It was a quiet evening and Alice was cruising the city streets, window rolled down with her arm hanging out. She was passing an old, decrepit church when she heard a shriek from inside, and she quickly pulled the car over. Carefully approaching the building, she cracked open the door and slipped in quietly, but then totally biffed it and kicked a can of spray paint that was left on the ground. At the end of the aisle, past all the pews, a group of four young punks whipped around to face her.

“Are you a cop?”

“What--do I look like—no??” She looked at her switchblade and then back to the kids.

“Then are you someone who can help?” The bizarrely dressed youths moved out of the way to reveal the nude body of a woman.

“Oh my god, what? Who is this?” Alice quickly took off her coat and draped it over the woman, who appeared unharmed except for strange, round scars that dappled her entire body. Coughing herself awake and gasping for air, the woman reached out towards Alice.

“Who’s there?” She mustered. “Where am I?”

“I’m Alice, it’s going to be fine.” She turned to the others. “You kids, out. I’ve got this from here.” They grabbed their things and booked it, having had more than enough of strangers for one night. The short one with rebar lodged in his cranium swiped the can of spray paint on the way out the front door, and they all scampered off towards a sewer grate a few blocks away.

“Where am I? I... I can’t see.” The woman looked up, gazing around with pale blue eyes that had seen far too much.

“The old church on Browning Street. Do you remember how you got here?” Asked Alice.

“I... they tore that place down over a year ago...” said the woman, feebly sitting up and buttoning Alice’s coat across her body.

“What? No, they’ve been trying to, I mean, but they haven’t gotten there yet.”

“But the Renfield,” the woman muttered. She felt her body, seemingly looking for something.

“Uhh, right. Can I please take you to a hospital?” Alice pleaded nervously.

“No! No,” resisted the woman. “I.. I can’t have my coworkers see me like this. Would you... take me to a payphone?”

“Er, yeah, of course. I’ll drive you, the nearest one is a couple blocks from here. Come on.” Alice helped the woman to her feet and supported her as they walked down the aisle and out the front doors, and over to where her car was parked.

“What’s your name?” She asked the woman as she helped her into the passenger seat.

“Winona,” she replied.

“It’s nice to meet you Winona.” She said, shutting the door and getting in the driver’s seat.

They drove up the street a bit before parking near the payphone. They got out of the car and Alice pulled some change out of her pocket, dialing the number Winona gave her before handing over the phone. The receiver picked up.

“Oh my god, he told me you were dead.” She paused, listening. “I don’t... I don’t know. Can you just come pick me up?”

“Hey, absolutely not, I’m right here. It’s the least I can do. Please.” Alice protested, unsure of letting her get picked up on the side of the road by a stranger.

“I... fine,” she said. “Manfred, don’t come. I’ll be there soon. I know where you are.” She hung up the phone and they both got back in the car, Winona telling Alice where to take her.

“Park up the block a little, not in front of the house,” Winona explained as they pulled up at their destination. They parked and walked back towards the house. Instantaneously upon Alice knocking once, the door whipped open and the two were quickly ushered inside.

“Hey, I’m Alice. I found her in the old church across town,” she said, helping Winona onto the couch and covering her with a thick blanket.

“Are you...fuck, dude.” Manfred was baffled. “You’ve been gone more than three days. Who did this to you?”

“The same people that tried to kill you guys. They saw what I sent Lux, I thought I’d doomed you all.” Winona curled up tightly inside the blanket. Manfred paused and looked at his partner, both clearly confused.

“Winona, we’d been searching for you these last few days. Nobody has tried to harm us, I promise,” said Lux. “You never sent us any email; you were gone without a trace. But you’re here now, at least. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” She wasn’t sure of a whole lot of anything at that point. “I can’t see anymore.”

“You what? We can get you new glasses, it’s not a problem,” Manfred said.

“No, not like that. I can’t see at all.”

Manfred and Lux looked at each other with concern, and then to Alice.

“But there were so many people there watching...” Winona’s heart sank as she no longer knew the difference between truth and fiction. The gaslighting and psychological terror she had endured left an unshakeable darkness, a heavy weight that would follow her around long after the scars on her body had faded.

Winona was so sure that what had unfolded over the past few days was real but was at a loss for how to explain it all. Images and voices wandered through the ether of her memories, gripping her chest and constricting ever tighter. Nobody seemed to have any idea of the horrors she had seen or went through; let alone the lasting effects she would be forced to live with because of them. It was as if Theo had never existed, which was almost good enough.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened to you or what you’re going through, but we’re going to do everything we can to help you, just let us know what you need and it’s done.” Manfred paused. “We’ll even get you a really cool cane sword if you want.”

Winona laughed as Lux walked over with a glass of water, and she took a drink before setting it down on the coffee table.

“I think I just want to rest right now,” She paused. “Can I be alone for a bit?”

“Yeah, of course, Lux and I will be around, just holler if you need something.”

Winona turned away from her friends to face the couch and closed her eyes.

“Hey, give me a call in a few days so I can come check in and grab my jacket. There’s a card with my number on it in the pocket.” Alice said, standing up.

“Yeah, of course. Thank you, by the way, for helping her,” Manfred smiled sadly.

“It was the least I could do, I had to.” Alice headed for the door but paused. “I could use a drink, honestly. You guys know of any place that’s decent?”

“We do, actually,” said Lux.

__________________________________

Alice took a seat and waited for the bartender to see her, but he was entranced by the lounge singer’s voice and paid her no mind.

“I... hey. Hi,” Alice stammered. He looked at her for a moment before walking over to her, saying nothing but staring at her with a blank expression. He had pale blonde hair, wore an eyepatch, and was dressed in a glistening suit. She looked at a list of specials displayed behind the bar.

“Could I get a... Super 8?”

He put out his cigarette and began to make her the drink, a bioluminescent blue with little star candies floating throughout.

“She’s super talented,” Alice uttered awkwardly, nodding towards the singer.

“She’s my wife.” The bartender placed a coaster down and set the drink on top of it, sliding it towards her. Alice was pulling her wallet out of her back pocket when a man sat down beside her.

“This one’s on me,” the man said, handing the bartender some cash, who nodded and walked back to where he was watching his wife sing from.

“I’m familiar with your work.” He told her as she turned to him.

“And what exactly is it that you’re familiar with?” She inquired, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip of her drink.

“You’re the best there is at finding out where someone is and what they’re doing.”

“Then you’ve heard right.” Alice laughed, flattered.

“How are you at finding out who someone is?”

She set her drink down.

“What’s your name?”

“You see, that’s the thing,” the man said, sliding some sort of small paper over to her. She looked down and picked up the paper; it was a hospital bracelet printed with the sequence “T0F1”.