Floating.
And he didn’t realize at first what had happened, and what the sound leaving her luminescent throat would end up meaning.
She’d accidently let loose a Divine Scream.
He sobbed into her shoulder after his own release. Banch whispered an apology to him and then passed out, for which he’d always be grateful, because the Divine Scream had changed everything all at once and now he knew he had to get moving. He had to leave her here and go out on his own. Never before in his life was Jared Kare so certain of what needed to happen next.
Chapter 20
Jared
Banch had lied to him. She hadn’t made the painful trip to this world because she loved him. That might have been part of it, but it wasn’t the real reason. It certainly wasn’t her original intention. Jared knew this for certain because of the Divine Scream. Its power had put details into his mind that were like scripture from Banch’s heart and history. Other than the Swell’s impact on her power causing fragments here and there, making the whole story somewhat incomplete, he knew almost every emotion she’d ever possessed in her long life, and he knew most of the thoughts leading up to those emotions. Likewise, he knew about the Deeper Unseen, almost like a map of the dimension had been emblazoned into the back of his mind.
The Divine Scream was one of the few physical response screams, not like any other she’d performed that day. In her ecstasy, she’d let it slip and the very last recorded feeling that surged into him was the self-hate she felt for allowing it to happen. She knew her secret was out now. That’s why she’d apologized before dozing off; from what Jared understood about the Divine Scream, Banch would be out for several hours. Sharing your soul in that fashion took everything from you. This was fortunate, however, because it gave him enough time to do what needed to be done.
He put his clothes back on and went to the bathroom to wash his face. It was terrifying to have so much new information inside him; he felt as old now, possibly, as Banch did, having memories of so many experiences and locations. Helpful to his plans now, but still intimidating to possess such a wide breath of knowledge and understanding of life and death and the dimensions. Jared’s mind connected with various locations of corridor shadows throughout the city. He was sure he could find the correct one long before Banch awakened. He imagined he’d be ruminating on her history the whole way there.
Over the last two centuries, Banch had become quite disillusioned. She lost every sense of time and her belonging to the multiverses. No other banshees understood her sorrow or her love for humans and they referred to her sometimes as “She with an error in the heart.” After a time Banch wouldn’t even bathe with her sisters in the velvet ponds or go into the diamond gardens to feast. Banch became a lonesome creature who worked ceaselessly, taking on more assignments than any other before her.
Then came Martha Peters, a favorite of Banch’s. She was a young single mother taken in a horse carriage accident after leaving off her children at the schoolhouse. Banch sent the call, but before Martha could embrace the light, corridor shadows split the main road of Woodward County and the Assembly came crawling out to claim their gift. That was not long after the turn of the century, but Banch, being tied to this assignment, kept her mind’s eye on the Assembly’s exploits of Martha for decades to come. Feeling helpless, she elected to do something no other banshee before her had: she moved into the Assembly’s fortress so she could be near enough to help Martha whenever possible.
The Assembly gave Martha children. They raised their spawn to become her own private torturers. So wicked and cruel were these children, other prisoners in the fortress referred to them as the Grim Three. They enjoyed finding new ways to make their mother scream. After their maturation the fortress became a place of endless suffering, for even when the Assembly departed to keep the dimensional structures intact, the Grim Three remained to savage their mother and other prisoners. No doubt, they would join the Assembly someday when positions became free. In the meantime though, they spread enough chaos in that place to almost rival their fathers.
Something had to be done, and so Banch made the first of two infiltrations of the lower dungeons. The initial descent was to save Martha from her new ghastly children. Banch would make the call again and let Martha’s poor soul finally go on to rest. But despite the difficulty and danger in reaching her, when Banch offered an escape the woman would not take it. She refused to go. The savagery in the fortress often infused a prisoner’s heart with dark love and Banch couldn’t convince her to walk into the light. None of the prisoners would ever go willingly, from what she discovered. They loathed and loved their horrid existence.
Banch went on after that episode not knowing if she could continue her duty. She confided in her own banshee, but the concept of abandoning their role could not be fathomed, and she gained nothing from that conversation other than to reinforce how alone she really was in all of this.
The Assembly got accustomed to Banch’s presence in the fortress and they imposed work on her. When not calling souls on, she ran errands for them across the Deeper Unseen. Some of the tasks were loathsome—such that Jared didn’t even want to think of them.
Just last year, Banch finally broke and resolved to end her existence. The only way she knew how, since banshees were immortal in the Deeper Unseen, was to find a lasting way to disconnect from reality. There were certain screams she could have performed but they would have likely caused disturbance paradigms that may have harmed others. The safest way would be to manifest in the human dimension and throw herself into the Paled Ocean, which would negate her existence.
So the second time she infiltrated the lower dungeons of the fortress, she sought to locate the Assembly’s map of corridor shadow routes. She could memorize them all in an instant and then know the correct pathways to become mostly resident in the human world.
