Mikah sat, fidgeting impatiently. She’d managed to finish every single GameBoy Advance game she had in her possession whilst waiting in Arrivals at Heathrow. Around her other people were meeting up with their loved ones, and David Beckham was being ignored by the press not too far from her. She checked her watch. Realising she actually didn’t have her watch, she checked her mobile instead. It was now midday, and her patience was beginning to wear thin. The flight carrying her beloved was already late, having supposed to arrive about 10 in the morning. But no, not today. She already knew nothing was going to go right. It would be one of those days.

Ariba’s beloved was also on his way over, the thought of which made Mikah smile. Oh what fun she’d have with him… but first, flight BA301204 was about to land, carrying her Josh. She packed away her GBA SP and games and stood up, waiting. Still waiting. Carried on waiting another half an hour. Eventually passengers filed through, most of them American tourists. A few stopped to wonder at the sight of the airport, as if they’d never seen one before. Mikah sighed and brushed her red hair out of her face. She’d left it down once again, brushed but still somewhat untamed.

A tallish brown haired man came through the door and looked around, managing a convincing “help me I’m totally lost” look. Mikah rolled her eyes and smiled. Trust the big lug to be the last off the plane. Mikah ran at him and jumped. He turned around just in time, catching her. They kissed quickly and moved away from the exit where people were trying to get out past them.

“Late as usual Mr Johnston. What am I gonna do with you?”

“Depends if we make it to the car or not” he grinned, casually taking her hand and walking off to collect his bag. In the back of her mind, Mikah’s conscience called out to her. Fred’s plane was due to land in fifteen minutes, and she was supposed to be waiting for him. She promised Ariba she would be nice for once, at least until they all got to Peterborough. It was Mikah’s turn to host the rabble, and her new pad in Bedford wasn’t quite up to scratch. Ok, the roof was caving in, rats were roaming the place and there was something growing in the bathroom which Mikah could only guess was mould of some sort. Or possibly a type of fungus previously only found in Africa…

Ariba was waiting for them at the front door, arms folded and foot tapping. Sheepishly, Mikah pulled Josh past Ariba and into her lounge. Her parents had gone out, and so had her brothers. Ariba rolled her eyes and followed them in, keeping her arms folded.

“And Fred is…”

“Aw damn… forgot about him. Ah he knows where your house is don’t he?”

“Mikah! You know he doesn’t! I don’t care what you think of him, you go out there right now and go fetch him!”

“Oh why don’t you go and get lover boy, he hates me anyway.”

“Mikah, you know I can’t…”

“Why?”

“Dammit just go! And put him down, please, you’re making me feel ill” Ariba grabbed Mikah, pulling her out of another embrace and shoving her out the front door, locking it the second the door slammed. Mikah stomped her foot and folded her arms. She didn’t want to see Fred any more than she wanted a giant gun hole in her head. Be that as it may, it was the middle of February and Mikah also didn’t want to stand outside in the cold arguing with Ariba to let her back in. She took a deep breath and walked her way back into Heathrow.

Fred spotted her coming and walked towards her, clearly annoyed. He thrust his bag into her hand and walked past her, as if he knew the way. Mikah decided not to follow. She’d already had enough. She took his bag and walked off with it, not in any particular direction. A few minutes later she dumped it in the middle of the floor and toddled back towards Ariba’s. Fred had already found his way there, and was waiting for Mikah as she swept through the door and straight back into the arms of Josh.

“Uh, my bag?”

“Bag? What bag?”

“The bag I gave you, the bag with all my things in it”

“You never gave me no bag”

“I did, just ten minutes ago! Where is it?”

“How should I know?” a devious grin spreading on Mikah’s lips.

“Mikah!” Ariba shouted, frustrated. Mikah and Fred had never gotten on particularly well, and Mikah’s fondness for causing trouble for him was well documented. This was going a bit far though. Ariba knew full well what Mikah was capable of and what her limits were. Or weren’t in this case.

“Go get his case Mikah, c’mon.”

“Let me think about this for a second… nope”

“Please?”

