36

  Brad

  We all arrived at the lake to Somewhere Else Friday evening. Usually a day like this, between end of school and Graduation this weekend, would be spent chilling out at the mall, finding a nice place to crash and relax before the pomp and circumstance, or a great day out seeing the city, seeing the place that the lucky of our graduation class would be about to abandon forever as they traveled off to the seemingly distant land of this or that good school in this or that state. But for the three of us, it was spent at an all but abandoned farm, next to an all but abandoned lake.

  “Twenty four hours, twenty four hours here, that’s all you get,” Susie said, her arms crossed and a look on her face that said she was done with all this bullshit. “That’s about three days you have, seventy hours and twenty four minutes to be precise, I did the math,” Susie said, “You have three days to say goodbye, tie up any affairs you have, and then you’re done, you need to be done, we all do,” Susie looked away, took a deep breath.

  “Just let me say goodbye,” Christian said, “I know your demands, and I know what will happen,” he took a deep breath, sighed, “Just let me say goodbye, I care about these people,” he said, “I know that someone like you doesn’t think they’re real, but they’re real to me,” Christan closed his eyes, “They’re real to me,” he repeated.

  “They may be real to you, but that world isn’t real, nothing we did over there was real,” Susie shot a look to Cody, and I saw Cody look away from her accusing glare.

  I took a chance to speak up, “It’s for the best, we don’t belong there,” I said, “You can still say goodbye,” I said, “Tie up what you need tied, say goodbye, and then come home to the massive amount of gold you have,” I said, “That gold is going to take you far, so far you won't even need that world anymore,” I did my part for Susie’s ultimatum, tried to convince Christian that he really didn’t need that world anymore. “I’ve been reading the Grimm stories, everything we’ve seen, we’ve gotten through most of the catalog, the greatest hits at least,” I said, “For all we know, soon, very soon, there wont be any more adventures left. No more quests for us to get gold, go there knowing that after this there might not be a reason to go back. We’ve earned all the gold we can, we’ve saved all the people we can, it’s time to end this,” I said.

  “You’re right, you’re all right,” Christian said, “It’s time to end things,” he turned and looked to the lake. He looked to that portal that had provided him a great escape from the troubles and responsibilities that this world kept packing on his shoulders.

  “Twenty Four hours,” Susie said, trying to distract us from encouraging the man I’m sure she hates so much these days. “Twenty four hours and you’re done, Twenty Four hours and one second, and people find out about this place,” Susie threatened. “This watch hits a second past twenty four, and we tell as many people in charge as we can about Somewhere Else, we’re all ready to do this, and you need to know that,” she said.

  “Three days,” Christian said, “We’ve done the math, twenty four hours here is at least Three days there, I just need three days, it’s all I need, all I need to do what I need to do,” Christian had this look on his face. I don’t know what that look meant, at least I didn’t at the time. It was a look that had this odd mix of both determination and acceptance.

  “Three days,” Christian said, “Three more days and this is all over,” he gulped, gathered his courage. “I’m going alone,” he said, “I don’t need you to come with me, I just need three days alone, three days to say goodbye, three days to make peace,” I looked to Christian, and I saw on his face what we had seen before we encountered Morgan. I saw a man that had made his choice.

  “We will tell people,” Susie said, “You say you care about Somewhere Else, if you don’t want it overrun by government forces, if you don’t want people to find this place you say you love so much, you’ll be back by then, right?” Susie asked.

  I often wonder if she was serious about her threats, her threats to ruin that world with a force even more devastating than what Morgan LeFaye could ever hope to bring to it. The threat of jack boot thugs swarming into this great world and trampling all over everything that people like Christian and Morgan held so dear.

  “I warn you again,” Susie said, “The second this watch,” she held up the stop watch I gave her, the same stop watch we used in what felt like so long ago to time exactly how long a minute here was a minute there, “The second that this passes twenty four hours, I go to the closest authority figure I find and I spill everything, I don’t give a shit what these two idiots think,” Susie said, pointing to Cody and I. She was serious, Cody told me she’s a lawyer now, or something close to a lawyer. She definitely had the talent for it, she could point a finger at you and you would know you were in trouble.

