by Mark A Labbe
I wondered if Max had been drinking, but quickly dismissed that thought. I was certain someone was after me. However, Max’s explanation was something straight out of a very bad dream I thought I might have once had. It made absolutely no sense.
“How could I end all creation?” I said, feeling strange, like I already knew the answer, although I couldn’t recall the answer.
“I don’t know, but they believe you can.”
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to face a beautiful, young woman with black hair and eyes older than time itself. “I’ll take it from here, Max,” she said.
“Do I know you?” I said, recognizing her, but unable to remember her name.
She took a seat at the bar and motioned for me to sit next to her, which I dutifully did.
“Kev, listen carefully. You are in grave danger. All creation is in grave danger. Clive is using the Canadians to trap you so he can connect you to the Proth Sphere and end all creation. Do you remember any of that?”
“Absolutely not. Who is Clive?”
“Your best friend.”
“Wait. My best friend is trying to end all creation? Are you messing with me?”
“Do you remember me, Kev?” she said.
“Vaguely. What’s your name?”
“I don’t have a name.”
I remembered her saying that to me before. When had that happened? I thought of something and looked down at her hand, seeing a little, silver ring with an amethyst. I remembered her.
I reached out and pulled her to me, hugging her tightly, tears streaming down my face. How could I have forgotten her? How could I have forgotten my wife?
The girl pulled back and looked at me. “What do you remember?”
“I remember you.”
“Is that all?”
“I remember Ruby,” I said with a shudder.
“Well, we are all lucky Ruby stopped you from killing yourself again, so you should be happy,” said the girl.
“Killing myself again? What are you talking about?”
“Kev, you are stuck in a loop. You keep coming to this point in time, depressed and alone, and you keep killing yourself, and each time you do that, things reset to the day of your ninth birthday. You’ve done this countless times, and nothing we have done up until now has stopped you. Don’t you remember? Why didn’t you kill yourself this time?”
I thought about that for a few seconds before saying, “Well, Ruby told me I had kids and I guess I thought it would be terrible to kill myself and leave them behind.”
“You have more kids than you know, Kev. I know you don’t remember, and I feel like a fool for not telling you all these times you’ve relived your life. You and I have a daughter, Soph. She’s eighteen now.”
“How is that possible? I’m only twenty-one.”
“You are much older than that, my dear. I am so happy you’re alive. This means something. I think you are going to figure things out, but you are going to have to hide or the Canadians will catch you and everything will come to a terrible end.”
“You said Clive is using the Canadians to get me. I don’t understand.”
“He has brainwashed them, Kev. He has turned them into a bunch of nihilists. They want to end all creation. They believe you have the one nightmare that can end all creation.”
“I don’t have a nightmare about that. I mean, I have had a nightmare in which a giant nozzle sucks up the entire universe, but that is hardly ending all creation, right?”
“No, it’s not that nightmare. It’s Aputi’s nightmare, or, at least, I think it is. You might have told me that once. Anyway, Clive wants to use the Proth Sphere on you to make that nightmare come true.”
“If I don’t have the nightmare, how can they use me to end all creation?”
“You do have the nightmare, but you don’t remember it. All this time, Clive has believed that you would have to remember the nightmare for his plan to work, but now he believes that isn’t true, so he is trying to catch you.”
“Won’t he think to find me here?” I said, suddenly quite alarmed, wondering at the same time who this Clive fellow was and why I didn’t remember him.
“You have time, but you will have to leave soon. You have to figure things out. You have to figure out how to stop Clive.”
“How do I do that?” I said.
“I don’t know, but it is what you have to do.”
“Well, I have nowhere to go. What should I do?”
“Do you have the cubes?” said the girl.
I had left the cubes on my desk next to the communications device, the only decoration I had on my desk. I had no clue what they were and now wondered why the girl wanted to know if I had them. “They are at home.”
“Shit. Crap. Rule twenty-one. Rule twenty-one.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing. Look, you have to get the cubes and you have to figure out what they do. Do you understand, Kev? Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I guess, but won’t the Canadians be looking for me there?”
“I’m not sure. You are going to have to find a way. Maybe wait it out a couple of days. Go to the inn. Do you remember it?”
Yes.”
“Good. Go there and wait. I will get you when the coast is clear.”
“Well, can’t you just go and get the cubes for me?”
“No, Kev. I’ve already broken enough rules. Let’s go to the inn.”
We appeared outside of the inn. “What the hell? How did you do that? Did you do that?”
“I did it. You can do it too if you remember how.”
“Can you tell me how to do it?”
“No. Against the rules.”
“What rules?”
“I can’t tell you. Look, stay here. I will come back. I shouldn’t, but I will. I hope you’re not going to be mad at me for breaking the rules.”
“What rules? What are you talking about?”
Ignoring me, the girl said, “Look, if anyone tries to give you a blue cube, do not touch it. Do you understand? Never touch the blue cube. You will end up on The Show, and if you do, B24ME is going to torture you for all eternity. Remember.”
