It was even later in the month now. She wasn’t even focused on the world around her anymore, just the times she'd been pulled into the void. It was Saturday, and Michelle was sitting across the table from where Kiki was staring blankly into space. Her delicate brows furrowed together, accenting the subtle creases above her nose. Her French nails drummed against the table as she tried to figure out just what was tormenting her daughter so. It was obvious enough that something extremely complex was plaguing her mind; all Michelle could sense from her daughter was a heavy, draining burden and it was sucking the life out of her baby girl. Even Pushing or Pulling her emotions wasn't working.
“Kiki, are you alright?” She only made a small noise of acknowledgment, her gaze not leaving… Anything, really. Michelle narrowed her eyes, the ocean-blue colour darkening just slightly. Taylor, who was doing homework in the living-room just a few feet away, crumpled a piece of paper into a ball and launched it telekinetically at his sister’s head.
“Yo space cadet, what mom’s trying to say is you’ve been acting dumber than normal.” He muttered a few answers in German as he filled out the spaces of his worksheet. The paper ball hit its mark, but it went ignored by the target. Michelle looked up past the girl to her second child.
“Taylor, go to your room and do your homework, please.” Taylor didn’t move, just kept scribbling on his papers.
“I’m fine here mom-” She raised a hand and pointed to the hallway leading to his room with one slender finger.
“Now,” the tone was final and not even Taylor would argue with his mother when she used it. Out loud at least. He fumed and stomped away down the hallway, leaving Michelle and Kiki sitting in the dining-room alone. “Cherie, you’ve been acting strangely, what’s wrong?” Kiki continued with her empty staring at the wall. “I’m getting calls from your teachers, Kiki. You’re distracted and listless in class, and Taylor has even asked some of your friends how you’ve been. He tells me it’s not good.” Kiki didn’t even make any move to show she was paying attention. “Kiki, you’ve barely said anything all week!” Slowly, her head turned so that her eyes met Michelle’s.
“I… Something’s wrong with me.” Michelle, worry visible on her visage, reached across the table and gently placed her hand over one of Kiki’s, before she pulled it back in shock when a shout rang out from down the hallway.
“Moooom! Tell Kiki to turn her brain off like normal, Andrew’s screaming weird things!” The mother of three pushed her chair back from the table and made her way down the hallway. Kiki returned to staring holes through the wall, her hand fiddling with the pocketwatch. She could hear the murmur in the back of her mind, the darkness she saw suddenly exploding into colour.
“Just bring me back already, Andrew can hear everything and he’s already burdened enough!” Nothing happened, and she could still hear Andrew howling in the back rooms, so she shot out of her chair, causing it to clatter noisily to the floor. She pulled her spring jacket off the hanger, jammed her feet into her shoes and bolted out the door in a wild sprint. She ran and ran and kept running even when her lungs started filling with lava and her feet stung. She couldn’t even see where she was going anymore; the dark of the night sky blotted out much of her surroundings in a blanket of deep navy and her eyes were blurring so much the light from the streetlamps was becoming nothing more than a faint yellow streak in her peripheral vision.
“Do you understand yet?” She stopped running, knowing she wouldn’t move very far now that she was back in the god-forsaken space again. However, this time she wasn’t confused or in awe, this time she was upset. Furious.
“No. No, I don’t understand!” She wailed. “All I know is it’s dark and everything is talking at once and you’re pestering me about power and voices and knowing where this is and I just think I’m going insane!” She huffed, sniffling and trying to catch her breath still after her sprint.
“Kiki, you’re perfectly san-” She covered her ears.
“Stop! Stop saying my name! Who are you? What are you? My imagination, I’ll bet!” There was no reply, so she flung her hands down and continued, her voice mounting in volume, “what part of me are you? Which part of my brain needed to be realized so you came into being?”
“I am not just a part of your mind,” the voice snapped, sounding defiant. Kiki snorted loudly, blocking the colours and voices accompanying from her mind.
“Really now? Where else could I be other than inside my mind? Look at this place!”
“You know where you are! Just think!” Kiki exhaled heavily.
“If I knew, wouldn’t I have told you already to get this over with?! I could be anywhere, anywhere at all, and you won’t give me any hints!”
“You said yourself the pocketwatch has-”
“Yeah, and maybe because I’m bitter about my dad ditching the family and leaving it with me I’m projecting on it and blaming the thing!” There was a moment of silence and Kiki took the time to try to slow her breathing and calm down so the blood rushing to her head didn’t continue to burn her cheeks. The voice finally returned,
“How much time passes when you’re in here?” She scoffed.
“And that’s important how-”
“Answer the question!” It was impossible to refuse the tone, so Kiki blurted out,
“Last time felt like an hour.”
“And how much time passes for the rest of the world when you leave here?” Kiki opened her mouth to reply, but instead she froze completely. The first time this had happened, she hadn’t missed any of math class and the clock hadn’t even changed. The second time was the same, in fact; she distinctly remembered a paper ball being thrown when she went to the realm and when she returned to reality, the paper still hadn’t hit the board. Each case after that was the same; she could be in the void forever, but in reality, no time would have passed. Her head throbbed. It was completely absurd, and yet, it made sense. Kiki felt a presence behind her, as if encouraging her to speak what was on her mind.