by Nate Kenyon
The canary began to flutter about its cage, chirping and beating its wings. Perhaps it sensed something too, or maybe it could read his mood.
Bellow set the canary's cage down in the hallway, then slipped a blade from his pocket and held it close to his side. He opened the cubicle door.
A woman stood with her back to him at the OLED screen, peering into the familiar scene of the night sky that had comforted him for so many nights over the years. She wore her dark hair straight and long. The shape of her body was intimately familiar to him, and staring at her felt like coming home.
When she heard the door, she turned to look at him.
Bellow's eyes locked onto hers, and he couldn't breathe for a single long moment. Everything that had happened during the past few days seemed to collapse around this one point. He took a step inside the cubicle, his heart skipping in his chest.
"Will? It's me. It's me. Come in and close the door."
When she reached for him he took her roughly by the arm. She gasped as he thrust it up and behind her back and spun her against the cubicle wall.
He pulled down the elastic at her waist. The puckered bit of flesh on her hip was real enough.
"I ran from them in the vat room,” she whispered as his fingers touched her skin, caressed the spot over and over as he struggled with whether to believe. “I hid in the freezer and then found my way back onto the street. Security was everywhere. I kept out of sight and eventually made my way back here. I've been waiting for you ever since."
"I watched them kill you. I watched you die."
Kara shook her head vigorously. “No, no! A copy of me, don't you see? They wanted to get you back in line, they wanted to have that power over you. But they'd lost me, so they took another newborn clone and they used her instead."
"I don't believe you.” But Bellow remembered. The tape on her mouth, the look in her eyes. Had it been fear or confusion?
"Please, Will.” Kara's voice was thick and choked. “I'll tell you everything, I swear. No more lies. New London sent me to Chin-Hae, to blend in with his group. I was supposed to help them take it down from the inside. Then they told me about you. They wanted me to get close to you and tell them everything you did. I was supposed to be your shadow. But I couldn't do it. Something about you got to me, that first time at the bar. So I found an underground surgeon and I had him cut the chip out, and then I went AWOL."
"Bullshit. It's all bullshit. You're not really Kara."
"The rabbits, Will! Remember? I told you about the rabbits. We made love right here in this bed. It's me, I promise. It's me."
A single sob escaped her lips when he let her go. She turned to face him and he looked into her eyes, studying every inch of her face, wanting to believe, wanting it so badly he couldn't think straight anymore.
"I'm sorry,” she said. “I just wanted to be with you. That's all. I don't know why."
"I do,” Bellow said. The huge empty hole inside him began to crumble and fill. He kissed her hard, then kissed her again, crushing her to him. “I'll explain everything. But first I need to plan things out. There's a certain MSNetwork reporter I have to find. It's time the world knew the truth."
"And then?"
"And then I've got to teach a kid how to build a sand castle. Maybe you can help."
If Kara was puzzled by what he said, she didn't let it show.
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Nate Kenyon's first novel, Bloodstone, earned raves from outlets such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Fangoria Magazine, and many others, and was a Bram Stoker Award finalist. His second novel, The Reach, earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. His third novel, The Bone Factory, will be released in July 2009.
Kenyon has had stories published in Terminal Frights, The Belletrist Review, Shroud Magazine, Permuted Press's Giant Creatures anthology, and Legends of the Mountain State 2. He lives with his wife and three children in the Boston area, where he is at work on his next novel.
Visit him online at www.natekenyon.com.
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Katja Faith is a twenty-two-year-old married artist from Belgorod, Russia. Her art tends to be surrealistic and dark. She happily describes herself as “a kind fairy, just in a bad mood."
See more of Katja's art at katjafaith.deviantart.com.
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