Pool of Players

I’ve managed it a few times now and it’s odd, like stepping into a suit of some kind, but one that fits your mind rather than your body, if that makes sense. Tight and not much wiggle room.

Feels like you have new clothes on, and you do, but it’s more like skin. I thought I might be squeamish about but it’s not that kind of sensation at all. But the release when your body comes through is quite nice.

I didn’t really believe it was possible, and I’m still trying to work out how it actually is. But what is clear is that the people are gone from the time I am in. As I slip in, they slip through to somewhere else. Fascinating. This ability is growing by the day.

Do they go where I came from? Or do they go somewhere else?

I wish I could work out how many parallels there are, or are they infinite, like time? That would mean for every second of time there must be another parallel. It’s mind boggling.

I can step into any of them - well except for those blank spots. What is that about? I need to find out more about those.

Can everyone do this? If they can be pushed through then they must be able to in some form.

I’m not sure how I feel about doing it though. It is freeing on the one hand, but what am I creating?

Part 1 – Exposé

Chapter 1

If it hadn’t been for what Randy had said he wouldn’t be standing here in this club out in the middle of nowhere, wondering what on earth he was doing.

The minute Randy had mentioned his ex-girlfriend having a tattoo of a flock of tiny swallows running up the back of her neck, David had realised. And then the idea had grown, ending in him driving all the way out here to the grasslands.

David stood at the bar observing the room. As the owner of the largest nightclub in the nation back in the city, Capital, he was hard pushed to call this a club. It was all wood panels and flooring, with minimal lighting – yet it drew a crowd. The age group was mixed, but tended towards the young. The music reverberated off the wooden decor and thumped through his body, having been cranked up to be heard over the din of conversation. It was the most people David had seen since his arrival yesterday, and he was surprised there were so many. The place reflected its patrons, who themselves were basic in dress and manners, but they all seemed quite happy, enjoying their night out, all smiles and excited atmosphere, a sense that anything could happen. He felt overdressed, but no one seemed to care.

As he stood there sipping on his beer, he reflected on his life since returning from the parallels more than six months ago. Taking back control of the nightclub had been an easy process. In a society where everyone was raised knowing that at least fifty percent of the male population would disappear at some point and only fifteen percent would return, contingency plans were put in place. Every business had a back up person and, where possible, a female co-owner. The co-owner of his nightclub was his mother, Susan. She acted as a silent partner. He had considered Isabella briefly before he had slipped through, but he was glad he’d never pursued it in light of what he knew now – and what he’d found out since.

He recalled the conversation he’d had with his mother shortly after his return. He understood that their world was only one place, unlike in the parallel times he had been falling through, trying to catch The Jester. He was born here and hadn’t really thought about it until he’d been in the parallels. There, he’d seen billboards advertising far off destinations to get away to. It was an odd concept, one he didn’t fully grasp. They had everything they needed in his world: there were the grasslands where the farms were, with small towns dotted about, and the city with its suburbs and the beach to the west. Their lives were focused on community and survival, especially when people could be taken with no warning. And the dome had always been there. It came up in discussion from time to time, and people wanted to live without it. They’d travelled overland to its edge, or sailed over the ocean, attempting to break it or find a way through it, but without success. It was solid, it was finite. But until she had told him, he hadn’t considered who had created it or why.

It hadn’t surprised him that pushing masses of people out of their own time into others would cause instability through all the parallels, or that The Jester had been its creator; the parallels had taught David he was capable of anything. But the idea disturbed David. One man was responsible for their world, for their fates. He held their lives in his hands. And knowing that man, knowing his depraved, warped nature, David didn’t like it.

Someone at the bar bumped into him, jogging his beer and spilling it. They were drunk and apologised profusely, slurring their words and struggling to stand upright. David smiled and told them not to worry. He’d seen his fair share of drunks over the years.

