4:00 am March 5th, one single light is on in the Bakers garage, Billy loads his single speed all-terrain tires schwinn, with this mornings latest edition of stone valley chronicle. He makes his way out the front of the garage, to where he reaches the corner drops the bike picks up his skateboard from behind the trash can and throws the couple of the papers into his backpack. circling through the east side of town past the affordable housing complex Billy takes a right over the Reilly River where it's customary for him to hock a loogie in defiance of the rivers namesake. But this morning, as he begin to build up phlegm and anticipation, he was surprised to see a figure standing on the bridge, this figure looking out over the river, is hard to make out through the fog anything other than the shape. A not too familiar smell hits his nose like a skunk rolled in earth. He approaches the figure and sees that it is Rachel, smoking a joint, looking over the river, she's wearing a red robe and gold platform heels. She seemed surprised but not concerned to see Billy, almost a look of disappointment, but not in herself, but with the situation.
Rachel: "Today's the day Billy."
Billy: "What are you talking about?"
Rachel: "Soon I think."
Billy: "What are you doing here Rachel?"
Rachel: "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I didn't try to stop it Billy, not really, what does that say about me? Do you though do any of us know? We let it come only keeping at bay till it's literally knocking on our doorstep, maybe we all secretly wanted it, we just don't talk about it, the one thing every one of us can't escape, then again I might be completely wrong about that."
A sound starts to emit from behind Rachel, just over the railing of the bridge, she lets out a sigh as her eyes turned down at the corners, a calm sadness can be seen pushing through her body from head to toe. A light that starts like a thread, appears hovering, the thread widening to the width of a pencil trails down an interlocking thread, like a flashlight pushing through a zipper. It begins, release each individual interlocking thread, ripping apart aggressively with each reap pulling the widening gap further apart planted firmly as a sense of vertigo overtakes Billy. A figure, two figures step out, Rip Zip, silhouetted by the immense form of shifting flowing light, it glitches, stretches, resets, resumes, Rip Zip, the figures appear to be wearing suits, tall mohawks, their eyes zipped shuts, their mouths zipped shut, they speak.
Silhouet: "Pay it you will, to the end. Slight was the thing you bought, small of the debt you thought."
Rip Zip, A thunderous boom awakes Marcus, Mickey, Skye and Sammy as a fierce wind, blows the blankets off their beds, a bright light and the figure of Rachel hovering above them, a mirage, a reflection, transparent, her dark robe falls, revealing her naked and bruised body beneath withering that can only be as a reverse birth, Billy watches as the robe sways in the wind, falling into the river below, Rachel begins to cry out.
Rachel: "I don't know what I did, this isn't fair, this isn't fucking fair!, I'm not ready! I'm not ready! I didn't do this please! Please- I don't wanna- I'm Not Fucking Ready!" as her body gets pulled inside the gelatinous, the yet sharp light, by the suited figures, she grasps for the edge as she yells out to be heard.
Rachel: "Wait! I know why I said it. Don't forget what I said, okay?! Don't forget what I said!" Her body Rip Zip, torn in two as the zipper closes, as the five of them through her cries sees what she sees, feels what she feels as the light takes them all in, Rachel's voice echoes into the white void.