Clawing Free

by Josh Roberts

  Lissy was too stunned to converse, visions of the dragon emerging from the lake spinning through her mind. “Did this really kill David?” she finally asked.

  “I do not know,” Yunjin responded honestly.

  Lissy looked up at Yunjin, who returned her stare with intense eyes. “How are you not freaking out right now?” Lissy asked, trembling.

  Yunjin carefully considered her answer. “I suppose I have been hearing these stories my whole life, and some part of me has always believed.”

  Lissy felt anger swelling inside her. She hadn’t expected to react that way, but she couldn’t help it. “David was like a son to you. Doesn’t it make you mad?”

  For the first time since arriving, Lissy saw true emotion in the other woman’s eyes. She’d hurt her.

  “I’m sorr—” Lissy began to apologize, but Yunjin cut her off.

  “David was a son to me,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “As is Neil. But I cannot bring him back. My shedding tears of pain will not bring him back. Nor will my wearing black, or my choosing to shut out the people around me. None of that will bring my David back.”

  Yunjin lowered herself slowly into a chair and continued. “I’ve lost many people in my life, and the only way I know to mourn them is by honoring who they were. Not focusing on how they ended.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have known we all process these things differently.”

  “We do. And it is not my intent to be callous. However, if I allow myself to travel the path of mourning, I may not return from it.” A tear slipped from her eye. “I love David very much. And hope to see him again one day. That hope is enough for now.”

  The last sentence threw Lissy. “What do you mean you hope to see him again?”

  “Only that if there is more happening around us than is visible to the eye, then there is a chance that there is more beyond life than is plain to the eye as well.”

  21

  August 27, 2019

  As she exited the suburbs, heading back toward the strip, Lissy’s mind was on tilt. It felt like the world was slowly closing in on her, as if she were standing in a snow globe and it was shrinking around her. Eventually she would either break out or be crushed. Peering toward the lake in the distance, she wondered if there really was a dragon in that water. Or was the dragon in her head because she’d finally snapped? There was nothing indicating that it wasn’t the latter, that she wasn’t completely losing her grip on reality. If she was being honest with herself, she hoped she was nuts, because if she’d become disjointed from reality, at least that meant the dragon could be explained outside the realm of Korean myth.

  She found herself comforted by the knowledge that if the dragon was a real thing, it had never ventured to the city. But the ease quickly dissipated when she considered its having attacked David’s trailer, which meant it wasn’t afraid to leave the lake. Would it continue creeping up until it was above her apartment, raining lightning down on her as she slept?

  She stepped out of the way of an oncoming car as she turned the corner into the alley. She was surprised to see Neil sitting on the stairs of her apartment. He sprang to his feet when he saw her.

  “Neil, what’s—”

  “The police found something,” he interrupted. “In David’s lockbox. They found a letter and—” He paused, pulling a silver chain from his pocket and letting it dangle. The ring it held swung back and forth. “This was in the envelope with it.”

  “Was it—”

  “The ring David gave to Mia before she died.” He handed her the necklace and she examined it.

  “But why would he have written a letter?” The look in Neil’s eyes made her feel weak. It wasn’t hurt or pain. It was more like he’d just discovered the missing piece to a puzzle they’d been staring at for a month.

  “He knew,” Neil responded. “Well . . . kind of. He knew something was off.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll just read it.”

  Sitting on the steps, side by side, she gazed at the ring as he pulled up what she assumed was a picture he’d taken of the letter. He trembled as he read his brother’s words. “Neil, I’m writing this because all week I’ve felt the same thing I did that night at the lake, like something’s here. Maybe it’s in my head, but I feel like it’s come back for me.”

  Lissy felt frantic. “Why didn’t he leave?” She wrapped the chain around her hand, fidgeting with it as goosebumps rose on her skin.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he felt he deserved it. But that’s not all.” He looked into her eyes with an intensity that made her hurt.

  “What?” He paused, holding her gaze an extra second before looking back to the phone.

