written and directed by Dan Sherrill
and Wooden Box Theater
Paris news reports have been coming in all morning
about the woman who at one moment in time was
innocently carrying her groceries home from a long
morning of shopping, but as peaceful onlookers have
noted, she just collapsed in the middle of a busy
sidewalk.
Meanwhile in a hospital near Crystal Acres, Illinois,
Dan Sherrill lay face first on the floor of the
intensive care unit. In front of him stands a crowd of
surprised visitors and nurses. He leaves behind an
entire starfleet of friends and his beloved Empress
Alia K'nisah. That is, if he's really dead.
A deadly poison has circulated through his system as
he lay motionless for all to see. The only sound he
has made with his voice is her name. Over and over.
Collette, Collette, Collette. Begging for her help.
Tears are falling in puddles from his eyes for her to
listen for once in her life. One of his cries for help
must have been heard. Half a world away.
The fact that Dan knew Collette's name after being
poisoned troubles Jesus of Nazareth as he races back
to a lab he manages in Heaven with a DNA sample from
Dan. The results of his study should reveal why
Collette was the name Dan cried and no one elses, not
even the one everyone previously stated was his
destined soul mate.
When he wakes from his deep sleep he finds himself in
a strange bed. It's the middle of the night and
lightning is crashing outside during a huge rainstorm.
It is decided that they must check on him before the
storm gets any worse outside. At first glance he
notices a newspaper on the nightstand by the bed. He
realizes from it that he has been taken to Paris,
France. But by who?
A knock is heard on the bedroom door.
Collette-Shh. Dan, are you awake?
Dan-Who are you? I have a weapon if you come any
closer I will fire it and you will die! Who poisoned
me and why?
Collette-Let me explain...
She walks closer to him.
Dan-Then explain from the doorway. Now who are you and
why am I in Paris, France?
Collette-My name is Collette, you called for me so I
came and got you.
Dan-It was that easy?
Collette-Yes.
Dan-So you're my soul mate?
Collette-Yeah.
Dan-I've never heard of you.
Collette-I know. Alia was wise to hide you from me.
Dan-Why?
Collette-She's great at testing people, but she
sometimes doesn't know when to quit. I realize she was
looking out for you but...
She falls hard onto the floor. He shot her in the hand
as she walked closer to him from the doorway. She's
losing so much blood.
He races, weapon in hand, to her phone, but the
doorbell rings first. It's Natalya Glory, but how did
she know where to find him?
Natalya Glory-Get in the car!
Dan-But I shot her in the hand!
Natalya-It's not real. You and I were poisoned. You
are imagining this. I got the same injection in the
hospital. A woman named Martina, right? Did she call
you, too?
Dan-It's raining so hard, how did you find me in a
million years.
Natalya-She was on T.V. earlier. I snuck onto the
plane that brought you here from Crystal Acres. Since
I missed my own flight to Orla I figured I'd spy out
the place where you were taken.
Gunshots are fired at her rented car.
Natalya-Someone's firing on my car!
Dan-Who could it be?
Natalya-I don't know and my comlink won't work, damn. Close your eyes. I can drive if I'm under pressure.
Dan-I speak very little french.
Natalya-I'm fine with that, too. I took a couple years
in college of it, we'll be alright.
Her spedometer reads 90 miles per hour, in a
horrifying rain storm, as her windshield wipers are
nearly breaking trying to run faster and faster to get
the water off the car.
More shots are fired at them.
Dan-Who the Hell is this Collette woman and how could
she have such power over me?
Natalya-Don't worry about it, we're still under the
spell of the venom we were injected with. We're
dreaming.
Dan-So will the gunshots hurt us?
Natalya-I'm not sure.
More shots are coming from a jet black painted van
which has caught up with them at record speed.
Natalya-Let one of the bulletts hit you. See what it
does, I have a first aid kit if you actually get hurt.
As she told him, he holds his hand out the window as a
fresh round of ammunition is fired their way. The
bullett goes right through his hand. So do the next
six. They must not realize it's not harming him as the
firing continues more brutal than before as her car
speeds to 100 miles per hour.
Natalya-Jump from the car!
Dan-What?
Natalya-You won't be hurt, just do it!
Dan-I love you.
Natalya-I know you do.
Without a care in the world, they jump from the moving
vehicle and land softly, but this time are transported
to an underground fortress. When he rolls over to
notice her, he realizes she actually didn't land as
soft as he did and her head is bleeding from her
scalp.
He tries over and over to think its not real blood,
but when it gets on his hand from trying to cover the
cut with his shirt a few things become clearer to him.
Number one, he loves her dearly. Number two, this is
no dream. And number three, danger is walking closer
to both of them.
Dan-Shh.
It walks closer to both of them.
Natalya-Fire at it! Shoot it in the arm!
Dan-It's the same beast that attacked some of our
people before. It's entirely evil. You can't kill it
just by shotting it in the arm. Sweetheart, your head
is still bleeding, I need to get you some help.
Natalya-Don't worry about me, I have a secret, just
murder whatever it is that is giving you the evil eye.
It walks closer as she passes out cold, from blood
loss.
Dan-What have you done to her!
Prince Carl Eyecross-You ended up here?
Dan-I was drugged!
Eyecross-I can take my mask off. I was hired to scare
you away.
Dan-From the Garden of Eden, too?
Eyecross-I'm a prince of darkness.
Dan-Like 'L'?
Eyecross-No, 'L' was good once. I've always been evil.
Dan-What are you going to do to me?
Eyecross-Make you choose.
Dan-Between what?
Eyecross-Waking up from the venom you were given, or
saving the life of your girlfriend.
Dan-Why?
Eyecross-Why? If you choose wrong, she will lay there
and bleed to death. You do love her, right?
Just then Eyecross feels a torch being stabbed
completely into his chest by Natalya who had been out
of view during the conversation.
Waiting at the main door of the fortress is Martina
and Collette, both with swords of their own, ready to
fight.
Natalya-Oh and by the way I just healed myself, I was
never really bleeding, remember we are being drugged.
None of this is real.
Dan-Then how did you stab him?
Natalya-The scenery is real, but we aren't to them.
They can't hurt you. And he's only one of hundreds of
these beasts. Turn around.
He does, and realizes that they are surrounded by a
dozen of the same beasts that Eyecross is. All ready
to fight Dan and his beloved Natalya.
Martina-Give it to me or die!
Dan-Give you what?
Martina-The date!
Dan-What date!
Natalya-Don't give it to her, you know what she wants.
Collette-Give us the date and we will wake you two up
from your dream. No one will ever know about this, and
you can go about your lives! Otherwise, you have to
stay.
Dan-Where are we?
Collette-My castle. It's a long way from Iley, but
rest assured, your comlinks wont work here.
Dan-Where is your castle?
Collette-Universe 2.
Dan-Universe 2?
Martina-We have built a second universe, and you're our first guests! How do you feel?
Dan-Define Universe 2?
Martina-We've copied your universe, if you go to
Illinois, if you go to DeKalb, it will be our DeKalb.
We have duplicated everything. Only it runs completely
differen't. Come closer!
They walk Dan and Natalya to a huge control room,
twice the size of the Father's in Heaven.
'Sa Langrie-Ah, yes, our visitors.
Martina-Show them DeKalb. Show them Dan's apartment.
The display shows 427 Normal rd. in DeKalb but someone
else lives there.
Dan-Who's that?
Martina-Jordan Knight'la-seh, do you understand now
why I need the date!
Natalya-You mean the date of the End of the World?
Dan-Is that what you want, because only I know it!
This has to do with my case, doesn't it!
Collette-Thoma and Marcus are very important to me,
too. I'm on your side in a way. You wish you didn't
know the Day of the Lord, and I wish I did know it so
Universe 2 would be recognized, I just need a target
date to set the strategy and Universe 2 will
completely overshadow The Father's creation.
Dan-But why?
He walks right through the door of the fortress.
Jesus of Nazareth-Collette and Martina, still trying
to 'overshadow' My Father? It's not going to work and
you are not going to sit here and try to get the
beloved date of the End out of this boy, my friend who
I trust. You seem to forget that, wait a second
what's this control panel?
Martina-See, Jesus, you don't get it do you? Our hard
work is going to pay off! We are going to put Your
Father to shame. This time our universe won't fail
like His did. I mean there just won't be a forbidden
tree to not be tempted to eat off of. This will all
happen once I recieve the date to which His world will
end. He has picked a date and your friend, Dan
Sherrill knows what it is. Plus if he won't tell me I
shall murder both Marcus and Thoma myself. Got it?
Jesus-What is your interest in them anyway?
Collette-Their lives are at stake in Madrid, right?
The court case? Dan representing him? I'm smarter than
you think.
Blood begins to rush out of Collette's mouth and she,
too, collapses.
Martina-What have you done?
Jesus-You can't fool me.
Martina-But you didn't close your eyes or wave your
hand. She's dead isn't she.
Jesus-She was never alive to start with.
Meanwhile, Dan walks to check on Natalya who has sat
down in one of the control room chairs to rest and to
hope that Jesus has brought a potion to wake the two
of them up.
Dan-I love you, Natalya Glory. So far a lot of shit
has happened to try to break us up, but I will always
love you. No matter that in reality, yeah, reality you
have already moved away to find your dreams and
wishes. To see if they will all come try. I met you
too late. I know that, hell, I wish it wasn't so true.
She begins to fade, until she is transparent.
Dan-I just know that I really did fall in love with
you. And I just wanted you to know that. Now I will
look for you to slow dance but you wont be there to
slow dance with me anymore since, yeah, you chose to
move far, far, away from the man who loved you, only I
was too late and someone else caught your eye. Or
maybe his hat and music caught your eye more than the
one holding his heart for the day you turned around
and decided that you wanted to listen to me when I
told you I loved you. That I fell in love with you. We
could've been so much.
Jesus fades into the same transparentness as she did,
as well as Martina and Collette. No one else was
drugged but him. He sits alone in the control room and
cries to himself. Loud.
Dan-(Crying) Natalya! I miss you so much. I just wish
you could hear me cry right now. It would make it
either all better or all worse right now. I miss your
blonde hair and the way you smiled to me, and the way
you slow dance with me so gracefully. My heart is like
ash laying on the ground ready to be blown away by the
rainstorm outside. Or is it real or am I just dreaming
that you would rescue me if I was even kidnapped or in
need. Maybe I misjudged you. Maybe I did. But I'm
hoping tonight that I didn't.
