In the dark of Elias’ bedroom—his one safe space from the nightmare of both his day job and Adino’s home Hindi pop dances—he heard a strange static sound break through the robust beat of Luka Chuppi’s “Coca Cola” song (which Elias actually hated because the song always got stuck in his head). How Adino found the energy to keep up his exercise routines while “eight months” pregnant was beyond Elias, but he respected the hustle regardless. 

Although the sound was faint, the pitch was high enough that Elias picked up on it pretty quick. In fact, it bugged him to the point of searching for the source itself, now.

“If it’s not the computer, then what is it?” Elias said aloud. The ASUS base hummed, but that was normal and the persistent static noise sounded like it was coming from the other side of his room. 

Elias turned away from his desk and navigated toward his bed area—only to end up staring at the radio-clock on his makeshift nightstand. The time had changed to the default 12:00, and was flashing the red text on-and-off, beckoning Elias to fix it. 

Did the power go out? Elias wondered and, as he drew closer to the tall Amazon box he used as a nightstand, quickly realized the static sound was coming from that general area. When he picked up the radio-clock, the high-pitched frequency volume increased.

“What the hell,” Elias said. He stuck one of his pinkies into his ear and wiggled it around, trying to clear the buzzing noise building in his ears. “I don’t even use the radio…”

Thinking the alarm clock bugged, Elias struggled to reach behind the Amazon box and unplug it. Thankfully, the static sound ceased in an instant. “Geez,” Elias sighed, “why does everything break lately?”

He tossed the clock into the black marble-like waste bin on the other side of his bed and then returned to his desk. The next episode of Slenderman vs Mothman was about to be released, and he’d be damned if he had to wait longer just because of a little white noise. Except, as soon as he sat down to load up Hulu on his desktop, the static sound picked up again before he could even put his headphones on. 

“What. The Actual. Fuck.” Elias hissed and dropped his headphones onto his keyboard. He rolled his chair back and shot to his feet—but then immediately regretted it when he tipped forward, forgetting about his uneven weight distribution he had to account for when moving.

Gripping the edge of his desk, Elias took in a couple sharp breaths and closed his eyes, willing his sudden light-headedness away. The breathing practice proved to not be needed, though, because the feeling passed relatively fast for him. Perhaps the weirdness of the radio noise took more precedence over it?

Elias slowly flipped himself around—using the desk’s edge for support—so he could face his bed. Sure enough, a distinct blinking light was painting the white wall in the dark, shooting up from the waste bin.

“....Nope.” Elias marched right up to the waste bin and snatched the clock out of it. “I am not putting up with this bullshittery tonight!”

Elias waddled out of his room and down the hall, passing the kitchen counter on his left. He made a sharp turn into the living space—where Adino was still busting moves with the Hindi pop stars on the television screen—and walked past the couch behind Adino. He stopped in front of the glass doors leading to the patio, unlocked it, and then slid it open.

“Uh, Eli?” Adino huffed, breathy from his dance routine. “What are you doing?” he continued, but kept up with the smooth talker throwing hip thrusts on the screen.

“Oh, I just need some fresh air is all.”

Elias stepped out into the cool night air and slid the door closed behind him. Thankfully, Adino had returned his focus to his dance program inside, so Elias sauntered over to the patio railing.

Then he promptly chucked the radio-clock over the railing. Their apartment was nine stories up, so Elias figured it was plenty of height to destroy the blasted thing. Regardless, he took a peak over the edge—just to see—and found that he wasn’t the only one throwing clocks and radios that night. In fact, he swore he even heard a couple below screaming something about “radio waves” coming from the kitchen.

Waves.

Elias shuddered, but it wasn’t from the cold of the winter-spring air. No, he had a creeping, super bad feeling about whatever the hell was going on in the apartment building, and he decided he’d pray to all the cryptid deities in the next five minutes for it to have nothing to do with him—or Adino, for that matter.

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10:45 Hours

After Elias had seen Dr. Sandstone and scheduled his C-section along with Adino, the two had grabbed a light breakfast from the café by the doctor’s office and taken it to go. Elias swished the hot liquid around in his cup and stared down the crooked sidewalk ahead, contemplating what the near future held for him. While he was immensely grateful to not only have coverage for the surgery, but also be one of the last few victims to have their little nightmares—the overwhelming availability for C-section procedures was very convenient!—he found the idea of raising the twins to be a bitter pill to swallow.

“As soon as these things are out of me, I’m putting them up for adoption,” Elias said after an extended period of silence between him and his bestie as they navigated the sidewalk back to their apartment. “I’d rather not deal with the consequences of having a—God forbid—Waves baby.”

