The Canavar

Chapter 28: Good-Bye

It was the end of August and school would be starting up soon. There was an ongoing effort to continue restoring Hell's Center back to normal. Much had already been done. Its roads had been cleared and repaired. Houses and other buildings repaired. Officer Corbin got a new official vehicle. A Tesla Model X had been donated to the town.

But things had changed drastically since the canavar had been slain. The people were different. A number of families had packed up and moved out. The summer had been too traumatizing to them, and they sought out quieter places. Places like what Hell's Center used to be before the canavar. They had no problems selling their homes since even more people had moved into the town – lured by its fame and mystique. And the town had a lot of temporary residents. Mostly scientists trying to find answers to all sorts of questions. What exactly was the monster, and how did it come to be? What made it so tough and how did it fly? Helle's Island was now off limits to all but the scientists. Johnny's sword had been confiscated by the military, and he and his friends had all been interrogated. Then the scientists came and interrogated them again and again, looking for any detail they might have forgotten. And those who had been in the town since before the canavar had new outlooks. New attitudes.

Johnny sat on the steps outside of his apartment and stared up at the sky. The moon was out but not yet any stars. Kristen and Cassie would be by soon to pick him up after they swung around and picked up Shawn and Dan. The five of them would head up to Delgarde to catch a flick. A last hurrah to mark the end of summer.

A car horn honked, and Johnny looked down. Officer Corbin waved up at Johnny and smiled from the Tesla Model X as he drove past and disappeared up the road.

"Hello, Johnny," a tiny voice whispered in his ear.

"Wisp? Wisp, is that really you?" he cried out.

"The one and only."

"I thought I'd never hear from you again."

"I came to say good-bye," Wisp whispered.

"Oh! Then this is the last time?"

"I'm fraid so. If you hear from me again, it will not be a good thing."

"I have so many questions though," Johnny said. "Like how can you even talk to me? You're so small."

"I vibrate my wings," Wisp replied. "It's sort of like how your earbuds work."

"How about that sword. That shouldn't have worked. Even bombs couldn't penetrate the canavar's skin. You said even a nuclear bomb wouldn't have worked."

"The Great Spirit got involved. She stole a little bit of the dark matter from the canavar to coat the sword during the times the canavar had lain on it. Only dark matter could penetrate the shielding that held her dark matter inside her body."

"The army has that sword now."

"I know," Wisp said. ""

"Is that why the monster disappeared after it was cut open? It was made of dark matter?"

"Mostly," Wisp replied. "Except for her stomach that was left behind and its webs that connected it to her victims. And her skin was sort of a force field that held her dark matter inside."

"What about the eggs that it laid?"

"You need not worry about those. They were not fertilized, so unless another canavar that's transformed into a male fertilizes them, or a very dark deed is performed over them, they will not hatch. In order to survive, they will start adsorbing each other until only one remains."

"And that one remaining egg?" he questioned.

"Well, I am sorry to say "

Johnny sighed. "What about those trapped inside? They all had nightmares. The same nightmares, over and over."

"Dark deeds are done all the time, but the one in 1832 was done over the wrong location. What they saw really happened back then. The canavar kept having them relive the lives of those killed in that massacre, and she fed on their fear and their revulsion. That is why she kept her victims alive."

A car pulled up, and the horn honked. Kristen and the gang.

"I have to go," Wisp said.

"Wait! I still have more questions," Johnny said. "Wisp? Are you still here, Wisp?"

There was only silence. He wanted to ask about the Great Spirit that Wisp kept mentioning and whether she was from Earth or was an alien. The scientists seemed to think that she wasn't real. They believed that aliens had used some type of technology to send him the messages. He thought she was real though. But most of all, he had forgotten to thank her.

He looked up at the first stars starting to dot the sky. "Good-bye Wisp and thank you," he whispered.

Kristen honked the horn again.

"Are you coming or not?" Shawn yelled out the window. "We're gonna be late for the movie."

"Be right there," Johnny yelled back and bounded down the steps.

"No! Thank you," a voice whispered in his ear. "Good-bye, Johnny."

~ The End ~

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