He opens his eyes, back home safely. She's already
left and he's thinking about what he might have said
that could've gotten her to stay. Were there
conversations about his love her that could've been
rewritten. Like a second Universe to replace the
mistakes of the present one. Does it ever work? What
if you could redo every bad thing that ever happend on
this universe? Why wouldn't you yearn for a second
chance? Or do you take responsibility for the things
that you do in this one and make sure the next angel
doesn't already have plans to move half the country
away before you get your heart attached to her so much
so that you leave your studio apartment to walk to the
washroom to pick up a tissue to dry your crying eyes
because you hear the slow song on the radio that the
two of you danced to the night you met.
A knock is heard on his door. It's not who he expected
to see.
Addie Rayson-I brought you dinner. New job tomorrow,
remember. Can't be crying about old romances when you
have work to do. Don't hide your tears from me. I've
got the greatest gift of all for you to latch onto.
Dan-That's nice. I just want to be alone tonight to
mourn her.
Addie-She meant a lot to you.
Dan-Yeah.
Addie-I know some girls who are single. No baggage. No other guys they like. I know it's not going to be the
same as the blonde, but at least let me fix your job
situation and let me fix your love life if I can, you
seem pretty beat up inside. Yeah, she moved, so forget
about her and shut the door and move on. How many fish
in the sea? Not all are sharks, you know.
Dan-They all seem like sharks to me, lately. I'm
sorry.
He begins to cry again.
Addie-I'm sorry. Hey if I wasn't in the situation I'm
in I'd swoop you right up and give you my ring finger
to decorate, but I just can't right now. And I know
you like me and I know you smile whenever I walk by.
There's another knock on his apartment door.
Ula Krae-Dan?
Dan-Yes?
Ula-I'm Ula, I brought some friends from your new
destination to meet you. We want to go for a drink,
will you come along?
Dan-I have nothing to lose. Addie? Did you know about
this?
Addie-I did and it will be good for you. I'm going to
help you press the reset button if it kills me.
Dan-Ula, you look like a supermodel.
Ula-You flatter me too much, your not what I'm used
to, but thank you a lot.
The Father hears from His Son of Collette and
Martina's plans for a proposed second universe to be
constructed and run from a hidden base.
Jesus-I think we should investigate its possibility.
The Father-Did Dan reveal the date?
Jesus-No, he didn't as long as I was there he didn't.
The Father-No one must know the Day of the Lord.
Jesus-Your right, I don't even know.
The Father-Son, invite 'L' for dinner to join you and
Brittany and me. Tell him it's desperately important.
Addie, Dan and the others arrive at the Vanilla Candle
on the planet Orla. One of the first to greet Dan is
Clark Ava, Empress Alia's ex husband, Aaron
Deschanel's step father.
Clark Ava-Dan? Why are you here instead of Aaron?
Addie-Go and change Dan.
As asked he walks toward to men's room. Closes the
door and his eyes once he walks in. After 5 minutes
have passed he walks down the hallway.
Clark-Feels good, don't it? So caught up in your 'New
West' project that sometimes you lose sight of who you
are around here. Commander Aaron Deschanel of Iley. My
step son. And my friend. Learn how to change clothes
when you get home from work. Don't let this new job
age you, like the last one did.
They are joined by her majesty, Empress Alia.
Alia-He's right, for once in his life. Work can age
you quick. First work, then fast food, then driving a
hundred miles a week then you keep the same clothes on
and wear them out. Wouldn't you rather feel better by
putting on different clothes when you get home. Leave
work at work and start over fresh when you get home.
Or else you start forgetting wh the hell you are, and
rattling off about the creation of a whole other
universe. Not being able to remember a date. Tell me,
my boy, when will the world end, again?
She falls hard, and blood flows out of her hand, too.
He's still on Universe 2. Clark fades, as well as the
injured but transparent Alia. He's so dizzy right now,
trying to remember anything. Was he just in a car
accident...he can't remember anything. But why?
People are trying to wake him from his nightmare.
Keeping the day of the End a secret is a nightmare,
but nothing compares to laying in a hospital bed not
knowing how the hell you got there. How the hell you
ended up with an I.V. sticking out of your hand.
Nurse Baily-What do you remember?
Dan-Nothing. How did my mom and my Godparents know to
come?
Nurse Baily-You told us to call them and tell them to
come here. Stay awake for me, you've been through a
lot, my dear.
Dan-What happened? I was just going dancing! I was
just going dancing!
Zawn-Lay down, you won't remember it. Listen your car
is finished.
Dan-Why?
Zawn-You were almost finished.
Dan-But I'm supposed to interview for a job. Damn it
how will I get there! How!
Zawn-When can he sleep, nurse?
Dan-Is this Universe 2? Where is Jesus of Nazareth, my
friend? I demand to see him now!
Nurse Baily-I can't get him on the phone.
Dan-Damn you, he can't be reached on a phone. I demand
to see Him and His Father.
Zawn-He means he wants us to cut his life support. He
may want us to cut it now, if he's demanding a trip to
Heaven.
Detective Knight'la walks closer to the crash site.
Knight'la-Something's wrong here.
Jesus-Yeah this doesn't make any sense. If his car
rolled there needs to be more space here for it to
have rolled. There's not enough room here. The car was
shoved off the road.
Kight'la-I hated to write him a ticket for no
insurance but still he didn't have any. Eleanor would
be furious.
Jesus-Hang on.
He pulls out his Heaven Communicator and dials her
number.
Jesus-I need you here, and bring your magnifying
glass. Dan's safety depends on your quick arrival.
Eleanor of Heaven-I'll be there.
He blinks. She's already there.
Eleanor-This was his car, right, did they put out the
fire? Wait, it looks like he was dodging something.
The fact sheet says that he was sober, right? At
11:30p? Going to a club near Crystal Acres, right?
Would he have fallen asleep? What makes you tired when
it's so early? What makes you tired? And if he fell
asleep, he would be in worse shape physically than he
is, right?
Jesus-I suppose.
Eleanor-This was someone else's doing, I imagine.
Jesus-Any ideas?
Eleanor-Look at the facts of the case. 11:30pm, on a
street he's driven on a hundred thousand times, to a
club he goes to about twice a month, on a Saturday
night. We need to put him under hypnosis. Stop his
heart.
He blinks.
Zwan-Get in here! Dan's flatlined! He's dead.
Nurse Baily-I don't think so, but I'll check the
records.
Zwan-Wait, he's back to life. It wasn't even 5
seconds. Sorry, Nurse I must have read the wrong data
coming out of the heart monitor.
She looks puzzled at the Detective.
Eleanor-This readout from his heart is enough for me
to test and to come up with a solution. I believe he
swerved. I don't know if he rolled his car at this
point. Did anyone see it?
Knight'la-The neighbors heard it, but didn't see it.
Jesus closes his eyes, longer this time.
Dan-Jesus? Where are you? And why am I not dying?
Jesus-Shh. You won't die if you tell me the date. The
Day of the Lord! Tell me the date!
Dan-Jesus is not a murderer. Stopping my heart would
mean you were trying to murder me in cold blood.
Collette, are you so interested in the fate of Marcus
and Thoma and Universe 2 that you would drug me and
cause me to crash my car in order to inpersonate the
Savior of Mankind enough to trick me into thinking you
were him long enough to screw with my emotions and
utter the keywords that I have come to react to in the
same way, I'm too smart for your deception which is
getting worse by the minute.
Martina-Then I'll lock the door of the control room
where you're sitting, and crying over Natalya so you
can never escape it and I will show you my plans for
the construction of the universe that will completely
overshadow anything your friend, The Father can
attempt to create on his own. I've always been more
powerful than him. I've always been way more powerful
than he ever dreamed of being. Even when I hired that
woman to caputure his wife. I was smiling as she was
hidden in that rock. Only to be found out later, yeah
well she didn't do a good enough job.
Dan-Is even Admiral Osterly a part of your evil plan?
Martina-You better pray he isn't, for the sake of the
population of Madrid Spain on the Day of the Lord. The
city will burn down and I will call down every living
creature that has so far populated quit nicely
Universe 2. The 2 will replace the One and no one will
ever remember you.
Dan-I'm better than that. I know the way out of here.
The way to wake up. You might have taken everything
away from me including my cowgirl and my car, as you
may think you have, and my Empress and her friends,
the Ileys, but I'm strong. I'm strong enough to fight
back.
Martina-Then how come you don't change into Aaron
Deschanel, a commander of the North Iley Starfleet.
The greatest starfleet in the galaxy and off me with
one shot from your weapon? Why keep talking to me and
letting me cloud you with visions so horrifying that
it haunts you at night? To see how much you can
possibly stand or to make you stronger?
Dan-Strength turns to endurance. That's the answer you
seek, right? How much strength do I have? How much
strength do you think I have?
His brown eyes close. Both of them. FInally being
angred so much that the dandruff falls from his scalp,
and he appears clean shaven and in a new outfit with
Addie by his side, once more. This time, though, she
is real. The door to the control room is fired at with
blasters and walked through by Nurse Colby, Empress
Alia, Chancellor Eve, Patricia Pottery, Anda Quorell
and Eleanor herself.
Alia-Martina, so we finally meet. Draw your sword.
Not only does Alia draw her shining Sword of North
Iley, but the others do as well. The odds are too much
for Martina and she backs away from them, leaving
Aaron Deschanel, now fully visable, to hold Alia in
his arms for dear life.
Aaron Deschanel-I feel better now. I feel alive and
yet I also feel sad.
Alia-Sad?
Aaron-That it's been five years since we have been on
North Iley. May we go back.
Alia-This was the shock to your central nervous system
that you truthfully needed to combat Dan's depression
and to bring you back instead of his fragmented self.
I have missed you, my student in training.
Nurse Colby-Addie really is set to transform Dan. It's
happening as we speak. This is foreign to you since
you only exist when he has the strength to brew the
spell to bring you to life instead of him.
Alia-There's something else, North Iley is no longer a
landing hanger. Jesus and his friends have been
working day and night to restore my castle. We are
free to move back in. There's just one thing. We have
to agree to pick and choose thirteen Nelari to walk
freely to inspect it and to let four of their own live
with us.
Aaron-Who? Or do I want to know?
Alia-Pathri'Jen, Iva Am'Jorr, Sasha Grey'la, and
Marken Twisqu.
Aaron-You mean, my sister, Iva is coming home?
Alia-She broke away, yes, while you were away, but
decided to go back, after breaking up with Patrick.
Long story. She's higher in ranking on Nelari now.
