24 Interlude 3 – Hess – Iteration 142 (2/2)
She returned her attention to the window. ”Third fire this month. That should motivate the city council to pass stricter building codes.”
”Everything they do is reactive. All it would take is a little foresight to prevent these tragedies.” Hess crumpled the paper and threw it into the fireplace. ”They can't look more than a few days into the future.”
”What do you expect from them, Hess? We've seen the consequence of every action a thousand times, but the brightest of them are little more than children. Besides, you don't really want a world without conflict. Do you?”
”Definitely not. The second Iteration was a disaster.”
”Not entirely,” Elza said. ”There are a few moments from that Iteration I always hold in my memory.”
Hess moved his seat next to hers. Outside, people rushed to and fro, off to work or running chores. Alan would probably be at the bakery by now. The boy had been starving to death a year ago. The turning point in his life had been when a sudden blizzard prevented him from returning to the slums after a day spent begging. Alan should have frozen to death that night. Instead, two Observers saw him from their bay window and let him stay the night in their spare room. He waited out the snow a few days, then agreed to stay on as a serving boy in exchange for room and board. After a while, Hess had insisted Alan get an education.
He leaned towards Elza. ”Did you know Alan calls us his parents?”
”I haven't heard it,” she said.
”Just to his friends.”
”Have you been spying on him?”
”Elza, I am an Observer. What do you expect?”
”An Observer doesn't take in strays.”
”You didn't object.”
”Hess, I stopped objecting long ago. It never did any good.”
As he opened his mouth, creation began to rumble and scream, announcing the end of the world. Elza turned to him, wincing at sirens audible only to Observers. ”I guess that's it for this one. The timing is a bit inconvenient. I was hoping to see how Alan turned out.”
Hess looked out the window, at the world in motion, ignorant that its end was seconds away. Alan was probably biting into a pastry or sucking on a hard candy. He reached out for Elza's hand. ”Do you really want to see how he will turn out?” The sky opened. It was as if the Creator had torn away a wall, exposing them to whatever existed beyond the world. Just a thought would send them free of the world. ”Because I think we can.”
She smiled at him. ”Find me fast.” Elza vanished.
As the rumbling and screaming grew in volume, he stared out the window. At least Alan dies happy. Hess stepped out of existence.