by Sean Platt
Luca looked down at the chairs lined up around the pool and found Rose lying back, reclined in a pink-and-blue bathing suit, looking just as carelessly happy as everyone else in the park. She looked up at Luca and smiled.
“OK,” he said, both to the jerk and to the voices in his head.
Luca turned and walked from the platform to the ice pack-colored diving board, which bowed slightly beneath his weight. The distance between Luca and the blue water below seemed to somehow expand by another hundred feet. He was staring down from the top of a building into the rippling surface of an inescapable death.
Luca remembered watching the people who had jumped before him. They had bounced on the board then launched into the air. He used his weight to jostle the board.
One, two, th—
Shovel Face screamed, “Boo!”
Startled, Luca turned to look back. He lost his balance and slipped, his leg banging the board hard as he plunged over the side.
Luca screamed on the way down, his stomach hurled down an elevator shaft.
He slammed into the water, his stomach and face smacking the surface and knocking the air from his lungs.
Time turned to goo as Luca plunged deeper into the pool, desperate to touch bottom, propel himself to the surface, and suck some air into his lungs. Panic stabbed his brain and made his limbs do stupid things, screaming inside that he was seconds from dying, sending his legs into kicks and his arms into thrashing.
He’d never reach the surface in time. Luca would drown and no one would miss him, all because of some asshole kid.
His feet hit the bottom, and Luca kicked, thrusting upward toward the refracted sunlight.
He broke the surface, gasping, filling his lungs and feeling like a target for the park’s every eye. He turned, desperate to orientate himself and locate Rose. He longed for their hotel, now. Practice was over.
He spotted her, sitting on her lounge chair, leaning forward, looking at Luca, making sure he was OK.
As he started to swim toward her, Luca felt a sudden danger descending a moment before the shadow draped him. He looked up to see Shovel Face diving like a blade straight at him.
Luca tried to move, but wasn’t fast enough.
The boy barely missed, instead crashing through the water about two feet away, splashing Luca, getting water in his mouth, and causing him to gasp again.
Shovel Face surfaced through the water with a lunatic’s laughter.
Luca glared at him. The boy chuckled, almost like Johnny Thomas, then turned and swam to the pool’s side. He pulled himself up and joined another three of his friends, for a total of four assholes laughing and looking at Luca.
He turned away and swam toward Rose, hoping she’d let him practice his infection on Shovel Face.
“What was that all about?” Rose asked as he approached.
“I dunno, some jerk who decided he didn’t like me.” Luca sat in the lounge chair beside her. “Can I infect him first?”
“No,” she said, surprising him.
“Why not?”
“Because his guard is already up. He’s in adversarial mode, and a far harder person to get into. Start small. Find someone relaxed and having fun. Oblivious.”
“And then what? Are we going to bring them back to the hotel?”
“That’s not how it works. We are adding to our collective. We leave some of The Darkness inside them. It grows over time, slowly taking over until it’s ready to do whatever we need. But you’re not leaving anything in anyone today. You’re testing to see if you can enter undetected, take over for a bit, then leave.”
“OK,” said Luca, disappointed.
Though he hadn’t been keen on infecting anyone before their trip to the water park, Shovel Face had quickly changed his mind.
Rose had explained that infection was a blessing to humans, and would help to evolve them. Luca wasn’t completely onboard but could feel himself warming to the idea. Still, he didn’t want to evolve Shovel Face.
He wanted to hurt him.
Rose, as if sensing — or perhaps reading — his thoughts, said, “Forget about the boy. Find someone else.”
Luca looked around and spotted two girls lying back in chairs near the pool’s shallow end. High schoolers, or maybe in college.
“Does it matter how old they are?”
“No one too young. The truly innocent can rarely handle infection, and it would be foolish to draw attention.”
“How about those two?” Luca asked, looking at the girls.
Rose smiled. “You picked them because they’re hot?”
“No, I dunno why I chose them.”
Luca felt his face burn red. It was weird. Though The Darkness inside Rose was neither male nor female, it used Rose’s femininity to embarrass Luca during moments such as these. Rose had even caught him looking down her shirt when she leaned over, and had smiled at him in the creepiest way both times. The third time she winked. Fortunately, his Darkness pretended not to notice Luca’s occasional arousal around girls.
“They’ll do fine.” Rose smiled, leaning back in her chair, pretending to read the same book she’d been using as a prop for days.
“What do I do?”
The Darkness inside him answered. Focus. Can you see them?
Yes.
Good. Now I want you to really see them.
How?
First, you must unsee them. Stare until they blur.
Luca stared, a brunette and a blonde, both in tiny bikinis that barely covered their oily curves. He couldn’t help but stare at their breasts, the thinnest white tan lines peeking out from their straps. He wanted to see more, not less.
The Darkness interrupted his leering. Maybe you should pick someone else?
No, I’ve got this.
Luca shook his head to clear thoughts of oily breasts from his mind, then focused on the girls’ faces again.
He stared until they became a blur.
Now he was seeing with his mind instead of his eyes. A switch had been flipped. Then Luca somehow went from his mind to capture their thoughts.
