A Better Time

This is a novella I wrote in 6 hours to see if I could do it as a speed writing exercise. I have published it in an unedited format to retain its nature as a work entirely writen in 6 hours. I hope you enjoy it!

A Better Time

Alexandra Murphy

One—Cool Spring Morning; 2026

 Freddie was alone on the shore, watching the waves jostle about, the morning light shimmering like a million little stars along the water. In his hand was a fishing rod he fashioned out of a thick tree branch he whittled to shape, along with twine he made from plant fibers. He was hungry, but unconcerned. If he couldn’t catch his breakfast, he’d forage on the way back to his cabin. Across the bay he could faintly discern the vortex of ruinous buildings that spiraled upward to the sky. The site used to make him depressed, reminding him of the time before, and the day he lost Johnathan, Maria and his mother, but with the distance of time, he grew somewhat fond of the distant spirals. Each passing day, the concrete and glass of the buildings crushed into a progressively finer powder, such that if one was not there to see the vortex take over the city, one would be forgiven for thinking it was an eternal twister with no relation to a city at all. Still, thinking of Johnathan made Freddie wish things had been different, if only slightly.

 Feeling a slight tug against his rod, he knew he would be eating will that morning. He would take his time, though. If he yanked too early, the hook wouldn’t get a clean snag. He waited for a larger tug; eyes fixed on the twine as his heart quickened. He hoped that the fish was edible, but even if it wasn’t, he would surely have something he could use to bait in something he could eat. Finally, a second, big tug, and Freddie yanked hard, before he used his fingers, and his other hand to pull in the twine, and the rod together. The fish didn’t put up much of a fight, allowing him to pull it in, then scoop it up into his net. Quickly, he examined the fish for defects, noting its two eyes, visible gills, and appropriate scale pattern for a yellow perch. Breathing a sigh of relief, Freddie put the fish into a bucket filled with brackish water he caried with him to the shoreline. The fish wasn’t big but was big enough for a decent breakfast when paired with some of the potato bread he had made the night prior. So, he snatched up his bucket, fishing rod, and net, and left for his cabin.

 The well-walked path back to the cabin was mostly clear of foliage, making for an easier journey. Before, when he first relocated near the shore, he got ticks that made his tongue twist like the spiral, but he had gotten lucky and only had the occasional twisting finger or curled hair as a long-term effect of its bite. After that day, he made a point of wearing thick enough clothes to prevent the ticks from biting him. The mosquitos were unavoidable, but they didn’t carry the vortex, so all was well. 

 The path cut deeply into the woods, winding about to avoid patches of vortex. Although the vortexes stopped appearing after the world ended, Freddie still carried some scraps of metal and cloth to throw ahead of the path just in case a vortex appeared since the last time he had walked the path. In 2024, he had started the task of mapping out the locations of all the permanent vortex locations with his metal scraps, and by 2026, he had the map memorized. Still, if he felt something strange in the air, he would throw one of the scraps ahead of him just to be safe. That morning, he felt somewhat uneasy, so he made sure to throw a scrap every few yards. It made getting back to his cabin a chore, but it was worth it. He remembered his father before he and his mom had gotten divorced telling him on one of the two occasions that they spoke that it was better to be safe than sorry, and despite the other instance of them talking was far less informative, that was good advice.

 The path approached close to a vortex by design so that Freddie could periodically track if they were growing or shifting in position at all. As he approached the vortex spot, he saw that a deer had gotten caught inside. Blood and viscera twisted through an invisible field of spiraling force. The small intestine had hit the vortex just right such that it was twisting with the force, rather than against it like the antlers had, making the intestine and its associated blood and partially processed fecal matter relatively intact. The antlers, however, had started the process of breaking down into powder, each chunk gradually crashing against other chunks, and the vortex itself. Eventually, the intestine would catch the vortex at a bad spot, and start breaking down as well, but for now it moved up and down the spiral like an optical illusion. The only other part of the deer that was still intact was a singular eye, which bobbed about the vortex, little bits of the optic nerve sheared off as it inched closer to an intersecting point with the force of the spiral. 

 Removing a scrap of metal from his pouch, Freddie threw it in a spot close to, but not intersecting with, the spiral. The scrap hit the ground but did not join the deer. The vortex had not grown, the deer just got unlucky. Freddie continued down the path, leaving the scrap behind. He didn’t want to get that close to the vortex. He still had a ways to go before he made it to his cabin, and as the vortex wasn’t growing, he decided he would take his time and enjoy the morning. There was a light nip in the air, winter still holding on by a hair. The light breeze tussled the leaves, giving Freddie a nice soundtrack for his walk. He enjoyed listening to the trees, it reminded him that the spirals didn’t get everything. He and Johnathan used to walk through the woods of Patapsco State Park before the end of the world. Although they never walked so far into the woods as Freddie had built his cabin, walking in those same woods was all the same nostalgic. The pigs couldn’t get them when they were in the woods, or at least that’s how it felt. In 2026, long since the world ended, the pigs truly couldn’t get Freddie.

The cabin was a far into the woods, situated on a 4-acre rectangle without any spirals. He had felled a few dozen trees surrounding where he built is cabin to prevent any of them falling on him during storms, and to provide building materials. An acre off his cabin he had felled another dozen trees to make plots for planting food. By 2026, he was growing potatoes, and corn as his primary food source, but also grew a variety of fruits and vegetables for different seasons, along with soy between seasons on the plots he grew his corn. His gardens made up 2 of the 3 acres of land, with trees surrounding between the patches of crops, and fencing. He was thinking about seeing if he could catch a few chickens from the old farms before the world ended, but he hadn’t risked getting that close to the spirals up to then. And besides, he was content with his mostly vegan diet. It had everything he needed to survive, and plenty of flavor variety when paired with the salt he filtered out of the water from the bay, and the peppers he dried in the sun to make paprika. His father had wordlessly taught him how to cook, clean, and maintain a home before he was old enough to count, so he knew well how to manage his life. In a way, Freddie was happy that his father had him working so hard as a kid, as he needed the skills he had learned in the new world. 

Approaching his cabin, he was excited to drop the bucket to the ground as soon as he reached the door. The long walk hurt his fingers and arm from holding onto the bucket for so long, and the morning cool had developed into an afternoon heat. Removing the fish from the bucket, he got to work killing and then gutting the fish. He always killed the fish first by stabbing it in the head, because he wasn’t sure if they could feel pain or not, and without the internet, he doubted he would ever learn. After removing its guts, he placed grabbed some charcoal he had made from his fireplace and set them in his hearth. Lighting them up, he then placed the fish into his iron skillet, and poured salt, paprika, and dried garlic powder onto the side facing up. He had run out of duck fat which he had been storing from his rare successfully duck, so he cooked without fat that morning. The skin quickly shrank from the heat, and a slight char formed on the outside of the fish. He tried to flip the fish, but some of the meat had gotten stuck to the pan, so he decided to turn the meal into a fish hash instead of a fish served whole. It would taste good, no matter what, so he didn’t care much. After the fish had been fully cooked and looked like a browned mush, he took it out of the coals with a mitten he fashioned out of deer leather and placed it on his wooden counter to cool. Once it was safe to eat, he ate it directly out of the pan using his cooking spoon, along with some more salt and paprika. Once he had finished, he realized he had forgotten to eat some of his potato bread, so he wolfed down a crumb, before sitting down in his chair. A year back, he built himself a bookshelf to store the books he had kept from the end of the world. By 2026, he had read all of them a dozen times or more, but he didn’t mind. The repetition brought him comfort. That morning, he decided he would read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy again. Letting out a contended smile, he kicked his legs up and began to read.

Two—Cold Winter Day; 2023

Johnthan’s lips pressed tightly against Freddie’s, as he snuck his tongue into Freddie’s mouth. Pinning him against the bed, Johnthan’s kiss intensified, as he pressed his groin into Freddie’s thigh. Moaning, he bit Freddie’s lip.

“Shh! Don’t wake my mom!” Freddie said, before biting Johnathan back.

“You’re a grown ass man, your mom knows you have sex.” Johnthan replied, as he kissed down Freddie’s neck.

“Not what I’m worried about.” 

Johnathan shrugged, before moving his hand down Freddie’s stomach. Freddie felt himself get aroused by Johnathan’s touch. They had only had sex twice before that point, and the excitement hadn’t relented. His lips were like burning candles as they pressed against Freddie’s stomach. Freddie’s fear dissolved in the candlelight, the strength and passion of Johnathan instilling in him the security that he had thus far lacked. He stopped listening out for his mom as he was carried away by Johnathan’s touch. The days of being used by straight classmates was gone, and he finally had someone who could love him for who he was, not what his body could provide them. Still, he kept an ear to the ground, ready in case his mom woke up.

“I love you.” He slipped. He felt his heart sink as soon as the words left his mouth.

Johnathan looked up at him, wide-eyed and mouth agape with a subtle green forming in the corners of his lips.

“I love you too.” He finally said, and Freddie’s heart sang at the confirmation of feeling. 

They carried each other into pleasure and passion, their bodies merging into a chimera of fused desire and love. As they had sex, they loved as they had not done before, the rhythm of their passion matching the beat of their hearts. When they were finished, they laid together in silent love, as Freddie held tightly against Johnathan’s chest. Freddie peeked at his lover; his mad tuft of brown hair was tangled from the excitement of the evening. Johnathan’s eyes were shut, his lips curled in a smile. Freddie reached up and touched his stubble, feeling the prickly hairs scrape against his hand.

“I need to shave.” Johnathan said.

“I like it.” Freddie replied, stroking his chin.

Johnathan held Freddie’s hand, kissing it, before looking down at him.

“I’ll keep it, then.”

Freddie smiled and shut his eyes.

“Goodnight, baby.” He said, as he felt sleep overtake him.

“Goodnight, babe.” Johnathan replied.

As he swam into slumber, Freddie felt himself dance in the freedom and the fire, before plunging into a void. He fell into an endless pit, the air rushing past his cheeks, as the light of the entrance faded to black. Yet he could tell something was within the pit, something which curled up from the dark and reached behind his eyes, grabbing at the thoughts of Johnathan. He saw nothing but felt everything, his senses overwhelmed in absence. He grabbed for anything that could slow his descent, but before he could find anything to grasp, he reached the bottom. He expected to die, but instead it was as though gravity weakened for a moment, and he sunk into a pillow fort, before it returned to its previous strength. Trying to stand, he found his arms were loose, and his bones like stiff taffy. Crawling as best as he could, he attempted to find anything that he could use to discern his location, but he found nothing. Suddenly, the light returned to the pit, and he saw a cascading vortex with the faces of Johnathan, Maria, his mother, and his father, all spinning around a central pillar of sapphire which refracted an invisible sun. As the vortex grew, his eventually subsummation within the vortex was all but inevitable, and he knew that his life was over. Yet, instead of dying, he was pulled away to unseen shadows and woke up. He was drenched in sweat.

