text: "I came here for you" the man said. "I heard your call in the night. The howling, so to speak, at the moon. I came here for you." Nora sat still in the chair. The dark and dank room offended her senses. "Then why not just say that when we met? Why go through all the trouble of deceiving me if you were here to help me?" she asked. "I don't recall saying that I was going to help you. No, I'm going to give you the opportunity to help yourself." the man walked over to the table and set a piece of paper down next to a pen. "Tell me what you know" he said. As soon as she began to write she was done. She slid the paper across the table. The man picked it up, it read "nothing". He slid the paper back over with a bit of impatience. Nora smiled and slid the paper back to him. "Alright. The hard way it is." the man turned and knocked on the glass three times. He faced Nora as the door opened. A taller, slimmer man walked in. His face was sunken and his eyes felt hollow. He was wearing a long tan coat with a matching hat. He took off the cap and handed it to the man staring at Nora. "My name is Norman. How rarely do I meet a Nora, or anyone like you, really. You'll have to forgive my friend, Tommy. He's young. Full of ambition. Has little notion of tact. In time, you'll teach him though." "I'll teach him?" Nora interrupted. "Yes," Norman said with certainty "You'll teach me a few things too. That's why we need you to write. We need to peer into your soul." At those words Nora's eyes panicked. "I asked you to forgive my friend, now me," Norman said noticing her reaction "I don't mean to startle you. Those words seem scary now but, in time you'll recognize that you already know ours. All of ours, actually." Norman looked about for a moment before resuming "This room isn't very good for building trust, is it? Tell me, Nora, where would you like to be?" "Home!" she nearly shouted. Norman turned to Tommy "Take her home." Tommy stopped spinning the hat and tossed it back to Norman. "Let's go." Tommy said to Nora. She stood up, unsure if it were a trick. Norman opened the door and motioned for Nora to go out. She stepped forward but stopped short of the door. "No, you first." she looked to Norman. "But, of course." Norman smiled before turning to Tommy while shaking his head. "Tommy..." Tommy looked to the ceiling and sighed. "I know." he grumbled. Norman walked out and looked at Nora once more. "I look forward to meeting you when you're ready." with that he disappeared down the corridor. Nora poked her head out of the room and was surprised to see the sun shining brightly through the tall office building windows. The floor was mostly quiet. She could hear a few busy sounding people down the hall. "Elevator's to the left" Tommy said, hurrying her along. Nora walked and found the elevators. "Why did you tell me you were the police?" Nora asked. "I like to play games. You were never in any real danger but, you'll remember this for the rest of your life. I also like to make a strong first impression." Nora felt that he was serious. She sighed and turned towards Tommy, cocked her hand back and punched him in the mouth. Tommy fell into the elevator doors. He touched his lip and smiled, revealing an already missing front tooth "Yeah, I get that a lot." he chuckled. They stepped into the elevator and rode down to the garage. "So what is this place? Who are you?" Nora asked. Tommy shook his head "I can't give you answers that you already have." "I have no idea." Nora replied. "Yeah, that's why the big boss said you're not ready." Tommy motioned toward the car. "He didn't say that." Nora said as she walked away toward toward the exit. Tommy stood bemused "We had you alone in a room, if we wanted to hurt you, we would have." he lightly shouted toward Nora. She stopped and thought for a moment before turning around. "I'll take the ride and you can take a cab to come pick up your car." Tommy laughed. "Fair enough. But, that means you don't get to ask any more questions." he gauged her reaction "You can drive if you'd like." Nora took the keys and motioned for Tommy to get in. "What's your real name?" Nora asked. Tommy pulled out his driver's license and handed it to her. "Tommy Thompson? Seriously." Nora giggled. Tommy handed her a second license, then a third, then a fourth. All had his picture, all had different names. She looked at him confused and irritated. "Tommy is my real name. Or it's what those who know there's more than one "me" call me. We don't really have names." Tommy said. "Like Men in Black?" Nora asked as she motioned for the garage ticket. Tommy handed her the pass. He replied "No. I mean, kind of but only in the name thing. Hadn't really thought of it... Do you know where you're going?" "Yes. Who are you guys?" Nora would not be distracted from her questioning. "Like I said, I can't tell you the answer to things you already know." Tommy trailed off, consumed by the view out the passenger window. "No, I already knew your name was Tommy and you told me again when I asked." Nora insisted. "You didn't know. You had no way of knowing." Tommy said. "Ok, Donald." Nora mocked. Tommy looked at her. Nora continued "If you want me to call you your real name, you'll have to remind me what it is." "Nobody's going to know you're talking to me." Tommy said. "So, Donald," Nora ignored "Why do you guys have that office space?" Tommy looked out the window in silence. "Everyone needs office space!" a voice from the backseat chimed in. Nora jerked the steering wheel and the car nearly veered off the road. Her eyes shot up to the rearview mirror to see an overweight but happy looking older man in the back smiling kindly at her. "How'd you get back there?! Who are you?!" she shouted. The man patted Tommy on the shoulder. Tommy nodded and shrugged. "I can't tell you the answer to things you already know" the man in the back said. "Donald?" she asked. The man looked at Tommy "Come on. Talk to the woman." Tommy looked at Nora, "Could you please pull over and let him out?" She pulled over to the sidewalk and the man hopped out. She drove away quickly glancing in the mirror at presumably Donald, waving at the departing car. "So if I call you someone else's name is somebody else just going to pop up too?" Nora asked half-afraid of the answer. Tommy gave her a look. She mocked "Right, you can't tell me the answer to things I already know." Nora was silent for the next few moments until she thought of a question worth asking "What don't I know?" Tommy looked at her before looking out the window. "You ever notice how the rocks in the road stay in place? All day long, cars, sun, rain... all the Earth throws at it and yet, day after day it stays in place." "No, it doesn't." Nora said "Without maintenance, cracks and holes form. The elements slowly pull and push it apart." "So it seems." he said. She stopped the car in front of her house, "How do I get in touch with you?" she asked. "By speaking. That question is asked in the wrong time." Tommy said. Nora looked at the front door to her house. A moment felt like an eternity, "How do I get back to your office?" Nora asked, putting the car in gear. "I don't know. It moves all the time. You've got to find it." Tommy said. She slammed on the brakes and looked at Tommy. He shrugged. She let her foot off the brake and continued. For two hours they crept around town as Nora second guessed herself at every light and every turn. She broke the silence, "I'm starving. What do you want to eat?" Tommy replied "Driver's choice." Nora pulled into the parking lot and noticed a peculiar light coming from a rundown looking building. "Took you long enough." Tommy jabbed before taking a serious tone "You did really well. Took me three tanks of gas before I found it the first time." Nora forgot her hunger and hurried up to the door. She opened it without knocking. The inside did not match the exterior. There was carpet, desks, and it even smelled like a new office. Nora noticed Norman standing in the corner motioning her and Tommy to come over. "I didn't think we'd have enough time to get this place setup. Your eyes are getting better." Norman said "You're a fast learner but, you'll have to be a slow teacher. If you learn ten times as fast as I do, you have to expect it'll take ten times as long to teach it. That also gives you ten times the opportunity to zoom in and learn from each fraction of the lesson." Nora stood unsure of what to say. "That's a lot to take in. No rush. We have an eternity to figure it out." Norman smiled, patted her on the shoulder, and walked over to the water cooler.