4. You Are (Not) Alone – Part 2
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Egg Hunter: Cluster Headache

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Chapter 4: You Are (Not) Alone - Part 2

 

The two of them continued giggling at each other’s antics until Zoey opened the doors to the office building. Immediately, both of their expressions became serious. Hunter’s eyes drifted upwards towards the staircase of clouds that came out of the roof of the building and disappeared up into the fog high above the neighborhood. He wondered what was up there right up until he stepped into the office.

 

He expected something more out of the place when they entered. Like for it to look like a villain’s lair or something, but it was disappointingly mundane. The door opened up into a small lobby with utterly generic office carpet, a couple of fake plants and some of the least comfortable looking chairs he’d ever seen along one wall. An empty reception desk stood at the other end of the room and behind it was a single turnstile blocking a hallway that led further into the building.

 

“You two go on ahead! Just down that way.” Zoey said as she walked behind the reception desk and dug around for something behind it, “I’ll catch up in just a few seconds…”

 

Neither Hunter nor Eternity continued down the hallway. The two of them just stared at Zoey as they waited.

 

“C’mon… at least turn around for a second. It’s hard to do this with people watching.” Zoey said with a blush.

 

Eternity rolled his eyes and turned to stare at a picture on the wall opposite the chairs. After a moment of confusion, Hunter followed suit. The picture wasn’t anything special by any means. Just a boring single mountain with a wavy pastel blue line under it that made Hunter think of a dentist’s office for some reason.

 

It was literally only a couple of seconds before Zoey told them they could turn around once again. In her hands was a large pizza box with a ‘Mike’s on Roberts’ logo printed across the top. One that was much too wide to have been stored under the desk she had dug it out from. Steam wafted off the box and filled the room with the scent of freshly baked ‘za. A scent that hadn’t been there just a moment before.

 

Eternity chuckled at the sight of the box and nudged Hunter’s ribs, “What do you think Mike is doing on Robert up there?” When Hunter didn’t respond, Eternity added, “Y’know? What’s he doing to Robert? It’s probably something gay…”

 

Hunter couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “Not cool, dude…” He said as he started following Zoey and pushed his way through the turnstile.

 

The hallway beyond it was simple and straight, going all the way to the back of the building before hitting a staircase that doubled back around towards the front. Hunter observed the doors that were randomly placed on both sides of the hall. They weren’t real doors and weren’t even three-dimensional. They looked like part of the hideous wallpaper that covered the hallway and were only there to give the illusion that there was more to this floor of the building than just a lobby, hall, and staircase.

 

“Hey! It’s not like I have anything against gay people or anything.” Eternity said defensively as they all started going up the stairs, “I know plenty of gay people! Like Zoey! She’s so gay that she decided to become a woman, and I’m totally okay with-”

 

“STOP IT!” Hunter suddenly yelled at him. The teasing and the butt slapping were things that he could tolerate easily, but Hunter drew the line at stuff like this. Eternity was being a huge ass and someone needed to educate him. 

 

“Zoey didn't become a woman because she’s gay! You don’t just decide to do something like that! She’s transgender! People don’t transition so they can have sex with straight people! She transitioned because she’s always been a woman and didn’t feel comfortable being trapped in the wrong body. 

 

“That kind of stuff isn’t easy to live with! I’ve read the minds of plenty of trans people and they are suffering until they are able to transition. It’s unbearable to feel that pain coming off of them. It’s the reason that I came into Mark’s mind in the first place, because I can tell that they’re suffering that same way and I want to help them realize what is wrong.”

 

“Well put…” Zoey said as she pulled Hunter into a side hug while holding the pizza box in the other hand. “For the record though, I am gay. But that’s only really true now that I’m a woman.”

 

“You were always a woman, Zoey…” Hunter said with a blush as his face was pulled into the side of her breasts.

 

“You too, Hunter…” She responded back, earning a questioning look from him.

 

Before Hunter could even think to correct her though, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a nose being blown. He stared forward and was surprised to see that the noise had come from The Admin.

 

It was hard to tell that it had been him at first. He was seated in a large leather executive office chair but was completely wrapped up in a giant comforter with an extra fuzzy blanket thrown on top. His face was barely exposed and would probably be hidden under all of that stuff if he hadn’t been blowing his nose just now. 

 

Behind The Admin was a wall of CRT monitors. Roughly half the monitors were covered in static and the other half appeared to show various views of the neighborhood, from the street to the fronts of buildings. Even a couple showing the inside of the arcade and the insides of other buildings that he didn’t even recognize. In the center of all the screens, was a single oversized one that was currently playing a soap opera. Hunter wasn’t sure what it was called but had noticed Mark watching it a couple of times over the last week.

 

“T-that was a really sweet thing to say…” The Admin said as he dabbed a tissue against his tear stained cheeks before wiping away some of the snot that was dripping out of his nose.

 

Zoey was the first to respond to him, “Heyy… jeez, you’re looking worse than I thought.” She put the pizza box down on the desk in front of The Admin then slowly unwrapped the blankets that were covering his head. “I brought the bunny here… to prove that they’re okay and safe. Eternity tagged along too. Oh! And there’s even a pizza. You love those right?” 

 

She spoke gently to him and carefully brushed his hair into place with her fingers, bringing the curls back into a slight semblance of the clean-cut appearance he had the first time they met. Watching Zoey with The Admin like this reminded Hunter about how Mark had been with their kindergarten students. The both of them were so caring… so nurturing. It was hard to imagine them as anything other than ideal mothers, a far cry from how his own had been.

 

The Admin sniffled as he asked Zoey, “Is… is it a veggie?” 

 

She opened the box to show it to him. It was practically decadent with how many veggies were piled on top. Onions, red green and yellow bell peppers, breaded eggplant… the whole works. 

