《Little Legs》


 Chapter 1

    Let me ask you a question. What would you do if you were walking home and on your way home you see two people arguing with each other. You continue to keep walking, just brushing off the situation as a fight between friends. Now, you hear shouting and screaming, you look back and see that one person is lying on the ground and the other is standing over them, their fists clenched. You are presented with two choices. Do you keep on walking? Or do you go over and try and help the person on the ground? Only you can make the choice...


    "Hey Aimi, wanna go to the shopping centre after this?" A voice asked.


    Aimi looked up to see who was talking to her. She was greeted with the sight of her long time friend Jessica. Jessica never ever brought up the idea of going to the shopping centre after school. She was normally the ''got to get home straight after school so I can cram for tests,'' kind of girl. So the thought of going to going to anywhere after school that wasn''t either home or the library was out of character. Aimi knew that someone had to have been talking to Jessica. It was probably a guy looking to try and see if he could get with Jessica. Aimi knew that she couldn''t leave Jessica on her own to be taken advantage of, so she was going to try and figure out who else was going to be there.


    "Depends," Aimi said. "Who else is going to be there?"


    "Ehm... Just some classmates..." Jessica said.


    "Guess I won''t be going so." Aimi said.


    "Aimi please!" Jessica cried. "Please! Please! I''ll owe you big time if you come with me!"


    Judging from her desperation, Aimi narrowed down the list of suspects substantially. As far as Aimi knew, there was only one person that could make Jessica go against her own routines, and that somebody just happened to be the class prefect. Jason Marlow. Aimi could see why Jessica was hooked on this guy. He was good looking, responsible, smart, funny, and popular. Aimi figured that if he asked Jessica to do anything, she would do it without hesitation. Aimi looked up at her friend and could see the desperation pouring out of her skin. Aimi let out a small sigh and gave in to the will of her friend. The last time Aimi seen Jessica jump for joy was when they found out that they would be going to be in the same secondary school class. The school bell rang and the rest of the afternoon classes began. Everyone got into their seats and got ready to listen to the drone that was the teacher who taught modern history.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The final school bell rang and everyone packed up and got ready to leave. Aimi and Jessica left the school together and made their way towards the town centre. Once they got there, they met up with Jason and his friends. Jessica''s eyes lit up like lightbulbs and immediately, she was bound to Jason''s side. Aimi let out another small sigh and shook her head slightly. She spent most of the time being isolated and staying behind the crowd. She didn''t know or talk to Jason or any of his friends, and Jessica was busy being wrapped around Jason''s little finger. It was when they went to go and get food that someone took notice of Aimi''s presence.


    "Your name''s Aimi, isn''t it?" One of Jason''s friends asked. "What''s it mean?"


    "My first name''s Japanese, it can be split into two, the first part means love, and the second part means beautiful. My last name is German, Rapp means dark haired." Aimi explained. "My mother is Japanese and my father is German."


    "Really? That''s cool, but why are you living in England?" Jason asked.


    "My dad''s job." Aimi said.


    Aimi didn''t want to get into the details of her family. Not that there was much to it. She was an only child, her father was the head of a major business conglomerate, and her mother was a primary school secetary. She had a comfortable life, but it felt lonely sometimes whenever she was at home by herself. At this point however, Aimi wanted to be on her own, she didn''t really like being around big crowds like this. It felt like they were going to constantly question her so they could find out everything about her. It felt like an alternate form of stalking. After everyone was finished with eating food, they decided to call it a day and go home. Jason and his friends walked towards the train station and Aimi and Jessica walked towards the edge of town. Once they neared their own houses, they split up and went their separate ways. Aimi had the whole of her walk home planned. She knew it would take about twenty minutes to get home, and so she decided to plug her earphones into the audio jack of her phone and listen to music.


