Floating Ink (3 page)

“Got you some water. Good for a hangover.”
said the man's gruff voice.

“Hungover? No, I am not hungover. I haven’t
been drinking.” Ruth explained, opening her eyes again to stare at
the man.

He scratched his beard, trying to get
underneath the hair to reach his skin. A sandpaper sound came out
as he found his flesh.

“So, why are you stumblin’ in the woods?
You’re not a camp partier?” he asked.

“I am sorry… where am I? And did you give me
your name? I am Ruth” she said, holding out her hand. It was a
risk, as a throb of pain could come back at any moment and require
her to massage her temples.

“I told you that, but you may not have heard.
You hit your head, falling onto a rock. Bit of blood. I saw you and
shook you, but no response. Wasn’t sure what to do, so here you
are.” said the wild looking man. He swept out his hand, showing off
the room.

His outstretched hand showing off the entire
room made Ruth smile. It was a tiny place to live, but to this man
it was everything. It was an expansive world, full of challenges
and success stories. To him, this small cabin was a reflection of
his life. While that seemed small to Ruth's eyes, life never feels
small to those who live it.

She grabbed the glass near the bed and began
to drink. The water was fresh and amazingly clean. This man knew
about good water, but she didn’t see a kitchen anywhere in the
room. Furthermore, it was odd to her that the glass had such
beautiful finishes when the room she was in was rough and patched
together.

“I am Henry.” said the man, gently taking the
now empty cup from her hands. His hands touched hers slightly, and
he averted his eyes.

When her hands were empty, Ruth began to flex
her fingers. They were stiff, but working just fine. It was at that
moment that she realized they were empty. “The book!” she gasped.
“Did you see a book?”

“Book? No. What color was it?” Henry said,
setting the glass back on the nightstand.

“Brown, with green letters on the binding… I
think? Or a green book with brown letters. Maybe?”

“I’ll go look,” Henry said, rising to his
feet. “Stay here for now and try to sober up.”

Ruth nodded and lay back down in the bed.
Since she wasn’t sure of her surroundings, she decided to pretend
she was sleeping. If she needed to dart away quickly again, perhaps
the extra element of surprise would help. As the sun came in
through a window, it warmed her cheek. Pulling the covers up, she
listened for footsteps. Soon, listening for footsteps turned into
listening to birds. Shortly after that, the birds had sung Ruth
back to sleep.

It was nearly night time when Henry came
back.

“Look at this!” he yelled, waking Ruth from a
dream about bubbles.

She opened her eyes slightly, snuck a peek,
and saw his face flush. He then began to take off his boots
quietly, as if being quiet now fixed being loud earlier. Ruth
remembered her idea to fake being asleep, to get the element of
surprise if needed. She closed her barely open eyes and listened
intently. Soon, she heard scraping and began to imagine the worst.
What was this man sharpening? She snuck another peek to see him
shaving carrots. Her stomach growling gave up the ruse, and she sat
up in bed.

“Hello. Did you find the book?” She
asked.

“Hello. Yes.” Henry responded.

“Well… can I see it?”

“No,” Henry replied.

“Why not? It’s my book. You have no right to
keep it from me.” Ruth said, putting her hands on the bed to
rise.

Henry held out a hand and motioned for her to
stop. He then pointed around the room. “It’s too dark to read.
You’ll hurt your eyes. We’ll chat for a bit, might help you set
your life straight.”

Ruth looked around the single room filled
with various junk and garbage. If this was setting her life
straight, she did not want any part of that philosophy. Still, this
man had been nothing but kind to her.

“I wasn’t drunk.” she started.

“So, let me guess, you’re proud of your
tolerance, is that it?” he responded, continuing to peel carrots
into a pot. He then grabbed two potatoes from a nearby sack and
started slicing those.

“No, that’s not it.” She protested. Was Henry
going to cook for her? When was the last time a man had cooked for
her?

“So you weren’t drunk, just a little buzzed,
is that it?” He scoffed.

“No. You don’t know me. You just met me.”
Ruth responded.

