_____🥚🥚🥚🐇🐣🐣🐣_____

Egg Hunter: Cluster Headache

¯¯¯¯¯🥚🥚🥚🐇🐣🐣🐣¯¯¯¯¯

 

Chapter 2: You Are (Not) Alone - Part 1 

 

Hunter decided that it would be best to stay silent the rest of the afternoon as he just watched Mark and the other two teachers wrangle up the tired children. He couldn’t help but let his eyes wander towards the child that had been sleeping in his lap when he had come to, Robby. It was almost as if he could still feel the sensation of petting her head, leaving tingles on his palm. Something about the experience had left an echo behind in him, except he wasn’t even really the one to experience it. He had already stopped petting her by the time he returned to his body.

 

“Hey, everything okay?” Mark surprised Hunter by appearing right beside him without him even noticing their approach. “If you need to use the bathroom, you can just head out the doors there and go left.”

 

Hunter was definitely confused as his eyes followed where Mark was pointing toward. He could see that the auditorium doors were unlocked already and one of the other teachers was leading a group of the kindergartens out into the hall.

 

“Um… no…” Hunter started before realizing he was making no sense, “I mean, yeah, I’m fine! I don’t need to go.”

 

Mark was giving him a skeptical look but changed the subject, “Okay, if you’re sure… Well, I’m taking the kids back to the classroom now since school ends in about 15 minutes. Give them a bit of time to gather their stuff.” Mark suddenly looked away from him with a blush on his face, “Did you want to stick around until all the kids are picked up? I could give you a ride back to the apartment… unless you had plans for the evening…”

 

Why was Mark suddenly blushing? 

 

On instinct, Hunter sent out a thoughtwave at Mark, trying to get a sense of what was on their mind. He got nothing back but echo-ey noise, the same sensation as if he was trying to read a dozen people at the same time. Now he knew why he was getting that feeling from Mark. There was something else there though that Hunter could barely make out. It felt like Mark had been thinking something was being cute?

 

He turned around to look for whatever Mark had seen behind him. Robby was waking back up from where Mark had laid her down at, and she was now clumsily wiping crumbs out of her eye. Hunter had to stifle the sudden overpowering urge to let out an ‘aww’ at the sight. At least it made sense now what Mark had thought was so cute… although it was hardly something to blush and turn away from.

 

“Are you sure you don’t need to go?” Mark asked again.

 

This again?

 

“Why are you asking that?” Hunter asked.

 

Mark raised an eyebrow as they looked at Hunter once more before finally saying, “Well you’ve been clutching at your stomach this whole time… If you’re trying to hold it in, I’m fine handling the kids on my own while you use the restroom.”

 

Hunter looked down in shock to see that both of his hands were gently holding onto his abdomen without him even having realized that he had been doing it. He pulled his hands down to his sides and said, “Oh… I guess it’s just a thing I do when I don’t know what to do with my hands?” 

 

That was a complete lie. He could feel his hands trying to move back to his stomach after he had let them relax and had to consciously force them not to move upwards again. 

 

What is going on?

 

Hunter sent a thoughtwave over his own body to try identifying what was going on. The feeling of resistance his arms were giving him was the same feeling as when another psychic tries to control someone’s body, but when he finished his scan, he couldn’t feel any sort of psychic tether connecting to somebody outside of his body. If it wasn’t someone controlling him from outside his body then what- 

 

Sudden realization hit him and he instantly felt like a complete fool. He had never disabled the autopilot command that he had set up before diving into Mark’s mind. The thing was still trying to pilot his body even after he had returned.

 

Hunter smirked as he thought of his own stupidity at that moment. With a thought he gave the autopilot a mental shove and felt the tension that had been fighting his movements disappear in an instant.

 

He let out a sigh as he said to Mark, “I’m completely fine. Sorry about making you worry like that.”

 

With that out of the way, Mark went back over to the kids and started lining them up, single file, before leading them out of the decorated auditorium, into the hallway, and then down to their classroom. With nothing else to do, Hunter followed behind him.

 

Fifteen minutes later, the bells rang. Hunter would have expected the kids to rush out of the room like he remembered doing himself when he was in school, but instead all of the kids remained sitting at their seats. Rather than the kids leaving, parents started entering the room. As they each found their children, they thanked Mark and wished them a happy Easter before leaving. A few of them gave Hunter curious glances on their way out but most would wish him a happy holiday as well. 

