Davey

“Hey! How are you doing today? You good? Because I am going to die.”

“... Uh?” I stared at Davey. He had randomly shown up at my door one afternoon. “Do you want to come in first before unloading that sort of thing on me?”

Davey shrugged. “Sure, but it doesn’t stop my clock from ticking.”

He stepped inside and I closed the door behind him with my foot. “Make yourself comfortable. I’m gonna grab a shirt.”

I had known Davey since we were kids. He wasn’t the type to drop by unannounced. My eyes drifted toward the clock. Two fifteen. Davey should be at work. Maybe he had an appointment and came straight here afterward? He was still wearing his tie, which meant that he had to have gone in at some point.

“Did I catch you sleeping?” Davey asked while looking around the living room.

“I was working out,” I replied. I an old shirt from the back of my couch, sniff it, then pulled it over my head.

Davey eyed the bag of chips on the couch. “... Sure.”

“Don’t judge me. Not when you’re randomly showing up claiming that you’re dying,” I spat back.

He pouted. “I’m not dying, I’m going to die. There’s a difference.”

I stared at him like he was insane.

“There is a difference,” he repeated in a firmer tone.

“You’ve been to a doctor, right? What did they say? How long do you have left?”

“End of the month,” replied Davey. He flopped down on the couch and began to snack from my chips.

The news didn’t settle in right away. It felt like reality was being stripped from my mind. All that was left was a numb canvas and a slight buzzing sound. My knees felt like jelly. I had to brace my hand against the wall just to keep myself from falling over.

“... Cancer?” I asked.

Davey crunched loudly onto a chip and contemplated its oniony flavor. “Nope. Turns out I’m not sick. Just gonna die at the end of the month.”

Another wave of agonizing realization flooded through my core. “You’re not thinking about killing yourself, are you?”

“Nah. Just gonna die,” he replied.

I slugged my way over to the couch and sick next to Davey. This was too much for me to handle. “... Have you thought about therapy?”

Davey set aside the chips. He held out his hands as though he were telling me about a fish he had caught. “That doesn’t matter.”

“I’m fairly certain that in this instance, Davey, therapy is exactly what does matter,” I replied.

He began to wave his hands about. Davey always talked a lot with his hands. “Take the whole dying thing and set it aside. I’m going to view this as an opportunity. This moment, this one right here, is the beginning of a journey.”

“Death is a finality,” I retorted.

“Which is why we are going to do this journey together,” he replied. The way he said it sent a chill up my spine. “We’re going to find a way to save me.”

The thought of finding a way to save him brought some comfort, but I didn’t want him to go anywhere. I wanted him to stay and get the help he needed. Whether it was therapy, or a doctor, or a mental institution, I was going to stay by his side. Running around aimlessly would just be going about this the wrong way.

“You have work.”

“Today was my last day,” he said.

I gestured to the room around me. “I’ve gotta find a job. My savings can barely cover another month.”

“I’ll give you three months rent.”

I stared at him again. “You’re really not going to change your mind about this?”

“Still got a passport, right?” He grinned widely when I nodded. “Awesome. Get packing. We’ll head out today.”

“Where are we going?”

“Where else do you want to go when you know you’re going to die?” He asked with a laugh. “We’re going home.”

By home, he meant a town that was a two-hour drive away from the city. It’s where both of us grew up. There wasn’t much to say about it, except for the fact that it used to have the highest fast food restaurant to person ratio than any other town in America. Oddly enough, not the highest diabetes rate.

The two of us took Davey’s car there. Our first stop, oddly enough, was the cemetery. We had a friend buried there a few years ago. He was in a drunk driving accident during his first year of college. None of us knew what to make of it at the time. We all expected to drift apart from each other once we graduated high school, but no one could predict that one of us was going to die immediately afterward.

Both of us stood there in silence. We just stared at William’s gravestone. Davey had a distant look in his eye. I kept glancing over at him, but his expression didn’t change. What exactly was he thinking?

Was it about William’s life, or was he dwelling on the fact that he was going to end up like this? Rotten and in the ground. There was nothing but a gravestone left to show everyone where his place in the world was.

“I always thought that you were going to be the first one of us to die,” Davey muttered.

“What do you mean by that?” I didn’t know whether I should be hurt or offended by the comment.

Davey patted my shoulder, then gestured to the hill past the cemetery fence. It’s where he and I first met. I was in fourth grade at the time and decided one day that I was going to be a stuntman. Don’t recall why I decided that, but I wanted to start taking risks immediately.

I told the kids at school to bring whatever they could find. We were going to make a ramp at the bottom of that hill. I still remember how loudly they cheered as I raced my bike down and the screams when I slipped off and hit the ground hard.

Kids were beginning to scatter. I thought I was going to die. Alone and stupid, much like how I lived much of my life up until that point. But then Davey started to bark out orders. He had people running to get help while everyone else tore apart the ramp and tossed it in a nearby ditch.