It had been a long time since he’d been in a club where he didn’t know anyone. The last time had been in Rob’s time, when they’d gone to his local nightclub. David was grateful to have made a friend in the parallels. Rob had been open and trusting, and helped him find balance among the chaos. They’d had a fun night, until it had been interrupted by the arrival of the girls, Isabella and Annie.

Isabella had been David’s girlfriend for almost a year before she disappeared along with her sister, Annie. It had happened just after John, his best friend, had slipped through. Annie had been John’s girlfriend. They’d had great times together, double dating, even though the girls had often been aloof and distant, sometimes conspiratorial. It’s what had made him suspicious when they’d vanished after John had gone. He’d tried to trace them before he’d slipped through, but he’d found no record of them prior to meeting Isabella at his nightclub.

Seeing them that night in Rob’s time had been confirmation of his suspicion: They were working with The Jester.

And it was the reason he was here tonight. The tattoo Randy had described at the returnee support meeting a few weeks ago had been the exact same one Isabella had. Her sister had a matching one; he’d seen it in the painting at The Jester’s house. The men that were being selected to slip through were being chosen by the same women: Isabella and Annie.

There’d been a recent cluster of Slippers in the area, the local term for those being slipped through, which meant the sisters had to be here. Would he recognise them if they were here? A woman to his far left flicked back long blonde hair and for a moment he imagined it being Isabella, but as she turned her face, laughing at something her friend had said, it wasn’t.

Burton was nothing but a backwater, so he was surprised they could remain incognito in such a small community. What had the locals said last night at the hotel bar in Woodland, the next town over where he was staying? Three of them, all friends, had slipped through over the past couple of weeks.

They’d been a chatty bunch, happy to open up to a virtual stranger, warning him about the risk of slipping through if he stayed. David knew disappearances went in clusters of usually around five. If one person slipped through in an area there was the expectation that more would go, but David had reassured them he couldn’t be taken as he’d already been.

They’d been keen to know more, and it had been refreshing to talk about it, but he’d struggled to answer many of their questions, partly because he didn’t know the answers, but also because he’d been counselled on his return to keep quiet about certain aspects. The public didn’t know about The Jester, and the leaders didn’t want to scare people. Knowing that someone was doing all this could incite nationwide panic. Plus it didn’t happen to everyone.

It had surprised David to learn that many returnees were unaware of The Jester’s existence, and even oblivious to playing his game and needing to chase someone to get back home. David didn’t understand how that was possible. How did they return? He’d had to get hold of The Jester physically to do so, so how come they hadn’t? It was one of the many unanswered questions.

David found it strange that the stories from returnees varied so much. Was it from their differing perspectives? Was it something The Jester did deliberately? He had no way of knowing. Some days he felt overwhelmed with all the questions. They made him irritable, and the more he thought about them, the more he knew the only way to solve them was by returning.

Meeting all the other returnees made him wonder about his father. He was still in the parallels. He’d never returned. Could he still be alive? Many nights David lay awake wondering if he could find him, if only he had the chance to go again. But how could he? The Jester wouldn’t take him again, and there was no way the girls would go near him, not after he’d confronted them in Rob’s time. But the conversation with Randy had sparked all sorts of ideas. If he could find the girls, he could find out who they were selecting, and if he knew that he might have found a way.

Chapter 2

‘Grab onto someone while they’re slipping? Are you mad, David? Why would you do such a thing?’

John and David were on the roof terrace of his nightclub, Cloud Nine, named after its location at the top of a skyscraper in Capital, the only city in their world. David had brought the topic up before he made a firm decision to try and find the girls in the grasslands.

‘How else can I go, John? They won’t take me again. If I hang out where there’s a cluster, I might have a chance of witnessing one. I need to go, John. All these questions haunting me day and night, I need to know how he does it. I need to know why he brought the girls into it. I need to find my dad.’

‘But what if your dad isn’t alive? He might not have survived. Look at what happened to Rob, just a few more minutes and we would have lost him.’

