Chapter 9

    When Kat came to herself, she was sitting on a bench. The area just in front of her was empty, but she recognized it. The last time she'd seen it, there'd been a statue there, or at least something that had looked a great deal like a statue at first. Now neither the statue nor the cloaked figure it had turned into were anywhere in sight, and neither was the younger version of Matt.

 

    It was the first world that Kat had been to a second time, but at least it confirmed for her that his mind would eventually shift back to the worlds she'd already seen. She might not have been able to help him the first time, and she wasn't sure whether or not she'd be able to help him this time... But whether it was the second visit, or the third, or the fourth, or the hundredth, she wasn't going to give up. She'd follow his mind back and forth between these places forever if that's what it took until she figured out a way to save him.

 

    She couldn't just wander around blind anymore though, she needed to think. She needed to come up with some kind of plan of action. And the first part of that was figuring out what this particular world was supposed to represent, what issue she had to help him deal with. The disfigurement of all the people she'd seen here before, the way Matt had been sitting alone with the statue, the things he'd said... This place had to represent his isolation, his loneliness, his difficulty connecting with people. He'd said he felt like a freak, that he hated the people here for being normal when he couldn't. So... Maybe she just had to show him that not being like everyone else wasn't necessarily a bad thing. That one of the things she'd loved most about him was that he wasn't like every other guy she'd known. That his uniqueness was part of what made him so amazing. So what if he didn't fit in with most people? Even if he didn't have a ton of friends... Those he did have appreciated how incredible a person he was. She appreciated how incredible he was, even if not everyone else automatically saw it on meeting him. If he felt lonely... She'd be glad to take him with her more often whenever she went to hang out with her other friends, in the future. Or to take him out to more parties, and make it her mission to single-handedly ensure he met a lot more people, even if it meant she'd have to fend off more girls once they started realizing what a catch he was. She'd do whatever she could, once she had him back in the real world and this place was just a memory. For now she just had to figure out a way to convince him that... So long as they could be together again, so long as she could see him open his eyes and hold him in her arms once more, he'd never have to feel lonely again. Because she'd be right there, by his side, for the rest of her life. He'd always have her, no matter what.

 

    The statue, the cloaked figure, would be her biggest problem here. It had to be some kind of extension of Matt, designed to protect him. The last time she'd been here, it had only acted when she'd moved to touch him. It was also probably what was causing the disappearances people had talked about, she just wasn't quite sure why. She also wasn't quite sure how to stop it. She was certain even if she could find a weapon in this place, it probably wouldn't work against it.

 

    For now though, she just had to try to find Matt, try to get through to him. At least now she had some idea of what she needed to say to him. It was only then, as she rose to her feet, that she noticed just how quiet the town was. It wasn't like it had been bustling with activity before, but now the place seemed half-dead. No sounds drifted to her from any direction, there were no scents on the breeze. If it weren't for that breeze, the feel of cool air blowing over her skin, she might be convinced that time was stopped, and she was the only thing living and moving in the world.

 

    Picking out the street that had first led her here, Kat set off down it, heading for the playground. During her first time in this world, that had been the place with the most people; she remembered seeing somewhere around ten to twelve kids there. If she hoped to find someone, that was the best place for her to look. It didn't take her long to travel the couple blocks to reach it though, and when she did her footsteps faltered to a halt. The playground was empty, and not just empty but some of the equipment looked in serious disrepair, as if it had been years since it'd last been used.

 

    There were still no sounds anywhere, not a glimpse of a single person. Hesitantly Kat resumed walking down the street. There was only one other place that she really knew to go. She could feel the nervous tension in her own body as she walked. She had no idea what she'd do if her next stop turned up empty too, except perhaps to wander aimlessly hoping she came across something. But there, as she caught sight of the Sheriff's Department, she experienced a brief moment of relief. The deputy that she'd talked to before, as useless as he'd been, was standing out front.

 

    Kat couldn't resist breaking into a sprint over to him, and he looked up at her approach, his eyes widening. "Well well, if it isn't the girl who was looking for Matthew Ellison. Since you're still here, I'm guessing you didn't find him."

 

    "Oh, I found him alright. I..." Kat trailed off when she realized she was about to mention that she'd been sent to another world. Probably not the best conversation topic with a character who wasn't nearly as knowledgeable as Bast had been.

 

    "You found him?" the deputy remarked, disbelief clear in his tone. "And you didn't see it? The Stranger come to life?"

 

    Stranger? Oh right, that was what they'd called the statue. "I saw it..." Kat told him hesitantly, taking a quick glance around her at the emptiness of the town. "But whatever it did to everyone else, it didn't do to me."

 

    "Well, aren't you the lucky one," the deputy said with a snort. "I doubt I'll be that lucky much longer. You might get to be the last one left around here."

 

    "The last one? Is there no one else left, besides the two of us?" Kat demanded in surprise.

