2:8
Stacey was standing in the bathroom wearing a pink robe. Her hair shook back and forth against her face as she brushed her teeth. She stared into the big mirror above the sink, watching herself. She remembered waking up last night. Well, this morning, really.
Was it two O'clock, three maybe?
She couldn't remember. What she did recall was that Jack wasn't asleep beside her. She looked around the bedroom, but he wasn't there. Then she heard his voice. Not in the room with her, somewhere down the hall. He was talking to someone.
Was somebody here last night?
She hadn't heard any other voices, just his. He must've been talking on the phone. She doubted that anyone called them. She always woke up when the phone rang. It had one of those high pitched beeps that was impossible to sleep through. He must have made a call.
But, to who?
She walked out to the kitchen with the toothbrush hanging out the side of her mouth. She picked up the green receiver, looking down at the glowing buttons. She pushed the one labeled REDIAL. When she lifted it up to her ear she heard it ringing. After five rings, they picked up.
“Hello?”
It was an older woman's voice. Stacey recognized it immediately.
“Hi Mom.”
She hadn't expected her mother to answer. She didn't quite know what to say.
She decided to ask her if she wanted to have breakfast at Village Inn on Monday. They talked for a few minutes and then she said goodbye and hung up the phone.
She realized that her mother had been the last person she had talked to, not Jack. They had spoken the previous afternoon.
Ok, so he used the cordless.
She went into the spare bedroom and removed it from its charging cradle. She again pushed the redial button and waited for a response. That time it only rang once.
“Paradox coffee and books, can I help you?” The voice was female.
Stacey paused and then said, “Sorry, wrong number.”
She set the receiver down on the desk. She walked back to the bathroom to wash the toothpaste out of her mouth.
He called a bookstore at 2:00 AM?
That was very strange. But what was even stranger to Stacey was that there was actually someone there at that hour to answer the phone. She thought it might have something to do with her birthday, but he had already brought her present home earlier that evening. It made no sense at all.
“What the hell are you up to Jack?” she said out loud, as if he were standing right there with her.
2:9
The cable car was parked in the dock. Jack was just finishing up putting on his safety harness. It was made of yellow and black nylon straps. He made a final length adjustment to the one that wrapped around his upper leg and then clicked it shut.
It was definitely the best attraction in the park. The view was breathtaking. He looked out across the canyon. The span to the other side was nearly a half a mile. The distance he’d be above the Arkansas River was about a quarter mile.
Jack would not be riding inside the cable car. It was the first of the month, and it was time for a visual inspection. He’d be riding across on top of the carriage.
He climbed up from the catwalk at the north terminal. Once sitting in position, he wrapped his safety rope around the top rung of the ladder. Turning around, he gave the thumbs up to the man in the control booth. The Aerial Tramway started across. Once Jack cleared the terminal he sat up straight and looked around at the amazing view. Scattered clouds hung over the mountains to the west. The sky was deep blue behind them. To the east it faded into a soft white haze. A bitter cold breeze could be felt on his skin, pushing away the sun’s heat.
He was far above everything now. Tourists from all over the world walked over the suspension bridge. An ever-growing line of people waited at the South tram terminal for their opportunity to ride. The whole park was brimming with vacationers. But, if Jack looked out to the east, he could ignore all of it.
For a few minutes, out in the middle of the canyon, it was just him and the sky. Jack remembered his nervousness the first time he rode on top of the car. That had been more than four years ago.
At the time he’d thought that would be the closest he would ever get to really flying. As he thought about his previous night’s experience, he realized that he’d been wrong.
2:10
It was almost dark. The sun had finished its afternoon labor and had sunk down below the horizon. Not that it mattered in the basement. Time effected nothing there. It was always the middle of the night in the cells.
Elizabeth was leaning up against the cracked wall with a wet green blanket around her shoulders and across her lap. She had found it wadded up in the corner. It smelled like urine.
