Chapter 1: The Celebration
This is no "A Christmas Carol".
Author’s Note: This is my submission for Indie Ink Fund’s Portal Series Final Prompt. My chosen portal is “The World in Celebration”.
Chapter 1
Walter held a cold tea and sat on his reclining chair with the newspaper in hand. His blanket drooped off his lap as he stared at the words blankly. What was the point anymore? He lost his job, without any money saved. Days ago, he also learned his only child, Helena, had passed somewhere in New England due to a sudden heart attack. He could no longer visit for the funeral. And now he would have to return Coop, his seven year old Dalmatian that he saved from the pound as a gift to himself for his 65th birthday.
Taking a sip of the cold Chamomile tea, his heart palpitated. One. Two. Three. His deep breaths seemed to fill the air around him with a sickening smell. In the span of four days, he turned vapid. The dull, lifeless Walter arched his aching back and scooted off the reclining chair without lowering the leg rest. In a minute, he reached the bedroom closet. At the bottom rested a standing case that housed a pump action shotgun.
Suddenly, Coop came around the bedframe and nestled against Walter’s leg. Walter looked down at his boy. The large Dalmatian shot his snout upwards, panting with his tongue out in excitement.
“Hey Coop.” Walter said, his lip quivering at the thought of leaving him here. He should return him to the pound first, but he just did not have the energy. Tears started streaming down the plains of his cheeks. “I am so sorry Coop!” Walter collapsed to the ground, hugging Coop’s entire body. Coop’s black tail wagged feverously. “I wish there was a better end Coop, but I can’t come back from this. I wish I could take you with me, but that is unjust cruelty my boy.” Coop stood and licked Walter’s tears clean.
Walter stood as well, distraught from the thought of leaving Coop. Hurriedly, he visited the front and back doors of his home and left them cracked open before returning to the closet. The dark wood gleamed from the morning sunlight coming in through the bedroom windows. Walter gripped the closet’s handles and pulled open the doors.
Coop barked wildly as a flash of light spread across the closet’s frame and an otherworldly image spawned in front of Walter’s eyes. The image seemed alive, with moving people and cheery noise coming from within. There were balloons and broad banners spread throughout the scene. Walter’s jaw dropped in awe as a child crossed the street holding an ice cream cone. The child attempted to lick the ice cream when it slipped off the top and hit the pavement. Coop ceased barking and leapt into the closet, landing on a paved road and racing towards the child. Walter shouted for Coop to stop before missing Coop’s collar with his hand. Walter shouted into the image in disbelief, but Coop continued on. “What is happening!” Frantically, Walter stepped over the lip of the closet frame into the living image. As soon as his body was completely through the dividing plane, the portal shattered into nothing. Walter looked behind him, dumbfounded. “What have you gotten us into Coop,” he whispered under his breath.
Walter gazed ahead where the boy had just raised his arm to pet Coop, who was licking the white ice cream off the ground. In front of Walter resided a bustling block party, complete with bakery stands, ice cream carts, balloon artists, and live musicians on a stage in the center of the street. Above the stage was a large white banner with green words spread across. They read “Celebration of Life!” About fifty yards from the stage, down the road, was where the boy and Coop stood.
“Careful!” Walter shouted, rushing forward as fast as he could. “He bites!”
The boy raised his head and met Walter’s eyes. Then, a gargantuan smile appeared on the boy’s face. “Hello Mister! I love your dog!” He said in a squeaky voice as he pet Coop. Coop kept his head bowed, licking the cement clean.
Walter came to a stop before the two and asked the boy with his eyebrows furrowed, “Where are your parents kiddo?” The boy pointed to a young couple standing in front of a petting zoo in the direction the boy was headed. The parents raised their arms and waved. Reluctantly, Walter raised his arm and held his palm up high in response. Then he returned his gaze to the boy. “Well, you shouldn’t pet dogs you don’t know. They can hurt you.”
The boy’s smile held. “That’s okay Mister! My parent’s say I’m a,” the boy lowered his voice and leaned over the dog toward Walter, “a dog whisperer.”
Walter chuckled without showing his teeth and pointed down. “Sorry about your ice cream, let me buy you a new one.”
