Vincent

Vincent shivered, tugging his black wool beanie down over his ears and rubbing his arms vigorously as he trudged along the craggy side of some lonely mountain road in the middle of the night. He'd seen two cars pass by so far, but neither had stopped or even slowed down at the sight of a scrawny teenage boy walking alone in jeans and a tattered jersey. He supposed they just had good sense. What kind of idiot would be walking alone at this hour along the edge of a ragged cliff? Probably the same kind that would pick up someone who was walking alone at this hour along the edge of a cliff, he supposed.

He breathed into his cupped hands, trying to concentrate and warm his body through sheer dint of will, but the wind seemed to pick up in reply, the cold air cutting through him till he felt almost naked. He continued to huff into his hands and rub his arms as he went on downhill towards what looked to be a phone line. He'd follow that as far as he could to the next town. Hopefully there would be opportunity there to steal or grift something to keep him going.

It had barely been a week out on his own and already he thought he might starve to death. But he couldn't risk going too near the big city or any major highways. It would be too easy to find him then. By now, he was certain they were out looking for him in force. Every squad car in the county would have gotten an all points bulletin with his picture on it and would have instructions to bring him "home," as soon as possible. But he wasn't going home. He was never going home.

By the time the sun came up, Vincent had made the bottom of the mountain and wound a wandering way into the woods till he found a fallen tree. He pulled a few broken branches off and draped them across the rotting trunk as a makeshift lean-to then curled up underneath to make an attempt at sleep. He stayed there for most of the day, wandering out for a few hours trying to find something edible but only scrounging up a handful of elderberries by the time he returned. It would have to be enough till he reached the next town.

A few miles down the lonliest highway in America, he finally came to a small mining town turned tourist attraction and camping ground. It was quiet, though and the hanging sign outside a small diner beckoned as the faint scent of grilled meat wafted under his nose. The sun was already hanging low when he crept into town. He slipped into a filthy gas station rest room to clean himself up as much as he could. He didn't want to look like a runaway, but it was hard not to. Then, there was also the need for money of which he had none. But there was an answer for that too.

Vincent snuck around to the other side of the gas station, staying outside of the pump lights and dodging the headlights of passing traffic till he could see through the window to the sleepy eyed woman at the register. It had been a long week. He was tired and beginning to feel like his limbs would quit on him but he didn't need to be fast. He only needed to focus.

He hid himself behind the dumpster, peeking out so that he could still see her, then reached out with one hand and gestured at the farthest isle inside the station. Several boxes of crackers tumbled to the floor. The woman jumped, staring in that direction. Vincent gestured again as she came out from behind the counter, and the boxes slid along the floor towards the bathroom, then zipped inside. Like a cat following a string, the woman went into the bathroom after them. That was when the door shut and latched behind her.

Vincent bolted out from behind the dumpster, dashing in through the doors and climbing up over the counter to the register. He opened it and quickly scooped out several bills, stuffing them into his pockets and gently pushing the register shut even as the woman began to struggle with the lock. He was out and walking hurriedly towards the diner before she got out. He hadn't taken much. He didn't want her to immediately realize she'd been robbed. Hopefully it would be shift change before the money was even missed. He turned a corner around the next building and caught his breath for a few minutes, staring off in the direction of the diner. There were only a few people inside and none of them looked particularly clean. He wouldn't stick out too much, he thought, save for his age, but unless someone was particularly nosy, he'd be able to get something to eat and head out of town in less than twenty minutes.

The diner was quaint, like the town. Rustic paintings and antique farm equipment hung from the walls and ceiling. He sat down and ordered a thick looking burger then turned towards the window, looking out at the gas station. He got his food ten minutes later and started in, trying not to look like he'd been starving half to death for a week. It was as he sat chewing that he noticed someone walking up the road towards the gas station.

It was a girl, tall and skinny by the look of her silhouetted by the lights inside the station. He might not have even noticed her if it weren't for the figure approaching behind her. Vincent felt his throat tighten. Just as she passed the lights of the station, the man took hold of her and pulled her into the darkness. He choked loudly, coughing and banging his fist on the table. His waitress rushed up to see if he was alright, but even as she approached, he slapped a twenty on the table, told her to keep the change and was out the door, running back towards the shadows behind the gas station.

