Vision

Chapter eight

Chapter 8:

The Acquaintance

Jack rushes over to Nancy’s room, hoping the two of them are all right. It has been an entire hour since he had been in that room, fighting with them. He enters the room to find Dave and Nancy sitting on the floor, leaning on the cabinet, black blood trickling down their bodies, a weary look on their faces. Jack lets the sorrow sink in. They must have thought that they would die. That night, right there.

Jack slowly approaches them, afraid of what he might find. He then catches Big Dave’s eye. Dave starts to smile at him.

“Don’t tell me you were afraid?” utters Dave.
“Seriously, you guys look like two living corpses,” states Jack.
“Thanks,” teases Nancy, “but unfortunately for you, we’re going to kick your ass.”

“You can try,” he teases back. He takes both of them by the arms, one at a time, and helps them get up.

“We need someone to help us,” mutters Jack.

“What do you mean?” questions Nancy.

“Yeah, no offense, but we’re doing just fine on our own,” proclaims Dave.

“Oh, you think so?” asks Jack.

“Yeah.” says Dave, confidently.

“We’ll be able to do anything, right?”

“Sure.”

“Withstand an apocalypse?”

“Yeah, I guess. Just have faith.”

“You know I’m being serious here, right?”

“YES. Look, just tell us who you want to get to do this.”

“I’ve got a good friend named Zach. He should be able to help us,” enunciates Jack.

The three of them navigate their way out of the cave in which their base of operations is built. It is now early in the morning, so they don’t have to bring flashlights with them. The light simply shines through the tunnel.

“I don’t get it, guys,” enquires Jack, “why can’t we just teleport there?”

“The portal only accesses pathways to spiritual dimensions, not to…earthly dimensions,” explains Dave.

“Wait, where do the portals come from?” asks Jack.

“That,” retorts Nancy, “is unfortunately not in the history books.”

“Didn’t it ever occur to them that one day their descendants may want to know this stuff?” spits Jack.

“Look, Jack,” says Big Dave, “these guys weren’t total losers. They had their reasons. If the world saw the history books, they’d get real interested. We, of course, wouldn’t be able to move in secret.”

“So you guys are like the super messed-up spiritual version of MIB.”

“Yeah…wait? What?”

“You guys don’t allow anyone to know about all this crazy crap going on here. Nobody will ever know what you did for them.”

“That isn’t true,” replies Nancy, “they will.”
Jack gives her an odd look and then returns his gaze to the cave, lurking through the shadows and into the darkness. Why does this place remind him so much of his parents? He doesn’t want to think about what happened. It doesn’t matter anymore. It isn’t important. It’s not his fault that they’re gone. It’s. Not.