David thought about Rob’s disfigured face and body, badly burnt in their attempts to catch The Jester and get David home. Rob had returned to David’s time with him and spent a long time in hospital recovering. When he’d been discharged, David had invited him to stay at his house and become a marketing assistant for the club, organising events and advertising. It had given Rob a focus during his recovery and eased David’s guilt. He hadn’t intended for Rob to get involved in playing The Jester’s games – let alone hurt. And no matter how many times Rob told him not to blame himself, he still did. Offering a roof and an income was the least he could do. He took a sip of the drink he was holding. It was water in a cocktail glass but a nightclub owner had to look the part.

‘David, you could spend the rest of your life in the parallels and not find your dad, or the girls – or even The Jester. And what about the physics of that suggestion?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Grabbing onto someone while they’re slipping through? We have no idea how people are transported into other times. You’ve heard of teleportation, right, the transportation of molecules through the air?’ David nodded. ‘It could mess up and combine the bodies – if that’s how it works. Do you want to risk that? You have no way of knowing if it’ll work, and if it does, whether you’ll survive it. What is really driving this for you? Is it your dad? Is it the girls? Do you want them to pay for what happened?’

David sighed. ‘Maybe all of that or none of it. When my mother told me that our world was a creation of The Jester’s; that he put us here because he’d screwed up all the other times, I just couldn’t believe it. Now we’re what? His play things? His pool of players? I need to find a way to stop him, to break us out of this dome.’

John took a sip of his own drink before answering. ‘But what if the dome is dependent on him? What if he’s the one that maintains its existence? What if without him it collapses, along with us and our world? Have you considered that?’

David took a breath. He hadn’t. ‘What, you mean our time isn’t just a shut off area within another time? It’s suspended on its own?’

‘Yes, why not?’

‘How could that be possible?

John gave a sharp laugh. ‘How is ANY of this possible, David? How can some random man do ANY of this? The entire thing is insane.’

David agreed, but their conversation didn’t stop him wanting to go. He bounced the idea off Rob instead, focusing on finding the girls this time.

‘It’s a good plan, Dave, but what are your reasons for going out there? You won’t be able to just show up and ask questions. You’re not the police. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Do you think just going and poking your nose around is going to get results? It’s more likely you’re going to get yourself kicked out of the area.’

‘Clubs, Rob, there are always clubs. I’ll go and pretend I’m scouting for a new location. You’re welcome to come with me if you think two of us will be less conspicuous.’

‘What with this mug?’ Rob pointed at his fire ravaged face. ‘It’ll attract attention you don’t want. And if you’re looking for the girls, I’d be a dead giveaway. They’ll disappear.’

‘You don’t think they’ll recognise me?

‘They might, but then it’ll be too late. You’ll have seen them. But what are you hoping to achieve? They’ll just run again, like they did before. You won’t get any answers.’

David knew Rob was right, but he wasn’t going to mention his true intentions. John’s reaction had shown him it was best to keep it to himself. David didn’t want another lecture.

And now here he was in the grasslands, in the area where people had recently slipped through, and even met a few of the locals related to them; he was close. But there’d been no sign of the girls yet and doubt was beginning to creep in. Maybe he hadn’t spent enough time here and they were yet to reveal themselves, or maybe they’d spotted him and were keeping themselves hidden. He didn’t know. But standing here in this room, it wasn’t working. He felt foolish.

David put his empty glass on the bar and walked to the exit, deciding to throw in the towel for the night.

In the small lobby between the two sets of double doors dividing outside from in, he paused, waiting for new customers from outside to pass by. His eyes fell on the walls covered in advertising fliers, and pictures of parties and events held at the club. Within seconds he’d located what he’d been looking for: evidence.

There, staring right back at him from a photo, were Annie’s eyes. They were sparkling and excited, her face caught mid-laugh, arms thrown round the shoulders of two men – men that weren’t yet among those that had gone.

His breath caught in his throat. He scanned the other photos around it, either for more of Annie or of Isabella. He was confident the sisters would be together. But he didn’t find any more, just that one. The photo was partially covered by others and he moved them aside to see it fully. Was it recent? He couldn’t find anything on it, but he did see a banner on a matching photo that read, Woodland Harvest Blowout.