“Nope”

“Mikah, this is important. Please go find his case.”

“Let him look for it. It’s his case” Mikah frowned. Josh was trying hard not to laugh, and it wasn’t working. He excused himself and walked into the kitchen.

“Why do you have to make this so hard? Can’t you at least try to be friends?”

“Oh sure. When he treats me like a person instead of something he just stepped in…”

“I object!” Fred glared at Mikah hatefully.

“Oh you always do. Shut up and go get your case before it gets nicked. Or I find it.” Mikah said, sulking out of the house. Ariba followed her out.

“You know, you could at least try to get on” Ariba stepped in front of her and looked into her eyes. Mikah looked up and sighed.

“Fine, I’ll try. As long as he does. And I want him to stay away from Josh.”

“Fine, fine.”

“His bag’s with security, I saw them pick it up after I left it. I’ll go and get it.”

“Thank you.”

Mikah slowly walked back into Heathrow and spoke to security, eventually managing to get Fred’s case back. She dragged it through all of the mud and pot holes filled with water that she could find, deliberately taking the scenic route back to Ariba’s. She dumped the case in the hallway as she entered and sat back down next to Josh, kissing him quickly on the cheek. Fred just rolled his eyes at the state of his case and grabbed it, taking it to Mikah’s car outside and stuffing it in the boot. Mikah followed him out and put everyone else’s cases in afterwards, making sure to put a plastic covering over Fred’s stuff first. Ariba came out and sat in the back, taking Fred with her. Josh sat himself in the front of the brand spanklingly new Citroen C4 Mikah had had less than a week.

“Everybody ready?”

“Yes” the other three chorused. A minute later the little car roared into life and they began the trip to Peterborough, to Mikah’s parent’s house. She also had the house to herself, the rest of the family had gone to Cornwall without her. Not that she minded, Cornwall blew chunks as far as she was concerned. A few minutes down the road Mikah declared it officially a ‘Road Trip’ and insisted on having the music as loud as it would go.

Ariba and Josh joined in the badly sung karaoke as they hurled down the motorway probably faster than they should have whilst Fred could only speculate how many cola’s and red bulls they’d had between them. Several songs later they arrived in Peterborough, about half an hour ahead of what Mikah said they would. They all piled out of the car once Mikah pulled up outside the front of her parents’ house, which wasn’t far from the city centre. People were wandering in and out of the pub across the road, and the boys decided to leave Ariba and Mikah to unpack their stuff.

Mikah thrust Fred’s soggy case into Ariba’s hand with as much disgust as she possibly could whilst scowling across to the boys, who decided that drinking inside the pub would be the better option. Ariba sighed and took their cases in. Mikah had it planned so that Fred and Ariba would stay in her brother’s room and she and Josh would stay in her own room. Once everything was unpacked, Mikah rang her parents and chatted to them whilst Ariba went to find the boys.

“So what now? What is there to do here?”

“The shops will be closed by now…”

“Yeah…”

“Spin the bottle?” Fred suggested, smiling at Ariba.

“Fred it’s a little early for that isn’t it? It’s only 6”

“Strip poker?” Josh jumped in between Ariba and Mikah.

“Josh!!”

“What?”

“Honestly…” Mikah shook her head. They were all bored already. They soon settled on watching TV, with Fred and Ariba sitting in the chairs and Mikah cuddled up to Josh on the settee. They found a few dodgy music videos, pimp my ride and the news were not as entertaining as they promised to be, and settled on some anime show which they couldn’t find the name of. Two hours of this and they were ready to go to bed, with Ariba dropping first. Fred carried her up to the room they were sharing and put her on the bottom bunk, pulling the quilt over her. Josh followed shortly after, leaving Mikah on her own to contemplate spending the next week with Fred in the house.

