Gemini Seasons

Chapter 1

"She's here. I can feel her. But where? Where is she?"

"Where's who," a voice suddenly cut through Amber's thoughts. Her friend Nicky sat across the table from her, staring at her oddly.

"E- nevermind," Amber looked down, closing her eyes in an attempt to focus; clear her head a bit.

"I know it's hard being here, especially after... it... happened," Nicky said, reaching across the table to rest his hand on her shoulder," But you were the one who wanted to come here, remember?"

Amber turned away slightly, turning to survey the crowded dining room. Children laughed and played. Music flowed through unseen speakers hidden in the ceiling. And, up on the brightly lit stage stood three animatronic mascots- a bunny, a mouse, and a cat. She stared at the trio, studying their motions - the programmed, scripted, mindless patterns. She did not know the songs they sang, yet she could sing them. She did not know this new place, yet it haunted her the same.

"She's here," Amber whispered. Then she saw it. The door. A door leading to a side room labeled "Employees Only" with a smaller sign reading "Parts and Services."

After a few moments, Nicky finally looked in the direction Amber was staring - the door. He was quiet for a moment, then softly, he asked," You don't think...," before trailing off, not wanting to bring up the topic by name. Then he noticed something else; a woman who seemed strangely familiar, standing alone in the dim hallway. She seemed to be talking on a cellphone, but Nicky couldn't read her words from his distance.

Then, almost as if she has sensed him watching her, the young woman turned around to stare almost directly at him. No. Not at him. At Amber. Nicky glanced across the table at her; she had turned back to the half-eaten dessert in front of her. Still staring. They both were.

Nicky looked  down the hall, towards the strange woman, but she was gone. He looked around, searching for any sign of her. But there was none. She had vanished.

Looking back at Amber, Nicky started to say something, to mention the strange lady, but she cut him off before he could even start.

"I know. I saw her. But it's not her. I think," Amber closed her eyes, struggling to remember," But she was there though. I do remember that."

-------------------------------------------------------

Switching her cellphone off, Stella let out a long sigh. She had been holding her breath, she realized.

"Why is she here," she thought, a slight panic beginning to form. She looked down at the broken form in front of her.

"She's here for you, isn't she," Stella asked, almost timidly, as if she was afraid to even speak to the thing," But how does she know? How can she know?"

For a moment, Stella thought she saw its ear twitch, its head turn slightly towards her. And, for a second, there was a tiny spark, a flicker of light in its eyes.

Stella sighed again, leaning against inside of  the door to the room. The room where the broken parts lay, never to be truly serviced. I was really a home, of sorts, a makeshift place for the dead to stay, where she could try to right the wrongs as best she could.

"Ok. Fine. I will," she whispered, watching as the eyes flashed one final time before going dark. She closed her eyes, trying not to think of what had happened. That was the past. All that was left was here, now, in this place. All except one thing... the main thing... the problem...