Beneath the Fountain

24. Falling Apart

It starts in the water first, faint but growing, ripples roaming the lake, becoming bigger with each passing second. It's not natural, it's not right. The lake is normally placid, so still it looks like a black sheet of glass, but it's moving now as if it is shattering. I don't know what's happening, but it's like seeing storm clouds looming on the horizon; I know it isn't good, and I know I shouldn't just stand here and stare at it, but it's not like I can leave either. I'm tethered in place, my chain attached to Mystery. I'm not leaving without him.

I tear my eyes from the growing waves to look at him, his blank stare unsettling and all too familiar. It's like staring into a glassy pool and the only thing staring back at me is my reflection. It suddenly feels harder to breathe. Those deathlike eyes hold a strong amount of power over me, and now I am certain that when the day comes that I must look death in the eyes, this is what I'll see: a mirror showing a terrified reflection of me. However, this is not death who is looking me in the eyes. This is Mystery, who at this point, has become my very reason to live. Neither of us will look death in the eyes today or any day soon for that matter. I don't know how, but I'll get us out of here.

I wave my hand in front of his face desperately. "No, no, no. Don't do this to me again Mystery. You need to wake up." I turn back to the waves and instantly regret it because I now see that they are rolling across the lake at ever growing heights. I stop breathing for a half second. What is happening? Scared, I turn to him again. At the rate of which the waves are mounting, we don't have much time before they start to crest against the stone of the bridge, but it's not the stability of the bridge I'm worried about at this moment. It's the fact that the water is moving too fast and will sweep us into its inky depths with no chance of seeing light again. Whatever is going on in his mind needs to stop for a few moments so we can get off this bridge, but the problem is we don't have any moments left. "You need to wake up now!"

Just a moment ago, I was floating on pure bliss, but now my body is only running on pure terror.

I try to tell myself to call down, but panic has wrapped itself around me and won't let go. Then, it tightens its hold as the sun begins to dim, the sky looking as if it is cracking like glass. A spider web looks to be forming, and at the center is the bright ball of light that used to be the sun. That's when I realize that not only do we have to get off this bridge, but we need to leave this place completely. My body wants to freeze. However, my instincts take action before I can. I start to tug on Mystery, but he is like a wall: hard and immovable.

TIme is short. I can tell that much just by how fast the waves are growing not only in height but in speed as well. They are starting to crest not, rolling on top of themselves into a pool of oblivion. "We have to get off this bridge," I nearly cry as if he can hear me. In a minute of two, the waves will be high enough to touch the body of the bridge. After that, it won't be before they will be sweeping Mystery and I off our feet and pulling us under. I don't know much of anything about swimming, but I do know that once a wave of this size takes you, you are never escaping its pull.

He continues to stare at me, but not actually see me. "Mystery please!" I desperately plead, gripping both sides of his face. My instinct to survive is telling me to run and save myself, but I could never actually do that. Not now when I've already put so much on the line for him. Not now when I would feel incomplete without him. Living without him wouldn't be living at all. As the wind around us picks up and starts to cause me to sway in its force, I continue to call to him, praying my voice reaches him and leads him back like it did last time.

But there just isn't enough time. We have seconds, and even if he does wake at this exact moment, the bridge is too long and the water too high. Mystery wouldn't be able to run right away because he'd be too dizzy and lethargic, and even if he could, we wouldn't be fast enough to make it. I don't know why it's happening, but I do know that this world is ending, and we are trapped in the center of it all.