you want it darker | michael langdon

chapter nine; river of tears.

As her old life slowly returned to her living memory, she felt so much sorrow for all that was lost she thought she might cry a river of tears.

"I lost you and I couldn't bear it..." Michael began, his voice wavering with grief. "Without you, I lost my way. I was much too despaired to know what I was doing."

Primrose wanted to speak, but no words came out.

1,022,000 words in the English language and there was not a single one to describe how she felt.

"Let me show you something." Michael said, helping her up to her feet.

-

Michael transmuted them to the surface, above the compound and into the outside world, a place Primrose had never been before.

The earth was barren and burnt, the atmosphere heavy with radioactive fog.

Primrose saw the groaning figures in the distance and clung to Michael for safety.

"Are we quite safe up here?" She asked, alarm evident in her voice.

"Any normal person would soon perish out here, but as I've stated before... you and I are not normal." Michael clarified.

Primrose's attention then turned to the mysterious swirling shapes in the sky above. "What's wrong with the sky?"

"It's falling." He replied.

Returning her gaze to the far off people, she watched them stare up at the sun, completely transfixed, before falling to the ground, lifeless.

"I-i don't understand."

Michael paused before turning to look at her solemnly.

"The clocks have stopped." He said, simply.

"Yes, I noticed. Are we running out of power?"

Michael shook his head. "Virtually all clocks in the outpost are mechanical."

"But... then how...?"

"The clocks are wound with a key, and this tightens the spring inside. As it unwinds, its energy turns gears which cause the hands to move. It's our energy that powers them. But this energy transference is being intercepted by a greater force; the infinite cosmos." He paused to reflect for a moment, hands clasped behind his back. "The universe is sapping the energy from everything around us, our clocks, the sun, the unfortunate people above ground. It needs this energy to sustain itself because something is draining it... that something is us."

"Us?" She asked, incredulously.

"Us." He confirmed with a solemn nod of his head. "We are walking contradictions, a collective paradox. When you went back in time and died saving my life, you splintered the timeline. I should have no knowledge of you and yet I remembered every kiss, every touch, every precious moment. It put a strain on the universe, your re-entry into this world only served to deepen the wounds. This timeline is now collapsing in on itself in an attempt to fix it. Our very existence is a scar upon the earth. We can't stay here. The walls of the universe are weakening."

Primrose shut her eyes, wearily. "Michael, stop. I-i can't..."

Realizing that she had once again begun to cry, he gathered her in his arm again, vowing to protect her.

"It's okay, angel. Just go to sleep." He placed his hand on her forehead and muttered some vague incantation, and she felt the darkness descend upon her vision until she lost her grip on consciousness and fell into sweet oblivion.

-

Primrose awoke some hours later, safely in her own bed. For one sweet, blissful moment she did not remember everything that had occurred in the last 24 hours, and it was magical.