《Class: Clown》


 Chapter 1: The Ghost Train

    ¡°There goes the ghost train.¡± Vance was the reigning champ when it came to supernatural events. If a ghost rattled chains or a face appeared on toast, he knew about it. It was impressive nose to the grindstone kind of work; he was a real hard-boiled detective about the whole thing. So, if he pointed at a train and told you it was piloted by ghosts you believed him. Not that the train in question needed any help. Just eyeballing it gave you all you needed to know. It was an old timey locomotive with a single passenger card hitched behind the engine. It chugged slowly and smokeley across the we of tracks that connected all The Twilight Islands. It was a beautiful old thing, in the ¡®They don¡¯t make them like that anymore¡¯ kind of way. The passenger card was painted and had wood paneling while the engine looked like a solid piece of metal had been carved into a shape.


    ¡°I heard about this.¡± I stapled the flier in my hand to a nearby telephone pole, then dedicated myself fully to watching the little locomotive lazily ride the rails. ¡°They say it just showed up a few days ago, no one knows where from. It just does laps around the islands.¡±


    ¡°No no.¡± Vance shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s got its own schedule. It goes from station to station, but no one can seem to figure out the pattern. It¡¯s not for people because no one ever gets on or gets off.¡±


    Hayden eyed the train suspiciously. He was the type of guy who always looked like he was trying to fight you. He just had that scrappy kind of energy to him. I doubt he wanted to fight the train, but it did capture his interest. ¡°Maybe the mayor got himself a private little set up.¡±


    ¡°Stop.¡± Victoria punctuated the command with two quick bursts from her staple gun. ¡°No bad talking the boss. He¡¯s the reason we¡¯re doing all of this.¡± She gestured kind of everywhere. We¡¯d been hard at work all morning fliering the island from toe to tip. If there was an 8.5 x 11-inch space where a piece of paper could be glued, stapled, or stuck we found it. You couldn¡¯t eat, sleep, or walk your dog in that town without one of our fliers grabbing you by the shoulders and telling you about the upcoming festival.


    ¡°And we¡¯re so thankful for his generous patronage.¡± Hayden dated Victoria as a sporadic kind of hobby. This meant he was either immune to the fear she inspired, or he liked it. Victoria was scary in an impressive way. Smart, pretty, and while the rest of us were drinking our summer away, she had an internship with the Mayor¡¯s Office. That¡¯s what landed us with the early morning labor.


    The mayor was throwing a party and needed his least expensive lacky to spread the word. The lucky man had no idea that she came with three unwilling lackies of her own to boss around. I can¡¯t even remember how she¡¯d convinced us to do it, but I think shame had something to do with it. ¡°I keep telling you, the internship leads to a job, the job leads to my election, and my election means legalizing weed.¡±


    Oh yeah, that¡¯s how she¡¯d convinced us.


    ¡°Ah you¡¯re all talk.¡± Hayden saddled up next to her, hands in his swim trunks. ¡°You¡¯ll forget about us little people once you¡¯re on top.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m lucky.¡± She smiled down at him. They were not a cute couple. Hayden was a slacker in flip flops, she was wearing a pant suit to perform manual labor. She was tall, he was short. They went together like water and oil. I swear sometimes they just dated to psychologically torture one another, but what did I know? If you counted non-consecutive days, they¡¯d still been together longer than any of my recent relationships.


    I cast Vance a sympathetic look and the two of us turned away from the blooming romance. Vance was Victoria¡¯s opposite just as much as Hayden was. The two were twins, but only due to some weird sense of cosmic irony. Unlike his tightly wound sister Vance was a cool customer. Fat, relaxed, and quick with a smile. You could always count on the man to laugh at a joke, and breath through his mouth. He¡¯d been a linebacker in high school and had the wide confident waddle of a man who was both spiritually and physically unstoppable. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s heading to Commerce Station.¡±


    Vance got my meaning immediately. Years of getting into trouble with a guy will establish that kind of bond. ¡°You think we could make it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just over the bridge.¡±


    ¡°What are you two whispering about?¡± Victoria, our self-appointed mom glared at us from over Hayden.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to go ride the ghost train.¡± I said casually, already stuffing my staple gun and spare fliers into my backpack.


    ¡°Yorick.¡± She scowled and held up a fistful of fliers. ¡°We still have work to do.¡±


    I gestured wildly around the town square. The warm brick walkways and trolley lines were as always bathed in an orange twilight glow. ¡°This is already an environmental hazard!¡± A breeze caught the nearest hundred fliers and made them flap like a crowd applauding my argument.


    ¡°We should move to the commerce district to get some coverage there.¡± Vance said calmly. ¡°The mayor will never forgive us if we leave the train station bare.¡±


    She nodded slowly, laundering the logic through several shell companies within her brain before it could be properly processed. ¡°Plus, since the ghost train hits every station, it just makes sense to ride it so we can get them all.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Mayor!¡± Hayden slapped me on the back and took off towards the bridge. The rest of us faithfully followed our leader in his charge.


    The Twilight Islands were nine roomy islands connected by foot bridges, and rails. Me and the other slackers lived on Cilla the fourth daughter island. The sun facing side of the island was all residential, while the dark part of the island was a big forest surrounding a lake. Menaya was the mother island, biggest of the whole chain and home to most of the people. All of its orange bricked little towns had long ago merged into one big beast. At the center of it all was Twilight Tower, the highest point in the world. It was a big clock that chimed the hour, very handy in a world where the sun never set.Stolen story; please report.


    None of us realized it, but the twilight islands were a moment frozen in time. It was always a cool seventy degrees, and the sun forever threatened to seep beneath the waves, but never quite found the courage. It was a beautiful place, everything was bathed in orange, and there was a sunset whenever you needed. I can¡¯t think of a place that deserved an apocalypse less.


    The four of us, even Victoria, ran over the connecting bridge that led into the Commercial District. We had no clue that our rival gang was spending their morning loitering on the bridge, skipping rocks across the water. Thay maybe sounds worse than it was. Neither of us was really a gang, we were each just groups of slackers with a few healthy disagreements. Disagreements which occasionally ended with Hayden and me bruised and on the floor. Vance was too high-minded a being for violence, and who would dare touch Victoria?


    I didn¡¯t even see them until Cyrus stretched his foot out and sent me sprawling onto the ground. I yelped, grunted, rolled over, and saw that handsome bastard still leaning against the bridge¡¯s railing arms crossed. If smug were a human being it would have been Cyrus. The guy had it all, looks, respect, a really cool beanie. Compared to him and his gang we were nothing but the local slackers. ¡°Watch your step.¡±


    He and his minions shared a good laugh as I tried to get up. ¡°Cyrus so got you!¡± Carter laughed and pointed at me. The lovable giant was Cyrus¡¯ second biggest fan, second only to the man himself.


    ¡°Pathetic!¡± Kat agreed in her usual laconic manner. The lavender haired girl was the type of danger whose contempt for you only made her more appealing.


    ¡°Not cool!¡± Hayden shoved Cyrus in the chest and nearly threw him off the bridge. Hilarious as that would have been, Mr. Perfect maintained his balance and rose to all six feet of his intimidating stature.


    ¡°Hands off blondie.¡± Cyrus glared down at Hayden who matched his gaze. You had to hand it to the guy, a blow to the head and never taught him a lesson.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re getting into this again.¡± Victoria sighed and stepped away. She was a well-practiced spectator of these little grudge matches.


    ¡°Stop.¡± I got to my feet, feeling flushed with embarrassment. ¡°We don¡¯t have time Hayden; we¡¯ve got a train to catch.¡±


    Hayden gasped. ¡°You¡¯re just going to let him get away with that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I sighed, people were watching. ¡°There¡¯s not enough summer left to waste on Cyrus.¡± Hayden usually couldn¡¯t be swayed by reason or data, but he knew as well as I was that we were on a clock. Sure, fighting Cyrus and his crew was a worthy way to spend a morning, but not if it kept us from becoming supernatural legends.


    ¡°Next time.¡± Hayden turned and joined me, Vicky and Vance on the other side of the bridge.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, Chickens. Walk away, and don¡¯t even think about bailing on the tournament. I want to whole town see me wipe the matt with you slackers.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be there.¡± Hayden promised


    ¡°That was so stupid.¡± Victoria tutted.


    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t lose to them if our girl knew how to fight.¡± Hayden said.


    ¡°Like I¡¯d fight Kat.¡± Victoria scoffed. ¡°That girl has a nose piercing. You don¡¯t touch that kind of crazy.


    ¡°You really think you can beat him in the tournament?¡± Vance asked. Part of the festival was ¡®The Painting of The Braves¡¯ it was kind of a fight, kind of an art display. I¡¯ll explain it more later but suffice it to say we were more excited about the fight, and the prize money.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Hayden¡¯s eyes were steely and determined. ¡°You get me one on one with that guy, and he¡¯s mine.¡±


    ¡°How romantic.¡± Victory teased and looked to me. ¡°And if you fail, we¡¯ve got Yorick as our back up. Might be nice to go back to school a champion, huh Yorick?¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t hurt his chances with Andie either.¡± Vance joined in on the teasing.


    ¡°Stop.¡± I laughed. ¡°I mean, who even knows? I might be so busy riding the ghost train I forget all about this.¡±


    ¡°Nice dodge.¡± Victoria led us the rest of the way to the train station. Commerce Stations was always busy, as the heart of our island chain it always had a car incoming or outgoing to each of the islands. The trains on The Twilight Islands were sleek, white and silent. They arrived with a cool hiss and left just as politely. They brought businessmen back from deals, shoppers with empty bags and summering students by the fist full.


    None of these descriptions applied to the train stationed at platform 16. It was black, blocky, and came to a halt with a loud screech. ¡°There it is!¡± The four of us scrambled through the crowd to get to the old thing. When we arrived, the doors to its single car hung open, and if anyone had gotten off, we hadn¡¯t caught them.


    ¡°It¡¯s empty.¡± Hayden cautiously inched closer. There was no need to worry about crowds because platform 16 was deserted. It was like there was a forcefield around it. People swerved around us just to keep away.


    ¡°Think it¡¯s an antique?¡± Victoria asked. Not a strange question, it seemed to have more in common with the trollies around town than anything else. Maybe it was just old, but why was it here?


    I was looking the thing over myself. There was no one in the conductor¡¯s seat. The door to the engine was marked with a seal. I didn¡¯t recognize what it was supposed to be, but I could make out a string of words. ¡°Railroad Commission.¡± Not very helpful. Along the dark metal working of the engine were faded gold starts. It didn¡¯t look like the lost design of a machine in disrepair. The faded stars were like grey hair, a distinguished look on a wise old operator.


    ¡°It¡¯s definitely ghostly.¡± Vance whispered, hitting upon something that we were all feeling. There was just something about the train that was off. More so than it being old, noisy and abandoned. There was just this otherworldly sense around it, that put our hair on end. It didn¡¯t belong here, not in this station, and not on The Twilight Islands.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think this was a good idea.¡± Victoria took a step back.


    We¡¯d been looking at the open doors for some time. They couldn¡¯t have been more welcoming, the interior inside seemed to promise comfort, if not the luxury we¡¯d been expecting. It also seemed to promise privacy, and complete loneliness. No one in the crowd got in, no one needed to be anywhere it was going. Most didn¡¯t even look it¡¯s way.


    Not that it cared. It just stood there, doors open. It was a patient mouth, waiting for a fish to just swim on inside.


    ¡°Come on, this is stupid. It¡¯s just a train!¡± Hayden made to jump inside, but fear caused me to reach out and yank him by the belt.


    ¡°We can¡¯t!¡± I blurted, instantly regretting it.


    As if the train had been found out, it shut its doors and just a few moments later began rolling out of the station. I had the sense that something had just slipped out of my fingers, and now I know I was right.


    I should have gotten on that train, I should have gotten everyone on, things would have been a lot different.


    Alas, all stories have an original sin, and this was mine. I let fear stop me, and as a result we would all be punished in the days to come.


    ¡°What the heck?¡± Hayden looked at me, betrayed. ¡°Why did you do that?¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t, I¡­¡± I babbled, trying to articulate just how wrong that thing felt. Watching it flee up the tracks, I was more sure than ever that there was something not right about it.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a train.¡±


    ¡°A ghost train.¡± Vance leapt to my defense. ¡°For all we know it was going to take us to hell.


    ¡°And we didn¡¯t even hang any posters.¡± Victoria said, unzipping her back. ¡°It¡¯s the whole reason we came here.¡±


    Hayden just shook his head and looked at me. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you man.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I couldn¡¯t meet his gaze, there was too much disappointment in it. ¡°I was afraid.¡±

 Chapter 2: The Lake

    Hayden eventually found it within himself to forgive us. It was around the time he discovered that almost getting on the ghost train was just as good as a story as actually doing it. Better actually. It still left a shimmering coat of mystery over the whole thing.


    He made this discovery later that night. There was a party at Shadow Lake, us and three other groups of slackers were coming together to drink beer and swim. It was like our summer moot. Cyrus and his goons were there too, as much as he liked to believe he was above the rest of us, the beer tasted the same.


    When I say night, remember that there was no night on Twilight Island. It was only night in the sense that the clocktower rung twenty times before the party started. Shadow lake was the closest thing we could get to night though. It was on the shaded part of this island, the whole lake was hidden behind a series of hills, which meant it was cool and moody.


    ¡°I of course wanted to get on, but Yorick and the others were too scared.¡± Hayden was working on this third retelling of the story by this point, each time the train was more menacing than the last. Soon the train would be swallowing victims whole and Hayden¡¯s heroic¡¯s would deserve nothing less than a medal from the mayor.


    This was fine by me because it made my cowardice seem more sensible every time he told it. We were no longer dealing with a vague sense of otherworldliness, but a demonic entity spewing green fire from its smokestack. ¡°He¡¯s a hero.¡± I agreed taking a swig from my cup. ¡°I hope to be just like him when I grow up.¡±


    ¡°Well you can start by signing up for classes.¡± He said, with all the subtlety of a lawnmower.


    ¡°This again.¡± I groaned. ¡°I¡¯m still just trying to get my schedule straightened out.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh.¡± Hayden was unimpressed with my lies. ¡°I know you¡¯re juggling that promising career at the hardware store, Vance and I could really learn a thing or two from you.¡±


    ¡°I hate it when mom and dad fight.¡± Vance shook his head, as he leaned against a nearby tree.


