4338.206 · July 25, 2018 AD
Please Just Come Home
Jamie wakes draped over Luke's shoulders—Duke found him collapsed in the dust and fetched help. A letter arrives from Gladys, pen and paper bridging dimensions where nothing else can. But its contents reveal a world unravelling: midnight break-ins, unexplained connections, a friend drowning in alcohol and grief. She needs him home. He can't even stand up.
Some rescues deliver you into different kinds of helplessness.
Jamie surfaces from unconsciousness to find himself draped over Luke's shoulders, carried back to camp by the man he'd accused of killing them all. Duke found him collapsed in the dust. Duke fetched Luke. The dog who shouldn't be here saved the life Luke had supposedly sentenced to death.
A letter waits in Duke's toy box—Gladys's handwriting on paper that crossed dimensions. She believes now. Saw the Portal with her own eyes. But belief hasn't brought peace. Cody broke into her house at midnight, told her to trust Luke. How do they even know each other? And Gladys is drinking. Failed a workplace test. Got fired. Brody's ghost won't let her sleep.
Please just come home. I need you.
The words land like a blade. Jamie can't go home. Can't even stand up when Duke's barking wakes him later, when groceries arrive and he tries to help. His body delivers its verdict without negotiation: today, he stays down. Tomorrow's promises are the only currency that buys him through.
