CHAPTER ONE.

Graham was standing in the middle of a long hallway. The white walls were nearly blinding as he looked behind and ahead of him at the hall. It was the old facilities halls. There was no one in the halls with him and by the sound of it, there wasn't anyone in any of the rooms. The silence left Graham feeling uneasy. Fauna and her companions always pressed for silence at the facility. Because of it, there was always an eerie silence flowing through the facility. It was also the reason Graham hated the silence-- it reminded him too much of being back at the facility. And yet now, here he was. Back in the facility.

He shook his head and began walking down the familiar hallway. He made his way towards the door that led to the "common area" of where he used to stay. He hummed quietly to himself, just trying to make some noise seeing as the silence was causing extreme discomfort. He approached the door and pulled it open. He walked into the room to find it empty. He walked towards another door. This one led to his and his "siblings" old bedroom. He was hesitant in opening it. After opening it, the first thing Graham noticed was the person lying with their back to him on Melody's old bed. The person's breathing became heavy. Graham had no interest in approaching the person.

He began to back away from the room. He paused when hearing the person say his first name. It had been awhile since someone had called him Milo and he did not like it one bit. Even his "siblings" had gotten used to calling him Graham. The voice was distorted and deep. The person began moving as if they were turning before they stood. Shaking his head, Graham fully backed out of the room and shut the door. Holding the doorknob, he listened as footsteps began walking closer to the door. If he held onto the doorknob, they wouldn't be able to open it, right? It was now Graham's turn to breathe heavily as he felt the knob attempt to turn. Nope, nope, nope. His grip on the knob tightened.

On the bright side, Graham was no longer uncomfortable by the silence because his heart was beating loud enough that he was sure that the person in the other room could hear it. The distorted voice said his name again causing him to suck a breath in. They were still trying to turn the knob. Graham had no clue what was happening right now. His grip on the door loosened when he heard a thump. Something was telling him to open the door and see what happened. But his common sense told him to leave the door shut.

All of a sudden, there were multiple loud voices practically screaming from behind him. He turned his head to see Fauna and some of the medical employees flooding through the door. They were all screaming and rushing but Graham couldn't understand any of the words coming out of their mouths. They shoved Graham away from the door and rushed into the bedroom. Graham, after being shoved, lost his balance and fell to the ground. Confused, he looked up to see Fauna standing over him. The look on her face told him that she was scolding him but he still couldn't understand anything she was saying.

Fauna reached down, grabbed Graham's arm, and pulled him to his feet. She dragged him towards the room where the doctors were loudly working. She pushed him through the door frame, still holding onto his arm. With her other hand, she began pointing at the doctors that were standing over a body on the ground. She was still yelling at Graham. The doctors went silent as they looked over to Fauna and Graham. They were standing in front of the body and Graham was still extremely confused as to what was happening. He watched the doctors shake their heads at Fauna before moving out of the way. Then, they disappeared. Graham didn't even get the chance to process their disappearance because he was immediately greeted by the sight of Melody's dead body lying on the floor. It was in the middle of the room. When did Melody get in the room and where did the person with the distorted voice go?

Graham turned his head towards Fauna only to realize that they were no longer in the bedroom. Fauna was sitting in a chair across from the couch. He and his siblings were all squished together on the couch with a few on the floor in front of the couch. They were all looking at him. A disappointed look on all their faces. They were all saying something, talking over one another, but Graham still couldn't understand them. The only thing he could understand was when they said Milo. The name caused Graham to grimace.

Though it seemed impossible for Graham to become any more confused than he already was, when the two siblings sitting beside him started shaking him, he was confused beyond belief. Then, they started calling him Graham instead of Milo. By that point, Graham's confusion was through the roof.

Jumping from his sleeping position, Graham looked around the room he was in frantically. His eyes landed on Jericho standing at the edge of the bed. Graham shoved his blanket off him before rubbing his eyes.

"What time is it?"

Jericho looked down at his watch, "Six A.M." Jericho paused for a moment as Graham ran a hand through his hair. Jericho wasn't sure how to ask the question he was planning on asking, but he felt like he had to. Letting out a noise somewhere between a groan and a whine, "All right, I try to let you do your own thing with your personal life stuff. But I gotta know, what's with the kid? You got a kid you didn't tell me about? Is it one of your siblings? What's going on? Why is there just all of a sudden a kid living with you?"

Graham looked up at Jericho, annoyed,  "Look, I just woke up from another shitty ass nightmare. I'm not doing this fucking playing around joking shit today, Jericho. I haven't had coffee or any food. I don't have the energy for it yet." He stood from his bed, pushing Jericho away from him a bit before going over to his closet to grab a shirt.