The blonde girl, Ashleigh, was wishing she’d stayed home. Her mom had asked for her help with some flier she had to make for Junior League. Ashleigh had promised to help, but when Brie called she bailed on her mom. Now she felt bad. Worse, Brie wouldn’t shut up about all the expensive shit Daddy was buying for her ever since the divorce. “Guilt gifts” she called them.
Why am I friends with this person?
Luca felt odd inside Ashleigh’s head — like he was peeking straight into her mind, feeling things she felt, hearing thoughts in her voice, and seeing the movie of her life in flashes of memory. He could see the girl’s mom as she pictured her, home and sick in bed. Luca wondered if the girl’s mom was truly so ill, or if her guilt was shading the picture.
Luca wanted to dive deeper and see how the girl had last seen her mom, but wasn’t sure if he could access specific memories or was only there for the ride, seeing, hearing, and feeling along with Ashleigh.
The Darkness responded. You are in her head. But you should go with whatever she’s thinking. The more you try to direct her thoughts or explore her memories, the more likely she will feel your presence. She won’t know what’s wrong, but she will sense something, and that will decay your connection. Control requires discretion.
The longer that Luca stayed in her head, the more connected he felt. The more he liked being inside, exploring her perspective, watching, almost living her memories. He was more than a voyeur. It was like Luca was wearing her body, living the girl’s life through her.
In a rush of ten minutes, where his every cell felt fully alive, Luca learned that Ashleigh was an aspiring dancer but had suffered an injury last year that had eliminated her chances for competition. Now she was weighing her options. Ashleigh felt overwhelmed with possibilities, unsure what her next passion was — whether she should continue trying to get into CalArts, or pursue drama instead. And there was always the opti
on for something more practical. Her father was pressuring her to take pharmacology like he had, but Ashleigh would rather wait tables forever.
Luca was intrigued by how different the girl was from how he’d originally seen her. He had thought she was a fun party girl and nothing more, hanging out and laughing with her vapid friend by the pool. But inside she had so much going on, so much internal strife and uncertainty.
The Darkness asked: You feel the connection is strong?
Yes.
Good, now I want you to try and get her to do something.
Like what?
Something small, nothing to draw attention or put her in danger. Just something to validate your control.
Luca knew what he wanted to make her do. But being inside her head had made him feel a closeness he didn’t want to violate, even if it meant not seeing her naked.
How do I get her to do it? Do I say it? Tell her to do something?
Just think it. Imagine you’re in control of her body no different from your own. You think, I’d like a drink, then will your body to get you that drink, right? Same thing here.
OK.
Luca pictured the girl sitting straight in her chair.
After he thought it, he saw through her eyes as she sat up.
Look at your friend.
She did.
“Whatcha doin?” Brie asked.
Tell her you’re going for a swim.
“I’m going for a swim.”
Ashleigh’s voice sounded odd, as if doubting the words as they fell from her mouth. Luca felt Ashleigh wonder why she was going to the pool.
The Darkness spoke inside Luca. She’s starting to resist, to sense your presence.
What do I do?
Ashleigh thought, do about what?
The Darkness said: You’re broadcasting your thoughts. Stop it.
I don’t know how.
Ashleigh then thought: I don’t know how to what? What’s going on? What’s wrong with me?
Luca felt someone shaking him and was jolted from Ashleigh’s head and back into his own. Rose was rattling him by the shoulders to get his attention, but stopped once she saw he was back.
“Why’d you do that?” he asked.
“You were losing her.”
“Sorry,” Luca said, sad to be gone from Ashleigh’s head. After his life’s fifteen most intimate minutes with a girl, he felt like he’d known Ashleigh for years.
“It’s OK. You did good for your first try. You were able to connect and control. With practice, you’ll have it down.”
“Can we go home now?”
“No. We’ll find a few more people. But first, I want you back on that diving board.”
“What? Why? I already went off it.”
“Yes, but you’re still scared. I want you to smother that fear. You are no longer limited by your human constraints. We can help you be better.”
“A better diver?”
“Don’t be a smartass. It’s not about diving, and you know that. It’s about overcoming your weaknesses, killing them if you can.”
“It would’ve been easier if I just let It take over.”
Rose smiled. “We can still arrange for that.”
He saw her smile for what it was — a threat designed to remind Luca of his place. He was important to the scheme, but only a piece of the puzzle, a bit player in The Darkness’s plan for humanity. It had no time to waste on Luca’s whims and worries. If he was too scared to conquer a diving board, they’d likely make him a host like Rose.
Whatever remained of Luca would be gone forever.
He couldn’t allow that to happen.
“OK, I’ll do it.” Anger fueled Luca’s trip to the board.
He stood in line behind a dark-haired girl with pigtails. She looked around eight years old. There was a tall black kid with red shorts climbing the ladder in front of her.
Pigtails looked up at Luca and smiled sympathetically. “That looked like it hurt.”
She must’ve seen his horrible excuse for a dive.
“Yeah,” he said. “It did.”
“Your first time diving?”
“Yes. That obvious?”