“I didn’t wanna wake you.” Johnathan said, stroking Freddie’s madded red curls.

“I was having a nightmare.” Freddie said, rolling flat against the bed, still contained within Johnathan’s arms.

“I saw it. I woke you up when I realized it wasn’t getting better.”

Freddie looked at Johnathan with preemptive gratitude, “You pulled me away from the vortex?” He asked.

“That’s right. I’ve had the vortex dream before, but no one was there to keep me away from it. Not a good ending. I hate bad endings.”

Rolling back over, Freddie wrapped his arms around Johnathan.

“Me too. Thank you, Johnathan.”

Johnathan winked, and clicked his tongue. 

“Your mom’ll be up soon, so we should get more presentable.”

“I’m a grown ass man, my mom knows I have sex.” Freddie said in a mocking voice.

Johnathan giggled to himself, “not what I’m worried about. Get dressed, cutie.” He spoke.

Freddie smiled coyly, before going into his dresser and a fresh outfit. Throwing them on, he looked back at Johnathan, who was putting on the clothes he was wearing the night prior. They stunk of sweat, but so did Freddie, so it didn’t make much of a difference.

“Do you need to shower?” Freddie asked.

“Nah.” Johnathan said, scratching his chin.

“Well, I’m gonna shower.”

“You just put on clean clothes.”

Freddie laughed, “I’m not putting on dirty clothes twice, I’d rather just dirty two sets of clothes for the day.”

Johnathan shook his head, “whatever you say, babe.”

Freddie chewed at his finger nervously as he realized he forgot to ask his mom if Johnathan could stay the night after they had gotten back from the library.

“My mom might be a little surprised you’re here. She’s not stupid, but we can try our best to pretend we were being good little Christians all night.”

“I’ve never been a good at playing the good little Christian, but I’ll do my best. “ Johnathan replied, as he slipped on a pair of hole-ridden socks. 

Freddie smiled, before chewing on his thumb, and walking towards the shower.

When he stepped outside the room, his mom was waiting for him outside the bathroom, wrapped in a towel.

“Mom!” Freddie said, jumping back.

“Sorry hon, didn’t mean to scare you.” She said, looking behind Freddie towards the shut bedroom door, “who’s your friend?”

“You know Johnathan, mom.” 

“Oh, so he did stay over after all.” She said, sullenly.

“I’m sorry, I should have asked if he could, I just didn’t want to wake you up and—”

“You’re a big boy now, you can handle sleep overs with your friends without asking your mother.” 

“Still, it’s your house, and until I’m living on my own, I should ask before inviting people into it.”

Freddie’s mom scoffed, “you sound like your father.”

“Sorry, mom.”

His mom smiled, stepping over towards him. She rubbed his cheeks with her hands like she had when he was a baby.

“I still can’t believe how old you are. I look at you and I see a 4-year-old with a scrapped knee, but here you are, all grown up.”

“I’m only 23—”

“Old enough to vote!”

“Still, I’m—”

“Old enough to drink!”

“I don’t drink!”

His mom laughed, “I did at your age. I did a lot at your age.”

“Eww, don’t wanna know!”

“I won’t say anymore! Does your friend—”

“Johnathan.”

“Yes. Does Johnathan know he can fix himself some breakfast?”

“I assume.” Freddie said, stepped towards the bathroom door.

“Is he…presentable?”

“Mom!”

“What! Is he dressed?”

“Yes, he has clothes on!”

“Okay, I’ll make sure he knows.”

“You really don’t have to.”

“If I have a guest in my home, I’m gonna make sure they are fed!”

Freddie rolled his eyes, “Okay, momma.”

She smiled as Freddie stepped into the bathroom. Showering, Freddie’s eyes were fixed on the drain, which spiraled down more than he thought it should. So, he cleaned himself as quickly as he could, and got out of the shower, drying himself, before wrapping himself with the towel, and stepping back into his bedroom. Once inside, he saw that Johnathan was gone. Quickly, he put on a fresh set of clothes and picked up both pairs of his dirty clothes and put them in the laundry bin. He saw Johnathan’s brown leather jacket and grabbed it to take down to him. 

Walking downstairs, Freddie saw Johnathan laughing with his mom, as he worked on a plate of eggs.

“Hey Fred.” Johnathan said, his mouth still full of eggs.

Freddie was a cautious stepping into the kitchen with Johnathan and his mom. He felt a sightless tension that Johnathan seemed oblivious to. His mother knew what he and Johnathan were more than friends.

“Are you enjoying your breakfast?” Freddie asked.

Johnathan nodded, “It’s delicious, Ms. Parker: you’re a great cook!” 

Freddie’s mom smiled, batting her hand at him, “Nobody’s called me Ms. Parker since the school shut down. My name’s Emily.”

“Well, Emily, you make some damn good eggs.” 

“Johnathan, watch your mouth around my mom!”

Johnthan rolled his eyes, “I’m an adult, I can cuss if I want to.”

“It’s rude!” Freddie insisted.

“Like you don’t cuss!”

“Not in front of my mom!”

“It’s fine, Freddie, this isn’t one of your little rules, he can do what he wants.” Freddie’s mom interjected, exacerbated.

“Sorry, mom.” Freddie said, looking down. He was letting the tension get to him.

“It’s okay, hon. Want some eggs?”

Freddie nodded, sitting down with Johnathan.

Freddie’s mom got to work, cracking an egg into the sizzling pan, before sprinkling on salt and pepper, as well as a pinch of garlic powder. Still looking at the pan, she began,

“So, Freddie, I got a call from that friend of yours…Maria.” She pretended not to know Maria’s name, “She said that she hadn’t heard from you in a bit and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine, mom.”

“Oh, I’m sure! I told her as much. Still, I’m curious, why would she think that?”

“I haven’t spoken to her in a while.”

“And why is that?”

“I don’t know, mom.”

“I have some thoughts. Did things get awkward with her after she—”

“Yes.” Freddie replied, sternly.

“Okay, okay! She’d be a good match—”

“I don’t like her like that.”

“I know hon, it’s just with the government as it is, maybe it would be best to at least have the appearance of—”

“I’m not interested in her.”

Freddie’s mom sighed, “That doesn’t mean you need to act on your…urges with your other friends.”

Freddie was rose red as his anger moved down from his head and into his fingers.

“I don’t know if I should be here for this conversation, Ms. Parker.” Johnathan said, awkwardly.

“Its Emily! And yes, you should. This is relevant to you, after all. I’m not stupid, I know what you two are.”

“Mom!”

“No, Freddie, you need to listen! Maria is a good, honest girl, and you would be lucky to have a girl willing to look past your lifestyle!”

Freddie stood up from the table, “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“You said you wanted to respect that this is my house, so start respecting it now. My house, my rules, and my rules are don’t be…like this—” she said, gesturing at Johnathan, “—when  you’re in my walls!”

Freddie felt tears swell. His mind blank.

“I’m sorry Ms.—Emily, we’ll just go.”

“No, I’m—its fine, my own child can be in my home, and he is welcome to bring is friends to visit. I just don’t support what you two have been doing. It’s not safe, and it’s not natural.” Looking back at Freddie, his mom continued, “Your father was the same way, you know! But he knew better than to sacrifice his future family on his…perversions.”

“Johnathan is my family, mom! My only family. I’m leaving.”

“Damn it, Freddie, just listen for a second! You don’t have to love Maria, or even be attracted to her, you just have to make people think you do until things cool down in the world.”

“I thought you said what we are is unnatural.”

“It is, but the only thing I care about is your safety, and if you can be safe while being unnatural, then by all means, do whatever you want, you’re an adult. But until its safe, you need to be normal.”

“I am normal.” Freddie said, before grabbing Johnathan by the hands, snatching up Johnathan and his jackets, and stepping outside into the winter’s cold.

Three—Hot Spring Evening; 2026

Freddie stepped outside into the heat of spring, the wet, sticky air clinging to his face. Gripping onto the strap of his pouch, he made his way towards the far end of his homestead. He needed to check the parameter of the 4 acres to ensure that no new vortices had appeared. Normally, he would have done so after an hour of reading, but he was dreading it. The lack of evidence of vortex expansion did not dissuade him from the fear that the vortexes were expanding, and with each assessment of the lines of his homestead, the fear only seemed to grow. The single instance in which vortex expansion occurred—the end of the world—was enough to shake him to his core. He needed to know if it was time to bug out. 

On the path, he saw signs of struggle in the brush, along with blood. Investigating closer, he saw human tracks. He couldn’t tell how fresh they were, since the light of day began to fade, but he knew he hadn’t seen them before. That made him nervous, as he hadn’t seen another person in years, and if this person made something bleed, they might be dangerous. Or they were bleeding, and they might be dead, and that might attract a vortex. No matter what the cause of these apparently new tracks was, it couldn’t be good. He considered looking for more signs of the person to determine if it was them bleeding, or something else, but it was getting dark, and he needed to finish his parameter check before nightfall. He cursed himself for waiting.

Along the outer limits of his homestead, he placed a few large, distinctively shaped rocks to act as both landmarks to denote the location of the end of his property, but also as an indication of vortices. Each rock had a human eye carved in them so the vortices would know it was not a natural part of the environment. At least, that was Freddie’s theory, he wasn’t certain. For all he knew, the vortices acted randomly. But he didn’t want to think that.

Just ahead of him was the first of 4 rocks he had surrounding the 4 corners of his homestead. Pulling out his tape measure, he measured the distance the rock was from the tree that he marked with a matching eye. The rock had moved 3 centimeters. Freddie took out his notebook and marked down the 3. The day prior it had been 2, and before that, 1. Each day, 1 centimeter, he thought, why?

He was excited to see if the other rocks had moved similarly, although up to that point, they had not. With his excitement was the mounting dread that the change meant something was coming. Still, the rock was intact, and when throwing a few scraps of metal in increments of 1 centimeter across a circular zone around the rock, expanding out 6 feet from the rock, there were no vortices, and as far as he knew, the vortices did not act on objects outside of their direct locality, so he collected the scraps, and continued onto the next rock.

The path to the second rock was much closer than the path to the first due to the shape of the homestead, so he was able to make his way there before the sun had much chance to move farther beyond the horizon. Once the other rock was in sight, he continued his checks: measure distance to tree, mark down any changes, throw scraps in a circle around the rock. No changes were measured, but he still threw the scraps to be safe. 

