The Walls are Alive

Suppose places, homes or buildings, have souls, much like humans do. A spiritual essence within the flesh of their stone... within the bones of they're beams. Perhaps that's where hauntings come from. Perhaps they're more... real... than we perceive. Are some places more quiet? Are some more restless? What could cause this? Perhaps... the walls truly do have ears. Perhaps they hear our words. Witness each memory. Soak in all of the pain, happiness... love, hate... all of it.

I'm a natural skeptic. I never believed in any deities... nor ghosts, nor goblins. I was always a facts firsts, theories later kind of person. And yet, the idea that some things are more... alive... than even some people... has crept up on me time and time again. Some say churches are most active... I say things with history are. The places that experienced the most. Whether it be deaths, scandal, births, or charity.

That thought remained as I stood in front of the Prospect Park Water Tower, also known as the Witch's Hat due to the shape at the top. My idiot manager (and I suppose you could say 'friend') Jen Ryette, stood right nearby. Her dark eyes were filled with the usual cheer and eccentricity that I so loathed. But she'd been... considerably less annoying this past week. I knew it had nothing to do with the date of Armed and Dangerous. 9/11? The day thousands of innocent people lost their lives due to simple-minded terrorism? Please.

She would've partaken in it, if it suited her fancy at that time... hell, maybe she did.

It wasn't much of a concern. Not a lot was, at that moment in time. But I'm talking too much... enough of that was to be done within the water tower... "I'm hungryyy..."

The incessant whining of my manager was enough to drive me crazier than I already felt I was going. But I shook that away quickly to glare over at her. This week was a game changer. The previous week I'd lost only by disqualification... and only because I knew that the following week, I wouldn't be able to come close to doing what I did against Stacy Jones. I had to get it all out of my system, and once I did? I felt even worse than before...

"You should've brought something to eat, then..."

"But you dragged me outta da hotel super duper fast and I couldn't even grab Nova-chi! Not that he'd wanna come to this old crickety lame-o water tower..."

"Not everything with history is lame, Jennifer." I stated matter-of-factly, which only made Jen roll her eyes.

"Puhlease, Cera Bear. I know the history of this place, and it's exactly like I said... LAME-O!"

"Really..." I murmured coolly, before heading into the door of the tower. We'd have to take a staircase to the top, and the confined walls were illuminated in the orange glow of a slowly setting sun. Taking in a deep breath, I slapped the side of my head firmly, before heading inside. "Do tell."

"Well just like the plaque said, it's the tallest space in Minnesota!"

"It occupies the highest natural land area in the state."

"Yea Yea, whatevs. Same dif. Either way, it's just a super tall tower that was sposed ta improve water pressure or some shiz. How's that important?"

"You're right. It's not." I responded nonchalantly, moving slowly up the stairs. Graffiti and the like littered the walls. I read every name, every word... glanced over every picture penned into the stone, no matter how lewd or unnecessary.

"Then can't we go back meow? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasse?"

She continued chanting 'please' as we walked, and finally I got annoyed and twirled around whilst still on the stairs. Ryette nearly fell backward, but I caught her by the front of her dress and smirked. She grabbed at the railing, but this place was so old (having been built in 1913)... the railing itself was coming apart. With a whimper, Jen grabbed my arm and stared at me... as if daring me to let her go. Instead, I straightened her and turned around to continue my steady stride.

"Have you ever heard of the twin paradox, Jen?"

"Eh? Now you're talkin' bout paradicks? Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!"

"Paradox." I corrected her smoothly, smirking slightly. "Contrary to expectation... something that means two things, or has two stories, but still makes sense. An impossible possibility. The idea that saying you're a liar can be truth or fiction. Or saying 'I am nobody'. Saying 'you are' means that you're something. But saying you're nothing contradicts this."

"So what's that got ta do with twins??"

"Story time."

"YAY!"

Rolling my eyes at her unending enthusiasm, I continued my thought, "Imagine there are twins... Reya and I will do."

"Duh, that makes this shiz relevant!"

"Will you shut the fuck up?" Glaring back at her, I nearly lost my footing on the staircase. Frantically moving to catch myself, I felt arms wrap around my waist, as Ryette caught me. An inch was between my nose and a step, and I exhaled and pulled away. Jen said something, and I sighed. "Repayment, I presume?"

"It's cuz you're a clumsy burr!"

"Are you quite finished?"

"Psssshhhh, you know I ain't. But go on, anywayz!"

"...anyway. Imagine Reya and myself... two completely different people. We have differences in opinions and beliefs, ideologies and... perspectives. That's the key word. Note it."

"I don't gotta pen."

"In your head!"

"Iono, I don't gotta very good memory..."

"Are you serious...?" I exclaimed, feeling irked. Maybe I should stick around Iser rather than this moron. Perhaps he'd at least comprehend this shit. Or at least listen. "Ugh, whatever! Moving on, basically I've been offered a spaceship. The fastest in the universe. And I get to fly it around space."

