Rem and the Big Case

Part 3. The Letter

Dear Graven Holdsetter,

Sorry about our brief time on the phone. I wasn't able to share with you all the information I wanted to, so I write you now in hopes that it will help your investigation. Something has been troubling me. I've been noticing odd things lately, very subtle at first, but the more I paid attention, the more it began to disturb me.

At first I had no need for concern, Rem Reeves, the child master and protector of the universe had chosen me to protect the cosmos by his side, and I would have gladly died ridding the universe of evils such as the dastardly villain Dr. Kevorkian, that horrendous miniscule mutt with the ass that smells of pure evil, I never forget a foul smell. Fighting off the stench of evil with the magnificent Rem Reeves fighting along with you was like fighting with God by your side, an all powerful entity capable of breathing life into thin air and conjuring up anything from sentient being's to useful contraptions, to entire worlds of infinite varieties. I thought he knew all, I thought he could see all, I even thought he had created everything. Over time I came to learn that all of this was only partly true.

When our time together began, it began as short hours together. Brief yet perfect hours of adventure where always we were the heroes and evil would quake before us. Then our time together would end, and with it the world would cease to function as it normally had. It became more like your world, small and unwhole as if parts of it had been forgotten. Everything was shut off, and I was nothing more than a memory waiting as a fragment for another chance to be at the side of my universes creator as he created the universe anew.

Sometimes it would feel like eternity before I was called upon again, but eventually he would whistle and close by I would be pulled by an omnipresent hand and an immense desire to be by his side. To see Rem was my heaven, my bliss, nothing gave me more satisfaction, and to speak with him was grandiose, his every thought brilliant, his every move perfection.

And after a while, the time in between our adventures grew shorter and shorter, thus the time we spent together grew longer and longer, and that's when I first started to notice it. The more time he spent with me, the more he needed me. We spent less time seeking out and conquering evil, and when we did it was as if it were not important, merely a distraction from something greater I could not quite relate to. The more he needed me, the more his soul began to weigh heavy, so to save him I spent my time conjuring up childhood relics in order to sooth his aching soul. It didn't matter for me, I loved him so. I would be there to create new worlds to explore, or to hide away the demons which plagued his young fragile spirit.

And still I was not really distressed. But in our time apart, I began to explore other corners of the universe. And then I began to notice that the universe was...changing somehow. It wasn't the dastardly deed of an evil wiener dog like before, and it wasn't the images sucked in from another dimension which often brought him to tears that worried me. It's hard to explain, but the more I saw him, the more everything began to corrode, as if aspects of my world, my entire dimension, were turning to dust and vanishing.

That's when I began to grow frightened. When Rem was no longer around, I began to investigate. I visited tucked away worlds searching for answers when I came across one in particular that shed a little light on my existence. It was a small bedroom, and immediately I knew it was Rems. And under the bed, dead, was me. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but I knew it was troubling.

I searched more, and found similar worlds, short recurring instances which all felt oddly familiar though I had never experienced them. If Rem ever came in contact with one of these worlds, he would whistle, call me, and I would rescue him.

And then I found discarded worlds. Some were past day dreams, other were representations of stories, and yet others were more. Within one such world, I found Detective Graven Holdsetter.

Rem whistled and I dashed to his side, but I felt compelled to ask Rem about the detective. We were soaring through the cosmetic sea keeping an eye out for wonders and danger when I finally asked the question.

“Rem.”

“Yes Kilgor Trout, my trusty companion.”

“Who is Detective Graven Holdsetter?”

“Hm? Oh, he's nothing. Just a character I created for a video game I was designing.”

“What for?”

“Well, you play as him and your mission is to solve these fires that are burning down L.A. But I never finished designing the game. This is so strange, you asking about that. I was thinking about it the other day. It's so weird how life seeps into your dreams in unexpected ways. How did you learn about him anyway?”

“What about the bedroom?”

“The bedroom? What are you talking about Kilgor?”

“The bedroom where I died.”

“That was a memory, a long ago memory from my childhood. Back when you were alive, you were my best friend in the whole world. I didn't have many friends at school, and I didn't even do well in classes. My parents were always pressuring me to do well in school, to make new friends, to go outside and play, get away from the computer and the TV. Whenever I went out, I went out with you.

“Well,” Rem continued, “Not you you. Not exactly. You Kilgor are based off a very happy memory, but here in my universe you can talk, you are my friend, an ally. Here, I need nobody else but you, and you scare the nightmares away. Without you in my life, I don't know what I would do anymore.”

“Rem,” I put my paw atop his chest and snuggled up close to him as I spoke, the way I used to when I was alive in a long ago memory. “Can I ask you one last question.”

“Anything buddy, there are no secrets between us.”

“Am I real? I mean, I know I'm real because... well, I can see the balloon, I can feel the toothpaste cap, and I've witnessed the universe. But my question is, am I really real?”

“To me you are Kilgor. To me you are more real than anything else in my entire life.”

Something was truly wrong. I couldn't boil it down into a feeling, but I could smell trouble lurking whenever Rem was near. And it was not far off trouble at the Orion Nebula like I usually smelled, it was something more dear to myself, more pressing, something truly dangerous. And then, for bouts of time, I felt as if I was flickering in and out of existence, like I was on the verge of being forgotten or worse. I'm sure you have felt the same occasionally.

It didn't feel like it was deliberate on Rems part, but rather that some aspect of him, a part of him I never knew, was fading away, and in turn, so was I. This was a real problem, but not one I could understand fully. I needed somebody else, someone good at handling problems, so I called you. I know none of us is cut out for this job, but perhaps if we work together something can be done to help Rem, and in turn save our universe.

Graven, I hope you find this note. I've left you as many clues as I could muster along the way, but I am away from Rem less and less, and the more time he spends here, the more temporal the universe grows. If my intuition is correct, we may all cease to be very soon, not only you and I, Graven, but Rem too. In order to save ourselves, we must save Rem, and to save Rem may mean something drastic. But I don't know exactly.

I don't know how useful all this has been, but it's the best I could do. If you are in need of more information, I suggest you look for Abbey. She may be able to spread a little light on the dark of this whole matter, but then again, she may not. You might have a hard time finding her, Rem has been erasing her from his memories one by one, who knows how many are left.

I pray you find an answer to out quandary soon,

Kilgor Trout

Assistant Master and Protector of the Universe

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