Jericho turned around to look at Graham only to be met with his backside, "Stop deflecting! This isn't a joke. I saw that kid sitting on the couch eating cereal. They said they live here with you now! You don't have to tell me the full story but I think that, at the very least, I deserve to know who they are!" The seriousness in Jericho's voice caused Graham to spin around, eyes slightly widening.

Graham pointed a finger towards his bedroom door and spoke slowly, "Jericho, why is there a fucking kid in my house? Because I did not adopt any fucking strays. I didn't let any kids into my house. If I walk out there and there's a kid out there and this isn't a joke, I'm hitting you."

Jericho threw his hands up, "Why are you asking me why there's a kid in your house? That's what I'm asking you! The kid told me that you brought them here to live with you! I'm just going off what they said!"

Graham brought his hands to his hips, "Jericho, why would I bring a kid here to live with me? When have I ever given you the idea that I like those things? Do you genuinely think that I could even take care of a fucking child?"

Jericho gasped, realization spreading on his face, "That last thing-- dude, you can't even really take care of yourself. You'd never be able to take care of a kid." His eyes widened, "Wait, so then, why is there one out there?"

"I don't fucking know!"

"What do we do?"

"I don't fucking know!"

The bedroom door slid open. Both of the boys' heads snapped to the door to see a teenage girl standing there. She held a bowl of cereal and leaned against the door frame. She took a bite of the cereal, looking between the boys.

"You two are mad loud, you know?"

An offended look made its way onto Graham's face, "You break into my home, use my dishes to make yourself food, eat my food, tell my person-thing," Graham motioned to Jericho, "that I brought you here to live with me, and then you have the nerve to call me loud?" Graham crossed his arms over his chest, "Who in the fuck are you?"

Jericho smacked Graham's arm, "Dude, she's a fucking kid, you cant cuss at her like that."

Graham shook his head, "She broke into my house, Jericho. Fuck her." Graham looked back at the girl, who was still just eating cereal and looking between the two boys. With a huff, Graham approached the girl, "Gimme that." He yanked the bowl from her hand causing milk to spill from the bowl. He then grabbed the spoon from her other hand. He slammed the bowl down on the nightstand by his bed, looked back to the girl, and pointed to the bowl, "I paid for that food and those dishes. Not you."

Jericho smacked Graham's hand down, "She's a kid, Graham. Maybe she's just homeless and hungry, go easy on her."

Graham shoved a finger in Jericho's face, "Smack me again, Jericho. Please, fucking smack me again." Jericho rolled his eyes. Graham turned his attention back to the kid, "You gonna answer my fucking question?"

The girl shrugged, "You two gonna shut up so I can answer?"

Graham dropped his hands to his hips again and looked to Jericho, "Look, me and cops? Not friends. But I'm about to call them on this kid."

"No, you are not." Jericho waved Graham off. Jericho turned towards the kid and spoke softly, "Look, if you're homeless and hungry or something, I can get you some food and a hotel room. Ther-"

Graham interrupted, waving a finger around, "Don't fucking baby talk her! If she is grown enough to break into my house, she is grown enough to be spoken to like she's grown."

Jericho turned back to Graham, "Dude, you are the least compassionate person I've ever met. She's a kid. Clearly, there's a reason she broke in. Can you find a smidge of sympathy inside your fucking shit-filled heart?"

"No," Graham shook his head. He looked to the kid, "It ain't nothing personal. But I don't trust people and I got a lotta reason not to trust 'em. Kid or not. I'm extremely weirded out by you breaking into my house and I don't feel comfortable about it either. Kid or not, you were smart enough to be able to break into my home that has all kinds of hidden security shit, so I'm not about to baby you over this. So who are you and why are you here?"

"Lots of reasons not to trust people? Reasons like Fauna and The Visionaries?" The kid asked, pushing herself up off the door frame.

Graham sucked in a breath and Jericho looked over to him, "Who or what is Fauna and The Visionaries?"

Ignoring Jericho, Graham approached the kid, "You got about twenty seconds to get out of my house before I kill you. Like straight up kill. I've got guns. Get out." The aggression in his voice became more noticeable the more he spoke.

Jericho pulled Graham back away from the kid, forcefully, "Dude, what the fuck. Chill out!" He turned to the kid, "Look, why don't you let me get you a hotel room and get you some food?"

The girl looked at Jericho as he spoke before looking over his shoulder to Graham, "My name's Fern. Fauna's my mother." She let out a sigh, "I was trying to find you and the other seven my mother had kept away from the others. You eight were her pride and joy. I felt that you all would be my best option. But all I could find was you. Your anger and discomfort are understood."

