Speed Writing Assignment #1:
Soul Survivor
Of course she loved him. Isn't that how all of these stories are supposed to start? That didn't matter now. The sun slung low, melting into the ocean. The black liquid rolled across his furrowed brow and poured from his clenched fists. The lights flashed around him as they pulled him away. He didn't struggle. He didn't speak. He didn't blink. The whites of his eyes had been devoured now, soaked into the darkness of his pupils.
The police station was small and she sat in a back room. She analyzed the cracks in the weathered grout. "Are you listening to me, Eleanor?" The man's once composed voice was rising. She tried to remember how this all started.
Peter was always sweaty. He suffered from hyperhidrosis. His palms leaked wrathfully and uncontrollably. He had lived his entire life in Nebraska without seeing an ocean, yet he seemed to leak enough salt water to fill them all.
He changed after the marriage. He became overbearing and verbally abusive. He resented her for not finishing school. He resented her even more for relying on his financial support. They sought counseling and were led to the conclusion that a vacation away might help them gain appreciation for one another again. They booked a bungalow overlooking an ocean. Peter left at noon on the first day. He returned at dawn, soaked to the core. She heard the ocean as he opened the door. She sat up from a deep sleep.
Eleanor turned on the light next to the bed and stared at him. His eyes, once a hollow blue, now had large black hearts; she could see them pulsating. He crawled onto the bed, his face nearing hers. He grasped the sheets tightly, pulling himself forward. "Ella, I feel sorry for you. Your soul is dying." He smelled like salt and rotting plants. She inched back until she was pressed against the headboard. He let go of the sheets. Black handprints smeared the worn cotton.
The man picked up a document and began to read, "…a man was found face down in the water. He was pulled aboard the boat. Crewmembers started CPR. The man, identified as Peter Dubourg, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. The body was transported to Mariners Hospital from where it was found to be missing at approximately 8:45 p.m. "
Eleanor stared blankly. He slid a photograph in front of her. It was an aerial image of a blob of black water tearing through a calm, blue ocean. Gelatinous webs of filaments consumed the shadowed surface. "This is what happened to the water where we found him. The patch began to form at the point from which they expelled his body. It now extends for over 700 miles."
The man grabbed an old metal ruler with a pointed tip and used it to draw a line on a sheet of paper. He scribbled words and numbers furiously along the line. He slid it in front of her. Eleanor stared at a hastily composed timeline. It started on what appeared to be a date—an unrecognizable date far before any point in history that she had ever seen recorded. The line ended on the present date. Three black dots, spaced even distances apart, sat below points on the line. The last dot was below today's date.
"Some people think that the oldest religions are Hinduism and Judaism. This is not true. Time is an endless loop, spanning further back than we are able to comprehend. A people, the Calusa, have been coursing this loop for eternity. They believe that two supernatural beings rule the world. Calusans have two souls, counterparts to the beings. Natural people only have one. A Calusan's souls can be seen in his reflection in water and his pupils. He cannot empower these souls until he has seen both. Once this occurs, he can continue on forever. If it doesn't, he remains a one-soul being."
"We all die." Eleanor whispered.
"Yes, natural beings die. Calusans don't. They can transfer their souls after death. If they successfully transfer both, they can live on. The first is easily passed. The one in the pupil is more difficult." His hand moved across the timeline and came to rest on the last dot—the current date. "These dots mark periods of renewal, days when one-soul beings are wiped out. The darkness will rise from the waters and swallow everything natural."
"What does this have to do with Peter…or me?"
"The cleansing is initiated by the Calusan with the strongest souls. Peter is this being. After his body's death, he passed on the first soul. Once he passes the second, we will all die. Calusans will start anew.
"What do you want me to do?"
"A Calusan will pass his first soul to a lesser animal with little effort. In order to obtain the second soul, however, the animal must penetrate the soul's heart. We found Peter before this could be done but we have to find this animal before it finds him. I need your help."
Eleanor sat quietly for many moments, motionless. She then sat up again, leaning over the table. "O.K., I'd like to see him first."
Peter's cell was but a cement room, completely sealed off with no windows or bars. She was let inside. Peter was slumped on the ground; a pool of murky blackness had formed beneath him. She could hear him breathing. As she neared she could see his face. His black eyes glistened like pieces of obsidian. They were fixed on her. She knelt before him, staring into them. She placed her left hand on his cheek. "I need to ask you something, Love." His eyes burned into her, unmoving. She raised her right arm in the air, sending the sharpened point of the ruler into Peter's unblinking eye.
"What ever made you think I was lesser than you?"
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