9:6
If this was a movie this would be where the Director would make some artistic choice to switch to a strobe effect or switch the camera angle from face to face to capture the horror or maybe even do a real artistic thing and segue to black and white comic book imagery to distance the audience enough to approach the insanity but it wasn’t a movie. It was real. It was…
Abe tore Ben’s arms off! It was the only thing that made sense.
No. No. That did not make sense. Abe didn’t destroy; they created. They just… No!
No. That’s… No.
Ah. Gah. Fu… uh.
Dan lunged for Ben, slapping his hands just above the gory stumps of Ben’s arms, squeezing enough his knuckles stood out stark against his skin. The pulsing of the light arms – Abe could think of no better way to describe them but that – subsided from a “I’m about to explode” to a low simmer, firefly crackles dancing over Dan’s knuckles.
“Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.” Patti crawled across the bubble, pausing a mikro to rip her sweater off over her head, revealing a lacy pink bra that was so not what Abe expected it snapped Abe from their manic babble with the abruptness of a needle screeching over an old vinyl record. Patti’s shield was ejected from the sweater and landed on the base of the bubble with a soft thud, providing percussion to the screech in Abe’s head.
Patti twisted her shirt between her hands then wound the coil around one of Ben’s arms above Dan’s hand.
She cast her gaze back at Abe. “We need something else as a tourniquet!”
Abe stared at their hands, then darted their gaze to Ben, then back to their hands.
“Abe!” Patti snapped.
Abe look at the ink pooling in their palm, wet their lips, then looked back at Patti. Instinct driving them, they lunged across the distance between themselves and the others and smacked their palms over the mess where the light arms erupted from the stumps of Ben’s physical arms.
The ink in their palms meshed with the tendons hanging from Ben’s elbows, black and white weaving into a flexible variegated ribbon that drew taught between them. At the end of Ben’s stumps flesh and skin formed over the glowing shape of his not arms, drawn out and towards Abe by the retracting ribbons.
There was an itching sensation in the bones of Abe’s hands and wrists as the ribbons of ink and sinew spooled towards their palms. The flesh flowing from Ben’s stumps formed forearms then wrists, hands and fingers. A snap reverberated up Abe’s hands and arms as the ribbons snapped into place around the glowing not arms and the ink receded back into Abe’s palms.
Sour saliva pooled under their tongue. They clenched their teeth and willed themselves to not vomit but an overwhelming pressure pushed from their throat and forced their jaw open. Their mouth gaped on a Technicolor Yawn that wasn’t technicolor at all as ink poured from inside of them. Their stomach heaved, feeling like there was a line sunk into it that was pulled taut as the flood of ink jetted from their mouth and across the space separating them from Ben.
There was a tugging at their eyes and then ink burst from their tear ducts. A mikro later and a flow of it released from their nose, burning their sinuses as it went.
The rapid release of ink was too much. Abe’s vision swam, their teeth went numb, and their head got all floaty. The last thing they saw before they lost consciousness was the ink gushing over Ben and him being propelled backwards under the onslaught.
*
Patti lunged to catch Abe before they hit the floor of the bubble. Dan scrabbled to keep his grip on Ben as he was thrust rapidly towards the wall of the bubble. The ink covered him completely. The only contrast was the white of his wide eyes as he flew backwards, torn from Dan’s hold.
Dan threw the hand with Hope forward, instinct driving him. The ink lifted from his knuckles and hooked into the ink covering Ben. Dan felt a clunk reverberate through his knuckles as it found purchase. He fought to curl his arm back, his bicep straining as the Ben-shaped blob of ink hit the wall of the bubble and continued through it.
Hope held and Dan was dragged forward too fast to counter. His fist hit the surface of the bubble. He felt a very slight resistance and then his arm broke the surface, followed quickly by his arm and then his entire body. He instinctively drew in a sharp breath and held it as his face hit the bubble.
He emerged to complete darkness. Hope pulled at his knuckles, an anchor in the dark. He reached forward with his free hand and groped the area. His fingers encountered a thick cord protruding from his knuckles. Sliding his fingers along the surface until his arm was fully extended he grasped the cord and pulled himself along it. Once he got to the point his fingers were clasped, he twisted his Hope hand and grasped the cord in it then repeated the process of moving his free hand forward along it.
