Avatar_V
First Post
ENWorld Short Story Smackdown Summer 07
Round 1, Match 6
Best Friends
by Mike Rousos (Avatar_V)
I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve hung this stag’s skull here. Well, it’s something of a memorial. For a friend. You want the whole story? Well, it could take a while, but since you asked...
It all began several years ago when I met Avari. No, too far back; let me pick up last year. Everyone has had a best friend at one point or another – this time last year is when my story began to become a little bit more unusual.
The day began normally enough – Avari stopped by with the grin on her face that told me she had come up with another crazy plan for the day. As I saw her riding up our drive on her bike, I called up the stairs, “Mom, Avari’s here – can I go out?”
And the usual reply came back down the stairs, “Be sure you’re back for dinner. And wear your helmet.” I hollered a quick thanks back to my mom and headed out. Of course, I knew she would let me go – especially that morning. See, that evening Avari was boarding a plane to meet her biological parents for the first time (she was adopted) and this was my last chance to hang out with her for more than two weeks. As I suspected, Avari had indeed formed a plan for the day. As we rode, she explained that on a hill just outside of town, using surplus concrete chutes from recent city sewer work, people had constructed something like a race course that sleds or carts could be piloted down. And, of course, Avari had secured two small carts perfect for the occasion. I laughed when I heard it, it seemed such an absurd past time. But, when we arrived, it was just as promised. And, as with all of Avari’s plans, it was a lot of fun. We spent the whole morning running up the hill, our carts in tow, and then racing them back down to the bottom.
“Sarah,” Avari would call as she sped behind me, “try putting your hands up!” Naturally, Avari was careening down the hill without holding her cart. I continued to hold tightly to mine despite her urgings. I was always the more cautious of the two of us (my mom’s incessant reminders to wear my bike helmet were thoroughly unnecessary). In true Avari fashion, though, she mastered the ‘hands free’ method of running the course – not to mention the fact that she soon began putting her cart in front of mine so that she could pick up a lot more speed than I was willing to. Despite all the bravado, though, as I rested at the bottom of the hill before we left (as Avari made a few last runs), I could see that once or twice when she took a corner too quickly and nearly left the track that she got scared as well. It was always easy to tell when Avari was scared because she would squeeze her eyes tightly shut. In a way it was comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one of us that got scared.
Shortly after noon, we wrapped up the chute racing and got back on our bikes in search of food. It wasn’t a long morning, and not that unusual for us, really. But, it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Avari before she left for a couple of weeks because it was such a typical thing to do with her. It seemed whenever she was around (and it was a lot), we would find the craziest things to do – but we would have more fun than I suspect any other two friends have ever had together while we were doing them. It seemed that wherever we went and whatever we did, it was exciting to do it together. Avari was like me, even for all of our outward differences – she really understood me. And we really cared about each other. That’s why it was so hard to say goodbye to her that evening when she left for her plane, even though she was coming back in two weeks.
That’s why it was so hard when I learned her plane had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and that she was never coming back.
*****
My life changed after that. For months, I was a wreck emotionally. I have a photo-album with pictures of me and my friends. Sometimes I re-arrange the pictures in it based on which friends I’m fondest of currently. It’s a silly thing to do, I know, but I do it all the same. After Avari’s accident, I took her pictures (already in the front) and glued them in place. It was my way of telling her that I would never forget her. Slowly, life returned to normal. School resumed, though it wasn’t the same without her. And, then the school year ended and I hung out with my other friends – though I couldn’t help but think of what things would be like without Avari around.
Then, nearly a year after the plane crash, just as life was beginning to feel normal again, I received the letter. My mom handed me the envelope just before dinner, saying that it had come in the mail that day. I opened it immediately (I don’t get much mail) and read it. My mom grew worried for me as I looked at it – my face must have turned a ghostly white. She asked who it was from, concerned, but I didn’t answer. I just told her that my appetite was gone and that I thought I was going to be sick – and I rushed to my room. If you haven’t guessed by now, the letter was from Avari. It was in her handwriting and bore her signature. I had no idea what to think. Had she somehow survived? It didn’t seem possible – and yet, here was the letter. The contents were quite simple. It read: “Sarah, How have you been? I’ve missed you SO much this past year! I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to contact you sooner. Please come and meet me – I need a favor. Get on the bus that stops at the end of your road at midnight tonight. Ride it to the end of its route and meet me there. I can’t wait to see you! Love, Avari” Why was she only writing to me now if she was alive? What was the favor? Don’t the buses stop running at ten? How can she say tonight and be confident I’ll read it on the right day? Hundreds of questions like these raced through my mind. Large among them – was this some sort of cruel joke? Was it safe? But, I’d know Avari’s handwriting anywhere and for her – not for anyone else, but for her – I had enough trust to overlook the mountain of questions the letter raised. And so, that night, after riding out my mom’s dogged attempts to find out what was going on, I slipped quietly from my house and onto the bus that I never knew ran this late into the night. From then on, things only got weirder.
