John's Lawn

Friends, family, acquaintances, no matter who they are, they impact your life to some extent. Whether it’s help from a stranger, happy moments from friends past, or moments you’d rather forget from your parents. Every single little thing builds us up to who we are today. Some require attention or it’ll fly by with no impact, others will collide with you so tremendously hard that it’ll rattle who you are as a person by virtue of happening. Maybe you’re attentive, and try accept things, become better, and move on, maybe you deny reality until it kills you. Or maybe, you’re a little like me.

My name, is Henry Yaeler. Maybe some of you remember me from a post I made a year or two back about a train ride that reminded me what I’d wanted to do with my life. If so, welcome back, it’s been… interesting? Before I leave the internet for good though, I suppose it’s the least I can do to give those that helped me along the way some closure. I can’t thank those of you who sent me sources for my first steps enough. Even more so those who sent me stuff. I am forever grateful to you, and this isn’t all talk keep an eye out in your mail. Finally, to the person who sent me four grand in a privatized digital currency, send me a new email to send the money to and I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can.

For the rest of you, I appreciate your patience. Given this is a public letter to those who helped, I’ll try to keep everything following on topic. I’ve said my thanks, and I know why most of you are here, just, be sure you have some time, I have a feeling… I have a feeling this may take longer than I’m expecting. One last thing, for anyone who hasn’t read my prior post, I will try to remember to put it in the comments or something.

The DMs started coming a couple days after my post, messages about if I knew what energy lines and spiritual conduits were. Some from self proclaimed psychics telling me that my path ahead was “Doomed to fail” or, “wrought with certain death.” Maybe some of them were legitimate, but it’s more likely coincidental. It was a couple weeks after when the first package came in, “Spiritualism, Energy, and Quantum States.” Throwing the packaging in my kitchen trash, I tossed the cinderblock of a book in the air a few times, I questioned the wisdom in ignoring the fact my address had leaked. I put the thought on the forgotten “warm” section of the backburner, and flipped through the colossul tome. It was was a filled with spiritual garbage. Thirty minutes in, I’d already shut the nonsense filled book. From what I could tell, it was a bunch of pseudo science BS written by some guy who managed to write the first ten pages 450 different ways. Whoever sent it, it wasn’t worth the stump it was printed on, it is currently in a landfill somewhere.

In the following days, I received several books that, until just yesterday, I’d held onto. I’d learned to tell how to tell which ones might be legit by the 15th book. Typically, those in the several hundred+ word-count range were B.S. Since the useful books were mostly first or second hand experience, they were almost always shorter, not eclipsing 100 pages. Essentially, if it reads like a textbook, it looks like a textbook, and it feels like a textbook, it’s probably not a textbook, at least for spiritual stuff.

Some time passed of research in a field of study that was mostly hearsay. Even with the legitimate textbooks, so much was just theory that I really just had to combine everything into my own personal textbook just for reference. I tried to keep up with work, but in the end, I had enough savings to last me a year or so, and I figured if it took longer than that, I’d head off and live in the woods or something. So that was my life for a while, eating rice and beans for breakfast, and ramen for lunch and dinner. Occasionally I’d mix it up with eggs, but yeah, I’d wake up, feel like shit, research, compile data, put it into a notebook, go to sleep. But even after putting together my two composition notebooks worth of rituals, spiritual theory, and alleged hyperdimension theories, I didn’t have a way of getting back to my childhood friends.

The crossover between hyperdimensions and souls seemed to make sense given my experience on the train. A rough breakdown being that a soul encompasses all potential realities you exist in, all are linked in a theoretical 4th or 5th dimensional energy state that connects all of your bodies. According to the texts, this is what allows for astral projection, given all realities you exist in a sort of wavelength, some overlap, and where realities overlap, you can see them if you concentrate enough. However, there are gaps, like the atoms of an untempered sword, some of these reality connections are jagged, leaving spaces where nothing dwells. However, where nothing exists, something will come from it.

