“Why this!” Bill shouts as he turns from his position at the corner of the house, taking aim at Landon and firing two bullets into his chest.
Blood sprays forth, covering the stone steps as Landon falls forward, crashing down like a marionette to the cement walkway. He lies there shaking violently as blood rushes from his body.
Jack turns away from the sight. Despite the hatred he holds toward his father, he hates to see him die in such a way. He feels that he should be happier. After all, Landon Wolfe deserved no less than this.
Emma runs over to Jack, placing her arms around him. “I’m sorry….”
“I didn’t think it would upset me this much,” Jack replies as he wipes away a tear and laughs out of frustration. “I tricked him. He didn’t even know what he did. Perhaps I am no worse than an animal, trapping my quarry.”
“Your father did terrible things,” Jack Olen says as he places to Jack’s shoulder. “Remember where you are. Remember why you are here. Most importantly,” he adds as he looks down toward the body of Landon, which has stopped twitching. “Remember who put you here.”
Jack Wolfe nods silently. He begins to walk away, and the rest follow behind him. From out of the darkness and rain, a red fox runs up toward them. Jack pauses, looking into the fox’s eyes. They seem strangely familiar from his time at the house.
“What have you done?” the fox asks in plain words that they can understand.
Then the thought occurs to him—this was his father’s world, of course there would be talking animals. “Did what we had to do,” Jack replies, thinking it funny that he is having a conversation with an animal, however, not in the least bit surprised.
“You’ve doomed us all,” the fox says as he slowly backs away, as though some terror is growing from behind them. “Things were fine as they were. You should not have come here.”
The fox swiftly runs away into the darkness as Jack turns to look behind them. Landon is slowly rising to his feet. His eyes are vacant, glassed over. He reaches for the wounds on his chest; bits of bone and a thumping lung are visible through the large holes left by the rifle shot. He begins to belt a low, rumbling growl that fills the air and sounds like thunder. He begins to transform, his legs growing long and slender. His arms stretch down to the ground as his fingers turn into sharp claws. His mouth contorts until it is large and wide, accommodating a full set of wolf’s teeth. He has grown nearly ten feet tall and he lumbers his way back into the house, slamming the door behind him, splintering it so badly it barely holds together. The earth beneath them begins to quake, and the group slowly backs away, unsure what to do, given the new situation.
Large thorn-covered vines begin to grow from the ground, covering the house so densely that the house is barely visible beneath the growth. Large red roses blossom, each one glowing a pale red in the darkness, illuminating the rain drops that fall upon them like radiant, multi-colored gemstones. Soon, the entire house is engulfed by the roses and vines with sharp thorns. The howling of wolves can be heard from beyond the wood, growing louder at each second. It seems as though the wolves will be upon them at any moment.
“Oh, shit,” Jack Olen exclaims as he sees the dark mass of wolves headed in their direction. “I think we fucked up bad here, guys.”
“I’ve got no bullets,” Bill frantically replies as he backs toward the house. He catches his arm against a thorn and it cuts deeply into his skin, leaving a large wound that quickly begins to bleed. “We’re defenseless….”
“We’re not defenseless!” Emma shouts, “This isn’t the real world. We don’t have to play by his rules. Remember your memories, your bad ones.”
“Jack!” Emma yells, to Jack Olen, “Remember how you go in to rescue Bill from here. Remember!”
Jack Olen begins to concentrate, searching his memory for the moment that he remembers that Landon had killed him. He remembers being pulled from the car, the pain. He remembers attempting to convince Landon to stop, that they could talk this out. Through the memory he finds both anger and strength. A fine blue mist fills the air before him, acting almost as a shield. The mist grows thicker and thicker as the wolves approach.
“Bill,” Jack Olen says as he turns to look to Bill. He embraces Bill, kissing him. “Look after them, no matter what happens.”
“What?” Bill asks, confused and shocked. “Wait, no… Jack.”