    On her walk home, Aimi saw two people across the road. One was a man, and the other a woman. From the looks of things, it looked like they were arguing over something. Aimi thought nothing of it and kept on walking. After a minute, Aimi heard an ear-piercing scream and spun around. The woman was lying on the ground, and the man was standing over her, his fists cleanched. Aimi thought for a moment and decided that she had to do something. She dropped her schoolbag and sprinted across the road. What she didn''t see, was the car that was driving around the corner. Suddenly, Aimi felt herself being lifted on the ground. The next thing she knew, she was rolling along the ground. She had a final look at the two people across the road. The man had run off and the woman was still lying on the ground. It was when the driver of the car started to run over to her, that everything started to fade to black.

 Chapter 2

    Everything was black. Aimi felt like she was drifting through an ocean of thick paint. She couldn''t escape it. She was engulfed by everything around her. It felt like she was drifting through oblivion. Not knowing where she was, or knowing where she was going to go. Aimi felt like her eyes were stitched shut. They were burning. It was similar to the feeling you get when you stayed awake all night. Her arms and legs felt heavy, like she was dragging them through quicksand. Her chest felt like it was sinking. The air was being forced out of her. Honestly, it felt like Aimi was dying. Suddenly, Aimi saw a bright white light, and all the darkness faded away. The heaviness was lifted and Aimi felt herself being dragged towards the light.


    Everything was white. Too white. Aimi''s eyes were opened, but she couldn''t see anything. She could hear things, but they weren''t clear. It was like Aimi was being dragged underwater. Aimi moved her head from side to side. Everything was blurry, but someone was sitting next to her. Aimi wasn''t sure where she was, or if she was still alive or not. The last thing she could remember was running across the road and seeing someone lying on the ground, but other than that, everything was a blank. Aimi felt something slip into her hand. She closed up her hand as best she could and felt the familiar feeling of her father''s fingers. Aimi wasn''t sure what was going on, but she felt all the relief in the world when she felt her father''s hand in hers. It wasn''t just her father that was there though. Her mother was there, and her best friend Jessica.


    A door slid open and a doctor walked through towards Aimi''s parents and Jessica. He started talking to Aimi''s father, Jurgen, telling him about what was going to happen now with Aimi. She would have to go through a lot of physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and although she was awake, she would have to be kept under medical supervision for another week at least. Jurgen thanked the doctor and turned to his wife. He let out a massive smile and shed tears of joy. His only daughter was alive and okay for the most part. His wife, Hana, was crying buckets of tears. Jessica was so dumbfounded that she didn''t know what to do. Aimi, who was lying in bed, could now get most things in focus. From the looks of things on her end, everyone was crying, and she didn''t know why.


    As the day past, Aimi''s different senses started tocome back to her. Her sight was still a bit off however. When she met with the doctor, he had told her what had happened with the car accident. Aimi had very badly bruised legs, a thirty centimeter long laceration on her arm that had to get fifty seven stitches, her back was a cut up from sliding along the ground, shehad four cracked ribs, a mild concussion, and bruised kidneys. However, the biggest thing was that when she was knocked back by the car, a stone had landed in her eye, causing her to lose sight completely in the eye, but the doctors had operated on her, and she had her eye replaced. But the biggest kicker was, Aimi had been in a coma for two months. When she had heard this, she couldn''t believe it. Aimi was brought to the bathroom because she felt sick. When she got there, she immediately went to the toilet and started wretching, but nothing came up. She got to the sick, splashed water on her face, and looked herself in the mirror. The most notable difference was that her eye was replaced. Aimi had two brown eyes before the accident, now her left eye was blue. Knowing that Aimi had an eye inside her head that wasn''t hers, unsettled her deeply. On the other hand, nothing else seemed to have changed. Her hair was still the same length and colour. Slightly past her shoulders, and a dark shade of black. Her skin was still pale. It was only her left eye and the small scar on her eyelid that was different about her face. Her body was a different story. Because she was in a coma for two months, she had lost a lot of weight. She could wrapped her whole hand around her wrist.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The week was passing slowly. Aimi was going in and out of physio twice a day, and going through counselling every day. In counselling, she was contantly asked about the accident,and if she could remember anything from it. She couldn''t. The only form of relief came when either Aimi''s parents came in after work, or when Jessica came in to visit her after school. One thing Aimi knew for certain was that when she went back to school, she was going to be the center of attention for a little while, and Aimi wasn''t sure if she welcomed that thought, or loathed it.


