Epilogue 104 - Sound vs Barrier

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...Previously...



"You don't have to do this," Winifred gasped. "Angela, are you listening to me?"

Angela felt a little guilty for not answering. She didn't mean to be rude, but she had already explained herself twice, and she really needed to save her voice for what was to come.

Way back on Halloween night, Angela was not a plus-plus-plus-sized, adult opera singer. She wasn't even a witch yet, not really. She intended to go trick-or-treating as one, the same as she had for the previous twelve years of her life. Sadly, the common cold put the kibosh on that plan, keeping her alone in her room. But as fate would have it, being stuck at home made her privy to a strange discovery. A portal to another world rose from her backyard. From that portal emerged one Countess Winifred Pale. (And also one lesser demon, but this is already plenty of backstory.) Using a magical scroll, she unleashed a mist that turned the people of Angela's small town into monsters. Around the town, the mist even created a magical barrier which expanded with every converted human.

Angela had never been to the far edge of town to see this barrier, but she was headed there today. Her enlarged size and flowing costumery made the journey a slow one, but her sense of purpose kept her pace from wavering. This was more than could be said for the Countess, whose insistence on shouting the enitre walk left her trailing behind. "Think about what you're doing, Angela! This is my life's work!" Winifred's voice cracked desperately. "Angela, please!"

The barrier was like a dome. It let air in and out, but little else. It should be noted that it was the same color as the Countess' tranformative mist: bright green. In Angela's town of Pendleton, the sky had been bright green since Halloween. Day or night, rain or shine. Bright green. With swirling skull-shaped clouds. Angela walked down familiar neighnorhoods with unfamiliar monster versions of her neighbors. She walked until the skull-filled sky curved and became a wall. Reaching the vertical edge of the barrier was like standing on a cliff, but without anything below it. And there on the top of that non-precipice, Angela counted off the time signature in her head and began to sing.

Her voice started softly and began to build. Winifred finally caught up to her, panting. She still had more protests in her, but she couldn't help but just listen to Angela's song. Her voice rang out over the dusty pavement of what was now a dead end street, at least since Halloween. Angela's notes pitched higher and higher as a fine white crack stretched across the sky in front of them. Jagged, bright green chips fell to the ground as white moonlight poked through a small hole. As Angela's song reached its crescendo, the barrier shattered. Large green shards began to drop from above, only to turn back to mist and dissipate after falling a few feet.

Winifred dropped to her knees, gazing up at the human world's natural night sky for the second time in her life. Her voice quivered with betrayal. "How could you," she hissed. "All I wanted was to make the human world a better place for monsters. And sure, maybe I wanted to rule it, but I think I'd have deserved some form of credit! And now you've ruined everything! I thought you were my friend!"

Angela turned to Winifred, glad she had decided against taking a bow at the end of her song. "Winifred, I'm sorry about the barrier. But look!" Angela gestured towards the streets lined with ranch-style homes, a decidedly human form of architecture. But out of those homes came all manner of monsters. Trolls, lizard people, mummies, all just happy to see their night sky returned. Winifred stared down the road, confused. "They're still-- they haven't reverted to human? Then you weren't trying to foil my plans?"

"Pffftt," Angela said in a most unoperatic way. "Hey, whatever. Make all the monsters you want. But the bus station was on the other side of the barrier, and I need to catch a ride to the city if I want my singing career to take off. See ya later!"

As she watched her friend wander off to chase her dream, Winifred let out a sigh of relief that her dream was still intact. Her legacy secure, she made her way back down the monster-populated streets of Pendleton. Then she stopped abruptly.

"And just what," she called back, "is wrong with the Underborough Opera House?!"