by Tim Meyer
“Careful!” he said. He bent down, mindful of the possibility that Aurelia would escape his clutches, and reached for the Denlax. He gripped it with his fingers and sprung back to a standing position, his arm still around Aurelia's throat. He examined the camera for any damage, while Aurelia squirmed. “You're lucky you didn't break it,” he spat.
“all right, Boone. You have the camera, now let her go,” I demanded.
His eyes flickered. They were the eyes of a monster, probably the same monster that Arthur Denlax became after meddling in dark magic for so many years. His lips twisted into something that was less of a smile, and more of a snarl.
“You want the bitch,” he said to me, “then go and get her.”
Before I could react, Boone took Aurelia by the hair and flung her body toward the mirror like a professional wrestler throwing his opponent over the top rope. The liquid mirror enveloped her, and within seconds she disappeared inside of it.
Boone looked back at me. I could not immediately react to what I had just seen. He smiled and waved at me. Tucking the camera underneath his arm, Boone dove into the mirror.
We watched the strange mirror devour him, and he was gone.
2
“What the hell?” Little Chris asked. “What the hell just happened?”
“The portal...” I uttered, although I didn't realize I was talking. “The portal.”
I stepped forward in a daze, not realizing I had done so. Little Chris clamped his hand on my shoulder once again, and stopped me.
“What do you think you're doing?” he asked.
“I'm going after her.”
“What?”
“I'm going after her!” I yelled.
“What are you? Fucking crazy?”
“Maybe I am.” I turned away from him and took one step forward. Again, he stopped me. “Chris, look—”
A sudden gust of wind, more powerful than your average current, blew through the attic, nearly knocking me off balance. It swirled around the room, knocking the microphone off the table that rested in the corner of the room. Another powerful blast came forth from the mirror's direction, knocking Chris and I back a few steps.
“You can't do this, man!” he yelled over the sounds of the invisible current. “I won't let you!”
“Chris, you don't understand!” I yelled back. “I have to!”
“No, you don't! We can get out of here! We can... close the portal and leave!” He screamed, pointing to the standalone mirror in the center of the room.
I looked at the swirling glass. Would it even break if we smashed it against the floor? I didn't know. I supposed it might. What other choice did we have than to try? We had to close the portal before Denlax could escape his exile. But I knew I couldn't... I couldn't leave Aurelia behind. I had to... had to go after her.
“Go grab your bat!” I said, just as another strong blow nearly lifted me off my feet.
“What?” he asked.
“Grab your bat!” I screamed. He nodded. “Break every mirror in the house! If I'm not back with Aurelia by the time you're done... then... you know what to do?” It was more of a command than it was a question.
He nodded again.
Little Chris wished me luck before disappearing into the doorway, but I didn't hear him. I was already facing the mirror. The mirror which was no longer an ebbing clear liquid, but a swirling dark cloud. It was changing rapidly. Becoming more turbulent. It contorted and rippled violently, like a muddy puddle that had been disturbed by footsteps. I moved toward it, planting one foot in front of the other, but I found it difficult because of the gale-force wind that was thrusting against me. I was moving slowly, hardly at all, and the mirror was still a good five steps away.
Stay away, Ritchie-my-bitchie! Stay away! a voice spoke in my head. You don't need to come in here. I will come to you! And you can do my bidding, the voice informed me. You can serve me well. Yes, indeed. Won't you like that? I'm very powerful. I can do a great many things!
I'm coming for Aurelia, I said back, not expecting a reply.
She's just a girl, Ritchie. There's tons of them out there. Plenty of fish in the sea, they say in your world. I'll help you find another one, just like her. But I need her. I need her inside the House of Mirrors!
I was able to gain two more steps. The mirror was only another arm's length away.
You can have Boone! What do you need her for?
Boone! The voice cackled wildly. Boone is an idiot. An insignificant piece of trash in the Great Verse's dump.
The Great Verse?
Aye, The Great Verse. The Verse in which all universes exist. I can show you. I have the power. Let me, Ritchie-my-bitchie. Let me show you. I have chosen you. You should count yourself lucky to be at my side when I conquer your world, and others like it.
