Luke couldn’t help but stare at the blank expanse of skin where the woman’s eyes should have been. She didn’t seem to notice him, but none of the faceless people ever did.
“He’s been out for three days now,” the faceless woman said, speaking into her phone. The sound resonated through the otherwise empty bus, despite the fact that the woman had no mouth. Luke didn’t think about it too much. The odd detail didn’t seem to stay in his mind for that long.
“He should be fine,” she continued, reassuring the person on the other side of the call. “He’s in stable condition.” The woman lifted a tattooed arm to move her blond hair from her face. Chrysanthemums. Luke wasn’t sure where he recognized the flowers inked on the woman’s arm from, but as always, he couldn’t be bothered with it.
The bus rumbled to stop, fluorescent lights flickering. Luke looked into the black of the night out the window. Guess this is my stop. As Luke walked past the faceless woman, still repeating her reassurances to her phone, he couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“Sorry about your friend,” he said, turning back to her. “I hope he gets better soon.” But the faceless woman did not react. Did not see him. Did not notice. Huffing, Luke walked off the bus.
Luke wasn’t sure why he kept coming back here. But it tickled in the back of his mind, an unshakable feeling he couldn’t put a name to. He knew this place was important, but he didn’t know why. Maybe it was the fact that people would appear in the giant, circular aquarium in the center of the room. Or maybe it was the fact that those people had faces. Or that they seemed to notice him.
Like now, there was a bulky black man with dreads floating in the tank in front of him. Brown eyes stared at Luke through the glass, only feet away. The man was saying something, but all his words fell out of his mouth and floated to the surface in bubbles, inaudible. Though he didn’t recognize the man, he gave Luke that same nameless feeling that stuck in his mind like glue. The feeling like he was forgetting something, the feeling that all the people he had seen in the tank gave him.
“Who are you?” asked Luke, not expecting an answer. The man kept talking, bubbles falling out of his mouth and clinging to his dreads before floating up, up, up, to the surface. The surface was enchanting. It was so, so bright, although Luke never seemed to notice it was daytime. He could stand for hours, watching the water move, light twisting and turning with the movement of the gentle waves. That beautiful bright light that obstructed the other side of the water and entranced him. I wonder if I can touch the--
A loud bang against the aquarium glass startled Luke from his thoughts. He jumped back from the glass as another loud bang sounded through the empty lobby. Luke looked at the man in the tank. The man in the tank threw his arms against the tank. He was yelling. Yelling at him. Luke could hear his voice through the glass but his words were still unintelligible, swallowed up by the surface. What could this man want him to know so bad?
Luke took a cautious step toward the tank. Then another, and another, till he could press his fingers against the glass where the man’s fist rested on the other side.
“What are you saying?” Luke asked, only receiving a gargled, warped response. “What?”
“LUKE!” Luke jerked his hand away from the glass. No bubbles came from the man’s mouth. The nameless feeling came rushing forward with a vengeance.
“WAKE UP!” the man shouted.
“What?” The feeling consumed his brain like a harsh wave washing over him.
“WAKE UP!”
“But I am awake?” Luke said, panicked. He couldn’t focus. He felt his brain had been shoved fifty meters underwater and the pressure was going to make him explode.
“WAKE UP!” Luke was hit by another wave of that feeling, that pain. He screwed his eyes shut.
“WAKE UP!”
Luke opened his eyes. The bus rumbled. The iridescent lights seemed brighter than usual, a stark contrast to the night sky. The bus seemed noisier too. In fact, everything seemed more vivid. A strange sense of dread nestled itself into Luke’s gut. There are people on this bus. And more than just the occasional one or two. There was a swarm of them, about a dozen eyeless faces crowing the back of the bus. Looking at something. No, someone. They were noticing someone.
Luke stood from his seat, shaking that itchy feeling of forgetting something off his skin. He walked to the back of the bus, passing a lone figure dressed in black, non-existent face concealed beneath the hood of its jacket. A dull ache worked its way into Luke’s head.
“Keep her..”
“...poor girl.”
“...too slow…”
The fragments of conversation coming from mouthless faces meant nothing to Luke. He pushed past their unnoticing figures till he could see, seated at the very back of the bus, a girl. Long black hair framed her freckled face. She had brown skin, full lips, and a broad nose. She had a face. The girl seemed to notice too, blinking up at Luke with white, pupil-less eyes. She notices me.
