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              “I think that is exactly it. Why else? I don’t want to be here. We don’t want to live here. Yet I’m not the one being hunted by all the others of this damn city. Thankfully, I’m not you.” Frank smiled.

              “Thankfully, I’m not you, either,” I retorted.

              Frank pointed at me, wagging his finger like the comeback was so well timed.

              “So, we’re not each other. Well isn’t that just what I also hoped for, Jackson. Oh to trade places though, wouldn’t that be a treat? To know exactly what your plan is? Or, at least, what it was, right? I mean, hell, it looks like you’re trapped in your own end. That timer is close enough, isn’t it?” Frank said and smiled as he returned to his seat.

He grabbed the knife and started scratching his neck with it. He must have nicked his skin, as it started to bleed. He noticed the wetness and reached up to touch the spot. He smiled, and showed me his red hand.

              “I would do it, ya know?” he asked, waving his knife. “But… really… I just can’t bring myself to do it. I wanna see how this plays out. I wanna watch as you cross that barrier as that timer hits zero. Whatcha going to be thinking then, huh? You think, you’ll even be able to think? Fuck, I think it’s just all over from there. But, what will it mean to you?” Frank placed his knife back in its holster and crossed his arms, waiting for his question to be answered.

              “I think, if I at least get to forget about you, then it’s been worth it,” I hissed back.

              “A strange sentiment, I suppose,” Frank said.

              Electricity filled the air between us, both unwilling to move, both unwilling to break our stare, as if severing it meant losing what we both fought for.

              “So…” I spoke up first. “You’re just going to let me walk right out that door?” I was intrigued, but wary. Frank was so mystifying, always having an agenda. This seemed like a deceit, yet what would he gain? Besides, he could have ended it already.

              “’Course,” he whispered. “Like I said. I want to be there.”               “Why wait?” I asked. Now this caught him by surprise.

              “Come again?” he stuttered.

              Instead of saying another word I got up, and led him outside. He kept a few paces behind me, not entirely understanding what I was doing, and I doubted what I did next would answer any of his questions about me. It sure as hell would complicate his notion of what I was far more than it already was.

              I dug the sphere out of my sweatshirt’s pocket and gripped it in my left hand. I turned around and showed it to him, waving it like something magical.

              “What is that?” he asked. He had stopped in his tracks, eyeing the device but failing to make sense of it.

              “Isn’t that a good question?” I answered back. Slowly, I crossed the brink into the unknown, passing through the barrier. Just as it had done before, the sphere grew to life, pulsating with its never-ending cycle of blue light.

              “Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, should I?” Frank questioned.

              For some reason the dream of falling came racing back. I could feel the darkness build up behind me. The thunder cracked in my arrival, and it cooled down immensely.

              “Sorry you don’t get your wish,” I said with a smile. Being no longer within Frank’s grasp I realized just how much his petty threats and displaced anger couldn’t affect me now. He would sooner or later burn for it, and I prayed that I was there to watch it happen.

              I turned back around, facing deep into the heart of this broken city. Frank no longer mattered. The voyage ahead was the only thing that counted as I pushed further inland, as Frank’s voice drew further and further away.

Chapter 20: The Diner
 

              Crossing the brink into this foreign land was the easy part. Navigating the wasteland would be the challenge. The sphere did its job though, keeping the pain away and lighting up the area the best it could. I turned on the flashlight that I’d taken from the guy in the woods. The beam cut a clear path through the darkness. Even fifty feet in it was far darker than I would have thought it would be. The sun refused to shine here, or it couldn’t break through the clouds above.

The blue glow of the sphere at least felt welcoming. It brought a strange light to the dark world. But it showed me things that were oddly out of place, even wicked. Shining both lights forward, I focused ahead, my destination somewhere in this shade.

              No one had ever been this far into the ink, unless they had turned of course. So where I was going had never been charted. It took a while for my vision to adjust, and it was a slow process of navigating the unknown.

