I am becoming something else.

[youarefalling]

Perhaps my greatest comfort through all of this is that I always knew it would end this way.

Recant. They asked Galileo to recant and he did, but I am not Galileo, and I have nothing left to live for, nothing keeping me here. I have learned things. I have learned that, cruel though it sounds, cruel though it is, that day on the bridge happened so

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[texas_forever]

Tim's heading up the path toward the Compound for a shower and he's nearly there, taking his time because there really isn't any kind of hurry in this place. His head drops for half a second, just checking the ground in front of his feet and when it lifts again, there's a flicker and then-- then a man who definitely hadn't been there just a second ago.

At least he's pretty sure of that. Or maybe he really has gone crazy.

His pace slows and his brow furrows as he gets closer, watching the guy carefully as the guy apparently... stares at the wall.

"Hey," he says, quietly, but not exactly friendly from just behind him. "You okay, man?"

[youarefalling]

And that is definitely not a soldier's voice. The ones who get called out after you, most of them are pumped full of die-agra, little blue death-pills, things that make their eyes less dead and more dead at the same time.

I have no idea what's going on. This is not in itself alarming, but it is something to consider.

"I don't know," I says slowly, not turning around. "I think so."

[texas_forever]

His frown deepens then and he stops just a few feet away, still watching him, mostly just looking at the back of the guy's head since he still won't turn around.

It's like he's praying to the Compound and that's one of the strangest things Tim's ever considered. It's a building.

"You just got here," he says then and it sounds partly like a question, but partly not, his eyes narrowing. This has to be a first. Tyra at least hadn't just shown up out of mid air.

[youarefalling]

"As far as I can tell." I turn finally and look up at the man... not a man, really, a boy, tall and broad-shouldered but young, looking at me as though he is as confused as I feel, and a great deal less comfortable with the feeling.

"I think I'm supposed to be dead," I say. I don't feel dead. Though, it should be said, I have no previous first-hand experience of what death feels like.

[texas_forever]

"Join the club," Tim says with something like a snort of a laugh. There's some concern behind it, though. Not for the guy so much as himself; he doesn't like thinking that he's dead or that Tyra's dead. It's a bit too heavy for him.

He hesitates then, but finally takes another step forward. The man looks familiar, but Tim's not sure why and he watches him carefully.

"You're, uh.. you're on an Island," he tries, going with what little he knows is true. "Tropical. No way to get off far as anyone knows, I don't think."

[youarefalling]

Tropical. Yes, but a lot of places are tropical now. Hell, Boston is close to tropical. I remember seeing snow once, but not anytime in the recent past.

"How did I get here?" I ask this as though there were any answer that could make any sense. The last thing I remember seeing is the sky shattering and death reaching through for me. If God scooped me up in His hand, perhaps He put me down somewhere else.

[texas_forever]

Tim shrugs in reply, his brow still furrowed as he watches the guy. He seems... calm. Weirdly calm for having just shown up here.

"Nobody knows," Tim replies and he holds his hand out a little warily, partly in greeting and partly to help him up. He kinda hopes the guy isn't hiding a gun on him or something. "Name's Tim."

[youarefalling]

"John." I take the hand after a moment's hesitation and let him help me to my feet; I am not afraid of this boy, but there's too little here to be sure of. It's hard to know what one's next move should be. "It's good to meet you, Tim."

I release his hand and look around again, and even the air feels good and fresh when I pull it into my lungs. "This is..." I tilt my head back and smile. "This isn't like anywhere else I've been in a long time."

[texas_forever]

Tim's really not sure how to read that, but then he's never been much good at reading people as a general rule. And, he still can't quite figure out what to make of him.

At least John's a relatively simple name. Probably a hundred guys in Dillon named that, not that he can think of any.

"Where you from?" he asks after a moment, thinking maybe that'll help him figure out the rest. If there is anything.

[youarefalling]

"Boston," I say, still taking in the trees, the air. Everywhere I went back home was wrong. You could feel it under your feet. The land itself was conscious of a great change taking place, the loss of snow, the floods. The red tide. This place is warm, but it has always been that way. It's right. I can feel it.

"Boston, in the Year Zero," I continue, almost dreamily. "The end of the world."

[texas_forever]

Well, that's... not exactly what Tim expects.

"I'm from 2006," Tim says, like it'll help explain anything. Though, it's more like he's trying to make himself at ease than he is this guy. This guy... John, apparently... doesn't feel like he needs to relax any.

[youarefalling]

"2006." I turn back to him, considering. In 2006 I was twenty years old. As old as this boy looks, and he may be younger. "You're from the past," I say, more to myself than to him. "You're from just when it was all starting to go wrong."

Which is not entirely accurate. The seeds of the end were planted far, far earlier than that.

[texas_forever]

Tim shakes his head a little, his brow still furrowed in something between curiosity and complete bewilderment. Part of him just expects the guy to pop and let loose.

"Uh," he starts, still frowning and, strangely, he thinks of that Landry kid and how he'd probably have an easier time with this than Tim's having. "I uh, I don't think time really has a whole lot of meaning here," he says somewhat awkwardly. "People come from all over."

[youarefalling]

"I see." I'm confusing him. I think it's me, anyway. I feel a certain amount of sympathy, but he at least knows more than I do.

A place where time has no meaning. Well, one place springs immediately to mind. It might be a long shot, but I should at least eliminate it as a possibility.

"Look," I start, smiling as though I know that what I'm asking is preposterous. "I know this might seem like a strange question... but this isn't Heaven, by any chance, is it?" If not Heaven, then maybe a place to wait.

Back home people thought I had the answers. If only they knew how truly few I have.

[texas_forever]

"I really don't know," Tim replies, feeling more and more awkward and uncomfortable. Not that he really thinks John will do anything (and, if he did, Tim's pretty sure he could take him anyway), but he's unnerved by the calm, maybe. The way he just seems to be accepting everything.

"Sorry, man," he adds with a slight frown and he doesn't know why he's apologizing either. "If it helps any, I can't imagine it is. Don't know why I'd be here for one thing."

[youarefalling]

Somehow the answer doesn't surprise me. I don't know what the plan is for us, for any of us, but I can't help thinking that if I were in Heaven I would know it.

But the last thing Tim says makes me shake my head, still smiling. "I wouldn't say that," I say. "From my understanding, we're all pretty equally guilty of something. It's not individual guilt He's interested in."

What matters is what you do before the dark falls.