Vacant Throne

The park was always a relaxing place. Peaceful. Calming. The bright sun was warming, a welcome change from the relatively cool air that had been around as of late. Sticking around outside wasn’t going to be possible for much longer. Winter chill would be arriving soon. But for today, a number of people were out for that last bit of outdoor fun. Watching families come out for a picnic, enjoying each other’s company, was always nice. It stung a bit, but he always tried to look on the brighter side of things.

He never viewed himself as the kind of person who would grow up to sit on a park bench all day and toss out plain peanuts for birds. It always seemed like the kind of kind of thing old and lonely people did. Which, given his current status as an older and quite lonely person, was fitting. He didn’t even enjoy it that much. There were others in the park who he had spoken with on occasion who viewed the birds as being practically family members. For Timothy, it was more of a distraction than anything else. Something he could do that didn’t take concentration or investment. He had tried reading and simply sitting to relax himself, but reading just took a bit too much concentration and sitting was a bit too idle. For the former, he frequently found himself getting distracted and having to read the same paragraphs over and over again.

So he had stopped. Feeding birds was relaxing, mildly active, but left him with plenty of time to sit in his own thoughts.

Sometimes, he felt like he had just a little too much time in his own thoughts.

But at least he wasn’t at home. He was not looking forward to winter. He needed to find something else to do. Although he was retired, finding some job to work and keep him out of the house would definitely help his mental state. Clark had been saying that he wanted to find a cabin they could rent for at least a few days. He wasn’t too interested in staying home either. Now or for the holidays.

The house was just too… empty. He was trying to sell it, but so far, it was to no avail. Bad economy. Bad omens. A stigmatized property if ever there was one. Even the people who weren’t superstitious were less than thrilled to find out that four people had died in it. And with that thought, Timothy found himself sinking into a bit of depression once again.

He took a deep breath, scattered the last of the crumbs on the ground, and got to his feet. When sitting in the park didn’t work to take his mind off things, he often went for walks.

There was a nice belt around the park. He usually walked for only about ten minutes on it at a time—he was getting older—but today, perhaps he might travel a bit further. Stretch his legs a little.

Once out of the main park area, the asphalt path wound along next to a narrow river, surrounded by trees. A really cozy place that lots of people liked to walk along. He passed by twelve joggers, a pair of mothers pushing strollers, another few people walking along like he was, and even several of the younger generation. And those were just the ones who he counted in ten minutes, who were walking in the opposite direction. Aside from the joggers, people walking in the same direction didn’t often overtake him unless he stopped to take a rest.

But, in keeping with his decision to keep walking today, he decided to take a branch of the path that he didn’t often travel on. He had been down it before—it was much more narrow and often less well kept by whoever the groundskeepers were, and was therefore less popular with just about everyone—but taking a trip off on his own where he wouldn’t be disturbed felt nice once in a while. And there were the occasional people who felt the same as him.

For instance, after a good quarter of an hour, he spotted someone else. A young woman seated on a worn bench. She simply sat, staring off into the trees of the trail. With brown hair and a fairly muscular build, she looked… familiar. From a distance, anyway. It actually made him stop for a moment. But only a moment. Timothy was not the superstitious sort. Not even if, upon walking closer, he found that familiarity only increasing.

She was just a look-a-like. It happened. Even Timothy apparently had a doppelganger of his own out there. One who frequented the same stores, prompting more than one employee to think that Timothy had a partner that was usually with him. Even when his family had been around, he rarely went shopping with them and thus had to correct more than one employee about having or needing membership cards.

Having walked a fair distance, he considered taking a short rest. Maybe even strike up a conversation while he was there. But this day and age didn’t like that sort of thing. An older man taking a seat unsolicited next to a younger woman would probably turn out poorly for him. Sighing, he shrugged his shoulders and prepared to carry on. The path would eventually loop back around to the main park; he didn’t have much farther to go.

“Looking a little tired there.”

Timothy’s breath hitched as he reached the bench. The woman spoke to him without looking in his direction. He just stared at the back of her head, unease swelling. It was one thing to look like his deceased daughter. But to sound like her too? That was…

“Careful. You shouldn’t have too many shocks at your age.”

The woman turned, smiling at him.

Looking into those brown eyes made his heart skip a beat. “Alyssa?”

The moment the name was out of his mouth, he regretted saying anything. Of course it wasn’t her. He had seen her buried. Identified her corpse. His daughter was gone. This person was a look-a-like and nothing more.

“Ufu~ ‘fraid not.”

“I’m sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else.”

“I understand. I did model myself on her after all.”

Unease welled up once again, this time for a completely different reason. This person knew Alyssa? And had deliberately dressed herself to look the same? Probably saw a photograph and used makeup to… To what? Was this some kind of con? How long had she been sitting on the park bench, eying the trees as she waited for him to pass by? What if he hadn’t gone down this path? Would she have been waiting somewhere else?

“Who are you?”

“A daughter you never had. Or a sister to the daughter you did have? Or maybe just a friend.”

“A friend doesn’t stalk others wearing the face of the dead,” Timothy said, voice hard. He considered fleeing. Strange women showing up looking like his daughter sounded like something from a horror movie. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as mobile as he once was. A younger woman would always be able to outrun him. If this was to be a horror movie, he wouldn’t be getting away.

“Now, now. No need to be so concerned. Come. Have a seat. Let’s talk.”

“I’ll stand.”

“Suit yourself. There really is no need to be so hostile, you know. I’m here to help. Or, failing that, deliver a message.”