  “I know how much time I have,” Christian said. “And I know I need to be back by then, I will be,” Christian took a deep breath, closed his eyes, “Three days, that’s all I’ll be gone for, that’s all I need,” he said.

  “Three days over there, we know how you can get carried away when you’re on that side, twenty four hours, that’s just shy of three days, so you better be back before the sun sets on your third day,” Susie said.

  “It’s more than enough time that I need,” Christian snapped, he collected himself, took a deep breath, “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Christian, you don’t have to-” Cody was cut off by Christian’s confession of guilt.

  “I’m sorry I dragged all of you into this, I’m sorry that you all have to worry about things because of me,” he turned to Susie, “I’m sorry I put all of this on you, and I’m sorry I put it on you for such stupid reasons,” he looked to Cody. “Just help on an English test, that’s all it took for the four of us to have to share this dark secret of Somewhere Else with each other, I’m sorry for the weight I’ve put on you all, I mean it, after today, this day here in this world, after these twenty-four hours you’ve given me, it will be done after this,” he said turning to the lake, “Everything will be done after this,” he said, looking to the flat and pristine bed of that magical lake that had changed all of our lives.

  “We start the clock the second you jump in, We’re serious Christian,” Susie said, “Twenty four hours, twenty four hours here, in the real world, that’s all you have, use them wisely,” Susie was conceded to giving Christian this last chance to live out all his fantasies Somewhere Else. I wonder if she felt the same pity for this man that she is most likely accusing Cody of having in this retelling of the events that happened to us.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Pity and pitiful, two words with a connection I think is undeserved. Was Christian pitiful? No, he was just a man in love, and men in love are want to do things that some people find depraved and unacceptable. Did he deserve pity? I don’t know. No one can know, no one save for you, the reader of this text. You’re getting three points of view when it comes to Christian’s innocence or guilt. If anyone could make a fair judgment to his innocence or guilt it would have to be someone so removed from what the four of us saw in our travels Somewhere Else.

  Christian did fulfill his promise, he came back from that world to ours for the last time just as Susie was about to reign hell upon it.

  With a scant twenty four hours Christian accomplished everything he wanted to do Somewhere Else. He was able to take the mere three days that the amount of time we gave him afforded and accomplished everything he had been seeking to do in that magical, wonderful place.

  We’re nearing the end of our story. You’ve seen how much Christian loved that world, and you’ve seen what he was willing to do to defend it. That last sentence before he committed an act so atrocious, “I just want to live in it,” He wanted to live there so badly, he wanted to live in a place where things made sense to him so badly. Maybe Susie was wrong, maybe we were wrong, trying to convince him he had no place there. Maybe he did belong there, maybe he does belong there. Maybe he deserves to be wrapped up in a world he was just a bit too late to.

  He wanted a princess so badly, he wanted to be the great hero that saved a pretty girl and he wanted to be rewarded for it, rewarded for the heroism we all saw he was capable of in that distant and far off land of Somewhere Else.

  I don’t condone his actions, I don’t condemn them, I just understand why he did what he did. He was a man, a weak man like all of us really are when you get right down to our core. A weak man with a weak man’s wants and desires. Was it wrong? Maybe. Was it right, considering all the arguments he gave us, all of his reasonings, it might have been right. For all we know it could have been that girl’s best chance at a life. Would giving someone a life after they had nothing left be so wrong? I’ll let you be the judge of that. I’ll let you be the judge because I’m never going to meet you. You decide. Is Christian a wicked man who took advantage of the crazy situation that Somewhere Else let him take advantage of? Or is he really the hero that Somewhere Else needed? Was he the hero who was right where he needed to be when the rules of that world called him forward to the great destiny he fulfilled? The one there to accept the destiny he most likely stole from someone who for all we knew could have already been dead.

  “Start the clock,” Christian said, walking towards the lake.

  “Christian, just do what you need to do, when you come back here you’re coming to open arms,” Cody said.

  “Just start the clock,” Christan said before leaping into the lake. Susie didn’t miss a beat, she started the timer. As he leapt into the lake for, what we thought and hoped, would be the last time.

  We went home, got a night's rest, and returned to the lake on Saturday afternoon, twelve hours had elapsed and there was still no sign of Christian.