I’d apparently slipped into one of these gaps when I passed out waiting for the train. It was accidental, and I’ve tried to replicate the circumstances, but from what I can tell, it might be something more esoteric. When it comes to reality gaps, apparently basically everything is unknown. From what I can tell, most people haven’t been to one before, and what they do know is what they heard about a friend’s, friend’s, stepmom’s, grandfather. So really, just unreliable stuff.

I’d probably been awake for a couple days when his message rolled in, “I know how to open the gap.” Their username was Gregor `Lander.

I closed the message, shaking my head and rolling my eyes; I continued on one of the books I’d read five times over. I got through the rest of it, not finding anything new, and the stranger hadn’t sent me another message. However someone else had DM’d me, someone with a blank username. Opening it, I found a crypto wallet along with a password and username, “Two souls should be all you need to find your friends. But they may not be worth your bargaining power. Be vigilant, and when in doubt, seek out the purple light.” Another message popped up with a throw away email along with another password. 

“What the fuck man?” But the message never sent, the account didn’t exist anymore. I tossed my phone onto the couch behind me, “Could’ve used a bit more info jackass.”

I made my way into the kitchen, the only source of light I’d had on for days. Opening my cabinet I sighed, dragging out one of the three remaining cups of noodles.

As I stared at the rotating cup behind metal mesh, my eyes also rotated, focusing on the cup, then the mesh, back and forth. I’d lost my mind, and my body forgot I had one. “Two souls? Did he mean two people? So I need to bring someone with me. What about the bargaining power? Is that why he sent me that sketchy shit? So I can literally pay for them to come back? Could it be that sim–”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I jumped, looking around before remembering where I was. Where was I before? But I couldn’t continue the thought as the beeping continued to hammerfist my ears. I flung the microwave open, grabbed a fork, and sat on the counter, slurping down the mediocre noodles in silence.

Tossing the cup in the trash, I walked back over to my laptop. Staring at the screen, I copy and pasted the email and username into a text document. Flipping past several crypto wallets, I found one on the dreaded 2nd page of google that worked. A company named “Fetch Inc.” that had their toes in everything short of bounty hunting. The advertisments on the page were all businesses under this massive corporation I’d never heard of. Once I’d inputed the information, it opened to a wallet.

It read:

1 Hornet = 1 Soul

1 Soul = 2,000 USD

Balance: 2.2 Hornet

To cash out your two souls, click [HERE] now.

I scoff laughed and closed the tab, finding a new message from Gregor.

“I need you to join me in the gap. Will you come?”

I replied, “Look man, you’re creeping me out. If you really can help me, we have to meet up first.”

As I waited for a response, I found myself drifting the cursor toward tab restore. I stared at the “Cash Out” button, hovering my mouse. Clicking it, a window popped up.

“Upon cashing out your souls, you will receive them via van transport within 24 hours if you live in North America, South America, or Europe. If you live in Africa, Asia, or Oceania, it may take 2-7 business days. If you live in Antarctica, it will take between 7 and 30 business days via boat. If the terms are acceptable, click ‘Accept,’ otherwise, click ‘Decline.”

“Antarctica?” I chuckled, clicking accept. The tab closed on its own, a window opening, “Thank you for your business, enjoy your souls.”

“Okay man.” Opening my DMs again, Gregor responded.

“This sound good?” He sent me a link to a Waffle House two hours from my home town. I hesitated, coincidence?

I sat, staring at the kitchen, light flickering with my thoughts as a heavy wind picked up outside. Rain ticked against the window behind the sink. I lost myself in the window, not reflecting a modicum of light. My vision grew dark as I mindlessly focused on the blackness. The room was gone, leaving all encompassing darkness and a light haze. 

Through the chasm of nothingness, a silhouette made its place in existence. A being so large it encompassed everything in front of me. The faintest light emanating from me bounced of the entity like a crashing wave, sending light in all frequencies directly at my eyes. It grew, the longer I looked, the more blinding the light became. My eyes bled as the entity spoke.

“Giiiiiiive… uuuuuup.”

