Finished with my work, I sat down on a ridge and looked up at the stars.
Nell had once told me that her sixth sense felt like she was feeling stars: their heat, their vibrations, their shimmer. Seeing real stars so vividly without an atmosphere in the way for the first time, I had to agree. It was as if they had gathered to witness what would happen next. I felt rivers of emotion in the empty spaces, like great flows of energy were passing between the stars, encircling all of us. Looking inwards, those same rivers flowed within my empty spaces. Size and scale meant nothing, it was a repeating pattern.
“Are you sure he’ll come?”
My eyes fluttered open and I looked over at the young woman who evoked fond memories. Then I turned back to stare at Earth, glowing as it basked in sunlight.
I replied, “When you live alongside someone long enough, a part of you lives with them and vice versa. And you knew him long before I did, so you tell me. Do you think he’ll come?”
Her eyes reflected the full Earth as she smiled softly. “Oh yeah. He’ll be here soon.”
For the longest time I had wondered why Nell had asked me not to bring her back. I had proof that it would work, at least in part. The missing parts could be filled in over time, the craft could be refined and perfected. Creating life was not beyond Shaping. But I think I understood now what she knew then.
A burning point of light was getting closer to us. My heartbeat quickened and I had to close my eyes and push down the anxiety rising in my throat. Relax each muscle, one by one. The fight was already over.
“Should I go hide? It would be more of a surprise.”
“Sure,” I replied.
In the long seconds of silence that passed, I kept waiting to flinch and for all the tension to come back in the instant I heard his voice.
“Nick, you never cease to amaze me.”
Oh. That was it? That wasn’t so bad.
I opened my eyes and greeted Chase with a weary smile.
His body had transformed into something suitable for surviving in space. His skin was scaly, a triangular geometric texture. His eyes were protected by an extra translucent eyelid and his lips had a strange zipper-like appearance.
His eyes roamed the barren lands of the Lacuna of Dread. Finally, his gaze settled on the small, innocuous house that sat as the only landmark. It was as if the house had been plucked from suburbia and brought through space, entirely intact.
“I apologize for my impulsive behaviour back there,” Chase said. “But of course, you lived! I tried following after you but the hand threw me way off course. It wasn’t a problem for the current me, but I did have a lot of time to think on the journey over here. I wondered: what will Nick think of next?”
He wagged his finger at me. “I thought you might pull something like this. You knew you couldn’t beat me alone. So you had to go and try to dredge up the past.”
He strolled past me, skin healing the burns from his flight. Power seemed to shift the air in his wake. He stopped at the front steps of the house.
“In retrospect, it seems predictable to the point of being boring.” He turned back to me with a sneer. “You know it won’t work.”
“It will work,” I replied evenly. “It would have worked on me.”
“Resurrecting the dead is so passé honestly. I’m so beyond her power at this point. Your other half won’t hold a candle to me.” Chase laughed. The sound petered out too quickly, like the sound was being swallowed by this place.
“I mean, it’s so funny! You really thought you could lean on Nell to come save you? There is no escape! This is reality!” he shouted with glee, spit spraying into globules that hovered in the air. “Did you just get lonely? Aww. Be a man and face it.”
The door to the house creaked open and Chase swung around with his finger pointed. “You need to…”
Chase’s dead sister, April, skipped through the doorway and hugged him tightly.
His mouth hung open, sentence cut short as neatly as the stroke of a knife.
“I’m giving you an ultimatum, Chase,” I said, the words coming easily to me. “Keep playing the game that you love so dearly, or stay here forever with her.”
Chase’s arm came down and hovered over April’s head.
“Is…” he started.
“It’s me, you imbecile,” April mumbled into his chest. “Stay. It’s okay. It’s safe now.”
“But I…” Chase couldn’t finish a sentence. He touched April’s head and his eyes widened. I could feel him reliving every memory of his past he’d locked away.
“You belong here with me,” April said, breaking the hug and taking his hand in hers. “We can stay this way, together forever.”
Chase met my eyes, mouth still hanging open just like that thing I’d seen in the core of the Lacuna. Awe and horror in one.
“It’s not a gift,” I said softly. “Whatever that thing is down there, it won’t let you go. Do you still want to return to the basement? Will you sink into this lovely dream and rot?”
April pulled him backwards. Chase had no more words but his feet carried him along. He kept looking back at me as he was led into the house, the smile wiped from his face. The interior of the house betrayed the facade. It was packed with nothing but rotting meat and stale air.
The door swung shut on its own and at the sound of the latch clicking shut a weight lifted from my shoulders.
“Goodbye forever,” I whispered.
A hole opened up beneath the house, as wide as a lake. The house sank slowly into it. When the roof disappeared into shadow, the hole closed and my deal with the entity was fulfilled.
I didn’t dare imagine what Chase’s eternal nightmares would be like. All I knew was that he wasn’t my problem anymore.
I let out a trembling sigh as the Lacuna released its hold on me. Gravity no longer held me to the surface and I began to float away. I stared up at the stars, watching them dance as I floated gently back towards Earth.