The light from the surface grew smaller, becoming a small circle, then a pinprick before vanishing. The air I fell through grew thick and moist, warming me like someone was breathing all over me.
No, no, no.
I couldn’t think straight. Everything was going wrong. Chase was still out there and I was nowhere near where I needed to be.
Was that really Jason?
I knew from experience that a Lacuna could warp space, break physics, make the fantastical real. But Jason being alive was so impossible and specific to me. Something here knew me.
It felt like I was falling much too far. The layers that had wrapped Nell’s cocoon weren’t here. I was falling to the core.
In the absolute dark with only the resistance of the heavy air on my skin to tell me what was happening, I became attuned to the fact that my descent was slowing. As if the air had become viscous enough to slow me down.
I came to a gentle stop. My face touched a cold, rough surface.
My revived heart hammered a frantic beat into the floor. My hands rasped against the surface as I raised myself. Concrete? It was stone, weathered as if the elements were active down here in the dark. It all felt stale and wet, like a petri dish left in a broken fridge, growing something that had never known the touch of the sun. Like the inside of an old coffin.
It felt more and more like a spider web was being wrapped around me, like every movement was getting me more tangled up and lost. But I had to struggle. There had to be some escape. Because the real reason my fear was stretching me until I could breathe, like my lungs and heart were trying to escape my body, as much as I tried not to believe it, I knew: I wasn’t alone down here.
It was that feeling of being watched, that prickling on your scalp, old hunter-gatherer instincts awakening to the fact that something you couldn’t see was seeing you.
Even though there was no light my eyes began to see something. And even when I pressed my eyelids down tight, the etches in the dark burrowed into my brain.
A thing. It looked like a human. Skin stretched tight around its skeleton. Lying on its side. Legs pulled in as tight as would allow, with arms hugging those. Eyeless holes that could see.
And where was I in this picture? So, so infinitesimally small. So insignificant that I couldn’t be seen. Yet I was forced to perceive the fetal thing in its entirety. So vast it hurt, like it was trying to fit itself inside my brain, pushing and bending tissues out of the way in this impossible task.
The thing opened its mouth and I screamed.
Just seeing it move felt like it was prying open my skull.
Fresh air entered my lungs, causing me to cough and retch. I writhed, suddenly aware of the rest of my body. White light burned my closed eyelids as I cowered, sure my end was near. Fingers dug into soft dirt.
Then the smell of greasy food lanced through my addled brain and I felt a pang of hunger.
When I felt like I would no longer die, I opened my eyes and felt immediate relief. I recognized the trees around me and when I looked out in the direction of the gentle breeze that played through my hair, I saw Sillwood.
The trails of the forest were full of people laughing and talking loudly. Meat sizzled on grills and children squealed as they ran past where I was huddled in the long grass. There was some sort of picnic and market happening. Lights had been strung along the hiking paths and people were barbecuing hotdogs and making takoyaki from behind small stands with colourful signs that read “Celebrate!” and “Sillwood Will Thrive” and “Despite Everything, Good Food Still Brings Us Together”.
I was somehow back on Earth.
A few people looked at me strangely and I realized I wasn’t wearing any clothes. A couple ushered their kids away from me with a look of fear on their faces.
So many people, all celebrating with their loved ones.
My limbs started to shake and my throat burned. These people didn’t know. They didn’t know how many had suffered, how many had bled out on the streets here and elsewhere so that they could live in ignorance. How could they be so blissful when my friends could be dead? Didn’t they care?
I needed them to know.
The root of my problem still remained. One that could not be solved. It wasn’t Chase. There would always be another Chase, someone who had no qualms using people for their own gain, even taking pleasure from their suffering.
There would always be…
Unless?
I felt a terrible realization settle over me. One that rendered the entire world around me into something so unreal. Could it really be so simple?
I could do it. The Crawling Skin had shown me the way.
So I reached out and caught the hand of a child running past. They looked at me with momentary confusion. But that befuddlement was answered as my skin slid into theirs and their into mine. Memories mixed together without separation. I nourished on every experience this young person had, just as they came to understand me. That child and me, now one being, reached out to touch the next person. Skin slipped under skin, muscles joined together in harmony, bones shifted to make room for everyone. I savored the aged memories of an elderly woman, so rich in great and terrible times. They had believed their purpose in their old age to be to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. But we had a new purpose now.
People began to notice what was happening. They screamed and ran, tripping over each other in pure fear. But as each person was caught, they soon realized they had been screaming for nothing. This was the path, a great unity that would end this charade. Our body moved as one, stretching out across the city, casting a single shadow over it. Our malleable form was designed to find every last person who we could sniff out through our sixth sense.
Our mind burned brightly with thousands of thoughts all at once.
Soon, flesh would stretch across the whole Earth.
Not one person would be left out.
As we became the world, all conflict would end. And we would settle into ourselves.
And rot.
—
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO N ON NO ON NO NON N ONN N NO N NO NO N ON N N N NO ONO NNONO NONO NO NO NO NO N O NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NON O NONO NO NO NO NO
I could smell saliva.
A sick stench that brought with it a warm and stale breath. Moisture beaded on my skin.
I was in a nightmare and reality was starting to seep in through the cracks.
I had never left the Lacuna.
My teeth were grinding against each other so hard I could hear it. My hair was slick with sweat and clung to my neck like a noose. I dared to open my eyes and see the truth.
I was standing inside the mouth of the human thing. I could see the scarred walls of its mouth and feel the softness of the tongue under my feet. The dark tunnel of a throat. Trembling, I turned. The teeth had yet to close. The threat hung there like a guillotine, that the teeth might snap shut in a second and trap me here for eternity.
The details from the nightmare were fading. I could no longer remember what I had seen in the people I had mixed with. But the feeling remained. Fear was such a tricky thing. It drove away reason and yet on occasion, it clarified things. Made it simple. Someone else’s memories had stayed stuck at the front of my mind.
“Let-” I gasped, flinching as the teeth quivered in reaction, like I had startled it.
“Let me go.”
I took a shuddering breath then stopped. There was something wet moving behind me.
I turned to look down the throat, a wet passage into the void.
Something was crawling out towards me. Long, thin fingers raked across the flesh, pulling its frail body closer. Dark wet hair covered its face. It moved in trembling lurches.
I shook so hard I couldn’t see straight.
Why do I know who that is?
Pressure was building inside my skull, threatening to burst it like an overfull balloon.
Then they raised their head.
It was me. An expression so pitiful, so hopeless, it hurt me just to know I’d made it before.
Nick, with a wide smile that wasn’t his, opened wide and spoke in a hollow voice, my voice,
“Nothing ever changes.”
My legs wobbled and gave out. The lights started to dim. The teeth were closing. I would never be able to make it out in time.
I placed my palms against the slimy tongue and pushed out the memories, feeding this thing a certain scene.
The teeth halted. Waiting.
“I promise,” I spoke in the dark. “I promise if you let me go, I will bring you someone who will want to stay. And I promise you, their nightmares are far more terrifying than my own.”
I waited for the thing to give me an answer.