Jericho looked back to Graham, confused, "Kept away from the others? What does that mean? Graham, what is going on right now?"

Graham shushed Jericho, "Get out of my house, Jericho. Call Diego and ask him to come to look out for you today. I got personal stuff to deal with." Graham pushed Jericho past the kid and began walking him towards the front door.

Jericho spluttered his words out, "Wh-What? Hold on, Graham. I wanna know what's going on?"

Graham opened the front door and pushed him out, "You said you would never force me to tell you anything I don't wanna tell you. I don't wanna tell you this. Don't force me. I'll see you tomorrow or something. If you betray my trust and try and look into this, I'll kill you in your sleep tonight." He slammed the door in Jericho's face. He turned around to see that Fern had grabbed her bowl of cereal back and was sitting on the couch. Graham stayed by the front door, "Who sent you?"

"What am I supposed to say to that? God? God sent me? Is that what you want?"

Graham let out an aggressive sigh, "Who from the facility sent you, kid?"

Fern shook her head, chewing cereal, "No one from the facility sent me. I'm trying to get away from them. That's why I tried to find you eight. Somehow you convinced the facility that you're all still there. You all hid the other kids who escaped and yourself so well. I wanna be hidden too."

"You said you're Fauna's daughter?" Fern nodded and Graham continued, "If you're trying to escape them and hide from them, why do you still refer to her as your mom? All the other kids stopped as soon as we left. Wasn't like she was really our mom anyway."

Fern drank down the milk from her bowl before sitting it on the coffee table, "I say she's my mom because she is my mom. She is my birth mom. I came out of her. I'm not one of the experiment kids like you." Graham scoffed at "experiment kids."

"Fauna didn't have any kids. I think that's something I would remember," Graham noted.

"She hid me. She was afraid that the experiment attempts on her pregnancy would fail and I wouldn't have powers like I was meant to. I was three when you all escaped. I really only remembered what was told to me for the longest time. But the thing is, I do have a power. And that power helped me find out what really happened. And how you all managed to get out and even convince the facility you all were still there." Graham moved to the right side of the room where his dinner table sat. He pulled a chair out and sat down, still not wanting to be too close to the girl.

He ran a hand through his hair, "What ability do you have?"

"Electricity Manipulation. After you all escaped, the security room was moved. I think it had something to do with how easily you all were able to access it. But I managed to get in and power them up. The old footage was still in the systems. I saw the fight. I heard the conversation about Melody's faked death and Alistar's help. I saw the shutting down of the security systems. The fighting guards. I saw Alistar use his power to warp reality within the facility to make my mother and The Visionaries believe they won the fight and that none of you escaped."

"But why the fuck would you do that to begin with?"

"I was a curious child," Fern shrugged, "There's really nothing more to it. I know it's not a good reason. Certainly not one good enough to get you to believe me. But I was a curious kid and I wanted to know more about the fight. I didn't know that you all weren't really still there until I saw the footage. It was an incredible trick. I mean, you guys always seemed so real."

"Always seemed so real? You met the reality warp us?"

Fern nodded, "My mom put in with you all when I was thirteen. I became "one of her special kids" too. Finding out that you all weren't real was honestly kinda terrifying. And just a side note, but real you, so far, seems like way more of a dick than reality warp you. But I mean, granted, the whole dick thing is kind of valid considering the circumstances."

"Why didn't you just knock on my fucking door?"

Fern let out a small laugh, "I did. You didn't answer. At first, I left and climbed the fire escape and looked in your bedroom window. You looked like you were having a nightmare. I checked the windows and one of the living room windows was unlocked, so I came in. I tried to wake you up, you seemed extremely affected by the dream. I shook you and kept calling out your name. But you didn't wake up. And I was kinda hungry so I came to make myself something to eat. Figured we would talk when you woke up. Then, Jericho came in and saw me." Graham was about to speak but Fern cut him off, "Also, did all you change your names after you left? 'Cause Jericho kept calling you Graham. Maybe that's one of the reasons I couldn't find the others."

Graham leaned back in the chair, "No, the others kept their names. Got new last names but that's it. I'm the only one that changed my name."

"How come?"

"Personal stuff."

Fern nodded, "Valid. You got any other questions?"

Graham sighed, "I feel like I got a lot of questions. I just don't know what to ask. I also still don't trust you in the slightest, honestly." Graham moved his arm up onto the table and began tapping, "How did you even find me? Why are you trying to escape them? I mean, if Fauna's your real mom, shouldn't you be like evil too or something?"

Fern's face scrunched up, "Evil isn't genetic."

