Never Let Go

Posted on Fri Aug 16th, 2024 @ 11:28am by Caden Walker

Mission: Shackles
Location: SS Pol Melkar, Deck 3, Passenger Quarters
Timeline: Backpost 01:27
1119 words - 2.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Darkness. To his left, a short stack of boxes. To his right, shoes and a random assortment of objects strewn about the floor. And above…clothes. Walker did his best to remain quiet. His ears strained for any sign of pursuit. That’s when he heard it…

“Where is he,” a woman called, her voice slow and drawn out.

Walker leaned forward slightly to peer through the small gap in the door. Despite its limitations, he could still see a good portion of the room beyond. Directly across was the bed, and next to that, a wooden dresser. An area rug lay across the open center area. A work desk was tucked away in the corner. His gaze took it all in before turning toward the open doorway that led into the hall. At first, he couldn’t see anything. Then, after a moment, he caught sight of movement…a large shadow.

He quickly leaned back, barely avoiding hitting his head against the wall. If he remained very still and very quiet, maybe they would continue on and pass him by. Those hopes were immediately dashed when he heard the woman speak again. “I’ll check this room,” she said, “you try in there.”

A glance upward, wondering whether it was worth the risk to try to pull down some of the clothing as cover. The sound of creaking flooring as the figure from the hallway entered the room. Time was running out. “I know you’re in here,” she said. Walker heard the rustling of sheets, and he watched as the woman bent over to check under the bed. Then, slowly, she turned her head so that it was facing toward the closet (and it seemed, impossibly, as if their eyes met through the gap).

The woman took one step toward his hiding place. Then another, and another, until she was standing just on the other side of the door. Suddenly, with one deft movement, she threw the doors open…and smiled. “There he is,” she exclaimed. Walker laughed, and tried to make an escape, but his mother was too fast for him. Before he knew it, she’d managed to get both her arms around him. As they wrestled each other, they both collapsed back onto the floor of the closet, until finally, Walker was forced to admit defeat.

“You got me,” his eight-year-old voice said.

“Yes, I got you,” his mother replied, wrapping him in her arms and pulling him close, “and I’m never going to let you go.” The young Walker hugged her back, wanting to stay forever in that warm moment of embrace. “I am never going to let you go,” she said again, “We are never going to let you go.”

Suddenly, the warmth Walker had been feeling disappeared. The sound of his mother’s words, now spoken with multitude voice of the Collective, sent chills down his spine. He tried to pull away, but she held him tight. He reached up with his hands to try to push her arms off him, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to loosen her grip. The doors to the closet snapped shut. A strange, greenish liquid started bubbling up from below. Walker turned back toward his “mother”, only to discover that it was no longer a person holding him in place, but rather a mass of conduits and tubules.

“We are never going to let you go,” the Collective’s voices repeated as the liquid rose higher and faster around him. It covered his legs, and then his knees, up to his waist, his stomach, his chest. Within a few short moments, it had risen to his neck and then his chin. Walker took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and held it as the liquid finally covered his head. And again, the Collective’s voices, this time from within his own mind: We are never going to let you go.

=====

Walker woke with a start, eyes wide open and heart racing. For a brief moment, his instincts pushed him to keep struggling, but very quickly he realized that was no longer necessary. It had been a dream – a nightmare – one that he’d experienced many times before. And, while the adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, that realization was enough to get him to remain still (and to breathe).

That’s when he heard the voices coming from above him. Normal voices, spoken by normal people (though a couple of them sounded like they were coming through a PADD or some other device). He was reminded that, despite having paid for a room to himself, he’d been assigned a bunkmate. What’s more, it was someone ‘outgoing’ and ‘chatty’.

Taking a deep breath in, Walker held it for a moment, and then let it out. He repeated the exercise again…and again. With each one, the buzz in his nerves eased ever so slightly. His mind, however, was still racing.

There was no way that he could just roll over and go back to sleep. The last time he’d tried to do that, he’d ended up right back in the same nightmare. And his usual method of calming himself down was pretty much out of the picture, given that he wasn’t alone in this space. Which left him really only one option.

As carefully and quietly as he could, Walker pulled back the sheets. He swung his legs, one at a time, over the side of his bunk so that they were resting on the floor. With one hand, he reached for his boot and gently slipped it on. Then he did the same with the other. He’d made it about halfway to the door (and freedom) when he heard his roommate say to whoever they were talking to, “Hang on a sec…”

The curtain whisked open, allowing the light from within the upper bunk to cast an amber glow around the room. “You’re up,” his roommate said, “Did we wake you?”

“No,” Walker replied.

“Oh, good,” the person said, sounding somewhat relieved, “I mean, sometimes we…that is to say, I…can get a little excited. I was worried that maybe we woke you…”

“You didn’t wake me,” Walker told them.

“Good, good,” they said, “Wait…are you going somewhere? It’s kind of late, isn’t it? Or is it early? My gosh, is that the time?! We’ve been talking for hours…So, are you going somewhere? Where are you going?”

“Out,” Walker said. And, with that, he stepped through the doorway of their room, disappearing into the corridor beyond.