4338.207 · July 26, 2018 AD
Marriage, Paris, and Other Accelerants
There's something clarifying about burning bridges you never intended to cross again. Luke stepped through the Portal for answers about murdered sons and impossible resurrections. What ambushed him instead was his phone—buzzing with the particular insistence of a manager who doesn't know her employee has been building settlements in other dimensions. HR wants documentation. Luke wants silence. The lie he tells to get it tastes easier than anything true has tasted all day.
Some bridges don't need careful dismantling. Some bridges need accelerant and a match.
Luke steps through the Portal into his study, still wearing Clivilius dust on his skin and the weight of impossible revelations in his chest. His phone reconnects to Earth's network immediately, buzzing with the particular insistence of a manager who's noticed her employee has vanished. Jen has been texting. Jen wants answers. Jen doesn't understand that spreadsheets and status reports have stopped mattering.
Oops. Sorry Jen. I forgot to tell you. I quit!
She doesn't accept it. HR needs paperwork. Luke can't just resign via text message. Except he can. He just did. And when she keeps pressing, he gives her something she can understand: Jamie and I are getting married. We're moving to Paris.
The lie tastes easier than the truth. The phone goes dark. Cody is still waiting to be found.
