CHAPTER 11: THE ARC
1:11pm – Sunday, October 9th/2016
Blood drips from Wade's mouth down into the pile of vomit between his feet. Hanging out the side of his car, he's in pain from the agonizing coughs and crippling stomach pains. Wade spits out the last of his saliva and wipes his bottom lip. When he tries to move his head back into an upright position, he becomes nauseous. Closing his eyes, he curls back down into a slump and hovers his head over the puddle of puke below him. He stands up to get away from the smell and becomes dizzy. His body seizes, and Wade falls into the road. He hits his head hard on the cement and starts to bleed from his skull. Staring down the road at the burning forest behind him, he begins to lose consciousness. While his eyes start to roll into the back of his head, Wade hears a voice in his head scream at him.
Wade!
Don't let this take you.
Don't let these illusions rapture your existence.
Focus!
The fire was designed by your mind!
WADE!
WAKE UP!
His heart jumps, and he lifts his head off the concrete and opens his eyes to the distance. The forest bears no fire, and his eyes start to create tunnel vision while he lies there blinking. The road grows long before him, and his mind melts into teetering thoughts of rippled reality. "What in the fuck is WRONG WITH ME?" He shouts. He lays his head back down on the concrete. Blood, drool, and tears fall from his face onto the road.
That's it, boy.
Let it aaaaall out!
Let yourself soak in your own madness!
Feels pretty shitty doesn't it?
I hate to say it, but.. I warned you.
I have foreseen this many moons ago.
Just let it happen.
Take it all in.
You don't want to miss a single detail.
A car comes into view, driving towards him from a distance. It's a white truck that seems to be speeding up the road.
"..help.." Wade can barely get the words out. "..Help! Help me!" His voice cracks. He lifts his head and places his arm on the concrete to help his body stand up. It buckles at the elbow, and he falls back on the concrete. With his door open, lying in a pile of blood, Wade holds his arm out towards the truck as it gets close.
"HELP ME!" He shouts as the truck pulls up. It stops in front of Wade, and he can't make out who is driving. The truck's driver-side door opens, and a man steps out of the vehicle and slowly walks toward Wade. He is wearing all-tanned leather and has bold black cowboy boots on his feet. The heels echo off the pavement, and as he gets close to Wade, he says, "Well, well, well. You just NEVER learn, do ya, son?"
Wade looks up at the man's face but can't distinguish who it is. The large man is wearing a black baseball cap, and the shadow from the brim has darkened his face. The man bends down to Wade and says, "Let me help you up. Boy, you look real fuckin' shitty right now."
The man grabs Wade's arm aggressively and pulls him off the ground. Lifting up his body, he puts him on his shoulder. The man kicks Wade's car door closed and stares for a second at the red and brown vomit beside his vehicle. "That, is fucking gross, Wade. You're lucky I didn't get any of that shit on my boots." Feeling paralyzed over his shoulder, Wade starts to say, "How do you know m-" "Just shut the fffuck up and get in the truck." The man replies. Wade starts to weep, and his body's pain is making every breath hurt. "Aw, don't cry on me, man. I swear to God, if you get any of that nasty shit on my fine leather here, I'm going to whoop your fuckin' ass. Suck it up, sunshine." The man carries Wade over to the back of the truck and tosses his body into the back. Wade screams in pain, and the man steps up into the truck over top of Wade. He looks down and says, "Wade! I could have ran over your stupid, fuckin' head on the road. But I didn't, so shut the fuck up and be thankful!" Wade stops his body from moving in fear and looks up at the man. The leering man begins to introduce himself. "Now listen, this is going to sound REALLY fuckin' weird, but I, am you. Alright? You might not recognize me. Hell, you don't even actually KNOW me. But I, my friend, am actually, you. OK? Alright now that we got that clear.."
