Dead Mice (short story)

Dead Mice was the third story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology Something Changed. It was written by Joseph Lidster.

Summary
Braxiatel is experiencing many of the alternate timelines created by the history machine all at once. He attempts to visualize the correct version of reality, but soon discovers that he is in the wrong one when he finds that Wolsey is still alive. Braxiatel follows the cat to kill it in order to set history straight, but Wolsey begins to speak to him, and Doggles catches the two of them talking. The cat provokes Braxiatel into killing Doggles by reminding him that Benny is Doggles' lover in another history.

The next day, Bev Tarrant is discovered deceased in the fountain that Braxiatel killed Doggles in. Adrian Wall confesses to killing her after catching her with another lover, though he soon develops a debilitating migraine and falls into a coma. However, Jason remembers some of the migraines that he’s recently suffered from and he visits Braxiatel out of suspicion. The migraines are presumably due to Braxiatel hypnotizing the members of the Braxiatel Collection.

As they talk, the severely injured Doggles enters the room and accuses Braxiatel of trying to kill him. Braxiatel beats Jason with the Purpura Pawn that was sitting nearby before Jason can reveal the truth about Braxiatel's manipulations. Throughout this whole episode Wolsey has been watching and he threatens to tell Bernice. Braxiatel chases the cat to the Summerfield household and crushes its skull, telling Benny that this it is for everyone’s own good. Before he dies, Wolsey reveals even after history returns to normal, some part of Benny will still remember the truth about Braxiatel.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Doggles
 * Bev Tarrant
 * Adrian Wall
 * Jason Kane
 * Wolsey
 * Doctor Wt'hlm

Continuity

 * The migraines suffered by Jason and Adrian in this story are similar to the migraines caused by Braxiatel's hypnosis in The Mirror Effect.