 

He couldn’t help but look down to make sure that he wasn’t grabbing at his stomach again. He wasn’t sure why the autopilot had done that. His stomach wasn’t in pain or anything. The autopilot should have just acted like he normally would have with a few programmed responses should someone try talking to him while he was out of his own body. He decided that he'd have to take another look at it later. It might have gotten some of the programming scrambled up due to some carelessness on his part.

 

“Are you okay?” Mark surprised him again with a sudden hand on his shoulder, “You’ve been pretty spacey for a while.”

 

“I’m fine! Really!” He said as he hopped off the counter that he had been sitting on all this time, “Let’s get going!”

 

“Hold up!” Mark almost shouted as Hunter was halfway out the door, “I can’t leave until all the kids have been picked up by their parents.” Hunter stopped in his tracks and turned to look back into the room. It had already been about 20 minutes since the bell rang and he had thought all of them had been picked up already but there was one left behind, still sitting at her desk drawing with crayons on some loose sheets of paper, “It’s not the first time Robby’s parents have been late to pick him up… wish they would at least call or something to let us know they'd be late.”

 

Hunter felt himself deflate a bit inside as he stared at Robby. Some part of him felt like it was on the verge of heartbreak but he quashed it immediately. That tingly feeling returned to his hand though. He barely registered what he was doing as he approached Robby and reached out to pat her on the head, but he stopped himself just inches away.

 

He wanted to tell her that everything would be alright. That she wouldn’t suddenly find a stranger picking her up from school one day with a permission slip signed by his parents. That she wouldn’t fight and scream as the stranger started to drag her out of class… and the moment they were out of sight of others, suddenly wrest control of his body away from him and force him to walk behind them into the unknown.

 

He wanted to say that to her, but didn’t. He knew he would just be projecting his own trauma onto her if he was to say something like that. 

 

He knew the words that she needed to hear instead… that even if her body started changing in nightmarish ways during puberty, that it could get better. That not all adults would be dismissive or hostile to her when she told them that she didn’t want to be a boy… that she wanted to be a girl instead…

 

He didn’t say that to her either. He knew that she wouldn’t even know yet what it meant that she was born as a boy instead of a girl. At that age, gender was barely relevant. He also knew that telling those kinds of things to a child that young could risk Mark losing his job if her parents complained.

 

Instead of saying anything, instead of petting her on the head, he just went back to the counter that he had been sitting on earlier and pulled out his phone to kill some time.

 

Another ten minutes had passed before Hunter’s attention was drawn back to the room by Robby’s sudden shout of, “Anty Fwan!!!”

 

Looking up, Hunter saw Robby run over to hug a woman in the doorway. To his surprise, it was someone he recognized.

 

“Hey there Robby! Auntie came to pick you up today since mommy and daddy are still busy with work.” Robby’s aunt picked her up and gave her a big hug before freezing at the sight of Hunter, “Hunter?”

 

“Hi Francene…” Hunter responded. 

 

He had not expected to see his boss’s secretary here at all. She had a habit of trying to stare into his eyes whenever they talked, and it always unnerved him. He shifted his eyes slightly to stare at her nose instead. He had learned a long time ago that if she knew he was avoiding eye contact, she would just try to force it even harder. This had been his compromise instead… to stare at her face anywhere but directly into her eyes. He was sure she knew what he was doing but her compromise had been to not say anything about it if she had. 

 

“I had no idea that you liked kids. You always struck me as the type of guy to hate them.” She said with a wide smile at him. He stared at her teeth. They were remarkably white.

 

“Hi Ms. Schaeffer.” Mark suddenly inserted themself into the conversation, his voice almost sounding curt, “I didn’t know that you were friends with my roommate.”

 

Fran responded with a flirty giggle as she beamed back at Mark, “We aren’t quite friends yet. I’ve tried inviting Hunter out to drinks many times but he’s always shot me down. We’re just co-workers for now.”

 

Hunter could feel that Mark suddenly began to loosen up and smile at Fran. He was confused as to why Mark had even begun tensing up when she appeared or why that tension had suddenly vanished. Did they have a crush on her? He supposed that would make sense. They were both really attractive people, and would make a cute couple. It isn’t surprising that they would have some kind of chemistry together. 

