It was about midday as the sun hung in the sky, powerfully beating down upon the city of Old York. Streets were full of traffic and blaring horns, people who carelessly walked out in the middle of the road in front of moving cars, and beavers who roamed the streets openly. Dirty streets and roaming animals alike made them their homes. The constant noise of horns and people chattering filled the air in this city known as the greatest in the world.

“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!” A man exclaims. Dressed in a white collared shirt with a pinstripe design, he stood by the wide glass pane that allowed him a view of the world beyond his store. He turns around eyeing the twenty-something who was mopping the floor behind him. She had rounded glasses that sat on her nose, 

“Oh, you missed a spot.” He points.

The linoleum floors look the same no matter which direction she looks.

“Y-yes sir.” She keeps her head fixed on the floor as her manager walks past and continues mopping the floors. The mop swooshed back and forth over the floor, and a jingle resounded through the room causing her to drop the mop nearly.

“H-h-h-hello today! W-w-w-welcome to ph-ix twelve!” She exclaims, biting her tongue mid-sentence. The man looks at her and then blinks before walking down an aisle.

“Way to go, Raiah…” She mumbles. “I fumbled the opening… I Came in wearing my shirt backward. This day can’t get any worse…”

“Excuse me?” A man asks, standing an arm’s length away. Raiah doesn’t notice him while stuck in her world of self-deprecation.

“Excuse me!” He nearly yells.

Raiah’s body shoots back, causing her to fall over into the bucket of dirt mop water. Her bottom is stuck in the bucket as she falls over and the water travels up her back, wetting most of her uniform and covering the floor in dirty mop water. 

“Woah…” The customer says. “Are you okay?”

Raiah lays on the ground with tears in her eyes.

“I just wanna disappear.” She mumbles.

Following her fumble, she changes her clothes and meets with her boss before being told to leave the store.

“I don’t think I can ever live that down.” She mumbles as she adjusts her circular-rimmed glasses. “The boss was pissed… ugh. I’m getting shivers just thinking about it… He’ll make me scrub the toilets again for this, I just know it…” 

Raiah walks down the busy street, blending into the crowd of passersby. Everyone is focused on their own lives. Some peruse their phones while others look in the air. Not a single person has even noticed Raiah among them. Raiah takes a deep breath. 

“It's moments like these where I truly feel invisible.” She thinks while grinning.

She slips away from the crowd and waits alone at the nearby bus stop. She looks around and rubs her arm, trying to stop the shaking of her body. She whiffs her body and winces from the scent, then sighs as the bus arrives. After a 10-minute bus ride, Raiah hopped off the bus among a row of small duplexes. They were lined up with various colors and metal fences out front. The smell of trash fills her nostrils as she walks by the personal trashcans on the street.

“Ugh… They still didn’t collect the garbage? It’s already three days late.” She pinches her nostrils.

About four houses down, she stopped at a dark brown building. She climbed up the crumbling stairs, with weed breaking through the cracks, and reached into her pocket, pulling out her keys. She opened the door on the left side of the building and did a spin as she entered.

“My sanctuary!” She exclaims.

She walks into the living room with carpeted floors, a lush couch sitting in the center of the room, and a dark brown coffee table that sat before it. A large flatscreen television was sitting against the wall near the door, and at the back of the room was the kitchen. Connected to the living room by an island with stools sitting beside it and marble countertops lined the entire kitchen. Various appliances were lined up on the counter beside the refrigerator, the sink was empty, and a dishrag was neatly folded atop the edge. 

A door in the living room opens, and a woman pokes her head out. Her green eyes lit up at the sight of Raiah. Her black hair glistens in the light as she exits her room in a black leather jacket and pants. She had on a white tee underneath and a pair of black boots.

“Raiah? You’re back early, not that I’m complaining.” She approaches Raiah and subsequently covers her nose. “On second thought, maybe I am complaining, you need a bath, girl!”

“Veeeell… I was getting to it… Some stuff happened at work, so I got sent home.” Raiah walks through the house heading toward her room near the kitchen.

“You’re telling me. You smell almost as bad as the garbage outside.” Velle states.

“Thanks.” Raiah enters her room and digs through her drawer for fresh clothes. “I’m jumping in the shower now.”

While Raiah was showering, Velle started cooking popcorn. She filled a small cup with popcorn kernels and poured it into the machine, which whirred, emitting a loud noise and heat.

“Lemme guess you guys are about to marathon another show?” A younger boyish voice sounded.

Velle turns around to face him. The young boy appears to be in his teens, with eyes a verdant green and hair dyed black. He is dressed in a blue pullover hoodie with a missing sleeve. His pants are khaki-colored and lined with pockets on both sides. 

“Yup, some more sailor spoon. A climactic battle between light, dark, and—” She began.

“—Telekinesis. Yeah, I get it. You guys marathon it at least once a year. What she needs is to go outside or something.” He says as he crosses his arms. 

She walks over to him and tousles his hair.

“You know she gets way too self-conscious out there,” Velle moves her hand from his head and places a bowl underneath the popcorn machine’s spout. 

“It just feels like an excuse. You’re always doing so much for her and—” He stammers.

“Dante, I only do what I do, because I want to. No one’s coercing me, no one has me at gunpoint.” She watches the popcorn kernels circle the inside of the machine as they steadily grow into bigger white puffs.

Dante sighs.

“Enjoy your show, for the umpteenth time.” He says as he walks away rolling his eyes. “Heading to practice.” 

She watches him exit the house before turning her attention back to the popcorn machine. 

