The Other Side

Disclaimer: The characters of the Phantasm movies belong to Don Coscarelli. I'm merely borrowing them. That aside, this fic is a companion piece to Journey's End and is told from Mike's POV at the end of the fourth film. Enjoy!

Is this what it's like to die, I wonder? Is it supposed to feel like this darkness is closing in on you, as the sparks of life slowly fade away? I haven't had much experience in that area. It's funny, when you consider I've been surrounded by death every day for the last -- I don't know, some-odd -- years. How long has it been since the Tall Man entered my life? I know I was thirteen when it happened, but I can't even remember how long ago that was. Time tends to lose meaning when you have so little left.

I feel like I've been living on borrowed time for a while now, if living is the right term for it. I've only been serving as an "incubator" for one of the Tall Man's spheres -- flying metal orbs that like to slice and dice their way through anything or anyone in their path. Funny, that's the first time I've thought of the spheres as being sentient, even though they hardly seemed otherwise before. I don't know much about how exactly they're generated, but best I can figure... They can only grow inside someone who's the walking dead.

Yeah, that's right... I was dead long before this moment. The Tall Man did it to me, reanimated my corpse and put one of them inside my head. If you asked me for the details, I couldn't tell you the how, when, or why of it. I simply don't remember, nor do I know why it had to be me.

My dear brother, Jody... Is this what you went through, and can I expect to follow in your footsteps? The Tall Man transformed you into a sphere also, and yet... Your mind was still tied to it, right? It must have been... I feel like a part of mine was taken, too, when it was extracted. Is that how you were able to come back, big brother? Does the sphere hold your essence no matter what, and if so, can you retain your human form? Even mold yourself flesh once more...? And do we, in the end, have no choice but to answer to him? So many questions with so few answers.

I don't want to think that that's what comes next. I'd like my part in life to be over, truly, rather than continue on in this hellish existence. The last days, especially, were the worst -- hiding out in the desert wastelands and trying to figure out a way to save myself, knowing he could take me at any second.

And Reggie... You were there, in the final hours, weren't you? Even though I told you to stay away? You saw what I was becoming, and still you didn't turn your back... I'm sorry it has to end this way, my friend. You tried your best to pull me out safely, but it seems that, against the Tall Man himself, we can never seem to win.

Reggie, you were here by my side, weren't you? I believe I told you I'm dying. Was I only imagining that you said you'd be coming back, that you followed the Tall Man through the doorway to his world? What is it you're hoping to accomplish? Do you think it's possible, if that sphere were retrieved and put back inside my head, that I might have a shot? It seems logical; I was all right as long as it was lodged there.

I think that flicker of hope is starting to fade though; you've been gone for a while now. Were you able to find him or... Oh, Reggie, did you know that the gateways don't always lead to his dimension, but rather to different times and places here on Earth? I walked into the past -- was it just a few days ago -- and I met the Tall Man before he turned evil.

The salient points are this, according to what Jody's told me: Jebediah Morningside - his former self - was an ordinary undertaker who had one too many questions about what awaited us after we died. He devised a way to gain passage into that realm using scientific methods, for the sole purpose of finding some answers for himself. All I know is that he got in over his head, and what returned from the other side was a hollow shell, a human host filled with an infinite evil that can't be stopped. I tried to prevent Jebediah from crossing over into that place. It was the only chance I had of stopping this nightmare, and I failed.

I'm sorry, Reg, that I can't wait for you to come back. I'm tired and so very cold and if that's not an indication that it's time, I don't know what is... I want to thank you for being there throughout all this, for trying to keep me safe. Next to Liz, the girl I loved and lost, you were everything I could have asked for in a teammate and friend.

Liz... It's been a while since I've thought of you. How long has it been...? I hope that I do get to cross over, if only to see you once more. We never got as much time as I would have liked. I miss you, and I can only pray we're given the chance to reunite on the other side.

And Jody. Where are you, big brother? Following the orders of the Tall Man, you handed me over to him. During my attempt to escape, I saw you killed... Are you really dead, and can I expect to see you where I'm going? Yet another thing I'm not sure of. The line between the living and the dead has gotten very blurred these past years, and the Tall Man stands as the deciding factor. Wherever I may end up, I pray... it isn't... where... he... is...