An NPC's Reality

Chapter 2: Strange Incidents

As soon as I woke up I grabbed my board and went over to Grayson's and knocked on his door.

“Hey man, what's going on? I can barely open my eyes." Grayson said as he opened the door and rubbed his eyes, squinting at me.

“I have to show you guys something crazy that happened last night." I said as I walked down to Matt's door.

“Hello? Oh, hey Ben. You're up early. Is something wrong?" Matt said as he looked ready for the day already.

“I'm not sure honestly, I have to show you guys something at my house. Come on." I said quickly as Grayson walked over to us.

“Why don't we just go to the beach? You'll forget all about whatever happened after some fun and sun." Grayson said with his hand on my shoulder.

“I'm sure it's all fine man." Matt said as he grabbed his stuff, Grayson went back to his house to do the same. Once they had their stuff we all headed down to the beach. I kept trying to ignore the weird feeling in my gut. Today the woman we always pass walking her dog was on the other side of the road, maybe she was going somewhere.

Once we got to the beach, everything slowed down. And I don't mean figuratively because of the calming nature of the beach but literally.

“What's going on guys?" I questioned Grayson and Matt.

“What do you mean?" They both said in unison.

I looked back around and everything was normal again. We went on with our usual routine and I tried my best to enjoy it until I couldn't take it anymore.

“Something's going on guys. I know you don't see it or maybe you don't believe me but I wanna figure out what's wrong. Things aren't the same anymore." I blurted out as soon as Grayson got back from swimming.

“Okay man, whatever you wanna do. I'll follow your lead, but we gotta get our tacos first." Matt said nonchalantly.

“What he said. Can't skip the tacos. Tony's the best!" Grayson chimed in.

After we ate our food, we skated down to the carnival. I hoped that something would stick out to me.

“Alright, who looks different?" I said as we surveyed the crowd.

“Maybe that girl? She seems cool." Grayson pointed at a girl who was screaming at the guy behind the water gun game. She is wearing a punker outfit with bright pink hair. Not a look we usually see around here.

We headed over to her as she had finally given up on the game and stopped harassing the worker.

“Excuse me, punker lady?" I said as I tapped her shoulder.

“Yeah, what? Need something? I'm trying to get extra points here." She said as she barely looked at us.

“Extra points? I just wanted to ask if you've seen anything weird around here?"

“You seem like a funny guy. No one's asked me that before. I'm sure you'll figure something out." She turned away from us and walked away as we all looked at each other in confusion.

“That was kinda rude." Matt said to me as I was trying to process what she meant by extra points. How could you get any points from a water shooting game? I thought you just got a prize or nothing at all.

“It's fine man, she probably doesn't even live here. Let's go on the Ferris wheel and take in the view." Grayson said, pulling me along with his arm around my shoulder. Maybe that would help distract me.

We all hopped into the seat, Matt and I on one side with Grayson opposite us. We were all quiet and enjoying the view of the city until Grayson stood up and started shaking the whole passenger car.

“Dude, cut it out! You're gonna get us killed one of these days." I said, rolling my eyes at him. Suddenly he stopped and started pointing at the sky. Matt and I turned around in confusion.

“Look at the clouds over there, they stopped." Grayson said while still pointing.

“That's odd, clouds tend to move with the wind. There's rarely ever no wind at all." Matt responded, trying to make sense of it.

I looked back in front of me and also stood up.

“Guys, the boats stopped too. The guys are gone though." I remarked as Matt and Grayson turned back around.

“What the hell?" Grayson asked but was suddenly answered as the guys returned and the clouds resumed their normal path. We all sat down in silence for a minute.

“Maybe you're on to something Ben. I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, we should try looking this stuff up tomorrow." Grayson said, apologizing to me.

“It's okay, I probably wouldn't have believed you either. You got a deal." We shook on it as the three of us watched the sky.