    ¡°We¡¯re not fighting honey.¡± I said. ¡°Sometimes grown ups just disagree, except this time there¡¯s nothing your father and I disagree on.¡± That was a lie. Hayden and I were both fruit from the same low hanging branch. We were both slackers, but we had different interpretations of this noble profession. Hayden thought it meant skipping class and getting away with straight c¡¯s. I had grander aspirations, the ultimate slack off. I was going to drop out of school entirely.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re running out of time.¡± Hayden sniffed. ¡°If you miss signups, you¡¯re gonna have to work full time at the store. Pretty soon they¡¯ll make you manager, and then you¡¯ll never escape.¡±


    The three of us shuddered in unison. Our manager Nathan treated his dominion over the hardware store like was given to him through a pact with God. The thought of becoming like that was a fate worse than death. ¡°That is a frightening alternative.¡±


    Vance gave me an evil look. ¡°Of course that means you get to spend more time with Andie.¡±


    I turned to the other group we¡¯d been interacting to. ¡°You guys can feel free to stop their bullying whenever you please.¡±


    Grace laughed, and took a drag on her joint. ¡°Well, a haunted train is pretty good. But we have some haunted house news.¡±


    Vance cocked an eyebrow. ¡°The plantation?¡±


    ¡°Bingo.¡± She blew a slow cloud out from her lips. She had our attention and was going to savor it. The Plantation was an ancient building not too far away from where we were. It used to grow bananas, but they¡¯re were long gone by the time our grandparents were born. The land that¡¯d been cleared out for it was reclaimed by the island and all that was left was a two story mansion in the middle of nowhere, overgrown with vines, and filled with rats. Not to mention the ghosts. ¡°I heard a group of guys from out west bought it, or moved in or something. Suzy Lyons said she saw a group of guys heading back and forth from there a few days ago.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    That¡¯s a thing about living on a small island. You can¡¯t do anything without the whole town finding out. ¡°I wonder what they want with it?¡±


    ¡°Who knows?¡± Grace shrugged. ¡°Housing is always tight. Maybe they figure they¡¯d have themselves a pretty nice pad if they can fix it up.¡±


    ¡°Hey Cyrus!¡± Hayden waived his mortal enemy over from a neighboring circle.


    The beanie wearing hero sauntered over. ¡°What do you want?¡± Ever in character.


    ¡°Have you heard anything about people moving into the plantation?¡± Cyrus liked to think of himself as the prince of the Twilight Islands. He knew a little bit about everything, and just about everyone. That¡¯s why he felt like he could knock around us lesser slackers with impunity. He was just trying to keep order on the island.


    ¡°No.¡± That admission had hurt him more than any of our last scuffles with him. ¡°When did that happen?¡±


    ¡°Bout a week ago.¡± Grace said.


    ¡°Same time the ghost train showed up.¡± Vance said in his best ghost story voice.


    Was that true? The thought of that thing teaming up with a creepy mansion from my childhood made my stomach churn.


    ¡°Maybe I should pay them a visit.¡± Cyrus said, meaning I don¡¯t know what. Whatever it was I¡¯m sure he thought it was suitably cool and heroic. Maybe he was going to punch a few ghosts? Maybe ask to see the land title.


    ¡°Maybe you should leave a few homeless people alone?¡± I offered, then looked around for Victoria. ¡°Maybe Vicky knows something.¡±


    Hayden rolled his yes. ¡°She works at town hall, she isn¡¯t the mayor.¡±


    ¡°Where is Victoria?¡± Grace scanned the lakeside for a partygoer in a power suit. ¡°She came with you guys right?¡±


    Hayden, Vance, and me all realized that our self esteem hadn¡¯t been attacked for several minutes. ¡°Victoria?¡± Hayden poked his head about.


    ¡°Maybe she¡¯s using the little girls room.¡± Grace suggested, and we all bought it for several more minutes. But eventually the wait grew so long we couldn¡¯t afford to believe it any longer. We stayed calme and asked everyone else at the party, when they hadn¡¯t see her we started to panic.


    She wouldn¡¯t have gone near the lake in her suit so we spread out across the forest looking for her. We really didn¡¯t have much of a plan before splitting up. Who knew twenty high, and drunk nobodies couldn¡¯t form a good search group? Before long we were bumping into each other and treaded ground others had already covered. Everyone helped, even Cyrus and his crew. Grace and Matt rendezvoused on a dolphin shaped rock and spent the rest of the night necking so I¡¯m not sure how much help they were.


    My own efforts weren¡¯t all that impressive either. I got so lost I ended up wandering back to the lake. At least I thought it was the lake.


    I saw what I thought was water. A kind of rippling liquid that caught the light from the orange sky. Only it was wrong. The liquid was black, and absorbed the light like matte paint. There was no clean sheen to it. It was thick too, I thought it might be oil. As I got closer I realized it wasn¡¯t nearly as big as a lake. It was only a small pond of the stuff. ¡°Victoria?¡± I asked, creeping closer.


    The oil rippled slowly, like a rock had been dropped into it. I stood at its edge and crouched forward. It didn¡¯t produce a reflection; it was like I was looking into nothing. Because I¡¯m an idiot, I reached down to touch it. I don¡¯t know why everyone was making a big deal about me dropping out, I clearly wasn¡¯t smart enough to finish on my own anyway. I reached into the oil, and my hand went right through it. It was a substance like water, but wasn¡¯t nearly as thick as I had thought. It was somewhere between water and air, and when I pulled my hand out it wasn¡¯t wet at all. ¡°What the?¡± Nothing clung to my skin.


    I couldn¡¯t say or experiment anymore. I hadn¡¯t noticed but the puddle of the substance was expanding. The ripple was as if more of it was bubbling up from some underground spring. It touched the tips of my shoes and seemed to erode the ground beneath me. Without ground to stand on I pitched forward into the drink.


    There was no splash. I simple fell through the surface of the liquid. I flailed about as you would in water, but I could never find enough purchase to push myself. I didn¡¯t float either, it was like I was a rock. I sunk faster than I could believe. It was like a slow fall from a great height. I just kept sinking and sinking, the light from the sun very quickly became hidden from me. There was no noise, no light. I held my breath for as long as I could, but there was no need. I don¡¯t know if I breathed the liquid in, or if it stayed out of my body but I found myself breathing just fine all the same.


    It was as if I just fell through the world, and would sink into the darkness beneath forever.

 Chapter 3: The Shadows

    I can be dramatic sometimes. It turns out the hole in the world wasn¡¯t infinite. There was a bottom, and I hit it with a medium thud. At least the darkness through which I was falling slowed my fall a little. It was brighter than I thought it would be down here. As I laid there, I looked up and saw that light was streaming through like you¡¯d see at the bottom of a pool of water. Light briefly skimmed across the bottom and lit up what it could.


    With a groan I forced myself up to my feet, heartbeats pounded in my ears and panic was winding it¡¯s way through my stomach. I was lost, scared, and completely confused.


    The bottom of the hole was a forest. Or at least a few small trees, it was all the same as at the lake. Same trees, same ground. Only it was smothered in a darkness I¡¯d never seen before. There was always light where I came from, now my eyes were struggling to process the barely lit space around me.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I called. The sound actually left my mouth and bounced about the trees. The liquid seemed to be gone. I was moving about normally, like I would on the surface. There was no resistance now, faint as it had been. The air down here was cold, and smelled salty.


    I moved forward a bit, passing by a few trees, and then I saw the edge. The space I was in wasn¡¯t that big at all, only the size of a pond. It¡¯s like a whole chunk of the forest had fallen through the floor and landed perfectly intact down here. Beyond that there was nothing, just darkness. The light that was drifting from above wouldn¡¯t even touch those boarders. It¡¯s like there was a small halo of light that was separating this chunk of land from a vast nothingness.


    Only it was something. As I stared into the abyss a pair of golden eyes blinked open. They were pure gold, there was no detail to them at all other than they were round, and came in pairs. First it was one pair, and then two. Pretty soon I had a whole audience, and my stomach dropped.


    I took a step back, and any hope I had that the things beyond the border of the light would stay there were crushed. A spindly black hand landed on the forest floor, and pulled the rest of it¡¯s body behind it. A creature that appeared to be made of the darkness beyond inched towards me. It had a human head, but no face. Only those cartoonish eyes, it was like a mask, there were no details only the implication of a face. It had human hands, and arms, and torso, beyond that it¡¯s body faded away into a whisp of smoke that slithered about like a snake¡¯s tail. It inched forward and the next shadow behind it paced its hand on the head of the lead shadow and pulled itself closer to me. Then another shadow did the same to him. They were crawling over themselves to get to me!


    ¡°Ah!¡± I panicked and wheeled backwards. I turned my head for a place to run, but the boarders of my little island did not extend far. Beyond that there was a great sea of terror I knew nothing about. I wasn¡¯t looking where I was going and quickly collided with a tree. It was a head first hit, and I nearly knocked myself out. Whatever will to fight or run I had died there, I just kind of slid down the three holding my head in horror, and waited to die.


    From above me there came a great whoop. Next thing I knew a man crashed through the canopy, landing in front of me. As he hit the ground he slammed some kind of hammer down. Spikes of earth burst forth from his hammer and in waves drove forward impaling the shadows with little effort. The moment they took damage they just seemed to fade away like ink in water. The hammer man looked down at me, more annoyed than anything else. ¡°You see a puddle of darkness in front of you, and you bend down to touch it?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡±


    ¡°Shut up!¡± He reached down grabbed me by the neck of my shirt, and pulled me to my feet. ¡°Guardian Circle, Two Stars!¡± he touched the shaft of his hammer down on the ground. Light burst up from the ground. Some kind of pattern backlit by a yellow light surrounded the two of us in a perfect circle. Sigils of some kind, stuff I didn¡¯t recognize swirled in between two thick yellow bands that denoted the perimeter of the circle. ¡°Whatever you do, not leave the circle.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked. My head felt hot, like it was flooding with chemicals I¡¯d never felt before.


    ¡°No questions!¡± He swung his hammer and obliterated another shadow  who came his way.


    I became aware that while I¡¯d only see shadows attacking me from one place, when they¡¯d been encroaching from all sides of the island. One near me, lunged forward to do I don¡¯t know what to me. Just a moment before it¡¯s witchy hands could wrap around my throat, an image of the hammer man seemed to fly out of his body, and strike the beast down. Then it was gone. It was like I¡¯d imagined the whole thing, the image and the shadow were both wisps of nothing a moment later. The hammer man made no sign of effort. I¡¯d thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but another shadow lunged at me, and the same thing happened. A second man wielding a hammer shot forth and ripped the thing apart with a single hit. ¡°How are you doing that?¡±


    ¡°No questions!¡± He barked back. ¡°Seriously, the more you know the harder it¡¯ll be to get you back home.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    That he ignored as he focused on his work. All I could do was stand behind him and cower as the shadows crept in behind us. They would have a hard time reaching their mark. That after image would always strike them down as they did. It had to do something with the circle he¡¯d put down. It was only once a shadow crossed it that the after image came to destroy them.


    I focused on that. Something was happening and there was a rule to it. That I could understand. Even if there was nothing else about this I could comprehend. I could understand that. I could spot a shadow crossing the circle and know that before I blinked it¡¯d be gone. Whatever he was doing it was impressive, but not perfect.


    The after image happened fast, but not instantaneously. If two shadows passed through the circle at the same time the image would have to destroy one, vanish and then destroy the other. I found this out the hard way. A hand from a shadow raked me across my chest  before it was destroyed. It ripped my shirt open, but didn¡¯t break my skin. It should have though. The thing threw its whole weight behind its attack and it just felt like I¡¯d been punched. There was something else at play. ¡°There¡¯s too many of them!¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡± He grunted.


    ¡°They¡¯re getting through.¡±


    ¡°You could always help!¡±


    With what? I looked around for a branch or something but there was nothing. Was he really expecting me to fist fight the monsters?


    Lucky I didn¡¯t have to find out.


    ¡°Border Expansion, 1 Star.¡± A woman¡¯s voice called out. The perimeter of our protective circle suddenly expanded outwards doubling area of protection it offered. Which also meant it double the range the image would start destroying them. ¡°Border Enforcement Slow, 1 Star.¡± The voice repeated. Another line of glyphs was added to the circle barrier, these ones were blue and still illegible to me. Their effect, however, was obvious. It was like the shadows had all taken horse tranquilizers. Their movements were suddenly sluggish, slow. Slow enough even I was able to dodge an attack that had made it through.


    My friend¡¯s ability went to work. Those copies of him rapidly shot out to return any shadow still inside the yellow light of his ability back to the darkness. ¡°It¡¯s about time.¡± He said wearily.


    Two figures joined us in the perimeter. A woman with a blue and gold hood thrown over her head, and a tall man in a sharp looking white uniform. He was a stark contrast with all the black that¡¯d been whirling around us. The strangest thing of all he had Victoria in his hands, bridal style. She was out cold, dangling there like a rag doll.


    ¡°Hey!¡± I growled and moved towards him.


    ¡°She¡¯s fine.¡± Said the man in the white uniform. ¡°And you shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±


    ¡°So much for guarding the entrance.¡± The woman in the hood sighed. She was holding her hands together as if in prayer. Two rings of light danced about her hands, in a pattern I couldn¡¯t discern.


    ¡°So much for finding the boss.¡± Hammer man growled.


    ¡°It must be a natural break.¡± The man in the white suit said. ¡°We looked all around and couldn¡¯t find anything.¡±


    ¡°At least that means I can close it.¡± The woman said. ¡°I¡¯m going to be useless for the rest of the mission though.¡±


    ¡°Praying another break doesn¡¯t happen.¡±


    ¡°Is she okay?¡± As confusing as their conversation was, I had bigger concerns. What was Victoria doing down here, and why did they have her?


    ¡°They took their share of her, but she¡¯ll recover.¡±


    ¡°No more talk.¡± Hammer man grunted. ¡°I¡¯m running real low here.¡±


    The woman smirked. ¡°Yes, but think of the experience you¡¯re gaining.¡±


    The man in the suit nodded at me. ¡°Hey bud, hold this for a sec will you?¡± He passed Victoria off into my arms. He was making it look a lot easier than it was. I nearly dropped her, but with everything that was happening at the moment I decided to man up and lift with me knees.


    The man reached into his pocket, and produced a whistle¡­ a train whistle. He blew it, and waited a few moments. Soon all our ears were pierced by the honking of an actual train. There was the undeniable chug of an engine, and the screeching of brakes as The Ghost Train plowed into the hoard of shadows and pulled up next to us. ¡°Is that¡­?¡±


    ¡°No time!¡± The man in the suit escorted me to the train where the passenger car opened its door and let me inside. As unnerving as I¡¯d found it this morning, this place was a million times worse. I lifted Victoria with all my strength and got us inside. The man in the suit, followed by the woman, and Hammer man all followed.  The train was already lunging forward by the time hammer man closed the door behind him. Shadows threw themselves at the windows, but bounced off of it. They didn¡¯t leave so much as a mark.


    I brought Victoria to a plush seat, before collapsing into one myself. Despite putting in more work than I had the three others were only breathing heavily. ¡°Well, that was a disaster.¡± The woman threw her hood off, and revealed a dark haired girl only a couple of years older than me. She had golden tattoos running from her eyes down her cheeks.


    ¡°Are we safe in here?¡± I asked. Outside the window golden eyes were all around use, blurred by the motion of the train.


    ¡°Absolutely.¡± The man in the suit said, kneeling in front of Victoria. He had bright blonde hair, greased back, with the sides of his head shaved. That and the uniform made for a severe look, but his eyes were brown and kind. ¡°The train is a Five Star Artifact.  Worrying about something damaging it is like worry about a meteor killing you. Yes it can happen, but what¡¯s the use in fighting it at that point?¡± He looked at Victoria. ¡°Not when we¡¯ve got something in front of us to worry about.¡± He took her hand in his and gently said, ¡°Heroic Spirit, Three Stars.¡±


    Victoria glowed briefly, whimpered, then opened her eyes. I couldn¡¯t imagine what that had done to her, but she looked better already. She looked around for a moment, and then opened her mouth to scream. He shushed her before she could.