As far as the adults were concerned, I broke my arm and snapped my collarbone while trying to avoid a squirrel that had run in the road. Thanks to Davey, I didn’t have to spend the next year grounded. He even hung out with me at the hospital and introduced me to his friends. We were all inseparable after that.

“It’s smaller than I remember,” I muttered.

“All a part of growing up,” replied Davey. He then pulled out his phone to check the time. “Come on. My parents are expecting us for dinner.”

I gestured to the grave. “You’re not going to say anything to Will?”

Davey waved a hand in the air. “I’ll have plenty of time to catch up with him later.”

“Yeah… Because you’re dying,” I said.

“I’m going to die. There’s a difference,” he replied. He then continued to walk away.

I made a quick apology to William and began to jog after Davey. My parents had already moved to a different town awhile back, but Davey’s parents were still in the same house they had been in since before he was born. They were nice folks who had always treated me like a son.

They were kind enough to lend me an air mattress, which I set up in Davey’s room. Not a lot of it had changed since high school. His parents had framed his posters and dressed it up so it could be used as a guest room, but it was still had Davey all over it.

Davey had pulled out his laptop and was sitting on his bed. I sat down on the edge of it, near his feet. There was a lot for me to reflect on. He was excited to tell his parents about his plans. The two of us were going on a big trip. Neither of us were working at the moment, and Davey wanted the chance to take a best friend trip while we were still young.

He had a list he had written in high school. Everything he wanted to get done before he was thirty. Go to Disney World. See a Broadway Production. Dance on Shakesphere’s grave as revenge for getting a D in tenth grade English. He’d even put down that he wanted to visit his ancestral home in Ireland.

But he had less than three weeks to do it. I had no idea where he got the idea that we would have the time to do all of that and then some. I had even less of an idea of why he wanted to drag me along for the ride.

“You didn’t tell your parents that you were going to die,” I muttered.

Davey pulled off his glasses and smiled at me. “There isn’t a need to make them worried.”

“Look, man, I really want to help you out. I do, right? But I need you to tell me everything. I need to know why you’re convinced that you’re going to die.”

He responded with jazz hands. “Because it was foretold in a prophecy!”

I wasn’t amused. “... Davey.”

He laughed. “Someone told me that I was going to die at the end of the month.”

“Like a threat? Shouldn’t you be going to the police instead of dragging me around the world?”

Davey shook his head. “No. It was someone that I trust with my life. There’s no way that they would’ve lied to me about something this serious. So, no matter what is coming for me, life or death, I’m choosing you to be my partner in crime. Let’s go out and have some fun.”

He was always someone that I looked up to. Whenever I didn’t have any direction in life, Davey was there for me. He helped me pass high school and get into the same college as him. When I moved to the same city, he even offered to get me a job at his company, but that was the one time I told him no. The one time I thought I’d try to make it without his help.

Now he was asking me to be there during his time of need. No questions asked. No other information given. I owed my life to Davey, so, in the end... I had no reason to refuse him.

“Alright. Let’s make the best of it.”

The weeks that followed were the most stressful yet fulfilling moments of my life. I started to think that for Davey, it was never about where we ended up. Sure, we had a lot of fun, but the moments that I’m going to treasure the most were the ones where Davey and I just… Talked.

We talked about everything. Insecurities, secrets, everything that I had never dared to tell to another living being. I learned more about Davey in a week than I did over a lifetime. Honestly... It was refreshing. I never thought I’d be able to feel this close to someone.

Davey did a lot to give my life a new perspective. I had always gone with the flow of what was expected of me. Go to college. Get a job. Pay off my debts… Then what? I didn’t have any goals nor had I any luck with women. I didn’t even have a desire to travel.

Then there was Davey, whose life had been lived in parallel to mine. The only difference was that he actually enjoyed being out there in the world. He wasn’t satisfied with how he had gone about living. I started to think that this trip wasn’t about Davey meeting his end, but about him finding a new purpose to his life.

It made me think that it wasn’t such a bad idea to keep following in his footsteps. Despite everything, Davey’s life did seem to be a lot more fulfilling than whatever the hell I had been doing up until this point.

“Do you believe in genies?”

We were in Brussels at the time. Davey wanted to see what was an authentic Belgium waffle tasted like. Both of us agreed that they were good, but there were better things about Brussels than the waffles.

“Like the magic wish granting kind or something else?” I asked him back.

Davey shrugged. “The wish granting kind.”

“I don’t know… Don’t those wishes always turn out for the worst? Like, you’d wish for a chicken salad sandwich and end up with salmonella poisoning. It’s the same risk and rewards as you’d get by buying the same sandwich at a gas station.”

“But would you do it?” Davey asked with a grin.

“I would,” I replied.

