Anomaly

My mental conversation with Charlotte's parents ended up going much better than I had expected. The tension between us didn't disappear completely, but it lost much of its edge. Naturally, expecting them to suddenly start seeing me as part of the family simply because I wanted them to was an entirely different matter.

Trust wasn't something that appeared out of convenience. It was built gradually, through time and actions. Even so, there was one fact that not even they could ignore: whether they liked it or not, Charlotte was my family too. That bond didn't depend on their approval, nor could it be undone by sheer will. It was an unavoidable reality, no matter how difficult it was to accept.

Maybe that was exactly what brought our perspectives closer together. We shared the same goal, the same priority above all our differences: keeping Charlotte safe. Thanks to that shared purpose, the atmosphere was no longer weighed down by constant suspicion.

Things became less awkward and much harder to define, as though we were walking across a bridge that was still fragile but sturdy enough to support a conversation. There was no intimacy, much less complete trust, but there was a quiet sense of mutual respect that, in its own way, made being around each other strangely pleasant.

On the other hand, I decided it would be wise to tell Charlotte's parents everything I could remember about myself, not just the major events, but also fragments of my past and the experiences that had shaped me. That seemed necessary if I truly wanted to earn their trust completely.

After all, even among humans, it's difficult to trust someone when you know absolutely nothing about them. Without knowing their past, their values, or the reasons behind their actions, even the sincerest display of goodwill always feels incomplete.

At first, I hadn't intended to tell Charlotte's parents very much, at least nothing about my life before I awakened as an anomaly in that anomalous forest. Even so, Charlotte insisted that I tell them everything.

According to her, it would be much easier for her parents to understand my situation if they knew the full context from the very beginning instead of receiving nothing more than scattered pieces of the story.

Charlotte herself didn't seem particularly surprised as I recounted everything to her parents, at least not from what I could tell. Honestly, it would have been stranger if she had reacted any differently, considering she already knew almost everything I told them.

A few weeks earlier, I had already shared everything I could remember about my former life with her, from my clearest memories to the few fragments that still remained hazy in my mind.

That conversation, however, had turned into a long and exhausting question-and-answer session, with Charlotte trying to understand every little detail of my past and how I had ended up in such an absurd situation.

Naturally, Charlotte's parents didn't react much differently than I expected. The biggest surprise on their faces came when they learned that I had once been human. Even so, I made sure to clarify that this probably didn't mean I had actually been born as an ordinary human.

It seemed far more likely that I had merely taken on a human body and used it as a vessel than that I had lived an ordinary human life since birth. From there, I began telling them some of my stories.

I told them how I had awakened in a completely unfamiliar forest with no memories and no explanation, and how, not long afterward, I had been chased by anomalies that resembled dogs but were grotesquely deformed, with enormous mouths where their stomachs should have been. I also told them how one of those creatures had completely devoured one of my arms during that encounter.

Naturally, that part of the story raised several questions. Charlotte's parents' eyes almost instinctively drifted toward my arm, which was visibly intact, as though they were searching for any sign that such a thing could have actually happened.

Noticing their confusion, I explained that one of my anomalous abilities allowed me to absorb other anomalous powers and that, thanks to one of those abilities, I had been able to regenerate the missing limb. I didn't go into much detail about that power. Besides being a sensitive subject, it was something I preferred to keep relatively secret.

So I answered only enough to satisfy their curiosity before steering the conversation toward other events from my journey, especially those involving my other little sisters, whose stories ended up capturing even more of their interest.

The conversation went on for quite a while. For most of it, I was the one telling the story of my life, or at least a condensed version of everything that had happened since I became an anomaly.

More than once, Charlotte's parents interrupted my account to ask questions, seek clarification, or confirm specific details, as though they were trying to assemble a puzzle one piece at a time. In the end, the outcome was... ambiguous.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

It was obvious that we were closer than before. They seemed to trust me much more now, especially after hearing everything I had been through and realizing that I hadn't been hiding anything from them on purpose.

Even so, there was still a certain reluctance in their eyes, a hesitation that lingered despite our long conversation. Strangely enough, that reservation didn't seem to have anything to do with the fact that I was an anomaly. It was something else, something I simply couldn't identify.

When I asked Charlotte why everyone had been acting so strangely, she simply shrugged: "Anyone would start questioning a lot of things after hearing your story..." she replied with a quiet sigh, as if the answer were obvious.