    ¡°You¡¯ve both had a traumatic event.¡± He said calmly, but sternly. ¡°I understand every emotion you¡¯re feeling right now, but we¡¯re out of danger. Out of danger means me and my team are done answering questions.¡± Hammer guy didn¡¯t answer a single one of my questions! ¡°We¡¯re going to drop you off at home, and I¡¯m going to suggest you let yourselves forget about all of this.¡±


    That was all he had to say.


    Victoria and I tried to pry more information out of him, but he wouldn¡¯t budge. They wouldn¡¯t even talk to us anymore. We had so many questions. Who where they, what were those things, where were we, what were those powers?


    Nothing.


    Eventually we were forced to just sit in our seats and watch the ocean pass us by. The landscape outside shifted slowly from utter darkness to a familiar orange glow. Before long the train was sailing on familiar tracks and winding its way around The Twilight Islands. ¡°We¡¯re home.¡± I husked, not certain we¡¯d ever left. Was there really a rail line that lead to¡­ wherever that was? Was there some monster filled cavern beneath the islands that none of us knew about?


    The train pulled into Cilla Station, as close to home as a train could get I supposed. ¡°I¡¯ll want to talk to you each individually.¡± Blonde said as the train came to a stop. He escorted Victoria towards the door and spoke with her briefly.


    While he did Hammer Man stood next to me, like he was trying to keep me from running. No problem there. He was a big guy, wide as a barrel, with bright red hair, like a strawberry. His hair, his beard, even his eyebrows all seemed wild and thick. ¡°He¡¯s going to make it sound like you don¡¯t have a choice.¡± He said quietly.


    ¡°Huh?¡± I dared look up at him, and saw sympathy staring back at me.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t think you can go back, knowing what you know now. If you demand to go back with us, he can¡¯t say no.¡±


    What was he talking about? ¡°What do I know?¡±


    He looked at me seriously. ¡°You know what you know. You have to decide if you can live with it.¡±


    I knew there were monsters. I knew that the ground could just fall out beneath you and land you in some underground hell. I knew there were people who could use something that looked a little bit like magic.


    Before I could say anything else, he nudged me towards the other man. Victoria had gotten off and was waiting for me on the platform.


    ¡°That was a lot to handle.¡± He said to me quietly. ¡°But you afforded yourself well. You¡¯re going to be safe, we¡¯ll make sure of it. All we need is for you to trust us, and not tell anybody what you saw. Can you do that?¡±


    My heart pounded. The first time I¡¯d seen this train I sensed its otherworldliness and I was right. There was something more to all of this that I wasn¡¯t seeing. There were monsters, and heroes and a greater truth than I ever could have imagined.


    I could be part of it. I could demand a seat on the train, ride it to wherever it took me, and see for myself. No wonder I was so bored with school, and the island. There was a destiny waiting for me somewhere else.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to forget,¡± If there was a destiny like that, it couldn¡¯t have been for me. I was a nobody, and no matter where I went I¡¯d continue to be a nobody. If I joined them then it would mean more of today. More cowering while they slew monsters. Monsters and magic is fine if you¡¯re a hero, but I wasn¡¯t. I was just some slacker, and that¡¯s all I was ever going to be.

 Chapter 4: The Hardware Store

    The next ten hours were a punishment for turning down the promise of adventure. We couldn¡¯t just go home, like I desperately wanted. There was still a search party looking for Victoria, and I¡¯ll flatter myself by adding my name to the list. After all that had happened, we were only gone for about an hour. We both returned with our clothes ripped, and hiding secrets. Most were just happy to have Victoria back, and left it at that. They brought us beers, and asked her where she¡¯d run off to.


    Hayden I could tell wasn¡¯t buying it. He¡¯d been my best friend for my entire life, and could sense that I wasn¡¯t being truthful with him. It¡¯s how he knew I was planning on dropping out of college, so of course he knew here too. Thankfully he didn¡¯t want to start anything with a crowd so he kept silent during the whole party, then again so did I.


    I withdrew from the party completely; I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about those things beneath the forest. Could the people on the train really keep us safe from that? It was a cold thought that wouldn¡¯t stay out of my mind, not during the party, and not once I was finally allowed back in my bed.


    Sleep was a joke. Each attempt my body made to bring me down into the darkness of dreams just summoned the image of that place again. I could see those golden eyes staring at me from every shadow, and from behind my own eyelids. This all prophesied dark things for my shift at work the next day, but there was nothing I could do.


    ¡°Dozing off?¡± Nathan was only 29, but I¡¯m sure to him it felt like a lifetime of experience. He strutted about the store in his slacks, button up, and tie like it was his own personal kingdom. He seemed to have a endless supply of of yellow shirts which to me looked like sweat stains. I¡¯m sure he had his redeeming qualities, but I hated him, and this is my book so he will be subject to endless character assassination until I feel like my vendetta is settled.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I yawned, and propped myself against the register. ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep last night.¡±


    He was unmoved by my plight. ¡°I hate to do this Yorick but if you can¡¯t handle the responsibility of manning the register I¡¯m going to have to take you off.¡± He turned his head to face Andie who was restocking candy. ¡°Andie you¡¯re up.¡± He then pointed a finger at me. ¡°There¡¯s a pallet of potting soil in the back, why don¡¯t you pull it onto the floor and see if stacking it wakes you up a bit?¡±


    ¡°I would love to.¡± I feigned a smile, and waited for him to go express his god-like powers elsewhere.


    Andie came around the counter, and my heart did its familiar dance. ¡°You know it hurt him to do that.¡± She said with her familiar snark. ¡°He likes you, but he¡¯s got a store to run.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I smiled. ¡°I just hope I didn¡¯t disappoint him.¡±


    She laughed and that was nearly enough to banish the monsters from my mind entirely. Andie was the best thing about the store, at least as far as I was concerned. She was funny, cool, and if you care about this kind of thing; gorgeous. She had long brown hair, and round cheeks I¡¯d always wanted to pinch. ¡°I heard you ended up on the missing persons list last night.¡±


    ¡°Only for an hour.¡± I winced. ¡°You¡¯re one to talk, I thought you were supposed to be there.¡± In fact I¡¯d been looking forward to it. I couldn¡¯t help it, Andie had an effect on me that was pure chemistry. If she came near me I would combust, no amount of self-talk or denial would effect that.


    She cringed, and smiled. She had something embarrassing to say. ¡°I pulled a double.¡±


    ¡°Again?¡± I gaped. ¡°At this rate I¡¯ll never be manager of this place.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± She shrugged. ¡°You know my dad can¡¯t work right now, so I¡¯m just trying to keep everything afloat.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded sadly. Andie¡¯s dad had been sick for a while now. He¡¯d had a big surgery the month before, but was still recovering apparently. It was disappointing to hear. Not only because the poor guy had been in a lot of pain for so long, but¡­ Well Andie had more or less said that her responsibilities to her dead were why we couldn¡¯t be a thing.


    I thought true love could overcome anything, but apparently, she didn¡¯t share my opinion. I had to respect that even if I didn¡¯t like it. I could have been there for her, supported her, given her whatever she needed. Alas, poor Yorick. That was a year ago, and I¡¯d been stalling ever since. It was pathetic really. I hadn¡¯t dated seriously, I hadn¡¯t done anything seriously. It¡¯s like her rejection had just frozen me in time.


    ¡°Well.¡± I tapped the counter. ¡°I better go haul some soil, before I hurt Nathan any more than I already have.¡±


    Smooth.


    I headed to the back room, and tried not to mope. At least the sense of cosmic terror was dulled by the familiar old gloom of a doomed romance. I saw that the hand forklift had already been loaded with the pallet Nathan had mentioned.


    Disregarding this I pulled the forklift free, brought it over to the second rack from the back, section C. I grabbed the remote which operated the lift, and placed my feet on the forks. (Don¡¯t try this at home kids.) Punching the button on the lift, I was taken up two stories into the air, where an open space waited for me. I gently stepped out of the lift and into a little den that was hidden amongst the boxes. This was our hideout, a little home away from home when you needed take a few minutes or maybe an hour away from the floor.


    Hayden was already there, laid back on a cot, sipping a soda and reading a dirty magazine. ¡°A little privacy?¡± He asked, and gestured to the magazine. Apparently, it was a good one.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Thought you¡¯d be here.¡± I sat on the shelf, we¡¯d pulled a rugs from the store to make sitting more comfortable, plus it just classed the place up. ¡°I feel like you¡¯re avoiding me.¡±


    ¡°Why would I be avoiding you?¡± Spoken like someone who was trying to avoid someone else.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you seemed pretty upset when I came back with Victoria. I just don¡¯t get why.¡±


    Hayden grunted and sat up. He set his magazine aside on the coffee table, and sighed. ¡°The two of you were lying to us the whole time, and for the life of me I can¡¯t figure out why.¡±


    ¡°We weren¡¯t lying to you.¡± I lied.


    He sneered, I knew that sneer. He usually got it right before he swung at someone. ¡°Then I guess we don¡¯t have anything to talk about.¡±


    ¡°What do you think happened?¡± I asked. Surely he didn¡¯t think a pool of oil sucked us into the ground where a million monsters were waiting for us. He wouldn¡¯t budge, he really didn¡¯t have anything to say from me. He just glared at me, knowing full well that I was a liar. I tried to think of what would make him so upset. There was a fifty/fifty chance that he and Victoria were dating at any point, maybe he was worried about her? Did he think I¡¯d snuck out with her, was he jealous? No, that wasn¡¯t right. Then I remembered the claw marks across my chest, like a human hand had scratched at me. Surly he didn¡¯t think Victoria had done that. He didn¡¯t think she¡¯d have to defend herself from me did he? ¡°Wait a second. You think I hurt her, don¡¯t you?¡±


    He scoffed, and looked away.


    ¡°You do!¡± I gasped, horrified. ¡°She was gone way before I found her. I was with you when she went missing.¡±


    He balled up his fists. ¡°Then why was your shirt torn up like that? Why were clothes a mess? You two were way more messed up than you should have been if you were lost in a forest for only an hour.¡±


    ¡°I promised not to tell.¡± I pled.


    ¡°So you were lying!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Tell me.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Yorick.¡± His voice softened. ¡°If you don¡¯t think you can trust me, then I don¡¯t know what the fuck we¡¯re doing around here. You¡¯re my best friend.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t believe me.¡±


    ¡°Try me.¡±


    ¡°It was a monster.¡±


    He paused for a long moment. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Then I hate to break it to you, but that makes me right and you wrong.¡± I rubbed my face, and tried to think of how much of the truth to give him. ¡°When I found her she was already out cold. There was this thing with her, it looked like it was made of shadows, with these golden eyes.¡± Hayden¡¯s eyebrows were creased and cocked, even if he did think I was a liar that was at least an interest in seeing someone try. ¡°I grabbed a tree branch and drove it off, not before it took a swipe at me. After that I was able to wake Victoria up, and we both promised to keep it between us.¡±


    Hayden smirked. ¡°A promise you were able to keep for almost twelve hours.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t make fun of me when you¡¯re the one who made me tell.¡±


    ¡°Why would you even keep this a secret?¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t think anyone would believe us.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± He crossed his arms, and looked off into the distance.


    ¡°Then I guess we¡¯re at an impasse.¡±


    Hayden nodded and stretched. ¡°Looks that way.¡± He picked the magazine back up, and reclined back onto the cot. ¡°I¡¯ll at least have to check to see what Victoria says. Until then I¡¯ll just have to assume that you¡¯re lying and telling the truth.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair. So we¡¯re cool?¡±


    ¡°Cool enough.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave you to it.¡± I crawled back out of the hole, and got back onto my elevator. Unlike Hayden, Nathan actually expected me to work, and would soon be prowling around to find where I¡¯d gone.


    With my soil in tow I went back to the front, and began to stack the bags. You had to do it in alternating layers of horizontal and vertical lines. Nathan would except nothing less. This kept me occupied for a little while until Andie asked me to pull a generator for her. I of course took up this challenge because I was her hopeless love slave.


    Five minutes later I was wheeling a generator over to its proud new owners. I relaxed when I saw it was three men that had ordered the thing. Nathan had a bad habit of sending me across the islands with carts full of bricks for some lady. He¡¯d do the same for a man, because he was the king of customers service, but they were usually too proud to allow it. ¡°Got her right here for ya.¡± I said bringing the generator to a halt beside me.


    The three men checked it over for a second. They were each stylishly dressed, which made me assume they had money. It made me think they were a part of some fraternity. One of them, a slender guy about my height had a neck tattoo of a rook. That didn¡¯t look like something a future business leader would have. ¡°Thank for the help.¡± He said cooly, his voice was low and pleasing. I liked him. He was a slacker too, I could tell by his voice.


    ¡°Getting ready for a storm?¡± I asked. There¡¯d been a big one last year. Power had gone out pretty much everywhere, and since then it had been hard keeping these things on the shelf.


    He shook his head, and slid his hands into his jeans. His arms were covered in bracelets, and the sleeves of his plaid shirt were rolled up to his elbows. ¡°We¡¯re renovating an old house. No power.¡± He shrugged.


    I smiled. ¡°So you¡¯re the guys who moved into the plantation.¡± After last night I¡¯d assumed it was our train riding friends. ¡°You don¡¯t look homeless.¡±


    He looked surprised that I figured him out. ¡°Thanks, neither do you.¡± He smiled back.


    ¡°That¡¯s cool.¡± Andie laned forward on the counter. ¡°What are you guys going to do with it?¡±


    The man turned to her. ¡°We¡¯re going to turn it into a club house.¡± He looked back at me. ¡°Of course, right now we can only afford to do half the rooms. The rest we¡¯re sealing off, until we can get a little more funding.¡±


    Called it. They were part of a frat. ¡°Well if you ever need more supplies you know where to find us.¡±


    ¡°Sure do.¡± The man held out his hand. ¡°I¡¯m Ian.¡±


    ¡°Yorick.¡± I shook it back. ¡°Do you need any help getting this there? We offer delivery services.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°Trying to get a peek huh?¡±


    Busted. ¡°Can¡¯t blame a guy for trying.¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡± Ian slapped me on the back. ¡°It is haunted as hell though. Feel free to stop by, we¡¯re always over there these days.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Andie grinned.


    ¡°Yeah sure.¡± Ian¡¯s friends started to wheel the generator away, and he looked after them. ¡°I got to clear it with my boss first though.¡± His friends were almost out the door. ¡°I gotta go before they break something. Thanks again Andie!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one mystery solved.¡± I said, approaching Andie. ¡°We were just talking about them at the party.¡±


    ¡°Think he was serious about it being haunted?¡±


    I never really believed in ghosts, up until yesterday at least. Now I wasn¡¯t so sure. ¡°Maybe he was.¡± I matched Andie lean against the counter, our faces dangerously close for coworkers. ¡°Do you want to go see? I¡¯m free tomorrow.¡±


    She smiled, but pulled herself back into a standing position. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve got another double.¡± She couldn¡¯t maintain the smile through that confession. I don¡¯t even want to know how disappointed I looked, but it must have been pathetic. It was clear on her face. Her pity quickly turned into a slight smile, dare I say she looked resolute. Like perhaps she¡¯d just came to a conclusion she¡¯d been wrestling with for a long time. ¡°So we should go tonight, yeah?¡±

 Chapter 5: The Jester

    Jeans, button ups, a brown apron covered in saw dust. Neither of us looked like we were on a date. If indeed we were. Andie and I had decided to head to the plantation right after work. It was a burn the ships kind of approach to dating. There was no going back now. We were sweaty, tired, and more than a little trained from a full shift. There wasn''t a person on the island who''d see us from across the street and think ¡®What a cute couple.¡¯ Maybe that was for the best, let¡¯s just take things slow. We could be cute another day, tonight let''s just be.


