In The Town Where All Things Are Possible: Part 17
Need To Catch Up?
In The Town Where All Things Are Possible, Alexandria hid just out of the haze of the streetlight as she watched the Man Who Held The Town Together emerge from his office. He strode with purpose, descending the hill with neither an air of anxiousness or fear. Only resolve. He wore a somber black suit, well fitted to his long, lean frame. He was dressed simply aside from a black necktie bearing a hand-painted white icon, something like a sunburst with rays stretching out from the center of the tie to its edges. It seemed unnatural on the Man, tacked on, worn out of obligation and ceremony rather than choice.
He did not appear to see Alexandria crouched in the shadows, the kitchen knife still clutched in her fingers and vengeance on her mind.
Alexandria considered her options: confront the Man now or wait, watch, and learn. She glanced back to Tessa and Gerald, watching from the window of Tessa’s small house. Gerald asked Tessa a question. Tessa shook her head “no” and pulled Gerald from the window.
Alexandria settled herself and watched the Man pass. She felt the familiar warmth drawing her to the Man. Through the fear, through the rage, the cinders of love still glowed. She wanted to call to the Man, to run into his arms, but she held her tongue and slipped from shadow to shadow as she trailed him through the sleeping town.
Within the downtown district, not a single light burned. Even the pub had shut down for the night. The Man followed the gradual slope of the streets, like the marbles racing through the town on her first day, rolling, rolling, rolling toward the inevitable, toward where all things begin and end:
God’s Blowhole.
Where the killer would be waiting, watching, biding his time until either Alexandria fled or he claimed another victim in his twisted mission to preserve his utopia.
Either way, the Man’s heart would be broken again.
Alexandria kept her distance, fearing her shoes tapping against the cobblestone walkway would alert the Man to her presence.
She crossed a lawn overlooking God’s Blowhole, downtown stretching out behind her. A naked flagpole sprouted up from the middle of a small park with the pole’s pulley rope softly pinging with the breeze. She peered over bushes, looking down on the Man as he stood before the sewage grate covering God’s Blowhole. He pulled a card from his breast pocket, pressed it between his hands, palm-to-palm as if he were praying. He began murmuring, too low for Alexandria to understand.
The Man knelt down and slid the card through a long, thin gap in the sewage grate. He stood and turned to the moon, a serene smile spreading across his face. But a voice turned both their eyes back to God’s Blowhole. It started low, then grew. A laugh. A hungry, crazed laugh echoed up from the tunnel, building until it boomed out into the night. The Man turned, confused. Alexandria stood, her knife brandished at her side, ready.
It was the killer, underneath the Town. She knew the voice, but could not tell if the Man recognized it. He walked to the grate and looked down into the deep hole.
The laughter silenced abruptly. The flagpole continued to ping, unaware.
“What was on the card?” Alexandria called.
The Man spun, startled, gazing up at Alexandria. He saw the knife, he looked back to her face.
“What was on the card, Jeffrey?” Alexandria insisted. “Was it about me?”
“I can’t tell you,” the Man replied. “I can’t tell anyone.”
Alexandria strode across the lawn to the walkway, curving down to meet the Man.
“Do you know who that was?” she asked. “That laughter?”
The Man turned to the sewage grate. He studied it, then looked back to Alexandria. He didn’t have an answer. She could tell he wasn’t accustomed to surprises. The fear shone through.
“That was the man who killed your wife,” Alexandria answered.
The Man remained silent and clearly unsure.
“And he had me down there,” Alexandria continued. “Today, while everyone else was going about their lives and you were working away, I was trapped down there, waiting to die.”
The Man absorbed the words but didn’t respond, as if waiting for the punchline of a very dark and unpleasant joke.
“I saw you drop one of those cards,” Alexandria continued. “Watched it fall down that hole, watched that man pluck it out of the air and read it. That card saved me. He granted me one day to get out of this town. What was written on that card?”
The Man opened his lips to answer, but nothing emerged. His reserve was breaking, revealing his sorrow.
“I’m sorry,” he managed.
“What was on the card?” Alexandria growled.
“He’s dead,” the Man stammered. “They told me he was dead.”
“They lied! What was on that card?”
“I wanted to see you tonight,” the Man confessed, his eyes dropping away. “I wanted to see you. I – asked to see you.”
