The Realms [Watty 2017 Shortlist]

Unity - Part 8

"Everything? How can I be sure?"

She gives me a crooked smile and raises her eyebrows. "As you so nicely pointed out in the hospital – the person I see in the mirror now - isn't mousy Maizie. I also understand why the timing was so crucial to your little plot the other night."

"Right." My skin prickles.

"You're not going to give me anything to work with here? You caused all this. You could at least admit that I'm right." She flings her arms out and gestures towards the water tower, frustration spilling out everywhere. 

"I don't know what you know or don't know. I can't risk saying anything that will jeopardize what I'm trying to do here," I say.

"What are you trying to do?" She lets the question sit between us, unperturbed by my long silence.

I decide to give in a little, testing, nudging. "Get Ryan back, get revenge on his father, take over the Third Realm. All pretty standard, run of the mill stuff. Enough of an admission?"

 She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "You can't really believe that you'll accomplish any of that? Ryan's father is the most powerful and influential man on any of the realms. He basically runs the show. It is insanity to try to take him on. He's going to crush you."

 "He hasn't so far," I say.

 "Don't you think it's odd that he could have sent you anywhere? That he could have sent Ryan anywhere and yet this is where you both end up?"

 "He's enjoyed watching me suffer while Ryan ignored me and pretended I didn't exist. It's been gratifying after I so smugly proclaimed that our love couldn't be broken." I am silenced for a moment by my own idiocy, my naivety. I was too confident then, but I'll do better this time. "I would get off on watching him suffer. I'm still working out the details of his suffering, though, so I'll let you know what I come up with."

 "You can't beat him, Hannah. He's unbeatable," Maizie says, clearly frustrated.

 I suddenly wonder how she ended up here, on this realm, alone. "What'd you do to warrant his wrath?"

 She shakes her head. "It doesn't really matter anymore. I'm over it." She turns her head, avoiding my gaze.

 "You're over it? He completely destroys your life, makes you start over in a new realm and you're over it?" I ask, disbelief colouring my voice. 

 "I didn't know what I was missing until I watched you fall from the tower. Truthfully, even then I didn't know exactly what I was remembering. It's taken me two weeks to piece it all together, but I got there in the end. I don't particularly want to relive any of the gory details." Maizie is looking at the sky, avoiding my gaze.

 "Are you trying to say that you don't want any part of my plan?"

 "Are you offering me a place in the plan? I was under the assumption that I'd already served my purpose."

 "I could make room for you." I turn my face up towards the sky, matching her. I wish there was more light for these rash decisions; I'm fumbling in the dark. "I've been pretty lonely the last year or so if you must know. It's hard to carry this secret alone."

 "It doesn't seem selfish that you're forcing the rest of us into the secret with you?"

 "I'm sorry!" I explode and throw up my hands, my frustration bursting through. "I'm sorry that I dragged you into this. I couldn't have known that you'd remember too. I was just so desperate to get Ryan to remember, to connect with me, to have some glimmer of hope. Yeah, the jumping was deliberate, but this," I gesture between the two of us, "just happened."