She could only imagine how bad it would be. His ego was far worse than anyone else’s she had known, except a certain security officer she had known less than three years. She just knew he would be awful to put up with, and was glad of Josh for company. And of course Ariba, with whom she could seriously have fun in the middle of Peterborough! As Mikah slowly drifted off to sleep in the living room, she began to think of ways to get back at Fred in case he even breathed in her general direction. The world was strangely different when she woke…

Mikah looked around her in wonder. She assumed she was still dreaming, because everything around her was like a giant Final Fantasy set, with an expansive white sanded beach and strange creatures picking in the rock pools nearby. She looked down at her hands, to find they had changed. Instead of the small, stubby fingered hands she once had, they were now normal sized, with elegant looking fingers. It was all a cartoon world, much like the one they had seen earlier. She couldn’t see the others and wondered if it really was a dream. A ball to the head served at about 90mph soon corrected that thought.

“Oops… sorry dude…”

“You will be…” Mikah growled, nursing the large bump on her head. The adolescent who’d kicked the ball quickly took it and scarpered, leaving Mikah with a huge headache. She stood up, a little dizzy from the knock on the head. Wondering where she was she decided to explore, finding a large town not too far from where she had been. She made her way to what looked like a hotel an asked for a room, to be met with a strange look and a sigh as she was shown up to her room. Loneliness crept into her mind as she wondered where the heck the others were, or even if they were in the same place.

Three loud knocks on the door woke her, followed by Ariba, Fred and Josh, all piling into the room. Mikah giggled as all three of them tried to explain what was going on. She managed to make most of it out: they had no idea either, but there was an ice-cream stand not too far from the hotel. She found she had nothing to wear, which might have accounted for the strange looks she had been given earlier. Ariba had managed to scrounge some clothes from somewhere and had rearranged hers into her own style. She looked different too, as did Josh and Fred. Everyone seemed somewhat flawless, with almost perfect figures. Not that anyone was complaining mind. Ariba had decided on a pair of bootleg jeans and a t-shirt, having ripped a few holes in the jeans and tied the t-shirt in a knot on one of the corners. She was also wearing a makeshift white bandanna. Fred wore a yellow t-shirt with some strange symbol on it and a pair of black long shorts. Josh had gone for a pair of black trousers and white short-sleeved shirt. Mikah decided since she had the figure she’d wanted for ages, she wanted to show it off a little.

Ariba handed her a t-shirt and a long denim skirt, which Mikah promptly made into a vest top and a denim micro skirt. She encouraged Ariba to do something similar, but was swiftly told “not a snowflake’s chance in hell”. Once everyone was ready they trotted down to the ice cream stand. Mikah decided it was Fred’s fault they were here instead of at home, and made him know it.

“Your fault.”

“What?”

“It’s your fault we’re here. Everything was going fine until you showed up.”

“Don’t go there. I didn’t do this. None of us did.”

“Oh yeah, you WOULD say that… guilty as sin”

“Whatever Mikah. You’re just out to cause trouble.”

“Am not. Just don’t like you, that’s all. And this is your fault.”

“Not listening”

“I’m so going to hurt you…”

Fred gave up arguing since it was clear he wasn’t going to win. Mikah glared hatefully and willed many horrible things to happen to him. She thought strongly about fighting him, and next thing she knew her fist was making acquaintance with his face. Caught by surprise Fred fell backwards to the floor, dropping his vanilla scoop. He got up pretty quickly as Mikah lunged for him again, managing to hold her back. He looked into her eyes and saw that they were glazed over and filled with hate. She broke free of his hold and swung again, narrowly missing his jaw.

“I’m not fighting you Mikah. Just go away.” Fred waved his hand and turned his back on her. Mikah responded by kicking him in the back and laughing. Suddenly she passed out, leaving Fred rolling in pain. Josh scooped up his fallen girlfriend and carried her away from Fred in case she woke up near him, whilst Ariba tended to Fred. He had a few bruises and a fat lip, but was otherwise fine. Mikah woke up pretty quickly and remained annoyed with Fred for still existing.

