Captain Nowhere (Part 5) (654 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 11 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Yes (View user info) at 2005-06-14 11:03:45 EDT
Captain Nowhere (Part 5)
Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68067
Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68145
Part 3: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68277
Part 4: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68439
Lights.
Lights above me. They were hurting my eyes. I couldn't see the people around me. I was lying down, being rushed quickly down a glaring corridor, and still I couldn't see anything. I heard someone screaming my name in a ragged, torn open voice, but I couldn't make out any of the rest of it.
Finally, the rushing stopped and a deep stillness seeped into everything. I was under water, but I wasn't drowning. People were talking, and I tried to tell them to speak up; I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I couldn't get the words out.
I was sinking now, the water was closing above my face...
I sat up abruptly, breathing hard. I reached out for the girl, but my hand was met with nothingness. A shock of pain went through me and I lay back down. Well, now I'd done it. I'd made my choice, and I knew already that it was the wrong one. Tears spilled from my eyes, and I turned over and buried my face in the pillow. Well, what the hell. There was a whole world for me to conquer.
"I brought you a funnel cake."
I sat up slowly and stared at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, composing myself as best I could. "Yeah. Yeah. I uh, had, a, uh... a bad dream, and when I woke up... you were gone. I was... I was scared, I guess."
"You thought you'd made the wrong decision, didn't you?"
"Look, I swear to God, I don't know what you're talking about."
"I believe you," she answered. "I just think you're wrong."
"Look, why don't you just tell me who you are?" I asked.
"Because I'm not sure," she answered. "Look, you... coming here makes a person forget things. That's how they know whether you should go on or not. If you remember enough, they let you go back." She put the funnel cake down on the table and came over to the bed. She leaned down close to me and stared into my eyes. "I've forgotten a lot of what I knew when I came here. I think I remember why I came, but I'm not sure. I still have an idea who I am, but I'm not sure of that, either."
"Are you Stacey?"
"No!" she answered angrily. "No, I'm not. I'm... I'm... I don't remember my name, but it's not Stacey. Maybe she should have come instead. But she didn't. I'm here now, and I'm the one who has to get you to understand before the circus closes."
"When does the circus close?"
"Sundown tomorrow," she answered.
"How do you know that?"
"I just do," she answered. "I still understand time. You don't, though—you've moved beyond it, and that's a bad sign. I wasn't even sure you'd come to shore."
"But I don't know what you're talking about!"
"What did you dream about last night?"
"Water."
"And what else?"
"I don't remember. It was... it scared me. And there was someone screaming. Screaming my name."
She kept staring at me, her eyes unwavering. "What is it?" she asked. "What's your name?"
"I don't know. I don't remember."
"Listen: the man I bought the funnel cakes from says there's a fortune teller who might be able to help us. If we're lucky, she can tell us our names, and we can get out of here."
"But where else is there to go?"
She sighed heavily. "I don't know anymore," she answered. "But wherever there is, we can go there. Come with me to the fortune teller."
"But I wanted to see the circus," I said softly.
"There isn't time," she answered. "They may already be looking for me."
"Why?"
"You were right. I'm not supposed to be here. It's against the rules. But you've got to come with me, okay?"
"I love you. I swear I do. Whatever happens, you've got to remember that."
"I know. I believe you," she whispered. "I'm just afraid you don't need me anymore."
I had no answer to that.
The fortune teller was a small child who lived above a candy store. She looked no older than five, but she moved like an old woman.
Stepping into her apartment was like walking through some film and into a vacuole outside of reality. The apartment was a great hall, almost completely bare, and in the center, she sat at a table with a number of stuffed animals. The animals moved and talked politely amongst themselves, and they didn't acknowledge our presence.
One of the animals was a ragged stuffed rabbit, and as soon as the girl saw it, she snatched it up and held it lovingly against her face. "Where did you find this?" she asked the child.