  “If they’ve found my body, that means I was right, and things are only going to get worse. But that doesn’t matter. It can’t matter. Lissy can never go back to the lake. No matter what, do not let her go back. It may call to her; I think it called Mia. But she has to stay away.” Neil paused, looking up at her again. He recited the rest without looking at the phone. “If you let her go back to the lake, she will die.”

  They sat in silence, eyes locked. Lissy was in shock. What could she say? First, Yunjin and the dragons, and now this. It was too much. Finally, Neil spoke, “What do we do with that?” She shook her head; she had no answers for him. She had none for herself.

  “I don't know what to do with any of it. The universe is collapsing, and I seem to be standing at the dead center of it.” At that realization, she felt something snap. No longer able to stay strong, she began weeping. When Neil took her in his arms, she only cried harder, eventually uncontrollably.

  They stayed on the stairs for what seemed like an hour, her crying, him cradling. She wasn’t sure if anyone had walked by or seen them, and she didn’t really care, not anymore. In some ways the tears were freeing. She hadn’t allowed herself to let go in such a long time. She needed to just cry and to be held by Neil. It was more therapeutic than any psychiatrist she’d ever been to.

  After the tears stopped flowing and Lissy felt completely exhausted, she asked Neil the only question she could force out, “How do we make it stop?”

  He spoke softly, saying, “I don’t know, but right now, you need to sleep.”

  “I don’t even think I can. I just . . .” She was so spent that the words just stopped flowing.

  Neil helped her stand and walked her up the stairs.

  When she was finally able to drift off, Lissy found herself in a peaceful place. It was the best she’d felt in weeks—in years if she was being honest with herself. She was walking through the forest with her sister, laughing. The sun found its way through the trees, and a soft mountain breeze tossed Mia’s hair back and forth. All of the pain Lissy had ever known was gone. In its place was a solace that could only accompany a dream. It was as if the last eleven years were a distant memory, and that instant was all that was real; she and Mia were together again.

  Eventually, she recognized they were climbing the trail to their favorite spot, Pine Bluff. Emerging from the trees, she looked out on the scene. Nothing was out of place. The sky was bright and sunny, fluffy white clouds speckling the bright-blue backdrop, and mist blowing up from the lake peppered her face. She turned to Mia, and her big sister’s smile beamed back at her. It was all too perfect; she sensed it even in her sleep. Behind the breathtaking beauty of it all, she could feel the controlling hand of the Imugi.

  As if her recognition of its presence signaled the change, everything began to morph. The white clouds turned to lightless wisps and descended into the ground, turning the grass as black as tar. The sky darkened with the removal of each cloud, as if somehow they’d been the sources of light instead of the sun. The darkness of each blade of grass propagated into the dirt and throughout the entire expanse, leaving lifelessness wherever it spread. Weeds withered, plants disintegrated, even the trees began to grow dim and crumble as the shadow took to their trunks.

  Lissy stood on the cliff, watching the whole world die b
efore her, and all she could think was why? Why was she having these visions?

  Everything that had once lived was now charred and dead. Lissy feared what would follow. She whipped around, looking for Mia. She was relieved to see her sister seemed unscathed. But then it shifted again. In an instant, Mia’s skin was like charcoal—dark, dry, and flaking. Lissy screamed and Mia reached for her as her entire body cascaded into a pile of dust on the ground, the echo of her voice outlasting the frame from which it came.

  Lissy was in agony, frantically trying to grasp her sister, but it was too late. She turned, ran to the edge of the cliff, and shouted out at the lake, cursing the beast for the charade. The familiar storm began to brew as she yelled, lightning striking the already blackened ground and rain, turning the charred remains into pitch-black mud.

  Startled by the storm, she quieted, her eyes fixed on the lake. With no source to illuminate it, the water looked like a giant vat of oil amid the sloshed leftovers of the world. Then she saw it . . . bubbles on the surface of the oil. She could feel it too. Beneath the surface, the dragon was traveling up from the depths to meet her, to respond to her call. The beast had reached into her dreams to taunt her. Exactly as David had warned them it would. Was it aware they’d read the letter? Was it watching her too? Or worse, was it watching Neil?

