Rachel held her breath as the car stopped and the lawyer, her lawyer, whom she had never met, killed the engine.
There hadn’t been a word spoken the entire ride over. Perhaps that wasn’t a possibility trying to follow chief Grant and Julie at about a hundred miles an hour with that loud blue and red howl. Here they were: Devils Hole State Park.
“Yeah, nothing strange about this at all,” the lawyer, a man named Mark Dufresne said.
Rachel let the breath out real slow. Breathing a certain way was a trick she had learned in the years dealing with Steve’s petulant temper. There was the tried and true navy seal approach of four seconds in, four seconds out, but Rachel found her own creation of just holding her breath for as long as she could until she almost passed out to be more effective.
There was another brief moment of silence as Rachel noticed Julie and chief Grant not getting out of their car.
“What do you think they’re doing?”
“Well, I know chief Grant, and he doesn’t like to be out of the loop on anything. My guess is he grilled her the entire way over and he’s not quite done yet.”
Rachel Considered this. It made sense, but that message never got to her leg, which was jumping up and down in anticipation to whatever the fuck was about to happen.
“As your attorney.—“
“How are you my attorney?” Rachel asked with a suddenness that surprised her.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” he said. “I got the emails, case files, everything just started appearing on my phone. Along with what looked to be roughly five times my normal rate.”
“None of this has made a lick of sense. Since that front door opened, it’s like all the craziness that exists in the world decided to drop in for a visit.”
“I agree. I know we just met, but in the little over an hour that I’ve known of your existence I’ve seen things I’ve never seen before. As I was going to say earlier, as your attorney, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I mean exactly what I just said. Nothing. There’s no case. There’s no anything. Any mention of what happened at your house is completely gone. Even the press that were there have completely changed their story and are reporting something else at a completely different location.”
She did it, Rachel thought. Julie had actually done it. She shot her cheater, dead, in his own kitchen and got away with it.
“I’ve never been in this kind of situation before, but was there any legal advice anywhere?”
“Yes. You’re free and clear unless something happens from here on out. Whatever this meeting is, let’s get through it. As soon as you leave, you’ll never hear a peep about this again.”
The passenger door of Chief Grant's vehicle flew open, and Julie appeared, straightening out the wrinkles of the long black T-shirts she had worn.
There was a ruggedness to her that Rachel envied. Some women have to spend hours in front of a mirror to get a man to look twice at them, some are able to just throw on jeans and anything.
Devils Hole State Park did have a parking lot, although at 11 o’clock at night the park was closed, which meant they weren’t blocking anybody in from their vehicles on the sidewalk directly in front of the main staircase.
The state park is connected to the lower Niagara river, a few miles downstream from the falls itself. Rachel had been here before on a class field trip. The staircase was the main attraction in Rachel‘s opinion. Stone stairs led to the bottom of the gorge Showing the exposed ridge, so as one walked down they could see the changes in the layers over time.
Down at the bottom, there was just a view of the fast moving rapids and a small clearing for you to sit and have a picnic. It was nice, but if you had ever been at a river bank, you had seen the bottom of the gorge.
“All right, everyone,” Julie said. “We’re not gonna have to walk all the way down because I’m really clumsy and have eaten shit on these stairs more times than I’d like to admit, so I have a special shortcut.”
“A Shortcut?” Mark asked, looking over the edge of the stairs. “Does it involve a sled or old tire?”
Julie shook her head. “Lawyers. Maybe the smartest one of the bunch, I don’t know, but your little pee brain is going to be blown more than anyone. Follow me,” she said, walking carefully down the stairs, counting with each step.
When she reached number twelve, she curled herself to the side close to the ridge.
“Things are gonna get snug, we all have to be standing on the step for it to work.”
“The 12th step?” Chief Grant asked. “Is this part of the program you’re on or something?”
“I’m glad someone caught on to that. Who you’re about to meet thought it would be funny as hell, and answer your question, no. Not anymore. I was an advanced student and licked alcoholism when I was nineteen.”
Rachel stood on the end, farthest away from Julie, with Mark next to her. She leaned forward, trying to look around chief Grant, who had completely blocked Julie from view. She had produced a single piece of chalk from somewhere. Yellow, almost worn down to nothing.
“All right, everyone. As long as I don’t roll down the stairs before I finish the sunflower, we’ll be there in a second.”
“Where?” Mark Asked.