The next rock was a ways down south of his position, so he knew he had to be fast if he was going to beat out the night. So, he started to jog, which was a challenge because the metal scraps were heavy, and clanking against his side. Still, he was able to reach the next relatively quickly, as it was still over relatively flat land. The last rock would be a much bigger challenge, as they were on uneven terrain.

Approaching the rock, he noticed something strange. The shape of the eye had changed slightly, an additional line appearing near the right side of the iris. He knew that it hadn’t looked like that before, as he kept rubbings of the original drawings in his journal for just the occasion that the marks changed. He felt himself begin to panic, as he touched the rock. Rubbing his thumb over the mark, he confirmed it was indeed carved. Ripping out a piece of paper, he made a new rubbing to track any new changes. He thought that maybe it was a mark by the mystery man walking through his woods, but the mark didn’t seem natural. It was perfectly straight, something that people couldn’t do anymore. Unusual for the vortices, however, as they made spiral shapes on objects, so whatever this was, it was new. New was bad, as far as Freddie was concerned. New could mean another round of vortex expansion, or something new and worse. He then reached into his pouch and grabbed his dream journal to see if there were any appearances of anything that could indicate a sign for worry. Going back a year, he didn’t see anything unusual to indicate vortex expansion, so he let out a sigh of relief. All the same, he was deeply concerned. Carrying out his routine measurements, he noted that the rock had moved 2 centimeters from its previous position, however there were no vortexes in a 6-foot radius around the rock. The night began to overtake the evening, so he knew he had to hurry. 

The last rock was situated on a cliff face overlooking a thin neck of the Patapsco River that had been partially fused with the Potomac during the first vortex expansion. Getting to the rock was a challenge, as he had to climb the face to reach it, as there was no safe direct path around the fused Patapsco and Potomac river, as the points of fusion still contained large vortices. The climb was even more challenging than normal, as he carried extra scraps out of an abundance of caution. Something about the way the air felt made him uneasy.

Approaching the rockface, he found that the place she normally places his feet to climb had been knocked down. Tracking the locations where they had been dislodged, he saw the indentation of someone’s back, a man. Removing his tape measure, he measured the length of the man’s back and then extrapolated their leg and head length to induce that he was likely 6 foot 3. A handprint showed that he had large hands. This confirmed that there was a man moving through his woods. Moreover, there was no blood around the back prints, and based on the imprint being relatively light, he knew it was fresh. The man must not only close by but was likely not bleeding. So, Freddie loosened his machete in case he needed to defend himself and searched for a new way up the cliff. Close to the previous rocks he placed his feet on, he found a few others in a less convenient distribution. Climbing up, he found he was weaker than he was the day before; more so than could be accounted for by the metal scrap. Still, he did not have time to worry, as there was someone in his woods, and he had to make sure they could not hurt him or his cabin.

Reaching the top of the cliff, he found the rock had new markings on it as well. Getting closer, he sighed in relief when he saw what the markings said: Liam was here.

Four—Cold Winter Afternoon; 2023

Freddie watched as Johnathan carved into the sidewalk with a sharpened rock. He drew a picture of Killroy and wrote “Johnathan was here”. It had just started snowing, and the air was bitter and dry.

“We should talk about what happened.” Freddie said.

Johnthan did not reply, as he finished Killroy’s nose.

“Please, Johnathan.” Freddie insisted.

Johnathan looked up at the sky, sticking his tongue out to catch the snowflakes. Freddie wanted to smile but was hurt.

“Your mom was being a bitch, case closed.” Johnathan finally replied.

“What if she’s right?”

Johnathan scoffed, “don’t you turn homophobe, too.”

“You know what I mean!” Freddie cried, “it’s not safe.”

Johnathan turned to Freddie, “until we’ve got pigs putting us in camps, we’re fine. They won’t do shit. And if they try something, I can protect you.”

Like you did with my mom? Freddie thought.

“Besides,” Johnathan continued, “Can you honestly imagine yourself making it work with fucking Maria?”

Freddie shook his head, “I don’t have to make it work with anyone. It’s not illegal to be alone.”

Johnathan held Freddie close, “and it’s not illegal to be gay. Not yet. Not now. Not ever.”

Freddie smiled, and kissed Johnathan, “okay.” He said.

The snow picked up into a frenzy, as it began building up on the ground.

“Speaking of Maria—lets go get her. I want some real breakfast, your mom’s eggs sucked.”

“Hey!” Freddie laughed, punching Johnathan.

“Sorry—they weren’t good to my palate.” He said, before winking and clicking his tongue.

“Do you think Maria will be mad that I haven’t been texting her back?” Freddie asked.

“She shouldn’t be. She asked out a gay dude, what exactly did she expect?”

Freddie shrugged, as they made their way to Maria’s house. Walking through the snow, Freddie wished one of them could afford a car. The cold made his fingers hurt. Up ahead, Johnathan texted away on his phone, presumably to let Maria know they were coming. Freddie still wasn’t ready to text her. Something about the private communication of a text was an intimacy he didn’t want yet. He didn’t know if he could trust her. She knew he was gay, so why did she ask him out? Did she think that he would be willing or even able to “change” for her? I’m probably reading too far into it. He told himself. Still, he wasn’t ready. He was hardly ready to even see her again, but Johnathan was hungry, and if he was being honest, so was he, and on some level, he missed her. They were friends, after all.

Approaching Maria’s house, Freddie and Johnathan were greeted by Maria’s father shoveling snow, who had a permanent suspicious eye for Freddie.

“You here for my daughter?” Asked Maria’s father, who seemed to be murdering Freddie with his eyes.

“Yup, we’re grabbing some breakfast.” Johnathan said, standing between Freddie and Maria’s father.

The father said nothing for a moment, as though he were sizing up Johnathan, who stood at least 3 inches taller than him. 

“Maria!” He eventually shouted, “your friends are here.”

After a moment, Maria came bouncing out of the house, dressed in a pink puffy jacket that didn’t quite fit her, as the sleeves flopped passed her hands. Her hair was worn up, and on her head was a crocheted hat she had made last winter. On her face were her distinctive over-sized glasses with heart shaped lenses.

“Hi guys!” Maria said, her face glowing. She turned, and said, “bye, dad.” In a less enthusiastic voice, before bouncing along to join Freddie and Johnathan.

“See ya, hon.” Her dad said, before continuing to shovel snow.

The three made their way to the local iHop, which was a 20-minute walk from Maria’s. The snow had not relented, and with it, Freddie’s fingers had grown numb. With sufficient distance from Maria’s house, Johnathan grabbed onto Freddie’s hand, and pulled it into his jacket pocket, rubbing it softly from inside the warmth of the padded leather.

“I’m so hungry, mom is sick, so she hadn’t gone to the store yet, so we didn’t have much food to eat except sardines, and I am not eating sardines.” Maria said, as she squeezed herself to keep warm.

“Freddie’s mom made nasty ass eggs before she chewed us out for being fags.”

“What a bitch.” Maria replied. 

“Says the girl that asked out a spoken for gay dude.” Johnathan said, jabbing at Maria.

Maria’s face seemed to drain, “I’m really sorry. I can explain…”

“Don’t.” Freddie said, coldly. “I just wanna get to the iHop, its freezing out.”

Maria sighed, “it’s not what you think.” She said to herself. Freddie couldn’t get himself to care. He found he was still sore. Not just about Maria, but Johnathan, too. Everyone is acting like what happened that morning wasn’t horrible, and Freddie hated it. Still, he was to scared to say anything, he didn’t want to ruin their brunch. 

“Anyway, sorry for bringing it up.” Johnathan finally said, “you too are obviously still sour about it.”

“Putting it mildly.” Freddie replied.

Maria looked over at Freddie, her face branded by guilt and shame. 

Although a few words were spoken between the three for the remainder of the walk, Freddie was not paying any mind to it, as he was a million miles away. His mom broke his trust, Johnathan didn’t defend him, Maria betrayed him. He just wanted to crawl into bed and rot.

Outside of iHop, Maria stopped, and reached into her pocket, feeling for something.

“What is it?” Johnathan asked.

Maria shook her head, pulling her hand out, letting the sleeve overtake it, “It’s nothing, I’ll explain inside.

Inside the iHop, the air was warm, and bright, bringing life back to Freddie’s hands, moving up to his fingertips. Pulling them out of Johnathan’s pocket, he rubbed his hands together for extra warmth, as Johnathan gestured to the worker at the front desk.

“Booth for 3, thanks.” He said.

The worker smiled, and guided them to a booth at the far end of the packed iHop. 

Siting down, Johnathan asked Maria, “So what’s in the pocket?”

Maria smiled, “I’ve got something to show you guys.” 

From out of her pocket she pulled 3 pins, two rainbow, and one moving from shades or orange to purple with white in the center. She handed the rainbow pins to Freddie and Johnathan, and kept the orange, white and purple pin for herself. Freddie was confused, a fact betrayed by his agape look. What she held in her hand was a lesbian pin.

“I got you guys rainbow pins for pride this year! I know it’s early, but with what happened with Freddie, I thought it was important.”

“And you have a lesbian pin..?” Johnathan asked.

“Yeah…I do. Freddie, I am so sorry, I wish I didn’t ask you what I did, I didn’t want to. My mom found out I was in an LGBT discord server, and made me ask out the first boy she found in my phone, and that was you, then she took away my phone before I had a chance to explain myself. Guys…I’m gay.”

“Oh my god…” Johnathan said.

“Maria, I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I—”

“I know, guys. I just wanted you to know I did not want to get between you two, and I am not interested in you, my mom just made me, and—”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything else.”

There was a brief silence between them, before Johnathan broke it,

“So, been talking to any discord cutie-pies?”

Maria smiled, biting her lip.

“Welll…” She began, “there is one girl I’ve been talking to from Oregon, and I really like her! We haven’t really talked more than friends but…I know he’s gay too, so maybe!”

The server came to the table and asked what everyone wanted. She seemed tired. 

“I’ll have a bacon temptation omelet.” Johnathan said.

“I’ll have the Tres Leches pancakes” Freddie said, already knowing what he wanted before he came in.

“Hmm, can I have the big brunch burger, and a coffee?”

The server nodded, inputting the orders on a clunky looking tablet, before wordlessly walking back into the kitchen.

“God, I’m hungry.” Maria said, plopping her head into her arms. “Thanks, you guys. I’m glad you know I’m gay, now. I was scared you wouldn’t be chill.”

“Why wouldn’t we be chill? We’re all fags here.”

