Splintered: The Labyrinth, Book 3, page 4
The lights were off in the house. He couldn’t see the carport from his vantage point, but surely, somebody was home. Teddy’s steps faltered. He stood there, breathing hard, and stared at home, debating how to proceed. Should he just walk up and ring the doorbell? Or should he wait until morning? Ringing the doorbell at this late hour was sure to cause alarm. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare his wife into a heart attack. But what if it wasn’t his wife inside the house? What if Rose was already dead in this reality, and just buried somewhere other than the little cemetery down the road? Or worse, what if she’d remarried?
He shook his head and clenched his fists. No, she wouldn’t do that anymore than he would have.
Teddy started forward again, and that was when he discovered another difference between his world and this one. A dog began barking from somewhere behind the house. Its cries were loud, and obviously intended to alert the homeowner that someone was here. A moment later, the dog rounded the corner, stopped, and stared at him. It was a lovely mutt. Teddy spotted Beagle in its genetic make-up, along with some unidentifiable traits. The dog didn’t growl, but it did sit down on its back haunches, turn its snout up to the sky, and began to bark and howl again.
From behind a window, a light clicked on in the house. Teddy saw a curtain flutter. His heart began to pound. Moments later, the living room light clicked on, shining out from behind the blinds over the big bay window. He heard a rustling at the front door, and then it opened. A figure stood there, dressed in a bathrobe and clutching a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
“Who’s there?”
Teddy’s breath caught in his throat. He knew her voice immediately.
“Howdy, Rose. It’s… it’s me.”
At the sound of his voice, the dog began to bark again, but with a more insistent tone. Teddy’s eyes flicked to it, and then back to his wife. She had the pistol raised and pointed at him with one trembling hand. The flashlight beam weaved and bobbed, skittering back and forth from his face to the ground.
“It’s me,” he repeated, holding up his hands. “It’s Teddy. Don’t shoot.”
“I…”
The flashlight beam jittered harder. The dog plodded over and firmly planted itself between the two of them.
“Rose?”
“I… T-teddy? Teddy?”
A tear slid down his wrinkled cheek. When he answered her, his voice was thick with emotion. “I reckon so, darlin’. It really is me.”
Rose didn’t scream or cry out. She simply continued to stand and stare. Both the gun and the flashlight were shaking so badly now that Teddy thought she might drop them. Eventually, she took a timid, faltering step forward. The screen door swished shut behind her. The dog whined. The insects fell quiet.
Teddy slowly lowered his hands. “Howdy.”
Rose stepped off the front stoop and into the grass with her bare feet. She lowered the pistol but raised the flashlight, shining the beam directly into his face. Squinting, Teddy shielded his eyes with one hand.
“Teddy?”
He nodded emphatically. “Yes, darlin’. It’s me. I can explain…”
“The grass is wet. And cold. I can feel it. You can’t feel things like that in dreams.”
Teddy held out a hand and took a tentative step toward her. The dog reared up on its haunches and growled. Rose glanced down at the animal as if only now realizing it was there.
“Quiet, Bear.”
“Bear,” Teddy repeated. “Is that your name?”
The dog cocked its head and stared at him quizzically.
“Reckon that’s a yes. Howdy, Bear. Nice to meet you. I’ll bet you’re a good dog, aren’t you?”
“He is.”
Teddy turned his gaze back to his wife. They stared at each other for another moment. Rose opened her mouth but said nothing. Instead, she released a long, sputtering sigh.
“I’m not dreaming.”
“No.” Teddy shook his head, smiling. “You’re not.”
“Then…I died. Oh, Teddy…”
She began to cry as she hurried across the yard to him. They fell into each other’s arms, embracing. Teddy hugged her tight, lowering his head against the top of her head. He breathed in her scent, and his tears wet her hair.
“You’re real.” Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I can feel you. Is this what it’s like? Heaven is here, where we lived together?”
