Killing Time (A Short Story)

[Shadow Key]

Killing Time

-1-

From the beginning Jasper Keaton knew it was going to be a rough day. The midmorning sun beamed through his tinted, cracked old window in his room and went down on his face abruptly. As he slowly lifted his eyes open into the day, the sounds of automobiles, loud obnoxious people, and busy employers working away at their stocks flooded his eardrums. How could he have slept through that? Maybe his body was used to the fact that he needed to get used to it- there was no going back to Detroit. Sure, not much noise changed compared to Detroit, but here in the Windy City those sounds were driven to the maximum. And they never shut up.

He felt his arm shoot up into the air and slam down onto his face in a fit of slight rage. Jasper rubbed the crust from his eyes and launched himself up off of his back, sitting on his bed, his legs firmly on the floor. He rose and opened the door to a bleak, run-down hallway filled with Tupperware containers that had old photos and memories stuffed into them. His Grandparents found these containers “very sentimental and shouldn’t be touched under any circumstances.” For such a sentimental couple, Jasper felt that his Grandparents liked to slack off with the whole sentimental thing, or they just didn’t understand the definition of the word. He knew that as soon as he finished his shower, got dressed in his clothes that he’d gathered from stores in downtown Chicago; he’d go downstairs to his Grandfather reading the paper. Grandpa didn’t seem to care about anything other than the news and his Grandmother would be updating her Facebook page and playing Spider Solitaire online.

He was always right.

He’d walk down the creaky, duct taped floorboards that were pathetic excuses for stairs, and through the dining room table to the kitchen built in right next to it, pop in some bagels, eat them, gather his stuff and walk out the door.

His grandparents never said, “Good morning, I love you, or Goodbye.” They’d just look at him and smile, as if that was their way of summarizing everything that his old normal family did in the morning.

Sometimes, he thought he was being too hard on his Grandparents for thinking so critically about them, but in his opinion, he was right. They didn’t mean to, but they were neglectful of Jasper. Grandma was always busy with her own flower business she ran around the neighborhood and Grandpa was either reading his paper or off to work in the Casio Corporation factory downtown. As an international supplier of all things tech and gadget-based, Jasper didn’t mind the occasional gift from him such as a keyboard or digital camera.

But it didn’t change anything. Jasper had given the cold shoulder to them in his mind, in his own way, and he knew that it wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

It was summertime in Chicago, a hot one, despite the lake. Jasper, as if oblivious to the weather, dressed in dark boot cut jeans, an old T-Shirt from Detroit and a zip up sweatshirt, though it was always un-zipped in an attempt to keep cool during his time outside.

As he slipped on the sweatshirt, he told his grandparents: “Going off to Beans and Barley. See you later.”

They, as usual, looked up from Spider Solitaire and their newspapers and gestured a waving motion telling him goodbye.

“Love you guys,” he said, trying to be sincere, as if it were a test to see if they’d say anything.

Grandpa’s posture didn’t change; his eyes were still hidden behind the Chicago Tribune as he said almost depressingly, “Love you too.”

As for his Grandma, she looked to the side, grinned at Jasper and said, “I love you too, sweetie.” Immediately after she glanced back at her game she was playing previously.

Jasper’s eyes squinted as he managed to sneak a smile into his feelings of doubt and remorse. At least he knew that Beans and Barley would make him feel better, somehow.



***



Beans and Barely had originated up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and had traveled down into Chicago for a second store opening. They had amazing organic food as well as a grocery store built into it, and though the mass of the population had turned its nose up to the price of organic food, the restaurant had proven that it was worth paying for. The food was delicious, and whenever Jasper had the chance, he went there. But it wasn’t just the good food; it was the salesperson at the front desk to the Deli that kept him there.

The man’s name was Asher Conrad. Ever since Jasper had gone there, Asher had always seemed to like Jasper. From the beginning, something made Asher act unbelievably nicer toward him than the other customers. The friendship had really gotten started when Jasper came to eat with a Gorillaz shirt on and the two exchanged opinions of music and got going from there.

Ever since, Asher was the only one who was his real friend in Chicago. School was out which was his main flow of ways to meet people and the streets are so crowded it was hard to make conversation to a stranger and find a friend. So for now, he’d have to make do with Asher, despite the age difference of 15 to 32.

On that day, Asher seemed more somber than usual. He had his usual skinny jeans and button up shirt on, but his typical clean-cut hair was shaggy and greasy, and he was wearing dark sunglasses. Perhaps, Jasper thought, he could cheer him up, whatever might’ve been going on.

“Asher!” Jasper said, eager to see him. “What’s up, man?”

Asher was busy behind the deli counter, but when he heard Jasper’s voice his face lit up a bit, though still seeming grim and gritty. He looked up and mustered up a grin. “Not much, Jasper what ‘bout you?”

He walked up to the front of the Deli counter, still smiling. “Same old, same old... walking around the city seeing what it’s all like.

“And what’s it like?”

Jasper paused and reflected upon it, pantomiming Rodin’s “Thinker”. The city had been alright, but it wasn’t too impressive. It hadn’t lived up to his expectations. “Ah, it could be better. All the tall buildings make me feel a bit small in the universe, but you can’t let thoughts like that get you down, can’ya?”

“Nah, I suppose not, Jasper.” He seemed reluctant to say that sentence, immediately he knew something was wrong.