    ¡°It¡¯s cool that you wanted to come along.¡± I said shyly. ¡°I¡¯ve missed hanging out with you.¡±


    ¡°Same.¡± She smiled as we walked along the cobble stone streets. ¡°I hope I can start doing this more. With him getting better, it shouldn¡¯t be so bad.¡± Her words were hopeful, but not so confident.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been really strong.¡± I honestly couldn¡¯t imagine how she lived. She went to school, worked all these double shifts, and took care of her dad. It was honestly intimidating. What exactly did I have to offer her? She had everything I had and more. It was sort of sad actually, like I''d somehow tricked her into doing this with me. If her dad wasn''t sick we would have dated a year ago, and broken up ten months ago. None of my relationships lasted long, she''d be over me by now. Yet by some twist of fate the two of us spiraled around fixed point in space together like celestial bodies.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel strong.¡± She admitted. ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve been dying all this time too. Like I¡¯ve just been kicked until¡­ wow.¡± She laughed. ¡°I couldn¡¯t make it five minutes.¡± She shrunk, and suddenly crossed her arms.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I could feel her slipping through my fingers. It was sad how much control she had over me. On a whim she''d decided to come with me, and I was happy. Now she could take it all away with a word.


    She stopped, all the momentum I''d been feeling stopped with her. ¡°Nothing.¡± She sighed and looked away. ¡°This was a bad idea, I think I should go.¡± She looked towards the path that we were on, and then back at the hardware store, still in sight. ¡°Sorry to get your hopes up.¡±


    It was like I''d been punctured and all the air left my body. I was deflating in real time.


    "Test your luck?"  I hadn''t even realized we''d stopped in front of a street performer¡¯s booth. He was hard to miss with a blue and white jester''s outfit, complete with pointy hat and bells. What a show we must have been giving him.


    "Sorry." I stepped back from the table to clear the path. Street performers were pretty common around town, especially right before a festival. I feared this one step would be all the distance needed to end things with Andie forever.


    "Test your luck?" He said again. His mouth didn''t move and that''s when I realized he was wearing a mask, a simple thing denoting a laughing face. He held up a die with one hand, and gestured to six boxes on his table labeled one through six. "Roll the die, get a pri...ze." His voice was gravely, like two packs a day scratchy.


    Andie gave the set up a curious look, and by this point I was desperate. "How much?"


    "All games this week are free." He nodded and jingled his bells. "Spread the word so  I make a killing during the festival." He held his free hand up to his mask and pantomimed laughing.


    I looked to Andie, who just shrugged. "Sure." I held my hand out for the die.


    He made a grand gesture of waving it above his head. "If I had to guess from what I just saw, you don''t have any luck at all." He held the die above my hand and let it drop.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Fast as I could I moved my hand so the die fell to the table without touching me. It bounced a few times before landing on a six. The sixth box on the table suddenly clicked open.


    The Jester looked between his die, and the box several times in a comical display of confusion. Then he put his hands on his hips, tossed his head back, and barked out a long and loud laugh. "Now that was quite the trick!"


    "You seemed luckier than me." I smiled. In truth I thought the dice was loaded, and would land on a one. Then I was going to say something clever about him not being luckier either. Alas.


    "Big winner right here!" The jester clapped, and pointed in my direction. Andie giggled and joined him, and a few passersby clapped and circled around to see what I got. "First one of the day." He scooped the box labeled ''6'' off the table and held it out to me, like he was about to propose.


    I reached into the tiny wooden box, and pulled out a blue ''Admit One'' ticket the same color as his outfit. I looked it over curiously. It wasn''t made out cardstock like a normal ticket. It seemed to be some sturdy kind of cloth. The words on it were handstitched with black thread. It was a cute little prize I guess.


    "That''ll get you through the gate for free." He explained. Every time he spoke I felt the need to clear my throat.


    "The festival is always free." What a cheat! Sure the game was free, but... this is why no one likes clowns.


    "Not that gate." He leaned forward, and the eye behind his mask winked at me. He then leaned towards Andie. "You might even be able to bring a friend if your luck holds."


    She smiled and crossed her arms. "Maybe his friends wants to earn her own ticket."


    The jester mimed laughter. then held the open box out to her. Cautiously she reached for the box, but he snapped it closed at the last second frightening her into a laugh. The jester rolled back onto his chair and kicked his feet.


    "He''s got tricks." Andie said, and gave me the side eyes. She snatched the die off the table, and gave it a roll. The die made a big production about bouncing around, but it landed on a one, all that sound and fury signifying nothing. "That seems about right." She sighed with a half smile. "What''s behind box number one?"


    "Ta-da!" The gesture picked up a new box, which was brimming with little wrapped candies.


    "Oh butter scotch!" Andie happily took one the candies and gave me a condescending look. "Jealous?"


    "Little bit."


    "No refunds." The Jester squatted in his seat. "You two be safe, and live each day like it''s your last. Now," He moved his hands like he was trying to swipe us away, "git!"


    "Well that was free." I said stuffing the ticket into my pocket. We cleared the way for a new contestant to test their luck.


    "Just for future reference." Andie saddled up next to me, already sucking on the candy. "It''d be more romantic to take me to see a singer, than a clown."


    "Well we''re just friends." I informed her. "So it works."


    "Harsh." She winced a bit, and I instantly regretted it.


    "I didn''t mean..."


    "It''s fine." She shook her head. "It''s really confusing." I knew that feeling all too well. Her eyes were distant she was lost in the vast expanses of her own internal universe. Even with the total insight she had into her own head she was confused. What hope did I, or any of us have of truly understanding? "But I think the clown was right. If today was my last day here, I think I''d regret two things." She counted them off on her fingers. "Going to work, and not going to see the plantation with you."


    Even the things that our beyond our understanding are still capable of giving us great joy. This fickle and confused goddess had given me a few more moments in her light, and for now that would be enough. "Not much I can do about that first one." I held out my hand. "But I think I can help with the second."


    She reached out and took my hand in hers. They were soft, and cold. It was a shock, like my floating self was suddenly pulled back to the ground. I felt myself rooted suddenly, in the here and now. Just like that I was in hand holding territory. I don''t consider myself a hero, but the people who saw really should have been cheering, and setting off fireworks. For the first time all day I wasn''t thinking of shadows or guys with hammers. For the first time in weeks I wasn''t lost in a haze of depression.


    I was actually thinking about the what I had in front of me now: at least one more step, hand in hand.

 Chapter 6: The Plantation

    Cherishing the touch we were sharing, we left town and climbed the hills. On the other side  was the forest, Shadow Lake, and somewhere hidden in the trees was the plantation. It was hidden but not lost, we both knew exactly where it was. There wasn''t a kid on the island who hadn''t run up to it''s gates, hoping to see a ghost. We could walk there blindfolded.


    Which explained how Andie knew we were going the wrong way.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to wrong way.¡± Told you so. She''d waited a good while, clearly giving me the benefit of the doubt. ¡°You¡¯re not going to kill me are you?¡±


    I scoffed. ¡°Please I¡¯m the first person they¡¯d come after.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s always the love interest.¡± She concurred.


    ¡°Love interest? Well that¡¯s good to know, I was more referring to a stalker.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Now that I think about it that does suit you better.¡±


    ¡°Harsh.¡±


    ¡°Seriously though, where are you taking me?¡±


    ¡°The other day Victoria and I found something out here. I want to see if I can find it again.¡± Just to make sure I wasn¡¯t crazy. So I led Andie through the general path I remembered taking. No luck. There wasn¡¯t a pond of oil, there wasn¡¯t even a clearing in sight. It was just gone. Andie who was a walking saint let me search and lead her around for some time, but it just wasn¡¯t there.


    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh and lean against a tree.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s gone.¡± I laughed, and then straightened up. ¡°They said they¡¯d take care of it, and they did.¡± The train people must have filled the hole in, and gone home, wherever that was. I would never know, and that was starting to seem more and more like a blessing.


    ¡°What¡¯s gone?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain but we fell in a big hole the other night and¡­ I guess it got filled in.¡±


    ¡°That was actually really easy to explain.¡± Andie reached out to touch my forehead. ¡°And you didn¡¯t hit your head or anything?¡±


    ¡°Actually I did.¡± I thought back to slamming my head against a tree and nearly passing out.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Andie gave me a long once over. ¡°I think it may have made you a little loopy.¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯re right.¡± I took her arm, and together we corrected our course to the plantation. Any thoughts of monsters or otherworldy visitors were buried under twenty feet of earth, just the way I liked it.


    The plantation was waiting for us, right where we¡¯d always left it. Like all ruins it was more impressive back in it¡¯s day. The banana trees stretched on for as far as your eye could see. You also had half the island tending to the crop, in less than stellar conditions. Now a days it was a vine covered haunt whose gates still kept out the unworthy. ¡°Creep city.¡± Andie said with a smile.


    ¡°How do you think this is going to work?¡± I asked before shouting to the house. ¡°Hey! Is anybody in there?¡±


    ¡°Stop!¡± She laughed and pushed my chest.


    Pretty soon an unfriendly looking guy in a hoodie approached. ¡°What do you want?¡± He asked, I was trying to see if I recognized him from the store or not. ¡°We¡¯re here to see Ian, he said we could have a look around.¡±


    He seemed to look at us for a little too long, before vanishing back into the house. He didn''t seem to have the same easy smile, and charm as the guy we''d met at the store. Suddenly being two dumb students in the middle of a forest was seeming a little too storybook for our comfort.


    ¡°We should go right?¡± I asked Andie.


    ¡°Absolutely.¡± We both did an about face and started speed walking down what was left of the road that led into town. Now that I was thinking about it ¡®Clubhouse¡¯ was a great euphemism for drug den.


    ¡°Hey! Heeeey!¡± We turned to see that Ian had come out and was jogging after us. ¡°Don¡¯t let that guy scare you off!¡±


    ¡°Sorry man.¡± I said, avoiding eye contact. ¡°We didn¡¯t mean anything by come here.¡±


    Ian was a decently fast guy and managed to catch up with us. ¡°Hey I know you!¡± He stopped in front of us. ¡°The guys from the hardware store.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Andie rubbed her neck anxiously. ¡°Sorry to barge in on you. I guess we, thought we were invited.¡±


    Ian stuffed his hands in his pockets. ¡°Yeah I was really just being nice.¡± He laughed. ¡°Man you guys are friendly here though.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Listen, you came all this way, let me give you the tour.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say something about a boss?¡± I was desperately trying to find a way to get out of this.


    ¡°Oh now you¡¯re worried about that.¡± He shrugged again. ¡°I¡¯m already going to get in trouble for this, might as well go all the way.¡±


    ¡°We really didn¡¯t mean to get you in any trouble.¡± Andi promised him.


    ¡°Oh forget about it.¡± He waved us both away and started walking towards the mansion. ¡°I am trouble.¡±


    I was ready head back to town and admit total defeat. The best part about this date had been a clown giving Andie a piece of candy. There must have been bravery in it, because she started to follow Ian, and when she saw I wasn¡¯t going to follow she dragged me by the hand anyways. I remember thinking that was really cool.


    ¡°All of this used to be Banana trees.¡± Ian said holding his hands out to the overgrown grounds. ¡°Banana¡¯s are pretty much clones of themselves, and have basically no immune system. That means when you¡¯re keeping them, you have to burn and maintain a mile thick clearance line between them and any other tree. They¡¯re pound for pound one of the worst crops for the environment.¡±


    ¡°This place just gets better and better.¡± I said, looking around. I could hardly believe it, I was actually on the other side of the fence. The thing that had kept me safe from ghosts for so many childhood adventures. It was just as creepy as I imagined. Doll heads and tricycles littered the ground like pagan offerings. The new tenants were apparently unconcerned with landscaping at the moment.


    The whole ground was covered in a lick layer of rotting leaves, and it all smelled earthy and wet. The house itself had once been painted white, but that had cracked and peeled long ago. The dark  wood beneath broke through and with the ivory growing over it, the house brought to mind a bad case of skin cancer.


    ¡°Is this place really salvageable?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Between the leaks, the creaks, and the ghosts? I don¡¯t think so.¡± He opened the front door, which creaked out a welcome. ¡°Come see for yourself.¡±


    This was definitely the part where we should have turned back, but Andie went on inside with me at her heels. He hadn¡¯t been joking about the creaking. Every step we took was it¡¯s own symphony of moaning wood, and rusting nails.


    The inside of the house was nicer, but clearly hadn¡¯t always been. Most debris, foliage, and dead rats had been cleared out. That just left you with an ever-dripping leak, some sunken floorboards ,and the smell of mold and dead rats.


    A few sleeping bags were collected in a dry corner, along with a portable stove. There I saw about five other guys, just laying about talking to each other. It was fairly late in the day, but it was so hard to tell on The Twilight Islands. Stores were open around the clock, and people pretty much slept whenever they liked. Everyone here could have just been waking up, or getting ready for bed.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got the parlor, kitchen, dining room, and ballroom on this floor.¡± Ian said pointing to each location in turn. Some walls were missing so you could look straight through one room into another.


    ¡°You guys can¡¯t seriously sleep here?¡± I asked aghast. ¡°The mold will kill you.¡±


    ¡°Oh take it easy.¡± Ian slapped me on the back. ¡°We¡¯ve all got our shots.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what that was going to do for spores in your lungs, but I didn¡¯t want to antagonize our host. ¡°If you say so.¡±


    ¡°Let me show you the Library.¡± Ian offered.


    ¡°Is it up that staircase.¡± Andie asked, pointing to a grand curving staircase that was missing as many steps as a piano had black keys.


    ¡°It is indeed.¡±


    The stairs were by far the squeakiest place in the mansion, but Ian showed us a little jumping game to get up them. From there he took us to the moldiest section. The library I¡¯m sure was pretty impressive at one point, but paper and leaky roofs do not mix. The large room which was surrounded and bisected by shelves reeked of decay. Inside there was an older man with a long white ponytail. He was hunched over a table. The generator they¡¯d brought from us was being used to power something I couldn¡¯t really recognize. It was kind of like book filled with buttons, with some kind of light that would show him images. The man was wearing white pants, a white button up, and a yellow sweater vest.


    ¡°Hart. I want you to meet some of my friends.¡± Ian said as we entered the library with him.


    ¡°Really sorry to barge in on you.¡± Andie began.


    ¡°Yeah Ian said we could stop by any time.¡±


    ¡°I absolutely did not.¡± Ian laughed.


    ¡°Oh it¡¯s no bother.¡± The man, Hart looked up from the books he¡¯d been working on. He turned to us and looked quite kind. He had as shabby white beard, and small blue eyes hidden behind big round glasses. ¡°We were just about done for the day anyway.¡± He was a soft spoken man, but still carried a sense of authority to him. He seemed like the type of guy you followed because he was wise.


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Andie moved past Ian and went directly up to the old man. Totally fearless that he was a drug lord about to have us fed to the pigs.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to have a sense of curiosity.¡± Hart laughed, and handed Andie a magnifying glass. ¡°I¡¯m investigating the old records of this place. Time has destroyed much of what it has to offer, but anything than can be recovered can tell us so much.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± I asked, still behind Ian. He¡¯d either heard this speech before or just didn¡¯t care. I recognized the glazed look on his eyes. I had him pegged as a slacker from the moment I saw him. I wondered how he fit in with the professor over there.


