Mordecai took a break and stood up. He paced around his office until sitting down on a sofa and watching a horror game. Not paying attention, he idly thought about his sudden displacement to New England. Alongside it lingered a feeling like an itch in the inner ear. He looked around his office and wondered why he was given any attention at all. Why wasn't he being outright ignored? He is ill-trained and unqualified, what was he doing there? Surely, a site as big as Site-55 would have better trained and knowledgeable thaumaturges than Mordecai.
Yet, Mordecai remains.
Behind his eye lids he could see threads of gold weaving. He fought to stay awake. The video continued while Mordecai passed out on the sofa.
Six shadows of various animal-esque silhouettes appear in the murky mists of thoughtspace. Mordecai of Five open their eyes. They huddled and watched the six approach.
Moments after Mordecai appears in Boston Commons, he looks around and back to his coffee. He takes a second sip, and nothing happens. In a haze he stares at the Boston Capital House and his loses his grip on the cup. "I need to call Leah," he says quietly to himself.
Leah is in her office going over her task list for the day. She's surprised to see a phone call from Mordecai early in the morning. Or at all, she knew he preferred contact through emails.
"Good morni-" she starts to say.
"I'm in Boston," Mordecai flatly states. He looks around the commons and the idling Bostonians and excited tourists. Out of place, a fish out of a lake.
"What do you mean you're in Boston?" Leah snaps Mordecai back the present.
He shakes off his daze, "I was in the break room getting coffee, and then I quite literally appeared in the middle of Boston Commons."
Leah taps at her computer, "Coffee you said? Was it from a pot or something else?"
"Something else. It was a box of coffee. I thought the coffee maker died."
"Dunkin' Midnight?" Leah rubs her temples.
"Yes! How did you know? Is this important? Leah, why is this important?" Mordecai panics.
"Breathe in slowly and out slowly, you're not in any immediate danger," Leah upset, thinks to herself, my brother however is in immediate danger, "I can call Site-55 and ask for a transport."
Mordecai takes in a deep breath and starts to walk toward some ponds, "Okay well, if I'm not in danger I think I'll make it there myself."
"I'll set up for a liaison to meet with you in Bedford."
"Thank you. See you soon."
"Mordecai," Leah interrupted.
"Yea?"
"Everything will be okay in the end."
He's silent for a few seconds. He watches his reflection in the pond. The same as he always is. Looking out at the pond, paddle ducks bumbling slow like molasses floated over the water, "Thanks Leah."
"Bye Mordecai."
Mordecai breathes a heavy sigh and pulls up transit information on his phone. After plotting his course, and purchasing tickets, he finds a cafe. He takes a moment to reflect. He can leave at anytime, the Red line runs frequently, despite its faults. The bus wouldn't stop running before 5pm in an area as dense as the Massachusetts Bay Area. He had time in this transition.
After making an odd request for loose leaf tea at the cafe (which afterward he cleaned the tea from his plate), he sits outside and puts himself in a micro-trance. His five selves, like ghosts, emerge from him and take in a limited view of the city. In the meditation he sees the leylines of Boston and it's "—not like any other leylines I seen before."
As his world had turned pear shaped, he asks the fabric of spacetime to give him clarity on the future.
mordecai's tea reading
six shadow figures
haunting from the east
chasing me west
where i thought i would rest
what claim do they have
when all is done and said
on my fate, my soul
the sum of my whole
exposition that's not needed
in the golden state,
said i to the robot
"warnings from a dream
'new england, empty shadow seen—
don't be taken by its forked tongue'.
in my dreams new england swan song sung:
'you fit here.
you belong here;
you are shunned
you are scorned,
you cannot conform.
to the west i beg, come east to me'"
to the san diego robot i further told
"into that region i fear to step bold
ill fall in love and see
i will never leave"
"all the more reason to stay in socal",
said my metal busking pal
i left the cafe
where i read whispers
hushed in tea leaves
-the six shadows remain
as wet tea leaves—