That bit of truth stopped his hands for a
moment. He looked over and nodded. “So tell me why you were running
in the woods, bumbling around.”

“I was being chased, by those ink blot things
after I grabbed… the book...” she said trailing off.

“Okay. Not sure what ink thing you are
talking about. I get the grab and run part. Gotta take care of
yourself, right?” Henry said as he put out two bowls. The pot full
of carrots and potatoes was now starting to bubble.

Ruth looked away and nodded. Her stomach
sounded like a creaking wooden chair adjusting to a heavy weight.
“I can just go if you want. I don’t have to stay in your home.”

Henry looked her in the eyes and nodded.
“After soup,” he said.

Ruth spent the rest of the night talking to
Henry. She was worried the soup had some addictive quality, as she
requested two refills. Henry just said it was the way he spiced the
deer meat in the stew. ‘Pepper and salt’ were the two ingredients
he boasted most about. Regardless of being around dead animals,
furs, and antlers; Ruth felt comfortable with this man. He reminded
her of a brother she never had, but perhaps now wished for. Awkward
and shy, yet kind and simple. She admired how much of a home he had
been able to make out in the woods.

By the time morning arrived, she had nearly
forgotten about the book she had grabbed from the bubble. Henry had
one piece of advice to offer before she left. He said it would be
more than repayment if she heeded it: make space for others.

She left the cabin worrying that Henry’s life
must have been lonely. She vowed to visit him again later and bring
him plenty of replacement pepper and salt. She was glad that it had
worked out all right. However, she now wanted to find a spot alone
to read. She wished she had a secret home, like Henry’s cabin in
the woods. She had fled seeking an answer. As she neared the edge
of the line of trees, she saw a shimmering in the air. It wasn’t
till she walked through the shimmering that she realized she had
just stepped out of a giant bubble. She looked back and saw that
the woods she had been in were gone. Perhaps visiting Henry again
would be harder than she anticipated. She was grateful that the
bubble had allowed her to escape and rest. She inhaled deeply and
continued forward. She needed to read this book and figure out what
was going on in her life.

Howling

Ruth studied the book near a cliff face. She
decided that it would be best to hear the echo of anything coming,
plus having her back against stone made her feel more comfortable.
She watched the pages trying to decipher their meaning. The book
was filled with almost words, but they looked wrong. She was no
code breaker, but she thought she could read it if she stared long
enough.

Slowly, the book’s writing became clearer.
The text looked like it was written from a mirror, being backwards.
Beyond that, it seemed like the text was larger on the sides of a
word, instead of the middle, as if the text was originally inside a
bubble. That got her reading individual words, but then she
realized that the pages read from the bottom up. After figuring out
all those oddities, Ruth was able to start truly reading and
understanding the book.

The book began with talking about the death
of a small town. A disease had spread to their colony shortly after
‘strange creatures’ came through. While most people had quick
deaths, some had out-of-body experiences. After having these
out-of-body experiences, they began to see reality bubbles. These
small peeks into other worlds appeared to be based on how likely
things were to happen. If a bubble was large and easy to see
through, it meant that the other side was somewhat likely. If a
bubble was small and faded, it meant that the reality on the other
side was difficult to pierce.

The people that survived looked for the
‘strange creatures’ that had brought pestilence and suffering to
their small town. Furthermore, they wanted answers to why they saw
these bubbles. While they found these creatures again, the
creatures did not speak English. They were left to surmise that the
creatures came from outside this dimension. Interacting with people
from this world meant that they accidentally pushed or nudged a
person to the border of this dimension. The book mentioned that
normal humans are not within “arms reach” of the dimensional wall.
However, something that these strange creatures did push people
against that wall as they passed. That led to the human brain
compensating in the form of “bubbles”. What these creatures wanted,
or were doing, wasn’t clear. One thing was clear, and that was the
mechanics of how these bubbles could be used.

