CHAPTER 17: BROTHER
Unknown Time/Unknown Date
Opening his eyes, Wade's pupils dilate at the blinding grey sky above him. He lies naked in a forest, his body hunched over a massive pile of coins. When he moves his arms, the silver coins fall down the sloping sides around him. His spine is arched backwards, and when he lifts his head to view his surroundings, he takes notice that the naked branched trees have no colour. Everything is black and white once again, and he rests his head back against the pile beneath him. Staring blankly into the clouded grey sky, he exhausts a cold breath. He revisits the moments that passed while he flew endlessly through an abyss with his brother. William took hold of Wade during their falling and held on to the back of his neck with his hand held out in front of Wade as if showing him something in his palm. He cannot understand what it was that William was showing him. Flashes of imagery were placed in his brother's hand as they fell, yet Wade's mind could only ponder the idea that they would die from such height. He remained unaware of the meaning he was meant to pay attention to.
After a minute of reflection, Wade's body reacts to his position and attempts to move off the arching pile of silver coins beneath him. As he turns his body around on the mountain of silver, the coins spread down the side of the pile. Wade sighs an exhausting breath and looks down at his naked body in confusion. Looking back up past the coins, he sees a path laid out before him. Scattered coins stretch down the straight row of trees and pass into a large area of shrubbery. Wade faintly says, "So is this where I'm suppose to go, Brother?" His exhausted breath leads him to submit to his decision and answers to himself, "Then that is where I shall go." He lifts his awkwardly balanced body up on the mountain of silver onto his feet. Standing with his arms stretched out for balance, he slowly runs down the horizontal heap. Reaching the colourless grass and dirt, Wade follows the line of silver coins laid out before him. Approaching the shrubbery, he looks back at the forest for anyone who might be watching his naked body make its way through the woods.
I'm watching, Wade.
I'm watching you be led by your blood,
to your final epiphany.
The tomb in which you seek,
bears the reason why your epitaph
will present no mercy to you.
I'll make sure of that.
Feeling a cold chill up his spine, Wade turns back into the shrubbery and follows the winding path through the forest. Reaching a clearing, he looks through the shrub at a wide-open, dark grey field of dirt. Over the empty clearing, the coins become spaced out. They are now five feet apart from each other, and footprints are seen beside the winding path of silver. Wade walks out into the open field. Taking his eyes off the path, he looks at the clouds forming ahead in the distance. They start to emit lightning, spreading across the thick layer of clouds. When Wade hears the rumble of thunder, he focuses back on the path before him and starts to run. With panic setting in, Wade's strides grow longer in the dirt. Before the open field ends in another forested area where the path is taking him, the rain starts to come down. A rage of wind starts to howl, and lightning strikes a treetop in the distance. Wade is now running as fast as he can through the muddying dirt. He slides on a slippery slope but catches himself from falling by balancing himself back upright.
Reaching the forested area, the rain falls just as heavily through the trees. Pausing to find where the path leads, the coins start to fade into the mud. Mapping out what he can see, Wade carefully runs along the trail. Turning to his left, he sees the coins follow a tall dirt hill. The rain is less treacherous now, but lightning and thunder are still daunting at his every turn. He starts to climb up the slope, and a lightning bolt strikes a tree on top of the hill. A branch plummets from the top of the hill and rolls down quickly toward Wade. The large branch smashes Wade in the chest and knocks him back into a mud puddle. His body flips backwards, and he lands with his chest down. Quickly pushing himself back up, he lunges over the broken branch and climbs the rest of the hill. Reaching the top, he grabs a piece of a tree stump to pull himself over the edge. When he stands himself up, he looks back down at the length he had just travelled and whispers, "Jesus Christ. I could have died."
You will wish that THIS,
was the way your death happened
once you feel your soul burn from the inside.