 

A trembling hand reached out of the blanket cocoon to grab a slice from the box and Hunter was surprised to see it in pajama sleeves covered in stripes of a familiar shade of light blue, pink, and white. It was enough to make Hunter consider that the pastel suit in those same colors might not have been just a coincidence or Easter themed.

 

The Admin took a small bite of the pizza before sniffling once more. Zoey grabbed a tissue and gently wiped away at the stuff coming out of his nose.

 

“I-I am so sorry for w-what I did before!” He said to Hunter and tears started bursting from his eyes, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

 

The unexpected show of emotion threw Hunter completely off guard. He wasn’t sure what to expect when meeting The Admin again, but it certainly hadn’t been this. On some level, this was more uncomfortable than if The Admin would have tried intimidating him.

 

“U-um… I-I guess it’s okay…” Hunter wasn’t sure what to say at all. The Admin was being too emotional for his comfort and he didn’t want to make it worse, “I got out of that hole no prob.”

 

“D-did you see anyone else down there?” The Admin asked with another sniffle as he slowly chewed on his slice of pizza.

 

Hunter’s memories were brought back to whatever that thing had been that was down in there, “Something had been down there at least…” He shuddered, “Whatever it was, freaked me out! I got out before I really had a chance to find out what it was.”

 

The Admin unexpectedly let out a sigh of relief, “I’m glad she’s still down there and hasn’t dissipated.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Someone who was locked away a long time ago…” The Admin looked blankly into space for a while before continuing, “If you can get out anytime you want… could you help me free her?”

 

“No! Stop right there!” Eternity suddenly interjected, “Hunter is freeing me from the nexus before anything else. I’m not gonna let you do anything that endangers her and whatever thing is down there freaked her out so it’s probably dangerous.”

 

Zoey grabbed at her head dramatically, the same way that she had done at the arcade, “You see Addy, this is why I needed to bring him here. He’s still being an idiot. Can you please explain to them?”

 

The Admin sighed as he finished off the last bite of the slice he had been holding. With it eaten, he began shucking off layers of blankets from his makeshift cocoon. There were actually more blankets underneath the comforter than Hunter had thought. As The Admin crawled out of the blankets and climbed out of his chair, the pattern on his pajamas became clear. Not only was it covered in stripes, there were also pictures of office supplies all over them. Calculators, slide rules, pencils and protractors… even an abacus.

 

The Admin took a deep breath while pinching the bridge of his nose is clear frustration. After taking a moment to clear his head, his expression turned as sharp and strict as it had been the first time Hunter had met him. He pulled a pair of half-moon glasses from the shirt pocket of his PJs and slid them onto the bridge of his nose before glaring at Eternity.

 

“Mr. Jones-”

 

“Eternity!”

 

The Admin ignored the correction and turned his gaze, “Hunter, I want both of you to listen to me very carefully as this is the last time we will be having this discussion.” His tone was severe and as much as he had seen how broken The Admin had just looked, Hunter didn’t doubt that he would drop them both back into that void if he thought they would defy that order. 

 

“There is no such thing as a psychic nexus! You are not psychics! There is no place outside of this neighborhood for you to go except to wander aimlessly in the fog. Do you understand me?”

 

Eternity’s face turned red and he looked like he was about to start a scene, one that would end badly for him. Hunter knew he had to speak up before Eternity got both of them into trouble by arguing, “Please Admin, just hear me out for a minute!”

 

Eternity and The Admin both stopped and glowered at him. The Admin was clearly upset that he was being talked back to but why would Eternity be?

 

“I don’t need a girl to stand up for me!”

 

Ah… that’s why, “Shut up Eternity or I’m not helping you!” That got the guy to back down quicker than Hunter would have expected. 

 

Hunter turned back to The Admin and felt his confidence waver under the stares of everyone present, “I need you to believe that I really am a psychic. I- I’m not from inside of Mark’s head…” He hated being looked at by people and here he was putting himself in this situation.The Admin’s gaze behind those tortoiseshell glasses was making him sweat bullets. 

 

Wait… was that what he was wearing before? Hunter tried to think back… he could have sworn that the glasses didn’t have nearly that thick of frames but what exactly had he been wearing? The sound of Zoey clearing her throat brought Hunter back.

 

“I- I…” 

 

Goddamn it Hunter! Just grow a freaking backbone!

 

The sudden sound echoed all throughout the room and all around him, people’s gazes seemed to soften. Zoey came up to him and put a reassuring hand on Hunter’s shoulder which helped calm him down. 

 

The Admin wasn’t glaring at him anymore and was just looking at him with an eyebrow raised. The same with Eternity, his glare was gone and replaced with a look of concern.

 

“No one is judging you, Hunter.” Zoey said as she pulled him into a tight hug.

 

“Ah! There’s that bag.” The Admin said. He had approached and reached over to pull a strap over Hunter’s head. A duffel bag was pulled off of him and he wasn’t even sure when he had picked that up. He certainly hadn’t been carrying that when he came here… had he?

 

“Let’s see what kind of baggage you’re carrying…” The Admin put the bag down on his desk and unzipped it. Inside were numerous smaller bags of all shapes: bookbags, messenger bags, purses. The Admin grabbed one of the bookbags and opened it up. 

 

Immediately the sound of angry voices reverberated around the room. They were distorted and whatever they were saying couldn’t be made out but Hunter knew they were all directed at him. Criticizing him. Mocking him. The Admin pulled a VHS tape out of the bag and as he did, the voices slowly started being drowned out by the echoing of thunder of a racing heartbeat and the sound of someone wheezing and desperately gasping for air.

 

“A persecution complex.” The Admin stated as a matter-of-fact as he pushed the tape into one of the screens on the wall of monitors. Immediately, all the screens began showing the same image of a furious red-haired woman.

 

MOM!?

