When I entered my room for the nth time, the recent one has been different. I was sitting on the bed while I was standing on the doorway. I was also reading a book my the window and working at the workstation, typing the song I was practicing at the potty. I heard a flush.

This is weird.

I closed my eyes. Breathe.

I was back at the present. I was on the doorway.

I'm typing this while looking at the doorway.

Whenever I'm faced with a tough reality, I would wish I had the power to bend it. Whenever I'm running late and heavy traffic awaits me, I would wish I had a hovercraft or something. I'm now studying to become a relevant engineer, I won't say what field.

My dream is to build a flying machine.

Whenever I go out on the streets, my mind would paste images of flying carriages travelling through the sky in lanes, while service vehicles roamed the once busy streets. The sky is filled with tiny, smaller crafts made by bio-engineered children. Then the images would dissipate.

When will I make the leap?

Last night, I had a dream. I was on an airship named the "Mezzaluna", named after the eponymous knife. It was cutting through the space. It was my home. And as with any other attachment to their homes, knowing that I would be divorced from it deeply troubled my heart.

When I woke up, I went back to bed and tried to conjure the image. I was crying, wanting to see the things I've seen. I want to go there. I want to be there. I want to stay there.

I woke up, washed my face, and carried on with my life.

I woke up. I was lying on the floor aboard my airship.

There was buzzing at first. My head hurts. It's as if I'm having a migraine. I know how it feels when you suddenly had a sharp pain behind your head that you wouldn't even think of opening up your eyes.

Then it came. Thick yellow lines bounded the limits of my line of sight. A small box with a flashing red dot in the middle appeared on the upper left corner. Crosshairs. Bars. Lines of binary below.

"Woah. Careful."

From the voice, I gather, a woman helped me get up. When I opened my eyes, I was in a polished woody room. The woman led me to a set of couches and gave me some iced tea.

"Does your implants feel funny again?"
"What implants? Where am I? Who are you?"
"Oh boy..."

A box popped up in my vision--‘do you want to read the manual', it says.

The woman held my face and looked at me in the eye. "You're going to be fine. You are now at your home above the clouds. Your name is Clarence O'Keefe, and I'm your cute little sister, Monica. We just went to see mother earlier this morning. When we came here to drop you off, you started complaining about headaches. Then you suddenly collapsed."

I've read stories like this in the past, where people get summoned into another world for many reasons, usually when they die. They get reborn, not skip ahead and possess another person's body. Also, it's fiction. It can't be true.

"Sorry. I really can't remember anything. It's like I'm seeing everything for the first time." Yeah, what's worse that facing a computer screen while the room's dark is having the screen implanted in your eyes. Ouch.

"Oh, don't worry. We all have those moments too. I remember having memory lapses when I was a kid. Mom tells me to leave a note on top of my desk and lock the door when my head starts hurting. I would find my note and my panic lessens. I'm sure your memories would come back soon."
"How long have we had these implants?"
"You get them when you're born. It's installed just after the mother gives birth. It's in the law. Parents must get their kids bio-engineered, allowing the kids to photosynthesize and to have augmented vision."

Sick.

I do not know what happened to me, but I want to remove this implant. I still don't know why I came here but I know that if I wanted to survive, I must use everything I've got to stay awake.

"Jarvis, wake up. The teacher's looking."

I woke up with dried saliva on my chin. I was in the class. The teacher's really, really red like a tomato. He sent me out of the room.

Hi there.

Remember that teacher who had gone mad when I slept in her class? She gave the class a problem set due next week. It's eight pages, with three questions on each page guaranteed. It's about digital circuits, probability and statistics for engineers, and engineering economy. *sigh*

I got a bad case of cluster headache earlier. I woke up in the middle of the night and the back of my head starts to hurt whenever I stand up. I asked my mom for some paracetamol so it has subsided a bit...I think.

Right now, I'm taking a break from problem solving. When I'm not writing on this journal the Psychic High gave, I'm browsing through websites. I just hope that I don't get sidetracked.

