Eve of Destruction (c) 
Chapter Ten 
By Fiction Writer #13 
(nosex, sci-fi, paranormal)

"It's my birthday!" Sarah-Eve's hands clapped together in excitement.

A snapshot in time, a moment frozen.  It was like walking into a 
photograph.  A child's memory recreated in eerie detail, right down to the 
pink candles that showered the clown decorated cake with sparkles.

The room was decorated with balloons and streamers of a dozen 
different colors.  The cake read 'Happy 5th Birthday Eve!', but the little 
girl leaning over to blow out the flames and make her wish was double 
that age.

Around the room stood other figures, watching as the young girl 
remained locked in a permanent struggle to exhale in a big enough blast 
to blow out the candles.  Most of their faces were in shadow.  A few had 
their visages blurred to the point of being unidentifiable.

Some Paul did recognize, though.  Standing directly behind the hunched 
over party girl was Malcolm, a conical party hat tilted comically on his 
head.  Next to him stood Jonathan Reynolds, a teddy bear with a big red 
bow hidden behind his back.

"Isn't it great?"

Sarah-Eve moved among the assembled guests until she found an open 
space near the cake and her timeless self. "This was the bestest party 
ever!"

Paul reached out to touch the image of Malcolm standing before him, but 
his hand passed through it. "This isn't real."

"Yes it is.  Look, everyone is here and they are giving me tons and tons 
of gifts!  I had soooo much fun.  After we had cake, we all had ice cream.  
I had strawberry, and, and, Grampa had chocolate, and Uncle Jonathan 
had vanilla but he dropped his spoon and it got all over his pants, and 
we all laughed.  And then we all watched 'The Little Mermaid' cause it is 
my most favorite movie."

"Eve, I..." Paul moved around to her side of the table. "I don't think any 
of this is real.  I think it's all made up."

Sarah-Eve scrunched up her face. "Can't you see it?"

"Yeah, but, I don't know.  It doesn't look right to me." Paul pointed to the 
birthday girl. "If that's you when you were five, shouldn't you be younger 
looking?  And, well, do you know where this place is?"

"Of course I do.  It's, it's..." Confusion washed over her as she tried to 
remember where her fifth birthday had taken place, but no answer came 
to her.  Instead she leaned over the cake, face to face with herself.

"But if this isn't real, then who is she?"

"I don't know, little one.  Let's keep looking and maybe we'll find out."

"Hafta make my wish first."

Sarah-Eve moved away but then surged back, her breath blowing hard 
through pursed lips.  The birthday candles didn't go out or even flicker, 
instead they faded away in a wisp of smoke, blown out of existence by 
her breath.

A chain reaction began.  First the candles, then the cake, the paper 
plates, and the table, blew away like grains of sand.  The erasure 
continued, taking away the party guests and the decorations.  Finally 
even the room could no longer hold together.  The walls shifted, the floor 
heaved.  The air around them filled with the sound of static as the last 
vestiges of the false memory dissolved.

A new image appeared behind the shifting sands.  Another birthday 
party, only this one was for a much younger looking girl.  She too was 
hunched over a cake, but this one read 'Happy 5th Birthday Sarah!' and 
was decorated with flowers, not clowns.  All around her were other 
children.  They seemed to be laughing and having fun.  Sunlight 
streamed in through windows adorned with white curtains.

Behind the young girl stood a tall woman with blonde hair like her own.  
Sarah-Eve's eyes grew big and filled with tears.

"Mommy?"

Next to her stood another figure, this one a man with dark hair and a 
warm smile.

"Daddy?  Is, is that you?"

A subtle change shimmered through the new memory.  Where the other 
had remained as a single moment, this one began to move.  Slowly at 
first, so slow that it was barely noticeable, but in time it began to move 
nearly at a normal pace.  The pair of intruders on this scene from the 
past could only watch as the party came to life all around them.

Voices and sounds grew out of the silence; giggling, paper horns 
blowing, laughter, conversations so thick that they couldn't be followed 
clearly, children's music playing, the squeal and squeak of fingers 
touching balloons.

Sarah's mother raised her voice above the din. "Stephanie!  Robbie!  
Come on, your sister is about to blow out the candles!"

An instant later two more kids appeared in the doorway.  One, a girl with 
long black hair, looked like a young teen.  The other was a boy, no older 
than Sarah-Eve herself, who had sandy blond hair and a deep golden 
tan.  Neither of them looked too happy to be there when they rounded 
the corner, but as they got closer to the table they smiled broadly at their 
little sister.

"That, that's him!  That's the boy in my dreams!  Only he looks younger."

