Glass

Asleep

"Show me Kanna."

Lu stared at the wide expanse of smoke before him, his eyes wide. "Show me Kanna." He repeated.

Nothing happened.

"Master, only shows bad people."

"Show me Kanna."

"Master, only shows bad people."

"SHUT UP!" Lu bellowed, spinning around, his fists curled. "Unless you want to end up like him," he pointed to the pile of bones, skin, and black blood on the floor. "...then you'd better SHUT THE HELL UP!"

The cruncher nodded, then quickly turned and left the zone.

"Show me Kanna."

Nothing.

"Show me Kanna's mom."

Slowly, the smoke started to disperse, pulling itself apart until a very clear image of a woman came into view. She was crying on her porch, holding a picture of a baby in her hands. "Where are you..." she whispered.

Lu growled with anger, looking around in the picture, spinning it every-which-way, trying to find the girl he loved. "SHOW ME KANNA!" He screamed.

Suddenly, the image of the women vanished and was quickly covered up again with the white smoke. Lu fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground. "Show her to me... please..."

⧫ ⧫ ⧫

I step forwards, pointing up at the screen. "And this is..."

"Yes."

I look back at Matthew to see him nodding. "Oh. You watched us here?"

"Yeah. Um, if you press this it changes the zone... here, look." He reached around me and flipped a few switches, then gently pressed a small white button.

The image was sent to another screen, and suddenly I was looking at over 50 different zones, all laid out in front of me. "Woah..." I whispered.

"It was torture for her, you know."

I turn around to see Matthew's expression sink. "She watched you every second of every day, trying to figure out a way to save you."

I chuckle nervously. "And to think of a number of times I let Lu call her a witch..." My smile sinks as an image of Vanessa's neck snapping flashes across my vision. "Did you watch it?" I ask.

"Watch what?"

"Did you watch her die?"

He comes up next to me and sinks into the only chair in the room. "I couldn't bear it. I turned it off." He sighs and looks up at me. "I don't know how you aren't insane by now. I can barely handle watching recordings of the stuff you saw."

I give him a small smile. "I wouldn't say that I'm not."

We sit in quiet for a while, watching the screen.

And then, a shape moves across one of the zones. My eyes widen as I see the blonde hair pass by the camera. "Wait..." I select the zone and watch as Lu moves slowly across the space. It's a dark room, a place I've never been into before. Smoke covers the ground. I peer closer as I see a dark mound on the floor. I cover my mouth and gasp. "Mr. Smiley..."

Lu gives a swift kick to the mound as he walks past it, and then tosses something onto the ground. A flash blinds the camera for a moment, and then Lu steps through a door and disappears.

"How do you do it?" I ask.

"How do we see them?" Matthew gives me a glance, then looks back at the screen. "It's sort of complicated... if that's hell, then this is heaven. Were you ever religious when you were alive?"

I shake my head.

Matthew nods. "I wouldn't expect you to be. Well, as the story goes, God created hell to trap his evil angels inside. When he did that, we think he made this system, so that he could spy on the devil."

I give him a slow nod, frowning at the dash. "I think I get it... is God here? Can I talk to him?"

"No. It doesn't work like that. God is more of a presence, and less a person."

I nod. "Oh."

We watch for a while, staring at the smoke billowing throughout the room.

"You can stay here," Matthew says, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"What?"

"You can stay. Someone has to do this job, and it sure as hell isn't going to be me."

I stare at him for a moment.

"If you want, you can think of it like you're watching over Lu."

My eyes widen. "I could really do that?"

Matthew nods. "You get to decide who comes and goes. You get to watch over the zones. It's the same idea."

I look at the screen and watch as Lu steps back inside. My expression softens.

"Yeah. I'd like that."