“You...” He hesitated. “You okay, Asher? You seem... off.” Jasper croaked a bit. He didn’t want to make a wrong impression, this was an older friend, and you never could tell how they would react or behave.

Upon hearing it, Asher looked down at the counter and took a knife from the cupboard below him as well as some vegetables and began to cut, firmly and fluently, seeming like he was taking out his anger or sorrow. Or maybe it was just his job, Jasper wouldn’t know. “I’m doing fine,” Asher said even more reluctant than Jasper had, “I was just thinking about life and what I’m doing with it, ya’know?”

Jasper chuckled. “Ha, that’s an odd thought. Where’d that come from?”

Asher looked back up. “You’ll get it when you’re older.” He then smiled.

Jasper was frightened. Asher seemed extremely off, and not like a kind of “just feeling blue” off, he seemed off-off. He was extremely and noticeably feeling bad. There was something he wasn’t telling Jasper, but what was it?

Upon thinking, Jasper just decided to order. “Well, whatever I’m supposed to understand, I’ll make up for by buying your crappy food.” He grinned a sarcastic grin, and Asher got the joke and laughed. “I’ll have the Cheese and Chicken Burrito, heavy on the veggies.”

Today hadn’t gone as planned and not even Asher helped.

What was going on with him? Damn me and my teenage need to know everything... Jasper thought.

Yes, from the beginning, Jasper knew it was going to be a rough day.



-2-



Jasper, since he had moved here, had been roaming the city just to see what it’s like. He did this a lot in Detroit, only with friends, exploiting the towns and neighborhoods like an interrogator would exploit a person, finding its strengths and weaknesses which Jasper found himself doing whenever a new situation arose. This city was harder to navigate considering its size and the sheer amount of people always walking around, talking up a storm, trying to speak over the loud noises of the city.

He had found a beach, surprisingly empty and abandoned, near Lake Michigan, where the sand was white and pale like a suffocating child right after its death. It was a calm place Jasper went every night since he’d found it, and on each night he’d watch the buildings swallow up the final shards of the daylight until darkness engulfed the city. It always brought out memories that Jasper felt would be better off forgotten.

Especially the one of that night, the night that all sense left his life. It was the same one that drew his heart cold and hard, as if it hadn’t been ripped out already. But on that night, with his lonely state and Asher’s odd sense of depression, he himself had let the thought in, but only a seep of it.

I can see him now. He’s holding the gun- what is Dad doing?! He’s crazy; he has to do something… I should take action. I have to take action. They’ll die if I don’t, but what do I do?

Oh God, what is he-? Oh, no. No, no, no…



Jasper then shut the memory out, pushed it back down into his head like how drug addicts pushed down pills- quickly, abruptly and no hesitation. He couldn’t go back to that night no matter what he did, he simply couldn’t take it.

He checked his wrist watch. The bright red LED’s shown 8:09, it was 21 minutes to curfew. He’d always wondered whether or not he could test his Grandparents to see if they’d actually do anything if he missed the curfew, but if they had a bad side, he wouldn’t want to get on it.

The thought excited Jasper of rebellion, but he wasn’t insane or punk enough to do such a thing. He knew he himself was a bit mad but not to the point of purposely rattling his guardians’ chains, so he started going home.



***



Asher Conrad was going mad. He wasn’t exactly there yet- but he was damn well close to it. The disease was taking its hold- he couldn’t stall any longer. He needed to find another. He needed someone strong who could carry the Watch and be strong enough to hold onto it and face its destiny… someone with nothing to lose, one who wouldn’t mind going away from this world.

It was a difficult choice.

Sooner or later the Memories would come, take the Watch and then… all would be lost. It sounded odd in his head.

All will be lost.

He opened his eyes from his meditation inside his mind, sitting on the couch in the living room of his upper floor apartment downtown. He had thought about this incident for the past three hours, rolling it over in his head, baking it, concentrating on it, pounding the theories and speculations into his skull. He had gone through many people, meaning everyone he’d met at the restaurant, as auditions. It was unfair of him, really. Passing down a burden to in reality save his own skin- but it just wasn’t his own, in a way, it was others, too.

All will be lost.

Asher sunk down into the couch, trying to calm his nerves. The quick anxiety and strains in his lower abdomen felt stronger than ever.

All will be lost.

Oh, for the love of God, stop saying that, Asher thought. It wasn’t making him any less stressed. It added gravity to the situation, but it was certainly not helping. How much time would he have left before hell on earth breaks loose?

He dug into his pocket and felt the cold metal of the Watch against his fingertips. He felt around the engraving of the lightning bolt on the front side of it. This Watch felt heavier than usual. Perhaps it was just what he was going through. Perhaps it was the Virus. Perhaps it was the Memories playing with his head like a cat and a ball of yarn. As it dangled it was whipped around like a ragdoll and slowly untangled into nothing. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

Asher rose from the sofa, his back cracking on the way up. He groaned. He even heard himself grunt rather loudly as he got up. Then, simultaneously, he heard a swift noise like wind in the nighttime. It startled Asher, as his eyes widened.

All will be lost.

He turned around; looking for the sound, but all he saw was the walls of his apartment. Maybe he was just hearing things- the Virus had a way of doing that. But he had gotten used to it- was it the nerves?

Asher, startled, paced over to his bedroom, confused and a bit lost. He closed the door behind him and locked it promptly. He knew he had nothing to worry about as the tension tied around his lungs- but he couldn’t shake this feeling. His eyes felt oddly warm... in fact his face did.