    ¡°Births, deaths, marriages. Everyone says that their families used to live on these plantations, but so few really know.¡±


    I crossed my arms. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s for the best. This place is from a time a lot of people would like to leave forgotten.¡±


    Hart then looked at me. ¡°Ah, but then you forget about the people who lived through it. The Plantation owners tried so hard to erase your ancestors, and now you do it willingly because it¡¯s unpleasant to consider.¡±


    I had no retort to that.


    ¡°Are you a professor?¡± Andie asked. She was using the magnifying class to look through the smudged records Hart had been looking over. Who knows what she was searching for, if anything.


    ¡°Aspiring.¡± Hart said with a healthy dose of self deprecation. ¡°I¡¯m searching for, what I call the soul of the island.¡±


    ¡°The Soul?¡± I looked to Ian to see if he was following. All he had to contribute was one of his shrugs.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Hart nodded. ¡°Kind of like our Identity. A single anchor point that symbolizes The Twilight Islands as a whole. I think the psychological damage this place has done to generations of the populace, makes it a strong candidate. Not to mention many families cite it as the origin story for their line. All previous histories having been repressed by the ruling class.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± Ian snorted and patted me on the back encouragingly. ¡°You¡¯re saying all we are is some rotten old mansion in the middle of nowhere? This was hundreds of years ago, haven¡¯t we grown beyond this place?¡±


    Hart didn¡¯t look annoyed by the question. His smile was wider than ever. I had the feeling he may have been in the debate club when he was my age. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m seeking to understand. If not here? Where?¡±


    ¡°What about The Clock Tower?¡± Andie asked looking up from her book. ¡°Everybody every day follows the clock. They get up, leave work, go to bed according to it.¡±


    Hart considered this. ¡°It¡¯s certainly the core of communal living, but does that make it the soul? It¡¯s my thesis that there should be a strong emotionality connected to what I¡¯m seeking. Like this young man¡¯s reaction to this building.¡± He gestured to me. ¡°Do you have any strong feelings towards the clock?¡±


    ¡°Only when it wakes me up.¡±


    He grinned. ¡°A late raiser, a sure sign of genius.¡±


    I¡¯ll take a compliment when I can get one. ¡°So Ian made it sound like you guys were repairing this place, but you¡¯re what? Writing a paper?¡±


    Hart crossed his arms and leaned against the table. His brows were creased in concentration. ¡°That¡¯s the thing. At the start of the endeavor I was sure I knew what I was looking for. I thought refurbishing the old girl would do us all some good. Now I¡¯m not so sure, plus the ghosts of make it bloody impossible to get any work done!¡±


    -----


    From the top of Twilight Tower you could see everything, and that¡¯s no an exaggeration. The islands, the towns, the sunset. Everything in the whole wide world was yours. I¡¯d taken Andie there after the mansion, I couldn¡¯t just let our date die in the bowls of a mold old mansion filled with nerds and repairmen.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m coming around to your theory.¡± I said, kicking my legs off the side of the tower.


    ¡°Right?¡± She smiled at me, her face bathed in the most gorgeous golden lights the sun had to offer. ¡°I guess I get what he was saying about that place being our history, but I think this tower is home.¡±


    Wherever she called home is where I wanted to be, but I felt like that was too romantic. My mind drifted back to the train folk, and the offer I¡¯d almost been made. ¡°If you could leave here, would you do it?¡±


    Andie looked at me, then down at our home island. From here we could see the hardware store, even our houses. Even from this height you could see the walls and streets flooded with our fliers. I was strangely proud of our terraforming efforts. ¡°Like to a different island? Maybe, but all our friends are on Cilla.¡±


    ¡°I mean somewhere else, not on The Twilight Islands.¡±


    She gave me a confused look. ¡°There is nowhere else.¡±


    ¡°I know¡­¡± I scratched my head. ¡°It¡¯s just a question. Like¡­¡± I pointed at the sun. ¡°Just over the horizon we discover a new island. It¡¯s got it¡¯s own people over there, doing their own thing. Would you go live there?¡±


    She smiled awkwardly. ¡°Seems worse than moving to Skia. What if they spoke a different language, or had different money.¡± She nudged me, dangerous business so far in the sky, but I forgave her. ¡°They might even be a society of warrior women. You¡¯d be stuck in a marriage with one woman and three men, I bet you¡¯d miss the Hardware store then.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I mean that¡¯s pretty much the arrangement we have at the hardware store, with less perks.¡±


    ¡°Stop.¡± She laughed. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Probably not. Like you said all my friends are here, and I have such a fulfilling career.¡± The sarcasm is implied there. ¡°But the thought of going somewhere where nobody knows where I am, is pretty tempting.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Here I¡¯ve acted like a loser long enough, it¡¯s become my brand. No one expects anything different from me.¡±


    ¡°People don¡¯t think you¡¯re a loser.¡± She looked at me seriously. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    I paused and gave her the same serious look. ¡°I¡¯m dropping out of school.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± She was surprised and rightfully so. This was a woman who¡¯d drug her butt to school on no sleep, while working, while taking care of her dad. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not happy, and I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be happy when I graduate. I figure I¡¯ll use my savings to pay my loans back, and then just work.¡±


    She considered my words. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like It¡¯ll make you happy either.¡±


    I laughed. ¡°No I guess not. Maybe this is just my way of getting it out of the way.¡±


    There was a long pause, and I knew I¡¯d ruined another leg off our date. The jump down was looking mighty tasty right about now. ¡°I¡¯m sad you¡¯re sad.¡± She said at last. ¡°How long have you been like this?¡±


    ¡°Not since you shot me down if that¡¯s what you¡¯re thinking.¡± I laughed.


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°I had hoped.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s been a while. Honestly I wander around campus just feeling like a total poser. I keep wondering when I¡¯ll feel like I really arrived.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°You¡¯re waiting for you life to begin.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded.


    ¡°Guess what?¡± She smirked at me. ¡°You and everyone else, and guess what again? It never does. You¡¯re living your life right now.¡± She looked at me. ¡°You just have to see what¡¯s in front of you.¡±


    I threw my hands up. ¡°Andie I¡¯m going to be honest, I asked you out and you said no. I¡¯ve tried to respect that. Lately my head isn¡¯t right, and I¡¯m having a hard time reading some signals I think I¡¯m getting from you.¡±


    ¡°Yorick do you want to go out?¡±


    I nearly pitched over the side. I caught myself and raised my hand. ¡°I do, and I also want to use a line I thought of a few minutes ago, when I was trying to respect our friendship.¡±


    ¡°Fine.¡±


    ¡°Okay you were talking about the clock tower being home. So I was going to say, ¡®anywhere you call home is where I want to be.¡¯ That¡¯s pretty good right?¡±


    ¡°Very good.¡± She leaned forward.


    That signal I could read just fine, and I leaned in to meet her. That¡¯s when we shared one of the better kisses to ever take place under our orange sun. Top three hands down, five if you¡¯re counting animals. That kiss was my destiny. Suddenly the far away strangers on distant islands, and in magical trains didn¡¯t make any sense. This had been that destiny I was waiting for. This kiss, this woman. Andie had been wrong, your life does start at some point, and mine started that moment her lips touched mine.


    It''s like I was rejoining the human race. I''d been a homunculus for so long, no emotions other than my own vague sense of self pity. I''d been like a ghost on that train, or in the plantation. I didn''t belong to that world. It was so bad I almost tried to escape to another, and I''m sure I would have found no peace there either. Some of the things I do in the future won''t make sense if you forget about this moment. This kiss is when Andie made me human again.

 Chapter 7: The Outsider

    The world had never been so beautiful as it was that next morning. Everything felt so new, so fresh. I was starting to think of island living and cramped and dull, not anymore. The clouds had lifted, and a new day was beginning.


    For the first time in my life I rushed to work. I was eager to see Andie, and to kiss her, and to look longingly across the store towards her. Vance and Hayden had left without me, which should have been a warning but I thought nothing about it that beautiful morning. Even if Hayden had come in late.


    I skipped across town. Crews were already putting up decorations for tomorrow. Streamers, and bunting were hung with care. Ribbons were being wrapped around street lights, and sign posts. Later tonight the trollies would be fixed with big ribbons, and the fare would be free all day long.


    I was actually going to be early. If I kept this up they really were going to make me manager.


    If I could just get past Cyrus.


    The jerk spotted me across the street and crossed to road to confront me. Man, I hadn''t been late for something because of him since high school. "Hey we agreed no fights until the festival." I said, readying myself just in case.


    "As if." Kat rolled her eyes and put her hand her hip. Carter made a similar show of peace.


    So I was in the uncomfortable liminal space of actually talking to Cyrus. He looked at me with a sneer. "Just wanted to let you know that we''re in."


    "On?"


    "Your little monster hunt." He looked away, was he embarrassed? "Not that I believe you, but there is something weird going on around town. Did you see they closed the tunnels?"


    "No." A lot of the buildings in the commerce area were connected to an underground tunnel system, so pedestrians didn''t have to worry about trains and trollies when crossing the road. There was a whole food court down there, best pizza beagles on the islands. "People see monsters down there too?"


    He huffed, the conversation was already going longer than he was able to tolerate. "That''s what they say. Anyway." He stepped in the street and started to walk away. "Tell Blondie we''ll be there."


    I couldn''t help but smile at him, not that he saw. Hayden had taken what I said to heart, and was actually trying to get everyone together to find the monster. Not only that but Cyrus despite all our difference was going to help. In just a few days we''d all gone and grew up. "Hey Cyrus do you want to hang out some time?" He couldn''t see the smile on my face, so I made sure he could hear it in my voice.


    He paused and looked over his shoulder. There was a train coming in the distance but he just stood on the line, knowing for certain it would stop for him. "Tell ya what." He said, coolly. "Don''t go soft on me tomorrow, and I''ll let you buy me a drink."


    "Same goes for you!"


    I swear I saw him smile. He gave me a bored backwards wave, and stepped off the tracks. "Later loser."


    The train passed a moment later, and that was that. Peace between the slackers, a new age really was upon the island. I had to tell Hayden the good news, and get the details on his monster hunt. Joining up would require a lot less courage from me, knowing that the monster had been dealt with by this point.


    "You''re early." Nathan beamed as I entered the store. I was actually three minutes late, but that was pretty early for me.


    "New day, new me Nathan." I said with a brave nod.


    He beamed, prouder of me than I was of Cyrus and Hayden combined. "That''s the Twilight Tools spirit!" He put his hands on his hips a gesture universal to all managers. "Hayden got here early too, we''re all eager to get started today. The festival must have moral higher than ever." He jerked his head to the side. "Hey speak of the devil."


    Hayden my dearest and oldest friend was heading towards us at a heroic pace. Hid face was all business, like something serious was on his mind. I stepped towards him and raised my hand in greeting. "Hey, I just saw Cyrus. He said,"


    Then he punched me, very hard in the jaw. It was one of the better blows I''ve ever taken. My body kept going forward, while my head flew backwards. I was on my back a moment later, and the world spun around me.


    "I''m taking the day off." Hayden growled, and walked out of the store.


    "Wow." All Nathan could do was look down at me, as pain started to radiant into the rest of my body.


    "Yorick!" Andie rushed over. "Are you okay?" Oh god, did she really have to see that?


    I wheezed out a pained noise, and tried to still my ping-ponging brain long enough to gather a single thought. All I could think was, ''I guess his conversation with Victoria didn''t go well.'' I slowly rose to my feet, Andie put her hand under my armpit to help me up.


    Nathan leaned in. "Yorick I do have to inform you that since that was an instance of employee on employee violence, our insurance won''t cover any medical bills, or time off you may need to deal with your injury." He looked genuinely regretful, until a smile broke out on his face. "But I can offer you an extra fifteen minute break, and access to one of our first aid kits."


    "I''ll take that break." I said, turning on my heels and heading out the door. Hayden hadn''t made it far and was stomping down the side walk. I ran to catch up with him, even now I couldn''t tell you if I planned to talk or fight with him. "You''re just going to sucker punch me?" I yelled.


    He wheeled around, fists clenched. That was all the answer I needed. "Thought I''d save us both some time."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him up to meet me. "What''s your problem?"


    He glared at me. His eyes were red on a normal day, but especially so then. "Victoria won''t say a word to me, even when I told her what you said."


    "How''s that my fault?"


    "Because you lied." He kneed me hard in the stomach. I let go of his shirt and doubled over. "My two closest friends and you''re both up to something. Behind my back, thinking I''m an idiot?"


    Damn Victoria. I know I shouldn''t blame her, but why couldn''t she just tell him the truth, or at last as much of it as I had let slip? What was she thinking? "I''m not lying, you just refuse to believe me. Even Cyrus said he''s seen a monster."


    "Whatever." He turned his back on me and kept on walking. "Don''t come back to the apartment tonight. You''re out."


    "Hey." I shouted, and tried to get up. "You can''t just do that. I pay rent too!" I might as well have been yelling at the walls, the road, the trollies. I had a better chance of convincing them.


    No one but Victoria was going to change his mind. If only I knew what was going through her''s.


    ----


    "I didn''t even know you two were fighting." Andie said trying to tend to my wounded ego. Nathan had at least been generous enough to put me on a cash register. I might have thrown up if I had to unload a truck. Her, me, and Vance were gathered around trying to look busy.


    "He thinks something happened between me and Victoria. I don''t know what, but it must be pretty bad if he''s this upset." I looked at Vance suspiciously. "These are your sister and roommate we''re talking about. Do you know anything?"


    Vance just chuckled and shrugged. "I stay out of ya''lls drama. That''s why everyone likes me." He had a point, but I also knew everyone vented to him about everything. I guess you don''t keep that kind of reputation if you go off blabbing everyone''s secrets.


    "What a bummer." I groaned and rubbed my jaw.


    "Maybe," Andie started. "You''ll both figure it out in the ring. You know, like guys do. Just punch each other until you come to an understanding. Sweaty glistening bodies leaned up against each other in exhaustion, panting." I guess she was more excited for the fights than I realized.


    Vance just laughed. "They''ve been fighting with Cyrus since they were all kids. If what you''re talking about is possible, you''re dealing with a group of slow learners."


    The joke was on him, I had a date with Cyrus the next day. "We''ll figure it out, I''m just worried about where I''ll sleep tonight. Vance you won''t let him keep me out will you?"


    He threw his hands up. "I already said It I''m staying out of this."


    I grunted with frustration. "Yes, but you''re ceding control over to unreasonable people when you do that."


    "Not my problem."


    What friends!


    Andie shrank a little. "And I''m not sure with my dad..."


    "Oh that''s fine." I waved her off. Living with Andie was my surest bet at ruining everything with her. "I''ll just sleep in the backroom."


    "Wow." A new voice joined the conversation. Ian our mysterious handyman strolled up with a cart full of supplies. "And you were calling me homeless yesterday."


    I shrugged. "A lot can happen in one day."


    "Island life moves fast." Ian smiled. Vance and Andie started helping him unload his cart while I scanned everything. Three employees to a customer? Nathan would have blushed. "I can always find a sleeping bag for you up at the mansion."


    "Wait." Vance paused. "You''re the plantation guy!"


