Snap Bang

Snap Bang

It was morning, even though she didn’t know the exact time Gabbi was able to gather this from the way the sunlight shone through the blinds and hit the door. She was indifferent to this most mornings but today she hated it. It reminded her that her room was small. The only things she had to her name at the moment was a broken mattress and a stack of five books that she almost feared would disintegrate the next time she read them. She didn’t want to get up. She started to bargain with herself if it was worth it or not to go out today.

After half an hour she finally settled on yes, if only because she could no longer ignore her hunger, and take the cold. If only she had a more comfortable mattress she thought as she got changed. She thought of this every day and wondered why today would be no different as she climbed onto the roof to gain a better view of her city. It had a rather straightforward layout everything was circular with the poor districts occupying the front of the city and the rich ones occupying the back with the seat of government in the middle. The only buildings that looked like they were out of place were four guardhouses.

 She only got up to leave when she heard her stomach growling. It wasn’t a long way down but it was marked by a dingy ally that smelled of shit and rotten fish. They all did that Gabbie though not denying the fact that she often found an odd comfort in that smell since she knew food wasn’t too far away. She wondered what she should rob today since she was sick of the meet she had for the last four days. She thought of this while weaving through the crowd it was packed today, and that only served to remind her about how much she hated people. She only ever realised this a few years ago it was something about how they watched you that creeped her out.

She kept an eye on the stalls she wanted bread. The only things she was seeing were veg & meets one thing she noticed though however was that the market was laid out like the city. So she just had to keep going bread bread bread she thought as she saw nothing but meat and fruits. Then she saw it a stall at the end of the street had the ambrosia she was looking for. They were all stacked neatly she didn’t want to disturb it the key to a good theft she thought was to act like you weren’t there and by taking one of these she would disturb the stack and blow her cover.

Then she saw it a glorious loose roll it was burned but if she could steal some cheese could have a feast. She reached out for it she grabbed it only to feel something grasp her wrist.
“You wanted to steal that didn’t you?” Gabbie was getting uncomfortable.
“Your silence says enough.” He went to grab her Gabbie ducked she only just managed to nick the bread & ran into the crowd.

She figured that the only way to get through this was to go with the flow one of the better uses of a crowd she thought. Just go with the flow now and then she cheeked to see if the guard was following them and when she saw him she just went faster.

Gabbie thought she could hide in an ally every time she took them she had to deal with men. So in the choice between being catcalled and sent to prison, the alleyway won out. She ran in bore one or two wolf whistles she glanced back seeing the guard running towards her she gave up and hid between two apartment buildings.

She was there for a minute when she felt the pressure of a hand on her wrist she heard foot steeps and dragged the man back into the boxes. She moved them a bit so she can at least see who was talking. There were two people one of them was the mayor she recognized him from the posters that only stuck in her memory because of how noticeably bland they were. The other man was different he looked like an outlaw with his grizzled face and his one thousand-yard stare. At the same time, however, if she was to see him in a crowd he wouldn’t look as sinister.

“You ask too much but I can arrange that,” the mayor said.
“Good I’ll be chief of police by tonight then.”
“Yes, the officers have graciously accepted you you will face no hassle in getting in so long as you can make the delivery.”
 “You’ll have those guards and anyone who tries to oppose you in the outer wall will be taken care of like the last election.”
“What are we on now two three.”
“Four and I may as well be here for life if we didn’t have to do this farce every four years.” The mayor replied.
“Well, shall we go to the bar and have a toast to your re-election.”
“Aye, we shall.”

As soon as the mayor and the goon left the guard shoot up immediately. Gabbie knew what he was going to do and tried to stop him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Gabbie hissed.
“What does it look like I want to kill that guy.”
“We can’t you don’t think anyone would get us to” When Gabbie says this she gestured at the other roof and, sure enough, the guard saw two snipers.
“So we report it then.”
“Are you daft did you not hear what the mayor said?”
“Yeah but I know good guys they deserve to know and my officer to know” The guard replied.
“Fine if you want to get killed I’m coming too. Since my people are on the line. By the way, what’s your name anyway?”
“Jack”
“Gabbie”
They shook hands.
“So I suppose our only option is to try and report it I don’t think my unit is as corrupt.”
“Fine you’re buying me some food”

“Deal”
“Jack my friend this is going to be the start of a wonderful friendship.”
She clasped his back as they both walked to the guardhouse.

