The nice man sighed, then took the piece of paper back. He wrote in big letters, never taking his eyes from Christopher’s. He finished writing, and Christopher read the message upside down.
Give me your hand.
Christopher searched the nice man’s eyes. They betrayed nothing. Christopher’s stomach turned. He suddenly wasn’t very hungry. Not even for the candy. So, he picked up the pencil, and they passed notes back and forth like schoolkids.
What will that do?
If you want to read my mind, I’ll open it to you.
Christopher looked down as the nice man opened his hands like a book. Christopher studied the skin on his palms. Cut and scarred. Washed in the water countless times. He felt a weight on his chest. The answers to all the riddles. Four ways in. Three ways out. It was all etched on that hand like a palm reading. Christopher wrote one more time.
What happens at midnight?
The nice man took a deep breath and wrote a single word.
Everything.
Christopher grabbed the nice man’s hand.
Chapter 73
hi. christopher. just breathe. we have to do this fast or your mind will cook. these are things i’ve seen over millennia. you are not supposed to know them this quickly. i’m sorry, but it can’t be helped. breathe. or you’ll die. breathe!
The nice man’s words itched their way up Christopher’s arm, spreading through his body like cracks in the windshield. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. But it was more than the wind. It was everything. His lungs frozen with fear. Or was that knowledge? Slowly, the breath returned to his chest. He looked up at the nice man’s face, reassuring and friendly.
that’s it, christopher. you’re seeing it now. just keep breathing. no matter what you see, keep breathing.
Christopher blinked and looked around. Somehow, he was in two places at once. His left eye was still in the bunker with the nice man. His right eye was seeing what the nice man spoke. Not as words. But as pictures. Home movies and memories stuck together like peanut butter and jelly. It felt as if it were all happening in front of him. This was the world as the nice man had seen it. And it was terrifying.
breathe, christopher. it’s okay. it can’t hurt you. breathe.
Christopher saw the hissing lady torture the people on the imaginary side. The blood on the street. It was the world’s blood.
this is what it looked like, christopher. just before the last time it happened. you see what she is doing. the ruin and the madness. look at the street. see the blood. that is what it was. and that is what it was going to be for everyone until something miraculous happened.
he was born.
Christopher saw a little boy in a bassinet. This was David Olson. Not how his mother or father or even Ambrose knew him. This was how the nice man saw him. How the nice man loved him.
things had been dark in here for decades. she was finding little cracks in the glass between the real and imaginary sides. finding ways to creep into the town through her whispers. and their dreams. i thought it was all over, but then, I saw something. a bright light. it was david. i knew it the day he was born. there was something different about him. he was talking when most kids were crawling. he was drawing pictures when most kids could barely hold a crayon. he struggled with reading because the letters would not sit still for such an active mind. he thought he was stupid until he realized he might be smarter than everyone. i watched him grow up. i watched his classmates brutalize him for being special. i had never seen a lonelier boy in all my time. but he was powerful. and SHE knew it. SHE wanted him. i tried to keep him safe for as long as i could, but i was no match for her. she lured him into the woods just like she did to you.
The nice man heard a noise above and stopped. For a moment, the circuit was cut, and Christopher could only see the bunker. The nice man looked up and waited for another footstep. But it was just the wind. Then, he took Christopher’s hands again and gave him his mind.
i tried to help him at first. i showed him how the hissing lady could take on different forms. i taught david how to stay on the street. i told him