Paul dodged out of the way as the two kids ran to the table in time to 
finish singing, "Happy birthday dear Sarah, happy birthday to you."

The birthday girl's parents leaned in on either side and gave a kiss to 
each of her cheeks. "Make a wish and blow out the candles!"

With a beaming smile and a twinkle in her blue eyes, the little five year 
old took a deep breath and blew as hard as she could.  The tiny flames 
danced for a moment before extinguishing, and with their light gone, the 
entire scene faded to black.

"Noooo!" Sarah-Eve cried out to the darkness. "No, come back!  Come 
back!"

Paul pulled her into his arms and hugged the sobbing girl.  The more 
time they spent in this place, the more he could remember what his life 
was outside of it.  The two of them had come here for a purpose.  They 
came here to do exactly what they had just done, to find the truth.

"Its okay, Eve.  Don't cry.  I'm here for you.  Everything will be alright."

"No, it won't.  I can remember them now.  I know that they are real and 
everything else isn't, but I can't tell which is which.  How can everything 
be okay now?"

"Would have it been better never knowing?  To continue living a lie 
rather than knowing the truth?"

Sarah-Eve continued to sob softly against his chest.

"No."

"That's my girl.  Now let's see what's behind all those other doors, 
okay?"

Sarah-Eve bobbed her head in agreement before releasing Paul.  The 
doorway leading to the corridor materialized, and they stepped from the 
darkness into the dim flickering light of the concrete and steel 
passageway.

Tears no longer flowed down the cheeks of the little girl as the two 
moved back into the corridor and opened more doors, behind each 
waited a false memory obscuring the real.  She took on a steely resolve 
that grew as each moment of her past returned.

"It's coming back now.  My family, my home, my friends, but it's still all 
mixed up in my head."

Paul put a hand on her shoulder as they moved to the next door in line. 
"It'll take time, but you'll figure it out Eve."

"Don't call me that anymore."

"What?"

"That other name.  My name is Sarah.  Eve is a lie."

"Maybe, little one, but she's still a part of you.  You lived as 'Eve' for a 
year, and you have her lifetime of memories.  You might not want to just 
dismiss her outright."

"Why not?  She's not real.  She never was.  I don't owe her anything.  
Because of her, I lost everything that I care about." Sarah pushed open 
another door, but didn't bother to peer inside.  Instead she waved her 
hand into the space beyond as if disgusted with the whole business.

Paul's perspective only offered him a glance into the room before it 
evaporated away.  Eve sitting on the floor surrounded by puppies 
dissolved into a day at an amusement park with Sarah and her family.  
He barely caught the faint sounds of carnival music before Sarah-Eve 
moved on to the next door.

"Think about it, Sarah.  If you hadn't become Eve, then you wouldn't 
have learned about magic." Paul tried to slow her down as she threw 
open the door and repeated her dismissive hand gesture, but she 
ignored him.

"So what?  So I can do magic stuff now.  Big whoop!" She pushed past 
him to open another door. "I never wanted to do it.  He made me.  He 
took me away from my life and forced me to do it.  He didn't ask me if I 
wanted to.  He's a liar."

She pointed into the new room at a memory of her Grandfather having 
breakfast with Dr. Reed and Jonathan. "They're all liars."

She ran into the memory throwing punches wildly at those seated.  Her 
fists never made contact, but the effects of her anger smeared the 
images as if they were created from wet paint.

Suddenly she stopped in mid-swing, turning on her heels in one fluid 
motion to point an accusing finger at the little girl standing on a stool in 
front of the stove flipping pancakes.

"She's the worst of 'em." Like a cat hunting a mouse, Sarah lunged 
across the imaginary room to pounce on her victim.

Paul attempted to intervene but found himself rooted to the floor, sunk 
up to his ankles in a goopy mess of liquid colors.

"Sarah, stop!"

His plea fell on deaf ears as Sarah dove into the frozen Eve with a wet 
splosh.  The reality of the room completely liquefied and splashed to the 
ground in a single crashing wave.  Paul collapsed under the liquid's 
weight.  It stung his eyes and burned his nostrils.  His lungs filled as he 
struggled to stay right upright, to get his feet to touch bottom.  Just when 
he believed all was lost, he broke the surface.

Gasping for air and choking, Paul found himself standing in the middle of 
a swimming pool in someone's backyard.  Desperately he searched for 
Sarah in the blinding sunlight.

"I'm over here."

Paul whipped his head around to find the source of her voice, his wet 
hair sending a spray of water flying.  He found her kneeling on the 
ground beside another memory of herself.  The Sarah in her memory 
was lying on a towel in a blue bikini, her body glistening in the summer 
sun.  Behind them stood a dark blue house.