 

“STOP!!!” Hunter shoved the duffel bag off the desk and it disappeared into thin air. At the same moment that he let out the scream to stop, a wave of energy swept out from him and caused all of the monitors to shatter.

 

Everyone was staring at him once more. This time in shock, “Who was-” The Admin started but was cut off.

 

“Please stop!” Hunter couldn’t help but burst out into tears as he begged them not to ask. His actual words were muffled by his cries but everyone understood that he didn’t want to talk about it.

 

The tears had come to him so suddenly and so intensely in a way that he hadn’t experienced since he was a child.

 

Dammit Hunter… Stop it… you’re crying like a girl…

 

Hunter hadn’t even realized when it happened but by the time he finally calmed down, he found himself lying on the floor with his head in Zoey's lap and she was gently petting his head. It felt so nice. She smiled at him gently, “All better now?”

 

Eternity and The Admin were both awkwardly avoiding looking at him. When they realized that he was done crying The Admin cautiously approached him.

 

“Look, Hunter…” He was clearly uncomfortable and fiddled with the rimless glasses that kept sliding down his nose as he said, “I could maybe, possibly believe that you aren’t from around here… I’ll let you say what you wanted to say.”

 

Hunter sniffled as he got up from Zoey's lap and stood up off of the floor. In front of him, The Admin seemed much taller than he had been. Maybe Hunter was just feeling smaller than he had felt before… more vulnerable after his cry. He realized that his eyes were level with Eternity’s once again even though he was still wearing the heeled shoes.

 

“I… I really am a psychic.” Hunter started. He stared at the floor, “I’m Mark’s roommate… He…” He was too emotionally exhausted to even think about choosing his words carefully, “I read his mind, or at least I had tried. I know what gender dysphoria feels like… I’ve felt it off of many trans women. That same feeling is so thick in Mark’s aura that I couldn’t just leave him… I mean them… like that. That’s why I decided to astral project and dive into their mind. To try to figure out the best way to help them realize what they are so they can get the help they need.”

 

Hunter was surprised to hear The Admin’s response, “I believe you.”

 

“You do?”

 

The Admin sighed, “There’s something you should see.” His eyes drifted over to Eternity, “Something you should both see…”

 

The Admin gave Hunter a smile as he said, “But first, you could use some pizza. It’s still warm.”

***

 

He had never eaten a pizza with so many veggies on it before, but Hunter had to admit that it really was good. It filled him with a warm feeling as he ate it, but that warmth was slowly fading as the four of them made their way onto the building’s roof. They were standing before the cloud staircase now and The Admin was clearly motioning for him to go first.

 

Hunter wasn’t someone with a fear of heights but he still felt a wave of anxiety go through him as he stepped onto the first step… and immediately found himself transported to a new place.

 

Hunter found himself standing on top of a cloud surrounded by a completely empty sky. None of the fog that surrounded the neighborhood was visible up here, but as he took a glance behind him, he could see he was at the top of the cloud staircase which extended far, far beneath him. A blanket of gray stretching in all directions was all that he could see down below. He couldn't even see the point where the staircase emerged from it. It felt like he could have been miles up for all that he could tell.

 

He turned back to look at what was in front of him but before he could take in any of the details, a push from behind suddenly caused him to stumble forward.

 

“Holy shit!!!” Eternity cried out from behind him. 

 

Before Hunter could even fall all the way forward, a sharp pain erupted from his behind as Eternity grabbed his tail to keep himself from falling backward. The pain of all of Eternity's weight pulling on it was almost too much to bear and Hunter felt the edges of his vision begin to darken.

 

The pain didn't last too long though and was followed by a hard shove that sent Hunter falling forward once more. Luckily the cloud floor was as soft as falling into a cushion so hitting it face first didn't cause much more pain.

 

“Dammit Hunter! Why are you blocking the way!? I almost fell off this damn thing, bumping into you!”

 

Eternity probably didn't have to be so rude about it but manners didn't seem to matter as he gave Hunter another shove right before The Admin and then Zoey appeared from thin air at the top of the staircase. The two of them looked at Hunter on the floor in clear surprise. 

 

“She tripped…” Eternity immediately said before the others could ask, “those heels aren't exactly ideal footwear for cloud walking if you ask me.”

 

Zoey rolled her eyes as she came over to give Hunter a hand. She whispered into his ear as she helped pull him to his feet, “Don't take it too personally. Boys like him can't help but tease the girls they like. They just don't know any better.” She added with a wink.

 

Hunter decided to just ignore that comment. Clearly Zoey was the one who was teasing him, while Eternity was just being an ass.

 

He put everyone out of his mind as he finally took a good look at where they were. The cloud they were standing on wasn’t as big as Hunter would have expected, the entire thing was maybe as large as their apartment if the walls were all removed. There weren’t many things up here either other than a couple of fluffy couches that were a slightly different shade of white from the cloud floor. The sheer emptiness of the place made it feel larger than it actually was.

 

In the center of the area was a giant oval mirror, close to 10 feet tall at its peak and almost twice as wide. It was bordered by stacks of speakers, the kinds you would find at concert venues. The thing about it that grabbed Hunter’s attention the most however was that reflected in the mirror, seated in an oversized white armchair was Mark. 

 

It was the real Mark…. not just someone who looked like them. It was Mark as Hunter had seen them that morning, dressed in the exact same outfit, only with the addition of large headphones covering their ears. Except… there wasn’t any life in their eyes. They were in some kind of daze staring at their own reflection in the mirror… unmoving and unblinking.

 

A chill crawled up Hunter’s spine. 

 

What the hell is going on-

 

“SHHH!” The Admin shushed him loudly, interrupting his thought, before speaking in a hushed voice, “This is the fronting room. Any loud thoughts in here will not only be heard by us, but throughout the entire neighborhood… maybe even further as well.”

