This is part 18 of Todd’s story.
I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave.
– Tool, “Sober”
—
Thunk dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor. Sheila had never seen Thunk show submission to anyone, let alone in this blatant manner. She took a step away from the Symmetrical Man and bumped into the machine, jostling it. The two remaining jars wobbled on their perches, but didn’t fall. The Symmetrical Man smiled at her, like he had the morning after the party. The fucker looked like a snake.
“Sheila, my sweet lover, my young sacrifice, why do you cower from me? Did I not show you tender embraces and passion beyond what you’d ever known? And you would back away from me, in my own home?” He spread his arms wide in a gesture of innocence and good intent. His face still reminded her of a serpent, but the memories of his muscular form were strong and clear.
From somewhere off in the distance, the sound of glass shattering echoed. It was one instant sound, as if someone had dropped a glass, and then Thunk started screaming. “No! No, no, no! I don’t want it back! You can’t give it back to me!” He stood up, his face painted in terror, and stumbled past the Symmetrical Man. He flailed wildly and tripped as a soft glow filled the center of the warehouse. Todd joined them, but from exactly the opposite side that the Symmetrical Man had approached. Just in front of him hovered a small ball of light. It was just about the size of an orange.
The Symmetrical Man’s eyes darted back and forth between the light and Todd. Thunk was cowering on the floor, still insisting that he didn’t want it back. “There have been many before me, and will be many after me, young man. You, however, don’t fit the job description. You’re not even Scottish!” The Man began to sweat as his eyes continued to dart back and forth.
Todd motioned, and the ball of light moved to his left. Thunk winced as it got nearer. “I am your undoing. I am your antithesis. You provided me with a way to come into being, and your Carnival causes me to continue. I will end you, or I won’t. Do not mistake me for one who wants to take your place.” Todd took a step toward the Symmetrical Man.
The Man snarled at Todd. “My Carnival? Boy, you got the wrong Celestine.” He whirled at Todd, bringing his right leg up in a blur of motion, and kicked Todd in the jaw. Todd fell, rolled, and crumpled into a heap. Sheila screamed Todd’s name, and the Symmetrical Man sneered at them all.
The shattering of glass echoed from the other side of the warehouse. It grew louder, and disbelief replaced contempt on the Symmetrical Man’s face. Row by row, jar by jar, rafter by rafter, empty or full, cracked and broken jars exploded in a hail of tiny shards of glass. The explosions spread, following the rafters as if it were a maze. Finally, all that were left were the two jars rotating slowly on the broken machine. Todd pushed himself to his hands and knees. “I free my friends.”
It came out as barely more than a mumbled comment, but it resounded through the warehouse as if it had been shouted. The jars holding the spoons and the lanyard exploded. One shard, and one only, caught the Symmetrical Man above the eye, opening a small cut. Todd used a crate to pull himself to his feet. “I end you.”
It came out as a quiet command, but once more the warehouse was filled with the declaration. The Symmetrical Man began to glow with frenzied, multicolored light. It writhed through him and coiled over him like an angry python. Slowly, the colors and swirls and clouds and strands of light unraveled from each other. As their ends whipped and tossed, free of their form, they dissipated like fog in sunlight. The more of the outside that fell away, the more of the brighter inside shown through. Both Thunk and Sheila covered their eyes, and cowered until the miniature sun died out.
When it did, Todd was leaning on the crate. He was upright, but one side of his face was swelling up badly. Both Thunk and Sheila stood up. Sheila was staring at Todd in wonder, Thunk in fear. Todd looked at Thunk. “You sure you don’t want that back?” Thunk shook his head and cowered from the orange-sized light that still hovered near Todd. “Fine. Now you work for me.” Todd swept off Ralph’s old hat, caught the light in it, and set it back on his head. He turned to Sheila. “Could you please grab the stuff off the machine? I still think I might pass out. I think he broke my face.”
Thunk offered Todd his shoulder, and Todd leaned on it. Thunk wrapped his arm around Todd as Sheila picked up the journal, the lanyard, and the spoons. They all walked slowly out to the beater. “Todd, what do you know about that man?” Sheila was practically shivering from what had just happened.
“I know that he is dead.” Thunk opened the door for Todd, and he slid into the back seat. Sheila sat in the passenger seat, and Thunk sat in the driver’s seat. He started the car and released the parking brake. Sheila asked shakily, “Where are we going?”
Todd answered from the back seat, “The Carnival.”
—
Long ago there was a dream,
had to make a choice or two.
Leaving all I loved behind,
for what nobody knew.
Stepped out on the stage, a life
under lights and judging eyes.
Now the applause has died and I
can dream again…
– Queensryche, “Anybody Listening?”
—