You're not going to conquer anything, you piece of shit.
My fingertips reached the mirror. They penetrated the swirling clouds where an ordinary mirror only held reflective glass. My fingers felt cold, as if on the other side of the mirror was a big block of ice. Soon, my hand became completely immersed, and a cold, freezing sensation shot up my arm, into my spine, and down my back.
Disappointing really. I had high hopes for you, Ritchie-my-bitchie.
Go fuck yourself, Denlax.
My arm became completely lost within the dark cloud. Then, without warning, something yanked on it. As my head entered the gray swirling clouds, I felt the wind tug on the lower half of my body. The next thing I knew I was suspended in the air. I felt like the rope in a game of tug-of-war; the two worlds were fighting for me, tearing me apart.
My eyes were clenched shut, in fear of looking at whatever was beyond the mirror. As my chest passed through the portal, my body became numb, as if I had been submerged in an ice bath.
Shame on you, boy. We could've been great. We could've been the best traveling act this world has ever seen!
Then my feet passed through the mirror and my body fell (for what seemed like ten feet), and I connected with something solid.
Hard. The ground of another world, perhaps.
I had trouble breathing as I scrambled to my feet. The air had been knocked out of my lungs.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. There was a burning sensation that took a moment to fade. When it did, I could finally see.
I almost choked, gasping for air, as I gazed at the horrors before me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The sky was a mixture of gray and black swirling clouds; I appeared to be standing beneath the eye of a slowly developing tornado. The rust-colored earth under my feet was like dry gravel, perhaps comprised of the same elements as the moon. To my left and right were cliffs; below them were endless pits of black nothingness. Before me, lay horrors beyond my wildest nightmares.
At first I didn't see the thing that will undoubtedly haunt my nightmares until I dream my last dream. The enormous parade of evil headed in my direction. After I regained my breath and realized my heart hadn't exploded, I saw Boone dragging the woman I had become infatuated with. She was resisting, or at least trying to. Her knees scraped across the rocky terrain as he pulled her along by a fistful of her long, black hair. She was screaming what I thought was my name, and flailing her arms about, but her actions were futile. Geoffrey continued to tug her along, carelessly, as if she were a replaceable plaything. He paid her no attention, focusing only on the horizon and what waited beyond it. He shouted something undecipherable to his Master.
I trotted after them, calling Aurelia's name, but she could not hear me over her own outbursts. The ground beneath me was unlike anything I had ever walked on before. It was as if underneath the rocky terrain, was a hollow, empty space. Gravity seemed to work differently there. It was present, but barely. I feared that if I were to jump high enough, I might float away.
There was a small hill up ahead, too small to be considered a mountain. I watched as Boone and Aurelia disappeared behind the horizon. I sprinted as fast as I could, but for s
ome reason I could not move as fast as I knew my feet could carry me. It was like running inside a nightmare; my legs felt as if they had twenty-pound weights tied to them. Before I reached the top of the hill, I heard small bursts of thunderous clatter, one big boom after another. My first thought was that a storm was coming; I looked to the ever-gray sky and saw no lightning, nor did I feel raindrops. I knew this world was different in a lot of ways and quickly debated whether or not weather was one of them.
It didn't take more than a few seconds to realize the sky was not the source of this deafening noise. The ground vibrated beneath me, and the aftershock reverberated up my body. I felt a tingling sensation that reached my fingertips. I did not know what was making the world around me tremble, but I knew this; whatever it was, it was big.
And I was heading toward it. Or it was heading toward me.
The noise I could only compare to a steady stomp grew louder, and as I reached the top of the hill, I thought the noise might do permanent damage to my hearing.
