Reality Dive — 4
Chapter 4: Like Cogs in a Clock
Ethan sets me down gently before motioning towards the open door before us. “Get in, quickly.”
I stare at the entryway, frozen to the spot. He had whisked me away to the outskirts of town where some run-down apartment buildings still stood. Tilting my head to the side, I glance at him, “Uh, no.”
“This is no time to be difficult Elie, just get inside please.” My eyes narrow at his impressive form as he stood behind me.
“No…this looks like a place out of a horror film.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ethan breathes out slowly like he is begging for patience. To be honest, he probably was. “Elie, you have some horrifying shit coming after you right now. I need you to get inside, so you’re safe.” Looking back up at me, his eyes are dark with emotion as he pleads to me with his next words. “Please Elie, just do as I ask.”
Something inside me brakes at his tone. His voice echoes with anguish and untold sadness. It wasn’t a voice of someone who hadn’t experience immense loss. What had he been through? Sighing, I nod, “Fine, but I’m only doing it cause I don’t want to run into those things again.”
Turning on my heels, I stomp inside the decrepit building. Ethan grunts behind me before following and slamming the door shut. He makes quick work of the locks that line the edge of the entrance and turns back to me. We stare for a moment at one another, willing the other to look away.
I was the one to fold. Turning my gaze to what I assume is the living room, I take in the decor. An old couch sits against a wall with a small coffee table in front. A flat-screen t.v. is dark, sitting on top of an entertainment center in the corner. All in all, it seems fairly ordinary. If I didn’t know any better, I would say I was here for a study session, not running for my life.
“You have to be kidding me…THIS is your big safe house? Those things will demolish that door and annihilate me and YOU!” I turn and glare at him, crossing my arms in frustration.
“There is more to this place than meets the eye…trust me. I’ve been setting it up for just this reason.” He brushes past me and moves down the darkened hallway.
I look back at the door, unsure of the locks holding back the darkness before following him further inside the apartment. “Why did you choose this place? It looks like it might crumble any minute.”
Ethan waves his hand in front of a space on the wall in the hall. A bluish digital looking panel springs to life before him. As much as I want to sass him, I’m sufficiently impressed now. He’s silent as he taps in a few numbers on the keypad and electricity springs to life within the dingy living space. What was once dilapidated and worn was now pristine and modern. Technology I had never seen before appeared before my eyes. I whipped around as the illusion of the other apartment was wiped away in an instant.
My mouth dropped, and I couldn’t stop staring at the complete transformation. Ethan brushed past me once more towards the now sparkling kitchen off the side of the living room. “Try not to drool…these floors were just cleaned.” His voice was teasing, and it lit a fire in me. Huffing, I followed him once more and cornered him against the counter. He turned around, and we were chest to chest. I was so flustered I didn’t even notice, but a huge grin spread across his face.
“Listen…I don’t have time for this shit. You tell me what the heck is going on right now. This whole apartment just moved from a falling apart junkies haven to an upscale loft downtown. There are creatures I’ve never seen after us -”
“After you.”
I level my glare at him, “whatever…and you just appear out of nowhere which preceded all of this. So that tells me, that YOU’RE the reason for it all!” Jabbing my finger into his chest, I’m reminded of just how ripped the guy is. A momentary brain fart lets him grab my forearms gently and pull me closer.
His voice is deep, sultry, and it takes everything in me not to melt. “As much as you would love to blame me for everything. I’m not the cause of this. It would have happened whether or not I made it in time. Be glad I did, or you’d be dead already.” His breath tickles my ear softly as he speaks, and he lets me go causing me to stumble back when he finishes and moves to the refrigerator.
I sputter, entirely humiliated by being caught off guard, “why you-”
Once more he interrupts me, “listen…I’m here for one thing, and one thing only.” He turns to face me after righting himself, some sandwich fixings in his hands. “I’m here for you. You are the key to all of this.”
He moves over to the counter again and sets the food down, getting to work making dinner. “I will admit, I was surprised to find you completely ignorant of the situation. At first, I thought you were playing hard to get. But when you went off on me in the hallway, that’s when I realized what was happening.”
“You say that like we were together or something.”
He pauses and glances back at me, completely silent. His eyes tell me all I need to know. Turning back to the sandwiches, he hands me a plate, and I look down at it. My favorite kind, turkey with mustard, lettuce, and a slice of cheese. “How…” I look back at him to find him staring at me, leaning against the counter again with his plate in hand. “You can’t be serious…I’ve never met you!”
He sighs and closes his eyes, “not in this reality you haven’t…” He moves past me and into the living room, settling down on the now plush leather couch.
I have to admit; I’m interested in what he has to say now. Moving to the living room after him, I sit down on the matching recliner next to the couch, not yet comfortable with sitting next to this enigma of a man. “Alright…you have my attention.”
He shakes his head, “first we eat. I’m hungry, I know you’re hungry, serious talk is better on a full stomach.” He takes another bite and turns on the t.v. We sit like this in silence, watching the updated flat screen. I eat quickly, wanting to know what is happening. I look over at Ethan only to find him only halfway done. I huff and throw myself back in the chair. Not ready for my sudden weight, the recliner tips backward and I let out a screech as I prepare to fall. Closing my eyes, I tense, yet feel nothing.
Looking upwards, I see Ethan hovering over me. He had stopped the chair from going backward and had righted it as I sat there with my eyes screwed shut. Sighing, he shakes his head, “never a dull moment with you.”