He placed his hand against his face. He was- crying. Why was he crying? What was that noise before? Jesus, what the hell was going on?

All will be lost.

What the hell was happening? Asher unlocked his door and ran over to the bathroom and patted himself down with water from the sink and splashed it against himself. Get a grip, he wanted to tell himself, but the words couldn’t speak, the thoughts couldn’t produce. This wasn’t good.

Suddenly, he felt something heavy and sharp against his chest.

“What the-” Asher blurted as another force acted on his back. He coughed and spat up blood from these... things, whatever they were. He looked around to find the source. There was nothing there.

Of course there’s nothing there, there’s never anything there, you moron... haven’t you seen a horror movie in your life?!

Unlike most horror movies, though, Asher had some sense... just not enough to do something. How was he supposed to protect himself from something that wasn’t there? Wait a minute...

Shit.

The Memories. They’d found him and they were ready to kill, ready to strike and take the Watch. Thirteen years of hiding and finally ratted out- now things are about to go to hell. He had to think, and fast. Who would be able to give up so much in so little time? Who would possibly find a way to do what he didn’t?

Fast thinking did him no good.

The Memories uppercut his jaw and Asher fell flat on the floor, the blood dripping from his mouth, him tasting the bittersweet fluid. His apartment felt more black and white than usual as the frost settled into his veins. This was death. This was the end. Now it was crunch time.

Asher reached into his pocket, groaned and strained his muscles to get the Watch, and thought for a moment.

Jasper Keaton...please forgive me.

Suddenly, the Watch was gone from his hand, and Asher smiled in success and laughed at the Memories.

That’s when everything went black.

All would be lost.

 

[Ace.]

This was interesting. You did a good job of establishing mood; it feels pretty eerie. Your punctuation is off on some parts, and there are moments where I think you tried to do too much, such as "School was out which was his main flow of ways to meet people and the streets are so crowded it was hard to make conversation to a stranger and find a friend." It seemed to me like you were trying to stress the fact that he doesn't communicate with anyone too harshly. I think simply using 'school is out' would be fine.

His grandparents never said, “Good morning, I love you, or Goodbye.” They’d just look at him and smile, as if that was their way of summarizing everything that his old normal family did in the morning.

This was my favorite part. This sentence summed up the dull relationship Jasper has with his grandparents perfectly.

Overally, nice work

 

[Shadow Key]

This was interesting. You did a good job of establishing mood; it feels pretty eerie. Your punctuation is off on some parts, and there are moments where I think you tried to do too much, such as "School was out which was his main flow of ways to meet people and the streets are so crowded it was hard to make conversation to a stranger and find a friend." It seemed to me like you were trying to stress the fact that he doesn't communicate with anyone too harshly. I think simply using 'school is out' would be fine.



This was my favorite part. This sentence summed up the dull relationship Jasper has with his grandparents perfectly.

Overally, nice work

Thanks for the feedback. This was a project I had for English this year and the teacher revolved around detail and exaggeration, so I do agree in that I tried too hard. All of this is copy and pasted, so I did not edit it. This is the raw project... I got 99% on the full thing.

Is it worth putting all the other parts up? After part three is where I, as the writer, enjoyed it the most.

 

[Ace.]

I'd like to read the rest, so sure!

 

[Shadow Key]

-3-

The sky seemed bleaker than usual for Jasper the next day. The rain pounded down onto the windows, the sound of drops bouncing off of the buildings and reaching the eardrums of any person in the city. It was very glum for him; for some reason the rain had that kind of effect on people. The nice thing about it was that while the rain had made a lot of noise, the sounds of obnoxious people stopped as they migrated into the skyscrapers that had made up Chicago.
The lake brought in a wind with the rain that blew in Jaspers eyes as he walked to Beans and Barley that morning. It was hard to see- earlier the rain had been a light sprinkle that had grown into a normal shower on his walk, and now it was a downpour. Surely there’d be flooding if he hadn’t hurried up.
He roamed down the streets, his clothes drenched, and finally got to Beans and Barley after twenty agonizing minutes of walking. When he got there, though, to his surprise, Asher was gone. He knew that he too had a life to get to, but he never really expected a day off in the middle of the week. He felt odd asking, but he did it anyway.
The lady at the counter where Asher was usually positioned looked aged; wrinkled with a dark blonde hair-do. She was scrawny, almost gangly like a twig.
Jasper already knew he wouldn’t like her.
He cleared his throat and began to speak, or croak, he couldn’t tell the difference, to her. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Asher is, would you?”
She glanced at Jasper, smugly. “What are you doing here? A bit young, don’t you think?”
Jasper scowled back. “It’s a restaurant, isn’t anyone allowed in here?”
“Fair enough,” she said, and began to walk away and start to arrange foods.
No, please, ignore me, I’m alright with it, Jasper thought. “So are you going to answer me or not?”
The woman swiftly turned and looked cross at him. “Listen, kid, you don’t need to know where Asher is. You’re not his guardian, are you? Are you his keeper or something?”
Jasper felt the boiling rage inside of him crack out a bit. “No need to be a bitch about it.”
Her eyes lit with fire as she croaked, “Pardon?!”
He realized what he had done then, in that moment. He’d done this before with plenty of people, and when he did, he realized that they were never too fond about it. He’d seemed to go a bit too far.
She paced toward him, fuming with rage. If this were a cartoon, this would be the part where the smoke came out of the characters ears. “You twat! Who the hell are your parents to teach you to talk that way to an adult?!”
Who the hell are your parents? The eerie thought echoed through Jaspers head as another memory seeped through.

