Lullaby: The Happy Ending

After a minute of trying to ignore the persistent knocking on the front door, Li glanced up. He sighed sharply and set his book face down on the coffee table. 

Li swung the door open and was about to start shouting at the person who had the nerve to hammer on for that long to see his panicked friend.

"Justin? . . . Dude, are you okay?" 

Standing by the front door was his best friend Justin. Li couldn't count the number of times he had come to his door in some kind of a mess. This was one of those times. 

Justin gave a tiny muffled scream and buried his hands in his wild hair. There was flour all over his nose and cheeks. Justin smelled like something was burning, and his clothes were stained bright red. 

“I’m trying to set the oven and Storie will not help me and Alexa is going to be home in three hours and I need help." 

Li pulled Justin's shirt forward to look at it closer. “Is that blood?" Li sighed. "Justin what did you do this time.” 

“Nah, just cranberry juice. And sugar, a lot of it. I spilled the pot on myself by accident.” Justin lifted a hand and tried to wipe the flour off but only managed to get it in his nose, and he sneezed. “I think I’m allergic to flour. I keep sneezing.” 

“Well, generally flour isn’t supposed to get on your face at all-“ Li tried to wipe the flour off Justin with his sleeve, but he started coughing violently and had to take a few steps back. 

“Don’t DO that it makes it worse,” Justin groaned.  

Li snorted and held up a finger. "Wait right here,” He walked out the view of the front door. Justin leaned in through the doorway and mumbled a weak thank you.

~

Justin was sitting cross-legged on the floor, stirring something in a bowl. He dipped a finger into the batter and licked it. "Mmm, that's good," He was about another finger in the batter when Li slapped his hand. 

"That isn't sanitary, and you know it." 

Justin grinned and went back to mixing. "Pass me the vinegar. We have to put it in before the batter sets." Li rolled his eyes but stepped over to the cupboard and pulled out the vinegar. 

"Get the cranberries too, those go in next."

"I feel like you only invite me over during these things when you just want me to get stuff for you." Li held out the cranberries, looked at them for a split second, and broke into a smile. 

"What?" 

"You're making Cranberry Brulee." 

Justin paused what he was doing and looked at him with a funny expression. "What's your point?"

Li grinned. "Cranbrulee." 

"You idiot," Justin grabbed the narrow-necked bottle of pale yellow liquid from Li, who sat down next to him. Justin pulled out the cork before dumping half the contents into the bowl. 

Li propped his chin on the palm of his hand. "Have fun explaining to your family why you made a toxic blob of vinegar."

"I'm making Alexa a birthday present!" He frowned. "It's her favorite, and she's finally coming home for a little while from her apprenticeship." 

"At the very least she's going to enjoy the thought." Li glimpsed down at his watch. "I need to head home and finish my last chapter. The article wants it done by tomorrow morning. Tell Alexa I say Happy Birthday?" 

"Of course, I will. Can you make Isaiah get a bee sting? And then like his face blows up."

"Great idea." Li paused like he was choosing his words carefully. "You know, Finn likes to torture my characters too."

Justin stared blankly down at the batter and started stirring it more vigorously. The sound of the wooden spoon clattering against the bowl echoed around the kitchen. 

"Yeah, maybe," he muttered. "It's not fair, you spend so much time with Finn now." 

Li frowned. "Yeah, I mean of course I'm going to spend time with him he's my boyfriend. How come you don't like him? I thought you guys would be best mates. You have so much in common." 

"I dunno."

Li shot him a pleading look. 

"Maybe," Justin gave in.

Li gave him a soft smile and stood up. “See you later!” He walked out of the house and slammed the door shut behind him. 

Justin groaned and fell back on the smooth tile. He regretted it as soon as his head crashed into the floor. A throbbing pain shot through his skull. 

With a sharp intake of breath, he sat back up and cradled his head in his hands.  

-

Li rushed up to his room and nearly ran over his cat. A tiny porthole-shaped window let thin streams of light inside. Rays of sun made the dust in the air glow and moved the glass mobile over his bed, making the room glimmer like a kaleidoscope. 

Li dropped a stack of papers with illegible handwriting onto his desk. He rifled through the papers until he found one with marks in red ink, indicating it needed to be re-written. 

Li bit his lip and scribbled a little note in the margin to give his character Isaiah a bee sting in the next chapter. Isaiah was allergic to bees, and Justin loved to abuse that. He happily scribbled away for a few more minutes. 

When he was done, he recapped his pen and shoved the stack of papers into a thick yellow envelope, which he crammed in his bag. 

Li walked back up the hall and unlocked the front door. He was greeted with a gust of crisp air, and the smell that always lingered around as dusk was falling. The smell when all the scents of the ocean and the trees mixed together to create something special.

