Valerie’s POV

Six Years Ago


The takeout containers I brought home grow cold on the dining room table as I wait for my boyfriend to get home. Zach’s job just loves keeping him out later than expected, but it’s alright with me… just gives me some ammunition to tease him with whenever he arrives. My lips curl into a soft smile as I picture cuddling up next to him after dinner. I’ll probably start by pouting in an adorably exaggerated way, complaining about how much I missed him while he was away. I’ll press against him and lean in close to whisper in his ear how having him near makes me feel warm and safe. Maybe I’ll nibble on his ear a bit, just to seal the deal.

I have to shake the thoughts from my head, my pathetic fantasy somehow giving me goosebumps as I imagine how tonight can go. Never in my life did I imagine I’d be so crazy about someone that just the thought of them could turn me into a blushy, flustered mess… but with him, everything is just… so easy. Zach is comfort, he’s peace… he’s that sitcom you’ve watched a dozen times start to finish and hot cocoa on a winter’s night. After a string of awful relationships, I was ready to give up on love completely, retire the part of my soul that could trust another person enough to share my heart. Then Zach arrived, a dork that seemed at first just as guarded as me. My miracle.

My doorbell chimes at last, and I glide on over to let my lover boy in. “You better have a good explanation, mister. You’re late!” I cheerfully declare as I swing the door open. “Oh, shit. You’re not who I thought you were. I’m sorry. Can I help you?” Standing in my doorway isn’t Zach, but a middle-aged woman with short curly hair and a smile that sends a chill down my spine.

The woman hums for a moment before shaking her head. “I’m afraid not, but I do believe I can help you.” Without waiting for any sort of response, the woman pushes past me and enters my apartment.

“Whoa there, what do you think you’re doing, inviting yourself in? I don’t know you like that.” The woman doesn’t pay any attention to me as she looks around the room curiously, silently judging every nook and cranny of my personal space. “Seriously, get the fuck out.”

“Tsk, Ms. Dias… It’s not very good manners to use such vulgar language in front of a guest.”

“Well, if I had a guest, I wouldn’t. I’d call you an intruder. If you don’t leave right now, I’ll call the cops as well.”

The woman sits on my couch, making herself at home, face still projecting the most insincere smile I’ve ever witnessed. “You may want to wait just a moment to do that. Your precious little boyfriend will be here soon, and you’ll want to see how he reacts to seeing me.” Not a moment later, my doorbell sounds again. “Answer it, dear. We both know who you’re expecting.”

I tear open the door and throw myself into the arms of the man standing in front of me. “Zach, I need help. This woman showed up, and she just walked right in and I don’t know who she is and–”

“Mother?” Zach asks, sounding almost as freaked out as I am. “What are you doing here?”

“She’s your mom!?” I ask, frustration and confusion reaching a fever pitch. “You… you said your family had all passed away.”

The woman rolls her eyes and stands up. “Yes, that kind of tasteless lie is exactly what I’d expect from my Eric.”

“Eric!?” I ask, looking between my Zach and this deranged stranger that has to be on some fantastic drugs right now.

Rather than laugh off this entirely off beat situation and denounce everything the woman has said, Zach walks up to me and looks me in the eye. “I’m going to walk her out, and you and I need to talk. I… I need to tell you some things, some really fucked up things, but nothing I’m going to say changes how I feel about you or who I am, okay?” I just nod and Zach… Eric… whoever I’m dating. He grabs the woman by the arm and starts yanking her away towards the door.

“Make sure you ask him about his job, dear… and also how he really met you. That ought to be fun! Oh, and if you have time, ask him about his other fake name.” With those parting words, the man I thought I knew as well as myself drags the woman away. I don’t move from where I’m standing, my mind racing with a burning need to process what just happened, completely shutting out my ability to move.

I hear a heated exchange outside for a while before a car starts up and leaves. My Zach walks back into the apartment and looks at me with such guilt in his eyes. “Val, I–”

“Who the fuck was that? She… she can’t actually be your mother. Nobody would possibly lie about something like their mom being dead.”

Zach winces and exhales deeply. “I did. That was my mother. I am so sorry.”

“That was your mom, and she called you… Eric?” The man in my apartment, who I don’t seem to know at all, steps forward while I start retreating. “Just who the hell are you?”