“You say things like “fag”?” 

Johnathan laughed, “if I wasn’t gay that would be bad.”

Freddie smiled, “I honestly thought you were a lesbian before you asked me out. That really took me off guard.”

Maria shrugged, “I thought it was obvious, too. Maybe I felt like I didn’t need to come out?”

Freddie smiled, “I’m glad you did. I didn’t want one of my best friends to be a homophobe.”

“And!” Johnathan interjected, “I’m happy for you!”

Maria smiled warmly, before she said, “the world is really scary right now. I’m glad I have you guys to make me feel safe.”

From across the iHop, someone fell, hitting the ground hard.

“Jesus!” Johnathan said, jumping back in surprise.

“Are you okay, sir?” A few people asked. Freddie got up to check on the man. When approaching, the man nursed his leg, which seemed to be twisted back further than it should be at the ankle, although subtle, as though it were plastic warped by heat. Freddie and a few others helped him to his booth, although Freddie had his eyes on his twisted forward ankle. He had never seen anything like it. Somehow, despite the leg looking like it had to be broken, the man was putting weight on it like nothing was concerned. Shit he’s probably disabled. Freddie thought, biting his thumb. 

“Is your leg okay, sir?” Asked one of the people in the crowd, which was precisely what Freddie had wanted to ask but was scared to.

“Huh?” The man said, looking down at his leg. “What the fuck??” He said, “How the hell did that happen?” He said, with a slight lisp. 

“Does it hurt?” Another asked.

“No, what the fuck…” The man said, rubbing his twisted forward ankle. Freddie turned back to the table, sitting down with his friends.

“What was all that about?” Johnathan asked.

“What was wrong with his leg?” Maria joined.

“I don’t know…it was just twisted.”

The man screamed again across from the iHop. Freddie’s eyes shot to his. Looking down, he saw that his ankle had twisted even further, the foot now touching the top of his leg. The group of people returned around the man, attempting to help him to the door, as one of them called 9-11.  Looking closer at the man’s mouth as he screamed, Freddie saw that his tongue was twisted back even further than his leg, forming a spiral.

Five—Warm Spring Day; 2026

Freddie stared emptily at the spiraling deer intestine, or what was left of it. The day it had been left reduced the deer to nothing but a colon, and a swirl of powdered blood and bone. A rabbit had also joined the deer, having been sheered in two by the vortex, its brown fur stained red. Its eyes were like shimmering rubies bulging from its skull, as the iris began to twist in the vortex. He couldn’t move his eyes from the viscera, it was mesmerizing. He had a job to do, but in that moment, all he could do was imagine how the rabbit must have felt when it slipped into the vortex. After a while, he shook himself free from his locked gaze and continued with his investigations.

He didn’t know where this Liam was, but he knew he had to find out as much information about him as he could. Whoever he was, he had to be living somewhere, either an encampment, or a cabin that Freddie had thus far missed, so he knew he had to find some signs of where he might be coming from. Freddie hoped that Liam was friendly, a connection to the world before the fall, but he knew he could not hope for more than someone easy to kill.

To find signs of Liam, Freddie figured that he must have been traveling off the path and had gotten either lucky in his avoidance of vortices or had been mapping the woods a lot longer than Freddie had noticed. Either that, or Freddie had managed to miss obvious signs of human activity along his path for however long Liam had been in his woods, and he did not think that was a realistic possibility. So, he knew he had to travel into the zones within the woods that put him closer to the vortices that he had thus far avoided through his path.

Stepping into the woods off his path, Freddie felt his heart race. He kept his map of the vortices in his hand, constantly checking it along with the landmarks he noted around the map to keep himself orientated. A possibility he did not want to consider but found invading his mind all the same was that the vortices he did not regularly check—those that were deeper off the path—had changed shape or grown in a way that he had not anticipated. Sure, he had his metal scraps to throw, but what if he made a mistake? All it would take is a single misstep and his leg would be pulled into the vortex, and potentially the rest of him with it. That fear drove him to move slowly, throwing metal scraps every few steps in the path he intended to walk. 

With each step, he too kept an eye out for signs of Liam, but after an hour of steady searching, he found nothing, save the occasional indentation in the soil that may have been a footprint, or may have been nothing, depending on how long Liam truly had been wondering the woods. 

Eventually, Freddie was approaching a spot where he knew there was a vortex, but he had not crossed in over a year. Without the regular analysis, Freddie feared how big the vortex might be. Still, he approached it cautiously, throwing the scraps more frequently the closer he got to the vortex.

Approaching the location of the spiral, Freddie saw nothing. Yet, when he threw the metal scrap in the location of marked off for the vortex, the metal was snatched up, and torn apart in a fraction of a second, outlining the shape of the spiraled force with the pieces of the metal and cloth. He then checked his notes to see how big the vortex was supposed to be and threw pieces of scrap around the zone next to, but not intersecting, the spiral. In doing so, he confirmed that it had not grown, nor moved since the last time he checked it. Feeling safer, he examined the zone around the spiral for signs of demarcation that might indicate that someone had been trying to mark their locations. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the vortex, Freddie found another rock with “Liam was here” written on it. It seems that whoever Liam was, he had been tracking the vortices too and had marked this one in particular. Freddie noted that none of the spirals closer to his cabin had been marked, save the one on the cliff, suggesting that he had either not found the cabin, or had for some reason unknown decided not to mark those spirals. Regardless, Freddie knew he could not stop his search till he found a clear indication of the direction Liam was coming from, or it got too dark to search. But as it was only midday, he had plenty of time.

The slow progression of progress continued, as the “Liam was here” markings brought back thoughts of Johnathan and his drawings of Killroy. He recalled the day the end started at the iHop with Maria when she had come out. At the time, it was terrifying, but nothing all too other-worldly. All the same, Freddie looked back at that moment with the same strange fondness that he thought of the city-side vortex. He didn’t know why he thought fondly of that moment, as horrifying as it was, and for what it led to, but something about it brought him some form of peace, or optimism he couldn’t explain. 

He was reminded of the moment Maria died, her final terrified look as her body was torn away from him and Johnathan. He was reminded of Johnathan’s dead body, and with it, the comfortable optimism was gone. He felt himself cry at the thought of Johnathan in particular. He couldn’t even remember why he was mad at him before the end, only that all that anger was gone when he saw his body, and knew that if not for him, Freddie would have been the one in that spiral. 

The thought of Johnathan forced Freddie to stop. The memory was still raw. He couldn’t continue while still thinking of him and his death. So, he thought of his dad. He remembered the last time he saw his dad alive. He remembered how strangely nostalgic it had been to spend the day with him like he had before the divorce. That day was the most his father had ever spoken to Freddie, and in learning so much of his father’s life post-divorce, Freddie understood why his mother was afraid to begin with. In hindsight, Freddie felt sympathetic to his mother’s fears, although ultimately, they didn’t matter. The world that wanted Freddie, Johnathan, Maria, and his father locked into cages died years ago, and what was left was one that was forced to be accepting in its absence.

Freddie recalled his father’s final smile and wave before he drove off into the night. At the time, he didn’t know the next time he saw his father would be on the news, a symbol of the oncoming storm. But it didn’t matter, as presently, Freddie had to focus on the path, as he stepped beyond the bounds of his own mapping.

Based on what he had mapped, and the sound of flowing water, Freddie believed that he was close to leaving the forest of what remained of Patapsco and was about to enter someplace else. Initially he thought to rely on his past knowledge of the geography of Maryland but abandoned that at the remembrance of Baltimore’s relocation across the Bay near the bridge, and the fusion of the Potomac and Patapsco rivers. So, he relied only on his senses, and the scraps of metal in his pouch. Still, he continued to expand his map out of habit if nothing else.

At the edge of the tree line, as he stepped out into a clearing by a small waterfall, Freddie noticed a foot path entering a different forested area across from the waterfall, and by it, a sign made of branches woven together with twine with the words “Liam Town” written on them. That was sufficient information he needed to know where Liam was coming from, so Freddie marked the location on his map, and made his way back home. He was glad to have not found any additional vortices on his trip.

On the way back to his cabin, Freddie felt himself grow hungry, so he decided to break from routine and stop by the bay to check his crab traps. Stepping to the shoreline, he pulled up the rusted metal cage of his trap and found 3 large male blue crabs locked together by their claws. Freddie laughed giddily, as he loved crabs more than anything. He swiftly, and with care, snatched up he crabs, and put them in his deer leather backpack. He knew only wished that he had Old Bay seasoning from before the end of the world to go with the crab, but he figured the paprika, salt, and garlic would be just fine for a nice boil.

Freddie all but skipped home along the path, his fear surrounding Liam vanishing as his hunger for the crabs grew. Yet, when he saw his cabin appear in the distance, his fear returned like a sucker punch to the temple. Situated right next to the opening of his cabin was a sign that was not there before with bold lettering that read: “Hi, I’m Liam. Come visit me in my town.”

Six—Frigid Winter Night; 2023

Feddie sat in silence with his mom, afraid to speak. His mind still raced with thoughts of the twisting man, but the occasional peer upward towards his mother betrayed her thoughts were fixed upon the morning fight.

She finally broke the silence with, “Hon, I’m sorry for what I said.” 

Freddie did not reply, he barely even heard her. He couldn’t get the man’s screams out of his head. What was happening to him?

“Look, I’m not going to pretend to understand how you’re feeling. I’m not…you know. I’m just scared for you, y’know? You know what happened to your father.”

Freddie once again did not reply, his mother’s words were nothing in the face of the twisted man. 

“I still think that you dating a girl to keep up appearances is not a bad idea, but I should have said it more…. eloquently. And I shouldn’t have called it unnatural. I’m still sore about your dad, is all.”

Freddie finally looked up at his mom, his eyes tired, expressionless, and cold. After a moment of silence, he said,

“Mom, I saw something today I can’t explain.”

“What happened, hon?” His mom said, placing her hand on his. 

Freddie then explained it all—the iHop, Maria, the twisted man—and at the end of the explanation, his mother’s face became grim.

“Hon…what you’re saying...it’s not possible.”

“I know what I saw. Ask Johnathan or Maria if you don’t believe me. Shit, er, shoot, it might be on the news by now!”

Freddie’s mom seemed to drift off into thought, before pulling out her phone, and searching what Freddie described. After scrolling for a moment, her hand fell to the table, and she looked up at Freddie.

“Oh my god…what does this mean?” She asked to nobody. “This is…. it’s not possible…”

“But it happened, so it must be possible.” Freddie asserted. 