Things change. Ellie and Isabell are anxious to
present you with a welcome back cake.
Aaron-What color is the water on North Iley?
Alia-Clear. Like it should be. Easy to wash some of
your aging away from you if you know what I mean.
Aaron-Can we leave here and go to North Iley. As soon
as possible, I'm not feeling good.
Alia-What's wrong, my dear?
Aaron-I know Jesus cleaned the place up but I'm
worried about living there with the Nelari watching
over us.
Alia-Iva turned to our side a while ago, you remember,
and Pathri'Jen is fine, too. I don't know the other
two. Relax that was 6 years ago. No one's going to say
anything.
Aaron-Addie is coming right, our Addie. And is Roxanne
coming?
Alia-So you can finally steal her away from Greagory.
Aaron-Are they still together?
Alia-Barely. It hurt them being away form their
kingdom when they finally joined us on our missions.
Blink, my dear.
He does. And finds himself and Alia outside the doors
of the great Castle Galai, Alia's castle. This place
is unfamiliar, but second by second it comes back.
They knock on the door, only to have it answered by
Iva herself.
Iva Am'Jorr-Just don't talk to me!
Aaron-I'll try not to.
Iva-I'm kiding, don't take me seriously. It's okay.
Aaron-Is all of our stuff still here?
Iva-Under loads of dust. I found some things though.
Hidden in the safe. We have to share the safe now and
I'm sorry but I was putting some of my stuff in there
and I found some things that I need to talk to you
about. Do you mind, Alia, it's important. Plus Aaron
has about 400 voice mails to go through, you guys have
been gone since 1999, when Julia came and make you
guys move to Kaesa to be with her, which if I remember
right, was nothing but drama, but at least you guys
still talk to Julia, that much is good.
Alia-Sometimes. She would never move to North Iley,
so I really can't give her a title around here, except
a godsend when we needed her. I'll catch up with you
guys later, and I understand both sets of twins are
coming over for dinner.
Iva leads him to a hidden safe which sits completely
under the basement of the castle. There is a trap
door, then a long set of stairs leading underground.
All of the Iley secrets rest here.
Aaron-Dan's transformation and rescue by Addie brought
his train of thoughts to you. Plus I heard he saw
you, I mean the other you.
Iva-Yeah I replayed the tape and watched it with The
Father after it happened. I'm surprised she didn't say
anything to him.
Aaron-If I know Dan, he was expecting it. I saw the
same tape. The night Wooden Box Theater came back.
Anda told me about it, so really me coming here with
Alia wasn't that big of a surprise. Anyway, why did
you bring me down here, what did you find?
Lady 2-Me.
He turns to walk away from her, knowing she's right
there in their castle, standing in the middle of the
hidden safe.
Aaron-I'm going to my room.
He walks back up the stairs and walks right past Alia
and Ellie La'Jeanna, who he once felt a lot for.
Ellie-That's strange, he should've been happy to see
me, after all these years, and he just walks right by
me.
Alia-Your right. Something's up. Oh, wait. I saw a car
in the drive way next to the castle. It wasn't
familiar to me.
Half an hour later, after checking 100 of his
messages, Aaron lays down on his familiar bed for a
nap. Trying to make sense of what happened inside the
safe, he shuts his eyes.
Lady 2-Alia?
Alia-Yes?
Lady 2-Sasha cancelled at the last minute, her
passport wouldn't convert and they wouldn't let her
out of Nelari. So I came in her place.
Alia-Your going to be living here? With Iva? And
Pathri'Jen and her friend?
Lady 2-Yeah.
Alia-Damn you. When were you going to tell him?
Lady 2-Downstairs in the safe. I was waiting for him.
Iva brought him down, but he just said he was going
upstairs and ran off and wouldn't even look me in the
eye, it was like he was cold toward me.
Alia-How can you say that? Do you know what you did to
him to make him that way. Now I'm not just talking
about having a few awkward breakfasts with him from
now on, I mean how are you going to be able to
function knowing down deep in his heart he cares
deeply for you to this day? How do you respond to
that?
Lady 2-The only fucking way I know how!
She breaks down and cries.
Lady 2-I knew I shouldn't have taken Gelfa up on his
offer. I should've stayed home, but no I had to move
to damned North Iley with people I don't even like.
Alia-I'm sure no one twisted your arm. I know you.
Your still curious about Aaron. Damn you. This was
Gelfa's idea, so just tell him you don't want to live
with us and we can be on our way, without you, if
that's what you want.
She gets close to his bedroom door. The hallway is
dark and lit with candles once more. First time, in
fact, since 1999. No one is around, wait, Chancellor
Eve is walking by, on her way to her room, with
Princess Avonlie. Wow, she thinks to herself, they're
all back in the castle, where they belong.
Chancellor Eve-What is she doing here?
Princess Avonlie-Not sure, I thought they had to stay
separate otherwise, well, you know.
Eve-I'm starting to get deja'vu just being here again.
It's almost strange. Something's wrong.
She tries her comlink.
Eve-Kyle?
Somewhere in the depths of Nelari, Kyle answers his
comlink, from the familiar extension.
Kyle-What is it Eve?
Eve-Something terrible is wrong here.
Kyle-Is Avonlie there?
Eve-Yeah, and Alia and most of the gang, and even 4
Nelari are here, at Alia's castle.
Kyle-So what's the problem?
Eve-Maybe it's just me but none of this seems real.
Kyle-Have you had anything to drink?
Eve-Not until later. We're having a party. A castle
party to celebrate the Ileys being back.
Kyle-I'll keep my comlink on in case, you know. Just
in case.
He answers the door.
Aaron-What is it?
Lady 2-Shh.
Aaron-Why are you here, now living with me?
Lady 2-I wronged you. I'm going to right you.
Aaron-It's too fucking late!
Lady 2-I was crying downstairs in anticipation of this
moment, don't ruin it for me.
Aaron-And I'm supposed to sympathize with that. I love
you! God, I thought I'd never say that again, but here
you are right in my face, at my door, at my bedroom
door and Hell we could bring back old times, but what
old times, being beat bloody with mean words and being
butchered with evil eyes for what seemed like an
eternity, and I want to really be the one to choose.
To actually choose to relive that every damned day
from now on, maybe I wish I was still on Kaesa about
now. But yeah, hooray, now I'm back on Iley and back
thinking about you.
Ellie La'Jeanna-Is everything okay? Aaron, is there a
problem?
Aaron-No, it's okay.
She walks back to Alia long enough to tell her that
Aaron gave her a cold look.
Lady 2-Will you at least let me in, to explain.
Aaron-We've been through this a hundred times. Want to
borrow some of the other Alia and the Boy books? The
ones I didn't throw away of my own since unlike you I
wanted to put this out of my life and start over, and
yeah I'm a little nervous being back on Iley because
of the emotions I know it will stir up, but I guess
I'm fine with letting you in.
She sits on his bed, as he is able to see her in the
light of his desk lamp.
Aaron-This is so hard for me.
Lady 2-I know. I almost don't want to say anything to
you for fear that it might disturb the vibe I'm
getting off you. Just look at my face. I know you love
me. It's not that hard to sense from you. I put you
through Hell. I know. But people change, you know.
Good people are resting peacefully inside people who
may seem evil, but they may only be evil for a short
time. I'm probably the devil herself to you right now,
just like I was before, only then it was intentional I
just didn't like you, but I didn't know you. Until
today.
Aaron-Why today, did you come to the realization that
I'm finally a good person. What did you see in that
safe? And I'm sorry for walking off on you, it's just
hard for me.
Lady 2-I know.
She pulls him closer to her, and holds him in her
arms, feeling love for him grow in her heart by the
second.
Lady 2-Something's not right here.
Aaron-What?
Lady 2-This should've happened a long time ago. I'm
sorrowful at that fact. It haunts me sometimes. I'll
be doing something and I'll just stop in the middle of
it and think about what happened between us. Sometimes
I'm glad it did happen and sometimes I'm mad it did,
then I want to see you, then I think you'll just hate
me for the rest of your life anyway so why bother.
Aaron-I don't hate you.
He begins to cry. She notices it as the tear drops
falling down his face give it away too quickly. He's
trying, though, to hold it back, and yeah, it works
for a little bit, then her hand reaches over and
begins to wipe the falling tears away from his face.
In doing that, though, she is causing more to fall, as
he remains quiet.
Aaron-I can't think of anything to say to you, but if
your genuine with me, I will be genuine with you. I'll
never stop loving you. Not ever. Not ever.
Lady 2-Promise?
Aaron-Yeah, I do. If it takes the rest of this story,
I will find out what you saw in the safe that is
changing your mind about me. I'm grateful for it,
whatever it was. And now I wonder how long you've had
access to the files, whatever they are.
Lady 2-You want to know what I found?
Aaron-Yeah.
Lady 2-A roll of reel to reel film. And i sat there
and watched it. You stole it out of Heaven, right? The
night we fought. This time I saw it from your
perspective. And I wept. Hard. I went through a
quarter of a roll of tissue in just the first few
minutes. Then when you were sitting there with Clark
Ava crying sorrowful full droplets of pain from your
eyes. Pain that I fucking caused. And for what. To sit
there and inflict that kind of butchery on someone,
how could I do that to you. I never knew what happened
to you. I ran off. I didn't know you sat there and
cried for 15 minutes. I wasn't interested in sticking
around to see if you cleaned yourself up after the
unkind things I said to you and I never knew. I
finally saw the footage for what it really was, my
fault, and I wanted to share that with you. In person,
not just in a letter that I'd have to write and
rewrite and write and rewrite, but I, Lady 2, wanted
to look at you and ask you something with my own
voice.
Eve-Aaron!! It's not real!! Natalya told me!!
He closes his eyes!
Eve-She'd rather die than apologize and this isn't
Iley. This isn't Iley!
Aaron-No!! She was apologizing to me!! No!!
Avonlie-Aaron! Close your eyes. Fight it. And her.
It's Martina! She's going to ask you the date of the
End of the World!
Suddenly he finds himself in darkness. The castle is
gone. All he can see is Natalya.
Natalya-Don't give it to her.
Dan-I won't.
Natalya-You're back as Dan. Aaron was an illusion.
Damn. Alia is here though. You fell.
Dan-She was haunting me with the one thing I want the
most. Resolution. How can I terrify her enough to
break the spell.
Natalya-I don't know, honey, I just don't know.
Dan-We're floating. In mid air. It's dark. So dark.