Looking ahead of him now, Wade takes notice that the coins have now been placed within the wood of the trees. He slowly walks in the light drizzle of rain, following a row of straight trees that have silver coins nailed into the grain. The lightning is scarce, and there is only a faint rumble of thunder coming from behind him. As he approaches a road the embedded trees lead him to, Wade can only see one more coin. It sits in the middle of the road by itself. He slowly walks over to the final piece of silver in sight. Bending to pick it up, he realizes it is the same coin he had hanging off his rearview mirror. Wade looks down the winding road to the right and calls out, "Hello?" He looks back to the left side of the road to hear an echo of his voice ring out in the distance. He looks down at the coin in his hand when he hears, "Hello Brother." Wade looks up to see William walking out of the forest. He is cloaked in the same attire that the man on the side of the road was wearing back at the cemetery. Brim hat, long trench coat, and thick black boots. Wade asks, "So that, was you? At the cemetery?" William walks up to Wade, snatches the coin from him with his left hand, and punches him in the face with his right. Wade falls to his side, shouting in shock, "WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?" Wade stumbles backwards away from him and looks up. William flips the coin with his thumb and catches it in the air. He slaps it down on the top of his left hand. He looks up at Wade with his hand covering the coin and says, "I bet, that you don't even understand why you are here." William takes one step towards Wade and says, "Do you, Wade?" Wade gets upset at his interrogation and stubbornly replies, "I'm here to find Tao." William rolls his eyes and says, "Oh fuck off, my nephew will be fine. You're going to die, he's going to live, and he'll turn into the perfect fucking replication of who you are today; a pondering money-hungry fucking murderer. It's as simple as that." Confused, Wade says, "A murderer?" William ignores the question. "I ask you again, Wade. Do you know WHY, you are here?" "Um, because I fucked up? Because I'm a fucking idiot?" Wade replies with a confused tone. "Is that a question? You're asking ME? You don't know why you're here, do you?" William clasps his hand over the coin and puts it in his pocket. "Look around you, Wade. Why are you in this place with me? Huh? You think this is real? Do you think this is REAL LIFE?" Wade looks around and stares back into William's eyes with confusion. "I don't even know." William smirks. "Yeah, OF COURSE YOU DON'T KNOW." He taps Wade on the chest and hunches over on his side, placing his hands on his knees. He tilts his head at Wade and says, "I've been watching you, man. I've been watching you scrape your knees, drag your feet, crawl on your hands, all towards something you don't even understand." Wade interrupts, "Tao is dying. If I don't-" "You are pathetic. There is SO much more to consider than some cancer, barely changing your son's spirit. MUCH more, than I guess you will ever figure out. That's why I, am here, Wade. That's why I've come, to let you understand, exactly what you did." Wade grows concerned and begs, "What did I do?" "What DIDN'T, you do? You almost ruined everyone's life you've ever come in contact with. You don't even see it. You don't even see that you killed your own wife. How can you-" "What are you talking about? I didn't kill-" William cuts Wade off, "Oh, yes you did. You slayed a hole right through her poor little soul. Let me ask you something, Wade." Wade furiously interrupts, "Wait, tell me what you are even talking about! How did I-" "LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING, WADE! Why, the coins? Why do you THINK, these coins are here?" Wade looks back into the forest. He doesn't understand. "You don't even have a fucking clue, do you?" William squints his eyes at Wade's pondering face. "Think about it.. it's not hard. It wasn't THAT long ago." Wade doesn't understand what the coins have to do with anything. He says, "I.. I don't understand.. I just, keep that on my-" "WADE! WAKE UP! HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER?" Wade asks, "What do you mean-"
Suddenly, he remembers long ago when he threw the coin that was wrapped around his rearview mirror out the window the night he left his family. William can see the glaze of thoughts running through Wade's mind and asks, "Do you remember now?" Wade looks up and says, "That doesn't even make sense. Why are you trying to fuck with me?" "Oh, I'm not fucking with you, Brother. I'm trying to get you to realize the fucking truth. You did this. You caused this. You caused your wife to die. She died, that very night. That same night you threw that coin out the window. Where do you think that lucky charm of yours went? Right through the fucking windshield" Wade remembers a car behind him that skidded out into the ditch. He questioned going back to help them but was too caught up in his emotional state to tend to what was behind him. He says, "No, that wasn't her. That couldn't have been-" William interrupts, "Oh yes it was. She was trying to bring you back. She was trying to-"
"NO! FUCK YOU, MAN. FUCK YOU. YOU! YOU'RE NOT EVEN REAL! YOU'RE DEAD!" Wade shouts in William's face. William quickly fires another punch at Wade's face. As Wade falls to the ground again, covering his injured face, William asks, "Does that feel real to you? Let me ask you, how does the guilt taste? Does it taste like blood?" Wade wipes his bottom lip and is kneeling down on the ground on his hands and knees. He turns his head towards William and says, "No, man. No. I don't believe it. That doesn't.. no." Wade stands up in total shock and looks at William, who is calmly bouncing the coin up and down in his hand. "Wade, I'm going to flip this coin again. When it lands, you have two choices." Wade puts his arms out and pleads, "No, no, no, no, no. Please. Please don't do this!" "Sorry, Brother. I have to. Now, you have two choices. One-" Wade turns around and sprints into the forest.