Face melting at its voice, I shot up, still sitting on the couch. The sun shone through the window, blinding me. I repositioned myself, grabbing my laptop. Rubbing my arms, laptop in lap, I tried to blink the figure away, but it was stained to my pupils. A scar that still hasn’t left me. A lesson I’ve now learned.

I blinked again, shivering, and looked at the message from before, and replied.

——————————————

Staring into the void of darkness out the window, my mind wouldn’t let go of the figure. It was easier to see, a simple depression remained, but any time I blinked it came back in full force.

“Can I help you?” A southern lady greeted me to my left.

“Just a coffee for now, I’m meeting someone.”

“Of course sweetie, take your time.”

She came back a few minutes later with a pot of somewhat fresh coffee, pouring me a mug. I nodded to her and smiled. I hadn’t been to Waffle House since I was a kid, but somehow, the smell was fresh in my mind. I’d been to several growing up, some smell like a musty ash tray, some like old syrup, or on one occasion, strawberry milkshake. But the clearest smell in that moment was fresh breakfast food with a hint of cigarette. Her feet crackled against the sticky linoleum as she walked away, followed by a new set of resin coated footsteps.

“You Yaeler_95?” A timid, shaggy headed dirty blonde, wearing joggers and a hoodie held out his hand.

Looking up, I refocused, “Call me Henry.” Standing, I took his hand, giving it a firm shake.

“Yeah, of course, call me Greg. Sorry, never done this before.” His grip was firm, he struggled looking me in the eyes, darting his around from my forehead, to ears, to chin.

“You need a coffee or something?” I asked, sitting back down.

“That would be amazing, thank you.” He sat, melting into the seat. His eyes were like a raccoon with the flu, but there was a light twinkle in them.

“You drive in from Washington?” I joked, wondering how long he’d been awake.

“God no, I could never live in a place like that.” He waved a passing waitress down, getting her to pour him a mug of coffee.

He took it black, power-chugging half the cup in one pull. As he set it down, he looked me in the eyes, “So, your friends.”

“Before we get to them…” I leaned forward, holding my chin up with a fist slightly covering my mouth. “How’d you learn about the gap?”

Following my lead, he lowered his voice, “Found some books doing research on the spirit world. One of em had an analysis on empty planes between realities, they called it the gap. Figured you came across the same book after the whole thing you posted.”

I jostled the answer around, tossing it between different corners of my brain. Eventually my eyes unfocused and all I could see was the growing entity beyond the universe, tucked into a corner between sockets of universes. Its existence all but tangible, I lost myself in it’s visage, decaying my bones, drying my blood, fossilizing my skin.

“You alright?”

My vision cleared, the imprint unnoticable. “Yeah, yeah.” I scrunched my face, trying to remember what he’d said, “Yeah, guess we did.” Then I thought for a second, “No wait, you said you know how to get to the gap. From what I read–”

“Yeah, the book don’t got shit for answers, that’s just what lead me to the gap. It says you can’t get there intentionally. But–” he let the statement linger as the waitress came by again.

“Can I get y’all anythin’ to eat? Or will it just be coffee.” She held a pot in her hand as she glared between us.

“Yeah, let me get the two egg breakfast.” Greg said, not looking at the menu.

“I’ll get the same, separate bill.”

“Be right up sugar.” She smiled, turning to the kitchen, leaving.

I looked at Greg, waiting for him to continue, but he just stared at me, eyes gone, pupils dilated. “I remember reading that part, but since you messaged me…”

I waited. He blinked a few times, coming up for air, “Yeah, there’s a way. But it comes down to where your friends went missing.”

I chuckled, leaning back in my chair, “Last time I ended up in the gap, I was on a train nowhere near them.”

“Well the book didn’t get everything wrong, you can show up there by accident.”

“So I just happened to find them between realities.” I snorted, rolling my eyes and reconsidering leaving.

“Look, the way I understand it, people who have suffered have a looser grip on reality. They’re more prone to slip between the folds. I don’t know why you ended up finding them, but I know how we can find them again. And it all comes back to us going to the site they went missing.”

I chewed my lip, leaning back in, “So what, I’m less sane the closer I am to where they were last seen?”