*****
I know that many of you are going to think the rest of this story is made up, but I can only promise as often as you like that it’s true and beg that you believe me. Or, disbelieve if you will – it doesn’t change the facts. I was not dreaming. Trust me, I pinched myself more than once, this is the truth. I rode the bus until the end of its route. I thought that this line only ran across town, but it seemed that we travelled far too long for that. In the darkness, I couldn’t say where we were going. I was alone on the bus, Avari’s letter clutched in my hand. What felt like hours rolled by as I sat, too petrified to ask the bus driver where we were going. Finally, when I could almost bear my fear no longer, the bus stopped and the doors opened. Nervously, I got up, and walked off of the bus.
Though the night sky had been pitch black out of the bus windows, as I stepped from the bus, I was surrounded in a strange blue light. Behind me there was no bus only a door in – well, in nothingness. There, right in the air, was a door that looked back into the bus. The bus driver smiled and tipped his cap at me as I looked back. And then, the bus doors shut and I turned forward to face the strangest site I have ever seen.
Before me, there sat an old woman on an enormous ball of glittering blue and green yarn. The woman had four arms and was knitting. What she knit (for I could not say what it was) hung from her needles, wrapped around her skein of yarn, and looped in endless piles as far to her right and left as I could see.
Then I heard a voice – it was Avari’s. “Sarah! You came!” I looked at the old woman and squinted. She looked nothing like Avari, though the voice was unmistakable to me. Then I heard a laugh, “No, down here!” And I looked down. There, at the base of the enormous skein of yarn sat a cat. And the cat was talking. “Oh, how foolish of me! I forgot that I look like a cat still. Of course you won’t recognize me like this!” Then, a moment later, the cat shimmered, vanished, and was replaced with Avari, just as I remembered her. For that moment, my joy overwhelmed whatever trepidation this foreign world had me under. I ran to Avari and embraced her.
Neglecting, for the moment, the four-armed woman, I asked the first thing that came to my mind, “I thought you were dead!”
Avari laughed. “No, of course I’m not.” She looked up at the old lady and continued, “I’m a daughter of the Time-Spinner. This is my home. I can travel to your world if I want, but to come back here, all I need to do is to squeeze my eyes really tightly, concentrate hard, think about it and, poof, I’m back here.” She squeezed her eyes shut to demonstrate.
I smiled in recognition – “I know that face – that’s your worried face. So, all those times that I thought you were scared, you were actually getting ready to come here?”
Avari nodded, “Yep, you know, getting ready just in case I had to make an abrupt exit to keep from getting hurt. Luckily, I didn’t have to before I meant to – that would have really raised some questions!”
I laughed, “I suppose so.” Then, I thought about what she had just said. “’Before you had to,’ you said. That means that you left the plane before it crashed – which is why you’re alive – and that you were planning on doing it beforehand?” I was a bit perplexed.
Avari nodded. “That was the plan, yes. My mother,” Avari gestured at the woman again, “she creates time.” Seeing my baffled expression, she explained further, “What, you didn’t think it just magically appeared, did you? Does wood just magically appear? No, it comes from trees. Do animals just appear? No, they come from other animals. Time doesn’t just appear, either. Before there can be another second, or minute, or anything like that, my mother has to knit it.”
“Then, what’s happening right now…” I interrupted.
“Yep,” Avari saw where my question was going, “we’re experiencing time, so that means my mother made it. I think she knitted these moments a few weeks ago.” My head was spinning, but Avari continued, “So, as you can see, to keep up she knits a bit ahead. That’s how she knew the plane would crash and she agreed that it would be the perfect opportunity for me to get back here without raising any unwanted questions. I just had to take the plane (with a pretext of ‘going to see my family’) and then, before it crashed, teleport back here. Couldn’t be simpler. That’s how I’m alive.”
Somehow I didn’t think more questions about that were going to make it any simpler for me to understand, so I moved on, “Then you wanted to come back. But, why?”
“Oh, because my mission was done.”
“Mission? What was your mission?”
Avari smiled, “I’ve been wanting to tell you for years, but I haven’t been able to! My mission was to investigate a human that my mother thought could someday be our ally. You see, there are places where we can’t go and there are things that our race can’t do. For that, we need humans to help us. But, we can’t choose just anyone. Most people would freak out just coming here! So, I was sent to earn the trust of a promising human so that, later, if we needed help, we could ask them and they would already be familiar with me.”
