R.E.solve (Rain Experience Book 2)

by Thomas W. Everson

  Ami eats slowly, continuing to hold my hand, while Evalyn and Eve are finished soon after me. I wait patiently for Evalyn to speak up but after a few moments of her finishing she sits back, crosses her hands on her lap, and just stares at me. My anxiety begins to best me as I look out the window at the black. I break the silence.

  “So you never encountered anything like this before?”

  “I never tried to stop the vortex before, so no, we haven’t encountered anything like this before. I suppose in a way we’ve known the barrier existed, but it was only thought of as the force of the vortex which pulls us back in. I guess there’s a different application for it,” Evalyn replies without sarcasm or malice.

  Since we’ve spent time together she’s begun to soften toward me.

  “Okay. So we wait it out and hope our barrier holds for another week and a half?” I ask.

  “Seems about right. I guess it was a bad idea to explore wasn’t it?” Evalyn states, giving me a playful glare.

  “Yeah. I wish we could have found some native to this land, or maybe someone else stuck here. I can’t help but wonder, since we went all that way and found our house which seems to have been long dead, if we’d have left from the other way would we have come across earlier versions of ourselves?”

  She shrugs and I know it was a pointless question, but conversation is all we have at the moment. It distracts from the dread and despair I felt while in that fake world I presume was created by whatever the darkness is.

  “What do we have for portable light?” Eve asks.

  “Candles, a dozen torches, and some lanterns,” Evalyn replies

  “Maybe the shadow could be repelled by it. We should try to push it away,” Eve wonders out loud.

  “It doesn’t appear to work like that. It seems to be able to completely consume light. Think about this. The white light from the void permeating everything right now can be snuffed out completely by it,” I explain. “You can’t see through the darkness. No hint of anything beyond it.”

  “The white light is part of this place though. We don’t know what’s causing it and it’s different than regular light,” she retorts.

  “We will prepare just in case.” Evalyn nods at Eve in a rare moment of mutual agreement.

  “There is another unanswered question we have to answer: will the time shift still happen?” I ask.

  “I think it’s safe to say if there’s a barrier out there holding the dark back, the power which draws us through time is still holding up. All we need to do is wait.” Evalyn raps her fingers against the table in a rhythmic manner.

  I nod and pick up the dishes, minus Ami’s as she is still picking in silence.

  It doesn’t take long to clean and place them in the dish rack to dry. Out of the corner of my eye I see Eve head for the living room. Ami seems to have come to a stop in her eating. Evalyn sits there, staring at the wall. I return to my spot at the table and I reach my hand out for Ami. She looks drained. She half-smiles and returns the gesture. Our hands clasp together.

  “So, what happens if the barrier doesn’t hold?” Ami finally breaks her silence. “I don’t want to see those things again.”

  “It will be okay Ami,” I gently caress her hand to reassure her. “The vortex will carry us away from here and we won’t have to worry about that thing.”

  “Thank you for cleaning, Rain,” Agatha’s soothing voice rings out in the deafening silence which exists when we are not speaking or moving.

  “Sure.”

  Agatha, now in control of her body again, stands and follows Eve to the living room. With just the two of us left, my mind becomes consumed by the embraces we shared earlier. A kiss of desperation, a need to feel comforted, but a kiss nonetheless.

  Can I truly do this? It’s like that time I overheard her. What if we try and it doesn’t work out? Then we’d be stuck together and it might be awkward. I don’t want to mess things up.

  “I’m going to head into–” I start a sentence but am stopped by Ami gripping my hand firmly.

  “Don’t leave me. Please.” She’s clear in her wish to not be alone and I’m not going to disappoint her.

  “No, of course not, Ami. I’m here.” I settle back into my seat, scooting it around the corner of the table, closer to her.

  She’s clearly done with her food, despite not having eaten a lot of it, but continues to push it around the plate with her fork. We’re both fatigued from the ordeal, and likely also due to being out in the distorted time. I help her stand, and grab her plate. We put it in the sink and head into the living room.