It took three repetitions before his fingers hit something solid he interpreted as a human form. He groped along the surface until he hit what he determined to be a shoulder. He curled his fingers around it and was instantly blinded as the darkness disappeared in a flash.
“… hear me?”
Dan blinked as Ben’s voice sounded in his ears. The blinking cleared his vision and Ben’s face came into focus, along with the rest of him including his shoulder in Dan’s grip.
“I can hear you.”
Even as he replied he was scanning the area, military training kicking in and directing him to take in the details of the environment he found himself in. It looked like the woods the path carved through, only there was no path as they were standing in a clearing. He turned his head to the right and the left, tracking the area. Still woods.
He tried turning further but his grip on Ben precluded it. From the very corner of his eye he thought he saw a shiny surface that may have been a bubble. He let go his hold on Ben to get a better look and instantly he was in the dark again.
Hmm. He turned his fingers and grasped Ben’s arm and once more the environment resolved into light and details. He let go his hold and dark instantly fell. Grasp. Light and woods and pine needle strewn ground. Let go. Darkness.
Grasp again and he was looking at Ben.
“Interesting.”
Ben gave him a wary look. “What did you do?”
“Let go of you. Then regrabbed you.”
“Huh.”
“Huh.”
Ben pursed his lips and nodded. “Do it again? But wait a five count before grabbing me.”
“Okay.” Dan released his hold, counted to five in the dark, then closed his fingers around Ben’s arm again. The darkness disappeared; details returned.
Ben curled his lower lip in. “Huh. What do you see when you let go of me?”
“Dark.”
“Huh.”
“What do you see?”
“A you-shaped light. Best I can explain it.”
“Huh.” Dan nodded. “Kind of like what we saw when Abe did that thing to you?”
“I didn’t see shit. Then again I was a bit busy screaming in pain to really focus on anything.”
“You didn’t see your arm stumps fade into arms that were made of light?”
“Nooooo,” Ben drew out the word.
Dan scratched his head with his free hand. “It’s what I saw.”
“Huh.” Ben went quiet for several mikros. “Any theories?”
“No. You?”
“Maybe.” Ben focused his eyes upwards for a mikro, then focused back on Dan. “Yes. I think so.”
“Share?”
“I have a feeling it has to do with my control of shadows.”
“And Abe tearing your arms off?”
“Not my arms. I don’t think.” Ben went quiet a mikro. “I think my shadows. Could be wrong. Could be right.” Ben shrugged then leveled Dan with a wicked grin. “Interested in an experiment?”
Dan lifted his brows. “Will it hurt?”
“Won’t know until we try.”
It was Dan’s turn to draw out his response. “Great.”
“Here goes something.” Ben grabbed both of Dan’s arms right below the shoulder and his face shut down with a look of concentration. “Let go of my shoulder.”
Dan complied. He expected to immediately be plunged into darkness. It didn’t happen. The landscape remained in focus; the sunlight bright.
“What did you do?”
“Extended my Shadows over you.” A look of pain crossed Ben’s face. “Kinda stings but I can manage it. You still see the light?”
“Yep.”
“Okay then.” Ben nodded, took two steps back, then lunged around Dan. Dan tracked his movements, confirming that, yes, there was a very large iridescent bubble behind him a mikro before Ben leaped into it.
*
Ben emerged into the bubble with Patti and Abe staring at him. Patti held her cudgel at the ready. She hadn’t put her sweater back on so she made an impression wielding a glorified table leg while wearing a soft pink bra that barely contained her boobs. What? He was a guy. Friend or not he was looking.
Meanwhile Abe leaned up on one elbow from the base of the bubble where they reclined, their expression slightly vacuous and their eyes unfocused. Abe raised their free hand and pointed it vaguely in Ben’s direction. Ben threw up his hands.
“Whoa. Put that down. Not here to hurt you!”
“Where’s Dan?” Patti demanded in a harsh voice.
“Outside the bubble.” Ben rubbed a spot under his left collarbone where he felt a tugging. There was nothing there yet he could feel Dan through the spot.
“Did you hurt him?”
“Really?” Ben frowned. I mean, sure, he wasn’t a good guy, per se, but if he was a bad guy hadn’t he proven over the course of their acquaintance he was their bad guy? Geez, what did a guy have to do?
“Yeah. Really.”
