“Dani...”
The wind was still circling Lina.
It lifted her hair, swept leaves to her feet and sent them spinning around her in ever faster circles.
Daniel did not move.
For a few seconds, he simply watched her.
He had seen similar things in videos.
People surrounded by phenomena no one could explain.
He had seen fire.
Water moving in impossible ways.
Lights.
Shadows.
Discharges.
Until a few hours ago, all of that could stay on the other side of a screen.
It could be fake.
It could have been manipulated.
There could be some explanation they did not yet know.
But none of those people was Lina.
A gust struck Daniel.
This time he did not step back.
He took a step towards her.
“Don't come any closer.”
Daniel stopped.
Lina looked at her own hands.
Opened them.
Closed them.
The wind did not change.
“I don't know how to stop it.”
“Don't do anything.”
Lina looked at him.
“That's the problem. I'm not doing anything.”
Another gust swept through the space between them.
Daniel narrowed his eyes.
A leaf brushed past his shoulder.
“Go inside,” Lina said.
“No.”
“Dani...”
“I'm not leaving you out here alone.”
“What if I hurt you?”
Daniel swallowed.
He was afraid.
Of course he was.
He did not know what was happening.
He did not know what that wind could do.
He did not even know whether Lina could stop it.
But his sister was standing in front of him.
The same sister who, just hours earlier, had gone all the way to the sports hall simply to check he was still alive.
Daniel took another step.
“Daniel...”
“Come here.”
“What?”
Daniel closed the distance.
Lina stepped back.
“Dani, don't.”
“Trust me.”
“I don't know what's happening!”
“Neither do I.”
Daniel took the last step and hugged her.
Lina stayed completely rigid.
For a moment, Daniel wondered whether he had just done something stupid.
The wind kept battering his back.
Leaves swept past on either side.
A gust made him squeeze his eyes shut.
But he did not let her go.
“Dani...”
“I'm here.”
Lina breathed.
Once.
Then again.
Little by little, she stopped holding her arms stiffly at her sides.
Eventually she put them around Daniel.
Rested her forehead against his shoulder.
“I'm scared.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I know.”
He did not tell her she should not be.
He was scared too.
The wind kept circling them both.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Until it began to weaken.
Daniel noticed it first in his clothes.
It stopped battering his back.
A leaf fell to the ground.
Then another.
Then another.
Lina's hair slowly settled over her shoulders.
The murmur of the air faded.
Silence.
Daniel opened his eyes.
Looked around.
The leaves lay on the ground.
The trees stood almost motionless.
Lina was still holding him.
“Lina.”
She did not move.
“I think it's stopped.”
Lina slowly lifted her head.
Looked around.
Then at her hands.
“Did I stop it?”
Daniel followed her gaze.
“I don't know.”
“All you can say today is ‘I don't know’.”
“Because I don't know anything.”
Lina let out a small, nervous laugh.
It lasted barely a second.
But Daniel was grateful for it.
She looked at her hands again.
“What's happening to me?”
Daniel did not answer.
Because, for the first time, that question was beginning to seem much bigger than Lina.
When they went back inside, their mother looked at them from the kitchen.
“Everything all right?”
Daniel looked at Lina.
She answered before he could.
“Yes.”
Their mother frowned slightly.
“Are you sure?”
“I just needed some air.”
“Well, you look...”
“Mum.”
“All right, all right.”
Lina sat down again.
Daniel took the chair beside her.
Their father was still watching television.
The same images.
The same questions.
Different people making different claims.
Daniel watched Lina.
She kept her hands under the table.
As if she did not want to see them.
Their mother set a cup of herbal tea in front of her.
“Drink this.”
“Thanks.”
Lina wrapped both hands around the cup.
Daniel saw her fingers trembling slightly.
Their father looked over at them.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing,” Lina answered too quickly.
Daniel said nothing.
Their father watched them for a second.
Then turned back to the television.
“What a day.”
He picked up a spoon from the table.
Snap.
He dropped it at once.
The spoon struck the wood.
Everyone looked.
“Eh?”
Daniel's father studied his fingers.
Then the spoon.
“Again.”
Daniel lifted his head slightly.
“Again?”
His father looked at him.
“What happened earlier.”
He brought his fingers towards the spoon again.
Nothing.
Touched it.
Nothing.
“Static...”
Their mother shook her head.
“You could do with being checked over too.”
“I'm perfectly fine.”
“Yes. It shows.”
Their father smiled and carried on eating.
The conversation ended there.
For him.
Daniel looked at the spoon.
Then at his father.
He remembered the video.
A street at night.
Streetlights flickering.
A small discharge jumping between a boy's fingers.
Snap.
Daniel lowered his gaze.
No.
It could be static.
This time, yes.
It had to be possible.
He looked at Lina.