  The couch is empty and I bring her over to it. She lays her head down in my lap, curling her body into a ball closely to me. Pulling a blanket down from the back of the couch, I cover her up and lean my head back.

  My eyes shut. I attempt to think of a solution, but my mind wants to rest. It’s blank and the dark void of sleep finds me instead.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A deep, guttural moan wakes me from my dreamless slumber. It vibrates my eardrums and chest. It compels me to find out where it’s coming from. Ami is asleep on my lap and I have to maneuver slowly to move out from under her. It takes a gentle touch to lay her down comfortably without disturbing her, but I fear the sound I hear might wake her anyway.

  It comes again, rumbling through the air. Listening intently I follow it to the living room window. The glass reverberates. Putting my hand up to it, I can feel the noise coming from outside.

  Though hours before we had been terrorized by the imagery it portrayed to be real, the need for understanding causes my body to act against the alarm going off in my mind. I open the door and step out into the yard.

  The sound, the deep moaning, emanates from farther on. I move one step at a time closer to the edge. The grass all around is faded. The scenery begins to look like that of the dead house. Color is being drowned out by the light still beaming down from the void. Above, a single star-like dot exists in a sky of nothing but black, but it still has more energy than that of a hundred suns to illuminate so brightly.

  Strange.

  At the edge of the grass the moaning strengthens and I can now identify it’s not a single voice. There are multiple voices in harmony creating a resonance, working to penetrate our haven.

  “Shut up!” I speak harshly to whatever the voices are.

  Silence falls for a brief moment and then a single voice speaks out from the black mass. A man’s. He sounds neither young nor old. He’s terrified.

  “Help me! Please! It’s dark! I don’t want to be here! I’m scared! Please bring me into the light!”

  “Who are you?” I inquire.

  “Please! Please let me in! Let me into the light and I’ll be safe!”

  Squinting to see past the impenetrable darkness reveals the outline of a face and hand appears. They press against the invisible barrier, squishing their dark, disfigured form as if it were a giant pane of glass restricting them.

  My heart leaps into my throat and swallowing hard doesn’t push it back down. Unnerved, I remember it can play visual tricks. I take a step back.

  It pushes harder on the barrier, and because it can’t enter in, I know it’s a trick. It’s not really a man. Outlines of multiple bodies of all shapes and sizes come into view within the darkness. The pleading increases in intensity, this time a little girl.

  “Please mister! Let me in! I don’t want to be in the darkness anymore!”

  “No. You can’t come in. You’re not welcome here.”

  They moan and wail in unification at my rejection. Their volume increases to a deafening wail which causes my whole body to shake. It takes me a moment to quell the anxiety I’m feeling, but I muster the energy to shout over it.

  “SHUT UP!”

  The silence is nearly palpable when my voice dissipates into the black.

  “Why did you try to kill us? What are you?” I ask it.

  The voices cry out together and, though I can tell
they’re upset, the effect makes them sound ominous. “We are lonely. We have not seen anyone in a long time. We have only each other.”

  “What are you?”

  “Despair! Despair! The darkness!” They lament.

  My inquisitive mind seeks answers to the unknown.

  “The house we saw, the copy of this one where two of my companions were dead and where we found you. What was that?”

  “Despair! Despair! It was a reflection! This is where despair finds its home! Let us into the light and out of the darkness!”

  “What happens if I let you into the light?”

  “We see the light! We find the light! Let us in! Reach into us!”

  Though my mind vehemently tells me not to do what they request, the temptation to put my hand outside of our protective barrier becomes overwhelming. Recalling I had touched it the illusion of Emma’s shop, I begin wondering what the harm would be. When I reach my arm out toward our shield, the outlined bodies disappear.

  Stepping forward, I reach for it, but my other hand is seized. Ami clings to me.

