Glitch. Part 16

"Found one," Lena gasped. She put her hands on her knees. "Forty-three down, twelve left, three right and thirteen left."

"Forty-three," Laurent muttered. "Hey Sam, on second thought bring the light over here."

I relaxed, but I didn't let go of the light-and I stayed behind them.

Laurent and Lena crouched over the emptied backpack and pulled out a notebook with a blue Bic pen stuck through the spiral rings. They wrote down Lena's numbers under the s.h.i.+ne of my flashlight.

Clink-clink-clink.

The sound kept chiming in, but neither Laurent or Lena seemed to care about it.

After a few minutes Josh and Amrith came back. Lena told them about the gate, and they quietly packed their things into Josh's backpack.

"Come on, between us," Josh said as we lined up. "You won't know how to look out for Stalker Men."

I said I'd stay in the back.

In slow, single file, we trouped silently through Level Zero.

The dark was total. Laurent and Josh each picked up the unused road flares. But they didn't light them until we counted forty-three rooms. Then, Josh lit his and threw it down. Lena led us down a new direction. No one ever spoke. And once Josh had tossed the flare, one looked back to savor the light.

Clink-clink-clink.

The wind chimes grew louder as we walked. I still didn't know what they were. Then, near the end of our route, I saw a cloud of dark purple lights glinting on the wall The cloud hung against a wall, waving faintly.

"What are those?" I asked.

"They're violets." Josh said. He corrected himself. "At least we call them that."

"They're starting to grow again. Level Zero becomes interesting other parts of the month," Lena said. "You just caught it in its boring phase."

I approached the lights.

They hung impossibly in the air, about an arm's length from the ground. The individual lights looked fuzzy, like a lens flare in a photograph.

But as I got closer, I noticed the lights were flat planes. Or, like origami made of light.

The flat planes of light made little cups, like flowers, drifting back and forth to a wind I couldn't see. Inside each cup was a spark. The spark was the yellow, violent brightness of a lighting match, contained within a single point. The sparks bounced inside the cups, and when it hit the light, it rang like a tin bell.

Clink-clink-clink.

About twenty flowers hung on the wall, chiming their eerie music.

"Do you not realize," I said quietly. "How beautiful these are?"

The bells waved beneath my gaze. Behind me, someone coughed.

"Uuuhhh," Josh said.

"We're physics majors," Laurent said.

Amrith patted my shoulder.

We continued down the halls.

Finally we came to a set of rooms that burned with light. Lena took us around them and finally entered a room with a s.h.i.+ning line in it-a gate to the real world. Except this gate blazed brighter than anything I'd seen before. Light like this would swallow the violets.

I s.h.i.+elded my eyes. This line meant escape: it meant home. My world might not be normal anymore, but I could at least eat a sandwich and watch TV before facing the otherworldly horrors.

"We don't know where this gate leads, but you can't run away from us when we get to the other side," Lena said from my left.

"You have to agree to work with us," Amrith agreed.

"And it's in your best interest to do so," Laurent added.

"Also please don't punch me," Josh said.

I nodded.

Just ten minutes ago I'd suspected Laurent wanted to bash my brains in. I still did, a little bit.

But the gate was here, and if they'd wanted me dead, they could have done it. Frankly, I had no other option than to deal with them. It was the only way I could work with my world changed. I couldn't do it alone certainly-that had taken me to a parking garage, and to a memory I didn't want to relive.

It looked like I had some new friends.

We walked into the light.

Wind surged over us, driving into my chest and sucking out my breath. It tore away my voice, knocked away my sense of balance, and roared inside my ears, making me deaf.

Laurent shouted something next to me. It sounded like *s.h.i.+t.'

I blinked my eyes open. The sky flashed in my sight: dark blue sky, clouds cras.h.i.+ng into each other like waves in a storm.

We stood on a square of light grey concrete spotted with a few metal boxes. The boxes looked like air vents, communications equipment.

Where was the horizon?

Buildings towered around us. Buildings with no bottom in sight. No traffic, no pedestrians.

"s.h.i.+t," I said. I didn't hear myself.

We'd landed on top of a skysc.r.a.per.

The evening sun slashed orange fire on the buildings around us-a forest of gla.s.s and steel needles, encircled lazily by hawks, reaching-shooting-up to the cras.h.i.+ng, churning clouds.

