Project Nexus: Part 4: Quiet

A girl sits in her room, drawing. There are two beings depicted in her illustrations: A beautiful woman, and a horrible monster. The door to the girl’s room cracks open.

“Emily dear, I’m leaving for work,” her father says. “There are leftovers, instant noodles, and dino nuggets if you get hungry.”

Emily doesn’t reply. The door shuts and a car is heard starting and driving off. Emily leaves the house for fresh air. She and her father live in a quiet suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of a large city.

Emily is 17. When she was nine, a large creature ran in front of her parents’ car, resulting in a crash which killed her mother and baby brother. After the crash, her father buried himself in his research, something to keep his mind off of the death of his wife and son. This caused distance between him and Emily.

When Emily steps outside, she is greeted with the sight of a boy and a girl dragging another boy into a car.

“I’ll get you both back!” The third boy threatens. “Making me do this stupid internship! Fu-“

“Excuse me,” Emily interjects. “Do you happen to be going to work at the laboratory north of here?”

The three teenagers pause. “Uh, yeah, why?” The girl asks.

“Why, my father works there. Tell me, what do you hope to accomplish there?”

“Huh? I just thought it’d be fun..? Y’know, a nice change of pace!”

“You.. want to conduct this research at such a facility.. for fun..?”

“Hey, she doesn’t speak for anyone but herself,” the boy on the ground protests. “I didn’t sign up for this crap.”

“Your right, I did. For all three of us, Alain. And I did it cause it’ll be good for you. You’ve been acting so strange lately. You haven’t been the same since-“

“Shaddup, won’t ya?” An old man across the street yells.

“I’m leaving, Rika,” Alain declares.

He is then jumped on and painfully dragged to the open car.

Emily takes a bit to register the events that just unfolded in front of her. “What a strange trio,” she concludes.