    Once the week past, Aimi was released from the hospital. She was brought home to where hundreds of letters were waiting for her. All of them had the same thing to say, ''Get well soon!'' By the time she got through them all, Aimi never wanted to hear them words ever again. A new week began and Aimi started going back to school. As she thought, the second she got back into class, she was swarmed by all her classmates who wanted to know about the accident. No one really cared, they just wanted all the details. It''s strange, no person wants to be the victim, but when they knew someone who was in badly hurt, their morbid curiousity takes over. The first bell rang, and everyone took their seats. The teacher walked in the room and quickly scanned over the room, where her eyes met with Aimi''s.


    "It''s nice to have you back Aimi," She said.  "Welcome back. Now class, as well as Aimi coming back, we also have a new transfer student joining us today. Come in."


    Murmurs spread across the classroom and everyone waited anxiously to see who the new transfer student was going to be. Once the door slid open again, everyone''s head cranned towards it. Sure enough, a boy walked through the door and everyone went silent. He stood beside the teacher and introduced himself.


    "Hello everyone," He began. "My name is Stephen Fox, and I''m a transfer student from Ireland."


    Aimi looked at Stephen and felt a sudden pain in the back of her left eye. She didn''t know what was going on, but she had to excuse herself from the class to go to the bathroom.She splashed her face with water and looked in the mirror. She let out a small gasp of shock when she looked at her eye. It wasn''t blue, but instead it had turned red. Aimi wasn''t sure what was going on, but whatever it was, she was scared out of her wits. She took out her phone and took a picture of it, to make sure that she wasn''t seeing things, but the picture showed her the same thing. A red eye. Aimi splashed her face again and went back to class, in hopes that class would take her mind off it. When lunch came, Aimi picked Jessica out of the crowd, and asked her about her eye. Jessica just said her eye was blue, and the other brown. Like a case of heterochromia. Aimi was scared now, her eye turned red when she looked at Stephen, she was sure of it. She was sure her eye had turned red. Where was Stephen anyways, Aimi hadn''t seen him since this morning.


    "Do you know where Stephen is?" Aimi asked.


    "Have a crush on him already do you?" Jessica said.


    "No, I''m just wondering, I haven''t seen him since this morning." Aimi said. Speaking of crushes, how are things with Jason?"


    "Well, since your accident, we haven''t talked once." Jessica said. "I''m over him anyways. I seen him hanging around with Rachael a lot, so I got the message."


    Aimi wasn''t really paying attention to Jessica''s story. Her thoughts were more concerned with Stephen. Just who was he? And why did Aimi''s eye change colour when she saw him? She needed to find out.

 Chapter 3

    The bell that signified the end of lunch cried out, and over six hundred students began to drag themselves back to class. Even though Aimi was with Jessica for the entirity of lunch, she didn''t have much to say. The sound of Jessica speaking drifted through her ears but didn''t sink into her brain. Just like background noise. Aimi got back to class and sat back down. Everyone was back in class. Everyone except for Stephen. Suddenly, Aimi''s eye started to burn, a searing flame lighting itself in the back of her head. She cltuched her face with her hand, as if it was going to blockout the pain. She couldn''t focus on anything and class was about to start. She looked around the class. Everyone was busy either taking down notes or not paying attention. Aimi couldn''t shake the feeling of being watched. It was as if a thousand eyes were centered on her. Panic started to set in and Aimi felt like she was choking, suffocating. She couldn''t take it anymore. She had to get out.


