Einstein once said, "Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But I do not doubt that the lion belongs to it even though he cannot at once reveal himself because of his enormous size."




He opened his eyes to utter darkness. It was so complete, he wasn't certain if he really had his eyes open. He tried to raise a hand to ensure this but they didn't move. The smell of cedar was redolent all around him. He began to panic. A memory sprung up unbidden in his mind. As a small child, stricken with grief, he'd climbed into his mother's coffin. He'd closed the lid and snuggled with her corpse and wasn't discovered until the next morning by a surprised undertaker. The smell surrounding him smelled just like the inside of the coffin. Cedar fresh.

He flung his head to the side and cried out as something raked through his face. A lot of somethings. He ignored the pin pricks of miniature pain that erupted on his face, hands, chest and legs as his struggles became more desperate. Violent. He knew he was bleeding because his arms and legs slid more easily now with the bloody lubrication.

He paused as something tapped against the side of his wooden prison. A garble of voices chattered. He opened his mouth to scream for help. He choked as he inhaled millions of splinters. The agony of their descent down his windpipe was a caustic supernova. The blood gurgled in his throat and his scream died in its wet embrace. He flinched as a buzzing sound tore through his entire body. It vibrated his entire prison.

The voices had been shouting in Spanish, he realized as his neck was sheared through.

***

Pyper read the article intently. Her brow furrowed in concentration, she didn't hear her mother's question.

"Pyper!" her mother raised her voice.

"Huh?" she responded as if arousing from a deep sleep.

"I said, make sure you return those books to the library today. I'm not paying your late fees this time," her mother reiterated.

"Yeah, sure thing," Pyper muttered, her eyes dropping back to the magazine.

"Yeah what?"

"Yes ma'am," she reluctantly answered.

"I don't know why you read that trash," her mother sniffed. "None of it's true, you know."

"Whatever," Pyper muttered. "Why are there boxes and boxes of these down in the basement if they're all crap?"

Her mother slapped a hand down on the magazine. Pyper continued to stare at the glossy print that peeked out from between her mother's splayed fingers. The battle of wills would've gone on indefinitely had her mother not cupped her chin in her hand forcing eye contact.

"Your attitude really stinks, young lady," her mother growled. "Just because you're fifteen doesn't mean that you can treat me like crap."

"Do I bother you when you're reading?" Pyper asked, tone dripping with false sweetness.

"Jesus! You're impossible," Maggie fumed. "Just because your father isn't here anymore—,"

"You screwed that up. Not me," Pyper exploded as she ripped her face out of her mother's grasp and leapt to her feet.

The chair she'd been sitting in shot away from the kitchen table and clattered across the floor. As it crashed into the far wall, the two of them hunched over as if about to do physical battle. Her mother's nostrils flared as she unconsciously flexed her hands as if they longed to encircle her daughter's throat.

The room was silent except for labored breathing as daughter and mother stared daggers at each other. An unseen breeze fluttered the glossy pages of the magazine.

"You're father left us," Maggie stated slowly.

"Getting caught going down on the Fed Ex guy certainly facilitated his leaving," Pyper shot back.

Maggie was across the room in a flash. She smiled as her daughter's face exploded in surprise from the resounding slap. She reached for the table before Pyper could recover and grabbed the milk carafe. She swung.

***

She came back up the stairs from the basement a short time later. As she passed the table, Maggie glanced down at the magazine page lying open. A picture of a group men gathered around a huge tree caught her eye. Her breathed hitched in her throat as recognition coursed through her.


The gaudy headline screamed:

Man found encased in tree! Ecuadoran lumber crew swears man was alive when their chain saw cut through his neck! They heard the screams!

She smiled. So that's where Ed had gotten off to. She never knew where the things she pushed into the wormhole in the basement would end up. That's why she religiously bought the tabloid. Not everything between its pages was a lie.

She wondered where Pyper would pop up? She couldn't wait for the next issue.


The End


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