MUSIC TRACK LIST –
F***ED UP – THE OTHER SHOE
HUM – STARS
THE JIM JONES REVUE – HIGH HORSE
THE CHURCH – UNDER THE MILKY WAY
MY BLOODY VALENTINE – COME IN ALONE
DAVID’S POV
“Emma—“ I sputtered with a dusty croak. Gabriel looked at me, smiling. The ground bowed ‘neath my feat, my knees pushing together and I put my arms out, trying to regain my balance. The lab was stretching around us, turning us all into reflections from a fun house mirror. “Are you…” My knees buckled.
“Can’t hear you,” a girl’s voice washed over me like a bath of soapy water. Gabriel’s mouth didn’t move but neither did Emma’s. I couldn’t see anyone else in the room.
“Let her go,” I growled.
“Be careful what you want you just might get it,” Gabriel said. His hands pulled away and Emma’s body went ragdoll, dropping with distinct thuds off his knees and down onto the cracked and dull linoleum. She jolted back awake and clamored to her feet, her eyes meeting mine.
“Emma, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything I just need to—“ I stopped as her eyes searched my face, confused and with a childlike innocence. Taking a step toward her, I reached out. She recoiled.
“Do I know you?” her gaze shifted immediately to Gabriel.
He gently shook his head and with an affected voice – a softer and less lecherous tone than I’d ever heard him spew before he lied through his teeth. “No, darling.” His brow furrowed, his brows less wild and nefarious and now more concerned and comforting, “He’s just a mistaken patient.”
She looked around, as did I. The rusted metal cabinets pressed up against lead-painted brick and relics of a half-century’s past didn’t scream contemporary science, and I almost laughed.
“A patient? In this lab?” I scoffed. “For what?!”
The walls convulsed and undulated. Reaching his hand out, Gabriel steadied Emma. “The patients are often unaware of the reason they are under observation, aren’t they, Emma?” Gabriel’s eyes gleamed a crimson glow. My eyebrows almost jumped off my face, I couldn’t believe it. What’s that supposed to me? Under observation? Patient?
“No, no, no… I’m not a…” I pointed to the lab surrounding us and then to my clothes, I clearly wasn’t… And then I looked down. Light blue-green inpatient scrubs had replaced my hoodie and jeans. A terrifying realization surged through my core and up into the back of my throat.
I looked to Emma. Nothing. Then back to Gabriel, who knew exactly what I was going through and was playing me like a marionette. I clenched my jaw and stared at him. I wanted to beat the bloody pulp out of him, but that… well that’s not the best way to convince the love of your life that your sane now, is it? I swallowed hard, “Sea foam…”
“It’s a good color on you,” Gabriel said, his smile echoing a conversation that felt like a dream. Emma blinked before turning back to me. Gabriel leaned in, his fingers firmly wrapped around her arm without squeezing. His lips grazing against his ear as he whispered, “Don’t do anything to upset him, darling. We should get out of here now. He has others to disappoint… Other realities to destroy.”
Emma nodded. She looked back to me and condescendingly cocked her head, playing along with Gabriel, “Yes, that’s a nice suit, sir. I hope you have a good day.” She breathed deep and touched her hair, moving it out of her eyes before turning and walking out of the lab.
YOU ARE READING
All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)
Science FictionThey say in life there are no second chances. But what if you had blown it with the girl of your dreams? What would you do knowing that she was out there, in other realities, realities you hadn't screwed up? That kind of thing could really mess you...
