"I would hug you, but..."
"But I'm covered in mud?" said Penny, smiling as she saw the others. It wasn't the real reason why. Penny stepped forward and embraced Zoey, squeezing her tight while using Zoey's jacket as a towel for her muddy hands. Penny let go of her friend, her face beaming.
"Don't worry. It's mostly dry.""... Mostly," Zoey flatly repeated.
"Almost entirely," said Penny, her grinning faltering as she noticed the redheaded child.
While those two were having a heartwarming moment, Isla collapsed onto her knees as soon as the group arrived. Teleporting so many people had left her utterly exhausted. She pretty quickly flopped onto her back with little care for her surroundings.
She figured she'd take a short nap as everyone started talking, closing her eyes... and Odessa kicked her gently to wake her up. Her eyes shot open as she shot a half-assed glare at the plant lady, grumbling as she propped herself up on her elbows to listen.
"The world was fine when I checked," said Zoey as the young girl revealed that the world had ended.
"The world was around, anyway," corrected Penny, folding her arms over her chest.
"I think if the world ended we woulda noticed it!" Isla piped up. "I dunno about you guys but I didn't see any big world-ending events before I got pulled here... unless you count, like, all that magic shit that started to happen. But the world seems pretty existant to me. Also, we all survived 2012 so unless you're telling me the Mayan calendar was wrong... Was it the Mayan one? Either way, I didn't-"
Odessa just casually booped Isla on the nose again while Penny watched in horrified interest as the recollection of LA being destroyed played out around them. Isla stopped completely rambling when she did and just started up at her with an open mouth. Then she closed it again. Point taken.
"... Are you sure this world is the one
we come from?" Odessa asked.
And Rosalyn nodded her head. "I don't know how... But I do know it has
something to do with a man named Luther Saul."
"I'm not exactly convinced, sister," Zoey took a puff of her cigarette as she stared at everything with a flat face. "Either way, sugar, how about you let us out and then we figure out what happened?"
"I..." Rosalyn said as she balled her fists. "... Please, don't go. Don't leave me here. You can have
everything you want here. I'll give it to you, I promise."
"... You're starting to scare me, sugar," Zoey flatly said as she resisted her voice cracking.
"Yeah I ain't a fan of staying in this place, I got pretty good shit going on back home," Isla said, even though the last bit was a complete lie because her life sucked. "Where's your gratitude for me getting you outta that void, anyway? Can't just force us to stay here after that."
"I'll get you everything you want, and then some!" Rosalyn tried to plead with them. "Just... listen."
"Let the kid talk," said Penny, taking a step forward as she stared down Rosalyn. She wasn't exactly keen on the idea of staying in Paradise for any longer than she had to, but if what she had shown them was real then it would be insane just to ignore it. Even if only a kernel of it was true, it was still something Penny had to pay attention to.
"Go ahead. We're listening.""I'm not exactly in the mood to listen to the person that's keeping us hostage, Penny!" Zoey tried to contain her anger but she ended up shouting with each passing word. Penny shot Zoey a silencing glance, although she understood Zoey's anger.
Rosalyn turned around as she pointed into the distance... and the area suddenly transformed into a garden. A beautiful oasis.
"I can do anything here, we can be anything!" Rosalyn tried to plead with them with no avail. "You never have to worry about anything ever again. That's the point of Paradise."
"Okay," said Penny with a huff and a roll of her eyes. So much for the child having some great revelation about the end of the world. Penny turned to Zoey and gave her an apologetic smile.
"... What happened here?" Odessa asked.
"Huh?"
"What happened here? There are graves..." Odessa pressed on. "... How long have you been bringing people here?"
"... I don't know, a long time," Rosalyn started playing with her fingers as she answered unsurely.
"Don't dodge the question," Odessa continued to press. "Apparitions like the ones we encountered don't appear out of thin air."
A new Recollection began... and it was the same street the strangers were teleported to after the cruise ship sank. And it was a similar sight. Children were playing all sorts of toys and it was almost warming. However, Odessa remained straight-faced throughout.
"It... started fine, everyone was happy in Paradise..." Rosalyn said. Before the Recollection changed to a different, far more macabre scene. It was a bunch of children huddled around one child... who was splattered all over the ground as if he fell off a building. It was a truly disgusting sight as the various children were vomiting, crying, and looking on in horror.