I took a moment to process this answer and, as I did, my heart sank. For the first time since entering this alien world I felt out of place and a bit ill. It must have shown on my face because Avari moved towards me. I held up a hand of protest and voiced the emotion that was filling my eyes with tears. “Avari, do you understand what you’re saying?” I paused to compose myself; I could see that Avari was confused. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Ever. I loved you. I would have done anything for you – even get on a mysterious bus at midnight with no explanation. But, now you’re telling me that the only reason you were my friend at all was because it was your mission? I thought that you loved me, but it was just a job. All of our laughter and jokes – they feel so empty all of a sudden; they were just a chore to get me here.”
Avari’s eyes grew wide and she answered quickly, “No, Sarah, that’s not at all what I’m saying! You are my best friend.”
“And you can take any form you want, can’t you?” I interrupted her. “You just chose to look like a girl my age so that I would like you.” I motioned at the girl in front of me, “This isn’t really you, is it?”
Avari slowly shook her head, “It’s true I only look like this around you. My mother prefers that I look like a cat so that she can pet me. I’ve taken many different forms at different times. But, you must believe me, Sarah, that befriending you because it was my mission doesn’t mean you didn’t really become my friend.”
“Then why did you let me think you were dead for a year?”
Avari paused for a moment, searching for words. “We couldn’t tell you until the time was right. Please believe me that I wanted to. But, my mother said that I mustn’t.”
I shook my head not sure what to think. Instead, I wandered away from Avari, wondering if there was a place around here to clear my head. Of course, there wasn’t. So, I just stood some distance from them, thinking. Finally, Avari came to me. “I’m sorry that you never knew the truth about me – I would have told you if I was able.” I didn’t say anything, so she continued, “Will you come and speak to my mother now? We still need your help.”
“Right, the real reason for our reunion.” I frowned. “Actually, I think I’d rather just go home.”
“I’m afraid my mother won’t like that much. She probably won’t call the bus for you until you’ve talked with her – she still believes that you will help us.”
I sighed. “I suppose I don’t have much choice then, do I? I’ll talk to her. But for the sake of the old Avari I knew – the human one, even if she never really existed.”
*****
And so, I was escorted back to the enormous ball of yarn and before the four-armed woman. Not sure how to begin such a conversation I said quietly, “Hello, madam.”
The woman looked up abruptly from her work and studied me. “Yes, girl, but what do you say to the proposal?”
I had no idea how to answer. Avari turned back into a cat and leapt onto her mother’s lap. I could hear her voice, “Mother, you haven’t asked her yet. You’re getting ahead of yourself. You’ve only just met for the first time.”
The woman looked perplexed for a moment and then looked down at the scarf-like product hanging from her needles. “Oh,” she said after studying it a moment, “you mean we’re here and not here!” I began to think that this place was getting weirder by the moment. Satisfied that she knew what was going on, the woman looked back up. “Greetings, child.” She looked down at the scarf to check herself and smiled.
I curtsied, not sure what else to do. Then I waited.
Finally, she continued. “As my daughter has told you, we need your help. There is a man. He lives in the western part of your country. And he has discovered that time is made. Worse, he has discovered the existence of beings like us and has captured one of our kin! He is a scholar – a scientist as you call them nowadays – and he has found ways to manipulate time as we do. With his rudimentary knowledge, he has created a device that prevents poor Nel (for that is who is entrapped) from teleporting home. His contraption distorts space-time such that none of us can leave your world within several miles of it. More devious still, his device is protected with a warped time field around it that would be most fatal for any of us to stand in. So, we cannot disable the machine. Therefore, he has successfully kept Nel imprisoned in a small cage (she had the form of a bird when he found her). If someone like you does not help us, she will surely be killed and dissected for study. A human like yourself could safely go close enough to the machine to disable it. That is the favor we must ask.”
I thought about it for a moment. It was all so bizarre. “Can Nel not just change her shape into something small enough to escape the cage or something large enough to break it?”
“Thank you, child,” the old woman beamed at me, “I knew that we could count on you!”
Again, I looked bewildered and, again, Avari corrected her, “Mother, we’re here, not there!” A furry paw pointed at the scarf. “She hasn’t agreed to help yet!”
“Oh, goodness, you are right,” The woman gasped. “My, I am scatter-minded today. To answer your question, dear, we can only change shape when we are in this world. Once we enter your world we must maintain our shape until we leave.”
I nodded. And then I thought for a good long time. At length I looked up at the woman and commented, “A week ago, a world like this would never have entered my imagination.”
She answered thoughtfully, “Greetings, child.” Avari nudged her and she quickly corrected herself, “I mean to say – yes, girl, but what do you say to the proposal?”
I sighed and said, “As you clearly already know, I will try to help you.”
“Thank you, child,” the old woman beamed at me, “I knew that we could count on you!”