 

Something dark started creeping into Hunter’s emotions at the thought, but he wasn't sure why… jealousy. Why would he feel jealous here? He knew Fran was an incredibly pretty woman, you had to be, to get hired as a secretary by someone like their boss. Sure he had often found himself staring at her whenever he was sure she wasn’t watching him but he didn’t have a crush on her or anything… So why would the thought of Mark flirting with her make him jealous?

 

Hunter hadn’t realized that he was zoning out again but by the time he came to once more, Fran and Robby were both gone and Mark was ready to drive them both home.

 

He didn’t talk much throughout the car ride, quietly brooding and trying to figure out what was going on with his emotions lately. He hadn’t come to any answers by the time they had parked and made their way back upstairs.

 

When Hunter finally let himself collapse into the couch, he was startled to realize that Mark was sitting down next to him. Was this it? Now that no one was around, was Mark finally going to say something about him invading their mind? If so, then maybe it would be better for him to speak up first.

 

“Hey, Mark? About what happened during the egg hunt today-” he started while staring at his own lap.

 

Mark just waved him off before he could finish the thought, “Don’t worry about it dude. We all have our off days.”

 

Hunter blinked and looked Mark in the eye. Those piercing blue eyes were staring right into his own… his heart started to race and he broke eye contact once more. He forced his heart to slow down before he continued, “I beg your pardon?”

 

Mark let off a sudden laugh. They were sitting so close to him that he could feel the air around Mark reverberate with their laugh. The laugh stopped suddenly as Mark’s face started to redden, “I just assumed that, y’know… with how out of it you seemed while trying to chase down all those lil tykes… you were about to apologize or something equally unnecessary. The other teachers and I really appreciated your help!”

 

Now, it was Hunter’s turn to start blushing, “O-oh! No! That wasn't…  I mean um…” It genuinely sounded like Mark either didn’t know about what happened in their head or at least that they weren't ever going to bring it up. Hunter decided to just let the subject go. He would stop worrying about it, “Was I really that out of it?”

 

Mark turned away from Hunter and started staring at the ceiling now, “I mean, yeah,” their thumbs danced around each other with a nervous energy that Hunter found that he couldn’t look away from, “One moment, everything was fine. You were getting a bit tired and out of breath so you took a moment for a breather, but after that… everything about you just felt off.”

 

Hunter tore his eyes away from Mark’s hands as he started panicking in his head again. Were they really paying such close attention to me that they noticed it the instant I put the autopilot in charge? The thought of Mark noticing those kinds of details meant that he would need to be much more cautious in the future. At the same time though, the thought of Mark giving him so much of their attention caused a fluttering feeling to start up in the pit of his stomach.

 

“It was kinda like the light had gone out of your eyes or something,” Mark continued, “you had gone all stiff and were barely moving… but then you started coming back.” 

 

Hunter wasn’t looking at them anymore, but as he focused on each of Mark’s words, he could feel all of his senses sharpening. The entire room was suddenly becoming vivid and clear in his mind. Even though his eyes were still facing forward and his head was unmoving, he could feel the position of every single thing in his surroundings. That’s how he could tell that at his side, Mark had stopped staring at the ceiling and was looking down at the crown of his head. A smile slowly breaking onto their face. A smile that they thought he couldn’t see, but which was slowly being burned into his memory. 

 

“For a moment, I thought that one of the kids had hit you or something… your eyes were watering and you were holding onto your stomach… but you were also smiling for some reason. It was almost like-'' Mark cut off whatever they were about to say, “nevermind. You were still acting pretty stiff until the thing ended. And even when you stopped looking as stiff, you still seemed like you were lost in thought. You were still grabbing at your stomach-”

 

Mark stopped talking. Hunter could see a conflicted look appear in their eyes even though the smile didn’t leave their face. Thoughts were churning away inside that head of theirs… if only I could…

 

It was a completely subconscious reflex from his curiosity that made the thoughtwave reach out towards Mark’s head. As the wave crashed against Mark’s mental defenses, there was a small jagged gap in them that let part of it through. A brief moment of clear thought came back to Hunter from the connection before being overwhelmed by the echoing static that always accompanied Mark’s thoughts.

 

‘You looked like an adorable injured doe…’ 

 

Hunter couldn’t focus on the thought that came through though. The entirety of his concentration was focused on that jagged tear leading into Mark’s mind. Horror was dawning on him as he realized that his panicked escape from Mark’s head had left some lasting damage. He was glad that his head was still facing away from Mark so they wouldn’t see his expression.