I can feel the tears running down my cheek, hot, damp and warm. It’s funny… it’s almost like I can feel them going into my pores. I’d better not get them on my suit. Grandpa would be pretty upset since he paid so much for this thing on such short notice…
Look at all these people- they all knew them, but they don’t know me. I wish my friends were here. They’d understand. They’d comfort me. But they’re not here, there is no time. Right now, it seems like this is all coming down on me. Now, more than ever before.

Jasper was thrust back into reality. He felt himself getting choked up. He knew he was right, of course, there was a good reason to be mad at this chick, and she wasn’t giving him information about his friend, but his parents- would they’ve wanted him to be this way? Like this?
He’d been blocking out the incomplete and incompetent sentences of the woman. She was clearly satisfied with what she was doing with her life. Jasper apologized to her in mid-sentence and just walked away to the entrance.
The newspapers had been in the foyer, and Jasper needed something to take his mind off of Asher.
As if to totally contradict Jasper’s purpose, he glanced at the headline of the Chicago Tribune.

Beaten Cold: Murder in a Downtown Apartment

Oh no, Jasper thought, it couldn’t be. It shouldn’t be. He told himself not to think about it, not to suspect it, this all simply wasn’t possible. Just walk away. Asher couldn’t have been murdered, who would murder him? Who would possibly do such a thing to-?
You know what, just to calm my nerves; I’m going to prove to myself that it isn’t Asher who was murdered.
He reached toward the stand of papers and picked one up off of the black metal stand. He unfolded it and skimmed for a name.
“In Chicago, murders are common...”
“This one’s different...”
“No proof, no evidence, just the body...”
For the love of God, get to the point!
“The suspected victim’s name was Asher Conrad. At the age of 32 he was brutally beaten in with severe punctures in the rib cage and spine, along with a snapped neck and broken legs. ‘The image was horrifying when we first got to the scene,’ said Commissioner Gordon. ‘We never have had something so brutal before, even in this area. A gunshot to the head, maybe. But something like this? This was simply evil.’”
Jasper’s blood ran cold, almost as cold as Asher’s at the moment. He felt himself go pale, numb and limp in that moment. This wasn’t a new feeling to him, of course, but the sting hadn’t changed. He felt almost hollow. It was discomforting to him and frankly, he felt like the life had been taken out of him.
He stumbled a bit, dropping the newspaper and catching himself on the rack of the papers. He felt the tears swell in his eyes and he quickly put up his hood and walked out into the rain, trying to get home as quickly as possible.

***

When he finally entered the house, Jasper felt more mad than anything. His grandparents weren’t home- they usually weren’t when he was out exploring the town. Not today. Today he was too depressed or furious or both to be navigating his way around.
He raged up into his bedroom immediately and plopped down onto his bed, and bawled.
He’d contemplated everything.
The death.
The guilt.
The last night of his real life.
He lifted his head and spied something on his dresser, something that caught his eye. It seemed to shine radiantly despite the slim amount of light in the room and the gray sky with rain pouring down onto his window.
He rose from the bed and reached toward it, his skin naturally being attracted to it, almost like... magic?
No, not magic, that was a croc of crap.
This wasn’t a miracle story about happiness and joy. This was a dark time, and something shiny caught his eye? Really? What a load! He put his hand back down and got up from his bed, scowling. He was being stupid, like he was seven and thought that magic would somehow make his life better.
His stomach growled. Hunger... that’s right, he’d left Beans and Barley. Hopefully his grandparents had something to eat that wasn’t soft crap. As he opened the door, though, the object caught his mind instead of his eye this time.
He glanced back at it, hesitating to reach out and take it. Where had it even come from? His curiosity had enticed him. He turned back to it and walked close to it. He looked down at it. It was a... pocket watch? Did his Grandpa get it for him from Casio? It was nice of him, it was great looking and had a neat lightning bolt design engraved into the metal...
Ah, what do I have to lose?
He grasped it in his hand, almost eagerly and opened it immediately. Inside were the cogs and gears, all fitting together and moving each other in action-reaction force pairs. They’d moved the hands of the pocket watch elegantly and smoothly- it was a beautiful sight.
Suddenly, a voice. It was in between high and low, smooth yet obnoxious and kind of- irritating. But calm.
“Well, hey there, short stuff!”
Jasper’s eyes widened as his heart seemed to stop. He turned around to see a man. He was in a white suit, black shirt and striped tie that was black and white. He had giant, thick rimmed black glasses, the kind you’d see a nerd wear. His hair was shaggy, dark, and greasy and down to his eyes, and his grin was a bit frightening.
“Holy crap!” Jasper exclaimed and flew back onto the dresser and then lunged after the man, screaming, trying to knock him down. He simply flew straight threw the guy, almost as if he weren’t there and just a figure of his imagination. As he sank through him he landed on the ground.
“Son of a-!” Jasper muttered.
The man leaned, his hip outturned and his arms crossed. “Oh, please, don’t make such a scene. Pick yourself up, kid.”
Jasper took the man’s advice and stood, and stared at him, hyper-ventilating. “Quick question- okay, questions...”
The man laughed. “Well, I have answers. Well, I do, doesn’t mean I’ll give them to you. You’ll have to get on my good side first.”
Jasper stared blankly at him. What was he talking about? He disregarded it and began to speak. “Um... first of all, who are you?”
His hand shot out ready to shake. “Cyrus, Cyrus Melancholy, the parents chose the name, not me, so please don’t yell at me for the mediocre-ness.”
Jasper stuck out his hand to shake but it went straight through Cyrus’. Jasper stared, dumbfounded. Cyrus must have noticed because he immediately addressed it. Or maybe he just had it planned.
“Fooled you! I mean, the first thing we did together was you falling through me and you just thought you’d be able to shake my hand?” Cyrus sighed and shook his head at him. “Jesus, if this is how slow you’re going to adapt and learn it’s going to be a long time with you.”
Jasper stuttered. “Um... I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, yes, I have a feeling we’re going to hate each other after the first few days. If we’re lucky, the first...” he flipped his wrist and revealed his pale white watch, “...five minutes. It’s been two minutes and fifty seconds.”
“What are you talking about-?”
“Screw it; you’re clearly not getting the big picture here. What’s your second question?”
Jasper gawked at Cyrus with disbelief and irritation. This thing- whoever it was- was clearly insane and possibly very dangerous. It could’ve been a projection, or maybe he was just hallucinating. If it were a projection- who would go through the trouble of putting it all up and with what purpose? If it were a hallucination, what could’ve he been smoking or caught a sniff while he was outside?
“Listen, kiddo, we don’t have all day, would you just say something?” Cyrus said, mockingly.
He rebounded. “Why are you here?”
Cyrus smiled and sat down on Jasper’s bedside. He wasn’t sinking through it and the bed was being pushed down clearly… was he real?
“Before you touched that watch, did you think that it would be at all suspicious that it randomly appeared there and randomly caught your eye as you randomly reached for it as I randomly appeared as soon as you did?” Cyrus paused and then added another, “Randomly?”
Jasper was amused for a moment. He had to be dreaming. This is the realest dream he’d had- well, ever. It was crazy, it’s either that or he was. For some reason Cyrus appeared more friendly than intimidating despite that Jasper didn’t know this guy’s motive as to why he was here or what he was doing or why he’d appeared to come from a pocket watch… was he a genie in a bottle or a mystical creature of some sort?
Finally Jasper found the words to speak. “So, let me get this straight, you… came from this watch that I just found?”
Cyrus got up. “That you just found or were meant to find? Did you ever consider that me coming to you when you were the most emotionally broken was a coincidence or fate?”
“First of all: Magic is a load of crap. Second of all, even if what you’re saying was true, would you be some kind of fairy godmother or something fantasy like that?”
“Heck no! You think that someone with my stature would care about someone like you? I’ve got my own agenda, and it’s not taking care of people.” He crossed his arms. “Life sucks; you put all your effort into something and it get’s thrown into the trash despite your work. Get used to it.”

