Good, and Bad
I was at home, my home on the water. I was with my younger sister,and we were hanging out with friends. it was the darkest, and stormiest of nights, complete with lightning and rain. the streets began to flood. I had been drinking heavily, and decided that it wasn’t a big deal, despite my sister’s insistence that we were in big trouble. I stepped out onto the deck, to gauge the progress of the flood water, but to my dismay I found much more on that deck, I found three bodies, stabbed to death. One lying on top of the next, all with eyes wide, and a look of mingled surprise, and terror. I immediately look for my sister, and I find her, right where I left her, safe and sound. Despite the flood, now six, to seven feet above the street, I opt to leave this house, and whoever else is in it, before we end up like the others. I grab some wood to float on, and some fins, and we jump into the surprisingly comfortable water. The farther I swim from the house, the calmer the storm becomes. I begin to lose my bearings however, as there are no more buildings, trees, or hills in sight, I am now on the open ocean, at night. I am losing my mind, I must be, because none of this makes sense. Where is my house? What city am I from? What happened to my city? What ocean is this? I become frantic, trying to put the peices together, but as I lose control of my self, I start to see fins, and they don’t look like dolphin. I have to put my mental crisis on hold, because there is now a more important objective, to survive. I don’t swim fast, because, where is there to swim to? I put my sister on my back, and try to move forward without splashing, because I was always told that splashing is a great way to incite a shark attack. As I regain my composure, the fins dip back into the ink black water. You can’t imagine how quiet a still ocean is at night. It seemed that the potentially limitless space would absorb any sounds into it’s dark expanses. After swimming it a straight (?) line all night with my sister on my back, I saw a dull light on the horizon. I thought at first that I was hallucinating, but as I drew closer, I saw a great dark city, silhouetted in the moonlight. This city is called Bad, I later learned. There was a man, waiting for us at the shore, a very large man who’s boots were sunk neatly into the coal colored sand. “Greetings Daniel! How was your journey? Pleasant I hope. Though I am sorry about your sister’s friends, but we couldn’t think of another way to get you here. Welcome to Bad.” The large man actually had a very pleasant voice, despite the insane content of his speech. “Follow me.” He said. And amazingly, I didn’t question him, I had no idea where to start, I still had the unnerving sensation that my mind was unraveling, and it was taking all of my concentration to keep from going mad. The man took us through the night, through a large black city, lit by intense moonlight. The city was made up of hundreds of gargantuan industrial spires, and smokestacks, vomiting pitch. As I thought it, my sister said it: “I wonder what this city looks like in the daytime?” she said. “beware little one, The question you ask is forbbidden to be spoken aloud, but know this: When the sun rises on Bad, the world will shudder, and its last breath shall be had.” was the large man’s reply. “Armageddon” I muttered. “That’s why you two are so important!” he said cheerily “If only we had the others…Ok we’re here.”
We pull up to a surprisingly out of place house, painted bright colors, and gilded in ornate trim. Though the colors were muted in the moonlight, I could still tell they were there, and I was reminded of a children’s story: Hansel and Gretel. We were ushered into a large living room, that was very bright, almost blinding to my night adjusted eyes. It was warm, and inviting, like a grandmothers house. As nice as it was, something was wrong with it, as if the books were all fake, and the furniture still had price tags on it. This environment was carefully crafted, created for the two of us. The “windows” were all lit from behind, and had pictures of bright blue skies, and lush green grass in them. We were showed our rooms, and I felt the same way, as if this were a set, and we were players. Somehow though, I didn’t have the strength, or place of mind to do anything about it, I just did what they told me. The large man closed the door to our room behind him, and I just went and laid down on my bed. I heard a crinkle, and felt under my pillow, there was a letter, addressed to me!
Dan,
I am writing you from Good, the north city, you and your sister must find your way here, it is of the utmost importance. Many of your friends made it here, and we need you as well. Take this phone, and use it at your leisure, this is all the help we can offer. Good luck.
Sincerely,
The Magistrate
I tore the letter to shreds. This action seemed to break the spell cast over me, as I now saw the room for what it was, without glamor. The room was dingy, and the beds looked like hospital issue, old and dusty, with large restraints, and surgical steel side tables. Then there was my sister, gazing far off into space. I went up and shook her, but nothing worked, she was deep under. I couldn’t carry her with me, so I decide to go to Good alone, and come back for her. I went downstairs to find the large man (now he looked extremely menacing, with a scarred and scabbed face) and escaped through the front door. The dark city was loud, much louder than I remember it on the way in. I had no bearings, but I knew I needed to get north. I decided which way to go, and jumped on the back of a freight train out of the city. I rode for what seemed like days, but time was funny here, it might have been years. When I awoke, I found the crack of the door to the freight car beaming with bright light, and I opened it. I saw the most beautiful light city, clean, and bright. Good, a bustling metropolis filled with people and cars. My phone that I had received in Bad beeped at me, and I looked down noticing that it was now in service. My rail car was going across a bridge over water. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t stop in Good, so I jumped into the water, for the second time this journey. When I reached the shore I called Britt, my ex wife, and sure enough she picked up. I asked her where she was, and she told me what district of Good she was in, and how I could get there. When I met her, she was overjoyed to see me, she said that “everyone” thought I was dead, or that they had “gotten in your head”
She explained the city, and it’s system of credit instead of cash, and she gave me a little map. I was told to just live my life, and to enjoy Good, and that there was no hope for my sister, as it was probably too late anyway. I couldn’t accept this, so I went and bought a sword, and began formulating a plan on how to get back to Bad to save her.
This is when I woke up.
