“Hey,” Trent said changing the subject. “What do you think about those kids over there all dressed in black?”
They all looked over to a table near the corner of the cafeteria. Sitting there was a group of kids, not only dressed in black, but also dressed identically: black shoes, black pants, and black hooded sweatshirts. Jordan turned back toward Trent. “I don’t know, but it seems a bit unsettling to me. Those were the kids we ran into Friday night on the way to the church, remember?”
“Yeah,” Mark said. “One of them blew smoke in your face. I think it was Eric Landon. He is always smiling, but not in a nice way. He kind of scares me.”
“Me too,” Jordan said. “Something was different about him Friday night. They were just hanging around with no real purpose. It was like they were just waiting to start trouble with someone.”
“They tried with us,” Josh said. “He stood right in front of me on the sidewalk. It was like he was daring me to run into him.”
“Yeah, well Mark ran into me instead.” Trent interjected. “Anyway have you guys heard what they called themselves?”
“No,” Mark replied.
“They call themselves ‘Shadows’ and if you notice no one speaks to anyone but Eric or Lance.”
“What do you mean?” Josh asked.
“Just what I’m saying. They only talk to them like they are their leaders and they say nothing without their permission.”
“No way,” Mark said. “You’re just trying to joke with us.”
“No. I’m serious. Just this morning I was in math with three of them. It was Eric, this girl named Jane, and this other guy named Arnie.”
“You mean Jane Harper,” Jordan said. “Isn’t she on the volleyball team?”
“She was. She dropped out this week and started dressing in black. Take a look, there she is sitting with them.”
Jordan looked again and he realized why he hadn’t noticed her at first. Her long blond hair was cut short to just above her shoulders and was also dyed black. Her normal smile that he usually saw on her face had been transformed into a look of apathy he had never seen on her before. “Wow, what happened?”
“I don’t know, but she showed up to school on Monday completely different. She doesn’t hang out with her normal friends anymore either. Only the shadows now. Anyway back to what I was saying. This morning the teacher asked her to answer a question on the whiteboard and Jane looked at her vacantly as if the teacher wasn’t even there. She didn’t say anything. The teacher asked her again and again she acted as if the teacher wasn’t even talking to her. Finally, the teacher walked up to her and stared her in the face asking her again to answer the problem. Jane just nonchalantly looked over and saw Eric. Eric gave a slight nod and she finally answered. Everyone had been staring at Jane, but I watched Eric. He simply sat there grinning. I saw him nod. I’m not lying. It was crazy.”
“So what did the teacher do?” Jordan asked.
“Nothing. Jane answered with the right answer and then went right back to not caring again. I think it freaked the teacher out a little bit and she decided instead to just keep moving on through the lesson. I’ll tell you what, though, she didn’t call on any of them again.”
“Do you think all the black clothes is a Halloween thing?” Josh asked.
“I don’t know, but I do know that their group has almost doubled since the weekend. I only remember four or five kids dressed like that earlier but now there are nine sitting there. Something is up with them and I think we are better off avoiding them.”
“Dude, what is going on?” Mark asked. “It’s like everything is going crazy. First the football frenzy, then Drago, and now shadows. What’s next?”
Instantly, two hands slapped down on the end of their table startling all of them. It was none other than Clayton Stoneking. The once scrawny kid they hung out with was now made of muscle and arrogance. He stood there leaning on the end of the table grinning as he stared at them with daggers for eyes. “What’s up, gentlemen?” Clayton said. “How’s your lunch today?”
“It was good until the minor heart attack I just had,” Trent said.
“Hey Clayton,” Mark replied. “It’s good to see you. It’s been a while.”
Clayton ignored Mark completely and looked at Jordan. “I had figured that you would be done hanging out with these losers by now.”
Jordan was caught off guard. “What do you mean, Clayton? These are my friends and we were all your friends just last year. Why are you insulting us now?”
Trent noticed Clayton’s demeanor change. He had been so used to everyone worshipping him that Jordan’s refusal to do so set him back. Jordan had always been someone who stood on principle and never shrugged back from it. Trent admired him for it then and admired him even more for it now.”
“You don’t get it do you, Jordan?” Clayton replied. “This is high school now and you guys are still living in grade school. I’m here doing something with my life, I’m leading a football team to its first ever state championship, I’m on the news, every girl wants me, I’m doing whatever I want to do, and you guys are still playing video games hoping a chick even looks at you.”
“I don’t understand how what we do has any effect on you,” Jordan replied. “We don’t bother you so why are you bothering us.”
“See that’s what you don’t get,” Clayton said as his face began to redden. “You guys annoy me. You annoy me for who you are. Every time I look at you at school or even at church it disgusts me.”
“It seems to me like you need to spend a little more time at church then because you’re certainly not acting like Jesus would,” Jordan said as his own anger began to build.