  “Rain.” She rubs her eyes with a free hand. “Who are you talking to?”

  “They need help. They’re trapped in there.” I point to the darkness, my finger nearly ready to burst the bubble and let them in.

  “It’s another trick. They made us think Mother was dead and that skeletons could come to life. Why should you believe anything it says?”

  The voices wail again, louder than ever. They hiss at Ami, some spewing vitriol in the form of insults and curses.

  “No! Don’t listen to her! We need your help, Rain! Don’t leave us out here!” The outlines of the bodies return again and slam themselves up against the barrier. The bodies stack up as far as I can see, creating a pile of the dead.

  Retreating to the house, something inside me wants to let them in. It feels like a separate part of me, another ‘me’ trying to control my actions. But Ami pulls me along. Back inside she brings me into the kitchen where Agatha is entranced, staring out the window at the darkness.

  It takes her a moment to acknowledge our presence, but Agatha looks at us and shakes her head. “I have a terrible feeling about it. After hearing about your encounter, I don’t want to know what nightmares it would inflict if it found its way in here.”

  “The white sky is dwindling. It’s only a dot now,” Ami speaks. Her confidence has returned. “Perhaps the barrier will keep us protected, but if whatever it is finds a way to snuff out the light above we’ll be overwhelmed. We need to keep all the lights on and collect our portable lighting.”

  Still in a bit of a trance, I nod while staring at the black. Agatha walks past and rests her hand on my shoulder for a moment before going into the living room.

  Ami grips my hand and our fingers intertwine. She pulls me to the basement, turning the light on and descending into the storage area. I look through the shelves, not at the food but at the still shadows; there is nothing out of the ordinary about them. I watch them distrustfully anyway.

  Heading into the tool storage area of the basement, Ami follows the right side of the wall to where a few oil lanterns are hung from hooks. She retrieves four, placing two in my open palms, and we return to the kitchen area to start a collection.

  “I’m going to grab Eve. We should probably all stay together if we think this thing might get in,” There’s no emotion in my voice. I’ve been sapped of any positive feelings.

  “Okay,” Ami replies. “Just promise you’re not going out there again.”

  “I promise. I’m just going upstairs.”

  The stairs creak and groan in the silence, and the floorboards to Eve’s door do their best to alert her to my presence. It’s cracked open a bit. I knock lightly, and it swings open a little more. When she doesn’t respond I peek in. There, sprawled out and face down upon her bed in a lacy green bra and some loose pants, Eve is motionless. A lump forms in my throat. I swallow hard knowing she’s not dressed properly but the urgency of collecting ourselves in a central location overrides my sense of embarrassment. I attempt to wake her.

  “Eve, get up.” I call out softly so I don’t startle her. “Put some clothes on and come downstairs.”

  She lies there lifelessly and I watch her back, waiting for it to rise and fall under her breathing, but I see nothing.

  “Eve! Wake up!” I bring my voice up a little bit.

  Still nothing happens. An irrational fear that something has happened to her causes me to kneel down and touch the freckled skin of her bare shoulder. She’s cold. When I attempt to feel for her pulse in her neck there’s none. Shaking her, I whisper her name. It startles me when she does stir. She rolls over, grabs my neck, and pulls me down.

  “Morning babe.” She twists her neck and kisses me on the lips abruptly.

  Pulling away, I pick up one of her crumpled short tops from her floor and throw it at her face. With my emotions in disarray because of the darkness beyond our border, I am confused.

  Rather than being repulsed as I would have been before, I lick my lips. Despite being close to, and having an attraction to Ami, something in me longs to reach out to Eve.

  Our eyes meet. Eve props herself up on her side, exposing her nearly bare torso. I fight against something deeper than my carnal instincts to not move back to her. I’m positive the darkness outside is trying to exhibit influence over me.

  Could this be because I touched it? Has it somehow skewed my emotions that I’m losing the strength to resist her? Or is it just an overactive imagination, and pity for her, softening me?