He could hear the struggle back by the dumpster and turned the corner to find a dark figure straddling a smaller shape, hands grasping at clothing, attempting to pull them off the now unconscious girl. Vincent didn't have to concentrate. His eyes suddenly felt hot, like burning coals stuck inside his head. A pale pink light seemed to blink into existence somewhere behind him and as the scene was illuminated, he extended a shaky hand towards the man.

He looked to be in his early twenties, with a bit of stubble on his narrow jaw and carelessly brushed wavy brown hair. He wore an oversized shirt over sagging jeans with a chain hanging from the pocket and had barely opened his mouth to utter something foul when he was flung into the air by an immence invisible force and crushed into the side of the dumpster with a loud bang.

Vincent didn't follow up. He didn't even know if he could. He'd never been able to push something so heavy before. All he knew now was that he needed to get away and fast, but not before he checked to see if the girl was okay. The pale pink light seemed to move with him as he approached her. She came to slowly. Vincent paused as he was about to speak. She brushed a few strands of her shimmering long black hair away from her face and stared up at him with enourmous bright green eyes. She was beautiful. He gawked and the pink light began to fade.

"Did you, save me?"

"What?" he asked, then snapped around as he heard the back door of the station open, "Quick, we've got to go!" he hissed.

Without thinking, he snatched her hand and hauled her to her feet, the two of them taking off into the night. A piercing scream spurred them to greater speed as the woman at the gas station found the crumpled form of the would be attacker by the dumpster, but Vincent didn't want to look back or even wonder if the man was alive or dead. It would be enough to make the woodline again and get away from people. Then he realized the girl was still running beside him.

"Who are you?" she asked, "What just happened?"

"Who are you?" he asked back defensively.

"I'm Alice," she replied breathlessly.

"Well, I'm in a hurry and I need to get away, so you should probably head back home," he said, "Unless you want to get lost in the woods."

"The woods sound fine right now," Alice said quickly, "I think I need to sit down."

An hour later, the two of them were stumbling through the trees when Vincent found a small patch of brush that looked suitable and began to burrow his way in.

"So, who are you?" Alice asked again.

"Vincent," he said.

"Well I owe you one, Vincent. And in case you're wondering, that bum town isn't my home."

"Really?" he said, stomping down a cluster of weeds, "So where is your home?"

"I guess you could say I'm in between homes at the moment," she replied.

"You too, huh?"

"So what do you think?" she asked.

"About what?"

"About sticking together for a while? I could use the protection. Even if you are..." she stood over him and looked down, "...well even if you are kinda small."

"Size isn't everything," Vincent snapped defensively, "I mean, you saw what happened, didn't you?"

"With that guy? I'm guessing you snuck up and knocked him out, am I right?"

"Well, I..." Vincent stopped, "...yea, that's about what happened."

"Well thanks again," She plopped down next to him, "I didn't see him coming. Either way he was too big for me to handle on my own."

She was staring at him intensely, he could feel his face turning red. She was a bit taller than him, by at least an inch or two he thought. She was slender, but curvy in the right places, which wasn't hard to tell even though she was wearing a heavy brown coat over her skinny blue jeans and a green jersey that came down to her knees though it had been torn considerably and she was clutching the edges of the broken jacket zipper to cover herself. He'd never seen someone so beautiful in his entire life. Of course, he hadn't seen many girls to tell the truth, but he knew enough to know that she would likely be considered gorgeous in almost any setting.

"So can I follow you for a while?" she asked.

"I guess so," Vincent shrugged, "But why do you want to? Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Afraid of you?" she asked with a grin, "I'm bigger than you. Besides, you helped me out. For drifters like us, that's about the best way to earn trust, isn't it?"

"Yea, I guess," Vincent nodded.

"Well then, I'm going to get some sleep," she said, pulling a heavy blanket out of her bag.

