Halloween 2021: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 4
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Spiked drinks and strange noises are borderline daily occurrences in your world, Victoria being forthcoming about serious matters is far more rare. “Whatever you have to say, I’d prefer to hear it with a clear mind.”
Gliding down the dark halls, Victoria appears to steel herself before replying. “This curse of yours. Tell me how you believe it to work.”
“It seems like every time I die, I go back to a little before, when it could be avoided. Sometimes with only a hint of intuition about what went wrong, other times I keep flashes of memory.”
“A reasonable assumption, given what you knew in the early years.” Victoria leads onward, to the school’s cafeteria. Dozens of hard, uncomfortable plastic chairs fill the room, surrounding worn wooden tables like tiny prey animals trying to swarm a giant predator. Not an inapt simile for describing a high school lunch room, at that. Most of your memories from in here are of keeping your head down and trying to make it through.
Victoria plucks one of the bright yellow chairs and sets it down, motioning for you to take a seat before doing just that herself. “When you first began asking questions about the subject of death, dropping hints to the dilemma with your expected level of subtlety, I reached a similar conclusion. But Pumkpin’s arrival proved we were wrong, both of us, and the time has come to face your true challenge.”
It’s the first time she’s met your eyes since that earlier avoided gaze, and you’re taken aback by the sadness in them. “Merlin, you have no future.”
“I… I’m not sure I understand.”
“That’s what we’re here to correct,” Victoria assures you. “Imagine for a moment that we cast aside all thoughts of this reunion. Pretend I took you from this old building to a place of ancient power, accepting you as a lifelong vassal. From there, the two of us go on to overtake every other family of All Hallows Eve, ensuring it’s continued glory and earning the Willowbrook name a place in history. A glorious life lived at the side of one we both care for.”
It takes more than a little effort to hide the sudden blush in your cheeks. That scenario might not be the exact one you’ve played out before, but it hits a few key points. The feelings you have for Victoria are a lot more complicated than the schoolboy crush it started as. You now know her true nature, passions, and position in her family. You’ve learned to appreciate so much more than her looks, even while growing to understand she might not be willing or able to hold what you think of as a normal relationship.
“Now imagine your death, glorious in battle, peaceful in bed, whatever you like. And picture coming back here, to this moment, unmaking everything we accomplished, all the progress built on the back of our efforts.”
The words “you have no future” suddenly click into place as comprehension dawns. “That’s what you mean by Pumpkin changing things.”
“The information she brought with her, specifically,” Victoria confirms. “We now know that decades of time can be wiped away in a blink. Perhaps even more terrifying is the fact that Pumpkin exists at all. How many times have you died around us? The next time you pass, will I have to sit here and watch as the entire world unravels, only for you to go unaware on with a seconds-to-minutes-younger version of me?”
“Hang on, that one I actually have thought about,” you pipe up. “Pumpkin has the same gift as Thad, so if every one of my deaths created independent worlds, shouldn’t at least one of him have escaped and pulled something similar? In just the last few years alone, there had to be ten or so. Last Mardi Gras alone was pretty tooth-and-nail. I’m pretty sure most of the time it works the way we always thought, a quick rewind.”
Tilting her head, Victoria stares into the empty space of the cafeteria. In the silence, you hear what is definitely a commotion coming from further up the halls. More than just yells, there are scuffles and shouts, none of which matter more to you in the moment than finishing this chat with Victoria.
“The most likely explanation would be that Pumpkin persisted either as an aspect of the wish-world where she was born, or due to the uniquely long run of that particular time. Of course, we don’t actually know that you’ve only died a death of old age once. Merely that you can remember it a single time, and only then because of a realm-traveling daughter who dredged the memories back up.”
Soft hands fall upon your own, grasping then tightly. “All of which brings us back to the original issue: you have no stable, tangible future. Everything you do can be wiped away, every great moment stolen back. And that goes for those around you as well. We’ve spent the last eight Halloweens together, helping my family, solving your mystery, and having fun. One death, and those could all be gone, except I won’t have a chance at magically remembering them down the line.” Victoria pauses, taking a long breath.
“Which is why you cannot be my vassal, Merlin. Not as you are now. The duties I hold are greater than myself, many beings depend on systems overseen by the families of Halloween. Someone who might unknowingly, even unwillingly, wipe out years of progress is simply too great a risk.”
“Time resets all around me,” you protest, “Whether I’m near or not wouldn’t change anything.”
“No, Merlin, only you change things on the second go round. Only you alter what would have been. To the rest of us, it’s the world as it has always existed. History plays out exactly as before, because nothing has been altered. Same people, same environment, same timeframe. In truth… that is part of why I offered forth no tasks from the Willowbrook family tonight. I cannot bring you into our business any longer, knowing what I do now.”
Of all her revelations, that one hits especially hard. “Are you saying we can’t do Halloween together anymore?”
“Certainly not, I am still here, aren’t I? I am only letting you know that my family activities can no longer be group adventures. Unless I am called by duty to All Hallows Eve, I’d prefer to continue our yearly outings, for as long as I’m able to remember them.”
Victoria lets go of your hands and rises out of her chair. You follow, unsure of what else to do. “I don’t know about you, but I could certainly go for that drink now. If you’d like a moment to think over everything, that is perfectly alright as well. This was not an easy topic, on either end.” Another bout of noise from the hall seems to draw Victoria’s attention. “Or I suppose we can see what trouble our classmates have gotten into.”
You feel like anything is better than sitting in this awkward moment, time to make a choice and move things along.