She was watching their father too.
Their eyes met.
Neither said a word.
Later, Daniel was alone in his room.
For the first time since the Fall, there were no sirens nearby.
No doctors.
No hundreds of people talking at once.
No one calling out names.
Just his room.
The same things as always.
The same clothes.
The same objects.
Everything exactly where he had left it.
Daniel sat on the edge of the bed.
It should have been reassuring.
It was not.
He took out his phone.
Social media was still full of videos.
He did not open any of them.
He no longer needed to.
He put the phone down beside him.
Looked at his hands.
For a few seconds he stayed like that.
Still.
Then he raised one.
Nothing.
Spread his fingers.
Closed them.
Nothing.
He felt ridiculous.
Lowered his hand.
He did not even know what he expected to happen.
His mind returned to Lina.
To the wind.
The leaves.
The way everything seemed to react when she grew frightened.
Then he thought of something else.
The building.
The creature.
That moment before the blow.
Something he had never quite managed to put in order in his head.
He closed his eyes.
Tried to piece it together.
The creature leaping.
Him shielding Clara.
The claw.
And for a fraction of a second...
Daniel opened his eyes.
No.
He had taken a blow to the head.
That was all.
A hard blow.
The doctors had told him over and over.
There was no point looking for mysteries in incomplete memories.
His phone vibrated.
Daniel picked it up.
A message.
Flora.
Dani, can you come over for a moment? I need to talk to you.
Daniel read the message.
Then again.
There was something about those words he did not like.
Flora rarely wrote like that.
Normally she would have added something silly.
A joke.
An affectionate insult.
Anything but that.
Daniel wrote:
Has something happened?
The three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
At last the reply came.
I'd rather tell you in person.
Daniel stared at the screen.
After that day, those words could not mean anything good.
He replied:
Where are you?
The answer came immediately.
In the park.
Daniel stood up.
Flora was waiting in their usual park.
Daniel saw her before she saw him.
She was sitting on a bench, leaning forwards, her hands together.
She was not looking at her phone.
She was doing nothing.
That alone was strange.
Daniel approached.
“You're late.”
Flora did not lift her head.
Daniel checked the time on his phone.
“I'm on time.”
“Then my watch is fast.”
“Or you're unbearable.”
“That too.”
Now she looked at him.
Tried to smile.
Daniel sat down beside her.
“What a welcome.”
“Could have been worse.”
“Oh, really?”
“I could have said I was glad to see you.”
“That would have been worrying.”
Flora let out a small laugh.
So did Daniel.
For a few seconds, it felt much like any other conversation between them.
And Daniel was grateful for that feeling.
“How are you?” Flora asked.
“Fine.”
She looked at him.
Then pointed at the bandage.
“Of course.”
Daniel touched his head.
“This is fashionable now.”
“It looks awful on you.”
“Thanks.”
“That's what friends are for.”
Daniel smiled.
Flora looked away.
The smile vanished from her face almost at once.
Daniel noticed.
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
Daniel waited.
Flora looked at him.
“Don't look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“As if you know I'm lying.”
“I know you.”
“What a tragedy.”
“For both of us.”
Flora looked ahead again.
Children were playing further away.
A couple walked along one of the paths.
Some people sat talking on the grass.
The park seemed strangely normal.
Daniel waited.
He had learnt long ago that, with Flora, when she really wanted to tell him something, pushing her was the best way to make sure she did not.
Several seconds passed.
Finally she spoke.
“Have you seen the videos?”
Daniel rested his forearms on his thighs.
“Yes.”
“The ones with people?”
“Yes.”
Flora swallowed.
“Do you think they're real?”
Daniel thought of Lina.
He could have said yes.
He could have told her what had happened just a few hours earlier.
But Lina had asked him not to say anything.
“I think some of them are.”
Flora nodded slowly.
She did not seem surprised.
That worried Daniel more than the question.
“Why?”
“No reason.”
“Flora.”
“What?”
“You've made me come all the way here to ask whether some videos are real.”
“I also wanted to check whether the knock had made you uglier.”
“Then you can leave with your mind at rest.”
Flora smiled.
Again, only for a moment.
Then she looked at her hands.
“There's something I haven't told anyone at home.”
Daniel stopped joking.
Said nothing.
Flora went on.
“It started after...”
She stopped.
“After the Fall.”
Daniel watched her.
“What started?”
Flora rubbed her palms against her trousers.
“I don't know how to explain it.”
“Try.”
“That's what I'm doing.”
“Well, you're doing brilliantly.”
Flora looked at him.
“Do you want me to tell you or not?”
Daniel raised his hands.
“I'll shut up.”
“A miracle.”
Silence.
Flora took a deep breath.
“Yesterday I thought it was a coincidence.”
Daniel felt his body tense.
“What was?”