Clayton leaned in. “Who do you think you are talking to me like that?”
“I can say the same thing to you,” Jordan replied. “You think that since now you can throw a football you are better than we are? Just leave us alone.”
It began to get silent in the lunchroom as more people observed the conversation. Mark, Trent, and Josh could see the anger rising in Clayton as he began to straighten up. They also saw the conviction in Jordan’s face. Neither one was going to back down.
Clayton looked over at Mark who had just got done putting a French fry in his mouth. “Always eating aren’t you, blob boy?”
Mark looked up at him genuinely hurt, but didn’t say anything.
“I guess the one advantage to having your dad dead is the fact that he didn’t have to see his son grow up to be disgusting slob,” Clayton said with a sneer. Some of his football buddies behind him couldn’t hide their laughter.
A tear began to roll down Mark’s cheek. He tried to act tough, but bringing up his dead father was too much for him to handle. Jordan immediately began to fill with fury, as did Trent and Josh. He wanted nothing more than to shove Clayton across the lunchroom and send him tumbling over the tables, but thankfully his reason kept his emotions in check. It wasn’t worth getting suspended over, but Mark was worth protecting.
Jordan stood up and put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. His eyes never left Clayton’s. “Mark Carter is one of the best people I know,” Jordan said. “If there is one thing I know without a doubt, it’s that Mark’s dad would be extremely proud of him and I am too. You disgust me, Clayton, and you have forgotten where you came from. I would rather have Mark as a friend than to ever have the popularity you have. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Clayton grit his teeth and got right in Jordan’s face. “You don’t want me as an enemy.”
Jordan turned and grabbed his book bag along with Mark’s. “Actually Clayton, the truth is that we don’t want you as our friend. You’re too toxic for any of us.” And with that he looked at his buddies and said, “Why don’t we go finish lunch in the courtyard.”
Silently they got up and began to walk out while Clayton glared at them. He wasn’t d
one with them, but here in the cafeteria wasn’t the place either.
The guys didn’t have much of an appetite for the rest of lunch. As they sat on the grass in the school courtyard, Mark said, “Thanks for sticking up for me Jordan. I don’t know why Clayton turned so mean. By the look on his face, I thought he was going to punch you or something.”
“I thought he was too,” Jordan replied. “I didn’t care though. He had no right to talk to you like that.”
“I’ll be glad when football is over,” Josh said. “Everyone has lost their minds over all of this.”
“I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Clayton,” Trent said. “For some reason, he has a real problem with us.”
“He has problems alright, but I think they go far beyond us,” Jordan said. “The look in his eyes was a look of evil. It was very unsettling. Even more so, its not the first time I’ve seen this look recently.”
“Who else did you see it from?” Mark asked.
“I saw it in Eric Landon’s eyes when we almost ran into him last Friday. I think there is a connection. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but something is going on and it all started at the beginning of the school year. We got a brand new football complex, Clayton almost supernaturally becomes a football star, Drago at the barn, and now the appearance of this group of shadows. Something is going on and it looks like it is building to something.”
“There is something else too,” Josh said. “We shared a dream that turned out to be true.”
They sat silently for a moment.
“I bet there are more dreams to come,” Jordan said.
“Really?” Mark asked. “You think so?”
Trent just grinned and said, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to find out Friday night.”
5
At a half hour past noon, Aaron, Emma, Convert, and Marie were all sitting together at the dining room table eating from the abundance of food that had been donated. There were platters of deli meat and the little rolls that go with it to make sandwiches. Convert had always enjoyed them and had four on his plate. There were various fruit and vegetable platters as well as side dishes like potato salad, macaroni salad, and other concoctions that Aaron had never seen before.
Marie was glad to have them here for lunch. She always had been very hospitable and she and Jack always had people over. She was continuing on that tradition even with Jack gone. It was just part of who she was. While she was happy to see everyone, she was also disturbed at the same time. Someone had just tried to kill Convert and, although they failed at that, her friends had lost their house and their pet.
Emma had so many questions she felt like she was going to burst. Even though they were eating she couldn’t wait any longer. She took out her notebook and opened it up on the table. Aaron saw the Superman symbol on the front and just smiled. “I’m certainly not trying to be rude,” Emma said, “but I have so much to ask about.”
“Go right ahead,” Convert said.
“So you think you know who put this bomb under the deck?” Emma asked.
“Yes. I don’t know his name, but I could point him out to you without hesitation. I’m certain the Hamill’s could too.”
“How do you know him?”
“Last Friday, when I had just got home from work, I was in the driveway getting things from my truck when two teenage guys surprised me.”
“Surprised you?”
