The Annihilation of Foreverland

over.”
    He collapsed back to the ground. A pile of mashed leaves was between his legs. How many did I eat?
    “I think it’s time you went inside the needle,” she said. “You’ve waited long enough.”
    He closed his eyes and covered his ears. His heart thumped inside his head.
    But she was still there.
    “I’m serious.” Her eyes were big and green. “There’s nothing to lose now. May as well come to me, Reed.”
    “I thought…” he started. No. He wasn’t going to talk to her. She wasn’t sitting there. He was alone on the beach. She was in his dreams. She was in Foreverland. She couldn’t be sitting there next to him. He wasn’t going to acknowledge it.
    “I agree.” Another Lucinda said on the other side of him. There were two of them. “You should come inside, Reed. You’re not leaving the Haystack. You may as well come to Foreverland.”
    “But…” He dropped his head into his hands. No. No, no, no…
    “I know about the dreams,” the first Lucinda said. “I know we told you to stay here, but now that’s over. The end is here, baby. I think it’s time you come inside.”
    “No.” He clamped his hands over his ears, eyes tightly closed. “This isn’t happening.”
    “We’ve waited long enough.” He could still hear her.
    “I’m not going.” He shook his head. “I’m going—”
    She touched his arm.
    He fell back, pushing away from her—
    “Reed.” Danny stood over him, his hand out. “You all right?”
    He looked around. The Lucindas were gone. Danny and Zin were there. That was it.
    “I think…” he said. “Yeah, I’m all right.”
    He relaxed, melting into the warm fuzzy euphoria of the leaf juice.
    He wanted another.

    Danny and Zin heard him talking.
    They thought he’d fallen asleep sitting up, but he was shaking his head. He jumped back like he’d seen a ghost. Green flecks stuck to his chin. Half-chewed leaves were scattered at his feet. Good.
    They helped him stand. “Can we walk to the water?” Reed asked.
    His legs were sticks. They stopped just where the foam skidded over the firm, black sand, splashing over his bare feet. He smiled a strange smile, a dreamy one. Closing his eyes.
    “I’m going to miss this,” he said.
    “Not me,” Danny said.
    “I’m with Danny,” Zin added.
    Reed hummed to himself, wiggling his toes into the sand. Danny and Zin let their shoes become soaked, propping Reed up as he began to slouch.
    “She wants me to go inside the needle,” he said, slurring. “After all this, she said I should come inside.”
    “You can’t,” Danny said. “That’s what the Director wants you to do.”
    “You said she was alone.”
    That was before I knew she was a memory.
    “Reed,” Danny started, “I was wrong. She’s not…”
    He stopped. It was better not to tell him.
    “Listen, I’m taking the island down. I’m going inside the needle first and stopping everything. The Director has to be stopped. I’ll bring down the power and ignite all the trackers. It’s all coming to a stop, we’re going to hijack the island. It’ll all be over. Foreverland is going to disappear and everyone has to be out of it when I do it.”
    Reed nodded. A moment of clarity. “You’re right.”
    “You won’t suffer anymore.” Danny tucked a handful of leaves into his waist. “Eat these, man. Zin and I will go inside the needle and be out before they can do anything to you.”
    “Are you sending for help?”
    “If I can send for help, I will.”
    Reed wasn’t going to recover no matter. Danny would send for help, but it wouldn’t get to the island in time to save him.
    The Haystack bell sounded.
    Reed began chewing another leaf. Danny thought about telling him the truth about Lucinda. She was real Reed. And she loved you.
    But she’s gone.

54
    The Director opened the cage. The birds squawked. They were rarely let out. On occasion, he would reach in and let one perch on his arm. If he set it down, he’d leash its foot to a stand. This time, he carried them both to an open window. He set them on the ledge and walked away. They turned around, watched him pull the floral shirt off and drop it on the floor.
    He scratched at the curly brown and gray hairs on his chest, stepped out of his flip-flops, then his shorts. Naked, he went to the bar.
    A Bloody Mary for the road.
    It felt so good to be free of clothes. It would feel even better when he was free of the skin.
    Today was the day he transformed. Today was the day he shed his