“L–Let me start over. I–I’m not supposed to tell an outsider anything. Even if I tell you everything, you’re just going to think I’m crazy and—”

Shaking my head wildly, I keep the kitchen counter between us. “Yeah, that ship has sailed already. I suggest you tell me everything.”

My wounded soon-to-be ex stops walking and tries to collect himself. “I didn’t want to tell you about my mom because she’s the leader of this religious group. A group I’m a member of and work for often. This group worships a goddess named Eleanora, the goddess of love. As a worshiper from this group I can… Fuck me, this is where I’m going to lose you… I can see lines connecting people who can potentially fall in love. Now, red lines are blessed by the goddess, while grey ones go against her plan for everything. My job is… is to hurt the people with grey lines–Not physically! Just fuck with their head somehow so they lose their chance at fulfilling those partnerships. Y–You think I’m nuts.”

I just stare at the man I thought was my miracle and chuckle. “Nuts doesn’t even begin to describe what I think of you.” My eyes sting as I stare him down. “I still don’t even know what to call you.”

There’s a meandering silence as his face scrunches up and he struggles to form the words. “My name is Eric,” he finally says. “I never wanted to lie, but—”

“But you did… about fucking everything, apparently!” I’m not the only one tearing up anymore as Eric starts bawling. “How dare you cry about this! This is all your fault! Why not just fucking introduce yourself properly the first time?” I feel my heart pounding heavily as my breathing grows ragged. I’m used to feeling sad… empty. I’m used to being dealt a shit hand and sinking into a stagnant tar pit of malaise. Never in my life have I been so teeth grindingly fucking pissed!

“I–I wasn’t supposed to actually like you. They–they sent me to hurt you like I’ve done to others. They sent me to ruin love for you.” Eric looks around me, but never directly at me. “Five grey lines… none of us had ever seen something like this before. I didn’t understand before I met you. Turns out, you’re just that, genuinely loveable.” He looks down at the counter and catches his breath. “They decided it would be more effective to have someone meet you, date you, and break your heart so thoroughly it’d destroy all of your lines at once.”

A grim, low laugh claws its way up from my core, tearing at my throat savagely as it breaks free as violently as possible. “You… you’re saying that the only reason you started dating me…was to hurt me. We’ve been together almost four months, and it was all some twisted game to appease the cult you’re a part of?” My laughter grows uncontrollably, completely devoid of joy. It eventually blends into sobbing until I’m not quite sure what I’m doing. All I know is that I can’t take a steady breath in. All I can do is listen to the blubbering cackles of a woman who’s given up.

Eric tries to walk around the counter, to wrap his arms around me. The fucking nerve! I kick him away and growl like an animal that just wants to share this pain with the person who hurt me.

“You’re right… that was my intention when I met you. But Val, I was supposed to pull the plug months ago. I… I went off script. Once I knew you, once I saw who you were, I couldn’t go through with the original plan. I’ve been trying to find a way to come clean… to tell you all of this without… without this happening.” He gestures between the two of us. “I always knew that finding a way to tell you, to cleanse what we have of the filth I doused it in from day one, would be difficult… but I had to try. Never in my life have I understood all the cheesy love songs and movies I grew up on, not until meeting you. I’d sing an awfully written musical number, or shout how much you mean to me from the rooftops of a crowded street. I’d betray everything I ever believed in and abandon what little family I have left, just to spend an extra day by your side watching awful reality shows. You are kind, sweet, witty, charming, hilarious, brilliant and every time I saw you smile, it felt like the world was somehow a better place. I love you–”

“Get the fuck out.”

“But–”

“Did I fucking stutter? Leave. Now.”

Without another word, Eric shuffles away, back to my front door and beyond its threshold. “I’m s–” I slam the door before he can finish yet another self-serving apology.

My shoulders tremble, like the earth quaking before an eruption. I want to scream. I want to yell at the top of my lungs and break every physical remnant of our time together. I want to howl and claw at everything in this apartment that was now infected with a memory of that monster. I want to… but all my body does is crumple into a ball near the door and cry. I wail like a child, wishing my Zach would come and hold me, praying for the comfort of a man who never truly existed.