 

The Admin walked up behind Mark and ran a finger along the headphones before reaching over them and picking up a remote from the seat next to them, “As long as he’s wearing those headphones, he won't be able to hear anything we say.”

 

“Really?” Eternity asked as he approached and reached out towards Mark’s head.

 

“Stop that!” The Admin chided, “We shouldn’t distract him, especially if he’s busy doing something.”

 

Throughout the conversation, Hunter stared at Mark. They didn’t make any movements but Hunter couldn’t help but be completely fascinated by them. There were so many little veins that were visible running up their arms and even their neck that Hunter had never noticed before. The bulk that their muscles had and the shoulders that weren’t necessarily as broad as most men’s, but still gave off the impression that Mark was fit… strong. 

 

Hunter wouldn’t have dared to stare at Mark like this in the real world for fear of being caught, but here… Mark would never know would they? They wouldn’t know that he was staring at how sharp their jawline was or how the muscles in their neck bulged or even… Hunter stopped himself in his tracks as he realized that his eyes were about to drift downward to their lap.

 

What am I doing? I’m not gay but I’m looking at them like a pile of man-meat…

 

Shame ran through Hunter… shame that he forcefully suppressed to avoid everyone here from hearing it broadcast. He wasn’t just ashamed about objectifying his roommate. The worse thing was that he was objectifying Mark like they were a man. Fixating on their masculine features. The things that were probably the most dysphoria inducing for them.

 

Hunter was so absorbed in self loathing that he only realized something was going on when the surface of the giant mirror rippled and the reflection was replaced with something new. Everyone was staring at it as it changed to showing Hunter and Mark’s apartment through Mark’s eyes.

 

Mark was in the living room watching the news on TV. The Admin hit a button on the remote and suddenly sound started coming out through the speakers. “... next weekend at city hall. Alley Cat’s debut will mark the appearance of the first new empowered hero in our state in almost a decade,” one of the news reporters said.

 

“That’s right! We’re all very excited that she has chosen our city to continue to be her base of operations. The press agent for Alley Cat has stated that she has a full schedule of public appearances planned for April. Stay tuned to Channel 5 news to keep you up to date on when those appearances will be happening.” 

 

“And remember to tune in tonight at 6 PM for our special report on the history of Alley Cat, from her first appearance as a neighborhood vigilante on Dairy Street all the way up to becoming the superpowered heroine she is today. Coming up next is Brian at the Sports Desk, but first a word from our sponsors at Dairy Street Apizza-.”

 

Up on the screen the real Mark hit the mute button on the TV remote then turned to look at the person leaning up next to them on the couch, “What do you think, H? Interested in going to check out the big debut next week?”

 

The person next to them leaned back so she could look Mark in the eye and to Hunter’s horror, he realized that it was his body cuddled up against Mark. It was Mamata using his body to do… what exactly?

 

Dark feelings started to swirl around Hunter but he couldn’t figure out what they were. He just knew that something about this scene was upsetting him. He didn’t want Mamata to be doing this with Mark. He didn't want to see anyone with Mark like this, even though that was extremely unfair to Mark.

 

He glared daggers at Mamata in his body on the other side of the screen. She was crossing his legs at the knees with his hands resting in his lap. She smiled broadly right at them while Hunter’s frown grew. His body looked so delicate under her control and yet at the same time, so alive… nothing like the dead fish eyes that he had seen when he looked in the mirror the night before. Why? Why was he wishing that he could look like her when he was the real Hunter in the first place?

 

“Hmm~ I don’t know…” Mamata said with his mouth. She was using the voice again. Somehow she was making his voice sound so perfectly feminine that he couldn’t believe that it really was his mouth that she was using, “It sounds like something that would be really fun to go to… but…”

 

She hesitated before speaking further and her eyes started becoming more emotional as tears started forming but didn’t fall, “It’s like I told you earlier. Sometimes I can get… moody… and change my mind unexpectedly.”

 

“R-right… Can we talk about what happened this morning?” Mark asked.

 

Mamata was staring directly into their eyes as she responded, “I am really really sorry about this morning! I don’t know how to explain it… sometimes I just… act like another person. It’s not really something I can control, Emmie. I care a lot about you and want to spend time doing things together… But… I have some issues.”

 

“Right,” Mark said dejectedly. “You warned me last night and I didn’t listen. I’m glad you liked the breakfast though. I spent a lot of time on it and really wanted to surprise you. I won’t surprise you again though.”

 

“Thank you Emmie~!” Mamata came back in close, pressing her body against them, “I appreciate it. Just wait for me to say something next time… Did you uh…wanna get back to it? You were really good~” There was a hunger in her eyes as she spoke to Mark.

 

“I uh… maybe just some cuddling? It was a bit intense.”

 

“Works for me, cutie~!”

 

Hunter’s attention was pulled away from the action on the screen by Eternity nudging him in the ribs. With a raised eyebrow and a cocky smirk he asked, “What kinda stuff do you think they were up to that was so intense?”

 

Hunter didn’t want to answer. The first thing that came to mind… the thought of Mamata using his body to do that with Mark made him feel sick. It wasn’t disgust of course! He would never judge people for being into that kind of stuff. It was a different emotion. One that he still couldn’t place.

 

“I bet she was using her mouth to-”

 

“Fucking hell… Eternity! SHUT UP!!!”

Eternity! SHUT UP!!!

 

In the background, the voices coming through the speakers were lowered until being completely muted, “Hmmm~ No, not handsome~ You think that I’m cute and I think that you’re cute too~! What’s wrong with that~? You have such adorable-”

 

In the mirror, Mamata got closer and closer to Mark’s face. Her lips were slightly pouting and the light coming from the window reflected off of her… was she wearing lipstick!? Where on earth had she gotten lipstick!? The shade of red paired nicely with the dark brown shade of hair that she had which had been much more carefully styled than Hunter ever did it, making it look almost like she had a pixie cut.

