25 years ago

Kathrine yawns as she wakes up from her slumber and steps off her bed, her light feet pattering against the floor as she leaves her room. She walks to the edge of her stairs and holds onto the railing at the top, she can hear her parents arguing downstairs. Catching her mom whispering but still loud enough to hear,

"Charlie shouldn't be doing that! She's only six years old!" Her mom sighs and her father speaks up,

"She'll learn...just because she's lying all the time and chasing birds doesn't mean anything is wrong with her." He says seemingly unconcerned.

"It's not just that! She throws rocks at birds and chases the cat up the tree repetitively. I'm beginning to think she's influencing Kate to..." Her mom trails off and suddenly Charlie tugs on Kathrine's arm smiling,

"Big sister! Can I show you something?" She giggles and grabs onto her hand walking down the stairs, passing their parents.

"Where are you off to?" Mom asks putting her hand on her hip and raising her eyebrow at them.

"I wanna show sister the trees," Charlie says smiling and their father sighs,

"Charlie I already told you to stay away from the trees. It's dangerous it's not our property and you must cross the road. You're an imbecile Charlie." He spits out his words stabbing Kathrine like knives but she knows Charlie doesn't understand that word yet. Before anything else is said Kathrine pulls on Charlie's arm and heads outside, as they're walking Charlie looks over to Kathrine.

"What does that word mean?" Charlie looks at her expectantly

"Imbecile? It's uh...another way of saying a person you love" she lies feeling horrible but Charlie's eyes light up.

"Daddy loves me?" she asks hopefully and Kathrine bites her lips holding back tears.

"Of course, Daddy loves you very much," She says and Charlie hugs Kathrine and giggles. Charlie holds onto Kathrine's hand as they walk and starts humming leading her to the road that separates their property from the forest, cars whizz by and Charlie doesn't seem to stop, Kathrine pulls Charlie back and into her arms shaking her head,

"Charlie, you have to watch out for cars, they're going really fast out here in the country okay?" Kathrine frowns and looks down at her and Charlie just smiles and nods, they wait until the road is clear and then cross into the trees. They walk briefly, and then Charlie stops and points at the ground. Kathrine sees a feral cat and grabs ahold of Charlie slowly backing up.

"Sis it's okay, that's Dr. Kissalot! He's a friendly kitty!" Charlie tries to reassure Kathrine but Kathrine keeps ahold of Charlie and drags her back,

"Charlie, stay away from that cat okay?" Kathrine says, crossing the road back to their property. When they get inside their dad looks over, raises an eyebrow, and clears his throat,

"Did you go to the trees, Charlie?" he asks sharply. Kathrine tries to speak up but he glares at her and shakes his head so she falls silent. Charlie simply nods and their dad narrows his eyes,

"Darling take Kathrine up to her room okay?" he turns to his wife and she looks down at the ground and nods solemnly taking Kathrine by the hand and fighting back tears. Kathrine hears Charlie scream and the sounds of slapping fill the air, her mother covers her ears and cries holding Kathrine close.

The very next day, Kathrine wakes up early and sees Charlie waiting outside. Kathrine checks to make sure her parents aren't nearby and she walks out,

"Hey, Charlie-" Charlie runs into her arms and cries, Kathrine can feel how cold she is and tightens her grip.

"Charlie...did he leave you out here all night?" Kathrine asks and Charlie nods.

"But sis, it's Dr. Kissalot he's stuck in a tree!" Charlie pushes off Kathrine and runs to the trees, Kathrine is sitting in stunned silence unaware of how truly terrifying and horrible her father is. She realizes how far Charlie has run ahead, right up to the road.

Charlie! Wait! Don't cross the road without!" Kathrine screams and runs after, but it's too late, tires squeal and Kathrine's eyes go wide with horror and sadness seeing Charlie fly through the air. Right in front of her is a van covered in blood and with a vicious polar bear depicted on it holding ice in its hand, the white bear turning a deep red as the blood trickles down the van. Her parents run out her mom screaming and wailing and her father shouting at the driver, Kathrine falls to her knees as all the voices start to fade and a heavy ringing fills her ears as she gazes upon her fallen sister.

Present Day

Kit sits on a chair inside the submarine's lab after explaining to Clair and Boran what they saw and how The Stranger could know about something like that.

"My parents blamed me for that day ever since, when I finally turned eighteen they kicked me out of the house, I never have forgotten that image of the polar bear and it haunts my every dream." Kit sighs and cups their face in their hands.

"Maybe it can manifest fears?" Boran says scratching his head and looking at them both, Kit shrugs and Clair shakes her head.

"I doubt it's so simple. It can seemingly read all our memories and interact with the environment, it's like it can alter reality." She responds.

"But what does it want?" Kit responds looking up at them.

"Fun," Boran responds quickly and they both look at him as he continues,

"Think about it, it said it hasn't seen humans in a while so maybe it's bored and wants to toy with us, I mean it almost threw Kit off a cliff there. If they fell who knows what's down there this is all uncharted territory." He finishes and the others nod.

"We need to explore the surroundings in the morning, but now we need rest. Until we know our enemy we should sleep in shifts. You two sleep first I need a moment." Clair says \

"Right, thanks Clair you saved me," Kit says, smiles, and walks out to their room.

"Clair, if anything happens you let me know okay?" Boran asks and hugs Clair.

"Right." Clair smiles and watches Boran walk out. She waits until he walks into his room and shuts the door, she then walks out to front of the submarine and sobs.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" she asks quietly to nobody.