Halley took the long way home from the diner, alone with his thoughts.
What a weekend he was having. It certainly wasn't how he expected it to go, what with having to find a job before he was skinned alive and all. He wasn't really sure what to make of it, but did he have to make anything of it at all?
As he walked, he looked around at the world he lived in, his hands in his pockets. There was a blue sky dotted with white clouds and the air was cool and crisp. People walked with their dogs, kids ran around and rode bikes, and the last fighting remnants of summer were carried away by the wind.
And still...Halley didn't feel like he belonged there.
He didn't blend in like an extra on a movie set, but he didn't stick out like a sore thumb, either. It was as if he was just...a ghost. People only saw through him, but maybe it was for the best.
Halley finally made it home after a while and poured himself a glass of water, standing in the kitchen leaned against the counter. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought everything was too good to be true, that he'd wake up from this dream only to have his father beating on his bedroom door again. There was no way his luck would do a complete turnaround like that. It just didn't work out that way for him.
But maybe it did. Maybe this was real.
He looked out the window at the street, which was empty. All the activity was in town.
Halley set down his glass.
"I know you're here." he said.
"Ha! He's learned!" he heard Solano say. When Halley turned around, Luno and Solano both stood there in the kitchen with him.
"Considering it's happened about four times now, you'd think I'd adapt at some point." Halley replied. "Can't imagine I'll be able to do any teleporting around like that."
"Maybe! Maybe not!" Solano chirped.
"We have come to complete our arrangement." Luno said, clasping his hands behind his back. "Do you feel you are adequately prepared to make this final jump?"
Halley looked around at the kitchen. Then he stepped past the twins into the living room. Then to his parents' room, and then to his own bedroom.
Each room had a different kind of sadness attached to it. His bedroom, the sound of his father storming down the hall after he'd gotten detention in school. His parents' room, where he'd accidentally set foot after losing something just inside the door. The living room, where he had to sit on his knees balancing phone books on each arm for two minutes.
The kitchen, where he'd broken a plate and felt a fear worse than that of death.
Halley looked back at the twins, wiping tears from his face.
"I've never wanted anything more in my entire life." he said, with a conviction he'd never heard from himself before. "I want out."
"Do you fully understand the terms of your commitment?" Luno asked. "Are you willing to lend yourself to serving the universe and its inhabitants?"
"Yes." Halley replied.
"Are you willing to give your human life in exchange for eternity?"
"Yeah."
"Are you prepared for death and rebirth?"
Halley chewed the inside of his cheek. All of this was a big unknown. What if it didn't work? What if he was just about to be murdered in cold blood?
But...was that a whole lot worse than what he was living now?
He was scared, but maybe he was even more afraid of staying where he started. Here, under this roof, filled with constant overwhelming dread that he could never shake. Out there, wherever these two strange men came from, was freedom. He wouldn't ever hurt again, not like this.
"Yes. I-I think so."
"You must be absolutely certain."
Halley swallowed the lump in his throat.
"I am."
Luno held out his hand.
"Do you trust us?"
Nothing was going to be the same. It really was a leap of faith, but with each passing second, there was less doubt in his mind. He'd had enough time to think about it. This was what he wanted.
Halley took Luno's hand.
"Yes. I do."
He could see the house begin to warp and change around them, his vision beginning to tunnel. As everything continued to distort, he felt colder than he ever had in his life, certain he would freeze to death there on his feet. The world was unrecognizable except for the three of them, and he felt panic take over as the ever shifting void surrounded them.
Halley tried to let go of Luno's hand, but he couldn't. Luno stood unmoving, as still as a statue, his gaze burning into Halley as intensely as a star.
"This is the beginning of your journey." he said. His voice seemed to come from inside Halley's head, reverberating around in his skull. "The pain of your living existence will no longer plague you. This is an ascension to a higher understanding of the universe you live in."
"The universe will cradle you in its arms as its own child! Its love for you shines like the sun and gleams like the moon!" Solano exclaimed. "Every fiber of your existence will interweave itself with the fabric of time and space! Together you create a tapestry that binds you!"
Halley could hear the ringing of railroad crossing guards and the rattle of the steam engine on its rails.
"This is your final trial, Halley." Luno said. "Go."
Luno let go of his hand, and suddenly, he was falling away from them through a black void. He screamed and struck his arms out as if he'd find something to grab onto, but he didn't. Darkness surrounded him.
Was this death? Was that all there was to it?
That couldn't be.
His mind was going too fast for him to catch any of his thoughts.
Then everything was still.