"I didn't," was the answer. "It came to me and asked if it could wait for you."
"I waited for you!" the rabbit declared excitedly. "I knew you was coming!"
The girl rubbed her face in the fur of the rabbit as it gave a pleasurable shiver, and something about that scene struck a chord in me.
We sat down in the undersized chairs, and the fortune teller regarded us critically for a long time.
"What do you want to know?" the child asked as she skipped back over to the table where she'd been sitting. She lit herself a cigarette, put it in a holder and began smoking. I pulled out one of my own and lit up—I only had five left.
"We need to know our names," my companion answered. "And how to get out of here and back to wherever we came from."
"The shoggoths are already after you," the fortune teller answered. "And your name is Elise. His name is Michael. That won't do you any good, though."
"Are you sure?" Elise asked. "I thought that would get us closer to leaving."
The child shook her head. "Of course not," she answered. "You've already been here too long—you've started forgetting faster. If you're not careful, the shoggoths will catch you, and it'll all be over. You'll be together, though."
"But we want to go home."
"Both of you?" the child asked, gesturing at me with her cigarette. "He hasn't said that."
Elise looked at me. "You want to go home, don't you?" she asked.
"...If I stay, will they let me go back out to sea?"
"Mike," Elise whispered, her voice full of pain.
"I didn't think they'd hunt us," I explained. "What'll happen if they catch us?"
The fortune teller shrugged. "No one knows," she answered. "Not even me. Once they've caught someone, he's never seen again."
"Look, how do we get home?" Elise asked.
The fortune teller shrugged theatrically. "When the end comes, you just have to make the right decision. Make the right sign. That's all I really know."
"That's all?" Elise asked.
"Look, what will happen to Elise if she's caught?"
"She'll be sent back and banned for a time. They'll keep watch to make sure she doesn't slip in to get anyone else."
"Will I be able to see her?"
"There's no way back once the circus closes," the fortune teller told me, making a helpless gesture.
"How long do we have before closing?" Elise asked earnestly. "In realtime, I mean?"
"What does realtime have to do with anything?" the fortune teller asked. "You're such a foolish child—but then, you wouldn't be here if you weren't. No one's ever made it back, dear. You're likely to fail, too."
Elise swallowed, looking suddenly pale. "But... but there's a chance, right?"
"A chance, yes. Very slim, but there is a chance."
"Then we'll make it. We will."
But she didn't sound so sure.
"Maybe I should just stay here," Elise said thoughtfully as we sat at a sidewalk café. "I mean, you'll let me come out to sea with you, won't you?"
"And me!" the rabbit interjected. "And me! You forgot to take me with you when you went away, Elise, and I was sad. Shannon was mean to me."
"Of course," I answered as Elise soothed her rabbit—I still didn't quite feel comfortable talking to the thing. "But you'd be miserable. I can't let you stay when it would just destroy you."
"But I can't ask you to go back with me if you'd be miserable. I just don't... I don't know what I'd do without you, though. I mean, I've come so close, and just to... just to..."
"Well, good morning, folks."
I looked up at the policeman in his ridiculous bobby hat, and immediately, a cold feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
"Hello, officer," I answered warily.
"I couldn't help but notice this beautiful lady here—do you know you look a lot like Flannery O'Connor? She used to sit in that same seat when she was here."
Elise smiled as she nervously petted her stuffed rabbit. The rabbit was nervous as well. It broke away from her hand and knocked over her water glass before Elise snatched it up and held it in one arm like a child. "I've been told that before," she answered calmly.
"I understand you're Elise Holguin," the policeman told her. "I have to say, you've caused quite a bit of trouble."
"Look, officer, can't you just sort of turn a blind eye this once?" I asked. "We won't cause any trouble, I promise—and we're not hurting anybody, anyway."
