[2021/02/07 2:42 am]

  "Who ya speakin' to?" Nell leaned on the fence next to Thomas, letting the distant lights sink into her eyes.

  "Father," Thomas replied, opening the packet of bread. "That's a lot of money you're holding...what did you do this time?" he asked uninterestedly.

  "Got it from a couple of old guys visiting," Nell chuckled, her voice mocking. "Don't think they'll be coming back, ever."

  "Interesting," Thomas replied as he chewed, trying hard not to let the hunger take away his composure.

  Nell didn't respond, instead, she stared blankly, letting the crackle plastic wrappers and Thomas' quiet chewing fill the silence. After a while, Thomas finally broke the silence, popping the last of the bread into his mouth.

  "Anything bothering you?" Thomas took a sip of the soda. He let the soda fizz in his mouth, savouring the sweet treat.

  Nell averted her gaze, staring into Thomas' eyes. But she remained silent.

  Thomas was a bit unsettled, but he did not look away. He met her eyes curiously as he took another sip from the can.

  "Thomas, just between you and me...um..." Nell finally broke the silence, but her voice stuttered, "I-um..."

  Thomas smirked, a mischievous grin hung on his lips. "Is this gonna be a confession or something like that?"

  Slap.

  Thomas stood wide-eyed, his hand clutching the red handprint on his face. It wasn't the first time Nell had slapped him, but it was the first time he'd been slapped this hard.

  His eyes were blurry. However, vaguely, he saw Nell's red puffy eyes and the tears that streamed down. But Thomas knew more than anyone — Nell never cried. Never once in her life. She was never this vulnerable.

  "Thomas? I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-" Nell apologised, wiping her tears off, rushing to check if Thomas was okay. Only to be shoved away.

  "What the hell happened to you?" Thomas backed away cautiously, his voice stern.

  Nell shuddered as she felt the shove. She opened her mouth frantically to explain, but she couldn't squeeze a single word out. She took a deep breath, her shoulders shaking.

  "Just...what the hell is Father?" she finally asked, her voice trembling. "What in the world are they...?"

  "Don't tell me you've..." Thomas closed the distance carefully, looking straight at Nell's eyes for any signs of hostility or unfamiliarity.

  Nell sighed shakily and nodded, covering her face in her palms.

  "I think...one found me too..."

  "You can't be serious..." Thomas shook, and his voice cracked. He touched his face where he was slapped. As expected, the handprint did not fade away. Instead, the skin cracked and bled. He closed his eyes, trying to calm down.

  "What do we do now...?" Nell asked timidly, her pupils were dilated and full of fear.

  "I...We can work it out..." Thomas spoke through gritted teeth, "Get to know it first...because you are stuck together for life."

  "And Nell...you've got to promise me," Thomas continued, struggling, "that you won't ever tell anyone about this. Absolutely no one. Understand?" He reached to take her hands and squeezed them. "Please..."

  Nell nodded, although still trembling, she was able to find a glimpse of her composure. "Why?" she asked.

  "I'm...not sure." Thomas sighed, but then quickly became serious. "But I know that there is a group of people out to get us. Maybe even more."

  "We will never be alone again. This is our reality."

  Nell shuddered, and with a shaky breath, she nodded. It was unclear whether it was acceptance or willful ignorance.

  Thomas took a reluctant glance at Nell. "Try naming it."

  Nell nodded again, closing her eyes as if trying to form some sort of bond with the entity inhabiting.

  "Your name is..."

  The lights around Nell warped for a split second, churning into a feverish jumble, then snapped back. Thomas turned the other way. Instinct had warned him that looking may be extremely unwise.

  "The Passenger." The inhabitant gained speech as it gained a name.

  "And may I inquire yours?" The Passenger spoke inside Nell's head, its voice was laid back and unserious — mocking, even.

  "Tell me about yourself." The Passenger demanded, "Tell me about this...world?"

  "And where'd you like me to start?" Nell asked, pressing down all her fear.

  "Hm." The voice paused, then, as if suddenly remembering something: "Why...are you so terrified? Terrified of me?"

  Nell scoffed, clenching her jaw. "Anyone would be scared to crap! I...I saw..." Nell shuddered. "I saw myself falling into...the aisle of a vertical, never-ending train. There were worms crawling on every seat, every window... no, they weren't worms. They were miniature trains."