Freddie’s mother pulled her phone back to her eyes, and started playing a video. The audio of the scream forced Freddie to cover his ears, as he rocked back and forth.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it!!!!” Freddie screamed.

“Sorry!” His mom said, shutting her phone off.

“I don’t want to hear that scream ever again.” Freddie said, still rocking in his chair, as he chewed on his thumb.

Silence fell over the room again, before abruptly ceased by a knock at the door.

Freddie’s got the door.

“Oh, hi Maria. What’s wrong?”

Freddie spun around and saw a crying Maria sitting at the doorway, her crochet hat torn to pieces.

“My dad kicked me out.” She said, “Can I stay here for a while?”

“Of course, hon, of course, come in. Let me make you a cup of tea.”

“She likes coffee.” Freddie said, as he made his way to his sobbing friend.

Freddie hugged her tight, and guided her to the touch, while his mom prepared her coffee.

Maria’s eyes were puffy, and a red mark was visible just under her cheek. Her hair was disheveled and tangled, with some of her previously perfectly even lines that made up her bangs ripped out. 

“What did he do to you?” Freddie asked.

“He…he…” Maria began, having trouble speaking through her tears.

“Shh, I got you.” Freddie said, holding onto her tightly. 

“He…saw my pin. I didn’t think he knew what the lesbian flag even was, I thought I could make up some bullshit like it’s from a book I read or something…” Maria continued, “he ripped it off my hat, and then hit me. He said that I wasn’t allowed to be a dyke…mom had kept the discord server hidden from him…she knew how he’d react.”

“Jesus…want me to call Johnathan?” Freddie asked.

“No!” Maria cried, “he’ll hurt my dad!”

“Maybe your dad deserves to be hurt.” Freddie replied.

“No, please don’t tell him! Johnathan doesn’t have to know what happened, please.”

Freddie sighed, “okay,” he began, “but he’s gonna notice the mark on your face. He’ll know what it is.”

“M-maybe we can tell him I fell or something?”

Freddie shook his head, “he’ll see through that. It’s better to tell him.”

“Fine, but let me, okay? I don’t want you doing it for me.” Maria insisted.

“No yeah, I wouldn’t do that. You talk when you want, sorry.”

Maria sniffled, and rubbed her eyes, as she continued, “think it’s okay I stay here for a while? My dad said if he saw me again, he’d kill me.” Maria began to cry again.

Freddie petted her back, as he held her tighter.

“We’ve got you, Maria. You can stay here however long you need to.”

Maria looked over to the kitchen, then looked back at Freddie and spoke in a whisper “I’m sorry for what I said about your mom…she’s not a... b-tch.” She censored herself.

“It’s okay, she was when she said what she said to me and Johnathan. But she apologized, so its fine.” Freddie lied. 

Freddie’s mom came over with the coffee, and gave it to Maria, before touching her on the shoulder. Maria flinched. 

“Freddie, hon, can we talk in the kitchen?” Freddie’s mom asked.

Freddie nodded, following her into the kitchen.

“We should call the police.” His mom said, “you can’t just hit your child like that… he left an obvious mark.”

Freddie shook his head, “You can’t trust pigs to protect gays.”

Freddie’s mom scoffed, “I suppose you learned that disrespect for the police force from Johnathan?”

Freddie rolled his eyes, “I learned it from experience. You don’t know what its like, you said it yourself.”

“The police are here to protect us, young people like you and Maria especially. What harm could it be to at least call them?”

Freddie rubbed his forehead, “they could force Maria back in that house with her father.” There was a pause in the conversation, before Freddie interjected “Before you do anything, at least ask what Maria wants.”

“Fine” Freddie’s mom replied, “but if she refuses help from the police, let it be known that I still think it’s a good idea to contact the authorities.” 

Stepping back into the living room, Freddie’s mom knelt to look at Maria in the eye.

“Hey hon, you enjoying that coffee?”

Maria nodded, taking another sip of the drink as steam rose up from it, and fogged her glasses.

“I talked to Freddie in the kitchen, and even though he didn’t like the sound of it, I think we should contact the authorities about what happened.”

Maria looked afraid, “do you think they could keep my dad away from me?”

Freddie’s mom nodded, “You’re a young, beautiful white girl, of course they’ll keep you safe.”

“I’m Latino.” Maria protested.

“You look white, that’s what matters with police. If you’re that worried, we can call you Mary.”

Freddie shot a venomous look at his mom.

“I’m not trying to be racist, just realistic here. The police don’t target pretty, white-looking girls like you.”

Maria nodded, “okay…okay we can call them.”

Freddie knew it was a mistake but didn’t want to question what Maria needed in that moment. He felt it wasn’t his place. 

After calling the police, the room became silent for a long time, Freddie, his mom, and Maria sitting together in the living room, as the TV played re-runs of The Big Bang Theory. My mom must have been the last person on the planet with cable TV, he thought, as he listened to the 10th “Bazinga” in 2 minutes. Finally, the police arrived with a knock at the door.

“Good evening, ma’am. I got a call about a potential domestic incident?” The office asked, adjusting his vest, the sound of his radio blaring in from behind him.

“Yes, please come in. My son’s friend Maria was kicked out by her father, and he left a mark on her face.”

The officer stepped in, examined Maria’s face, before talking into his radio.

“What happened before the incident?” The office asked to Maria.

“He…he found my pin, and then tore it off my hat and hit me.” Maria said, her voice shaky, her eyes glued to the floor.

“What did the pin say, ma’am?” The office asked to Freddie’s mom.

“Mom don’t—” Freddie attempted to interject into his mom’s ear, but before she processed his interruption, she said,

“It was a lesbian flag.”

The officers face shifted from concern to amusement.

“Ma’am, this appears to be a domestic issue that is beyond the purview of law enforcement. Send the kid home to her father, and hope that she learned the lesson well.” The officer said, before turning to leave the house without so much as a goodbye.

Maria’s eyes were still fixed on the floor when suddenly, the officer’s radio buzzed again.

“All units, emergency traffic. Respond to I‑95 northbound exit toward Baltimore. Reports of roadway collapse with multiple disabled vehicles. Unknown natural event. Proceed Code 3 and use caution.” 

“Ah shit.” The officer said, before running out to his car, and speeding away.

Freddie’s mom stood in shock, while Freddie reached for the remote, and turned switched to NBC.

“—the situation is still developing. Police are advising to avoid i-95 until the event has been resolved.” Said the news reported, an image of the vent next to her head.

Freddie’s face sank when he saw it: cars, the road, and people spiraling up and down, all torn apart as they spin about an invisible core, exactly as he had dreamed.

“Mom…look..” He said, as his mom turned towards the TV.

“Oh my god…” She said, as her hands dropped to her side.

“Once again, you are advised extreme caution.” The news reported repeated.

Freddie’s mind once again returned to the twisted man, and his screams. Looking closely into the vortex of people, cars, and road, he saw it: the very same man, trapped at the apex of the spiral, only his face remaining intact.

Seven—Cool Spring Morning; 2026

Freddie stood across the waterfall, looking out at the Liam’s Town sign, working up the courage to enter. He was smart enough not to go directly down the set path, but that meant he would have to move through uncharted grounds, and quickly, to avoid detection. He wanted to make sure that if he ran into Liam, he was the one with the advantage, but all the same, he knew he had to face him now that he knew Liam had found his Cabin. A part of him thought it was stupid to meet him at his home, that he would be better off putting traps around his cabin and waiting for Liam to meet him there, but an even bigger part of him wanted to believe that Liam was kind. Believe that Liam represented a reincarnation of what Johnathan and Maria were to a world that was torn apart. In looking at the sign, with its almost infantile doodles surrounding the sign, reminded Freddie of Johnathan’s Kilroys and with that, he felt the final bit of comfort to press forward.

Avoiding the path, Freddie made his way into the woods, stepping quickly and quietly, while throwing metal directly ahead of him to check for vortices. He had packed over a hundred metal scraps and cloth for the trip, as he knew he wouldn’t have time to pick them back up if he was going to have time to scout out wherever Liam was living, and afford himself whatever minute advantages he might derive. 

Scrap after scrap, Freddie increased his pace, moving to a near- sprint, checking only that the scraps were not consumed before quickening. He no longer feared spirals, his anxiety towards meeting this Liam was far too great. When just before he charged ahead, he caught himself as the metal scrap was swept up into a vortex and torn apart and pulverized. Nearly falling into the vortex, Freddie realized he needed to slow down and caught his breathe for a moment. He then used more scraps to determine the shape of the vortex, and walked around it, continuing down his path adjacent to Liam’s path.

After 5 minutes of intervals of running and walking, he saw it: Liam’s camp. It was far less developed than Freddies, with only a tent that showed clear signs of misuse, along with a clothesline which was drying an assortment of shirts, pants, and underwear, most of which appeared to be made from uncured hides, although there was the odd shirt from before the end. On the far side of the camp, was a firepit which only had a few embers still burning, and a spit overhanging it, which had a put hung loosely from it. Freddie removed the bow from his back, and inched closer towards the camp, remaining hidden in the tree line as well as he could. He knew he had to be quiet, otherwise Liam would hear him. Knocking an arrow, Freddie continued circling the camp, when he heard a sound, he had not heard in years: barking.

Out from the tent, burst a tall man, approximately 30 years old, with long blonde hair, a disheveled beard, and vibrant green eyes. In his hand was a metal cup with steam forming up from it, and at his side was a mid-sized dog with short-white hair. The dog growled towards Freddie, and for a moment, he considered firing at the man and his dog, but the hope that he was kind stayed his hand.

“Cabin guy? That you out there?” Said the man, his voice deep and smooth, “I know you’re probably scared of me; I was so excited to see another person out there, I had to make contact. My name’s Liam.”

Freddie bit his lip, cursed himself, and put his bow away, before stepping out of the brush.

“There he is! Sorry about the dog.” Liam said, slapping the dog on his side, “calm down boy, he’s friendly!”

“What’s his name—your dog.” Freddie said.

“Chompers! Rescued him from Baltimore a couple years back. Mostly I just call him dog, though.” Liam scratched his head, “and uh, what’s your name?”

Freddie found himself smiling, as it felt himself become comfortable in the notion that this man was kind after all.

“I’m Freddie.” He said, adjusting the bow on his back.

“Nice to meet you, Freddie! Sorry if I’m a little weird, it’s been a long time since I’ve talked to someone else. Feel a little stir crazy.”

“It’s okay.” Freddie said, “I haven’t spoken to anyone since the end of the world.”

Liam looked at Freddie, confused, “World didn’t end,” He said, “we’re still in it.”

Freddie smiled, “I suppose so.”

