Falter Kingdom by Michael J. Seidlinger

Author:Michael J. Seidlinger
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944700225
Publisher: The Unnamed Press
Published: 2016-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

I’m in bed when I get a call from Blaire. I don’t second-guess it. She’s a friend and maybe she’s not angry anymore. Then again, was she ever?

Yeah, I pick up.

She’s the first to say something: “How did it go?”

“It went...” I don’t really know how to explain it, so she starts speaking for me.

“I know. It’s happening so fast. It’s hard to describe.”

“Yeah,” I say, trying to hold back a shiver.

“Can I come in?”

“Huh?”

“I’m outside,” she says, really more like a whisper.

“Everyone left. There’s nothing left to see.”

“That’s okay. Good, really.”

I sigh. “Yeah, whatever. Door’s open.”

She knows the drill. She knocks on my bedroom door and I’m reminded of the fact that she might not be allowed in the room, but then she’s already turning the doorknob and she’s inside.

“Hey.” She gives a little shy half-grin.

She knows not to annoy me, sitting across the room instead of next to me. For a while she doesn’t say anything. She isn’t shivering, cold like I am.

“You cold?” I ask.

“I’m not supposed to be cold.”

More time passes like this, nothing really said, just both of us in this room, dealing with whatever there is to be dealt. She asks me about my dreams.

“What do you mean?”

“The dreams, they’re probably really vivid, right?”

I don’t say anything.

“Yeah, it’ll just be like you can’t tell what’s a dream or actually real, but then you won’t care either.” Blaire isn’t looking at me as she talks, her head down, hands folded in her lap. “It feels so much like you’re dying while at the same time everything you’ve ever dreamed of coming true is actually happening. It’s becoming reality.”

“I don’t think so,” I tell her, probably just because I don’t want to admit that she’s right. It feels that way, doesn’t it?

She looks up at me, finally. “You’re not going through with it, are you?”

“Huh?”

She shakes her head. “If you don’t, then you don’t. It’s just that most people don’t go through all of it. They get up to, like, what you’re experiencing now and then they freak out, get confused, get the exorcism. Everyone wants it gone before they really understand what the kingdom is.”

The kingdom?

“They don’t really see any more than a small glimpse, and the first time you see anything from the other side, it’s scary as hell. You’re going to react like it’s all bad. People react and get it done. They throw a party, get high, get drunk. They never get what it is they passed up.”

It looks like she’s starting to cry, but before I can ask her, she’s wiping away the tears.

She keeps talking, and it’s clear that she just wants me to listen.

“The kingdom is as big as our world. It’s basically the same, except they avoid us, and we avoid them. I guess what I’m trying to say is... I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I just want you to know that if you don’t go through with it, I won’t look down on you. Okay?”

I clear my throat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.