She pulled her hood up and lay down across from him, facing the opposite direction.

Vincent fell to one side and began to curl up into the underbrush when he felt a soft plop as she tossed another blanket at his feet. He glanced her way, but she was turned away again. With a shrug, he cuddled up in the rough woolen blanket and went to sleep.

Vincent woke as dawn broke over the distant mountains, dew dripping onto his cheeks from trees overhead. He sat up and looked over to see Alice still sound asleep, now facing him, stretched out on her side. He gaped at her. When she’d rolled over she must have tossed the edge of her blanket and opened her jacket. The green jersey underneath had been almost entirely torn away from the chest down, barely enough of it left to cover her chest. Her long slender stomach from immediately beneath her purple bra down to her skinny jeans hanging low on her hips was entirely exposed as was what appeared at first to be a horrific scar.

He vigorously rubbed the crust from his eyes and blinked rapidly against the sunlight. It wasn’t a scar. In the middle of her pale stomach was a long deep navel. He’d never seen or heard of anything remotely like it. Right there in front of him, stretched out like a feline dozing in the sun, this girl was baring a stomach with a belly button wide enough to hold a grapefruit. He could probably put both fists inside without stretching it! Vincent continued to stare.

There was a small beauty mark just above it. He shook his head. What on earth could have caused such a massive defect? And what on earth was she doing out here? Then his eyes drifted to her lovely face; her flawless milky white skin and those perfectly full curvy pink lips, practically puckering as though she were dreaming of a kiss. Alice woke up just as he went to look closer and quickly pulled her jacket shut. She sat up, looking away from him, embarrassment written on her features.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, “I wasn’t going to do anything…I was just…I mean I’ve never seen-

“I know,” she said quickly, “It’s weird. I can’t help it, okay?”

“No,” Vincent said, “I didn’t mean it was weird. It’s really nothing. I mean, you can barely notice, really.”

“Barely notice?” Alice stood up and walked over to where he sat. She opened her jacket, her heart shaped belt at level with his face, “Do you notice it now?”

Vincent looked at the massive gaping navel in front of him and suddenly noticed that besides being freakishly long and wide, it was impossibly deep. In fact, he wondered idly if she kept loose change in there instead of her pockets.

“Okay…okay, not what I meant,” he raised his hands, “Settle down, it’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a freak?” she asked, “You know I can’t even wear normal shirts and sweaters without people noticing this black hole in the middle of my belly? How would you like it if the only special attention you ever got was from doctors who want to study your guts all day?”

“I’m sorry,” Vincent said.

“How can you be sorry?” she asked, “How can you know anything?”

He remained silent for a while, watching her as she gathered up her blankets and stuffed them into her pack. She stomped back over when she was done.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed, “That wasn’t for you. Not really. I mean, we just met. It’s a long story, anyways and I’m sure you’ve got one too, so I’m sorry. Are we still alright? I still want to go with you.”

Vincent thought a moment, then closed his eyes and focused holding out his hand palm facing upwards and moving his fingers, causing a collection of coins to float out of his pocket and into the air between them. He opened his eyes to see Alice gaping as he had been, watching as three pennies two quarters and a silver dollar circled one another like a tiny solar system. He kept them dancing for a minute then allowed them to plop one by one back into his hand.

“I might not look like it,” he said softly, “But I’m not quite normal either.”

To his surprise she smiled, a warm beautiful smile that made his legs feel like jello.

“Well,” she giggled, “What are the odds of this? Two freaks meeting in the middle of nowhere?”

And that was how the two met. Vincent continued East towards the state line and Alice tagged along. As luck would have it, his small time heists and scams became much easier with a partner and within a week the two of them had enough money to rent a small room in a motel where Vincent had his first night’s sleep on an actual bed since the last night before he’d left home. Even so, it was somehow hard to sleep, knowing she was right there across from him in the other bed. He hadn’t brought it up in any case. It was hard to tell if he was attracted to her or not. On the one hand, he could barely look at her face without fantasizing of kissing that incredible mouth and staring into those dazzling green eyes, yet, on the other hand there was her deformed abdomen.

