Twenty-Five Pages

23. At the time of the convergence, you will realize that you are utterly alone.

“How much will it cost for you to take it?”

I laugh uncertainly. “Are you serious? If it’s bothering you so much, why not just throw the thing away?”

Will shakes his head, his disheveled black hair swishing around his clammy scalp. I can’t help noticing the dark chasms carved by stress beneath his eyes. “That’s not how this works. Please, Vince. Just give me a number.”

“Fine,” I say, my lip twitching as I try to keep my nervous smile at bay. Maybe this is all a game or a prank. If so, two can play at it, whatever it is. “Twenty grand, and I’ll take your book.”

Will nods. Pulling a checkbook out of his pants pocket, he scrawls hurriedly on a check before ripping it out and sliding it across the table toward me. Looking down at it, I gasp. It’s made out for $20,000.

“You’re kidding me,” I say. “Will, I can’t accept this. If the book is bothering you so much, just give it to me. I don’t want your money.”

“I can’t,” Will says. I’ve never seen him look so desperate before. “I must give you something to take it. Besides, $20,000 is a small price to pay. Here.” He slides the small black notebook across the table toward me, along with the check. Tentatively, I reach out and grasp them both.

Will exhales as if the weight of a blue whale just rolled off his shoulders. “Thank you, Vince. Be sure to deposit that check, okay? There’s no other way it’ll let me go. Oh, and another thing.” Leaning forward, he clutches my arm, his fingers squeezing like little vice grips. “Don’t open it. Put it in a box and bury it somewhere. Just leave it closed. Promise me. It won’t stop once you’ve noticed it.”

“Okay, Will,” I say. “Sure thing, buddy. Do you want to stay and eat something? Or should you go home and get some rest?”

Will clears his throat. “Yeah, maybe that’s a good idea. Sorry to bail on you, but I haven’t slept in days.” He stands. “See you later, Vince. Please, don’t open it.” Then he hurries from the restaurant.

Sighing, I pocket the check and the small black notebook, a lump in my throat. I’ve never seen Will that anxious before. He’s always had nerves, sure, but this is something new. Suddenly I find that I’m not hungry, either. Standing, I walk to the register and pay our bill.

1. Progressively, you will begin to see the edges of the world fray.

“So, how was Will?” Jenny asks, prodding at her salad restlessly with her fork.

“He was… fine, I guess,” I reply, a thousand miles away. “Kind of off.”

“It took quite a while,” she says, brushing back her chestnut brown hair. “Is everything okay?”

“Did it?” I murmur.

Jenny pauses, looking at me. Then she speaks again. “Vince… is this not working?”

“Is what not working?” I ask, my gaze returning to hers.

“This. Us.” Jenny’s rich brown eyes swivel down to stare a hole into her plate. “You don’t talk to me anymore, Vince. You’re barely home. I…” She looks back up. “Are you cheating on me?”

“What?” I exclaim. “No! Jenny, why would you ever think that?”

“You left your phone unlocked. I wasn’t trying to pry, I swear. But… I saw your messages to Tanya.”

“Tanya?” I shake my head. “Jenny, she’s just a coworker. We’re friends, nothing more. You’re the only one for me, babe. I promise.”

“Then why aren’t you here with me, Vince?” Jenny asks. “Even now, you’re off somewhere else. And I don’t know how to find you.”

I sigh. I know Jenny is right, but I have no clue what to say about it. “I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” Reaching into my pocket, I pull out Will’s black notebook and the check. I know it’s deflecting from the real issue. I don’t care. Besides, it’s an excellent deflection. “Will gave me this notebook. And a check for $20,000.”

“Wait, what?” Jenny says. “You can’t be serious. Why?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “Something about the book really set him off, but he didn’t think he could just give it to me without paying me to take it. He told me to go bury it someplace.”

“It’s a joke, right?” Jenny says, sliding the book across the table to herself.

“Nope,” I reply. “No joke.”

Picking up the notebook, Jenny rifles through its pages.

“Jenny, I don’t know that –”

“It’s blank,” she says. “There’s nothing in it.”

“Wait, what?” Jenny tosses the notebook back to me, and I open it. “What in the world? Why did he pay me $20,000 to take a blank – Oh, no, wait. There is something on the first page. It’s just a single line: ‘One. Progressively, you will begin to see the edges of the world fray.’”

“Was that what set him off?” Jenny asks.

“How could it be?” I say. “Unless maybe there’s more going on with Will than a book.”

“Maybe you should call him tomorrow,” Jenny suggests. “To make sure he’s okay.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that.” Shaking my head, I stand. “I’m going to turn something on for a few minutes and relax. Do you want to join me?”

Jenny capably conceals her disappointment. I know she’s not done talking, but I am. Nodding, she follows me into the living room. I smile at her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. We sit on the couch, forgetting about the book, the check, and the strange fuzziness that’s creeping around the room’s edges, just out of focus.

10. The cracks in the world will become more prominent as the new paradigm begins to take hold.

I don’t realize that days have slipped unnoticed through my fingers until the incoming call notification reminds me what a poor friend I am.