All I have is you. All I have is the memory of the
slow dances that brought us together, then I lost you,
too. I lost you so badly it makes me cry.
Natalya-Who were you talking to when you were under
the spell. Who ended up asking you for the date?
Dan-Long story, I thought was forgotten. A lady at
work made me remember it. Part of my hiring. Addie
doesn't know. Barely anyone does.
Natalya-I see.
She surprises him with a kiss.
Natalya-Dare anyone hurt you. Today, or ever. Me
included.
Dan-But you did.
Natalya-Becuase you let me hurt you.
Dan-How?
Natalya-Things got said that let me do it.
Dan-What things? Wait something's bothering me.
Suddenly he becomes light headed and collapses.
Someone's there to pick up the pieces.
Rachel Deschanel-Dan?
He appears to be at her house.
Rachel-I wrote a song for you.
Dan-Why am I here?
Rachel-I reached into your position and grabbed you
right out of the hospital bed where you lay getting
over your concussion. I grabbed your heart and I have
it here resting in my right palm. I'm examining it
closely. It has my name on it. You can't trust them.
Alia lead you to ruin, hurt, ruin, hurt, ruin and hurt
and hurt's sister ruin. Yeah, something like that. I'm
giving you some medicine to help you remember.
Dan-Why did I crash my car?
Rachel-We're working on that.
Dan-I don't fucking remember anything. Why am I here
in this bed. Why! Why! Why!
Rachel-Shh.
She kisses his forehead.
Rachel-Just don't fall asleep or you'll die.
Dan-Stay with me. Long after everyone leaves. Stay. I
said some things to you. I told you in letters and
scripts that I cared a lot about you, and what I got
in return was a branding iron marked 'hurt' inprinted
on my aorta. I'll never forget the hurt that flowed
through my central nervous system the morning I got
your letter in the mail. Yeah, what was that all
about. I never figured it out. And now I can't and
certianly won't ever ask you about it. How can I? How
can I just say to your face why did you try to write
me out of your life when all the signs pointed to us
belonging together, but more signs pointed to you
leading me on to believe that there were something
there that sure as hell was not there and I cried. I
wish you had seen me do it. To see me collapse in
tears when I read such things written in blue pen and
written most importantly of all by someone I came to
care so deeply for. If this accdent has taught me
anything it's that maybe Addie was right to lead me
away from my current situation since I would most
truly be living in the shadow of the hurt you
introduced to me free of charge. It might have been
free to you to send me a letter like that, but what it
boiled down to was that you didn't have the nerve to
say it to my face not more than a day before I got it
in the mail. How could stand there and accept my
writing from me and knowing full well that you were
just going to send it back to me and write me out of
your life, what in fact was the intended reaction you
were looking to get out of me? Huh? Was it to make me
say 'Okay, I don't love her any more?' Do I just
instantly wish you were not in my heart, as even you
have a key to my room in Alia's castle or whatever
the Hell it is in real life, but judging from the way
I'm writing this Alia and the Boy story with you in
mind, I'm obviously still hurt over the fact that it
didn't work out between us and I'm sorry to drag it
into a story but I was just thinking about all of it
when I played the soundtrack that I did a hundred
times when I first moved into my apartment, I listened
to it closely as it was what helped me to write
'Moonlight over the eastern boarder' for you to read,
as it was you didn't even bother to show up to hear it
read or to be in it, like you were the one before it. I'm
not even close to being able to put into words what
that did to me, only enough to say that it genuinely
hurt my heart to death to know that not only my love
for you was in danger of being foreced to vanish, but
also having to figure out how to deal with the obvious
fact that I lost a dear friend. That hurts more than
anything.
Rachel-Shut up and tell me the date of the End of the
World!
Dan-Try again, Martina.
Martina-You just won't break down, will you?
Dan-No, I won't and never will.
He turns around at a tap on his shoulder.
Kara'lieanna-Daniel?
Dan-What?
Kara'lieanna-I made you some tea, while you wait.
We're still going to church, right?
Dan-It's not dark.
Kara'lieanna-I've always been your soul mate. When
you're around me, it's never dark. My presence walks
with you every day. But sometimes, it's not so
impressed with what you do with most of your nights. I
saw you. I remember. You weren't yourself, but you
sprang into action when you saw me.
Dan-I was with a freind.
Kara'lieanna-Not a very good one, or else you would've
introduced me to him, right? I'm your best friend.
Dan-You are.
Kara'lieanna-I'm not going to to ask you for the date
of the End of the World. I'm just here to pose a
question before you are able to retain your short term
memory and are released from the hospital this
afternoon. What if?
Dan-What if what?
Kara'lieanna-What if I had reached out and kissed you
right on the lips in the lobby of the theater? What
then? Would you have left with me and never left me
alone again? Would I have that to depend on for the
duration of my lonely days on Earth? I never hurt you.
Dan-You did, though.
Kara'lieanna-Yeah. Now that you mention it. You tried
your hardest to tell me that you had fallen for me.
But then what's a search for your soul mate good for
if you're dating her? What do you do then? I knew you
were falling for me so early on it's scary to think
about how many subtle signs you threw at me so often,
I should've caught on to it.
Dan-What made you notice me the night recently when
our eyes met? Did I place a spell on the one story I
wrote about you for Alia and the Boy? Are we really
meant to be soul mates or lovers or fighters against
each other? I certainly don't want to break the amount
of grace and love you have shown me for so many years.
I could be there for you forever. This is what I want.
I slipped and told you that you looked beautiful, I
suddenly forgot that you had in fact hurt me very
badly, too, like all of the others who have claimed to
be visiting my aorta this night while I lay here and
cling onto the few memories that I am now able to
retain inside the brain that rests inside my heart and
underneath my scalp. I almost can't stand to look at
you now, like I did that night. What do I do with you
now? Now that you're here in front of me looking oh so
beautiful to me right now, you're always going to
remain the most beautiful woman God ever created with
his own hand. That's the thing about Him. He puts
people in each other's lives for a reason. Like he put
me in yours. I've always known that you were
handpicked for me to love and to cherish for many,
many years to come. I never told anyone. No one.
Except maybe my mom about you. I love you. (Crying)
Kara'lieanna-Give me time to return that love to you.
I love that you have never once forgotten my name. I
heard that Rachel or whatever you call her had broken
your heart, my friend told me. I wanted to do
something bitter to her. To anyone who crosses the
path of your heart as a black cat would cross the path
of someone faithful. I was bitter. I wanted so badly
to rescue you myself. She did a number on you. I know.
Martina is testing you. I asked her to. I had to know
the truth. I saw something that night that I ran into
you. I followed you. Home that is. I waited for you in
the parking lot until your friend drove you two away
and I followed you. I stayed up all night thinking
that you were pondering over our meeting, and sure
enough, it seemed that were shining your cell phone
light on the addresses on my street hoping it wasn't
too late to wake me up and to talk to me after so long
wondering what ever happened to me. I am not stupid, I
know how you are, you're my soul mate, remember, and I
know you know, you've always known in your heart. Even
when they used to pray over you, your subsenses kept
calling to me and I just sat there not knowing how to
react that my heart was beating so fast for you to
just look at me like a girlfriend and not like what
you thought of me as, someone else that would
eventually slaughter your heart until it bled all down
your chest and legs as you stood there thinking about
me and thinking about how much you wanted to pull me
aside and to tell me what you were thinking and
feeling for me just being around me, you always said
that you never know how beautiful you are until
someone comes along and unconditionally adores you
until you almost want to blush from being flattered so
much, but this time flattery seemed like security. I
was and became secure in the way that your love made
me feel. Someone out there cared enough for me to
develop these kinds of feelings for me and I damned
sure scared him away for good, or I thought. You could
have easily ran the other way, and I know how you are,
you would've if it was too much for you to handle,
right? You would have, but you didn't, you still as
sure as I'm recounting this, you stood there like I
was the prettiest girl at prom and told me I looked
great, and that it was great to see me. I must not be
in line to make an appointment at the eye clinic, and
to read those small letters a little clearer when they
retest my eyes for temporary blindness for not being
able to forcefully predict your reaction, of course
you think I look great, I'm your soul mate. The one
you never told anyone about, until you tried telling
me and I didn't believe you, that night. But the more
I thought about it, you can't tell The Father who your
pick by him is, you can't argue with Him if he says we
should be together, or that He thought we should,
should we then listen to him?
Dan-Could you ever love me?
Kara'lieanna-I have a slip of paper that will answer
your question.
Dan-He opens it and reads outloud.
"Dear Dan.
Go to where you met Natalya Glory, someone
wants to kill you, until your death is traded in for
gold,
love Kara'lieanna"
Dan-What the Hell is this?
Kara'lieanna-Just what it says. Go there.
Dan-When?
Kara'lieanna-Now.
Dan-But I'm in the hospital and I can't remember my
accident or how the Hell I got here.
Kara'lieanna-Shh. It's an illusion. A costly one, but
an illusion. Close your eyes. What do you remember?
Dan-Natalya. The beautiful blonde angel that I loved
dearly.
Kara'lieanna-Why did you break up with her?
Dan-We were never together?
Kara'lieanna-Says who?
Dan-What?
Kara'lieanna-I snuck into the files. Sorry. You're my
soul mate and I have to look out for you. She used to
call you constantly. Every day. Why wouldn't you be
together?
Dan-I jinx things like that by telling people about my
plans and my love life too much. I was telling people
how happy she was making me and I started to believe
in what I was feeling and the vibes I was getting off
her when she'd call in the middle of the night just to
talk. I was so lucky to have her.
Kara'lieanna-And you didn't even fight for her? You
just gave up?
Dan-She was leaving anyway, read back a couple of
books. (Smiles) Anyway, she fell, um, for someone
else. More suitable for her and I stood back and
watched her leave. It upset me greatly since she knew
I was hurting over this but in all reality what was I
to do, drop everything and pick up and leave
everything? And yeah, I know people do it everyday
when they go off to college, but what would've awaited
me if suddenly she would've fallen out of love with
me? Then what? Then I would've been in another state,
across the country and without a home for my broken
heart, then what?