"You do?!" Jen cried in excitement, and I felt her jump up and down on the stairs. "Why didn't ya tell me?! I wanna go!!"

"...."

"Wat?"

"...."

"Fine, I'm done... meany." As Jen grumbled to herself, I continued in a tense tone, just waiting to be interrupted again...

"So Reya and I happen to have these special clocks... we keep them with us, as... mementos, or something." Frowning slightly, I slowed to a stop. We had to be about 3/4s of the way to the top of the tower at this point. "I take my clock with me. Reya keeps her's with her. I go on my journey... traveling at light speed, but eventually realize that Earth is the only planet with good tequila, and so I head back..."

"Eh, I don't like our tehkillya... I bet Mars has better alco-hawl!"

"ONCE I RETURN..." I snapped, ignoring Jen's ramblings. "... I find that Reya's grown old. She's weakened. Become something... else. Now we argue... because both of us believe that our clocks are going slower. Despite her having aged considerably, and me barely a day older... she claims my clock is faster than her's. I zoomed out into space at the speed of light, after all. I'm moving at a faster rate. So from her perspective, it would seem that way. From mine, it makes more sense that her's is. She aged faster. She changed faster."

"...I'm confused though." Jen blurted out, and I smirked as we continued walking up the staircase. "Cuz... neither of you make any sense..."

"Oh? And why do you think that?"

"Ain't your clocks movin' at the same time?"

"EXACTLY!" I say this loudly, making Ryette jump, as I turn around and begin walking backwards up the stairs. "No matter where you are, time doesn't lie. It remains the same. So if someone say, in England argues that it's night time, while someone in the states says it's the afternoon... who's right?"

"Uhm, both of them?"

"Because?"

"Cuz their perspectives are different, but the same!" Ryette started clapping, obviously applauding herself for figuring that out. But then she abruptly stopped the action as she thought about that. "But... ya can't be sayin' you and Reya-chi's perspectives are the same. Cuz they ain't."

"No, they're not."

"Heck, they're opposite, and opposites can't be the same, ya dig?" She quieted thoughtfully, before continuing slowly. "Which is why it's a paradox??"

"You would think."

"It ain't???"

"Reya and I have different opinions and perspectives. That's a basis of this match-up between us. The stipulation given by Sky. While my sister has to do something out of her comfort zone... making me bleed, being more volatile than she's used to... I have to be far less violent, far more... conservative. Though that's more Iser's thing, than Reya's..."

I smirked slightly at the stipulation at hand. As I said before, I'd used as many cheaper tactics as I could against Stacy to get it all out of my system. I even gave up a win to do so. Against Reya? I had more of a compulsion to defeat her. To prove things to her... things she knew in her heart were true. I couldn't use a weapon. I couldn't use my volatile tendencies. So I'd use a blade, not physical... but mental. Psychological. Cut into her psyche... and use whatever soul I had left... to end her.

"I'm sooooo confuzzled..." Jen whined, as we finally reached the top of the water tower. With a final smirk, I continued my explanation...

"The basic concept of the paradox is completely logical. The clocks would move at the same pace, as time doesn't alter itself... that is, unless proven otherwise."

"Eh???"

"It's been proven, by Einstein and by NASA themselves, that time moves at a slower rate the faster you move through space. That's why astronauts are gone for years upon years, and yet they don't feel they've been gone that long at all."

"So... then time does lie??"

"Time doesn't. Our clocks do. In space, mine moved slower. On Earth, her's sped up. It wasn't so much location, as a different area of 'space'. Almost like... a different time."

"So you're a time traveler?!"

The corners of my lips twitched upward at the comments, as we finally reached the door to the outside. Putting my palm flat against it, I murmured aloud, "Do you places are alive, Jen?"

"Places? Like the tower???"

"Moreso the time around the tower. Everything that happened every year it's been here. Does that live on?" I looked back over at her, and Ryette just stared at me for a moment, before cocking her head to the side and smiling at me almost condescendingly...

"Cera Bear... drugs are bad."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I heard weed makes ya think weird shiz, but you must be on shroomies or somethin'!"

"Nevermind, Jen... I wouldn't expect you to get it." I shook my head, before opening the door and staring out. "She didn't. She doesn't. And she won't. Ever."

Stepping forward into the calm Minnesota air, I exhaled and lifted my face to the sky. Jen stood behind me, watching with an uncharacteristic silence about her. After a moment or two, I lowered my chin and stared out into the distance, listening to the whispers of the walls of this place. All the while, the thoughts in my mind held a bitter tone: I would garner yet another victory from my sister. With a slower clock, and more time on my hands... everything would go my way. Even if I had to force it...

...no matter what... with both blade... and soul.

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~This has been a V rp, thanx for reading and have a great f*cking day!~