Rachel looked across the open space between the United States and Canada. Up top, she could see the lights from the tourist area and the occasional faint shriek of something exciting happening.
Steve took her there on their first date, timing it perfectly on the giant Ferris wheel that they were at the top when the fireworks the casino shot up every Friday went off.
He’s really gone.
She blinked and there wasn’t anything in front of her. Pure darkness. She also knew she was no longer outside as the faint breeze that was coming across the water stopped.
“Goddamnit,” Julie said. “Lights, PB!”
With that, a small line of single bulbs hanging from the rock ceiling turned on. Rachel peeked behind her to see she was now standing against a rock wall, a cramped hallway in front of them that got smaller the deeper it got.
“Where the fuck are we?” Chief Grant asked.
“We skipped a few steps, but we’re inside of the gorge. I’m told about 30 feet from the outside. There’s an open pocket of air that we’re now standing in.”
“To piggyback off of chief grants question, why are we here?” Mark asked.
“This is where my boss lives.”
Julie walked away, giving a little overhand come here motion. Chief Grant followed immediately, Rachel stood next to Mark watching the man’s massive back go out of view.
“Is there something you didn’t fill me in about?” Mark asked.
“I’m out of the loop as much as you are,” Rachel said. She looked up to him. The bulb closest was flickering slightly, which made the small wisps of gray hair on his lazy Pompadour stand out. He was older, but not old. Early forties if she had to guess. His eyes remember her of her own; brown and appearing they could fall out at any moment.
“I want to go home,” Rachel said.
“So do I. But I think our way in isn’t an option, so I’ll go first. Deal?”
The lawyers chivalry briefly made Rachel forget about the potential horror at the end of this hallway.
“Okay,” Rachel said. “You’re right. Of course, regardless of circumstance, or my personal feelings at the moment, “she brushed off some bits of stone dust from her slacks, “I need to follow through and see what dumb shit my husband has got me into this time.”
Late husband.
Mark took a few steps and then turned. “I promise you I’m actually a gigantic coward, but I figure you’ve been through enough today. You can hold onto the back of my suit jacket if you want.”
Made Rachel laugh. “This isn’t a haunted house.” She said, taking a firm grip of the material on his back.
We’ll just have to see about that.
The hall was a complete straight line leading to a large room at the end about ten feet wide and twenty feet deep. Rachel and chief Grant were standing in the middle watching them squeeze through the opening. Rachel wondered how the Chief made it through.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I thought you ran,” Julie said.
“I didn’t know how.” Rachel said.
As they joined the other two, Rachel noticed a twin sized bed and nightstand in the far corner. The comforter was faded, but Rachel could see the pink “princess” font on it. The lights broke away from their single file pattern and wrapped around the perimeter of the space. On the wall, closest to her, small drops and streams of water trickled down. There was a giant pile of mud in the other corner.
“Somebody supposed to be here?” Chief Grant asked.
“WE sincerely appreciate you taking the time out of your evening to visit,” the puddle of mud said.
Its voice was unlike anything Rachel ever heard. Masculine, but with an odd electronic distortion.
“Did that pile of shit just talk?” Chief Grant asked.
The puddle began to approach slowly. Rachel could get a better look at it. It was a complete solid, dark brown, but with constantly moving bubbles of varying shapes. There was a sound when it moved, faint. Like whatever it was made out of is was an abrasive against every nook and cranny of the exposed stone cave.
“WE apologize for the form, but your atmosphere makes it very difficult to appear as WE normally do.”
No way. The crazy lady who offed Steve wasn’t crazy.
Chief Grant pulled out his gun and pointed it at the blob. “You ain’t touching me,” Chief Grant said to it.
“WE do not intend to,” stopping about a foot in front of them. “As is customary in several of your cultures, WE will now formally introduce ourselves. WE are PB.”
“PB? As in?” Mark asked.
“Peanut Butter,” Julie said. “I found him so I got to name him. Get it? Peanut Butter and Jelly, Peanut Butter and Julie?” The rest stared blankly back at her. “Whatever. I was nine, I doubt any of you were writing poetry at nine.”
“Just to put a fine point on this, PB isn’t from here?” Mark asked.
“That’s a bit of a difficult construct to explain, but WE believe your general inquiry was whether or not WE are natural to this world, and again, that is a loaded question if you may. They are bits and pieces of all of us in all of us, but if you wish to think WE as an alien, as your culture appears to depict, then you may.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” Chief Grant said before holstering his weapon. He looked at Julie. “How the fuck was he able to talk to me on the phone in my wife’s voice?”