The upper district was a real culture shock to Gabbie. The first thing, she noticed was the smell rather than everything stinking like shit and fish. She was able to smell perfumes and flowers. It did little to cover for peoples naturalistic orders but Gabbie said to herself between this and that fish heads she’d go with this.

However, if there was one thing that she did notice and made her uncomfortable was how samey everything looked. Every house was perfectly levelled at two stories there was nothing out of place. Compare that to the slums where everything was uneven and mismatched. It was clear to her that these things served separate functions. Everything in the slums was built so people could survive.

While everything here was built so that people could live everything was fine she was angry at this but there was little she could do in the end all of this was uncomfortable and unnatural. 

“The guardhouse is just a few blocks ahead,” Jack said.

He was anxious Gabbie could tell by his hunched shoulders it was unnatural to him she almost had to stop herself from giggling at how unnatural it was. She always got like this when everything was tense. While it reassured her she understood that it made people uncomfortable so she held it in. Like so many other things in her life, she held it in. She must have figured that this is why she hated the upper district for those reasons in a way.

It was stimey and restrictive and it wanted to spread. At the same time, there were parts of this that Gabbie enjoyed she liked the identical looks of the buildings they were predictable in the same way the learned speech patterns of the shopkeepers were predictable. She wondered if Jack was the reason this new pit of anxiety opened up within her.

Gabbie dwelt on these thoughts as she walked towards the guardhouse whose oppressive structure. Yet it was a subtle one if you lived here you wouldn’t notice it. It was just like every other identical workplace but it’s also the little things like how the whole thing seemed designed to impose some level of dominance so it was a lot longer than the others had an extra story. The thing is the buildings differences were unidentifiable to the people who lived under these buildings.

The buildings inside were no different everything was laid out following some order all the lights and lamps were arranged so that the light that entered the room seemed like it was natural but it was not like everything in this place was controlled to keep people working in their place and happy.

The thing that disappointed Gabbie the most was how normal everything seemed.

“You stay here,” Jack said his voice has an air of command that she was not used to it having.
“No I want to go with you…” she was hoping Jack was able to cop onto how uncomfortable she was.
“Fine but, you are only going up the fourth floor with me. No one is allowed to meet the boss man.”
“Fine.” She said.

They ascended as they did so Gabbie noticed as she ascended they noticed that the light congested them it was clear that you were supposed to work and work the more you went up. The lights got fewer and fewer until they only had desk lamps for work. While it looked strange to Gabbie she got the feeling that all of this was natural.

“Wait here” Jack commanded.
“Once again I’m coming with you.”
“No.” It was as if Jack’s voice now took on the attributes of the building and before I could stop him he left.

Jack was not having the best of days for one he was a man of logic and trust so knowing that the mayor was going to betray the feelings put him in a state. He was uneasy, to say the least, every step up these stairs felt worse. It was as if he was dragging led up a cliff. He got to the top he knew who would be here he didn’t want to open the doors but he knew he had to face the truth at some point.

Jack opened the doors he was greeted by an office with rows upon rows of bookshelves all of which were designed to direct your eyes to the desk. It was the centrepiece of the room after all. The desk was big made mahogany and didn’t it have any books or lamps it didn’t need them, after all, it just needed the energy to command. Or at least the person in the centre all did. 

The man had a neat and tidey look about him his beard was neatly trimmed and he wore a freshly tailored suit he liked his suits. Jack bowed to show some respect he did so in kind pacing the pen down he went into the desk drawer the only place in the building that was allowed to house some chaos.

He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Jack.