  "No. I didn't fall, it wasn't me completely-just my eyes. But even then, I could see through them... I saw my body get crushed and eaten by the trains..."

  The Passenger swallowed, even without a throat. But it did not utter a word, seemingly enchanted by the bizarre story. Nell continued.

  "There was no end...When I stared down the aisle, there was no end, but even then, I could see you. Waiting at the end of the tunnel..."

  The Passenger took a deep breath; to a certain degree, it felt as if it sought this kind of thrilling fear.

  "And, what did I look like...?"

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  "How do you not know your own looks?" Nell asked, confused.

  "I, um. I can't see. I'm pretty sure a while ago, I couldn't speak either...but thanks to you, I now can." The passenger replied sheepishly, like a kid who's broken something important.

  Nell shook her head, refusing to overthink.

  "You were something I couldn't quite make out...like, like someone had peeled a you-shaped hole out of the world and...stuffed it full of rails. And it churned, it almost felt as if they were...your insides, just pouring out of your body and running all over the train. It was your tracks that the worm-train things crawled on."

  "I think you had a window for a head. When I looked through it, I saw...I couldn't remember exactly. But it felt like there was more of me falling — an infinite version of myself falling on different carriages. Still, I could grasp the feeling of each of them with such intricate detail that I...that I couldn't figure out which one was me anymore... had I erased myself from the world but still existed."

  "Then I reached you...somehow... I fell through you, or...the cut-out. I felt my eyes tear through your rails, and the worm-trains crawled all over it. Then...I saw myself, the actual me. My eyes fell into my sockets just like that...'

  Nell finally stopped; she could no longer feel her numb palms. But she knew they were wet with sweat.

  "I don't blame you, man..." The passenger's voice suddenly boomed, making Nell jump a little. She closed her eyes, trying to seal in the tears, and an uneasiness filled her mind - not fear, just uncomfortable.

  Because the passenger's voice was oddly soothing, familiar, even, it seemed awfully nice for its kind.

  "So? What's its name?" Nell was snapped from her trance by Thomas' sudden question. She blinked. "Oh...um, the passenger — I think..."

  "Like the one on a bus?" Thomas continued, curious. "They all have weird names, don't they?"

  Nell pouted. "More like the one on a train."

  Thomas shrugged, cracking an awkward joke. "You don't look like a train to me."

  Nell snorted, annoyed.

  "I'm going to sleep and get some rest. Because starting from now on, we're gonna be the most badass duo from now on, hey?"

  Thomas did not respond; he stared into the distance, and lights flickered and danced in his eyes.

  The rooftop door creaks and closes with the piercing noise of metal against metal.

  "Yeah. We are." Thomas whispered to himself, breathing in the crisp, cool air.

  "I won't let you die like the rest of them did, Nell." Thomas turned around, and the neon abyss no longer illuminated his face.

  His shoulders twitched, and a choked sob came from his throat.

  "You're so god damn lucky, you know that, Nell?"

  "So fucking lucky you weren't there that night."

  "I wish I were you. To get infected this late..."

  He then let out a mocking laugh and slammed his foreheadinto the brick wall as hard as he could. He did not falter at the blood running down his face.

  "Don't hear, don't look, just lie down and close your eyes. As they always say, am I right?"

  His voice carried no emotion whatsoever.

  ___________________________________________________________________

  [2021/02/07: 00 am]

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  The screen glowed lightly in the dark. The run-down apartment smelled much like a wet, mossy cave with dust and cheap beer. Nell rubbed her eyes, reaching for the light switch.

  "Click"

  The room remained dark.

  "Of course, the lights are broken. Again."

  Nell huffed, heading to the living room to open the curtains.

  She yanked them open. Grey dawn filtered through the cracked glass; the "Sun" had shone warmly from the Canopy, mainly on the rich side of Harbourview. The rays of the dusk illuminated a handwritten note.

  "Meet me at the railyard. I've got lots to teach you."

  It was Thomas; the handwriting was painfully neat, and the paper is nicely torn from the stack of bills lying on the table.

  Nell knew it was a whole world to behold, but hunger gnawed at her, forcing her to slip out of the door to scavenge for some stale food before going to the railyard.