I looked down at two things. One I could handle, and the other was beyond any rationalization, something that only existed in Lovecraftian tales. The thing I could handle was this; Boone hauling Aurelia—a clump of her hair clenched in his palm—like she were a sack of edibles too heavy to carry over his shoulder. The thing that was hard to swallow; hard to look at; hard to fathom; and yes, very hard to portray in words (although I'll do the very best I can) was this:
An enormous creature, bigger than anything I could find in a local zoo, trudged across the pebble-ridden terrain with giant hooves the size of a wrestling ring. The creature resembled a prehistoric mammoth; a thick coat of long, scraggly hair, and giant tusks that were as long as telephone poles. It had a long snout, about half the length of its tusks. It wavered back and forth as it trampled the dusty rock beneath its massive hooves. My eyes shifted toward long ropes connected to the beast's body, perhaps imbued within the creature's flesh. The ropes dangled down, to the rusty earth below. At the end of them, were people—or so they resembled from my position—tightly holding on as if they were walking the massive thing on leashes. I counted at least a dozen of them.
I stared at the thing in utter amazement. I was too scared to move, and too bewildered to make sense of what I was seeing. That's when I noticed that Boone had not stopped his pursuit of the Master, despite the mammoth-like monster that was headed toward us. I tried to think of why he wouldn't stop. Or even slow down. Hell, the enormous beast was worth at least one minute of open-mouthed examination.
I stared at the creature again and noticed why Boone was heading toward it without any reservations.
On top of the thing's back was a saddle. Sitting on it, riding the monolithic creature, was a familiar figure who had invaded my dreams and photographs. Arthur Denlax, his white hair flowing from beneath his wizard's hat, his skin greenish and sickly looking, rode the beast like an elephant from hell.
I couldn't be sure from that distance, but it looked like the bastard was smiling.
2
Geoffrey neared Denlax and the creature. I sprinted toward them. As I closed in on their position, Aurelia's screams, her cries for help, became louder and more audible. Her words became more distinguishable. “Let go of me!” I heard her bellow between the thunderous sounds of the creatures footsteps. Boone told her to “Shut up!” and then continued to yell to his Master that he had brought the key. He tugged her hair, much harder than before, which fueled my legs with even more fire.
Before I realized it, I was in full sprint, heading toward the danger with no regard for my own safety. I didn't know what I was going to do once I reached them.
As I approached, I looked at the poor souls being used to help guide the magical beast. One of the slaves was wearing a lobster costume. When I got closer I noticed it wasn't a costume. He was a lobster. His skin was candy-apple red. Antennas protruded from his forehead. In place of the kid's hands were giant claws, which were not enormous gloves, but extensions of his arms instead. He looked overtired and dead-like. Another one of the slaves was a woman with six-eyes. There was another who had his face mostly burnt off. Another was missing an arm. There was one that resembled a zombie; it stumbled, swaying from side to side, with a gaping wound in its stomach, putting its innards on display. One of the walkers was missing half its face, revealing its (what could be human) skull. Another had the head of a wolf and the body of a man. I could hear him snarling in the near distance. There was a lizard woman, resembling what Lynne looked like in the nightmare I had on the night I returned to Red River. Her skin was green and scaly; a tongue slithered in and out of her mouth in a rapid, rhythmic fashion.
This was a traveling freakshow like no other.
Among them was Johnny Anderson. I doubted Aurelia spotted him, as she was only paying attention to the lunatic dragging her toward this madness, but he was there. He was hanging in the back, behind the girl with six eyes. He looked exactly how Aurelia had described him, only he was dead. Flaps of skin were peeling off his face, revealing red tissue and muscle. Beneath tears in the clothing around his abdomen, I could see his ribcage sticking out. I hoped Aurelia wouldn't see him like this.
The sight of these disfigured individuals did not slow me down, although I suppose they should have. Had that been under ordinary circumstances, I might have thought twice about running toward them. But they were in the direction of why I had traveled to this bizarre land, they were in the direction of Boone and Aurelia. The large creature's shadow enveloped them.
“Boone!” I called, but he did not answer.
Geoffrey Boone held the camera in the air, still holding his grip of Aurelia's hair. “I have come, Master! I have done what you told me! I have brought you the key! The doorway is open!” Boone yelled up at Denlax, as he sat on his throne looking amused at the ants before him.