              Wherever I was, it was populated by a scrawling line of buildings and their silhouettes as they climbed high and out of sight. The structures were in decay, just like the rest of the city, but somehow different. It was as though the darkness of this center displaced their meaning. In a way, strangely, they were inviting.

It would be so much easier to run inside, find some dark corner to hide in. Though that still wouldn’t stop the timer. I was sure it still ticked backwards in its need to tell me I was going to turn.

              I came to a halt on the sidewalk that ran parallel to the road and caught what looked like an old-style diner. I recalled there was one that resembled this building exactly back in the lighted part of town. Maybe there was something inside that could help with this trip.

              A bell above the door chimed with my arrival. I cringed at the sound, set against a world enveloped only by the constant crack of thunder overhead. In the center of the floor was a service station with a bar that wrapped around the entire floor. Barstools lined the outer edge, while tables and chairs filled the spots in between. A thick layer of dust and time covered everything. Even the windows were streaked enough to conceal the outer world.

              I didn’t know what I was looking for. Maybe something useful. Maybe something that could answer a few questions. Or maybe it was just a need to see a world so removed from everything else.

              Moving around the counter and towards the back, the beam of the flashlight hovered over everything. Plates and silverware still held bits of food that had decayed over the years. Chairs were flipped upside down, like someone was in a rush and forgot to realign the diner the way they’d found it. I picked up a chair and placed it where it should have been: the seat underneath a clean table.

              The beam flashed over in a corner, directing my eyes to a jukebox. It remained lifeless with a disk held in midair, just waiting for the electricity to fire back up so it could continue playing the music. My memory was vivid enough to remember dancing to a few tunes when I was younger. I was sure some of those disk in the jukebox played those songs, though I wouldn’t get a chance to listen to them.

              Pushing passed the music player, I moved to the back, the sphere playing that alien-like blue glow off the ceiling. Shadows flickered against the walls, darting back and forth. They danced off the paneling and all the old pictures. It was an effect I tried not to pay attention to.

              The wall next to me was cool to the touch. I continued down the back hallway and soon stumbled upon a door that wasn’t labeled. It was locked. I tried to push against the frame, but didn’t want to kick it in. I wasn’t ready to make noise in this land, and instead retreated the way I’d come.

              I exited the hallway and returned to the jukebox, like it was somehow calling out to me. Flashing the light inside, I saw the disc, the needle, and the contraption that would bring the music alive. I tapped the glass.

              “Let’s go,” I said out loud. There was nothing for me here.

              I heard the faintest click inside the machine. Bending down closer, I made sure that what I’d heard wasn’t my imagination. The arm dropped the disc into place, and a pitch escaped the speakers. The device lit up, colors alternating between orange and yellow down the side of the machine.

              “Shit. No-no-no,” I whispered. I tried to hit the side of it. An old tune belted from the jukebox. Someone was singing about being in love but losing it all.

I grabbed the machine and shook it, pressing all the buttons. Nothing was working. It resisted turning off after being silent for so many years and it was too heavy to pull backwards and unplug the damn thing. I backed up as if everything was about to come crashing down.

I didn’t care about how the hell it was being powered, I just wanted it to stop. Sweat dripped down my forehead and stung my eyes. Wiping away my agitation, I shrugged and could feel my fears become a reality.

              That was when the first scream drowned out the beat of the music. It was loud enough it had to be close, loud enough to be heard over the jukebox. As the foreign music attacked the deathly quiet environment, I stopped trying to turn it off and looked for somewhere to hide.

              I jumped over the center counter space and squatted against the wall. A cash register was laying on its side nearby, with a few paper bills still in the drawer, and a few pieces of broken plates were scattered about. The counter space wrapped around me in a square, and hid my view of whatever was going to come looking. I flicked the flashlight off. All I could do was wait.

              The bell above the door
chimed
with a new customer. That same, soft hissing played against the roaring music. Claws
clinked
against the marbleized walkway. One grew closer to my location, and I overheard something that sounded like a soft wheezing, like it was breathing but struggling to do so. I put the hand with the sphere into my front pocket and tried to cover the fabric to lessen the blue light, thinking the soft glow from the orb might alert the monsters.

