Entanglement

by Drue M Scott

  Finally able to pull Mathieu from over the edge, Lucas dropped his head in the knowledge they were all going to fall in a matter of moments anyway. Pulling Mathieu into his embrace, the horror of the blood still oozing from the lacerated word “are” that had been carved into his friend’s chest, broke his heart. The heavy lines that once suspended the weight of the structural marvel snapped with twangy sounds of metal being struck with metal. One piece of the heavy gauge line fell hard nearly landing on them both; at its end, a chunk of the bridge scraped along the crumbling concrete. In direct line of them both, it snapped and raced downward into the churning waters below. Rolling Mathieu from his grip Lucas shoved hard to clear his friend from its path, and took the brunt of it himself. Skewered by one of the broken and fraying cables, Lucas knew it would soon drag him from the bridge and carry him to his death. His decision to act saved Mathieu, but it sealed his own fate.

  “Lucas!” Mathieu struggled to move towards his impaled friend. Seeing the line that connected Lucas to the falling chunk of broken concrete horrified Mathieu. Guilt, remorse, regret, and love swelled up and mixed together crushing his heart.

  “Don’t.” Lucas pointed at the cable and structural pieces around them that would surely pull them both to their deaths if Mathieu moved any closer. “It is ok.” Spitting up blood, Lucas cried. “I should have helped you both.” Tears streamed down from his eyes mixing with the blood that flowed freely from his mouth.

  “I was stupid not to see how much you loved me,” Mathieu screamed inside but only whispers made it past his lips. Desperately, he surveyed the area and to see what he could do to stop the ragged line from pulling his friend to his death. “I should have respected that love.”

  Coughing Lucas could feel the tension in the line suddenly shift. The jagged chunk of bridge connecting to him via the unraveled cable embedded in his chest had reached the water. “I love…” Yanking him from the bridge, the fallen line carried Lucas to the watery grave below. I am not afraid. His final thought before everything went black.

  “Noooo!” Mathieu cried out in agonizing horror. The force of his pain ruptured his vocal chords suddenly silencing him.

  Twitching and jerking in seizures of refracted light and erupting sounds, Jacob’s body began to give way under the friction he could no longer contain within him. We will all go together if that is what you want. Brennan’s life-force within him latched deeply into Jacob’s entity. We will all become vapor for the world to devour.

  “Fuck you!” Jacob squirmed under the power splitting his skin and disintegrating his organs.

  Yes. Fuck us all. Brennan shouted back within him.

  Kyna, taking Jacob from their presence and sending him thousands of feet above with a lift of her hand, gazed down upon Mikale. “I am sorry, dear one. This is the only outcome that remains.”

  “Wait.” Mikale tried to speak in protest as tears ran freely from his eyes. “Please, wait.” His desperation shook his voice and his body. “Please.”

  “Nothing is certain, but to end the imbalance, Brennan knew what had to be done.”

  “But Ken.”

  “Brennan could not have acted without the will of your dearest being in sync with his own.” Kyna floated over to Mikale brushing him off as she lifted him from the steadily decaying bridge. “He could not have overpowered Devin without Jason’s help.” She smiled brushing back Mikale’s hair from his face. “There were no other choices left to be made.” Her soft smile brought little comfort to Mikale. “Your loves have brought an end to evil this night.”

  In time with the bridge giving way completely, Jacob burst into an explosion of light that blinded the entire northwestern seaboard. Shock waves radiated from him in ripples of interrupted time. Cracks in reality paused and released in pulsing rhythm to the shock waves Jacob’s death brought. It disrupted every power source and every frequency throughout the top third of the US and Canada. Like an electromagnetic pulse it wrought silence on electricity-based infrastructure. But unlike an EMP it subsided as quickly as it had come releasing its dampening effects on the world around it.

