Part 26 (2/2)
”You don't mean that,” Danny said, unable to stop the words tumbling from his lips or the pleading tone that accompanied them. He'd wanted to be a cop now, an avenging force for good - not a lovesick child.
”You disgust me, Daniel, you and your kind. I had plans for you at the hands of young Martin Kline. He had somewhat strong biblical views on what should be done with such abominations.”
Danny kept the gun raised and was pleased to see that the hand at least was steady. ”Let her go,” he ordered, steeling himself.
”Let her go?” Simon laughed riotously. ”Are you serious? After everything that I've done to bring me and my sister together, you expect me to let her go?”
”It's over Nath..., Simon, it's all over and all that remains is whether you're finis.h.i.+ng on your feet or on your back. Now step away from her and put your hands on your head.”
”You think that I'm scared of you or your so-called weapon? I am a G.o.d before you, Daniel. I have power the likes of which your puny brain could not even begin to comprehend. Would you like to feel your brain crawling with lice? Would you like to claw the flesh from your face trying to get rid of the burrowing itching beneath the surface?”
Danny inched closer as the man pontificated with wild eyes that were clearly mad. Simon held Jane in one arm as she slumped against him; her face was distant and absurdly happy.
”I wouldn't even waste my time trying to explain myself to an insect like you,” Simon continued. ”I am as far beyond your comprehension as an ant before the sun. You should bow before me with reverence for my light and warmth.”
”And what about her? What about your sister? Where does she fit into your grand plans?”
”We will be together forever,” Simon beamed.
”Joined at the hip I suppose?”
”Joined far deeper than that Daniel. Jane has a power that could, in time, rival my own.”
”She'd never join in your madness.”
”Oh she'll join me, whether she likes it or not. I will absorb her essence into my own, I will join us together at a molecular level, Daniel, and together we will be unstoppable.”
”And what about her? What about her life?”
”She won't need a life, not where she's going. She'll be eternal energy burning inside of my form and she'll be happy, Daniel, I can promise you that, and isn't that what we all want?”
”She won't let you; she'll fight and she'll stop you.”
”She's already gone, Daniel.”
As if to prove his point, Simon waved a hand out while still holding onto Jane firmly with the other. Danny felt a rush of light charging towards him as time rolled backwards and the pier came to life around him. He could smell the candy floss rolling and the onions frying. The sun was warm on his face and the seagulls called above him, flying in the crystal blue sky. The clothing of those around him pegged the timescale at somewhere in the forties. ”Smoke and mirrors,” he shouted above the loud organ music.
”Really?” Simon grinned.
Danny almost yelped in shock as a pretty woman b.u.mped into him as she walked past with two young children in tow. The physical contact was shocking; he could accept the projected images but not an interactive flesh and blood world.
”Two minds are indeed better than one,” Simon said excitedly and Danny could see the petulant child that had never grown up.
”This can't be real,” Danny whispered.
”Oh yes it can. Just think about it, Daniel, why don't you fire that little gun of yours and rob someone today of their actual existence? Kill a parent or a grandparent and wipe out an entire family line; and this is just the start, the possibilities are endless.”
”You're insane.”
”Now why is it that visionaries are always dismissed as crazy?” Simon snapped annoyed. ”People like you would only be happy if we all still lived in the mud and wors.h.i.+pped the sun.”
Danny tried to move closer through the overlapping worlds but was buffeted by the sheer force of Simon's will and his creation. The gun felt impossibly heavy in his hand and his arm fell to his side. He was walking into a hurricane that drained his will, no matter how hard he tried to fight it, and his vision of saving the day was fading fast as he sank to his knees.
”Now she looks familiar, doesn't she?” Simon's voice cooed.
Danny looked up into the eyes of a young woman; he didn't know her face but she shared the same eyes as him, kind eyes that he had only ever seen in an elderly face as she gave him sweets from her bag. ”Grammy?” he asked his grandmother as the young woman looked at him with a curious but warm expression.
”What say we end the Meyers' line before it really began?” Simon laughed. ”No more father to take up a badge and stop the original Crucifier's reign. How many more victims might Arthur Durage have taken without your father's interference? How many more pieces of art would he have created?”
Danny fell onto the ground, unable to rise as his young grandmother clutched her clearly pregnant belly with a nervous protective hand from the strange man who she now realised was clutching a gun.
Jane was drifting in the void far beyond caring about the minutiae of reality. Here, life stretched on forever like a blank canvas waiting to be filled with whatever she could dream. There was a nagging buzzing fly somewhere behind her ear and she flapped a hand at the unwelcome intrusion into Eden but the insect merely danced back out of reach before diving in closer again.
There was no pain here, no loss, and no fear. The world was hers to construct and shape as she saw fit. There was no death and no disease, no failing bodies with their limits and decay. Flesh and blood were disgusting by-products of humanity and she was thankful to be free from their filth. Life here was circular and without end; all that existed were happy thoughts eternal.
The landscape drifted out of focus again before merging back and transforming into life. Her house was an old converted mill beside a babbling brook. The day was blissfully warm, without being strength-sapping. The bugs were absent, despite the summer - all except the same buzzing fly.
She could feel the dry gra.s.s beneath her feet and hear the dancing water breaks at the bottom of her garden as she wandered towards the narrow river.
”Jane,” a small voice called her amidst the fly's buzz.
She shook her head to clear it; there were no talking flies here, certainly not one who knew her name.
”Jane, dear,” the fly buzzed again, only this time the voice seemed more familiar to her.
”Mum?”
”He lies, dear,” the fly said sadly. ”It's what he's good at.”
”Leave me alone, Mum,” Jane snapped, irritated to be having a conversation with an insect in the first place. ”You're not welcome here.”
The fly was silenced and Jane walked quickly to the water's edge. She was thinking about tall, snow-topped mountains and hot chocolate sprinkled with mini marshmallows when the fly came back.
”He lies, baby girl,” her mother's voice came again. ”This world isn't paradise, it isn't Eden, it's a prison; it's where you'll exist, where you'll only exist anymore, if you let him take you.”
”Shut up! You lie!” Jane shouted harshly. ”You're the one who lied to me all my childhood, Mum. My father died and you kept it from me. YOU'RE THE LIAR!”
”It's not a lie, it's love, baby. I knew that you weren't ready to deal with losing your father; I just wanted to spare you that pain.”
Jane's sentimental muscles twitched at that; her mother had never been anything but loving and selfless. This new hate in her heart was freshly born and not planted by her. Subconsciously, she reached for her mother's silver brooch, which she always wore. Her fingers played across the worn, cool, metallic surface and, as always, her mother's spirit was strong whether she liked it or not. ”No, no,” she said, shaking her mind. ”You kept my father from me and my brother. We could have been a family; we could have been together but you were too selfish - too ashamed of your affair - and you sent your son away!”
”Is that really what you think of me? Is that really how I raised you?” her mother asked, sadly.
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