Graham scoffed, "Well, no shit. But I meant, like, she raised you and shit. So she would obviously raise you to be like evil and shit like her, right?"

Fern's face was still scrunched up, "Milo, she fucking raised you too! By that logic, shouldn't you be evil too?"

Graham's face dropped, "Touché." Graham grimaced shortly after, "Don't call me Milo either. I can't stand it. I go by Graham and only Graham."

Fern rolled her eyes, "I went along with it for a while. Then, after my curiosity got the best of me and I checked the old footage, my views changed. I, for the longest time, wanted to be like my mother and make her proud. But after seeing the footage and hearing to the full extent what her real plan was, things changed." Fern let out a soft sigh, "Look like you and Jericho said a thousand times, I'm just a kid. I'm seventeen, dude. I don't wanna go to fucking war at some point in my life to fucking take over the world."

Graham was about to respond when the realization struck, his mouth falling agape, "You fuckin' ran away from the facility. But you didn't have a motherfucker with reality-warping powers to hide the fact that you ran away. You're Fauna's fucking daughter. She knows you ran away. They're probably tracking you down as we speak."

Fern waved Graham off, "I stole my mom's credit cards and I've been using my Electricity Manipulation to ping myself at gas stations and shit."

"Don't you think she would know that you're faking it to throw her off your tracks?"

"Nah, she doesn't think I have control of my powers. She thinks I'm unstable and shit. That's why she moved me over to the area with you guys. She thought that you guys could help me learn my abilities better and whatnot. But I was just pretending to not understand how my ability worked."

"Why?"

"I dunno. It made her mad and she looked funny when she was mad. Plus, if I fucked something up, I could just blame it on not knowing how to control my power. Then, I wouldn't get in trouble."

"Sounds like a dick thing to do. To think, you called me a dick," Graham scoffed.

Fern stood from the couch, "Are you gonna help me or not, man? I don't wanna fuckin' go back there." Graham looked up to the girl. She had a pleading look on her face and her tone made Graham feel like she was being honest--she really didn't wanna go back. For the first time since Graham had begun talking to this kid, he felt sympathy. Fern crossed her arms over her chest, "If you don't wanna help me, can you point me in the direction of your siblings? Or even some of the other kids who escaped? Anyone else who would be willing to help?"

Graham stood up, "I don't entirely trust you, so fuck no. I'm not telling you where anyone else is." Fern groaned, throwing her hands up. She made an attempt to speak but Graham was quicker, "You can stay here. I'll make some calls and have Alistar do something to get them off you completely. But like I said, I still don't trust you. One slip up, you're gone. One suspicious movement, you're gone. And I don't mean out on the streets. I will kill you." He pointed a stern finger at the girl.

"You also threatened to kill Jericho. You're a very, uh, murder-y person. I'm not sure I wanna stay here with you," Fern joked.

Graham shrugged, jokingly, as he made his way towards the kitchen, "Find somewhere else to go then. And find someone else to help you."

"I'm kidding, asshat."

"So was I, asshat," Graham opened his fridge and began pulling stuff out to make himself breakfast.

Fern skipped over to the kitchen and leaned on the counter, "What're you making?"

"Me breakfast."

Fern groaned, "Come on, man. I'm hungry. And anyway, with me living here now, you're technically my legal guardian. Which means you have to feed me."

Graham rolled his eyes before pulling pans out, "I cannot believe I let myself get convinced to let a random fucking kid move in with after like thirty minutes. I've lost my mind." Graham looked over his shoulder, "I'm making omelets."

Fern scrunched her nose up, "I don't want an omelet. I want pancakes."

Graham set the pan down on the stove and turned around to face the kid, "Are you making breakfast?" Fern went to protest but was stopped by someone knocking on the front door. With Jericho at work, and Diego more than likely with him, there was no one else who should be at his door. No one else knew where he lived. Grabbing a knife from the counter, he made his way towards the door.

"Seriously?" Fern whispered, motioning to the knife. Graham shushed her and approached the door. Graham grabbed the doorknob, holding the knife behind him with the other hand. He opened the front door slowly only to be face-to-face with Jericho.

Graham dropped his shoulders down, "What the fuck, Jericho? What are you doing here? I told you to go to work and call Diego to come to watch your back for the day."

Jericho shrugged, eating a spoonful of ice cream, "Well, I figured, despite you saying you'd call tomorrow or whatever, you're a man of getting stuff done quickly so you'd probably be done by now." Jericho leaned in slightly, "You didn't kill the kid, did you?"

Graham nodded, "Yes, I did."

From in the kitchen, Fern hollered at the same time, "Nope, still alive."