 

I fucked up.

 

He knew that he shouldn’t try going into Mark’s mind again. The damage that he left there would heal with time… maybe even as fast as only a week or so. If he tried going back in, he would automatically travel through the path of least resistance. It would tear through whatever mental scar tissue was trying to form. That thoughtwave of his just now had torn the gap wider by a minute amount, but that probably added days to the time it would take to heal. Any brush of psychic energy against Mark’s mind could exponentially increase the time it wakes for that hole to heal… that hole could fester and rot away the rest of Mark’s mental defenses until there was nothing left.

 

And there’s an entire psychic nexus somewhere inside of that mind.

 

Hunter’s thoughts focused onto that hole. All of the sharpness that the rest of the room had taken on started to dull away along with his normal sight and vision until there was nothing in existence to him but his mind and that hole. The psychic energy gently wrapped around Mark’s mind, infinitely close to touching the hole but still existing just outside of it. 

 

Hunter’s thoughts accelerated beyond what was possible for any normal mind. A brief second was passing in reality, but in that moment, he had looked over every last detail of that wound and burned them into his mind. It wasn’t a pretty sight to him, not by any means, but a sense of comfort slowly overcame him.

 

There isn’t any more damage…

 

Hunter let out a sigh as time sped back up to normal around him. This was a good sign, but it also didn’t make any sense. Any contact with psychic energy should be tearing that hole wider and yet despite there being an entire nexus of psychic energy inside of that head, there were no signs of it affecting.

 

Could Eternity be wrong about the nexus? Or is there some other barrier keeping it contained?

 

If his face had any color left before, that color would have drained from his face even further. He had forgotten about him. The promise that he made to find his body and wake him up stuck in Hunter’s mind. And he hadn’t gotten many details from him other than the name, Marvin Jones. If the name alone wasn’t enough to find him, Hunter would have to choose whether to break his promise to Eternity or to tear Mark’s mind open once more to get more details from him. The thought of either option left a sour feeling in his gut, one which replaced the flutters that had been there just moments before.

 

As Hunter’s senses returned to him, he could tell that Mark had still been talking about something this whole time, but whatever it might have been would hardly matter to him now. He cut Mark’s off as he interjected, “Hey Mark!? Do you know someone by the name of Marvin Jones? He also goes by the nickname Eternity…”

 

Hunter looked up at them to see a frown on Mark’s face. Their eyebrows were starting to furrow… in anger? 

 

“No!” Mark stated flatly, their tone a complete contrast to the expression on their face, “Never heard of him.” The abruptness with which they stood up was startling to Hunter, “I’ve-” They paused, “I’ve got dinner plans for tonight already. I should get ready for it.” 

 

As they walked away from him toward their bedroom, the impulse to send another thoughtwave out had to quickly be quashed. Hunter didn’t need his powers to know that Mark was lying… but why? What was upsetting Mark so much? Could he have noticed the psychic wound in his mental defenses?

 

Hunter said nothing until Mark slammed the door behind them, “Alright… It’s nothing I guess… Forget I said anything…” He said weakly to no one.

 

***

 

Mark came back from their dinner two hours later. During that time Hunter had cooked up a cheap, crappy square pizza in the toaster oven. He burned the roof of his mouth from it by not letting it cool properly. Almost half of it remained behind in the kitchen. Hunter’s appetite was gone.

 

It felt like these last two hours had been completely wasted. He had tried scouring social media for anyone with the name of Marvin Jones… of all the profiles that weren’t private, few bore any resemblance to Eternity’s mind form. None of the ones that did, were anywhere close to him geographically. That strategy had been a complete nonstarter.

 

His second idea had been to call all of the local hospitals. Where else would a coma patient be kept if not at a hospital? Playing it cool and asking the receptionist which room Marvin Jones was in didn’t give him anything either… something about patient confidentiality or something. They wouldn’t even look up if there was a patient by that name, let alone share that information with him.

 

His final option was the most difficult one by far for Hunter… well second to last option actually since entering Mark’s mind a second time was truly his final option. He texted his mentor.

