Getting Home

Part 52

Blackness.

I felt like I was floating—yet it didn't. I could feel something on every inch of my skin, something on me, something around me... I could hear nothing but my heartbeat, and a faint, far away ringing.

Finally dead?

No, I hear you, Ava, Henry said.

I jerked in surprise—and felt resistance against my body, which meant I was inside the dark entity. But why wasn't I, like...

Dissolving?

I could even breathe... but who knew how long that was going to last?

I was also able to talk. "Where are you, Henry?" I called loudly. My voice sounded weird in my black, mushy prison—it was completely flat and dull, nothing to bounce off but pulsating, fleshy-like jello. "Can you get out?"

A low rumbling voice spoke, only saying one word, but drawing it out slowly, as if it couldn't speak any faster.

"Avaaa..." it groaned.

I suddenly felt my chest tighten, like I could feel something squeezing around me—even though nothing was actually tightening around me.

But Henry grunted in my head.

I can't move, Ava... it's squeezing me... crushing me...

"Henry!" I tried to struggle, move around, get out—but it was completely fruitless; there was just no way. "Henry!"

It's okay, Ava. The voice inside my head was suddenly calm—but I could feel the pressure, feel the dimming and weakening energy inside, a draining, darkening aura...

Henry was dying.

I'm sorry about this, Ava... I never meant to ruin everything for you.

"Oh, Henry," I said sadly. "You didn't ruin anything for me... you gave me everything."

I couldn't see him, but my entire being was flooded with it—with that smile. It was peace, safety, pure joy...

I felt at home. And it made me made me realize that all those times I made Henry smile wasn't just for my benefit—

It was for his.

The voice was soft... growing faint, and at peace.

Will you sing for me?

"Yes," I said immediately, tears running down my face.

I didn't think about it, didn't consider what song, or how to sing it; I just immediately went into the same song I had sung at the lake. My voice low, breathy, soulful...

Free.

An immediate peace and relief wash over my entire body, all from Henry... a euphoria that made my entire body tingle and vibrate, my brain going crazy in bliss.

Ava... Henry's voice unable to hide its peace and happiness. I wish I could...

The flesh-like prison around me began to bubble.

My body suddenly loosened and relaxed. I felt Henry suddenly able take a deep breath, the tension around him gone.

Keep going!

So I let it go... and kept singing.

There was a low groaning, similar to before that creaked through the corridors—but it began cutting in and out, like a radio transmission. I was suddenly dropped to the floor, dirty in black slime. The dark entity was pulling away, the giant waves of blob pulling back and out of the corridors, smoke rising and boiling from its outer skin.

My last note rung and echoed off down through the empty mall.

"Henry, are you okay?" I said, running to where he was on the ground. Singing? I couldn't believe it. It had almost reacted the way Henry's home had when I sang there, except here, my singing didn't just hurt the dark entity—

It destroyed it.

We were still in the plaza, under the banner. The chairs were gone, and the huge, dangling egg sacs had been pulled up high, no longer hovering above the floor but now close to the ceiling—

And then I saw the bodies on the ground.

There were about a dozen; motionless, still. I froze, feeling terror, shock—and filled with a sick kind of fear at seeing how lifeless the bodies were.

Then they started to move and shift, groaning, lying in black, gooey puddles—

But still alive.

Henry sat up, hissing in pain and clutching his side. They're fine—not infected. It was saving them, Ava—to incubate them with what's in those egg sacs... more dark entities.

The entire mall began to shake, loud cracks exploding through the air from the walls and foundations. Crevices ran up the wall, crawling upwards like a reverse thunderbolt to the buckling ceiling.

"Henry, the building!" I helped him to his feet, where he shakily managed to stand.

The pulsating sacs above began to throb faster, humming and buzzing. The black goo still sat on the roof the mall, bloating out of the skylight as it hugged the building—

Squeezing it.

The ground began to shake and rattle. It's embedded itself into the building, drawing energy, building the Nest, Henry said. It's trying to get away.

Henry suddenly lunged for one of the giant beams that made up one of the corners of the plaza, moving faster than I had ever seen him. He put his hands on the wall, and I felt him exert, felt him push—

But with his mind.

The building instantly stabilized.

The shaking stopped, the cracking and rumbling. I felt a low moan vibrate through the room, as if the energy was tensing, fighting—

And I felt Henry struggling.

I can keep it trapped... barely, his voice said. His hands were palm flat against the beam, his face concentrated and straining. But I don't know for how long. Go!

"What about you, Henry? I'm not just going to—"

His jaw suddenly dropped in surprise.

Ava, I... I—HEAR someone.