Alexandria’s breath stammered. She was not surprised by the answer, but she was surprised by how hearing it from his lips twisted her heart. She stepped away, needing space from the Man.
“And what was on the card that you just dropped in?” Alexandria asked, the agony seeping through, eroding the strength in her voice.
The Man hesitated.
“Tell me.”
“That you never leave the Town,” the Man admitted, unable to look her in the eyes. “That you never leave me.”
Alexandria closed her eyes, backed against the railing of the walkway.
“You’ve killed me,” Alexandria whispered. “If your magic cards are real, then you’ve killed me.”
“No.”
The Man finally looked back into Alexandria’s face. Her eyes opened, found his, and she leaned off the railing.
“No,” the Man repeated, his voice finding strength.
“So, how are you going to keep me alive?” Alexandria asked. “Another card? Are we just going to keep feeding that hole wishes until the end of time?”
She could see the Man wanted to reply, but she saw through him, saw he had no plan, only denial.
“Tell the hole to keep me alive!” Alexandria said.
“It doesn’t work like that,” the Man responded, helpless. “There are rules.”
“Try!”
The Man dipped his head away.
“Okay, fine. We could go after him. We could gather everyone in town. We get weapons, we search the tunnels, and ferret the bastard out.”
“No, the people can’t hunt The Man Who Holds The Town Together,” the Man said. “Even if he’s no longer doing the job, it’s still forbidden. Only the council can punish the Man. That’s how it has always been.”
“Of course,” Alexandria sighed. “And where is the council?”
“Gone,” the Man replied. “They are – hidden from everyone, even me. They’re here, but they’re not here. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just not an option. We don’t have the time.”
Alexandria stepped past the Man and walked to the grate. She peered down, wondering if the killer was looking back up at her. She let go of a very long and heavy sigh. With it went a portion of the rage that she knew was leading her nowhere.
“Was he always like this?” Alexandria asked, changing tacks. “Is that why you replaced him?”
“No,” the Man answered softly, stepping close to her. “When he mentored me, when he taught me the job, he was very kind. But he was tired. Tired and lonely.”
“What happened to him?” Alexandria asked.
“He disappeared one day. He left no word. We assumed he left the Town. I never thought I would hear from him again.”
“Then he killed your wife?”
“Yes,” the Man managed.
The pair studied the grate, the darkness beyond.
“Come with me,” Alexandria suggested. “We can leave together. Tonight.”
“The Town won’t let you leave,” the Man replied, his voice grim and resigned.
“How can it stop me?” Alexandria asked, turning to the Man, grip tightening on the knife. “Are the mountains going to come alive? Shut down the roads, block off the coastline?”
The Man didn’t answer, but he met her eyes. An unspoken apology passed between them. His sorrow infuriated her.
“There is always a way!” She jabbed her finger into his chest. “I am getting out of this place and you are coming with me.”
“No.”
“Why?” Alexandria shot back. “Because the Town won’t let you leave either? Was your name on a card too?”
“I can never leave,” the Man answered, his eyes steady on hers. “You haven’t been here long enough to understand, but what we have is too important. I must stay. My role is bigger than me. This isn’t about wishes or skating rinks or having a happy life. There is more to this Town and, if I leave, horror will follow me wherever I go. It will follow us.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t need to,” the Man said. “I know it’s the truth and I know I cannot leave. But perhaps you are right, perhaps the Town will allow you to escape. I will do everything I can to help you. I will get you far from the town’s borders where he can never find you, but that is all I can do.”
Alexandria felt the tears coming and resented them, resented her life, resented the way her heart suffocated from the thought of losing the Man.
“So, you want me to leave?” she asked, carving out as much vulnerability from her voice as she could manage.
“No,” the Man answered. “But I want you to live.”
Alexandria backed away, turned to climb the walkway. She paused.
“Can you undo that wish?”
“No,” the man responded.
“Okay, if I can’t escape this town,” Alexandria began, her back to the Man. “If I am trapped and he comes for me, will I be facing him alone?”
“No,” the Man said, approaching her. “I will stand with you and, if there is no other way, I will die with you.”
“You can die, but you can’t leave?” Alexandria asked, looking back at the Man.
“It’s the way of the Town,” the Man answered.
“I don’t want you to die, Jeffery,” Alexandria said. “I want you to fight. Will you fight with me?”
