ROBERT
His scrap was gone. There was nothing else to work with, not without going outside again. It would be dangerous.
Robert felt accomplished, like he had just finished something big. He sat in silence, bathing in the darkness of Chuck's house, unsure of what to do next. There was an urge to break out the prisoners, but before that…
Laying in front of him, on the worktable, Uncle Chuck's old research novel had been opened to page 318. He didn't need light to know what was written on it. He could recite it verbatim, as though the words were permanently burned into him. Chodendron Phytoxide: Metal eating plant found in the Great Forest. Dissolves metallic elements with ease; extremely dangerous to living tissue. Handle with caution.
Sitting in the dark. All this time, just sitting in the dark.
He was getting used to it.
"Nicole… please…"
He held her close, letting her listen to his churning insides, hoping his voice would lull her out of wherever she had gone.
"I need you. I need your help. I need to know where I can find the plant. You need to tell me where it is. Please… I'm lost without you."
"She isn't going to answer you. You probably shouldn't have taken her for granted, huh?"
"Nobody asked you. And anyway, you're dead."
"Mondo dead, dead as doornail, dead as dead can be. But this is kinda weird, isn't it?"
"I don't like your tone, hedgehog. And you stink."
"Who's fault is that."
The red curtains shifted slowly, back and forth, like a slow breath was falling on it from the other side. "Nicole-"
"How would someone like you be able to talk with the dead?"
"Someone… like me…"
"Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet." MPD. OCD. Cabin fever. Stir crazy. "You wish."
Robert brought NICOLE closer, running his fingers along her smooth casing. He wondered what she would look like if she were real. "Please."
"I see how it is. You'd like some privacy. My bad."
Blonde. She had long, flowing, beautiful hair that could blind anyone that looked. What kind of animal?
"Human."
"he couldn't find it anywhere"
Blue eyes. Feather light clothing, something flowing, like silk. Easy to remove.
"he thought it would be so easy, he had it all worked out but it fell apart when he tried"
A blink and it would disappear. There she would stand before him, so close, so easy to touch. He constructed her smile, found comfort in it, lost himself in it.
"failure"
Pounding away at her. She wouldn't say anything.
"failure had some nasty fangs and one powerful jaw"
She moves… moved back and forth and shook in his hands and he wanted to protect her but it was impossible when she made it this difficult, and she always made it this difficult.
"the smoking gun in his head"
"I trust you, baby, I trust you," he was saying, but it was slowly occurring to him that he was the one who needed to earn the trust.
"loneliness is more dangerous"
He was forgetting what the question was.
"he knew it but couldn't remember and wondered if that meant he'd have to learn it all over again, or if that still counts as knowing it and all he needed to do was remember"
He wanted her screaming.
"the objective, the objective, how strong were the barriers"
They were already broken.
"floating through your own mind like a piece of debris and there is no hope to ever get better"
He was afraid of that.
"never, ever get better. what the hell is the matter? what the hell is the matter with you! what are you doing to her!"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"
She clattered to the floor and Robert saw her wink out. He looked around the room and heard no voices, saw no movement.
Alone again.
A gray pool of blood inched closer to where Robert was sitting. He welcomed the heat. The blood sank into his toes and his eyes squeezed shut-