Kara'lieanna-It's called risk. You take it everyday
when you wake up. What if in the middle of the night a
black widow spider found it's way inside your mouth
and was crawling slowly and slowly and slowly down
your throat and decided to sting you right at your
vocal chords, then you wake up and can't talk? So what
do you do, not sleep for fear of a spider crawling in
your mouth? You foolishly threw her away. Or acted it
like it on the surface. You know how many spiders
people swallow in your sleep every year? More than you
care to know about. Let's just say, you'd never want
to sleep if you knew that they're prickly feet and
black limbs are walking inside your mouth, resting on
your tongue and sizing up your tracheal passages. They
have eyes to that will examine every inch of your
inner flesh. And if you move just the slightest, they
scare easily. When an insect such as this is scared,
it uses it's dangerous form of security blanket. It
stings people. Hard. Try going to a doctor or the
emergency room with an internal spider bite,
especially with the thing still attached to its marked
spot like instant cement. Now, are you going to want
to go to sleep now?
Dan-I'm not sure. But they always do those crazy
studies about thow many bugs you eat on accident or
whatever, but how much of it is really accurate and
how much of it is just someone trying to scare people
or give them those little chills that sell horror
movies. Besides she lived in a mansion of a house, I
was intimidated the few times I was there.
Kara'lieanna-So you wouldn't try? Dan Sherrill just
gave up? Great! I mean, super. You like a girl, you
throw yourself into a neat storyline and get yourself
accepted in a cool dance club and make all these
friends only to get so close to the girl of your
dreams, and you gave up because she lives in a mansion
and was moving away, and kind of liked someone else
more? I don't get you sometimes. Of course now we have
to exterminate someone early that's going to try to
butcher you when we go there, but still for the time
it lasted it was really cool, wouldn't you say. Here,
take my phone. Call her.
He dials the number. Then hangs up real quick after
the first ring.
Dan-I can't.
Kara'lieanna-Why?
Dan(Crying)-I just can't.
Kara'lieanna-I wish I could read your mind sometimes.
But for now she settles on putting her arms around him
and holding him close to her beautiful body.
Kara'lieanna-I'm changing something. Instead of having
your mom take you home, you're going to come home with
me. Nurse? He's ready to be released into my exclusive
care only.
Nurse Jan-That's fine. Do you have everything?
Kara'lieanna-We do.
He is wheeled outside to her waiting car. Addie is
waiting for him, too.
Addie--Good to see you in one piece.
Dan-It's great to be here, thank you.
Addie-You start shortly, with me. You know.
Dan-I know. And thank you for that, too.
Kara'lieanna-Call her.
He gets in her car and places the call, in the middle
of the two of them loading Kara'lieanna's car with
Dan's changes of clothes.
Natalya-Yes?
Dan-I was in an accident. I wanted to talk to you,
just please don't hang up or else my heart will bleed
tears.
Natalya-Save the tissue to clean it up, I'm not going
anywhere. Gabe told me, he heard it on his police
scanner. I was expecting a call from you.
Dan-I don't know what to say to you other than to
graphically detail an accident that I remember nothing
about. I couldn't deal with dying without saying a
last goodbye to you, my angel from heaven. I
couldn't deal with my last memory of you being when you
walked right by me holding hands with your new
boyfriend. Or telling you that it was probably best
that we didn't talk anymore. And you agreeing that we
just couldn't get along. But rather the nights I'd
wake up from a sound sleep to the sound of my phone
going off and lighting up with your name projected
across my glowing caller ID display. I used to never
want to sleep then. But things so changed for us. You
knew I loved you, or had fallen for you at least and I
knew there was a grain of salt symbolizing my chances
to be with you, and that grain of salt became my
happiness about it. I was never more cheerful than
when I was talking to or writing to or slow dancing
with you. Everything just seemed and felt so right,
but you get that all too familiar feeling like it's
all going to come crashing down like a piano falling
from the sky on top of you, crushing your body with
it's impact. And it did. Honey, it did. And it left me
wounded. More than anyone else who's came to visit my
heart during this whole ordeal with the accident, your
wound to my heart is terrifying to try to explain to
the filing cabinet inside my memory bank. It wants bad
to place you in the all around good file, but is so
tempted to just shrug you to the side and never speak
or think of you again, which would be easy, damn would
it be easy to do sometimes, but I can't and won't be
pinned up against that sort of wall where I surrender
everything that has or ever will hurt me to paranoia of
being hurt again, and never in a thousand and one
years will I ever want to pawn off on someone else the
sweet things and thoughts I had for you and that I
knew you had for me, it's not able to be fully erased,
even with the strongest white liquid paper to paste
over my label for you on my heart. It's just not easy
to do and even harder to accept once I've fully erased
you from my life. I will still always want to be that
man who came out of nowhere and held you dearly in his
arms until you felt safe to go outside again and to
play in the snow outside our house, when we got
married someday. Yeah. I wouldn't have minded that at
all.
Natalya-This is an earful, but I am listening to you,
just don't think that I was closing my ears to you the
whole time. It was dark, I didn't see you, and how do
you know I wouldn't have stopped dead in my tracks to
say hello to you, or to have accepted an honest hello
from you? How do you know? How do you know I wouldn't
have welcome a kiss, right on my lips from you on our
date? Instead you acted scared of me for some reason,
like you didn't want to be with me because you were
scared stiff of getting hurt by me, is that it? Were
you feeling like you wanted to say a million things to
me in your car that night, but everything seemed to
jumble itself up in your head in trying to open the
car doors for me or the fact that I coudln't have you
drive me home? But what I had? You almost made a fool
out of yourself by being overly scared of me breaking
your heart in half? And for what reason? Did I ever
say that I was going to set out to smash you?
Dan-Sometimes I thought so. Every time. Every fucking
time I thought we were getting close, I got scared.
I've never felt that way before. Maybe it's because of
how many times the same thing has happened. I fell too
hard and I got my teeth pulled out with metal pliers, every last one. One by one. Then the back
ones. Or at least that's what it seemed like and with
you, hey, I cherished you, you may not have known it
or came to really believe it, but I did. I really did.
But you build up a guard that says, 'Hey, this is
really cool, and she's so great, and guess what she's
in my car, doing her hair in front of my rearview mirror and she looks so beautiful. So beautiful. But
any minute now she's going to break my heart, she might
even do it with a kind 'I kinda like someone else' or
'I'm moving at the end of the summer' and guess what
happened? Both came true.
Natalya-Maybe you just need to get over me. I know I
told you that before. It was you remember that
wouldn't make the first move. I'm a woman, not a mind
reader. Two things that are differen't don't you
think? I should produce magic fortune reading cards to
you, right out of my pocket to prove to you that yes,
Dan, I can read your mind. I can, I can see you and I
in the same car and you not wanting to kiss my lips.
Aren't I pretty enough? Don't you at some point have to
be man enough to back up what the Hell you say with
your aorta? You claimed to love me? You claimed to my
friends and everyone I know and that you knew that I
was the one for you. Great, you get me in your car and
drive me to the club and ignore me. Great, so that's
what I would've had to look forward to. Foolishness.
Dan-You don't understand. In wanting it to be perfect
and flawless, it ended up being a terrible night for
me.
By this time Dan, and his two friends are already at
Kara'lieanna's house, but none of this matters as he
is still attached to his conversation, wanting to
resolve this once and for all if this is the last time
the two of them will talk.
Natalya-Talk about a terrible night, try being on a
date with someone and then they run off and won't even
stand by you long enough to say hi. You just ran off.
That bothered me. I'm like here's this guy who I know
likes me and I agree to go out with him, you know,
just to see what would happen if we did and you spent
the whole time hanging out with these other girls and
planning something like trying to dance with me and
when we finally did there was no passion in it at all,
not nearly like the first night we did.
Dan-I wanted to be right for you.
To his surprise she walks out of the guest room at
Kara'lieanna's house.
Natalya-Answer me one last thing?
Dan-Sure.
Natalya-Why didn't you pull over?
Dan-What?
Natalya-Why didn't you just pull the car over and tell
me that which was bothering your heart, that you were
afraid that I was going to hurt your heart. How can
you suspect me of an action that I have not yet
committed to doing? Isn't that unfair of you to me,
someone you say you love. Don't do that. And how do
you know I didn't leave that night feeling pretty
lousy myself, like what did I do wrong? What did I do
right? Finally a guy who isn't going to trample my
feelings with his combat boots, finally a guy who is a
romantic, who likes to fucking slow dance, who cares
so dearly for me, is so scared that he's a pale white
bug next to me that he doesn't even go for it when I
lend him a few breadcrumbs to pick up on his way to
the path to my heart. God, Dan, you can be so blind.
This is not, though, a blindness that glasses can cure
or fix, but a blindness that tells me that you didn't
even notice that I got all dressed up and I walked in
with you. I didn't see anyone else holding the door
for me. Why was it such a chore for you to ask me to
slow dance? You know I would've. That's where it ended
for me to you. I didn't want to be around you anymore.
I mean, yeah, you finally kissed me, but at that point
I just wanted you to leave. Listen, and listen good.
I'm staying here an extra night, but that's it. To
find out who's trying to kill you at the club, and
also to find out what's inside your precious heart.
Addie-Natalya, people don't just drive off the road,
roll their car, and not really get hurt either. I
can't figure that one out for the life of me. We have
to go. The club will be full and we need back up. Quick
turn the lights off!
Kara'lieanna pulls the light switch to the off
position and walks back to the kitchen with Addie, and
awaits quietly Dan and Natalya's next move.
Natalya-I hear a song.
Dan-Do you want to dance? I can light a candle.
Natalya-No distractions, you hear?
Dan-Promise.
She holds him dearly in her arms, as they dance.
Close.
Natalya-Do you mean it?
Dan-Now, I do.
Natalya-Give me your last name.
Dan-To marry you?
Natalya-I'm not asking the date of the end of the
world, now am I? Just think my last name will no
longer be Mission!
Dan-Addie, quick! She's Natalya Glory's twin!
Natalya-You catch on. Now out with it. The date of the
end of the world! You wouldn't keep it from me, right?
Your precious Natalya!
Dan-Yes I would!
Addie-Dan, we have to get you out of here!
Dan-Kara'lieanna! Are you going to ask me the same
thing a few pages into the story, you better tell me
now or Addie and I will be very cross with you!
Addie-She's fine! Now let's go!
Dan-No! I want to see Alia!
Addie-There's no time.
Dan-No!
Addie-Kara'lieanna, give me the needle! We're going to
have to put him under for this one.
Dan-No!!!
He falls fast asleep and is transported by a waiting
vehicle outside her house. Transported to the depths
of familiar surroundings and a man looking deeply into
his eyes.
L-They all want it, don't they?
Dan-Why have I been cursed with this knowledge?
L-How do you think the Father feels.
Dan-Probably like he needs to share it with someone or
the news may eat holes into the flesh his arms and
legs.