"This is where I used to live." Sarah, the real Sarah, turned to face her 
dripping teacher. "This is where I belong.  Not in that... that other place."

Paul's eyes caught some movement inside the house.  Helen, Sarah's 
mother, was keeping an eye on her daughter from the first floor.  
Peeking through blinds on the second floor, Paul caught a glimpse of 
another family member.  Robbie had been eyeing up her tiny exposed 
form as well on this day.

Paul hoisted himself out of the in-ground pool and onto the concrete 
patio to join his student.

"Did you know that they were watching you?"

She nodded her head yes. "I wore that suit hoping that Robbie would 
notice that I was growing up," she grinned. "I was so scared and excited 
at the same time.  If my mom hadn't been watching, I planned on taking 
my top off to give him more to see, but she stayed there in the kitchen 
the whole time I was out here."

The sunlight began to fade, and with it went the memory.  Paul and 
Sarah found themselves once again in a dark, empty room, the only 
source of light the doorway leading back to the corridor.

"This isn't what you were expecting, is it?" Sarah took Paul's hand as 
they walked towards the light.

"No, little one." Paul couldn't contain the tinge of disappointment coming 
through in his voice. "Not at all."

Sarah gripped his hand a bit tighter. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I'm holding you back.  You can't move on until I'm done opening all 
these dumb doors."

"Sweetie," Paul knelt down next to her. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be 
here at all.  You're the one holding the moment, not me."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, but, you thought that you would be meeting God 
or something like that.  Not walking around this ugly place opening 
doors."

"This is important, little one.  We have to unlock your memories." Paul 
offered her a smile. "God can wait."

Sarah shrugged, sighing as her eyes traveled down the seemingly 
endless corridor lined with, as yet, un-opened doors. "There's so many 
of them, though.  This is gonna take for-ev-er."

"Be patient.  Time has no meaning here.  We could spend years here if 
we wanted to, but as soon as you let the moment go we would be back 
in my room as if nothing had happened."

Sarah stopped walking, a look of intense contemplation etching her 
youthful face. "Soooo... you're saying that no matter how long we take 
opening these doors, it's not going to matter once we're back?"

"That's right."

"Well... if it doesn't matter how long we take, then it won't matter if we 
open them one at a time or all at once, then, will it?"

"Well, I don't know about that.  I think it would be wise to allow yourself 
time to digest each new memory as it is unlocked."

"But you just said that time is meaningless here, so it won't matter if we 
do it quick or slow."

Paul began to feel uneasy with the direction the conversation was 
heading.

"Sweetie, I really think we need to take our time with this.  I can't say for 
sure what could happen if all your memories are returned to you all at 
once.  It might..."

Sarah interrupted excitedly. "It's like a band-aid!"

Paul's confusion shown on his face.

Sarah tried to explain. "If you take off a band-aid really slow and careful, 
all it does is make it hurt for longer.  But if you pull it off real quick, it 
doesn't hurt as much!"

"I... I understand what you're thinking, but..."

"Nope, no more buts!" Sarah spun away from him and gazed down the 
empty hall.

"Wait, don't do what I think you're going to do.  Not like this!  Eve!"

She ignored him.  Her arms lifted from her sides, stretched out, fingers 
pointing to the walls to her right and left.  Her eyes closed tight in 
concentration, her lower lip trembling.

"I asked you not to call me that anymore."

Quick as a spring loaded trap, her hands came together with a loud clap 
that resounded like a peal of thunder in the enclosed space.  The rumble 
echoed away from them, deeper and deeper down the hall, until they 
were both left in stunned silence.

Paul gazed unblinking into the direction that the sound traveled. "Sarah, 
what did you just do?"

Sarah stood, frozen with fear. "I... I don't know."

A low rumble, a deep sound, one that you feel rather than actually hear, 
ran through the hard concrete floor.  Fine particles of dust shook loose 
from the pipes that ran along the ceiling, slowly drifting down in a light 
snowfall.

Sarah's eyes followed the tiny motes as they gently settled to the floor. "I 
don't know why I did what I did.  It just, I just..."

The falling dust changed direction.  Instead of moving towards the floor 
in a relatively straight line, it began to drift on an angle away from the 
grumbling depths, towards Paul and Sarah.

"What's happening?" Paul turned to face Sarah.  Her hair, which had 
hung limp during their travels, lifted and fell in tiny wisps.  Loose strands 
of gold fluttered in a breeze too faint to yet feel on his bare skin.

"Sarah, what's happening?"