You can't run away from this.
This is what you are suppose to do.
Let your brother help you.
Make the choice.
"GET BACK HERE, WADE!" William shouts as he runs into the forest after Wade. Catching up to him, he shouts, "You fucking idiot, I'm trying to HELP YOU, man. Just fucking LISTEN FOR ONCE." William trips Wade with his foot, and Wade flips onto the ground. Wade turns around, crawling backwards, trying to get away from William. Wade pleas, "Oh my dear god, please.. please stop.." William grabs Wade and drags him back up towards the road by his foot. He says, "Your dear little god can't help you now, Wade." William pulls Wade up onto the concrete and says, "I can't make this decision for you, man. You have to pay attention. This is where you redeem yourself. Just trust me." He lets go of his foot and turns around, "Have I ever done you wrong, Wade? Think about that." Wade kneels in front of William, "William.. I love you.. I'm sorry. Please, help me. Please. Oh my god, Julia.. I can't believe-" "Okay, well shut the fuck up, and listen." William pulls the coin out of his pocket. "I'm going to flip this coin. Heads, you get another chance. And tails.. well, you don't want tails. But tails, is where you die right here, right now, and well, Tao dies too." Wade grabs William's arms and pleads, "I want heads. I WANT FUCKING, HEADS. Please! I don't want anymore-" William shoves Wade off of him. "Well listen, this is the important part to pay attention to. This is the part of fate, that you can't escape. With heads, you die. With tails, you die. Either way, you're dead. Understand that, for a moment." Wade looks down at the concrete. He shakes his head and looks back up, "I don't care.. I just want Tao to live.. Please, tell me how to-" "Well then, you want heads. But also understand this. If you sacrifice yourself for Tao, he will, follow the same path as you. And you will not be here to watch him grow up. You will not be able to help him with the same mistakes you've made. You have to understand, that if he lives, he will bear the same burdens as you. Maybe not to THIS extreme, but there will definitely be some terrible choices, and absolutely terrible consequences, given the same broken spirit will exist inside him. I want you to think about that." Wade asks, "And if he dies?" "If he dies, now, then he will be with Julia. She will keep him safe. You may see him again, someday. In another life. But not after this one. You won't be going to the same place that they will be." Wade drops his hands to the ground and buries his head between his arms. He cries, "Oh my god. I don't want to make this choice."
Let him live, Wade.
He will be fine.
I will watch over him for the rest of our days.
It's okay.
Let him live his life.
You will be part of him, too.
I will watch over the both of you.
"I.. I can't let him die.. There's no way I can just let my son die like that.. Oh my god, what about Rayne? What's going to happen to her?" Wade lifts his head up to William, "She isn't your problem, Wade. Tao, is your problem. Her spirit is strong, like her Mother's. She will most likely live a healthy and long, tedious spiteful life. But she will be okay." Wade pauses and looks around. He calmly looks at William, "I can't let her watch Tao die. I have to tell her I'm sorry." William says, "She doesn't want your apology, Wade. You killed her Mother. You left her abandoned. She'll forever hate you, from this life, and into the next. Now. Make a choice." Wade stands up and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath and tilts his head up into the sky. When he opens his eyes, a bird flies by overhead. He brings his head back down and says, "Heads. I want heads." William looks at him with great concern, "Are you sure?"
"I'm absolutely sure." William nods his head. "Okay then. Well Tao, let's hope you have some angels watching over you." William backs up from Wade and flips the coin in the air. Wade whispers, "Please.. Please.." The coin lands in William's right hand. He flips it onto the top of his left hand and reveals. "Heads it is." William whispers.
Colour falls back into Wade's pupils. He stares at the coin with a smile as William's hand shows the natural colour of its skin. The coin displays a tiny red emblem along the edge. Wade looks up at his brother and his blue eyes shine bright above his warm smile, and white light fills the area around them.
Unknown Time/Unknown Date