 

    "Sure as hell doesn't seem to be. I've been standing out here for hours without seeing another living soul. If there are a few others left, they're smart enough to be in hiding. It won't help them though, it'll just let them last a little longer. But sooner or later, the Stranger will find them," the deputy replied, his tone resigned.

 

    "So why are you still here? Why aren't you in hiding too? Or better yet, why haven't you fled the town altogether? You don't strike me as the brave, courageous type whose going to stay just to try to slay the monster and protect the innocents that are left," Kat shot at him.

 

    "I'd be insulted by that, except that you're right and I don't really give a damn," the sheriff said with a faint smile. "I tried leaving. Spent awhile just driving, until I realized there's nothing out there," the sheriff muttered, his eyes fixed on some point in the distance. "I don't know if it's the Stranger's doing or if there was nothing beyond the town to begin with... All I know is we're all screwed. It's gonna get us, there's nowhere to run to. So what's the point in trying to hide? At least I made it to the end, right? I don't even know who or what I am anymore, what this place is, but at least I made it to the end," the deputy said before issuing a short laugh, the laugh seeming to contain more delirium than amusement.

 

    "By doing absolutely nothing to stop the disappearances or the Stranger from the beginning," Kat accused, but it just made the deputy laugh even harder. "And when it comes for you? What are you going to do then?"

 

    The deputy's laughter suddenly cut short, a strained look coming over his face but his lips twisting into a half-mad grin. Even as she watched a single tear began to make its way down over the man's face, but his smile never faltered. "I'm going to ask it to make it not hurt... Whatever the vanishing does... I just don't want it to hurt..."

 

    Kat swallowed hard and turned her eyes away, but that only reminded her of how empty the town was. Taking a deep breath, she tried to make her voice as calm as possible as she spoke, "Look, there's a chance I can still stop it, the disappearances, all of it. There's still a chance you don't have to vanish, if I can just find Matthew again. Do you have any idea where he might be?"

 

    "Even if it did stop, what would I do now anyways? What good is a sheriff's deputy in a town with no people? And no place else to go..." the man said, and she could finally hear the profound sadness in his voice. "Besides... I probably don't deserve to make it when no one else did. You were right, maybe this is somehow partly my fault, maybe if I'd done something sooner... I don't think that thing can be stopped, but maybe... Anyways, at least you deserve a chance, even if I don't. So if you really think you know something that might work... I don't know where Matthew or the Stranger are, but I might be able to bring them to us."

 

    "How?" Kat asked simply.

 

    Slowly the deputy turned and opened the door to the sheriff's department, stepping inside and leaving Kat to follow in his wake. Before she knew it he'd moved over to the desk and had picked something up off it. It wasn't until he held it out towards her that she got a good look. It was a push button microphone, almost certainly working on some police frequency. "I doubt he has anything to hear this with, but somehow I get the feeling that if we put out a call, he'll still come," the man told her.

 

    He probably wasn't wrong. If in Matt's mind the Stranger was some kind of supernatural creature, and its purpose was to hunt people down, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that it could overhear practically anything that was broadcast, no matter what was used to do the broadcasting.

 

    "So let's assume we use that and the Stranger comes," Kat prompted thoughtfully, "What will it do? How does it take people, make them vanish?"

 

    "I only saw it actually do it once, but... Its cloak. It takes people into its cloak, swallows them, and they just vanish," the deputy explained. That was what the Stranger had done to her, only it had sent her to a different world. But she supposed that unlike her, the residents of this world had nowhere else to go.

 

    "So you just can't let it get close..." Kat trailed off, considering. "I guess the only question left is whether Matt would show up with it."

 

    The deputy just gave a shrug, holding out the mic a little further towards her. "I don't know if he will or not, but you're the one who wants to find him, so it's your choice."

 

    What other options did she have beside this? Kat couldn't really come up with anything that stood even a halfway decent chance of success. This was her best bet. Even if only the Stranger came, maybe she could use it to find her way to Matt. "Alright, go ahead and broadcast. Whatever you think will bring him here," she finally responded.

 

    The deputy took a deep breath as he raised the mic, for a second looking almost as if he were having second thoughts, but then he closed his eyes, girded himself, and pressed the button. "This is Deputy Landers at the Sheriff's Department, broadcasting to all remaining survivors who are able to hear this. We're putting together a caravan and we're getting out of this town. Drop whatever you're doing and come to the Sheriff's Department as soon as possible. We leave in an hour," he spoke into the mic, before letting his thumb slide off the button as he turned his head back to Kat. "If that doesn't bring him, I don't know what will."

 

    "But what if there actually was someone else left out there and they heard it?" Kat demanded with wide eyes.

 

    "Does it matter? Either you'll be able to stop things, like you hope, or the Stranger would've eventually gotten them anyways. I figured the surest way to lead the Stranger in was to convince him there was a chance that there were survivors left who were about to escape. Can't let that happen, right?" the deputy said, setting the mic down on the desk before stepping back and gesturing to it with one hand. "But if you think you can do better, by all means."

