Translucent

by Beardsley, Nathaniel

  She didn’t know how long she ran. It went on in this manner for a while, though, with her feeling her way in front of her with her hands, never knowing when she’d crash into a wall and have to turn. It was an absolutely terrifying experience. Before this, she’d had no idea how big the orphanage was. After a while she began to wonder if this even was the orphanage, or if she’d somehow been transported elsewhere. Several times a hand or two grasped her in the dark, but she was running quickly enough that she was usually able to get out easily. Once, she stumbled blindly into a group of the Sandmen, and for a moment she was afraid that it would be a repeat of what had happened before with her getting caught in a swarm of them, but luckily she stopped running and fought her way through fairly quickly before continuing on her way.

  Finally, just when it seemed like there was no hope, Karena suddenly realized that she was able to faintly make out her arms held out in front of her. This giving her encouragement, she ran on and turned another corner, this time without even having to crash into it, to find that there was a window at the end of the hallway. Desperately, she sprinted the final length to it. She was on the second floor, but she’d find a way to get down. That was the least of her problems at the moment.

  Karena made it to the window and leaned her head out. It was even easier then she’d thought it would be. There was a pipe running down the side of the building right next to the window, and she wasn’t even that high off the ground. All she had to do was grab the pipe while standing on the windowsill and slide down easily to the floor. Karena breathed a deep sigh of relief to be out of the dark hallways, but instantly recovered and realized that she had no time to rest. The Sandman was still on her trail after all. In moments she was running across the moonlit yard of the orphanage, on her way to Shawn.

  48

  Karena found her way to Shawn’s house easily, since it was a journey she’d often made in the past. Running up the sidewalk to his front door, she began to ring the doorbell with such urgency that inside all that could be heard was noise and not the nice sound that a doorbell is supposed to make. Panting, she pressed down the button again and again before beginning to bang on the door. Shawn’s parents, of course, wouldn’t like to be woken up in the middle of the night by a screaming girl who claimed to have a bunch of men who looked like skeletons chasing her, but she didn’t care what they thought. They weren’t real anyway.

  After what seemed like far too long, the door opened a crack. Karena pushed it open the rest of the way, confused as to why someone would just open the door a crack and leave it like that when someone comes to see you in the middle of the night. Letting herself in, Karena soon realized why.

  It had been Shawn who’d opened the door, and he’d apparently had quite a hard time doing so, given his current physical state. He’d had to drag a chair over and then clumsily climb on that in order to reach the door handle, and even then it must have been difficult for him to actually grasp the doorknob enough to open the door.

  Karena decided not to ask him why he’d opened the door instead of his parents, however, because she had more important things to talk about. “Shawn,” she said. “Something is happening, just like I said it would. The Sandman actually talked to me, and…”

  “I know something happened,” Shawn replied. “That’s why I answered the door and not my parents.”

  Karena was confused. “What do you mean?”

  “Come up,” he said. “But first, lock and bolt the door like it was before you came.”

  Karena turned around to do what he’d requested, still confused as to what him answering the door had to do with what was going on with the Sandman. She was also wondering why he needed to lock and bolt the door, which as far as she knew wasn’t something he usually did. She suspected, however, that it had something to do with the Sandman, though that was not likely to do anything against him and she knew that she’d soon find out.

  Karena followed Shawn up the steps and into his room, where he sat down in the chair where he usually sat down, which was too big for him. He picked up the glass of water beside the chair and took a sip, even though it was empty. He apparently didn’t care, and it was obvious that he was nervous.

  “The Sandman came for me,” Karena said. “But I got away.”

  “He came for me to,” Shawn said. “But first tell me what happened to you.”

  Karena went on to tell him about the teacher waking her up in the middle of the night and bringing her to the headmaster, who turned out to be the Sandman, and about the exchange they’d had. She then talked about what had happened in the hallways afterwards, and how she’d escaped and come here.

  “He let you go,” Shawn said.

  “I know.”

  “He let me go as well, but I don’t know why.”

  “What happened to you?”

  Shawn took another fake sip of his water. “I was sleeping,” he began. “And outside I heard shuffling in the hallway, which is strange because my parents are very deep sleepers. You know that I’m a light sleeper since I’m always on edge, so I went out of my room to find him standing there, even more skeletal than before, and there wasn’t just one of them but two.

  “I took me a moment, but I soon realized that this was no ordinary Sandman. This Sandman was wearing my parents’ clothes.”

  “He took over their bodies, then?” Karena asked.

  “Yes,” said Shawn. “But I’d personally never seen him do this. I retreated into my room and shut the door, knowing that that would do nothing against him. It was hopeless, even more so than it was for you, since I’m in the body of a young toddler. Fortunately, I’d thought about this before, and I was prepared for it. I had a trap I’d put up, with much difficulty, hanging from the ceiling that I always activated before I went to bed, just in case he came for me in the middle of the night. It was right above the door. As soon as they stumbled in, they were entangled in the net that came down over them. Of course, there was no reason for them to be, since they could have easily escaped and killed me right then. But they let themselves be trapped. And somehow, I managed to pull the net with them in it downstairs and out the door. They left me alone.”

