5
there’s nothing there, and that there aren’t any monsters or whispers, and you’re going to sleep, ok? You’re going to give me one moment where I can sleep. And for God’s sake, you’re going to be quiet about all of this after that. Ok?
The men all flicked switches on the devices, and thin, green lights shot out of them. The lights scanned the room, and the men put on masks to cover the rest of their faces of and they spread about. The machines made a humming sound. I sobbed and hid my face in my hands and mum grabbed me by the shoulders and told me to shut up.
IX.
Remember, remember, remember. The voices said. The boy and the girl heard one word step over another, and another, and another. A long round of remember, remem-ber- re-re- re-member remember- re-ber, mem. Remember remember remember reeee-member. The boy looked at the girl and knew that she was suddenly afraid, and she put her hand through his and let it sit there.
Who are you? He asked.
I have a few names. Some call me the book keeper. Or the storyteller. Or the mythmaker.
You? You made the stories up?
Yes. I’m sorry. I lied to you. The stories are mine. I did them.
Why?
Why does anyone make up a story? We hope that there is something after the shadows.
None of it is true?
No. I’m sorry. I just told stories.
These vapors. They’re not acting like you made it up.
Maybe I didn’t. I mean. Maybe I made up something that’s true.
I don’t understand.
I don’t either. Maybe what I made up is true. I think about that sometimes.
And then?
And then I’m sure that I just made them all up again. And that’s that.
And the sea of remembers grew in volume, and the pond sparkled even more and the myst seemed to grow dense and thick, and the chant to remember was so loud and deafening, and this place of silence of whispers and shadows was now a place of shouting. Remember! Remember! Remember! Remember!
X.
I was blinded by the green lights, and the next thing I knew one of the men drug me out of the room, and he drug mum out of the room, and she was screaming for them to let her go. Her flimsy legs thrashed about and her foot caught me in the nose and I was bleeding. They dropped us into the hallway and locked the door, and we heard the clicks of their suitcases opening. Then there was a sound, a pulse, and it hurt mum and I so badly that we clutched are ears in pain and buried our heads into the floorboards. A white, greenish smoke slowly came out from underneath the door. Then there was a rumble. The floor shook and the walls rattled.
XI.
The boy and the girl sat at the pond, and the cries of remember suddenly stopped, and there was something like a quake and a flash that was not gray or black, but something else,