 

“Are you okay Hunter?” Zoey asked as he put a gentle hand on his shoulder, “Maybe you should sit down on one of the couches.”

 

“That-” Hunter struggled to find the words that he needed to explain what he was feeling. Hell, he struggled to even understand what it was that he was feeling, “That is NOT what I programmed Mamata to do!”

 

Zoey glanced back at the screen briefly, “Is that girl out there Mamata? How do you know her?”

 

“That ‘girl’ isn’t just Mamata. That’s MY body!” Hunter tried to keep whatever emotion was swirling around in him under control to keep everyone in Mark’s mind from hearing him, “She’s supposed to just be an autopilot program that controls my body while I jumped in here… I definitely did not program her to do… this!”

 

Eternity stared between Hunter and his real body on the screen, ”Wait…? If that’s you, why are you white in here? And your mom was ginger…”

 

Hunter facepalmed, “You’re focusing on my skin color? That is tripping you up more than the fact that I am clearly not a rabbit?”

 

Zoey stared at Mamata closely, “Oh! Oh my goddess, this makes so much sense.” She smirked at Hunter as she added just under her breath, “Called it~”

 

“So wait, what ARE you exactly?” Eternity asked.

 

“I’m half-Indian... Now stop asking questions!” Hunter said with a smack to the side of Eternity’s head.

 

“Like American Indian or-” Eternity’s question was cut off by Zoey giving him a much harder smack than Hunter’s. With a glare at her, he made a zipped lips motion and finally shut up.

 

The Admin stood up from the couch that he had been sitting on and approached the Mark that was sitting in the armchair, staring blankly at the screen, “Well, this is getting awkward so I should probably put a stop to this.” Unceremoniously, he removed the headphones from Mark’s head then unmuted the screen. “Mark can hear us now. Also, please don’t try sitting in the chair with him. It’s pretty uncomfortable.”

 

From the speakers came Mark’s voice once again, followed by Mamata in that eerily realistic feminine voice.

 

“Huh? Did you hear something H?”

 

“No~ I don’t think so…” Mamata paused before lifting herself off of Mark and pulling Hunter’s phone out of his pocket, “Oh! It must have been my phone. Francene is calling me? I’mma take this in the other room~!”

 

As Mamata walked out of the room, even though she was swaying her hips, she thankfully returned to Hunter’s normal way of speaking, “Hey Fran… What's up? I hope you aren't calling me about work on Easter Sunday?”

 

“Huh?” Mark’s baffled response rang throughout the cloud.

 

The Admin was the first person in the fronting room to begin speaking to Mark, “Hello. I am The Admin and before you ask, yes I am in your head”

 

“Oh… Oh God, I’m losing my mind aren’t I?” Mark said with obvious panic creeping into their voice, “Am I schizophrenic!? Have I just hallucinated that entire thing with Hunter?”

 

“Ah, good! Could you clarify for me real quick if Hunter is your roommate’s name?” The Admin asked while glancing over at him..

 

“Oh god, oh god, oh god! This can’t get any worse!”

 

“Oh calm down!” Zoey interjected, “You don't have schizophrenia and this isn’t the end of the world. I’m Zoey, by the way. I’m a transgender woman that’s also in your head.”

 

“Ah! No way! This CAN’T be real!” Mark shrieked.

 

“I should have known this would happen…” The Admin sighed.

 

Eternity hummed in thought for a moment then snapped his fingers, “Leave this to the psychic! Watch this Hunter!” He strode confidently to the mind version of Mark. “On three… 

 

“One!”

 

“Hunter? Wait! Did you say there was a psychic in my head!?”

 

“Two!”

 

Without even finishing his count Eternity grabbed Mark’s wrists and pulled, lifting them out of the armchair.

 

With a start, the mind version of Mark stumbled forward. When they found their balance, they began whipping their head around wildly taking in all the details of the fronting room and its occupants. As their gaze passed over Hunter, they did a double take.

 

“Am I dead? Is this heaven?” Mark asked as their mania cooled into a daze, “Do I spend all eternity here with two guys, a girl, and a bunny?”

 

Everyone else in the room was staring back at Mark, save for The Admin who saw the screen’s view shifting as Mark’s body in the real world started to crumple without someone at the helm. He pushed the other out of the way and jumped into the seat mind-Mark had been sitting in. The moment he sat down, his expression turned blank and the view on the screen shot back up. It stood slightly higher than before as The Admin controlled Mark’s body and made it sit up ramrod straight.

 

“God… Mr. Jones, you reckless idiot!” The cadence that the voice coming in through the speakers spoke with was just like The Admin’s, and yet the voice itself was Mark’s voice, “What exactly was your plan? Wow… did our voice always sound this… deep?”

 

“Oh crap!” Zoey exclaimed, “Addy! Get out of the chair!”

Addy! Get out of the chair!

 

Mark snickered, their voice just slightly lighter than it had been before, “Yeah… that’s my voice and it sucks…” Mark glanced around again and stumbled slightly as their voice raised even more, “For heaven, there aren’t as many clouds as I would have thought…”

 

“Easy there, honey…” Zoey said with a soothing voice. She grabbed Mark’s hand gently and they let her lead them to one of the open couches, “I’m Zoey… and you aren't dead or anything like that. This is the inside of your mind… the inside of our mind.”

 

“My head? Are you all psychics?” Mark asked, “I assume the gogglehead is one… and you too lady?”

 

Eternity and Zoey both scoffed but after a glare from Zoey, Eternity mimed zipping his lips again, “You shouldn’t assume that I’m the only woman in this room…” She returned to her gentle look before slowly introducing everyone to Mark, “That one over there is Eternity. The bunny is Hunter. And the one in the chair controlling the body is Addy… or well, he prefers to go by The Admin”

 

“He’s controlling my body?”