*****
The bus ride was at least as long on the way back as it had been on the way there, but I didn’t notice. I had far too much on my mind. The old Time-Spinner had explained to me that there was no time to lose (the scientist was not at his laboratory, but would be returning by mid-morning) and so I would be taken directly to the outskirts of the medaling man’s lands. So, after a long and bumpy bus ride through darkness, I found myself deposited in the middle of a sparse forest – I did not know precisely where. The sky was still dark, for it was not quite dawn yet. The bus driver tipped his cap at me once more and explained that I was only two miles south of the scientist’s laboratory and that, if I walked north, I could be in and out with ease before he returned. With that, the bus door vanished and I was left alone in the dark forest.
Every sound made me jump. I’m sure that it’s perfectly normal for a forest to be lively at night, but all the same, I moved forward as quickly as the light of the moon would allow. In time, I came to a fence and I knew that I was getting close. Signs posted on the chain fence read ‘Keep Out’ and warned that entering would be trespassing. Quickly, and as quietly as I could, I scaled the fence. I found myself wishing Avari was there since she was always the better climber of the two of us. And then, of course, I found myself remembering, once more, my recent encounter with her. I wanted to believe her that she only stayed away at her mother’s command and that she really did care for me the way I cared for her, but that she allowed me to grieve as I had without telling me she was all right was hard to deal with and on a night like that one, it was hard to know what to believe. Pushing the thought behind me, I climbed down the opposite side of the fence.
Once on the other side, I moved swiftly towards the buildings in the distance. I could not make them out clearly yet, but I had been told that the one I wanted was the middle one – an old yellow structure; all of metal, with much of the lab’s area being underground. As the sun began to crest the horizon, I could see it clearly.
The courtyard was large, though, and I had only made it halfway across when I heard the sound of the dogs. Panic-stricken, I looked up. There, coming directly towards me, I saw a pack of guard dogs. They were large, too, nearly wolves. I began to run for the shelter of the buildings, but they were closing in quickly. Alone in these woods, at the break of day, there was no one to help me. Adrenaline fueled my legs and I had nearly made it to the buildings before the dogs were upon me. One leapt and, though its jaws only caught the sleeve of my sweatshirt, it pulled me roughly to the ground. The others were on its heels.
Then, just as I abandoned hope, as I felt the dogs’ hot breath on my throat, another creature charged out from the dawning sky behind them – a great stag deer. The stag raised its huge hooves and kicked at the dogs nearest to it. Then, lowering its head, it charged at the dogs on top of me and threw them from me with its powerful antlers. Bending down, the deer allowed me to climb upon its back. Then, the big dogs chasing after it, and me bouncing upon its back, the deer raced into the yellow structure and down the wide stairs inside, past a birdcage that I’m sure must have been Nel’s and into a large complex of workshops in the basement. Battering down more than one locked door on its way, it finally stopped next to a large metallic dome, replete with wires and levers of all sorts protruding from it. The time-space disruptor, I was sure. Dismounting, I looked up at the stag and, suddenly, the truth of what he was dawned upon me. There, before me, the stag shook and quivered. Its hair began to fall out first, and then its flesh began peeling – the great beast was falling apart before my very eyes. I looked at the stag and I watched as it squeezed its large eyes tightly shut. Again and again it closed its eyes, but to no avail. I knew, then, who the stag was. And I knew that she had come too far.
“Avari,” I said, “you came to help me.”
The stag nodded and I heard Avari’s voice softly, “We’re not supposed to talk to humans when we’re animals, but I think it doesn’t matter now.”
I hugged the great snout before me. “Thank you for saving my life, Avari.”
“I am your friend, Sarah,” she said, “I want you to know that.”
I nodded. “I know, Avari.”
A howl of dogs behind her ended the exchange, however. “Quickly,” she said, “disable the machine. There is not much time before the dogs are upon you!”
Turning, I surveyed the amazing contraption. I had no notion of how a man could build such a thing. But, I was confident that I could destroy it. I grabbed the nearest set of wires with both hands and pulled. With a spark and a shock, they tore free. I raced around the machine, looking for exposed sections of its innards. I pulled and kicked every loose piece I could find. At last, I was rewarded with a plume of smoke coming from the device. Just as the dogs entered the room with me, the air shimmered and all manner of creatures appeared around me – elephants, lions, eagles, monkeys, snakes. The dogs turned and ran. Then, the creatures around me finished the dismantling of the time disruptor and, squinting, they vanished. When the smoke cleared and the clamor had ended, I looked for Avari. All that was left of the great stag was a skeleton. Overcome with grief, and not knowing what else to do, I picked up the skull.
Outside of the building, I tied the skull up, a salute to my friend. Perhaps it’s a silly thing to do – maybe like gluing pictures into a photo album, but you asked, and that is the answer. That’s why there is a stag’s skull hanging on this unusual yellow building.