Late that night, as the others were asleep, Mikah tested out her theory that she could make things happen by thinking about them, and made a few acrylic paint bombs appear. She wanted Fred gone. Somehow the thorn in her side was no longer to be removed, but annihilated instead. She didn’t just want him gone, she wanted him destroyed. She knew Ariba wouldn’t like it, but she had to do it. For some reason it seemed like it was her mission. She couldn’t explain it. She left the hotel and willed herself into an energy ball. This would be her way of hiding, becoming energy which couldn’t be detected, couldn’t be seen. She wanted to play. And Fred was to be her playmate. She hid Ariba and Josh in an underground cave not far from where they were staying and made sure that they wouldn’t wake up. And of course, that nobody would be able to get in or out, except her. At sunrise the games would begin.

The pink halo of the newly awoken sun crept above the beachy horizon, shyly edging its way into the blood red sky. Fred woke with a start to find Ariba and Josh gone, and assumed they had gone for more ice cream. He hadn’t found them by midday, and was really beginning to worry. He couldn’t find Mikah either, not that he was worried about that. He and Ariba had just gotten back together and although he didn’t know Josh, he didn’t dislike the guy. Mikah watched as Fred began to panic, giggling a little as he flitted through the town and the beach looking for them. By late evening he was exhausted and Mikah was growing bored. She willed herself a small lair outside town which looked to everyone else like just another oversized plant.

From there she decided an action plan. If he wanted to be the hero and save himself, he’d have to go through her. She knew she could have what she wanted, but still she figured whilst the guy was still breathing she would have a little fun with him. The others would never know, and she wouldn’t have told them. She began her action plan the next day when Fred woke up, alone once more.

“We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.” the cold voice called out to Fred who was running as fast as he could. He’d been dodging them for hours and was beginning to tire. He wondered where they came from: he knew they weren’t in their own world, but he still figured that the Borg probably shouldn’t be real. And they certainly shouldn’t be running as fast as they were. A thought struck him. He knew that the acrylic paint bombs from earlier had to have come from somewhere, and only Mikah was awake at the time. But she’d had no paint, or water bombs to put the paint in. She must have done something to create them.

“Whatever. I’ll give it a shot” he huffed, trying not to hyperventilate because of how fast he was running. He began to will paint bombs into existence, and found one forming in his hand. Soon enough he had a whole handful of them and was throwing them at the few Borg who were chasing him. A few stopped to clean themselves off, whilst the rest adapted paint-resistant shielding. He imagined them all tripping over various things, which they eventually did, and gave him a break. Finally he cottoned on and imagined them exploding, which they all then did, Lemmings-style. He had to find Mikah and stop her doing these things. He still wasn’t exactly sure what her problem was, except the fact that he was still breathing.

He racked his brains. They’d known each other all of 3 years and they hadn’t exactly spoken a lot save for the odd joint post in the RPG where they met. She was best friends with Ariba, that much he knew… maybe that was it. Perhaps she was jealous because she couldn’t have Ariba to herself. She didn’t seem the jealous type though. Perhaps it was because of the arguments. A couple of them had been quite nasty, and had resulted in Ariba being so upset she didn’t know what to do. He remembered Mikah once being so upset by what he’d done that she told him what she thought of him straight, and it wasn’t very nice. She actually threatened to kill him that time. That had to be it. Mikah hated him because he’d hurt Ariba. He’d managed to convince Ariba that everything would work out this time. Now he had to convince her.

He could only wonder why there were so many pot holes along this street. He would imagine them not existing, and they would fill up, only to reappear somewhere else, usually right underneath him. He knew she must be watching, he could almost sense her. The fact was that she was right behind him, had he bothered to look. A puppy had followed him all the way so far. A puppy named Mikah. He should have guessed it was her really, she was a Burmese Mountain Dog, her favourite type. And the only normal looking animal in the area. She kept a close eye on him, producing more pot holes as she thought of new and more interesting ways to harass and/or make his like a misery. Then an idea struck her. She knew she could do what she wanted, and make it so that he couldn’t just imagine his way out of it. Her puppyish form returned to the human state she entered this world with, this time wearing all leather, her hair more like the star trek character she played.

“Hey pantzoid”

“Mikah, so nice to see you. Are we done playing games? Only this is really boring now.” Fred continued walking, barely paying her any attention.

