by Karl Morgan
Sylvia sucked in her breath. “What the heck is that supposed to mean? Carl is mister goody two-shoes, and I’m trash?”
“I didn’t say that,” Barbie argued. “We all want this journey to be over, and if they help Carl, they’re helping us too.”
“Whatever. Carl, see if they have any more food. I’m starving again.”
Carl only laughed and kept walking. After a few minutes, they arrived at the intersection and stopped.
Manny smiled. “You’re doing great, considering the ongoing confrontations in your head.”
“Yes, I’m amazed that Sylvia hasn’t made you jump just to get her to shut up,” Mort added.
Sylvia pushed Carl aside and moved to within a few inches of Death. “Uncle Mort, we can do just fine without your sarcasm. What do you three want anyway?”
Luce put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “We want to help. We know Carl doesn’t want to conquer the Rope Bridge for himself. He wants to disconnect you and Barbie.”
Sylvia pulled out of her father’s reach. “That isn’t going to happen, so just forget it. She willingly joined with me. That decision is final.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Manny interjected. “She was coerced. You were going to murder her parents in front of her. That doesn’t seem like willingness to me.”
As Sylvia walked back behind Carl, she said, “You three will be dead as soon as I get out of here, so who cares what you think?”
“You will help me get out of here?” Carl asked. Manny and Luce nodded, while Mort crossed his arms across his chest.
“Carl, come with me,” Manny suggested. “When we head down this pathway, we’ll be there in just a minute or two.”
“Or with me, Carl,” Luce responded. “Less than a minute on this path.”
“What about you, Mort?”
Death sighed deeply. “I’m here at their request. Three paths and the three of us. How symmetrical, right? I’ll let you pass, but I just don’t want to get involved.”
Carl pondered his situation. Both Manny and Luce offered quick solutions that would get him out of this mess now, but some of Sid’s words rattled around in his head. “Barbie, Sylvia, you’re in on this too. What do you think?”
Sylvia scoffed, “Duh, Carl, take my dad’s shortcut. It’s the quickest. Then I can get back to destroying the universe, and you can get back in time to be ripped apart into atoms.”
“Honey, I don’t think that argument is convincing,” Luce replied.
“Whatever.”
“How about you, Barbie?”
“I don’t know, Carl, but I trust you’ll make the right choice.”
Sylvia laughed. “You two should get a room. I’m getting some sleep.” She began to make fake snoring sounds.
Carl smiled at his visitors. “I really appreciate your offers, but I think I’ll keep going straight ahead.”
“Are you positive?” Manny asked.
“Last chance,” Luce added.
“Yes, I’m positive,” Carl affirmed. Manny, Luce, and the perpendicular pathways disappeared.
Death smiled and nodded. “Good choice, Carl.” He opened his robe, removed a sack of bread and cheese and handed it to him. “Even outside of space and time, a person can get hungry.”
“Thank you,” Carl said as he took the sack. “Mort, before you go, do you know why I saw my parents before they got married?”
“I don’t think that’s possible, since you weren’t born.”
Carl shook his head. “No, I mean I just saw them while I was walking on the bridge. The bridge went right through a restaurant where they were having their first date.”
“Well, I can’t be certain, but it was likely a reminder about humility. All living beings are creatures of fate, luck, and often both. Here you are, this young man with incredible powers charged with protecting all life in the universe, yet if not for two people forming a bond of love, you would not exist. When you think about the odds that would happen at exactly the right moment in time so you that you could reach this point in your destiny, it is truly astounding. Every life depends on each life before it in a chain that goes back thousands of generations. Everyone should humbly acknowledge their dependence upon and connection to those who allowed them to be here now. Does that make sense?”
Carl wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “Yes and thank you.”
Mort patted Carl on the head and faded away.
“Lunch time, ladies.”
Sylvia was eating ravenously. With her mouth still full of bread, she asked, “Why didn’t you take their help?”
Carl pondered the question for a moment. “Well, when we were back in India, Sid told me that this is a journey one must take alone.”
