Chapter 8
Max and Chloe headed back to the main plaza, the creeping feeling of the empty stalls never leaving them. Everything from the refreshments and gifts on the stands to the food, drink cups and litter that had been dropped on the ground. It looked like everyone had vanished in the space of a second, their worldly possessions just dropped where they were and mourning the presences that made them more than mere objects. It was freaky beyond words and impossible not to focus on as they headed for the well.
But there was something else that caught their attention as well: some of the lights had gone out. It wasn't many and they could still see a clear path to the well, but they could no longer see right to the end of the street. Max swore to herself she could see the darkness writhing right at the edge of the final light haloes. Chloe had known those figures were creeping up on them before. Their phone flashlights had worked then, being able to drive the spectres off. But they weren't working now, and that one slight change made a massive difference. The absence of some of the festival lights put them both on edge and they were keen not to waste more time above ground than they had to.
"So how are we going to protect ourselves from the darkness down the well?" Chloe asked, looking around warily. Max knew she was equally on edge. She kept staring into the darkness and, just like her, Max could tell she was trying to pick out the outlines of those figures that attacked them. They both dragged their attention away from the darkness and started scanning around for anything. Max cursed herself for leaving the flashlight at the library. She'd put it back on the emergency hook and not seen the need to pick it up since they had the festival lights. She hadn't considered going down the well and at that point they hadn't known the lights were beginning to go out. She'd considered going back to get it but then dismissed the idea. Chloe wouldn't be thrilled about re-tracing their steps and she wasn't about to go alone- both due to her own fear of what was going on and her unwillingness to leave Chloe. If she got grabbed by those figures, Max would never get her power back. If that happened, she herself might be stuck in the town until the lights went out and she couldn't see what was tearing her apart. That wasn't going to happen. They'd survived too much to go out like that.
As she kept looking around, she suddenly realised Chloe wasn't with her. She'd darted off to one side and was dragging a ladder over. As Max watched, she climbed up it and tore some of the festival bunting down and picking up some discarded paper streamers from the floor before grabbing a sweeping brush and breaking the head off it. She wrapped the streamers up in the bunting and tied them down to the handle, grabbing the hose from the propane can of one of the food stalls and pulling it out from the burner to douse the decorations thoroughly. Once that was done, she moved over to another food stall, ignited the burner and used the flame to light her makeshift torch. She held it up proudly as she ushered Max over to the well.
"Chloe, that was fucking awesome." Max said breathlessly. But as they got ready to drop down, Max was hit with doubts. There were so many things the book hadn't mentioned. So many things she hadn't even thought about. How deep was it? Was there anything at the bottom they needed to know about? Rocks, water depth, anything like that? She knew none of it. And in the dead of night it was too dark to see the bottom. Because all of their worldly possessions they'd brought along on the trip had been sent up in a ball of flames, they had nothing to drop down to test the depth.
"Hey!" Chloe's hand on her shoulder jolted her from her thoughts as the bluenette passed right by her and put her foot on the lip of the well. "You know what they say about staring into the abyss. Let's go." Without missing a beat, she hauled herself up and over the edge of the well. Max heard the slight splash as she hit the bottom. "Ah, fuck! My leg!" Max's blood turned to ice. What the hell was she going to do? Even if the hospital was still accessible there would be no one there to treat her. And with no rewind, she couldn't back up to stop Chloe from jumping.
"Chloe, just hold on!" she screamed desperately as she jumped up and threw herself over the edge. The drop felt like barely a second before she felt herself get securely caught in the strong arms of her wife. Her wife who was standing securely on her feet and definitely not in pain. "Wait, what the fuck?"
"Well it got you down here, didn't it?" Chloe shrugged as she gently set Max down and grabbed the torch from where she'd propped it up with a rock. She held it up again and flashed the brunette a cocky grin.
"You know how you wanted to try winning my trust back?" Max asked, glaring under her hair line at her. "Well you're really not off to a good start." With that, she turned and walked off again. They'd had a mild concern of how to know which way to go once they were down the well, but that concern was swiftly put to rest. As it turned out, the well was at the very end of the waterway. It was what would have allowed the water to pool under the well and provide easy access for the townsfolk. Back in the day, legionnaire's disease wouldn't have been a problem since the well would have seen frequent daily use. Then kitchen sinks and home plumbing would have become a thing and the well would have seen less custom- the people probably sealed the waterway to avoid disease building up. That was how they were able to walk through it now with merely a shallow stream beneath their feet and have no problems.
"So what are we actually looking for, anyway?" Chloe asked.
"The book just said that when we were on the cusp of nothingness that we would be offered the chance to correct the mistake." Max shrugged. "No idea what form that's going to take. We've just got to keep walking until then. This place stinks to high heaven, though. How long have we got on that torch, anyway?"