The girl kissed me and disappeared.
The Cubes
Three days passed with no sign of the girl. I had not forgotten anything, and thanked God for that, praying I would be able to keep my memories, desperately afraid of being responsible for the end of all creation.
I wondered if the Canadians had captured the girl and thought I might have to risk going to my house to retrieve the cubes. I waited another day before making my attempt.
I walked back to my house, staying within the woods, out of sight of the road. When I reached my house, I stayed in the woods for an hour, watching the house, making sure nobody was there.
I entered through the window I had come out of days before and grabbed the cubes, pocketing them. Then I started climbing out of the window, stopping myself before I exited the house. What if the girl had sent me a message?
I climbed back in and checked my messages. There were at least a thousand messages about the Flogulator, which I ignored. There was one message from the girl. It read, “I love you, Kev. Be safe. I’m sorry I couldn’t come back. Stupid rules.”
I heard a noise in the house and quickly scrambled out of the window. I ran back into the woods and headed back toward the inn, thinking I would hole up there and try to figure out what these cubes were.
A minute or so later, I arrived, still in the woods and unwilling to leave the woods. A black SUV with a red maple leaf painted on the front door was parked outside the inn. I could see two men in black, both with red maple leafs painted on their chests, both carrying guns of some sort, maybe tasers. I had to find someplace else, someplace safe, but I was miles away from anywhere that might offer any safety. I had to find transportation of some sort.
I remembered a car dealership some twenty miles from my home. If I could make it there, I could buy a car and driv
e somewhere safe. I knew I had a twenty-five thousand dollar limit on my credit card and knew that my bill was completely paid off. That should get me something.
Five hours later, I arrived at the dealership, having seen no sign of the Canadians. I paid twenty grand for a bright orange compact and drove off the lot, heading south, but to where?
I decided to go to Glastonbury, my first home, making it there a few hours later, late in the afternoon. There I got a room at a hotel, now confident the Canadians would not find me.
In my room, I sat on my bed, placing the cubes on the mattress. First, I picked up the black cube, the cube with a button that didn’t seem to do anything. How many times had I pressed that button? I could not remember. I pressed it once. Nothing happened. I pressed it twice, and still nothing happened. The girl said these were the key. This cube must have had some purpose. I pressed the button three times and appeared in a small city on a river. I was pretty sure I was in Peoria, having been there once before as a child.
I realized in that moment that I had left the clear cube and the red cube behind in my hotel room. How could I get back to the hotel? Maybe if I pressed the button four times, it would take me back. I pressed the button four times and felt a little dizzy. Maybe if I pressed it five times, I thought.
“Don’t do it,” said a familiar voice, a voice I knew as my own.
“Why?” I said.
“I don’t know, but you shouldn’t do it.”
“Whatever. What do you know, anyway?” I pressed the button five times and blacked out, waking up in a hospital bed thirty-seven days later. I jumped out of bed, put on my clothes that were in a drawer in the table next to my bed, and then teleported to the hotel in Glastonbury, to the front desk.
The young man standing behind the front desk didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see me appear out of nowhere. He smiled and said, “I take it you are looking for these,” placing the red and clear cubes in front of me.”
I thanked him and immediately teleported to my home on Uthio Minor, surprising the girl.
“Kev, what are you doing here?” said the girl, rushing over to hug me.
“I don’t have much time. Have you seen Clive? Where is Soph?”
“I’m right here, dad,” said Soph, behind me.
I let go of the girl and hugged Soph, overjoyed to see my daughter, relieved to remember her and all the time we had spent together.
“What’s going on, Kev?” said the girl.
“I pressed the button five times,” I said.
“I can see that. Have you figured out how to stop Clive?”
“Not yet, but I will. Have you seen him?”
“Not for weeks. I don’t think he is going to come here. I think he knows I am onto him.”
“Well, I know he was holed up in Canada at the time I pressed the button five times. Before that he was all over the place. I think he was searching for the Proth Sphere. He might have found it, but I’m not sure.”
“So, what are you going to do, dad?” said Soph.
“I’m not sure. Don’t you think it is just a little odd that Clive hasn’t tried to use you two or Ruby and the Kev’s for leverage? That seems odd to me.”
The girl gave me a funny look, saying, “Yeah, that is odd, isn’t it? Maybe Soph and I should go get Ruby and the boys and find somewhere to hide.”
“Good idea. Okay. I’m going now.”
“Where are you going?”
“Glastonbury. I need to look at my old journal.”
I had told the girl about my journal before and how I was reluctant to read it. I was reluctant no more. I knew I had to read it, that it held the key.
“Why do you need to look at your old journal?” said the girl.
“Because somebody named Stacy Pierson read part of it forty days ago, an interesting part of it. I need to find out what else is written in it.”
