“Hello?” I cried into the echoing void, but no one answered. Unnerved, I stumbled forward, unable to feel the ground over which my feet moved. I couldn’t feel anything, not even the cool metal which had previously bound my wrists.
A pinprick of light appeared on the horizon, and I rushed toward it, desperate to get out of this dark place. I still couldn’t bring my hands forward despite not being able to feel the cuffs on my skin, which resulted in my waddling more than jogging toward my destination.
As I moved closer, the tiny light pulsed and expanded, and out stepped Merlin in all his Maine Coon glory. Instead of normal shining green, his eyes were deep black, lifeless, soulless.
“I didn’t choose you. I got stuck with you,” he sneered, addressing my secret fear head-on.
“No, no. It’s not true,” I said, recalling our earlier conversation. I hadn’t been his initial choice, but he was very happy that we’d ended up together.
“You’re lying,” I bit out.
And with that, the false Merlin burst into a puff of smoke and floated off into the darkness.
“You were an illusion,” I told myself. “Just an illusion.”
I’d called the imposter cat on his lie and he’d left me alone. I just had to remember to find the truth. Hopefully it would set me free from this awful place.
Another pale flicker of illumination appeared to the distant right, so I stepped toward it, bracing myself for what I might find there.
A tall man’s silhouette appeared. I couldn’t make out his features but recognized him as soon as he spoke. Harold.
“You may not have killed me, but it’s your fault I’m dead,” he told me with great anger.
What could I say to that? I couldn’t deny the part I’d played. This accusation was perfectly true.
Harold kept going, feeding my guilt, making it grow bigger and bigger.
“I always knew you were a worthless employee, but I kept you on out of the kindness of my heart. And how did you repay me? Ha!”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled as tears began to form in the corners of my eyes, making my vision blurry. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“A little too late for that,” he scoffed. “And what happens if you get yourself out of this alive? Will you kill your next boss, too?”
“I—” My voice broke. “I didn’t mean to. I’m so, so sorry.”
“I have no one to mourn me, and it’s your fault,” he raged.
“No,” I whispered, lifting my head high. “Your daughter Kelley misses you very much. All she ever wanted was the chance to know you. And she’s still trying to find out who you were, even though you’re gone, even though her mother doesn’t want her to. And I’m trying to help. I shared stories with her. I helped her stand up to her mother…”
That’s when it hit me.
“I never liked you very much,” I continued, using this opportunity to get it all off my chest. “But I didn’t want you to die. And it’s not my fault you did. Yes, they were trying to frame me, but I didn’t choose this magical world. It chose me. Even though I’m very sorry for what happened to you, Harold, it wasn’t my fault.”
Poof! His silhouette turned into a dark cloud of dust and blew away into the abyss.
“I’m done lying to myself!” I screamed into the encroaching darkness. “You may have trapped me in an illusion, but I know my own heart! I know my own mind!”
Officer Dash appeared as a semi-transparent hologram before me. Not the new cat form, but in her familiar cop garb. “You think you can outsmart my illusion?”
“I know I can,” I shouted, wishing I could shake a fist at her.
She laughed softly at first, then more and more breathlessly. Soon Officer Dash was wheezing for breath. “You stupid girl. This isn’t some family-friendly film where the princess just needs to believe in herself to defeat her much more qualified opponent. You’re not a princess. You have no power, and you will not win.”
“Yes, I will!” I shouted back at the hologram, but she only laughed harder.
“Fine. Do things the hard way. See if I care. Eventually you’ll figure out it’s hopeless.” And with that, Officer Dash disappeared, leaving me in absolute darkness.
I staggered forward, unwilling to give up. I’d defeated the first two illusions. I could defeat more. I could escape this place.
And though I wandered for ages, no more lights appeared, and soon I grew tired searching for them…
Was this really how it ended?