So that’s what happened, Rachel thought. This pile of goo is manipulating everything around it. The hair on her arms stood up and she used her palms to try and warm them.
“It was quite simple, actually, Chief Grant. Your late wife has many recordings available on the Internet, and what a wonderful voice she had. After a thorough vocal analysis it was rather elementary to fill in the gaps using mathematics come up with a working model of how Rita spoke.”
Rachel took a few steps away. This couldn’t be real. Before she knew what else to do, her feet were carrying her up the hallway to the wall in which they entered.
She buried her face in the dusty grime and began to weep.
By comparison of other women, she knew, her life was shit was Steve. She knew that. But the shit life with Steve with something familiar. Comfortable, at times. Even when Steve came home after too much to drink, too much to smoke, too much of what went up his nose that Rachel wasn’t supposed to not know about, it was a life she was prepared for. Battle tested.
When he was at his worst, when Steve had gotten so angry Rachel thought he might actually kill her, there was still a sliver of control she had. She knew his face was his profession, and all it took, when things got really bad, what’s the start dragging her nails across his cheek or the bridge of his nose.
There was no contingency plan for whatever that thing was.
Rachel‘s crying slowed as she heard footsteps. She was expecting Mark, but it was Julie instead.
“I’m so sorry. I know this is Batshit crazy but there’s something he’s got to tell all of us and you’re a part of this.”
Rachel wiped her face and straightened out her clothes again. Years and years of intense training to stop crying and appear happy, or at least normal, were paying off.
“Is that what got you into the FBI?”
“Yeah.”
“Was being in the FBI your idea?”
“It’s something we both have talked about,” Julie crossed her arms. “Why?”
Rachel tried to search for where to dig in her nails. “I don’t know, if I were an alien having someone within the government would be really beneficial to me.”
Julie nodded. “I’m sure it is, but it’s also that way for me as well. That’s what I was telling Grant in the car. PB wouldn’t have asked any of us here unless there was a request, and when there is a request from them, there is an incredible reward. I promise you. Be true to yourself and see if you can make whatever they ask worth your while.”
Rachel took a deep breath and nodded.
“Please, I’m begging you,” Julie took Rachel‘s hands in hers. It was odd feeling her touch. These hands had been on Steve. “Don’t forget none of this would be happening if it wasn’t for that piece of shit husband. Ex-husband.”
Rachel laughed and covered her mouth. It really was like Steve to fuck up like this. The man was almost perfect in everything he did, but when he made a mistake, it was a whopper.
"I’m ready," Rachel said and walked with Julie back to the others.
“You didn’t miss anything other than our own personal freak outs,” Mark said.
“PB, I don’t want to air our dirty laundry in front of our guests, but why the hell did you lock me out? What is this about being found?”
“This is what WE brought you here to discuss. Our existence on this planet has gone largely unnoticed with the exception of a curious little girl.”
“That’s me,” Julie said.
“We know,” Mark said.
“Which is a good thing, because as your species has often asked, you are in fact, not alone. That includes species such as WE. When two such entities wage war—“ PB trailed off.
“You’re scared,” Chief Grant said. “Who are you here hiding from?”
“Correct. Such an astute observation.”
“What could possibly be after you?” Julie asked. “There’s only one of you and haven’t you been here for like a million years?”
“1,000,012,” PB said. “But your species still has an incredibly basic understanding of time and its nuance. The adversary that seeks WE is older than you can comprehend. Older than WE.”
Mark knelt, leaning close to the surface of PB. A small triangular protrusion rose, and then rounded off. It reminded Rachel of how a sock looks when a hand is in it, and it took turns pointing at each of them as if it had a face and was looking right at them.
“What are you, exactly?” Mark asked.
“WE can explain it in splendid detail so long as you have a working understanding of quantum cosmology, nonlinear physics, it would also be quite helpful if you had some sort of chemistry degree.”
“Layman’s terms, PB,” Julie said.
“All right, WE will explain to all of you the same way WE explained to Julie, since she seems to moderately comprehend.” The bulge turned toward Mark. “As an attorney, WE are to understand you have a stereotype for paperwork. May WE inquire for a sheet of paper?”
“I don’t have my briefcase with me,” Mark said, but checked his pants pockets and pulled out a single page folded several times, which was a receipt for an double cheeseburger and large Coke.
