Ch.57: The Rejection

I crawl through the darkness.

The crawlspace is tight, smelling of rot and wet earth. I can hear the roar of the fire above me, a muffled, hungry beast eating the house alive.

I have to find the main charge. The central detonator.

I reach a junction box. The wires are a tangled mess.

I look at my ring.

It’s carbon. But it’s not conductive.

But it’s hard.

I use the diamond to unscrew the faceplate. My fingers are bleeding, raw, but I don't stop.

I find the main line. The red wire leading to the C-4 blocks strapped to the foundation pillars.

I need to cut it.

I saw at the wire with the diamond. It’s slow work. The insulation is thick.

Above me, the floorboards creak.

"Elena!"

Aris found the hatch. He followed me down.

I see his feet. He drops into the crawlspace.

He is holding a flashlight. The beam cuts through the gloom, finding me instantly.

"Get away from there!" he screams.

He scrambles toward me on his hands and knees. He looks like a spider, his limbs long and distorted in the shadows.

He still has the scalpel.

I saw faster. The wire starts to fray.

Aris lunges. He grabs my ankle. He drags me back.

"You won't ruin this!" he shrieks. "This is my legacy! My masterpiece!"

He raises the scalpel.

I kick him in the face. My heel connects with his broken nose.

He howls, dropping the flashlight. It rolls away, the beam spinning wildly, illuminating flashes of the dirt walls, the pipes, the explosives.

I scramble back to the box.

One strand left.

Aris grabs my hair. He yanks my head back.

"Look at me!" he demands. "Look at the man who made you!"

I look at him.

His face is a mask of blood and soot. His eyes are wide, manic, filled with a terrifying, consuming love.

"You're nothing," I say.

I laugh.

It’s a broken, ragged sound, but it stops him.

"What?" he whispers.

"You're not a god, Aris," I say. "You're just a man who's afraid of the dark."

I reach into my pocket.

I didn't just have the ring.

When I was in the panic room, I found something else on the desk. A small velvet pouch.

Inside was the rest of the ring. The setting. The platinum dust from where I ground it against the grate. And the smaller chips that flaked off when I cut the wires.

Diamond dust.

I throw it.

I fling the contents of the pouch directly into his face.

The dust hits his eyes.

Microscopic shards of the hardest substance on earth.

Aris screams.

It is a sound of pure agony. He claws at his eyes, grinding the dust deeper into the corneas. He blinds himself with his own panic.

"My eyes! I can't see! I can't see!"

He thrashes, rolling on the dirt floor.

I turn back to the wire.

I snap the last strand.

The red light on the C-4 block dies.

The bomb is dead.

But the fire is still alive.

I crawl past Aris. He is sobbing, curled into a ball.

"Help me," he whimpers. "Elena, please. It's dark."

I stop. I look down at him.

I could kill him. I could leave him here to burn.

But that would be mercy.

And I am all out of mercy.

I lean down.

"Goodbye, Aris."

I crawl toward the exit.

He is permanently blind now.