Jack Olen dashes away, surrounded by the thick mist that swirls and dances about him. Soon, the mist is so thick that blackness fills the air. The forms of many giant bears made completely of shadow and smoke are visible. As the wolves advance, the bears rush to meet them head-on. The enormous bears’ teeth and claws scatter the attacking wolves like a child tossing his toys carelessly to the side.
Bill grabs both Emma and Jack by the hand and rushes them away toward the back of the house. “Let’s go, you heard him! We have to get out of here.”
“We’ve got to get inside, somehow,” Jack Wolfe says as he eyes the thorn-covered house. “But how…”
A loud scream is heard from the front of the house. Bill begins to run toward the side, but Emma quickly grabs his hand. “Don’t…,” she says.
“It’s Jack though,” Bill replies as he frustratingly begins to cry. “I have to go.”
“If you go,” Emma says as she holds on to Bill, preventing him from running off, “if you leave, then everything he has sacrificed is for nothing. He did what he did to save us, to save you.”
“Well, we’re fucked either way,” Bill sobs as he gives in and falls to his knees in the mud.
“Not yet we aren’t,” Emma says as she begins to concentrate on a memory. First, she remembers the shed, the way her father talked to her. Then, the memory of the burning of the shed came next, the feeling of hopelessness at what she had been forced to do. Lastly, she drew anger from being violated by Landon in the form of that terrible creature. The foul smell, the pain. Then, finally, the choking, his clawed arms wrapping around her neck. She turned her memory into something big, something powerful.
A loud, thundering series of thumps that shake the earth could be heard shortly off in the distance. The trees came crashing down, and even the house shook with each footfall. Emma looks off into the distance, awaiting the arrival of something. A terrible roar came from the tree line as the last of the trees fall beneath the feet of the behemoth. A flash of lightening illuminates the sky in brilliant white as Emma makes out the form of the large brontosaur, looking as if it is conjured from smoke and ash.
“What is that?” Jack asks, both terrified and amazed at the sight of the large dinosaur lumbering its way to the house. They back away from the farmhouse as the dinosaur reaches the backside of it. It swings its head from the right, delivering a powerful blow to the house, knocking away vines and roses that shatter like broken glass.
“Gentlemen,” Emma whispers, “meet Sinclair.”
The brontosaur delivers another powerful blow to the building, this time knocking away sections of the wall. Finally, a path had been opened up. The three quickly sprint into the kitchen, Jack leading the way. They pass through the dining room, where part of the wall is also completely missing, allowing the air from outside to fill the room like a vacuum. Jack unlocks the doors to the entertainment room, being quick also to latch the doors behind them so they cannot be pursued. They make their way up the stairs leading to the second floor. At the top of the hall, a single wolf stands guard at the large engraved door that leads to Landon’s office. Its teeth bared and growling, the wolf begins to slowly advance upon the three intruders.
“I guess this is my turn,” Bill says as he reaches into the depths of his own mind to find a memory. All he could dig up was the final moment of the gun to his own chin, pulling the trigger, the fractions of seconds of the taste of iron that filled his mouth before the world simply vanished away. He then remembers the reason, the feeling of losing everything, including the one you love. He releases this feeling into the world.
A mist
grew—small, yet it is there. The wolf begins to back away, almost as though it knows something is coming. From the mist bursts forth four large rabbits comprised of the swirling blue smoke, the kind that Bill would often hunt and serve up for dinner.
“Fucking rabbits?” Bill exclaims in frustration. “You get a dinosaur, and all I get is a handful of fucking rabbits!”
The wolf begins to snap wildly at the rabbits that bounce about, attempting to land a quick bite or scratch on the wolf’s body. The wolf snatches up one of the rabbits in its teeth and, with one quick snap, the rabbit disappears, turning once more into smoke.
“You leave them the fuck alone!” Bill shouts as he runs over to the wolf and delivers a swift, powerful kick to the wolf’s head with his thick hunting boot. The wolf whimpers out in pain as it attempts to get back to his feet. Bill screams as he sends his foot down hard against the wolf’s head, stomping down over and over until there is nothing left of it.