  The creature’s head breached the surface of—what actually was—thick, hot oil. Unlike the last time she’d envisioned the animal rising from Diamond Lake, this time it wasn’t taking flight. It was slithering. It’s wings, along with its limbs, were pinned to its body. She watched, half paralyzed, half angered as it began sliding up the cliffside. It was as if an invisible force was holding it to the sheer face of the cliff, not allowing it to topple backward. While she’d expected the dragon, she still found herself unprepared and horrified at the thought of it reaching the top and confronting her.

  As it crested the cliff only seconds later, she jumped back, its long body barreling past her and encircling her as it dragged itself, in its entirety, onto the landing. She found herself trapped within the wide ring created by the dragon’s length. It was slowly tightening the circle around her.

  Seeing the half-boulder in the middle of the beast’s enclosure, she climbed atop the rock, hoping to use its elevated surface to leap over the dragon’s thick body when it came close enough.

  As it moved in, she reached her arms up and over the thick form, praying to get hold of something and clamber over the beast’s back. She immediately jerked away when the oily scales gave her a sharp electric shock, as if she’d grabbed hold of a huge electric fence. Then the dragon doubled up on itself, sliding its monstrous head atop its tail and coiling like a snake, its body now sliding onto the boulder with her as it continued closing in.

  She felt claustrophobic as it created a wall around her too tall to mount and making what seemed like the darkest of nights even darker. All she could see now was the gleam of slimy oil covering its body and the electric sparks shooting from every spot with which rain came in contact with its scales.

  When it reached a fully coiled stance around her, its face swung inward and hovered in front of her own. It wasn’t the face of any snake. She was looking into the eyes of the Imugi from Yunjin’s book. It was only now, with it looming inches in front of her, that she fully grasped the dragon’s true scale. The thing’s head was three feet from chin to crown. In its totality, the beast was as big as a building.

  It puffed a swift blast of air in her face as it opened its mouth and, to her abhorrence, began to speak. “Elisabeth,” the dragon said, in that low and raspy voice underlain with the sound of someone dragging a rake through loose gravel.

  She jerked left, trying to escape, but was still unable to remove herself from his constriction. The dragon spoke again with even more volume. “Be still, Elisabeth!” The force from its voice knocked her back into the scaly wall. Hot oil and electricity burned her neck and scalp, and she screamed in disgust and pain. The dragon slowly tightened itself around her as she continued screeching.

  The squeezing stopped when she could no longer move her arms or legs, and a slight electric current from its body coursed through her. She wondered if it had the ability to control the voltage it expelled at will.

  “Shhhhh!” She felt its body vibrate like a purring cat as it shushed her and pinched ever so slightly more, warning her that if she didn’t obey, it would simply obliterate her. The electric voltage began to rise, and her muscles constricted as the searing pain came.

  She attempted to stifle her screams and felt the dragon loosen his hold just long enough for her to take in air. The beast looked down on her, its breath so putrid and warm on her face that she thought she may have passed out if she hadn’t already been asleep.

  “Do you know why I’ve called you, Elisabeth?” She thought she saw a smile tug at the dragon’s lips. Its soulless eyes felt like they were burrowing through her skull as it awaited an answer.

  “I-I don’t,” she said, gasping with each word.

  “You are necessary. Give yourself to me and it will all”—it moved its head slowly from side to side, then snapped it back to the middle, startling her—“stop.”

  Lissy attempted to grasp what the dragon was telling her, but she was too tired, too weak. “I don’t understand!” she shouted.

  “You will,” the dragon said before vanishing and dropping her midair. She fell hard on the boulder, wincing and closing her eyes momentarily. But that was all it took to alter everything again. Upon opening them, she was shocked to find a beautiful night splayed out before her. The moon shone full in a sky of a million stars. The trees blew in the breeze again, which was just a tinge cool. And there, at the edge of the cliff, stood Mia.

