chapter four

Dottie knew exactly where she was—Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow, School for Girls. It was different all boarded up. With a tall fence around it with Hazmat warning signs. Everything decayed and overgrown and sorrowful. No girls in little plaid skirts, crucifixes planted firmly around their necks. She touched her neck. What made her want to see this? She found a break in the fence and crawled through.
She went straight to the baptismal font. There’d been an incident. She walked down the long corridor. The government blamed terrorists, in what had become the longest war in history. With no memory of how it started and no foreseeable end. Of course, it was Gaza and the perpetual need to bring about an Armageddon that would bring down Jesus to judge us but never did. Thank God.
The font still ran. It poured over with genetically modified flesh-eating bacteria. Dorothy stepped to the front. Gingerly swiped her fingers through the water. Nothing. But it felt wet.
“They didn’t even remove her.”
“What?”
“They locked her up in here to die. It probably didn’t take long.”
Dorothy moved slowly around the font. There was the little girl, a pile of acid-pocked bones in loose clothing. “Who are you?”
“Her niece,” she said. “Scottie.”
“That was her name.”
“Yes.” Scottie moved out of the corner, stuck out her hand.
Dorothy shook it. “Dorothy,” she said. Silence. “Why can I see you?”
“Same plane, both visiting.” More silence.
“I could feel the water. It was wet. Shouldn’t I be melting.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure it out. I’m pissed they let this machine out with so many kinks.”
“What?”
“My project,” she said. “I’m glad you’re not melting.” Scottie laughed something awful. “You were a friend of my mother’s,” she said. “Catherine.”
Dottie choked. “Catherine Byrne?”
“All my pens and paper and stuff are back at base. If I told you her number would you remember it?” They stepped into the chapel.
“I can try. Will you try to remember mine? Just in case? You’re so much younger dear.” They sat in the back pew, exchanged numbers, muttered them together until they remembered.

chapter 3

He swallowed his pill and stepped into the cylinder.
There was no screen. Dottie and the cat were gone.
So was he. George didn't know where he was, except it was blue.
He started thinking about his wife and that there was no screen. $5,000 for this should have...
He stopped thinking about her and instead thought about France.
France, he thought. France France France.
George remembered hearing friends talk about going to Europe when he was in college.
He was always too busy.
The blue was gone. Everywhere he looked, it was dark.
I'm dead, he thought. They took my money and killed me.
Perfect crime; no body left, just a pill dispenser and whatever Dottie signed, which she probably didn't read. At least I won't have to deal with the cat pissing on my side of the bed anymore.
He noticed he was standing on asphalt. It was still dark, but he could see fields on both sides of the road where he was.
George saw headlights.
He waved. The car sped by.
He saw a town's lights down the road where the car came from and started walking.
He thought he saw a beacon, but it was a motorcycle.
Eventually he got to the town. He saw billboards for McDonald's and Nike. The buildings all looked ugly and pre-fab.
George waited for someone to come by. He had no idea where he was.