The remaining rabbits bound about for a moment, one of them stopping to sniff the remains of the wolf. Then, like smoke, they dissipate into nothing.
“Rabbits…,” Bill mutters again.
Jack stands before the door. He pauses once more to look upon the old engraving, the same one he had seen so many times in the past. He knows what lies ahead—an ending. He only hopes that the fox isn’t right, that they aren’t all doomed after all. He leads the way as he opens up the door. The three quickly make their way up the staircase. There is no need for stealth. Jack is sure that his father already knows that he is coming—he already knows that he is expected.
At the stop the stairs, they find Landon. His back is turned to them. He appears normal once more. He is typing away on the computer.
“Father…,” Jack says, knowing that it is his turn now to do his part.
Emma stands beside him, placing her hand into his. Bill stands behind them both, watching the back door in case of any surprises.
“Don’t worry,” Landon says as he peers over his silver-rimmed glasses at the group. “I’m rewriting the whole thing. None of you have to die.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Jack says defiantly. He starts to think of a memory, something terrible. “You can’t take this back.”
“Just give me…,” Landon says as he rubs his forehead in frustration, “just give me five minutes, for fuck’s sake. I’ll just rework the book. If it means this much to you, you can all be happy here. I just have to change a few things. I just have to rewrite in everyone, and we can be a family again. All of us. We can forget that any of this ever happened. After all, it was just a book.”
“It’s not a book,” Jack says as he finally comes up with something. “You never wrote your ‘serious’ book. Instead you went crazy and let yourself be taken over.”
“I was always in control!” Landon screams as he turns to face Jack. “I felt what it was like to be a wolf, I felt its instincts, but I was always in fucking control! I did it for the story! Now, if you’d shut up for five fucking minutes, I’ll fix all this and make us all happy—that’s all you want, right? That’s why you came all the way out here to burst my little bubble of a life, pathetic as it is. Just so you can be happy.”
“You can’t take back any of it,” Jack says as he concentrates hard on the memory. Luckily, his father has given him so much to work with, it is almost plagiarism.
“You can’t kill me!” Landon shouts, spit flying from his mouth, as he is in his full tirade mode. “Don’t you know how important I am? This place doesn’t even exist without me in it!”
“Counting on that last part,” Jack quietly says as the blue mist forms beneath his feet. It slowly rises into the air, growing denser with each passing moment.
“You’ve forced me to this,” Landon says as he begins to grow and stretch into his terrible new wolf-like form.
The mist forms in front of Jack, turning into a thick black smoke that shimmers and glows beautifully. A figure steps forth from the smoke. The figure darts to the side and perches itself on Landon’s desk, balancing with its feet on his computer keyboard. The figure has the face of a wolf, the body of a human. It carries a crudely fashioned spear in one hand. The room fills with the smell of dirt and feces, the sickening familiar smell. Jack has conjured up the worst possible monster that he could imagine: his father.
Landon attempts to strike out a lumbering clawed strike against the black smoke version of his former self. The creature is far too swift to fall for such a slow attack. With wolf-like reflexes, the smoke figure shoves the length of the spear straight through Landon’s throat. He begins to let out a bloodcurdling cry. The monster continues its work upon Landon as he slowly transforms back to his former self. The monster removes his shirt, ripping away the buttons with its claws. Landon bleeds profusely as the monster strips him naked, piling his clothing in a neat pile behind his body. The smoke creature grasps his spear once more and, with a swift kick, he removes it from Landon’s neck as Landon’s body falls to the ground. Landon lets out a disgusting gurgling noise as he attempts to breathe despite the huge wound in his throat. The monster takes this as a sign that the job is not finished, and pierces Landon in the skull with the spear. Landon shakes and tremors for a few moments like a speared fish, and then finally he falls silent.