“This isn’t Heaven, Rose. At least, not in the way you mean. It feels like Heaven, but you’re not in the presence of the Lord, and you’re not dead.”
She looked up at him. “But…if we’re not dead, then how…?”
Teddy puffed out his cheeks and blew. “Well, I reckon it’s a long story.”
Rose slowly broke the embrace and wiped her eyes. “Well, I guess that I’d best make us some coffee, then. Wipe your feet as you come inside.”
“OKAY.” Sarah nodded with confidence at the gravel road. “I remember this. This is his lane. I’m sure of it.”
“That light in the distance?” LeHorn pointed. “Is that Teddy’s house?”
“It was back on our Earth. The road comes to a dead end just past his property. So, with luck, we should…we…”
She stopped suddenly, and took a deep breath. She swayed back and forth on her feet. LeHorn reached out a hand to steady her.
“Sarah? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She brushed him away. “Thanks, Nelson. I’m okay. I just… I was sort of overwhelmed for a minute. We talk about this stuff like it’s normal, you know? We make inter-dimensional travel and different versions of Earth sound as common as… I don’t know. Doing the laundry or making breakfast. But it’s not. I mean, my world—me and Teddy and Henry’s Earth—was flooded and overrun with giant worms and weird fungus zombies and all of Leviathan’s aquatic bullshit. To escape, we traveled to another reality—the Earth you found us on. And then it all happened again, and we went to R’lyeh and now we’re here. It’s just…it shouldn’t be normal. We shouldn’t be accustomed to this. None of this is how I thought the world worked.”
“This experience definitely challenged my views, at first,” LeHorn agreed. “I had all these preconceived notions on life and death and what comes after. Of Heaven and Hell and what they actually mean. And then I came to find out that much of what I thought was true, wasn’t.”
“How is it that we’re not insane?”
“Well…” LeHorn paused. “Truth be told, I probably was a little bit crazy. or maybe more than a little bit. Maybe that’s why I adapted to it all so quickly. You see, I—”
Behind them, something scuffed on the road. Sarah and LeHorn spun around. A figure stood there in the dark, watching.
Sarah took a faltering step backward. “W-who’s there?”
The figure didn’t move.
“Hello.” LeHorn smiled. “I know how this must look. Two strangers, standing out here on the road in the middle of the night. But it’s okay. We’re friends of Teddy Garnett.”
“Are you now? Are you indeed?”
The speaker was still concealed in the shadows, but at the sound of his voice, Sarah gasped.
“Oh no…”
“Friends of Teddy Garnett, you say? That’s odd.”
“How so?” LeHorn asked.
Sarah reached out and clutched his arm tightly. “Nelson, we’ve got to—”
“Well,” the figure said, “it’s odd for a couple of reasons. See, I’ve been friends with Teddy my whole life. That’s a mighty long time. And I’ve been following and listening to you long enough to have heard both your names. Nelson and Sarah, right? And I know he ain’t ever mentioned either of you before.”
“We’re recent friends with him,” LeHorn explained.
“Is that so? See? That’s the other odd thing. Because Teddy Garnett’s been dead over a year now.”
“I…uh…I can explain that, Mister…?”
The figure stepped forward into the moonlight. He looked to be perhaps ten years younger than Teddy, with white stubble on his weathered face. He wore a red flannel shirt, unbuttoned over a plain black T-shirt, clean but faded jeans, and a green John Deere ball cap. In one hand, he brandished a flashlight. In his other hand was a pistol, now pointed at them.
“My name’s Earl Harper. And I reckon you folks got some explaining to do. You can start by telling me who you buried back there in the cemetery.”
ROSE QUIETLY SIPPED her coffee as Teddy told her his story. Her facial expressions and an occasional nod of the head were her only noticeable reactions. When he was finished, she stared at him in thoughtful silence.
