Intersections

by Megan Hart

  She screamed when I tightened the knot rigged around my waist and shoulders, but she didn’t stop jogging. I couldn’t say that I would’ve had the same fortitude.

  “Why does this have to be my guts?” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Sorry, my viscera all got pulled back in.”

  “What happens when the plane lifts off and the landing gear goes up?”

  “Um, it’ll hurt, but I don’t think you’ll get disconnected. I mean, my fucking kitten heel keeps coming back. I have to think the same laws will apply here. The pieces of your soul will stick together, right?”

  “Damn well better.”

  Soon the plane idled at the end of a long stretch of concrete. This was it. Lift off. Shannon and I stood next to each other under the plane, holding hands. To the east, the sun crested the horizon.

  Shannon stared at me. I expected her to gaze lovingly into my eyes and say something tender and encouraging. Instead, her gaze drifted over my shoulder and she said, “Fuck my afterlife.”

  I turned around. Mr. Shady emerged from a patch of trees along the runway. The dark son of a bitch rode a mutilated stack of tainted souls. The mess’s distorted legs and arms moved at a blur, more oozing than running toward us.

  The plane’s engines revved. I stretched my hamstrings, though my ghost body didn’t seem to need warm-ups. I gripped Shannon tighter. She nodded to me, pain festering on her face. I wanted to tell her that I’d really grown to like her—that she was a solid young woman and one of the more impressive people I’d ever met, but the plane rolled forward. The engines roared.

  I figured I’d have the chance to tell her all of this on the other side. I was wrong.

  26

  The plane barreled down the runway like an oversized bullet. We kept up for a few steps, but the velocity proved too much. I couldn’t tell who stumbled first. We smacked the runway bouncing between the metal hull and the unforgiving concrete. Crack. Crunch. Thud. Each impact was a sucker punch from a giant fist. Even through all that hurt, an oozing chill crept through me. Mr. Shady was near.

  By the time we lifted off, my dented and broken body had been battered into a weeping flesh sack of bone fragments. That’s when the pain really started.

  The plane’s elitist nose tipped upward, exposing us to the rising sun’s brutal rays. Sunshine knifed inside my torn flesh. I flailed but there was no escaping it. The unbearable heat burnt my flesh and boiled my blood. As I writhed, I caught a glimpse of Mr. Shady dangling from one of the rear wheels. He, too, was burning in the sun. Good. If nothing else, I’d die knowing that I’d lured him to his death.

  I tried to scream, but my tongue turned to charred ash that clogged my throat. Somehow, I was still holding Shannon’s hand. We clenched each other so tightly that our fingers crackled.

  Metal clicked above us, and the landing gears slid upward into their chambers. With the last of my strength, I turned toward Shannon. Her face had been stripped almost to the bone. Her hair was smoke.

  We rose together and fell apart.

  Below, the world shrank. Long shadows stretched across suburban yards. The fields became a patchwork quilt of irregular squares. From up here, everything was so beautiful. This was how the world looked when I fell out of the sky yesterday. That seemed like a lifetime ago, but I supposed it was anything but.

  The relentless velocity pinned me to the craft’s belly. We passed into a nest of clouds, surrounded by brilliant clean white. It reminded me of walking in the woods after a massive snowfall. No other footsteps to dirty things up. The clouds offered a respite from the sun. For one halfway peaceful moment, it was just me and Shannon soaring through the air.

  The white dissipated, and we were no longer alone.

  The plane dragged us through a crowd of lumbering souls. We slammed through them, knocking women, men, and children aside like bowling pins. As we thrust to the front of the line, I thought I heard cussing. The sun’s burning faded. The Light protected us. All around me, dead-eyed souls stared resentfully at us. Their faces blurred into a white honeycomb pattern.

  The plane plowed right into the Light’s calm center.

  The radiant brilliance blinded me for a moment. The roar of the plane’s engines faded away, soon replaced by a pleasant humming and the sensation of slipping into a warm bath on a cold day. White light surrounded me. Filled me. My broken limbs inflated. When I could see again, everything had turned a thousand shades of white. The plane flew away, fading into the distance. At first I panicked, thinking we were about to fall.