The popcorn began to fill the cylinder and pour out of the spout, filling the bowl below, and slowly consuming her vision. The edges of her vision begin growing dark and the sound begins to muffle as if underwater. She walks over to the sink and splashes her face with some water. She starts returning to reality as the icy water drips from her chin to her collarbone. She wipes the water off her face with a paper towel and turns to the whirring popcorn, which had only begun sounding again for her. She walks over and turns the machine off, pushing it to the back of the counter. The door opens beside the kitchen, and Raiah comes sliding out with her glasses fogged up in a super long t-shirt that stops at her thighs and a pair of yoga pants. She comes out of the slide into a spin and flexes her arms downward.

“Call me Ms. Clean!” She exclaims.

Velle smirks and shakes her head.

“I swear, you come home and suddenly you’re so animated,” Velle says.

“This is the one place I can be myself without worry.” Raiah walks into the kitchen, throws the refrigerator open, and grabs an orange bottle with juice in it.

“Grab a beer while you’re at it,” Velle says as she pours butter over the popcorn.

Raiah grabs a black can from the bottom of the fridge. “Ugh. I don’t know how you drink this stuff.” She mutters while sticking her tongue out.

“Heh. All it takes is some courage in the beginning. Once you get used to it, you never go back.” Velle says adding salt and pepper to the popcorn.

“Sounds like a curse…” Raiah’s face turns sour.

She places an arm around Raiah’s neck.

“Come on, join the dark side. We’ve got plenty of beer.” Velle whispers.

“I don’t know… I’ve got work tomorrow.” Raiah says looking away, while blushing.

“Just one can won't hurt,” Velle adds.

“Well if it’s just one can. Even I can handle that much…” Raiah mumbles.

“Awesome! Now you’ll be one can closer to liking it.” Velle says as she slips away from Raiah.

“You underestimate my power. No matter how many cans you throw. I won’t succumb to darkness.” Raiah says in a dramatic tone. 

“Beer is a much deeper swamp than you think! Once you fall in you never climb out!” Velle claims, dramatically posing with the beer in her hand.

Meanwhile, Dante was standing at the doorway watching this transpire.

“I came back because I forgot my baseball glove… You guys are such nerds.” He walks into his room without any other words. Velle and Raiah hold their poses in shame, as Dante grabs his item and leaves once more. 

“Damn, vanishing is looking kinda good right now.” Her face reddens like a tomato, as she slumps down beneath the countertops. “Ugh.” 

An hour later, the girls were sitting on the couch in the dark with only the TV’s light filling the room. A man and woman stand at the peak of a mountain, watching as the moon descends into the planet. 

“Don’t go! If you use that, you won’t survive!” A woman screams.

“I have no choice. If I don’t then the world will end.” A man whispers back.

“Kitsune mask, no!” The woman shouts, reaching out to him.

He flips his cape obscuring himself from view before turning into ash, leaving only his kitsune mask behind.

Raiah sniffles. “This always gets me…” 

As the woman on screen sobs, holding his ashes, the giant moon in the sky begins to reverse course back into space. The TV cuts off.

“Huh?” Velle says, holding a piece of popcorn.

“Did the power go out?” Raiah questions, looking around the room. She gets up and flips the light switch and the lights come on.

“Not the power,” Raiah says.

Velle checks the power cable for the TV.

“It’s plugged in. Maybe a breaker flipped?” Velle questions.

Raiah checks the panel on the kitchen wall.
“They’re all on. I think.” She says.

“Don’t tell me the TV crapped out.” Velle groans. “We just got this one a week ago.”

A dim light erupts from the TV.

“Oh wait here it is.” Velle turns to face it.

On the screen in bold letters, the words, “Go outside” appeared. 

Velle looked to Raiah and she shrugged her shoulders. The fog on the screen appeared to come out of the TV itself, filling the room with an eerie chill.

“Raiah th-this better not be a prank or anything.” Velle murmurs while slightly shaking. “You know I hate ghosts and stuff.”

“I-I can’t make fog come out of a TV!” Raiah exclaims visibly shaken. 

Velle pulls out her phone and the same words appear in a vertical orientation. She swipes frantically trying to change the screen or bring up a menu, but nothing happens. Raiah tried changing the channel and turning off the TV, but nothing worked. The two looked at each other and Raiah smirked awkwardly.

“M-maybe we should go outside, it’s kinda getting cold in here.” She says.

Raiah rubbed her arms and Velle looked at the TV noticing the mist freezing the edges of the TV. All along the floor where it traveled she traces the path with her eyes, noticing the carpet frozen solid. The icy mist continued deeper into the house as Velle steadily backed away from the TV. 

“That’s a good idea.” She agrees.

They put on their shoes and step outside the house, leaving the craziness within. They stood on the porch unable to form even a sentence as to what just happened. Velle claps her hands, trying to focus herself.

“So we’re outside, what now?” Velle questions.

Raiah looked up into the sky with fear, her body shaking rapidly.

“Rai?” She grabs her hand and looks into the sky as well.

Just beyond the bounds of the sky, was a giant creature cloaked in flaming darkness. It was human in shape, yet far too large to be so. Velle walked down the stairs, looking at the figure as it stood over the world. Besides it, several other figures began to rise. Differing in shape, each of them rose to stand tall above the world. Blocking the light of the sun and casting a dark shadow over everything.

“We, ArE ThE oUtEr EiGhT.” The words pierce their minds like a knife into an apple. It was enough to make Raiah rub her temples as her head throbbed in pain. The sound was harsh like radio chatter, before becoming much clearer.

“Humanity has spent thousands of years creating and thriving. Then, it begs the question, at which point does your repugnant ink run dry?” The figure spoke.

The words left Raiah and Velle frozen in place, people the world over are frozen by the words of the utterly unimaginable being.