"What the fuck do you mean, you're me?!" Wade shouts. "Ah, ah, ah! I said, be quiet. I told you! You don't have to understand, because it makes no sense! But, those pills you took, REALLY fucked you up hard, man. So I'm here.." The man bends over, stares close into Wade's eyes, and whispers, "..to tell you what to do." Wade stares into his eyes. It feels like he's looking into a mirror but from a different timeline. "You see? You see now? We're the same, you and I. We are the same fuckin' Wade.. well, not exactly the same." The man starts to use his hands to express the complicated idea to Wade. "But I'm Wade, and you're Wade, and you need to just, listen. OK?." Wade lays his body flat down into the truck, calmly. He accepts that this might still be all a very bad, realistic dream. "Good. You're calm. That's my boy!" The man says proudly. He stands up, and turns around. He then sits down on the tailgate facing the road and says, "Out there, is the same world I'm from. But you supremely fucked up this timeline. Shit has gotten really bad, because, well.." The man turns around and stares at Wade, "..you fucked with the devil, man." He looks back down at the road. "You went off and left your poor family alone, for some fucking nickels. Man, that is just, bullshit. Yet, that's not all. You then found the devil herself, let the devil suck your fuckin' dick, and just reaped the benefits of not having to deal with any goddamn responsibility. Now.. look who's responsible for all this shit?" He looks back at Wade, and Wade is staring deeply at the man with fear in his eyes. "You're responsible now, Wade. You're lucky you got some angels on your side, because God DAMN, you'd be dead by now."
Oh, he's very,
very right about that.
The man stands up on the tailgate and turns around. He looks down at Wade says, "So let me just cut to the chase. This is what you're going to do from here on out. You're going to get out of my truck. You're going to walk to your car, and you're going to find your children. You are-" "But where are they?" Wade interrupts. "Ah! Shut the FUCK up, so I can tell you!" The man pauses for a moment and takes a breath. "OK, back to my story. You are going to find your poor little children. They're.." The man pauses. He stares at Wade questionably for a moment. "You know what?" The man steps down from the tailgate onto the road. "I'm just going to make this easy for you. Considering you look like you're going to shit the bed any minute now, and I got all the time in the world.. so I'll just, take ya there." The man closes the tailgate and starts walking toward the front of the truck. "Just sit tight, and we'll get you to where you need to go, very soon." "Thank you!" Wade shouts at the man. The man replies, "Don't thank me. Thank yourself, Wade." The man opens the driver's side door, and Wade hears it slams shut as he lies back down. When the engine starts, Wade stares into the sky and closes his eyes. The man opens the back window of the truck's cab and says, "Just don't fall asleep on me, or you're going to regret it." He closes the window and starts to drive.
Aw, you got a new friend.
He's pretty cute!
I wonder if I can help him to where he is going.
Wade is lying on his back with his hands on his chest, staring into the open sky. The bumps are tediously painful on his spine, but he's trying to stay focused on staying awake and accepting the pain. The wind is cold, and his body is shaking. The man opens the window while driving and shouts, "Cold back there?" He throws a knitted blanket through the window onto Wade's body. "You should recognize that. Our grandmother knitted it for us when we were young. It should still smell like her old apartment." Wade covers himself with the blanket and wraps it around his body. The man closes the window. Wade pulls the blanket over his head and can smell his grandmother's home. For a moment, he felt safe and secure in that blanket until a big bump in the road jolted his body into the air and back down onto the metal lining.
The truck comes to a stop. Wade pulls the blanket from his head and looks around. Trees surround the area. It must be a stop sign, he thinks to himself. Suddenly, a crow lands on the back of the truck. Perched on the tailgate, the crow turns its head and caws into the sky. It moves its head towards Wade, and he quivers. The truck starts to move, and the bird remains perched on the tailgate. As the winds start to flow through the feathers of the crow, it starts losing its black feathers. One by one, fragments of the bird are flying behind the truck into the sky. The faster the truck moves on the road, the more thinned out the bird becomes. Soon, Wade can see the skeletal structure of the bird, and it eventually loses all of its feathers. Wade's fear grows taller with every minute, shocked that the bird still remains perched on the back of the truck. Its head hasn't moved in any direction, and it remains staring at Wade. The man opens the window and shouts, "Pretty unbelievable that fuckin' thing is still alive. I think we should take that as a sign, Wade. I think we're going to be okay." The man closes the window, and Wade remains fearful, staring at the crow.