Gabbie knew something was off it was ten minutes and any conversation that Jack and his boss would have gotten would have reached its natural conclusion by now. She decided that had to go into the room if only because she trusted Jack and felt that he would have come by now. So she ascended and as she did so she felt the light constrict her the only elevation she could see was the two doors in front of her she went for them. As she ran into them she saw Jack he was on the floor. Gabbie knew she needed to use magic yet if she were to use it in here she’d trigger suppressors. Not fearing what it might attract Gabb decided to cast out into the astral world anyways.  

She needed to connect her mind to the ghost as she did so she was hit with a torrent of anger. She saw his parents shake his hand they are dressed for war. The vision fades as we see the kid take on a lot of work we see him caring for his brother. It is growling work but someone has to do it it’s him. We cut to him it’s five years and we see him getting a note. He looks down at ait and he is hit with the revelation that it was his parent’s final letter. He doesn’t open it.

We cut to an argument he is having with his brother. His brother is wearing a paddy cap it has a workers party pin on it he is also dressed in a luminous vest with it is clear he is working for a factory and the workers are on strike. The brother leaves after an intense argument and we finally see Jack in a room.

It is Jacks old bedroom it has posters of an old movie star in a cowboy hat we can see a shrine made to him with some old action figures. Gabby sits down beside him puts her hand on his shoulder. 
“Jack it’s ok.” She says.
He looks at her knowing that it is not but, he desperately wants to believe t is he knew he killed his brother. Right now he just wants to move on he doesn’t want redemption and he feels like vanishing. It would be better off if he did.

“Look I don’t know what you are feeling but, your not going to do much with your head  your ass.”
“But…I should just die.” He responds.
“It’s all my fault everything is my fault.”
“Look it is and you can’t change what happened but u can still be better”.
“How”?
“By being you. By acknowledging you fucked up working at it accepting that love comes with hate God, do I have to explain everything. But, mostly you have to want to live.” Gabby says.

She hated that she was this rough on him but she also knew that she couldn’t stay in the astral plane. If a living being was to exist there for too long the spectres would get you her mom would tell her.    

Even if this was a personal plane.
“If you return to your body you can save a lot more people, but to do this you can’t be tied down to this idea of order.”  
He looks at her with a bit of hope in his eyes.
“Take my hand and mise me you’ll do good.”
When he does this the entire construct collapses around them. Leaving both of them alone. The only one who can wake is Gabby aced with five guards.

Gabby put Jack on her back she knew she had to run and she only had access to the astral plane and no weapons to speak of. The guards were advancing she was falling back to the wall she knew she couldn’t win this without doing it. She placed her hand on the wall this opened a portal she steeped through.

She was in avoid a lot of noises and sensations were assaulting her at once she just dragged herself she needed a surface to teleported back to this was an insane place. The thing that she was more afraid of in the astral world than Spectors was how much ground she was covering outside she remembered her uncle dying because he drowned reappeared on a lake to avoid dinner.

After waving her hand for a while she managed to hit something it was a wall she immediately cast another portal. The room vanished she saw the corridor that led to the third floor. She knew that if she timed her portals right she could take a fall from three stories she knew this because she had seen her dad do it and that was the last time she saw him.

She cased out once the projected portal opened creating a means for them to leave another she had to time this as the portal opened. Seeing them she ran she felt the same thing in the astral plane it was just a gust of wind that blocked all her senses. When she hit the solid ground she expected her stomach to lerched it didn’t she didn’t feel it she just sprang up outside the building.

She dragged Jack she had to get him to the horse she knew that travelling through the Astral Plane took a lot of energy out of her too.  She needed to find the stables they were typically at the back of buildings like this. The guards are coming too she thought she hated how Jack slowed her down she wanted to throw him off. What would that make her though she thought who was she thought.

When in doubt she concluded always follow the smell of shit. The stable was small there were three horses it was odd for guard houses to have this but she concluded that it was the upper districts that didn’t need horses since the rich could pay fines. The poor couldn’t so they were had to be exterminated like the vermin they are.