Round 1, Match 6
Best Friends
by Mike Rousos (Avatar_V)
I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve hung this stag’s skull here. Well, it’s something of a memorial. For a friend. You want the whole story? Well, it could take a while, but since you asked...
It all began several years ago when I met Avari. No, too far back; let me pick up last year. Everyone has had a best friend at one point or another – this time last year is when my story began to become a little bit more unusual.
The day began normally enough – Avari stopped by with the grin on her face that told me she had come up with another crazy plan for the day. As I saw her riding up our drive on her bike, I called up the stairs, “Mom, Avari’s here – can I go out?”
And the usual reply came back down the stairs, “Be sure you’re back for dinner. And wear your helmet.” I hollered a quick thanks back to my mom and headed out. Of course, I knew she would let me go – especially that morning. See, that evening Avari was boarding a plane to meet her biological parents for the first time (she was adopted) and this was my last chance to hang out with her for more than two weeks. As I suspected, Avari had indeed formed a plan for the day. As we rode, she explained that on a hill just outside of town, using surplus concrete chutes from recent city sewer work, people had constructed something like a race course that sleds or carts could be piloted down. And, of course, Avari had secured two small carts perfect for the occasion. I laughed when I heard it, it seemed such an absurd past time. But, when we arrived, it was just as promised. And, as with all of Avari’s plans, it was a lot of fun. We spent the whole morning running up the hill, our carts in tow, and then racing them back down to the bottom.
“Sarah,” Avari would call as she sped behind me, “try putting your hands up!” Naturally, Avari was careening down the hill without holding her cart. I continued to hold tightly to mine despite her urgings. I was always the more cautious of the two of us (my mom’s incessant reminders to wear my bike helmet were thoroughly unnecessary). In true Avari fashion, though, she mastered the ‘hands free’ method of running the course – not to mention the fact that she soon began putting her cart in front of mine so that she could pick up a lot more speed than I was willing to. Despite all the bravado, though, as I rested at the bottom of the hill before we left (as Avari made a few last runs), I could see that once or twice when she took a corner too quickly and nearly left the track that she got scared as well. It was always easy to tell when Avari was scared because she would squeeze her eyes tightly shut. In a way it was comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one of us that got scared.
Shortly after noon, we wrapped up the chute racing and got back on our bikes in search of food. It wasn’t a long morning, and not that unusual for us, really. But, it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Avari before she left for a couple of weeks because it was such a typical thing to do with her. It seemed whenever she was around (and it was a lot), we would find the craziest things to do – but we would have more fun than I suspect any other two friends have ever had together while we were doing them. It seemed that wherever we went and whatever we did, it was exciting to do it together. Avari was like me, even for all of our outward differences – she really understood me. And we really cared about each other. That’s why it was so hard to say goodbye to her that evening when she left for her plane, even though she was coming back in two weeks.
That’s why it was so hard when I learned her plane had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and that she was never coming back.
*****
My life changed after that. For months, I was a wreck emotionally. I have a photo-album with pictures of me and my friends. Sometimes I re-arrange the pictures in it based on which friends I’m fondest of currently. It’s a silly thing to do, I know, but I do it all the same. After Avari’s accident, I took her pictures (already in the front) and glued them in place. It was my way of telling her that I would never forget her. Slowly, life returned to normal. School resumed, though it wasn’t the same without her. And, then the school year ended and I hung out with my other friends – though I couldn’t help but think of what things would be like without Avari around.
Then, nearly a year after the plane crash, just as life was beginning to feel normal again, I received the letter. My mom handed me the envelope just before dinner, saying that it had come in the mail that day. I opened it immediately (I don’t get much mail) and read it. My mom grew worried for me as I looked at it – my face must have turned a ghostly white. She asked who it was from, concerned, but I didn’t answer. I just told her that my appetite was gone and that I thought I was going to be sick – and I rushed to my room. If you haven’t guessed by now, the letter was from Avari. It was in her handwriting and bore her signature. I had no idea what to think. Had she somehow survived? It didn’t seem possible – and yet, here was the letter. The contents were quite simple. It read: “Sarah, How have you been? I’ve missed you SO much this past year! I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to contact you sooner. Please come and meet me – I need a favor. Get on the bus that stops at the end of your road at midnight tonight. Ride it to the end of its route and meet me there. I can’t wait to see you! Love, Avari” Why was she only writing to me now if she was alive? What was the favor? Don’t the buses stop running at ten? How can she say tonight and be confident I’ll read it on the right day? Hundreds of questions like these raced through my mind. Large among them – was this some sort of cruel joke? Was it safe? But, I’d know Avari’s handwriting anywhere and for her – not for anyone else, but for her – I had enough trust to overlook the mountain of questions the letter raised. And so, that night, after riding out my mom’s dogged attempts to find out what was going on, I slipped quietly from my house and onto the bus that I never knew ran this late into the night. From then on, things only got weirder.
