The Annihilation of Foreverland

head with a hammer long enough, you come to realize it only hurts when you swing. He’d put the hammer down long before Danny arrived. Explanations only made his head hurt.
    “What’s it like?” Danny asked.
    Zin still seemed absent, but then coughed. “What?”
    “Fading out like that, what’s it feel like? Where do you go?”
    He thought about it. “It’s like… becoming hollow.”
    “You mean like a log?”
    “Kind of,” Zin said. “I’m tired, but not the regular tired. It’s more like I’m just not connected with my body like I’m supposed to be.” He swung his hands around like his identity was a ghost floating around him. “I am out there and I’m attached to this body by these invisible filaments, like a puppet.” He began to zone. “And they’re breaking, Danny Boy.”
    “What happens when they all break?”
    “I guess I go to Foreverland.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Because that’s where I want to be. I don’t remember much of anything when I’m back here. When we go inside the needle, that’s when I feel like myself. I get my life back and it feels good. You know what I mean.”
    “But that’s a computer program, you said so yourself.”
    “So, what’s the difference?”
    “It’s not real. And if you’re not real, you’re dead.”
    “Like I said, Danny Boy, why fight it.”

    Zin went into the zone and didn’t come back out, almost like the argument exhausted him. Danny could see the cart still parked at the steps, exactly where they left it. He couldn’t stand the look on Zin’s face, remembered how the joy ride brought him back. Maybe joy rides would reattach those filaments and Zin wouldn’t go away so much. Maybe he just needed to live life in the real world and make some new memories. He could reverse the tide.
    He was about to ask Zin if he wanted to drive the cart this time when the front doors opened.
    Danny yanked Zin into the trees.
    Just as the garage door to the left of the steps began to open, someone came down the steps. He didn’t take them one at a time and he wasn’t hunched over a cane. The kid went three at a time, hit the ground with both feet and sprang into a somersault!
    Danny didn’t recognize him because he’d never seen him with that much energy. He’d been a zombie from the day Danny woke up.
    But Zin knew him.
    “Parker?”
    The kid was climbing onto the driver’s seat.
    “Parker, dude.” Zin said. “Is that you?”
    Parker stood, slowly. The boundless energy dissipated. He looked from Zin to Danny and back again. The knot in his throat bobbed up and down.
    “Danny Boy, look. It’s Parker! He’s right here. Oh, man.” Zin grabbed Parker’s hand and shook. “Me and Danny Boy here were just talking about never seeing anyone that graduated and here you are… man, it’s good to see you!”
    The handshake shook Parker’s whole body. The zombie look that Danny associated with Parker was gone. He was confused but completely focused. He looked exactly the same, except for the hair. The wild shag was gone, replaced by a proper haircut above the ears and combed to the side. The part was so sharp and neat that it looked like a white line on the side of his head.
    “I almost didn’t recognize you, man.” Zin tried to muss up the hair but Parker jerked away. Zin didn’t notice the rage that flashed across his face. “Are you living inside the Mansion? Is that where the graduates go?” Zin turned to Danny. “Holy crap, you know what that means? They’re not lying, Danny Boy. They’re really healing us, I mean look at Parker. I never seen this kid so… alive.”
    One thing Danny couldn’t argue with, he looked good. Half an hour ago, Danny thought there was a chance they might be chucking the graduates into an oven that smoked out the top of the Chimney. Now, there was proof they weren’t.
    “Can you get us inside?” Danny looked inside the open garage. “We’ll hide in the garage until night, what do you say?”
    “Oh, hell yeah,” Zin said. “How about it, Parker? Maybe you can give us a sneak preview?”
    Parker’s eyes widened. The knob was bobbing non-stop. He started backing up the steps and tripped backwards.
    “I don’t know, Zin.” Danny watched Parker crab-walk his way up the steps. “Something isn’t right.”
    Zin was catching on. “You remember us, Parker?”
    When Zin took a step towards him, he crawled faster.
    “That’s enough.”
    The deep authoritative voice sent shivers through