    Ian smiled. "Guilty as charged. We''re restoring it, or thinking of restoring it." Ian looked to Andie. "Andie here tried to convince my boss to look elsewhere, and put me out of a job."


    "Unsuccessfully." Andie added. "By the way, Yorick and I went to Twilight Tower after we left, and I was right." She beamed at me. "that''s where the magic happens."


    "What?" Vance''s eyes were wide. "You two?" Finally?


    I glared at him. "I wouldn''t say finally."


    He braced himself against the counter. "Someone stop the world it''s moving too fast." He took a few dramatic deep breath, making sure to capture all our attention. "The plantation, it''s really haunted right?"


    "Oh yeah." Ian nodded, and looked almost proud of the fact. He must have been having a fun summer in his creepy little house. I found myself wondering how much he got paid, maybe working with him, or for Hart could be my new start. Construction, that was an adult job.


    "We''re going." Vance push his hand on mine. "Haunted sleepover." So much for being adults.


    "I''m not sleeping in that place." I said. "You didn''t smell it last night." My lungs were bleeding just from the memory.


    "You have somewhere better to sleep?"


    "The hideout has a futon."


    He glared at me. "I''ll tell Nathan about it."


    A threat? I was aghast. "You wouldn''t. If you do that we all lose." The hideout was the most sacred spot on the entire island. A paradise in the middle of retail hell.


    Vance leaned forward now, more menacing than any monster I''d faced. "Try me." I told you he was a hard boiled detective when it came to this stuff.


    "Fine." I turned to Ian, who was lapping up the show. "Ian is it really alright?"


    "Sure, Hart''s all about talking to the locals."


    "Speaking of which." Andie nudged her way back into the conversation. "Will we see you at the festival tomorrow? Yorick''s going to be in the Brave Fight."


    "I''ve been wondering about all the decorations." Ian laughed. "Why not? Sounds like fun. What kind of fight is it?"


    I raised an eyebrow. He didn''t already know? The Festival happened every year, on every island.


    Andie didn''t notice how strange that was and kept talking. "The kind where the guys rip off their shirts, dip their hands in dye, and fingerpaint each other''s naked bodies."


    "There''s a little more to it than that." I had to defend my sport, but yeah she was basically right about all of that.


    "I''m impressed." Ian crossed his arms, and had a wide grin on. "I''m a fighter too, I knew we had a connection."


    "Really." Andie beamed, no doubt imaging the two of us shirtless together. "Are you competing? I don''t think I''ve ever seen you."


    The dark haired man laughed and shook his head. "No, no I just stick to my gym."


    "Well there''s a big difference between fighting at your gym, and at competition." Andie said. I loved it. My girlfriend was gassing me up. Someone was proud of me. It was an amazing feeling, but I couldn''t let myself be distracted from this strange feeling in my gut.


    "What gym?" I asked.


    Ian laughed nervously, cool as ever. "Okay, you caught me. It''s mostly just my garage. But I have a punching bag."


    He was lying.


    My mouth nearly fell open as the realization was coming onto me. Was he...?


    "Vance..." I gently tapped my friend on the shoulder. "Tell him about The Ghost Train we saw the other day."


    Andie gave me a confused look. "That''s random."


    "What train?" Ian suddenly snapped to attention.


    I got him!


    Vance has happy to jump in. "Oh, right! This was great, so we were..."


    I watched carefully as Ian listened with strained ease. The ghost train interested him, and not like it would an islander hearing it for the first time. This was a man who was listening for crucial details of something of which he was well familiar. He called us locals, he didn''t know about the festival, and the dozen other tiny oddities about him. It was a ridiclious and outlandish idea, but now that It was on me I couldn''t escape it.


    Ian wasn''t from this world.

 Chapter 8: The Decision

    It was awful knowledge but what was I supposed to do with it? If they were anything like the folks I¡¯d met in that pit they had powers that were far beyond my understanding. I couldn¡¯t stop them, and would the police arrest people who were suspected of being wizards? I think not. Even with all the slackers on the island I don¡¯t think we could cover come what I saw in that hole.


    My best guess at a solution was: reunite my friends, and go from there.


    The day had started so promising, but the shift that followed was excruciatingly slow. I don¡¯t think there was a minute that passed on that clock that I didn¡¯t see. Anxiety that familiar friend of mine was swelling in my chest. It had something to say about their intentions and it would not be ignored. As if my jaw didn¡¯t hurt enough, all shift my chest was tightening on me, squeezing me, begging me to solve this mystery.


    When I was finally released, I shot out of the store, ran across the bridge and entered the town square. The Fighting ring was already set up, and workers were busily setting up booths and seats all across the grounds. There was one booth that was already set up, and had an eager vendor vendor was manning the desk.


    The jester from yesterday spotted me across the way, and waved me over. I was trying to catch Victoria before she left Town Hall, but she¡¯d come this way if she walked out. ¡°We meet again.¡± I said wearily.


    The Jester leaned on his table. ¡°You¡¯re the only one who¡¯s rolled a six so far.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like you need new dice.¡±


    He mimed laughter. ¡°But these ones are so fun! They always roll one.¡±


    So the game was rigged. No big surprise there. A cheat and a clown, suddenly being a slacker didn¡¯t sound so bad. ¡°I¡¯d definitely get some new dice then.¡±


    ¡°Have you figured it out yet?¡± His voice changed, from the friendly upbeat lilt he¡¯d always used. This was something far deeper, and more serious. The tone change hit me like a brick, and seemed to be reflected in his posture. He hands were steepled now, his chin resting on the fingers. This clown wasn¡¯t about to get less weird any time soon.


    ¡°I¡¯m figuring a lot of things out right now, you¡¯ll have to be more specific.¡±


    ¡°That is a good answer!¡± His voice was suddenly care free again. He leaned back in his chair and put his pointy bell shoes up on the table. ¡°I almost want to reward it, but if you knew you¡¯d know. Ya know?¡±


    Hammer Man had said the same thing to me on the train. ¡°You know what you know.¡±


    ¡°You mean with the outsiders, the train, the plantation, that hole and all the monsters.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re on the right track.¡± He said with giggle. ¡°Train track that is! Listen you¡¯re not quite out of time but the two forces are heading for a collision.¡± He rolled up the sleeve of his jester jacket as if to check a watch that wasn¡¯t there. ¡°I¡¯ll give you until end of business tomorrow, 15:00. You better have something to show me for all your hard work.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    So what was this a job interview? ¡°Forces? What forces?¡±


    ¡°Why the forces of Good and Evil of course.¡±


    ¡°Which is which?¡±


    ¡°It depends on who you¡¯re asking. Since you¡¯re asking me, I say neither is either. Tomorrow I may ask you the same question, and you just might have a different opinion than my own.¡±


    ¡°Well you can all shove it.¡± I took a step back from his table. ¡°This is my home. I don¡¯t want anything to do with any of you outsiders. We just want to be left alone.¡± I turned and headed for Town Hall.


    ¡°15:00 Sharp!¡± The clown called after me, his merry cackle echoed around the busy square.


    City Hall was part of the same square of buildings as Twilight Tower. The pretty brick building was regal looking, three stories tall with a slanted tile roof. Like most stores it was always open, and I just happened to roll another six when I caught Victoria pacing back and forth down a hall.


    ¡°Victoria!¡± I waved to her. It was good to see she was unharmed. After seeing her so helpless the other day, well that wasn¡¯t like her. The regal self important bearing suited her much better. She¡¯d been handling the stress well, she didn¡¯t appear as distressed by our encounter as you would have thought, of course neither did I. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you.¡±


    She was surprised to see me, and a little annoyed. ¡°You did not come to my place of work.¡± She whispered as I approached. Then she caught my swollen jaw and couldn¡¯t keep herself from mothering me. ¡°What happened there? Cyrus?¡±


    ¡°Hayden.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± She looked embarrassed. ¡°I really should have warned you.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell him?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Why did you? They told us not to.¡±


    ¡°He knew we were lying from the start. Hiding it from him wasn¡¯t helping anyone.¡±


    She crossed her arms. ¡°Thanks for leaving it to me to be the adult like always.¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡± I crossed my arms now. ¡°And since you¡¯re such an adult you can talk to him, and explain what¡¯s going on. They closed the tunnels Victoria. Whatever¡¯s going on it¡¯s getting worse. We all need to stick together if we¡¯re going to figure this out.¡±


    ¡°Us?¡± She scoffed. ¡°What do you think we can do about all of this? You saw those things.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know but keeping secrets, because some random train wizards asked us to isn¡¯t helping.¡±


    ¡°Victoria.¡± A man¡¯s voice called. I turned and was nearly knocked out by what I saw. The train wizards themselves, Uniform, Cloak and Hammer Man were walking through City Hall. ¡°Sorry we¡¯re late, we¡¯re still getting our baring around town.¡± The leader Uniform looked down at me and his eyes flashed with recognition. ¡°You again?¡± He looked me over once, like he was checking for something. ¡°You still don¡¯t have a level. That¡¯s good, stay out of this and go live your life.¡±


    ¡°I was trying to.¡± I looked at Victoria, and couldn¡¯t even begin to describe the feeling that surged from me. No wait, I could: complete and utter betrayal. ¡°You¡¯re working with them?¡± For how long? Is that why she was in the hole? It was now clear why she was willing to lie to Hayden even if it cost my my health and friendship. She was being a good soldier for these invaders! Lying to me would be nothing for her!


    ¡°The Mayor¡¯s waiting for you.¡± She looked past me completely, like I wasn¡¯t even there. ¡°He¡¯s eager to know what your search has turned up.¡±


    ¡°A lot of nothing.¡± Uniform sighed, and followed Victoria into the Mayor¡¯s office. None of them, not even Victoria bothered to spare me a look, a glance, a care.


    I¡¯d never been so mad, so confused. It was dumb. This is the world I¡¯d turned away, not once but twice. I wasn¡¯t one of them, I wasn¡¯t a part of whatever insanity was infecting my island. I was with Andie, the hardware store, Twilight Tower. I wasn¡¯t part of whatever magic was swirling around me. Then why did I keep bumping into it?


    Before I knew what was going on I threw the door open. My face as red as Hammer Man¡¯s hair. Victoria and Mr. Mayor himself were both equally scandalized that someone would just barge in. The other three, the outsiders already had weapons drawn.


    I stared them down, eye twitching. I wanted them gone, off my island and back to where they came. I only had one shot of removing these idiots and this was it. ¡°I know who you¡¯re looking for.¡± It was a pleasure to see the shock form on their faces. ¡°And I know where to find them.¡±

 Chapter 9: The Festival

    Despite all my heroics and otherworldly intrigue I still had to spend the night wedged between boxes in the back of the store. Sure our hideout had air conditioning and a futon, but it was still no way for an adult to live.  When morning came I limped out of the store, and grabbed a trolly to the square.


    The festival was to celebrate our creation myth. There was the mother island Menaya who on the same day for seven years gave birth to a new child. Five daughters and two sons in total. It¡¯s kind of like everyone¡¯s birthday. There¡¯s free food, entertainment galore, and a pageant where each island selects their most spoiled child to lead them in a parade.


    It was a ton of fun, and this was the best one in years. Of course I was getting special treatment. I was one of the Braves, so local girls would gives me flowers and braid them into my hair. The braiding was an old tradition most just clipped the flowers into my hair and ran away giggling. It happens slowly at first, but by the time the fighting starts most of the braves had blazing crowns of flowers adorning their heads.


    Everything and everyone was so beautiful, I could scarcely believe I¡¯d been sleep walking through so much lately. This island and it¡¯s people were special. If only we were alone. The jester was right where he was yesterday, urging people to try their luck. I gave him a wide birth. His promise of another quiz today had unnerved me, and I''d spent a good bit of my sleeping hours mulling over his question.


    ¡°Yorrick.¡± Victoria slid in next to me as I took a skewer of crab and vegetables from a vendor. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you.¡±


    ¡°Hey.¡± I leaned into her. ¡°How did things go with the¡­¡± Otherworldly conflict.


    ¡°They¡¯ll be attacking the plantation any moment now.¡± She said seriously. All I felt was relief. This was finally going to be over. ¡°They wanted as many people away from the outskirts as possible.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± I looked around the square, it was a good crowd. Most everyone on the islands would be here. ¡°Kind of nervous.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be.¡± She smiled. ¡°You saw how they handled themselves.¡±


    That¡¯s true, and if nothing else they could always just drive a train through the mansion. That was bound to cause some damage. ¡°Do you understand what¡¯s going on?¡± The jester asked me if I¡¯d figured it all out yet, and I couldn¡¯t feel further from the truth.


    ¡°Not completely.¡± She confessed. ¡°They¡¯re bad we¡¯re good. They¡¯re somehow using the plantation to corrupt the soul of the island. The more corrupt it gets, the more of those pits appear, the more of the island is consumed.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡± Then I smiled. ¡°But also good news.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°The plantation isn¡¯t the soul of the island.¡±


    She shared in my smile, and nodded at me. ¡°Can I tell you something, that only you can understand?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°After they¡¯re done here. I¡¯m going with them.¡±


    My eyes went wide. ¡°You mean, you¡¯re going to leave¡­ on that train.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± She nodded solemnly. She had a distant look to her eyes. ¡°I just can¡¯t stay here, knowing what I know.¡± She then looked to me, there were years of friendship and newfound trials in her eyes. ¡°We could go together, then I wouldn¡¯t have to do it alone. I know things can¡¯t be the same for you since¡­¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ¡°I¡¯m staying.¡± I allowed my smile to renew. ¡°Ever since the pit¡­ everything around me has just felt right. This is exactly where I¡¯m supposed to be.¡±


    That made her frown. ¡°I¡¯m actually kind of jealous of that.¡± She shook her head bitterly. ¡°Everything just looks like cardboard to me, the people seem hollow and ignorant. Even the sun seems wrong.¡±


    My head swam with that statement. I couldn''t blame her, or resent how she felt. Victoria had gained a glimpse at a far wider world than we had ever imagined. She had the strength and courage to look further. I was only sad it left the beauty of her life dull in her eyes. She must have been so lonely these last few days. ¡°I¡¯m gonna miss you.¡± I pulled her into a hug, and tried to make it last.


    She sniffled. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to ask me to stay.¡±


    I laughed and sniffed a little myself. ¡°I¡¯m not going to stop you from seeing new worlds, besides you were always the one who was going to get out. The one destined for greatness.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± She said, not without a hint a humor. ¡°I just always thought you guys would be there to see it.¡±


    ¡°Just do me a favor, at least give Hayden a clue about what¡¯s going on. If you just up and disappear I think he¡¯ll actually kill me.¡±


    She sighed heavily. This wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d broken up with Hayden, and I had a feeling it wouldn¡¯t be the last. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±


    We then parted, and I was sure I¡¯d never see her again.


    ¡°Okay feeling a little girlfriend jealousy here.¡± Andie approached me from the crowd. She had her arms crossed defensively in front of her to show her jealousy wasn¡¯t all just talk.


    ¡°You have nothing to worry about Victoria is like a sister to me.¡± I took her hand. ¡°Plus I¡¯ve been obsessed with you for a while now, I¡¯m gonna wait at last a few more weeks before screwing this up.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± She smiled at me. ¡°You¡¯re saying all the right things.¡±


    ¡°How about this?¡± I held both her shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m signing up for classes.¡±


    That got a smile out of her. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I practically giggled, she was so proud of me. ¡°You inspired me. You¡¯ve never given up no matter how much was on your plate. I realized that everything I hate about myself is what I like about you.¡± I don''t think that came out right.


