~3.17~

“What do you mean, it’s what you signed up for?” Stephen asked.

“This,” Michael said. “Adventure. Magic. It’s what I’m here for.”

“I’m here because I heard it was a good way to not get murdered or starve to death,” Stephen said. “Like joining a gang in prison, you know? Protection. Nobody said anything about adventures or magic.”

“Magic’s all around us, my friend… you just have to get closer to the earth to see it,” Michael said. “So what do you do when the earth has been paved over and cut off from us? You get closer to the street. That’s what I did.”

“What, you mean you’re homeless on purpose?” Stephen asked.

Michael nodded.

“I quit my job three years ago,” he said. “Sold what I could, socked everything away in a savings account. This was in the spring, right after the weather started turning warm. I didn’t want to be alone on the streets in the winter, you see? It took me most of the summer to make the right contacts, but I got in.”

“Ever since I lost my house I’ve been wanting nothing more than to find a chance to rejoin the real world, and here you are in this mess voluntarily,” Stephen said, shaking his head.

“You want the real world?” Michael asked. He pointed to the dark passage. “We’re looking at it. Maybe for the first time in our lives. The veil has been lifted back and we see reality for the sham it is. Doesn’t that excite you?”

“Honestly?” Stephen asked.

Michael nodded.

“No.”

“Have fun climbing the fire escape, then,” Michael said.

“You’re not really going in there, are you?” Stephen asked.

“Of course I am,” Michael said. “The guard said she’s expecting me.”

“She’s expecting a protagonist,” Stephen said. “What if she didn’t mean you?”

“She must have meant me,” Michael said. “There can be only one, right?”

Stephen sighed.

“I’m going to regret this.”

“I’m sure one of us will,” Michael replied.