Hollow Twilight - A LitRPG Novel

Chapter 3

Reid's head spun again. He tilted it sideways and the feeling started to dissipate, as if this were the true equilibrium his body was seeking. And that made no sense. And that made his head spin again.

Maple was over by an empty car, peering into its windows, pulling on the locked door. There was nothing inside of it, according to her, not even a hint someone ever drove it. No wrappers, no garbage, no maps, no decoration. It was like the car was just plopped down here at some point out of the sky.

And that was all they knew. They hadn't moved far from where they had met, afraid of what might still be out there for them to get lost in. Or what might be waiting for them.

While there was still nothing indicating anyone lived here, or anything for that matter, the pair of them were both here together, which meant this wasn't some isolated space one of them had fallen into. Maple's presence reminded Reid that this was connected to something else. It meant that it was possible for Issac to be here. Or anyone for that matter.

"I'm going to call someone," Reid said, only somewhat to Maple and mostly for himself. The red-orange hues of the sky were beginning to colour his vision, giving him the impression that everything had a similar tint to it. His phone screen was no different as he plugged in Issac's name. It was the first name that came to mind. He hit dial and held the device to his ear.

For a long time, the phone didn't do anything. He pulled it away to see it still read connecting on the screen. Then 0:00 appeared. There was something. He placed the phone against his ear again. A computer voice was telling him the number couldn't be reached. It was dead.

"There's nothing."

"What?" Maple replied, barely looking up from the car.

"I said there's nothing." Reid walked up behind her and peered in, seeing nothing of interest. "The line goes dead."

"But you have service?" Maple withdrew her own phone and checked the screen. "I have three bars, just like...home." Her voice fell away with her final word, fading into the eerie light around them.

"Yeah." Reid glanced around again, feeling something in the distance. There had been some sort of flicker at the edge of his vision. He was pretty certain it was light reflecting off a tilted skyscraper. But paranoia kept creeping back every time he shut it out of his mind. Was something moving on the horizon? Was there something else out there?

"Mine is like home too," he continued, tucking his phone away in his pocket. "So service, but calls don't go through."

"You only tried one," Maple corrected, fumbling with her own device. "Maybe Issac's phone is off. Or out of service." The young teen punched in nine-one-one and hit dial, turning on the speaker phone for Reid to hear. It didn't do anything for a while, before it too reported the line would not connect.

"That settles that debate." Reid's eyes flipped to the side again, again scanning the fringes of his vision. The state the light was in now made it do funny tricks, created colours he wasn't used to seeing. Long shadows stretched out across the pavement, at odd angles from odd-angled buildings. Maybe they were what kept moving. Maybe.

Reid kicked at a pebble, keeping it moving as he walked down the road, between houses that he didn't recognize, yet seemed familiar. They fit in his city, fit in his neighbourhood even. He could believe he was still somewhere he knew, he just didn't know these specific houses. Or any of the buildings he could see. There were no famous landmarks, no brilliant designs jutting up into the sky. Yes, some of the skyscrapers and condos had unique designs but...none of them he knew.

"Where are you going?"

Reid's head snapped up from the rock. He had walked away from Maple, quite a way, without even realizing. She was still next to the car, watching him leave. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking. Just...going somewhere." Reid scratched at the back of his head before finally kicking the stone away to the side of the road. He noted a streak of dirt across the top of his white shoes. When had that happened?