I'm, waaaaatching yoooou.
Don't worry Wade,
I am keeping a close eye on all of this.
If you don't give a reason for this crow to fly soon,
it's going to melt away in these winds,
and die right in front of you.
The crow's skin starts to tear off. Blood starts to ripple from its broken skin, and the hollow bones of the bird become exposed. Wade slithers his blanket-wrapped body towards the back of the truck and kicks the tailgate, trying to shoo off the perched, exposed, bloody skeleton. "Get the FUCK out of here!" Wade shouts. The man opens the window. "That's not what you're supposed to do, Wade!" The man shouts, slamming on the breaks. The crow falls off the back of the tailgate and lands directly on top of Wade. Its lifeless hollow body falls to his side, and Wade shrieks in terror, moving back to the cab of the truck. "What the fuck! Why would you do that?" Wade looks into the window, and the man is gone. He pulls the blanket off him and kneels down to peer through the glass. As he looks around the front of the truck, there is no sign of the man. Wade stands up and looks around him. The truck is parked on a street in front of a row of houses. The furthest home looks familiar to Wade and he stands motionless, staring at the familiar home.
Welcome home,
Wade.
"Why are we here?" Wade shouts. "Why have you brought me here? What is this?" Wade looks around the neighbourhood, and flooding memories fill his mind with this place. This was his home before all of this. His home with Tao and Rayne. His home with Julia. The man appears on the footsteps of the house and shouts, "You've come home, to find your children. You'll find what you're looking for in here." The man walks inside the front door and closes it shut. Wade jumps down from the truck and runs towards the house. When he reaches the front door, he pauses. His body is shaking. He doesn't know who or what is inside this place anymore. It's been ten years since he left. Are they still here? Have they kept this place this entire time? Wade's thoughts run deep with questions, with his hand resting firmly on the door handle. With a sudden jolt of willpower, he opens the door and immediately feels ill.
Don't worry, that will happen when
you come in contact with ghosts.
That cold shiver up your spine
is a reminder of why you are here.
It's a reminder,
that you're a lying piece of shit.
"Hello?" Wade shouts into the front foyer. As he walks in, a cold shiver runs up his spine. Closing the door behind him, the sound bellows through the empty home. There is no furniture in the living room beside him. "Is anyone here?" Wade shouts. Suddenly, footsteps are heard from upstairs, and he runs up the staircase to see who it is. Getting to the top of the stairs, Wade looks down the hallways and shouts, "Julia? Tao? Rayne? Are you guys here?" There is no answer to his call. Silence fills the sunlit home, and he creeps down the hallway to the first bedroom on the left.
Oh, how they missed you when you were gone.
They needed you there.
I tried to give them signs,
but they were too little to understand anything but pain.
Why did you leave us alone?
Because he's a coward.
Destined to ruin everyone's life.
Clearly that path was already laid out
before I even knew what kind of monster
he really was.
As Wade walks into Tao's old bedroom, flashes of everything that used to be inside of it appear; a wooden toy box lying against the wall beside his little blue car bed; blue and white curtains hung to the side of the window; posters of his favourite cartoons hung on the wall.. and Tao, playing with his plastic train set in the middle of the floor. Rippling his heart, Wade slowly walks into the room and sits in the middle of the floor. Tears start to erupt and roll down his cheeks. He folds his hands into his lap and closes his eyes. Wade sways back and forth, soaking in the memories, sobbing uncontrollably.
