Sam Shambles into the Sun

At the base of the tower, our companions are about to have their final confrontation, but first...

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Sam Shambles into the Sun

Ella found Sam on his back, quivering, breathing shallowly.

Mouth agape, eyes wide, he stared into the sky.

She knelt beside him, leaned over him, clasped his hand in her hands like a precious gift.

Slowly, his eyes revolved to meet hers, still wide, as if he saw God, which perhaps he had.

His beautiful heart was finally giving out.

“They said thank you, Ella,” he said.

“Who? For what?” She said, not letting go, even to wipe away her tears.

“Cassidy and Jane and Debra. They said thank you for taking care of me.”

“No, Sam,” she sobbed, “it was you who cared for me.” She knew it was time. She couldn’t stop it, and she wanted so much for Sam to reunite with those he’d loved and lost. “It was you who saved me. Go to them, Sam. You’ve atoned for your sins.”

A beautiful smile spread across his face, and his body went still, his hand still warm between her own.

She shook as he had shaken, as if she had taken the tumult of his heavy conscience into herself so that he might be freed of the weight that chained him to this earth.

He died that way, a sun fixed in place by its own brilliance, so that only the light ascends.

East of the obsidian tower, dawn broke for the first time in Hell, a rosy red that dispersed the roiling lava.

As it rose, it became a shimmering gold which put the dull sheen of the pile of coins to shame; but Ella didn’t take her eyes off Sam’s smile, couldn’t let go just yet.

From the dust of the blasted earth, Colt rose again, and the goons’ bones assembled together to join it.

Siris ran up to Colt and hugged him, and Colt patted him on the head and pointed back to Sam and Ella.

They all went over together.

David stirred and shook his head, trotting over to join them.

All the companions surrounded Shamblin’ Sam and Ella, Queen of the Damned, as she wept and her tears fell onto his still chest.

Lush green grass grew where once the earth was blackened, and the pools of acid turned from sickening green to calming blue.

The contorted trees stood straight and grew taller, sprouting leaves and flowers and fruits of all kinds.

The EYEGOONS buzzed and a song began to play.

She’d never heard the song, but she recognized a lament, a funeral dirge, an expression of grief for the dearly departed.

As she listened, she realized this grief was a universal feeling. No matter how alone she felt in that moment, though her heart seemed as if it would burst with pain and she would wither and die in the light of the newly risen sun, she would rather feel this than nothing, because it meant that she wasn’t alone.

Like Sam, she was just waiting—patiently, lovingly, purposefully, persistently—to ascend.

She felt Colt lay his bony hand gently on her shoulder. He is at peace, the gesture said, but we’ve still got work to do.

She laid Sam’s head to the ground and closed his eyes with her fingers.

As she rose, his body became the very earth on which it lay, and purple orchids bloomed.

In the descending light of the newly risen sun, she thought she saw another light within it, just briefly, as if one hand grasped another to help a fallen man stand.

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