Sarah sighed. "Someday I'll get Barb to expense cider and donuts." She leaned against her bike; Buddy held her free hand.
"You should ask again. Third time's a charm, right?" Sarah opened her mouth to agree, or hatch a circuitous plan, but her words died when a girl--a woman--popped into existence just a foot from them.
"Teleporter?" She'd barely managed the word before the woman vanished--and the memory of the word with her.
"time's a charm, right?" Buddy asked. Sarah opened her mouth, but a woman popped into existence close enough that their bodies touched. The woman wore a grimace; she wrenched Sarah and Buddy apart, but then she was gone--and they were still holding hands.
"charm. right?" Sarah almost expected the woman when she appeared. She slugged Buddy in the jaw, and Sarah got a long glance at her: washed-out blonde in a ragged ponytail, oversized hoodie and sweatpants that couldn't disguise her skeletal, almost-spidery appearance. And then she was gone, and Buddy stood unharmed beside Sarah.
The world took on a shuddery quality, as if they all stood against the wheel of a zoetrope. A woman appeared. She lashed out at Buddy, or tore at Sarah, or screamed words, and vanished, and the scratches and words vanished with her. The sheer number of her retconned appearances began overwhelming the world; the next few minutes occurred in a collage of never-happeneds:
"Sarah! It's Jane. I'm Jane. Please, shake this off. Please. I need your help." Punches that didn't happen. More words that were never said because Jane--who was Jane?--was never here to say them. Moments lost like water through Sarah's fingers. She and Buddy stood serenely together, enjoying their drinks--at the same time as, instead of, overwriting--Jane's pleas, Jane's fists, Jane's wilder and wilder appearances-that-weren't.
"Keep it up, warp boy, you just try," the woman continued one word, one unremembered occurrence, at a time. "I've been doing this for years. Infinite possibilities, bitch." Buddy grimaced. No, there was nothing to frown about. He smiled as he enjoyed his cider.
"There's no world you can make I can't find my way through." Buddy's hand in Sarah's tightened.
"Let her go. Her people need her. Her dog needs her! Sarah, he erased Buster!" Sarah blinked. "Buster, your boxer. Calli's gone, in every world he touches, Calli's gone. Rhea Rose still gets eaten in every world he's fucked up. He's doing it on purpose!"
Nothing happened, and yet the timelines built up like cobwebs. Thought slowed. Time slowed as more of it occurred in a single place.
Oh. OH. I was wondering if it was maybe a typo or an accidental double-paste at the end of part 1, but no. That's both incredibly creepy and really cool.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed at your ability, Shae! This sort of effect is really hard to evoke well and still have it make sense, but you've done it flawlessly! On to part 3!