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“My siblings, I am sure you are all wondering why I have summoned you.”
“The suspense is absolutely titillating ,” Desire drawls sarcastically, one hand resting on their hip.
Destiny does not hear his sibling, or at least pretends he doesn’t. He continues, “I have gathered you all here…” he pauses, seemingly for dramatic effect. “Because I feel we do not spend enough quality time together.”
The room is silent.
There is a wet plopping sound as one of Delirium’s multicolor fish that she has manifested falls to the ground before fading out of existence.
“Destiny,” Death begins gently. “Are you– are you feeling ok?”
“I am, sister, thank you for asking.”
Dream, brooding broodily in the corner, chimes in. “If that is all, I have some rather pressing business in my own realm–” He moves as though to leave the room, obviously annoyed at having his time wasted. He would not have expected such nonsense from Destiny.
“ That is not all ,” Destiny’s voice, suddenly booming, seems to echo throughout the chamber. In his normal tone, he continues, “I have rented a vehicle. We are going… to the beach.”
—
Destiny leads Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, and Delirium to a garage in his vast gardens. None of them had known it was here, but there were likely many parts of Destiny’s realm that were unknown to them. To everyone’s surprise, Destruction comes bounding up to them, apparently from nowhere.
“Hello!” he barks, resembling an enormous ginger Golden Retriever. “Sorry I’m late– have I missed anything important?”
Despair twists her features into something resembling a smile. It is unsettling. “The Prodigal?” She whispers, so that only Desire seems to hear.
“I guess they’ll let anyone in here,” they remark quietly.
Despair draws herself up to her full height, which is still not saying much, and says in a surprisingly firm tone, “It will be good to be together again.”
“If you say so, my twin.”
Death has filled Destruction in, who shrugs and scratches his beard. Destiny stands rather ominously by the driver’s side door of a brown Honda Civic hatchback.
“Let us be on our way.”
“Ooh, shotgun!” Death shouts, suddenly excited for their impromptu journey. She hops in the front passenger seat.
Desire catches on exactly 2 seconds faster than Dream: “Backseat window!” They say, scurrying for the back passenger’s door.
“I, too, demand the seat with a window,” he proclaims, endeavoring to sound like he knows what’s going on.
“I want the glovebox!” Delirium cries. Her request is denied and she is made to float around the cargo area.
Despair has attempted to squeeze herself into the middle back seat next to her twin.
“Destruction, I am afraid I did not anticipate your arrival. You will ride upon the luggage rack.”
“You invited me,” the larger man begins to argue. “Also, wasn’t it in your book–”
Destiny gestures toward the roof of the vehicle. Unfortunately, there is no arguing with Destiny.
When everyone is in the car with the doors closed, Destiny turns the key in the ignition.
“ Wait. ” The elder two Endless in the front seat turn towards Dream, who is squished uncomfortably against the door. “I cannot seem to engage my seatbelt.”
“I think you’ll be alright,” Death says brightly, with a giggle.
“Either way, I do not care for this position. We need to switch.”
“Ah, little brother, that’s not how shotgun works!” Death laughs more openly this time. “Despair, do you think you might let Dream take the middle seat?”
Despair nods, but Dream says, “I do not want the middle seat.” Before Desire can open their mouth, Dream looks pointedly at them. “ Don’t. ”
“What? I didn’t say anything,” Desire says, looking as innocent as a kitten in a room full of shredded toilet paper.
“ I will turn this car around, ” Destiny booms, his voice doing the scary echo thing again.
“WE HAVEN’T LEFT YET,” comes Destruction’s voice from the roof of the car.
“Switch. Now.” Death uses a tone that can only be described as “Mom.”
–
The Endless have made it onto the highway now, with Dream lodged between the twins in the middle back seat. He would never admit it but it was a slight improvement. It was still one of the worst things he’d ever been made to endure, all things considered. He was beginning to remember his time in Roderick Burgess’s basement almost fondly . True, it had been absolutely horrible, humiliating, degrading, and generally abhorrent, but at least Desire wasn’t there.
“Should we play a game?” Death offers, trying to lighten the mood.
“Oooh, games are nice,” Delirium says from the back cargo area. There is currently a miniature tropical rainforest back there, which is fine, as none of them have brought any luggage. “Well, except when they’re not. I like the ones where people get all sticky.”
“There will be nothing sticky in this vehicle,” Destiny says. “Or you will reimburse me for the upholstery cleaning.”