The smoke version of Landon’s former self vanishes into the air, gone in a puff of blue smoke. The ground begins to shake beneath their feet. Landon’s world is coming to an end. The lights in the office go out. Emma, Jack, and Bill fumble around in the darkness as they attempt to find each other. They take hold of each other’s hands as they feel themselves being ripped away from this world. They see it as almost a bubble as they are sucked away. Without a warning or much ado, the bubble simply pops.
The light returns, and the three find themselves in front of the doors once more. Only this time, the black door with the crudely etched drawing of the wolf is gone. Now, only the red door remains, intact in its brilliant beauty, and the brown door. However, the brown door is not in the same condition. It has a giant crack that runs all the way from the bottom to the very top. The tree that was so carefully etched into the wood is cracked right down the center as though split into two.
“Go ahead, guys,” Bill says as he runs a hand against his door, feeling the deep crack beneath his fingertips.
“He’ll be on the other side of that door, I’m sure of it,” Emma says as she reaches out and gives Bill a hug.
“Yeah,” Bill answers with a smile. “I know he will be.”
“Thank you Bill,” Jack says as he takes Emma by the hand. “You’ve been such a great help, especially there at the end. Through everything, even—I hope we see each other again soon.”
“Fucking rabbits…,” Bill says as he lets out one last laugh, shaking his head in embarrassment. There is sadness in his eyes as he stares at Emma and Jack. He then smiles, and finally says, “I’m sure we will. Now go on, I’m curious to see what happens.”
“Are you ready?” Jack asks, his gaze meeting Emma’s. He loves her brilliant eyes—the beautiful blue gemstones reflect the brilliant sunlight and glow almost magically. He finds a sense of peace as he stares into her face. It finally begins to sink in that everything is over now, that everything is going to be all right after all.
Emma nods silently, and then smiles. She looks back to Bill once more and nods to him as well. She is slightly afraid of what lies ahead. However, with Jack with her, she knows that things will be all right. No matter what lies beyond the door, things will work out. “I’m ready.”
Emma’s hand in his, Jack opens the door. A dazzling white light fills the air as the couple disappears completely. Bill watches in silence as the red door slowly begins to fade away, leaving behind only his broken brown door. He runs a hand against the door once more—he knows that Jack Olen is not waiting on the other side. Perhaps he could create a version of Jack and be happy for a time, but in the end he would know the truth: It would not be real. Jack has moved o
n. He can feel it. The splitting of the tree on the door symbolizes it. There is no clearer way to be told that Jack Olen has passed on.
The Edge of the World
Bill has walked on for what has felt to be an eternity. Finally, he has reached his destination. He is exhausted, weak, and, worst of all, feels the full brunt of the sadness of losing Jack. He stares off of the edge of the cliff. The sand here has turned to stone, and the trees dangle off of the edge, almost as though they, too, are losing their grip on this world. Gleaming red and yellow leaves fall down into the abyss, disappearing into the infinite darkness below. Jack looks off into the distance and sees the sun shining low in a beautiful ruby-red glow. All around the cliff, waterfalls pour down, creating multitudes of rainbows. He has never before seen such a beautiful sight. For a moment he feels refreshed, his sprit renewed. He looks down once more, into the endless depth below. He takes a single step forward, and feels as light as a bird soaring through the sky. He does not fall, yet floats. The feeling is not at all like he was expecting, it is wonderful. He begins to laugh with a genuine sense of happiness as he falls away and into the void. Then, after a joyful time, he reaches his destination. A place that I know nothing about—I could guess, but even my best guess would not come anywhere close to its beauty. I simply lack the descriptive ability to explain what might lie beyond the darkness. Bill has passed, like all people do, eventually. In the end, I’d like to think that he finds Jack Olen, that they live on and continue their life together in a place that makes them happy—I fear I will never know if this is the case, but I hold on to one thing that brings me to believe that it is all true—Hope.
Love on 66
Alex and Kate drive on east past Mt. Vernon, Missouri on Interstate-44. Springfield is now a good hour away. The day is still new. The spring air fills the car with the smell of flowers that carry from fields alongside the highway.
Window in the Earth Trilogy Page 46
