The Last Mermaid

~ 49 ~

He was an unruly child, Growing up made little difference to him. His mom and dad, two wealthy aristocrats caught between the affair of wealth and business, had little time for him. Neither did his bolder brother and sister, both off at boarding school, paid him little mind at Christmas - it was almost as if they weren't even related. So he spent a good deal of his toddler years on his own. 

By the time he was 13, he had a few friends - Nathan and Tucker (both twins), James (who he considered his 'older friend') and the other 6 boys in the 8th grade class, a group that would be tagged along in whatever shenanigans or mulling about what girls thought of their collective consciousness. 

James, recently divorced from the group after graduating highschool, had come up with the idea that they should all meet at the Old Roswell Mill on Halloween. Well, it was his mom's idea, as she was determined that the boys would not get into any more trouble than the local police (Cops of which she knew) rather than for James to follow the older highschool boys partying, drinking, and doing god knows what!

So James's dad drops them off, a dad that wants nothing to do with the mother, and he's brought beer! He thinks to himself (words he later says aloud to the 10 boys he and his drinking buddy shuffle in his car - "You boys will have to learn to drink this at some point!") - an instance James will later remember when he sees drinking teens in Galway.

Devin was all too buzzed by the alcohol. James begun to wonder why Devin had convinced him to do this at all - feeling a lot like an older chaperone, wishing he'd rather gone to a high school party. Now, Devin is talking to Tyler who insists that he had sex with the popular girl Blanche.

"She showed me her boobs man" says Tyler. "After that, she rubbed against me. She swore she felt the bulge going in."

"Did she scream?" asks Devin.

"No..." says Tyler blushing. 

"Then it didn't happen" snickers Devin.

"I swear it did!" says Tyler.

"I dare one of you to climb in" says James.

There, in the trenches of the mill, stands these tall, rusted old pipes. They zig zag across and beneath each other - looking like a crisscrossing, strange passageways to other worlds .Right below the awning, a small opening where one can go into a large box, where all sorts of secrets could be - perhaps even dead bodies. 

"Whomever knows the most about sex should go in."

Devin looks at James, as if to challenge him. 

"It was Lori" says Devin.

The whole group is laughing at this, unwilling to believe him, for Lori is the most ugly girl in the 8th grade class. 

"Yeah, she was upset with James rejecting her. She came up to me crying 'Devin! I'm so lonely!" She then whipped out her large breasts!"

The group has fallen over laughing, including James, who says "Alright Devin, you can go in!"

...

With a flashlight, Devin eases his way into the tunnel. Many of the others have wandered off, but Nathan, Tucker, and James remain. 

"How is it going in there?"

"I haven't made my way to the bottom. I'm a little scared."

"Tell me about Lori's breasts" says James. 

"I didn't really see them."

"I know" says James. "I haven't seen a girl's breasts yet either. When I do, you'll be the first to know."

Devin laughs at this, accidentally loosing his footing, and falling. 

"Devin? Are you okay?" the 3 ask. 

"Oh yes! Guys, you would never believe what's in here! It's a portal to another world!"

Though the boys did not believe this, it was true. Devin found himself in a box that had turned into a room. It was as if the box defied the conditions of physics itself. There were all sorts of writing on the walls (ancient looking text - with a similarity of Latin) as well as many  pitch black doors. 

"Devin! You don't have to stay! You can come back up if you want!" says James. 

Nathan mutters to Tucker, "He's losing it."

"I think I'll look around here for a bit" he says, listening to their voices fade off. Entering inside, finding himself in a factory.  Attendants, running around, scurrying to and fro. Steam comes off the large pipes, and sever mills churn around. One fellow gasps, ringing the bell and yelling "There is another human!"

A girl walks out. She's wearing a long dress akin to the Civil War. 

"Lori?" asks Devin, stunned at the similarity of their looks. 

"That's my name" she says. "It's been that way ever since I've come here."

"Who are they?" he asks. 

"Aliens that have fallen through. They help with work on the machine. We are the God-machine, the working mechanisms of the universes. We control black holes, stars, supernova, big bang, all of it. Mostly, we are the ones to keep it all from spontaneously exploding. Would you like a tour?"

And so, Lori takes Devin on the tour, showing him all the parts of the 'God-machine' at work. She even lets him pull a lever. 

"That's great! This is all so cool. I think I need to go back now."

"Oh..." she says. "You can't leave. There's a reason, you know. I would help you if I could."

She whips out her breast. 

"Will you not be like the others? Will you stay?" she asks, crying. 

Devin backs away, scrambling back the dark hallway, up the pipes, panting "James! James!"

James remembers this in vivid detail - Devin saying that he was stuck. Some of the boys ran to bars and stores asking for help; while Nathan, Tucker, and James banged on the pipes with all they could find. Eventually, Devin had stopped breathing. 

Later in college, James and Lori would do it in his college dorm room. She never once asked about Devin. One day he didn't feel like continuing their affair anymore. She was crying asking, "Why doesn't anyone ever stay?"

To which James replied, "I know."