The branches on the ground snapped and the earth rose with each bootfall. Andy, clutching Paper tightly in her arms, ran aimlessly through the gigantic park she had somehow entered without noticing. The scratches from the branches healed instantly, and the pain turned into a joke.
That terrified her.
—Girl, I'm literally in your kidneys — Jarek huffed before letting out a bored sigh. "What's the point of running?
But Andy forced herself to ignore the words. Physical fatigue still hadn't hit her muscles after what felt like hours and hours of running, but her mind wasn't so lucky. Disorientation and mental exhaustion finally made her trip. If not for the blue pillar that burst from her abdomen, both she and Paper would have face-planted into the dirt. The pillar curved, gently placing Paper on the ground. In front of her, Jarek's floating head reappeared, staring at her with an expression that—to Andy—looked like genuine annoyance.
— I swear I'm trying, I really am. But you're making this incredibly hard for me.
Again, Andy didn't even try to listen. She kicked in the air while trying to reach her friend. Being ignored so blatantly—after everything he'd done to keep her alive—turned a mild irritation into blazing anger. He hadn't expected kisses, hugs, or a welcome cake. But a little gratitude wouldn't have killed her.
The biomass around him vibrated, trembled, and the blue shadows that formed him began to writhe. Then, with a wet snap, Jarek lost his composure. Literally.
His floating head spasmed and deformed, eyes multiplied, jaws stretched to the point where logic begged for mercy, and a voice full of melodrama thundered through the park. A tiny hand-shaped appendage sprouted from his blue torso and—quite literally—slapped Andy's cheek. Though, to be honest, it was more of a gentle shove than a real slap.
—Listen, you little sh—
CLAP!
Andy's own slap cut him off.
For a second, both froze. Silence weighed heavy.
Jarek, eyes wide open, tried to process everything. Andy brought both hands to her mouth, horrified at what she'd just done.
—!I… I didn't mean to, It was a reflex, I swear!
Jarek closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and—after subtly lowering Andy to the ground—spoke with forced calm.
— It's been a really rough couple of months for me, ¿You know? — He sighed again, letting the anger fade. — I'm just gonna pretend that didn't happen. And now that you're finally listening, I'm obligated to introduce myself again.
— No thanks…
Andy said just as the musicians and dancers began materializing behind her once more. Still terrified, and for the first time, she allowed herself to really look at him. He reminded her of Ludo. Only much, much uglier.
A translucent cord connected them both. It didn't hurt or weigh anything, but seeing it emerge from her flesh—apparently without harming her or her clothes—was inexplicably uncomfortable. No podatlivyy, not even the oldest ones like Ludo, could enter someone and grant them… different abilities. At least none she knew of.
Instinctively, she reached for her flip phone in her pocket, praying it still had enough battery to call her brother.
— If I were you, I wouldn't do that —Jarek mocked.
Andy's arm froze halfway, without her deciding to stop it. It stayed rigid, unmoving, even when she tried everything to force it.
—let me go! — she yelled at the disgusting floating head.
Jarek, with a slight smirk, watched her futile attempts. Part of him wanted to keep teasing her for a while longer, but he managed to rein in those intrusive thoughts.
— Let's imagine a scenario.
Tiny miniature figures of Andy and her brother emerged from the cord connecting them, molded from faintly sparkling blue jelly. They had no detailed features except the hair, just enough to recognize who was who. Reluctantly, Andy fixed her gaze on them. There was something ridiculously cute about seeing her own tiny version moving like a puppet. Mini-Andy pretended to talk on the phone, dramatically waving her arms, while Ripley's replica reacted with an exaggerated cartoonish leap.
— Let's say you tell your brother about me and he manages to eliminate me with some ancient magic pulled out of who-knows-where. And then… — He made a finger-snap sound, and the scene changed. — Party time.
As he narrated, the miniatures moved along with the story in over-the-top motions. Miniatures of her parents, friends, and acquaintances appeared, forming a circle and holding hands. They danced clumsily around a splattered mini-Jarek on the ground, reduced to a puddle of mud with a sad little face.