Return Contestant
I teleported outside of my fort behind my old home in Glastonbury, surprised to find a pale blue, bipedal alien with a cigarette dangling from its mouth staring at me from inside the fort. I knew who this alien was and I knew that there was no way on Earth that I was going to take the blue cube from him.
“No way,” I said. “There is no way I am taking that thing from you.”
“You really don’t have much of a choice, Kev,” said the alien, Chit.
I searched all of my memories, looking for some bit of information that would allow me to know what Chit meant, but found nothing. “Why is that?” I said.
“If you don’t take the cube, you will never see Soph again,” said Chit.
I paused before saying, “You’re lying.”
“I never lie. It is a genetic thing. Anyway, unless you take this,” he said, holding the cube out to me, “you will never see her again.”
None of my knowledge could help me in this situation. I knew that if B24ME had taken Soph, it had to have been in the last minute or so. I had none of B24ME’s knowledge from the past thirty-seven days, so had no way of knowing if Chit was telling the truth.
“I am going to have to verify your claim,” I said.
“Well, you won’t. I’ll give you five seconds to take the cube. If you don’t, you will never see Soph again,” said Chit.
Over the next five seconds, I teleported to thousands of locations in the universe, looking for the girl and Soph. I could not find them anywhere, so I returned to Chit.
“So, are you going to take it or what? I don’t have all day, you know.”
I took the cube and soon heard a familiar voice. “Why, hello, Turd Fondler. Where have you been for the last thirty-seven billion years?”
“Shut up, B24ME. Just tell me what the challenge is.”
Chit disappeared and B24ME said, “Well, you know, I’ve had quite a bit of time to think this one up, something special, something I think you will really enjoy.”
“Just tell me what it is,” I growled.
“Patience, Turd Fondler. Let me enjoy the moment. You know it has been more than a little frustrating waiting for an opportunity to get you back on The Show. You can at least give me a few moments to gloat.”
“Whatever,” I said, now looking into the fort and seeing my journal on the table, the journal I needed to unravel things and save all creation.
I knew B24ME wouldn’t let me get it. I suspected he knew I wanted it and wondered if he would say anything about it. Of course, he did. He couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to screw with me.
“It’s right there, Kev. Why don’t you take it? I know you want it. What do you think you’ll find? To be honest, I would really like to read it myself. What could possibly be scribbled inside? I would love to see inside your mind.”
I knew I could not win, so I said, “What is the damned challenge?” I would have to come back for the journal later, if I ever managed to get off The Show.
“Fine. You have to survive in the vacuum of space for an hour.”
“That’s not a challenge. It’s a death sentence. You know I could never do that without a spacesuit or containment field or something. I take it I don’t get anything like that, right?”
“Absolutely right you are. This isn’t really a challenge. It is more of a goodbye. I gave up on you long ago. Now I am going to let you die over and over, an infinity of times, a fitting end for a less than fitting man.”
In that moment, my chief concern was that Clive not find me while I was dying over and over in space.
“You know, if Clive finds me, something terrible is going to happen.”
“Trust me, he will never find you. You are going to be teleporting to a random location in the universe every second. Clive will never be able to find you, so at least you don’t have to worry about the end of all creation. That is what you’re worried about, isn’t it?”
“Where is Soph?”
“How should I know? You know, you should keep better track of things. If you did, you wouldn’t get trapped on The Show.”
“Of course not. I would never do something like that. You should know better. However, I did kind of break the rules.”
I tried to teleport away, but found I could not. B24ME had some hold on me.
“You are a real bastard, you know that?” I said, ignoring B24ME’s reference to the rules. I was sick of hearing about the rules.
“Well, you hired me to be a real bastard. You should be happy I’m doing such an excellent job.”
I found myself in space, exposed to extreme cold and vacuum. The scene shifted every second as I teleported to a different location in the universe. I died within twenty seconds. Each time I came back to life, breathless, but healed, I died even faster than the previous time. I tried to teleport away over and over, but found I could not do that, still held by B24ME.
I died an uncountable number of times, each time I died, losing part of my memory, until there was little left of me. I forgot who I was. I forgot the girl, Clive, Soph and all of the others. I wasn’t even sure I existed. Who was I? I felt a vibration in my pocket. What was I? The vibration continued. I had no answers other than this one. I thought, “I am.”
I stopped dying, now unaffected by this hostile environment, having no need to breathe and no sensitivity to the coldness of space. I felt memories returning to me slowly, bits and pieces that I could not quite connect. Years passed, then decades and centuries, my memories slowly returning. Tens of thousands of years passed before I knew who I was. Thirty-seven million years passed before I remembered my purpose and remembered how to teleport, now teleporting myself to Glastonbury, outside of my fort back in two thousand sixteen, B24ME having released me from whatever hold he had on me.
The Journal
I believed but did not know my journal held the key to stopping Clive from ending all creation. I knew within it I would find answers to questions I could not yet form and prayed that somewhere within those pages would be clues that would allow me to stop Clive.