Chapter 14: Blood

Chapter 14
Blood

“Who are they?”

“The organization opposing Eason’s.”

“So the bad guys?”

“I suppose.”

I raised my hand and yelled out. A yellow car stopped before us. Grace and I got into the car.

“The corner of Kensington and Fifth,” Grace stated.

The cab began to move.

We sat there in silence. Grace had changed out of her hospital gown and into her normal clothes before leaving the hospital. She still wore no make-up, and her eyes stared at the Teddy bear in her hand.

“What’re you going to name him?”

She looked at me. “Him?”

“The teddy bear.”

“Who says he’s a he?” Maybe he’s a she?”

“Don’t you mean ‘she’s a she?’”

“You’re such a dork.”

I smiled. “What’s her name?”

“Gilbert.”

“She’s a he now?”

“Look at that ferocious face. Of course Gilbert’s a he. He told me so.”

“Okay,” I acquiesced. “Gilbert it is. How do you do, Gilbert?”

I moved closer to the Teddy bear.

“What’s that?”

A pause.

“Oh really?”

I glanced at Grace.

“I’m confused about that too.”

“What’s he saying?” Grace smiled.

“He wants to know why you don’t like hospitals?”

Grace stared at me – her eyes wide.

“Gilbert asked it.”

She shook her head. “You wouldn’t tell me about strawberries.”

“What’s that?” I moved in toward Gilbert. “Oh, you’re right.”

“And what did Gilbert say now?”

“He said not to pry into things that should remain buried.”

“Gilbert seems to be wise when needed.”

“Well, appearances can be deceiving. Even bears with ferocious faces can hide wisdom. But you’re right.

“I’ve always loved strawberries. My friend Donny knew that. He was the only friend I had – he was a brother to me. My parents were never around – too busy working. Because of that, I never really talked to other kids in class. I was myself, and I took care of myself. During lunch on the first day of high school, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with me – actual grape jelly. Donny sat down next to me and noticed I was eating the same thing.

“’You have a PB and J too? Right on!’

"I didn’t acknowledge him, but he didn’t care. When he saw that I had jelly in mine, he snatched the sandwich from my hand and trashed it.

“’Try this. It’s much better.’

"That’s when I first had a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. It was much better. I had always loved strawberries, but Donny showed me the way. And we became friends. He always treated me better than I did him. A month before graduation, Donny brought me a slice of strawberry cake because I was accepted here. He asked me to go to the mall with him after school, but I turned my back on him. He went by himself. He was hit by a car. The driver was changing radio stations and didn’t see him. That was the last time I had strawberries.”

I took off my toque. “This was Donny’s. That’s why I won’t switch it. I gave up strawberries, and I kept this toque to remind myself how painful it is to be connected.”

I looked at Grace. “I don’t like hospitals either, but you don’t have to tell me why. The past is painful.” I put my toque back on.

“I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

“Fair enough.”

“If the Children of Medea know about you, what do we do?”

“What we’ve been doing. Why should we stop for them?”

We were suddenly thrown forward. Our car skidded out of control. And then we stopped.

I looked at Grace. She was clutching onto Gilbert.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded.

Something then landed on the hood of the car – a black mass. Suddenly, a head looked up from the darkness, and I saw a wicked smile light in his eyes. He struck his hand through the glass and pulled the driver out. A bloody flash. Blood spilled from the neck of the driver, and the man bent down and began to drink.

I opened my door, grabbed Grace’s hand, and ran.

“As fast as you can,” the man laughed.

Within a moment, he was in front of us.

“Who are you? Do you work with the Children of Medea?”

“Them?” he laughed. “No. Not those miserable fools. I am my own agent.” He creaked his head to a side. He was draped in black.

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee

Chapter 13: Sound

Chapter 13
Sound

The Crossroads’ doors opened before me.

“If you do this, you won’t be standing alone.”

I walked in.

“You’ll be in a whirlpool drowning alone.”

The mall had closed because of the incident, but I called in a favor to open the doors. It was growing dark out, but the Crossroads were well lit. I walked down toward the food court.

I looked at my cell-phone. It had one more bar on its battery. It had one bar for its signal. I closed my eyes, and I hit the green button.

Outbound…

“You realize this is suicide?”

Within moments, I could hear the skittering feet of a Widow, I could hear the slithering tongue of the Salamander, and I could hear the galloping hooves of a Nightmare. It wasn’t what I was looking for. I opened my eyes and looked around the shadows. Nothing moved. I closed my eyes once more, and I listened.

“You came across this one? The Shadow Eater?”

The sound of the Affects echoed through the dead halls of the Crossroads. It was quiet, and it was unnerving. A place of liveliness turned silent.

“That’s an old Affect – we don’t have an exact date as to when it first surfaced. All we know is that it consumes the shadows of living beings to sustain itself.”