*****
I know that many of you are going to think the rest of this story is made up, but I can only promise as often as you like that it’s true and beg that you believe me. Or, disbelieve if you will – it doesn’t change the facts. I was not dreaming. Trust me, I pinched myself more than once, this is the truth. I rode the bus until the end of its route. I thought that this line only ran across town, but it seemed that we travelled far too long for that. In the darkness, I couldn’t say where we were going. I was alone on the bus, Avari’s letter clutched in my hand. What felt like hours rolled by as I sat, too petrified to ask the bus driver where we were going. Finally, when I could almost bear my fear no longer, the bus stopped and the doors opened. Nervously, I got up, and walked off of the bus.
Though the night sky had been pitch black out of the bus windows, as I stepped from the bus, I was surrounded in a strange blue light. Behind me there was no bus only a door in – well, in nothingness. There, right in the air, was a door that looked back into the bus. The bus driver smiled and tipped his cap at me as I looked back. And then, the bus doors shut and I turned forward to face the strangest site I have ever seen.
Before me, there sat an old woman on an enormous ball of glittering blue and green yarn. The woman had four arms and was knitting. What she knit (for I could not say what it was) hung from her needles, wrapped around her skein of yarn, and looped in endless piles as far to her right and left as I could see.
Then I heard a voice – it was Avari’s. “Sarah! You came!” I looked at the old woman and squinted. She looked nothing like Avari, though the voice was unmistakable to me. Then I heard a laugh, “No, down here!” And I looked down. There, at the base of the enormous skein of yarn sat a cat. And the cat was talking. “Oh, how foolish of me! I forgot that I look like a cat still. Of course you won’t recognize me like this!” Then, a moment later, the cat shimmered, vanished, and was replaced with Avari, just as I remembered her. For that moment, my joy overwhelmed whatever trepidation this foreign world had me under. I ran to Avari and embraced her.
Neglecting, for the moment, the four-armed woman, I asked the first thing that came to my mind, “I thought you were dead!”
Avari laughed. “No, of course I’m not.” She looked up at the old lady and continued, “I’m a daughter of the Time-Spinner. This is my home. I can travel to your world if I want, but to come back here, all I need to do is to squeeze my eyes really tightly, concentrate hard, think about it and, poof, I’m back here.” She squeezed her eyes shut to demonstrate.
I smiled in recognition – “I know that face – that’s your worried face. So, all those times that I thought you were scared, you were actually getting ready to come here?”
Avari nodded, “Yep, you know, getting ready just in case I had to make an abrupt exit to keep from getting hurt. Luckily, I didn’t have to before I meant to – that would have really raised some questions!”
I laughed, “I suppose so.” Then, I thought about what she had just said. “’Before you had to,’ you said. That means that you left the plane before it crashed – which is why you’re alive – and that you were planning on doing it beforehand?” I was a bit perplexed.
Avari nodded. “That was the plan, yes. My mother,” Avari gestured at the woman again, “she creates time.” Seeing my baffled expression, she explained further, “What, you didn’t think it just magically appeared, did you? Does wood just magically appear? No, it comes from trees. Do animals just appear? No, they come from other animals. Time doesn’t just appear, either. Before there can be another second, or minute, or anything like that, my mother has to knit it.”
“Then, what’s happening right now…” I interrupted.
“Yep,” Avari saw where my question was going, “we’re experiencing time, so that means my mother made it. I think she knitted these moments a few weeks ago.” My head was spinning, but Avari continued, “So, as you can see, to keep up she knits a bit ahead. That’s how she knew the plane would crash and she agreed that it would be the perfect opportunity for me to get back here without raising any unwanted questions. I just had to take the plane (with a pretext of ‘going to see my family’) and then, before it crashed, teleport back here. Couldn’t be simpler. That’s how I’m alive.”
Somehow I didn’t think more questions about that were going to make it any simpler for me to understand, so I moved on, “Then you wanted to come back. But, why?”
“Oh, because my mission was done.”
“Mission? What was your mission?”
Avari smiled, “I’ve been wanting to tell you for years, but I haven’t been able to! My mission was to investigate a human that my mother thought could someday be our ally. You see, there are places where we can’t go and there are things that our race can’t do. For that, we need humans to help us. But, we can’t choose just anyone. Most people would freak out just coming here! So, I was sent to earn the trust of a promising human so that, later, if we needed help, we could ask them and they would already be familiar with me.”