However, an orb came out of the deceased child and everyone smiled and laughed and cheered as it took the same shape like the boy who died.
"Then someone died, but it was okay... because they came back," Rosalyn explained, then the Recollection shifted yet again to... the sea of graves. Dirt mounds were covering the beautiful oasis that was Paradise as each mound had a name. And one particular mound had a little girl hunched over crying. She felt a presence over her as she looked up...
... And saw the very Apparition that killed Caelea.
"But more and more people all... started dying, and they all came back as those things. And I thought it was okay but over time they started..."
The Apparition grabbed onto the little girl's head and crushed it before letting her body hit the ground... and
another Apparition came out of it as the Apparition took over her body. And then she instantly regenerated as the Apparition felt new.
"Then they started turning into those things... and..."
The Recollection changed again to one of Rosalyn running from an absolute horde of Apparitions that were chasing after her. She ran into a building and closed the door behind her. She took a few steps away and pointed both of her hands at it as it transformed into a vault door... and it didn't matter as the Apparitions pounded their way through the defenses or phased through and chased after her.
"I don't know, I got
scared!" Rosalyn said as Rose-in-the-Recollection fell backward into a dark hole that appeared. And Rosalyn screamed as she fell, and fell, and fell into nothingness. Eventually, she stopped falling... and looked around as she a screen. A screen that seemingly showed Paradise in real-time and she walked up to it, hoping for it to be a portal. No... it was merely an illusion as when she touched it, she stopped like she hit a wall. Then Rose started pushing against it and then pounding it... until she started crying, screaming, as she slumped down to her knees.
"I was calling people here, desperately hoping that they could get me out... but most of the people I called died and made more of those things."
The Recollection ended soon after and it went back to the garden. Tears streamed down Rosalyn's face.
"... Paradise is a pocket dimension created by your abstraction," Odessa explained, "You're God here... but people are unable to pass on because it's like a hole. You can fall in but can't ever climb out. And because they can't pass on, they become...
Apparitions."
"Which is why you should open the door, sis," Zoey said as she put a hand on her hip. "And let us out... please..."
"Yeah, you can't just keep us here after all that," Isla added.
"You said you'd give us everything we want if we listened," said Penny with a smirk.
"Well, we listened. Now the only thing we want is to leave.""But..." Rosalyn groaned before Odessa took her side and then her hand. The little girl looked up at Odessa as she said.
"... I'll stay right here, with you," Odessa said as she lifted her head and looked at Penny. Penny opened her mouth to speak but held her tongue. "But, you
have to let them go... they don't want to be here, but I'll stay."
"You... really will?"
"Yes," Odessa smiled at her. "Long as you want me to."
"I..." Rosalyn couldn't plead for them to stay for much longer as she finally conceded... she raised her hand into the air as she opened a portal right off to the side. It was a white swirling light that leads into the void. "... This should take you back where you came from... wait, something's not right here."
"Huh?" Zoey asked. "You better not be trying any funky shit, sister I swear."
"It's like something's trying to get
in."
"... Finally," The group heard a deep, gravelly, voice come from the portal before they saw two orbs of crimson. Lunging through the portal was a
strange black wolf-like entity made out of a black smoke. He came to a skidding stop as he stood tall... he presently the size of a school bus. "... I have found the anomaly."
"The Hound," said Penny. She took a few guarded steps towards him, her eyes unable to mask the animalistic fear she felt in the pit of her stomach. The portal was still open. If he was here for them then she could buy the others the time needed to leave. She managed a few more steps until she was within swiping range of his massive claws. She glared into his glowing red eyes and spoke, her voice dripping with disgust. She said,
"What the hell do you want now?"The Hound's next stretched unnaturally until her face was mere inches away from his as he stared her down equally. He softly said,
"Ease yourself, child," The Hound started, "I am not here for you, or your friends."
Isla stared at the Hound with wide-eyed shock, mouth falling open as she interrupted whatever it was about to go on about to say, "Wait wait wait, what the hell is that, and why the fuck do you sound like you know it?" She glanced at Penny and then back at the hound with faux confidence.
"Because I do," said Penny between clenched teeth, not breaking her staredown with the Hound.
"If you ain't here for us, what are you here for?"