“Will!” I exclaim. “How’re you doing, man? I’m sorry, I meant to call, but –”

“You haven’t deposited the check,” Will says, his voice panicked. “Why didn’t you deposit the check?”

“Sorry, I just haven’t gotten around to it,” I reply. “And, honestly, I kind of thought you might regret it, so I was holding off.”

“Vince, do you have it with you?”

“Um, yeah, it’s here somewhere,” I say, pulling open the drawer I had stashed it in previously.

“Please, if our friendship has ever meant anything to you, go deposit it right now,” Will says.

“Will, there’s only one line in the entire book. I don’t think it’s anything to be afraid of.”

There’s a moment of icy silence on the phone. Then Will whispers, “You opened it?”

“Yeah, Jenny and I had a look inside,” I admit. “It was kind of by accident, but –”

Will moans. “Oh, what have I done?” he murmurs. “I’ve damned you both!”

“Will, calm down,” I say. “It’s okay. Do I need to come and pick you up?”

“It starts with one line, but it doesn’t end with one line!” Will shouts. “Look inside the book now, Vince! Do it now!”

“Okay, I’m opening it, Will,” I say, trying to soothe him. “It’s just fine…”

I trail off. There is a line of text on the second page and another on the third. “What the hell?”

“How many pages has it filled?” Will asks. His voice is barely audible.

“Fifteen?” I say. “But… that’s not possible.”

“Fifteen!” Will gasps. “It moved so much slower with me!” He begins to cry on the phone. Somehow, that’s even more disconcerting than the book which seems to have written itself. “Listen to me, Vince. There are only twenty-five pages in that notebook. The person I got it from gave it to me with a car. But I thought it was a trick, too, so I didn’t transfer the title. He disappeared. They still haven’t found him. I tried to burn the book or tear it up, but nothing worked. When the book reached page twenty-three, I got desperate, so I called you. You’ve always been there for me, and…”

“What do we do, Will?” I ask.

The phone crackles. “Oh no,” Will says. “It was right: I’m all alone.”

“Will?” I shout. I lunge to my feet, grabbing the book and the check. “Will, hang on, I’m coming!”

Will’s phone disconnects.

18. Trepidation is typical. It can be uncomfortable to realize everything you have ever known has been an eclipse of glory.

They still haven’t found Will. Jenny holds me on the couch as I lie there, despondent. She’s crying softly.

“It’s my fault,” I say. “He’s dead because I did nothing.”

“We… we don’t know he’s dead,” Jenny replies. “Nothing’s determined yet.” I don’t respond. There’s no need. Jenny clears her throat. “What do we do, Vince?”

“I don’t know,” I say, sitting up.

Now Jenny’s the one who presses into me. “Have you checked to see what page the book is on?” she asks.

It’s lying on the coffee table right in front of us, so near at hand. Still, neither of us can bring ourselves to pick it up.

“I want you to leave,” I say.

“What?” she says, snapping up straight again.

“I can’t pawn this book off on anyone else,” I reply. “I won’t. But I also refuse to let anything happen to you. So, you’re going to give me something with the book, and then you’re going to go stay with your mom for a few days.”

“Are you freaking mental?” Jenny shouts. “Now you’re going to be all chivalrous? I’m not going to leave you! Screw that! We’re in this together!”

“Please, Jenny,” I whisper. “I can’t lose you. You have to go.”

“This is bull, Vince!” She punches my arm. “I’m not leaving, you ass!”

The air around us shimmers and crackles. As I look at Jenny this time, my gaze is stern. Unflinching. “Go.”

24. Now dispense with fear. It is pointless when facing the inevitable.

She gave me her wedding ring. I drink too much, then go outside with the book to await whatever comes next. The stars dazzle overhead like innumerable diamonds surfacing in the abyss, like Jenny’s band on the dining table. Gathering all my strength, I use my phone’s flashlight to look at the book. It’s reached page twenty-four. Whatever is coming will arrive soon.

Will it hurt? How long will I be conscious? Will I go somewhere, or wink out of existence?

The sky cracks overhead. I gasp in awestruck terror as the night lights up like a supernova. I stare up into that blazing white expanse and feel tears welling in my eyes. Jenny…

“VINCE!” Jenny screams.

I tear my eyes away from the unearthly scene unfolding overhead. Jenny races toward me across our backyard as if hell laps at her heels, her eyes trained only on me. Her arms wrap around me like a steel trap, her lips meeting mine.

“Jenny, no!” I cry as I force us apart. “Why did you come back? You have to go!”

“I’m never leaving you, Vince,” she replies. “Not now, and not ever. You’re stuck with me, no matter what.”

I can’t make my tongue form words. At last, though, I manage to choke out, “I love you, babe.”

“I love you, too,” she says.

Jenny and I clutch each other, our gazes locked on one another as above us, two realities converge in a kaleidoscope of rainbow fire. I realize with something like elation that the book had actually made a mistake: we weren’t alone at the end of everything. We had love, and maybe, at least for one moment, it was enough.

25. No one knows what lies beyond the end. You’ll have to find that out for yourself.

THE END