• Trinity took a lazy step forward to match the person in front of her in the long line that snaked behind her and disappeared behind the buildings deteriorating brick wall. Apprehension coiled tightly and left her stomach in tight knots as people frothed by like a raging river of life. She could feel her hand trembling against the cool brick as she struggled to stay upright. The walls rough surface gave her traction as the person in front lazily meandered forward alongside everybody else who followed in an impatient wave.
    A small hollywood-esque fence kept them corralled like cattle against the dirty wall as people walked in the free sidewalk space. Cars cruised nonchalantly by as the blood that kept the veins of their clotted city brimmed with life and booze.
    She had never enjoyed social gatherings of any kind, the only memoirs she kept from her birthday were ones that made her mind recoil violently. Usually they involved her in the bathroom while her friends partied, ignorant to the main events absence, and deemed a random party-goer the "birthday girl" when she couldn't be located.
    Sharp cold pricked her lunges irritably as breaths emanated like gossamer spectres from her mouth. Mentally she scolded herself for being so easily persuaded into being sandwiched between a person who obviously didn't shower as much as he should and a girl who wore more skin than clothes.
    “‘It’ll be fun', you said." Trinity gasped with as much vindication she could muster to her friend at her side. “‘You’ll have a great time', you said."
    "It will be. You'll see." He beamed, fully confident his ability to rid her of her life-long phobia. Always, Derek seemed confident and sure of himself, she thought with a twinge of envy.
    They shuffled forward again and people began to voice their exasperation at the lines sluggish movement. Trinity wasn't even aware of what sort of place so many people would be anxious to enter, and she didn't savour finding out either.
    "Where are we?" Trinity queried her voice feverish from worry.
    "You'll see." Was his, of course confident, reply.
    "Number three on my list of no-no's, no surprises." She relayed caustically.
    Derek snorted sarcastically and they picked their way again up the ladder of people. The pulsating door drew nearer with every step, and with every step she wanted to throw a paper bag on her head and make a run for it. But Trinity knew that, despite her female independence, a man was stronger than the average girl. So her futile attempts at escape would be easily thwarted by a simple bar of his arm. She hated guys, officially.
    "What would you do if I went lesbian?" She asked lightly, jokingly.
    He pondered for a moment. "You weren't already?"
    Her teeth grinded angrily and she could hear him laughing from beside her.
    "C'mon just relax. We're not headed to those wooden places where people used to be behead-"
    "Gallows." She corrected tartly.
    "Yeah, those. We're not headed to the gallows. You have to get out more often. I'm doing this for your own good, Trinity." Blake persuaded in the same honey voice he had used to convince her that coming here might actually be a good idea.
    Trinity had obviously made a mistake in keeping him in her life after her personal ostracization. She had been too sad to part with her childhood friend who had always kept the savage neighbourhood bullies at bay when she wore that ugly mushroom-cut in second grade. He deserved to be kept within her abandoned circle of non-existent friends.
    Finally the door stood not two feet away, but a wall prevented their entering. The man, a.k.a the wall, stood like a formidable building with his thick muscles and intimidating buzz-cut. She had observed such things on crime drama's where if they weren't occupying space on a sheet of paper, they weren't permitted to enter. Odviously those were fabrications as the man stepped aside to allow their safe passage. She guessed that all he was good for was scaring the party-goers into following the rules.
    Turning back, Blake looked at her expectantly. If Trinity had refused to praise him when he managed to stomach his way through a haunted house when they were ten, she sure as hell wasn't about to praise him now.
    "Will you tell me where we are now?" She groaned as they passed over the threshold and into a narrow, dark corridor.
    Blake rolled his eyes. "I thought it would be glaringly odvious by now."
    "How so?" She blinked in bewilderment.
    "We're at a party."Blake professed as if she were missing one too many brain cells. He led them through the thinning hallway until they had reached a pair of doors.
    "What?!" She demanded shrilly. "Why? We're minors!"
    He shrugged non-chalantly. "So? My dad owns this place so we can get in anyways."
    "I hardly call that responsible." She sniffed petulantly. Again, Blake shrugged as the topic of his father was quickly dropped. "And if your dad owns the place, why go through the stupid line?"
    "C'mon Trinity, you know it wouldn't be fair to everybody else. Watching you have a mental breakdown should be enjoyed by all." Trinity felt the wall in hopes of chancing upon a possible weapon. A baseball bat, maybe a crowbar would work.
    "So that’s why you brought me here. To make fun of me." Trinity muttered bitterly as she identified typical male behaviour.
    "Partly." He confessed easily.