  Suspending Mathieu, Mikale, and herself above the bridge as it fell, Kyna floated them gently to the far side beach. Intently she gazed upward as the immense power that was Jacob became a wispy vapor fading into the darkened sky. The lights of San Francisco and surrounding areas flickered in time with the ripples of energy waves as they pulsed outward from the epicenter. A few power stations and breakers erupted in sparks and cracks of electrical flashes, but it appeared the worst had passed as most of the city returned to normal; from a distance. The real concern became the undeniable actuality that the world would now be aware of their presence, the presence of life-based energy and the good and evil that hides just beneath the surface of its reality. Some would call it magic, others, demons and devils, but Kyna knew that what Jacob had done was going to forever change things. The damage of such knowledge could not be prognosticated, but the effects were certain to bring about a revolution of beliefs. Kyna had suspected this day would eventually come, and in some far-off thought, pondered the idea if it had not been by design from the beginning. The Universe will maintain its balance. She was humble enough to know her understanding of every detail in existence was lacking, powerful enough to know that something outside of them had guided the universe into existence, and therefore, had a hand to play in what occurred, and yet, not so arrogant as to assume she knew the reasons why. Bowing her head, two tears escaped her left eye. She was not human and did not show her emotions in such earthbound ways, but somehow, it felt respectful to her; a tear for each of the souls that sacrificed themselves for the greater good. Mikale, exhausted and desperately aching for rest, caught sight of each tear; one shimmered in crystal blue, the other in emerald green.

  “Kyna?” In disbelief, Mikale longingly gazed into her softly illuminate face. “But how?” Night had fully taken the sky and any remnants of the golden sunset or Jacob’s explosion of energy were no longer visible, but Kyna’s radiance made seeing easy.

  “When Stewart transferred over to Jacob, I was able to soak up enough energy to separate myself from my sanctuary.” Her words were soft and beautiful to Mikale’s ears. “Once we were free, I was able to absorb enough energy from all that surrounded us to increase my fortitude.” Her words played in time with the slow-floating motion of bringing Mikale, Mathieu, and herself safely down to the damp, cool sand of the beach.

  “I meant…” Mikale dropped his head unable to peer directly into her beauty. “I thought you were,” He paused catching a tear on his bare shoulder as he lifted his right shoulder towards his eye. “I saw you die.”

  “That, my friend, is a story not so easily conveyed with words.” Smiling, Kyna glided her hands to Mikale’s face. Her movements were so fluid they appeared unnatural. “Let me show you.”

  Mathieu stood in confused amazement witnessing Mikale’s eyes ice over into a milky, cold white. His heart raced and unease stirred in his gut for a brief moment. What is happening? The sand he now stood upon felt coarse and mildly uncomfortable to his bare feet. His nerves fired off in a million flares of angry responses. No pain seemed greater than any other, but his mind fought to feel them all in futility. He knew Kyna had, at least, started healing him because he no longer bled and he could breathe without his ribs screaming in protest. His body still mourned for the wounds inflicted and the emotional pain of loss.

  With a swirl of knowledge, Kyna swiftly showed the events of that fateful day when Brennan shredded her energy. The words were crisp in his ears and sights blistered his eyes, but there was no pain. He watched in horror but felt no fear. As an observer, the whole scene was like watching the drama of a TV show play out in double time. Suddenly, the action slowed to half-speed, and everything turned black and white, all except Kyna. Her image was beautifully covered in saturated color. Brennan’s anger tore her into shreds of vapor dissipating into the atmosphere of the room. She did not recede though. Instead her
essence floated gently to Stewart and intertwined itself at his core.

  “You were there,” pointing to his own chest, Mikale, in disbelief, questioned, “You were here the whole time?”

  “I was, dear boy. I was.” Kyna, slowly dropping her hands from Mikale’s face, floated back two paces. “I was only strong enough to keep myself safely present, but yet not so strong as to influence Stewart or his choices.” Shifting the tilt of her head in such a way to gently show her concern, she continued. “And he made several questionable ones.” Returning to the image and demeanor she most frequently portrayed, Kyna softly smiled. Her very essence was an aura of calm. “His decision to save you, though, was always the right one regardless of the missteps he may have taken along the way.”

  “And what of Stewart now?” Mikale hesitantly queried. “Where has he gone?”