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Karena said.

  “But that’s not half of it,” said Shawn.

  “What do you mean?”

  “After I pushed them out the door, I took a look around. They were everywhere, Karena. The Sandmen. Walking down the streets and in the windows of buildings. There wasn’t a person in sight. Do you know what I’m trying to say?”

  “No.” Karena’s heart began to race.

  “He took over everyone,” Shawn said. “And not just everyone in the whole city. I looked on the internet, which is entirely shut down. He’s everyone in the whole world. There are no people anymore, just Sandmen. And they all are going to kill us.”

  49

  Karena sat, stunned at this new development. Of course, there never really had been any people, they were all fake. In reality, they were the Sandman all along, but they hadn’t shown it. At least for a long time they had acted like real people, and Karena could almost believe that they were at times, so independent minded were they. But this was the truth. And now the Sandman was making sure that she and Shawn knew it. He had complete control of everyone.

  They both sat in silence for a while, terror ringing through Karena’s whole body. She had been right. Something was coming, and this was what it was. And she knew it wouldn’t end well.

  “Look Karena, I’m sorry,” Shawn said.

  Karena looked down at him, confused. “What do you mean? How is this your fault?”

  “I’m sorry for having been so fierce with you earlier in denying that we could do anything. It’s just that I’ve lived for far longer, and I thought I knew everything that was going on. I thought I knew all that I’d ever know about the Sandman. But I was wrong. We can never give up hope.”

  Karena stared at him for a while. He’d been so harsh with her earlier, tr
ying to press the cold, hard reality into her. Now here was the old Shawn, back again. The Shawn who gave her hope to continue forward even when there was none to be found, which there wasn’t. They couldn’t stop fighting him.

  “Apology accepted,” Karena said, relieved that they no longer had to have a schism between the two of them when it most counted that they didn’t. “What do we do now?”

  Shawn stood up off the chair and went over to the dresser to begin pulling clothes out of it. “We need to get out of here. There may not have been many of them when you came here, but that won’t be for very long. Here’s a bag.” Shawn tossed her a lightweight backpack, though it landed several feet in front of her and she had to pick it up off the floor. “Go downstairs to the kitchen and get as much food as you can. We’ll need it.”

  Karena didn’t move. “But where are we going to go?”

  Shawn stopped packing clothes into his bag and turned around. “Away from here,” he said. “Away from civilization and wherever there are humans, or were humans. We need to go into the wild.”

  Karena realized the full depth of his words. In her lifetimes she’d scarcely left these city suburbs. And now they were going to live in the forest, or wherever it was they were going. The whole thing was crazy, but it was the only thing they could do to survive, and she knew it.

  She followed Shawn’s instructions and went downstairs to the kitchen, opening up the pantry and throwing in everything that looked like it could potentially last for a long time into the bag as fast as she could. After the pantry was empty of everything that would be of any use to them, she went back upstairs.

  Shawn wasn’t in his room, but she soon found him in his parents’ room, packing some of their stuff. “I’m getting you some clothes in here,” he said. “Is your bag full?”

  “I got everything I could find,” said Karena. “Is there anything else we need?”

  “We don’t have time for anything else,” Shawn replied. “There isn’t really any point, anyways. As long as we have food and water we’ll be fine.”

  “Water, that’s what we need,” Karena said, and went downstairs to fill up as many water bottles as she could find with water, which she then stuffed into the food bag. Shawn came downstairs in a minute.

  “We need to go now,” he said.

  Karena moved forward to meet him. “Should I, you know, help you?” she asked. It was an embarrassing question for her, as picking up a centuries old man in the body of 3-year-old seemed ridiculous, especially since it was her only real friend that she’d had in all her lives. But they would be much quicker with her carrying him, and so she had to ask.

  “I guess we don’t have any other choice,” said Shawn. Karena proceeded to pick him up and get him into a somewhat comfortable position in her arms. “Let’s go then,” she said, and with those final words she ran to the door, unlocked and unbolted it, and raced outside into the wild, knowing that wherever it was they were going, they’d never be coming back from.

  50

  Karena didn’t know which way she was going, and she didn’t know how long she was going to be running that way. All she knew was that eventually, if she kept running in whichever way, she would reach the edge of the city and make it to the wilderness that surrounded it. She realized she should have brought a map or some form or navigation about 20 minutes into the journey, but by that point it was too late to do anything about it. She just had to keep running.

  Shawn had explained that they couldn’t use a car, because as far as he could see they all had Sandmen in them. His parents’ car had been taken by the Sandman who had taken over his parents, and all the other cars that had been parked alongside the street had been taken over as well. Karena had argued that there had to be a faster mode of transportation, but Shawn had already thought about all this. There was nothing they could ride or use that would get them safely away. Every time a car drove by, or a Sandman walked down the street, Karena desperately had to find a place to hide, whether it be in a dumpster or a bush or anywhere she could find. Of course, this didn’t always work, and so from time to time she actually had to fight of some of them. But it was never as many as it had been back in the orphanage, and she always managed to get out of it.

