The Real

by James Cole

  Tavalin asked, “Are you going to tell him?”

  “Tell me what?” asked Jeremy.

  “As much as I want to, I can’t break my own rule,” replied Monika. “Everybody else had to commit before understanding the full extent of the rewards. But Jeremy, believe what I say: You want what the Source provides, but to get it, you first have to take the vow. That’s the deal.”

  Incredibly, Jeremy recognized that a wretched side of him still longed for Monika, even after all that she had done. This defect in him actually thought this the ideal situation: What if the only way to save Jinni was to take the vow and drink of the Source and become whatever it was that Monika wanted him to become? Could a cause as noble as saving Jinni’s life justify a deal with the devil?

  Meaning to milk this for all it was worth, Jeremy asked Tavalin, “If you were me, what would you do?”

  The wind gusted and a few stray sprinkles of rain landed on Jeremy’s face.

  “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,” replied Tavalin, stealing a line from a Dylan song. “It’s really quite simple. Join us and live. Don’t, and die.”

  “I’ll do it,” Jeremy said, “but only if you let Jinni go.”

  “No can do.” Monika did not waver. “Either way, Jinni’s toast, and we won’t be able to move forward with any of this until she is out of the way.”

  “And if I refuse?” asked Jeremy.

  “If you refuse, we kill the both of you.”

  There was no reason to doubt Monika’s ultimatum. She had killed before and Jeremy knew she would not hesitate to skip along the same murderous path with Jinni and him.

  “If you won’t let Jinni go, then I’m not interested in anything you or Claire’s Way has to offer,” Jeremy declared.

  “Alright, then.” Monika’s tone was cold. To Tavalin, she added, “Tie them up – to each other.”

  Monika held both guns while Tavalin tied Jeremy’s ankles together and his wrists behind his back. He repeated the process for Jinni.

  Jeremy pleaded, “Can’t we settle this in some civilized fashion, Monika? It doesn’t have to end like this.”

  “You made your bed and now you will damn well sleep in it.” Monika was livid. “I offered you the world and you turned me down – twice. And for what? This? Your precious little Jinnigirl?”

  Monika’s face filled with contempt as she gave Jinni the once-over. “Now, I’m going to need for both of you to stand up.” Monika’s tone had a disturbing finality about it.

  Finally, Jeremy’s anger erupted. “Grady was a good man and June was a friend of mine and you – you, Monika, are nothing but a despicable beast! Hell would be too fine a fate for you.”

  “If hell is my destiny then I say bring it on!” With a brazen grin she added, “Burn, baby, burn.”

  In the distance, thunder rumbled.

  Jeremy and Jinni stood back to back while Tavalin bound their wrists and ankles together in pairs, leaving just enough slack so they could stand. When he was done, Tavalin stepped back to admire his handiwork.

  “That ought to hold them,” he bragged. “Now what?”

  “Come here, Tavalin,” replied Monika, “so we can talk privately.”

  While Tavalin and Monika whispered their dark plans on the far side of the fire, Jeremy lent a voice to his regrets. More than anything, he wished to erase all the bad decisions that led him to this point in time. If he were granted a do-over, he would certainly choose to stay away from Monika and Reefers Woods, just as Grady had advised. Had he stayed true to Jinni and listened to Grady, Grady and June would not have died and he and Jinni would not be standing here, tied back to back with each other and standing face to face with death.

  Considering that this might be the bitter end, Jeremy felt fear and sorrow and regret for himself, but all paled in comparison to the despair he felt for Jinni’s sake. She was the innocent one, yet fate had rendered this to be her final hour, bound and gagged atop this God-forsaken rock. But could he really expect fate to step in and take the blame for this? It sickened Jeremy, but he knew it was he who bore full responsibility for plunging Jinni, the light of his life, under the mantle of Monika’s dark dominion.

  *****

  Jeremy had been raised in the church and had been taught that the human soul survives death. But now, as he faced the stone-cold reality of his own demise, he found he had no idea what he believed in his heart. Before tonight, death had been this monster in the closet that he knew one day he would have to face, but the closet door had been locked up tight and the dreaded confrontation a problem for the distant future, abstract and unfathomable. Now, suddenly and unexpectedly, the monster had been released to whisper its oft-repeated elegy of the ages.

