REM

Direction Unknown

I made a deal with myself that I would never ask for directions if I found myself lost. Yes, I am a stubborn man, but I had to make an exception this one time, which was probably a good thing.

My day started off with witnessing a decapitated monster in the lobby of my hotel. Unsure of what to do, I ran from the scene as I stumbled upon it, needing to clear my mind immediately.

A lot has changed in the past decade. More and more magical creatures are coming out of the woodwork, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since I like fantasy and mythical creatures. The thing I don't like however, is finding out they are at war with one another, bringing fights to our streets and establishments, which means even while I am on vacation, I could witness their aggressiveness.

Walking as fast as I could, I made it several blocks from the hotel before I realized I needed to go see my uncle. The whole reason I was vacationing in the city was to check in on him since his health was waning.

I turned left before the light changed, hoping I was going in the right direction. As I took each step, something built up inside me, forcing my gut feeling to be rotten. I was going the wrong way, but I knew I was close.

As cars approached a turn lane, I walked up to a silver one, the woman driving with her window down.

"Excuse me," I began. "Do you know where the DVP meets Bloor?"

"Yes, just down the street over there." She pointed to my right and then began to drive off as she was holding up traffic.

"Thank you!" I yelled out to her as she waved back.

I changed my direction, waiting for the light to switch so I wasn't causing anymore disruptions to the flow of traffic. Once the light changed and the walk symbol showed, I hurried across the street and kept a steady pace.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, I felt like I was being watched. I looked behind me, seeing someone dressed in all black with a hat on.

Weird, I thought to myself. It was a nice day out, so there really wasn't a need for a trench coat, but a hat might come in handy to block out the sun.

Before I could think about devising a plan to stay safe, I was pulled off the sidewalk and into someone's yard. I stumbled, nearly falling as I felt tiny scratches stinging my arms and face.

"What the heck was that for?" I asked the women standing before me. Both were blonde, but one had shorter hair than the other, making her look more like a man.

"There's no time to explain," the short-haired blonde urged through tight lips.

"You can't just pull people at random from the sidewalk," I objected, needing some sort of quick explanation.

"Someone is following you," the long-haired woman explained.

"Some thing." Corrected the other, her eyes looking intensely into mine.

"What?"

"No more time for questions." The one with short hair grabbed my arm and yanked on it as we all began to run through backyards.

"You have to tell me what I'm running for," I huffed, leaping over a flowerbed. We continued running for quite some time, hurdling ourselves over fences and hedges.

Turning a corner, we found ourselves in someone's backyard with a large greenhouse. They led the way, opening the door and closing it behind me.

"Now can we talk?" I asked, leaning on my knees.

"Sure," the short-haired blonde replied. "What would you like to know?"

"First off, what is chasing me? And secondly, why are you helping me?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she answered. "And the reason we're helping you, well... the same thing goes for that as well."

"Wow, so informative."

"Listen," she urged, stepping closer to me. "You can be sarcastic all you want, but I'm helping you. If you don't want my help in keeping you safe from that thing, then we'll both leave. I could care less if it kills you."

"Leanne!" barked the woman with long hair.

"What!"

"Stop being a bitch. The guy clearly has no idea why he's being followed, nor will he have any idea as to how to defend himself. That thing would catch him and torture him for information he probably doesn't even have. We can't let that happen."

The way they fought made it seem like they were married, or perhaps sisters since their features looked similar in my opinion.

"So... I might die?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"No," replied the woman who was trying to keep calm. "Not if you stick with us. Right, Leanne?" She turned to Leanne and she nodded. "See? We're all good." Looking back at me, I wasn't entirely convinced.

A loud knock made me jump as someone rapped on the window of the greenhouse.

"What are you doing in my greenhouse?" asked an elderly woman with dark hair. "You better not be stealing anything, or I'll call the Police."

"We are the Police," replied Leanne, clearly lying.

"Oh? Well come out then and show me your badge."

"We can't, ma'am. We're undercover. If you don't allow us to leave unseen, I will be forced to kill you."

"Are you threatening me, young lady? Do you know what I am?"

We all looked at one another, me raising my eyebrows for an answer from either of them.

"A witch, that's what I am. I'll curse you if you threaten me again. Now get out!"

Leanne rolled her eyes, clearly not impressed with the situation we found ourselves in. She ran past me toward the back side of the greenhouse, jumping at the material as it split open. Her partner grabbed my hand and pulled me. We too ran at the opening and flung our bodies through it.

Landing hard on the other side, I gathered my bearings and realized we were next to a ravine overlooking the DVP.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We climb down," instructed Leanne. "Sarah can lead."