“Games? What games? I always said I’d get you, one way or another. You’re just smart enough to keep me amused whilst I think of something to do to you.”

“Mikah, this has to end. We should try to figure out a way out of this place.”

“Aw, someone’s a grumpy fish” Mikah began mocking him. He didn’t care, so long as she was there he could see what she was doing, and would know what to do. He turned to face her, only to find that she’d disappeared. He couldn’t help thinking of mean things to do to her; if she could do it to him, maybe he could do it to her as well. He tried to imagine a few seagulls emptying themselves onto her newly anime head, giggling. Well at least until he fell into the biggest pot hole on record, with a note in it:

“Fred,

MISSED ME!

Ha ha.

Mikah”

Fred screwed up the note and threw it over the top. He pulled himself up and continued to walk, though he had no idea of where he was heading. He wanted to find Ariba and Josh, but with Mikah playing games it would be really difficult. He assumed that she had done something to them, to keep him alone. Three dots in the shape of a triangle appeared just in front of him, making him stop dead. He felt the laser projection move to his temples, and began to run as fast as he could. Trust Mikah to have seen Predator of all films. The Borg he could have coped with, at least he was familiar with them. He had seen Predator, but only once or twice, and was only vaguely aware of its capabilities.

He could just about hear Predator’s light footsteps as it chased Fred through the streets and into the plains outside the town. There was nowhere for it to hide, but it retained it’s ability to remain invisible. Only the three dots gave away it’s position. Fred could now feel them on his forehead. He tried hard to imagine Predator losing it’s ability to become invisible, failing miserably. This might have been a cartoon world, but he still didn’t want to die all the same. He tried harder and harder, almost giving himself a nosebleed in the process. Mikah sat in her lair, almost in hysterics. She didn’t want him dead yet, but he didn’t know that. He’d find out quickly enough though.

Predator removed it’s mask, becoming visible in the process. Fred had to resist all urges to repeat Arnie’s famous line. Predator pointed it’s gun at Fred once more. Fred had dropped to his knees at this point, tired from having had to run all day. He willed so hard for Predator to disappear or blow up, anything to prevent it shooting at him. Instead, Predator fired, square between the eyes. Fred opened one eye, finding Predator smiling. He wondered why he wasn’t dead. The last time he saw Predator shoot a guy in the head it had exploded, pretty much removing all of it from the victim’s body. He also wondered why his forehead was so wet. He raised his hand to feel what it was, causing Predator to laugh. Water. The damn thing had a water gun. He’d run all day from this creature, fleeing for his life. From something with a bloody super soaker. He felt stupid. Knowing this, Mikah made Predator disappear, leaving Fred to wonder what she would do next. He was finding it harder to get around her tricks, and he had a distinct feeling it was going to get worse.

Inside his head he heard her voice, taunting him once more. He tried to ignore her, but her stubbornness bore through his mental defences.

“Look, I know you can hear me.”

“Oh go away. Haven’t I suffered enough?”

“Hm… nope. I’m not done with you yet. You think I’d let you off that easily when I have this chance to make you feel so bad you wish you could go to hell because it would be nicer? No chance. You made her life hell and she didn’t want to do anything because she loves you. She didn’t want to say anything because she didn’t want to lose you. She’s better off without you I think. And she’ll realise that once you’re gone. But first, I’ll have my fun. If she doesn’t want to punish you for what you did, as her friend I feel obligated to do it for her. The Borg and Predator were nothing. I’d watch out tonight.”

“Oh grow up. We sorted out everything. I said I was sorry!”

“Not nearly sorry enough.” with that Mikah disappeared, leaving Fred with the biggest headache he’d had in months. He knew she was more of a night person than a day person, and could only wonder what she had in store for him.

