Chapter 3

The city was silent, if not for birds chirping. From behind the wheel of her car, Jean thought she had never seen so many birds and cats in the city before. Nature was really coming closer and closer each day. She pressed the pedal.

The next moment, the glass at the supermarket entrance crashed open and splintered all over the place. The Mercedes made its way into the shop through what used to be the main entrance. Shards spilled everywhere in a complete mess.

Jean stepped out of her car, glass cracking under her heels. Thankfully, her car had but a few scratches. She took a shopping cart like a regular person would and started going through the supermarket. She needed quite a few things, not just coffee.

"Urgh, the meat is starting to smell. I'm gonna have to stick to cans for now."

Once she had collected everything, her first instinct was to leave some cash on the counter at the entrance. But she had none. She usually paid with a card.

"Oh, bummer."

She decided to write her name and signature on the shopping list. Then she wrote the amount of money she owed and the bank to redeem it at, and left it on the counter.

"No need to include the door repair. I issued them the building insurance policy myself, so they should be fine."

She backed out of the supermarket and headed home.

On her way, she stopped by the bank—her former bank. The place was abandoned. Then she looked at the coffee packages that lay on the passenger's seat.

"What if..." she wondered, as if a soft realization was dawning on her. "It's gonna take a lot of work, but..."

She continued her drive. A few cats were standing in the middle of the road, like they owned it. When Jean drove closer, they seemed annoyed, like cars weren't supposed to be a thing anymore.

"Come on... Move!"

She slowed down and avoided them by going onto the opposite lane, over the landscaped median. A small bush crumbled under her wheels. The cats meowed disapprovingly at the use of force, but didn't budge and didn't care too much anyway.

The car remained on the road; there was no point in moving it to the parking lot. She glanced at where the parking barrier had been, now lying twisted on the ground. Her car barely had a scratch.

She was now standing in front of her apartment block, arms full of groceries, realizing she had to climb her way back up again.

"Urgh!"

By the end of her journey, she was exhausted. She reached the 28th floor, where her apartment began. She opened the door, only to see that everything was a puddle. Half of the hallway was flooded, including the luxurious carpet in the living room.

"Oh my God!"

Following the sound of dripping water, she rushed back to the cabinet where the pipes entered the apartment. Her eyes landed on the dark circle around the pipe. It was larger than before, and she now recognized it as a portal. Water was seeping out of it. It was as if the portal's width had grown larger than the pipe itself.

"So that's where the water was coming from. Idiots!"

As she turned off the water at the main valve, she caught sight of a dark hand emerging from the portal.

"Hey, you!" she shouted. "Your portal is too wide; can you make it smaller?"

No answer. Not that she was expecting any answer. Jean turned. The dark arm was holding a plate with something tasty.

"Cookies?! Jesus, that's not what I need right now!"

She ignored the alien and instead ran for her toolbox. The hand remained behind, unsure what to do at first, but eventually decided its next course of action. It left the plate inside the toolbox, just as Jean was about to take something out of it.

"That's not why I opened this! Get away from here, you moron!"

She gestured, trying to shoo the hand away. It didn't help. Instead, she slipped, landing butt-first into the puddle. The hand watched closely, making a confused gesture. Jean waited for a second, expecting the alien to help her get up. It didn't happen. So she got up on her own, dripping wet, her butt still aching.

"Forget it, just—just don't move anymore!"

Jean took some rubber hose and cut a small piece with meticulous precision. She wrapped it around the portal and used some hose clamps to tighten it around the pipe. The water stopped leaking, at least for now.

The hand was still floating around her, watching. It seemed like it was trying really hard to figure something out. Did it even register the flooding as an issue? Jean couldn't tell. Eventually, it withdrew back into its pocket dimension.

Relieved to be alone once again, Jean started mopping up the water in the apartment. It took what felt like hours, and at the end, she threw herself onto the couch, her hair and clothes still dripping wet. She was staring at the ceiling, exhausted.

"Cookies, huh?" she said to herself, and a sparkle lit up in her eyes. She jumped off the couch with excitement.

The cookies had peanuts.

She threw the cookies off the balcony and instantly regretted it.

On the ground floor, the plate smashed against the top of her car.

The artist flinched on his balcony and looked upstairs. His fellow hands also looked up. Once more, Jean turned red with embarrassment and threw herself back into her apartment, hoping they didn't catch a glimpse of her.

She wished she could disappear.

"Oh my God, now he'll think I'm some crazy person. This couldn't get any worse."

Before she could even finish her sentence, a crack sounded from the pipes and a fresh flood of water started pouring out.