Sylvia snorted and then laughed. “Carl, you’re not alone. We’re here.”
“That’s true, but you aren’t trying to fix my problems for me as they were.”
“You’re right. That wouldn’t be good,” Barbie replied.
Sylvia rolled her eyes. “So, what do you know about enlightenment, Ms. Buddha Conway?”
Carl shook his head. “That was uncalled for.”
Barbie put her hand on Carl’s knee. “That’s okay, I can take care of myself. Sylvia, you know that you’re just a spoiled little girl, right? You’re like, ‘I’m immortal, and my daddy takes care of everything for me.’ Geez, haven’t you ever been criticized for anything? How many silly mortals like Carl and me have you killed for your pleasure? I’m sorry, but you’re either a spoiled, rotten little baby or a truly horrible beast.” She smiled sweetly. “Which definition do you prefer?”
Sylvia stared angrily at Barbie for several seconds. Then, she launched herself over Carl, knocked Barbie to the floor of the bridge and began to punch and slap her. Barbie reached up with her legs and pushed Sylvia off. Standing over Sylvia, Barbie smiled. “Had enough?”
Sylvia pulled up her knees, kicked Barbie in the stomach, and launched her over the side of the bridge. As Barbie started to plummet into the distance, Sylvia shouted, “Goodbye, loser!”
Sylvia noticed a thin silver thread now stretched between her and Barbie. It snapped taut and Sylvia was yanked over the side of the bridge as well. She also began to scream.
Carl realized the thread ran from Sylvia and into himself. He wrapped his arms around the bridge and held on tightly. The line hit its end and Carl was pulled upward. Soon, only his arms were holding onto the bridge, and his grasp was weakening. He could still hear the two women screaming at each other. “Stop it, you two, or we’re all dead.” He noticed sandaled feet just in front of him. The person lay down on the bridge. The face of Siddhartha Gautama was inches away. “Can you help me, Sid?”
He shook his head. “Why do you need help?”
Carl groaned as his arms slipped a bit more. “Can’t you see? They’re about to pull me off the bridge.”
“Who?”
“Geez, you just saw them. Barbie and Sylvia!”
Sid smiled. “Carl, you are on the bridge alone.”
Carl’s body slammed back down onto the bridge. Sid was gone. Carl groaned in pain as his muscles throbbed from overexertion. He sat up to see Barbie and Sylvia sitting nearby. “What happened?”
“I’m sorry, Carl. I just reached the end of my patience with her,” Barbie replied.
Sylvia smiled. “What fun that was!”
Chapter 13
After all the exertion, Carl needed to rest. He strapped himself to the bridge and closed his eyes. Before doing so, he warned the two women not to wake him, or he might jump over the bridge just to spite them. That warning gave him time to refresh himself for the journey ahead.
He awoke some time later and felt much better. He sat up and noticed he was sitting on a dirt and gravel road. He stood and looked around. Along the path of the road, he could see the image of the Rope Bridge. Assuming that was a clue, he headed down the road. He heard a yawn and then Sylvia’s voice. “Did you fall off the bridge?”
�
��No, and don’t sound disappointed that I didn’t. Can’t you see a shadow of the bridge in the roadway?”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. That’s freaky.”
“Where are we, Carl?” Barbie asked. She took his arm as they worked their way up a short rise. “Pardon me for saying it, but that thing you’re wearing is a bit smelly.”
He looked down to see he wore a shabby, worn tunic, and his feet were bare. He examined the terrain and shook his head. “Where the heck are we?”
By the time they reached the top of the rise, Sylvia was walking with them. At the bottom of the hill they stood upon was a river where a man was busily baptizing the people who stood in a long line. The three stopped. Carl shook his head. “It can’t be.”
Another man brushed by them and headed toward the stream.
“Josh?” Carl asked.
The man turned toward them and a large smile began to fill his face. “Carl Prescott, it’s a pleasure to have you here today. Your lady friends as well.”