Earlier this morning, I told my mom I wanted to run in the park at the Circle. But when I remember what happened last time, I decided against it. I still don't know what triggers the visions. If I were to go now, I might manifest in some strange place. I know I can't stay forever inside my room; I have to go out to go to school. I just have to stay inside as much as possible.

Apparently, I'll be out of town four days from now. Mom said my cousin's kid is having a birthday and we have to be there just because. I'm not really fond of appearance, much more now that I've got a fear of visions.

If only there's a way I don't need to go to school, if only I had a twin.

Same old usual story plot includes the fact that something went wrong or something interesting happened. Can't blame the scribe, a story must start from something. There are some adventurous lot who just jot down some interesting character and let the readers take a slice of that person's life. I can't do any of those really well. My thinking capacity can't handle big pictures, you know, the ones that serves the backbone of a certain story in which the author tries to throw a smoke screen on. The problem with being a reader while being a writer is that the writing becomes grasping in the air while falling from the stratosphere. When you land, it doesn't hurt; you're dead.

I like to read stories. I also like to write stories in the past. It's a bit rusty now. No, I know what you're thinking. Are the stories about my visions just the product of my imagination? Of course not. The images are very vivid in my mind right now. The past paragraph aims to convince you that I can't make stories well, and that what I'm about to tell you happened just a while ago.

I mentioned that I wanted a twin. I do, in fact made one. It must be because of my abilities. While I was writing my last entry, that guy suddenly hugged me. His arms wrapped around my shoulders and the warmth--am I this warm? Whoa...am I sweating just now?

I'm afraid to look at his face but the computer screen betrayed me.

"Hello. Jarvis. Missed me?"
"Who are you?"
"..."

He wrapped his arms really tight. I can't breathe. "HEY."

"Sorry about my sister. She's really clingy. So am I."
"Who are you?"

He just smiled. He just f*cking smiled. Then something clicked in my mind.

"Clarence O'Keeffe. But for you, it's Clare."

When Clare came, it seemed the world became a better place. Coming back home from school, we would snack on some crackers while he tells me stories from where he came from.

Like that one where a group of lizardmen bikers caused a commotion in a bar during his sister's birthday bash. They were in this bar and Clare, Monica and their friends were sitting on the corner booth.

The lizardmen rushed into the bar and hogged the bar stools. Since bikers who frequent the city were also bounty hunters, war freaks even, people were careful not to get tangled with them. Monica stayed as quiet as possible.

One of the lizardmen stood up. Balls of sweat formed in Monica's forehead. The lizardman stood before the corner booth. Soon, the rest of the gang followed. They were staring at Monica as if they were loan sharks collecting debt.

While keeping up their menacing looks, the lizardmen took out flowers, boxes, and guitars. They began singing.

"Happy Birthday, Elder Sister!"

Monica let out a tsukkomi.

"You."

Monica stared at his younger brother. It was Clare's plan all along!

--------------------------------------------

"They were my new recruits. It's my sister's birthday. Why not surprise her?"

Clare took a sip of soda straight from the bottle.

"Hey. Don't do that. Drink from a cup."

"What? It's not like I wanted to give you an indirect kiss."

Geez. This guy...

"I-I-Indirect kiss?"

"Heh? You want it directly? Come here--"

"Cut it out."

"Pfft...your reaction...too cute."

"Shut up."

"Hehehehe..."

It's been over a month. When will this guy go home?

"Go home."

"You've been saying that. It's not like I don't want to go home. I told you, I don't know how."

It can't go on like this.

"Just stop doing what you've been doing. It's annoying."

Slam.

This guy...

"W-w-what are you doing?"

Why am I being pushed against the floor?

Then he started singing.

Weird. As SOP representatives, we're supposed to meet the family of ordinary people but their house in the middle of a bustling city in a busy street is now an empty lot. Really strange, right?

Cut live wires were sparkling on the road. Pipes were leaking out water into the piece of land devoid of lawn grass. Sewerage pipes were creating a fountain of poop. Oh dear lord the place just looked like a nuclear fallout without the nuclear but poop. The cleared land looked like a floor plan though. When you look at the lot, you would feel that there should be something in there but for some reason wasn't.