He rolled his head back and forth, “I mean, I guess if you want to look at it like that.”

I leaned back again, folding my arms, “I hop in, grab my friends, hop out, is that the plan?”

“Not necessarily. We can’t be sure we’ll be alone, so I’ll be joining you.” I raised an eyebrow, “Due to how murky the science is, I don’t know how it works, but I should be able to follow your lead into the gap.”

I sighed, biting my lip as I tapped my foot. Clamping my eyes shut, I took a final deep breath. “Alright, I’ll show you. But I need some sleep first.”

—————————————–

As I pulled into a parking spot at the musty motel just outside my home town, I noted the fresh coat of paint, maybe only a decade old. It wasn’t much, but I held out hope they’d taken care of the bedbug and flee problems.

Greg rolled to a stop in his matte red prius. Hopping out my car he followed me into the main office. The inside had the faint odor of bad bone broth with a hint of spoiled milk, which only added to my previous hope.

We each got our own rooms, and headed back out into the dry but warm night. Getting to the second floor, we parted, entering our respective rooms. I prepared myself for the dry crunch under my feet, but was pleasantly surprised by a clean linoleum floor. “They got rid of the carpet.” I smiled, no longer concerned with the threat of bed bugs. The smell inside was like stale cleaner and the bottom of an ash tray, which was certainly better than the copper and vomit from the last time I stayed there.

I flopped to my bed, a groan reverberating from the building, “Can’t all be winners.” I muttered, chuckling to myself as the aether took me away.

——————————–

I was in the park, a light squealing coming from nothing. The air was dense, and I struggled to breathe. It was night, no stars, no clouds, just a dim moon overhead, as if the sun couldn’t bring itself to shine anymore. A crunch of frozen bark chips and dust resounded as I took a step, looking around. Nothing came into view, and I could only see about 10 feet in front of me. The odor of freshly cut grass crept into my nose as I looked around, taking another step.

Looking up, I found a familiar outline in the sky producing its own light, revealing the red flowers at my feet, five of them. Looking back up, its impression in the spots between spacetime grew eternally, expanding a mile a second, but the being never exceeded my field of vision. Its visage was nothing more than an imprint this time though, and it said nothing, it only reached out a hand as if to take me, if I allowed it.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

My eyes fluttered as I stared at the door, the entity abandoned from my vision in the moment. I focused on the door, waiting to see if it was even mine they were at.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

I stood, hesitating, then snuck to the door, noticing they’d installed peep holes, I looked through it to see a short woman in a trucker hat that said “FetchQuest™.” He yawned before looking at his phone, then a paper bag in his other hand. Putting his phone back he reached to knock again, but I cracked the door. “What do you want?”

She sounded bored or tired, maybe a combination? “Hello, I’m here with FetchQuest due to your recent request for a cashout in Hornet. Unfortunately we didn’t have cash on hand so I hope you’re fine with being paid in souls.”

“Huh?”

She continued, “Sign here to confirm you received your payment.” She had her phone in her hand again, and before I realized, I had the bag in my hand. So I signed. She hit a button, then held the phone out to me again, “Sign here to confirm you were okay with the payment method.” Again, I signed, still in a daze.

“Hold on, how did you find me?”

“And here to confirm you are in fact fine with us using the location data from your devices.”

“Hold on, what?”

“If you don’t sign it I am required to take back any items shipped using the data. We use your location to ensure proper delivery to the right person every time as soon as possible.” I paused, then signed. She put her phone away, and turned to leave, “Thank you for whathaveyou FetchQuest…” she murmured as she walked away, leaving me with a seemingly empty bag.

Shutting the door, I opened the bag to find two glowing crystals the size of toothpicks. “What a fucking jip.” I tossed them into my back pocket, rolling the bag into a ball and tossing it in the trash. “Guess it wasn’t my money anyway.” I dropped back on the bed, trying to fall back asleep, but my mind was too awake. Each time I took a deep breath to relax myself, it just spurred more random thoughts. Despite my everpresent exhaustion, I sighed, getting back up to slouch on the balcony for a bit.