“Awe thank you! But it’s no problem, my parents will pay for it. Why don’t you offer them instead?” Walter shrugged and followed the boy with his fingers slid under Coop’s collar. They reached the parents and exchanged pleasantries. The father, Raoul, shut down Walter’s offer. “We appreciate that but Ryan here is already four cones deep.” Walter’s eyes widened, his breath pausing for a second. “In fact, I think its time we moved onto the cotton candy!”
Walter scoffed in disbelief. “I’m sorry sir but surely that can’t be healthy?” He did not want to parent this child in front of his actual parents. Still, so much sugar could kill a man. Raoul chuckled. His wife Mary joined in on the laughter. Walter couldn’t believe his ears. “What’s so funny?”
The pair stopped before glancing at each other briefly. “We can eat all the candy we want today!” Mary chimed. “This is a celebration of life! We’ve lived so long, we want to finally indulge. Today we can do anything we want! Ride a pony!” Raoul gestured to the petting zoo behind him. In the back was a separate pen that housed a black pony about as tall as Mary. “We can eat all the food and candy we want. There’s karaoke on the stage with the band. There’s a dunk tank! The balloon artists have built a contraption to simulate flight even. It’s really brilliant. There’s an archery range and race track at the end of the street. I myself brought all the card games for the playing room inside the Hay Hall over there.” Mary pointed towards a wide barn-looking building covered in white paint twenty-five yards up the road. “This block party is meant to trump all other parties we’ve had. We can’t go any longer so we’re going our hardest!” He pumped his fist, which held an empty drink cup.
Walter stood there puzzled. “What do you mean you can’t go any longer?”
Mary’s expression softened, like she was about to tell a child their parents had died. “The prophecy dear. It foretells this day as our last! So we figured, why not go out with a bang!” It was then that Walter coughed. He coughed so violently that spittle sprayed out in front of him. “Are you okay sir? You need cough lozenges?”
Walter waved her hand away. “No.” He said hoarsely. “Just some water will do.” At those words, little Ryan ran off to a drink stand with a vendor and returned with a cup of cold, clear water. Walter took it kindly. “Thank you.”
“We know it may seem shocking, but please, celebrate with us!” Raoul invited. “There is nothing better than celebrating life.” He motioned everyone into the street. Walter let go of Coop’s collar and let him follow their squad in the street.
As they walked, Raoul, Mary, and Ryan greeted with hugs and handshakes the block-partygoers who passed by. Many introduced themselves to Walter out of joy at seeing a new face. There were newlyweds, newborns, elderly in wheelchairs, and couples who were expecting to watch the play that would close out the night. It was to be a romance, a mix between a tragedy and a comedy inspired by the works of Shakespeare. Walter greeted them haphazardly, stunned that not one of them was worried about the prophecy. They all seemed to have accepted their fate.
Walter nudged Raoul as they approached the Hay Hall with jeers and yells coming from inside the open doorway. “Do you think the prophecy might just be wrong? A joke even?”
Raoul blinked in an exaggerated manner, obviously annoyed. “Good Walter, there is no reason to believe otherwise. We have been expecting it, and we are currently in the act of manifesting it. If it were to not happen, it is we who are wrong.” He spread his arms so he stood in the shape of a cross. Then motioned in different directions. There were bicycles racing down the street. Some children tossed a hacky sack with their feet near the vendor displaying skewers of meat on his counter. The sky was slightly cloudy, with brilliant rays of sun coming from the early afternoon sun. Perfect weather it was, Walter judged.
In front of the Hay Hall, the four of them came to a stop before the entrance. “Let’s play a game shall we?” Raoul said. Everyone agreed, including Coop who barked twice in agreement. The squad walked in to a crowd of a variety of folk gathered around three tables thirty feet in length. Along them were groups of individuals playing a variety of fun games. Walter recognized a few, including poker and war. The four of them and Coop found another dog resting by its owner’s side at the edge of the second table. He was an elderly man playing solitaire with dark green playing cards. The man glanced up and smiled. “Hello Roger!” Raoul said.
Roger stood and greeted the family. Then he turned to Walter and retracted his hand, clasping his hands together instead. “Newcomer, welcome.” Walter eyed Roger who appeared to be the first person not enamored by a new face or a playful dog. He nodded in response and looked to Raoul for help.