“Well, that’s no fun,” Desire says.
“I have an idea,” Despair says softly. “We should see who can be quiet the longest.”
“If we’re not allowed to be sticky, how will we know when we’ve won?” Delirium asks earnestly.
“You’ve lost,” Despair replies flatly. It begins to rain in the cargo area’s forest. Dream sighs audibly.
“You’re out,” Desire laughs, unable to resist an opportunity to get under their brother’s skin.
“You’re all out. Enough of this,” Destiny says. He moves to turn the volume knob on the ancient car’s tape deck.
“Hey, I was the only one who didn’t make any noise!” Death interjects.
Delirium’s voice sounds dejected, slightly audible over the soft thundering noises coming from the back. “You don’t get to be sticky, so what’s even the point?”
“I hate it here,” Desire mutters. Dream is quietly annoyed that he agrees with them.
Destiny turns up the stereo volume.
–
“Big brother. Darling brother. Favorite brother,” Death says, with all the sweetness she can muster.
“Yes,” Destiny replies.
“Do you have, like, any other tapes? Is it just this one?”
“Do you take issue with 4 Non Blondes?”
“No, no! It’s just, it seems like we’ve been listening to the same song on repeat for a while now and I thought, you know, some variety would be fun. I didn’t even know you could set a tape to repeat without using the ‘rewind’ button.”
“It is the same song, over and over. I made this mix specially for this trip.” Destiny’s tone is flat, as usual, but if one were listening for it, they might detect an ounce of hurt.
“What if,” Dream says through gritted teeth, “We were to listen to the radio.” He’s nearly past his breaking point, and has been ever since the twins decided a silent but entertaining game might be “We’re Not Touching You.” For the record, it was entertaining. For them.
“No radio,” Destiny says. “It would have cost extra.”
“On a rental?” Desire says in disbelief, as though they are the authority on rental cars. Destiny turns the volume knob to zero. They ride in silence, and the twins eventually resume their “game.”
–
“We have arrived.”
There is a collective, silent sigh of relief as Destiny puts the vehicle in “park” and all 4 doors (plus the hatch) open simultaneously.
Death perks up as soon as she sees the vast expanse of blue stretching to the horizon. “I always forget how beautiful the ocean is.”
Desire sniffs. “I always forget how much sand there is.” They remove their high-heeled shoe, pouring out a seemingly impossible amount of sand for having only stepped onto the beach moments ago.
Destruction remains strapped to the roof of the car. Despair looks up at him, and then at her siblings meandering across the sand. She decides to stay, climbs back into the car, and shuts the door.
“My sister!” Destruction calls. “Would you not prefer to join the others? Or to at least roll the window down?”
“No,” she says, barely loud enough for him to hear from the roof. “I like the way it feels like the inside of an oven.”
“Suit yourself!” Destruction could untangle himself rather easily, but he thinks he should stay and keep his sister company. And maybe this will all be over sooner if he stays put.
Dream is beginning to calm down slightly–he is far from enjoying himself, but this is par for the course. At the very least, he is able to move freely, and he has always been rather fond of sand. He finds a bit of satisfaction in knowing Desire has such disdain for it.
“Now that our road trip has come to an end,” Destiny begins, once again pausing infuriatingly for dramatic effect, “It is time for us to make the return journey.”
Delirium is making neon-colored sand angels and takes no notice. Desire sips from a beverage with a tiny paper umbrella in it, looking indifferent.
“But,” Death looks puzzled. “We just got here.”
“And now we must take our leave. As it is written.”
Desire quirks a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “ Is it written? Is it actually?”
“The jellyfish are all tickly!” Delirium squeals joyfully.
This seems to make everyone look around. Not at Delirium– she’s probably fine. They assume Despair is in the car, as was her usual preference. Destruction must be– somewhere? It doesn’t really matter.
Just then, they spot Dream. He is walking determinedly into the waves. He doesn’t look like he’s going for a swim.
“DREAM?” Death calls out. “WE’RE LEAVING. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” She looks around and says to the group, “What is he doing?”
No one can hear Dream over the crashing of the waves around him, but he is quietly saying “No,” over and over again. Occasionally, he throws in a “Not again,” and perhaps even, “I am not strong enough.” Who’s to say, though– the ocean is pretty loud.
Desire tosses their empty beverage container in the direction of a waste receptacle. “What’s his problem?”