Jason Halchem never thought he would be telling his friends that he met his husband under a bridge. It wasn’t the fairytale story of how two soulmates met for the first time he thought it’d be. He also never thought that’s where his marriage would end.
As Jay climbed aboard the yacht (they listed it as a yacht but it was definitely a large sailboat) his new office chartered in a new city he moved to, so did Cain Jensen. Inside the vessel was a food platter created for business luncheons, new employees, and an unfortunately finite supply of wine. The boat embarked on a looped voyage around the San Francisco Bay on an unfamiliarly sunny day. As the skiff glided beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, Jay retreated to the dwindling wine cache. Posting by the cooler like a gargoyle was Cain. They began chatting about what size their “yacht” actually was. After playful arguing they both landed on “impoverished schooner” (though it was definitely a large sailboat). The wine flowed two hours later and the men wed two years later.
Today, Jay’s new office was 35,000 feet in the clouds. His promotion was accompanied by the major stipulation of constant travel. Over a bottle of wine, him and Cain had a long discussion about the new responsibilities. Jay focused on all the benefits – one being a comfy new salary for them to build a life together – and Cain once again focused on all the negatives. Jay set his wine glass down and pleaded his case while Cain reached for the whiskey and listened. His husband continued to persuade. He continued to listen. Cain finally retreated deeper into the sofa, like a spider slowly recoiling back into the burrow after its prey was stolen. Looking at his husband’s desperate eyes, Cain felt defeated and finally acquiesced.
The following months were quiet. Lonely. The city was swallowed by a hungry behemoth of fog. Jay moved them into a new space at a luxury high rise that gave Cain a discomforting view of the gray billows outside. Created of vapors and clouds, the fog forever sat outside his window and leered inside. On his way to the kitchen one day he glanced out at the sheet of gray and saw something. Something floating. It was a small black circle, floating in the vast nothing before him. It flashed in and out of existence for a split second. And then it was gone.
Cain sat in his empty apartment. It was an alien, unknown place. It was not his. It wasn’t home. Jason was his home. But he began to forget what home felt like. The two of them found each other together for simple days at a time. The days Jay was home were microscopic compared to the days he was gone. Fleeting. As he would leave for another business trip the fog outside would billow in.
Once after he kissed Jay goodbye, Cain turned to the window and saw the veil of gray lurk around the corners of neighboring buildings. As he watched the clouds balloon before him, he saw it again. The little black circle glimmering in the distance. He approached the window slowly and noticed there was a second one, floating in synchronicity with its neighbor. They both flashed again. But they didn’t leave this time. Intermittently they flickered in and out of the air. He walked to his bar cart and noticed that the orbs were following him. He paused. They paused. And that’s when he realized it. They were eyes. Blinking eyes. A tremor struck his hand and speared up to the back of his neck. He stood frozen before the watcher outside, spine trembling. Below the eyes in front of him something unraveled. Like a play’s opening act drawing the curtains, a collection of daggers slowly appeared one by one in the gray sky above. Teeth. Something was there in the clouds. Watching Cain. Smiling at him.
He dashed for the cart and swigged his salvation straight from the bottle. When the warm spices and tender oak slid down his throat, he closed his eyes and let the heat comfort his shuddering spine. He took a deep breath and saw that the thing watching him was gone.
Time passed. Jay came and went. As did the creature outside their window. But Cain was able to make it go away with the help of his friend Jack. Perhaps it didn’t like the smell of whiskey on his breath? An advantage for Cain.
The last time Jay departed, Cain was sweating. Nervously awaiting the creature to return, he paced throughout the apartment looking for his bottle. He didn’t finish the last one. Did he? Did Jay drink it? He must have. Cain began to question him; demanding an answer for his elixir’s disappearance. Jay drank wine, though, which he tried to reason and explain to him.
As Cain exploded into missiles of accusation and blame, Jay left in order to catch his flight. Cain’s quick breaths and frustrated hands subsided as a chill crawled up from his spine to his neck. He slowly turned around to the window and there it was. Smiling at him. This time the thing made a sound. A deep guttural growl that grew into a dismal cacophony that shook the room.
With no means of ridding the beast, he ran out. He had to get away. Had to get out of that foreign place. He wanted to be safe. He wanted to go home to Jay. Jay was his home. But he was halfway into the clouds by now. He felt the only place that the creature couldn’t follow him to was where they met. Under the bridge.
Cain exited the building and high up in the sky above the eyes loomed over and came towards him. There was no time to find a boat and somehow get it to the bridge on his own. He ran. He ran through murky streets he sprinted past blurry images of cars and people and storefronts marbling into streaks zooming beside him. People in hats and sunglasses and shorts and dresses stared at him in confusion. He only noticed the creature above, chasing him.
Cain continued to run until he reached the bridge. Behind him was the beast in the sky, prowling towards him. He looked at the bridge beams and cables above him. The fingers of red bone curled around and down towards him. He needed to get beneath the bridge; it couldn’t follow him there. He stepped on the railing. Cars stopped on the road. People looked out, covering their mouths. They began to scream. Cain saw they were afraid of the beast too, telling it to stop. Telling it to get off the ledge.
He had to get under the bridge. His memory of Jay was there. Jay was home. And home was under. He thought of the warmth of Jason’s arms. As his foot left the railing and the wind slid across his weightless body, he thought how nice his husband’s smile was that day.
And he was home.
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