The Smallest Parallel

Chapter 17

Marguerite was surprised, to say the least, that Geoffrey had managed to pull off the eighteenth item on her bucket list. They were stood in front of the treasure site, the map folded in her skirt pocket. She was overjoyed and excited, for the first time in a long time.

It had been a month since that fight in Geoffrey's kitchen, during which Marguerite realized that in order to fully experience this reality, she had to accept her death. She'd been thinking about finding a link between the realities, and the idea had come to her after speaking to Saraiya. If she could locate Saraiya in this universe, she could likely figure out how to choose. Saraiya kept her grounded and helped her make decisions; she always told Marguerite the truth, no matter how brutal.

Standing over that treasure site, Marguerite decided that she would find Saraiya when she returned to the city. She knew where Saraiya lived, and she figured that Saraiya was the one constant in both realities.

"What are you thinking about?" Geoffrey asked, looking up from where he was digging.

Marguerite blinked, removing herself from her thoughts. "I was just thinking about how excited I am to finally be  a pirate. Truth be told, Geoffrey, It's been a long time coming.

Marguerite had, in fact been considering piracy for a long time. She'd been enthralled by the adventure and the risk of it all. She'd read many books on long-dead pirates and treasure that never resurfaced. However, Marguerite wasn't actually thinking about pirates. She was thinking about death. Since she had been diagnosed with leukemia, all she thought about was death. This was true of both realities, though the doctor told Adrien that Marguerite was making progress with the treatment.

Marguerite was aware of the differences between those two parallel worlds, yet she often had trouble keeping them separate and distinct. When she awoke in the night to her tangled hair and the comfort of her own bed, she knew where she was, but that didn't prevent her from searching the house for Adrien or Harper. She was exhausted and confused most of the time. More than anything, she was terrified. Marguerite had believed in wendigos, ghosts, goblins, and aliens throughout the years, yet none of those mythical monsters were as frightening as the idea that she could die at any moment. She wasn't grounded in some mythical world; she was a human being, a mortal.

Geoffrey dug through sandbox as Marguerite held the map and peered through the spyglass, looking for approaching enemies. Yes, the two adults digging through the sandbox looked strange to outsiders, but Marguerite and Geoffrey didn't care. For the first time, Marguerite bore witness to Geoffrey genuinely enjoying himself.

"I've struck treasure, Captain Marguerite," he said, presenting a small box that had been decorated to look like a pirate's chest.

"Excellent work, first mate Geoffrey," she replied with all of the enthusiasm she could muster.

Geoffrey handed her the small chest, allowing her the honor of opening it and bragging rights for all of eternity. She took it with a smile.

Marguerite had never known Geoffrey to be artistic, but he had done a magnificent job on the chest. It was ornate and elegant. Marguerite almost believed that they were actual pirates. She had been getting weaker over the past month, but she'd been trying hard not to let it show for the sake of the bucket list. She was no longer avoiding the conversations about death. In fact, she sometimes found solace in them. The uncertainty of life was taking over her alternate reality and she sometimes grew weary of thinking about the future.

She considered that this reality would be simpler. If she didn't choose the potential that came with living, she'd never have to make another decision. Perhaps that made things easier. She was still unsure of what it all meant.