Freddie and Liam sat in silence for a moment, as Freddie thought of what to say next. Eventually, Liam broke the uncomfortable silence.

“Wanna come inside? My tents not worth a damn compared to your sick ass cabin, but she does me alright.”

Freddie nodded, following Liam towards his camp. Chompers growled at Freddie as he approached.

“Calm down, dog, he’s friendly!” Liam said, patting the dog again.

Inside the tent was surprisingly spacious, more than any tent Freddie had seen, at least. Although he couldn’t stand completely upright, he only had to duck his head a little bit to stand. Liam had to nearly crouch, though, as he was much taller, closer to 6’5” than rather than the 6’3” or so that Freddie had estimated.

“Just made some coffee, want some?”

“Where’d you get coffee?” Freddie asked, perplexed.

“Got it from Baltimore when I got Chompers. Got a whole case of the dried stuff. Nothing great, but it’s been serving me well these past couple years, so long as I stretch it out.”

“Sure, thanks.” Freddie said, sitting down. Chompers too sat, still growling.

“Damn, dog, chill! Sorry, Fred, Chompers isn’t used to guests, he ain’t never seen another person but me I bet.” 

Pouring out of a kettle came thin, black rivulets into the metal cup that Liam then presented to Freddie. Sipping gently from the cup, Freddie remembered how much he hated coffee. Still, drinking anything other than water was a welcome change.

“So, how long you been situated here?” Liam asked, plopping down next to Chompers.

“Since everything went to shit.” Freddie said, taking another sip of the sickly bitter coffee.

“Shit, I only just got here. Was living in Delaware when all hell broke loose with the twisters, but moved up here trying to find someplace nice to settle down.”

“How is Delaware after all of this?” Freddie asked.

Liam shook his head, “hell of a lot worse than Maryland, I’ll tell you that much. Still, not as bad as it was in Florida and Texas, I hear.”

“What happened in Florida and Texas?”

Liam sighed, “Heard from a few travelers I met on the road a while back that there is no Florida and Texas anymore. Whole damn states got eatin’ up by the twisters.”

Freddie sat back, “Jesus—oh sorry, I don’t know how comfortable you are with that.” Freddie said, hoping he hadn’t offended his new friend. He forgot that some people are sensitive to the lord’s name.

“What, Jesus? If there was a Jesus, none of this shit woulda happened. Was never much of a Jesus guy anyway, you got nothing to worry about from me.”

Freddie smiled, “me neither.”

From outside the tent, Freddie heard the clap of thunder, as the pitter-patter of rain began.

“Ah shit, hope the tent holds up better this time—got rained in on pretty bad my first night in.” Liam said, inspecting his tent.

“Once it cools down, maybe we could head back to my cabin, it’s got more room, and I could cook you up a snack as repayment for the coffee.”

Liam smiled, “I might just take you up on that.” He then reached over to the kettle and poured himself another cup of coffee. “Normally,” he continued, before taking another sip, “I don’t have more than one cup a day to make sure it lasts, but hell, I’d say this is a special occasion!” Liam then scratched his chin, then his dogs chin, and looked over at Freddie.

“So, what were you before all this shit happened?” He asked.

“I had just graduated college. Got a degree in computer science, and was planning on getting a job in cyber, but that never happened.”

“Cyber?”

“Er—cyber security. Hacking type stuff.”

“Damn! Never met a hacker before, consider me impressed!” Liam said, slapping Freddie on the shoulder. Freddie flinched, and Liam looked sorry for having scared him.

“What did you do?”

Liam sighed, “Was kind of a wanderer. I didn’t go to college or nothing, barely graduated high school to be honest with you. Got kicked out when I was 14, so I’ve mostly been on my own since.

Kicked out? Freddie thought. He only knew one person who was kicked out of their house before.

“I’m sorry they kicked you out. I had a friend get kicked out just before everything happened. Why’d your parents do that to you?”

Liam sighed, rubbing his head, “before I tell you: how much of uh, let’s say, old world values do you have?”

“Not much.” Freddie replied.

“Good, me neither.” Liam sighed, before continuing his story:

“I had a buddy when I started high school, kid named Nick. We were like a couple sardines; we were so damn close. Closer than that. I loved him, and I like to think he loved me, too. Well, dad caught us in bed, and that was that. Me and Nick got our asses kicked, and I was on the streets. Gotta understand, this was rural Delaware, so we didn’t have many places to go. I stayed with Nick’s family for a couple a days, but they made me leave once they found out why I got kicked out in the first place.”

Freddie felt sorry for Liam, but at the same time, he felt a skip in his chest, as he realized that he had not only found the only other human in all of Maryland, but that he was a gay guy like him.

“Similar thing happened with my friend, Maria.”

“She gay too?”

“Yeah. I lost my boyfriend because of this; he died when everything happened.

“Boyfriend?” Liam said, his face lighting up.

“Yeah.”

Liam tried to mask his smile, as he tapped his leg, “figure you’re probably still torn up about your man.”

“I am, but that was a long time ago now. That worlds gone, like I said.”

Liam laughed to himself, “guess there’s some perks to your views about the end of the world.”

The rain then stopped, as the storm moved on. By then, Chompers had stopped growling at Freddie as well.

“Wanna head to my cabin?” Freddie asked.

“I’d love to!” Liam said, as he stood up, hitting his head on one of the metal posts that held up the tent, “Ah, damn it!” He said, before laughing, “I wish I could say that was the only time that’s happened.”

Freddie laughed, “you’re a tall guy, makes sense.”

“That it does.” Liam replied, tapping Chompers, “alright dog, let’s see our new buddy Freddie’s house.

Chompers wagged his tail, and licked Liam’s hand.

Stepping out of the tent, Freddie realized how small the tent really was, even being so much larger than any other tent he had seen. He realized how cramped his legs had felt in the absence of the limitation on his space. 

“You made sure your path doesn’t cross any vortexes?” Freddie asked.

“So that’s what you call the twisters. Yup, first thing I checked for.”

Freddie smiled, and made his way to the path, Liam and Chompers close behind.

The air smelled like fresh rain, the wind still like it only could be after a flash storm. Still, the light breeze that ran through the leaves provided a beautiful soundtrack for Freddie and Liam as the walked down the path. Approaching the waterfall in the clearing that separated Freddie and Liam’s sides of the woods, Liam pointed towards it, and said,

“Damnest thing is that waterfall used to be at my old house when I was a kid. That’s why I set up shop here.”

Freddie examined the waterfall, noting the vortex he didn’t see before which formed a small whirlpool at the bottom of the falls. Weird, he thought, that vortex shouldn’t be big enough to move a whole waterfall.

“Down by my cabin, two rivers that used to have miles separating them are stuck together. The vortexes can transport stuff around. I don’t understand how.”

“Yeah, I noticed that, too. My theory is the twisters are like black holes and connect two parts of the world.”

“You mean wormholes?” Freddie asked.

“Uh, yeah, I don’t know space stuff. Whatever teleports stuff.” Liam replied.

“I used to really like space, but I haven’t really thought about it after it all.”

“Maslow’s Hierarchy, and all that.” Liam said.

Freddie was surprised, cocking his head towards Liam,

“You don’t know space stuff, but you know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?”

Liam shrugged, “I wanted to be a psychologist as a kid.”

Freddie smiled, “Okay, Dr. Liam.”

“Hey, you’re the one with a degree!” Liam laughed, before they continued towards the other side of the clearing.

As Freddie approached his half of the woods, he pulled out his map to check how to get back safely. Looking over, Liam saw it, and said,

“Nice, you mapped the twisters! All I did was put rocks next to them.”

“I did that for a while, but eventually I wanted to be safer. Had too many dreams about what happened the day Johnathan died.”

“Johnathan your man?”

Freddie looked up to the sky, and said, “yes.”

Liam sighed, “I’m sorry you lost him. Wish I could say he was looking down at us, but I don’t believe in that sorta thing.”

Freddie joined in a sigh, “I don’t either.”

Liam placed his hand on Freddie’s shoulder, more softly than he had before. Freddie turned around to face Liam, his mouth open, surprised he became so gentle.

“You can look up at him, though. That’s worth something.” Liam said. Freddie could feel his breathe on him, they were so close. Freddie’s lips tingled looking at Liam. He was as handsome as Johnathan, his jeweled eyes shining like the shimmering light over the water.

“I can. I—” Freddie began, before Liam put his other hand on Freddie’s arm. Freddie exhaled at the touch.

“Oh, sorry, I just, I haven’t seen anyone in a while.” Liam said, taking his hands of Freddie, “don’t wanna overstep.”

“It’s okay, I know. Its been a long time for me, too.”

“Still, I should ask before I touch people. Gotta respect your—”

“—I liked it.” Freddie interjected.

Liam smiled, hesitantly putting his hands back on Freddie’s arms.

“I’ve missed feeling someone.” Freddie said, exhaling.

“Me too, Fred.” Liam said, “can I hug you? I haven’t had a hug in—”

Freddie pulled Liam in and hugged him as tightly as he could, recalling the night he and Johnathan made love before the end. Liam squeezed back, hugging like a bear. Freddie and Liam then looked at each other in the eyes, their faces only inches apart. Chompers than pushed his way between them, attempting to get attention.

“Damn dog got jealous!” Liam said, scratching his chin.

“Would seem so.” Freddie said, looking up at Liam like he hadn’t looked at anyone since Johnathan. 

Another clap of thunder signaled another round of rain, as abruptly rain shot down from the sky, mixing with the distant vortex in the woods, refracting the light in a spiral pattern that made it easy to avoid them.

“Ah shit, better run back to your cabin!” Liam said, as he grabbed onto Freddie’s hand. The two ran into the woods, occasionally looking at Freddie’s map to make sure they were on the right track, using the refracted light of the spirals not only as a means of avoiding them, but as waypoints to help them tell where they were on the map. Soon, they made it back to the cabin and ran inside. Freddie shook with cold.

Liam removed his jacket, revealing his arms underneath. They were tattered with scars, as was the part of his chest that Freddie could see under the tank top that he wore under his hide jacket.

“We’re a little soaked. You got a change of clothes by chance?”

Freddie nodded, pointing towards his clothes bin which sat by his duck feather bed. Liam gave a thumbs up, and ran over to the bin, taking off his shirt, revealing even more scars down his back. Freddie stared as he pulled off his pants. Liam looked back, gesturing at Freddie to turn around. Freddie blushed and averted his eyes. By the time he looked back, Liam had thrown on a cloth shirt and leather pants.

“Your turn, Fred.” Liam said, as he sat down in the reading nook, looking over at the book shelf.