 

    Kat just shook her head. Though her instinct was to protect any innocents, when she thought about it she quickly realized that they were only characters in Matt's head anyways. She couldn't think of them as people, but rather as pieces in the game his mind was playing against itself. It didn't matter how many pawns fell, so long as she got to the king. "I'm going to wait outside," she told the man. He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement, but made no move to follow her as she turned and made her way back out to the street.

 

    She expected to have to wait ten or twenty minutes before anything happened, maybe even longer, but she was standing outside for less than a minute when she saw it. The Stranger, not at all the statue she'd first seen but once more alive with its cloak flowing around it as it walked down the street towards her from the direction opposite the playground. It wasn't running, its walk wasn't even hurried, rather it was setting a casual pace, as if it was confident that even were she to turn and flee she'd have no chance of escape.

 

    Kat didn't turn and run though, she planted her feet and stood facing the approaching figure, resolved. The worst it could do to her was send her to another world as it had done before. She had no reason to fear it, she had to use it to reach Matt. Matt... No, now that she was looking she couldn't see him anywhere behind the thing, but that was fine. She knew he had to be connected to the Stranger somehow. And that somehow, through it, he would hear her.

 

    She waited until the figure had approached well within shouting distance, until all she had to do was speak loudly for it to hear her clearly, and only then did she finally say something. "You took the others because you hated them. Do you hate me, too?"

 

    The Stranger suddenly ground to a halt. It lifted one foot hesitantly, as if not sure whether to take another step, but then just set it back down without moving. The hood hiding its face tilted slightly to the side, and she could see its gloved hands tremble slightly. It didn't speak, but she could sense its sudden confusion.

 

    "I know you're in there somewhere, Matt. I love you, do you hear me? I've been waiting so long to be able to say that to you again, where I know you can hear. So hear me now. I love you. I know I screwed up at the end. I know I may not have shown my love for you as much as I should have, that the decision I made, the time we spent apart, might have made you doubt my feelings... But I love you. I never stopped loving you. I will never stop loving you, for the rest of my life. I'm sorry that I didn't know what you were going through, that I couldn't help you. That for all my problems, and all my issues, I didn't go through what you did, and probably never could. But just because I was more normal, like the people of this place, does that mean you hate me too? Does that mean you want me to disappear?" Kat asked, putting her feelings into her voice.

 

    The Stranger's trembling had expanded beyond its hands. She could see fine tremors running through its entire body beneath its cloak. It took a hesitant half-step back, away from her, as if she were the dangerous one here rather than it.

 

    "I know you went through a lot of pain, but it helped make you who you are. I know you're different from most people, but those differences are what make you such a unique individual. It's because you're the person that you are that I fell so completely, head-over-heels, out-of-my-mind in love with you. Everything you've gone through, everything about you, it all made you into the sweetest, most amazing boy I've ever met, the best friend I could ever have, and the person who showed me the meaning of real love. I'm not going away, Matt, ever again. You don't have to be alone. You're not an outcast, and if you are then I'll be one with you. I love you, with all my heart, with everything that I am. I love all of you, the good and the bad. You don't have to be ashamed or afraid. Don't make me disappear, Matt. I want to be with you," Kat continued, taking a small step forward to match the backward step it had taken.

 

    The Stranger responded by taking another, much bigger step back. It now seemed more scared than confused, and she could see faint traces of gray creeping through the black of its cloak, as if the statue form it had cast off was beginning to take control once more.

 

    "Matt!" she exclaimed. She didn't have time to think, but her instinct was to worry that if the Stranger turned back into a statue, if that part of Matt fled, then she'd lose her connection to him again. Without even thinking about it she darted forward towards it. Instantly it dropped back into a half crouch, the traces of gray vanishing from its cloak. Its body was coiled to spring, but she had no idea whether it would be towards her or away. It caused her to grind to a halt though. She didn't want to provoke it into attacking.

 

    That's when she heard the door to the Sheriff's Department open. The deputy must have been watching her through a window, must have judged the Stranger's sudden change in posture as a threat. "HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" the deputy shouted, waving his hands at the Stranger as if to distract it.

 

    "NO!" Kat shrieked at the deputy, but it was too late. The hood of the Stranger's cloak shifted just enough for it to look at the deputy and, given a target that didn't create any of the reservations that Kaitlyn did, it struck. When it wanted to the Stranger could move blindingly fast, way too fast for Kat to be able to react in time. She could only helplessly watch as it streaked towards the deputy, as the man turned to try to run, and as the Stranger caught up and threw its cloak open to envelop him from behind. The deputy didn't even make a noise as the cloak closed around him, he simply vanished.

 

    The Stranger paused for a second, then the hood of the cloak turned towards her, and somehow she knew that it was no longer going to listen to what she had to say. She wasn't given a chance to try to figure out what to do though, before she could react the ground beneath her gave way, and she started to fall.