Teddy glanced around the living room. It—and the house in general—was the same, yet different. The carpet wasn’t the color he remembered, and the couch where Rose was currently seated was placed against the far wall, rather than along the big picture window that faced the front yard, but his old familiar recliner—which he currently occupied—was where it had always been, albeit with a different texture of upholstery than he remembered. The books on the shelves behind him were mostly the same. His perennial favorites—Mark Twain, Zane Grey, Jack London, and Louis L’Amour—were all lined up within easy reach. But there were a number of paperbacks that, judging by their covers, seemed to be romance novels about Amish people. He assumed they must be Rose’s. Mostly, his eyes were drawn to the photographs on the mantle and hanging on the wall. There were pictures of the two of them together, and with their kids, Doug and Tracy, and with their grandchildren, Darla, Timothy, and Boyd. There were also three children whom he didn’t recognize, and yet they were instantly familiar. Teddy remembered his experience inside Amun's Chamber of Spheres, when all of his selves from the various alternate realities had been merged into one being. He recalled the confusion of how sometimes his son was named Doug and sometimes he was named Mark, but he was always his son. And how some of those versions of his son hadn't died in Vietnam, and had instead made it back home and had children of their own. These were those children. And though Teddy had never met them, he knew who they were—Neil, Lloyd, and Nancy.
The couch creaked as Rose carefully stood up. “More coffee?”
He nodded. When he spoke, his voice cracked with emotion. “Yes, please.”
She took his cup and made her way into the kitchen, moving slowly, but with a grace that belied her age. He watched her go, and smiled. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever known.
“Give me a minute,” she called. “I’m still processing all of this.”
“Of course. I reckon it’s a lot to take in.”
“Yes. Yes, it surely is.”
He turned his attention back to the photographs. They marked the passage of time, and told a story. It was strange to see pictures of Doug in his thirties, forties, fifties and sixties. Stranger still to see all of his grandchildren growing older, as well. On his world, his grandson Boyd had been killed early during Behemoth and Leviathan’s invasion, when a tidal wave took out the U.S. military base in Japan where he’d been stationed. But here were photographs of Boyd taken after he’d been discharged. His gaze returned to a picture of Doug. He was in his mid-forties, and standing alongside the Greenbrier River, triumphantly holding up a massive catfish and smiling proudly. Teddy squinted, and saw himself in the background.
He took a deep, shuddering breath and then began to quietly sob. He placed his face in his hands. His palms grew wet with tears and snot. His shoulders shook up and down.
Rose shuffled back into the living room. “Oh…”
Still crying, Teddy glanced up at her. “I… I’m sorry…”
“Teddy…” She sat his coffee down on the table next to his recliner, and then put her hands on his knees. She patted him gently. “What is it?”
He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and Rose frowned.
“I see your time gallivanting around other dimensions hasn’t cured you of that nasty habit. Where’s the handkerchief I bought you?”
She smiled, and Teddy laughed. Rose stood up, walked across the room, and grabbed a box of tissues. Then she made her way back to his recliner and handed the box to him. Teddy pulled out two, wiped his nose and hand, and then laughed again. This time, Rose laughed with him.
“I quit dipping, though.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Not a pinch of Kodiak or anything else in…well, quite a while now.”
She nodded in approval. “That’s good. I’m proud of you. But don’t you backslide.”
“I won’t.”
Rose walked over to the couch, and sat back down. “I’m sorry. I can’t stand or kneel for very long. My knees just can’t take it anymore.”
“I understand. How about I come over there and sit with you? Would that be alright?”
She patted the cushion next to her. “I’d like that.”
“I would, too.”
Groaning, Teddy heaved himself out of the chair. He crossed the living room and sat down next to his wife. Then they embraced. It had felt surprisingly good, sitting in his old recliner. The familiarity had been comforting. But holding Rose again, feeling her warmth against him, and smelling her hair, and listening to her breathe felt even better.
“So…you believe me, then?”
“About what?” Rose asked.
“Well, all of it. Amun and the Labyrinth and the Thirteen and such.”