Li strolled along the sidewalk to the mailing office. He saw Maya, she was sweet but insane. If she got the chance, she would tell the children of the neighborhood wild theories on the universe until their eyes grew so large they threatened to pop out of their heads. At which point, parents would steer the kids away. 

He waved in her direction, and she waved back. A moment later, without having any time to process, Li was knocked aside by a wave the size of a skyscraper. 

The cold wall that hit Li enveloped him in a dark new world. He panicked as water filled his lungs, and he coughed. The cough had caused him to suck in more water inside making it a thousand times worse.

He thrashed around furiously, trying to fight his way to the top. 

When his head broke the surface, he gasped and saw he was in a cavern. The walls were pitch black, and they dripped with slimy discolored water.

Li had emerged from the nightmare, but before he had time to scrape together his thoughts, the water climbed higher unexpectedly and banged him against one of the cave's walls. 

Li slid down the slab of cold stone. White lights danced in front of his eyes, and he struggled to keep consciousness. He let go of his bag as he dropped slowly to the bottom. 

-

Li shuddered as he was abruptly dragged back into consciousness. A fire crackled in a nearby grate. Next to it was a sandy-haired person who was scraping already dangerously sharp weapons with a lime green stone. 

He worked with a steady rhythm. The person was good at what they did. Li's pulse rushed as he thought about the possibilities of why this person was so good at their job. Murderer? Assassin? Cut-throat thief? 

His breathing must have been loud because the person's head shot up, and he gazed at Li.

"Perfect. You're awake finally. Come here and help me a while." The person motioned him over, but Li stayed frozen. 

They raised their eyebrows at him. "I don't bite."

Li gave them a wary look and sat down next to them. They laughed shrilly like they hadn't had much practice with it and shoved a smooth navy blue stone into his hand.

The two worked in silence for a while when Li broke it. "So what do I call you? What's your name?" 

Their eyes narrowed into slits, and they focused on him. "Word of advice, never ask anyone here their name. We use labels for safety, names are too unique. Ask for their label next time. You may call me Ivan." 

"Okay then, Ivan . . .Why am I here? I don't really see any reason why you would need me-?"

"What's your job." 

"Excuse me?" 

Ivan slammed the hatchet in his hands to the ground and glared at him.

Li gaped at him. He cleared his throat and tried to steady his voice as much as possible. "I'm a writer." 

"Ah, so you are needed then, aren't you?" Ivan sharpened another dagger. "We couldn't let you do what you were trying to finish. We left you alone for as long as possible." He sighed. "We didn't want to risk anything. But clearly, that was a bad choice. What you wrote, had it been published, would have set our operation back months of work." 

Li had a hundred questions but bit his lip to keep himself from letting them fall out.

Ivan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I assume you have concerns?"

"My family and Justin." Li stared at the floor. "What happens to them?"

"Oh no don't stress about that. We took precautions. They won't have any memory of you." 

Li should have felt relieved. To know that the people he cared about would be at peace with the fact he was gone. It was more than he ever could have asked for. 

But everything Li had done or lived for was scrubbed away. Nobody would realize he was gone. The reality of it made him want to curl up and stop existing for a while. 

"I still don't understand why you took me." Li had to fight back the burning in his eyes as he watched his world crumble. He sniffed and he started hyperventilating. 

Ivan sighed, angrily this time, as he set down the dagger and started polishing the next one. "You control our world. You are the writer, aren't you? If not, this is going to be a very awkward conversation." 

"Writer of-" Li stammered. "I wrote you?" 

Ivan grunted and muttered to himself. "Every time, I swear . . . Yes, you brought our world to life. The universe you've been writing is us, and you were starting to write our downfall. We just couldn't let that happen, could we." Ivan smiled and Li counted two golden teeth. "Now you're going to write our victory, isn't that lovely?"

Li paused and started fidgeting with his fingers. "Say I refused. What then?" 

Ivan examined him coldly. He twirled a knife and stuck it into the ground. It split through the rock floor like it was butter. “It would be a tragic end for you." 

 Li gulped and looked around the room. There were draperies, mainly of what looked like monarchs and crowds of shadowy fallen people. A pile of burnt-up junk sat in the corner of the room. A dog that resembled an off brand looking collie was sleeping in the corner, two tails curled around its legs. 

Ivan plucked the stone out of Li's hands and pointed at a door that had appeared out of thin air. "Leave now. You know everything you need to." 

Li opened his mouth, but it was like Ivan could read his mind. 

"I don't CARE where you go. Just don't touch anything that looks important." 

Li scowled at him but shakily pulled himself to his feet and stalked out of the room. 

If they were going to take him away from his home and his family, they were going to deal with him as well. He was going to break EVERYTHING that looked important. He didn't care if they killed him. 

Never mind he did care if he died- but only a little. There wasn't much left for him to live for.