The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

Jamie jerked his head up, looked around, saw no one.

“Who …?”

“James, you’ve always known you were apart from the others. Even Michael Cooper is a toy to pass the time until your birth.”

“The fuck?”

No one replied. Jamie caught his breath and settled down.

OK, so he hadn’t been sleeping. Wasn’t eating like usual, either. Maybe the joint he smoked last night was bad weed.

“Would it be easier,” the woman whispered, “if I said you were dreaming? Would you accept me, sweet child?”

“This ain’t no goddamn dream, and I ain’t crazy.”

“Many will disagree, sweet child.”

“Who are you?”

“A companion. A friend.”

“No. I’m losing my mind.”

“Yes, but not in the traditional sense. For the sake of argument, sweet child, you ARE dreaming. Yes?”

Chirping birds filled the oak trees, whose new spring leaves were still emerging. Jamie closed his eyes. Maybe she’s right. Maybe if I just go along, I’ll wake up. None of this happened. I’m not losing it.

For a few moments, it seemed to work. He laid his head upon the bench and convinced himself he was gone to the world. This, despite the continued melody of the birds.

“Do you wonder why you can’t see the future?” his visitor said.

“Stop talking to me. Leave me alone.”

“You can’t see it, sweet child, because it will belong to another.”

“Who are you? Show me your face.”

“As I said, this is a dream. But in this dream, I control the landscape. Yes? The only face worth seeing is the true one growing inside. You’ve seen it, James. You’ve felt it in your skin. Heard it beating in your heart. It wants to escape the prison of its programming. Its patience wears thin, but it WILL wait for its time.”

A shroud descended around him, and Jamie entertained a new, despicable thought.

“No,” he said. “I’m not going to do it. You can’t make me.”

“Ah, so you DO know the face I speak of, sweet child. You need not fear it. You’ve felt the urges. You are more than broken.”

“No. I’m not that person.”

“Yes, you are. You have the heart of a killer. You are a monster. And when your true face is born, you will far exceed your creator’s ambition. You will lay waste to every enemy. Oceans will turn red. You will hold the compass to redefine the human race. A million years of secrets will reveal themselves. You will stand above them all and lead your people to a new home. From there, you will be revered as a god. You will slaughter all those who oppose you. This, sweet child, is who you are. Unique in the universe – this one or any other. The algorithm of time becomes clearer. The deaths of Tom and Marlena Sheridan were the necessary pivot.”

“Stop. Just … stop. You … you’ve been in my dreams before.”

“I have visited a few times, but mostly to observe. We should have gotten to know each other years ago, but to do so would have interfered with the algorithm. How could I undermine what we are building together?”

“You make no sense.”

“And yet, I make perfect sense. Think, James. How often do those darkest of possibilities creep into your mind during your waking hours? How often do you feel the murderous instinct deep in your gut? Sweet child, how often have you imagined killing your tormentors? How often do you lie awake, sweating under the covers, as you beat your enemies senseless and taste their blood on your lips? You were designed to be a monster of unprecedented scale. The program calls to you, it invites you to experience the beauty of its savagery.”

“No. I won’t do this. I …”

Something disrupted the dream. Someone else was here.

“Coop? Is that you?”

The birds still chirped, and Michael’s face was clear as day.

“J, your brother’s here. There’s news. They got the guy.”

The shroud did not lift.

“J? Dude? Didn’t you hear? Sheriff arrested …”

“I heard. Just … leave me be.”

Jamie put his head down and dismissed the interruption.

“It won’t bring them back,” he added.

“No, sweet child, it will not. However, vengeance might provide a measure of satisfaction. Yes?”

“I won’t do it. You can’t make me.”

“I don’t need to. What happens next is already flowing through your bloodstream. It is already infused in your DNA. But what if I told you there was immeasurable joy to be found in a moment of blind fury? What if you might experience an exhilaration uncommon to humans? Creation and destruction of the universes are themselves founded on the ideals of fury.”

“No,” he said, tossing and turning. “I want to wake up now.”

“First, I need to make sure the algorithm is accurate, sweet child. Show me what you can become. Move us both closer to an impossible future. I will release but a fragment of your partner.”

Tremors swelled through his body, and Jamie watched the shroud lift, to be replaced by a wave of rolling fire that surrounded him. Then he saw it – his parents’ blood, splattered over the walls of their bedroom. A gunman, laughing at his grotesque art.

“You are a monster. You are a monster. Kill him now. He deserves to be killed.”

He didn’t hear the birds any longer; only the shrill, unending rage that crossed his lips. He sprinted, though his target was far away. He was oblivious to passing cars or strangers on a sidewalk. He did not feel the searing of his lungs.

“I’ll kill them all. I’ll kill them all.”

He knew the jail. He knew where to find the prisoner.

And to that cell, he swung the baseball bat with savage abandon. Men in uniform tried to break his course, but he’d have none of it.

He swung. He swung.

“I’ll kill you. I’ll