L-You remember who you got the information you have so
wisely stored in the back of your mind. It was
injected into you by Him. For this case you are
working on, remember? Remember Spain. Madrid. The
courtroom. Has your accident erased that, too? I
haven't read all of your charts yet.
Dan-I'm fine. I just don't remember crashing, or my
car burning. I remember the hurt that has been
visiting me all night, and all the alternate motives
behind my painful flashbacks, that by the way, I wish
would stop.
L-In time. You just have to learn a few things before
we can clear you to continue. There's a woman I want
you to meet. Her name is Eliza. She lives here. While
her skin boils over from the heat of our initial test
of human spirit and faith down here, she 's still
showing a significant amount of wisdom and inner
faithfulness that I haven't seen displayed in all of
Hell since I established this fortress of harrowing
images. She knows things about you.
Things I can't imagine coming up with the words to
portray to you. It would be so hard. And I'd end up
crying, therefore ruining my image as the man
dressed in red with cartoon horns on my head.
He is lead to her resting place. She is barely able to
speak, but when she does, things appear. Her words
project footage onto a monitor by him. She doesn't
speak english so he doesn't understand her. Only the
images projected onto the screen.
Dan-She's showing me things I had long forgotten.
Wait, here's something.
She motions for him to look very carefully. And breaks
her language barrier by telling him a secret.
Eliza-You never fell asleep. That's your key. A being
has escaped. He blocked your car. You didn't want to
hit him.
L-A being?
Eliza-White. Being.
L-How long have you spoken english?
Eliza-I grew up in Nebraska.
The monitor turns off. And she struggles to raise
herself enough to stand. It's so hard for her. She's
burned so badly, he thinks, then feels sorry for her,
but grateful for her visions.
Eliza-The doctors told you that you never fell asleep,
right? If you had, you would have died, right?
Dan-Right?
L's comlink lights up, and just as everyone thought.
Escape was on his mind. Alex has escaped. And he was
the Father's responsibility. But how did he escape his
chamber in Heaven to force Dan's car off the road, L
thinks to himself.
The Father-I noticed him missing.
L-You know that if Alex ever rebelled against you the
first thing he would do was to erase the End of the
World from Dan's thoughts. Those beings can't wait to
learn its true date, since they believe in the
creation of the Second Universe. Pasted over ours.
Like glue. Only a concussion would. And how do you
force someone into a concussive state? A car accident.
Funny that there weren't any cars involved except
Dan's car. How did Alex escape?
The Father-He was awakened. A force blasted the door
of the chamber open. He is quite visable, to you and I
and Jesus, and my staff, but Dan has never seen him.
Not even as Aaron. Why else would someone drive off
the road full of caffine on a road they've been on a
thousand times and roll their car into a cornfield and
end up in the hospital, and awake the whole time
except for the fact that several hours are now missing
from his memory bank. Martina is doing her best to get
him to remember his heart. I'm hiring her to do that
much, to see if he will break, to see if having
Kara'lieanna around will work, to see if something
small was lost or anything was lost. I was pacing the
floor trying to come up with a guess as to how Dan
went off the road and into the cornfield, but I
couldn't I decided to visit my accident library over
by Alex's chamber, when I noticed that he was gone. I
alerted Moses and Noah, wait a second, L, check your
monitor.
He does.
L-Father, something's wrong. Are you losing power?
The Father-I'm not sure. Noah! Moses!
Moses-Yes?
The Father-Check the meter reading, are we losing
power?
Moses-We are. At record speed.
The Father-How many people are here in Heaven?
Moses-In all part and separate rooms? Several
trillion.
The Father-Times that by two and that's how many eyes
won't be able to see if we don't fix the problem.
Alex, as you know has escaped and nearly murdered Dan
in the process, he's safe with L down there, but for
how long? I've hired a woman and a friend of Dan's to
try to weed through his memories to make sure he
didn't lose anything in his accident. Wait, I'm
getting a call. Yes?
Leonard-It was bad.
The Father-The accident?
Leonard-Yeah. Dan truly could've died. They found him
walking in the cornfield where he crashed, the cops
said he was holding his ash tray.
The Father-Where he keeps his ID cards and credit
card. Good thinking. Go on.
Leonard-I heard his car crash, from a distance. It was
loud. A man had already gone outside to check on him
so I stayed back in the distance but I had my
binoculars to see everything, but again at night it's
a little hazy.
The Father-What could you make out?
Leonard-I ran out while the car was still crashing.
Let's see between Lasher and McGirr rd. On the way to
Hinckley, on Somonauk rd. My eyes are closed right now
trying to get the picture of the burning car back into
my head. I went to college for this, you know. I saw
something that night that scared the living shit out
of me. I think it might have scared Dan, too, because
it came right at me. And gave me an evil look. It was
not human. Dan's car did roll. Twice. Landed on its
wheels. He got out. I couldn't see if it was through
the door or the window, but im guessing through the
door. He got out before the car burned. Grabbed the
ashtray and walked right into the cornfield, where it
followed him. I know it saw me, too, but I was too
scared to go back after it into a cornfield that
didn't even belong to me. Then Dan's car started to
burn. And burn bad. Someone eventually called the cops
and they came fast, collected Dan and had him sit
inside the ambulance, and watch the car burn. By the
time they got there, the being or whatever it was had
already left into thin air, just like it had appeared.
It was so scary. He was just wandering around the
cornfield when they found him. I kept thinking that he
had suffered at least a concussion, if not more.
The Father-Did it look at you? Deep?
Leonard-I'm 67 years old and I've seen nothing like
that accident in all of my years. Something was out
there, I'd bet all the money I have on it. Something
scared him off the road and this time it wasn't a deer
or an animal of any type, because I saw it too. If he
had hit a deer there would've been an animal body and
blood everywhere. You understand? If it was a dog or a
cat, there would've been blood, too, and eyeballs
laying around the cornfield. There's no real turn
right where he crashed either, at least nothing where
you would accidently fall off the road with a 2,000
pound car, you know. He saw something. It was damned
clear outside. No rain, snow, fog, or anything that
would've scared him weatherwise. It was a beautiful
clear night, on his way to Crystal Acres. To go and
dance with his friends who own the club up here. I've
talked to some of his coworkers. But I know what I
saw. So that rules any weather or animals or even
other cars from the equation the only thing left is...
The Father-What?
Leonard-I went to the crash site, there's pieces of
his car still there, minor things, I mean nothing
where you could say that went there or this was a
mirror or anything but minor things. The outline of
the corn that was crushed is the exact outline of his
car. It's too close to the road for the car to have
really rolled itself. Now if it did just roll onto its
roof, you know where it was the wheels where up in the
air, then how the Hell did Dan get out? You see what
I'm saying, I heard he only had minor bruising on his
left arm and a bump on his head. Now how the Hell
would he manage to grab his ashtray inside an upside
down car, now that's assuming that it just rolled over
once. If he fell asleep, is the tricky part to
swallow. If Dan had fallen asleep, he would've never
been able to roll the car, he would've simply driven
into the cornfield and the track of his car would've
been longer and more drawn out than they seem to be
here. The corn was knocked down in the exact shape of
his car and the car would've landed in a much deeper
location inside the field than it was eventually found
in, you see.
The Father-So you're saying that there's really no way
his car could've rolled more than twice?
Leonard-It's only a short distance from the road to
the beginning of the cornfield. It must have done some
really quick flips, in mid air, and I know that sounds
crazy but it doesn't add up. The towing company
wouldn't give me anything to go by, and really no one
was there to actually see it, they just collect it and
drive it off to wherever their junkyard is. Take this
into consideration. He's driving 55, maybe 60 miles
per hour on a straight road, one he knows well and
drives on at least once a week, right? What makes you
roll a car? A deer or a dog sure as hell won't do it.
It was a clear night, not a cloud in the sky and no
turns at the crash point. Then why? Something had a
hold of his car.
The Father-What?
Leonard-Whatever that creature was.
The Father-His name is Alex. I house him here in
Heaven. He's not human. He also didn't tell me he was
planning to escape. Dan has never seen him. Wait a
second, could Dan have just been out of oil? Does that
make your car roll? You know when your out of oil, your engine might explode or at least overheat or just stop altogether.
Leonard-Oil will make your car just stop, it doesn't
roll your car off the road and burn to a crisp. Trust
me, this wasn't anything humanly possible here. Or
else on other clear Saturday nights people would be
running their car into spectacular rolls off roads and
into fields. It would be the biggest craze since tight
rolling your jeans. If my car is out of oil it will
not drive, it won't violentely roll into a cornfield,
cause it would just stop dead in it's tracks and won't run. Damn, how the hell did this kid roll a car in the
first place, with just a bump on his head, and a few
black and blue marks on his arm. Most people would be
dead. Absolutely dead. His head would've been
decapitated, and there would've been blood everywhere.
Or maybe he didn't roll it at all.
The Father-But you said the people who called 911
swore up and down that he rolled the car? I don't get
it.
Leonard-If it was the oil, I wonder if the gage
would've gone all the way to hot. If it had, hmm, it's
just a thought. But even so Dan would've had burns on
him judging by the sketchy descriptions he has
probably gotten on long term signs of any burning. So
the car must have burnt after he got out, like the
people said, I'm still clueless here, if the car was
on fire after he got out, then it couldn't have been
the oil, right, because he would have no reason to
panic. And no reason to drive off the road. Gas
wouldn't be a factor either, he had gotten gas before
going out that night. And again gas would've just made
the car stop, or just slow down if he was going 55
like we think.
The Father-I've been playing these same guessing games
myself. But if it wasn't Alex? What does caffine make
you do? It gives you energy, right? It happened at
11:30pm or around there, so that's early. He went to
his friend's house, right?
Leonard-I was told he did go there, then to Geneva,
then to have tacos and nachos and soda. A large soda.
Yeah, that gives you energy and doesn't make you
tired, right? And even so, it was still too early. I
heard that kid stays out at that place in Bartlett
until after 4am, trust me, he wasn't tired. Tacos have
meat, lettuce, tomatos, and sour cream in them, right?
All three give out energy, right? Plus at least 32
ounces of caffine and sugar filled soda, plus an order
of nachos with refried beans, sour cream, nachos
cheese, tacos sauce, and tomatos, so there you go,
that's what he ate. It's not the healthiest meal to
eat before going dancing, but it'll work. The report
doesn't say if he took a shower before going out
either. Just that he did it like he had done a hundred
times. He got on Rt. 38 Heading East, until you get to
the corner of Somonauk Rd. and you turn right. Go
straight until you reach Perry rd. then make a left
onto Perry then you go around the big curve, and its a
straight shot from there to Hinckley, only thing is
that he didn't make it.