Raoul nodded as well and started, “We plan to play a round of Machiavelli, Roger. Will you join us?” Roger looked down at his dog, a large black shepherd. Roger sighed, stood, and separated himself from their squad.
“No thank you guys. I still need to feed Ara and I promised Wendy her boys could ride my tire swing. But have fun while we can.” Roger left without looking back. Raoul apologized to Walter for Roger’s reserved behavior and sat in the elderly man’s spot. Mary, Ryan, Walter, and Coop settled around the edge of the second table with him in the Hay Hall. The music from outside swapped to a karaoke style performance by a middle-aged woman with a slight lilt in her voice.
Raoul cleaned up the green playing cards and took a second deck from further down the table to mix into the stack. Walter waited for them to explain how the game Machiavelli was played. But before he could ask, Coop suddenly barked. Coop barked, then looked to Walter. His eyes were watery. Walter knelt down to observe the abnormality. Before he could hold Coop’s head, Raoul coughed. Walter glanced up at the man as he stood in fright. Splattered across the cloth covered tabletop was bright red blood. Mary shrieked at the sight and stood to grab her husband as he stumbled backwards into his chair. Walter watched as Raoul grabbed his wife’s hand before toppling to the floor, pulling her across the table. He hit the ground, which was lightly covered in hay, but not enough to cushion his fall. Mary struck the table hard, her yellow dress soaking up the blood that had yet to seep into the white table cloth. She shrieked, eyes staring at her husband on the floor. But her shriek soon turned into a hacking fit, blood falling from her lips onto her husbands shoes below the table.
Ryan scampered away from the table, distraught. His crying penetrated the eerie quiet that had formed in the hall. Walter hurriedly turned Mary onto her side, but her eyes were blank and glossy, like a layer of light blue paint had been washed over them. A small stream of blood seeped from the side of her lips as her body shuttered. Walter choked on his breath before stepping over to Ryan. The boy was staring across the hall. Walter followed his gaze. The dozens of other people in the hall were either on their hands and knees by the table wracked by coughing fits, or already lying on the floor and tables completely devoid of life.
“Come on! Let’s get out of here.” Walter gripped Ryan’s shoulders and turned him. The boy had wet cheeks from tears. But his breath was lacking. He stood petrified, like a tree with its roots chopped. And like a dead log, Walter hoisted Ryan over his shoulder and carried him out of the Hay Hall. The sights outside the barn were as equally disturbing. Walter recognized the party goers scattered across the ground like toppled dominoes. Ryan’s stomach contracted over Walter’s shoulder. Walter lowered the boy to the ground and felt his forehead. The skin was hot to the touch. Disheartened, Walter looked around. Then he saw it, the portal he had come through was reopened in the same spot. About fifty yards from where they rested, the wardrobe shaped portal very obviously led back into Walter’s bedroom.
Determined to save the boy, Walter picked Ryan up in both arms and called for Coop. Coop raced out from the Hay Hall and up to Walter’s side. Together, they hurried back toward the portal. With every five yards, Ryan grew heavier and heavier, before Walter lost the strength to hold him halfway to the portal. Walter collapsed to his knee and rested Ryan against his thigh. From deep within him, Walter felt an overwhelming urge to cough. He arched his neck and strained his torso to turn as far away from the boy as possible before coughing up blood. Maybe he should’ve taken the offer for lozenges, he thought. He beckoned for Coop, who walked in front of his owner. Walter slid Ryan’s hands under Coop’s collar, tightening it around the boy’s wrists. Then he lifted Ryan onto Coop’s back with his legs straddling the dog. Coop barked and stuffed his nose into Walter’s chest. “Hey boy,” Walter choked as a tear streamed down his nose. He buried his hands into Coop’s fur before pushing him in the direction of the portal. “Go Coop! Go my son!” Coop bolted toward the portal. “Take care of Ryan for me!” A slight smile formed on his face. Walter coughed blood again as he lay down on the pavement, watching Coop race to their home. As Walter took his final breath, Coop leapt through the portal. Before his eyes shut for the final time, Walter watched the portal shatter, disappearing into nothingness. Thank you for a good life Coop, he thought. Then his vision turned black.