Staring into the cloudy night, a warm breeze blew past me, drying my lips. I took slow deliberate breaths, the entity beyond coming in and out of focus as I switched between it and the moon. I wondered if it planned to kill me, and if that delivery driver had saved my life. But I scoffed the idea away, the absurdity not worth considering. Even so, my mind lingered on the idea, I couldn’t think of something else to think about to push the thought back. So it just came slamming into my brain like a battering ram.

“Can’t sleep?” Greg asked as he leaned on the railing beside me, lighting a cigarette with a dollar lighter.

“Eh, I was…”

“Knocking wake you up?”

“My bad, I wasn’t expecting the company.”

He took a short pull, blowing a cloud into the wind, “Nah you’re fine, I was still awake anyway. Bit anxious is all.”

I looked at him, his gaze was trained on the grassy sand ahead of us, but his eyes went further, “Yeah, I get that. Never really done anything like this before?”

“Nah.” A cloud spewed from his mouth with the word.

“Not sure any of this is gonna work?”

“Nah, well yeah, both of those are pretty accurate. It’s just… you know you read all this stuff, and even if you say you believe it, there’s always some doubt.”

I nodded as he offered me a cigarette, I held up my hand, “I’m good. But yeah, I get you, same thing with church for me growing up. You see all these people so passionate, but all you can think about is the what ifs that people tell you only sinners think of… though I guess that’s not really the same thing.”

He smirked, nodding, “Eh, don’t sell yourself short, not everything can really be compared to. Despite that… well you’re not as wrong as you think.”

I stared out, not looking at anything specific, and we shared a period of silence, a comfortable one. “I wanna apologize, I assumed you were gonna scam me outta my money or rob me or something. You were so cryptic I thought you were gonna try something.”

He chuckled, dropping the filter to the pavement below, “Don’t worry about it, I was half convinced you were gonna be a druggy. But I figured it was worth a shot to help you out if I could, y’know.” He stretched, turning back to his room.

“See you in the morning.” I said, staring back into the great nothing.

“Yeah, goodnight.”

I stood there, crickets came and went, the odd bat flew by, and eventually, a yawn took me into an exhausted sigh. I smiled up at the now clear moon as the hue of early dawn lit the far reaches of the horizon. “Guess we all gotta sleep some time.” I headed to my room, passing out on impact with the dusty bed. It was the first in a succession of dreamless nights, one that still follows me, but to be honest, I don’t mind it much.

————————————

We shuttled ourselves separately, taking our respective vehicles to the park. He was following close behind as the sun set again. We’d both overslept, and now there was an inexplicable chill to the air. Even through the heat vent blowing at my face, I could smell there was rain or snow in the distance.

Pulling into the park my old friends were last seen, I took a deep breath, flicked the car off, and hopped out. The moisture in the air accumulated on the ground, leaving the freshly cut grass frozen enough to crunch under my feet like dry leaves.

Greg hurried to my side as my legs wandered of their own accord. I looked around the rust-free playground. Glancing at the clouded moon, Greg spoke, “If you know where exactly it was, that might help?”

“Good one,” wisps of a cloud escaped from my nose. “I assume it was the around the treeline. Even if it isn’t here anymore, I assume that’ll work?” I stopped, looking at him.

He spun, noting the park was surrounded by new suburban homes, several oaks still marked the back, where a tiny forest had been just a couple decades before. “Yeah, a place is a place, shouldn’t matter if it looks different.”

“Alright.” I continued, heading to the furthest tree. Sitting, the crackle of frozen soil under me left my ass cold.

Greg sat beside me, “You ever astral projected before?”

“I… not intentionally, the train doesn’t really count.”

He inhaled, holding his breath, then releasing it over time. “Take deep breaths with me and close your eyes, shouldn’t be too difficult to induce it here. When you feel your mind releasing from your body, let it drift, don’t do anything or you’ll ricochet.”

“Breath with you and relax, got it.”