“From whom?”

“Alyssa. Of course.”

He clenched his fists, scowling now.

“She would have come herself, but, well, apparently taking hold of all power in the universe isn’t as simple as it sounds. I don’t know why she can’t just change herself to make everything work, but I can change myself, so I did and so I’m here.”

“My daughter is dead.”

“And that is where you are wrong. She is quite alive, just… indisposed? There isn’t really an easy way to say this and she couldn’t be here herself—at least not for some time—but nobody wanted you and Clark to just be carrying on thinking that your wife and daughter were dead. They aren’t. The things you thought were your wife and daughter were actually just fake dolls created by an angel to cover for the fact that she messed up some things. I’m here to bring you to them… Oh… Wow… That really came out wrong. Like ‘you’ll be reunited in death,’ which I honestly don’t mean at all. They’re all literally alive. And I just… Ah, I knew I should have just brought Lisa along, but Alyssa said to avoid changing Earth too much for the moment because of all kinds of things that honestly just sound like nonsense. It was bad enough manipulating the environment and sights and smells to encourage this little walk out to the middle of nowhere. But we all thought it would be better to approach you during the day instead of in your home where… And now I’m really just rambling aren’t I.”

Of everything the woman said, it was only the final sentence that really registered. Rambling accurately described the… utterly insane things the woman was saying.

“I can show you proof, of course. Though we’re going to wait a few more minutes.”

“Why? Why wait?” He didn’t believe her for a minute. But if there was even a small hint of truth to her claims that his family was alive…

“Well…” She tilted her head from side to side before deliberately glancing off over his shoulders.

Feeling unnerved, he quickly turned… only to find a familiar face.

“Clark?”

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

Timothy turned back to the woman with his daughter’s face, not wanting her to be out of his sight for any length of time. She was just smiling, nodding slightly, and completely unsurprised about Clark’s presence. He had no doubt that she knew who Clark was. Alyssa’s brother.

“Excellent,” she said, clapping her hands together. “Just in time. As expected. Anyway, we’re trying to keep alterations to worlds minor outside of the influences of Guardians, so let’s get you two out of here.”

“We’re not going—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish. The woman snapped her fingers. With that snap, a spark of light flashed, nearly blinding him. As it was, he had to blink several times, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes as he did so.

When he could finally see again, he wasn’t near the path or the bench. He was in a grassy field near a small lake. Trees in the distance created a small circle around half the lake. It was nowhere in the park that he knew about. There was a river—really a large creek—that followed along the main path, occasionally with a bridge that led to the other side. But no lake.

He whipped his head around, finding Clark right where he had been standing a moment ago, except also without the path under his feet. He was alive and well, though staring around with eyes as wide as Timothy’s were. Timothy ran up to him, clasping a hand around his shoulder. Feeling his son beneath his firm grip meant that they were real, even if he could hardly believe what was going on around them.

“Dad, what’s—”

“Kasita!” a voice bellowed. A familiar voice. “Your plan is horrible! Get back here you foolish girl!”

Timothy turned to find the strangest sight. His house stood not far from the lake. It was surrounded by grass, rather than suburban homes and streets. But it was his house. He recognized the color, the shape, even the garden hose coiled up on a rack hanging just around the side of the back door. And standing on that porch was an even more familiar face.

His wife. His dead wife. It was her. Really her, not some face-stealing woman like the person from earlier. This was absolutely and without a doubt his wife. He recognized her face, her stance, and even her voice. She wasn’t wearing any familiar clothes, but clothes changed.

“Lisa?”

The moment the word was out of his mouth, his wife looked to him. Whatever anger she had at whoever she was yelling at was instantly forgotten as her face softened. “Tim,” she said, voice equally soft. She started to approach, but stopped after only a few steps. “What did that foolish girl tell you?”

“I… Lisa?”

“Mom?”

Lisa sighed in just the right way. She walked forward, military training trudging through in every step. She had a stiffness to her shoulders that Timothy identified as her being uncomfortable with the current situation. She had never been the best at emotional things—that had usually been his duty in the household—but this was on a whole other level.

“It’s me,” she said, eyes drifting from him to Clark and back. “I don’t know what that girl told you, but you aren’t dead and you aren’t crazy. So let’s get that out of the way first.”

“I…”

“I know. Speechless. I can imagine what you’re going through because I went through the same. Except I had the benefit of actually meeting Alyssa. You had to meet Kasita. I can only imagine.”

“What’s going on, Dad?”

“Alright,” Lisa said, half turning back to the house. “Come inside. We’ll sit down and I’ll explain.”

Seeing his wife turn away stirred something in Timothy’s chest. He found himself lunging after her before he could stop himself, grabbing her by the hand. She stiffened in just the way he expected before she slowly let herself relax. She turned back, offering a wan smile.

“It’s really you.”

Nodding, she gave him a tight smile. Only to stiffen once again when he wrapped his arms around her. It really was her. All the little mannerisms she made simply couldn’t be faked. Not without someone who knew her as well as he did. He was quite confident that no one, not even their children, could match that.

But if she was here… “Alyssa?”

“Apparently busy dealing with having more power than any one person should have. According to Kasita, some rambling lunatic in the palace dungeons is… well, a lunatic because he simply saw her. And… It’s a long story. Let’s get inside before I even start.”

“Inside. Right.”

“You have to let go of me so we can walk.”

He felt a small bump into his back. Clark, grabbing hold as well. Though somewhat more hesitantly.

“I don’t want to.”