 

Alice’sRabbit: Hey teach! Do you know of any psychics named Marvin Jones? He also goes by the nickname Eternity

BansheeTamer: C me in person

 

That wasn’t at all what he wanted. Visits with his mentor were always… intense.

 

Alice’sRabbit: I don’t need that much of your time 

Alice’sRabbit: All I need is a yes or no

BansheeTamer: SEE ME IN PERSON!

Alice’sRabbit: Nevermind it’s not that important

 

He should have known this wasn’t going to work. That left him with one option left.

 

Just in time, Mark got home from their dinner out. their tone was sulky as they started, “Hey! I’m home-” they paused as they just stared at Hunter, looking from him then to the leftover pizza in the kitchen. Their tone softened as they asked, “Are you okay? You kinda look like shit right now?”

 

Hunter wasn’t sure what exactly Mark meant by that. He felt like he probably looked the same as he always did.

 

Mark walked up to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Their eyes closely examined him. Normally being stared at like this would make Hunter turn away instantly but there was something about Mark’s gaze that looked… heartbroken. He couldn’t help but drink in those emotions that were directed at him, “You look like someone died…”

 

“Oh… um…” He decided to make something up. Only a half lie, really, “There’s this family friend of mine, Marvin Jones… I heard from someone that he’s in a coma right now but no one knows what hospital.”

 

Color started draining from Mark’s face, “O-oh… I’m so sorry for brushing you off earlier when you asked me about him.”

 

Mark looked… guilty? He probably shouldn’t push them on it, “It’s okay. I think my… Aunt… probably knows where he is, but she refuses to tell me unless I visit home first. I’d rather not do that.”

 

Their hand moved from his shoulder to his back and started gently rubbing him up and down. “I get it.” Mark said, “I don’t like visiting my own family either if I can help it.” The back rub felt really nice, “I’ve really never heard of the guy, but if there’s anything that I can do to help… just let me know, okay?”

 

There was one way Mark could help. Not that their cooperation would make it easier or harder for Hunter to do. Whether to actually do it or not… that thought kept bouncing around his head for the rest of the evening.

 

That night wasn’t a particularly restful one for Hunter. He woke up several times from nightmares that plagued his dreams. 

 

He dreamt of being trapped in the void again with a monster chasing him, unable to break free and eventually being mauled. 

 

He dreamt of his psychic mentor picking him up from the office. Strings coming out of her fingers, drilling into his body and turning him into a doll that she made dance at her commands. His mind wanted him to scream but his mouth didn’t obey it. 

 

He dreamt of Mark’s head splitting open and people crawling out of their brain, clawing at him. Trying to drag him inside the mangled remains of his roommate.

 

He stopped trying to sleep after 3:00 am.

 

***

 

Hunter didn't get much sleep that night, which gave his exhausted mind plenty of time to come up with a plan. By the time dawn broke he had decided that he had to dive into Mark’s mind once again. He wasn’t going to do it the same way as he had before and he had ideas on how he would be able to do so safely for Mark.

 

The dark web wasn’t the most reliable source for psychic advice. Too many of the posts he came across were clearly made by people who had no idea what being a psychic was actually like… but from the nonsense, he had found the inspiration that he needed.

 

Rather than forcing their way in, one person explained how they dug “rabbit holes” into people’s minds. Permanent tunnels through mental barriers that let them come and go as they please.

 

The entire post was bull. Mental defenses just didn’t work like that. You couldn’t make a hole through them permanent, as it would always try to heal over. But it was possible to make a hole and stabilize it so it wouldn’t open further on its own. That was what Hunter decided that he needed to do. 

 

Rather than use the jagged tear that existed currently, he could excise the metaphorical rotten tissue and reinforce the edges so it wouldn’t expand. The hole would have to be much bigger than it was currently, but it would heal itself cleanly and wouldn’t be at risk of opening wider by accident.

 

Making this “rabbit hole” wouldn’t be easy. A slight mistake would just expand the tear even wider. This surgery would need to be precise. It would take time and a definitive toll on Hunter’s psychic energy. It would take just as much of his energy to create a “plug” for the hole that could keep stray psychic energy from invading their mind. But he had a plan and he had his resolve now.

 

Luckily for Hunter, neither Mark nor him had any plans for that Saturday. They were just going to lounge around all day watching TV and whatnot. It gave him all the time he needed to dig his hole.