  “He’s been there a day already, and that’s not enough to tie up his affairs, he’s staying there, isn’t he?” Susie asked.

  “He knows the deal, he’ll come back,” Cody said, holding so much hope that his friend was true to his world, “We promised him twenty four of our hours there, lets give him that, if that passes, then we can talk about what we’re going to do,” Cody said.

  “Cody, he…he…” Susie had this look of defeat on her face, a look that said she may be done arguing for once. “Cody, you know he needs to stop just as much as I do,” she said. She wasn’t passionate in her speech, she wasn’t trying to argue, she was just stating a fact, “He’s lost, you said we had to give him tough love before, so we need to give him tough love now,” Susie said.

  “It’s only been, not even twelve hours,” Cody said, looking at his watch.

  “You can’t think he’s taking this long to say goodbye to a town that’s not twenty minutes from the lake,” Susie said, “He’s going to stay there, we all know it, we all saw the look on his face when he jumped in,” Susie said, ready to accuse Christian of every evil she knew he was capable of committing.

  “He has twelve hours left, this place is special to him, he wants to savor every moment we allowed him to have left, just let him have that,” Cody said.

  “We’ve seen what happens when someone goes native, we’ve seen what happens when someone abandons this world, we’ve all seen it, Just look at Morgan, she-”

  “He’s not Morgan!” Cody said, cutting off any accusation that Susie was about to give Christian, “He’s not Morgan,” Cody repeated.

  This debate over the character of Christian, over the actions he could or would commit in that world came to an end, when Christian warped back to our world, with another visitor joining him.

  Now, dear reader, we reach the tragic and demented end of our story. We finally reveal the so-called evil that Christian committed, and we reach the point where it’s left to you to judge his actions. Cody condones, Susie Condemns, and I understand.

  Outside the lake, when the timer we had hit 24:00:01 Susie leapt up. “That’s it, he’s gone native, I’m done,” she said, “It’s time we wash our hands of this,” she said.

  “Listen, give him a little more time, he knows he has to come back. He knows what we threatened to do,” Cody said, trying to calm her down.

  “We said twenty four hours, he’s been there enough to know how long that is in the real world, we said twenty four hours and I don’t know about you two, but I meant it,” Susie said, “We entertained this idea of his one last ride, one more hit. I knew this was a bad idea. I told you I watch that intervention show, whenever the junkie says ‘I just need one more hit’ that’s usually the one that kills them,” she said.

  “Seven minutes, it’s not like he has a way to know exactly how much time has passed,” Cody said, “When the tardy bell rings in school, we have seven minutes to get to class, let’s just give him that. He knows that his time is running short, lets just give him a little leeway, that’s all I’m saying,” he said, turning to look to the lake.

  Susie huffed, closed her eyes. I don’t think she wanted to do what she was threatening to do. She didn’t want to get wrapped up in the interrogation we would be facing if we did indeed tell other people about Somewhere Else, “Fine, seven minutes, but that’s it. With the time he’s been there, seven more minutes is a few hours, he needs to know to head back,” she said.

  “He’ll come back, Susie,” Cody said, “Susie I swear he’s going to come back,” Cody said.

  Christian did come back, at about six minutes and thirty seconds past the twenty four hour mark. Even after seeing everything Christian had done, what he was capable of when it came to carving out his life Somewhere Else, we had no idea he would do something like this.

  There wasn’t one, but two bodies that appeared on the grass in front of us. One, Christian, still wearing his chain mail, black cloak, sword on his belt. The other, a girl, a young girl. Her hair a shade of red far more charming and innocent then Susie’s dye job. Her body was light, waifish, her skin pale as alabaster. She wore a simple white dress, almost as white as her skin. Christian got up, reached out to take the girl’s hand and pull her up as well.

  “Christian?” Cody asked, “Who…?” his voice trailed off.

  “You said one more day,” Christian said, “One more day to tie up my affairs, one more day to do what I knew I had to do, one more day to get what I want,” Christian took a deep breath, still holding the alabaster girl’s hand, “This is Briar Rose,” he said, reaching his other hand to put in hers, their fingers interweaving, “And we’re in love.”