  The bell tolls for thee.

  Every experience, every problem and every thought became totally insignificant and irrelevant in the context of this single climactic moment. If only he had spent less time worrying about the trivialities of day-to-day living and had instead searched for those things that make a man’s life worthwhile, whatever they might be.

  How ironic, he thought, that one sees life best through the perspective of dying eyes.

  Of all that Jeremy feared, the worst was that he might be held accountable for all he did wrong. Because of his lust for Monika and the Unreal, and because of his disregard for Grady’s warnings, Jeremy was responsible for June’s and Grady’s deaths. It seemed likely that Jinni’s name would soon be added to the list.

  What if, Jeremy wondered, all those Bible stories are true and there really is a price to pay for my transgressions?

  What if God is real?

  As disquieting as was the idea of a personal judgment day, the alternative lent Jeremy little consolation.

  What if the evolutionists are correct in their belief that life arose spontaneously from some primeval broth, unassisted by any benevolent creator, and death is the end of all ends?

  Jeremy didn’t know which would be worse – life after death with judgment rendered or the equally disturbing notion of oblivion after death.

  In consideration of that latter concept, Jeremy wondered, how will it feel to be deprived of the sensations of living in this world? Will this bitterness coating my mouth and heart never turn sweet again? Will this smell of wood smoke and rain be the last to register in my nostrils? Are these rumblings of thunder the last sounds to vibrate upon the drums of my ears? When I’m gone, who will recall the foolish days, the wasted days and the rarer days when wisdom reigned? What of my mom, my dad, my sister, and all the friends who came and went?

  The predestined rain finally arrived at the King’s Pinnacle, prompting Tavalin to grab raincoats from a nearby bag for Monika and him. Jeremy and Jinni had no provision to repel the cold water. The raindrops sizzled as they hit the fire but did not immediately diminish the flames. Rather, it was the wind that seized control, whipping the flames violently about with an intriguingly familiar sound.

  And what of Jinni? Will I ever again look upon her face or will her dwindling body heat against my back be the last sensation that will pass between us? What of the intimate connection shared by two souls who knew one another so well that a secret smile passed between them spoke a thousand words? Must all great loves one day part? Will death –as the atheists proclaim – erase everyone and everything, including the love I share with Jinni?

  More than anything, Jeremy wanted the true answer to all of his questions. Yet, it was the distinct fluttering sound produced by the wind in the fire that his mind insisted he dwell upon.

  Where have I heard that sound before?

  Finally, it hit him. He had been standing right here in his dream, in his vision of the real, and in it he heard that same fluttery-flapping sound. In the vision, it originated from the wings of the angel-being as she took flight.

  With a thunderous retort, the rain shower became a deluge. Before Jeremy could guess what might happen next, an ear-splitting concussion shook the foundations of his world. What he initi
ally thought was a brilliant lightning flash and concurrent thunder was something altogether different. Below, there appeared a huge sphere of white light, as large as the gorge itself, rising up and away from the valley floor. More beautiful than any earthly fireworks display, its appearance was exactly as it had been in Jeremy’s vision, with beams of ethereal light shooting off in every direction like from an enormous disco ball. Gleefully, Jeremy read the dumb amazement, confusion and fear in the silhouettes of their captors, and though Monika and Tavalin did not understand, Jeremy did: The rain caused the jar left floating in the pool to sink, and, as advertised, rubidium does indeed detonate upon contact with water. As for the very strange and beautiful way in which the fireball of white light dispersed, Jeremy attributed to the rain-soaked atmosphere. Residual rubidium, pulverized but not consumed by the initial blast, was thrust heavenward into the saturating rain to transmit the white light of the reaction ubiquitously through the atmosphere like an electric current.

