Dastardly Bastard(34)

His father, just as Lyle remembered him, very real and very much alive, stood over the stove, flipping pancakes. Tears overtook his vision. He rushed his father, throwing his arms around his waist, squeezing until he thought they’d become one.

Dad tousled his hair. “Hey, Brody.”

“It’s really you,” Lyle screeched. “You’re really real!”

“I’d hope so.” Dad laughed. “Now, let me go before I burn these pan—never mind. Too late.”

Lyle smiled through his tears. “It’s okay. We can make more. We can make lots more!”

His father shrugged. “Very true.”

“What’s going on in here? I smell something burning.” His mother stood in the doorway. Somehow, he knew she shouldn’t be there, but he was still glad to see her.

“Our son is making me burn the pancakes, hon.”

Lyle watched as his mother approached, pulling his father away, kissing him full on the lips. “Hey, sexy man.”

“What’s up with you two?” Dad grinned as he pulled away from the kiss. “You guys act like I up and died or something.”

“Just happy to see you, I guess.” Lyle’s face began to hurt from smiling so hard. His grin was getting wider and wider. His cheeks felt as if they were going to split if he didn’t stop soon.

Everything was golden and right in the world. Dad finished cooking, and Lyle sat down to eat with his parents. They talked about what the day ahead would bring. The carnival was in town and sounded like quite a good idea.

Lyle chewed with a smile plastered on his face, not knowing why he was so happy. He only knew there was life to live. Memories to be made.

Oh, but the memories…





26


MARSHA DROPPED TO HER KNEES, clutching her chest. Lyle was safe.

“Oh, thank God,” she managed. Lyle was talking to Jaleel. She could see his lips moving, but couldn’t hear what was being said. Jaleel’s head tilted, and he gazed toward the sky.

Marsha looked up to see what had caught his attention.

The sun was moving. It fled toward the southern horizon. It seemed to Marsha that someone had hit the fast forward button on a video. Night fell, and the moon whizzed by in a mad dash for the end of the earth. Around and around, the cycle went, light then dark, blurring the realm of reality. Soon, the moon chased the sun, one stone white, the other a blaze of fiery orange that left a trail of gold in its wake.

The day took on a lavender tone as the two stellar beings circled the other in the sky, moving counterclockwise.

“It’s so… beautiful,” Marsha said, awestruck.

“You seeing this, baby?” Trevor asked.

The girl didn’t answer her boyfriend.

The moon was drawn toward the massive star with every rotation. They passed over one another, growing closer and closer still. The moon looked as if it were circling a drain. The game drew to a close. The moon found purchase over the sun.

In the calm, overcast glow of the day, stars could be seen to the north, a clear blue sky to the south.

Marsha felt the earth quake beneath her feet. She stole her gaze from the bisected sky and checked on Lyle.

He was gone.

And so was the bridge. Nothing was left of it. It hadn’t snapped. It wasn’t dangling from either side of the chasm’s walls. It was just… gone. Across the chasm, nothing but sheer rock wall remained. The entrance to the cave was no more there than the bridge. Jaleel had vanished, too.

“Lyle!” Marsha screamed, not knowing which way to look or where to focus her attention.

Rock and debris rained from above, pelting her head. She tumbled forward, grabbing a section of the guard wire to stabilize herself.

“Where’s Lyle?” She spun in place, trying to find something, anything that would lead her to her son. There had to be a way to get to the other side, had to be a way to reach Lyle.

The loop. She could go back to the warp zone. If she went through, she’d find him. Yes. That was it. That was all she needed to do. She’d find her son, find a way out, find her car, find something.

Marsha took a step forward, then stopped. The rock path was crumbling, showering down into the chasm below.

She looked back at Trevor and Justine. “Help me! Help me find Lyle!”

Schwaaaaaaaaaang

The guard wire snapped free of its moorings and whipped through the air above her head. It coiled in front of her, seeming to watch her. She went right, and it snapped in that direction, cracking against the ground in front of her. Loose stone exploded. She let out a squeal and pitched forward.

The collapse was coming. It barreled toward her, seemingly intent on swallowing her whole. The granite path fell away, kicking up a cloud of gray dust. She had no way out. Wherever she turned, the guard wire impeded her progress. She hugged the wall at her back, mumbling her son’s name over and over again.

The guard wire rose before her like a snake from a charmer’s basket. It swayed from side to side, snapping at the air in front of her face. Over the sounds of her own screaming, she could hear it hissing. It sounded a bit like laughter.

Schwaaaaaaaaaang

The guard wire caught her across the cheek, tearing through one side and out the other. The force sent her flying away from the collapsing pathway.

The ground rolled under her. The pain in her face was all consuming. She tried to push herself up to her knees, but the wire caught her around the wrist and yanked her hand from under her. Her face landed in a puddle of her own blood.