Page 161 - TheRedSon_PrintInterior_430pp_5.5x8.5_9-22-2019_v1

The dream shook and convulsed, tossing the bodies
and blood and stone idols like toys. All the while, the sky
darkened with shadows that spread like fire, burning the
world back to primal pitch. My sisters continued their
onslaught, but to a nearly negligible effect—the monster’s
explosive reaction seemed largely due to indignation rather
than laceration.
The creature was cocooned in secrecy, disallowing any
clear view. Though Tom’s antlers were visible where they
tumbled skyward and beyond, his eyes became suns. As for
me, I was but a mote of dust caught momentarily in the eye
of a storm—and I was enjoying every second of it.
I don’t know whether Tom Hush had struck me with his
hand, or if the force of his burning red glare sent me crashing
into the margins of the dream. Either way, I was nearly
destroyed. Everything began to tremble as Tom began
forcibly detaching his dream where it was joined with the
others. Like a supertanker pulling away from a dock it was
still moored to, everything began tearing away, pulled along
in the wake of Tom’s withdrawal. I was caught in the middle
of the tug-of-war, my mind trying to occupy all dreams at
once. I could feel my physical body, stretched out and
sleeping beneath the cold shadows of dead trees, begin to
convulse, outlining my mind’s destruction as it outlined the
death of the collective dream. My muscles tensed around my
frame with such strength, they threatened to snap my every
bone. My teeth ground my tongue to a flap of raw, red meat.
It was not a gentle hand that seized me from oblivion,
snatching me from death and throwing me down upon the
ground of what was left of the shared dream. My father
stood wreathed in rage, his aspect darkened by the blood of
The End of the World. “Weakling!” was all he said to me as
he returned to his battle with Marvin’s monster.
Tom Hush had vanished, his ancient dream fading into
distant sleep, Doctor Link in toe. As I returned to my feet,
a stray fragment of the god’s nightmare settled across my
164 | Mark Anzalone