  On the contrary, we rose.

  A column of light sucked us upward—higher and higher into the sky. Below us, perhaps millions of souls stared needfully after us. We’d found a way to jam ourselves into the Light, and they were left to wait endlessly. My heart panged for them.

  Higher and higher we rose, the both of us speechless.

  The sun shone directly upon us but the Light’s embrace kept us safe. I expected that the illuminated column would carry us through some kind of portal into a set of pearly gates—well polished and adorned with eternal orchids.

  Instead, it lifted us through the clouds.

  Higher still.

  All the way into space.

  Gravity dissolved around us. Everything went impossibly quiet.

  We floated above the Earth. Below, the mass of white souls loitered around the Light. There were so many of them—almost a whole continent’s worth. In the distance, the moon hung mostly in shadow. The column of light surrounding us faded. Its path petered out above the atmosphere, light fragmented in many directions. I could see now that a similar column of pure white light extended from the Sun toward the Earth. It glowed the way I imagined Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth would glow—a reassuring shimmer. Except, where the band of light reached our orbit, it fractured and fizzled out.

  Something had disrupted the Light’s path from the Sun to the Earth.

  No, wasn’t one thing. It was many things.

  Space junk. It floated all around us—the debris of shuttles, satellites, and rockets. Hunks of metal and discarded thrusters. Flat panels. Twisted rods. The ray of light reflected off this mess of trash and bent in all manner of crazy directions.

  This is why the Light’s clogged.

  Those were the words I meant to say to Shannon, except we floated in the vacuum of space. Beyond sounds.

  We looked at each other and shrugged. For some reason, the Sun didn’t burn us, even though we were closer to its rays. Maybe it was because we were free of the Earth’s atmosphere. Whatever the reason, the sunlight passed harmlessly through us. Shannon glowed like an angel. I suppose I did too. Her eyes were so blue I could’ve dived into them.

  The view of the Earth made me dizzy. Massive clouds. Night’s darkness still covered the western parts of North America. The world looked immensely powerful and shockingly fragile. And me, I was just a leaf on a tree. No, a bug on a leaf on a tree. No, a seed blowing in the wind. Up here, things like planets and stars weren’t abstract notions. There was no earth, sun, or moon. No, no. Here, we had Earth, Sun, and Moon. We were on a first name basis with God up here.

  My many wounds faded. Shannon’s guts spooled back into her belly. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but a profound peace infused my being. Shannon and I grabbed hands and twirled around. We laughed mutely, flying like goddesses between heaven and Earth. It was a perfect moment. Somehow, I knew everything was going to be okay.

  I was wrong.

  Mr. Shady grabbed Shannon from behind and sank his teeth into her neck. She screamed noiselessly. Her hands went ice cold. The blackness erupted from inside her.

  27

  Mr. Shady

  The tendrils of Mr. Shady’s minions had snagged one of the plane’s rear landing gears moments before take off. His slaves had wrapped around him and formed a black chrysalis, taking most of the impact as the building speed bashed them against the craft and concrete. When the airplane rose, the dawn ravage
d his shadow creature. The souls screamed around him. He shared in their pain, which only strengthened his resolve. As the plane shot into the sky, the shell smoldered and burned and crackled. His quest would soon end. No way could he survive. His tether lost its grip on the plane. He braced himself to either plummet or roast or both.

  Except something curious happened.

  The burning ceased.

  He did not fall.

  The roar of the airplane faded. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, he tore through his shell to find that the plane had dragged him into the crowd of souls waiting for the Light. The foolish ghosts glowed pale white. Up here, the Light protected everyone, including himself, from the sun’s rays. All around him, dull-eyed ghosts stared stupidly at the Light that had betrayed them. It offered them no salvation now, and yet still they waited endlessly for it.

  That wouldn’t do. Not at all.