    She regretted befriending him when she remembered that he was a non-refundable package of sarcastic remarks and sadistic humour. Since their first meeting he had found her acute paranoia a source of enjoyment and had prodded it whenever the chance occurred. His most blatant fault had always the bane of her existence.
    “Whatever.” She scowled, pulling her arm crossly from his grip. “I’m leaving.”
    Trinity whirled around and began to rage angrily down the corridor towards the beckoning light of safety. The door shone like a tantalizing haven of smog and streetlamps. Something she would prefer at any time compared to the riotous tumult that thundered just beyond the dingy walls she was sliding past.
    Through the screen of exasperation that clouded her brain, she could vaguely hear Blake attempting to convince her of his good intentions. But as she barrelled out and into the steadily commencing rain that left frothing rivulets streaming off of the streets, she could hear only their faint chorus of gurgles and hisses. Her feet played a livid rhythm against the dampened sidewalk as she plodded home. She snarled derogatory remarks about her former friend under her breath the entire way.
    Tears of water flowed like everlasting springs from the stores overhangs above. Landing with raucous splatters against the pavement and testing her ability to elude their sopping spray. The flame of her previous tirade dwindled to a smoulder under the soothing effect of the gray-scale landscape she found herself in. Melancholy buildings towered like lifeless edifices above everything. Some of the buildings sported crowns of aesthetic needles that threaded the sky and announced to all the immeasurable power of the human spirit. Trinity, a human spirit, felt no power in her defeated sulking and her dripping clothes that made her seem only like a half-drowned cat.
    Only the fenced trees that lined the curb gave any indication of natural life in their artificial world. Now she lingered beneath an especially long overhang in hopes of riding out the sudden rush of saltwater from the heavens. People trotted briskly by, hovering newspapers over their heads, and hailed cabs so they could escape the downpour. Trinity knew she could follow suit as her wallet held a prominent presence in her bag but she felt to devoid of energy to do anything.
    Habitually she ran her pale fingers through her jet black hair that sagged down to her chest. The rain relented, Trinity stepped out from her makeshift sanctuary to be drenched again. She continued forward with a newfound determination to get somewhere warm. As she ploughed doggedly through the rain, Trinity flitted passed a lonely alleyway. She started as a deafening crash echoed from within the mouth of the great alley but continued forward hastily. Again the smashing followed after her as she sped up to accommodate a rush of fear.
    Trinity had read in the newspaper that morning of a fugitive that was terrorizing the nearby area and recurring images of the bodies recovered shot like macabre motivation to keep her speed up. If it had been an ordinary person, than her cities police force would have secured them within days. But this was a monster, an inhuman beast that prowled the streets.
    Articles and books telling of their beginning and almost immediate demise were of great interest to her in school. They were genetically altered humans that had been sold to testing labs at birth. Of course, after several hundred tests had been performed they had been deemed threats by the government. And were therefore forced into extinction by mass extermination.
    Obviously extinction had been a mere assumption as one now threatened the lives of thousands in her own neighbourhood. Her pace fell to a jaunty trot as she had finally placed sufficient distance between her and the ominous alleyway. Her breath stopped abruptly as a monotonous beeping erupted from her pocket. She slid the offending cellphone from her jeans and flipped it up.
    “Hello?” She breathed, the sudden shock of panic still only beginning to subside.
    “Trinity? Where are you?” Demanded the deep voice of her father from the receiver. She sighed in relief and leaned against a nearby newspaper stand.
    “I’m on my way home.”
    “Well hurry up. We’re worried sick over here, you know.” Chided her father sternly and she couldn’t help but laugh with respite.
    “Hey, dad?” She questioned softly. “Could you come and give me a ride?”
    She could hear him ponder momentarily before replying. “Sure. Tell me where you are.”
    Trinity told him her approximate location and after several more minutes of feverish scolding he announced he would be there soon. Within a few moments, the familiar SUV pulled onto her street and glided noiselessly towards her. Not even slightly daunted by the relentless rush of rain it paused and she opened the door. Immediately a new, fresh wave of chastisement pounded her ears.
    “You, young lady, have much to explain. I don’t know who gave you permission to go to one of those ugly clubs but it sure as hell wasn’t me.” He rambled as he steered the monstrous vehicle around the winding streets.
    “Maybe you did, your just getting alzheimers or something.” Trinity shrugged, her attitude renewed as she could feel her bones begin to thaw. She could see his lips droop minutely in a grimace that made his premature wrinkles form a halo around his mouth.
    It was easy to see where Trinity got her looks from, her father wore the same raven black hair as her and large brown eyes that were sparsely bordered by lashes.