Directly behind us, the CN tower loomed-larger than anything. It looked strange from such a high angle, almost alien. A blue line at the top hub signaled the construction of the new Tower Walk I read about in the news. Over the lake, an orange sun blazed on the water. I turned away but still felt the faint heat on my cheek.

My fingers curled up, pale and bloodless. The wind was faster here. It was colder too. My body temperature was unravelling like a thread.

Amrith hugged himself and bounced up and down. Josh tugged his hoodie tighter. Only Lena seemed unbothered by the cold. She surveyed the roof, and pointed to a concrete outcrop-a door. The door was industrial green, set in a concrete box at the corner of the rooftop. It looked so safe. So warm.

I took a careful step towards the door. The wind snaked beneath my feet. My feet wavered on the ground and I struggled to keep balance. Walking here was like walking on the ocean floor-filled with currents and pressure.

This'd make a good post for Stranger Danger-I could call it "as the hawk flies." Write about the urban jungle. Greg would get to use his camera.

Someone shouted. I didn't make out the words. Just kept on taking crude, clumsy steps towards the box.

The sinking sun cast long, thin shadows on the ground. As we neared the box I saw a hint of traffic in the streets below. I couldn't see the people or cars in the light-blur, but I saw shadows-small and distinct-trailing after their owners.

The streets lay deep, deep down.

My mouth tasted sour.

Lena got to the box first. She grabbed the nickel-plated door k.n.o.b. She turned, pulled, rattled it, but the door didn't move.

This was not the brilliant escape I had in mind.

I edged closer to the box and the wind slackened. The release swung my balance off. I felt like a swimmer out of the ocean. I fought not to fall on my a.s.s.

"No go," Lena shouted. She looked over at Josh. Josh nodded and left the group. He walked absurdly normal-hands shoved into his hoodie pocket, head bowed like a dog smelling out tracks.

"No picks?" Amrith asked. Laurent patted his pockets and shook his head.

The edge of the building was ten meters away, glowing in the light. It pulled.

I felt the tug in my navel, and in my ear a sick little voice spoke. It spoke so quiet I could hear it even in the deafening wind.

It asked, aren't you gonna do it?

No. No I was not.

You're not even a little curious?

I was not going to jeopardize my mental state-not now.

You know you're gonna look eventually.

Fat f.u.c.king chance.

Lena waved at me. I looked away from the edge.

"We're gonna-" Lena shouted. The wind cut off the last of her sentence. Her dark brown hair whipped across her face.

"What?" I asked.

Amrith pointed to Josh. Josh was waving from the other side of the building, away from the sun.

"We're-" Lena began again but the wind cut her off again.

"I can't hear you!" I said. I didn't hear myself.

Lena scrunched her face. She patted Amrith's shoulder and Amrith shouldered past me. Laurent and Lena followed him.

I looked at the sun-bleached edge again, and turned away. I was smarter than that. If I looked, I'd panic. If I panicked, I'd be useless. And I couldn't be useless, not after waking up in that parking garage.

Josh stood on the ledge on the other side, legs splayed and arms wrapped around his chest. He turned slowly in the wind, observing something.

I caught up with Lena, Amrith and Laurent. Laurent's yellow hipster hat flapped out his back pocket. His ironic beard and curled moustache had stayed though: I'd half-expected them to blow away.

Josh held out a hand and leaned over the empty s.p.a.ce. The wind blew his hoodie into a parachute. His gla.s.ses shook against his forehead and he held them steady with the other hand.

He lowered his hips.

Tensed his legs.

Oh no.

Josh jumped.

And landed on air.

We meet again, the voice announced.

Shut up shut up shut up.

"I'm not going!" I shouted.

The others didn't even turn back. Couldn't hear me. I ran after them and stumbled in the wind. Lena, Laurent and Amrith mounted the edge like it was a sidewalk curb, and casually walked onto the air.

They hung there, unmoving except for the wind tossing up their hair.

Lena turned her head. She waved me over.

"I'm not doing it!" I shouted.

Lena cupped her hand to her ear.

"I said!" I walked closer, "I'm not doing it!"

Still nothing. I walked closer.

"I SAID!" I screamed, "I'M NOT-HOLY s.h.i.+T!"

Deep drop.

Sheer drop.