  As quickly as it came, the white light of the rubidium explosion faded, though its image remained entrenched on Jeremy’s retinas. Doused by the same rain that triggered the blast, Tavalin’s fire fizzled and its bubble of warm light contracted until all that remained were some glowing embers and a few curly streamers of white smoke.

  Monika marched over to Jeremy and, like an angry drill sergeant at close range, screamed, “What the hell was that? What did you do to my tree?”

  “I have no idea,” Jeremy replied. “But whatever it was, it was beautiful, don’t you think?”

  Monika slapped Jeremy hard across his left cheek and glared at him with eyes ruthless and wild. “The time has come to say goodbye,” she said as she pressed the barrel of the cocked gun hard against his temple. Without removing the gun from Jeremy’s head, she rotated around to Jinni and cruelly ripped the duct tape from her lips. “Tell me what just happened or your boyfriend dies.”

  “I don’t know,” Jinni stammered. “We didn’t do anything. Maybe it was a lightening strike or something.”

  Monika’s countenance softened ever so slightly. “You better hope that’s all it was,” she said and abruptly turned and picked her way down the slope that led to the floor of the gorge. “Watch them, Tavalin, while I investigate.”

  As soon as Monika was gone, Jinni whispered, “She’s going to kill us when she finds out what we did, isn’t she?”

  “Yes,” Jeremy replied somberly. “I’m afraid so.”

  “Then we have to jump.”

  Jeremy considered Jinni’s proposal. “I’m pretty sure the fall would kill us both,” he finally said.

  “After Monika shoots us, she’ll probably throw us over the edge anyway.”

  Jeremy almost laughed. “I guess you’ve got a point.”

  Tavalin, whose attention had been directed toward the floor of the gulch, glared across at them. “Shut up,” he said, “or I get to shoot you.”

  As Jeremy envisioned the jump, a queasy sensation swept through his stomach and down into his legs, as if he were already falling. His leap from the church belfry had been tough enough and then he had only to transverse a few feet of space between the rail and the tree. Jinni’s plan, if one could even call it that, was infinitely more terrifying and the chances of escape – indeed, their chances of survival – were infinitesimally small.

  Jeremy waited until Tavalin once again turned his attention toward the floor of the gulch before whispering, “Let’s just wait a bit and see what happens.”

  “We have to decide now,” Jinni implored, “before she comes back.”

  After a long pause, Jeremy finally replied, “I’ll do it but only if there’s no other way.”

  “How will I know when you’re ready?”

  “If it comes to that, I’ll squeeze your hand three times.” Jeremy hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “If you still want to jump, just squeeze back.”

  “And then?”

  “And then we just hop off.”

  Jeremy looked over his shoulder, beyond the frightened profile of Jinni’s face and over the cliff’s edge to where the dying firelight gave way to the hovering darkness. He could hear the sound of the river as it boiled below, and he cringed at the thought of every aspect of their meager plan. Even if they survived the fall, they must still contend with The Devil’s Crotch – all while bound together. As much as the thought of the fall scared him, the proposition of death by drowning was worse.

  While he had the chance, Jeremy wanted to say something that would convey his feelings toward Jinni. But what? If this was the end, he didn’t want his last words to consist of trite clichés.

  With a jolt he remembered that he never did tell Jinni about the engagement ring he bought for her. “You know, Jinni, I picked up something a while back,” he said, “but I never got the chance to give it to you.”

  “Oh yeah? What is it?”

  “A ring.”

  “A ring? What kind of ring?”

  “I was wondering-,” he began haltingly, “if we get out of this alive – if you would, you know, consider marrying me?”

  Jinni did not reply, but Jeremy could feel the undulations of her body against his back and even Tavalin, distracted as he was peering into the gorge after Monika, took note of Jinni’s heaving sobs.

  “I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Jinni finally managed to say. “But I must say, your timing sucks. Why did you wait so long?”

  “I’m sorry. I know now what a fool I’ve been.”

  By the time Monika returned, Tavalin’s fire was extinguished and darkness had engulfed the rock shelf.

  Eagerly, Tavalin asked, “Well? What did you see down there?”