“Uh-uh,” Adino tsked behind him, and Elias imagined he was wagging his finger. “I am not giving up my baby for anybody. That’s terrible! And you don’t know for sure that…those two….will be the dads.” Adino coughed and skipped ahead to match Elias’ hurried pace.

Elias looked up at his tall friend and frowned. “I’m not taking any chances. And if you get the unlucky spawn, then you should also give it up. Just saying.”

“Elias, how could you even suggest such a thing?” Adino scowled. 

He bumped shoulders with Elias, nearly knocking him off the sidewalk. Thankfully, the city streets had been rather quiet as of late, and even the sidewalks were less frequented. Too many people were stuck home taking care of infants who were already starting to show signs of abilities, much to the general public’s chagrin.

“You, of all people, should know what that’s like,” Adino continued, looking straight ahead and sliding his hands into the sleeves of his puffer jacket. 

The Menthol City winter chill was still running rampant, but Elias was more warm-blooded than his bestie, so he kept his hands open to the air. If anything, the cold helped to keep him from slipping down memory lane at the mere mention of his own past. He grew up in the Menthol City orphanage himself, but was also tossed from foster home to foster home until he was eventually deemed unwanted by sixteen. So, Elias finished school in the public system where Adino went, sheltered by the orphanage until he turned of age. He then needed a job to actually live—since the orphanage kicked him to the curb—so he dragged the eccentric teen with him to apply for Blue Jay’s Comics. Luckily, Jay made an exception for Adino to work as well since he was just shy of eighteen himself.

“So what if I do?” Elias said after a solid five minutes of silence between them. “It’s still better than what they’d have to put up with in our tiny apartment. We live on a sad retail wage, Dino. How do you expect us to afford to take care of infants? We can’t even take the time off for ‘maternity leave,’ not that I ever thought I’d say that…”

The grate ahead sprayed a consistent stream of steam, so Elias paused to get around it, walking in a single-file line behind Adino. “Besides, what do you think your parents are gonna say, huh? A child out of wedlock? They’d tear you from all the family portraits,” he added as an afterthought and snickered.

Adino whipped around and scowled at Elias. “That’s not fair, and you know it!” He stomped one of his heeled boots and threw the opposite arm to the side, gesturing toward the street. “And who’s the one that convinced me to come out to them, hm? You are the reason I’m living in our ratchet apartment, are you not? I should’ve kept my mouth shut!”

Okay, that one definitely stung. Elias only wanted Adino to stop being afraid of what he was—he didn’t think his parents would actually kick him to the curb! But instead of apologizing for bringing up the sensitive topic again, he added fuel to the fire instead. “Oh, and then what would’ve happened? You’d be forced to marry some meek woman you met one time, and then study to become a doctor? Yeah, some life you would’ve lived continuing the path they wanted for you.”

“It still would’ve been better than this constant struggle!” Adino shouted and waved his arms up high, his voice echoing down the alleyway beside them.

“We may be struggling, but at least you’re happy!” Elias shouted back and ran after Adino, who had since turned around and stomped on ahead. 

“Am I happy, as you say, Eli?” Adino clicked his tongue. “Perhaps if I’d never met you, I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant in the first place.”

“Wow,” Elias hissed. He wouldn’t admit how painful those words were—he wouldn’t. Adino was just pissy because Elias was being an ass, so it only made sense for him to clap back. At least, that’s what Elias told himself was the reason why, because Adino couldn’t possibly mean what he’d said…right?

“Because I totally could have predicted this bullshit was gonna happen,” Elias continued, starting to really feel the heat now despite the cold air. “I’m also in this shitty situation with you, Adino! And how would you have liked to grow up in an orphanage, surrounded by delinquents and broken faces?”

“You see,” Adino snapped. He’d turned on his heels to walk backwards and face Elias again. “That right there is why you shouldn’t give up on your own kids. Be better than your parents and raise them right.”

His bestie had a point. But he still wasn’t seeing the big picture. If he or Elias really did have villain babies, who was to say the fathers wouldn’t come knocking at their door? 

Elias took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Okay,” he said, meeting Adino’s eyes with as much determination as he could muster. “Let’s just stop this fighting and agree to at least try. I’d rather not give them the violent experience if we continue to keep butting heads.”

And he didn’t want Adino to move out if he chose to put the twins up for adoption. Knowing his bestie, he really would if he disagreed with something that strongly, struggle as he may on his own. Plus, Elias didn’t actually want to give his kids up. That, for one, really would make him no better than his own parents and two, it really was a miracle that he got to carry life, no longer limited by his own sex. 

He just feared what was to come if he had a certain someone’s offspring…

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While you wait for the next episode, try reading one of these other entries! Links below (author desc)!

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