Christopher watched as the last of their light flickered in the wind, and then, darkness descended. The woods were coming back to life. Christopher ran to his mother, bleeding on the ground. He helped her to her feet. She put her weight on her leg, bitten to ligaments by the deer. Christopher helped his mother over the graves left by the skeletons as the hissing lady grabbed the sheriff and threw his arm over her neck like a soldier.
The four limped to the tree.
The door opened to light. The hissing lady threw the sheriff into the trunk. Back to life. Back to the real side. She turned to Christopher’s mother. One look a lifetime.
“Go!” she said.
Christopher’s mother moved her son into the light. Christopher looked back at the hissing lady when suddenly, he saw the nice man charging them. Christopher knew both of them couldn’t get out. It was either him or his mother. He threw his mother into the light.
“No!” she screamed.
The nice man grabbed Christopher and yanked him back into the clearing. The hissing lady rushed at him. In his fury, he threw her down like a chew toy for the deer.
“chrisssStopherrrrr,” hE said. “iF i can’T leavE, yoU can’T leavE.”
The nice man shoved Christopher against the tree.
“yoU tooK alL oF mY petS.”
The nice man locked the door, then held the key in front of Christopher’s face.
“i wilL starT oveR witH yoU.”
He put the key in his mouth and swallowed. Christopher saw the metal poking inside the skin of his throat. The door was locked. The key was gone. Christopher was trapped.
“yoU wilL neveR leavE mY sidE.”
Christopher looked for an escape, but there was nowhere to run. He had given all of the power to his mother. David was gone. The hissing lady was passed from deer to damned. The man in the Girl Scout uniform pulled out a knife. The kissing couple regrew their teeth to twice the normal size. The man in the hollow log giggled like a child. They stood, waiting for their turn.
Christopher looked to the horizon and saw soft light begin to break above the trees. The sun was rising. Something would change in the dawn. He felt it all around him. The voices chanting.
Death has come.
Death is here.
You die on Christmas Day.
Christopher saw the sun break over the horizon. Suddenly, he felt a voice. A little voice cutting through all of the others. He would have known that voice anywhere.
It was his own.
“I forgive you,” he said.
“whaT?” the nice man asked.
Christopher looked at the nice man in the light of dawn. He realized he was a magician. He always had people looking in one hand while he moved things in the other. That was his only real power.
Christopher looked down into his hand. He saw a string. Invisible. He had carried it his whole life. He never knew it was there. He didn’t give all of his power to his mother because the power of God was not omniscience. The power of God was not omnipotence.
The power of God was love.
“I forgive you,” he repeated.
Christopher knelt down in front of the nice man. He loved everyone. All the people above. All the people below. He knew it was his destiny to die in these woods. To keep the nice man unaware of the fact that to get out, he only needed to look in. Because in was out. To keep power you give it away. It doesn’t take violence to kill evil. It takes good.
“I forgive you,” Christopher repeated.
The nice man ran at him like a howling dog.
“sssStoP sayinG thaT!” he hissed.
“You can kill me,” Christopher said. “I will take all of their places.”
Christopher lowered his head ready for death.
“i won’T leT yoU diE! yoU wilL neveR escapE! i havE lockeD thE dooR.”
“You can’t lock the door,” Christopher said.
“whY!?” the nice man laughed.
Christopher looked at the hissing lady and smiled. All was quiet and calm.
“Because there is no door.”
Christopher reached up and felt his eyes. It was so easy to see in everyone else, and so hard to see it in himself. His eyes were sewn shut. Christopher reached up and tore the stitches from his eyes. He looked at everything in the plain light of day. The clearing. How small it seemed now. Like going back to his old school and seeing the tiny lockers. The shadows were not terrifying. They were the proof that light exists. The fire and brimstone were all a mirage. The clouds nothing but steam inside a bathroom. All he needed to do was wipe away the mirror.
He didn’t need a key.
He was the key.
Christopher turned to the nice man with his real eyes. For the first time, he saw…
The d
evil.
Calm. Still. Ready to strike. Abandoned. Insane. Inside a trap that hE could not see. hE was all alone. hiS eyes were sewn shut. hiS mouth was zipped tight. hE held the string around hiS own neck. hE did nothing but gaze into the reflection of hiS own smoke and mirrors and call them clouds. hE wasn’t a God. hE was a coward.
Christopher reached up and unzipped his mouth. Christopher loosened his jaw and spoke for the first time out loud.
“I am free now.”
Christopher dropped the string. The door inside the tree opened.
“nOOOO!” the devil screamed.
The tree opened everywhere. The light broke through the cracks in its skin, cascading out of the giant trunk. The deer and damned ran from it. Their eyes wild with panic. All Christopher heard were two words inside all of their madness. Inside all of their screams.
“Help me.”