She hosted Jack onto a chestnut-coloured horse why was she saving him she thought if she figured that this guy was lucky that she still believed in second chances otherwise he would not be as lucky. He deserved less she thought but there was something about the kid’s earnestness that she wanted to protect. She dug her heels into the horse galloped on she was going to get some freedom if she could.      

It was read she thought it was sunset and they were riding through the desert for three days. On the first day they stopped at a village it was a small place. At the same time though Gabbi had no idea how anyone existed here. You see the city can change how you view things. She never really had the chance to look at everything that was restricted to a straight line. It was a cheek list and after a day in the country if she could she would return to the city.

The only other thing she noticed was that the smell of shit was replaced by the taste of sand that she regularly had to spit and after a day in the infirmary and no young people insight, Gabby decided that she had to fight her way back in. After she visits the church, of course, the village doctor that patched Jack up was nice but the bullet was lodged deep in here and it needed healing beyond his capabilities to get it out. After the doctor told her that the priest would also know people that would help her kill Matthew. 

That being said despite her hatred for everything she found that surviving outside was no different than surviving in the city she thought despite what the books would have you believe. She decided to use the last of the kindling she had bought to set up a fire and placed Jack on the other end while redressing his wounds the magic kept everything in place even if it was rather exhausting. Jacks eyes stirred she could hear him moaning.

“Thank you.” He said. As she was healing him she felt some blemishes appear on her hand as above so below she thought.

“Thank you, you should have left me” he repeated.
“It’s alright,” she said. “I couldn’t have gone after him alone beside you had unfinished business. I had my business and we couldn’t have killed anyone.”
“You should have left me.”
She was annoyed at this. “Why is it that men can never solve your problems it’s like you think becoming better people is beneath you or something.”
“I’m trash and a burden.”
“You might be but you can change and you can’t do that if you die now can you.”

Not wanting to be alone she decided to sleep next to Jack. Before she went to sleep her last thoughts were of Jack why did she want him to live despite everything what was the thing that kept her attached to him. He was a cop and a scab wasn’t he but he wanted to challenge his boss and that took some bravery. In the end, she left it up to the natural contradictory nature of people. At least books made sense she thought she let sleep take her.

And so another day on the road took them the journey was a small one they arrived at the church by midday. Gabbie was glad of this she could practically feel the sun heat by now. When she saw the church it was a small building yet it fascinated her. She was curious as to how such a small homely thing could fundamentally alter the way people behave.

Yet she wasn’t as uncomfortable in the church as she was when she was in the police station for one it was a small homelier type of building that wasn’t designed to impose order on a person much as it was designed to make you want to follow the rules. It was designed with a sense of freedom even if it was an illusion.

Gabbie felt as if everything in the church had its place from the pews to the alter everything was designed to have a place it wasn’t some haphazard attempt at authority. It tended to invite it Gabbie thought. It was a place that made people want to follow the rules. Even the rainbows created by the stained glass windows pointed towards the alter.

In the light, Gabbie saw a man standing in a white robe and a green garb he was a tall guy with a shade of a moustache & mousy hair who wound up walking as if he was forced to play at being a man. You can tell that all this didn’t come naturally and was forced onto him too.

He looked up “Oh visitors we don’t get much of those these days.” When he finished he went back to sweeping the floor. Gabbie was put off by his rudeness but she needed help.

“Look my friend is hurt and we need your help.”
“Oh!” The priest lit up it was like he has never seen people in weeks he probably didn’t.
“He’s on the horse”
The priest ran out he was excited to have guests. He came in dragging Jack he placed him on one of the pews.

“It was impressive that he managed to hold on so long. I would have left him for dead.”

Gabbie gritted her teeth. “I used some heeling sigils”
“Where did you come from?” The priest asked.
“The capitol Arno. A village doctor gave him bandages along the way before he sent us here he said your magic could do him some good.”
“Let me take a look at you.”The priest demanded.
Gabbi was nervous knowing what the priest was after though she showed him her hands. The priest took them & started to prey. At first, Gabbi wanted to jerk her hands away however she soon felt an odd sense of comfort from the priest’s words. It promised her that everything will be fine despite the tornado that existed around her and when the priest let go she was better.