Freddie then removed his wet clothes, looking over to see if Liam was looking while he changed. He thought he caught him peaking once, but he couldn’t’ tell. 

“Got a nice collection of books here. Can’t say I’ve read anything since I was 18.” Liam said, fingering through Blood Meridian.

“I read every day after breakfast and before I inspect my homestead for new vortexes.” Freddie said.

Liam smiled, “Twisters’ stopped forming after the day it went to shit.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Freddie replied. He felt his father in his words.

Liam shrugged, “Probably safer to check. All I did was mark where they were.”

Once he was dressed, Freddie sat on the floor next to Liam.

“Oh you can have your chair back—”

“—I like sitting on the floor.” Freddie interjected, looking up at Liam.

Liam put Blood Meridian back on the shelf, and joined Freddie on the floor.

“I do, too.” He said.

The sound of rain on the cabin roof punctuated the moment that Freddie and Liam shared on the floor, as they looked into each other’s eyes, and spoke softly about the world, and each other.

“I spent a lotta years wandering, looking for a place to settle down.” Liam said, before scooting closer to Freddie, “and these woods are damn beautiful.”

“I’ve always loved Patapsco since I was a kid.” Freddie said.

“I can see why. It’s got a serene quality. If I was gonna self-actualize I’d want it to be somewhere like this.” Liam replied.

Freddie had just met Liam, but when they spoke, it was like they had known each other for years, as though he knew what Liam would say before he said it. His voice like an old story he was told when he was young. He reminded him of Johnathan. He felt like he could trust him in a way that he couldn’t with other men he’d met. Just like Johnathan.

“I’m glad I didn’t shoot you with my bow.” Freddie said, laughing.

“That was even a possibility?! Damn, I should not have given you that sign.” Liam joined in laughing.

“Nooo! I would have assumed you didn’t know I was here.” Freddie replied, moving in closer.

“We couldn’t have that now, could we?” Liam replied, moving even closer.

They were inches apart, their faces all but touching.

“It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen anyone.” Freddie said, “I don’t know how to talk to people anymore. Not that I ever knew how to talk to people. I don’t know social signals anymore.”

Liam got closer, “Me neither.”

Freddie got closer, “I can’t tell what people want.”

Liam moved his face no more than a centimeter apart from Freddie’s, their lips nearly touching.

“Me neither,” he said.

Their lips quivered across from each other, their breaths joining into a chimera of fused desire. Freddie felt his head leaning in, as though a force like the spirals pushed him towards Liam. Liam bit his lip.

“It’s been so long.” Freddie said, quivering lip millimeters apart from Liam’s.

“It has.” Liam replied.

Freddie fell into Liam’s lips, kissing him with a passion he hadn’t felt since before. He kissed him with every lost love, nostalgic look, and vacant desire that had tormented Freddie since the day Johnathan died. Their kiss reignited a flame of humanity that Freddie thought was gone.  Once they stopped, and looked each other in the eye, they knew that nothing in the world would keep them apart from each other that night.

Eight—Cold winter morning; 2023

Johnathan planted a kiss firmly on Freddie’s lips, as he ran into the crowd to pull people away from the vortex that had formed over the street near Richie Highway. Grabbing onto as many people as he could, Johnathan led them to safety with Freddie. The vortex grew by the second, expanding outward as it consumed cars, and people alike, tearing them to shreds and consuming their blood as they fused machine and man into a singular point. Once the group was pulled to safety, Johnathan grabbed a frozen Freddie, and Maria, and pulled them away from the Vortex.

“We have to go now!!!” Johnathan shouted, his voice barely audible over the sounds of screaming metal and flesh and concrete. 

“We have to find my mom!” Maria screamed.

“There’s no time, we wouldn’t make it!!” Johnathan shouted back, yanking Maria forward, as Freddie finally caught his footing.

The three bolted away from the growing vortex, which seemed to roar with each inch it expanded, roaring like a freight train crashing into a passerby. Freddie could barely hold onto his reality, as the screams of the man in the restaurant were subsumed by the terror of his present reality.  

Running through the suburbs of Baltimore, the vortex tore houses from their foundations, consuming everyone trapped inside. Police officers tried to get people out of their homes, but were consumed alongside them. With the path of the vortex, it was going to reach Freddie’s mom soon. We have to get to her, Freddie thought, we can’t leave her to die. We can’t let dad kill her.

The faster they ran, the closer the vortex was behind them, until Freddie could feel his leg twisting up towards it. Johnathan picked up Freddie like he weighed nothing and ran even faster. Maria was close behind but not close enough. Freddie looked back as the vortex grabbed Maria, pulling her into itself, and tearing her to pieces.  She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be escaping her father. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe.

“Don’t look, Freddie.” Johnathan screamed, as he ran with him towards Freddie’s mother’s house.

“We’ll get to Emily, and we’ll get her out of there. We aren’t losing anyone else today!!” 

Then, the vortex froze. It stopped expanding and stayed locked in place. Freddie and Johnathan looked up at it, as they saw Maria’s face for the final time, before it was torn to pieces along with the rest of the debris and humans that the vortex had consumed on the way. 

“Jesus…Maria…God no…I’m so sorry…” Johnathan said, as he collapsed to the ground, releasing Freddie on the way down. 

She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe.

“Freddie, wake up, we gotta get to your mom.” Johnathan shocked Freddie to his senses. They had to go, they were running out of time. Freddie didn’t know if the vortex would start up again, or if another would get there before them.

As they ran, Freddie couldn’t get the image of Maria being sucked into the vortex out of his mind. The look in her eye as she was pulled away. She knew she was dead. She didn’t want to die. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be safe.

“Oh God…” Johnathan said. Freddie looked up. His house was gone. His mom was gone. Her body was suspended in the air, her arms, legs, and head twisted out of position, her organs sprawled out within the vortex, as it mixed with the debris of the house. 

Freddie felt his heart stop. His world was dying, one by one everyone was going. They were supposed to be safe. This wasn’t supposed to happen. 

“We—we need to move, Freddie.” Johnathan said, as Freddie looked onward at his mother’s corpse.

Johnathan knelt beside Freddie, holding him, as he began to sob uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We need to move now.” Johnathan said, forcing Freddie to rise, as another vortex ripped through the neighboring house, and joined with the one that had eaten Freddie’s mom. 

“Fuck, Freddie, run!!” Johnathan said, before he was sucked up into the vortex as well. Time slowed to a crawl, as Freddie tried to hold onto Johnathan’s hand. He couldn’t. Johnathan flew into the air towards the vortex, his foot stretching, pulling, and ultimately searing, as it was torn away from his body. By the spiraling force. Inch by inch, his body was torn apart, and for a final moment, Freddie saw Johnathan’s lifeless eyes as he was absorbed by the vortex. Just before Freddie joined him, he heard Johnathan’s words.

“Run!!”

So, Freddie ran as fast as he could, for as long as he could. He kept running and never looked back. He couldn’t look back. His mind stopped, all thoughts bleeding through the cracks in his mind, as identity and self melted into the spiral. He was alone. Alone like he had never been before. In his isolation, he heard a smooth, deep voice calling out from the vortex:

“You can look up at him, though. That’s worth something.” 

For the briefest of moments, he didn’t feel alone. But once the moment was gone, he was overwhelmed, and collapsed to the ground, screaming wildly, as he hyperventilated. He couldn’t believe Johnathan was gone. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to be safe. He was supposed to be safe. They were supposed to have a life together. They were supposed to be safe.

Nine—Warm Winter Day; 2023

Freddie, Maria and Johnathan sat across from the TV, watching as the news discussed the anomalous vortices. They spoke of debates among academics, scientists, and politicians, but fundamentally, they spoke of their unknown origins. Yet, rumors circulated, talk moved from mouth to ear across the state of Maryland about the center of it all, and if the rumors were true, Freddie wanted to know. 

“It’s not true, Freddie, it can’t be. It’s just rumors.” Johnathan said, placing his hand on Freddie’s shoulder.

“If they report it on the news, that means it’s true. We just have to watch the news.” Freddie said, eyes still glued to the TV. 

“It doesn’t even make any sense.” Johnathan insisted.

“None of this makes sense.” Maria interjected.

“Not helping, Maria.” Johnathan replied.

Maria apologized.

“She’s right. None of this makes sense. Why does it have to make sense if my dad is involved?”

Johnathan shrugged, “this does make sense, on some level. Everything makes sense on some level, we just don’t know how it makes sense yet. And what I’m saying is that there’s no way this can make sense if the rumors about your dad are right.”

“I guess we’ll see.” Freddie said.

They sat on that couch watching the news for hours, Johnathan and Maria talking and laughing to themselves, but Freddie’s eyes never left the screen. Through ad break, section about sports, and traffic updates, Freddie never stopped listening. He had to know if the rumors were true, and the only way to know was if they were officially confirmed. So he waited and watched, unable to separate his gaze from the screen. He knew that if they were true, or even possible, they would mention them. If they were as impossible as Johnathan claimed, then they wouldn’t be worth mentioning, and the broadcast would end without any indication that there were rumors at all. But Freddie knew on some level that wouldn’t happen. Something told him the rumors were more than rumors, and it was only a matter of time before that was proven without a shadow of a doubt.

After 4 hours of watching the screen, the news began again from an ad break, and displayed on the right side, next to the news anchors head was a family picture of Freddie’s father, with Freddie and his mother blurred out. It was happening, it was true. Freddie unconsciously turned the TV to max volume.

“—reports are coming in of a video that claims to show the first recorded incidents of the mysterious vortex appearing. Wait, I’m getting it, we’ve been given the go ahead to show you the tape. I’m warning all of you at home, what is about to be played is graphic and disturbing, and if you do not want to watch, please change the channel now.”

On the screen flashed a shaking cell phone recording of a man who looked like Freddie’s father marking something on a bolder with a knife. By the time the recording began, most of the symbol had been drawn. It was an eye, along with a name he didn’t recognize. The video picked up his father speaking, but he couldn’t make out what. All he heard was “—pay them back for those 10 years.” Before a vortex formed from within his father, ripping him to pieces. The vortex grew around the rock, but left it alone, and the video cut off.

“Oh my god….it was true.” Johnathan said, “Your dad started this…”

Ten—Hot Summer Afternoon; 2022

Freddie sat at the restaurant with his father, laughing as he told him about his first date with Freddie’s mother. The sun radiated down, whispering sweet warmth onto their backs. Freddie took a bite of his burger, as his father laughed wildly.

“—and I told your mother, who might I add was way too young to be drinking, that we would all get in trouble if she kept this up. So she spreads her arms out and tells me to jump into a tornado!”