The light absorbed them all and took them away in floods. Some wept. Others screamed. And in an instant they were gone. Leaving the hissing lady safely on the ground, the light already beginning to heal her.
Christopher looked at the nice man.
“I love you.”
Then, he turned and walked back into the light.
* * *
The nicE maN ran at him. Murderous.
“yoU’rE noT goinG anywheRe…”
hE ran blindly into the light and reached in to pull Christopher back. hiS skin burned when hE hit the invisible fence. hE pushed through with all of hiS rage.
“wherE iS thE dooR!?”
It burned hiM, but hE wouldn’t stop. Christopher left an opening. Somewhere. hE could feel it. Where was iT!? hE could get out! hE ripped the key from hiS throat. hE kept testing the fence, burning hiS body. Looking for the door. Where is it!? Where is it!?
“geT mE ouT oF herE!”
hE saw Christopher walking back to earth. Christopher was in his tree house on the real side. hE could smell the fresh winter air. The pine trees. Christopher left the tree house. hE saw it.
The tree house door was open!
“leT mE ouT!”
hE could feel the surge of energy outside. The wet grass and winter. hE could get out! hE squeezed hiS body through an opening in the fence, burning hiS skin to scars. hE was inside the tree house on the real side. Christopher slammed the door. hE looked out to the real world through the windows. Wild-eyed and insane. Freedom was on the other side of the door. hE ran at the tree house door. hE was going to escape!
“i aM freE noW!” hE screamed.
Christopher threw his body against the door. The nicE maN pushed against the other side. Ripping the wood. Clawing. Trapped like a caged animal.
“leT mE ouT! leT mE ouT!”
The sheriff joined Christopher. The whole town pushed back. The nicE maN moaned and scratched the glass windows.
“yoU arE all goinG tO burNNN!”
Suddenly hE saw water pouring down the windows in thick streams. hE thought it was rain, but hE hadn’t brought the clouds. hE didn’t know what it was until he took a deep breath through his nose. The mossy pines and the winter air were replaced with another smell.
Gasoline.
hE saw Christopher’s mother climb down from the roof to the ladder with the gas can. Three words stenciled on its side. COLLINS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY. She held a match in her hand. The nicE maN frantically scratched the window to put out the flame. Christopher put his palm against the glass, the whisper scratch touching the nicE man’S hand.
“You are free now,” he said.
Christopher’s mother threw the match onto the tree house.
The dEvil screamed.
Christopher looked at the nicE maN with no malice. No hatred. Nothing but compassion and forgiveness. Christopher took hiS hands and gave the dEvil back everything hE had ever given the world. hE was Mrs. Henderson alone and unwanted in the kitchen. hE was Mike sewing hiS own brother’s eyes shut. hE was Scott and Jenny drowning in floods. hE couldn’t drink enough for Ms. Lasko. hE couldn’t get warm in the freezing backyard with Brady Collins or his mother. hE was the first parent who ever abused hiS child and every child since.
“makE iT stoP!”
The fire ate through the window frames. The door. hE ran everywhere to get away from the feeling. hE screamed through the tree house windows. Every word in another voice.
“puT ouT thE firE! gooD guyS wiN warS. listeN tO grandmA!”
And a quiet voice from centuries ago.
“To kill in the name of God is to serve the devil.”
Light poured into hiS eyes. Blinding hiM. The nicE maN felt the light surround hiM. The tree house was a wooden straitjacket. The burning was too great. The hissing lady pulled hiM back through the light. Back to the giant tree in the blood-soaked clearing.
The devil was back in Hell.
hE looked at the hissing lady, who reached down and took the key from hiS charred hand. She locked the door behind her with a click. Then, she put the key back around her neck. There were no more doors. No more escapes. There were no more deer. No more damned. No more shadows.
There was only him and her.
“You’re off the street,” she smiled.
hE looked at her. Defeated. Broken. hiS eyes blurry from rage baptized in tears. hE ran at her with all the hatred in hiS heart. The hissing lady stood quiet and still. She was at peace.
“diE!” hE screamed.
hE swung and hit her with all the force of Hell.
* * *
She felt no pain. She only heard a voice. A sweet gentle voice.
“Come home. I’m sorry. Your Father loves you.”
Her brother died on earth. It was her choice to die here. The hissing lady broke into a million pieces of light. The nicE maN watched the hissing lady ascend to Heaven. Stars streaking across the sky. We all become the ocean. We all become the stars.
“Please, come home. You’ve done enough. Your Father misses you so much.”
The hissing lady approached her Father’s house. A grown woman freezing in the backyard. She knocked on the door and waited until He opened it. She felt the warm kitchen air. The hissing lady looked up at her Father. He opened His arms and held her.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” she said.
“I know you are. I’m sorry, too,” He said.
“I love You, Father,” she said.
“I love you, too, Eve,” He said, kissing her forehead. “Welcome home.”