Committed

COMMITTED by A.R. Kirby Episode 8 In which Tal and Liv appear in a strange new place D arkness. Blinding, painful white light. Darkness again. Liv opened her eyes once more, slowly this time, so her addled brain could better take in her surroundings. She found herself lying on her back, staring at a bright white ceiling some twenty feet above. Hearing movement beside her, Liv turned to see Tal, red-eyed and rumpled, pulling himself into a seated position next to her. “Feh,” he said, rubbing his temples. “Are we dead?” “I – I don’t know,” Liv replied, smoothing her dress and checking herself for bumps and bruises. “I don’t think so, anyway. I feel pretty much alive. How about you?” Tal took a quick inventory. All his limbs were in their correct places, he didn’t seem to be bleeding, and he could feel his heart beating. He knew he was still breathing because he felt like he would hyperventilate at any moment. His head, however, was pounding, and he was more than a little shaky. It also occurred to Tal that he might throw up, but he was trying his best not to think Committed by A.R. Kirby about it. “This is the worst hangover I’ve ever had,” he said blearily, “but I guess I’m okay. So tell me what the hell happened and where we are?” “I can’t answer either of those questions,” she said. “It sure isn’t home.” Tal took a brief survey of their surroundings, and concluded Liv was right -- they definitely were no longer in their cozy cottage in Mountain Woods. They were sitting on a large, thick, rug, the ornate embroidery on which appeared to be Turkish in design. On either side of them were two long, low chaise lounges, both covered with thick, comfortable cushions and a number of pillows, in the same pattern as the rug. The chaises themselves looked to be carved from white marble. At the head of the lounges was a small pedestal table, delicately carved and also apparently made of marble. A dark colored bowl on top of the table held a variety of fruit. A sign in front of the bowl stated, in fine script, “Help Yourself” The chaises, table, and rug were in a sunken area of a large, circular room, made completely of gleaming white marble. Ornate columns, spaced evenly around the periphery of the room, held the domed ceiling above them. Oil lamps -- scattered around the room in sconces on the outer wall -- cast a warm and even light, and Liv could see greenery on a number of pedestal-like objects. Two open doorways were located on opposite ends of the room. “It looks like ancient Rome, or maybe Greece,” Tal said, scratching his beard. “In any case, it’s not where we were a few minutes ago.” “Yes, Toto, I definitely think we’re not in Kansas any more,” Liv joked. She stood up from the rug. “Anybody home?” she asked tentatively. Both she and Tal looked around the room. Nothing. The couple could only hear their own breathing. Liv began walking to the nearest doorway, while Tal shuf2 Episode 8 fled along behind, staring at his feet. Liv stopped by the column nearest the doorway. “Hello?!” she shouted. The echo rang around the room. “Wow, that’s really loud,” Tal said, wincing and covering his ears with his hands. “Howsabout a little courtesy for the guy with the hangover?” “Look, I just want to get out of here,” Liv said impatiently. “Deal with the hangover later, okay?” She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. “HELLO! ANYBODY HOME?!” she yelled again. No response. Tal sat down on one of the chaises, picked a grape from the bowl, and popped it in his mouth. “Well, crap,” he told his wife. “Maybe we’re on our own here.” “Let’s think about what happened,” she replied, walking over to the chaise and taking a seat next to her husband. “Maybe that will help us figure out what’s going on.” Tal exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. “Let’s see... I was on the deck, drinking a beer and being generally pissy about everything that happened today, when I decided to come into the house. As I was walking in, I could have sworn you were talking to the cat.” to me.” “Toby! That’s right!” Liv’s face brightened “The cat talked Tal plopped his forehead into his palm. He began massaging his eye socket while he spoke. “Our cat?” he asked wearily. The day was getting to Tal. “No way. Did Deidre give you some weed at the party or some3 Committed by A.R. Kirby thing? Because you must be stoned. Talking cat. Right.” “No, really, Tal, Toby spoke!” Liv’s voice rose slightly. “I know it sounds crazy, but is it any crazier than us being here at Caesar’s Palace? Come on, Tal – you’ve got to believe me.” Tal continued to massage his forehead. “Man, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” he said to his shoes. “You think it’s weird,” Liv said. “Be the one the cat talks to and see how weird it feels.” “Okay,” Tal said, and straightened. He moved closer to Liv and put his arm around her waist. “Tell me about this alleged talking cat.” Liv screwed her eyes shut, trying to remember the exact order of events. “I was sitting on the sofa, just waiting for you to sober up a bit. I knew it was about time for you to get out of your funk.” “I had just finished a glass of wine, and I went back to the kitchen to get the bottle,” she continued. “I brought it back to the living room when Toby jumped up on the coffee table and knocked over the glass. I got on to him, and that’s when he started talking.” Liv caught a glance of the bowl of fruit on the table, noticed that Tal hadn’t keeled over from eating any of it, and took a grape herself. “Wow, these are good, “ she said, juice squishing between her teeth. “I wonder what kind they are?” Tal’s look said you’ve got to be kidding me. “Can we drop the grapes and get back to the talking cat?” he asked. “I’d like to get some closure to a little bit of the weirdness here.” “Okay, okay,” Liv said, stuffing a couple more grapes