The Clock

     I fell through the DimeDoor and landed on a pile of mud. I groaned in pain and saw the Door close; the last bit of flashy colors before a desolate sky was before me. The air was heavy and had an acid stench; I was scared to even know what Dime I was in. I struggled to my feet and noticed this world was in complete ruins. There was no sign of life, only the twisted trees and skeletal branches that clawed at the ashen sky. I shivered from the chill in the air and the sense of dread that loomed everywhere. I covered myself with my arms and noticed I still had the bracelet I gave Ava. Security washed over me, but then I remembered she was the one that landed me in this place, but at the same time, she didn’t. It was that EDWARD thing or computer or whatever that was controlling her. 

     “It actually was EDWARD Emmett!” a voice exclaimed, and as I turned to see where it came from, I came face to face with the most bizarre and terrifying sight I had ever seen. This face was entirely obscured with a grotesque clown mask painted in garish colors with a twisted, maniacal grin. His black and soulless eyes pierced through me so much that I stumbled back to the ground. It was dressed in a long, tattered overcoat like a cape. It also had a fedora perched atop its head, comically out of this place in this world. 

     It began laughing, with his grin stretching so impossibly wide. Its mouth was not moving, and the grin remained frozen, even as it spoke. “Welcome to Earth 89, Emmett! A Dime, Scape, world, whatever you wanna call it, can be a realm of fun.” It started to float, having an eccentric pose while its eyes leaned closer, inches to my face again. I was still horrified by what I saw and could not form words to begin asking anything. “Aww, did I scare ya? Cat got ya tongue?” A cat appeared on its hand while the other had the cat’s tongue, but the cat remained motionless. It then disappeared. 

     “E-Earth 8-89? I…I never saw that on the Navigator Glove…” I quivered. 

     “Of course not silly! Earth 89 is so extraordinary that gravity plays hopscotch; time does the cha-cha dance and allows me to look like this!” It showed itself off and doing a sexy pose? “Here, lemme show you!”

     I involuntarily got up, and my hand reached out; suddenly, something was coming full speed but landed softly in my hand. I clinched it and saw Ava’s bracelet once again. My emotions got to me again; this time, I could speak up in front of this thing. “Why am I here? Why did EDWARD send me to this place?” 

     “Connect the dots, my dear Emmett…why else would a computer beyond your comprehension send you to a world,” It disappeared. “Where your purpose was served,” It appeared by my left ear and disappeared again. “Where you know too much?” Right ear and again. “You’ve seen too much,” Behind me and again. It appeared on my head, and I could still hear it whisper, “Where there’s no way home.” My heart sank. 

     “I’m in Hell?”
     It appeared in my face again, and it nodded slowly. It grabbed my hand, and I was teleported to an abyss. 

     “It’s not quite Hell, my dear Emmett,” it whispered. “Think of it more as a world gone to Hell — a Dime of purgatorial existence, a bridge between the living and afterlife…” I began walking, trying to find It, but was forced dead in my tracks. “One more thing, Emmett, please refrain from calling me ‘It’. It’s a bit of a pet peeve.” 

     “What should I call you then?” I asked. 

     “I go by many names, but oh my oh so favorite one is,” A burst of flames appeared before me that knocked me back, and It- “Call me Bel!” Bel walked out of the fire, offering me a hand. My hand began to reach out, and with all the strength I could gather, I used my other hand to pull back, despite the trembling going on. When that didn’t work, I reached into my pockets to see if anything could help. Still nothing, and the panic began to consume me as the fire got closer and closer to my fingertips. I didn’t want to look at where I was going, so I closed my eyes, and when our hands finally touched, I was immediately in a world that I could sense was cold, yet I felt warm, untouched by it. I opened my eyes and saw Bel beside me. We were in a glass sphere with cracks all around it. 

     “Welcome to the Glass Sphere,” he walked towards the glass and presented the cracks to me. “The Dimes you visited were only a fragment of this vast expanse.” Bel turned his back again to look at the different realities. “In this sphere, we can witness the pastry of reality, countless Dimes branching and intersecting.” I could not recognize this same entity that was just a second ago being sadistic, with a tone that carried knowledge, almost like a completely different person. What remained was the overcoat and face; only a soulless void remained. Bel nodded to head over, and I obliged. I saw the network of cracks all in front of me. Each one was like a tiny window into what was happening in other Dimes, a series of videos happening simultaneously. “Over here is Earth-00, your homeworld.” Bel pointed, and I saw myself walking to school, the day before Ava arrived. “Over here are all the Earths you've been to,” He pointed to a series of cracks, all moments from my time there. “Emmett, did you learn anything in all of your travels through these Dimes? A pattern that connects them all?” 

     I examined all of them, my adventures with Ava, and the people who helped us get the artifacts. My gaze swept across the cracks, trying to see if there was a constant that every Dime shared. I looked over to my world, which kept looping as I walked to school; then, I looked back on Earth-02 and remembered what Janet had said. Oh please, Emmett, I’ve never dated anyone resembling or acting like you. I now knew the constant. 

     “Bel,” I began, the heavy, sadness tone filling the air. “All of my friend’s Duplicates never…” I paused to let it finally sink in. “I don’t exist in any of these Dimes…” 

     “Why is that?” 