  With no power to abuse she’s simply another person seeking acceptance in a strange and precarious situation. Should I allow myself to open up to her? Can we become friends?

  This is not good. I tell myself. If you don’t keep yourself neutral to her she will take it as you weakening. Ami will be hurt. Don’t make this awkward for everyone.

  Despite the long pause, I feign frustration. I stand and bark orders, “Get up. You need to join the rest of us downstairs. There’s a chance the darkness will find its way in and trust me, you don’t want to see what it has to show you.”

  Before she can grab me, or dress herself, I turn and exit her room. I stomp down the stairs to keep up the ruse of irritation. Agatha is just emerging from the kitchen with several metal stemmed torches under her arms.

  “Building a perimeter?” I say to make conversation.

  “Yes. It seems like it would be smart to set up another ‘boundary’ to protect our house.” She hands some to me. “Would you set up that half of the yard while Ami and I take the other?”

  “Sure.” I accept the task to keep me busy.

  Pressing the torches into the ground isn’t as difficult as I anticipated. The ground gives way as I stab the metal staves downward, planting them in a semi-circle a few feet out from the house to build my half of the perimeter. Ami meets me on the stable’s side and lights each one.

  The circle around the house is small, but it will provide some light if the void’s is drowned out. One by one the lights of the house are turned on, but it’s barely noticeable.

  Can this light hold the shadows back? It devoured the white void out there and not a bit of it is visible except for the speck in the ‘sky’ now. I hope it will last until the vortex sweeps us into a new time. But what happens if it finds its way in before that? Will it travel with us? What kind of danger does it pose?

  The once star-sized white light above is now only as large as the head of a pin. It’s nearly gone and time is certainly running out. As I stare out at the black, the voices call to me again from the darkness. I’m thankful when Ami grabs my hand, giving me the strength to resist their siren-like call.

  They wail again, obnoxiously hissing at her for holding me back. She cups our hands together again and pulls me into the living room. Ami closes the door with her free hand. Eve scoffs from the couch, barely dressed and holding a lantern on her lap.

  “Did you check with Agatha to se
e if there’s anything you can do to help?” I ask.

  “No, I only turned all the lights on in the house because I was scared of the dark,” she replies rudely. Upon seeing Ami’s hand in mine her agitation rises. “I was sleeping peacefully before you came in. I was having a wonderful dream where you were taking care of our gorgeous fiery-haired kids. Now, I have to listen to the racket coming from outside.”

  Distracting us, Agatha emerges from the hallway with a lantern in hand. Ami retrieves the other two from the kitchen and lights their wicks. As if by fate, or perfect timing, I notice the permeating white light from the void disappear and the yard becomes dark, all but for the ring of torches and light from the windows. Running outside, lantern in hand, I look up confirm our fear. The darkness has finally enveloped the white ceiling and the pillar of light, which was keeping us safe, is gone.

  The barrier has fallen. Or maybe there was a top to it.

  Our lights, lanterns and torches still provide a significant amount of light. But it doesn’t seem to matter when the torches flicker, as if there were a wind, despite there being nothing of the sort. Darkness creeps in the shadows created by the flickering flame, and upon closer inspection they appear to be bodies. Arms, hands and heads creep along and the wailing begins again, nearly beside me now. The flames flicker harder and before I can shield them, they are extinguished. Instincts drive my feet, and I run back inside the house, slamming the door as if it would stop shadows.

  “It can affect the physical world!” I point to the corner of the room just beyond the couch. “Over there, now! Give me your lanterns!”

  As we huddle, I set my lantern down a few feet in front of us and take theirs, placing them around us in a quarter-circle. Each of us keeps our backs to the wall, and we watch and wait for the bodies of darkness to creep into the house. Ami holds onto me fearfully and a tension rises in the room, charging it with a negative energy. The moaning seeps in from outside, low at first, but increasing in volume.