  He shook free of the smoldering soul fragments and grabbed the nearest ghost’s wrist. He bit down on the palm of a third grade teacher with hard eyes and tight hair. Blackness burst from her eyes, nose, and mouth. She snarled and leapt at the ghost beside her, who in turn ruptured shadows and bit the next ghost. And on it went, a black ripple that spread quickly through the crowd.

  Within moments, he’d possessed the whole lot of them. He now saw the world through millions of eyes. He clenched his hands into millions of fists. His newfound collective power nearly overwhelmed him. Now he had an army.

  No, no. He had an empire.

  He’d no longer be content to contain his dominion to one precious hour. Now it was the Light that would beg for scraps of time. He would raid the Light and claim its power for his own ends. Soon, he would lead his empire of souls to rain upon the Earth.

  To reign upon the Earth.

  Darkness would rise.

  No more would souls endlessly churn through the sun, being upcycled into new bodies. No, he’d hoard all the souls for himself, squeezing every last bit of spirit out of humanity until every morsel of living flesh was devoid of Light’s cruel spark. His moment of victory was at hand. His treasure—his Molly and his passion for her—had inadvertently led him to this triumph. Now, he needed only to claim her as his dark bride, and together they could rule over the afterlife.

  Millions of black glistening souls carried him toward the Light. He rode a tidal wave of shadow into that broken portal, where a column of pale light dragged him upward. He grinned. His fingertips reached outward, grazed the column of light. It burned to the touch. He jerked his hand back and hissed.

  Upward, he rose. Past the clouds. Into the darkness of space.

  There, his bride spun around and around with that little bitch, Shannon. They looked so happy, and a pang of jealousy stabbed into him. Moments before, he’d been the emperor of a vast army. And now, he was just a jealous ex-lover.

  The column of light released him. For a moment, he feared the Sun would roast him, but no, the vacuum of space protected him. His momentum carried him upward toward the women. He grabbed Shannon by the ponytail and yanked back her head. She went rigid at his touch. Eyes locked on his bride-to-be, Mr. Shady bit viciously into the girl’s neck. Molly’s mouth fell open. Her lips curled. He knew she wouldn’t come to him now, but he couldn’t force himself upon her. Fine then. He’d let Shannon do his dirty work for him.

  The blackness poured out of the girl, smothering her aura. It ran down her arms and legs, and engulfed her fingers and toes. He shoved his newest convert at Molly, and her ponytail ring came free in his hand. His betrothed had nowhere to run or hide—only the emptiness of space.

  28

  I let go of Shannon’s frigid hands just in time. The shadows poured out of her, dripping down her chest and sliding down her arms and legs. Mr. Shady pushed her at me, but I raised my legs and kicked off her chest. The impact launched me backward. Her now-black hair floated free around her head like a Medusa’s nest of snakes. Pivoting, I swam away from her, paddling and kicking at the vast nothingness.

  When I first looked over my shoulder, I thought they were gone. Then I saw the two people-shaped holes moving through the starscape. Their dark bodies blended almost perfectly with space. I could only see them by how their silhouettes eclipsed the vast array of stars. Mr. Shady matched my pace, but Shannon closed in on me fast. Soon, I realized why. Both my feet were bare. She must’ve grabbed my kitten heel when I kicked off her. Now the traitorous footwear was pulling her toward me.

  I rued the fucking day I’d bought that fucking pair of fucking heels.

  The nearest piece of space debris—a large panel of some kind—must’ve been miles and miles away. I was surrounded by nothingness. The quiet proved maddening. I couldn’t even hear my own heartbeat, not that my heart was beating, anyway. I moved through space but seemingly not through time. No ticks. No tocks. No bearings.

  Along the way, I steered myself toward a broken beam of the fractured Light, hoping it would somehow help me. It passed through me, and something deep inside me tingled.

  Then I kept moving past, none the better for it.

  I flailed through the emptiness for one never-ending moment of terror. I looked back, and Shannon was still closing in on me. Her hair writhed around her. Behind her, Mr. Shady soared past the Light beam, tucking in his limbs to avoid it. Perhaps the beam could hurt him. I filed that fact away, not that I figured it’d do me any good.