Immediately after learning of his abilities, Alice seemed to lose all inhibitions about her appearance in his presence. In public, she always wore the heavy coat, despite how warm it was getting outside, but as soon as they returned to the motel, she’d not only strip the coat, but her shirt as well, walking around in nothing but her purple bra and a pair of sweat pants that she wore so low on her hips that Vincent could see the top of her panties.

It was strange and even frightening at times to see her, but then other times it almost seemed normal. That morning, Vincent sat watching the news and entertained himself by floating the remote in small circles. Alice got out of the shower and strode across the room in her underwear casually snatching the remote from in front of him and sitting down on her bed across from him.

“Hey, want to see something?” she asked.

“I can see everything, actually,” Vincent replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Well watch this,” she said, holding up the remote.

She looked down at her stomach for a moment, then took a deep breath and pushed the remote down into the middle of her massive navel, wedging it lengthwise so that it stayed when she removed her hand. She stood up in front of Vincent so her stomach was in front of his face.

“Wow,” he said, “That’s impressive…”

“Okay,” she said then took another deep breath.

Vincent gaped as her ribcage lifted; her stomach stretching as slowly the remote was pulled down deeper into the crease of her belly button. She took another breath and the remote slid even deeper till it disappeared entirely and the deep narrow crease flexed shut.

“Did you just…eat the remote with your belly button?” he asked slowly.

“Isn’t it cool?” she giggled, slapping her stomach with one hand, “Now I just need to…”

She forced her fingers down into the crease , slipping her hand halfway into her stomach then pulled the remote back out. She tossed it to him and he stopped it in midair, laughing.

“I’m not touching it now!” he said, “It’s probably covered in stomach acid.”

“Oh, you’re just jealous,” Alice teased, raising her arms above her head and stretching her ribcage as she shifted her hips slowly from one side to the other, “That remote just became a man.”

“I think he's traumatized,” Vincent took the remote in his hands and cradled it mockingly, “Oh my God, he's going into shock! Quick, call 911!”

“You'll need 911,” Alice whipped a pillow at Vincent's face.

He almost caught it, focusing hard on the full shape of the object and attempting to wrap his consciousness around it like an invisible hand...but instead, the pillow whapped him in the face. Alice giggled with delight.

“You know, I'd always heard telekenetics were powerful. Out of the two of us, I'm beginning to think I have the better super power.”

“Oh yea, what's that?” Vincent asked, “Giant belly button lint?”

“Oh you just wait, I may have started with coins but I'm making more progress than you. Tonight, I fit a remote. Before you know it, I'll be stuffing you in here,” she slapped her stomach.

“Sounds romantic,” Vincent laughed, laying back on his bed.

He heard her cross the room, but didn't open his eyes. Then he felt her climbing onto his bed. She crawled over him. Still he kept them shut. He tried to imagine her lithe muscular body tensed over him, her lips quivering as they neared his. He opened his eyes. Her firm slender stomach hovered directly over his face, her navel stretching wide, the crease down the center flexing open into the darkness inside of her. She clamped her hands over his wrists and held him down under her.

“Wouldn't it be romantic if I could?” she asked softly, looking down at him while simultaneously concentrating on trying to open her belly button even wider, “If I could fit you in there. All of you. Then carry you around inside of me?”

“I...don't know,” Vincent stammered, his face beat red, sweat beading on his brow, “You'll probably need to focus on smaller things. You know, so you don't hurt yourself.”

Alice sat up, straddling him as she looked him over thoughtfully. Then she jumped off the bed.

“You're probably right. It would suck if I ripped myself open. But I'm flexible you know. I'm still testing it, but my skin can stretch almost like rubber. It's really cool. Maybe I'll be like Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four!”

“Yea, that would be cool,” Vincent struggled to calm himself down.

“But when I master it, you're going in, at least once,” she drew a small circle around her navel with one finger, “Just to see what it's like.”

“We'll see,” Vincent said quietly, “...we'll see.”