— ¿Happy ending, right?
— Uh… ¿maybe? — Andy said, uncomfortable.
— ¡Nonsense! — Jarek extended one of his appendages toward her chest, touching exactly where her heart beat. — You're forgetting the real problem.
Andy frowned, not understanding at first.
—¿What problem?
— If I die, you die too.
Silence returned—heavy, awkward.
Andy blinked several times, trying to process it. Then her expression shifted from confusion to disgust, and finally to grim realization.
— No way…
— Oh yes, absolutely — Jarek replied.
In the little stage he'd created, mini-Andy—still in the middle of the dance—began convulsing. Suddenly, a huge deformed tree with petals resembling flesh, cartilage, and tumors burst through the figurine's chest. One by one, the other characters fell until none remained without a plant exploding from their ribcage.
Andy stepped back, horrified. The growth kept expanding until it became a deformed tree whose branches pulsed to a heartbeat. Each leaf had the texture of living cartilage; some even contracted, breathing.
—B-but I contro—
—¿That you controlled it? — Jarek interrupted, tilting his head slightly with a smile. — ¿You really thought some random broke girl who barely makes rent and lives with a broken toaster could control an incurable parasite that's killed thousands through sheer willpower? Don't be stupid.
She tried to say something, but Jarek pointed an accusing finger at her.
— But you don't have to worry about that little bastard anymore. After all…
The scene in his mini-theater abruptly changed. The fleshy-tumor trees were ripped out by the roots by a furious mini-Andy, screaming silently. The figurine smashed every pulsing branch, every cartilaginous petal, until not a single sprout remained. When she finished, mini-Andy dramatically fixed her hair and struck a heroic pose: chest out, hands on hips, chin high, with an imaginary sparkle behind her.
—…now you have me.
Mini-Andy gave her a thumbs-up.
Real Andy could only blink very slowly, wearing the expression of someone who just realized their life is being written by a cruel scriptwriter… with questionable humor. Slowly, gathering the courage you'd need to speak to your mom when she's angry, she found her voice.
—¿What the hell are you supposed to be?
Jarek straightened up. His silhouette rearranged itself in an attempt to look more imposing… though it failed miserably because one of his extra eyes was still staring at heroic mini-Andy like it was his greatest artistic achievement.
— I'm your ticket to freedom, nothing more, nothing less. Just imagine it. You and me, traveling all kinds of places, doing… whatever it was you said you always wanted to do. Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to that part — he admitted with a shrug. — But without the risk of something huge killing you or something tiny blooming inside you. ¿Isn't that a dream come true?
Andy opened her mouth to respond… and nothing came out. Not a word, not a complaint, not even a panic-fueled creative insult. Just a small choked sound, like the squeak of a deflating balloon. Jarek tilted his head, amused.
—¿What's wrong? — he asked with genuine mocking curiosity. —¿Cat got your neurons?
Seeing she was still frozen, he pretended to snap his fingers.
— Come on, breathe. Don't faint on me now. That would ruin the drama, and I'm not in the mood to carry you.
Andy swallowed hard, piecing together the scraps of her dignity.
—It's just… this doesn't sound like 'freedom'.
—But it sounds a hell of a lot better than 'extinction by homicidal parasite' ¿Don't you think?
She punched the ground with both fists—not hard, but enough frustration for a cloud of dust to rise and go straight into her eyes.
—¡¿Why me?! — she burst out, voice cracking between rage and despair. — !I just wanted a job to pay the bills! ¡I didn't ask for some… some…!
The word stuck in her throat. A doubt—the most important doubt of all—slid through her mind like a cold knife. ¿How had she not thought of it sooner? ¿Why hadn't she asked the second she opened her eyes?
—Wait…— She slowly turned to him, trembling accusing finger raised. —¡¿Exactly when did you crawl into my body?! ¡¿And through where?!