***


E’s POV


This time, waking up in the monochrome ocean, my body doesn’t even bother trying to save itself as I slowly drift lower and lower into the depths. I knew that one was going to hurt from either side. The day my line was cut was not the day I gave up on love. That didn’t happen until Valerie. I realized that Eleanora and her followers, my mother, none of them would ever let someone without a line find happiness. Yet the worst part was that all it had taken was mom telling the truth. My actions, my decisions, those are what hurt Valerie. It was all my fault. I was the reason she lost everything that night, just as I had.

“Oh gods, cry me a fucking river,” I hear a voice groan as my feet find purchase on the sands below. At this depth, it was so dark I couldn’t see a thing in front of me. Setting aside the fact that I should be drowned and crushed by pressure at this point, I decide to embrace the absurdity of the situation and speak. Soundless bubbles rush past me as my voice never escapes. “Yeah, this part of the program isn’t exactly open to audience participation.” Strands of weak, blue lights start to illuminate the sea floor and I finally get to see that I’m not alone. There’s a figure in the shadows, not quite clear but present enough to be discernably human.

“Hope that journey of yours hurt something fierce. By that absolutely pathetic look on your face, I’m going to assume it did. Good. Then maybe you’ll finally be able to do something about it, right?”

Do something about what? Eleanora wins, she always wins, regardless if I’m the trigger person or not.

“Bullshit she does. Eleanora’s a stooge. She’s pathetic, and worthless, and words can’t express how fucking happy I was when you dropped any connection with her. First sensible thing you’ve done all your life.”

Sensible as it was, it was meaningless. She’s still a god and I’m just… me.

“What, you think you’re less than her because you’re human? Don’t make me laugh. The shit humans have done with a sliver of a lifespan and none of the powers of a god… really, it puts the whole pantheon to shame in a fairly weighted comparison.”

Too bad the world isn’t fair.

“Ha! Got me there… but then again… don’t you have a few advantages? You know all about that wretch, all about her followers, you know everything she’s ever done… and you know the most important bit of all… Eleanora was never the one spinning the lines.”

How do you figure that?

“Well, you and that Val girl didn’t have a line to begin with… but towards the end—”

Still no line.

“Not true… Eleanora just kept you from seeing it. Valerie lost six lines that day, one of them a relatively new connection.”

That’s… not possible.

“There’s a way you can check if you’re not entirely convinced, isn’t there?” The figure sighs. “I suppose this will set us back quite a bit… I probably won’t get to show my face out there for some time. But goddamn is this going to be worth it.”

Can I at least see you?

“In due time. For now, it’s time to wake up, sleeping beauty.”


***


Selene’s POV

Present


The area behind the doors is incredible. Sleek steel features backdropped by a two-tone paint job of lush forest green and a light, earthy brown. The smell of coffee flows through the wonderfully powerful air conditioning as bright lights and upbeat alt rock plays from the speakers. It’s a shame I don’t get to truly enjoy the incredible atmosphere of whatever this place is, and instead chase behind some people rushing in the direction of my line.

“I’ve never seen anyone so rushed in here,” Gabe says, sounding more lucid than I’d ever expect him to be. “Something big or something dumb must have happened.”

Ahead of us is a decently sized crowd circled around two incredibly tall people bickering over an unconscious body. “You let her drink the entire bottle!?” the woman yells at the top of her lungs, while the bald man shrinks.

“I didn’t, I swear. I told her there was a three drink maximum.”

“Was that before or after you left the bottle on the bar?” The woman grips her own hair tightly and groans.

“M–My place has always been a s–self-pour type of establishment,” Big man stutters as the woman refocuses her glare on him. “Not anymore, obviously!”

On the ground, between the feuding giants, is a familiar face. “Mister Hubris?” I gasp, shocked to see someone I know in such a state… and on the other end of my line. I try to get closer, but Gabe grabs my arm.

“The boss said you could see them, but it’s not a good idea to get too close,” he warns with a sympathetic expression. “Besides, if all the gods in the room can’t help them, what could you do?”

“Gods? Plural?” I look around the stores around us and see odd stores and advertisements. “Past pets?” I ask, reading the nearest sign.

“That’s one of my favorite stores here. They let you buy the reincarnation of your dearly departed pet. They keep all their memories and it’s like they never left.”

“That’s not possible. That’s fucking weird.”