  “I am in him, and he is in me.” Kyna’s voice shifted in tonality to match a mixture of her own with Stewart’s. “We are one force, one entity, one power.” Her body shifted in time with the words she spoke. “Does this form bring you ease?” Appearing before him as Stewart, she questioned her weakened friend.

  “I don’t think I understand, but I am…” Mikale stumbled to his knees under the mounting pain and fatigue his body felt. “Is he happy?” His knees cried out in discomfort at the cold sand beneath them. Kyna had saved Mikale and Mathieu, too, she had healed most of their wounds, but the stress of unknown knowledge and remaining injuries began taxing Mikale further than he could solitarily withstand.

  “We are happy, dear one.” Kyna comforted Mikale in her original form cradling him into her arms as she floated him up to a standing position. “Rest for now, you can quest for answers later.”

  Mathieu, fading faster with each moment, whimpered under his ruptured vocal chords. Despite his injuries being mostly healed, his life-force raged against his flesh sending pain throughout his body. The acceptance of Lucas’ sacrifice panged his every thought. What could I have done to stop…? Exhausted, he faltered.

  “There was nothing you could have done to change the outcome.” Kyna drifted over swiftly to Mathieu. “His entity needed to right what it felt he had wronged. His path was a journey to forgiveness.” Kyna knelt down and began healing the unseen wounds in Mathieu’s body. “Did he gain your forgiveness? Was his sin absolved in your eyes?”

  Heavy, uncontrollable tears poured free of Mathieu in sobs of torment, but a weight that was crushing him began to lighten. His body shook in erratic movements despite the pleasure he should have felt under Kyna’s healing touch. Each moment, though, drifted off more of the hurt that had overcome him. “How can I offer anyone forgiveness when I cannot find strength enough to forgive myself?” His heart still ached.

  “Pardoning one’s own sins is much more a task of enlightenment than the absolving of transgressions against us.” Kyna forced calmness over Mathieu to give his essence reprieve from his mind’s relentless attacks. “When you master the clemency of self, you will have learned to love in the truest way possible: unencumbered.” Raising Mathieu from the beach, she set him to his feet. His physical wounds were completely healed, and the bruises faded faster with each breath he drew. “Ask yourself in honesty: did you give to Lucas the one thing only you had the power to give?” She smiled as she caressed his cheek with her soft fingers knowing the answer to the question she posed. “Grant to yourself the same patience, the same mercy.” Releasing her influence over him, Mathieu held his head down, but his body stood on its own.

  Turning to Mikale and drawing him closer, she huddled the three of them together tightly. “You’ve my energy and my solace, my love and my hope. Time will take what it must from you, and ages may remain in your separate journeys upon this earth. But you will both be forever held in my highest regard.” Stopping as if to listen to a voice unheard by any but her, Kyna gently broke free of the embrace she had brought together. “I must leave before my actions tilt things out of ba…” She giggled shyly, which to both men seemed wholly out of character. “I will leave you each with something that will ease the days to come. A gift, if you will, something I’ve the power to give, and you’ve the need I can satisfy.”