"And you're only asking now?"
Jarek didn't answer. Instead, he looked up at the sky. If the watch he'd taken from one of the passengers was correct, it was already 5 p.m.—pretty early by this world's standards, barely midday.
— Hmp — he murmured.
Andy felt a vein throb in her temple.
—¡Answer me! — she kept repeating, shaking with fury and panic.
—Meh.
Andy opened her mouth to scream even louder, but only let out a strangled squeak. She breathed. Counted to ten. Considered counting to five hundred.
— Look, in simple terms: you were dead. Or dying. And I… well, I just seized the opportunity.
—Wha—
She clenched her teeth—not because she wanted to, but because her own body denied her the tantrum.
—¿Why don't we make a deal, babe?
He leaned in, their foreheads almost touching.
—It's simple. You've seen what I can do. Just keep quiet and all of that can be yours to do whatever you want with.
Andy pulled back a few inches, just enough to breathe without feeling her soul was being audited by those eyes.
—All I ask is that you let me stick around. Simple, nothing serious.
Jarek extended a bizarrely realistic hand—long fingers, texture that looked human if you didn't look too closely—waiting for a handshake.
The redhead's body twisted as old memories flooded back. Yes, power—she had definitely felt power. But also fear. The kind of fear that starts in your stomach and crawls into your bones, leaving them cold inside. She didn't want to feel it again. She didn't want to be there again, torn apart from the inside while someone else moved her muscles.
Yet… When she thought about refusing, a stab of reality hit her.
¿Did she have a choice?
¿Really?
The answer came on its own.
No.
The current situation left her no other path. No matter how hard she searched for an exit, the maze always led back to the same point: if she told the truth, the moment this thing left her, she would simply die. Death, or him.
Andy felt her resistance crumble silently. A rough knot lodged in her chest—not tears, but something drier and crueler. Resignation.
She didn't return the handshake. She didn't even raise her hand. But her body—shrunken, trembling, without an explicit refusal—spoke for her with miserable eloquence.
Jarek was starting to get bored, and unless the distant police sirens were some kind of hallucination, it was best to leave. Just in case.
— Time to move, partner.
He picked Paper up off the ground. At the same time, he forced his host to stand with a sharp jolt in her knees. Andy rose like a poorly coordinated puppet, letting out a choked whimper as her body obeyed orders that weren't hers. She barely managed to steady herself on her own feet. Her body shook—not from effort, but from the simple fact that she no longer trusted it. It was like walking inside a suit that had suddenly decided to have unfavorable opinions about you.
—Don't do that again — she muttered.
Jarek let out a dry chuckle that didn't sound reassuring at all. That disturbed her even more.
"I'm trapped. I'm really trapped. Walking with him. Forced to move because if he doesn't control me himself… And if I faint? If I make him angry? If…?"
A wave of dizziness forced her to stop for a second. Jarek turned to look at her, knowing exactly what she was thinking. He felt it. Her heartbeat surged like turbulent waves in a tsunami, crashing against the connection they shared. He'd been feeling it the whole time. It was impossible not to notice.
— Hey… — he said at last.
The word fell with a disconcerting softness. His voice, though still carrying that nauseating viscous texture by pure instinct, landed on her with surprising gentleness. Against all logic, it conveyed a strange calm.
— I didn't come here to make your life hell, and definitely not to turn you into a puppet. I'm not your enemy, Andy. — The sentence came out slow, firm, and strangely honest. — If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done it a long time ago. Believe me.
Andy looked up, her breathing still hammering in her throat, trying to decipher if that calm was real or if she was about to be devoured by a comforting illusion. She didn't even care how he knew her name. At this point, it would've been weird if he didn't.
— I don't know if I can trust that — she whispered.
— And I'm not asking you to — Jarek replied with a sincerity that almost hurt. — Just stop thinking I'm gonna kill you every three seconds. It's not good for your blood pressure. Or for me.
Jarek leaned in a little closer, his distorted features taking on an almost protective tint.