 

The process was as exhausting as he thought it would be. Every action of his needed to be meticulous and in order to reduce any chances of error, Hunter operated his mind at its maximum acceleration. His thoughts moved at almost 50 times the speed of an ordinary person. A second for others became a minute to him. 

 

Every half hour in the real world, Hunter would take a break from his project to drink a special herbal tea that could restore his psychic energy. After a full three hours, he had fully expended his mental energy six times over and the mental exhaustion was the same as if he hadn’t slept in almost a week. To Hunter’s accelerated mind, that was exactly how long he had been doing his monotonous digging. At least he was finally done with this part. 

 

The tear that previously might have been the size of a dime was now a perfectly round circle the size of a quarter. The next part would need just as much of his mental energy but at least wouldn’t take nearly as much time. Hunter brewed a full pot of the tea, he would need all of it.

 

Since his work on Mark’s mind was done for the immediate moment, Hunter took his pot of tea into his bedroom to finish the last part of his project. He didn’t need them to ask why he was chugging the entire pot down, “I’m taking a nap!”

 

Once in his bedroom, Hunter took a long drink of the tea directly from the pot. A part of him was dying a bit inside at how wasteful he was being with it. The stuff was damn expensive, but time wasn’t on his side for fixing Mark’s hole. With his psychic energy quickly restored, he began making the plug.

 

Creating psychic constructs was one of Hunter’s specialties, but this project was going to be a bit different. A normal construct could only exist in a mindscape. With a bit of extra energy, they could appear as illusions in the real world. But they were never real or had any substance. The plug that Hunter was constructing now needed to actually exist on a metaphysical level, not just a mental one.

 

With a simple thought, he projected a simple cork in reality, the same diameter as the hole. The tricky part was giving that projection substance. 

 

With a lot of patience, Hunter began willing his psychic energy to transform into filaments which he wove into metaphysical threads that he could lay down into the projection, taking its shape and giving it the substance that the plug needed. By the time he had created a layer as thick as a sheet of paper, he was ready to drink another mouthful of tea to restore his energy.

 

He didn’t accelerate his thoughts this time since he needed to conserve all the energy he could. By the time he had finished the pot of herbal tea, the plug had only become a bit more than half as thick as it was supposed to be and it looked like someone had shoved a ball of lint into a tube shaped mold. With a bit more effort, the threads began to melt into each other, fusing together into a single cohesive whole.

 

It wasn’t perfect, there were tiny micro-fractures running all throughout it, but that would just have to do. He was out of the tea and almost out of the last of his reserves.

 

Hunter left his room, pretending to go to the bathroom. As he walked through the hallway, he willed the half-finished plug to fly out and into the gap it was made to fit in. With satisfaction, he sent a thoughtwave to examine his work…

 

It doesn’t fit right…

 

The gap wasn’t large, but the plug was just slightly too small to fill the hole completely flush. It would have to do though. Hunter was completely spent and he wasn’t done with his prep work for the second mind dive just yet.

 

His talk with Mark yesterday had let him know that there were flaws with his autopilot and those flaws were noticeable to them. He would need to make it better this time. He couldn’t mess it up again.

 

Walking into the bathroom, he suddenly stumbled as his legs gave way, almost causing him to crash face first into the mirror. He had to carefully steady himself but his legs were still trembling underneath him. He was even more exhausted than he thought.

 

He looked at himself in the mirror and couldn’t help but frown at the sight. He needed to know what Mark saw in him when the autopilot was controlling him in order to know what needed to be changed, but this wasn’t going to work. 

 

He tore his gaze away from the mirror as fast as he would when anyone else stared at him. He wasn’t sure why but whenever he looked in the mirror, it always felt like there was some stranger on the other side looking back at thim. It was such a weird thing for him to be bothered about. He knew that the man in the mirror was him, but some part of his mind fiercely rejected that obvious fact and seemed to insist that it wasn’t.

 

Rather than try to reprogram the autopilot here, he would have to do it elsewhere. He couldn’t even hold his body upright long enough to pee standing at the moment.

 

Making his way back to his bedroom, Hunter sighed as he flopped onto his twin-sized bed. His eyes slowly started closing as he felt his consciousness start to fade out, but he forced himself to stay awake. This was too important to not get done right now.

