Chapter 21

Bunuel is indeed correct. Just standing outside the doorway, looking over the buildings into the sky beyond, it is clear that the bubble is shrinking at a rapid rate. This causes us to celebrate, jump up and down and whoop with laughter. Although Mitsuko hugs Bunuel, me and her don’t. I don’t think the thought particularly crosses our mind, except for being rejected straight away. We have done the job, that’s all that matters. Bateman is dead. I may or may not be a vampire, it is difficult to tell at present. All I feel inside me is warmth right now, my cheeks ache from the effort of grinning, but it is something that I am unable to avoid. 

I don’t know, I feel like me, but I feel as if I am me, a freedom that wasn’t given to me before. I felt blocked in, trapped by boundaries that I never knew existed before. I don’t know if this is because Bateman is gone, or if, for the first real time ever, my self-confidence has returned. Was my soul sucked out, or was it just Bateman?

My question is, am I me, or am I someone else?

The real question, I guess, should be, does that really matter?

We did it!

The ghosts are retreating their bubble, they have not been able to kill Bateman. That is because we did. I did. And it is time to depart this… place. 

We run through the streets, though we don’t need to run far, as the boundary of the bubble is quick to meet us. Mitsuko and Bunuel, ahead of me, run through. I, however, don’t. The physical boundary that kept me in before is still in place. It is a wall that is pushing me back. But it moves quickly as the sizes decreases, the acceleration is seemingly faster. Already it is faster than my walking pace, it is faster than my jogging pace. I sprint towards the centre, to try and keep it at bay, but soon the speed of it is such that it reaches me, I am unable to outrun it, and I am pushed, tumbling over myself towards the centre. Fortunately, it is not too far away from me, the road ahead is clear and I can see it. Unfortunately, due to the angle, I am soon pushed into a wall, which I have to keep bouncing myself off of to be pushed forward by the bubble. Otherwise I would just be crushed. I don’t mind admitting there is a level of panic, but it sharpens my reflexes, allows me to be aware of what is ahead and how to accommodate for it. The situation reminds me much of a computer game at a high level. That continual awareness of the next baddy or obstacle that is to step out and send you back to the last save point. 

Life has no save points. Nor does it have medi-packs or shields. And I am getting pretty battered and weary. I reach the beginning of the slump of bodies, pushed into them. They disappear out of the walls of the bubble, presumably able to pick up their old lives. Soon it will just be me. And soon it is. The bubble surrounds me, and me only. There are two alternate universes in front of me. I must pick one. 

It doesn’t matter. In both, the ghosts exact their revenge upon me. In both I am dead. 

But when you are the mirror…

You slide in the space between two realities.

***

I am soaked with water. Choking it back, it takes me a few moments to recover, it is difficult to open my eyes as the sting from the tears that formed from my choking. Eventually I am able to calm my body down enough to take in the surroundings. Mitsuko stands over me with a Bible, more importantly a fucking huge stake. 

“Whoa, wait a second!” I call out in self-defence. 

“Are you sure that was Holy water?” Mitsuko calls out behind her. A vicar sticks his head up from where he was hiding. He nods his head. 

“Do you believe in God, Crunchy?”

“No.”

She twists her head towards the vicar, the stake and Bible still looming over me. “Does it matter that it’s atheist?”

The vicar shakes his head. “God is in all things. Except… you know,” he indicates me with a nod of his head. “That’s the point of Holy water.”

They think I’m a vampire. All I can do is to fly away. I try to summon up the powers, but they don’t come. I just stay, hunched up on the floor, looking as if I am spasming a little. It at least means that Mitsuko backs off slightly. Only slightly. She leans the stake towards me a little more. I give up and stare at my shadow. If I’m a vampire, then I certainly can’t fly. My shadow doesn’t even look as creepy as Annette’s. 

“Daylight!” I suddenly yell. “I can’t be a vampire. I’m out in the daylight!”

“That’s true.” Mitsuko puts down the Bible, by method of carelessly dropping it to the floor. She keeps the stake pointed at me as I get up, relieved. “Nosferatu… Fucking hell, you’re even named after a vampire.”

I shrug. Not my doing.

“Nosferatu Crunchy,” she continues. “I am arresting you for the murder of Emming A. Hemmingway.”

I am crestfallen. As she reads me my rights, the policemen who have been lurking in the distance come towards me. I am handcuffed. I hear an expert talking to someone about how it was not my soul that was eaten as Bateman must have been dominant. I am led to the car and put in. This wasn’t the way I imagined a hero to be treated. I know that Mitsuko will take all the credit, somehow. This is the happy ending to the career that faded in front of her. I see Bunuel being carted away by other policemen, Mitsuko protesting. I wonder about the remains of Annette. Will she be properly disposed of? Will Bateman return if Annette is brought back to life?

These are the questions that I ponder on. Unresolved issues that are less worrying than the prison stretch that I am to face.

I have hit absolute rock bottom today. I know that the rest of my life will be filled with peaks and troughs – it’s supposed to do that. But at least I know that from here, there is only one way I can go, and that is up. The thought of it alone wants me to hurry up and start climbing the slope. 

But I smile. I still have one phonecall. With my final phonecall, I at least know who to call. Holly. I am willing and looking forward to it. 

Epilogue

I do not know if I can ever return.