Into the Void

We need help

“I’m not sure. I didn’t even know he was back until everything in my house started going crazy, and I found Bri lying on my couch, half dead. Suddenly, Dark is trying to possess her, and she is fighting him off so we can get away.” Marvin’s head snaps in my direction, and he starts looking around.

“We? Who is this we ye speak of? Who’s with ye?” He walks close to the mirror again as he continues to look around.

Matt gulps and pales as he looks at me. I step back so that he has space to stand in front of the mirror. Marvin’s eyes widen in shock before turning into a glare. “It would seem that a great many things are happening in yer world and mine.”

“What...what do you mean?” Matt nervously asks.

“Yer appearance in this means that the rumors I’ve heard about are somewhat true.”

“I still have no clue what you’re talking about. How do I have anything to do with this? I haven’t done anything besides try to help Mark fix Bri.” Matt starts to gesture towards me with confusion on his face.

Marvin looks at me, and I shake my head. “I didn’t tell him anything. He would never have known this much if it wasn’t for the fact that I stupidly asked for his help. I had no idea what was happening otherwise, I would have contacted you right away and left Matt alone.” I couldn’t help but berate myself over and over again in my head. 

Matt looked at both of us, his voice much steadier and demanding now. “Tell me what? I need to know what’s going on. This affects me now just as much as you, Mark. What if Dark goes after my family like he implied?”

Marvin sighed and gave me a pointed look. “I don’t have time to explain everything now. Ye’ll have ta ask yer friend about it later. I will answer one question, though. Ye bein in the middle of this means that the unsettling rumors I’ve heard about AntiMatter are true. A while ago, rumors started spreading that Dark made a deal with a scientist. No one knows what the deal was, but word got around that the scientist was called Madpat...or AntiMatter. Nobody could agree on what name was correct.

What they could agree on was that he was a genius in his experiments and inventions. I’ve never seen any of the stuff he supposedly was doing, so I thought someone was tryin ta frighten everyone. Hell, I thought it might have been Anti tryin ta cause trouble, but I never found anything. Apparently, I was wrong, and this is a much bigger problem than I realized.”

 “You mean to tell me that he exists… That is a real thing that is happening. Right this second. Madpat exists. Because, why not? Obviously, I’m still asleep and having a crazy dream, and any moment, Oliver is going to wake me.” Matt had finally cracked. He was having a mental breakdown that no one had time for. I gently nudged him over, and he blindly accepted it.

He walked over to the far wall by the door and sank to the ground, still muttering to himself. I looked at Marvin, who had a sympathetic look on his face. The pity in his eyes made me feel even guiltier for bringing Matt into this. My shoulders sank as the voice in my head got louder, repeating over and over again that it was all my fault.

“Ye should have contacted me sooner. The moment Anti started showing up or Dark focused his interest on yer friend. We could have been prepared and shut them down before it became too bad.” Marvin gently told me. “Do ye have anywhere safe ye can stay for a few days while I prepare some things?”

I sank in on myself as his words hit me hard. I had fucked up bad, and no matter how I looked at it, this was something that could have been avoided if I had only listened to reason sooner. I shook my head, “Dark went after Bri for a reason. He may have sent Anti after us, and I don’t want to put anyone else in danger.” My words barely more than a whisper.