Carpathia IV: Episode 183 - Third Option
Amenaru's House
Dreams are funny things, simultaneously feeling real when they're happening but also wrapped up in a fog of uncertainty. Situations that change in a snap. Half of the senses heightened and others dulled. Amenaru found himself standing in front of his family home. The last thing he remembered was laying on the ground on a distant planet. How did he get here, and by himself no less?
It must be a dream, he thought. However, the more he stood on the granite path in front of his house, it seemed less and less likely. Everything was right down to the smallest detail... almost. The rain tip tapped on his head, sending rivulets of water running down his face, compounding the chilliness of the air. The smells, of the grass and trees, of the carrot patch. The sights, the lanterns perched atop the walls casting a heavy, hazy glow through the damp air, the Great Eastern, floating in the bay in the distance like a silent sentinel, bright, but lifeless.
In fact, everything around him was lifeless. He turned behind him to see the town on the bottom of the hill, also brightly lit, but with no sound. No movement. No cars patrolling the roads. No people on their covered patios, enjoying an autumn rain. Nobody darting from the convenience store to the subway station across the street, umbrellas raised high or briefcases covering their heads. It was as though someone came, built a town, and left after switching it on, like it was little more than a video game.
The sights, smells, feelings, everything was right, but for the people. A slow day? Wrong time for the usual flurry of activity? Maybe, he thought, going into his house would get some answers. Amenaru moved forward slowly, tapping up the stairs, sending little splashes of water splattering around where his feet hit a divot in the granite. The covered part of the porch offered him respite from the rain and his boots made the same, familiar clunk when his footfalls hit the oak planking.
Amenaru allowed his hand to rest on the doorknob for a few moments, wondering what he might find inside. With a heavy sigh, he turned the knob, and gave the door a push, the hinges creaking in protest until he slipped inside.
Once again, an almost mundane normalcy, except for the absence of people. The low lighting, usual at night. The smell of the oak, at least when there was nothing cooking on the stove. But no people.
Looking to the right, the dining room just off the kitchen. The windows beyond, but with the shutters open. Not normal during a storm.
To the left, the family room and stairs to the basement. Again, nobody.
Amenaru: Mom? Dad?
Silence. Hope dimmed, but maybe his little sister and brother might be around?
Amenaru: Meri? Ramses?
More silence. A last-ditch call, his older sister, who was never home, working as a game designer in Starlight City.
Amenaru: Ramla?
He barely made it through Ramla's name before he started tearing up, voice cracking. More silence, except for one new sound to accompany the rain, his own sniffles. He still wasn't convinced that this was a dream. What was real was very real. It felt more like he had entered into another dimension, one where everything was exactly the same, but no people.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Hello Amenaru.
If Amenaru had turned any harder to the sound of that voice, he might have snapped his neck, thankful that he was to hear any voice at all. That it was Tiggy was great, but he'd have taken any random person at that point.
Amenaru: Tiggy!
Amenaru would have rushed to Mrs. Tiggywinkle, but, in that instant, his legs turned to mush and he fell to his knees with his arms out, expectantly. Tiggy, however, padded delicately to him, head down, and seemed to be in no rush at all.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: I'm sorry, Amenaru...
Amenaru lowered his arms, for no hug was forthcoming, and watched as Tiggy sat and slowly raised her head to finally look him in the eye.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: You're dead.
This time, Amenaru's back gave out and he slumped forward, lips quivering and shaking his head.
Amenaru: No... no... I can't be...
But Amenaru knew it was true. He knew he was stabbed. He knew his dilapidated heart wouldn't make treatment easy. Yet, he still didn't want to believe it.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Your heart turned what would have been a difficult treatment into a critical one. When I found out you were here, in the in-between, I had to come.
Amenaru: The what?
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: The in-between. This is the place you go when you die. Normally, I don't handle crossings to the next world, but I asked for special permission. I wanted to be with you.
This was too fast. Just too fast. One minute he was walking a sunny field and all was good and well. The next, contemplating if he was to even exist soon.
Amenaru: I don't understand... What is the next world?
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Honestly, even demigods don't know. The only choices are to go or remain here as a spectre, which drives almost everyone mad with misery.
Amenaru: I don't even get to say goodbye? I can't see anyone?
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: It's best that you don't. The longer you stay, the more likely you become a spectre. I do have a third option for you.
Amenaru's ears, so flat on his head that one might think they were ready to tear away, twitched. A third option. If Tiggy offered it to him, it had to be better than the first two.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: I can send you back to a moment of your choosing. You can make whatever changes you want that you think might stop you ending up here.
Now, his ears were fully erect. A very intriguing proposition.
Amenaru: You can do that?
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: I can't, but the Guardian of Eternity gave...
As soon as Tiggy mentioned this guardian, a bolt of lightning struck the iron fence just outside the living room window, sending up a shower of sparks, accompanied instantly by an earth-shattering thunderclap, so loud that Amenaru's ears began to ring. Tiggy cowed, shrinking her head down into her shoulders.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Erm... I have some help.
Amenaru's eyes darted about, confused, but he thought it best not to press the issue.
Amenaru: Of course I'll take the that option.
Tiggy nodded.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Okay, here are the rules. Picture in your mind what moment you want to change, and choose carefully. We can only do this once. After you've made the change you want, you'll wake up in your new present. At first, you'll be able to remember everything of your now past, but those memories will fade and, as far as you're concerned, the new present will be the one that always was. Now, choose, and choose well.
Amenaru listened to Tiggy's rules as though his life depended on it, because it did. What should he change? His first thought was to go back to when the vine pierced his chest, but, the more he thought about that, the more he realized that was just a bandage solution. He would still have the hole in his heart and he would be vulnerable to any number of hazards that may come, like the vine that normally wouldn't have killed him, but did. Better, he thought, would be to prevent his heart condition from ever happening in the first place. For that, he'd have to go way back, nearly a decade, to the moment he first got into drugs.
Two ideas on file in his brain. Vine Day and Drug Day, while he tried to think of anything else that might be appropriate. Tiggy waited patiently while Amenaru thought and thought. Finally, he arrived at his decision. He would go back to Drug Day.
Amenaru: Okay, I've decided. What do I do next?
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Picture the moment as clearly in your head as you can. When you have it, go through that door.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle sat up and pointed her paw at the door under the stairs at the back of the house.
Amenaru: The toilet?
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: This isn't your house, Amenaru. We're in the in-between. It only looks like your house. That door is set up to take you to your past.
But Amenaru didn't move. Still with the moment pictured in his head, he stared at Tiggy, his one and only link to the living world.
Amenaru: A hug first?
Tiggy paused and smiled, in a cat sort of way, then nodded. She padded to him and snuggled in on his lap, letting Amenaru stroke her from her head down to her tail. After a good ten minutes of this, while Amenaru thought about how he might change Drug Day, she stretched and climbed back to the floor.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: It is time, Amenaru.
Amenaru nodded.
Amenaru: I'm ready.
Amenaru slowly rose to his feet and stared at the door at the back, wondering what he would see when he opened it. With Tiggy by his side, he tip tapped carefully to it, as though he were trying to sneak up on the potty or something. With a twist of the handle, he pulled and inside was nothing more than a light.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle: Good luck, Amenaru.
Amenaru: Thank you, Tiggy, for everything. I love you.
With a deep breath, Amenaru stepped into the light and the door closed behind him on its own.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Less_End
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
Falke2009