I took a moment to process this answer and, as I did, my heart sank. For the first time since entering this alien world I felt out of place and a bit ill. It must have shown on my face because Avari moved towards me. I held up a hand of protest and voiced the emotion that was filling my eyes with tears. “Avari, do you understand what you’re saying?” I paused to compose myself; I could see that Avari was confused. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Ever. I loved you. I would have done anything for you – even get on a mysterious bus at midnight with no explanation. But, now you’re telling me that the only reason you were my friend at all was because it was your mission? I thought that you loved me, but it was just a job. All of our laughter and jokes – they feel so empty all of a sudden; they were just a chore to get me here.”
Avari’s eyes grew wide and she answered quickly, “No, Sarah, that’s not at all what I’m saying! You are my best friend.”
“And you can take any form you want, can’t you?” I interrupted her. “You just chose to look like a girl my age so that I would like you.” I motioned at the girl in front of me, “This isn’t really you, is it?”
Avari slowly shook her head, “It’s true I only look like this around you. My mother prefers that I look like a cat so that she can pet me. I’ve taken many different forms at different times. But, you must believe me, Sarah, that befriending you because it was my mission doesn’t mean you didn’t really become my friend.”
“Then why did you let me think you were dead for a year?”
Avari paused for a moment, searching for words. “We couldn’t tell you until the time was right. Please believe me that I wanted to. But, my mother said that I mustn’t.”
I shook my head not sure what to think. Instead, I wandered away from Avari, wondering if there was a place around here to clear my head. Of course, there wasn’t. So, I just stood some distance from them, thinking. Finally, Avari came to me. “I’m sorry that you never knew the truth about me – I would have told you if I was able.” I didn’t say anything, so she continued, “Will you come and speak to my mother now? We still need your help.”
“Right, the real reason for our reunion.” I frowned. “Actually, I think I’d rather just go home.”
“I’m afraid my mother won’t like that much. She probably won’t call the bus for you until you’ve talked with her – she still believes that you will help us.”
I sighed. “I suppose I don’t have much choice then, do I? I’ll talk to her. But for the sake of the old Avari I knew – the human one, even if she never really existed.”
*****
And so, I was escorted back to the enormous ball of yarn and before the four-armed woman. Not sure how to begin such a conversation I said quietly, “Hello, madam.”
The woman looked up abruptly from her work and studied me. “Yes, girl, but what do you say to the proposal?”
I had no idea how to answer. Avari turned back into a cat and leapt onto her mother’s lap. I could hear her voice, “Mother, you haven’t asked her yet. You’re getting ahead of yourself. You’ve only just met for the first time.”
The woman looked perplexed for a moment and then looked down at the scarf-like product hanging from her needles. “Oh,” she said after studying it a moment, “you mean we’re here and not here!” I began to think that this place was getting weirder by the moment. Satisfied that she knew what was going on, the woman looked back up. “Greetings, child.” She looked down at the scarf to check herself and smiled.
I curtsied, not sure what else to do. Then I waited.
Finally, she continued. “As my daughter has told you, we need your help. There is a man. He lives in the western part of your country. And he has discovered that time is made. Worse, he has discovered the existence of beings like us and has captured one of our kin! He is a scholar – a scientist as you call them nowadays – and he has found ways to manipulate time as we do. With his rudimentary knowledge, he has created a device that prevents poor Nel (for that is who is entrapped) from teleporting home. His contraption distorts space-time such that none of us can leave your world within several miles of it. More devious still, his device is protected with a warped time field around it that would be most fatal for any of us to stand in. So, we cannot disable the machine. Therefore, he has successfully kept Nel imprisoned in a small cage (she had the form of a bird when he found her). If someone like you does not help us, she will surely be killed and dissected for study. A human like yourself could safely go close enough to the machine to disable it. That is the favor we must ask.”
I thought about it for a moment. It was all so bizarre. “Can Nel not just change her shape into something small enough to escape the cage or something large enough to break it?”
“Thank you, child,” the old woman beamed at me, “I knew that we could count on you!”
Again, I looked bewildered and, again, Avari corrected her, “Mother, we’re here, not there!” A furry paw pointed at the scarf. “She hasn’t agreed to help yet!”
“Oh, goodness, you are right,” The woman gasped. “My, I am scatter-minded today. To answer your question, dear, we can only change shape when we are in this world. Once we enter your world we must maintain our shape until we leave.”
I nodded. And then I thought for a good long time. At length I looked up at the woman and commented, “A week ago, a world like this would never have entered my imagination.”
She answered thoughtfully, “Greetings, child.” Avari nudged her and she quickly corrected herself, “I mean to say – yes, girl, but what do you say to the proposal?”
I sighed and said, “As you clearly already know, I will try to help you.”
“Thank you, child,” the old woman beamed at me, “I knew that we could count on you!”