 

“I mean… it isn’t really ‘your’ body.” Zoey responded, “It was my body at one point and it was Addy’s before me.”

 

“I- I MUST be dreaming!”

There is no way in hell this is really happening! And what is that damn echo!?

 

“Calm down! Calm down!” Hunter decided that he needed to hop into this to help calm Mark down. “I don’t know if what she’s saying is exactly true, but you don’t need to be worried. Me and Eternity are the only psychics here and even then, Eternity’s powers don’t work in here for some reason.”

 

Mark stared at Hunter and he couldn’t help but flinch away from the eye contact. Mark’s eyes widened slightly in recognition, “Y-your name is Hunter?” They asked with a quiver in their voice, “That is some coincidence there… it’s the same name as my roommate…”

 

Hunter knew he couldn’t lie to Mark about his identity. Well he could, but his mind rebelled at the thought. Mamata was putting weird ideas into their head about who he really was and part of Hunter desperately wanted Mark to know the real him. To not see him for himself and to let them think about whatever they had done with Mamata when they looked at him… that idea was intolerable…

 

“It’s not a coincidence, Mark…” Hunter stared at the floor, afraid of what their reaction was going to be. Afraid that he would see the same look of disgust that others who’ve found out what he was had given him in the past. “I’m the real Hunter… I’m your roommate… I’m a psychic…”

 

Get out… get out of my head you freak…

 

Mark didn’t say the words out loud, but everyone heard them.

 

“I-I don’t think you’re a freak, Hunter…” Mark said. Hunter looked up at him in vain hope only to notice that their eyes refused to make contact with his. He didn’t need his mind reading to know that they were lying.

 

After a few awkward moments, Mark let themself crash down onto the couch next to Zoey, causing her to bounce slightly, “So… you’re the real Hunter? And the rest of you have just… been here? Even the pajama guy that’s just dazing out?”

 

From the speakers The Admin’s words came out in Mark’s voice, “Yeah, there are actually a lot of people here, just down that staircase. I lost count at about two dozen.” 

 

He panted a bit before continuing, “It’s mostly men but thanks to Hunter and Zoey, there are a couple women now too. All of us came into existence here at one point in time or another. Wow… has it always been this… exhausting up here? This body is so… heavy… and… coarse…”

 

Mark looked uncomfortable at the comments, “Yeah, it sucks but I got used to it- Wait!? There are more women here than just… Zoey? What is your role in all this, Hun-”

 

“You just… ‘got used to it’!? How? How on earth is this acceptable?” The Admin’s panting was getting more frequent and louder as he spoke. At the same time Hunter noticed a drumming noise coming from somewhere that was quickly getting faster and louder. “Someone please take my place! This hurts…”

 

Eternity just nodded and pulled The Admin out of the armchair the same way that he had done to Mark before deciding to sit down in it himself, “I… wow… I see what Admin meant. This isn’t all that comfortable. How is this actually working?” The drumming sound quickly died down after The Admin got out of the chair.

 

Eternity stood up from the apartment’s couch and controlled the body to walk towards the kitchen, following the direction that Mamata left in. “This is basically possession… it shouldn’t even be possible without some major psychic power…”

 

He stopped when Mamata was in sight, his gaze traveling down to rest on her behind, “I haven’t even been able to use any of my powers since I got stuck in here, so how is something like possession even working so easily?”

 

Mamata turned around and smiled directly at Eternity. She had still been talking on the phone, but she put it down on the counter and approached him. Without even waiting, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged onto Mark’s body, “That’s Francene Schaeffer~ You remember Robbie’s aunt~? She was hoping that you would be willing to babysit him next week during spring break~ His parents forgot to arrange a babysitter for him and they’re all going to be busy with work…”

 

The temperature in the fronting room began ticking up by a few degrees and Eternity stuttered his answer, “Oh… umm… Sure, whatever! We can babysit the kid, I guess.”

 

It was clear that Mamata had noticed something was wrong with Mark but aside from tilting her head cutely in confusion, she didn’t acknowledge the change. She let go of her hug as she said, “I’ll let Francene know that you’ll watch Robbie.”

 

The people in the fronting room had already stopped paying attention to what Eternity was doing with Mark’s body and instead were focusing on The Admin. His cocoon of blankets had reappeared out of nowhere and he tried to escape deep into them. He couldn’t get them all the way around himself though as Zoey had him pulled into a hug that he was trying to wiggle out of but just didn’t seem to have the strength to.

 

Hunter turned away from Mark… he felt like if he looked at them anymore, tears would start welling up in his eyes. He moved over to The Admin instead and sat down next to him. “Are you okay? What was so wrong about being in Mark’s body?” He flashed Zoey a look which he hoped would convey his thoughts: You think he’s an egg too, I think we should crack him now.!

 

Zoey gave Hunter a subtle nod before turning back to The Admin, “Could you describe what it felt like?”

 

The Admin nodded as he pulled the blankets tighter around himself. His voice sounded delicate and surprisingly soft, “Well… everything felt wrong. The stubble, the large frame, the thin hips, how skinny and underweight I felt. The voice… the voice was awful. The hands were even worse, wide and oversized. T-the hair! Everywhere was coarse and rough hair. It made my skin itch so bad I wanted to scratch it all off.” He glared at Hunter as he added, “That enough for you!?”

 

It was more than enough. The first sentence alone was enough to tell Hunter just how bad the dysphoria was. Hunter spoke in as gentle of a voice as he could, “You do know how all of those things are related right? What causes all of those things that feel wrong to develop?”

 

“I know about t-” Realization dawned in The Admin’s eyes and poured out through their tear ducts.

 

Zoey shot Hunter a look which he read as: Give her a moment to cry. She could crumble apart at any moment. Hunter nodded back at her.

 

The room grew silent as The Admin made choking sounds, trying to keep from breaking down further. Someone had muted the real world again but Hunter hadn’t noticed who. 