into her mouth. “I freaked out because the cat was talking – who wouldn’t – and then he told me... he told me we were the two most important people on earth. Then a light came in from the deck, and 4 Episode 8 we ended up here.” Tal looked directly at his wife, thought about speaking for a moment, then thought better of it. Liv jumped when he slapped himself – hard – in the face. “What was that?” she asked, leaning back from her husband. “This has got to be a dream,” he said. “I’m just trying to wake myself up.” “Good luck with that,” she said. “Let me know how it works out for you.” “If you have any better ideas, I’ll be happy to listen,” Tal said curtly. “Personally, I am at a compete loss.” “I suppose we could wait for someone to show up, which they may or may not do,” Liv said thoughtfully, ignoring Tal’s tone. “Or we could do a little exploring on our own to try to figure out where we are. There’s got to be a phone somewhere.” “I knew there was a reason I married you,” Tal said as he reached inside his suit coat and pulled out his cell phone. “I completely forgot I had this with me.” He flipped open the phone and his face fell. “No service,” he told Liv, and put the phone back into his coat. “Then that’s that,” she said, standing up from the chaise. “Let’s get moving.” Tal got up slowly and joined his wife. They headed back to the doorway where Liv had been yelling. They paused at the threshold, seeing that the doorway opened onto a wide hall. “After you,” Tal said, making a small bow and extending his arm toward the hall. “You wuss,” Liv said, kissing Tal on the cheek and grab5 Committed by A.R. Kirby bing his outstretched hand. “Letting your poor, defenseless wife go first into unimaginable danger. Well, forget that. You’re coming with me, mister.” They stepped through the doorway. Nothing happened. Tal and Liv glanced at each other, and began walking down the hall. It was made of the same marble material as the room they were in before, and it was warmly lit, although neither Tal nor Liv could find a source for the light. Large gilded frames lined the walls at regular intervals, and about a hundred feet away, they could see a doorway like the one they had just came through. Tal and Liv stopped to look at the first frame they came to. Liv guessed the frame was at least 10 feet wide by 8 feet high. It contained what Tal thought was a satellite photo of a portion of the Great Wall of China, but the detail was like nothing he had ever seen. “Wow, that’s pretty cool,” Tal said. “Look – you can see lines in the stones.” “Hm,” Liv said. “Let’s keep moving.” The next image they passed was of the Grand Canyon. Following that, an image of Paris. Further down the hall, Tal found Washington, D.C., Tokyo, and the Nile Delta. “How did we get to the National Geographic offices?” he asked, marveling at an image of New York City. “These pictures are just amazing!” “Come on, Tal, we’re not tourists,” Liv said. “Let’s just find out where we are and how we can get home. I’m getting worried about the girls.” “Oh, they’re fine,” Tal said, his attention focused on anoth6 Episode 8 er framed aerial shot. “Do you know where this is?” “I have no idea,” Liv said, moving to Tal’s side. “I’m not a whiz with geography.” “Me neither,” Tal said, still surveying the image. “But it looks like it might be eastern Europe. I think that might be the Adriatic Sea,” he said, pointing to a bright blue area on the map. “But it doesn’t seem to be anything special. All the other images are of natural wonders or great cities. I wonder why it’s here?” “I wonder why this one is here,” Liv said quietly from behind Tal. “What’s that?” Tal turned and moved to be side-by-side with his wife. “Does that look familiar to you?” She pointed at the last frame on the hall. Tal looked at the image for a moment. Recognition flooded his face. He could make out the ribbon of Interstate 65 running north and south through the area. He found Vulcan on his perch atop Red Mountain and Sloss Furnaces in the valley below. He could even see a detail of an elephant at the Birmingham Zoo. “Uh... that’s Birmingham,” he said. “Wonder why they picked that?” “Tal,” Liv said, her voice tense and quiet. “Look in the center of the picture.” He squinted. “Is that OUR HOUSE?” “Tal, this is really weird,” Liv said, moving in close to her husband. “I’m getting scared. Let’s get out of here.” They turned from the frame and walked through the doorway into another domed room. However, this one was empty. They 7 Committed by A.R. Kirby were surrounded by seamless white marble. “Well, this is just great,” Tal said sarcastically and leaned against the side of the doorway. Click. Liv turned to look at Tal when the room around them disappeared. “Tal, what did you do?!?!” Liv screamed. He wasn’t sure. All he knew is that a moment ago they were standing in a solid white room, and now... well, now it looked like they were standing on t he surface of the moon. Tal saw dusty gray ground at his feet, and small craters nearby. Jagged gray mountains surrounded them on the horizon, and the inky blackness of space above those was broken by millions – maybe even billions – of brilliant points of light. “Oh – my – God,” Liv yelled as she came running up to Tal. “What’s going on?” Tal stood speechless, pointing to a spot behind and above Liv. She turned to see the earth hanging gloriously in the sky. “W-what... are we... Tal...,” she stuttered, staring at her home planet. Tal just gaped. Just as quickly as it disappeared, the white dome appeared around them again. A high-pitched voice shrieked from behind them, “Oh! You’re finally here! That’s wonderful!” The couple whirled back toward the doorway and the source of the voice. Liv gasped, and what was left of her bedraggled consciousness decided it had enough for one day and left. Tal could only stand and stare. 8