    Aimi charged out of class like a bullet leaving the barrell of a gun. She sprinted down the hallway, not stopping for anyone. She reached the end of the hallway and grabbed onto the railing of the staircase. She flew up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. By the time she climbed four sets of stairs and got out onto the roof, Aimi was gasping for air. She pushed herself against the door and used it as a support to keep her upright. Slowly, she slid down the door and tucked her knees into her chest and her head into her knees. Aimi couldn''t figure out what was going on. Ever since she saw Stephen this morning, everything felt off, everything around her felt stale and dull.


    "So it is you," A voice said. "You''re the other one..."


    Aimi''s head snapped upwards, she scanned the area to see who was there. She saw no one, but she was certain she heard someone. Aimi stood up and walked around the roof. No one was up here. It was just her. The burning feeling in her eye returned, and this time it was to most agonizing feeling in the world. Aimi buckled to her knees and started coughing and spluttering. The edges of her vision were going blurry and black, but Aimi was determined not to pass out. She focused on her favourite subject. Science. She quickly started to think of different equations and phrases to help keep her focus. Aimi looked up one more time. This time someone was there. It was Stephen. Something about him felt off though. He was someone only met today, but it felt like she had known him all her life, like they were connected.


    "It seems that youstill don''t have full control over your eye yet." Stephen said. "No worry, you''ll gain control over it soon."


    "Where did you come from?" Aimi asked. "And who are you?"


    "I believe you already know who I am, you just don''t know it yet, but my identidy isn''t your priority, controlling your eye is." Stephen said.


    Aimi couldn''t figure out what Stephen was saying. She was still kneeling on the ground,her hand was clutched over her eye again, the stabbing pain wasn''t letting up and Aimi couldn''t stand it anymore. If this was going to be part of her life from now on, she didn''t want it. She didn''t want to suffer this pain forever. Aimi looked around and saw that there was a shard of glass to the right of her. She reached across and grabbed hold of it. She was holding it as tightly as she could and brought it towards her face. Aimi held it right in front of left eye, just centimeters away. She could also see the blood trickling from her hand onto the ground. Aimi took a deep breath and jabbed the glass into her eye and let out an ear piercing scream. Everything was blurry and Aimi couldn''t make out a single thing. She couldn''t even see where Stephen had gone off too. Aimi stood back up and dropped the piece of glass that she was holding. She could feel the blood run from her eye down her cheek and onto her neck. She stumbled around the roof top and everything got darker and darker until everything went black and Aimi felt herself falling.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Aimi woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. She looked around and saw that she was in the nurse''s office at school. She looked out the window and saw that the sun was setting, how long was she asleep? Aimi remembered that she was on the rood and that she had impaled her eye with a piece of glass. She raised her hand to her face and felt around her eye. It was there, and her vision wasn''t blurry when she looked out of it.


    "Was it just a dream?" Aimi said to herself. "It felt too real for a dream."


    "That''s because it wasn''t a dream, you really did shove a piece of glass into your eye."


    Aimi spun her head and saw that Stephen was standing at the door.


    "If that was real, how come I still have both my eyes?" Aimi asked.


    "I guess you could say it''s magic." Stephen said.


    "That''s stupid. There''s no such thing as magic." Aimi said.


    "That much is true." Stephen said. "Except for the the power of Schrodinger."


    "The power of Schrodinger? Just what are you harping on about?"


    "Ever hear about Schrodinger''s cat? The paradox about a cat being in a locked box with a broken flask of poison, and no one is sure if the cat is dead or alive until the box is opened?" Stephen asked.


    "Yeah, Erwin Schrodinger came up with it as a form of describing quantum superpostion. But why does that matter?" Aimi said.


    "It''s how we exist, in order for a Schrodinger holder to exist, they must experience death, but also experience life at the same time." Stephen said.


    "But that isn''t possible. You can''t be dead and alive at the same time." Aimi said.


    "No one knows that, people can only be found dead or alive, and when someone finds them, that''s when the superposition ends. Although that rule only applies for normal humans. You can only be both if another Schrondinger holder finds you." Stephen explained. "And it appears that one had found you."