In the dungeon archives, however, she found more than she bargained for. A missive from one of the Silent Kings named Jared Kare as the next gift. Banch had known he was scheduled soon but had never anticipated him being the gift. In fact, she had already taken solace in the fact that she wouldn’t be around anymore to make the call on his life. He was her favorite assignment in this era—she might have even fallen hard for his sweet odd ways, if falling in love was even possible for her ancient mind now.
Then it came to her. The perfection of it all. The Paled Ocean would set both of them free. She would get to visit the human world in the flesh and get to meet an assignment face-to-face without calling their death. And in the end she would be wiped off the slate of all known universes and never need to witness Jared’s or any other person’s passing again.
The Assembly would likely go after them, but if she managed to get her and Jared to the ocean right away, perhaps with a Cosmos Scream, she would have some time to hold them off with a Swell. If they killed her, or the ocean killed her, it all worked out the same way. Jared had nothing else to lose. It was worth a shot. Not even the worst people deserved to become a gift and she couldn’t leave without knowing she’d tried to save him from that. Then, of course, the paradigm formed and the trip became much longer than she’d planned for. She got more time with Jared though, and she didn’t regret that.
Jared knew now, also, where he would die—at his office desk, suffering from some sort of attack, clutching a scrap of paper with his handwriting on it: Schedule with Doc. The details surrounding it were foggy; again the Divine Scream’s potency had been hindered by the Swell and some memories lacked clarity or conclusion. That wasn’t completely a bad thing though. Banch’s heart had a lot of memories of death and people to share, so Jared was glad he didn’t have it all.
Trying to be quiet, he located the box of detergent sitting near the door. Banch intended to use that to cause a chemo-dimensional reaction in a series of corridor shadows, making it near impossible for the Assembly to take a direct route to the beach. The shadow where it needed to be dumped was about a mile from the hotel, but Jared had other inte
ntions now. He’d pour this stuff right into the heart of their fortress, into the chamber where the Grim Three slept. The Assembly would need to return there to deal with the chemical fire and save their children. Banch would have time to escape into another shadow, most likely near the border of the Free Zone, and Jared would get his chance to bathe in the ocean. The most unfortunate part was Banch would never be able to return to this dimension, not in that territory; there were no corridor routes in the Free Zone that would give her so much physical residency as she had now. That was the price. But she could still live, if she chose to.
Jared thought a moment. The shadow leading to the fortress would be backtracking a bit, but with time still slowed down there was nearly ten hours left. The sleeping banshee stirred a bit under the comforter on the floor. He’d propped her head up with a pillow and it was a breathless display for him. He wanted to admire his lover forever. This would be his last time laying eyes on her. He prayed she took this chance to escape and continue to live, but he could only control so much.
With some hotel stationary he wrote a note to her:
Dear Banch,
I’ll never, ever forget you. I know you don’t want to go on, but I can’t see you die. I can’t. So please go to the Free Zone. I’m setting fire to the central chamber of the fortress. The Assembly will go back, if not for their kids, for their prisoners. You know they will. I may be important, but I’m just one gift of thousands.
In the Free Zone, you will still be obligated to call deaths, but you will have another chance. You will be ALIVE. Forgive me for being too selfish to give you what you really want. I can’t. I’m in love with you. Please take this, and always remember me and our time together.
--J
Jared set the tube of lipstick on top of the note, which he’d placed across her dress on the coffee table. His desire to kiss her one last time was intense, but he could not risk waking her. He would remember every one that came before though. His one, perfect girl. He felt so fortunate he’d had the chance to meet her in this dimension. He wondered if any other Jareds had had that chance. And if they did, could they have remained together forever?
With that he left the banshee sleeping there on the hotel room floor.
He closed the door, without looking back.
Chapter 21
Jared
He’d never known such peace. His knees creaked, legs burned, heart rattled, and lungs wheezed from the stresses suffered earlier, but Jared could not help but admire the serenity of a world in freeze-frame. He kept watching the faces of people—caught in mid-expression, some were comical and others were honed on boredom, joy, sullenness, or anxiety. He was walking through a photograph, through an instant in so many lives, and despite time not being completely stopped, this was only a matter of micro or nanoseconds to the people on the sidewalks; the birds stitched into the air with invisible thread, their wings holding the wind at the peak of every feather; the rows of palms with fronds flared, making the vaulted trees look like giant flowers.
He took a brief rest on a bench to give his knees a break. Once he poured the detergent into the shadow he wondered how long it would take for the fire to catch in the Deeper Unseen. Time had slowed everywhere, he presumed, so he might be at the beach well before the Assembly even discovered what he set into motion. It was difficult to get all this stuff straight, but the only thing that really mattered was buying Banch enough time to escape to the Free Zone.
If she listens…
But he got this idea from Banch’s memories, after all. She’d originally thought this a viable option in dealing with the Assembly, but decided the path would take them farther from the beach and they couldn’t risk the extra time. Those thoughts were made well before she learned the Chronos Scream however.
“Whole new world now,” Jared muttered.
On the sidewalk ahead he spotted a man howling with laughter, his hands planted on his knees. A younger man had his head thrown back, laughing too. Something obviously was pretty hilarious. Jared wished he knew what it was.
