Duality: Harmony

Part 2

Harmony walked out of the reality tear with her shoulders back and her chin held high. Grace bumped into her as she continued past.

“Easy,” Harmony complained, then glanced back to see the previous alley and the shadowed horizon. She dismissed her concern, then followed Grace, who’d stepped onto a trail and hurried to the nearby tunnel.

A walking track passed through a corridor under a roadway, and Grace crouched near the entrance. She smiled as her hand pressed against the gray stone covered with paintings. “We really are here,” she said as she admired the painted bunny that shared a bucket mound up with several spools of string.

“You had doubts?” Harmony asked.

“I mean, I knew, but I didn’t, you know?”

Harmony shook her head. “Can’t say that I do.”

Grace looked back while gesturing to the wall. “I painted this bunny and pale when I was younger.” She ran her hand up the wall, along a string that left a spoil, looped around the pale’s handle, and led up to a helicopter. “Someone else added the spools and the helicopter, though.”

“This was before Daniel, right?” Harmony asked as she walked over and leaned against the same wall.

“Yeah,” Grace replied. “Before I met him, I worried about ending up alone. I wanted to focus on painting but still needed to figure out how to pay for college, while also finding time for a love life.”

“School won’t pay for itself.”

“Right. But then I got my art scholarship and met him shortly after. Things were finally looking up. I no longer had to worry about paying for college, and Daniel was absolutely perfect for me. He eventually proposed, and I got to focus on my painting while still having time to plan our perfect wedding. I went from having nothing, to having everything, and it seemed like there was time enough, at last.”

“Then back to having nothing. Fate sure has a sick sense of humor.”

Grace looks at Harmony, her face contorted in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ugh, the end of the world?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Grace replied as she stood and spun with upturned palms. “Just look around. Everything is fine. It’s all fine, you see? So stop being crazy.”

“No,” Harmony replied, her head canted in irritation.

Grace’s eyes dawned with comprehension. “Oh, I get it. You’re jealous. Yeah. Daniel and I are getting married when he returns and you’re just trying to mess up our future.”

“What the hell are you talking about, kid? You have no future.”

“Don’t call me kid.”

“Fine. Princess, then. That works too.”

“Daniel’s princess, maybe.” Grace replied and stuck out her tongue.

“I stand corrected, A kid-princess. Did you forget we just walked through a tear in reality? That’s not exactly normal, you know?”

A phone rung from the corridor and Grace immediately oriented on it, then froze as she looked towards the sound. Light bled into the darkened space from a wall in the tunnel’s center, and the sound radiated from within.

“Running horse,” Harmony said. “It’s the ring tone you set for whenever Daniel calls.”

Grace’s haunted eyes shifted to Harmony, who returned a smug expression.

“There aren’t any lights in there,” Grace said.

“I know.”

“Well, where’s it coming from?”

“Why should you believe me? I’m crazy, remember? None of this is real, and the world isn’t ending.”

Grace nodded. “Right... So what do you think he wants?”

“It’s not about what he wants. It’s about what you have to tell him.”

“What I have to say? But I have nothing. I mean, he knows how I feel and everything---”

“Are you really going to leave him hanging on a long distance call? You actually get some good news out of it. He gives you a response. It was one of many outcomes, where you get the one you least expected.”

“How could you possibly know all of that?”

Harmony shrugs. “I’ve seen these moments.”

“So what, you’re from the future?”

Harmony shakes her head. “No, I’m from not from a place or a time. I don’t belong anywhere, yet I’m still part of it all. I’m a probability, and a potential error---an anachronism. But what I’m not, is your butler. And that phone’s just gonna keep on ringing.”

WC: 718

I'm still trying to sort out working with past tense. Feel free to point out any issues or anything else you find relevant! Thanks for reading!