“What are you doing here today?”
Joshua laughed. “I thought it would be obvious. I have come to be baptized by my cousin John.” He motioned with his arm. “Come along, all are welcome.”
Sylvia grunted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Thanks just the same, but I think I’ll wait here.”
Joshua winked at her. “It was worth a try. You two come along.”
When the three had progressed halfway down the hill toward the water, Sylvia shouted, “You two are just wasting time!”
When they reached the front of the line, Joshua led Carl and Barbie to the man in the water. “Cousin, I have come for my baptism.”
“No, rabbi, it is I who should be baptized by you.”
Joshua put his hands on the upper arms of his cousin. “Your place in Heaven is already secured, John. Now it is you time to baptize Carl, Barbara, and me in the name of our Father.”
John held Joshua while he lowered him into the water. “I baptize you in the name of our Father in heaven.” When he pulled him from the water, a flock of white doves flew overhead, and ethereal voices sang. Many of those nearby fell to their knees.
As Joshua headed back to the riverbank, John baptized Carl and Barbara. Soon, all three were back on shore. When Carl reached dry land, Joshua hugged him. “I am very glad you were here as a witness today. Now, a new generation will understand the truth.”
“You’re the Christ.”
Joshua smiled. “I am the son of a carpenter with a mission to help others. Nothing more than you, Carl. All of us are here to serve God.”
Joshua hugged Barbara as well. She was overcome with emotion, and Carl led her back to Sylvia at the top of the rise. Before they arrived, Sylvia said, “Spare me the details.” She pointed to their left. “The bridge seems to head in that direction. Let’s see where it leads us next.”
As they followed the path, the terrain changed as did the clothing the three wore. A few hours later, they were all wearing the same clothing they had worn when they first stepped onto the bridge. Fortunately, Carl’s shoes and socks were back after having been suctioned off his feet in the hurricane. Barbie now walked alongside him and held his hand. “Carl, can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, he’ll marry you,” Sylvia sniped.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Carl squeezed Barbie’s hand. “Ignore her. What was your question?”
Barbie swept her free arm in an arc around them. “Do you think this is all real, or is it just in our heads?”
Sylvia put her arm around his other arm. “I can’t wait to hear this one. Go on, Carl.”
He thought for a few moments while he contemplated her question. “To be clear, do you mean this experience on the Rope Bridge, or do you mean everything?”
Barbie shook her head. “I’m not sure. Either or maybe both.”
“I think our experiences are all real,” Carl replied finally. “A Rope Bridge that stretches across the past and future seems kind of dumb, but the things that happen and the places we stop along the way are real. The people and demons are real, as are our emotions and our connections to them.”
“And the most important part, Carl?”
Carl nodded toward Sylvia. “Our souls are immortal, so we can be together for all time, even if some crazy demon destroys the universe.”
Sylvia laughed. “Yeah, throw all your problems on me. I’ve got big shoulders.”
They began to walk through a dark forest. As they moved forward, the image of the Rope Bridge rose out of the ground, and soon they were walking through the treetops. As they left the trees and moved up in the sky, the sun sank toward the horizon. Down below them, the Danube River worked its way across the landscape. The demon queen’s castle was a few hundred feet beneath them.
“Is it okay if I jump off here?”
“No, Sylvia,” Carl scoffed. “It didn’t work so well the last time, remember?”
“Party pooper.” A few minutes later, she looked down on a large city. The street lights were just coming on. “Interesting. That looks just like Bucharest, Romania, today. I can see cars and lorries moving along the roadways.”
Carl looked down at the sight. “Yeah, I don’t think we’re still in the past. I wonder why we’re here.” An hour later, they were well above the planet and rising higher. “It’s like I said, Barbie. There’s no air in space, yet we’re still breathing.”
A deep thump sound filled their ears, and the Rope Bridge shuddered and began to sway. The women were back inside him, and Carl lay on the bottom of the bridge and secured himself in place. His eyes opened wide. “You did it! I can’t believe you actually did it!”