Jasper paused. That had been true; although that wasn’t giving him any answers. Did this have something to do with Asher’s death or not? It was an enigma that eluded Jasper, one that he had actually had on his mind for… well, three minutes and thirty nine seconds, but he just didn’t have the courage to ask. He didn’t want to ask because of the fact that Asher had just died, and he had the sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t strong enough to ask or talk about it at all.
“So are you going to say something or just keep gawking at me like an idiot?” Cyrus commented.
Jasper realized that he was again gawking. He’d have to start taking track of when he was doing that and when he wasn’t. “Sorry. It’s just… are you… well… then why are you here?” Jasper asked, nervously, afraid of the answer. He’d heard the stories of what was good and bad about finding some sort of being like this. It was either to your benefit or undoing. Based on what the conversation had in it so far, it seemed like it’d be both whatever the case.
Cyrus grinned a wide, toothy smile that sent shivers down Jasper’s spine and chilled him to the bone. Cyrus licked his lips and spoke softly with a crackled voice, “Why am I here?” He chuckled and pointed one long, bony finger at the Watch. “Open that up for a moment.”
Jasper looked suspiciously and lost his grip on the object. It lay in his palm and he opened the shiny top. The cogs moved furiously inside, their gold shine glowing and the black hands moving even, what appeared to be, swifter than before.
“How do you think that got to you?”
Jasper paused. “I’d assumed that my Grandfather had left it for me on the dresser as a gift, but I wouldn’t know for sure, neither of them are here.”
Cyrus smiled even wider. “And why do you think they’re not here?”