    ¡°Hey.¡± She cupped my chin. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of you to like too.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± I started taking off my shirt. ¡°I¡¯m going to be this year¡¯s champion.¡±


    ¡°Oh wow.¡± Andie giddily ran her hands along my torso once I revealed it to her. I wouldn¡¯t say I was ripped, but I wasn¡¯t skinny either. I trained regularly, and threw bags of mulch around all day. Which is to say that I wasn¡¯t ashamed of my body. ¡°This for instance.¡± She said happily. ¡°There¡¯s a lot to love here.¡±


    ¡°Will you paint the targets on me?¡±


    She squeed. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to do this!¡± I led her towards the stage where people were starting to gather for this year¡¯s Painting of The Braves. The stage was lined with cans of watery paint for the braves to adorn themselves with. ¡°What¡¯s your lucky color going to be?¡±


    I thought about the ticket in my pocket, I¡¯d won that through luck. ¡°I have a good feeling about the blue.¡±


    ¡°Excellent choice.¡± Andie dipped two fingers in the dye, and swished them about. She then used her blue fingers to paint a circle around my face, my heart and the space between my shoulder blades. She then squiggled something along the small of my back. The circles were targets for my opponents. If they put their handprint on all three targets they won. The squiggle, I¡¯m not sure what that was.


    As she painted me the tournament organizers began to welcome the crowd and pronounce the rules for the tournament. I thought of the people from the ghost train. While I was suiting up for a fake battle, they¡¯d be assaulting the plantation. Ian and Hart would, what? Die? Be captured? I didn¡¯t know what the rules of their war was. All I knew is that I wanted them gone, and of the two groups only one seemed to be putting down roots.


    I pushed it out of my mind. I had to focus. Vance and Victoria were both on Hayden¡¯s side of the stage. I was supposed to be over there, we were going to split the prize money and get surf boards. Now Hayden wouldn¡¯t even look at me.


    Stop.


    Focus.


    There were sixteen competitors in total. These were all high school seniors and college students. I beat my first two opponents with ease. I don¡¯t want to brag, but Andie had said I was one of the better fighters on the island. In last years¡¯ competition I came in third. Well Cyrus and I tied for third. Hayden had made it all the way to the finals, but lost to a champ who¡¯d aged out of the competition.


    That¡¯s why the rivalry was so hot this year. This was our year. The year where we had fully developed adult muscles we could use to defeat gangly teenagers.


    Defeat them we did, Cyrus, Hayden, and I all climbed to the semi finals. There were just four competitors left, us and an unnamed nobody who¡¯s chances I didn¡¯t like. If either Hayden or I got to fight that nobody it meant one of us would get to fight Cyrus, and then we¡¯d face each other in the finals.


    So of course, when the lotto was drawn, Hayden was my opponent.

 Chapter 10: The Fight

    This was the matchup I''d been most dreading. Hayden? Not so much.


    He launched himself onto the stage and landed with a thud. He fixed me with a stare that had all the bad blood two brothers could share. The crowd loved it. Hayden had been the loud talking upstart ever since he started fighting. He wasn¡¯t the only person thinking that this would be his year.


    I was feeling less sure of myself, as I pulled myself into the ring. It just felt wrong to go up against him without our usual banter. ¡°Are we cool?¡± I asked, hoping that Victoria had finally told him what was going on.


    No such luck. True to form he had no more words for me, just a nasty sneer.


    He was really starting to piss me off. ¡°Fine.¡± Maybe Andie was right, I was going to have to beat some sense into him.


    The referee directed to two of us to dip our hands in the cans paint hanging in our corners.


    That¡¯s the first thing you need to know about these fights. There are no weapons, and no fists. You can only score by landing an open handed strike against one of three targets painted on your opponent. The fights only stop if you score all three points, or someone surrenders. Even if you score a point the fight doesn¡¯t reset.


    Andie was waiting in my corner with the bucket of blue paint, just being an absolutely adorable assistant. ¡°Good luck.¡± She grinned up at me as I dunked my hands in the bucket. ¡°Get him right in the face like he got you.¡± At least I had someone in my corner, and I''m glad it was her. I could only hope Vance and Victoria were urging more restraint on their side of the arena.


    Once we got our hands dripping we returned to the center. I flicked the excess paint off of my hands and into the crowd to the cheering delight of the fans.


    ¡°Fighters ready?¡±


    We each gave the ref a severe nod.


    ¡°Fight!¡±


    Hayden and I train together far too much. We each started with a very aggressive charge with an aim to punch the other right in the face. It was like a mirror had attacked itself. However each of us expected this from the other and was easily able to sway out of the way, and avoid the blow.


    For the next part Hayden was faster. After side stepping my strike he bore his shoulder down, charged it into my gut and threw all his weight into slamming me onto the ground. It worked wonderfully. I hit the ground with a miserable thump. The next moment I felt his hand slam down on my chest, scoring him a point. The next moment he rechambered his hand and hit me again square in the face, that was two points for him.


    I let out a roar, and put my hand over his face, and shoved him off of me, which is what he wanted to do anyway. I was useless to him as long as I was on my back, so he waited patiently for me to get up.


    One point to two is not a place you want to be. But the back is the safest target. I could make it through. The crowd was electrified by the that first exchange and was shouting encouragements to us.


    We each took a moment to catch our breath, before starting the next bout.


    Hayden recovered first and charged me for a second time. This time he was just going to bear hug me, it¡¯s the most direct way to attack the back. Just wrap your arms around your opponent. So long as you don¡¯t fear getting punched in the face you¡¯re fine.


    On a larger opponent you might be able to dodge, or duck under their arms, but Hayden was so short that was a fool¡¯s errand. So instead I sacrificed my legs. I let him grab me but jumped in the air just as he did. This forced him to wrap his arms around my legs, and not my vulnerable back. I then bent at my waist so I was folded over him and used that chance to slap his back and tie up the score.


    He then whipped me forward, and slammed me back onto the ground. Even the floor couldn¡¯t fully soften the impact, and I was left reeling from that one. He stood there for a moment weighing how merciful he wanted to be, and eventually decided on not merciful at all. Instead of letting me get up from that spine shattering throw, he grabbed me by the ankles and flipped me over.


    Of course the dangerous part of grabbing ankles is that they are connected to legs. I managed to catch him in the stomach as he flipped me, and winded him just long enough for me to get me my feet.


    We were each down to one target and panting by this point in the fight. We circled for a few moments each trying to find the other¡¯s weakness, but I found his first. I feigned raising my leg for a kick. His instincts were to catch my leg and pull me to the ground. Without even thinking he changed his stance to catch my leg, and that was when I drove my hand through his heart.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°Aww man.¡± He looked down at the blue handprint over his chest, and shook his head. ¡°You tricked me.¡± He tilted his head to the side and let out a big smile. The type you give to a person who''s been the victim of a well executed prank. Now I could since mirth, and joy in his posture, his expression.


    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± I gasped and punched him again in the shoulder. ¡°I thought you were mad at me.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Victoria explained things last night, but I still wanted us to both go all out if we fought today. So I figured I¡¯d antagonize you a bit.¡±


    I shook my head, and got out of the arena with him. ¡°That¡¯s some cheap trick.¡± I mumbled.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Hayden laughed. ¡°Sorry about punching you yesterday.¡±


    ¡°Somehow I fell like I probably deserve it.¡±


    ¡°I told him about the monster.¡± Victoria said as we joined her and Vance on the side lines.


    ¡°Was that so hard?¡±


    Vance threw his hands up. ¡°It¡¯s not fair. Off all the people to encounter a monster, it¡¯s you two.¡±


    I smiled at him. I was just happy to see he hadn¡¯t gone to the mansion despite my warning. ¡°You want it too bad. You''ve got to have an aloof air about you."


    "Well Victoria, I can understand." Vance laughed. "You''re the confusing one."


    Andie joined me on this side of the arena and gave a cautious smile to everyone. "I''m assuming these are happy laughs."


    "He was punking me." I said, wrapping my paint covered arm around her shoulder. She didn''t seem to mind at all. When you came to the festival half the fun was from getting paint on you.


    Hayden spotted our coziness and smiled. "I''m glad to see this happening by the way." He''d been teasing me about her long enough.


    "Right?" Andie squeezed me back. "I had to ask him of course."


    "That checks out."


    Up next was Cyrus'' fight with that brave unnamed man. To none of our pleasure we had to watch that perfect specimen of a man defeat his opponent within the first few swings. I''d been doing well all day, but couldn''t he have struggled just a little bit?


    "Do us proud." Vance tapped me on the back with his fist.


    "Just imagine if you lose, Cyrus personally come up to each of our surf boards and cracking them over his knee." Hayden coached. The message was clear, no prize money no beach. What good were a bunch of beach bums without their boards anyway?


    "Can''t have that." I smiled at him, then looked to Andie. "Can I get a good luck kiss?"


    She gave me a coy look, and bit her lip. I''d never seen that look before, and I think I like it. "Weren''t you paying attention, I rolled a one on our date."


    Her and everyone else on the island. "I think that just means I''m luckier when I''m with you."


    "This is really sickening." Before Andie and I could share a truly epic kiss Victoria gave me a supportive push towards the arena.


    It was time for my dance with destiny.


    I''d been fighting with Cyrus since I was a kid, and he''d never looked more intimidating. Tall, muscular, and with a lot more flowers in his hair than me. I always came in second place against the guy. If I was ever going to make something of my life, it was going to be through him.


    He might have had every advantage you could want in a fight, but this time I wasn''t afraid. I''d seen real monsters.


    Cyrus was just another guy.


    "Don''t forget!" I said slamming a foot down on the stage, and getting into my stance. "You''re picking up the tab tonight!"


    All he did was smirk, and assume his own fighting stance. He didn''t want the audience to see him wasting words on a loser like me.


    The Ref stood between us, jumped back and started the fight.


    What followed was the quickest fight on record. I charged forward for another aggressive hit against his face. He was prepared for this, so prepared. He''d obviously been paying more attention to my fight than I had his. He took a single step forward, twisted his stance and his his palm colliding with my face. He hit me with such force that my head tilted backwards behind more torso. I started pinwheeling to avoid falling on my back. One step back, three steps back, and before I knew it I had fallen into the audience, into someone''s strong arms.


    It was a defeat by ringout, and Cyrus had only needed one blow.


    The mood in the audience was contentious. Some were disappointed that the fight had ended on what felt like a fluke. A few myself included were just upset that Cyrus had won. Everyone else realized they were a part of sports history and roared in triumph. Flowers, candy, bras and bracelets were thrown at Cyrus as he stood there with that cocky smile. He walked over to me cooly as the crowd chanted his name. "Now you see the difference between a slacker in a star."


    It was hard to admit, but he was right. If I''d trained more, studied his fights more things might have been different. Not that I would admit any of that to him, or myself in that moment. I was much to upset by the humiliating defeat.


    "Cyrus! Cyrus! Cyrus!" He strutted about the stage, absorbing the island''s praise. He was there god, their champion.


    "You okay buddy?" Asked the man who''d caught me.


    "Yeah." I pulled myself up. "Thanks for the save, I..." I froze. The person who''d caught me was, "Ian!" He wasn''t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be at the mansion. Had they lived? Did Ian know that I''d turned him in. Was he here to kill me?


    "Told you I wouldn''t miss this." He winked at me, and then put a hand on my shoulder. "Don''t think less of me for what I''m about to do. I''ll explain everything to you later." With that he moved past me and jumped onto the stage himself. "Nice moves."


    Cyrus looked at him with a smile. "Another Slacker looking to get smacked down?"


    Ian just smiled and folded his hands. "Wild Magic, Two Stars." There was a puff of smoke, and an old looking tome appeared before the man. So I was right, he was an outsider after all. The tome flipped through it''s pages rapidly, like some kind of slot machine, before landing on a particular page. The book glew bright blue for a moment, and a single bolt of lightning ripped from it''s pages, directly through Cyrus.


    Cyrus had been our champion for less than a minute when he died. His smoldering corpse fell to the stage with a weighty thud. As he died, all color seemed to fade from the world, as the sun finally began to set.

 Chapter 11: The Soul of The World

    Cyrus was dead.


    As he fell, light seemed to fade from the world. The warm orange glow we''d known from crib to grave was gone. Now the world seemed grey, The colors were muted, almost black and white.


    "I was right!" Ian cheered, I could barely hear him over the screaming of the crowd. "You were right." He said looking at me from the stage. I felt sick. "The soul of the island wasn''t that Plantation." He turned to Andie somewhere else in the crowd. "It wasn''t the tower either Andie. The soul was all of you!" He spread his arms out. "Your community! This idyllic little ocean town. You focused all your love on a single event, a single figure and all I had to do was take it away from you."  Was this our fault?


    A flash of light broke him from his moment of triumph. There was the sound of drums, and a moment later Cyrus was rising to his feet. It was clear to anyone that could see that there was some kind of energy flowing into Cyrus. There were little orbs of energy floating off of him like bubbles. New designs were being painted on his body by unseen brushes, sacred geometries, tattoos I¡¯d never seen but somehow recognized. A mask appeared on his face, the bottom half of it black and featureless but the top half an image of a setting sun. Indeed the light of our sun seemed to be shining behind him, he was somehow back lit by a orange light.


    Ian looked at his opponent and smirked. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Ian grinned and took on a fighting stance. ¡°Don¡¯t go out without a fight!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Hayden collided into me from the crowd along with the others.


    ¡°I have no idea. Victoria?¡± I looked to our little secret keeper, but she was just as clueless as the rest of us.


    ¡°They¡¯re here to destroy the soul of the island.¡± Victoria said, not as an answer, but as she tried to work through the problem of what she was seeing here. ¡°Now¡­ the soul¡¯s trying to defend itself.¡±


    ¡°Wild Magic, Two Stars!¡± Ian summoned his magical tome for a second time. It turned through it¡¯s pages just as it had on his previous attack only this time it shot a ball of fire at Cyrus.


    An explosion of heat and light blinded us all for a moment. We cringed expecting Cyrus to once again be dead, but instead he was standing there bold and alive. His hand was outstretched, and smoldering. Had he¡­


    Did he just block the fire with his hand?


    ¡°Show off.¡± Ian wasn¡¯t intimidated at all, he had a big smile on his face. ¡°Come on. I¡¯m eager to see what the world¡¯s spirit can do.¡±


    Cyrus needed no encouragement. He charged forward faster than I¡¯d ever seen him move. Faster than I¡¯d ever seen anyone move. Whatever magic was working through Cyrus was making him more than a man. It was clearly more than Ian had bargained for. That cocky smile quickly turned into a grimace of concentration. Cyrus swiped at him several times, each time Ian was barely able to deflect the blow. I was impressed he could keep up at all.


    ¡°Wild Magic, Two Stars.¡±


    ¡°This again.¡± Hayden growled. His hands were tight fists, but like me he was frozen to the spot. This fight we were witnessing wasn¡¯t natural. The thought that either or both of us could jump up there and help was complete foolishness.


    Ian¡¯s spellbook landed on it¡¯s next enchantment. A gust of wind blew upwards, and sent Cyrus soaring in the air. Up and up he went, above the rooftops. Ian craned his neck to keep his opponent in view.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°So if Cyrus is possessed by the spirit of the island.¡± I began. ¡°What happens if he dies?¡±


    Victoria gulped and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Cyrus quickly came crashing back down onto the stadium, crushing the boards of the stage as he fell. I winced imagining how broken up I¡¯d be after that, but after just a few second Cyrus crawled back onto the stage.