"You kids don't understand that rules are rules," the policeman explained with sincerity. "If we 'turn a blind eye' this time, word will get out, and every other abandoned lover will start coming in after their loved ones. The whole system is set up so that you don't end up going before your time. And if it is your time, you don't end up stuck, you see what I mean? If we let you go with this, it could weaken the Fastnesses, and everyone will want to be going back—although I don't see why. You people just don't appreciate a good thing when you see it. So I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."
"Is there a God?" Elise asked abruptly.
The shoggoth and I were both caught off guard. What was she talking about? "Look, I'd love to have a chat with you about philosophy, but I'm going to have to place you under arrest before I do."
"No," I told him with a decisive shake of my head.
"Now listen, son. Out there, you make the rules. Okay, that's just fine with us; that's the way things ought to be. But in here—in the circus—you've got to play by the rules. You can't even Create in here, anyway."
"I think you're lying," I answered. "I think I can Create any damn place I want to, and if you push me, I will. That ought to do wonders for your 'Fastnesses.'"
"Listen, son. I don't think you want to mess with a shoggoth. I don't think you're ready for that. None of you are. Now you're coming with me, young lady." The shoggoth reached out, and his arm kept extending. It wrapped around Elise's neck with dizzying speed, and she was pulled to her feet.
"Let her go!" I shouted. "You let her go right fucking now, or I swear to God, I'll turn the circus on its fucking side!"
"You just try it, boy," the shoggoth answered, his voice melting into something wet and heavy. "And then when you see it doesn't work, you can leave the circus and go back out to sea."
"I don't want to go back out to sea," I told him. "I want to go home, and I swear to God, you let go of Elise, or I'll fuck up everything for everyone."
He laughed. "Well, at least your intentions are good. But you know what they say about good intentions—"
Suddenly, the cobbles reared up underneath him, and he was thrown from his feet, letting go of Elise in his surprise. I reached out and grabbed Elise's wrist as I turned to see that there were shoggoths posted all around the plaza, holding the perimeter.
I turned to Elise. "Remember when I said I wanted to see a tornado up close?"
She nodded mutely.
"Well, get ready."
Suddenly, the fleecy clouds bloomed into something dark and hideous, looming above the circus, and a funnel reached down from the sky like the finger of God and destroyed half of the café in an instant. Elise screamed and clung to me, all her midwestern fears welling up inside her. I held her close and ran with her as fast as I could, hoping to make it past one of the stunned shoggoths and disappear into the crowded streets.
Pandemonium ruled the day. The clientele of the café ran screaming as the shoggoths tried to break ranks and make their way toward us. They tossed people aside as if they weren't even there, and when I turned back around to see where we were going, another shoggoth barred our path.
We turned quickly in the other direction, only to be met face to face with my engine of destruction.
All the world was sound and fury, and I stared, transfixed as Elise's screams were drowned out by the wind. I could see chairs and debris being tossed about in the funnel. And I plunged into it.
Elise was almost catatonic. She remained next to motionless as we were wrenched into the sky. I don't know how I held on to her as we were borne up. The sound was enormous—bigger than anything I'd ever heard before. And as we hung there, the endless circus rushing by beneath us as houses and tents were destroyed, my vision began to dim.
User Reviews
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-06-15 13:03:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68067
Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68145
Part 3: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68277
Part 4: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68439
Part 5: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68502
part 6: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68598
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-06-14 21:14:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Damned fine stuff old boy.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-06-14 20:33:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is better than many of the published short stories that I have read. Rock the fuck onwards.
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-06-14 16:26:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yup, there is more, thanks for reading this far, glad ya'll like it.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-06-14 16:00:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
fuckin A, man, this is just...wow.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-06-14 14:18:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Here, have another.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-06-14 14:18:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I've really enjoyed this. Well done, very captivating. Continue on please.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-06-14 11:57:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by SkyLaR (user info) at 2005-06-14 11:57:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-06-14 11:43:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome. Again.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-06-14 11:37:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There's more to this, right?
RIGHT???