I nodded.
“You were friends with Baron?”
“Yeah…”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “We really miss having him on the team.”
“You don’t remember texting with me earlier this morning?”
“Definitely not, no.”
I pulled out my phone to show Sidney our text exchange, but something was wrong. There was nothing there, and Sidney’s number no longer existed as a contact. And there was something else. My phone said it was Monday. It was Sunday when I woke up and left the house. I started to sway, and stars sparkled in my peripheral vision.
“We’ve met,” I said. “We drank wine, you showed us your tattoo—House Atreides, from Dune.”
“Okay,” Sidney said. At the mention of her hidden tattoo, her tone changed completely. She lowered her voice. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but if you don’t turn around and leave right now, I’m calling security.”
“My name is K. You came to the arcade because of something that happened with Baron, because of the Byzantine Game Engine.”
Sidney pulled out her phone and started dialing.
“Please,” I said. “I really need to get back up to The Tower.”
Sidney spoke into her phone. “Albert, I need you in the lobby immediately.”
I turned away from Sidney and hurried out of the building.
* * *
—
I stepped out into a light rain and called an Uber.
I waited around for a couple of minutes for the driver to show, but I was pretty freaked out by what had just happened, so I eventually canceled the ride and just started walking.
I walked for hours.
The rain had completely soaked my hoodie and jeans, but I just kept walking, doing my best to put one foot in front of the other, working to keep the gray feeling at bay and pushing all Rabbits-related thoughts away as quickly as they popped into my head. I couldn’t have lost an entire day. There had to be some kind of logical explanation.
It was at this point that I noticed a car following me.
A yellow Prius had been driving behind me for about ten minutes, maintaining its distance while other cars sped up and passed. I could tell it was the same car because it had a decal on the passenger-side door that featured a tree floating above the words: ASK ME ABOUT NATUREX. I tried to get a look at whoever was inside the car, but the windows were tinted.
The person behind the wheel may have had a perfectly good reason for driving slowly, and perhaps the fact that they’d been traveling the exact same route as me was a coincidence, but just in case, I crossed the street and left the Prius at an intersection in the far lane, unable to follow. Then, to make certain they wouldn’t be able to find me again, I turned down a random alley half a block down. Unless they had some kind of drone or stealth helicopter technology, I’d definitely lost them.
* * *
—
But I saw the Prius again a few blocks later, and once again, it was following me, keeping its distance a few cars back. I thought about turning around, running up to the car and knocking on the driver’s-side window, but something about the entire situation didn’t feel right.
That’s when the floodgates finally opened, and the familiar wave of anxiety poured into my mind and body. Suddenly, I had the feeling I was walking alongside myself, my body completely untethered from my mind. In that moment, I had one thought: If I could just lose that yellow car, everything would return to normal.
I pulled out my phone to take a picture of the car’s license plate, but the rain kept interfering with the touch screen. I was eventually able to open my phone’s voice recorder application, so rather than write it down, I simply dictated the license plate number into my phone.
I walked for another block or so and then turned around. The car was still there.
After another half block, I pulled the same trick that had momentarily worked before. I left the yellow car stopped at a red light, but this time, instead of turning down a random alley, I stepped directly onto a bus that had conveniently just pulled over. There was no way they could possibly follow me now.
* * *
—
The bus was packed with people. I paid the fare, made my way through the crowd, and found a seat near the back. I stared out at the street through the windows. The yellow Prius was nowhere to be seen. I tried to relax, but I was feeling strange.
I took a deep breath. The car was gone. Everything was fine.
So why was there an unpleasant warm buzzing feeling moving through my body? Why was my heart racing, and why were my eyes unfocused and blurry? I started running through a deep-breathing exercise as I looked around.