"What a shitstorm."

While looking at the lot, someone patted my shoulder. It was a copper. "Do you know the guys who live here?"

I said "No, but we're supposed to meet today. Some sort of get-together for the holidays."

"Alright. Alright. If I were you though, I'd stay clear of this place. It's creepy." Then the copper left while giving that 'I'm watching you' gesture. Sheesh. I'll never look at number two the same way again.

"So where's the family," asks Clare.

"Oblivion, maybe. Hey, why are you here?"

"I'm bored at home. Something interesting pops up whenever you go out."

"Look. It wasn't my fault my powers activated when I went out and we switched places. It's also wasn't my fault that you're here. You just popped up in my room and tried to harass me every time there's an o--stop that."

When I went into battle mode, Clare raised his hands. "I'll stop. I'll stop. Just calm down."

"This psychic battle suit is really handy. You can't see it but you can sense it. Don't you dare touch me."

Clare and I continued to monitor the situation around the lot. Cars were slowing down to get a glimpse of the poop fountain. People from the city hall arrived and started the clean up.

We tried to call customer support.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the assignment in the app is still valid. There are no indications that the entire family passed away or that they are missing. Remember that in the event that they died while in your care, we would immediately summon you in the headquarters and take appropriate actions."

"Appropriate actions? Look, young lady. The family and their house is gone from the lot. Your app is broken."

"No, sir. We can assure you that the app is not broken. We took the liberty of running a full scan of your immediate vicinity including the lot where the family should be and found that the family right where you are standing."

"Look, young lady. My friend here and I are the only ones in this stinky alley. And there's no way a bearded man 200 centimeters tall, an obese woman and three teenagers were standing right where I'm at."

"I'm sorry, sir, but that's not our problem. You availed our services and we can assure you that you have not failed yet in your endeavors and we're still not in the position to warp you here. We believe though that you might need to do some tweaking though in your reality. By the way, I'm way over 1892 years old and I'm old enough to feed your plants. Good day."

Toot. The person at the other end slammed a telephone. A telephone in this day and age. You never see that coming.

Clare was staring at me. "Look at you. Look at your eyebrows." He started messing with my face.

"The customer support said something strange. She said the family is here, right at this very spot. Also, she said that I need to do some "tweaking" in reality. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Like lifehacks? Gosh. I thought I'd never use that word. 'Lifehacks' are just clever ways to do things."

"Hey, Clare. What's the clever thing to do when something's missing?"

"Hmmm...aside from finding it, either replace it by creating or buying a new one."

"That's what you do in this reality. But what if there's a distortion in the reality that you know. What if the family and the house that don't exist in our reality starts to exist?"

"Stop it, Jarvis. You know the rules. You can't take what you can't give."

But are the rules really that strict? The mystery of Clarence O'Keeffe's appearance still baffles me.

"You're here. If you're here, then who replaced you? Who did you replace? If you replaced somebody that was so close to my location, who might that be? And if the rules still apply, the family must be around somewhere along with the house. But they're not."

We called customer support again. "I don't care if you're a fossil but you've got to believe me. Something went wrong with our reality. We shouldn't be here."

---

"Is everything to your satisfaction?"

A photo of Jarvis and Clare were posted on the smartphone. The man at the other end of the line stroked his beard as he asked over the loudspeaker. His wife and three children were also listening to the conversation. "We tried to add some cool stuff like what you asked. That shit storm is crazy."

"Of course. I paid for it. Now, when will you do RONDO's Mesmerized Human Circus?"

[to be continued on 'Janus']

Note: This is the second part out of three in Jarvis and Clare's adventure inside the [Save the Ordinary People] program, where instead of arranging the requested family, an anomaly happened and they became the ones being watched.

"Still not working."

Clare and I were sitting inside a coffee shop a few blocks from the scene of the grime. While Clare was observing the surroundings through his built-in abilities [Alarm] and [Search], I ordered a cup of cappuccino and a set of three fresh bagels.

"You want some?" I asked Clare.

"I don't eat. Also, any impurities would just obstruct my abilities."