  Nell had to cross half the district before she saw the tracks. But Nell feared no tiredness whenever a piece of mouldy bread was in her hands.

  The tracks cut through the city like a rusted scar. It was a long abandoned route.

  Nell swung herself through the gaps of the fences without thinking; the wire had been bent long ago by smaller hands, yet it still caught her jacket in the same place.

  The taste of rust clung to her tongue, especially when the tracks were wet from the light rain.

  Thomas sat on a large cargo crate, nearly two times his height. The rusty red walls reminded Nell of some distant memories.

  "whatcha gonna teach me?" She asks curiously, peeling the last bit of mould off her bread and then stuffing it in her mouth.

  "Nell, when someone tries to kill you, what do you do?"

  "Try to kill them back? I guess..." She shrugs, clearly uninterested in the dramatically mysterious tone Thomas forcibly put on.

  "That's right. I want you to try your best at 'killing me'." Thomas hops off his crate and throws Nell a gleaming switchblade. It wasn't just anything they could afford - it was new and sharp, not the dull and rusty kind they would normally use in street fights.

  Nell picks up the knife, admiring her reflection within the blade. She knew she couldn't hurt Thomas in the slightest — she knew Thomas had long been inhabited, and it granted him things beyond her comprehension.

  It was now her turn. She trusted Thomas; that bit was true. Still, butterflies danced in her stomach.

  If she slipped, she'd bleed; if he slipped, she'd die.

  "Bring it!" She smiled, a dangerous flicker in her eyes.

  Slap

  A bright red slap mark was harshly embedded onto her face before she could even react. She grit her teeth, heat rushing to her cheeks more from embarrassment than pain.

  "You're just tryna get me back for yesterday!"

  Thomas did not let out his usual, cocky laugh. For once, he was serious.

  "Communicate with it. Let it 'see' more of the world. Let it see the dangers around you - like how I'm about to slap you again."

  His voice echoed around the railyard. A heartbeat later, a flurry of slaps met Nell's face, leaving it bright red and stinging.

  Nell could feel something's attention — It was the Passenger. It felt like someone was overseeing her actions, curiously contemplating each one.

  At the same time, the sensation of worms crawling all over her slowly flooded her senses.

  "Nell, let me try this...just follow my flow." The Passenger confidently stated, but Nell could feel its immense focus.

  Soon, another flurry comes quickly.

  In the middle of a flurry of slaps, one strike should absolutely land—Nell is sure she's too slow.

  For an instant, her vision fractured into several frames of herself: one getting hit, one ducking, one just staring. The Passenger yanked her into the version that ducks.

  To Thomas, she blurred: his hand whiffs through where her face was, like she flinched slightly too early but still somehow got out of the way.

  "O-Ouch! Hey!" Nell yelled inside her head. The Passenger did not respond; it was in total concentration. It too was pushed to limits.

  "Very good, Nell!" Thomas laughed proudly. "I'm going to switch it up now, punches and kicks, like a real fight. So I could force you two to synergise."

  Nell dodges a few more slaps with the Passenger's help, but was quickly overwhelmed when Thomas started to throw in feints and punches.

  The passenger had tried its best at defending. "I'm sorry... Nell, I'm still new to all this...give me some time."

  Nell grit her teeth; she didn't want to disappoint Thomas, as someone who had learned everything himself, he was leagues ahead of her.

  "Passenger. Have you ever heard of the saying Offence is the best defence?" Nell asked in her mind.

  The Passenger paused slightly, but then quickly came to its senses. "Got it, fight back."

  There was suddenly a nasty itch that sprang up in Nell's eyes, forcing her to blink.

  But when she opened her eyes, there were rails, crawling up her arms and legs and spreading through the air around her. She was sure Thomas did not see them.

  "I would be able to accelerate your force with these rails, much like a train." The Passenger informs solemnly. "We just have to hit it."

  Nell feels as if her feet were a thousand times lighter, the rails accelerating each step. She was starting to match Thomas' speed.

  Next thing she knew, she had thrown a massive gut punch to Thomas, slamming him against the cargo crate. The force was so massive that it even left Thomas winded - for only a slight second.

  More importantly, the metal behind the boy was dented, not a massive dent, but enough for anyone to realise.