  This continued for a long time, them running and hiding and occasionally fighting their way through the streets of the city. After what seemed like forever, just when it felt like Karena’s legs could continue making this painstaking progress for a moment longer, they reached the edge of the city and the start of a highway. Karena ran out from the cluster of buildings and into the open field through which the highway ran. In the distance there was a forest, though from what she could tell it was quite a few miles away. She knew though, that they needed to get there in order to be safe, since the field was a terrible hiding place.

  “I think you can take a break over in that orchard,” said Shawn. He pointed to a small cluster of trees nearby that Karena hadn’t seen before. Relieved, she ran for a few minutes until she reached the cover of their canopy. She walked through the trees into somewhere that she assumed was in the middle, and set Shawn down, before plopping down herself, exhausted. She’d been up all night, running and fighting ever since she’d been in the orphanage. Now she was ready for a well-needed rest.

  “I’ll take first watch,” said Shawn. “I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”

  Karena nodded just as she was about to doze off. It was surprising, that this whole time the anticipation of this event was keeping her awake at night and yet now, when it was actually happening, she could sleep soundly. But she didn’t dwell on this for long before shutting her eyes and drifting away.

  51

  Karena awoke to the sight of sunlight filtering in through the leaves in the canopy that enveloped her and Shawn. With a start she sat up, shocked at the fact that she’d slept at all, yet alone the whole night. Instantly, however, she realized something.

  “You didn’t wake me up for my shift,” Karena said, turning to Shawn.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “Since you’re doing all the work, it’s the least I can do to do the whole shift. Anyway, there were only a few hours left before dawn broke.”

  “Thanks,” Karena sighed. Normally she would insist that he should have taken a shift, but she was so exhausted that she didn’t really care at this point. She sat up and got some food and water out of the suitcase before giving some to her and Shawn and eating it. They ate in silence, wary of their surroundings and constantly looking at the edges of the orchard to see if there was anyone there. But they were alone, for the time being.

  After breakfast, Karena donned her bag, and Shawn donned his. She picked him up, and within minutes the flight was resumed. She ran through the grass, her energy now revived from the rest, and Shawn kept an eye out all around them for cars or Sandmen. Every time they found something where they could take refuge, they stopped and hid in it for minute, resting, before continuing on the journey. Karena tried to stay away from the road as much as possible, so that when a car did come by she could hide herself from it more easily. Pressing herself flat against the ground, she was able to not be seen by any of the Sandmen and she would stay there for a long time until it drove into the distance. This didn’t happen very often, however, and thanks to Shawn she always had plenty of warning.

  By the end of that day they had reached the forest at the edge of the field. It turned out that it had been farther then she’d initially anticipated, but that was of little consequence. Karena was surprised that they had made it all the way with hardly any run-ins with Sandmen, and she asked Shawn about this that evening as they were eating.

  “I think it’s because he knows we have the advantage during the day,” he said. “During the night, however, he can see us when we can’t see him. That’s when he’ll really strike. And that’s why it’s better to travel during the night, which may seem strange.”

  “But that’s ridiculous,” Karena said. “He always has the advantage and he knows
it. He could make himself invisible during the day if he wanted to and attack us and we wouldn’t be expecting anything.”

  “Maybe he did make himself invisible during the day, then,” said Shawn. “He just didn’t attack us. He’s waiting until the right time. The longer he waits, the more hopeless it will seem for us, and thus the less chance we’ll have of successfully defending ourselves.”

  “I thought you said we needed to do everything we could against him.”

  “We do. And we can’t give up hope.”

  “But from what you just said, you’re insinuating that there is no hope. You’re insinuating that we have no chance of winning against him.”

  “I’m not insinuating anything, Karena. I’m just stating the truth. But that’s no reason to give up hope.”

  Karena was silent, furious, though she didn’t quite know why. This whole thing was ridiculous. It had gone on too long, and it just kept getting worse and worse.

  Suddenly, overcame with rage, she stood up and screamed at the top of her lungs. “We’re right here, you anorexic!” she cried. “You flea-bitten raggedy skeleton, come and get us! Why don’t you just come and finish us off rather than taunt us! You know we’re right here, and yelling to you won’t make any difference so just come here and kill us already! I’m sick of you!”

  Karena stood there, face ruddy, fists clenched, staring into the coming dusk that was slowly enveloping them. Shawn sat with his eyes closed, saying nothing. Karena stayed in that position for a while before sitting back down.

  “That was a dumb thing for me to do,” she said.

  “No it wasn’t,” Shawn said. “You said so yourself. He already knows where we are. Telling him where we are won’t hurt us at all, nor will it help us.”