    Stephen explained the rest of the situation to Aimi and she wasn''t sure what to think of it. From what she could figure out, she was now a schrodinger holder, and possed the power of a Schrodinger, which meant that she could see things that other people cannot. Explain phenomena that people cannot. The price of it however, came at a great cost. She would eventually be outcasted and isolated, left to travel through life on her own. She would experience pain that no one knew imaginable.

 Chapter 4

    "So I''m a Schrodinger holder?" Aimi asked. "What''s expected of me? What do I do now?"


    "Simple, you will be given a task,and you will have to complete that task." Stephen said.


    "What happens after that?" Aimi asked.


    "I don''t know, that''s for you to figure out." Stephen said.


    "What do yo-"


    Aimi was cut off in the middle of her sentence by the fact that Stephen had disappeared. She let out an exhasperated sigh and got up out of the bed. She hadn''t recovered completely and her legs felt like jelly so Aimi leaned against the wall for support. Aimi looked out the window and saw that the night was really starting to set in. Once she was sure that she would be able to support herself, Aimi slowly walked out of the nurse''s office and into the hallway. This was the first time that she had been in school after hours and the emptiness and silence of the hallways give off an eerie feeling which sent a slight chill down Aimi''s spine. Aimi walked out of the school and started to make her home. As she was walking home, Aimi realised that her legs were getting heavier and heavier with each and every step. It was like someone was tying a cinder block to each of her ankles whenever she moved forward, and this made the walk feel like a journey. It didn''t help that AImi had to stop every few moments to catch her breath.


    After what felt like an eternity, Aimi finally got home and as she stepped in through the front door,she kicked off her shoes and trudged up the stairs to her room. Once she was in her room, she collapsed straight onto her bed and buried herself in between the covers and just like that, she was out like a light. Aimi woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. Still half asleep, she looked at the digital clock that was on her bedside locker. Its blue glow said that it was 03:47 in the morning. Aimi mumbled to herself and wondered who it was that was calling at this time in the morning. She wandered out into the hallway and followed the sound of the ringing, it wasn''t until Aimi reached the stairs that she realised that the ringtone was an instrumental version of Aimi''s favourite song. Aimi was relieved when she heard the familiar melody, but that relief quickly vanished and was replaced with anixiety when Aimi remembered that her phone got smashed after the car accident. She lightly stepped down the stairs and slowly crept towards the ringing which was coming from the kitchen. Aimi peeked her head into the kitchen and saw that it was empty, and that her phone was lying on the kitchen table. She flicked on the light switch and the room was flooded with light which caused Aimi to cover her eyes until they adjusted. Afterwards, she stepped to the kitchen table and picked up the phone. The screen read ''unknown number'', and Aimi wasn''t sure if she should answer it or not. After debating with herself for a minute, Aimi decided to answer the phone and slid her finger across the broken screen to answer.


    "Hello," Aimi said. "Who is calling?"


    Aimi was greeted with a response of silence. She waited for a few seconds to see if anyone would talk back to her, but no one did. Just as she was about to hang up the call, Aimi heard the sound of someone gasp for breath and the sound of something being knocked over, and then the line went dead. Aimi stood in the kitchen wondering what that sound was, or what it meant. She half expected the lights in the room to start flickering, or the phone to start ringing again, like something from a horror movie, but instead, Aimi was left in silence. Just as Aimi was about to turn and leave, Aimi felt her legs go from beneath her and her temperature was starting to rise. She started to pant and wheeze before she felt the room spinning and she passed out on the ground.


    Aimi was surrounded in darkness, a darkness that felt somewhat familiar. Comforting yet uncomfortable, close yet distant, new yet old. Aimi felt herself walking around in this darkness but wasn''t sure if she was going anywhere or if she was going in circles. She wondered where she was and wasn''t sure if she should be here or not. She wasn''t sure what was going on. Suddenly a voice started to talking to Aimi.


    "Aimi Rapp," The voice said. "The newest of the Schrodinger holders."This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Who are you?" Aimi asked. "What is this place?"