Freddie laughed, nearly choking on his burger.

“Was mom really that wild?”

His father nodded, “She was. I do not know what I was thinking, but something about her was special.”

“Hence why I’m here.” Freddie said.

“Hence why you’re here.”

The server came over to the table, resting her hand near Freddie’s dad.

“How is everything so far?”

“Ah, absolutely delicious. Thank you!” Said his father, wiping his face with a napkin.

“Let me know if you need anything else!”

“We will!” Freddie replied, taking another bite of his burger.

A military vehicle drove by, Freddie’s dad tensing up when he saw it. Once it finished passing, he released the tension in his back.

“Why are you so scared of the police?”

His father scoffed, “Fucking pigs. You don’t know the full story, that’s all I’ll say.”

“What do you mean?” Freddie asked.

“I didn’t leave you and mom for nothing. I didn’t want to, I love you two! Or I loved her, until she left me in that fucking—I mean F-ing prison.”

“Its okay dad, I’m 22, I can handle it.”

“Jesus, you’re 22 already? Damn it, I should have offered to buy you a drink!”

“No, I don’t drink.”

Freddie’s dad smiled, “good, nothing good comes from that shit. You should just steer clear!” 

Freddie smiled back, taking another bite of his burger.

“So where was I?”

“Fucking pigs?”

“Right, pigs, fuck those guys! Well, after your mom caught me with my uh…friend—”

“—your boyfriend? Its okay dad, I’m gay, too.” Freddie said.

“Hey! I’m not gay, I’m bi, you know this. But yes, your mother caught me in bed with another man. She freaked, the neighbors called the police. Which, can I just say how glad I am you were over Maria’s house when this all happened?”

“Mom has said as much.”

“Well, I am. This was not a situation an 11-year-old should have to see. But once the police got there, your mom was in hysterics, and when they saw I was with another man, they decided that I must be some kind of wife beater or something. They gragged me away before your mom or my…um, affair partner…had a chance to even react. They never gave me a trial, just locked me in a cell. Your mother told you I left because she didn’t want you to lose faith in the police, but damn it, you should have!! Let it be known now, if your mom fucking EVER wants to involve pigs, do not let her.” 

Freddie gave the thumbs up.

His father laughed, “you really are just like you were when you were a kid. It was good to spend the day with you, son.

“It was, dad.”

Eleven—Cold Winter Night; 2023

Freddie sat alone on the street, staring at the vortex that was once his home. Johnathan, Maria, his mom, his dad…they were all gone, and he was alone. The vortices stopped, but it didn’t matter. Everyone he loved was gone. He considered jumping into the vortex and ending it all. Maybe the religious zealots that locked his father away were right about something, and there was something after death. Maybe he’d see Johnathan again, if he just jumped into the spiral. He felt his legs twinge with anticipation, as his muscles prepared for the imminent plunge into death. But he couldn’t do it. All he could do was watch as his entire life was steadily turned to powder. He couldn’t cry, he’d spent all his tears the day prior. Nothing was left to cry. He was a walking corpse, as dead as the world which stood in ruin. The end of the world came, and it didn’t have the kindness to take him with it. He was isolated in a chasm left in the apex of the spiral. Watching the debris circle up and down nothing at all made him feel as empty as the force which tore his life apart, an invisible force about a sapphire core that destroyed for no reason at all.

Eventually, snow fell from the sky, and Freddie became too cold to stay where he was, so he knew he had to find shelter. Still, he couldn’t excite his legs into movement. He just stayed where he was, watching the vortex for another hour, or more, he couldn’t tell. Time had no meaning in a dead world. Eventually, though, something which he felt was within the vortex force him up, a voice he didn’t recognize, but believed was Johnathan’s, speaking to him one final time.

“No use sitting in the cold like that. Let’s get inside.” Said the voice. It was smooth and deep, just like the voice that called to him after Johnathan had died.

Obeying the voice, he stood up from the freshly laid snow and looked for shelter. He knew that somewhere had to have been untouched by the spirals, he just needed to find it. For another hour, he searched for houses, buildings, cars—anything—that wasn’t trapped within a vortex and in the process of being pulverized. Eventually, he found a single house that wasn’t destroyed. 

Stepping towards the house, he checked inside to see if anyone was inside. Nobody. All the same, he knocked on the door to make sure. Nothing. So, he tried the door, and it was unlocked. Checking inside, it was impossibly clean, as though nobody had been living there. That was when he saw the pamphlets on the coffee table, and he realized it was an open house that the realtor left unlocked by mistake. A good place to stay, at least for now, Freddie thought. 

Still shaking uncontrollably from the cold, Freddy grabbed up the pamphlets, scraps of paper towels, toilet paper—anything he could find that might be flammable, and threw them into the fire place. He then tried to find matches in the kitchen, searching up and down, with no luck. Then, he checked the fireplace itself, finding out that it was gas powered. Turning the nob by the fireplace, warm streaks of flame shot up from holes that connected into the ground. The warmth of the fire did not initially make a difference, as his fingers were too numb, but eventually, the heat pushed into his fingers, and he felt as though he was dethawing for the first time since Johnathan….

He began to cry at the recollection. In moments of action, everything seemed like he had made it all up, like all that was real was his need to start a fire. But now that he was warm and safe, he realized the reality of his situation, and how alone he was in that house that survived the end of the world.

Like him, the house was alone; the last house for miles that wasn’t consumed. He was the last human alive. All of humanity died with Johnathan. It died with Maria. It died with his mother. It died with his father. All that remained of this human race was Freddie, and Freddie alone. Freddie alone. Freddie alone. All he could think was that he was alone. He wanted Johnathan to hold him like he had that night before it happened. He wanted to be loved. He wanted to feel something—anything. He didn’t want to be alone. He couldn’t be alone. Fuck, I can’t take it, I need Johnathan, I need him now. Please just come back, Freddie thought. But nothing answered this time. No disembodied voice spoke to him from some distant past or future this time. He was well and truly alone. 

Eventually, in bouts of dry sobbing, blankly staring into the fire, and crying out into the night, Freddie fell asleep, collapsing from exhaustion. 

In his sleep, he saw a tall man with blonde hair, and green eyes. His face was cleanly shaven, and down his chest was a sizeable scar. 

“Who’re you?” The man asked.

The vortex consumed the world in the distance of the dream, but where Freddie and the man stood was safe, at least for the time being.

“I’m Freddie.” He replied.

“Can you believe what’s happening out there, Freddie?”

“No, I can’t. What’s your name?” Freddie asked.

Before the man could answer, Freddie was teleported to the middle of Patapsco State Park, Johnathan guiding him by the hand to a spot they liked to swim.

He tried to listen to Johnathan, but no words came out of his mouth, even though his lips were moving. Once they made it to the water, Johnathan took off his shirt, and pants, and jumped into the water. Freddie never joined him, as he didn’t like swimming in the dirty water, but he enjoyed watching Johnathan have fun. We were so young back then, Freddie thought to himself, I had just started college, and Johnathan had just graduated. Life was better back then, I wasn’t—

Alone.

Freddie teleported, again in Patapsco, but he was alone. The rain hammered down while he sat inside a lonely cabin, a fire flickering in the hearth, while he read a copy of Blood Meridian, a book he had never read. He thought about Johnathan with a strange amount of distance, as though his death had happened years before, and now he had the time and space to grieve and move on. In reading Blood Meridian, he felt a connection to The Kid in the way he felt a comfort towards the violence of his past. How could I feel that way? He thought to himself, Johnathan just died, how can I find it nostalgic? What’s wrong with me? He stopped reading the book, and placed it by the bookshelf. 

Stepping outside his cabin, he felt the rain pepper his face, as a dog walked up to him, and licked his hand. 

“Chompers, come here!” Said a familiar voice. Before Freddie could see who it was, he teleported again, this time to his bedroom the night before he saw the twisted man.

Resting his head into Johnathan’s chest, he listened for a heart beat, but found none. He looked up, and found that Johnathan was long dead and decomposing. He looked back down, hardly minding, so long as he could spend more time with him.

“I miss you, Johnathan.” He said, “I miss you so bad. Every day I miss you. Even with Liam, it isn’t enough. I miss you. I want you back ever passing day.”

Who is Liam? Freddie thought, confused by himself. 

It didn’t matter, he was with Johnathan. Nobody could take Johnathan away from him, so long as he held on. Yet, Johnathan kept rotting, and soon, Freddie had fallen into his chest cavety, then through the bed itself, and into an endless void which existed under the house. Looking up, he saw the vortex consuming the home. He saw Johnathan and his father at the head of the vortex, looking down at him. They seemed to judge him in their silent observations. Like he didn’t care enough. Like he wasn’t sad enough. Like he was moving on too quickly. Eventually, he felt Johnathan’s thoughts merge with his own.

How could you fuck Liam? My body is still warm.

As soon as the words filled his mind, he teleported again, once again inside the cabin, this time with that same green-eyed man that he saw before. This time, he had a full beard, and was petting the white dog that had licked Freddie’s hand. 

“Its okay, Fred. That all happened a long time ago. Johnathan would want you to be happy, I know he would.” Said the man.

WHAT DOES HE KNOW WHAT DOES HE KNOW WHAT DOES HE KNOW

The voice of Johnathan screamed out from the void.

I WANT YOU TO JOIN ME IN HELL HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME TO ROT IN HELL HOW COULD YOU LET ME DIE

Freddie teleported to the abandoned open house, sitting by the fire, Johnathan’s floating corpse just above him, watching him as he slept. He wanted to get up and reach for Johnathan, but his body was frozen. All he could do was watch from his shut eyelids as Johnathan began.

“In the coming days, months, and years you will think of me. You will think of your mother. You will think of your father. You will think of Maria. But most of all, you will think of me. But as the years go on, and you age, and the world ages, and the vortexes become smaller and smaller, you will think of me less and less. Each day will be easier. For a while, all you’ll know is how badly you wished that you could spend even a moment more with me, but in the end, it will get easier. After years of distance from the tragedy, you will come to know that the world did not end, and that love is not gone, but reformed. You won’t be alone forever. It will feel that way, but it won’t be. You will not remember this. You will only feel my presence reminding you of my absence but know that my words are true. For these brief moments of activity within the spirals, I can witness all that was and ever could be, and I can say that I know you will be okay. There’s a man out there waiting for you, and when you find him, he will show you what I never could. Once the vortex passes, my perception of the world too will pass with it, but for now, I will be there, and I will remind you through the clouds, and the sky, and the breeze through the leaves that I love you.”

Then Freddie woke up.