“And why?”

I had to think about it. “That’s just human nature, isn’t it? Even if we’re warned about something a thousand times, we’re not going to believe it’s dangerous unless we see it for ourselves. Magic is something intangible and unproven. With no real-life experience to compare it to, we have no choice but to chase it.”

“Exactly,” he replied. There was a twinkle in his eyes when he agreed. The dangerous sort of spark that comes with curiosity.

“So what would you wish for?” I asked.

“To not die,” he quickly replied.

I smiled back at him, but inside, I was conflicted. “Then why do all of this? Shouldn’t we be working on a way for you not to die instead?”

Davey began to absentmindedly push a strawberry around with his fork. “It’s inevitable,” he said. “I spent a long time thinking about it and I decided that I’m going to accept the fact that my life is about to end.” He shoved the strawberry into his mouth and began to talk around it. “It’s better to have fun rather than spend the whole time fighting.”

“... Right.” I watched him eat. Any appetite I had had vanished at that moment. “... We’re heading for Ireland tomorrow.”

“Mhm.”

It was the last stop on our journey. “That’s it then?”

“Yep,” he muttered. “Though, if I could, I’d wish for time to stop. I didn’t know how much I missed having fun with you.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Same…”

Davey’s ancestors were from Ireland. A distant relative of his owned an unused plot of land that once belonged to his great-great-grandfather. He had gotten in contact with them and had gotten permission to visit.

What I wasn’t expecting to see was a literal castle. Half of it had fallen due to disrepair and had been reclaimed by nature, but a tower of it was still standing. Any of the windows in it had long since been shattered, and it was distinctly leaning to the right. The two of us just stood there for what seemed like an eternity. Simply staring at it at nothing more.

“... Best not to go inside,” Davey eventually commented.

“... Definitely.”

He adjusted the backpack on his shoulder. “I suppose nothing can be done about it now.”

“Does that mean we’re going to find an inn?”

Davey shook his head. “They said it shouldn’t be raining tonight. We can risk camping out.” He then laughed to himself. “We should go back to town and get supplies anyways. It’s not like there are any bears or snakes about, but we shouldn’t take our chances.”

We went back and bought some food and a lantern before returning. Davey assured me that there wasn’t a need for a tent or sleeping bags. He doubted that we would stay for the entire night. If we did, he doubted that we would sleep for any of it.

Davey set the lantern down near the base of the castle. We took to sitting on rocks and watching the sunset together. Ireland was an oddly beautiful place. I thought it would be boring, but something about being here gave me this odd sense of tranquility.

“Maybe we should ask around town,” I suggested. “We could try to find some locals that know the building and can say for certain if it’s safe or not to enter. Maybe kids who have tried to tag the place or a historian.”

“No point,” replied Davey. He took a swig of his ale. “This place is hella haunted.”

I blinked several times. “... Bro.”

“Bro,” he said in agreement.

“You’re messing with me,” I muttered.

He shook his head. “My family likes to make the excuse that we immigrated because of the potato famine, but it was actually because my ancestor saw a specter on his property and fled the country. That’s why everyone in town looked at us weird when I said we were coming here.”

“... Bro,” I repeated. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I also didn’t want to spend all night outside of a haunted castle. Especially not one that looked like it could fall over because of a slight breeze.

“So what are you going to do when you go back to the states?” He looked over to me with a smile. It wasn’t the same smile he had been using this entire time. There was a sadness hidden deep in his eyes.

I hadn’t really thought about it. “Not sure,” I replied.

He stood up and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Go out there and find what’s right for you. I know you can do it.”

I looked up at him. I couldn’t tell, but it almost looked as though he pitied me. “Is it time?” I asked him.

“Yeah… Yeah, it is. Come on.”

Davey gestured to the edge of a nearby forest. Faint blue flames were floating in between the trees. He was already walking towards them by the time I had set down my ale.

“You’re kidding me, right?” I pointed to the… Will-o-wisps, or ghost lights, or whatever the hell they were. “There’s no way we’re following those.”

“Something intangible and unproven,” replied Davey. “There’s no way to understand the danger of the situation unless I chase after it myself. That’s simply human nature!” He shouted with a laugh.

“How dare you use my words against me!” I cried back.

I snatched up the lantern and hastened my footsteps. Neither of us said anything. The only sound was the occasional snap from when one of us stepped on a branch. Though I shuffled behind Davey, he walked ahead with purpose. Like a man marching into battle.

The trees eventually broke away to a clearing. Our guides, the flames, floated together in the form of a circle. They then plunged themselves into the ground. One by one, glowing mushrooms began to bubble up from the grass.

My body froze in place as the shadows of trees turned inward and formed a point in the center of the mushrooms. Everything within my mind was telling me to move. Move… Move… Dammit! Run already! … But no matter how much I willed myself to flee, my feet refused to obey.

