J 

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