Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 492. The Walls (by Rare Americans)
When we had two hours of flying behind us, I breathed a sigh of relief; we had long left our home city, also nicknamed Rat City, behind for good.
Just...there was a voice, a whisper I couldn’t shake off.
— You will get better no matter what, got it?
An unease started creeping up my spine. Unease from being in the sky, a spot reserved for birds that weren’t threatened by gravity.
It was clouded outside, but here and there, stars shone upon us—watching us.
Inside the plane, there was dim lighting, and combined with the cozy seats and breathing bodies, it was an environment that invited relaxation.
So why am I...?
Caught in my usual dilemma, am I just being paranoid or scared of flying for the first time (since being a toddler), or is this a premonition?
And if it is, what exactly do I do?
Well, I have to make sure.
The moment I wanted to get my hands on the staff sergeant, my grandma, or Dr. Lawrence not far from me—on anybody—the dim light flickered.
— Don’t forget.
"Henry." I instead shook the puppy awake, and he was ready instantly, as if he hadn’t slept deeply.
The second he followed my gaze, the lights stopped flickering, and as I stared for a few seconds at the light, I saw it then go off completely, plummeting the plane into darkness.
Henry whipped his head to the window, and I followed suit.
We both watched as the big propeller under the airplane wing turned and twisted and, after a long while, decreased in speed before halting completely.
I knew it; I knew something was wrong, something was happening, but maybe because I joked and spoke it out multiple times, maybe because I couldn’t fathom how fucking stupid I was for boarding this plane with everyone I knew, it seemed so...
Impossible.
The plane still flew steadily, and if we didn’t look out, if there was no inclination due to the missing light, we wouldn’t notice that anything was wrong.
— You will get better.
Henry’s hand circled around my wrist, clutching it so tightly that it nearly broke.
Somehow, there was a magic binding us as we stared at the unmoving propeller, not believing it, unable to act—it seemed the moment we alarmed anyone—so much as spoke a word of it—that the plane would...
...fall.
Suddenly, the tightly closed door of the cockpit was pushed open, and Omar took over the task our brains refused to do.
"EVERYONE SIT DOWN, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR SEATBELTS ON, PUT YOUR HEAD BETWEEN YOUR LEGS, AND WHEN THE OXYGEN MASKS COME DOWN, USE THEM!"
That was the kicker for everything.
Ripping people from their sleep, first hasty, then panicked questions, Mrs. Anand jumped up and ran to the cockpit, and most of all, eyes turned to me.
All of them at once...
"Kenny?" Danny had turned around in his seat. Omar ran back into the cockpit as well. Chelsea and Jeyjey screamed my name. The twins turned around. Patrick asked what was happening. Harry clutched his armrests.
— Baby, you have to let go.
Finally, I woke from the lethargy and commanded Henry.
"Shield!" This was the fucking reason that we had to be present during a journey, because everything could go to hell at any moment.
I turned to the window and saw that he was already doing just that, the crystals surrounding the plane, growing in a sphere to shield us... but from what?
Nobody had attacked us.
Just machines that stopped working without any reason, and gravity making itself known, prominently displaying its power, and it wasn’t finished yet.
No, what does a shield matter anyway? AN EGG, EVEN WHEN INSIDE A SAFE, WILL CRACK IF THROWN FROM A FUCKING SKYSCRAPER.
And we not only had the impact to care about but also the fucking fuel that could explode on us.
FUCK!
Alright, time to test if I can use the giant’s power while paying only with bodily pain instead of going crazy. But just in case,
"You have to hold me back from hurting anyone," I said to Henry, knowing that he would be able to.
"Leave it to me." But his grip around my wrist didn’t loosen for one second, telling me he would teleport us out of here in the worst case.
Just that the worst case couldn’t happen. Never fucking ever.
I looked into the space in my mind, suddenly asking myself... why was I still sane?
Why no crunching sounds, no ripples? Why isn’t my mind breaking?
Am I just in shock?
And the answer was inside the little space.
I saw it but just couldn’t believe it, feeling dazed, until I stroked the wooden surface.
It wasn’t obvious at a glance, and because of that, I hadn’t noticed it before when flipping the coin: the crystals only covered about half of the tabletop; it didn’t look as if they were violently removed, but more as if the crystals and the wood had grown together.
Why, why, why?
I tried to flip the tabletop myself to teleport everyone away—to bring them out of here even if it meant making a space—but it didn’t move at all.
Had the crystalline counterpart died? Used up all its energy?
No.
Was my mind... healing?