The shadows spiraled together into the shape of a cloaked figure. It had no face, only an empty void where one should’ve been. Even its shape was muddled, as its form was hidden by a sheet. Whether it was a man, beast, or something else, I couldn’t say.

“Davey,” I whispered. “... We need to go.”

“But this is our chance,” he replied. He turned to me with the same smile as always… But his eyes… His eyes were that of a madman. “This is our genie.”

I shook my head and managed to muster enough courage to take a single step back. “There aren’t genies in Ireland, Davey,” I hissed. “This is a leprechaun, or fairy, or some sort of nightmare that we need to wake up from.”

“Have you decided what you want to wish for?” He asked me. I shook my head again. My mind was flooded with anxiety. So much so that I couldn’t think of much at that moment. “Then I’m ready to make my gambit.”

“What are you even talking about?”

He placed his hands on my shoulders and gripped them so tightly that it hurt. “Don’t forget, you’re going to be okay someday.”

Davey than approached the… Whatever it was. He dipped his head forward and wished it a good evening. The creature neither stirred or said anything. It only appeared to stare at him, as though it were attempting to judge his character.

“I will summon one being from any point in history,” it said in a faint accent. Its voice was neither male nor female, nor was it completely human. However, it was also light. The sound of it was less that of speech but more of a floating melody. “You may ask of them a single request.”

Davey didn’t hesitate with his response. “A representation of time.”

Once again did the shadows of the trees bend towards the center of the grove. This time, the figure they summoned was clearer in form. It was a child, maybe six or seven. I’ve never been great at telling ages. They wore a black robe, had long, translucent hair, and their eyes… Their eyes were a dark shade of blue, yet full of twinkling lights.

Somehow, this frightened me more than the initial creature. I wanted to cry out. I wanted to scream and shout that Davey needed to run. But, my voice was locked in my throat. Anytime I opened my mouth, the air in my chest solidified.

Davey didn’t show fear. All he did was nod to himself. “I don’t want to die… Make my time stop. Here and now.”

Time nodded back. Their body twisted apart, forming shadows that vanished into the forest. Davey clutched at his chest. He was hyperventilating. I didn’t know if it was because of stress or if he was feeling ill. He turned towards me with a look of absolute relief.

Then he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

“Davey?”

My knees gave out. I had to scramble on all fours just to get to his side. His eyes were half open and his jaw was slack. I put my hand to his cheek then recoiled in horror. He had gone cold. So much so that it stung my hand when I touched him, as though I had touched ice.

I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. I began to clutch at my mouth tightly, forming a seal around my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream. But I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout and yell at him for taking such a foolish risk. He was always supposed to be the responsible one. The one who looked out over the rest of is.

Seeing him now… I couldn’t help but to think of William. William didn’t age. In my mind, he was going to be the same as he ever was. Frozen by time. Exactly how Davey was now.

“Who will you summon?”

My eyes flitted from Davey to the creature. Its question hung heavily in the air. I hadn’t realized that I would also be given the option. Davey had lied to me. I wasn’t going to be okay. I was either going to get murdered trying to run or end up being killed by whatever I asked for.

Then again…

Maybe…

Maybe I could somehow save Davey from this fate? But who could I ask for? Davey had summoned Time itself, so it was possible that even a figment of a character could be brought into reality. Would I dare ask for death? Or someone with the power to restore his soul? Could I ask for God?

But all of those were all parts of the unknown. Davey had shown me the dangers of asking for something I couldn’t comprehend, and he paid the ultimate price. I needed someone who had my best interests in mind. Someone I could trust.

“I want to speak to Davey from a month ago.”

Once again did the shadows of the trees turn inward, and a third figure had been summoned. The shadows melted away from Davey, who stood there with the most dumbfounded look on his face. He looked around. At me, at his own corpse, and at the creature behind him.

“... Huh,” was all he said. He was oddly calm, considering the circumstances.

“Davey,” I began. “Look, this isn’t a dream, alright? In one month, you are going to die. But you and me, we’re going to find a way to fix this. No matter what. You trust me, don’t you? We’ll find a way to save you together. Do you understand?”

He smiled at me, but there was a lingering sadness in his eyes. “Yeah, sure buddy. I trust you... We’ll do it together.”

And just like that, he melted away back into the shadows.

“No!”

I hadn’t the time to tell him anything. I needed to tell him to stay out of Ireland. Out of everything that had happened the past few weeks, he would’ve been fine if he had just stayed out of Ireland! I wanted… I wanted so desperately to say something more to him. Even if it was how much I valued him as a friend, I would’ve given anything for the chance to say a few more words.

But there was nothing. No creature. No will-’o-wisps. Not even the ring of mushrooms. It was all gone. Everything was gone. One request. All I had was one request and I wasted it on asking Davey if he understood me…

… And now I was alone.