ANDREW

One ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Someone was screaming. Andrew was unsure when he had fallen asleep last night. It was early in the morning. You could see the dim light outside, but inside the half-broken house it was still dark.

It took a few moments to understand what was going on. Andrew saw the dark figures of everyone sitting up on their sleeping spots and animal hides. The screaming had stopped, but it still rang in Andrew's head.

A woman was comforting someone, you could hear a girl sobbing and someone's quiet murmuring of "It's okay, it's okay, you're safe".

"Someone get the fire going again!" Lenna's voice grew louder suddenly. Andrew realised there was someone in her embrace.

"What happened?" Robert was up and walked past Andrew, towards Lenna.

Another dark form stood up from their bedroll and crouched next to the fire. The embers born from wood landing in the fire pit illuminated Sten's face.

"She is awake! Calm down. We have water, here. Drink and calm down. You're in a safe place." The girl who had been the last arrival was still sobbing.

Heart pounding, Andrew stood up. He felt dazed. More tired than the night before, but now nervous because of the screaming girl. That was an unpleasant way to wake up.

"Drink up. Calm down. Right. Can you tell us your name, please?" Lenna asked softly.

"It's Becca. Where am I? Who are you people? Where are my clothes?" Several frantic questions in an Irish accent sounded in the ruined house.

"Calm down! It's all ok. I know you have many questions, but... This isn't an easy topic to explain, but please. Stay with me and listen. Listen, please. This is going to sound absolutely insane." Lenna was sputtering.

Andrew decided it was better to let the others handle this.

"Andrew?" He looked towards the hazy form of Eric.

"Toilet." He mumbled. He really did not want to be in the room when someone was telling the other person something had brought them into another world.

As he pushed the rusted, rickety metal door back into place, he could already hear disbelief in the girl's voice. Andrew himself had laughed when they had told him at first. And once he had seen everything for himself, he had barely spoken for days.

"What? What do you mean?" He could hear the girl shout.

It felt as if he had gone to sleep moments ago. The fading memories of the dreams he had were the on-goings of everyday life, and this world was the dream world. Surreal, without sense, filled with foggy thoughts and hallucinations. His mind had switched the worlds around. That was probably it.

Andrew was now walking around the gateway hill, heading towards the other end of the town. It was cold, but a quick dip in the river was better than feeling grimy and unkempt the whole day. It was difficult to get rid of old habits. He wondered what would happen if he got a cold.

"I'll probably die." He mumbled.

Except for the chicken-like creatures, there were no other living beings here. A stagnation hung in the air. Despite the cold weather, it felt like being in a stuffy room. A pressure was building in his head and for an instant, Andrew forgot himself.

The shadow in the south was moving. It had caught a scent.

The monotone roar of the distant waterfall returned as reality rushed back in to fill the world. Everything was back to normal. For a moment, everything had faded behind a veil.

Andrew had been wondering when the hallucinations would return. Yesterday had been one of the better days. They had started slowly at first. It had felt like a fuzzy string around his head in the beginning, and then the string would pull along a cloth of coarse wool.

Regaining his composure, Andrew undressed quickly. He clenched his teeth and stepped into the cold water. He squatted into the flow for a moment and rushed out. Another woolly rope wrapped around his head and drew Andrew's attention elsewhere.

Familiar one, close by.

"You keep disappearing like clockwork. Have you been doing this every morning?" Eric appeared as Andrew had turned his head towards the crumbling wall to his left. He felt dumbstruck and dazed again. This promised to be a bad day. "Breakfast." The tanned man approached and gave Andrew a broken bowl with some meat and something resembling...

"Are those apples?" Andrew could not hold back the excited question at the sight of the familiar golden-green fruit.

"They look the part, don't they? They taste more like. I don't know. It feels like an overly ripe pear when you bite into it, but the taste is a kind of salty. With hints of salty caramel, but watery. Heh, it's a water-pear. Get it, like watermelon and pear."

"Where did you find them?" Although a slight smile appeared on his face, Andrew ignored Eric's joke.

"They are growing in the grass, a little downriver from here. I picked some yesterday. I'm still alive, so I suppose they should be safe to eat."

Andrew put the bowl down and went for another quick dip in the river. Maybe the brisk water would set his head right. This time he submerged himself. As he emerged from the river, Eric had sat down and was eating. Andrew tried his best to ignore Eric, but the man had other plans.

"You know Sten distrusts you." He said without warning. "Because of how you disappear every morning and your habit of keeping to yourself."

"New people make me nervous." Andrew turned away and dressed. Eric was almost as tall as he was. He did not like it.

Something drew his attention to the hill, to the nine pillars standing on the hilltop.

Held only by blood now. Not for much longer.

Eric had said something. Andrew turned back towards Eric and blinked sheepishly. "Whasat?"

"Are you okay? You look like chalk."

"Pale and skinny. I know. Had allergies when I was young." Stop bringing up things I dislike, he thought. A terrible day was ahead.

"I don't mean that. I'm worried, anyone would be. It's cold out here. The water's painful to drink and you're bathing in it."

"I didn't sleep well tonight. That's all." That was such a random thing to say, Andrew realised, after the words had left his mouth.

"Sten thinks you know more than you say. Let's say last night convinced him of it."

"It is not my fault he does not know how to look up." Andrew grumbled.

"Calm down. We're all in the same situation. Try to trust us a little. In return, the others will trust you." Eric seemed upset.

"Trust you with what? I'm not any smarter about this situation than you are." Andrew stopped putting on his clothes and met Eric's gaze with a raised eyebrow.

"What does your gut tell you? Your instincts, what do you think of this. Everything." Eric gestured with his hand towards the hill. "Sometimes even that helps. Heck, you realised something was wrong with the gateway."

"What? What do you want me to say here? I know I have a problem of not talking much. And can you blame me in this situation?" Andrew felt an uncanny urge to laugh.

"Come on. You must have some thoughts?" Eric was odd in that regard. Andrew's thoughts would not have been of any value. A small silence ensued.

"We are wasting our time here." Andrew sighed.

Eric looked at him, confused. "You mean us two or?"

"The gateway." Andrew gestured wildly with his hands. "This place."

"Do you seriously want to go out there? Race the winter south? We've been spoiled by survival shows and Gear Brylls. It is not a question of some of us might get hurt. Some of us will die."

"I say, if we stay here, we commit suicide. Out there, we have a better chance. It doesn't matter where I am going, as long as I am that is all that matters. The girl woke up, it's now or never."

"Yeah, she did, didn't she?" Eric drawled and looked away.

"What is it?"

Eric struggled with something before opening his mouth again. "She's twelve. Almost makes me wonder if it would have been easier on her if..." Eric shook his head and turned away. "Never mind. There's something strange about her. She talked about some dream she had about this place. She is convinced it had been real."

Easier on her if she had stayed asleep, Andrew finished the thought in his head. Was it cruel? Was Andrew cruel for thinking the same thing? This conversation annoyed him. Andrew merely grunted instead of saying anything.

"Come on. We're all going to have one last look at the gateway. If nothing happens today..." Eric's voice died off.

"I haven't eaten yet." Andrew was about to sit down and eat what Eric had brought him.

"You can do that up there." Eric pointed up the hill. "Give Sten some peace of mind." He grinned at Andrew.

Andrew sighed and took his food. He looked up at the hilltop and for a moment felt everything around him fade behind an invisible veil. He knew what he was looking at, but he was not sure what he was seeing.

He stumbled again, and everything was back the way it had been. Only nothing was the way it was supposed to be.