"What have you done?" I stare at the all too familiar landscape. My face is pale and sweat beads on my forehead.
Seeque looks at me concerned, "I've never seen you in such a pitiful state... do you know where we are?"
My vision blinks and I try not to faint. "I... I know exactly where we are. This is my home." I crumple to the ground.
When I wake Seeque is standing over me holding... holding a burger. Of all things. I slap it out of her hands with a quick flick of my arm. "Do you know how many people those things have killed? Obesity is one of the leading health concerns in this forsaken world. Don't get wrapped up in the vices of a world too fat to save itself."
My mind raced as I fought to make sense of the situation. I mean ending up back on earth made as much sense as anything did anymore, but what gave me pause was my own mind. I don't want to be here. I feel so sick, even though I wanted nothing more than to leave that cursed clown world... I want nothing more than to leave this place. Seeque stood, sadly examining the hand where her burger used to be.
"I was eating that." She pouts before looking at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" I say sharply. "No you're not. I mean, wait, why? You're never sorry. You should be yelling at me or something right about now."
"Look at the state you're in." She gestures to my pitiful state. "I told father that permanently altering someone's mind was going too far, even for him."
"No..." The realization hits me like a .50 caliber bullet to the skull. "He did this?" I say numbly. "I can never return back to my life. Not until I remove this curse... and you... and find a way back here... but to do that I have to get back to that freak show of a world."
My head spins, thinking about all that I have to do just to get back to the miserable life that I once had.
"Okay, calm down for a minute and think." Seeque's voice is oddly determined. "Every world has a places in which it borders others. Of course, rifts can pop up randomly in places like what we fell into... but surely you're familiar with a place where people often disappear. Maybe a spot known for being dangerous or mysterious? From what I know most renowned rift zones are in geographic triangles."
I stare up at her blankly, "You mean... like the Bermuda triangle?"
"So you do have one of those here!" Her eyes light up, "Perfect. How do we get there?"
"Uh. I was born in America. You expect me to know geography?" I scoff and she stares at me in confusion. "Oh, forget it. We need to stock up on power and money..." An amusing thought enters my head.
That night, using a the left over power we had, Seeque landed a spot as an opener at the biggest comedy club in town. We didn't get much money from it, but Seeque was an absolute hit and with the size of the crowd in the massive show room, we both filled our reservoirs of power more than they ever had been before.
"That was so easy! People here laugh so easily." Seeque says with a broad smile as she walks backstage where I was waiting.
"You look like you enjoyed yourself."
"What can I say? It's nice when people recognize what a funny person I am."
"She actually doesn't look half bad with that smile." My thoughts somehow come straight out of my life.
Seeque giggles and walks airily toward the door with a slightly reddened face. "C'mon, let's get going."
"Hey!" I protest. "Messing with someone's mind is low. I thought you even told your dad as much."
"It's rude to think about someone behind their back." She waves off my words as she pulls me after her.
"That attitude of hers..." I catch myself as I realize I'm speaking out loud once again. "Let me have private thoughts!" I shout. "You can't just make me speak every thought I have about you out loud."
"Why not, I think it's charming. A lady likes, knowing what people think of her." She smirks.
"A lady!" I laugh. "As if. You're not the only one with power though, you know?"
"Oh. I know." She smiles. "You have so much more power than I do. That's why father chose you over me as his successor. I can't blame him though. You're really good-looking and one of the funnest people I've met to. I feel alive when I'm around you."
I put a hand over my mouth trying to hold back my laughter.
She stamps her foot. "Hey! Not cool. All I did was make you speak your mind. I didn't put words in your mouth."
I hold my hands up. "Hey, hey, who do you think I am? I didn't put words in your mouth. I just thought it'd be funny to hear what you honestly thought about me."
Yeah, between me and you, my non-existent friend... I really did just put those words in her mouth. Though, now that I think about it I would like to hear what she honestly thinks about me... maybe another day.
I'm surprised to see her blush ever so slightly and avert her eyes. "That's not what I really think." Her voice was softer than usual making it an extremely weak protest.
Interesting.
Anywho, enough time on this scene, I clap my hands and the narrator finally moves on. Well, I guess I'm the narrator, meh, forget the semantics.
Seeque lays, splayed over the bed of the hotel that we booked for the night. "I understand why you didn't want to leave with beds like this." She sighs contentedly, forgetting about the discourse earlier in the night.
"So..." I sit on the bed. "Exactly how much power can we stockpile? It would be good to get as much as we can here, while it's in high supply, right?"
She mumbled something with her eyes closed.
"Seeque?" I make a water balloon appear just above her face. It falls downward only to be flung sideways toward me at the last moment. She chuckles in her sleep and turns over on her side.
She really is something, huh. I sigh, standing up and drag her bed next to the door to my suite. I walk into my room and push my bed up against the same wall to avoid as many mishaps with out bond as possible. Taking one last look around the room I climb into bed and fall asleep.