 

Groaning as he stood back up, Hunter walked over to his dresser and started digging around in the bottom drawer. It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. A silver hand mirror with some rather ornate filigree embossed onto the edge. He kept it inside the velvet pouch that it had originally been gifted to him in by his college roommate, Geosha. Inside the same pouch was the farewell card that she had given him along with the mirror when they had moved out of the dorms. Hunter looked over the card again and let a smile come over his face as he read it.

 

‘To H, You’ll thank me later <3 - Geosha’

 

He turned his attention back to the hand mirror. From the look of it, it might have been an antique but he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure if it was real silver or not, not that it mattered. He still cherished it as a gift from a close friend, even if he didn’t actually have much use for it until now. He should catch up with her again sometime soon.

 

Sitting back down on the edge of the bed, he stared at his reflection in the hand mirror. It was time to start. 

 

Hunter let his eyes go out of focus and willed his consciousness to leave his body. It didn’t move outward, the same way it had when he jumped into Mark’s head. Instead he pulled himself backward, into his own head. He found himself floating inside a gray void now. 

 

This was what he had been expecting when he had jumped into Mark’s head. It was what he had seen inside Chelsea’s head as well as Geosha’s. His own was slightly different from theirs though. At some point in the past he had added a starry sky onto one side of the void. It helped to give the place a clear sense of up and down.

 

The only thing in the void with him was a pair of gigantic overlapping screens that showed off what his eyes were seeing, in this case his reflection in the hand mirror. The reflection of his own eyes took up the majority of the screen, each eye being almost as large as Hunter’s mind form. They were dark brown and flat, lacking the light that was in most people’s eyes, the color of them almost blending cleanly into the pupils. They looked lifeless, like the eyes of a doll or a dead fish.

 

Is this what Mark meant about me looking stiff?

 

Hunter waited to see how the autopilot would act now that he had given up control of the body, but it didn’t move. Why wasn’t it moving? Hunter’s body just sat there on his bed, unblinking. The only motion it was making was the slight movement of nostrils and chest that at least showed that it was still breathing.

 

It took him a moment to realize that the autopilot wasn’t in his body right now either. He had shoved it out when he had realized that it was making control of his own body difficult.

 

Looking around in the void, he couldn’t see it anywhere. For that matter, he wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. Taking inspiration from how rescuers searched for missing people, he began exploring the void, circling around the eye screens in an ever widening spiral.

 

After a few minutes of carefully searching the void, he finally found something. It was the mind form that he usually used. The androgynous figure hung limply like a rag-doll and made him suddenly aware that he was still using the rabbit form that he had created to go into Mark’s mind.

 

He gave the figure a light push, unsure if the autopilot was inside of there or not. To his surprise, it suddenly jolted awake and stiffly stood up. The other mind form towered over his current one, being at least a foot taller than him. From this perspective, it gave off a very different feeling than he intended it to. Instead of being small and cute, it felt large and intimidating to him.

 

The other mind form reached out to him unexpectedly with both arms and pulled him into a tight hug, “So cute~” it said with a slight drawl as one of its hands started petting his head. Its voice being just slightly higher pitched than he expected it to be.

 

“L-let go!” Hunter said as he struggled to escape its grip.

 

“Baby bunny~ so pretty~”

 

“I said… LET GO!” Hunter pushed the other head form off of him with a telekinetic burst. In reality, his telekinesis might be pretty weak, but in headspace, especially his own, he could do so much more with it.

 

The other form stumbled backward and frowned… no wait… it wasn’t frowning. It was pouting.

 

“Autopilot! Go back into the body and do something!” Hunter ordered it.

 

“Auto~ I don't like that name~”

 

“...” Why was it talking back to him like this? He fixed a scowl onto his face and tried to appear commanding, “It isn’t a name! You don’t have a name. You aren't a person, just a program.”

 

“A person~?” it was just staring at him with a blank look on its face.

 

“IN! TO! THE! BODY!” Hunter commanded again, pointing at the screens that showed what their body was staring at.

 

The autopilot sulked as it walked in the direction that Hunter was pointing in. It took one last look at him before walking through the screen and disappearing from the void.

 

Up on the screen, Hunter could see the body start blinking. In the reflection, he could see it frown as it stared at itself before looking away from the mirror. A small bit of light had returned to the eyes, which at least helped it look less lifeless.