She smiled, “It’s OK, I used to be bad, too. But I got good. You will, too.”
“Thanks,” Luca said as her turn in line came up and she ascended the ladder. As he waited for the girl to dive, Luca heard the last thing in the world he wanted to hear — Shovel Face laughing as he approached with his friends.
“Hey, faggot,” Shovel Face called out.
Luca ignored him, holding his eyes to the ladder.
“Hey, I’m talking to you.” Shovel Face lightly shoved him.
Startled, Luca spun around, fists instinctively balling.
Shovel Face looked down and noticed, laughing. “Whatcha gonna do? Hit me?”
The two other kids with him, a fat kid with red skin and a monobrow and a skinny Hispanic with spotty facial hair, laughed along with Shovel Face.
“Just leave me alone,” Luca said, wishing he sounded less whiny.
Monobrow said, “Or what?”
Luca ignored them and started to climb the ladder.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Monobrow said. “Pussy ass faggot.”
Luca wanted to turn around and cut the smug smiles from all their faces. He hated bullies who picked on kids for no reason. He hadn’t done anything. They’d spotted him, recognized him as weaker or different from them, and decided to mess with him. It was like those wildlife documentaries he sometimes watched with his dad — or are those the other Luca’s memories? — where hunters spotted the weakest prey and culled them from the herd.
Of course with nature, the hunters were eating the weak. The circle of life had a purpose. But with bullies, there was no purpose except to make the bullies feel temporarily better about their pathetic lives.
The Darkness chimed in. Forget them. They’ll be irrelevant soon. They are no longer the top of the food chain. You are. We are.
Luca allowed himself a smile as he climbed to the platform. On top, about to step onto the board, he heard the jerks behind him clucking like chickens.
Block them out this time. Just jump.
Luca heard a sound he wished he hadn’t — one of the kids quickly ascending the ladder.
Luca looked back to see Shovel Face reaching the top.
“You’re not supposed to be up here,” Luca said, looking down for the lifeguard on duty — busy chatting with a cluster of girls.
Shovel Face smiled as he stepped onto the platform. “You’ve got five seconds to jump.”
“Or what?”
“I’m gonna throw you off.”
Luca’s heart raced as Shovel Face’s dead eyes narrowed in sincerity.
“One … ” Shovel Face started the countdown.
Luca braced his body.
“Two … ”
Luca carefully took a single step back, looking down to make sure his feet moved from platform to diving board without misstepping.
“Three … ”
Luca turned around and walked to the end of the diving board like a sailor forced to walk the plank.
“Four … ”
Luca looked down just long enough to make sure he was lined up correctly and that no one was beneath him.
“Fi—”
He closed his eyes and jumped.
Luca’s second dive was far better than his first. He didn’t dive hands first like he saw other people doing, but did manage to avoid a belly flop, keeping his feet pointed down as he sliced through the water.
As Luca’s feet touched the pool’s bottom he looked up to see two dark shapes growing larger. Shovel Face and one of the others had dived immediately after him.
Luca pushed off the bottom of the pool, hoping the boys wouldn’t hit him before he reached the edge.
He broke through the surface and swallowed a deep lungful of air, bracing for impact. The jerks landed milliseconds apart on either side of Luca, sending up giant
waves.
He made another attempt for the pool’s edge. The last thing he wanted was to stay in the water with sharks.
He made it just inches before hands wrapped his torso and dragged him under the surface.
Luca gasped, swallowing and choking as he kicked off whichever of the two assholes was trying to drown him.
He managed to squirm free and grab some air. He looked around to see where the kids were, his eyes blurred. Monobrow was swimming in front of him, but Luca couldn’t see Shovel Face.
He felt movement behind him, but was too late to react before Shovel Face’s arms wrapped around his neck and yanked him into a choke hold.
“Where ya goin’? We’re just getting started.”
Shovel Face shoved Luca back under, squeezing his arms tight around Luca’s neck. He couldn’t break free.
They’re actually trying to drown me!
Luca couldn’t believe how quickly they’d escalated from a scare on the diving board to attempted murder.
What kind of monsters are these?
He squirmed, kicked, and flailed, attempting to break free, but Shovel Face held his grip tight.
Luca begged The Darkness to help him.
Kick his knee.
Luca kicked back hard to where he thought the boy’s knee might be. He struck, hard and felt something crack.
Shovel Face screamed and let go of Luca.
He didn’t bother to look back at Shovel Face, or to search for Monobrow and Jerk Number Three. Luca raced for the side of the pool.
As he neared the edge Luca heard someone behind him, swimming fast. He could still hear Shovel Face crying; it had to be one of the others.
He didn’t dare look back.
Luca pulled himself up and out of the pool.
Go to the diving board.
He didn’t understand the logic of climbing back up the ladder, but couldn’t question The Darkness, who had far superior instincts.
“Hey, faggot!” Monobrow yelled.
Luca ignored him, grabbing rungs and climbing up.
The lifeguard whistled, repeatedly and seemingly shriller each time. Luca didn’t look to see if he was whistling at him or just now noticing the injured Shovel Face in the pool.