    “Don’t you dare give me attitude after what you just pulled.” He reproved angrily, his words biting chunks of her pride off like a pick-axe wailing away at ice. She turned to look out the window so he couldn’t see her shock at his suddenly acidic demeanour.
    “I don’t need this.” She grumbled to the window.
    He disregarded her and continued with his incessant banter. “Did we not watch the news together this morning? Did you not hear about the monster that has been going around, slaughtering people left and right? That could’ve been you, Trinity. I know as a teenager you think nothing bad could ever happen to you because the entire world revolves around you. But it can. And it will if you keep acting like this.”
    She scowled with heightening disdain out of the window. “I’m glad you think so highly of me.” Was her reply to his unnecessary deprecations.
    An indulgent sigh wafted from her father as he coaxed the SUV onto their street. The familiar houses and lawn ornaments made her feel an immediate sense of safeness. Nothing could happen here, she told herself with confidence. Her father was usually a sensible man who took pleasure from playing childish jokes on her mother all day long. But too see him so angry was a very unusual shock. When dangerous people had been mentioned within their vicinity, he had always just chimed the same “be careful” as she left for school. Trinity was staggered by his sudden paranoia, it was her job to be the paranoid one.
    The car pulled into the flamingo infested lawn and under the safety of the garage. Trinity’s father was out the door and stomping irritably towards the house within seconds. “Close the garage door.” Was all he had left for her before slamming both car and house door into a cataclysmic close. Obediently she pressed the button on the wall and the garage door hummed and slowly lowered like a great spinal column.
    “Well. Nice to see somebody’s finally home.” Her mother greeted dryly.
    “Yup.” Trinity headed towards the hallway that branched into her sanctuary. Her mother had soft billows of brown hair that sat easily atop her shoulders in soft waves. Her brown eyes flashed with disapproval as Trinity headed impatiently down the hall. She didn’t want to go to that stupid club in the first place, so why were they getting their underwear in a bunch?
    A tall mirror occupied a slim space on the wall of their picture dominated hallway. A fleeting glance at herself turned into a full-blown inspection as she noticed something strange. Idly turning her head from different angles, Trinity noticed her eyes slowly change from their usual brown to a deep green. Flecks of black flooded the iris’ as she moved studiously from one side to the other. Weird.
    “Trinity?” Her mother came to stand warily beside her. “What’s wrong.”
    “Nothing.” Trinity dismissed the odd occurrence and went into her bedroom. Again she sat, gazing intently into her own vanity mirror and feeling a germinating spookiness. Her eyes flashed different colors as her head changed its angle.
    “Funny...” She murmured vaguely to herself as she repeated her regime of tilting her head and steadily moving it to watch their fleeting color change. All night she spent trying to unravel the anomaly that presented itself. And all of her previous worries seemed only to vanish as she pondered her new eye color.
    A loud knock on the door shocked her into consciousness. “Time to wake up for school.” Came a muffled voice from behind the thick wooden door. Her room wore plain cream walls and white carpet that was littered with crumpled articles of clothing. Hurriedly she scoured her brain to find a good excuse to miss school. She was sure her new eyes would attract the unwanted attention she spent so long trying to keep away.
    “Um... I think I’m sick from walking around yesterday.” She called back lamely.
    A worried tone saturated her mothers’ voice. “Are you sure? Would you like me to check?”
    “No thanks.” She rejected softly, praying her mother wouldn’t come in. But of course, her suburban mother turned the doorknob and eased the door open. Poking her thin head in to look at Trinity. Speedily Trinity floundered around for something to hide her eyes with but it was too late, her mother entered the room like the overbearing do-gooder that she was.
    “Let me check.” Her mother persisted, stepping towards her frightened form.
    She squeaked helplessly. “No. Mom. Seriously, I don’t need you to baby me. I’m sixteen, please.”
    “No. Trinity you’ve been acting like a little brat ever since yesterday.” He mother used her frail arms and turned Trinity so she was facing her.
    Her mother gasped and her hands fell to her sides, brown eyes bulging. She understood that this would be a shock, but surely such a reaction was going overboard. It wasn’t like a second being was growing out of her skull, right?
    She stepped backwards, her legs beginning to shudder. Trinity moved slowly towards her. “Woah. Mom, are you alright?” She reached comfortingly to try and help assuage her mothers’ sudden horror-
    “Don’t touch me.”
    The surprise was enough that it smothered the hurt for a few moments. Trinity let her hands hover where they were originally, outstretched and ready to help. “What?”