Rose stared at him, unblinking. It seemed to Teddy like it was a full minute before she spoke.
“I believe that you are alive. At first, I thought it was some kind of trick or that maybe I’d had a stroke, or dementia was setting in. I knew it wasn’t a dream, so I figured it had to be one of those things. But dementia and strokes…they don’t work like that. And you’re real. You’re really real. And you’re Teddy. I’ve known you most of my life, and I’d know if you weren’t you. You’re Teddy. The good Lord has brought you back to me. Praise Him.”
“But that’s the thing, darlin. It wasn’t Him. It was—”
Rose waved her hand. “Oh, I heard every word you said, Teddy. It was this angel, Amun. And Lucifer. Right?”
He nodded.
“Well, the angels were created by God. They serve His will, just as we serve His will. I’ll admit, you gave me pause when you mentioned Lucifer. You say that he and Satan are two different fellas.”
Teddy nodded again.
“The Bible doesn’t differentiate between him and Satan. But there’s a lot of things that never made it into the Bible, because it’s just not our business to know them. It may be the inspired word of God, but that doesn’t mean that He wants us to know everything. Maybe in time, He’ll reveal it all to us, but for right now, we’re just not ready to know everything yet.”
“But I do know everything now.”
“Then maybe you were judged as ready. Although I doubt you know everything.”
“Well…” Teddy shrugged. “I reckon not everything. And some of the things I do know now, I wish I didn’t. It’s almost too much to bare. There’s a lot of bad in the universe, Rose. So much bad stuff.”
“A lot of good, too. Maybe that’s why you were chosen. You and your new friends balance it out.”
Teddy shook his head. “I don’t know about that. I reckon some of them are…well, one of them is a serial killer. And another one, Tony…he might as well be. He’s a mobster.”
“And yet, when you spoke of him, there was affection in your voice, clear as day. You care for this young man.”
“I reckon so,” Teddy admitted. “That’s the thing. I like the guy. I genuinely like him. Tony’s hard not to like. But some of the things he’s done in his life…”
“Go on.”
“We may be the good guys, Rose, but not all of us are good guys.”
“Neither was Paul, back when he was still Saul of Tarsus. The Bible tells us that he persecuted Jesus’s early disciples, but the Lord called upon him anyway, didn’t He? And what happened next? Do you remember?”
“He became one of Jesus’s most important apostles. Perhaps the most important of all. He spread the gospel like no one else.”
“That’s right.” Rose nodded, smiling. “So, who’s to say that Tony Genova isn’t on the same path as Paul?”
Teddy was quiet for a moment, thinking about it. Finally, he shrugged. “Maybe so. There is good in him. I’ve seen it.”
“Then your job is to continue to inspire that goodness. To lead him. You said that the angels tasked you with being your group’s holy man?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, there you go. Be a witness to this young man. Help guide him. Continue to lead him on the righteous path.”
“I’ve got to admit,” Teddy said with a chuckle, “you’re taking all of this much better than I thought you would.”
She patted his knee. “I’m just glad to have you here with me again. I don’t care about the reasons. The end of the universe can wait a little bit longer, far as I’m concerned. This old house gets lonely sometimes. Bear keeps me company, of course, and folks stop in to check on me nearly every day. And I still go to church on Sundays when the weather is nice. Nancy from up the road picks me up and takes me. And the kids visit when they can.”
Teddy’s eyes grew wide, and he leaned forward in excitement. “Yes! The kids. Tell me about them! How are they?”
“They’re good. Doug just got a big—”
Outside, Bear began to bark. Teddy and Rose both glanced out the big picture window. There were no headlights on the gravel lane.
“Were you expecting anybody?”
“At this hour?” Rose shook her head. “But then again I wasn’t expecting you, either.”
Groaning, he stood up. “I reckon I’d better check it out.”
“Yes.” Rose stood up, as well. “Bear doesn’t bark like that if it’s just a deer. Could be coyotes, or a black bear.”