I look around us and then back to where he was sitting. There was no way he could cross that distance that quickly. “How did you…”
“Does it matter?” He says flippantly.
“Yes, it does! You caught me in seconds!” I pitch myself forward and bounce onto the couch next to him. “Listen…I need to know what is happening. What those creatures are…why I…”
Ethan raises one brow, “why you what?”
Hanging my head before tilting it backward I sigh, “why I feel so safe and secure with you.” I turn my gaze back to him, only to find his sandwich gone and smirk spreading across his features. “Ass…”
Shrugging, he turns towards me and cups my face, “we’ve known each other for over millennia…” I gasp and try to pull away, but he doesn’t let me. “No, Ellie, you need to hear this.”
I still, staring at him with wide eyes, he nods and continues, letting my face go and leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and eyes staring at his hands. He looked lost in that moment, and all I wanted was to comfort him. “You wanted to know why those creatures, I call them Figments, were after you. Correct?”
I nod and watch him, waiting to see where he’s going with this. Sighing, he rubs a hand over his face and looks at me. “Well, might as well rip the band-aid off. What I said earlier is true, we’ve known each other since nearly the beginning of time. And every dame lifetime…I watch you die.”
I have no idea what to say to that, so I select to stay silent. Ethan flops back onto the couch bringing up his hand like he’s holding the light from the lamp above, “and every time you perish…I feel myself break apart inside. You see, I’m supposed to be your protector…because of that, I CAN’T die. I can never join you in the afterlife…I’m doomed to await your rebirth every time. Wait years before I can even approach you. Usually, you’re reborn in the same reality I’m currently in, ready to go, ready to fight, at times I find you tapping your foot in anger and asking what took me so long.”
He looks over at me, “not this time though…Since your rebirth, I’ve been desperately trying to find you. I thought I had located you years ago, but something happened. After the mission was over, you dissipated into nothing…leaving me alone again. The agony I felt watching you…nevermind.” He shakes his head and stands up, pacing on the rug covered tile.
“I have no clue what happened this time around. But here I find you, with no memory of me, no memory of our mission…nothing.” He stops, and suddenly I find him kneeling in front of me. “What am supposed to do with that Ellie?”
I blink at him with wide eyes, “I…I don’t know.”
“Exactly…” He stands again, “our given mission, is to hunt down the Fragments, darkness that is created by the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of any given reality. When they become too much, we are sent to that realm. We are the balance; we keep everything in tune. Here’s the kicker…your protector was not meant to fall in love with you.”
He’s watching me now for any reaction, “you…what?”
“Ellie…” He sighs in exasperation, “this is harder then I thought. You and I…we…we’ve been…um…” He looks away, and I see a tinge of pink.
“We’ve been together…”
“Yes.”
“Oh…I see.” There is silence then, awkward silence.
He sits next to me again and takes my hands in his, “Ellie, we are two cogs in a clock…the other doesn’t work when one is gone. My job is to protect you as you purge the Fragments. Your power won’t awaken without me near you. I’m not at full strength without you near me.”
“Oh…so I’m supposed to purge those things that attacked us earlier?”
“Yes…”
“Can others see them?”
He shakes his head, “no, only we can…and some humans in tune with the other world. We use them at times to help us locate the source.”
“So…what have I seen in my dreams…were those our battles in this lifetime?”
He freezes, “you’ve been seeing us in your dreams?”
I nod, and he smacks his forehead, “of course! The way you disappear…you’re Astral projecting. but that still doesn’t answer why you weren’t born per usual in the same realm with your memories.”
I shrug, unsure what to say. “Ethan, why are these Fragments so bad?”
He looks out the window for a moment before answering, “you saw in your last dream…the war-torn city…the massive gun destroying everything?” I nod, remembering exactly what he’s describing. “That is what happens if they’re allowed to build. They begin influencing the beings around them. Wars break out; tensions rise, mass destruction happens. We have to prevent that. We’re not always successful…”
Just then I let out a big yawn, blushing as I cover my mouth. “Sorry…”
He smiles and gets up, offering me his hand, “it’s getting late. I think that’s enough information for now. Do you understand at least what is happening now?”
“Yeah…I’m sorry I yelled earlier. I just…” He silences me with a finger to my lips.
“It’s alright, come on. Let’s get you settled in.”
I pull on his hand, “I’m staying here? What about my family?”
“It’s been taken care of. They think you’re spending the night with friends. I’ll need to keep thinking of things though…Might need to just wipe their minds of you.”
“Wipe their minds!” I jump back.
“Ellie, you can’t stay here, you have a mission, we have a mission to carry out. I stare at him in disbelief.
“You can’t…I mean I understand what has happened…but my life is different now. Maybe I was tired of always fighting. Did you think of that? Maybe that’s why I chose to be reborn without memories.”
“But…you chose to be away from me…” His eyes fill with pain.
“Maybe I just needed a lifetime of peace.” My voice is quiet, yet it echoes off the walls.
“You’re not going to get it…the Fragments here are growing out of control…you need your memories; you need to purge them.” He takes a step towards me, but I bolt towards the door and rip it open after unlocking it. “Ellie!” He roars, but I’m already heading out and onto the street. The darkness envelops me as I race down the sidewalk. I don’t know where I’m going, but I have to get away from him. My heart races and beats conflicted. It pulls me towards him, yet tells me to run. What am I going to do?