Way too late, but right now—HAH—way too early, in the most UNASKED and fucking HARMFUL manner possible??
And why? Years have passed by since the giant traumatized the fuck out of me, with the fight against him, his memories, and his godly power. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Why? Why now?
Because I was a ’free man’ again? Because I had sex?
Right now it didn’t matter if I would keep the giant’s powers after the table returned to its purely wooden state or if I could then use the powers without going crazy.
WHAT MATTERED WAS THAT I NEEDED TO USE THE GIANT’S POWER FUCKING RIGHT THIS INSTANT.
Pictures of a circus played before my eyes, and I remembered the fever dream that was so real it couldn’t be anything but a memory from when I was small.
— Through constant trying and failing, they learn.
The plane shook, and I returned from the space in time to feel the metal cage surrounding us tilt forward.
My grandmother followed after Ethan, who also ran to the cockpit; more screams, more eyes turned to me.
Am I dreaming?
Is this real?
I went through my options, thinking that Henry could teleport with the others, though no one knew if they would survive it, or I could conjure something up.
Can I still do that? I conjured up a cigarette, and it indeed worked. I put it back and forced myself to come up with something.
Water again? But what would hold the water in place?
A whole landscape, a sea, the ocean?
A BUNCH OF RAT CORPSES THAT COULD CUSHION OUR FALL?
Jeyjey?
"DO WE HAVE DMT?" I yelled, and Ethan speedily came back from the cockpit, searching through a bag in the compartment that the staff sergeant and the doctor pointed at.
The plane shook again, and the speed at which we steered toward the ground increased.
— You have to let go.
Each time my name was yelled or I felt a gaze, I felt the weight on me increasing, SUFFOCATING ME.
I looked at Henry, unable to bring myself to say anything about my nonfunctioning powers, but he seemed to understand.
— There is only yourself.
Another hard shake, and bodies that hadn’t been strapped in lifted and fell.
As they swung, catching onto each other before letting go again, falling—
More screams, and Henry acidified our seatbelts to drag my stiff self to Henrietta.
He tried to slap her awake while yelling to Ethan that he should get the DMT.
My wrist broke under Henry’s grip, but I felt no pain.
Just the unbearable, suffocating weight pulling me further, faster DOWN.
Another shake.
Henry hugged me, holding onto a seat as I watched bodies twisting, grabbing for ropes that weren’t there.
— I will prove to you that the world isn’t a scary place.
Until the end...
Jordan helped Ethan retrieve the bag, and the doctor crawled to them when the shaking stopped.
...Even when the windows shatter...
I could see the ground approaching; there isn’t enough time, not for waking Henrietta even if I get rid of the collar nor for injecting Jeyjey and coaxing her into opening a portal.
...my ears ring and the fire engulfs me; I just think...
Not enough time; just like a joke, the powers we had wouldn’t save anyone but ourselves.
The earth was reaching for us with deadly certainty.
..Impossible.
— In reality, there is only yourself.
I appeared inside my space and grabbed the coin I had flipped countless times, from the time when my hand was small to when it had grown twice as big.
I took the coin and scratched away the crystalline surface covering still half of the table, feeling a slight surge of power, but this didn’t work; THIS WAS TOO SLOW.
— The world isn’t a scary place.
I was slapped back into my body and saw my grandmother holding onto my shoulders.
— Don’t forget.
Her eyes were as stern as ever, but her pupils shook, and she tightly held my free hand.
"YOU WILL NOW GO! TELEPORT AWAY!"
"No..."
"My boy..." She mumbled before turning to Henry.
"YOU WILL BRING HIM AWAY, WILL YOU?!"
He nodded, the grip on my broken wrist didn’t lessen at all.
"I will."
— I will come back.
The plane was only seconds away from crashing.
And while Henry tried to make a second shield, trying to combine the two to lessen the impact the plane would take, I switched back into the space in my mind.
I grabbed the single table leg, lifted the table, and smashed the tabletop against the darkness surrounding me.
The darkness was surprisingly solid, and while wood and crystals flew through the air, I could hear my mother’s voice so much clearer.
But why, why, why did every time I swung the table against the wall of obscurity, her voice distort, reaching me only in bits?
— You _ _ better _ _ _, _ _?
— _ forget.
— You _ _ better.
— _, _ _ _ let go.
— Through constant trying and failing, _ _.
— You _ _ _ _.
— _ _ only _.
— _ _ prove _ _ that _ _ _ _ _ _.
— _ reality, _ is _ _.
— _ _ _ a scary place.
— Don’t _.
— _ _ come back.