*****
The bus ride was at least as long on the way back as it had been on the way there, but I didn’t notice. I had far too much on my mind. The old Time-Spinner had explained to me that there was no time to lose (the scientist was not at his laboratory, but would be returning by mid-morning) and so I would be taken directly to the outskirts of the medaling man’s lands. So, after a long and bumpy bus ride through darkness, I found myself deposited in the middle of a sparse forest – I did not know precisely where. The sky was still dark, for it was not quite dawn yet. The bus driver tipped his cap at me once more and explained that I was only two miles south of the scientist’s laboratory and that, if I walked north, I could be in and out with ease before he returned. With that, the bus door vanished and I was left alone in the dark forest.
Every sound made me jump. I’m sure that it’s perfectly normal for a forest to be lively at night, but all the same, I moved forward as quickly as the light of the moon would allow. In time, I came to a fence and I knew that I was getting close. Signs posted on the chain fence read ‘Keep Out’ and warned that entering would be trespassing. Quickly, and as quietly as I could, I scaled the fence. I found myself wishing Avari was there since she was always the better climber of the two of us. And then, of course, I found myself remembering, once more, my recent encounter with her. I wanted to believe her that she only stayed away at her mother’s command and that she really did care for me the way I cared for her, but that she allowed me to grieve as I had without telling me she was all right was hard to deal with and on a night like that one, it was hard to know what to believe. Pushing the thought behind me, I climbed down the opposite side of the fence.
Once on the other side, I moved swiftly towards the buildings in the distance. I could not make them out clearly yet, but I had been told that the one I wanted was the middle one – an old yellow structure; all of metal, with much of the lab’s area being underground. As the sun began to crest the horizon, I could see it clearly.
The courtyard was large, though, and I had only made it halfway across when I heard the sound of the dogs. Panic-stricken, I looked up. There, coming directly towards me, I saw a pack of guard dogs. They were large, too, nearly wolves. I began to run for the shelter of the buildings, but they were closing in quickly. Alone in these woods, at the break of day, there was no one to help me. Adrenaline fueled my legs and I had nearly made it to the buildings before the dogs were upon me. One leapt and, though its jaws only caught the sleeve of my sweatshirt, it pulled me roughly to the ground. The others were on its heels.
Then, just as I abandoned hope, as I felt the dogs’ hot breath on my throat, another creature charged out from the dawning sky behind them – a great stag deer. The stag raised its huge hooves and kicked at the dogs nearest to it. Then, lowering its head, it charged at the dogs on top of me and threw them from me with its powerful antlers. Bending down, the deer allowed me to climb upon its back. Then, the big dogs chasing after it, and me bouncing upon its back, the deer raced into the yellow structure and down the wide stairs inside, past a birdcage that I’m sure must have been Nel’s and into a large complex of workshops in the basement. Battering down more than one locked door on its way, it finally stopped next to a large metallic dome, replete with wires and levers of all sorts protruding from it. The time-space disruptor, I was sure. Dismounting, I looked up at the stag and, suddenly, the truth of what he was dawned upon me. There, before me, the stag shook and quivered. Its hair began to fall out first, and then its flesh began peeling – the great beast was falling apart before my very eyes. I looked at the stag and I watched as it squeezed its large eyes tightly shut. Again and again it closed its eyes, but to no avail. I knew, then, who the stag was. And I knew that she had come too far.
“Avari,” I said, “you came to help me.”
The stag nodded and I heard Avari’s voice softly, “We’re not supposed to talk to humans when we’re animals, but I think it doesn’t matter now.”
I hugged the great snout before me. “Thank you for saving my life, Avari.”
“I am your friend, Sarah,” she said, “I want you to know that.”
I nodded. “I know, Avari.”
A howl of dogs behind her ended the exchange, however. “Quickly,” she said, “disable the machine. There is not much time before the dogs are upon you!”
Turning, I surveyed the amazing contraption. I had no notion of how a man could build such a thing. But, I was confident that I could destroy it. I grabbed the nearest set of wires with both hands and pulled. With a spark and a shock, they tore free. I raced around the machine, looking for exposed sections of its innards. I pulled and kicked every loose piece I could find. At last, I was rewarded with a plume of smoke coming from the device. Just as the dogs entered the room with me, the air shimmered and all manner of creatures appeared around me – elephants, lions, eagles, monkeys, snakes. The dogs turned and ran. Then, the creatures around me finished the dismantling of the time disruptor and, squinting, they vanished. When the smoke cleared and the clamor had ended, I looked for Avari. All that was left of the great stag was a skeleton. Overcome with grief, and not knowing what else to do, I picked up the skull.
Outside of the building, I tied the skull up, a salute to my friend. Perhaps it’s a silly thing to do – maybe like gluing pictures into a photo album, but you asked, and that is the answer. That’s why there is a stag’s skull hanging on this unusual yellow building.
I had a lot of fun writing it! I just hope it's not too full of typos since I pounded it out tonight and haven't had much proof-reading time.