The Father-Every one of my angels cried that night, as
did I, because it wasn't planned.
His voice fades. Dan is tossing and turning in a
strange bed. Meanwhile several trillion souls are
without power in Heaven which is scaring the Father
with each minute, he doesn't let on to his fear while
talking to Leonard about Dan's accident, but Moses can
tell by the look on his face that he is scared.
Dispatching Joshua and Abraham, along with his son
Issac, he prepares for a long night. And for what he
might do to Alex, once the creature is found.
L-He's resting.
Alia-Good. Should we tell him?
L-About?
Alia-The renuion of my majesty, I've been on North
Iley. Keep him sleeping. My sources claim that he is
being fed memories, right? To see what was lost?
L-The Father hired a woman named Martina to perform a
series of tests.
Alia-Tests?
L-He's fine, don't worry.
Alia-How long until he can be Aaron Deschanel again?
L-Hard to tell.
Alia-I need an ambassador, I need my student.
L-I know. And North Iley needs it's population.
Alia-It's not like that. Here, listen, here's how you
get through to him when he's out cold like that.
There's someone I can call. Get him up for me. Don't
have Martina do any more tests I know what he can't
pass up, I've just been busy setting up my castle,
again, might I add.
L-Alright.
She uses her comlink to contact someone. None of the
above mentioned, though. Someone differen't.
Alia-Can you come, it would mean so much to him. Wait,
he doesn't know you.
Triangle-I'll be there, wait a few seconds.
Alia closes her eyes.
Triangle then appears before Alia, in a beautiful
dress. Her long firey red hair hangs past her
shoulders and down to her waist. She's wearing this
captivating perfume, and I can't help but notice it as
I wake in this strange bedroom inside Hell, where I
have been talking to Eliza and L for most of the last
several hours. I believe that I am waking now noticing
her beauty, I want to reach out and just touch her
pale, soft hands, they might act as a life preserver
to me as I cling to my new memories tightly now since
my accident.
Triangle-I don't know you.
Dan-I know. Do you live here?
Triangle-On North Iley, I do.
Dan-But, it's a ship hanger now. There is no North
Iley, we moved to Kaesa, and then to Crystal Acres,
the land on North Iley is decayed with gloom.
Triangle-Only if you let it. Only if you write
depressing stories about it, does it collect
spiderwebs. You have 2,263 voice mails over the course
of six years. And some answers to your personal ad.
And some responses to the replys you sent to some of
the others, including mine.
Dan-Did we ever chat? You know, on the computer.
Triangle-No.
Dan-Then how do you know me?
Triangle-I know what you look for.
Dan-What is that?
Triangle-Emotion. Bitter, raw emotion. Which I am able
to display to you right now. Let me ask you some
questions, while you're laying down in bed. What do
you want?
Dan-To remember my accident.
Triangle-Yeah, we'd all like that for you, but what do
you want? Do you want me?
Dan-That's a direct question.
Triangle-I'm a direct, and bitter kind of girl. I ask,
you tell. Now what do you want? Do you want to return
home to North Iley? Or do you want to burn? L can
murder you until the flesh melts your skin off of
your bone structure, and then he can keep burning
until your bone marrow evaporates, and then he can
hire a slew of rats. Big ugly things to come into this
room and finish eating your eye sockets out of your
broke skull? Do you want that? Or we could order a
super large pizza and wings and 4 cans of pop and you
could be forced to eat it while we, your friends, watch
you stuff your face full of gooey cheese and onions
and crust, thin and crispy, right? Or the double
cheeseburger thing where we make you, no, we will force
feed you hamburgers and let you gag on it after a
while, then we will electric tape your mouth shut so
you choke and eventually swallow your own vomit that
way and you'll die instantly. That can be done, too,
you know. Let's see, we could just physically put on
combat boots and keep kicking you in the side of your
knees until your legs break off and the joints smash,
that doesn't feel too good either. Or all you have to
do is tell me what you want? So let's hear it, either
you tell me or L or we shall actually laugh while you
are forced to endure a life that you cannot control.
Do you drink coffee? Read the Sunday paper? Worry
about the elections? Do you drink your daily can of
soda? Do you bring cheese popcorn to work to eat at
your desk? Don't. Fast food, as you now know is an
addiction. It's worse than cigarettes. Coffee as a
rule is addictive, no ones come out and stated it,
but it is. Have you heard 'Where's my cup of coffee'
in the morning? It's like a cheap magnent to one's
day. You got your cup of coffee, check. The paper,
check. The stock prices, check. Paranoia that the
world's going to end because some TV evangelist said
it will next year, or in the year 2000, check. You got
your constant coverage of war and elections that drive
you crazy and take up time on talk radio, check. Value
meals at fast food places, check. They even have a
drive through, so you can just order from your car,
check. Don't do that. That's what ages people. You're
too important to Alia and the Ileys to do something so
foolish, and yet, aside from drinking coffee, you have
done all of those things. I'm not going to go on a
tirade about yeah if you hadn't gone to Crstal Acres,
you wouldn't have crashed your car nonesense, it
could've happened anywhere. The Father thinks it was
Alex and Leonard and the others are working on it, but
listen, what if a pretty girl sat down next to you
right now at the library and started looking up stuff
on the internet, what then?
Dan-What are you getting at?
Triangle-Would you still race downstairs to borrow a pen and sheet of paper to write her a note. If it was
me would you write to me that I looked like an angel?
Do I look sexy to you? Like the kind of girl you would
want to spend the night making love to on your bed and
am I the type that you would climax for and then put
my hand on your heart to feel how fast it's beating
because of how well our bodies fit together, and how
loud I'm becoming as it gets closer and closer and
closer and closer to making me sigh while you're inside
me. Could you resist me if I were to undress and want
you on top of me, this will tell me how much has been
lost by your global amnesia.
Dan-How could I resist? Your perfume is making my body
react to you. And I want you.
She uses her phone to call Alia, who has returned back
to North Iley.
Triangle-He's fine. I'll have him home in a few
minutes.
Dan-Home? You mean you're serious about North Iley?
Triangle-You won't believe your eyes. Everyone's
there.
Dan-Isn't there something you want to ask me?
Triangle-Like what?
Dan-A date? You want to know about a date? Right?
Because every fucking other person does! The Date of
the End of the World, I wish the fuck people would
stop asking me for it because I am not giving it out,
not to you and your pretty red hair, not to Natalya's
sister or to Rachel, or Lady 2, or anyone! How do I
even know this is Hell and not Universe 2?
Triangle-Now that you mention it. What is the Date of
the End of the World! Blink!
Dan-No!!
He blinks.
Someone else walks into the room.
elaniec-Don't try it, Triangle!
Dan-Why are you here?
elaniec-Alia called me.
Dan-What about...
elaniec-The lady who was pretending to be me 6 years
ago, yeah, well she did get my cell phone number. And
I got a call one day that you needed my help and that
you were tricked into thinking you were moving to
England with me, I felt so bad, I had to come. I just
had to. I spent 4 million dollars of my own money to
see to it that North Iley was returned to it's natural
state for you. I watched footage of you in the library
that day so secure in the fact that I had a special
place in my heart for you that it made me sink into my
desk chair and cry for hours on end until I thought
about what you might need and want the most, not so
much burgers and fries and pop or pizza, or
meaningless sex with someone you'll never see again,
but a nice, warm and gentle angel to cuddle up next to
next to at night. You live for the times when you go
to type up 'Alia and the Boy' and a pretty gal sits
next to you, or that first date, or that first slow
dance, or even that first french kiss where your
tongues touch for the first time, or being called
'honey' or 'sweety' by someone you are just falling in
love with. Now you could, and I mean could, walk out
of here and go eat your food and rent movies and think
the girls are going to leap out of the screen or I
suppose you could spend paychecks on women who do
herion and just use you for a quick fix of money in
time to shoot up again and play the I'm addicted to
money, the bad boy image, and a host of other things,
but the important thing to realize during all of this
is that...the power just went out.
Dan-I see that. L, the power just went out.
L-Several trillion people live down here. The gates of
the cells are powered by electricity.
He uses his comlink.
L-Moses?
Moses-The power is out. 95% of Heaven can't see.
They're not used to being in the dark.
L-Is it Alex?
Moses-He is definitly gone. Alia wants to know how Dan
is, and if elaniec came for him.
L-Yeah and there's some other woman name Triangle
here.
She talked to him first.
Moses-Damn. Break her wrist. Hurry! It's the only way
to stop her!
L-Who is she?
Moses-Death. I mean boiling over, fire. She's
tempting, right. Nice legs. Break her wrists, and she
turns into the prettiest girl you've ever seen, but
don't look into her eyes, or else yours will be a
falling victim to her deception. Get Dan in elaniec's
arms and fast or Triangle will fight you dead, and
when you die she will wake you up and kill your brain
until it bleeds. Your people that you house down there
will run free and crush your body until the bones that
you value so dearly break like glass. She's a lost
soul. Both wrists need to be broken in time to reverse the spell, Jesus saw the footage of her before
the power went out and told me to call you to warn you
since Dan is right there and we can't risk losing our
author. By the way, we found Alex, footage can
confirm, since I saw it, that was here during Dan's
accident, and that my new guess is that it was
Triangle that engulfed his car in flames that night.
Fuel might burn during an accident, but not enough to
destroy and to burn like it did. She took on another
form that night.
He walks into the room with Moses.
Alex-Who is trying to frame me?
Moses-Alex, I'm sorry we doubted you.
Alex-Because I'm the only separate special member
among the people around here in Heaven you would just
assume that it was me that ran that kid off the road,
right? That I escaped. That doesn't make me feel very
welcome here, would it make you?
He hears the familiar voices and races to their side.
The Father-Quick, Moses move away from Alex!
Alex-Why? What did I do?
The Father-You know. You snuck out of here to be with
Triangle! Martina was very helpful in telling me the
honest truth, for a change. I needed to see how you
would react, so we let you believe that you were
covered by your story that you would claim to have
been here during the accident, but you weren't and
there is no video footage to clear you, all I need is
to know why? All you had to do was say you found love
in Triangle, but you snuck out of Heaven to be with an agent of undenied evil, isn't Heaven good enough of
a place to live. She's going to break your heart! I
care for you, so much. I housed you for years and
everything's fine here in Heaven, what is there to
complain about? Isn't the temprature right enough for
you? Aren't the people who live here nice enough? Be
grateful you don't live burning in Hell. Be happy for
that fact. There's trillions of pretty gals in Heaven,
why would you start your search with someone who oozes
evil blood and guts? Why would you start out evil.