“A plant at home.”
“What happened to it?”
“Nothing bad.”
Flora hesitated.
“That's the problem.”
Daniel frowned.
“I don't understand.”
“It was almost dead.”
“All right.”
“And then it wasn't.”
Daniel stayed silent.
Flora looked at him.
“I know how it sounds.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
That word.
Daniel had just heard it far too many times.
I'm not doing anything.
He looked at Flora more closely.
“Nothing?”
“I touched it.”
“And?”
“And that was it.”
Flora got up from the bench.
“Come on.”
“Where?”
“Just here.”
She walked a few metres to some plants beside the path.
Daniel followed.
Flora stopped.
Looked around.
No one was close enough to pay them any attention.
“Promise you won't laugh.”
“I can't promise that.”
“Daniel.”
The look on Flora's face made him stop smiling.
“I won't laugh.”
She took a deep breath.
Slowly reached a hand towards the plants.
Daniel looked at her fingers.
Then at the plants.
Nothing happened.
Several seconds passed.
Flora did not move.
Neither did Daniel.
“See?” she said.
There was disappointment in her voice.
And relief.
As if part of her wanted to prove it had all been her imagination.
Then a leaf moved.
Daniel lowered his gaze.
There was no wind.
The leaf slowly leaned towards Flora.
Another did the same.
Then another.
For a moment, Daniel stopped breathing.
Flora seemed to have stopped too.
All towards her.
“Flora...”
“Wait.”
Something green appeared in the soil.
Very small.
Daniel crouched a little.
A sprout.
Then another.
Flora drew back her hand.
They both stared.
The sprouts kept growing.
Slowly.
Barely a few centimetres.
A tiny leaf opened.
Then another.
It was something small.
Delicate.
Almost beautiful.
That was precisely what made it so strange.
Daniel looked at Flora.
The colour had drained from her face.
“Did this happen at home?”
Flora nodded.
“Not like this.”
“How, then?”
“The plant just...”
She searched for the words.
“Changed.”
“Changed how?”
“It was dried out. I touched it, and after a while it wasn't.”
Daniel looked at the sprouts again.
“And you haven't told anyone?”
Flora shook her head.
“Why?”
She looked at him as though the answer were obvious.
“Because I don't know what this is.”
Daniel stayed silent.
“What if something happens to me?”
“Flora...”
“What if it gets worse?”
“We don't know that it will get worse.”
“We don't know that it won't, either.”
Daniel could not argue with that.
Flora lowered her gaze to her hand.
“I'm scared,” she whispered.
This time there was no joke.
No smile.
No attempt to play it down.
Just Flora.
Daniel had known her for far too long.
He had seen her angry.
Laughing until she could not breathe.
Complaining about stupid things.
Pretending something did not matter when it did.
But seeing her like this was different.
Daniel sat back down on the bench.
Flora looked at him.
He pointed to the space beside him.
“Come here.”
“Is that your great advice?”
“Yes.”
“It's terrible.”
“I don't charge.”
Flora sat down.
For a few seconds, neither spoke.
Daniel did not try to explain it.
He could not.
He did not tell her everything would be all right.
He could not know that either.
He simply stayed there.
With her.
Flora rested her arms on her thighs.
“I only wanted to tell you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
Flora raised an eyebrow.
“Don't make me regret it.”
“Fair question.”
“Because you're my best friend, idiot.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“Oh.”
“Don't make that face.”
“What face?”
“That one.”
“I'm not making any face.”
“Well, stop making it.”
Daniel let out a small laugh.
Flora shook her head.
For a few seconds, the fear seemed to recede.
Just a little.
Daniel looked towards the plants.
The leaves had stopped moving.
The little sprouts stood still.
It seemed to be over.
“Maybe you can control it,” Daniel said.
Flora followed his gaze.
“I don't even know how I did it.”
“You didn't before, either.”
“That helps enormously.”
“I'm trying to be positive.”
“You're not good at it.”
Daniel was about to reply.
Then he saw something.
A few metres away.
He frowned.
“Flora.”
“What?”
Daniel did not answer.
A tiny green point had just appeared in the soil.
Far from them.
Too far.
Daniel stood up.
Flora followed his gaze.
Another sprout appeared.
Further away.
Then another.
And another.
The smile vanished from Flora's face.
She looked at the plants in front of her.
Then at the new ones.
“No...”
Daniel watched the ground.
A sprout emerged beside a tree.
Another near the edge of the path.
Flora stood up.
“Daniel...”
She looked at her hand.
It was resting on her leg.
She was not touching anything.
It was not even pointing towards the plants.
Then she looked at the sprouts.
They were too far away.
Daniel looked at Flora.
She slowly shook her head.
The fear had returned.
Stronger this time.
“I'm not doing anything.”
CUT TO BLACK.