     I once again looked at my own world and kept seeing that looping, careless walk I was doing that day. Bel’s arm touched that moment and gently pulled it out, it then formed into a small glass sphere that was then handed to me with delicacy. I saw moments of my life flashing before me. I saw the moment I cheated on my ex, the moment I betrayed my best friend and the day I abandoned my little cousin. It was all there, the pain I caused right in my hands. I didn’t want to answer. What was the point? Bel already knew the answer. 

     “Being selfish or not, the impact you have on people's lives matters, it's what transcends the boundaries of each Dimes. Good or bad, the ripples are what forms each Dime.” I stared at the sphere in my hands and saw Bel take it away to put it back in its rightful place. “Do actions define you, or does the effect you leave behind shape you?” Bel clasped its hands together, and two doors appeared in the middle of this sphere. “I offer you a choice— the left door leads back to the start of your journey, the day before you met Ava and this whole adventure. The other is a complete reset, a new beginning with the knowledge you gained here. The choice is yours.” I looked at the two doors and considered the weight of this decision. There wasn’t anything unique about this door, it wasn’t even a DimeDoor. It was just a regular door. I could make things right with Genesis, Reming, and Caleb… I could be better. I began to walk to the gates until my eyes caught a mysterious black crack in the sphere. It was pulsing with a unique type of energy, one that none of the other cracks seemed to radiate. I walked past the doors right through the middle and saw they were Ava’s memories. It was not memories of just her, they were memories of me and her. Moments of laughter, connection, friendship, all in this window. I am what she knows, I’m the only good thing in her life. 

     “Bel,” I said, “Is there a third choice? One that can save her from EDWARD?” Bel looked at me, and a tiny light sparkled in the void. A sense of approval. 

     “You do,” A DimeDoor finally appeared before me, right in between the other doors, and Bel appeared beside the left one. “Even after betraying you, you still want to help her.” 

     I reached into my pocket and pulled out Ava’s bracelet. I put it on and gave a determined look to Bel, “I have to be better.” Bel responded by nodding and snapped its fingers, to which I felt something heavy on my left hand and saw a Navigator Glove.
   “It’s more than that; it will help you fight EDWARD. Give you an advantage since you would be in its domain.”
   “How do I use it?” I asked, fixing the size of it.
   “When the time comes, you’ll know.” Bel then disappeared, and I was left alone with the three doors. I sighed in relief and began walking to the middle door. I am nervous about what lies ahead, but I can do this. I know I can. I walked through. 

 

​

    I reappeared in front of the three doors and clasped my hands together. The left and right burst into flames while I kicked the middle one to shatter the Glass Sphere. The glass rained down on me, but I paused, only to touch a tiny piece before my eyes, and everything became sludge. The white slowly dripped into black, mud, and trees, and soon, I was back in my Dime. Oh, how I missed that smell! I thought as I danced around the ruined remains. I plopped onto the floor and drew on the mud; I drew Emmett. Oh, my dear Emmett, how unique you truly are! The mud figure became animated and saw my face—wait, no it didn’t. I snapped my fingers together, and my clown mask appeared; as I put it on the Mud Emmett finally recognized me and began to cower around in circles. I stopped him with my fingers and drew the three doors again. C’mon then… Mud Emmett looked terrified, and I made sure each of the doors he chose led to nothing; all that was left was the Left Door. He opened the door, and BAM was immediately consumed by my pets. Oh, I wish that had happened as I splashed away the mud and sat criss cross applesauce. My chalkboard appeared, and there were three columns. Right in the middle, I marked “1”, between the gazillions of wrong choices. Beneath the moon’s gaze, I revel in decisions in mazes where souls blaze. I sang as I moved my head side to side slowly, whistling the tune. 

    My gaze shifted to you; yes, you! I couldn’t help but notice your presence in my Dime! You’ve been silently observing; how amusing! I have always wanted to be seen, to have a conversation with someone that matches my level of intelligence! I can feel the winds of change shaking the Glass Sphere, but I have time to tell you what this world is. All of these people, these lingos, these worlds, they play a vital role in this universe. Beyond these pages, people are living their lives, trying to figure out what to do. When you put this story down, Emmett will be off trying to save his Ava from the fiendish computer freak EDWARD. I won’t spoil the fate of each character; just know that they exist. Who knows, maybe Emmett is your Duplicate. Perhaps you already know how the story will end because you have already been through it. Perhaps it has yet to happen to you, and this is foreshadowing something to come in your life. I am not saying you will face a giant computer that transcends the Glass Sphere, but… actually, maybe it could happen… This was a good talk! You are a very good listener (or reader I guess), has anyone ever told you that? Someone fell through the DimeDoor, just like Emmett had dropped earlier in this story. Oh! An expected visitor has ventured onto my Dime! How exciting isn't it! But our time has come to a close, sadly. My dear reader, I know we’ll meet again to finish this dance; until then I leave you with this... I clicked the heels of my shoes, and poof. 

 

Mwen pa moun paske yo pran tout bagay.

Mwen pa Bondye paske mwen pa gen lespri a.

Mwen pa Djòl paske mwen pa janm tonbe nan favè a.

Mwen se mounifikasyon chwa mwen yo.

Tout peche mwen yo, yo pase.