I tilted my head in confusion. Was it really that shocking? I mean, looking at it from the outside, I had to admit it all sounded completely insane. There were monsters, supernatural powers, people dying, creatures from other dimensions, and more impossible situations than anyone could reasonably believe.

But was it really so unbelievable that it would make someone react like this? Most of the time, I was just relaxing, eating ice cream, and playing video games for a few weeks until another problem showed up and I had to deal with it.

Come to think of it... from my perspective, ever since I became an anomaly, my life had actually been relatively peaceful, surprisingly balanced, even... Now that I was putting everything into perspective, maybe the real problem was the fact that I considered that a "balanced" life.

Before I could dwell on it any longer, I decided to push those thoughts aside as soon as I realized we'd finally entered the city. Overthinking it now wouldn't change anything. Even so, the moment we passed the first few blocks, an uneasy feeling settled over me. It wasn't because of the unusually thick clouds hanging over the sky.

The problem was something else. The city was... quiet. Not completely silent, as if it had been abandoned. Cars were still driving through the streets, and people were still walking along the sidewalks. Some carried shopping bags, while others simply continued on their way.

But something was missing. The city lacked the usual chaotic soundtrack of urban life, the impatient honking, overlapping conversations, engines revving, the constant background noise that usually blended together into an almost invisible symphony.

Instead... Everything felt muffled. The unusually cold weather and the overcast sky could certainly explain part of that atmosphere. Maybe people were simply keeping to themselves, eager to get wherever they were going before the rain started. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

And yet... No matter how much I tried to convince myself that I was imagining things, that unsettling feeling refused to disappear. It clung stubbornly to the back of my mind like a thorn I couldn't pull out. Something was wrong with this city.

Charlotte silently watched the scenery slide past outside her window. People were still walking along the sidewalks, and a handful of cars continued passing through the intersections. But something... Something felt wrong. It was an uncomfortable feeling that was hard to put into words, like an instinct stubbornly lingering in the back of her mind.

She frowned ever so slightly before muttering, almost to herself: "Hmm... maybe it's just my imagination..." Even though she spoke quietly, everyone else in the car heard her. One by one, their attention shifted toward her.

Charlotte kept watching the street for another few seconds before speaking again, this time more thoughtfully: "Doesn't it feel... a little too quiet?" she asked without taking her eyes off the window: "I'm not complaining or anything, but I remember this intersection being a lot busier. There were always horns blaring, people jaywalking, street vendors yelling..."

She paused briefly, searching for the right words: "And it's not even the weekend. So... why are the streets so empty?"

Charlotte's observations, which had gone unnoticed until now, naturally drew everyone's attention. It was as though an invisible fog that had been clouding their minds had finally begun to lift. One after another, they started noticing the same inconsistencies they had somehow ignored until that very moment.

Charlotte's father was the first to break the silence: "Now that you mention it..." His voice faltered midway through the sentence. He raised a hand to his temple, frowning as a sudden stab of pain shot through his head.

Taking a slow breath, he remained silent for several seconds, clearly trying to organize his thoughts: "This... this is strange" His gaze drifted across the streets outside before returning to his daughter: "Why did I just accept all of this as normal the moment we drove into the city?"

The others seemed to be experiencing the same thing. One after another, they brought their hands to their heads, as though memories that had been buried deep inside their minds had suddenly resurfaced. Victor and Rupert changed the most.

Their eyes swept across the surroundings with the same alertness and tension they had shown before everything went wrong, as if they had suddenly recovered something important that had been taken from them.

Emily was the next to speak. Her voice was hesitant, but carried the certainty of someone who had just connected the final pieces of a puzzle: "Wait... could this... could we have been affected by an anomalous phenomenon?"

Her question drew everyone's attention. For a brief moment, nobody answered, as if they were all seriously considering the possibility. Then Arthur frowned and let out a long sigh: "That's definitely not a comforting possibility"

He folded his arms as he studied everyone's faces: "Mental-type anomalous phenomena are among the worst. They're incredibly difficult to detect... and even harder to work around before we understand exactly what we're dealing with"

His voice lost some of its confidence as he continued: "Charlotte and the [Angel of Death] are probably immune because of their identities... but the rest of us..." He never finished the sentence.

No one had anything to say. Silence settled over the car once again as everyone exchanged tense glances. It felt as though each of us was waiting for someone else to have an answer. But no one did. In the end, even without saying it out loud, we were all thinking exactly the same thing. What the hell was happening?