He rushed back into the club, and waited impatiently for the barman to notice him. His heart was racing and when he ran his eyes over the people in the room, he found himself picking out women with dark hair in the hope of spotting Annie. The barman finally came over and he asked when the Woodland Harvest Blowout would be.

‘It was last week mate, sorry, you missed it.’

‘So those photos in the hallway are from last week?’

‘Yes. We like to keep them fresh. But we’re careful, got to be sensitive to the families of the Slippers. We make sure we’ve got permission.’

‘Has someone from round here slipped through recently, then?’

‘Yeah, there have been a couple. Ronny and Rajesh went just after the Blowout. Real shame.’

‘I thought there’d only been people from the other side of the highway, over Burton way?’

‘No, here too. Been five in total. It’s worrying. We’re all on high alert.’

‘I can imagine. Thanks for letting me know.’

‘No problem mate. Do you want a drink?’

‘No. I need to get going.’

‘Okay.’ He moved off down the bar as David turned back to the door.

Damn! He’d missed his opportunity. If five had already gone, it was unlikely there’d be another. It was rare for them to take more than five in one go. It could be months before there were any more taken and no knowing which area they’d pick next. The girls would have moved on by now, their work done.

Chapter 3

As David made his way out, a stream of people came through, some of them buffeting him, pushing him back against the wall. Once they were past, he stepped forward pulling his crumpled jacket back round him, and stuffed his hands in his pockets as the outside air hit him. In one of them he found a piece of paper. It said: Meet me next door.

He glanced round back at the room but no one was looking in his direction. He read the note again. How long had it been there? Had one of them put it in? He went back up to the bar where the new group were ordering drinks. They were a mixed group, but none of the women resembled Annie or Isabella. Maybe it had happened earlier in the night. David didn’t know.

He left the building and looked at the establishments either side of the club: a supermarket and a launderette. The supermarket was closed, but there was a dim light on inside the launderette. He tried the door. It opened. He could hear the sound of the machines working, but there was no sign of an employee. He went inside and sat on the end of the bench between the two rows of machines. He faced the front window and waited.

His ears tuned into the noise of the machines, one in spin and one in wash, churning round and round, over and over. He felt lulled by it. He watched for any movement outside. The launderette was situated towards the end of the high street, out to open fields. Most of the people going to the club came from the direction of the suburbs, so no one walked past. His mind wandered to what Rob and John would be up to right now. Rob no doubt at home, reading or watching films and John busy at the club. John had taken on that role after they’d returned. He was lucky to have found John in Rob’s flat in the parallels, although John said Annie had put him there especially for David to find. John was convinced it was because, despite everything, she still cared about him. David wasn’t so sure. He thought it was guilt after he’d confronted them outside Rob’s local nightclub. He’d stopped trusting them when they’d vanished after John had slipped through. David was surprised how much John enjoyed working at the nightclub, but the events in the parallels had given him a new lease on life. He seemed stronger and more confident. It had given him something to focus on, move forward.

David wished he could move forward too, away from everything that had happened, but he couldn’t. He pondered whether sharing a home with Rob kept it alive for him, a daily reminder of how he had ruined Rob’s life by bringing him into the game. He wanted to find answers. He felt restless mentally and physically, desperate to find a resolution. He was no longer able to continue an ordinary life, not now he knew it was all built on something created by one man.

As the thoughts of The Jester entered his mind a hand came down on his shoulder. David leapt from his seat, a shout escaping him as he spun round, and she was there, standing there, looking at him: Isabella.

He couldn’t breathe for a moment. His mouth was open but no air moved in or out. She lifted a finger to his chin to close it and it snapped him out of his paralysis.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘You know what I’m doing here, David. You’ve always known. You knew the night John went, or at least suspected. I saw it in your eyes.’

David slumped back down onto the bench as though