  Lissy sprung to her feet and ran, stopping just in front of her sister. She was about to hug her but stopped and said, “It’s another trick.”

  Mia looked her in the eye and said, “No trick. It’s me.” Lissy took in her face. It looked like Mia, except she was too young. “You haven’t aged.”

  “And you’re all grown up.”

  “But how?”

  Mia took Lissy’s hand, gently pulling her toward the rock on which she’d died. Lissy hesitated but complied. If there was any possibility that this actually was Mia, Lissy wanted to be with her as long as possible.

  Sitting on the boulder, Mia held Lissy’s hands between her own as she searched for words.

  “A lot has changed since the last time I saw you. And some things—like my age—have not.” She looked out at the sky. “I don’t have much time with you,” she said, still looking at the stars. “But I needed you to know that it’s okay. I’m okay.” She brought her gaze to meet Lissy’s.

  “But Mia—”

  “Let me finish,” Mia interjected with uncharacteristic sternness.

  Lissy waited.

  “Prior to that week with David and the others, I began to feel . . . a pull.”

  “I’ve felt it too.”

  “Good, then you know why I needed to be at the lake, why I stayed. Eventually, something happened . . . something that’s hard to explain. But I’ll try. I need you to hang in there, okay?”

  Lissy’s head was pounding, and she could feel that this was all off, but she couldn’t pull away, not from Mia, not after this long. She had to hear her out. “I’m listening.”

  “The last night of our trip we encountered the—well, you know it as the Leviathan, or the evil Imugi, though its been called many names. Anyway, it attacked us. It was horrible. At least, I thought it was at the time.”

  “So, it’s . . . real?”

  “Oh yes, the Imugi is real. And it began to call me up here.” She gestured to the clearing around them. “But what I didn’t understand then was that it wasn’t looking for someone to maim; it simply needed help. The Imugi needed me to give it what it sought.”

  “Help? Mia, it killed your friends.” Lissy stood. “And since then, it’s killed David.”

  “Please sit.
” Mia patted the stone. “It will all make sense very soon.”

  It occurred to Lissy that if she didn’t listen, the dragon may come back. She sat, a couple of inches farther away this time.

  Mia continued. “See, the Imugi gave me a gift, much like it’s allowing you to speak with me now. The Imugi let me talk to Dad. And you know what? Dad told me to help the Imugi.” She shifted, reorienting her body to face Lissy. “He said the Imugi is searching.”

  “For the orb?” Lissy asked.

  “Not exactly. Although it has been described as such by some—in myth.” She smiled, but it was hollow, as if it were part of a show being put on for Lissy’s benefit. “The Imugi doesn’t seek an orb to give it power. It needs people to become all that it would like to be. It seeks simple companionship—oneness.” Mia was still smiling as if everything she was saying justified the Imugi’s killing. The facade was beginning to lose its sheen as the true source of this Mia-mimic revealed itself through her words, words the real Mia would never have spoken. It was all Lissy could do to maintain silence. But she did, out of nothing more than fear of the beast.

  “The problem is that, for the Imugi to be fully empowered, one must willingly give themself to it. It’s not a matter of taking; it’s a matter of receiving.”

  “You’re saying this thing wants a sacrifice? Not only does it need blood to satiate its thirst, but it needs it to be given willingly?” She tried to force a level tone, knowing the Imugi could return just as quickly as it left. “If you’re telling me to give myself to this thing to make the killings stop, I can’t do that. I won’t.”

  Mia’s eyes filled with a dark, otherworldly rage—the evil one allowing itself to be glimpsed. She snapped at Lissy, “Don’t be so selfish, sister.” The darkness gave way to kindness again, no doubt the beast realizing it had shattered it’s veneer. But that glimpse was enough. Lissy searched her mind for a way out. But how do you exit your own dream? She began to quiver in fear of what the Imugi would do next.