    ¡°You¡¯re tough.¡± Ian chuckled, his bravado somewhat bruised. ¡°I¡¯m starting to see why no Rook has ever taken one of you down before¡­¡±


    Cyrus rushed him without any warning, it was so fast I could barley keep track of him. One moment he was there, and the next he was shoving his palm into Ian¡¯s stomach.


    ¡°Ugh.¡± The black hair villain grunted as the hit pushed him back a few steps. He looked himself over, then gave a rude chuckle. ¡°All that and you didn¡¯t even do any damage.¡± He looked down to see a glowing orange hand print radiating out from his stomach. ¡°Oh I get it.¡± He said. ¡°It¡¯s like your little game, three strikes and I¡¯m out. Too bad I¡¯m not¡­¡±


    Cyrus was usually a big fan a banter, but he hadn¡¯t spoken a word this entire fight. He didn¡¯t seem intent on letting his opponent chat either, as he slammed his palm into Ian¡¯s face mid sentence, and sent the man spiraling to the ground.


    ¡°Two!¡± The crowd cheered.


    ¡°Big mistake.¡± Ian growled, his cocky attitude replaced with anger. ¡°Wild Magic, Two Stars.¡± He rolled out of the way as Cyrus went in for a third strike. I can¡¯t quite describe what happened next, all I clearly remembered is getting sprayed with blood. I think Ian summoned some sort of invisible blade that sliced at Cyrus but I can¡¯t say for sure.


    All I know is that Cyrus dropped to the ground after that, to the screaming and horror of the whole audience. None of us truly knew what was going on, but it was clear who the good guy was, and who was bad. Somehow Cyrus had been fighting for all of us, for the island, for the sun, for the world, and¡­


    He just lost.


    ¡°Fuck you Cyrus!¡± Hayden screamed beside me. ¡°You¡¯ve never gone down in a fight before! You can¡¯t lose to this punk now!¡±


    ¡°Hayden¡­¡± I said softly.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Hayden cried, actually cried. ¡°He ain¡¯t done!¡±


    ¡°Cyrus!¡± Someone else called. ¡°You can¡¯t go down!¡±


    Andie took up the call next. ¡°You humiliated my boyfriend, and now you¡¯re just going to die like a little bitch?¡±


    Everyone was getting into it now. They called for him, prayed for him, urged him to live, to get up to win.


    A hundred fights and bruises with the big blonde bully flashed through my mind. All the humiliation and triumph of having him as our enemy. As hard as he''d made our lives... he was a hero! ¡°I still have to buy you that drink!¡± I cried.


    You¡¯re not going to believe me but, it actually worked. It started with a twitch of the finger, but quickly began the indomitable Cyrus rising to his feet once more. The crowd was hysteric. Our champion wouldn¡¯t lose, so long as we believed in him. Ian had been right, the soul of this world was community.


    Ian was now plainly worried. All those fancy effects, looked like they were about at their limit. Without his spells he had nothing on Cyrus¡¯ fighting skills.


    This was made evident only a moment later. Cyrus moved in for the kill, Ian was able to block and deflect a few blows, but never called up his spellbook again. Without that to break up the battle it was just a matter of moments before Cyrus was able to land his third and final strike on Ian.


    ¡°Three!¡± We all screamed in unison.


    The three handprints on Ian lit up like the setting sun, and exploded into a super nova of paint. We were all splattered by the rainbow spray. Ian himself went limp and fell to the ground, I feared or maybe hoped that meant he was dead. Cyrus simply stood over him, and slowly raised his fist into the air.


    ¡°Yeeeeeeeeah!¡± Hayden grabbed me. I grabbed Hayden. We grabbed eachother, and jumped around.


    ¡°He did it!¡±


    ¡°He did it!¡±


    The crowd was with us, on their feet, in the air.


    Cyrus had saved the world.


    And it was ended all over again, in the blink of an eye.


    Ian lunged upward from his resting spot on the floor, and drove a knife into Cyrus¡¯ Heart. Ian should have been dead, and I would not learn until later how he¡¯d managed to survive. But it didn¡¯t matter. Whether Ian¡¯s living was caused by powerful magic, or bad manners it won him the fight.


    Cyrus collapsed once more, a broken heart is something even a good cheer couldn¡¯t heal.


    It was like a wind has blown out a candle. All the light was gone, the sun had finished setting.

 Chapter 12: The End of The World

    For the first time in the history of The Twilight Islands, the sun set. Darkness like in that pit swallowed us in a moment. We had no use for street lamps with our eternal sun, so our night was made all the darker without them. The islands shook, and the screaming of the crowd could just barely be heard over it''s rumbling. I knew and I think we all knew in that moment that our island was through.


    Victoria knew it better than me. The moment her shock wore off she grabbed me by the shirt. "This island is going to sink, we need to get to that train!"


    A week ago I would have had questions, but now I knew enough to just do what she said. The Train People must have filled her in on some of the details that were missing for me. "We''re going!" I shouted to Andie over the scream of the crowd. "We have to get off the island!"


    Andie''s eyes were wild, and her mouth hung agape as if to scream or yawn. I''d never seen her be afraid in my life. She was always so brave and strong, but this was just asking to much. "What about my dad?"


    "We have to go!" Hayden cut her off and started to push his way through the shuffling crowd. "Get to the train station!"


    That became a rallying cry all across the square. People began to rush to Commerce station, our group among them. Others ran in different directions. They tried to go home, or find safety away from the crush of the crowd. It was a dire first few minutes. Children were getting slung over shoulders, and more than one person was crushed beneath the crowd.


    That magnitude of what had just happened had not fully sunk in when I saw the sea. It was wrong. The glittering blue waters, I''d surfed and swam in for my whole life was gone. Not it was that black muck I saw back in the forest. A thick slime that would never reflect the sunset. It barley rippled or moved as our island was slowly swallowed by it. The beaches were gone. The perimeter of the islands were slowly shrinking, the oil crawled further and further up the paths into town.


    The Central Station was not far from the square, soon folks were rushing into the station, boarding whatever train they could, hoping another island was faring better.


    We all knew where our destiny led. The Ghost Train, where this whole thing started was waiting for us. It now had several more passenger cars hitched to the engine, doors wide open. "It''ll save us." Victoria said with more confidence than I had in the earth beneath my feet. She was at the head of the charge now. Our fearless leader. "It''s going to take us somewhere safe, everyone board in an orderly fashion."


    One man didn''t like the sound of that and pushed his way towards the door. Hayden grabbed the man by the back of the collar and pulled him out of line. "She said orderly, pops!" He decked the man, and pushed him back in line. The crowd gasped, but Hayden''s loss to me hadn''t done anything to hurt his reputation. If you got out of line he was going to attack, and that was that.


    "Come on Vance." I had our portly friend leaned on my shoulder. Running was not one of his many blessings. I was afraid he was going to get swallowed up if I didn''t help me.


    "I''m sorry. I''m sorry." He gasped.


    I brought him over to Victoria, who was directing traffic between the cars. It was unbelievable, this person had been inside of her the whole time. She probably would have said that it should have been obvious, but I felt like I was seeing her for the first time. She was a leader, a hero. "Do you know where this thing is going to take us?" I asked.


    "Away from here." She whispered to me. "Back to where they came from."


    My heart sank. "We''ll be refugees."


    "We''ll be alive." She said sternly.


    "How are you so calm?"


    She shrugged. "They told me something like this might happen, and what to do if it did." More secrets. That familiar anger was burning inside of me. Why had my friend been so determined to throw herself in with these people who''d done nothing but bring destruction to our home? Why didn''t she warn us or anybody if she knew this could be the outcome?


    I couldn''t even bare to look at her, but Vance could. Exhausted as he would he took his arm away from me and stood up. "You knew this was going to happen, and didn''t warn us?


    She could only roll her eyes. "This isn''t the time. Either help, or get on the train." Her voice was stone, immovable.


    Vance looked to me, and then with a defeated sigh boarded the train. So much for that. If even Vance couldn''t stand going against her right now, there was no hope for any of us.


    I turned around expecting Andie to be right behind me, but she wasn''t anywhere in the line. "Have you seen Andie?" I asked Victoria.


    "Last I saw her she was with you."


    "Andie!" I shouted, and started jogging along the line. "Andie!"


    My voice was only one of dozens, people were crying out for their own loved ones, mothers, fathers, wives, and children all looking for each other.


    Where could she be?


    I ran around the station, asked around, but found nothing. Had she been trampled, was she lost? Then I remembered the last thing she said.


    She''d been concerned for her dad, and rightfully so. He was stuck in their house, still recovering. A sick feeling formed in my stomach. "No, Andie no!" I growled and sprinted out of the train station. "No, no no no!"


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    The darkness, that oil was now sputtering out of storm drains. The tunnels were filled with the sludge and now lapped ever higher at the stairs leading down. The island as a whole just felt lower. I found the bridge to Cilla and it was a gut churning sight all on it''s own. The deep chasm that separated the two islands was now shallow, the bridge barley rose over a river of black sludge. What was beyond the bridge was worse.


    My home was gone, all that was left were the rooftops and even those sunk dutifully down beneath the surface of the dark sea. My house, the hardware store, my whole life was sinking away.


    I took a step back from the horror, intending to run back, when I caught sight of a certain someone running up the path that led to the bridge. Andie was running from the rising tide, as it swallowed the ground behind her. She sprinted up the hill, along the path and over the bridge, only to collide with me.


    We stumbled back, her collapsing in my arms. "I couldn''t get to him!" She shrieked and clawed at my still painted skin.


    "Your dad?" I looked over her in horror at the sinking island. Andie''s dad, and who knew how many other souls were just... gone.


    "I had to turn back, Yorick. I had to, there was nothing left." She was hysterical, and I don''t say that condescendingly. I wasn''t in full control of my faculties either.


    "I know. I believe you." I tried to calm her. "We have to get to the station, they''re going to leave without us.


    That seemed to focus her. The threat of getting swallowed by the darkness was too much for her. She nodded and sprinted away without me.


    I followed, and together we tore through town as best we could but it wasn''t enough. Pools of the nothingness were gathering in the street. We dodged around them, but larger deeper puddles kept forming. The blackness began to seep up from between the cobble stone street, eating away at the bricks. Again the oil had no substance, it was nothing at all. The brick under out feet felt like we were standing on a metal grate.


    Before it could give out beneath us we jumped onto the sidewalk but that would only buy as a few moments. "We''re screwed."  Andie cursed, looking out at the vast lake of sludge between us and the train station. "We''ll never make it."


    She was right. "We have to get to high ground." I grabbed her hand and ran back into the square, which was at least up a hill. I turned my head and saw that the space we''d been occupying moments ago was already gone. The square was abandoned now. It was like Andie and I were the only souls left. Everyone else had either gotten away or was swallowed. I half expected to see the jester still behind his booth, rolling his dice. He was gone. Even his vast weirdness couldn''t survive all this.


    "You know where we have to go." Andie said, pointing up towards Twilight Tower. The soul of the island according to her. Now that she mentioned it, it did seem inevitable. That''s where our relationship started. It seemed a shame to let it die there too, but it seemed a greater shame to drown here at the base of the tower.


    We waded through the debris. Chairs were overturned, carts were thrown down, and Cyrus still laid in the arena, our champion until the end. Hard to believe that his death was the cause of all of this, in a way I still didn''t understand. There''d been something great in him. Or he represented something great, something that was now gone. He deserved more mourning than we had time for. All I could do was spare him one last look, before we threw open the doors of Twilight Tower.


    The elevators were down, the generators for them no doubt swimming in the same black swamp as the rest of the island. We had no choice but to go round, and round, and round the stairs. It was hard not to notice that as we gained height, the tower was losing height, it was sinking beneath our feet, but there''s nothing we could do but keep running.


    By the time we burst out of the top of the tower we were wheezing. My lungs were on fire, and didn''t feel like I was getting in any air at all.


    "Oh god." Andie huffed as she took in the view. What an awful sight, there was nothing left. No island, no sea, no sun, no train station. We were the last two souls in the world, standing on the last bit of solid ground.


    "It''s just gone." I gawked, shaking my head. How could our entire home just disappear in a few minutes? The sun set, the beaches, gone forever. What did we do to deserve this?


    "We''ll be gone before long too." Andie said calmly, the hysteria from earlier replaced with a serene resignation.


    I wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her in close to me. "It''s not fair." I sighed. "I thought we''d save each other." We leaned into eachother partly for the support in our exhaustion, and partly just to be near.


    Andie had nothing more to say. She just wrapped her arms around me, and held me close, as we waited for the world to end.


    Below us the clock tower rang out. It announced a new hour, to a world that would never live to see it.


    A blue light flashed, in the midst of all that darkness. Andie and I pulled ourselves apart at the sudden effect. We wheeled back to see what challenge we faced now.


    There floating in the middle of the air was a pair of rounded doors within a smooth stone arch. At the top of the arc there was a statue of a hooded clown, it perched over the gate menacingly, and stared down at us with two empty, still eyes.


    "What is it?" Andie asked, she reached out to touch the thing.


    The clown motif could only belong to one person. The Jester who''d asked me if I''d figured everything out yesterday. Standing there among the great nothingness of my hometown, I could safely say that the world had never been less clear. "It''s some kind of test from the jester."


    "The one who gave you that ticket?" Andie looked at me. "Why would he..." She gestured to the doors floating in the middle of nothing.


    "The ticket!" I kissed her and dug the blue ticket out of my pocket. Thank goodness I didn''t do laundry! He held the tiny strip of fabric up to the gate. "Here!" I said, already feeling ridiculous. "You said I could get in for free!" I threw my arm back around Andie. "That that I could bring a guest!"


    The ticket vanished from my hand, and the eyes on the gate glowed a ghastly green. "Accepted." It sang in a deep tone that spread ripples through the infinite ocean around us. "Rolling for Number of entrants..."


    Clutched in the clown''s hand was a stone cube. The fingers came to life long enough to drop the cube. It landed on thin air, and danced about area in front of us. This was it. "All we need is a two." I guessed, holding her hand for support.


    "Our luck hasn''t run out yet!" She thumped the railing and cheered the die on. "Come on big money!"


    But we''d forgotten, that the jester had been playing with a loaded die. After much fanfare, and all that hope it landed on a one.


    My heart sunk, I sunk. "No."


    "One shall be admitted." The door boomed. The doors creaked open, revealing more darkness in the room beyond. A different type of darkness. Sitting there in the midst of nothing was the jester, crisscross apple sauce. He waved at us with one hand, and beckoned us inside with the other. That bastard! He knew this was going to happen all along, and he did nothing! He just let everyone die!


    ''Give it to Andie, give it to Andie, give it to Andie'' I chanted over and over in my head. ''Be the hero. Save her."


    But it was all too much. My body climbed onto the railing, and jumped the distance to the door almost without my asking. My cowardice has been to great. I wanted to live!


    I looked back, god why did I look back. The last image of her I saw was her weeping face, and an outstretched hand. I reached out to grab her, to save her, to say I''m sorry, but the  door closed shut and sucked me inside.


    I''m sorry Andie. I''m so so sorry for leaving you behind. It''s just... I was afraid.