— Look at me — he asked, not ordering.
She did.
— I'm your ally. And I'm telling you because you need to hear it, not because I want you to like me. — He made a slight face. — Though that part would be a very optional but very welcome bonus.
— So… ¿What do you want? — she whispered.
Jarek took a second to answer.
"God, give me strength!"
He complained mentally while searching for the right words. He hated repeating himself, but this ungrateful girl left him no choice.
— I want to keep you alive. That's it. — He paused. — ¿Pretty obvious, don't you think?"
Andy didn't answer. She couldn't. She just lowered her gaze, pressed her lips together, and picked Paper up with a clumsy, almost mechanical shudder. Her steps headed toward the nearest bus station. Jarek watched her, nodded with silent satisfaction, and slid back inside his host.
— So… taxes. ¡What absolute garbage!
No matter what world he ended up in, that was one thing that would annoy him for the rest of his existence.
A tear of deep despair slid down Andy's cheek.
-----------------------------
The journey back was long, especially because Andy actively refused every bit of help Jarek constantly offered.
"Nobody will remember anything. They might feel uneasy whenever they take public transport from now on. But that's it."
He explained when they left Paper at her apartment. A simple finger motion and the door opened—so easy that Jarek briefly considered becoming a Robin Hood-style crook. An idea he tucked deep into his mind, unless their financial situation got even more dire. Of course, he'd do it more out of boredom than real need.
Now they were inside Andy's building. She sat uncomfortably on her couch, facing the turned-on TV, searching for any program that would let her ignore her new reality. Every now and then, she glanced furtively at her unwanted new roommate while he read the first volume of her romance novels. Not even sharing a dorm with Ludo back in college—during the time she was there—had given her such a bizarre sight. She let out a pitiful sigh, louder and more dramatic than intended.
— It's getting dark — Jarek said, pausing his reading. — Today was a lot for you. ¿Why don't you go to sleep?
The warm smile only triggered massive waves of distrust in Andy, who hugged the cushion in her arms even tighter.
Reading her mind and worries, Jarek floated behind her, chuckling.
—!I'm not gonna eat baby heads, relax!
His words only made Andy narrow her eyes, now even more reluctant to close them. Though, after thinking it over, she knew she couldn't do anything to stop him anyway. Still, she couldn't pretend to be calm and obediently go to bed.
— I'm not sleepy.
— Oh, come on. — Jarek floated behind her and placed two tentacles on her shoulders. He massaged slowly, pressing each pressure point with exactly the right force. — I promise I won't do anything during your days without your permission. Forcing you won't solve anything.
At the same time he massaged her shoulders, Andy felt an internal pressure travel through her muscles—gently squeezing, stretching tendons, and loosening knots she didn't even know existed. It wasn't painful, but the sensation was unsettling.
—¿Wh-what are you doing? — she whispered, voice loaded with both alarm and fascination.
— Relaxing you — Jarek answered in an almost playful tone.
Andy swallowed hard, unable to move her shoulders. The mix of relief and chills kept her paralyzed. She could feel her own body responding to the invisible touch. Muscles that had been rigid slowly loosened.
— It's… weird. Really weird… — she murmured. — But… it's working.
Andy felt her body slowly giving in. Staying awake became harder and harder. Her eyelids grew heavy. A light, pleasant dizziness —more soothing than alarming— forced her to tilt her head forward. The world around her began to blur; the couch outlines, the TV light, even Jarek's bluish silhouette turned soft.
Her eyelids finally gave up. Her mind sank into a warm void where neither fear nor anger had room. The last sensation she registered was Jarek's meticulous pressure easing her tension before sleep fully claimed her.
Her body, under the silent and protective control of the symbiote, finally surrendered.
—Heh heh heh.
Jarek smiled mischievously.
He was a man of his word. he would keep his promise not to do anything during her days. But he had never said a word about the nights.
He looked out the window, impatient for the last rays of sunlight.