Jasper’s eyes grew. It couldn’t be possible. How would someone like this do something like that? Why would he do something like that? I haven’t even done anything to this guy… I don’t even know him.
He croaked, “What did you do?”
Cyrus laughed and his voice went back from that crackly dark one to the intolerable one again. “I didn’t do anything, calm your jets.”
“Then where are they?” Jasper spurted out.
“They’re in the Realms In Between kind of just hanging out, talking about life with the crew, possibly smoking and drinking, y’know, just having a good time.” At this Cyrus smiled.
“You find yourself really amusing, don’t you?” Jasper growled.
Cyrus laughed. “You bet I do! And get used to it, for the rest of your life you’re going to be hearing my comedic genius that I myself only find funny. You just don’t find it because you’re only 15. It’ll be funny later, trust me. One day you’ll look back on me and laugh, and laugh, and laugh…” his voice trailed off.
Jasper’s mind lurched and pondered. “‘For the rest of my life’? As soon as I get you out of my house I’m going to forget that you were ever here.”
“Good luck with that one, bub.”
There was another inception into Jasper’s mind. “What are you talking about then? What do you mean ‘for the rest of my life’, then?
Cyrus leaped up onto the dresser and sat himself down. “I mean you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life, hot shot.”
Ah, bloody brilliant… Jasper thought. He was right. We are going to hate each other. “So are you going to keep me in suspense or tell me why you’re going to ruin my life?”
He shrugged. “Hey, don’t blame me for ruining your life, blame Asher Conrad.”
Asher? Jasper sat down on his bed. “What are you saying?”
Cyrus’s smile faded. “Did I hit a nerve? Oh yeah, that’s right, you were his friend. I was there when he died, you know that? It was brutal, what they did to him.”
“Who did it, and why were you there?!” Jasper exclaimed unintentionally.
Cyrus leaned back and sighed. “I assume this is the part where I explain a whole lot of crap.”
Jasper looked puzzled, but Cyrus explained anyway.
“Memories, at least the kind I know of, are evil creatures that thrive off of the negative pervasive emotions and thoughts of others.”
“Like…?” Jasper inquired.
“Like wars, famines, murder, crime…”
“…heartbreak?” Jasper inquired.
Cyrus glared at him angrily for interrupting him. “How cute, you’re completing my sentences. Now listen, kiddo, this is actually important.” He leaned back and cracked his neck and fingers, took a breath and started again. “These Memories, as I assume, are the ones that killed Asher. They were after the very thing that you have now- the Watch.”
Jasper looked down at the Watch. A hard, tight feeling rose in his chest that grew slowly.
Cyrus, as if to read his thoughts, immediately addressed the matter. “Don’t worry; they’ve still got some time to figure out that you have the Watch. There’s enough time to figure out what exactly we’re going to do about your…” he paused, “…immaturity.”
Jasper looked cross, offended. “What are you trying to say?”
“What I mean to say is that for one thing, you’re only a teenager and responding reasonably to these types of situations isn’t exactly your area of expertise. AKA hormones.”
“Well, gee, thanks…” he retorted with sarcasm deep in his voice.
“But the main purpose of the Watch is to control the Lanes In-Between Time, that’s where the Memories reside and populate and my guess is that a select few managed to break through, which means the gates are soon to be destroyed.”
“How exactly did they ‘break through’?” Jasper pondered aloud.
“The Watch is a portal from this world to the Lanes, and the Timekeeper, the person who wields the Watch, is supposed to renew these gates to the worlds in order to keep the Memories that man has created out of this world so they don’t destroy it.” Cyrus rubbed his forehead. “Asher, being human, selfishly didn’t do that. He decided to go on his ways and not face the Memories. If they destroyed the Watch, there would be nothing stopping them from getting to this world and wreaking havoc.”
Jasper paused, taking it all in. This- person, thing- was explaining something that he couldn’t comprehend. How was he supposed to face these things, whatever they were, at such short notice? He was only fifteen and the risks were high, life or death, and all he had was his fists.
Almost on cue, Cyrus commented, “I don’t suppose you knew that the Watch has a great amount of power in it that can destroy enemies?”
Jasper glared at him.
Can you read my thoughts through the Watch?
Cyrus smiled. “Yes, which means if you think anything bad about me, I’ll know about it and I will call you out on it. Now, there’s something that we need to do that Asher has neglected for the past couple of years now…”
Jasper squinted his eyes at Cyrus, confused. “You mean travel to the Lanes In-Between Time and renew the gates…?”
“Yes. I’ve been sent to make sure you do so, unlike Asher, that lazy bastard.” He said, harshly enunciating every word.
“By whom did you get sent?”
“It’s none of your business. Maybe you’ll meet him in the Lanes In-Between- now we must get going.”
On that note, Cyrus got up and eagerly approached Jasper and motioned toward the Watch, smiling, pointing, and giggling.
“What, you expect me to somehow know how to work this thing? I just got it. You’re the supernatural aid, you do something. You’re supposed to know how to work it, aren’t you?”
Cyrus frowned. “What, you think you whoever made this made a guidebook or something? This ain’t no video game, kid.”
“Oh, and speaking of the Lanes, why are my grandparents there?”
Cyrus paused again, taking in the question and mulling it over in his head. He looked guilty about something- or at least, if not guilty, trying to hide something important to save his own skin. Finally, though, after a few moments, began to speak.
“Listen, Jasper, I had to make sure that there was nothing that would prevent you from saving- well, hell, as cliché as it sounds- the world.”
Wait- he can’t mean… can he?
Suddenly a tension arose in Jasper that belted out through his mouth. “You a-hole, you killed them?!” His body tensed, and though he knew that he couldn’t hit Cyrus, he felt like it anyway. If he had the chance, ever, he’d gauge his eyes out, right then and there as soon as the opportunity would come up. He wouldn’t even give him a chance.
Cyrus suddenly looked fearful, and his voice shook a single plea, “Hey, listen, I can still hear your thoughts, kid! Take it easy about what you imagine, it’s not pretty! Did you even care that much? They never really talked to you, you’d just met them, and I thought you wouldn’t care…”
“You thought I wouldn’t care?! They were my Grandparents… so my friend dies, then tell me I have to save the world even though I’ve been having a horrifyingly terrible day, and then I figure out that you previously lied and killed my Grandparents? What else have you been lying about, the Watch? The Lanes In-Between? Memories? For all I know, you could’ve killed Asher!”
Cyrus’s face went from intimidated to irritated. “Alright, kid, I read your thoughts; I know you don’t really care that much, at least not for the time being, quit being a punk about it.”
Jasper decided that he was going to eventually kill Cyrus in the most brutal way possible. It was for the wrong reason though. Cyrus, Jasper knew, was right. He could care less about his Grandparents. In his mind they were evil, if not anyone else’s.
There was an empty, hollow silence between the two. Jasper left it to Cyrus to break it. There was no way this guy could possibly stay quiet to save his life.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t.”
“Oh, shut up. I’m considering killing myself just to make you go away.”
Cyrus adopted a high pitch whiny voice. “Oh shut up, I’m going to kill myself because blah, blah, blah…”
“I’m serious.”
“Oh, are you?” he retorted, smugly. “Now press the button on the side of the Watch. It should be green with a red circle around it. Since you have trouble comprehending these things, let me put in simpleton terms,” he leaned in and motioned with his hands, “it looks like Christmas!”
Jasper looked on the side of the Watch, reluctantly. There were two buttons, the Christmas button and a blue one. He wondered what the other one did, but wasn’t willing to deal with them right now. He looked at Cyrus; whose smile belied his true feelings.
He stuck out his thumb, and firmly pressed it against the button with a satisfying click.

