Chapter Thirteen

“Oh,” I said after a long pause. I chuckled to myself. “Well, I guess that makes sense. It explains why I feel so out of place here. Like I don’t belong. It’s only because I’m dead, that’s all.”
“Listen, YOU are not dead,” Luke said. “Just because the Caitlin in this dimension is, does not mean you are.”
“How old was she? When she died?”
“Five,” he said. “She was five years old.”
“And… the rest of my family?”
“Is still alive, and going on.”
“They’re happy?”
“As happy as they can be with the loss of a daughter.”
“Do my parents have any more kids?”
Luke shook his head. “Just your twin brother.”
“How did I die?” I asked.
“YOU did not die,” Luke repeated. “The Caitlin from this dimension died… well, she was born with a disease. It was a miracle she lasted five years. It was just done to maintain the balance between the dimensions, really. It doesn’t matter, though.”
“Doesn’t matter?” I snapped. “I died, and you’re saying it doesn’t matter?”
“For the love of God, it told you that you didn’t die!”
“Yes, but it could have been me, but it was just me from another dimension, right? Right?”
Luke sighed. “It’s just to maintain the balance—”
“Oh, yes, of course, the balance between dimensions. That is so damn important.”
“It is, actually, without this balance life would just cease to exist, there would be nothing, and—”
“So what? Dimensions kill people to maintain the balance? They take lives, destroy families, and commit murder?”
“Caitlin, it’s just nature, I—”
“And you! You’re supposed to be the one maintaining all of this! And you let people die like that?”
“I can’t control the fact that the Caitlin from this dimension got a disease when she was young, it was natural, there is nothing I could have possibly done!”
“Then what about Cedric, huh?”
“The Cedric here is perfectly alive and content. Sure, he misses his sister sometimes, dreams about her, but he’s living his life, and he’s doing fine!”
“I mean my Cedric! My twin brother, my Cedric, the one who used to tell me stories, the one who was going to be a great writer some day, the one who had so much more potential than me! Did you kill him off, too?”
“Caitlin,” Luke said. “Breathe for a moment. I don’t mind taking a minute to explain this to you, but you have to promise that the moment I’m finished, there will be no more questions about this, because we just don’t have time, we have to keep going on.”
“How dare you!” I shouted. “First you abandon me, and then you expect me to not ask you questions about the MURDER of my brother? The murder that you committed!”
“I have never committed murder!” Luke snapped. “If you would just let me explain—”
“Right, because you totally deserve to have an explanation right now! After all you have done, how you have been treating me, you dare—”
“Fine!” Lucas interrupted. “That’s perfectly fine with me! If you don’t want an explanation at all, that is just perfectly fine. I don’t care about it, and obviously you don’t care about it enough to just shut up and listen to me!”
I stopped. I only just noticed how hard Lucas was breathing, how he got terribly worked up just because I wouldn’t listen to him when he wanted me to. He was such an ass hole sometimes, and to think that he wanted to tell me what to do in a situation like this one.
“Thank you,” he said, straightening his jacket. “Now, I can explain myself. Your brother’s death was not natural, I will agree with you there, but—”
“He died in a fire,” I said.
“Are you going to keep interrupting me?”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “Continue.”
“Right. Well, it wasn’t natural, but it was not intentional. His death did have something to do with inter dimensional forces.”
“So you killed him?” I asked loudly again.
“Please just shut up!” he yelled again. “There was a tear. There was a tear in the fabric of time-space in your house, and flames from one dimension escaped through that tear, and ended up in your house.”
I had the urge to scream out more nasty statements and questions, but withheld this temptation in order to continue listening. This was the first time I had ever heard any details about my brother’s death.
“If I had any power to stop it, I would have,” Luke said. “The Cedric in your dimension… the only Cedric that ever really mattered to you… should not have died. But he did because of a mistake. But before you yell at me again, it was not my mistake. I was not Keeper of the Dimensions at the time of your brother’s death. I became Keeper of the Dimensions soon after that event occurred, but there was less than nothing I could have done to save your brother’s life. I didn’t even live in your dimension, I didn’t even know alternate dimensions existed, the motorcycle hadn’t even come close to being invented yet. I had absolutely zero ability to help your brother. And I am so sorry.”
I took a deep breath. Hearing all of what he just said was painful. I mean, now I knew about Cedric’s death, and even the death of my father. How the fire wasn’t caused by a careless accident such as leaving the stove on, or some gas explosion, or whatever it is that the media used as an excuse for that fire that day. It was because flames came from another dimension—an alternate hell dimension. I was so convinced that the flames came from the depths of hell, just bent on ruining my life and destroying my childhood and tearing my family apart. And all my anger towards Luke had disappeared, and I was now only angry at the person who originally opened that gateway to hell, whether it was an accident or not.
“Are you okay?” Luke asked.
“Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. And then a thought occurred to me. “Hey, you know that person who is dimension hopping right now? Causing all of this quakes and disturbing the balance?”
Luke nodded. “What about him?”
“Well, do you think that dimension hopping also creates tears between dimensions?”
“Quite possibly, but I’m not exactly an expert on dimension hoping considering I am the Keeper of the Dimensions and I’ve got my motorcycle. I’ve got no need for dimension hopping, since I can do it the legal way.”
“Right. So what if this dimension hopper is the guy who caused that tear all those years ago? What if he’s the one who killed my brother?”
“Are you sure? What if it was a different person?”
“Oh, come on. You said yourself dimension hopping isn’t the easiest thing in all the universes. So think logically, how many dimension hoppers can there possibly be?”
Luke paused. “It’s very possible.”
“Right,” I said. “That means our only option now is to stop him.”