"I don't..." Sarah took a step backwards. "Something's coming."

Paul peered back down the passageway, squinting into the dim glow 
thrown off by the industrial lighting, but couldn't see anything.  The dust 
was gone now, blown away by a breeze that Paul could only now feel.

"What's going on, Sarah?"

"The darkness.  It's... it's getting closer." Sarah took another hesitant 
step in retreat.

Paul searched the distance for some sign of what was approaching.  
The vibrations in the floor expanded to include the air around them, a 
rumbling punctuated by a deep throbbing.  The breeze grew in intensity 
as well, now lifting the corners of Paul's robe into the air.  He was about 
to give up and look to Sarah for an answer when a subtle movement 
caught his eye.  The lights at the extreme far end were being 
extinguished, blotted out by something coming their way.  The darkness 
truly was coming as Sarah had stated.

"Sarah, I think we need to go." The calmness of his voice belied the 
growing panic within him.

The throbbing air grew into a series of thundering booms, a steady 
rhythm, like ocean waves smashing into a sea-side cliff.  Each boom 
pushed a wave of air down the tunnel, washing Paul and Sarah in cooler 
temperatures, and eliciting goose-bumps to rise on exposed skin.

"We have to run, Sarah, we have to get away!" Paul's fear could no 
longer be kept to himself.

Sarah stood silent, rooted in place, her entire body trembling as the 
winds grew to a hair whipping frenzy.

"Sarah!" Paul had to shout over the thunder. "Are you listening to me?  
We have to go!"

Snapped out of her trance by his words, Sarah faced Paul to 
acknowledge him before dropping to her knees on the floor.  Before her 
was a steel hatch which she lifted, revealing a metal ladder leading 
down a dark shaft. "You go first, I'll follow you."

Not needing to be told twice, Paul dropped down and squeezed into the 
opening.  Below him he could see that the ladder seemed to go on 
forever, but there was some kind of light near the bottom.  As he 
clambered down he looked up to make sure Sarah was coming.  Instead 
he found her still squatting above the entry, offering him a weak smile.

"I'm sorry Dr. Paul, but I have to stay and see it."

"Sarah!  What are you doing?  Sarah!"

"I'm sorry." Sarah closed the hatch to cut off his protests. "It's my 
nightmare, and I have to see it through."

The heavy hatch slammed shut with a clang, sealing Dr. Paul on the 
other side.  Sarah stood up, taking a moment to brush off her bare knees 
before once again turning to face the approaching darkness. "Come on.  
I'm waiting for you this time.  Here I am.  Come and get me."

The wind increased to a gale that nearly knocked her off her feet.  
Closer and closer it rushed at her.  The thunderous booms and the 
roaring became deafening in the corridor.

Sarah squinted against the driving wind; tears stripped from her eyes ran 
horizontally across her face to hide in her wildly blowing hair.  The 
source of the darkness and accompanying roar slowly came into focus.

Two at a time, one on the right and one on the left, the steel doors on 
either side of the corridor were exploding open.  Through each gaping 
hole a torrent of water issued forth, crashing into each other in the center 
of the corridor with a massive boom.  The frothy waters merged with the 
approaching darkness, the source of the roar now revealed as the outer-
most edge of an oncoming tsunami.

"Oh God!" Sarah gasped.  She no longer wanted to wait for her 
nightmare to find her.  Terror took hold of her heart, painfully squeezing 
it within her heaving chest.  She looked to the floor, searching 
desperately for the same exit that she had tricked Dr. Paul into using just 
moments before, but found only smooth concrete. "Oh no!"

By the time Sarah looked up from the floor, it was obvious to her that 
there was no escape, no where to run.  The wave of darkness rushed 
towards her at an incredible speed.  Horror caused her to hyperventilate 
as the gap separating her from the wave shortened with each stunted 
breath.  One-hundred yards, seventy-five, fifty, twenty-five, ten... Sarah 
took a deep breath, held it in, and closed her eyes tight.

The instant that she predicted the wave would take her, nothing 
happened.  In fact, even the sound of the approaching wall had ceased 
the very moment she closed her eyes.  She could hear her own 
breathing, still labored and shaky, but no other sounds surrounded her.

For a time, she was too afraid to open her eyes, afraid that if she did she 
would find herself still awaiting the crushing weight of the water to slam 
into her.  She measured the passage of time in breaths.  When she 
reached sixty, she was sure that the danger had passed, that somehow, 
her life had been spared.

