Dark Hedges

The Abilene Paradox

Mitnick, the entity felt happiness beyond description.

Spending every single day with Noah, Mitnick lived overwhelmed with completeness. Existing finally made sense, instead of being something that just happened. No more doubts plagued his mind, no more questions lingered to be answered.

Before Noah, he simply was nothing. With Noah, he was something. He was someone, seen and cared for, loved and appreciated. And Mitnick too saw and cared for Noah, loved and appreciated the boy. A bond formed between the two, one that eluded others' understanding, but it mattered not to the entity nor his friend.

At the end of the day, they had each other, no ancillaries necessary.

But life on Earth, feeble and erratic, weakens the spirit with the poison of dissatisfaction, the lifelong struggle all humans must suffer. So would Mitnick realize when, one afternoon, he came home to find Noah holding hands with another one.

A girl.

Hair as yellow as corn and eyes as clear as the afterglow, the girl smiled at Noah and the boy looked at her with the certainty of ever soul on this and every other planet.

"Mitnick," the boy welcomed his entity friend, "meet Ilya. Ilya, meet Mitnick, the entity."

"Hello, Mitnick," the girl said, reaching out to Mitnick. "My name is Ilya."

The entity stood confused. He saw as his Noah and the girl held hands and exchanged moments which did not include him. And even though all three occupied the same space, Noah and the girl seemed elsewhere entirely, in another plane of existence, a place that was only theirs, one where Mitnick would never belong, tried as he might.

"Hello Ilya," the entity spoke, words unsure, faith shaking. " Can I relate to you?"

Noah and the girl looked at him, curious eyes studying his curious frame. She spoke first.

"Well, of course you can. Any friend of Noah's is a friend of mine."

But how exactly would that work? Could Mitnick really relate to more than one?

Was he meant to? And if Noah and the girl related to each other, where would Mitnick fit? Could two halves fit a third one? Mitnick's mind now ran in circles, chasing after that which he thought was now gone from his tiny entity hands, and which flew further away from him, held prisoner in Ilya's silky hands. He held no truths. He found no clarity.

All Mitnick knew for certain was that, from the moment Noah laid eyes on the girl, his world would never be the same.

********

"Teddy? Teddy? TEDDY!"

The world around him changed.

A small forest cabin, moist but cozy turned into a large office, cold and clinical. Green became white, three became two and before he knew it, a sleet of colours and a shift in corporeality took him back to the place he wished he could abandon for good.

Snapping out of his trance, he turned to find the hulking figure of Bradford Rhodes standing in front of him, waving his hands at his face, a trunk flapping its branches. Unsure of which of the two looked more stupid, Teddy cleared his throat and, after turning around to make sure no one else was in the newsroom, gifted Bradford with his attention.

"Hey," he said, his dubious words treading the unknown road that was a conversation with Bradford. "What's up?"

"Are you okay?" the muscular boy asked, seemingly ignoring his question. "You seemed lost, like you weren't even here."