“Don’t focus on the releasing tension, seriously. You’ll reattach to your body and we’ll have to keep trying till you get it right.” He asserted, no room for disagreement.

I looked at him, then straight ahead, closing my eyes, “Whenever you’re ready.”

As he took the damp cold, I joined. On the exhale, I was light headed, and I never stopped breathing out, but I wasn’t holding my breath, or breathing in. I just was as the lightheaded sensation left me. My eyes opened, but my physical eyes were closed. The grounds between the mindseye and real eye were wat had opened, and everything had a slightly blue tint. The world was wrong in a different way from the last time. The trees glowed, the grass glowed, the metal poles nearby were nearly black, and as I looked up at the night sky, the moon was damp, despite the lack of clouds. Despite everything, all my mind could focus on in that moment, was that the entity in my vision was gone.

“Greg?” My voice jittered like cups and string, and I looked around, seeing Greg still sitting at the tree, a bluish energy stretching from his body as if glued on. Beside him, my body, reflecting light, but aside from two specs like glowsticks in my pocket, my body wasn’t producing any light. “The fuck?” I squatted next to myself, “Weird stuff, guess the books weren’t lying.”

“Is someone there?” I jerked my head, another stringy voice rippled to my ears as I looked for the source of the familiar voice. I stood, and the world was different, the trees from my childhood had returned. The suburbs returning to the small town I was familiar with. My brain throbbed like an anemic mind after standing too fast as it processed the two different scenes, hitting a traffic jam, before resting on the old scenery. A crunch came from under me as I stepped toward the origin of the voice. Moving my foot, I saw the red flower I’d crushed, pedals like spider legs, it seemed much too cold for anything like it to thrive.

“How long you been waiting?” A voice clearer than mine came from behind me.

I turned to see Greg’s essence standing and stretching. His body seemed to offput more light than myself, or the trees. “Not too long, did you hear the voice?”

He craned his neck, “Nah, just got here, I’m shocked you got here before me.”

“It’s the site of my missing friends.”

“Yeah, that’s true, guess I shouldn’t feel too bad.” He shot out a dry laugh, then looked into the row of houses in front of us. “Thought this was a small town, looks like the onset of the suburbs.”

“Looking back on it, they’d probably planned it like that from the beginning. But when my family move in, it was just this row and then a set of shops and stuff in town.”

“Gotcha, you headed into the forest then?”

I turned back to him, “Pretty sure I heard someone coming down the street a ways. Think I’ll check it out first.”

“For sure, I’ll stay here, keep an eye on our bodies so we don’t get possessed or something.”

I remembered the odd mention of possessions, but it was only mentioned in passing, “You don’t think there’s gonna be random souls around do you?”

“Depends on how many people died around this time if I had to guess. Can’t be sure but better safe than sorry. Don’y worry, I’ll keep watch on our bodies, if anything happens I’ll scream or something. Just bring your friends back here and I’ll take care of the rest.” He smiled, I smiled back, before booking it into town.

Building after building passed me by. Each one was in the wrong spot, like it was musical houses. I ran straight ahead, the road curving and turning for me when a dry, hissy gurgle vibrated the sky, bringing a feverish appearance to my surroundings. The buildings were smears beside me, my central vision was wabbly like a heat haze. Each step brought a new cold to my limbs, and I found myself sowing to a walk. Staring straight ahead, a six story house jostled in front of me. Each floor tacked on top of one another like lego bricks, some lining up, others sitting halfway off the one under it.

Looking down, my leg jittered, flicking in and out like a spotty connection. I stepped, and I was in front of the door. Behind me, the stretch of road and buildings were streaks, like a spider under a boot, I couldn’t discern them from one another.

I knocked, and the ground groaned, behind me, a shrieking sounded from the sky like a firework, shrill, with a bang at the end. I couldn’t turn around as the shrieks continued, closer and closer. One sounded right after another and another, the ground quaked. My body refused to turn, I could only move one way, and as the shrieking bangs whispered in my ear, I stepped through the closed door.