“How did Jack get shoot anyways?”
“We were planning to stop Hopkins but Jack’s commander in chief stopped us,” said Gabbie.
“Hopkins you say old Matthew Hopkins.” Answered the priest.
“What makes you think you can beat him? The man has terrorised us for a quarter of a century and no one ha and he has a mountain of skulls to prove it.”
“I probably can’t either but, at this point, someone has to or he won’t ever die. I got my magic to prove I can beat him don’t I.”
“Girl think about it how do you think he kept power your just a city girl with potential.”
“Yeah, and killing Hopiks will help me realise this.”

The priest laughed.
“I like you kid. You seem to be the type of chaotic person this magic gig was built for.”
“Really?”
“Yeh, you remind me of me ore I had to give all up and go back to being someone I didn’t want to be. So I’ll heal your friend for €20 and join you.”

The priest held his hand ovJack while preying he fished the bullets out one by one. Gabbie only now noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath as she stitched his wounds. When the operation was finished he washed his hands and said.

“He’ll be fine in a week.” The priest said trust me he tossed her a bottle of wine.
“In the meantime, how about you sleep here.”
Gabbie didn’t say much but accepted the priests offer she was glad to have found a friend.

A week went by not much changed other than Gabbie learning about magic and how it was chaos’s will if you could have called it that the priest only really said stuff about the demiurge she didn’t fully grasp it. Still, she was glad in a way that warts weren’t a limitation order tried to impose on her.

Monday came Jack managed to recover while Gabbie could move her hand she was stretching in the saddle when the priest came out he was wearing a dress and he seemed to be a lot more comfortable than before. Gabbie was just stunned at how long his hair was it reached her shoulders. He could pass for a woman so long as his face was cleanly shaven.

“Hello boys,” he said
“Oh the name is Alison, I thought I could embrace my chaos for a bit”
Gabbie chuckled Jack just nudged Gabbie
“So how’s the hand?”Jack asked.
Gabbie shoot Jack a look. Jack felt he crossed a line that he should not have but he could not guess what one.
Sensing the tension Alison said, “Relax it’s fine it’s almost better it’s like this.”
“He still deserved it for being a prick,” Gabie said.

They laughed about this and by the time it was over Alison threw a molitive cocktail at the church which went up in flames handing one to Gabbie. Knowing what Alsion was doing Gabby accepted and hurled one.

“What was that for?” Gabbie asked as the church burned.”
“I’m destroying a life I don’t want to come back to,” Alison said.

And with the church burning in the wind the three of them rode into an uncertain future.

 The trip to Hammerhead lasted two days. It was a lively one despite how grim everything is there were jokes stories. One entertaining one, in particular, was one Alison told about how one baptism she gave ended a shoot out. She was heartbroken when she had to return that baby to an orphanage but at least she tried to give the story a happy ending.

Yet that story was almost poignant compared to the one Jack the time he tried to get a paper clip out of a bottle with another paper clip & he lost the second paper clip too. Why Gabbie was starting to like this dope she could never tell even if she did give his story a pity laugh. The only thing Gabbie had were stories of a few botched robberies and one night she spent in the slammer because a merchant ratted on her.

Hammerhead its self was another small town well compared to the city anyways yet when Gabbie saw it she could make out how people could lie here even if she did want to go back to the city. At least she never had to say goodbye to the smell of fish guts she thought.

Still, life went on and the three of them headed into the bar It was a small dingy place with only three customers there were tables with chairs stacked onto them which Alsion takes off. She goes up to the bartender.

“Three, please.” Wining at Gabbie she says.
“Church collection God last gift.”

“So where do we find this gunslinger of yours?” Ben asked.
“Oh he’ll show besides it’s too early,” said Alison.

 So the three of them drank they took one sip then another. By the third bottle, Gabbie was slightly tipsy. They were on the fourth drink when the door opened. Thunk thunk thunk it caused Gabbie to jump. The man walked over to the grand piano in the corner racked his knuckles & played.