That night as he wandered back into the deserted streets of the beach town, he felt something breeze past him. He figured the wind would pick up, and frowned. He was still only wearing the shorts and t-shirts they had started with, though somehow each day they were clean again… well he supposed that in the anime world, nobody’s clothes were dirty more than two episodes in a row, and in this world why shouldn’t that apply. Surreal it might have been, but knowing what type of world he was in provided him with some benefits. As far as the people and town, he knew roughly what to expect, save for whatever Mikah had in store.

A shadowy figure in front of him blocked his way into the hotel where he wanted to try and heist a room for the night. He moved to the other side of the pavement, hoping to go around, and the figure mirrored him.

“Excuse me” Fred tried to get past him, stopped by the leather jacketed arm of the individual blocking the way.

“I said excuse me.” He said, more forcefully this time. The figure took a step forward out of the shadows, revealing a platinum haired vampire smirking at him. He knew this one; his name was Spike, and he was supposedly the badass of Sunnydale. Well Fred wasn’t going to be scared of this figment of Mikah’s imagination. He smiled and pointed upwards, where the sun was just beginning to break through the clouds. Spike smiled back. Fred tried not to show his confusion. He had made the sun come out, and the sunlight was lethal to vampires… wasn’t it? Mikah’s voice echoed in his head.

“Didn’t see the final season of Buffy did ya?” she mocked him, her voice icy cold.

“I don’t watch that crap. What happened?”

“Ask him. He’ll tell you.”

Fred looked at the thinning clouds. Sunlight was brightening the very pavement they were standing on, yet Spike didn’t move an inch. As the sky turned to brilliant sunshine, Spike stood laughing at Fred.

“You really aren’t’ from around here if you thought that would finish me off! I’m a ghost!”

“A ghost? Oh whatever, you’re still a figment of her imagination”

“That I might be… I’m also bored now. Wanna play?” Spike’s face morphed into that of the vampire, and Fred, knowing the routine by now, ran as fast as he could. What he forgot was that ghosts don’t need to chase. They can be wherever they want to, pretty damn quickly. In the background Fred could hear Linkin Park playing. He rolled his eyes. Now Mikah was adding music to it. What didn’t help was that it was Breaking the Habit, a past paced one, which accompanied his running. He wondered what the soundtrack to the rest of this game would be. His thinking stopped quickly as Spike appeared in front of him, fangs bared. Fred tried to turn around, instead tripping over himself and falling face down in the street. He knew he was in for it now; dark street, nobody else around, and a vampirish ghost after him. Great stuff. He cringed as Spike managed to grab hold of him and pulled him up. Mikah watched, almost falling off her seat.

Knowing what was about to happen, Fred fought as much as he could, but Spike being spike, was able to keep hold of Fred and make certain parts of himself disappear when Fred went to hit him. He loved being a ghost, he truly did. But what he loved even more was being a vampire, having the strength of the vampire. With this strength he forced Fred to kneel in front of him, facing away from him. Fred tried hard to think his way out of it, but he couldn’t think of a weakness. Not a single one. Which didn’t help him as Spike sank his teeth into his neck, making him scream in pain. Mikah meanwhile was almost rolling on the floor with laughter. She knew he wasn’t going to die, or become a vampire, or anything. He’d fall asleep, that was all. She was beginning to warm to her plaything, not really wanting him dead anymore. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to have fun with him though.

Fred fell on the floor, clutching his neck which was dripping blood, crying in agony. Spike laughed, a merciless laugh and sauntered off. Fred lay there, curled up, crying. This was cruel. He knew she wanted him to suffer, but sis she really want him to die that badly? He thought about Ariba and how much he missed her. If she could only see what Mikah was doing to him, she’d know he didn’t deserve it. But she couldn’t, and he couldn’t prove anything. A familiar looking puppy padded up to him and licked him on the nose.

“Mikah… why…”

“For my own gratification, and to make you suffer. Why else?”

“Do I really deserve to die?”

“Does anyone?”

“Mikah…”

“I’m not a murderer. You’re not going to die. Have you learned nothing? Think about the situation a little harder.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah you’ll figure it out. See you soon” Mikah wagged her tail playfully and bounded away. Still in immense pain, Fred remained curled up. Which was where he was found the next morning.

