It's Not A Falling Tree

Chapter 9

Linda's not sure how much time has passed. Probably not even fifteen minutes, but it feels so much longer. She cradles a shaking Charlie in her lap as she watches the fire emanating from the monster's body slowly spread across her house.

Seeing everything burn is almost funny to her in a sick cosmic kind of way. Just this morning she'd seriously thought about the logistics of clearing snow with fire instead of shoveling, only to discount the idea when she realized she didn't want her husband to come home to a burned down house. Now it seems like even though she'd decided to shovel the old-fashioned way, he was still going to get back to a pile of ash instead of the home they'd spent so much money and energy building together. Though, with the heat that it was giving off, at least he probably wasn't going to come home to a frozen wife and dog.

The wind has died down since the monster died and the black smoke from the house drifts lazily into the moonlit sky. It might be beautiful if the situation were a little bit less bleak. At least Linda doesn't have to worry about the forest catching fire. Even if her house burns to cinders, the trees surrounding it are too wet to catch fire. It is one of the small consolations she's received tonight. She's lost her friend, and come tomorrow she'll be homeless, but at least she and Charlie are alive. Worse for the wear, but alive nonetheless.

As she sits and watches the fire burn, Linda feels a gust of cold air and pulls Charlie closer to her chest with a shiver. Then she feels something else, an almost tingling sensation ripple across her body followed by a sudden rush of lightheadedness.

"You've lost so much," a woman's voice says. Though Linda can clearly hear it, she can't place its source. It's almost as if the voice is speaking directly inside her head.

"But you don't need to lose any more."

The Voice is weak and fading fast. She doesn't have the strength necessary to take control of the woman who killed her chimera, but she isn't completely out of options. If she could just convince this human to act as her host, she can remain awake and the two of them can continue her work together. Though it will be harder than it was with Andrew, all she has to do is cloud the woman's mind, and hinder her judgment. Force her to agree to share her body.

"I can sense how much pain you're in, how much sorrow you feel" The Voice whispers, "But I can change that. I can mend your body and put an end to your anguish. I can give you anything you want: Wealth, power, even immortality can be yours, all you need to do is give yourself to me."

Linda isn't sure what is happening, but at this point nothing could possibly surprise her. A voice inside her head offering her immortality seems about par for the course given everything that's happened tonight. And, if she's being honest with herself, it doesn't sound like a bad deal. No more pain and she gets to live forever? She can think of worse things.

Nonetheless, she responds to the offer with a curt, "kiss my ass." It really does sound nice but she wasn't born yesterday and knows that when deals sound this good, it's only because they're bullshit. Besides, she'd been through too much to just go and give herself up to some disembodied voice inside her head.

The Voice wants to scream, to curse and punish this human for such insolence, but she can't. She doesn't have enough energy. As preposterous as it is to her, she knows that she's been bested by a mere mortal, a being so insifigtant and fragile that it couldn't even begin to understand the dark reaches of time and space from which her power stems.

All she can do is fall into a stunned silence as drowsiness takes hold and she begins to drift back into the unending darkness of sleep.

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It's Charlie who hears the sounds of sirens in the distance first. He's lying curled up in Linda's lap, wishing he could go back inside and sprawl out on his bed. As far as he's concerned, today is the worst day that any dog on the planet has ever had, and though he has been known to exaggerate from time to time, in this instance, he's probably right.

When Linda hears the sirens a few moments later, she breathes a sigh of relief. Her house is too far gone for anyone to save it, but she's holding out hope that one of the firemen will have a cigarette she can bum.

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The red, blue and orange lights from a small fleet of emergency vehicles dance across the snow. They've all gathered atop a steep driveway, at the bottom of which the remains of a house lie smouldering.

In the back of an ambulance, a young EMT checks an old woman's vital signs while she absent mindedly strokes the head of the Yorkshire terrier in her lap. He's trying his best not to bombard her with questions, but it's hard for him to keep his mouth shut. He'd seen the series of fallen trees and destroyed homes that lined the road that led here, and he wants nothing more than to know what's been going on.

When he's satisfied that her vitals are as good as they possibly could be, all things considered, he finally breaks down and asks, "What the hell happened here?"

Linda looks up at him and sighs, "Who the fuck knows?" 

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Hey this is the Yak here. I just wanted to thank you all for going on this exciting adventure with Linda and Charlie! I hope I was able to keep you on your toes with anticipation.