That which exists between: An Occam's Razor interlude

[ronfiction]

That which exists between: An Occam's Razor interlude

It was a cold morning in November when Lou woke up early and packed up his truck and drove out to the ruins of Whisper Hill with Mike and Alice. Lou drove them to a small dirt excess road and parked his truck on the side of it. Lou grabbed the cooler and picnic blanket he had packed and motioned for Mike to grab the Frisbee he had in the bed of the truck.

They noticed that a few cars were already parked there and the three of them made their way up a small hill. On their way up the hill they passed by a small amount of construction workers and Gino. Lou gave him a nod as he passed, knowing that he had come by earlier in the day as to avoid being seen out in the day light by the locals who would be trickling in and out as the day wore on.

Once up at the hill top, the wreckage of the gate came into view and shiver ran down Lou's spine. It had been a full year since he had seen it, and it was far less bleak in the sun light as when he saw it last. A lot of the gate had been obscured by piles of leaves and branches from the year, but it's stones were still a dark color and the air around it was still.

Ness and Rufus were already there, the two of them silently holding hands as they looked up at the ominous monument. That's what the gate had become in the last year, a strange monument to those that had given their lives to save this world from the darkness existed between realities. The lives not only lost during the last conflict at the gate's closing, but to those who had been ritually sacrificed since the gate's sealing.

After the conflict had come to an end, those that survived swore that they would come back to this place on it's anniversary and remember those that didn't make it. The battle had claimed many lives on both sides, and the tribe would take generations to recover from it.

Lou called out to Ness and Rufus to announce their arrival and soon the small group set up near by the gate. As the day wore on, people from the local area drifted in and out of the makeshift picnic. Some folks traveled from far away to be here for the remembrance, some folks came from just down the road. Even John Marner made a short appearance before heading back to his small home back in the ruins of Whisper Hill.

Every now and then, Lou would get a phone call from someone too far away or too busy to attend, he would break off from the larger group and have a short chat with them. He would catch up with for a short while, and then once done, rejoin the group.

Lou, Mike and Alice stayed for most of the day and around the 4:15 sun set, Lou was tossing the Frisbee to Mike as the rest of the people who remained lit some candles and placed Flowers at the base of the gate. The small circle of people exchanged stories of what they did that fateful night and soon the small group turned their attention to Lou.

"Hey Lou, you went through the gate that night didn't you?" Sheriff Tyler asked. Lou stiffened for a moment and gave him a shallow nod. "Ayup." Lou said as he tossed the Frisbee into the distance, as it was stalked closely by Mike.

The small group of people who lingered at the gate all looked around at each other and then back to Lou. They realized, that Lou was the only person at the gathering left who had gone through the gate.
"What was it like on the other side?" A curious Bret asked offering Lou a beer. Lou took the beer and gave a glance up to the gate. He looked to the few remaining people and raised an eyebrow at them.
"It was... strange." Lou said in a hushed voice. Allison put down a flower that someone had placed at the base of gate and encouraged Lou on. "What did you see on the other side Lou?"

Lou frowned some and looked back to Mike. Mike had been waiting for Lou to see him before he tossed the Frisbee at him. Lou let the Frisbee fall to the ground and motioned for Mike to come over and rejoin the group. Lou walked over to the gate and looked at it's dark stones closely.

"There was a world on the other side that... Felt strange while you were there. You felt like you were, no where, like, you were just between places." Lou said, struggling to explain how he felt about the place. "The sky, was... all wrong. There was air there I suppose; I was breathing something, but it was so still it felt like you had to force it into your lungs and back out again. Like it didn't want to move or flow. Like it was more of a solid than a gas."

Lou said and took a long pull of his beer and and turned back to look away from the Gate.

"The light was a dim purple color, and it was everywhere but no where at the same time. It was cold, even colder than it was on this side of the gate. The monsters on the other side were... horrible." Lou said with a squint as he tried to remember what they looked like but again shivered as he did.

"I don't know what Everyone else thought about it. But, the whole time I was terrified. Worried that I wasn't going to come back from there. That none of us were going to come back from there. I wouldn't wish that place on anyone."

Lou said in a hollow tone as he stared off into space. Harry tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and Lou was a little started by the touch.

"Well, aren't we glad that's over for now?" Harry said with a smirk. Lou nodded and drank more of his beer. Those that were still there slowly said their good byes to each others and made vows of returning again to what they now called "Gatelock hill". Lou, Alice and Mike stayed till the end, until it was dark. Alice said some prayers for those who were lost and Mike silently observed the other leave.

Lou walked over to a spot he remembered from that night. The spot where John Marner had saved his life. Lou remembered coming to by a small tree stump with the magic that John worked flowing through him. Lou had been killed on the wrong side of the gate and the last thing he remembered was the form of the howling darkness stalking over his body.

A small breeze kicked up as he looked at the spot and he closed his jacket tightly around him. Thoughts about those who worshipped the darkness lingering on in this world bothered him, but he put them away for now.