The three Affects moved closer to me, and I still had not found the Shadow Eater. I opened my eyes and terminated the call.

“Show yourself! You devoured five shadows today; devour one more!”

Two bars.

The three Aspects still moved closer. I ran through the Crossroads as they chased me, entering so many shops and stores, but still, no Shadow Eater. I traversed onto the second floor for better sight.

A stall exploded behind me and a whinnying howl cried through the mall. I ran toward the escalators. I closed my eyes and reopened them. I ascended the escalator, and I heard the Nightmare dash up behind me. Just as I neared the top, I leapt forward as the Widow descended down, striking with its eight legs. It missed. The Nightmare leapt up and crashed into the Widow, rending it to pieces upon impact. The Nightmare careened toward the ledge and shattered through the banister. It fell and bespattered the floor.

I turned around and saw the Salamander leaping toward me.

“Your limit looks to be three, and you’ve used it twice already.”

A black maw opened up and devoured the creature whole.

I quickly rose from the ground and stared at the black mass before me. Across the mass, eyes opened and stared at me. The black peeled back to reveal glinting teeth.

“I am quite full, boy, but it seems you’re special, so I will have another helping,” the Affect spoke. “But shadows don’t seem to interest me anymore after I ate your friend’s, Hank. ”

My lip curled and bared my teeth.

“Yes, I know everything about you now. A shadow is so much more than what you humans think. A shadow is attached to a person – lives their lives with them. It is the person. How can you have one without the other? But your friend’s shadow was different. After eating hers, I lost all taste for shadows because how could any shadow taste as good as hers? And thanks to that delicious meal, I can manifest myself without having to slink across surfaces. Hers was a special shadow that allowed me to taste flesh.”

The creature melted back into the ground and disappeared.

“Oh don’t look so angry boy. Your friend’s shadow still remains separate from me, but it’s losing strength.”

Three bars. My hands clenched tightly around my phone.

“Was she special to you boy?”

“Didn’t you want to stand alone?

“So why crawl here begging me for help?

“What makes her so special?”

“Then you can join her soon.”

I closed my eyes.

“What was that? That blast wave?”

“Her last moments will be alone. You could have spent them with her, but now, both of you will die alone.”

The speakers in the Crossroads flared alive.

“You only get one shot!” Eason’s voice echoed through the mall.

Four bars.

Music began to blare. A song I hadn’t heard since last year. It was the song that car played.

The sound reverberated through the air and showed me that black mass leaping from the ceiling toward me.

I opened my eyes and stared at it.

Five bars.

“One is more than enough!” I yelled as I swung my phone toward it.

A wave of pure sound blasted from my phone. The Shadow Eater was caught by it, and I could see a wave pass through its form. Its body was torn to pieces, disintegrating upon the blast. Within a second, nothing was left. No Shadow Eater, no sound.

“If you had stayed to your shadows, I might not have been able to get you. But you grew arrogant after eating my friend’s shadow!” I yelled through the halls.

Zero bars for signal. Zero bars for battery. I fell to the floor

Eason soon found me.

“What now?”

“Is Grace-”

“Let me take you there.”

“Give me one second.”

Eason drove to the hospital, and I was ushered to Grace’s room. She laid there in bed, silent. She had no make-up on, and she looked pale but peaceful. The only sound in the room was the beeping of the EKG. I sat down in a chair.

“Wake up.”

I opened my eyes and found morning. Grace sat in her bed, holding the teddy bear.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“How are you feeling?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I want to know.”

“Get me out of here. I hate hospitals,” she smiled painfully.

We signed her out, and we left.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She held onto me as we walked out. “Where do we go from here?”

“I don’t know, but Eason said they know about me now.”

“Who?”

“The Children of Medea.”

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee

Chapter 12: Echoes

Chapter 12
Echoes

I was running.

“Hey, Hank! What’re you doing later?”

He smiled.

Out of the crossroads and into the noisy streets.

“I’m going to do homework.”

Honking cars and shouting people.

He sighed. “You know – it’s not healthy to work so hard.”

I didn’t know what to do.

“It’s not healthy to lounge about all day either.”

“Are you saying I lounge about all day?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s true. So, we’re two-of-a-kind then.”

“Something like that.”

“Come on! It’s Friday. You can do your homework on Sunday. Let’s go have fun. Let’s go

I didn’t know where

to the mall!”

“Not today, Donny.”

“Man, forget it. I’ll go by myself.”

“You do that.”

I turned around and walked away.

to go it didn’t matter where just that I was gone.

“Oh yah!”

He grabbed me by the shoulder.

“I almost forgot to give this to you.”

He handed me a tin-wrapped plate. I opened it.

“I can’t believe I almost forgot. My mom made some last night for our study session, but you left before she finished.”