The page floated in front of all.
“Wow,” Rachel said as the floating page stopped at her eye level.
“Let’s say that this side of the page is the world you are now in, as you live and breathe all around you.” The page rotated to the other, blank side. “Now this side represents what you can’t see. The place beyond the unknown, where things do not exist. They are created. The metaphysical, spectacular and difficult to explain. This is the area of science in which your people are woefully and inadequately prepared.”
“Is that where you’re from?” Chief Grant asked. “The side of the paper we don’t get to see?”
“No,” PB said. “I am of the physical world.”
“So is the thing that’s looking for you from the spooky side of the page?” Julie asked.
“No,” PB said, and turned the page so the edge was facing. “This is where it is from.”
The page floated in air, released from its magic, and Rachel caught it staring right down the thin line.
“I don’t get it,” Mark said.
“WE have encountered this entity in so frequently it’s like it’s almost an extension of WE. It is unbound by the one basic law of the universe. A force powerful enough to keep these two worlds apart. So it lives between the two, striking down species and races as they gain power and evolve. Threat removal. If WE are to be blamed for wanting to merge all souls, then it carries the same distinction for it's desire to be the last one left. It wants to be the only thing that lives. Save for their entertainment, of course.
Rachel tossed the paper to the ground.
“What is the force,” Mark asked?
“Time, of course,” PB said.
“How can something live without recognizing time?” Chief Grant asked. “I’m not a doctor but cells reproduce and that takes time. Every living thing needs the passage of time to live, correct?”
“Yes, that is one of the great mysteries that WE ponder. It is one of the three questions WE do not know the answer to. WE know is that there is a long-standing agreement that must be honored, however.”
“Which is?” Chief Grant asked.
“When WE are discovered on a world with intelligent life, a sort of ritual must occur. The outcome of which determines if WE remain on this planet.”
“So, you want us all to be a part of this ritual?”Rachel asked.
“I wish WE could meet under kinder circumstances, but yes, that is the request. WE require champions to attmept a new Great Merger so WE may find the answers to the unanswered questions.” The shaped looked at all of them individually again “and of course, there will be rewards galore.”
Rachel couldn’t believe it. This nightmare was unraveling and the longer the string got the more frayed and fucked up and terrifying. “What exactly is this ritual?” Mark asked.
“That is a topic I am hopeful you can assist me with.”
“What do you mean? he asked.
“The agreement was written in the most popular language of the time. Loosely fitted into your lexicon, It is called ‘hexagonal morphine seven.’ “There are certain terms of language that translate differently. I’m hopeful you can act as the official rules keeper by allowing me to impart the knowledge of the agreement into you and translate it.”
“Holy shit, look at that,” Julie said lightly slapping Rachel on the shoulder. “Even aliens need lawyers.”
“That seems—“ Mark appeared to struggle to find the right word. “Possible.”
“So the rest of us would have to play a part of this mystery intergalactic cluster fuck?” Chief Grant asked.
“Yes. WE know it is a lot to ask, particularly not knowing what awaits. WE can assure you of one thing, however, being as old as the one who hunts WE has caused it to change over the millennia. It does not have the logic of a humanoid like you, or even WE. Time does irreprebile damage to those who are alone. It makes them repeatedly create and destroy in a vicious cycle, a cycle that WE are now a part of. Above all remember this: if they wanted us dead, any of us, this conversation wouldn’t be occurring. They have to reduce themselves to the lowest denominator to appear in the same astral plane as us. It seeks entertainment. It views war as art.”
“Boy sign me right up,” Chief Grant said.
“He doesn’t mean that, PB,” Julie said. “PB doesn’t understand sarcasm so be careful what you say,” she said.
“So, you want us to agree to an unknown event that could be catastrophically dangerous against something we have no concept of?” Rachel asked.
“WE are aware of the definitions for various mental health issues on your planet, so WE know the words that must be going through your head right now. WE can assure you that WE have the means to make this worth your sacrifice. WE encourage you all to talk to Julie about that. WE also understand that your species does not take these decisions lately, so WE have prepared for each of you, a boon. Consider it a gift to show you what WE are capable of. If you complete the ritual and WE are allowed to stay on this planet, WE will grant you all a wish of your choosing. And WE are capable of quite anything.”
“Even bringing back the dead?” Rachel asked.
“Yes,” PB said. “Even that.”