Jericho let out a sigh of relief and pushed his way into the apartment, "That's good." Graham shut the door and walked back to the stove. Jericho held a bag up, "I brought extra ice cream, you guys hungry?"

Fern pushed off the counter and practically ran towards Jericho, "Fuck yeah."

Jericho handed her the bag before pulling a chair out at the island and sitting down, "So, uh, what happened?" He motioned between Fern and Graham with his spoon. Graham didn't say anything as he went on to grab ingredients to make his omelet. Fern pulled out the chair next to Jericho and sat down.

Fern pulled one of the small ice creams out of the bag and pulled the top off, "I live here now." She let out a laugh and took a bite of the ice cream, "We're roomies."

Graham looked over his shoulder, "Can she live with you?"

Jericho let out a laugh, "Tell me the full story of who she is and what's going on and sure." Before Graham could glare at him, Jericho continued, "I'm joking. That was a joke. You do not have to tell me. But also no, she cannot live with me. It's nothing personal, kid. I just, uh, don't want a kid in my house."

"Neither do I," Graham commented.

Fern laughed at Graham before looking to Jericho, "It's Fern, by the way."

"So, uh, how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Jericho nodded before speaking to Graham, "So when are you signing her up for school?"

Graham's head shot back, "Excuse me?"

"She's seventeen. Most people don't graduate until they're like eighteen or something, right? So she's gotta go to school?" Jericho explained. Knowing Fern was more than likely not in the system and was schooled at the facility, Graham had no clue how he would get around that. But Graham also knew that getting around legal shit was something Jericho was really good at. Finishing his omelet, he put it on a plate and turned around. He turned around to grab a fork and then set it on his plate.

He nodded for a second before looking at Jericho, who was looking confused as to why Graham wasn't answering, "I got some probably extremely illegal stuff I'm gonna need you to do for me. It might take a while so I hope you didn't have anything of significance to do at work today."

Jericho shrugged, "I'm a hacker, dude. I can do that other shit whenever and however I feel like it."

Fern gasped, "Whoa, you're a hacker? That's sick, dude. Can I come with you one day and watch?"

Jericho nodded, "Sure."

Graham sent Jericho a look, "You don't even know this kid. You are too trusting for your own good."

Jericho laughed, "That's what I have you for. And anyway, if she's living with you, there's clearly some type of trust there, no?"

Graham opened and closed his mouth for a moment before commenting, "No, there's not. But that's not what's important here. I need you to hack some stuff. Put her into the system and all that shit."

"She's not in the system?" Jericho asked.

"No, can you do it?"

"Put her in the system? Yeah, sure. But why isn't she already in it? I mean, she was born in a hospital, they automatically do that shit?" Jericho spoke, confused as he looked between the two. Fern's eyes looked at Graham, waiting on his answer.

"It's complicated and you're not gonna ask questions. But no, she was not born in a hospital. You said you won't pry into my life, correct?" Jericho nodded and Graham went on, "Well, her shit interferes with my shit. Therefore, you won't pry into her life either. Will you have her put into the system? Like she's been here all along? Then, you can sign her up for school or whatever after that."

Jericho nodded again, "Am I forging old school stuff too?"

Graham waved a hand at him, "No, just say she was homeschooled or something. Put her down as my niece and shit. Create some fake parents and then a fake death for them. I don't know, really. We'll work out all the details and whatnot when we get to your office."

Fern looked up and laughed, "To your hacker office?"

Jericho looked over to Fern, "I mean, you can just call it an office but yeah."

"Sick," Fern nodded, a grin on her face. She turned the empty ice cream container to Jericho, "Can we stop for more ice cream on the way?"

Jericho nodded and went to speak but Graham smacked the bag on the table, "There's more in there. He brought enough back for all three of us. Just eat mine. I don't want it."

Fern held up a second empty ice cream container, "I already did."

"We can stop for more on the way," Jericho went on. He pointed to the bag, "It's my favorite ice cream place, you know? Also, they have way more flavors than this. I just got chocolate because I figured who doesn't like chocolate?"

Graham finished his food and sat his dishes in the sink, "Alright, let's go. We got a lot to do."

word count. 4813!
haha i CAN update believe it or not <3
I edited the end of this chapter so it ended up 200-ish words longer than before. I'm currently having my monthly bloody waterfall <3 but once that's over with or it chills out a bit, I'm gonna try to work on chapter two!! I really am doing my best to be consistent with this story, I promise! My brain genuinely cannot do like full length chapters while on my period because I be just wanting to lay in bed curled up in a ball ya know <3

posted. december 23, 2020
hexgiris.