 

From the corner of his eye, he saw Mark staring at the scene of The Admin. There was some kind of expression on his face, but Hunter couldn’t place what it was. Something about that look felt familiar though. Not something that he had seen Mark wear before… he had known it from elsewhere. 

 

Hunter tried to imagine what it felt like to be wearing that same expression and realized why it felt so familiar. He must have been making that same face not too long ago when he was watching Mark interacting with Mamata… he still couldn’t place what that feeling was though. 

 

That wasn’t the only time he had made that face either though. Thinking back, he felt like he had worn that same expression many times in the past… when he had helped Chelsea hatch back in high school… when he had helped Geosha in college… random eggs in the street that hadn’t taken more than a slight nudge to get their shells to crack… even when he saw Zoey climb out of the crater, newly transformed. What the hell was that feeling though?

 

Maybe that’s what pride looks like? Pride at helping people discover who they really are? Pride at Mamata for… what? She hadn’t done what she was supposed to be doing with his body so why would he feel pride towards that at all? And why would pride feel so bitter?

 

Looking at Mark gave him the feeling that it certainly wasn’t pride that they were feeling. It was some other thing that he couldn’t place.

 

Hunter pushed the thoughts of that mysterious feeling from his head and focused on something he was sure of instead. The Admin was on the verge of realizing who they really were. This was an exciting moment. This was the moment that Hunter lived for. It hadn’t even fully happened yet and he was already anticipating his next rush after this one.

 

A quick glance back at Mark left his heart fluttering at the thought that they might be hatching soon. He couldn’t wait to see what Mark would look like after a couple of years on HRT. He already knew the effects well after seeing at least two close friends go through it. He started imagining Mark with soft curves on their tall frame, long brunette hair, their body wrapped in a cute sundress that they were slowly pulling off… He blushed and shook his head to erase that image.

 

The Admin started whimpering, “All of those things… they come with being a guy? From going through a testosterone filled puberty…”

 

They were getting it! They were so close! “And not liking that, what does that make you?”

 

“A…A freak?”

 

“No!” Hunter said sharply before calming down and returning to the gentle tone he had earlier. Talking gently to them like they were comforting a child… where did the thoughts of wanting to comfort children come from all of a sudden? Hunter gulped as he forced that thought away, “It makes you not a guy. If you were a guy, you would enjoy being a guy and all that comes with it. If you aren’t a guy… Well, whatever you decide that you are instead is up to you. You don’t have to decide now.”

 

“I… I…” The Admin started hyperventilating again, even harder. They shoved Zoey out of the hug she had them in and pulled the blankets around themself completely and as they did, the cocoon started transforming around them. The outermost layers of comforters became golden and smooth and the yellow light that came out from between the layers made the entire thing glow brighter and brighter.

 

It almost looked like The Admin was inside of an egg… a golden egg.

 

The egg started cracking. The light spilling from the interior highlighted that it wasn’t a simple blanket cocoon any longer. Chunks of eggshell fell away and a crumpled figure collapsed out of it onto the floor.

 

She slowly stood up with a sigh and cracked her neck before pausing, then stretching it more gracefully. The woman that had emerged was wearing a red blouse with a matching thigh length tube skirt. Black pinstripes on the skirt tied the outfit together with the black pantyhose and red kitten heels that she was wearing. The entire outfit was topped off with a charcoal gray trench coat that draped off of her shoulders.

 

Her figure was slightly plump, but still as alluring as any femme fatale that Hunter had seen in the movies. She looked like she could seduce you into a private storage closet and then blackmail you with unpaid taxes. There was a smolder in her eyes behind her sharp red cat-eye glasses. 

 

Her eyes were locked onto Hunter as she approached him. Her hips swayed widely with each step and Hunter was surprised to find that he didn’t want to look away for once. He was completely transfixed by her.

 

“Hello, I’d appreciate it if you all would call me Karen from now on. It’s a pleasure to meet you again.” Her gaze broke away from Hunter, which let him sigh in relief, as she looked at each person in the room in turn, “You all knew me previously as Carter… The Administrator. Effective immediately, I am resigning from that role!”

 

She approached Zoey this time, “We don’t need an Administrator to try to control and monitor everything in the neighborhood. And we don’t need me to restrict people from coming to the front anymore! From now on I think my new role will be Secretary… someone who assists in management, but doesn’t place themselves above everyone else.” She gently grasped Zoey’s hands and squeezed them. “Please use my actual name this time.”

 

Letting go of Zoey’s hands, she turned to Mark next, “It’s a pleasure to finally see you in here ‘Mark’. We’re going to need to discuss some things such as time slots for using this room… and we should also come up with a new name for you at some point. You yourself aren’t the only ‘Mark’.” 

 

With a broad wave of one hand she gestured at… everything, “This is ‘Mark’... We are ‘Mark’.”

 

She turned back to Hunter once again, causing him to gulp in anticipation, “And Hunter… I know you’ve been sneaking in here without permission. We’re going to need to have a discussion about boundaries but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t welcome. And before you say anything uncouth about psychics ‘Mark’, I think my associate here has some things to remind you of later.”

 

“A-associate?”

 

Karen let out a sigh as she approached what was left of the eggshell. She carefully brushed some of the shards away to reveal a second figure curled up at the bottom. She reached in to pull an index card off of the body then let out a groan before reading from it, “May I present our predecessor… Ecks ecks ecks Emo Boy Nine Four ecks ecks Ecks… He should remember much more about our collective childhood than you or I, ‘Mark’.”

 

As she finished her introduction, the other figure slowly rose out of the eggshell and into a relaxed slump. From Hunter’s perspective, he looked like the epitome of the mid 2000’s emo teenager aesthetic. He wore a black band t-shirt emblazoned with the old MCR logo, white and black striped hand sleeves that went up to his elbows, black skinny jeans, and cheap knock off Chuck Taylors. The outfit was perfectly complemented by his poorly dyed black hair and eyeliner as well as a multitude of piercings to complete the look. Another few glances at Mark confirmed that they also had matching holes where the teen’s piercings were worn.