A slice of strawberry cake.

A flat line ticking in my head.

“What’s this for?”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise ‘cause you were accepted to Lawrence College! Congratulations!”

Run Run Run

“I don’t know what to say.”

As fast as you can

“Thanks would be good enough. Or say you’ll go hang out.”

“Thanks.”

Out of breath but still running.

“So close.”

lives so fragile to be connected to shatter fragments build cities and ruins…

We laughed.

Reachin-

The bell ringed.

Callin-

“Alright then, Hank. Take care.”

“You too, Donny.”

Lunch had ended. I went to Calculus and Donny to English. Sixth period ended. I walked home. Sirens flaring as the ambulance blared down the street past me toward the mall. Anxious. Nervous. Uneasiness.

Giving.

I began to run.

My feet had taken me there.

“What’s going on here?” the voices intermingling in my head.

“I need your help, Eason.”

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee

Chapter 11: Shadows

I went to school the next day, and it was a normal day. I turned my back to Affects and Aspects. But everything was different. I knew now. I couldn’t return to my normal days.

Calling…

“Hi!”

“Hi.”

“So…”

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yah, I am. Do you want to do something?”

“Track an Affect?”

“Oh you’re no fun. Let’s go to the Crossroads at 10.”

“What?”

“Okay, see you there! And dress fun!”

Call ended: 1:32.

I stared at my phone. What’s the Crossroads?

I woke up the next morning and walked toward my closet. I wore another white dress shirt, another pair of black jeans, and the same grey hooded jacket. Dress fun? I wore a striped red and blue tie. That’s fun. I grabbed my toque and left.

I had to take three buses to get to the Crossroads. When I arrived, I found myself staring at a large gargantuan mall. The website had said it was large, but this was ridiculous. Four stories of pure commercial vampirism that spanned across four corners of an intersection. Numerous walkways connected the buildings on differing levels – making it easier for you to access another store where your money would disappear. And the noise.

“Hey!”

I turned around. There she stood, looking like she always did.

“You’re not in fun dress!”

“I’m wearing a fun tie.”

“That’s not a fun tie! That’s still formal and serious. And what’s with everything else? You always wear that toque.”

“It’s my favorite toque.”

“Have you thought of getting a different one?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I shook my head.

“Fine, let’s get you a tie though.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the Northwest building. We entered the Hendrick’s Department Store and moved toward the Men’s department. One of the saleswoman there turned to look at us, and in a glance, she had already sized us. She walked over toward us – her high heels clicking and clacking across the marbleized floor.

“How can I help you?” she said with blatant disdain.

“You can’t,” Grace smiled in reply. “We’ll look on our own.”

And we pushed past the saleswoman. A muted curse parted from her lips and reached only her ears and mine. Same to you. We arrived at the tie selection, which composed of an entire wall, a two-tiered table in front of the wall, and three racks hung full of ties. Grace began to search through that sea of ties.

“I think a pink tie would look good on you.”

“Pass.”

“How about this one?” She held up a checkered black and white tie.

“No.”

“Maybe skulls?”

“Do they even sell skulls here?”

“Not here but at Hot Top-“

“No. And skulls aren’t fun.”

“Says who?”

“Me.”

She laughed.

“Well then, how about this one?”

She held up a plain red tie.

“How is this one any more fun?”

“Let me patch it.”

“No skulls.”

“No skulls.”

“Okay.”

So we walked over to the cashier, but someone had misplaced a Teddy Bear in the men’s department. Grace picked it up and held it.

“It’s so cute!” she screamed.

“Aren’t you too old to have stuffed animals?”

She pouted and put it down. She dashed toward the cashier’s. Before I could reach her, she had already paid for it.

“You didn’t have to buy me this. I could’ve-“

“Most people say thank you when they’re presented a gift.”

“I didn’t want a gift.”

She wrung her mouth. “No, you just want to be a shadow, pretending that you don’t care about anyone and that no one cares about you. Maybe you don’t want a gift, but have you ever thought that I wanted to get you something?”

Grace threw the tie at me and ran off.

I held the tie in my hand. I ran after her. I couldn’t find her, so I closed my eyes and put my phone against my ear. The noise of the shopping center filled my mind, and I searched through the waves of images to find her. I found her on the floor below. How big is this place? I ran forward and looked over a railing. I found her running in the food court.

I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. She sent me to voicemail. I looked over the rails at her as I ran down an escalator. Then, I saw something slink from a chair’s shadow. It flowed toward a table where a family sat. I saw it split down the middle, forming a dark two-dimensional maw, and swallow the family’s shadow. All four, father, mother, children, collapsed onto the table. I could hear their hearts suddenly stop. Grace turned around and looked at them.

Don’t do it.

She ran toward them. And she collapsed too.

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee