Archive for November, 2024

The blare of the alarm slashed through a gray haze. Jan clawed her way up from the shreds of sleep that entangled her and gulped a breath. Heat seared her throat and lungs.

Coughing, she strained her vision and saw only flames obscured by a shroud of smoke.

Were the drapes on fire? The space heater – why hadn’t they remembered to turn it off at bedtime? That far from the window, it shouldn’t get the curtains hot enough to ignite – must have malfunctioned.

She struggled free of the sheet wrapped around her legs, while her eyes stung and her chest heaved. A shadow groped through the haze, and hands gripped her elbows.

“Larry?”

“Come on, get up.” He tugged at her arms to haul her out of bed.

Jan tried to swing her legs onto the floor, but they didn’t work. Blackness engulfed her.

When consciousness returned, she lay on her back staring up at the night sky. Sky? She was on the ground in the front yard, then. Why couldn’t she feel the damp grass under her? At least the burning in her chest had stopped.

Sirens wailed. Larry knelt beside her, silhouetted by the glow from the house. His fingers grazed her cheek, but she couldn’t feel his touch either. Was she paralyzed or what? She forced herself to sit up and reach for him. Her hand sank into his chest with no sensation at all.

Oh, God, no! She choked out, “What’s happening? Are you dead?”

His eyes widened with something between grief and horror. “No. You are.”

-end-

Headlines from the CROSS-CONTINUUM DIGEST: Highlights of news reports from randomly selected alternate universes:

New France and New Spain negotiate Mississippi River compact.

Vampire anti-discrimination torchlight march on Washington.

First werewolf elected to Congress.

President-elect Harris announces transition team.

Texas secedes from Confederacy, establishes independent republic.

Russian premier and military high command exposed as lizardfolk.

Victorious Gilead rebels invite U.S. government-in-exile to return.

Dolphins protest Chesapeake Bay wind farms.

Oceania declares war on Eastasia.

Nova Roma signs trade agreement with Vinland.

Galactic Federation envoy invites Earth to join community of solar systems.

World Health Organization announces eradication of COVID-19.

Reservation for endangered dragons established in Yellowstone National Park.

Miskatonic University Antarctic expedition discovers secret Nazi base wiped out by shoggoths.

Barely one million survive after asteroid collides with Earth.

Galactic Federation envoy visits Earth, determines “No intelligent life here,” pledges to return in 100,000 sidereal years.

“Oh, not again!” Suellen frowned at the solitary goldfish floating upside down in his bowl. After a life of less than two months, Jaws Five had followed Jaws One, Two, Three, and Four to the deluxe aquarium in the sky. He’d looked fine, as far as she could judge piscine health, when she’d settled at her computer that morning for the day’s work from home.

“Damn, Tyler will have an epic meltdown,” she muttered as she netted and removed the deceased. If only her husband, Jim, would spring for an actual aquarium. He insisted it wouldn’t be worth the money for animals destined to die soon anyway. Self-fulfilling prophecy, much?

Naturally their son’s aquatic pets tended to suffer short lives while confined to a cramped bowl with no accessories except floating seaweed fronds and a plastic treasure chest. Suellen’s conscientious changing of the water and monitoring of the food could do only so much to make up for the inadequate habitat.

She couldn’t face Tyler’s anticipated reaction to another dead fish. After wrapping the diminutive corpse in foil and stuffing it deep into the garbage can, she considered her options. She had at least an hour before Jim got off work, picked up Tyler from afterschool care, and made it home.

“Fine, I’ll resort to the obvious.” Grabbing her purse, she hurried to the car and drove to the mall. Surely the pet store where they’d bought Jaws Five and his predecessors would have a doppelganger for sale. One goldfish looked pretty much like another. His only distinguishing mark had been a black streak on his tail.

Fortunately, at the shop she found a look-alike replacement. Half an hour later, she was back, introducing Jaws Five-Point-One to his new home. A sigh of relief escaped her when he darted to the surface of the water and eagerly gobbled the food flakes she sprinkled on the surface.

“Now, will you please make a good-faith effort to live more than a few weeks?”

To her surprise, a “glug” noise answered her.

“Was that you?” The fish, of course, didn’t respond.

The sound repeated. A dripping faucet in the kitchen, maybe? Suellen looked around.

A water-filled bubble floated in the air. Inside it, a translucent goldfish with a black-streaked tail undulated as if swimming to a phantom destination.

“Oh, my God, I’m being haunted by the ghost of a fish!” Unless she was dreaming, but the pinch test hinted otherwise, and she didn’t habitually fall asleep on her feet in the late afternoon.

One by one, four similar bubbles popped into existence. They circled her like miniature moons revolving around a human-shaped planet. She flailed her arms and turned lightheaded with terror when her hands swept through the apparitions. “It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t kill you!” They only tightened the circle until they practically covered her face. A chorus of glugs drowned out her screams. A torrent of water poured over her. She wrapped her arms around her head and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she found herself submerged in water. A panicked gasp sucked in a gulp of liquid, yet she didn’t choke on it. It flowed smoothly over her gills.

Gills?

A ribbon of seaweed rippled nearby, while Jaws Five-Point-One swam back and forth beside her. She stared out through the distorting curve of glass. Through the water, sounds reverberated. The front door slammed, followed by footsteps, then Jim’s voice calling her name.

When she tried to answer, nothing came out but “glug.”

A face warped into a fun-house shape pressed against the bowl and peered at her. “Hey, Dad, why do we have two fish now? And where’s Mom?”