Dark City

4.

Four a.m. Nathan heard knocking. His bedroom was dark and still, the shadows moving across the ceiling like amorphous demons dancing, all to that penetrating sound. He tried to ignore it, but the rapping persisted.

Bang bang bang.

Nathan kicked off his blankets and jogged downstairs. The furniture was all set up the way it used to be when he was a kid, the blue sofa against the wall and the end table adorned by the cloisonné vase he could have sworn Tom broke when they were twelve.

Nathan opened the front door and discovered Steiner waiting there in his service uniform, clean-shaven and smiling.

"Steiner?"

"May I come in?" Steiner asked, removing his cover. Nathan nodded and showed him into the living room. Seeing his friend brought on a cool sense of relief. They sat across from each other in wide-set armchairs, staring and smiling in silence. Steiner handed Nathan his guitar. "Play it, Stone."

"All right," said Nathan, tuning it.

Steiner lit up a joint and Nathan played a few riffs. They passed the joint back and forth until Nathan stuffed it into the headstock and played a solid melody. He wanted Steiner to sing like he did during those long, empty hours they were out on patrol, but his friend only listened. Nathan's music filled the air, eerie as the undertones of a Theremin. Little by little, note by note, he came to realize that this was a dream and he stopped playing.

"You can't keep coming back here," Nathan said.

"I know," said Steiner, leaning forward in his seat. "But I can't go home until I find the rest of my body."

Delicate hands pressed Nathan's shoulders from behind. She smelled like jasmine oil and black smoke. He could see her in the mirror on the wall, a teenage girl wearing a hijab. Steiner's skin boiled and blistered and the girl's whisper filled Nathan's ear.

"All the king's horses and all the king's men."

The walls shook. Part of the ceiling collapsed. A high-pitched ringing filled Nathan's head as the girl's hijab flew up and spread, spilling darkness through the house.

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Music: "Hoodoo" Muse