 

[Ace.]

Cool drop, dude. There was a lot more humor in this one, and I liked that. The Cyrus character is pretty entertaining.

"Jasper was amused for a moment. He had to be dreaming. This is the realest dream he’d had- well, ever."

This part literally made me lol. I could just imagine someone going through this, and then smiling like, "I don't ****ing believe this **** is really happening right now..."

Looking forward to the other parts, if you have any.

 

[Shadow Key]

Looking forward to the other parts, if you have any.

You ****ing know it. Not as long as the first three parts.

-4-

There was nothing flashy, not like in the movies. It was like blinking your eyes, a sharp blackness and then they’d open and you’d be back in reality. Only for this, you didn’t blink your eyes, and when you did regain sight, you were in a much more demented place.
This had come as a surprise to Jasper.
Immediately when he had been able to see again, he noticed the purple ground, garnished with soil textured darkness, as all around him there were dead trees hanging as the sky was dark orange with chains running around it like some sort of prison. He supposed it was, if the Memories had truly stayed here. The surroundings all had pointed to proof that they had. The gates, as Jasper assumed, were the gates.
Jasper had been thinking of all of this, no sign of Cyrus (thank God), when something had began to sting inside of him.
It was subtle, at first, and then it grew in his body, like some sort of force that slowly engulfed on his organs and pained him terribly. Jasper came out to scream, but the voice had been replaced with blood, dripping down onto the ground and soaking into the soil and disappearing.
He rolled over flat on his back and gagged, his body moving violently with each flex of the muscles. After a few minutes of unbelievable pain it stopped.
“Hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?”
Cyrus.
“I hate you so much…” Jasper whispered.
Cyrus laughed hard. “Yeah, you just keep on hating me all you want, but sorry, you can’t kill me as much as you want to.”
“Was it really necessary to deliver such pain to the hero…?” he muttered, still recovering.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said that I did that? That’s just the pain of traveling through the worlds, for you humans. I guess that’s another reason Asher never came down here, and I don’t blame him. It feels like it just sucks the life out of you, don’t it?”
Jasper pondered. Had it sucked the life out of him? He was almost sure that that’s what Cyrus as meant, but he wasn’t going to spoil the fun without a joke about it, he knew that much.
“Not to fifty!” Cyrus exclaimed.
Jasper surprisingly got the reference and got up slowly, the pain moving down and out through his system. “So what exactly do I have to do in order to renew the gates?”
Cyrus smiled brilliantly. “Oh, well it’s rather simple, all you have to do is get to…” his voice stopped.
“To…?” Jasper enquired.
“Well… to be honest, I have no idea.” Cyrus chuckled. My guess is that it would be…” he looked around away from Jasper and pointed to a tower in the distance, “… somewhere on top of the tower!”
Jasper spitefully looked at Cyrus. “It is there, isn’t it?”
Cyrus turned back at Jasper and looked deathly serious. “It might be, why do you ask?” Immediately after he broke character and smiled deliriously. “Well, what are we waiting for, let’s go, shall we? The more time we have in the real world instead of in this hellhole the better, eh? Granted, where I come from is trumps all of this, but hey, you work with what you’ve got.”
Jasper took a long breath. “Is this even worth doing, Cyrus? The world is going headed toward disaster anyway; I could really care less if I sped it up a bit by not keeping Memories out…”
Cyrus leaned to the side. “Are you pulling out on me, kiddo?”
Jasper glanced at Cyrus, him looking very worried and anxious about his doubt. Jasper hadn’t really considered it until he’d traveled to another dimension and experienced an extreme pain that this perhaps wasn’t a good idea. Was it worth giving up a life to save something that was doomed to fail anyway? He wasn’t sure at all.
Cyrus, seeing into Jasper’s thinking immediately took action. “Hey, I know this sounds crazy and appears crazy, but we all are, right?” He backtracked. That was a dumb thing to say. “Okay, let me put it this way: enjoy yourself while you can!” Another stupid remark. None of these were getting Jaspers attention, his thoughts remained the same: This was crazy, unreasonable, I should just teleport back now, go through the pain one more time and get it all over with.
There was only one thing, he thought, that could get his attention. “Alright, Jasper… fine. I didn’t want to have to make this kind of offer and show you what I’m capable of, but you leave me no choice…”
“Oh, what are you going to do, kill me? It seems reasonable right now.”
“No. I was thinking, and… your parents are dead, right?”
Jasper turned to Cyrus. Was he about to make the same offer that he thought he would? No, it wasn’t possible. He wouldn’t be kind enough. He doesn’t have the heart to. He wouldn’t be so sappy and predictable to actually…
“I will bring your parents back to life if you do this.” Cyrus finally stated, benevolently. “Simple as that. Hey, and you know what, maybe I can bend a few laws and take the Watch off of your chest, too. Just put up with me for a few more hours, we’ll cut through a few shortcuts that I can work out, and we’ll be at the tower and we’ll renew those chains and then you’ll get what you’ve wanted for the past few weeks now, am I right?”
Jasper hesitated and stared at Cyrus, almost as if he didn’t really see him there. He grinned with authenticity and muttered, “Well, we have no time to lose then, do we?”
Cyrus laughed triumphantly. “Damn straight!”