  I paddled through outer space, and its immenseness threatened to topple me. Below me—or perhaps above me—the souls clustered around the eternal Light had become a writhing mess of blackness. Mr. Shady had somehow invaded the Light’s sanctuary and infected them all. The mass resembled a painful bruise upon the Earth’s heavens.

  Oh hell. The realization hit me. I’d led Mr. Shady into the Light. This nightmare was my fault. An ectoplasmic tear wiggled free from my eye.

  Onward, I fled. With each kick, I imagined Shannon’s dark hand gripping my ankle. Her slippery black lips tearing into my calf. Again and again I imagined this horrible sensation until it happened for real.

  A cold hand clenched my ankle.

  Fear and icy chills threatened to paralyze me. My muscles locked up. With a mute grunt, I turned and kicked at her face with my free leg. Her head snapped backward but her grip didn’t falter. She snarled and climbed me like an old apple tree, her cool hands clutching my thighs, hips, breasts, and throat—each grasp pinching and pulling my ghost flesh. My top rode up and I saw my yang tattoo. That black swirl with the pale flesh-colored hole in the middle, curving around the black dot.

  Now we were face-to-face, arms braced against each other. Her black hair danced across my vision.

  She pulled. I pushed.

  She hissed. I winced.

  Our auras flashed with speckles of bronze, gold, and patina. That tattoo flashed again in my mind. The darkness embracing the light. The light embracing the darkness. The balance of two elements. I remembered the energy that we created together in the parking lot—how it’d felt to touch her, to rub against her. How our connection made all the difference in the world. So, I did the only thing that seemed to make sense in such a senseless situation. I kissed her.

  Our mouths collided. Our teeth clinked. An icy chill threatened to freeze my open mouth, but I lunged at her. Her black nails dug into my shoulders and neck, so cold that they burned. I wrapped my legs around her waist and squeezed. I slid my tongue into her mouth. Stray hairs tickled my lips. She bit down, severing the tip of my tongue, and swallowed.

  My whole body went rigid but I didn’t let go of her. Blackness erupted inside me. The last thing I saw before my vision went dark was Mr. Shady drifting toward us with his arms outstretched. He had won.

  29

  Like hell.

  A cold chill wracked my overrun body. Blind, deaf, and nearly dumb, I could only intertwine my blackened limbs with Shannon’s. My tongue stump licked at her teeth and my lips pressed to her mouth. Whatever was left of me retracted within, and the sensation
s I shared with Shannon were left on the surface of a puddle that became a pond that became a lake and finally an ocean. I sunk not to the ocean’s floor but into a vast canyon etched into the floor. The darkness was total.

  And there I found the light.

  At first, it was a speck no bigger than a freckle. I grasped it with the hands I no longer owned, and then it blossomed forth like a crystal—rays spawning more rays that branched into even more rays. The light pierced the darkness with a hundred sharp blades that soon reproduced into a thousand. It looked for all the world like a giant snowflake cut out of construction paper—the kind you made from folding paper again and again and snipping the edges, but this kept unfolding and unfolding. This glowing shape lifted me out of the canyon and out of the ocean, or maybe it shrank the ocean back into a puddle, because soon I stood over the darkness and in the blink of an eye was back snug inside my aura, which once again glowed white.

  Maybe it was the bit of tongue—that piece of me inside her—that brought me back. Maybe it was that bit of me that tingled deep inside when I passed through the Light beam. Maybe it was all the time we’d spent linked together during the long night. Maybe it was our togetherness that overcame the darkness. Maybe it was that tiny speck of light that we both found in each other. Maybe it was straight-up sexual tension. The thing of it was, it didn’t really matter. Sometimes life—or death—isn’t about knowing how something worked, just being grateful that it did.

  To my surprise, Shannon came back with me. The blackness receded from her limbs and torso. Even her eyes glowed that spectacular pale blue. I wanted to kiss her again but I hesitated. Fortunately, she didn’t.