A heavy, driving feeling set over Luke. He had never seen a person with a face outside of the tank before. The itchy feeling came back. Who was this girl? This girl with a face? This girl who saw him? The faceless people milled around them, still unaware of Luke’s presence, but obsessed with this mystery girl. I didn’t know the faceless people could notice people. Hell, I didn’t even know there were other people.
Luke sat down a seat away from the girl. “Hi?” he said, voice cracking a little.
The girl with a face blinked at him. “You have a face,” she stated, her tone as uncertain as Luke’s own.
“You do too,” said Luke, slouching back into his seat. The girl turned forward in her seat, drawing her attention to the faceless people. A silence passed between them, filled by bits of conversation from the faceless people.
“...might have to…”
“Anything else we can…”
“...pull the plug.”
“My name’s Luke.” Luke offered a small smile to the girl.
“Bea.”
“Bea? That’s a weird name.”
Bea laughed, short and abrupt. “Yeah, I get that a lot. It’s short for Beatrice.”
Before he could stop himself, Luke raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Who names their kid Beatrice? I swear that shit’s straight outta ancient Italy or something.”
Bea turned to Luke, clearly surprised by his brashness. “Uhh, yeah, I’m not sure…” Bea chuckled weakly.
“If your name’s Italian?”
“Who names their kid Beatrice.”
“Oh,” said Luke, unsure what to do about the sudden awkward mood. Beatrice didn’t know her parents? Bea pushed her eyebrows together in frustration. As if she were thinking hard. Maybe she can’t remember her parents? It was possible. The faceless people following her were already strange enough. But that's still weird, I mean I remember my-- Luke’s thought stopped abruptly when he realized that no, he didn’t remember his parents.
He didn’t have much time to think about it though, as the bus slowed to a stop. “This is my stop.”
“Where is here?” asked Bea.
“The Aquarium.”
“Why an aquarium?”
Luke shrugged. “I’m not sure.” I don’t remember. The thought went unspoken but understood between them.
“Can I come with you?”
“I don’t see why not.”
The aquarium was empty as per usual. So was the tank. Nothing but the blindingly bright surface of the water looming above them. Yet somehow with Bea there it felt more right, like the atmosphere had been missing before.
“Is it always this empty here?” asked Bea, looking behind her to where the faceless people had stopped at the door, suddenly silent.
“Most of the time yeah,” said Luke, thinking about the people in the tank. The itching feeling flared. “The faceless people don’t notice me like they do you, but they never come in here. I like the quiet.” Bea hummed her agreement, glancing at the door again. The faceless people stood like statues.
“It’s strange,” she started as they walked towards the tank. “They never took much interest in me until recently. Honestly, it’s starting to freak me out.”
Luke thought back to the figure in black they had passed on the bus. He shuddered. “I would be too.”
A moment of comfortable silence passed between the two. Bea stared up into the surface of the water like Luke did himself so often. How he’d love to swim up there and see what’s on the other side. See where the tank people came from. What made the water so bright.
“You said it's not always empty,” stated Bea, dragging Luke from his thoughts. “You’ve met others like us?”
“Oh, no, no, no,” said Luke, flustered. How was he supposed to explain to some random girl that he sees people inside the aquarium? Bea would think he’s insane. But then again… the faceless people did follow this girl…
“Well sometimes, and I don’t know maybe it’s just me, there are people in the tank. And they have faces. And not like us, they have eyes too. Like, not just the whites, an actual pupil and all that.”
“Woah, slow down,” said Bea, a bewildered expression on her face. “Are you okay--”
“I know it sounds weird,” said Luke, cutting Bea off before she could tell him he was crazy. “But just trust me.”
“Okay,” Bea said slowly. Luke cringed. “Okay look,” continued Bea. “I’m not going to say it didn’t happen.” She turned toward the tank. “But I’m not going to say it-- HOLY SHIT!”
Bea jumped away from the tank. Luke whipped his head to look at it. A wide grin spread across his face. In the tank, directly in front of where Bea had been standing, was a woman. The woman looked exactly like Bea, only older. Long black hair, the same brown skin and broad nose. And she had warm brown eyes. Luke wondered if Bea would have the same color eyes too.
“Well,” said Luke. “That was convenient.”
Bea inched back toward the tank. She touched the glass and shivered. “Do they always make you feel this strange?”
The woman spoke and bubbles floated to the surface. “Yes.” Well this one didn’t give him that heavy nameless feeling. “No? Maybe. This one doesn’t.”
