Bolt

26| Fixing What's Broken Is Necessary.

One moment I was staring at Captain Tombstone, and the next everything turned dark. A flick, as if someone had pressed a light switch from somewhere, reverberated around me. The sound echoed, making it impossible to know its point of origin.

Suddenly, there was light—a bright white light that chased away the darkness that had consumed me. A single bulb hung in midair, buzzing like a heartbeat. But instead of the usual lub-dub, lub-dub of the heart, it was more in the vein of hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm, which was so odd to me, as it was the first time I ever heard such a sound. It swung when I touched it with the tip of my finger, but I couldn't see what held it in place.

"Where am I?" The question echoed, repeating itself like an unknown entity had decided to mock me.

I strode forward, trying to find a way out. A door, window, even a hole would have been a good start. But when I moved, so did the light; haunting me like a ghost as it got rid of the darkness without showing me the answer I sought.

Does the bulb move when I do?

I took two steps back, and it did the same. I faked left and went right, and the bulb matched my movements.

What the...? "Am I in hell?"

"You're not," a voice said from the darkness. "But you'd be better off in Hell than here." The owner walked into the light and it was... Me.

"Bolt, it's nice to finally meet you," he said, extending a hand. I stared at it, not sure if I should shake it or not. What if it was a trap? "I won't bite. I mean, I can't bite. Between us, you're the one with most of our powers." He smiled.

Our powers? Wait... "Trey?"

He looked different—healthy. This wasn't the man obsessed with taking power inhibiting and emotion enhancing pills. The sunken eyes he had were now full of life, and his body had gotten muscular in a short amount of time.

"You look great," I said.

"We're inside our head. I can appear to you however I want." He checked me from head to toe. "You should do the same." He snapped his fingers, and a mirror materialized between us. I saw myself, still in my costume, with white lenses staring back at me. "Just think about how you want to look and it will happen."

I didn't question him. I took a deep breath and remembered what I wore the last time I was with my mother—the real one. The costume faded, and a white T-shirt, red v-neck sweater, black pants, and sandals took its place.

Trey swatted his hand to the right, and the mirror disappeared.

I decided against changing my look, not wanting to go the younger route like him. Being older and experienced was better than being young and naïve. "If you and I are in here, then who's controlling our body?" I asked.

"No one. I thought it was time we talked and decided if we should join and return to normal, or one of us takes over completely. This back and forth isn't working. Look what it did to you recently; you've been experiencing emotions you shouldn't have. You're supposed to be the non-caring, powerful asshole side of me. But lately, you've been emotional and doubtful of yourself."

He's right.

"The reason it's happening is that our body can no longer occupy two personas that use its power at different percentages."

"So it's fusing us by force if we won't do it ourselves?" It all made sense now. If Caleb hadn't told me about him taking me out of Tombstone after getting a call from Mind-Thorn, I would have doubted myself and thought they had mentally compromised me. These recent feelings were alien, and I didn't know how to handle them.

"Fusing is a big word, but it's not doing that. It's killing us. Well, you to be exact. And when you die, so do seventy percent of our powers. And guess what will happen, I'll either be killed or go back to being a drugged-up prisoner."

"And you don't want that to happen, right?"

"We don't want it to happen."

I didn't even know why I was questioning him. This was what I wanted ever since I took control; a chance to be whole again. And now that it was being presented to me, I was having doubts. What if it didn't work? But staying like this would kill me. I didn't want to die. I had so much left to do in the world.

"What are you so afraid of? I'm the one who should be scared, remember?" he said.

"As you said, we're changing. I'm becoming more of you, and you are becoming more of me. Can't you see what's happening?" When he didn't respond, I continued, "You're not fearful of change anymore. That drugged-up junkie who cared for no one but himself is gone."

"Yes, but you still haven't answered my question: What are you afraid of?"

I avoided his gaze and stared into the darkness, not wanting to tell him. I gulped. "Mother," I answered. "The memories I have of her are when she was alive and happy. I don't think I can stand remembering her during her troubling final days, or—"

"When a shapeshifter pretended to be her?"

"Yes."

"I don't remember her either. But I think if we join, we would. We can't be afraid anymore. Look at me; I used my mother's death as the reason I didn't need to build close relationships with other people. It wasn't because I was afraid they wouldn't want anything to do with me. The fear of experiencing the pain of losing someone I cared for would be too much for me to handle. So I chose to be alone and live the rest of my life drunk on my pills until the day I died."

"Then everything changed, huh?"

"Like always." He walked up to me and cupped my face with his hands. "Let's do it now."

Why so soon? I took a step back and observed him. I hadn't seen it before, but now I spotted his vibrating body. "What's happening?"

"I'm about to take control of the body. And if I do so before we become one, I'll lose the powers you have and not remember anything you did when you took over."

That's right. I can't let him go out into the world not knowing what Caleb did for me... for us. His sacrifice will never be forgotten. And if we're to preserve his memory, we need to keep living and fight for what's right.

"I'm ready. I extended my hand, and he grabbed it. We gazed at each other for the last time. After this, there will be no more split personas. We will be one: Bolt—the hero, and Trey—the man who'd live life to the fullest.

"Thank you for saving me, Bolt," Trey said.

"See you on the other side, Trey." I smiled. The light above us flickered twice before everything, for the last time, went dark.