              One of them came around the bend of the counter, arching its head against the flashing lights of the jukebox. It followed the yellow and blue lights as they circled around the edge of the music maker, and seemed caught as it pulsated every few seconds.

              Strangely enough, the creatures appeared almost human, as I’m sure they once were. But they all had those deep gashes and cracks covering their bodies, and full length claws where their fingers should have been. Their spines were curved, and they walked hunched over.

              The bell above the door kept chiming. Seven, eight, nine times the bell rang.

              Curiously, the first one approached the jukebox, growling and hissing. It mustn’t have heard such a thing in so long, and was failing to understand the sound. Claws screeched against the glass separating the disc from the listener. The creature batted its twisted and mangled claws against the glass, shattering it, letting pieces rain down on the disc. A piece must have got stuck underneath the needle in the machine, and screeches replaced what used to be a pleasant song.

              A decent lot of creatures disappeared down the back hallway. They didn’t seem to mind the locked door, breaking through the wood like it was nothing. When they discovered nothing interesting, they seemed to echo a distinct pitch back towards the group. I couldn’t decide if it was communication or just a part of their strange actions.

              Lights began to click on overhead. The small diner was aflame in a bright distinct light like I had only known when the sun was out. Then it flashed off again. Looking ahead, a creature was playing with what looked like a wall switch. It must have controlled the overhead lighting.

I couldn’t believe that electricity still ran to the building, or how it even worked. But as the monster kept switching it on and off, I prayed that they didn’t see me.

              The creature playing with the switch moved onward, but left the lights on. I tried to crouch down more, laying on my side and putting my face on the floor. Even from this angle, though, I could still see their heads, meaning they could still see me.

              A much older-looking creature came into view. Its flesh was taught over its boney frame, the skin nearly bleached. The lack of sunlight must have whitened these creatures. Its spine was curved more than the others, and it hunched over at a more severe angle. Cracks and crevices covered all of its body, though it didn’t bleed anymore. Instead, a thick black ooze seemed to hover just inside the wounds.

Its teeth were all gone save a few still that were hanging on. The head was completely bald. Where the ears would have been were just holes, and the nose appeared to have fallen off. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, its features were so misshapen. The creature’s head swiveled from side to side, and a very distinct pair of violet eyes set on me, a milky cover over the irises.

             
I wonder?

I started to think that maybe the monster wasn’t actually looking at me.

              The older creature was staring at me, hissing and moaning. Those violet eyes pulsated with a strange sparkle that played with the lights of the jukebox. I remained still.

              Slowly, the creature turned its head, disregarding my position. It was true, at least, that one was completely blind. Maybe they all were. The older one walked further, bumping into the countertop and hissing in reply.

              The jukebox died as if it had never started playing. The song on the disc must have ended. Only hissing and moans filtered through the air, but the light from the jukebox still flashed yellow and orange off the metallic surface of the countertop.

              “Jackson?” a voice came through the hisses.

              I looked around but knew no one human could be here.

              “Jackson?” the voice questioned again. I hadn’t heard it in so long, but there was no way.

             
Olivia?
I thought to myself. No, it wasn’t possible. This had me be my imagination.

              “Jackson! Help me!” she screamed, but seemed to be farther away.

             
No, stop. This isn’t real. This isn’t real.
I chanted to myself.

              “Help me! It hurts! Hellllppppppp!” Olivia screamed.

              I covered my loose ear, pressing the other against the cabinet, forcing the thought aside.

              “Where are you? Why? Why? Why? Why?” Olivia’s voice kept chanting.

              My foot slipped on the marble and I didn’t notice it until it was too late. I kicked the cash register and punted it across the floor. Coins tumbled from the tray, slapping and spinning on the floor.

              The older creature screeched with a scream and jumped onto the countertop. It stared its milky discolored eyes onto me, but this time, it was seeing, and screamed in its discovery.