Jared reached down and massaged his kneecaps. Not even a half marathon in distance and he was giving out like an old man. What if this had something to do with his condition? He ran his wrist over his sweaty brow. He knew one thing now. He would be taking a bunch of time off from work. He’d be damned if his last days were spent wrangling data and messing with accounting spreadsheets.
A scrap of paper flashed in his mind.
Schedule with Doc.
Some of the fragments of information regarding his death had finally settled in his mind, or at least how everything had been expected to happen. Jared would learn of some ailment and have to schedule a follow-up with a cardiologist. Kaitlin will get the part she auditioned for and have to fly out to London two weeks from now. The Kangjuns will leave to visit family in Busan.
They are still in Korea and Kaitlin is still in London when Jared dies.
Nobody will be around. You’re alone when it happens.
“And now Kaitlin’s hurt, and you were an asshole to her,” he whispered. His eyes warmed with regret. “You’re such a jackass. Always, always.”
Trying to put that out of his mind, he dragged over the box of detergent. He would be grateful to shed this extra weight. He eyed the auburn shadows randomly located throughout the city. He could un-see them if he chose, sort of like letting your vision go loose and blurring things together. Because he had so much of Banch in him though, his own mind was connected to the other dimension. His connection was limited only to the sense of sight, which he’d now learned was the most inferior of all senses. It was still a pleasure to behold these shadows and their depths.
He mused on how many other people had ever glimpsed into the Deeper Unseen. No such instances were recorded in his banshee’s head. Most of Banch’s memories involved normal, everyday people meeting their end, peacefully, violently, or anything in between. In every circumstance, she made the call and a tremendous ocean of light flooded their way. All they had to do was take a step into it. Nobody, outside of those in the fortress, had ever refused that light. Banch and the light were too much to resist. He understood now why she’d rather him go there than stay to be the Assembly’s plaything for eternity. He loved her even more for trying to spare him that, and with her past recollections he realized Banch could easily end up back there, under their order for trying to save him. Then she would never have a way out. She’d need to perform her morbid duty until the end of time.
An awful taste flooded Jared’s mouth. Suddenly he felt bad for resting so long. His legs shaking and his tail bone on fire, he stood with the substantial detergent box, the plastic handle eating into his palm. He thought about the Kangjuns and hoped they were doing okay. He knew they were alive but hoped those blood drenched monsters hadn’t made a lasting wound in their minds.
Jared grinded his teeth, feeling responsible yet again. He tried to push all the guilt far from his mind. Then push all the deaths a banshee had to endure out too. He could switch it off, but the rub was not being close to Banch. Going through her emotions and scattered memories was almost as intoxicating as spending time with her. Shutting it out made him feel cold.
When the corridor shadow came into sight, he couldn’t help himself and started running. The slanting bloody splash leading to the fortress sat just left of a Chevron gas station, along the wall, near an air compressor. Jared ripped the cardboard band and pulled it around the detergent box. He opened the lid and took a smell of the white and blue crystal powder. It made him smile, the thought he would be cleaning the fortress of its filth.
“For the Grim Three. I hope you burn and all the prisoners escape.” He carried the box to the shadow and lost no time overturning it there. Everything dumped out and disappeared inside. After a couple minutes all that persisted was a sweet, chalky cloud as a reminder. Feeling slightly victorious, he dropped the empty box with an immense sigh and took a step back.
Footsteps fell in a normal rhythm
on the sidewalk behind him.
* * *
Jared cautiously searched around, looking down different alleyways. After a few minutes he hadn’t found anyone but the sound of falling footsteps grew louder. He began thinking he might have imagined the whole thing, or maybe it was some sort of weird echo effect from pouring the detergent into the corridor shadow. Everything was still moving at a snail’s pace, so it couldn’t have been somebody walking nearby. It had to be Banch. But how had she recovered so quickly?
Then a person appeared before Jared, only a few feet away.
And it wasn’t Banch.
It took a moment to recognize the teenager. He wasn’t dressed in a Varsity football T-shirt and jean shorts and his hair wasn’t buzzed. The guy hadn’t aged a day since Jared last set eyes on him, but he now wore more mature attire: a powder blue polo shirt, brown slacks, and loafers. His hair was styled. The world had not resumed its normal speed and yet this person, whose name still escaped Jared, moved through time just like he and Banch did.
Jared pointed at him, too dumbfounded to ask a question. “You… we went to high school together.”
A small smile.
“I can’t remember your name.”
“My name doesn’t matter, Jared. What I am does, however,” he said.
“How do you—wait—”
The teen held up his hand. “My kind normally don’t reveal ourselves, but in this case I couldn’t just subtly dabble in your life. There is often a misconception. You see, our silence isn’t particularly not using words or making sounds, but rather that our identities are silent from all known worlds.”
“How did you get here?”
“Strange that you and I always meet when you’ve chosen to do something foolish, or I daresay brave, for someone like you anyway. But, alas, this time the stakes are a bit higher than missing the school bus.”
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