 

The first thing that came out of the teen’s mouth was a scoff, “And people thought I was just a phase.”

 

Mark’s jaw dropped, “N-no fucking way…”

 

Hunter was stunned for a moment, then turned to Zoey to ask, “What happened? Shouldn’t she have just become a woman… not a woman and a moody teenager?”

 

Zoey’s response was cut off by XxxEmoBoy94xxX, “Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it fluffball!? Who are you supposed to be anyways? A chick like you is too cutesy to belong with all these dorks.”

 

Zoey sighed, “Hey EmoBoy94, you wanna play some Dance Dance Revolution? We’ve got an entire arcade downstairs.”

 

He perked up at that, “Does it got any MCR, Good Charlotte, or Fallout Boy tracks!?”

 

Another sigh escaped Zoey as she nodded and started leading the kid out of the fronting room and down the cloud staircase. Karen relaxed a bit as the teen left. 

 

“Does stuff like this just happen? In my head? All the time?” Mark asked. His voice was straining once more, losing the forced calmness he had tried to maintain before Karen hatched.

 

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen two people come out of one person…” Hunter responded.

 

Mark glared at him, “You and I are gonna have some words once you’re out of my head!”

 

Eternity spoke up for the first time in a while, despite the sounds of the outside world still being muted. No one in the group had noticed that the view had changed at some point from the kitchen to being seated at a table with Mark’s laptop. A search engine was on the screen showing results for the term ‘Marvin Jones’.

 

“Hey, uh… Hunter? Can you come to the chair and show me where you were looking before? I’m hitting nothing but dead ends.”

 

Hunter looked at Mark out of the side of his eye, “I uh… I dunno… might be a bit risky?”

 

Eternity stood up from the armchair in the fronting room. His voice was coming from his body again instead of the speakers, “C’mon! I’m a psychic too and it worked fine.”

 

“P-possession isn’t something I’ve ever tried before. Doing it feels kinda… wrong”

 

Eternity grabbed him by the shoulders and tried leading him over to the chair, “Don’t worry about it! There’s nothing wrong with it and this is important!”

 

Hunter tried to struggle and force Eternity off of him, “N-no!I don’t want to! Let me go!” A thumping reverberated throughout the fronting room at the same time that Hunter felt his heart racing. He saw Karen start approaching them, her mouth moving, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying over the sound of his own heartbeat. 

 

Being overpowered by a man like this made him feel small once again. That feeling was accompanied with Eternity gradually getting larger and as he continued getting larger than Hunter, it became much easier for him to force Hunter towards the chair.

 

Hunter gave one more struggle in vain before Eternity had him grasped firmly by the shoulders and pulled him down into the chair together. Instantly Hunter was overwhelmed with the feeling of a million different things feeling wrong. The world seemed to spin around him as all of his senses connected into Mark’s body.

 

His head erupted into pain as Hunter… no wait… that didn’t sound right? His name shouldn’t have been Hunter. It felt familiar but at the same time the name just didn’t resonate with him. What was his name?

 

Panic began to truly overtake him as he whipped around his head trying to figure out where he was. He was at a table and there was a laptop in front of him. Whoever had been using the laptop had been doing an internet search for ‘Marvin Jones’. 

 

The name sounded so familiar… was that his name? That thought was instantly followed by a feeling of revulsion that overtook him. That was not his name! He rejected that thought with the entirety of his being but at the same time he felt a desperate need to find this ‘Marvin Jones’ person.

 

The urge to vomit was overwhelming but he tried his hardest to keep it in. Bile burned at his throat. He reached out with his mind trying to find… something… anything. He felt so claustrophobic in this body and he couldn’t figure out why.

 

“Mark? Oh my god are you okay!?” A voice that was filled with charm and concern came from behind him. Was that his name? Mark? He looked up at the girl that was approaching him. She was so pretty… feelings of desire seeped into him. He wanted her! He wanted to be her! Something about her felt right, more right than his current body. Lust and Envy danced around his mind as she looked down at him. When had he ended up on the floor?

 

“Mama…ta…” He knew this was her name, somehow. He should get up. He looked pathetic down here like this. 

 

He rolled over and tried to push his body off the ground. His attention focused onto his arms as they moved to find purchase. They were so hairy and his hands were so wide… so wrong… He was immediately aware of how itchy all the hair made him feel and it was everywhere… on his arms, on his chest, and his face.

 

He needed to get out of here! He needed to get away from this girl! He didn’t want her to see him as this hideous beast that he had become! He tried to scramble to his feet and rush towards one of the doors. He needed to be anywhere but here with this girl! He only we made it two steps though before his legs gave way beneath him and he collapsed to the ground once more. 

 

He couldn’t hold back the burn in his throat anymore and vomit was violently ejected everywhere. He felt so weak… he couldn’t do this… he couldn’t live like this… he wanted to-

 

Blackness creeped into the corners of his vision and quickly overtook his mind as he fell face first into the pool of his own vomit.

 

The blackness disappeared from Hunter’s view as quickly as it had come. He felt like he was yanked strongly from wherever he had been before and found himself now in a gray void. There were stars in the sky above him and they felt so comforting.

 

The tension that he didn’t realize that he had been carrying was released all at once. He let himself relax from the relief of it all.

 

He was so safe and comfortable here and Hunter closed his eyes. But the feeling of safety was fleeting and vanished completely a moment later.

 

Hunter? Where are we?

 

There was a newcomer here… someone with a familiar voice and who certainly wasn’t welcome in this sanctuary.

 

Oh hey~ Was that someone new~?

 

…Eternity?

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