Annie Harrison had lived alone most of her life.
She was estranged, hadn't spoken with her family in almost a decade. She liked it that way. It kept her out of danger. She didn't like the type of people her brother was always getting mixed up with, so she stayed away from it.
She was in her early thirties, but looking at her, you'd think she was forty. Her hair was already starting to gray. Her home was the smallest on the block, tucked in a corner and forgotten, but she didn't mind. Well, she minded when the mailman couldn't find her address, but other than that she was quite happy with life.
Today, however… Today was different. She woke up in the early hours of the morning, without her alarm. She never woke up without her alarm. She rolled out of bed, groaning as she sat up.
She went through her entire routine before she noticed. She brushed her teeth, got dressed, ate her breakfast, and showered.
It wasn't until she stepped out her door that she felt it. Something was in the air.
Something was coming.
The hairs on her arm stood up. She'd never been scared a day in her life, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't quiet her pounding heart. The world felt like it was turning upside down, her vision wobbling and warping with nausea.
Even the roar of her truck's engine couldn't drown out the noise that buzzed against her ears, just loud enough to rattle her brain. Her knuckles went white as she gripped the steering wheel, gravel crunching as she slowly pulled out of the driveway.
She tried to pay attention to the road, but all she could focus on was the pit in her stomach, the knot in her throat. Something was wrong. She just didn't know what.
The second she had a chance she made a U-turn. She could barely drive, there was no way it was safe for her to go into construction today. She'd go home, call in sick, and have a rest day. Maybe set up an appointment with her doctor, because clearly there was something wrong with her health. Maybe she needed new meds. Doctor Vern would be able to-
Her foot slammed into the brake, and the truck came to a screeching halt in the middle of the road.
She slammed open her door and stumbled out. She could hear other cars honking, and people yelling, their voices carrying on the morning air, but that didn't matter. She'd seen something. In the forest by the road. She knew she'd seen something.
A pair of eyes, staring right at her, illuminating through the shadow of the forest. She knew she'd seen it. She wasn't imagining it. She didn't imagine things. If She thought She saw it, She saw it.
The sharp blare of a truck's horn brought her out of it. What was she doing? Holding up traffic because she'd seen a pair of eyes in the forest? It could've been any number of wild animals, She'd have to be insane to go in and "investigate". She shook her head in shame and walked back to her car.
As she was driving home, despite all she tried to do, she couldn't convince herself it was nothing. It was probably just a deer, but… Something told her it wasn't.
For the first time in years, she thought about her brother. For a moment, she considered calling him. There was a time when they'd been close… What if this weird thing she'd been feeling was because of him, or his world?
She shook her head. No, she's distanced herself from him for a reason. There was no way his world could intersect with hers, she'd made sure of it.
At least, she hoped she had.
***
As she pulled into her driveway, she noticed her next door neighbour, Tom, washing his car. They hadn't spoken much, but they knew of each other, at the very least. When he noticed her stepping out of the car, he waved.
"Annie?" He looked confused once he got a good look at her. "You're glowing! Are you pregnant?"
She stared at him, eyebrows furrowing. What did he just say? Was he trying to call her fat? He'd always seemed nice… It didn't seem like him to try to be intentionally insulting. She stared at him, trying to think of something to say. She didn't really know how to feel - shocked? Angry? Confused?
She didn't get a lot of time to think about it - her stomach lurched, and she knew she was about to vomit.
She rushed up the steps towards her front door. Tom said something else, but Annie didn't hear it. Her mind was rushing like a raging river, and she couldn't get the weird feeling out of her head. What was going on?
The second she stepped into her house she rushed to the bathroom, kneeling over the toilet, and seconds later, felt her breakfast rush out of her mouth. It came out so fast she barely felt it.
The nausea. The vomit. Tom's comment about her "glowing"... what if… No, it wasn't possible. It didn't make any sense. The timeline didn't work. It was literally impossible.
Despite all that, she opened the cupboard and reached for a pregnancy test.
***
A man stood outside the smallest house in the neighbourhood. He wore a pair of pitch black sunglasses, and held a cane. He was dressed like a catholic priest, and his brown hair was kept short and slicked back.
Two other figures seemed to materialize out of the shadows, and came to stand beside him. The one to his right was a much older man, his hair already graying. He wore a wrinkled, worn-out business suit, and had the air of someone important about him.
On the other side was a lady, much more aloof than the older man. She was dressed in much more normal clothes than the other two, wearing a simple tanktop and sweatpants. Her feet were completely bare. Her hair was bright blond, and tied up in a messy knot.
"You sure this is her, Mac?" The lady crossed her arms, staring at Annie's house.
"Don't question my skill, Angeline." Mac, the older man, stretched his fingers. His eyes were darting around, refusing to rest - like he was nervous. "What do you think, Geoff?"
Geoff, the one dressed like a priest, stared at the ground, thoughts running through his head like rats in a maze. His fingers tapped against his cane as he pondered. "It seems we were too late."
Shock wracked the faces of both Mac and Angeline. Mac stared at Geoff, furrowing his brow, while Angeline took a step backwards, staring at the house with widened eyes.
"I was worried this might happen." Geoff continued. "We weren't fast enough. If the leaders hadn't waited so long…"
"Wait… So that means…" Angeline's voice was shaky, nowhere near the confidence she'd had before.
"Yes. She will have the baby. There's no stopping that now."
Angeline felt a shudder run through her body at Geoff's words. "The fatherless child… so it's started…"
Mac sighed, and the shock seemingly faded from his body. "No sense worrying about it now. Come, Angeline - let's go back. I'm sure Geoff wants to be alone for a bit."
Geoff stayed silent as the two turned and stepped away, fading into the shadows. Once they were gone, he slowly looked up, his eyes meeting the gaze of the townhouse - if he imagined the windows were eyes, it almost looked like it had a face.
"I'm sorry…" He whispered, his fingers still rapping against the cane as he held it firmly against the ground. "I tried so hard to protect you… I can blame the leaders, or my partners, as much as I want, but at the end of everything… This is my fault. I failed to keep my world out of yours. That's all you wanted, and I failed. I am sorry, Annie.
I'm sorry, my sister."
On that day, in that neighbourhood, at that moment…
Two worlds collided for the first time.
Something had come.