Give one of the angels here a chance to make you
smile. I bet she asked you to scare away the rescue
team from Dan's accident.
Alex-Yes. She did. I hated doing it, but she promise
her heart to me.
The Father-A heart made of fire? Is that not going to
be burning when you try to hold onto it. Your hands will
turn to ash as you try to grasp the depths of her
heart in your hands. So run. Run off and meet someone
here in Heaven at least you know they're already nice.
Would you rather have someone to snuggle up with at
night, with tan soft legs and hydrated hands, not dry
and pasty. Someone with clean hair and a sexy smile.
Doesn't that sound more attractive to you, why run
after someone who sheds skin because her body temprature is so screwed up. Slow dance with a girls arms around your neck as she looks up at you and smiles with her freshly painted lips growing closer to yours. Those times are free.
Moses-Sir, the lights are back on.
The Father-I know that, and he is shedding also.
Shedding obstructed thoughts.
His comlink is blinking.
Dan-I found my room. On North Iley, and I met the
cutest girl, she's going to be living next to me. Her
name is Saysh'la Cantre. She helped me check all my
messages. Trust me, this is not universe 2.
The Father-Fight it! It's Universe 2. Listen to me,
Dan. Fight it! Fight the amnesia. Remember who you
are. Close your eyes. Remember how to write to the
pretty girl at the library who just sat next to you.
The girl with the red hair. She's so beautiful to you.
He can't resist her perfume.
Dan-Am I on North Iley?
The Father-Our power is on, L's territory is lit
again, too. Alex fell for Triangle. And took it too
far. He's resting in his chamber. Close your eyes.
He does. So does The Father.
The Father-Borrow a pencil from the other cute girl at
the desk, write how you think this girl is beautiful.
Drum up the courage to walk it over to her. Give it to
her, and watch her smile.
He does as he is told, and his heart races as he walks
over and presents her with a note claiming that she is
absolutely beautiful to him and that he's sorry but
he's just waking up and his clothes were just thrown
on him, but he did have a chance to notice how
beautiful she looks today. The note is signed 'Daniel'
The Father-Good work. What did she say?
Dan-She smiled. That's enough. My room isn't exactly
date ready, yet. Let me do my laundry and vacuum and
clean things up around the...castle. Are my eyes
telling me lies?
He opens his eyes wide to notice Alia standing with
elaniec near the drawbridge of Alia's castle. The way
it was when they first moved in six years ago.
She walks closer to him. Gets right in his face. Makes
a smile form with her lips and raises her hand to slap
him across the face to make and see him bleed from the
sting, but instead she snaps her fingers once, right
infront of his eyeballs. It causes him to blink.
Alia-What is your name?
Dan-Aaron Deschanel.
Alia-Unstoppable, we are.
Aaron-Kara'lieanna?
Kara'lieanna-Shh, this way.
She leads him to his familiar upstairs bedroom and
shuts and then locks the door behind them.
Kara'lieanna-Now that the testing we all took part in
is done I have some questions for you. You said a lot
of things while trying to hold onto your memories in
both Hell and the Hospital and at my house. I need
answers from you. My house, as you know is not far
from here. What if I ever asked you to spend the night
with me, what would we do, besides watch wrestling and
talk about 'Alia and the Boy,' I mean how are you in a
test period situation. Think about this.
Aaron-The only word I can tell you about my reaction
to your question is the word 'focus' I would attempt
to focus on not only your beauty, but also whats in
your sweet heart. My attention would be on you. Like
it always has been.
Kara'lieanna-Then prove it, I'm going to go home and
get a change of clothes and I'm sleeping here tonight.
This will answer the question I've wondered all along.
About what kind of a husband you'd be to me if I had
ever came to my senses and let you inside my body, and
my heart. I just need tonight to be able to tell
myself what I'm going to eventually get myself into.
Do you snuggle up with someone after you make love to
them? Do you display on your face and heart when you're truly satisfied the way a woman can satisfy you. Will you do the same for me? I need to know how to react, since it has been so long and I bet I've forgotten how to react to someone holding me close after making love to me. It must just make you light in the head while your in the middle of love making with someone that is there to secure your heart inside his. It's both hard and easy to learn to get used to again. Could it be for you, with so many people hunting your heart out to break and crush it, sometimes just watching the blood flow from it and onto your carpet. Then it's a bitch to clean up because emotions like that usually aren't the easiest to lift off carpet.
There's a knock on the door.
Annie of Iley-Aaron, it's good to have you back. We
heard about Dan's accident. You're okay, right?
Aaron-I am, and look who is planning to sleep over
with and beside me.
Annie-You do know that that is your soul mate. Just
don't remember the night she got confused when you
told her the news. That was around the time we met,
Aaron. I'm giving a speech tonight about the
reclaiming of North Iley for our people once more.
Aaron-How many are returning?
Annie-All of us. However many Dan wants back, a writer
needs a muse. In order to create and populate a
universe.
Another woman sits next to Dan in the library. This
time he doesn't write a note to her, rather he just
looks over and smiles. She smiles back, and says
hello. A date is planned. He leaves the library in awe
of how easy that was, to just ask the right person the
right queston at the right time, and suddenly he can
tell people that he found someone sweet while typing
up one of his stories...until the rainstorm they had
been calling for showers the library with droplets of
tears.
Beth-My car is four blocks away.
Dan-Let me finish up my story, save it, and then I'll
walk you to your car.
Beth-What is it about?
Dan-Reclaimed majesty, and a car accident.
Beth-Sound interesting, here, take my hand. My name is
Beth. Don't you just hate those TV preachers that like
to predict the date of the End of the World. I don't
see how they come up with this stuff. I'm writing a
paper for one of my classes on Popular Myths in
reference to the End of the World. I'm almost out of
websites to research on. I just wish I knew someone
who could fill me in, or at least direct me into the
right direction.
Dan-Honestly, I'm not much of an expert on the End
Times that according to some we are living in. I know
that no man shall know the Day of the Lord except the
Lord himself. I would like to point out that you look
really cute and if He decided to end it right now I'd
want to be standing next to you, holding onto you and
hopefully in the middle of a long kiss, and as we
opened our eyes from the kiss, we would be preparing
to enter into the Kingdom of God, it would be the
perfect night. Of course I would just settle for a
walk with you, holding your hand and exploring the
lagoon. That would be just as awesome as a tour of
Heaven.
Beth-Then walk with me. I don't care if its raining,
just walk with me. I've been through a lot. Maybe your
soft touch will bring me to life. I think the rain
might be able to bring me to life as well as rehydrate
my heart. You know people say you never know who
you're going to meet or run into in a days time and I
want you to know that you seem really nice and I feel
like I can tell you anything and you'll be there to
listen to me, will you?
Dan-If that's what you seek.
She removes a carefully placed mask to reveal her
identity. It shocks him greatly to learn of her true
intentions with his heart, after all these years.
Kara'lieanna-I should have never let you leave in a
bad mood from my house that night. I should've
insisted that you stay with me or move in with me or
anything else but what happened. When I saw you at the
movies it took me a while to play back footage from my
heart of someone I know cares for me so much, I guess
I may have had my heart set on someone a little
taller or a little wealthier to eventually end up but
I will not be a doormat for someone, you know. You
love me from your heart, not from any other place, and
I felt safe with you, as it is now raining hard on us,
I will accept something from you that I know you've
been wanting to offer me for so long.
Dan-What's that?
Kara'lieanna-A kiss. With no distractions. A kiss on
my lips. And I'm prepared to make tea for you for
breakfast. Just like I used to when you'd come over.
We can either make this right, or make this wrong. I
could invest so much into you. I could pull every
resource I know of to make sure you were always safe,
but I just need to same from you, the same promise. As
your new wife I would want that security that money
can't even begin to buy.
Dan-No it can't. You're right.
Kara'lieanna-Something else money can't buy is the
date of the End of the World! She pulls out a knife to
cut his throat with and almost succeeds, enough so
that blood is already falling from the small slice in
his neck. This time though he is crying huge tears,
while as it seems, she is trying to hurt him.
Dan-Don't kill me, please.
Kara'lieanna-I need attention.
Dan-What?
Kara'lieanna-I need love. If I cut you, will you
forgive me? If I cut your throat and rip out one of
your veins and stand there with blood all over my
hands from you, but I at least call an ambulance to
help you, would you forgive me if I was your wife?
Dan-Father, Jesus!! How do I answer!!
He breaks free from the knife, but is still bleeding,
as it is now pouring down rain on top of both Dan and
Kara'lieanna.
There is a tap on his shoulder.
The Father-A wife requires love and forgiveness just
like anyone. She loves you. You could tell when you
two saw each other. There's no way she didn't walk
away and sit down and wonder why you just said outloud
that she looked great that night. There's no way you
can escape that fact. No way to escape it. If she
didn't love you, seeing you after 6 years would have
just resulted in a casual smile or a nod of her head,
or a hello but that's it. She let you compliment her
like that.
He turns back toward her.
Dan-You were the prettiest girl I ever met up until
that point when I was in high school. I refused to
tell anyone about you for fear of a jinx being placed
on my growing love for you. Now I just don't care. I
love you, and if you did attempt to strip me of my
veins and blood, I would forgive you. That's part of
the vow that I plan to read to you the night we marry
and finally join together two deserving soul mates.
In an instant she disappears from sight, leaving him
alone in the rain face to face with The Father.
Dan-Why did she go?
The Father-The projection of her beauty was meant to
bring the emotion out of you, to save you, and it did.
Now as you stand here in the rain, do you feel like
saying these things to her in person? Maybe she'll
find out these things if you let her read this, or
maybe you should figure out how to find her again and
to tell her again, since maybe you never know if there
is someone in her life that wakes her in the morning
with that special kiss that women remember all day
long, what it might do to someone to feel secure with
someone that is constantly by her side, not only
physically but also in her heart. She would smile
prettier than she has even smiled. Think about that
while you walk home tonight. Meet me on North Iley
tomorrow when you get off work. All is even now not
well with the return, someone has a problem with it.
But for now, find Kara'lieanna and sit her down and
tell her or let her read your feelings. They came out
nicely in this story, now take your own advice and
find her.
The End.
