The room was covered in junk, like all the other rooms in this house before I cleaned them. I covered my mouth, tears in my eyes as I saw them on the ground. It took another glance to realize that this was supposed to be blood. The blood caused by the murder suicide. Instead of blood, it was sludgy, pulsating them. They were pooled on the ground, some splattered against the wall. It made my chest heaved at the sight.

Theo collapsed to his knees, gripping his head. I stumbled back against the wall as the memories came to me. Not just the ones showed us, but every memory. I had finished my junior year of college and was hoping to get an internship lined up before Doug died. I was going into technical writing, organizing information and placing it into diagrams or charts. I was good at it, too. I had one more year left. Then Doug died of a heart attack. No prior health issues, no signs before. It shattered our family.

Shattered Theo in a way I didn’t know how to help.

“No,” Theo moaned, hands in his hair. “No, no, no. Not me. This wasn’t supposed to be for me.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“Doug,” Theo said, tears streaming down his face. “He’s gone. Everyone at home was supposed to be fine. This can’t be for me. I need Doug back. I want to bargain for Doug’s life.”

“Theo…” I said, not sure what to say. “It’s… been a month. We’re not here for Doug. We’re here for you.”

“I can’t,” Theo said. “I can’t go back without him.”

They pulled themselves off the wall and inched toward Theo. I tried to grab them, but they dodged me.

“Please, Theo. I know it’s hard. But we can’t lose you, too.”

Theo started to cry. They flung themselves into his face, and Theo didn’t react. Almost like he didn’t see. His tears turned black. “I was doing so much better. I was getting better. The nightmares were practically gone. I was only having an episode once every three or four months. Now he’s gone. He’s gone, Quinn, and it’s like I never had therapy. The nightmares, the pain, the depression. They all came slamming back so hard I couldn’t breathe. It took me years to get better, and now I’m back to square one. I’m back to barely surviving. I can’t do this again. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. I know you can. You are only in a limbo state, Theo. We can have you back. We need you back.”

“No!” Theo shouted as more of them entered his face. “You don’t get it, Quinn. I died. I chose this.”

“You didn’t commit suicide,” I said.

“Yes, I did.” Theo looked up at me, and the sight of his face, the oily black tears running down his face as the sludge inched up his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears was a terrifying sight.

“Theo,” I started to say.

“I got the opportunity every suicidal person dreams of. A chance to go out a hero instead of a coward,” Theo said.

“No,” I whispered. “No, you-”

“I was in a dark place, Quinn. I’m still in that dark place.” He kept looking at me. “Doug was everything to me. I was even working up the courage to call him dad. To allow a man I wasn’t afraid of to have that title. A title I spent years thinking meant murderer, and instead learn it was a title to respect.” Theo broke down, bowing his head as he sobbed. “I can’t go back without him. Not without defeating the corruption first. Not without getting rid of depression completely. I can’t survive in my depressed state. The proof is there in that hospital room.”

“You’re not doing this alone, Theo.” There were tears in my own eyes. “I don’t want to lose you. You have another chance.”

“Two broken legs. A shattered collar bone,” Theo whispered. “And depressed as hell. How can I recover?”

“A day at a time,” I said immediately after. “Like with everything else.”

“No!” Theo screamed, slapping his palms against the floor. “I can’t! It hurts, Quinn. It hurts too much! I need it all gone now, and I need to never experience depression again!” Theo groaned, then his back arched. I held out my hands for the black sludge he vomited, but he curled inside himself. “No.”

“Give it to me.”

Theo didn’t. He kept it clutched to his chest as the sludge climbed out of his hands and crawled back up his face.

“Please. I can’t clean it up unless you give it to me.”

“I refuse. I refuse to let others help.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” I said, moving toward him.

“It won’t stop, Quinn!” Theo shouted, looking at me. “A day at a time, that’s what you said. A day, every day, forever! I’m sick of doing this! You’ve got to be sick of doing this, too!” Theo said.

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“I’m not,” I said, refusing to get angry. “I don’t know how else to show you this, Theo. I’m not sick of this.”

“I refuse to be a burden,” Theo said.

“Is this what you think being a burden is? Holding all this crap inside of you until you burst? Refusing to let anyone help you?” I asked. I was more startled than anything. “Think if the roles were reversed, Theo. You keep saying you’d bargain for Doug’s soul, but think of your own! I’m here for you! Any one of us would do this for you. I know you’d do the same for me. So please, please, let me help you. We can do this again. We can get to the spot where your depression isn’t so life consuming. It has its ups and downs, and I know you can conquer it.”

“This isn’t conquering it!” Theo said before his back arched again and he vomited the sludge into his hands. “It’s consuming me, Quinn.”

“Then give it to me!” I shouted.

Theo, more started than anything, chucked them into my waiting palms. I caught it and it shivered before turning into harmless liquid. Theo grunted again before he heaved, the largest mound of crap coming out of his mouth and nose.

“Again!” I shouted, my hands raised.

Theo was crying as he flung it at me. Oily tears marked his cheeks, dripping off his chin.