“He’s fine. Hold on.” He scooped up and threw Patti her sweater. She caught it one handed, keeping her cudgel pointed at him. “Here.” He waited while she switched her cudgel from hand to hand and pulled her sweater over her head before pointing the cudgel back at him. “I think I figured out how to get us out of here. Interested?”
Patti canted her head to the side. “Unsure.”
Sass poked their head out of the window of the house on Patti’s belt and chirped. While Ben did not claim to understand mouse he understood that chirp. Sass clearly agreed with Patti’s assessment of his character.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Abe pushed up further on their elbow, rising to an unsteady sit. “What is your plan?”
“I’d ask if you trust me but, yeah,” Ben waved a hand and ducked his head. “Understood. I can’t explain the logistics of it but I think if I extend my shadows over you I can pull you out of the dark. It worked with Dan.”
Abe’s expression became introspective for a mikro then they asked, “Will it hurt?”
“Only me. Probably.”
“Only you?” Patti repeated.
“Probably.”
Patti shrugged. “I’m down.”
Sass poked their head further out of the window and turned to look at Patti. Then it sang in a warbling tone.
Ben started and gave the mouse a deep look. “Did Sass just sing at you? And you, like, understood it?”
“Yeah,” Patti waved her hand vaguely in Ben’s direction, “It’s a thing.”
It was Ben’s turn to repeat. “A thing?”
“A thing. Magick mouse.” She waved her hands. “Magick. Thing.”
Like that was an answer. Which, Ben guessed, it was considering the mouse was definitely making singing type noises and Patti was definitely responding. Patti nodded then sang down to the mouse, “It will only hurt him.”
The mouse trilled again. Patti nodded.
Ben gave the mouse the stink-eye. “Is it at least singing good things?”
Patti shrugged. “Eh.”
Sass made some more warbly-warble and then Patti nodded and looked at Ben. “We’re good.”
“I need to apologize.” Abe’s voice was very quiet.
Ben snapped his gaze to them. “Why?”
“I attacked you.”
“Uh, yes. You did.”
“I shouldn’t have.”
“Why not?”
“Because…”
“Did you have reason to believe that I was an enemy and going to hurt you?”
Abe paused. “I don’t know. Uh, maybe?”
“Yes,” Ben shored up their response. “You thought I was an enemy attacking you and defended yourself and your friends. Don’t second guess yourself, Kid. Let go of that mindset. It will only hold you back. Plus, what you did, while it hurt like a bitch, may have helped me figure all this out.”
“It did?”
“It did.”
“Oh. Okay,” Abe looked down and bit their lip, “Then, that’s good. Uhm, and I am good too. With what you want to do.”
Maybe it was guilt pushing them to agree with his wishes as they’d beat the crap out of him earlier but Ben would take it. If it kept them from revisiting the bullshit he was all for whatever. He didn’t really get the impulse. If he apologized for every split second choice he made that lead to pain for someone he’d be on his knees half his life.
Abe planted their hands under them and rose to a crouch. They closed their eyes, firmed their jaw, and made an obvious effort to rise. Patti stooped, planted a hand under their arm, and lifted them to their feet.
Once they were to their feet, Abe looked to Ben. “What do we have to do?”
Ben held out his hand. “Just take my hand.”
Abe eyed it. “That didn’t work out so well before. For either of us.”
“What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Unbelievable pain and vomiting?”
Ben shrugged. “Already did that. Survived. We should be fine.”
“Should?”
Again, Ben shrugged. “It’s an untested theory but yeah?”
He reached his other hand out to Patti.
Patti closed her eyes and took his hand. “You fill me with confidence.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty. Overflowing with confidence. Enough to share.” That may not have been one hundred percent true, but Ben had found over his life that it didn’t do any good to dwell on failure. Therein lay defeat and he wasn’t really feeling that today.
Ben closed his hand around Patti’s then his other around Abe’s and pulled. In his gut he knew this would work and that it was the answer to how they got out of this. He just, ya know, hoped his gut was right. And that his Magick could back it up.
Confidence was great. Even better when you backed it with competence. If this worked he was gonna get a t-shirt with that on it.
Patti squeezed his fingers, catching his attention. “You got this?”
Ben shrugged, feeling the slight tightness below his collarbone twitch. “Hope so.”
Enter The Woods 