She'd given up screaming hours ago. She sat staring through the bars into the chamber across from her. Her current pastime had taken up about forty-five minutes. There was no sound or movement at all in the shadowy cell across the way. Banging, crying, and screams of every kind were heard from the other rooms, but not from that one. She had tried to speak to them earlier, but none answered her. She thought that the cell she was staring at was probably empty. Or maybe there was someone, sleeping or...possibly dead.
Nevertheless, she kept looking; hoping a face would appear in the doorway. She hated feeling so alone, so terrified.
After another thirty minutes passed by, she saw something. Movement...coughing...a girl. She crawled over to the bars. She had blonde hair. Her hands were shaking as she grasped the iron, pulling herself up onto her knees.
Elizabeth sat up. The girl was probably about her age, maybe twenty years old, maybe more. It was hard to tell in the dim light. She nervously bobbed back and forth; her vision blankly fixed on a crack in the corridor wall. Elizabeth scooted closer to the front of the room.
“Hello?” Her throat was dry and raspy.
The girl's eyes did not move. She gave no indication that she had heard her at all.
“Please talk to me. I need you to...”
Elizabeth stopped. There was no telling how long the girl had been there. Weeks, months, years, maybe. She was sure the girl was crazy. Elizabeth knew that would happen to her if she didn't find a way out.
She quickly found out that she was wrong about the girl. There was a spark of sanity left inside her mind. She opened her mouth slowly, and spoke.
“You are the last,” she said as her eyes jumped over to the one with the green blanket.
“What? What did you say?”
“The beginning of the end is here.”
Elizabeth was desperate to keep her talking, “The end of what?”
“Everything.”
She began to laugh nervously, but it quickly turned into tears. A year's worth of torment was pouring out of her face.
“What's your name?”
“I have no name,” she choked out in a raspy whisper.
A long pause lingered between them. A hand slowly emerged from under the blanket. It stretched through the bars. Her upper arm's thickness filled the space between the iron. Her face rested on the cold metal as she held out her comfort to the other girl. A dirty hand extended out of the opposite cell. The two clasped in the middle of the hallway.
“My name is Elizabeth,” she said with a sympathetic look.
“Not anymore,” The unnamed girl pulled her hand away, “We're all dead, you know.”
“What?”
“I was alive once. I had a mother and father. I lived in a nice house in town. My dad just bought me a car,” She was swaying back and forth again.
Elizabeth was crying. She had to find a way out of there.
“We’re all dead, and this is Hell. Didn’t you know that?” Her eyes found the crack in the wall.
“Stop it.”
“It’s true. We’re all sinners here.”
Elizabeth sobbed, holding her face down in her hands, “He raped me.”
“Rape? I’ve been raped more times than I can remember. Do you actually think that’s the worst of it? You don’t know anything.”
“Please stop.”
“No matter how strong you think you are, they’re always stronger.”
“No, don’t...”
“It’s the most terrible thing you’ll ever do.”
“You’re crazy. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just stop it, stop.”
2:11
At noon Jack made the phone call from the break room.
“Hello, Paradox books, can I help you?”
It was not the woman who had sold him the necklace. This voice was much younger.
“Yes, I need to speak to the woman who was working yesterday afternoon.”
“I’m sorry, she's not here right now. Can I take a message?”
Damn it. I need to talk to her.
“Can you tell me when she’ll be in?”
“She has the next couple of days off. Is there something I can help you with?”
He didn't think he should discuss it with her. She probably didn't know anything about it anyway.
“Do you have a home number I could reach her at? I wouldn't normally ask, but it's terribly important.”
“I'm sorry. I can't give out that information. But if you call on Tuesday, she should be here.”
“She didn't give me her name yesterday, could you tell me so I know who to ask for next time?”
“Sure. It's Ms. Holland.” She did not offer a first name.
“Ok, thank you.” He hung up.
Shit. I guess I have to wait. I have no choice.
The microwave beeped four times. His lunch was ready. He ate the soup thinking about his spirit flying through the sky. It was all he could think about the whole day.
