I watched him go, out of my life just as easily as he had come in—
And now look at where I was.
"Henry? Can you hear me?" I said outloud.
Nothing but that low, pulsating hum.
I turned back around, facing the stage. The giant sacs had begun to lower again, still buzzing and vibrating, their long tendrils wavering. Hatching.
There wasn't much time.
So...
I guess I was just supposed to start...
Singing?
It seemed so weird and unnatural to do at a time like this... how could I sing at a time like this?
But then I realized it was perfect.
Being able to go out on your own terms, while doing what you loved? Singing was the only thing that ever truly had brought me peace, and made me the happiest in life—
So it seemed fitting that's how I'd go out.
Could be worse, I thought. Then I thought how weird it was to not hear him anymore— and a wave of sadness came over me, a tear breaking free to silently roll down to my chin.
I miss you so much already, Henry.
The entire building suddenly jolted, almost knocking me off my feet. More cracks appeared in the walls and supports, pieces of wall and debris clattering to the tiled floor. There was a colossal crash somewhere down one of the corridors, a bone-thudding sounded more like an entire floor collapsing than a crash.
Hurry up! You're running out of time!
I swallowed. I guess this was it. It was such a weird, scary disconcerting feeling... like nothing I had ever felt or experienced before—
Accepting that I really was going to die.
Here we go.
I opening my mouth wide, taking a deep breath—
A person began dripping down out of the skylight.
At least, I think it was a person. The bulbous shape slowly emerged the broken skylight, and it took me a moment to realize it wasn't being dropped out from of the dark entity—
It was being lowered.
Two more tendrils reached down gently from the dark entity above, supporting and holding the shape which was pulling more clear of the black ooze, becoming more defined and clear—
It was a woman.
She had red hair; it looked like she had once worn black, round glasses—now they were fused into her face, melted into her skin. What looked like white, dirty cloth poked out from the places the dark entity didn't completely covered.
Her head was lolled limply to the side, her eyes closed.
Oh my god.
She hovered up above in front of me, held up by three, thick strands of the dark entity. Her mouth opened, and a voice floated out—a voice that was creepily feminine and garbled.
"We have found... an equal. Where are... my sisters..." the woman said.
I was terrified—I didn't know the dark entity could do this. What if I lost myself to it? I couldn't imagine the horror of becoming like this person, being controlled and manipulated like a meat puppet—
It's probably what's going to happen to you, my mind whispered.
Then I thought about Henry.
I took a step forward towards the floating figure. "Yes," I called up to the woman, my voice shakey. "I saw your sisters. Spoke to them. They care about you."
"Caaaare..." the voice hissed.
Her eyes suddenly shot open. My heart felt like it exploded in my chest, and I violently jumped.
"Kill it..." she moaned, but this time her voice was way different—it sounded almost normal, except for the amount of suffering and pain resonating through it.
"Kill us..." she whispered.
More black tendrils began to drop from the ceiling, all coming towards me—
Fast.
I started singing. I sang loud, my face intense, concentrating as hard as I could, focused on making sure I hit the right notes—
Nothing happened.
The black vines moved like snakes through the air—then suddenly snapped at me, wrapping around my wrists and ankles. The woman suddenly drifted through the air down towards me, getting close enough I could that the grotesque, mutated features on her face made me frantically struggle to get away.
It didn't work! my mind screamed. Why didn't it work!?
"We will add your voice... to us, Ava," the woman said. A mixture of blood and drool ran from her mouth. "Tell Sean... I could never..."
Sean?
"Kill it," she said.
"I tried!" I shouted, fighting against the tendrils—my arms and wrists were beginning to burn and bleed, smoke coming from the skin under the slimy restraints. "It didn't work!"
"It has to be... real," she said, the black goo beginning to climb back up over her face. "You can't fake... real music. Real music... comes from the intangible."
The last I saw of her face was black ooze crawling into her mouth—
And then her face was completely covered.
"It comes from the soul," she growled.
Real? How could I every possibly sing from the heart? I had lost Henry, lost Sean, lost everyone and everything—what was there to sing about? I couldn't fake that kind of energy, it was impossible.
Small, thinner tendrils began to waver in the air near my face, twitching as if they were sniffing—
And then aiming for my eyes and mouth.
Oh my god, no.
Try singing something different.
Like what?
I don't know—sing TO someone.
Like who? Henry?
What's the most important song to you?
I didn't even know how to begin answering that—I had my favorites, sure, but important? I couldn't think of anything like that... but I did remember I sang a lot as a kid because it was the only way to get Dad to pay attention to me—
That's it.
I immediately began singing "Magnus Rex." It was a song I had sang a lot—my Dad's favorite song. I loved singing it, because I knew I never had to worry about sounding dumb, or sounding perfect—he just genuinely loved when I sang it.
I felt the tentacles beginning to tremble.
I closed my eyes, and stopped feeling the tentacles completely, letting my voice grow louder and louder, letting one last thought flitter through my mind before it completely lost itself in the flow—lost in unlocking the secret:
I wasn't actually singing for my Dad, or Henry, or even the entire world—
I was singing for myself.
I opened my eyes. The entire dark entity was quivering, bubbling and boiling, its skin turning into fumes and smoke. I felt my toes leave the ground—I spreading my arms out wide, belting out the words with every fiber of my being as the black tendrils and blob convulsed and melted.
The America's Voice banner broke free, slowly fluttering down over the plaza.
The last thing I saw were colors, the beautiful colors of the rainbow beginning to glow and radiate from my skin, sparkling and glittering, the colors swirling and mixing just like the Path Henry and I had traveled on.
And then I closed my eyes.