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TEST DRIVE MEME #10
a. that's where we both belong
[you wake up.
it doesn't matter where you were before. going to bed? dying? opening the door to face a great evil? same result. you wake up in a soft bed with starched sheets in a cool, darkened room, sunlight peeking out from behind thick curtains. maybe you're alone; maybe you aren't. maybe you immediately notice the folded paper on the bedside table near your head. if you don't, you better fix that real quick: you won't be able to even open the door before you read it.
the note itself is written in a neat hand on white card stock; there is a stylized logo of a ship with the words SERENA ETERNA printed underneath. the note reads as follows:
Dear Passenger(s),
As your cruise director, it is my great honor to welcome you aboard the Serena Eterna, your destination for fun and adventure! We know you could have chosen any cruise line for your vacation, and we're very grateful you chose ours! On behalf of the Captain, I would like to assure each and every passenger that will we do whatever it takes to fulfill all your needs and desires during your journey with us.
At your earliest possible convenience, please attend the mandatory lifeboat drill by the end of the day. I'm sure everyone is very eager to get started on all the fun and sun, but safety always comes first! You can find your life jacket in your cabin's closet; carry it to your assigned muster station on deck one, where I will take you through the drill. If you can't find me in the crowd, just look for the gal with the winning smile!
See You Real Soon!
Sincerely,
Gal Friday
you walk to deck one. you have no other choice: every time you try to step in a direction some unseen being considers "not towards deck one," you find your legs no longer move, staying stock still, frozen. whether compelled quickly by curiosity, or delayed by pure stubbornness, the result is the same, and you are left milling around with other similarly curious or stubborn people.
you see someone in uniform near the front of the crowd. she seems to be a gal, but is missing the winning smile, along with most of her other features. she seems to see you, though, rushing to your side and placing a lei around your neck with great formality. a voice, cheery but artificial, sees to come from nowhere and everywhere.]
Welcome aboard! I'm so happy you could join us!
[you touch the lei. rooster feathers, lotus seeds, and a carved circle of something white and hard, linked onto a silk string.
after the drill is completed, you are seemingly free to go. or, well, your legs work, now. and maybe that's as good as it's gonna get.]
b. and there's plenty of that down by the sea
[it’s strange to think about, isn’t it? how all those new passengers, the ones grumbling or shouting their way through the forced muster drill, have absolutely no idea what happened just last month. no idea about the labyrinth. no concept of why anyone around them would be a bit more hesitant around shadows.
they’ll learn.
sometimes a shadow is darker than it’s supposed to be. very rarely does anything come of that; just a vague sense that someone is watching you, and little more. sometimes, though, the shadows move. sometimes they grab at your ankles as you walk. sometimes they give you a shove as you go down the stairs. sometimes they pull your hair, or pinch your arm.
sometimes you feel something sharp cut into your lower leg.
that’s not a shadow, though. that’s a fiddler crab. you see the crab, sometimes. the cut isn’t from its claws, which don’t look very intimating; it’s not a very large crab. the cut is from the large kitchen knife crudely taped onto its back. it’s probably fine. it's not chasing you. there isn't evil in its heart. probably.]
c. think I'll go back to the Keys
[one day, in the atrium, two pedestals suddenly appear. on each is a large button: one green, and one blue. pressing the blue button gives you a little treat, popping out of thin air next to you. pressing the green button sends a small electric shock through your body. weird, but, hey, pretty avoidable, right?
except, it seems to be spreading. to every other button on board.
in the elevator. on the soda machine. the arcade. your phone. the bell on Friday’s desk.]
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“Listen, kid—uh, goo?—you’re going to have a tough time here if you just jump on people without saying anything first. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t have a great first impression of you. But.”
A pause as he thinks. God, he hopes he doesn’t regret this. He’s never been more regretful that there are no animals on the boat. Except maybe that evil crab.
“It sounds like it would’ve been easy for you to hang onto me, but you didn’t. You left when I told you to. I appreciate that a lot.”
This is a stupid idea. This is phenomenally stupid. He should call someone and he knows he’s not gonna. His kids are gonna kill him this is so so so stupid why is he still talking.
“So I’m gonna put a lot of trust in you that you’re gonna do that again. Okay? We gotta be in agreement on that. If we’re not, then this isn’t gonna happen. But if we are, then I’ll… I’ll let you hitch a ride for a little bit. Deal?”
He holds out his hand.
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All at once it crumples, takes on a new texture, seems to go limp. And suddenly he holds in his hand the sleeve of a black formal overcoat. Wing holes included.
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--but it doesn't happen. Something falls into his hand instead. He opens his eyes.
"... Huh. Is... is that you in there, buddy?" He can't say he isn't still kind of freaking out, but if it's between this and living slime invisibly all over and in his body, this is the far better option. Obviously if something is gonna cling to him, clothes make sense, but... he still can't help but notice the difference between what it did before and what it's doing now. Clothes are something you put on and take off. It's even got wing holes.
Tentatively, carefully, he slides it over his shoulders, arms in the sleeves, wings pushing through. It fits like a dream. This is honestly probably the sharpest thing he's ever worn.
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"Hey, what was that last one?--"
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He says, as he leans towards the nearest reflective surface and starts fixing his shirt collar.