I saw him clearly then, a big smile filling up his pale green, wrinkly face. I caught his gaze. We locked eyes. Then he winked. I thought maybe it was meant for Boone, but no, he was looking directly at me. His voice began to chirp inside my head.
Join me, Arthur Denlax said. Together we can accomplish so much.
Never, I said back to him.
And then the smile faded. A disgusted look replaced his hopeful one.
I did not pay much attention to Denlax. Instead, I focused on Boone, who barked at his Master like a dog begging for attention. I lined up like a linebacker on a quarterback blitz. I charged Boone, aiming for his back. The second before our bodies collided, I lowered my shoulder into his spine. I heard something crack on contact, and at first I wasn't sure if I had broken my collarbone or something in Boone's vertebrae. I rolled onto the rocky surface, and lay there for moment. The pain in my shoulder was insignificant and it didn't prevent me from scrambling to my feet. As I did so, I noticed Aurelia had broken free from Boone's clutches. Visibly irritated, he regained his footing about the same time I did. Aurelia was in tears, and whimpering softly to herself. I wanted to comfort her, but Boone faced me, and I knew I couldn't go to her side. Not yet.
Boone charged me, screaming like a madman. He lowered his shoulder into my stomach, sweeping me off my feet. I hit the hollow-sounding ground hard. Boone's weight was not enough to do any damage, however, the impact of the rocky ground was a little more painful than I imagined. Rolling Boone off of me was an easy feat, and the two of us jumped to a crouching position, facing off like two sumo wrestlers.
“Aurelia,” I said. “Run. Get to the portal.”
She either didn't hear me or did not understand.
“Run!” I said.
She took off this time, running full speed in the opposite direction of the large beast and its God-like rider. I only took my eyes off Geoffrey for a second, just to make sure she was heading the right way. Boone reacted by pulling the hunting knife from his belt, and lunging at me. The tip of the blade found my shoulder, the very same one I had drove into his spine. I felt it sink into my flesh, and as quickly as the blade ha
d penetrated my skin, it had retracted. The pain was intense. It shot down my arm, and into my fingertips. I stumbled backwards, pressing my hand against the open wound in order to slow the bleeding.
Boone smiled and giggled crazily. The sinister grin strained his face, and a thick vein became visible on his forehead. Then, he glanced toward Aurelia, who had not gotten very far. She too, it appeared, was a victim of this world's strange gravitational principles.
Then he took off after her, the camera in one hand, the bloody hunting knife in the other.
3
“NO!” I screamed, darting after him.
As fast as I moved my legs, Boone moved his faster. I'm unsure whether or not the atmosphere of the alien world had much to do with it. Boone seemed to be in better shape than I was. In any case, I could only watch as the gap between Boone and Aurelia began to dwindle. Before I knew it, before I could even think about what was going to happen next, he was on her heels.
I saw him raise his arm. I followed his arm to his hand, where he gripped the hunting knife tightly. My blood dripped down the blade, down his wrist. Then, I saw him bring it down on her, watching in shock and horror as the corrugated blade disappeared into her back. I heard her utter a unique noise, a sound that reminded me of seagulls. She took two steps forward before her knees buckled and she hit the ground hard, sprawling on her stomach. Boone did not retrieve his weapon. Instead, he turned to me. He clamped his hand over his mouth, mimicking someone who had witnessed something terrible. Beneath his hand I could hear him chuckling. He was mocking me.
I no longer felt in control of my actions. The world around me went silent. I heard nothing except the thunderous footsteps of the mammoth continuing his trek toward the portal. I beheld Boone in my tear-stung eyes, no longer caring about Arthur Denlax and whether he remained in this dimension. I took off after him, unaware that I too, was screaming like a madman. When I got close enough, I put my hands up to his throat. It must have taken him by surprise, because he didn't do anything to block me. He tried to back up, but tripped. We both went down and I landed on top of him, hands tightly gripped around his neck. I squeezed. Hard. He made choking sounds and his face contorted as he struggled to breathe. His face turned red while the veins in his face surfaced. I squeezed harder.