Where the castle had been was an intensely black spot which grew quickly as the land around it was sucked inside the black hole. The strength of its gravity pulled downward on the Rope Bridge. Carl felt his body flattening against the bridge as it moved downward toward the growing abyss. The black hole seemed to sink into the Earth as more of the planet crumbled before their eyes and shot through the event horizon, which now glowed with a brilliant corona at its edge.
Carl groaned in pain as his body continued to flatten and parts of him were pulled between the two ropes that formed the bridge floor. The planetary collapsed accelerated. To his eyes, it was like watching a muddy whirlpool swirl as it drained through a funnel. A few tears slipped out of his eyes and were sucked downward toward the abyss. Several satellites zipped by them and fell apart as they were pulled to their destruction. A few seconds later, Earth was gone, leaving just the glistening black of the event horizon.
Overcome with grief, Carl struggled to turn away from the horror. He finally succeeded and took several deep breaths. He gasped as he noticed the moon getting larger as it too was being drawn into the growing black hole. He was lying at the low point of the bridge. Its other ends were almost directly overhead and seemed like a rubber band stretched to its maximum. If it snapped, he knew he too would be sucked into the monster just below.
The moon filled the horizon as it started to crumble. Massive boulders shot by and downward. The rising heat from the acceleration of matter around the event horizon was overbearing. Carl knew at any second, the Rope Bridge and his body would burst into flames and be sucked downward. He closed his eyes and prayed for a quick death.
And then, nothing happened. The heat was gone as was the pull of gravity. He opened his eyes to see the universe still around him. He loosened his straps and stood. Barbie and Sylvia stood on either side of him. They seemed to be in intergalactic space. In the distance, they could see the Milky Way Galaxy breaking apart as stars were pulled out of their orbits around the Galactic Center and toward the tiny spot where Earth had once been.
Within minutes, the Magellanic Clouds and Andromeda Galaxy had been pulled into the black hole. Then, the destruction stopped. There was a black spot in the universe where they had been. The Rope Bridge accelerated back toward the black spot. In less than a minute, they entere
d it. Sylvia scratched her head. “What happened? Why did the black hole stop?”
Carl held Barbie, and both cried. “I still can’t believe you did it. Barbie is right. You are just a spoiled child, and now you’ve destroyed everyone I loved.”
Death walked toward them on the Rope Bridge. “She didn’t, Carl. What you are seeing is a possible future and frankly, an optimistic one.”
“Optimistic!” Barbie cried. “My family is dead!” She buried her face against Carl’s chest.
Death put his hand on Barbie’s shoulder. “It didn’t happen yet, Barbie. Your family, Carl’s, and frankly mine are still alive. If Sylvia goes through with her threat, it’s possible the entire universe will disappear forever. Frankly, that’s worse.”
“Uncle Mort, why did the collapse of the universe stop?”
Death laughed. When he stopped, he replied, “What makes you think I’d tell you anything, Sylvia? And even if I did, what makes you think I’d tell you the truth if this is what you plan to do with the information?” He shook his head, turned, and walked away.
Sylvia pointed at Death. “I’ll figure it out, Uncle Mort. You can be sure of that. And then I will kill you!” Death never replied and soon faded from sight.
Carl shook his head and then led Barbie in the opposite direction. After a few seconds, Sylvia pointed at them. “And I’ll kill you two as well.” After a few moments of stamping her feet and shouting out to the void, she followed them.
After Carl, Barbie, and Sylvia walked several hours in the inky darkness, the sun rose over the desolate horizon. A large walled city sat not far in front of them. Carl noticed he and the others were again dressed as they had been when they met Joshua at the Jordan River. The Rope Bridge descended into a rough roadway and then continued along it. Sylvia stopped in front of the others and sighed. “I’m very sorry about what I said before.” She wiped a few tears from her face. “I just get so angry sometimes. Nobody takes me seriously, and my dad treats me like the spoiled brat you both said I am. I guess maybe he’s right.”