Snap Terror

4. Eyes

I stare into his eyes. They're still beautiful—a polychromatic, scintillating miracle. They're like a rainbow folding onto itself, and exploding all at the same time. Shards of color pierce my pupils erratically. But they're different now—colder. Harder. Duller. He's lost his spark—that special something in his eyes that twinkled every time he laughed. He's not the boy I once knew. And maybe he never was. With one last guttural sob, I scrape his fingernails off the edge and watch as he tumbles into the abyss. Getting smaller and smaller, until he's nothing but a speck of dust in the corner of my eye.

I feel someone smiling behind me. A satisfied grin. "Are you happy?" I cry. "You made me do this! You made me kill him!" I collapse into a fit of sobs, beating the floor.

"You know what?" the man says. I stand up, and stare him in the eye. "I don't think you're ready for the resistance, judging from . . . "

He doesn't need to complete the sentence. "So what?" I ask angrily. "I did this for nothing? I killed him for nothing?"

He sucks on his teeth. "I wouldn't say for nothing," he says in a smooth voice, flat as rock. "In fact, there's still something you can do to help. The Abyss is hungry. Always hungry."

My eyes widen with realization. "N-no! No! You can't do this! H-help! Somebody!"

He smiles an icy smile. "Goodbye, Mabel. And," he pauses, calculating his words carefully, "thank you for your service. You've been of great help to the cause. Take heart in the fact that you were part of a change." His smile drops and he raises his foot.

And then, I'm flying. Flying over the edge, down to nowhere and everywhere, all at once.

And I smile, because it strikes me that I'll be able to meet my brother again. The one with the best eyes, I tell myself. The best ones of all.