The Outside

Section V

 I sit down on my bed. What's happening here? What's trying to contact me? To pull me in? These are all good questions, I think. I just doubt I'll find the answers in any sort of a timely fashion.

You're asking the wrong questions.

I'm asking the wrong questions.

You should be asking what you can do to appease the spirits you've stirred up.

I should be asking myself what I can do to appease the spirits.

Wait. The spirits. What spirits? Did I wake something up coming back here?

You're asking the wrong questions again...

No. I've got to get back on track. I'm asking the wrong questions again. But, if I did wake something up, what does it want?

You, of course.

Obviously, it wants me. For some reason. But why?

You know...

Maybe---maybe it's just hungry. Not for me. But for anybody. Hungry for souls or some horror movie plotline shit like that. But how did it wake up?

It doesn't matter.

No. No it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter why it woke up. All that matters is that it's awake. It's awake and hungry. And, somehow, I need to feed it. Or to avoid it, I guess.

Marion walks stoops under the doorway. She looks concerned. She sits on my bed next to me and softly asks, "What's wrong?"

I look sideways at her; "Can't you see?"

"See what, Edgar?"

"It. All of it. Everything."

She slips her arms around my chest; "What do you mean?"

I pull her arms apart from their criss-crossed position across my chest. I look at her angrily. With a voice equal parts frustration and rage, I quietly yell at her, "What's wrong with you?"

She's taken aback. She can't seem to form words.

"You gotta be fucking blind to not see the crazy shit flying around here!"

"Bu---but what's happening?"

"Something else is here. Can't you see it?"

"No, I---I can't."

"It's trying to pull me in."

"Pull you in where?"

"Pull me into its realm."

"Its realm?"

"It's not from this world. Not from our level of consciousness. It's above us. Beyond us."

"Why does it want you so bad?"

"It's hungry. It woke up from a long slumber. And now it's hungry...Or maybe it's not that hungry."

"Edgar, you're not being clear." It almost sounds like she's pleading with me.

"Maybe it wants a show. Wants some entertainment and we just happened to walk into his sights."

"Ok. I believe you."

"It doesn't matter if you believe me. What matters is what we're going to do about it."

"What can we do?"

I stand up from the bed and pull up a floorboard. I pull a rusty woodaxe from the opening. I gesture at her with it and, like a Bruce Campbell dropping a tagline, say, "We defend ourselves."