“Who is she?” Luke looked between Bea and the woman. They looked so similar. “She seems… familiar?” Familiarity? Is that what that feeling is?
“Is she… is she your mother?”
The glass cracked under Bea’s fingertips. “My mother?” More bubbles spilled from the woman's mouth, this time in a constant wave. A loud banging sound caught Luke’s attention but Bea stayed wide-eyed and staring at the woman in the tank. “She’s my mother.”
Luke looked to the doors. “Uhh, Bea?” The faceless people were crowding around the door, suddenly animated. They were banging on in, trying to get in, but held back as if an invisible barrier had contained them. “You might want to see this.”
Bea remained glued to her place in front of the tank, mumbling. “Bea!?” A figure in black pushed through the doors, but none of the other faceless got through. The same figure from the bus. It came towards them, its pace brisk. A sensation of straight cold shot down Luke’s spine. Luke grabbed Bea’s arm and pulled, snapping her out of her trance. “We need to go.”
Bea pulled her arm back. “No Luke you don’t understand.” The figure was almost to them, how did Bea not notice?
“Bea, we need to go now.” Luke glanced up. The figure was directly behind Bea.
“No Luke, I need to wake--” Bea was cut off abruptly by a knife being stabbed through her throat. Jesus Christ. Bea looked at Luke with surprise. Luke’s wide eyes stared helplessly back. Bea’s eyes rolled forward to reveal green irises. She doesn’t have her mother’s eyes. The figure pulled the knife and Bea made a choking sound before collapsing against the side of the tank. The faceless people banged against the doors louder.
Bea was dead. The figure looked directly at him, non-existent face shrouded in the shadow of its hood, not a foot between them. Luke ran. The figure chased. It wasn’t as fast as Luke was. It followed him at a brisk pace. But it won’t run.
Luke slowed as he made it to the other side of the circular tank. He needed to think of something to do. There was only one door, and although it seemed that the faceless people had calmed down, he couldn’t risk getting trapped between them and the figure. Maybe he could fight--
Luke was interrupted from his thoughts as a man appeared in the tank in front of him. That itchy feeling, familiarity? Crept up on him. The man's mouth was full of bubbles that clung to his dark skin and dreads. Have I seen this guy in the tank before? The itchiness intensified.
The figure rounded the side of the tank and Luke kept on moving. The man in the tank seemed frustrated at this, following and yelling. More bubbles floated to the surface.
“Okay, okay,” Luke thought out loud. “So Bea felt itchy when she saw her mother, and I feel itchy when I see you, so I must know you.” The figure seemed to get frustrated at Luke and sped up. That icy stabbing feeling went down Luke’s spine again.
“But who are you?” The man banged against the glass. “A friend? Co-worker?” Do I even have a job? The fabric of Luke’s reality seemed to be crumbling around him. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. The man in the tank yelled at him. Fewer bubbles came. He could hear his voice.
Luke started running again. The figure ran too this time.
“LUKE!” Luke screeched to a halt. The man in the tank was talking to him.
“Who are you!” he yelled back.
“WAKE UP!” the man yelled. Bea had said something before she died. She said she needed to wake. She meant wake up.
“How!?” Luke banged against the glass. It cracked beneath his fists.
“IT’S ME,” yelled the man.
“Who!?”
“IT’S ME, JACK!” The figure was growing closer, but Luke didn’t notice. Jack. His best friend. Memories came flooding into Luke’s head, sweeping him up in a current. One memory stuck out. They were in a car. And something happened. That itchy feeling consumed him. What happened? How did I get here? The glass cracked more. How did Jack get here?
Jack opened his mouth again but only bubbles came out. The figure was almost to Luke. Jack’s body started to fade and turned to bubbles before floating to the surface. Luke wanted to follow them.
“NO!” Luke shouted. “Come back!” Luke slammed his fist against the glass. The glass shattered. The figure, only yards away, faltered.
Stepping back, Luke watched in awe as the glass fell, followed by the water. The bright surface came crashing down towards him. Luke closed his eyes.
Luke opened his eyes. It was quiet. A steady beeping brought his eyes to a heart monitor. There were wires on his fingers.
“Good morning Luke.” Luke turned his head to see a blonde woman. She had pale blue eyes and her thin lips were painted red. On her left arm was a sleeve tattoo. Dozens of beautifully rendered flowers on her pale skin. Chrysanthemums.
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