***

The first “shortcut”, as Cyrus called them, was through the forest. There was only one in the Lanes, a fairly small one that had been abandoned and considered forgotten. It wasn’t even on the maps that he had carried with him at all times. He knew that nothing would be in there that he or Jasper couldn’t handle.
The forest was dark, bleak and extremely difficult to navigate through without a light or an expert by your side leading you through the abyss of strange tides and turns. Every here and there was a light, but they took no chances to follow them. (“Don’t go towards the light, Jasper!” Cyrus often proclaimed.)
It had been a couple of hours inside the forest, and for a shortcut, it wasn’t very short.
“The other way would’ve been much worse, Jasper, just keep telling yourself that.” Cyrus commented.
“Why is this way better? It looked easier to go through the field which was a shorter distance away as well as less crowded.” Jasper said.
“Because there are loads of Memories in there that would easily kill you, and then I’d be kind of… well, I’d be screwed against those things.”
“Yet you can kill me easily?”
“Only the Watch can destroy enemies. That would be another reason they want it out of the picture… but hey, if you were capable of worldwide destruction and only one thing was stopping you you’d want to destroy it too, am I right?”
“Wait a sec,” Jasper said and stopped in his tracks. He pulled out the Watch and looked at Cyrus. “How exactly does this protect me or fight at all?”
Cyrus stared at Jasper. “I assume it’ll just do its thing when the time comes… I know it fights back, but I have no idea how.”
That was a bit of a problem in Jaspers mind. He would like to know exactly it would help him, otherwise he’d probably freak out. He had no faith stored in either Cyrus or the Watch.
“Although, Jasper, I think we’re about to find out exactly how it works its magic…” Cyrus said, quietly.
There was a brushing motion in the distance, one that started off quiet at first and then grew into a sound so magnificent that it shook the very souls of Jasper and Cyrus. This Memory had to be something terrible… something that was unbearable. But what?
“I also think we’re about to find out why your ‘shortcut’ is so deserted…” Jasper muttered.
Then it appeared. A dark muscular arm came from the darkness of the trees, its green veins glowing, pumping blood into the hands of the Memory, which had long sharp claws, cracked and faded yellow like old bones. Then the second arm appeared, almost symmetrical to the other one. Then it showed its head- ugly and black, his skin oozing with a substance that looked like saliva only much more coherent and slimy. Its eyes were clear yellow, glowing radiantly. The Memory roared, sounding scratchy and distorted… and in the background of the distortion, it sounded almost like the screams of one’s who were close to death, facing it.
Cyrus’ eyes grew huge and his face hard as stone. “I’m going to leave this one to you, Jasper.”
Jasper whipped his head around at Cyrus. “Are you kidding me?! You’re just going to leave me here to face this thing?!”
“No, no, I’ll be here, just invisible now.” He then faded away into the darkness while leaving one final remark before turning undetectable. “Please try not to die. We have unfinished business.”
Jasper let a bird fly out. “I hate you!” Then, the Watch began to shine. It became a white light glowing right through Jasper’s fingers wrapped around it. Then Jasper felt something shoot through him like a shot of adrenalin. He became excited for something- though in this situation there was really nothing to be excited about except for death. Then suddenly his skin felt heated.
The Memory sensed that something was going on and struck with his beefy arm. Before the claws and muscles could reach Jaspers body, Jasper unthinkingly stuck out a single arm toward the creatures head.
A lightning bolt, shining a bright purple launched from Jaspers fingertips and struck the Memory right in the face.
It screeched and coiled.
“Good job, you’ve made it pissed! I don’t know what you did or how you did it, but do it again tenfold!” Jasper heard Cyrus say.
“Would you quit being a coward and come out?!” Jasper yelped, he himself not knowing what he did.
The Memory retaliated and lunged toward Jasper, its veins shimmering and muscles flexed. The thing was massive when he saw its full body. Jasper thought of it as seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was doing steroids, only five times larger with black skin, horns, yellow eyes, claws… and uglier. Much uglier.
Jasper swept his arm at the monster, and more lightning flew from his hands like a whip and hit the entire Memory’s body furiously in midair. It flew back, the smoke coming off of its body.
Cyrus came back into sight, smiling. “Well that was amusing.”
Jasper scowled at Cyrus. “It would’ve been more amusing to me if you’d actually done something instead of hiding in the shadows like a little girl.”
“Hey, I would’ve gotten in the way. Now let’s get out of this forest before the other Memories discover that the only thing that was keeping them out is now dead, shall we?”