Ruth was about to dig into this next section
of the book when she heard a howl. It sounded like a coyote, but
with a wetter sound at the end. The worst part was that is sounded
close. She began to hear a rumble of thunder in the distance that
shook the very ground. Ruth didn’t want to find out whatever was
nearby. She continued forward into the canyon to find a better
hiding spot. Hopefully, whatever was nearby would leave her
alone.

The further she traveled the thinner the
grass got. Sagebrush and shrubs began to line the ground. The trees
were small and had twisted trunks. It was as if this part of the
land had not seen a drop of rain in a long time. She continued
looking for some kind of rock outcropping. Perhaps she should stop
and watch to see if the howling was after her or not. Unfortunately
for Ruth, the canyon began to open up into a wild field. If
something was after her, it would certainly see her in this area.
She scanned around but didn’t see any creatures. She decided it
would be best to go out just a little ways, with a rock in hand, to
see what exactly was howling. Perhaps it was just some coyote
playing with its young.

As she stepped out into the open field, she
got a look at a light brown rock shifting up and down in the
distance. It was clear that this thing was coming toward her, but
she wasn’t able to determine how fast. She ran back to the relative
safety of the canyon and tried to decide what her next course of
action. If she stayed around, that beast would certainly be upon
her. If she did leave, there was no telling what other things were
around.

She decided to wait just a bit longer until
she could identify the beast that was howling and coming for her.
She squinted at the boulder like thing, moving closer and realized
it had horns. She thought it might be a goat or some kind of cow.
She continued looking at it, watching as the sun reflected off the
skin as if the surface was slick or wet. As she continued to look,
a black blur jumped from a rock and collided with the boulder like
thing. The black blur pushed the creature aside, and they both
disappeared in a moment. Ruth then heard a loud pained roar that
was silenced half way through. Ruth did not want to find out what
that black blur was, so she decided that flight was better than
fight. She fled away from the canyon walls and looked for some kind
of protection or safety.

It was an odd thing to wish for howling, but
it was just the wind now. No birds, no other animals; just the wind
blowing slightly. She didn’t feel relaxed by the calm atmosphere.
Whatever that howling beast was, it was running from something.
Ruth wondered if the black blur had eaten its fill and would no
longer come for her. Perhaps, though, it was something that was out
just to kill for sport. If that were the case, she wouldn’t make
very good sport.

Ruth looked out from a gnarled shrub. Her
eyes flicked left and right, trying to determine some kind of
motion. She heard a flick from a tree behind her and then was
thrown to the ground. When she turned around to see what had pushed
her to the ground, expecting a snapping black beast, she saw
nothing. She began to scramble backward and looked for a solid
place to duck into.

As she started to turn around, she discovered
a ink blot creature a few inches from her face. It had tracked her
down and did not appear in a pleasant mood. It was as if the
creature was daring her to fight back and it would then respond in
kind. When the floating ink blot didn’t move, Ruth stared it down,
trying to determine its purpose. She soon gave that up, as staring
contests are meaningless to a creature with no eyes.

A sound then activated from inside the ink
blot. It was a sound that Ruth had heard before in the alley.
“Caretaker? Why are you here?”

Ruth scrunched her eyes together and tilted
her head. “Aren’t you here looking for me?”

“You?” said the ink blot, “No. I am
eradicating a potential threat to balance.”

“So… I can go on my way?” Ruth asked.

The ink blot began to emit a high frequency.
Ruth felt waves of nauseous stomach flipping before the world faded
out via twinkling lights.

“No,” said the ink blot as it started to
float away.

Caretaker

Ruth awoke into bright lights. The creature
who had knocked her out was an evil thing, as the bright lights
made her head throb. No good being would kidnap a woman and then
give her a headache. The first thing Ruth noticed as she got up was
that she had been drooling on a green carpet. It must have been
awhile, as the puddle of drool was somewhat sizable.

She pushed her body up with one hand while
rubbing her skull with another hand. The buzzing lights lit every
corner of the large room. The room was full of bookshelves and
tables. Books were littered every nook and cranny. They were
stacked 4-5 high on each table, and all the tables were full. She
looked around and tried to find any sign of where she was.