Ever so slowly she relaxed the muscles that were squeezing her eye lids 
together.  At first she saw nothing, she was surrounded by near 
darkness on all sides, but as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light she 
found herself standing within a sphere.  All around her she could see the 
water rushing by, its currents so swift and strong that they carried with 
them large chunks of gouged out concrete.

Curious about her protective bubble, Sarah reached out with a cautious 
finger and touched the inner surface.  The tip of her finger passed 
through the membrane without meeting any resistance.  Once on the 
other side she could feel just how cold and fast the water was moving.  
The force of the maelstrom tugged hard against the underside of her 
finger nail, so strong that Sarah feared it would be pulled off.  She 
withdrew her finger quickly and was surprised to find that it was 
completely dry.

"What in the world is going on?" The last remaining light bulb beyond the 
bubble began to flicker off and on before finally going out completely, 
plunging Sarah into true darkness.

A deep chill crept into her.  Visions of herself slowly suffocating in the 
dark caused her heart to pound against her ribs once more.  Her 
thoughts raced.  She was alone, so desperately alone.  Why did she 
send Dr. Paul away?  She would never see her friends again.  She 
would never see her family again.  Everyone she ever cared about was 
gone.  She was lost.  Lost in this nothingness.  Forgotten.  All alone and 
no one cared.  No one ever cared.  Why would they?  She was nothing 
special.  She was worthless.  A lost cause.  They didn't love her, they 
were using her.  Lying to her.  She couldn't do the things they said she 
would do.  She didn't even know what those things were.  How could she 
do them?

For a long time she just stood, sobbing and shivering in the eerie silence 
as painful memories flitted into and out of her mind.  Moments where 
she felt lost or unwanted hung about her neck like an anchor dragging 
her down into a deep sea.  Her bleary tear stung eyes searched the inky 
black for any signs of change.  Finding none, she again extended a 
finger and poked outward, seeking the surface of the bubble.

"Whaoh!  That's cool!" As her finger sunk past the thin barrier, ripples of 
iridescent light spread out across the bubble's surface.  Every movement 
of her finger produced more and more ripples.  Soon she was 
surrounded by a swirling rainbow of light which filled her with a giddy 
warmth.

The warmth traveled through her finger tips, up her arms and deep into 
her core.  She couldn't help but smile as the tingly sensations flowed 
through her body.  It was a familiar feeling, one she had experienced a 
few times during her life as Sarah, and numerous times as Eve, but 
absolutely unmistakable.  She was on the verge of having an orgasm, 
and not just any orgasm, but one of the best she had ever felt.

Memories began to surge into her mind one after another.  They flipped 
by so fast she barely had a chance to recognize them as her own before 
they fluttered away.  The pure joy she felt as they caressed and tickled 
her mind caused her knees to buckle and her toes to curl.  Higher and 
higher her bliss climbed, until she found herself laughing so hard that it 
made her sides hurt.

One particular memory jumped to the front of her mind.  This one so 
powerful, so full of happiness, it shot into her and bounced around like a 
pin-ball, leaving in it's wake a series of girlish giggles.

She was standing in a corridor, just like the one in her dreams, just like 
the one she had been in with Dr. Paul, only this time she was already 
wet, still dripping from having just left a room full of showers.  Her 
brother was there, Robbie was standing with her.  She had just risked 
everything, everything to confess her love for him, but she had to, she 
just couldn't hold it inside any longer.  He had fallen silent after her 
words, leaving her to feel the embarrassment and despair of unrequited 
love come crushing down.

Slowly he knelt down on the floor before her, trying to meet her gaze, but 
she kept turning away from him, not wanting to confirm what she already 
believed.  That he did not feel the same way as she did.  He reached up, 
forcefully taking hold of her head, forcing her to look into his beautiful 
blue eyes.

"I love you too, Sarah.  I love you more than I could ever tell you.  I've 
always been in love with you, but I've been too chicken shit to tell you.  
So let me show you."

Her heart pounded and her thoughts swooned as he pulled her close, 
crushing her tiny body against his.  His lips, so soft, so tender, so warm, 
pressed against her own.

'He loves me!' she cried out joyously in her mind as she melted against 
him, into him, becoming one with him.  When the kiss finally broke, she 
felt broken herself.  She would never again feel complete, not without 
Robbie.

He held her so tight, and she loved being in his muscular arms.  It made 
her feel safe, secure.  It made her feel as if there were no obstacles that 
she could not overcome so long as he still loved her.

"I would never leave you behind Sarah.  Not now, not ever." He was 
crying softly as he spoke, so she held on tighter to him, letting him know 
that she would be there for him as well.

He kissed the top of her head as they trembled against one another. "I 
love you."



Continued in Chapter Eleven....


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