The song he played was a lively one and before Gabbie knew it she was swept off her feet by Alison who threw her around so much trying to square dance she had trouble keeping up. Her feet were too fast and her brain was trying to keep track of the steps she took and the speed she just gave up & was done by the time the song was finished. Even if she did catch glimpses of the seven circles of hell.

Although she did find it funny knowing Jack didn’t fare much better.

“Hoe does she do it?” Jack asked trying to catch his breath.
“I don’t know but it was both fun and confusing,” replied Gabbie
“It was”
“May I have your hand?” Gabie asked.

She winked at Alison who in turn nudged the piano player. Who slows down the song long enough so the pair could slow dance. It was the first time in a long time the pair were comfortable both of them felt as if they found someone they could exist comfortably around.

While Alison was worried she would fuck up the dance she didn’t think Jack would judge her too harshly for it as he wrying about stepping on her toes. She let herself put her head on his shoulder and just watched as the music took them to where they needed to go.  

She leads them as the projection created by the man’s spell lead them to space and  Mars, Jupiter and Saturn Jack lead. The floor became space and they were dancers twirling slowly through the cosmos. It was a feeling that she wanted to hold onto forever but, that has to fade it was one of the many cruelties of life. The music stopped and now she was alone.

When the feeling finally returned to her she could feel her head on Jack’s shoulders he was calm & he felt heavy but they told her it was now time to let go and she did. Aison and the man were smirking before they shed a kiss. While motioning for them to take a seat. With drinks already poured out for them.

“That power.” The Man said.
“And you are?” Gabbie asked
“The names’ Ben my power is to bring out peoples true feelings.”
The two kids blushed knowing that both of them liked each other. Aon just smiled knowing at their age they’d have to move mountains to admit it.
“So what shall I call you mam.” He held out a brown hand. “Gabbie,” she said and she shook it.
“You’re after Hopkins ant you but first you need to get into the city and I’m wing to help you for a price.”
When he finished that last word Gabbie caught a glint in his eyes. “Fine.” They shook once again.
“But, first we need a train.”

A rock looked over the four of them, it was Wednesday around midday. There wasn’t much going on but all four of them could sense rumbling a train they thought. 

“Remember to stay close so we won’t be seen!” Yelled Ben

Gabbie kicked her horse and they were off. They went in a single file the canter of the horses kicking up enough smoke to cover them as they got closer to the train.

“Leap!”

Gabbie jumped she caught the ladder climbed to the top of the cart she needed to sense the others so she once again tried to cast out only to be met with a searing wall of pain. It was just anger she only had a moment to react when she felt a punch beg thrown her way. It was from a man drenched in iron and fire.

Jack didn’t know where he was but he knew he had to get on the roof. He was in a carriage for one. He made his way through the thing and as he did so he saw rows upon rows of people in the same uniform looking at a screen. He was horrified that they were all in guard uniforms but he knew where they came from. What they were going to do and he couldn’t let that happen. So he pulled out his gun.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” said Ben
“The feelings mutual.” Replied Alison. “We just need to get to the engine and we will be fine though.”
“Yeah, it’s a straight shot.” “Now!” Ben said both of them jumped. When they landed ben shoot two guards and they made a swift b line towards the engine.

On the roof of the train Gabbie was holding her own against the mechanical person the flames seared her whenever they came near but she kept heeling with magic. She needed to make use of the Astral Plane but every time she did she came up against this persons anger making it impossible to navigate.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw jack who lept on her trying to save Gabbie who took the opportunity she enter the mechanical person mind she was hit with wall after wall but thanks to Jack she was able to penetrate them causing them to stagger she could make the blow now she thought only to be met with the realisation that the person was a girl. The train screeched to a halt flinging the ironwoman and Jack off. Gabbie couldn’t save him before it went again.

And when she stooped trying to search for Jack leaving them in the dust she now had to face the wall looming over her alone.