“Yo, Kate,” Kelly grunted flatly, nudging her friend.  “Wanna go in? It looks like it’s gonna rain.”  The two students had stepped outside onto the terrace of Kelly’s apartment unit to smoke and they gradually lapsed into silently sitting on the concrete, taking in the sensation of the pleasantly-cool air.  The sky, blanketed with a thick layer of clouds, began to darken, and Kelly took notice.

 

The taller girl turned around slowly from her tranquil observation of the creeping vines on the terrace’s rails.  “Ah, yeah.  Sorry, spaced out,” she mumbled, slipping her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

 

                Kelly laughed softly, opening the sliding glass door.  “Wanna watch a movie or something?”

 

                The taller girl shrugged, shuffling inside.  “I guess.  I dunno how I’m gonna get any work done if I’m always over here like this.”

 

                 “Holy shit, you gotta learn to relax.”

 

 Kate sat down on the couch with a look of exaggerated indignation, saying nothing.  The other girl situated herself beside her with her bare feet on the couch.

 

“So, I’ve been talking to this dude who messaged me about the pics I put on my blog, y’know, the ones I took with you a couple days ago?”

 

Noting how the smaller girl smirked and gently balled her fists as she spoke, Kate braced herself for a monologue and mechanically arched her brow.  “Yeah?”

 

“The cult’s real!  I fuckin’ told ya!  It’s apparently mostly on the East Coast, mostly in Pennsylvania, but there are small groups of believers all across the country.  It’s based on an extremely obscure prophetic legend from Europe, some weird thing that starts with a Z, and this man named Salva got all these people to believe his daughter is, like, the major player from the myth.  You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if some really important people were involved somehow, I wouldn’t be surprised if these people were really on to something, even,” Kelly gushed, her full cheeks rounded by a wide grin that bordered on mischievous.

 

                “So, wait, slow down… The guy’s daughter?”  Kate said.  She was genuinely interested now, albeit not as intensely as her friend.  “Would that be the lady we saw painted on the door?”  She asked, tilting her head slightly.

 

                “Bingo!  ‘Least, that’d make the most sense, I imagine she’s still pretty young.  But yeah the painting was of the goddess from these legends and that’s who Salva thinks his daughter is.  I guess they got enough in common, you know?” Kelly replied, resting an elbow on her knee and a cheek in her palm.

 

                “Sounds cool, heh.  So is the guy you’re talking to involved in it or whatever?”  Kate asked, leaning back into the couch.

 

                “No, no, he’s just an enthusiast.  Like me!  He lives near Philadelphia,” the smaller girl explained.  “Man, I’d kinda like to go there and have him show me Salva's house or something, he says it’s real close to where his folks live.”

 

                Kate pitched forward laughing.  “Goin’ across the country to look at cult stuff with a guy you met online.  I wish I could bring myself to live like you sometimes.”

 

                Kelly shrugged.  “It wouldn’t be the craziest thing I ever did.”

 

                The taller girl snorted.  “Speakin’ of crazy stuff, any luck lookin’ up that Proteus thing?”

 

“Nah.  Maybe it isn’t real.  I’ll keep looking, though.  It’d be cool if I could get enough of it for a bunch of people, like, you, me, Bridgit, her sister?”

 

Kate narrowed her eyes.  “Sibling. Linden,” she said with a firmness that dissipated as quickly as it surfaced.

 

Kelly bit her lip. “Whatever. It sounds cool as shit, if it’s real and works the way they say it does, maybe I could do a little informal study on its effects on different people.”

 

                 “While under the infuence of it yourself.”

 

                “ Pssh, of course.  ‘S how shit gets done!”  Kelly paused.  “Anyways.  What you wanna watch?” She asked, walking up to the TV set.

 

                “Doesn’t matter.”

 

                She grabbed a DVD from the on top of the TV stand and put it in the player.  “Jesse lent me this, I haven’t watched it yet.  It’s some obscure German horror movie, I’m not even gonna try pronouncing the title,” she said, shrugging and pressing the play button.

 

                The movie started very abruptly with scenes of a child psychically attacking people, sending them into violent seizures by staring at them.  Kate let herself zone out, her eyes glazing over as she leaned back – she'd seen plots like these numerous times already and she didn’t feel up to reading subtitles anyway.  She imagined what it would feel like to receive a psychic attack; maybe it would feel like getting poisoned, whatever that felt like.  Before she realized it, she dozed off and dreamed of the scene in her project – the shoddy pier, the candles, and the strange creatures in the water – except now, her unconscious mind incorporated the woman from the painting in the shack and the child from the movie.  They stood side by side on the pier, speaking to one another in a tongue that Kate could not discern.  As they spoke, the creatures drew closer to them, and the sky lit up with an array of colors.

 

                An abrupt muscle twitch jolted Kate awake with her head leaned up against her friend’s shoulder.  “Shoot… How long was I asleep for?”

 

                “Like half an hour.”

 

                “I better go… I was dreamin’ about my project,” she mumbled, pulling herself off the couch.  “I’ll see you later.”

 

                “Aah, all right.  Bye!”

 

                As soon as Kate left, Kelly switched off the TV – she grew bored with the movie.  She shuffled into her bedroom and sat down at her desk and saw that “Resurrections” was online.  She typed him a message.

 

                hey what’s up??

 

                Not much, you? 

 

                same, my friend just left, i’m so bored. hey i meant to ask you something last time but it ttly slipped my mind. you party at all??

 

                Yeah, a little, why?

 

                idk how much you’re into designer shit or psychedelics but i heard about something called proteus and i was wondering if you knew anything about it. you seem to know alot about alot.

 

                Yeah, I actually got the chance to try it last month.  I know a guy who makes it himself.

 

                yeah?? you like it??

 

                Honestly, it was a little on the weird side for me.  I sometimes still get these dreams about it, it’s weird as shit.

 

                yeah well i like weird

 

                I can tell.  Hey, if you got a Paypal and a P.O. box, maybe I could help.

 

                holy shit, really?

 

                Absolutely. 

 

                ‘cause if you rip me off i’ll kick your ass

 

                I don’t doubt it!

 

                how quick you think you can get it? my break’s gonna be over soon, not like it matters, there’s always weekends lol

 

                Well, that all depends on how quickly I can get in touch with the guy, but I will let you know as soon as I do.

 

                sweet!!!

 

                I gotta go run some errands, but it was nice to hear from you again.  Take care. 

 

Next Chapter.