“He looks dead.”

“He’s not dead, Ariba stop freaking out ok?”

“I’m not freaking out look at the holes in his neck! And where exactly do you think all this blood came from? Josh he’s dead, I know he is!”

Fred could hear the voices. It was Ariba and Josh, awake. They’d managed to find him, not that Mikah had made it particularly hard for them. She’d managed to level the city around them, making it now into a field, a very vast field. There was one little hut a way in the distance, but other than that it was pretty much just grass, flanked by tall cliffs either side. Ariba told them where they were, based on the fact that she’d heard Mikah go on about it so much. They were in the middle of Final Fantasy X, in the Calm Lands. Mikah had also taken the liberty of making huge neon arrows pointing at him, with chaser lights flashing extremely brightly. It was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. He was alright. He smiled as he quickly realised that he wasn’t dead or dying. He smiled even more when Ariba turned to him and hugged him.

“What the hell happened?

“I… don’t know” Fred lied. Mikah had after all, not killed him or hurt the other two, she’d also woke them up and made sure all three of them were together, and safe. Josh looked a little lost, as did Fred. The blood stains disappeared and left the grassy plains, leaving just Fred.

“Uh… where’s Mikah?” Josh looked around.

“You haven’t seen her?” Fred asked, unsure of what to expect. He too looked around, not seeing any sign of her. Other than those neon arrows of course. He wished they would go away, which they did. He smiled. Mikah had obviously given up. But where was she? He needn’t have worried. She had sensed that they were all there and intact, and appeared the other side of the plains, only just visible. She spoke to Fred only, through telepathy.

“I’m not finished. But you’re right. This does have to end. I can’t keep toying with you, it’s boring enough already. But I’m not leaving you alone without a fight. It’ll be me vs. you, same as ever. But in a race, not here. I just wanted to make sure they could see you easily enough.”

“Fine. Come here and talk, face to face. Or are you scared of me?”

Mikah shimmered in front of them and smiled. Ariba and Josh looked suitably shocked and confused; when had she learned to do that? Ariba could sense that something wasn’t right, the tension wasn’t natural. Josh however, embraced Mikah and held her tightly. She briefly smiled at him then looked at Fred. It was game on, and everyone knew it.

Suddenly they were all taken to a racetrack… well a sort of racetrack… alright, to a city where the roads had been marked off where the racers would zoom around the tracks in excess of 180mph. In the normal traffic. Two cars sat side by side, their engines purring softly. In one car, a red rally style, sat Fred, wondering what he had agreed to. In the other, a black rally style car with electric blue flames painted on the side, sat Mikah, smiling. She knew what she would have to do to win this; all she had to do was survive.

The race began, with Josh and Ariba waiting in the crowds by the start line. Whoever survived this race would make it back to that point. Mikah let everyone know what was at stake by sending the thoughts to them, not thinking about the looks of horror and distress on those waiting in the crowd. This one was all or nothing. Fred stepped out of his car and started banging on Mikah’s door.

“No, you can’t make me do this, I wont kill you.”

“Stupid moron. Have you not figured it out? Three times I could have killed you, in theory. Certainly the last time you should have died. Didn’t you realise why you didn’t die?”

“No, I don’t understand it”

“Then we’ll do this. Believe me you’ll understand when this is over, but it’s the only way I can show you. Explaining it would be…”

“Too easy?”

“Yeah. Get in the car.” Mikah turned to face him and took her helmet off, looking him dead in the eye.

“It’ll be ok. Everything will be ok. I don’t want you dead. And I don’t want to die. So no worries. Just race.”

“But you made it clear it was to the death, you told us all that”

“Oh it is…”

“But…”

“Just race.” she said, pulling her helmet on and winding up her window. She began to rev up her engine waiting for Fred to get in his car. Once he had, the lights started up.

Red.

Red.

Red.

Green.

