Parallels

Chapter Thirty-One: Coming to Terms With Reality

Chapter Thirty-One: Coming to Terms With Reality

When I wake up, I swear I'm seeing double, because there's another fox sitting right next to me, and he looks really, really, really similar to me- except I can tell that he doesn't need to wear glasses like I really should be and yet never manage to, not ever a decent set of contacts, because, well, I have twenty-ten vision if I focus, like foxes are supposed to, but that's great for humans, Mama's luck if she can see anything clearly thirty or forty feet in front of her nose without her glasses on, and even then, she usually doesn't wear them... but back to the fact that. a), the creepy-crawly is now out of my head again, but there's another fox sitting in here too, and the creature and the fox (who, as I've said, looks a hell of a lot like me, but his fur is more subtly shaded lighter and darker on one half of his body each, and there are a light and dark patch inside the other halves. I wonder what it's supposed to be, and then I realize what it is, and therefore who this fox has to be- it's a yin and yang... oh gods, I hope he doesn't kill me... and it looks like he's managed to break free of the creature that he, well, looks like he still is, the creature that's now staked to the wall with a chain that looks like it has a fucking angel collar- no, that's not the right term, what's the right term and why can't I ever think of it without feeling like I'm makng an enormous fool of myself-

It's a halo, that's what the fricking hell it is, Mister Marlboro's chained with a halo... which means that this fox must be the soul that was stuck inside...

"So, um, I have to ask, is that your actual fur color, or, um, like, uh, hmm- damn it- um, a dye job or something like that?"

"Like does my fur actually look like a yin and yang? Yes, yes it does... and that was even before I got my sorry ass drowned.... Gods, this has been a long time coming, hasn't it, and um, how in the fucking hell am I nod dead yet? Didn't Isaac shoot me in the head?"

"Those horcrux things that my asshole conscience kept mentioning? Yeah, they get destroyed when someone dies... and then Isaac gave you mouth to mouth and it almost looked like he was kissing you a little bit too, is he okay?"

"Isaac, yeah, he's fine, it's mating season, alright? You can't feel it, can you?"

"Oh, I can... last time this happened this asshole was created... funny how things happen like that, you gain a morality and then screw it, you get a conscience, at least that's how it works for people like me... and look, Theo, I'm sorry, I really am... but look, I can't kill him, that's not something I can do... for all the things that I can, that's sadly not one of them... and why he chose you to harass, I have no fucking idea... gods I haven't even introduced myself, how freaking foolish of me," the new fox says, Mister Marlboro growling and straining and trying to break free of the bonds that he's bound in... "I'm Karson, and yes, my middle name really does mean what the creature told you it did..."

"So you're-"

"Karson son of a bitch Williams, sir yes sir... but my mom called me-"

"Karma," I interrupt, and then gasp and slap my paws over my mouth. Oh, shit, I interrupted a god... I'm so gonna fucking die for reals now, oh shit oh shit oh shit shit shit... this is not how I wanted to go. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't kill me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

And you should be, you freaking asshole... I'm going to get out of here, you know that!

"Ignore him, please, I'm sick of being stuck in his head...," Karson says, waving a paw dismissively, and as he does, a strong, cold and icy blast of air comes screaming in through the tent that I'm sitting in with the other two. "I can't kill him, alright, and he's nearly killed me plenty of fucking times... you gave me just enough leverage to break myself out of there, so thank you... and I'm sorry that I couldn't get out to get you out any faster than I did, I really was trying, I promise... so let's get to know each other, why don't we- and you're older than me, aren't you...? I mean, now I'm only what, fourteen, I don't know... I think I was that old when I died? It was so damn freaking long ago that I really don't remember, even when I'm trying to gods I ramble on, don't I?"