My vision returned to a regular blue tint, and everything was silent again. The pans hung still in the kitchen, a round staircase stood in the middle of the room, an end table with a lamp sitting in the center of it. To the right, an open living room. There were no windows, no other doors, just the staircase. Approaching it, I opened the end table, five spindly, spider-like, red flowers sat inside. Four looked freshly plucked, one was crushed flat, as if it were nothing but a sheet of paper.

A voice came overhead, “Henry?” It tugged at my neurons like strands of silk. I slammed the drawer shut, sprinting up the stairs. I climbed floor after floor, running against an escalator. Looking at the stairs below, they weren’t moving, but I was. After 10 floors, I stopped, staring ahead at the empty room of the second story. I turned around, and a female slammed into me, gripping me in a tight embrace. Before I could scream, a stinging cold like dry ice pressed against my shoulder, the sizzling accompanied a horrified crying.

“Henry, it’s been so long.” It wasn’t the man I’d heard before, but it was still vaguely familiar. If the other voice tangled like spider webs, this one stroked like a thought at the tip of your tongue. It came in subtle rubs until my brain connected the matured voice to.

“Emma?” A chuckle interrupted her crying.

“God you’ve changed, it’s nice to see you.” She stopped, then pulled away, gripping my shoulders. Her white hair and fare skin reminded me why she always needed an umbrella and sun screen when she went out. “No… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… I’m sorry you died…” A blush would’ve lit up her whole face, but instead all I saw was the blue tint around her.

“No, don’t be sorry, I’m not dead.” She turned back to me, head tilted, “I came to bring you guys back, where’s everyone else?”

“They’re upstairs, we haven’t really talked in a bit.” She turned away again, grimacing.

“Do you wanna just wait here then? I can get them and we can head down.”

“How does it work?”

I rolled my tongue around my mouth, “I have someone helping me out.”

“So there’s only two of you?” She turned back to me, her eyebrows nearly meeting as she stared with a mothers concern.

“Yeah, but he’s pretty informed, we should be fine with him.”

She stared hard at my face as we sat there, “And you’re sure he’s not gonna abandon you?”

I stood, “Yeah, he’s a good guy. But there is something out there, not sure what.”

“Okay,” she stood, “Sounds good.” A manic smirk split her chin fron the rest of her face, “Konnor, Tyler, you’re up.”

The hell? My brain overloaded, and despite my efforts, my legs were sandbags again. Two of my childhood friends sauntered down the stairs to our floor. Their faces were blurry, the only defining factors their hair, Konnor’s blonde, Tyler’s brown. Looking at Emma, her face was also a smear, but I could still make out the line across the bottom half of her face. Each of them looked at a spot near me, but none of them at my face.

“We’ll bring a couple back for you and Olive.” A nearly unintelligible voice sounded from Konnor.

“I’m sure she’ll be as excited as I am.” Emma lunged, tackling me to the floor, and pinning my arms and legs to the ground. She spouted on, each second her voice losing more meaning. Eventually becoming nothing but a dry crackle, like a distant radio station, too far away to be properly heard.

I flickered, and my eyes fluttered of their own accord. I tried to push against Emma, but the harder I tried, the more she sapped the energy from me. Sagging, I laid there for a moment, forcing my eyes open and glancing my surroundings, nothing. I took a deep mental breath, searching for anything that could get me out, anything I’d missed, any openings.

The door. How did I phase through the door? What caused it?

Another flicker, and my mind gave way, locking thoughts down to a narrow road, perpetually shrinking.

I didn’t think.

Another mental breath, and I let go of my mind. As I phased through the floor, I was revitalized. Reaching the ceiling of the floor down, my mind stirred and I fell. It didn’t hurt, but I had to reorient myself. Making it to the door, Emma fell down the stairs trying to get to me. 

“Don’t leave us!” I hesitated, looking back at her. Her face was visible again, tears streaked down her face, “Please…” she stepped forward, “It’s just so hard…”

My eyes stung, but I pushed through the door, sprinting full speed back to the park as tears streaked past my face.