    "Fear not, for this place is home of the Schrodingers. This is Schrodinger''s box." The voice explained. "As for who I am, you needn''t concern yourself with that."


    "What am I doing here?" Aimi asked.


    "You are here to recieve your task, a task that will ultimetly decide the course of your future." The voice answered.


    "What is my task then?" Aimi asked.


    "Your task is to save a life that is not your own." The voice said. "Once you have completed your task, you shall be brought here to the box again. Also, you should now also be in control of your eye, for your eye is the key of your Schrodinger power."


    "My Schrodinger power," Aimi said. "What does that mean?"


    "Only you can figure that out, go now child. Go and carry out your task." The voice said.


    As the voice finished his sentence, everything around Aimi started to glow and the darkness was soon whisked away as if it never existed in the first place. When Aimi came to, the first thing she was greeted with was the her mother standing over her. When Aimi asked what happened, her mother told her that she had heard something falling last night and went to check on what it was and that she saw her lying on the ground and that her father had to carry her up to her bed. When Aimi asked if her mother had heard her phone ringing last night and her mother just looked at her with a curious expression after a shake of her head.


    Aimi went to school later that morning. She had missed out on morning assembly and first period, so she hadn''t heard anything of the news or announcements, but from what she saw in science it seemed that Jessica hadn''t come into school. In between the teacher''s instructions on how to do the experiment, someone had told Aimi that Jessica had been involved in some sort of accident and was going to be out of school for the next few days. At the end of the period, Stephen had stepped up behind her and dropped a scrap of paper onto her experiment book. On the little piece of paper, it said to meet up on the roof during lunch. The rest of the morning and afternoon passed by slowly, and as soon as lunch came, Aimi made her way straight up to the roof, and there she saw Stephen, waiting for her. Stephen greeted her by asking her about last night.


    "So you were there then?" Stephen asked. "And you''re task is to save someone else''s life?"


    "Yeah, that''s about the gist of it." Aimi said. "But figuring out when someone is about to bite the bullet is the hard part."


    "The keeper also said that you are now in control of your eye?" Stephen continued.


    "The keeper?" Aimi questioned. "Anyways, yeah, he said something about it being the key to my power."


    Stephen went quiet for a minute and began thinking. After a minute, he stepped towards Aimi and placed a hand on her head. Aimi stared at him and wondered what he was doing. Stephen asked Aimi to close her eyes and focus on the blackness that she saw. Aimi didn''t know whether to call Stephen crazy, or stupid, or both. She decided not to say anything, but instead do what he asked her to do. While she was focusing, she started to feel cold, and her eye started to burn up again, and suddenly, she felt numb all over. Stephen told her to open her eyes and Aimi was shocked at what she saw. The colour in everything was gone. Everything was reduced to grey. Stephen asked her what she could see and she told him that everything was grey, but there was the occasional white flame appearing from the railing that was on the edge of the roof. When Aimi asked what it meant, Stephen didn''t know what to say to her. He just told her that every Schrodinger holder''s powers were different, and that they were designed to help them complete their task. Slowly Aimi''s vision returned to normal and the colour in everything came back, and the white flame disappeared.


    The final school bell rung out and Aimi decided to go and check up on Jessica, to try and make up for all the times Jessica visited her in the hospital. When she got to the house, Aimi saw that the driveway was empty which meant that her dad had gone off to work most likely. Jessica''s mother passed away after she gave birth to her, so she had lived with only her dad all her life, which meant that while he was working, Jessica was on her own. Aimi went up to the door and gave her usual pattern of knocking to let someone know that it was her that was there, but she got no answer. She knocked one more time and still, no answer. Aimi was stumped, she wondered where Jessica was, and then she remember that something had happened, but she didn''t know what. Aimi decided to try out her power again, and when she did she saw a darkening grey flame that was slowly growing black coming from Jessica''s room window.


    Aimi didn''t know what these flames meant, but a flame turning black didn''t seem like a good sign.