There are curses, and there are choices
Fortune Cookies
:
The Curse
by Cybertron1986
Background Finally, after accepting his reality, Eu El, armed with only the knowledge of his comic heroes, fights against both his inner fears, and the shadows from the other side.
The song continues in El's head, its lyrics rerouting his thoughts from the distractions that could slow his sprint to less than what is needed to escape the darkness that engulfs him.
El calculates that any pace slower than what he is already achieving could be fatal.
He finds inspiration in a world which he was not ready to face as the guitar solo fades into an angelic verse projecting a simple lyric with a message:
("Ooo, baby, do you know what that's worth?!
Ooo, Heaven is a place on earth!")
As every visible property within the darkness slows around him like a view from inside a speeding car that exits a freeway, El reaches into his sister's crib. He is desperate for a breath of air he knows he cannot take.
Close by, the eerie shadow gently closes a cupboard door, ready to place El's sister into the bubbling cauldron.
He peers cautiously over the crib's side, relieved to see his sister's smile. She extends a delicate acknowledgment with the uncoordinated motion of her infant hand.
Placing his finger over his lips, El motions to her to remain silent. Gently, he touches her fingertip with his own to assure her she is safe. His heart, expecting a rare victory, beats rapidly with the anticipation of failure, a familiar feeling he has carried since the day his brother stabbed him with the sharp end of a geometric compass for being just that...
a failure.
The erratic pounding alerts the shadow, its growl more fierce than a lion's. "Your heartbeat, boy. There is doubt and fear inside each beat... it tempts me."
The shadow looks away into the emptiness, waiting for the perfect moment to express itself with a message powerful enough to paralyze a thousand souls with each phonetic sound.
"So much talent, boy. Yet, doubt controls you, boy. It is a savoring and delicious tragedy that is not ready to enjoy. If I could choose one heart, I would want yours!"
Within that moment of desire, the shadow becomes distracted.
"I want it!"
Windcharger screams to El, "Grab your sister! Run!"
The shadow turns her attention to a sudden moving object that appears as an electric blue bolt swiftly moving with vicious grace toward a light. Inside the bolt is an infant, El's sister, tightly grasped within the blur of its skinny arms.
Noticing the empty crib, the shadow lets out a deafening wail that reaches every crevice inside the darkness.
*Approaching the light behind the door, El hears another voice which he has not heard since he was nine years old; it is the taunting voice of his fourth grade teacher:
"Get YULIE BURGER! He's hot like a patty on a grill! Yuuuuuulie Buuuuurger!"
As if a stop button had depressed inside of him, El's sprint slows with the weight of sadness; the light of salvation rapidly stretches farther and farther away from him.
From El's conscience, Windcharger re-gathers his friend's focus with a simple but relevant memory.
"Your cassette tape...side B. You recorded that new song last week. Play it!"
"La Bamba?!"
"No! The one after 'Wake Me Up Before You Go! Go!"
A stream of notes from a synthesized piano plays in his mind. It is followed by a new set of lyrics that recalibrate his concentration and transforms him into a sight faster than the sound of his own blurred legs sprinting toward the light.
("Out of the Blue!
Out of the Blue!
Like a dream come true!
Like a dream come true!")
"Of all the races you are to run," Windcharger advises El, "this is the one you cannot lose. However, if you win, you won't have anything left to succeed in your world. Is your sister worth it?"
Maintaining his glowing streak, El gazes at his sister's innocent smile. He has no thoughts of yesterday, or any consideration for his tomorrow. Within that simple moment he smiles back at his sister, while the gap of the light behind a door slowly closes, the width nearing half the height of his body.
The song continues:
("Suddenly, I see you there...
And everything's ok.")
El, accelerating faster than the pauses of his heartbeat, squeezes past the narrowing gap before the door closes with thunderous slam.
Stumbling outside, El carefully checks his sister, who is cradled safely in his arms.
He observes the blackness around him dissipating like a fog before the rising sun. The dark hall brightens into a welcoming glow that assures him they are both safe. His sister looks back at him with wide eyes.
"Well done, hero. From here on, the fight will be your own," echoes Windcharger. "Thirty years from now, when you hear those words again, you will know this wasn't a dream."
Puzzled, but victorious, El makes a comfortable sigh as the delicate giggles of his sister begin to calm his shaking hands. The moment diverts his attention, but not ours, to the door soundlessly opening behind him.
Unnoticed, a blackness in the form of a crooked arm oozes from below the door to El's feet like blood pooling from a fresh slaughter. With the quickness of a bear trap, the hand, cold and sharp, clenches around his ankle.
Echoing deep inside the darkness behind the door, the voice of the shadow curses at El.
"Heroic and selfless you are, boy! You will accomplish great things with your gift. Yet, no one in YOUR world will notice. The innocence you cherish in your sister will be your demise! The day your sister loses her innocence, I will return to feast on YOUR heart!"
As if on cue, a sudden light flashes to wake El, who finds himself sitting upright on his bed.
Sweating and breathing heavily, El reevaluates his understanding of what reality he may have lost and what fantasy he may had just survived.
A digital clock clicks 3 a.m. from across his room.
Beneath the moonlight, he looks downward at his collection of G.I. Joe and Transformers action figures that are sprawled across the carpet like the aftermath of a futuristic battle between man and technology. Each action figure lays either face down, or on their backs...
defeated.
Like a silent survivor, a lone Transformers figure, Windcharger, stands perfectly upright staring back at El.
Looking beyond the crescent moon through his window, El gazes up to the heavens promising to himself, "I'll never watch another Freddy Krueger movie without permission. Cross my heart."
Slowly, he falls asleep unaware the doors of darkness had just opened, and his journey back into the light was just beginning.