My mind imploded, and I stopped. The buildings around me mere smudges, I turned to stare back at the six story abomination. In the 5th floor, a wispy woman sat, face blurred by distance, she waved to me. “Olive.” I rasped, a piece of myself drifting back to the building. I turned back, letting the tears flow as I chugged to the park.

Time sped past me like the town, and soon enough I saw Greg in the distance, “MY FRIEN-” I didn’t see anyone else nearby. Slowing, I looked around for my two friends, but they must’ve gone in the wrong direction or something.

“What was that!?” Greg yelled back to me.

I finished my way to the park, “Did anyone pass through?” A gurgle like an empty stomach rang out, vibrating our very souls. We flickered in and out of existence.

“Nah, maybe they took a wrong turn or something?” He darted his eyes nervously, “We oughtta get out of here though, whatever that sound is…”

I picked up the slack, “Yeah… It’s gotta be something fucked.”

“And your friends?”

I paused, looking back at the building, only the sixth floor visible, “Fuck ‘em.” As I turned back, a throbbing made its way through my chest. As I stared Greg in the eyes, they flickered along with a bittersweet smirk.

“I’m sorry man, he needed a body to come back.” I collapsed to the ground as he pulled the crystalline dagger away. “You seem like a good guy, and I hate to do this after getting to know you, but…”

I sunk, curling up and gripping my chest as the hyperdimensional entity carved its existence into the sky. As my head leaned against the ground, I found it wasn’t in the sky, but in my pupils. The creature’s blinding significance leaving me unable to see anything else. My vision warped through every color on the spectrum, leaving splotches of previous colors like afterimages from staring into the sun.

“We’ve known each other for so long, can’t just have your partner go and leave you.” There was a rustle, then a whisper in my ear, “I didn’t want to kill your friends, but they would’ve done the same to me.”

Then, no senses but sight. I stared at the entity who pierced its way through my eyelids. It’s ominous hand reaching for me as if to take what remained. I let go of myself and another rumble resounded through my soul, but I could hear it, “I… CAN… SAVE… YOU…” I laid there, gripping my chest as my body grew weak, then reached out my empty hand.

————————————-

I spent eternities, yet seconds in a vast expanse of nonexistence. Like a spaceship in a supervoid, there was only me, no possibility for communication, no chance for salvation. Only, I did have salvation, the entity that had taken to imprinting itself upon me, he had brought me salvation, a new chance for survival. But everything comes with a cost, but the great thing about gods, is that they only require praise.

When I woke, I was standing on a river bed, rocks under my bare feet. A sandy, algae-ridden, warm breeze blew past me. Gnats bit at my legs, and the sun beat down on me in waves as tiny clouds flew past it. Frogs croaked in the distance as I looked down.

In front of me were four, spider-like red flowers, the same ones, from the end table, the same type I’d stepped on. I picked the first one up holding it up to the sun to get a better look. Strands stuck out past the petals like thread, little bulbs atop them. Staring ahead, I saw four figures, two women, two men. The river flowed past me, I stepped toward it, setting the red flower in the water, leaving it to flow downstream. Looking up, Emma turned to leave.

One by one I set each of the flowers in the river, each floated off in different directions or speeds, but they all turned to walk the same direction. I sat there for a while, watching my friends wander into a foggy distance. I tried to cry, I wanted to, my eyes stung, but nothing came out.

Exhaustion overtook me, I fell to my back, screaming to the empty sky until a spec came into view. I squinted, the spec became a blot, then a flower, it landed on my chest, purple, half the petals sticking up, half down. As I held it up, my eyes fluttered.

The scenery was different, I was staring at a ceiling. I looked around, and I was laying on my couch, my kitchenette sitting with the light on. Books were strewn about my coffee table and floor. I stood, my legs wavering, I fell back to my ass, something stabbing me. Leaning over, I pulled something from my back pocket. In my hand sat two toothpick thin crystals, no glow emanating from them. “The fuck?” Holding them up, they shimmered as they passed in front of my chest. I dropped them, gripping the pain, but it was gone.

Ripping off my shirt, there sat in the center of my chest a black splotch the width of a knife like frostbite.