Mikah roared off, taking the early lead on Fred, who did well to keep up. He watched as Mikah charged into the oncoming traffic and nearly hit a few cars. Then he observed something unusual. After a minute or so of this Mikah’s car leaped out of the oncoming traffic and into the correct lane. Flames appeared from her twin exhaust, sending shooting into the distance. There were only to be two laps to this and already he was behind by quite a bit.

Mikah hurtled around a corner, slamming her car into the wall and dragging it along, scratching the side badly. Fred, now copying her tactics, had learned how to make his car boost as well, and was catching up on her. She pushed the accelerator as down as far as it would go, pushing her car to go just that little bit faster. Fred did the same. They flew through the start point with Mikah just in the lead.

Not far into the second lap Fred caught up with Mikah, keeping side by side with her. This she found infuriating, she wanted to win this. If it was going to end, it would do so in her favour. She jerked her steering wheel to the left and rammed her car into his. As soon as he realised what she was doing he did the same, sending her further to the right than she had started. Taking this as a challenge, Mikah dropped back a bit and began ramming into the corner of his car. She was trying to make him spin, and it would have worked if he hadn’t slowed down to match her speed. She wasn’t going to win this, not if he could help it. He didn’t want her to die, but if that’s how it was going to be, he would rather himself live.

Again Mikah sped up, almost leaving him trailing. Fred, showing unusual ruthlessness, dropped away and waited for her to take the corner again. He knew full well she would slam into that wall, and he was going to take advantage. As her car began to turn into it, Fred slammed into the corner of her car, making it spin out of control. Inside, Mikah screamed, now terrified. She hadn’t counted on this. Her car hit the wall head on, stopping dead. Not far away, Fred’s car stopped , and Fred ran back to the corner, joined by Ariba and Josh who had seen everything.

“Shit…”

“Fred what did you do?”

“I didn’t mean to… shit!”

“Mikah!” Josh cried, running to the car and dragging her out of it. He lay her on the road, her battered and bloodied body barely moving to breathe. Everyone knelt around her.

“Get it now Fred?”

“No… I don’t”

“You should do. I’m in the same position you were” Mikah spluttered, spitting blood. Josh lifted her so she was sitting, leaning against him. “Are you sure you don’t understand yet?”

Fred could only shake his head. He had no idea what she was rambling on about. She had made it clear that this was the final thing, all or nothing, survive or die. He had survived, so now she had to die. What was there to understand? They had started out on a perfectly normal holiday, then they had been transported into this strange cartoon-like world and he’d had to survive being tortured by Mikah. Then the thought struck him.

“This… none of this…”

“That’s… right…” Mikah began gasping for air.

“None of this is real…” Fred looked at Mikah, who was now smiling.

“Now you got it.”

They all woke up, some with bigger headaches than others, wondering what was going on. They were back in the real world, back at Mikah’s parents’ house. Fred climbed down from the top bunk and made his was downstairs with Ariba right behind him. Josh followed shortly, emerging from Mikah’s bedroom. They all entered the lounge to find Mikah very much awake, and looking as healthy as she ever had. All three breathed a sigh of relief.

“Anyone else have a weird dream?”

“It wasn’t a dream. I’m not sure what it was, but it wasn’t a dream.”

“…whatever. How did we get out of there anyway then? If it wasn’t a dream I mean”

“Well, all we had to do was realise that it wasn’t real. If it’s not truly real, not even in the imagination, then it doesn’t exist. If it doesn’t exist… then we have to go to somewhere that does.”

“Too much. Too early in the morning.” Josh complained, dumping himself on the sofa. Everyone laughed, and with their laughter agreed never to even think of it again.

Fred and Mikah never did get along, but they were civil towards each other from then on. Eventually Fred stopped acting like a total nerd and agreed to be with Ariba, who was extremely happy. And so was Mikah, because it meant that she didn’t have any reason to try and nuke him, which meant she could focus on other things. Like Josh, who she started seeing more of.

Mikah won the lottery and took them all over to Jamaica for a long summer holiday, on her private jet.

They all learned one thing: Things are only real if you make them real. Otherwise, they are simply figments of the imagination.

Fred learned one thing in particular. Don’t mess with Mikah.

The End.