“I’ve seen glimpses of what haunts your nightmares, Theo,” I said. “You’ve conquered them. You’ve been granted a chance. The depression won’t be as strong on Earth because you’ve made peace with your past. We work through the rest of depression on Earth. In the weeks and months and years following. You can get healing. Please come back with me.”

“Quinn,” Theo said, hardly a whisper as his tears dripped to the ground. “I… I don’t…”

“Yes, you can,” I said, almost afraid to hear the rest of his sentence. “I know you can. You know why? Because you already did it before. I know you miss Doug. I miss him, too. Don’t retreat to the darkness. Don’t let them win. This is how we defeat them. By bringing you back and cleaning things up a day at a time.”

Theo bowed his head again, covering his mouth. He groaned again before heaving up another large chunk of them. I already had my hands up.

“Again, Theo.”

He was so weak. His body was trembling, his arms barely able to hold himself up. But he flung that piece of sludge at me and I caught it, the liquid splattering over my apron. Words appeared on my vision, and I read them, afraid it was about my clothes.

House no longer considered a beacon for them

They will not attack anymore

They will remain underground

The game is conquered

Congratulations

I stared, blinking at the words. The game was done. They wouldn’t attack anymore. I glanced at Theo who was wheezing on the ground, small lines of them still inching up his clothes and into his face. It wasn’t as powerful as before, yet the compassion still rose inside me at how weak Theo looked after that attack.

“This is what that brother and sister did for you. Helped you be at peace about your past so we can start the process to be at peace with the future.”

“It’s funny how benevolent some mortals make us out to be,” the brother’s voice said.

There was no body presented for the male voice. It was simply disembodied. Theo glanced around, which meant he must have heard him, too.

“I’m not a benevolent being, Quinn. I was just bored,” the male said. “I always like a good game.”

I shook my head. “Either way, you helped. Both of you. Theo’s no longer afraid of his house like he was before.”

“Mmm,” the male said again. “It was a good game we created, sister, wasn’t it? Pity it’s ending soon.”

I tried to find the male, but there was no way to pinpoint the voice. “What?” I asked.

“You have entered the end of the game,” the female voice said, all business. “You have ninety seconds before we force you out. Where you end up greatly depends on the desire of your heart. Make your decision now.”

I stared at Theo, my eyes wide. This was way too sudden. This was it. The end. And yet there was still so much to do. I stared at Theo, his frame trembling as he looked so exhausted and beaten. He was starting to fall forward, and I caught him, holding him tightly in a hug.

“I… can’t…” Theo whispered. “Quinn… I can’t go back if this is how I defeat the corruption. I can’t do it a day at a time. I’m so tired.”

“Don’t give up. Please, Theo. You can do this. I’m there for you. Brenda will be there. We’re all there.”

“Doug.” Theo let out a pained breath. “Doug isn’t there…”

I buried my head in his shoulder. “Dying won’t bring him back either. Living what he taught you is how he’ll stay with you. Live for him, Theo.”

“Why don’t they leave me alone? This would be so much easier if the corruption wasn’t eating me from the inside. Why am I the burden?” Theo whispered.

“You are not a burden. You have never been a burden,” I said, tears stinging my cheeks.

“I would rather die than vomit on any of you again,” Theo whispered, holding me.

“And I would rather you vomit on me a thousand times than let you die,” I whispered.

It was a dry, almost humorless chuckle, but it was there. The beeping of a heart monitor filled the room like its own sort of ticking clock. Theo screamed, jerking. I let go, surprised.

“Broken. God, my legs are broken. It hurts like hell,” Theo groaned.

I helped to place him on his back as he tried to calm his breathing. I touched my brother’s better shoulder, trying to hold back a sob. I cleaned off the oily sludge from his face as Theo closed his eyes.

“Too many days swallowed up into nights,” Theo whispered. “Too many dark nights.”

“Let me help you see the stars,” I whispered back.

“Quinn…” Theo started to say. “Quinn… what if…”

“Come back with me. Please. Clean out all your crap and give it to me. Fling it at me if you have to. I’ve seen your nightmares, and I’m not afraid anymore.”

“I can’t fling them at you all the time,” Theo said.

“But it’s not just me. Brenda’s there. Your therapist, too. You have a support system, Theo. We’re all rooting for you with our cleaning gear on. A day at a time. Do this, and you will have happier days again.”

“Promise?” Theo asked, keeping his eyes closed.

“Yes, Theo.” I wiped the last of the sludge from his face with my gloves as the room grew brighter. “I promise.”

***

I gasped, stumbling out of the chair. I heard the beeping monitor and spun around.

“Theo!” I shouted.

I rushed to his bedside as a nurse threw the door open. Brenda was there, stumbling into the room as I gripped the edges of his hospital bed. “Theo,” I said, much quieter.

There was more beeping from the machine. Beeping had to be a good sign. Tears blurred my vision as I looked at Theo. His bruised face and the sling holding his arms. The cords and tubes hooked up to him. His broken legs under a thin blanket.

My brother sucked in a deep, almost gasping breath before he opened his tired eyes and met my gaze.

I smiled, placing my hand over his. “I’m ready to catch them.”

The End