All you ever needed, was right in front of you.
You did this to yourself.
You didn't have to go anywhere.
Everything was in it's right place..
until you rattled the universe with your selfishness.
You coward.
Wade stops his emotional outburst. He opens his eyes and takes a calm breath. After focusing his blurry eyes on the faded patterns of the wallpaper, a shadow appears on the wall. Wade turns around to look out the window. There is nothing there, and when he turns back to the wall, the shadow fades away. He quietly says, "Hello? Oh God." He stands up and takes another look around the room before entering the hallway. "Is anyone here?" He says, scared. Looking into his old bedroom, there is nothing but an empty cardboard box in the corner. Without stepping into the room, he then moves on to Rayne's old bedroom at the end of the hallway. Creaking open the door, he hears a noise coming from her closet. "Hello? Rayne? Are you here?" Wade asks as he starts walking slowly toward the closet doors. "Go away!" A small voice emits from inside it. Wade rushes to open the sliding door, and upon inspection, he sees a little boy holding his knees against his chest on the floor. The little boy's eyes are closed, and he says, "Get away from me!" Wade bends down and says, "I'm sorry! I'm not here to hurt you, little man. Are you OK?" The little boy starts crying, and Wade backs up into the middle of the room. "It's alright, kid. I'm just, looking for my daughter.. and my son." The little boy peeks his eyes up to Wade and quickly covers his face with his hands. "How old are you?" Wade asks. The little boy remains shaking and upset and muffles out the word "Seven." "Seven? Why are you here by yourself? Is there anyone here with you?" Wade asks. The boy shakes his head no. Wade slowly walks over to the boy. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" The little boy shouts at Wade. "Hey! I'm not going to hurt you, buddy. Maybe you can help me find the people who used to live here." Wade says, trying to calm down the boy. The little boy squirms his way deeper into the closet and keeps his hands wrapped around his head, buried in his knees. "Do you think you could help me find them? They used to live here." Wade says. "You mean, Julia?" The boy replies.
The look on your face, is priceless, Wade.
I've never seen so much, fear,
written in someone's eyes like I have with you in this moment.
Ah, what a fascinating story you've weaved.
Wade's heart drops to the floor. "Julia. Yes. You've, seen her?" Wade asks. "She helps me find food." The little boy replies. "How? Where is she? Is she here right now? JULIA?!" Wade shouts into the hallway. "Shh! Quiet! You'll wake up the bad guys." The little boy says. "The bad guys? Who are the bad guys? Where's Julia?" Wade asks, getting angry. The little boy stands up and runs through the room and down the hallway. "WAIT! I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" Wade shouts, walking towards the bedroom doorway. Instantly, the door slams shut. "Leave him alone, Wade." A woman's voice enters Wade's ears. He looks around the room in a panic, and no one is there. "Who said that? Julia? Are you here?" Wade asks as he walks over to the closet, looking in. The closet is empty, and he backs up into the centre of the room and shouts, "WHO SAID THAT?" The dimly lit room from the sun outside goes pitch black, and Wade stands motionless in the middle of the room, shaking with fear. "Hello?" He says quietly in the dark. "Leave him, alone." The woman's voice repeats louder. Wade yells out, "WHO ARE YOU?" Suddenly an arm grabs Wade by the neck and starts to choke him. The voice is even louder now and says, "You're going to sit down, and you're going to be quiet. I will send the boy back upstairs in a minute after I've calmed him down." Wade feels the pressure release from his neck, and he gasps for air. "SIT DOWN!" The voice screams. Wade drops himself to the floor and starts to shake. Dim light reenters the room again, and Wade starts to rock himself back and forth in the middle of the room, petrified.
You've got a strong woman, there.
She would have made an excellent man out of you.
Yet, you traded that all in, for a little lie.
May you find peace of mind in all of this, you cowardly rat.
5:55pm – Sunday, October 9th/2016