  “It’s gone,” Monika replied morosely. “The tree is completely destroyed. And lightning,” she added as she turned to glare at Jeremy, “had nothing to do with it.”

  Even in the intermittent illumination afforded by Tavalin’s flashlight, Jeremy recognized the look on Monika’s face as that same expression of pure, unadulterated evil she had let show at the ceremony when he refused the vow. He knew, without a doubt, they had no recourse. Jeremy gathered his resolve and thrice squeezed Jinni’s hand. She responded in kind and thus initiated their plan of last resort. Like some lame version of a three-legged race, they hopped to the edge of the precipice. As they toppled over the edge, Jeremy thought he heard the crack of a gun, but could not be sure.

  As they dropped into the void, their bodies rotated slowly on a horizontal axis, head over heels. Jeremy felt as if he were floating. Would they ever hit bottom? When they did, might some version of salvation be waiting for them there, or was it a destiny of a more sinister nature that lurked below in the swirling waters of the River Sticks?

  *****

  So severe was the impact that Jeremy assumed they had missed the water and landed on the rocks. The next thing he knew, someone had a stranglehold around his neck. He struggled to break free but his assailant’s grip squeezed all the tighter.

  “Stop! Stop it!” urged a familiar voice. “You’ll drown the both of us.”

  As more of his facilities returned, he realized they were on the downriver side of the rapids and he was being dragged across the surface of the frigid water.

  “You saved me?” asked Jeremy.

  Somehow Jinni had managed to keep the both of them afloat and alive, even though he had been rendered temporarily unconscious by the impact with the water’s surface.

  Through chattering teeth, Jinni replied, “I guess all those summers working as a lifeguard finally paid off. “But without this,” she added, “I would have lost hold of you for sure.”

  Jinni lifted a leg from the water to reveal the rope still tied to her ankle. Tavalin’s tie job had unwound so that she and Jeremy were still tethered together, but with two or three feet of slack in between. The ropes that had bound their wrists together were nowhere to be found.

  “Where are they now?” Jeremy asked, as he worked to untie the rope from their ankles.

&nbs
p; Before Jinni could answer, gunfire erupted.

  “We’ve got to hide!” exclaimed Jeremy.

  “No we don’t – look!”

  Jinni’s trembling forefinger pointed toward the shore. Right there, at the river’s edge were two jet-skis – Monika’s and Tavalin’s rides.

  Jinni waded over and quickly announced the good news. “They left the keys.”

  “Get on,” urged Jeremy.

  As Jeremy climbed aboard the other jet-ski, a bullet tore into the water mere inches away. Their foes had a solid fix on their positions. He ran his hands over the handlebars, feeling frantically for an ignition switch or a key.

  “How do you crank this thing?” he cried.

  Jinni grabbed his hand and directed it to the switch.

  “Go, go!” he yelled.

  Jinni took off. As Jeremy maneuvered his craft away from the bank, the last thing he heard was Monika’s voice, screaming and cursing. Finally, Jeremy got his jet ski pointed in the right direction and lurched away, following in Jinni’s wake.

  Scant minutes later, barely out of gunshot range, Jinni’s craft slowed dramatically. Jeremy feared the worst.

  Pulling alongside, he asked, “What’s wrong? Are you hit?”

  “Not that,” she replied ominously. “I’m freezing.”

  The only protection Jinni had from the elements was a paper-thin windbreaker worn over her sopping-wet sweat suit. Plowing through the wind, as they were, only accelerated what the rain and the dip in the ice-cold water had set into motion. Jeremy could now see that Jinni was shaking violently and he knew, under these conditions, hypothermia was inevitable.

  “Here, take this.”

  Jeremy doubted his wet coat could hold in much heat, but he helped put it on Jinni anyway. No matter, she could not stand to stay exposed for much longer and neither could he. Sunrise was still two hours removed and the temperature was dropping fast. They needed shelter or, better yet, a fire. The heaviest part of the rain had let up for now, but Jeremy knew it would be next to impossible to get a fire going under these wet conditions. He wasn’t even sure he had the means to start a fire, as he had left his backpack and everything in it behind at the gulch.