  Epilogue

  A Random Tuesday in July

  Despite having only set four hours prior, the sun was already on its way back up in the sky and casting its pink light on the Talkeetna Mountains. Nestled away from the hustle of city life in Anchorage, the small tourist town of Talkeetna had always been the one place Mikale wanted desperately to visit with Jason. The years without his perfect Ken had slowly shifted him away from calling Jason by his pet-name. The memory of the emergency room visit and his first assigning of the cute label to his boyfriend, still played frequently in his mind, but time had taken away the power the designation held; it only brought sorrow to use it. His love, his heart, his entire being, belonged to Jason; no pet-name required. Occasionally he felt guilt for it, but it was frequently overshadowed by the terrible pain he continued to feel at not having the man, who completed his heart, with him. If you were here now, my love. He couldn’t remember when or where he had read about Talkeetna, but from the second he saw pictures of it on Google, he was hooked. He had meant to visit Alaska much sooner, almost every month since the incident, but fear that he could not endure being there without his love had always ended up changing his plans. The reality he was here now hadn’t made it to the place in his brain that registered truth, but each day slowly brought the actuality of it into focus. The air was brisk, more so than he would have thought for July, but it was fresh. The air in Alaska smelled clean. Brennan would have loved breathing here. Stifling a giggle just beneath his breath, he remembered how much his friend, his soul’s match, enjoyed the sensation of breathing when they shared his body. Sitting on the banks at the confluence of three rivers, the Susitna, the Chulitna, and the Talkeetna, a mixture of awe and grief overtook him. There weren’t words enough to describe the remorse he felt for losing Brennan, and by extension, his love Jason, but he somehow felt like their sacrifice was to a greater cause than being with the person you love. It was to save the capacity to live in balance. Love was part of that equation, but so were fear, worry, joy, and awe. Much like the three powerful rivers before him, Brennan, Jason, and himself, were a perfect power together. They were unrealized, but he knew that Brennan’s entity was the match to his own energy, and Jason was the only heart that would ever be able to un-break his. Gazing out to see Denali, trying to peek through the clouds, which so regularly shrouded her, Mikale began to openly cry. His tears dripped down dampening his plain, grey t-shirt that did little for guarding him from the morning chill. Despite feeling the cold radiating up through his faded blue jeans, his attention was far removed from the rocky sand mixed with glacier silt he sat upon. From joy to sadness, his emotions ran the gamut, but it was the most authentic he had felt in more years than he cared to remember. It was a perfect morning. Everything was perfect about this place: the friendliness of the people, the authenticity of their day-to-day lives, the single street dead ending to a campground, and Nagley’s Store at the corner with its red exterior and home to West Rib Deli & Pub. It was a half-step away from living off the grid and a million miles away from who he once was. But Jason wasn’t there. Jason had always been a bit more “mountains and wilderness” compared to Mikale, but Mikale loved the beauty in them just the same. You really don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, I guess. Pondering the idea of how much he missed Jason and Brennan, Mikale dried his tears on his sleeve. Having lost weight and gained it back several times since the horror in San Francisco, Mikale’s body had finally reached a healthy point of strength. His arms stretched the fabric of his old grey shirt and his chest, solid and pumped, was outlined nicely beneath the comfy “go-to” T. When he had become so strong, physically, was a mystery. It seemed to just happen somewhere between grieving in Australia and meditating in Thailand. His hair, ever the traveler’s mess, was lightening under the many days of hikin
g in direct sunlight. It reflected hues of brown but was not as dark as it had once been. Unshaven for several days, his newly forming beard had speckled blonde and red within it. Stretching his legs outward to reach down into his jean’s pocket, he fished out his battered pack of Marlboros. I could use a coffee. Smoking, something he picked up one night in Budapest, and caffeine had remained his two main vices, aside from the perpetual need to venture the globe as much as possible and blaming himself for losing the love of his life. Slowly shifting his weight, in order to tuck his legs beneath him, he lit his cigarette. His legs were sore from the previous day’s hike and argued with every movement. Sitting crossed-legged, he gazed at the sparkling red ash at the tip of his Marlboro light. Everything returns to ash; one more tear escaped his eyes.

  Time faded in and out of focus as he relaxed upon the cool Talkeetna beach. It really wasn’t a beach in any conventional way, but it kind of reminded Mikale of a beach: a cold, somewhat damp patch of sand/rock that lead to a rushing convergence of water. Having drowned his sorrows in several Craft Beers and one too many shots of Vodka the night before, the stillness he felt watching the sunrise was most welcomed. This day would be the last he spent in Talkeetna, and he was crowning it with a flight-seeing tour of Denali after breakfast at the Roadhouse. The best goddamn breakfast ever served. The forecast for the day was partly cloudy, but considering many folks had told him “the big one” has its own weather near the summit, his chances of seeing Denali’s awe inspiring beauty from the plane was pretty good. Hope intermingled itself between the sorrowful moments of missing Jason and the spine-tingling beauty that surrounded him. Pushing his cigarette into the dark silt/sand beside him, Mikale exhaled deeply. The smoke faded out in the light breeze wisping down river. Tranquility warmed his body and calmed his thoughts. It was almost the same calm he got from sharing his body with Brennan.