Elmer was a quarter the way up the staircase when it folded back up, completely crushing him into nothing. Blood started raining down on me and Harvey like thick, hot rain.
Me and Harvey looked at each other, bewildered. We both just sat there, with total and complete horror on our faces. Harvey just sat staring, while I started laughing. Not for Elmer, but because I didn't know how to let our disoriented emotions out any other way. My laughter slowed turned into snivels.
Harvey was the first to gain composure. He pulled out his Korero, and called another man like Elmer to help in our… situation.
Surely enough another envoy came around, clearly and unsurprisingly not knowing how to react. A cleaning crew came by and took care of Elmer.
"Milo Watts." The not quite as tall man said abruptly.
"Sorry?" I asked, unknowing of what he had just said.
"My name, it's MIlo Watts." He said with a smile. His voice was more grandiloquent. He sounded like he came from money.
"I'm April. And I know this is a horrible way to introduce myself, but I'm trying to leave."
"Well that explains… that." He said glazing to Elmers body being carried away. He shook his head as if it would take the image out of his mind. "You can't leave unless you have a request from someone up there to go back."
"But… nobody knows I'm down here."
"I'm sure someone will figure it out. You're the one dating Dominic aren't you?"
"What? How do you know about Dominic? And no, we aren't exactly dating." He eyed me suspiciously.
"Okay then… Anyways, we don't have any source of entertainment down here, so we get to read about what happens up there. We have people from your world that have visited before, and they write all about the things they see or hear. When they find something lots of us down here like, they stick to it. Dominic has been a story for quite some time now, but you have only been present in the last edition."
"Wait, can we ask the reporter to tell Dominic I'm down here?" It was the perfect loophole.
This time Harvey responded. "Uh, no. The reporters can't talk to the people they're reporting about. They'll be kept down here with no way out if someone that hasn't been down here finds out about it."
"So can I have him plant a letter where Dominic will find it? That's encrypted so it's not direct?" I was going to find a way out, if it was the last thing I did.
"I don't see why not? Let's do it." Milo led me to a building labeled "Printing Press". I guess they hadn't evolved much since the industrial revolution 250 years ago.
He took me and Harvey inside and gave me a pen and paper. I tried to think of what I could write so he would find me.
I wrote on the paper:
Dominic,
I miss you. I hope to see you soon,
but I'm safe, and I'm sure you can find me.
<3/ April
P.S. Please burn this.
I then had Harvey grab me a lemon and a paintbrush. I squoze the lemon into a small bowl, and wrote with the juice on that same paper:
I am under the earth. There's a passage by the big
rock in the river. Call down for me to come back out.
Trust me.
Harvey was smiling at the idea I had. We let it dry for a few hours while we grabbed lunch, then came back, put it in an envelope, and had the reporter (Who was conveniently back down here) put it on his bed. With that Milo left, wishing us both a good day.
I didn't know how long it would take, but for now I was happy spending time with Harvey. He was one of my best friends now.
"Harvey?" He looked over, nodding his head. "Can we send letters when I go back?"
He smiled. "Of course we can. And they don't even have to be encrypted." I hugged him.
"You're my best friend Harvey." He embraced me a little deeper when I said that. But what surprised me the most was when he pulled back a bit, to look at me.
We stood looking at each other for a moment, when Harvey leaned in and kissed me.
I wasn't sure if I was okay with it, but I kissed him back, pushing my worries away. It was a different kiss than the ones I'd had before. I guess changelings are just better kissers than humans; as uncanny as that might sound.
It was deeper, and felt like it had more meaning behind it. Even though I barely knew Harvey, and I know that I love Dominic, he didn't cross my mind once during this kiss.
He pushed away. "Is this okay?" I nodded, maybe a little too excitedly, and dragged him back to unite us once again.
We stopped after a moment, and realized we were still in the Printing Press office.
We left and went straight to the hotel I was staying at.
Slamming the door with my back we were fused together once again. This was the most exhilarating kiss I'd ever had. My heart was racing, and we would have to pause every few seconds, to refill our lungs with the oxygen we'd lost.
I'm assuming changelings have a much larger lung capacity than humans, because he stopped much less frequently than I did.
We slowly made our way to my bed, movements like liquid. Our contemporary actions harmonize perfectly. It felt like this right here is what I was made to do. Nothing else in the world could have satisfied me more than Domin- wait.
This is wrong. I love Dominic. Not Harvey.
What am I doing? And why am I not stopping?
I started to pull away but Harvey pulled himself closer; my judgment completely clouded. I gave in for a moment, if even that.
I finally got myself off of him. "Harvey we can't. I can't."
He stood up, and looked at me longingly. "I know. I understand." He nodded while he turned around, slowly putting himself back together.
The door opened, and was almost shut when I yelled out to him "I'm sorry Harvey. I wish this could be a reality."
The door shut.
I cried. I cried for several hours.
I cried for Harvey, I cried for Elmer, I cried because I feel so lost, but most of all, I cried for Dominic.
How could I do this to myself? I swear I'm not a monster. I think I'm not a monster?
Am I a monster?
Could I be worse than the horrible beasts that got me stuck here in the first place?
I'll never forgive myself.
And neither will Dominic.