"
Them.Out of the woodworks came a horde of different Apparitions... of various colors, shapes, and compositions. Some resembled their more human counterpart, while others... had long lost their humanity. They filled the skies above them as the Hound raised his snout... and every Apparition turned into a glowing orb of their respective colors as they coalesced into a swirling mass and exited through the portal.
"... I've been searching for those lost souls for
centuries," The Hound started, "However, that will never happen again..."
"... What about Caelea?" Zoey asked as she tried to take a drag but her hands were shaking so much that she ended up dropping it.
"It was her time to go," The Hound spoke, "If she didn't die here, then she would be
my prey. However... due to her contributions to Farmer Hill, she will return as an apparition. I promise you that."
"You can't like-"
"No," The Hound cut her off, "
That was a one-time deal due to circumstance, now... leave this place, never to return."
"Yeah, you heard him," Rosalyn choked, "Leave before I change my-"
And Odessa's hand tightly wrapped around hers as a way of telling her to be quiet. And Rosalyn sighed. Odessa raised her head as she said,
"... Go on," Odessa affirmed.
"Well... this was the strangest adventure I've ever had..." Zoey trailed off as she walked on through the portal, she hoped that it was not a trick or a trap or anything. Then there was Odessa... she had to hand it to the spooky bitch, staying here with the brat so they can leave. There was something off about this but Zoey didn't want to pry. If Odessa wanted to spend the rest of her days with a brat then that was on her. Eventually, Zoey disappeared through the portal without a care or worry behind her. Well, Penny can handle herself.
"Hmph, see ya'll around," Hagan said as he stepped through the portal and disappeared. He wondered how much of what the Hound said was correct, but he didn't want to bother the grim reaper here. He was gonna have to take his word for it...
"So it's that easy, huh?" Isla blinked, staring at the portal. She then turned to the people left. "Well, see you guys, can't say I wanna repeat this experience." Then to Odessa. "Stay safe, don't boop the wee girl's nose too much." She grinned and gave a half salute to them all, before stepping through the portal.
Penny waited as the others went through the portal one by one. She didn't want to hesitate too long, but she wanted to make sure that everyone else made it out first. After the last one filed through, Penny walked over to Odessa and Rosalyn. She dropped to a knee in front of the girl and reached into her bag. Slowly, Penny pulled out the yellow CD case for Jimmy Buffett's Greatest Hits and slyly handed it to the little girl, using her own body to block Odessa's view.
"Play this for her whenever she starts to act gloomy, okay?" said Penny quietly. She winked as she stood up and turned to Odessa. She gave her a tight hug.
"Thank you, Odessa. If you ever need anything, well, you're with someone who can seemingly teleport me from across time. Just give me a heads up first."Penny released Odessa and then turned to step through the portal, stopping right in front of it. She turned back and looked at Odessa,
"You're right, by the way. You're not Britney, but you do happen to have some of her better qualities nevertheless. It was good to see—" Penny huffed, shook her head, and gave Odessa a sheepish smile.
"I mean, it was nice meeting you."Then Penny stepped through the portal.
Odessa sighed.
"... We'll meet again, Lawson. I know it."
"... Zoey,"
She heard the voice that sounded familiar but strange. The voice of someone feminine... and when Zoey opened her eyes she felt the light rays hitting her face. She closed her eyes yet again as she felt weird. Tired. And not in the right place she should be. The first thing that Zoey saw was a
skinny, green-haired nerdy looking girl looking right down on her.
"Zoey, are you okay?" She asked again.
However, Zoey was looking at her hand as she was perplexed. Was this real? Or fake? She looked around and realized that she was not in some ratty club in LA. She was in a motel room, there was another queen mattress right across from the one she realized she was on. Then there was the window. The motel had tan wallpaper and she could see the overpass.
"... Where am I? What year is it?"
The girl tilted her head.
"Zoey, I know you had a lot to drink."
"No seriously, I..." Zoey looked around as she couldn't believe she was back. "I don't know, Quinn."
"It's June twenty-second," The girl, Quinn, replied. "And you're in the cheapest motel we could find."
"Nice," Zoey said, "Mind explainin' why?"
"Because you didn't seem to be doing too good," Quinn answered. "But are you back from Jupiter? Our check out time was five minutes ago."
"... Something like that," Zoey replied.