"Max, are you doubting my craftsmanship?" Chloe asked teasingly. "Look, I made the thing, okay? Could you maybe humour me for about five more feet?" But as she spoke, disaster struck. As amazed as Max had been by Chloe's craftsmanship, she hadn't taken note of the brush Chloe had cannibalised to make the torch. The handle, its hollow plastic frame having been heated up by the flaming cloth bundle on the end, wilted like a dead flower and dropped into the shallow water. It fizzled out with a sharp hiss and plunged them both into utter darkness as an odd sense of throbbing pressure descended over them.
"Do you feel that?" Max asked. She wasn't going to acknowledge the torch. She wouldn't. Doing that would just make Chloe doubt herself further and that was something that neither of them needed right now. If Chloe gave up all hope, that would spell the end for both of them.
"Soul-crushing regret?" Chloe muttered despondently.
"No. It's... It's warm?" Max couldn't quite believe it herself, but it was true. The air had become warm and oppressive, almost like they were no longer alone. Something told her that whatever they were looking for they were definitely close. Closer than they thought, in fact, as the darkness in front of them visibly distorted for a second. In that moment, a shape loomed out of the blackness. It was a human, definitely male and wrapped in a black cloak with facial tattoos that suddenly ignited with red light in the blackness.
"Uh, who the fuck are you?" Chloe asked. In the light of the man's tattoos, Max saw Chloe's hand move to her hip subconsciously. She was clearly wishing she had a gun on her in that moment. But it- just like everything else- had been in the truck when it blew up.
"I?" he asked with a mockingly curious tone. "I have no name. Not anymore. I am but the first to be trapped in this hell. I vowed that it would never happen to another, so I took refuge in the only place those things cannot reach. I wished out of greed, just as you did. I wished for my wife to attain eternal life. She was dying and I was desperate. I did it to lash out at her disease. I got my wish and now she hates me. She possesses the town in this hellscape to this day, eternally in pain with her illness unable to end her life and me unable to undo the wish. Her hold on the townsfolk is only visible to those end up here. They can't be helped. Not in here. And they're free out there. Even now, they see themselves partying on little knowing that anything's wrong. Now she's out there and I'm in here, locked in eternal stalemate."
"Those things are the people of this town?" Max asked in disbelief. "And why am I in here, then? I wished for Chloe and I to spend the rest of our lives together. I hardly think that's greedy!"
"And she wished for a power like yours." The man reminded her. "Presumably you've been dragged into this because she affected both of you. You can't leave until it's put right."
"But how?" Chloe asked.
"You must simply show thought for others." The man fixed his attention squarely on her. "This will be put right, but only if the town itself feels you are deserving of it. Fortunately, I've been down here a long time. Time is of no concept here, nor sleep or hunger. Having been here since the start, I am as impartial as they come. You may simply present your evidence to me." Chloe wasted no time, going to her hoodie pocket and pulling something from it. Max gasped when she saw what she was holding. Shining like a beacon in the light of the man's illuminated tattoos was the card that Chloe had picked up, left behind by the boy when the whole event started.
"When those boys went missing, I figured this card looked quite valuable. I hung on to it in case we found him and he wanted it back." She handed it over, placing it in the figure's gloved hand. Instantly, the light from his tattoos turned a brilliant blue. Chloe let out a shriek as the same blue light surrounded her, pulsing and strobing violently before leaving her and moving to Max. Max instantly felt the force of a delivery truck hitting her at high speed. It was like her body should have been atomised in a second and yet she was still alive and able to feel every millimetre of herself. It ended in seconds, but both of them were unaware of it as they fell backwards, their legs completely giving out. They hit the ground hard, both in too much agony to even care about the fact that they were now getting wet from the stream of water beneath them. Chloe was barely able to lift her head to glare at the figure in front of them.
"What the hell was that?"
"It is done. Balance is restored. The power you took is now back with its rightful owner. Now if you will indulge me: since time is immemorial here, what year is it in your reality?"
"It's 2018." Chloe replied. A sad smile crept over the figure's lips as the light from his tattoos dimmed.
"Thank you. To think that I have been down here so long... It has been interesting to see the change in language and clothing that has come through here. To think that this world is in its second millennium now... Out of curiosity, if you had a second chance at a wish, what would you wish for?" Chloe took a second to think about it. Clearly she'd been brash the first time and the last thing she wanted to do was be as selfish as she had been the first time.
"I don't know. As badly as I want a new truck, I don't really care about a wish anymore. All I care about is being happy with the woman I love and Max already wished for that. I don't need anything." The man stepped back, the light in his tattoos completely fading as he reached into his cloak.
"You know, when I first sealed myself in here we didn't have much recorded history. I don't truly know what a 'truck' is. They certainly didn't exist when I was of the world you now know. That being said: things tend to fall into wells all the time." With that, he held out something to Chloe. She stared at it dumbly before realising it was a set of car keys. She didn't know what type of car they were for, but she accepted them gratefully.
"Thank you." As she said that, the last of her strength left her. She passed out next to Max, the shallow water of the well lapping at the pair of them as she joined her wife in blissful unconsciousness.