 

I don’t like this body~ 

 

A sudden voice started echoing around him throughout the headspace, startling him. A moment later the same voice came out of his body’s mouth, “I don’t~ like this~” Hearing his own voice in the real word was a strange feeling. It reverberated all around him but in a different way than what he had heard just a bit earlier.

 

Was that its thought a moment ago?

 

I’m not~ an it~

 

Are you eavesdropping on my own thoughts!?

 

… No~? You’re projecting them~ Very loudly~

 

This felt weird. Hunter had never gotten a good grasp on telepathy despite the fact that he was talented at mind reading. He wondered if this was what it felt like and if this experience might help him figure out how to do it for real in the future. For now though, he realized that he needed to manage his thoughts so they weren’t broadcasting through the headspace when he didn’t want them to.

 

Look back at the mirror and say something!

 

On the screens, he saw the autopilot look back at the hand mirror, still with a big frown on.

 

“I don't~ like~ the name Autopilot~” it said with his body’s real mouth, “and stop~ calling me it~” Hunter apparently wasn’t doing as good of a job not broadcasting as he assumed…

 

Stop talking like that. You’re lilting our speech.

 

“Our~ speech~?”

 

My speech! You’re supposed to sound like me when you talk!

 

“Okay.” It seemed like his body didn’t say that with the odd cadence that time.

 

Now say something that I would say!

 

“Alright~ hmm~” great… it was back, “Work has been killing me lately… Did you catch the game last night… How’s my hair?” as it talked, their face seemed to be suitably expressive. It didn’t seem as stiff as Mark had made him think… at least when it wasn’t doing that thing with its voice, “How was that~?”

 

I guess the expressions are close enough to the real me… but two out of three on things that I actually would say to someone.

 

Oh right~ You don’t watch sports~

 

I… No I meant the hair!

 

But you always~ fret about it~

 

Do not…

 

“You spend so much time~ getting it to look right~ It’d be a shame~ if I messed it up~” In the mirror, Hunter watched as their hand gently adjusted their hair to sweep some stray strands out of their face. Their body stood up and propped the hand mirror up on their desk then took a step back so they could see themself better in it.

 

Why are you talking like that? Drop our pitch down a bit! You’re making us sound like a girl-

 

His thoughts were briefly interrupted as he let out a yawn. In the real world, their body yawned a moment later.

 

“Yawns are~ contagious~” Their voice was even higher pitched than it was a moment ago, “I like~ our voice~ better this way~” with each bit they said, their voice sounded a bit higher… a bit clearer than it normally was.

 

It’s not OUR voice! It’s mine! How are you doing that anyways?

 

“Oh, it’s simple!” Suddenly their voice returned to how Hunter usually spoke, “Remember when you were helping Geosha with her voice training?” In the mirror, he saw as they placed their hand on their neck and pushed up slightly on their adam’s apple, “All I have to do~ is move my muscles~ just so~” 

 

With each word they spoke, their voice became more and more feminine. Chills went down Hunter’s spine and he felt something start fluttering in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t realize that they were even capable of sounding so… He cut that line of thought off there.

 

Ahem! Well… please don’t do that anymore. It makes us sound like a girl and we’re trying to be a man here-

 

And not doing a great job at it either~

 

Is she cutting him off now? He’s supposed to be the one in charge here.

 

“She~?” their body said, “I like that~ It’s much better than ‘it’~”

 

Hunter froze mentally. He didn’t even realize that he started thinking of her as a she. Why would he do that? It must have been because of that thing she was doing with their voice. He considered trying to assert her as a ‘he’ or an ‘it’ again in his mind but he had always respected people’s preferred pronouns and doing such a thing would have filled him with revulsion. 

 

In the real world, she let out another yawn, “I’m~ eepy~”

 

Well there’s no time for us to sleep right now! We need to fix you first!

 

“I don’t~ yawn~ need to be~ fixed~”

 

Stop talking like that with our body please, Auto.

 

“Auto is~ better~ but I still dont~ yawn~ like it~”

 

Please just talk the way that I should, please…

 

“Talk the way~ you should~?”

 

Yes, please!

 

“Okay~ yawn~ I’ll talk~ exactly the~ way… you… should…” 

 

Suddenly the entire world grew dimmer around them. The stars that were in the void above Hunter vanished from sight as the gray void around him slowly became black. All the light that they could see from the screens that showed their sight faded away as well as they passed out. 

 

Completely unconscious, even in their mental world.