"If that's so, then why are you eating my snack at home?"

"I kinda want to know what food tastes like."

Clare was worn out from our search earlier. After calling Support and hearing the same answer, Clare and I retreated to this place. A pair of oddballs--one is wearing a steampunky leather jacket, jeans and aviator helmet, and the other in khaki shorts, slippers, and black Superman T-shirt--received sharp gazes from the patrons inside.

"How was it?" I asked Claire.

"When I tried to do a thorough scan from Moho up to low-earth orbit, it only revealed remnants of the house and...uhm...curious...chalk."

"Have you tried looking somewhere else?"

"I also scanned the alley. Nothing."

I leaned back on my chair. "If only I wasn't so useless..."

"Don't say that. It was you who've been doing the thinking for the past few hours. Take a break."

I sip some coffee and took a bite on a bagel. "Clare, this bagel's funny."

I called the waitress by the counter.

"Is there something wrong?" The waitress asked with a bright smile.

"There's something wrong with my bagel. It tastes funny."

The waitress stopped moving, smile still plastered on her face. The surrounding patrons and the barkeepers also stopped moving, also smiling towards Clare and Jarvis.

Clare heard a deafening alarm.

==============================
[Alarm]

An ability where the brain sends the ear a signal similar to when the user hears an alarm clock ringing. This ability activates when sensors indicate the presence of a threat to one's life. The amplitude of the signal is directly proportional to the magnitude threat sensed.

This ability is part of the [Survival] set. Please contact your local government's Bioengineering Division for details.
==============================

"Are you sure, sir? Does it really taste funny?"

As the waitress was speaking, everybody in the room approached our table.

Clare and I realized long ago that the reality in this 'world' is not normal. Something will happen.

I began the process of spatial swap.

"[Switch] Plate Mallet."

I stretched out my hand to the plate and a mallet appeared under the bagels, replacing the plate.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Arizona, a man was bashing a plate into his fence.

I gave Clare a quick gaze and we both stood up on our chairs. I picked up the mallet and broke the glass window. We jumped outside and ran away.

I looked back and saw the people inside the coffee shop shift their shape. Their 'skin' started crumbling like broken ceramic and a reddish skin appeared. Their bodies became bony and their mouths were wide open, leaking green to yellowish saliva. Their eyes were shut tight. These hunched beings went out of the coffee shop and into the streets, attacking the people passing by.

I found a lamp post.

"[Switch] lamp laser_turret."

A turret shooting streams of concentrated plasma appeared instead on top of the post. Meanwhile, somewhere in the Donohasian System, a Type II civilization has been defeated and is now bound to extinction because their last line of defense has been replaced by a light bulb.

*pow* *pow* *pow*

The turret started shooting the ghoulish creatures after Clare hacked it.

"Jarv, what's this. I've never seen a software like this."

"Just send it a psychic override." I said.

"How convenient." Clare said.

A storm was brewing in the horizon, with dozens of tornadoes approaching the city. The buildings around us started crumbling, squirting red liquid all over the place. A fire broke out. Another group of monsters ran in front of us.

"Hahaha...the reality is breaking." I said.

"This is bad, Jarv. A breaking reality is a black hole. It implodes. Destroys everything inside it."

"Too late now, Clare."

"I'm sorry, Jarv, but I got to say something. I--"

"--if I'm going down, they're coming with me. [Switch] 'Jarvis Makepeace'&&'Clarence O''Keeffe' 'Howard Poynitz'&&'Melanie Poynitz'"

Warm light surrounded us as the surrounding started to fade into a living room. Clare and I were sitting with three teenagers, all pointing their handguns towards us. The screen in front of us showed Mr and Mrs Poynitz being eaten by the creatures. Tears poured out from the children as they held their guns, refusing to look at the grotesque scene.

I looked at them. They are the missing family. We have just sent these children's parents to their doom.

"Jarv, we're here. We're at the client's place."

"Yes, and we just killed their parents."

Joshua, Luke, and Emy Poynitz fired their guns and Clare and I lost consciousness.

We woke up inside a round room and a group of people was staring at us from a wall of glass.