“Is it? This is the marketplace of the gods, after all.” After he says this I start taking a better look at everything around me. At first glance, everything here sounds like some weird practical joke, or set pieces from a trippy movie… but if it’s all real…

The crowd gasps as Mister Hubris suddenly sits up, pupils dilated and barely keeping upright. The pair of towering people near him kneel down and try to talk but he ignore’s them both and stands on shaky legs, stumbling along like a man possessed. I watch as he makes his way down the hall. A man with long hair rushes to his side and steadies him, keeping them upright as my line-proclaimed toxic soulmate keeps marching.

The two finally stop in front of a store labeled “Callista’s Boutique.” Mister Hubris stares down the sign outside for some time as his friend tries to propel them forward. It’s the very person that led the pair to the store who refuses to go in, electing to simply stare at the sign before turning away. As he does, in the split second, he takes his first step away from the open doors of the boutique… the line between us flashes. If I had blinked, I could have missed it… but for the briefest of moments, the line became grey.

Next to me, Gabe gasps. He drops everything and pours himself a bowl of cereal. “Really, dude, you desperately need a snack right this instant?” I say, failing to comprehend this man’s appetite.

“No, something changed. That wasn’t supposed to–” Gabe stalls for a second as he stares at his bowl. “Change in plans, we need to go say hi.” For the first time, I watch Gabe throw his freshly poured bowl in the trash as he gestures for me to follow.


***


Estella’s POV


“Are you sure? It’s right here.” Nathan asks as he helps me along. I’m not sure. I’m not sure about anything anymore. Before I commit to any path, there’s something I need to check.

“Is there a way I can use karma to buy a book that someone else owns?”

“Of course not, that would be theft,” Nathan answers, making total sense. “But…”

“But?”

“Knowledge isn’t something that can be stolen. The god of knowledge runs a print shop. It lets you copy any document that exists in the world, so long as you’re one hundred percent certain it’s real.”

With a cackle and a smile, I ask Nathan to lead the way. Once I get my sea legs back, the two of us hightail it over to the god of knowledge’s one stop copy shop. I rush to one of the available machines and the interface is fairly simple. “Describe a document that exists. Be specific. Insert credit,” I read aloud. “Alright, then, I need the ledger of the current leader of Eleanora’s acolytes, the page detailing operations completed on May fourteenth, six years ago.”

The screen flashes green. “Document Found! Price: 100 Karma”|

“I accept. Please print.”

Ask me why a divine instrument capable of the impossible has to go through the same long and loud process as every other copy machine outside of Karma Mart just to spit out one piece of paper. I tap impatiently at the machine’s side until the paper finally comes loose and I pull it free. Right there, plain as day and in clear text:

Estella Solis - Valerie Dias

I had a second line. I had a second line that I hadn’t been born with. Which means, “The goddess was full of shit in more than one way. She doesn’t make the lines.” Nathan reaches out to me and I grab both of his shoulders. “She doesn’t make the lines! She never has!!!”

I flag down the older gentleman behind the counter who puts down the book he was reading and slowly saunters over. “What is it, miss?”

“Sir, I’d like to know if you can offer a discount on bulk printing services. I’m going to need thousands of pages made for as little as possible.”

Nathan yanks my shoulder back and pulls me aside. “Hey, Estella, I don’t know how hard you hit your head when you went down earlier, but you only have two thousand extra points to spend. Even if you get half off here, you’re not going to get anywhere near a thousand pages.”

Shaking my head, I smile widely, baring my teeth wildly. “No, Natey Potatey, I have thirty-one thousand nine hundred points to burn.” He looks shocked and I shrug. “It’s not my time yet, and there’s something I want to do. Something I NEED to do.”


***


Selene’s POV


When Gabe and I catch up with the dynamic duo, Mister Hubris and his friend are in what appears to be supernatural Kinkos, printing and boxing up a ludicrous amount of pages. Gabe smiles with relief, seeing the two and runs inside, wrapping the long-haired guy in a tight embrace. “Brother! It’s about time I get to see you again.”

The other man groans. “Oh, yeah, absolutely. Missed you too… please let go.”

I think for a moment about what was said the night prior. “Brother?” I ask. “Wasn’t your brother supposed to be watching over Estella?”

“Who’s watching over me?” The person on the other end of my line turns around, face alight with recognition. “Oh, Ms. S&B, pleasure–” Their eyes drop down to the line connecting us. “Well… ain’t that some shit?”