“I turned around and they were just there. One stood there just staring at me with a blank face like he was on something while the other one stood there smiling at me. They didn’t look alike, but they were dressed alike. Black hooded sweatshirt, black pants, and black shoes. The grinning kid knew who I was and for lack of a better word he started taunting me.”
“What about?”
“My name and my faith. His talk was very cryptic like they were veiled threats. He talked about hearing people scream and now that I think of it he even said something about my past.”
“How did he know anything about your past? What did he say?”
“I have no idea how he would know me, but I remember him saying something like: ‘The problem with living in a past of shadow is that sometimes the shadows come back.’”
“What?” Emma said to the surprise of everyone. Shadows. She had just thought earlier that a ‘shadow’ was responsible for this. “I’m sorry. You just said something I wasn’t expecting.”
“What was that?” Marie asked.
“Shadow,” Emma replied. “There’s something significant about the word.”
“What do you mean?”
Emma looked over at Aaron and had to stop for a second. She was about to open up something that could be very unbelievable and even hurtful for Marie. She knew, however, that the things she thought weren’t made up and now was the time to start figuring out what was going on. “Aaron, did you ever tell Convert or Marie yet about the thoughts?”
Aaron looked at her for a moment. She could tell that he was going through the same inner struggle that she was. It was crazy to say that they were receiving thoughts about things that have happened or were about to happen, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. “I haven’t yet. I probably should have, but I was waiting for a right time. I guess now is as good as ever.”
Convert looked at both of them extremely confused. “What’s going on? What do you know?”
Aaron looked at Convert and then to Marie. Convert looked visibly bewildered, but Marie looked surprisingly calm as if whatever they would say was something she already knew. “On the night of Jack’s death, I knew exactly when he died.”
Convert looked at Aaron stunned. “How is that possible?”
“I was taking trash to the dumpster after our youth event and out of nowhere a thought had popped into my mind saying, ‘Jack McKenzie is dead.’ I thought someone might have said something since it was so clear. However, I looked everywhere and no one else was around.”
“What did you do?” Convert asked.
“Nothing. I couldn’t conceive that it was real. I just thought it was a random terrible thought.”
“So how do you know it was real then?”
“Because I knew the same thing at the same time that he did and I was in my apartment when I thought it,” Emma replied.
“You both thought the same thing at the same time?” Marie asked. “Can I ask what time it was?”
Aaron looked at Marie and could see the sadness in her eyes. “11:38. It happened then.”
Marie looked down for a second and they could all tell that she was trying to keep her composure.
“I’m sorry, Marie,” Aaron said. “I wasn’t trying to upset you.”
“It’s perfectly fine,” Marie replied. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It still just hurts because I miss him.”
Convert hated seeing Marie like this and it made his blood boil even more when he thought about the kid in his driveway. He was becoming more convinced that this kid could be the one responsible for Jack’s death. He didn’t know why the kid would have done it, but all the arrows were pointing to him. “So are you saying you know who killed Jack? Was it that kid?”
“We don’t know who killed Jack,” Aaron replied. “If I did, then I would have tracked him down already. I do believe, however, that something is leading us to find out.”
“If this is real, then why wouldn’t you know already?” Convert said impatiently. “Why would you know when Jack died and that’s it?”
Aaron could see that Convert was getting upset and he knew it wasn’t at him. Convert wanted justice. “After thinking about it for a few days now, I believe that we have not been led to know because there is something bigger going on than Jack’s murder. As a matter of fact, I think Jack’s murder was only the beginning and what happened to you this morning proves it. Someone tried to kill you too.”
Conve
rt sat back in his chair just to think for a second. “That isn’t the only time you’ve had those thoughts is it? That’s how you knew about the car wreck before it even happened.”
“Yes. As I was walking to your truck that day, I instantly knew that there was going to be a wreck and we were going to have to save the mother and her two children.”
Convert put his hands on his head and leaned back. “This is crazy.”
“It may be,” Aaron replied, “but it’s true. By the way, we’ve never talked about your role in this as well.”
“My role?”
Aaron grinned at him. “You think you got the ability to tear off that van door by lifting weights? Or how about when you saved the mom by ripping the whole car seat out with her in it?”
“I talked to Chuck before I left by the way,” Emma chimed in. “He told me that it wasn’t the blast that sent those police officers over the fence. He watched you grab their belts and toss them yourself. He told me it was like watching Samson in the flesh.”
Convert couldn’t help but sheepishly smile. “I guess I’ve be a little stronger lately.”
“A little!” Aaron said laughing.
“I have no idea why, though. There are no new thoughts happening in my head.”
“No, but while we were learning things you had gained strength,” Aaron said. “You gained it right after Jack died.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because after I had learned the time of his death, a couple of youth leaders told me later that you had caught a speaker from falling on two of them.”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. It was as light as a cardboard box.”
“It was two hundred pounds!”
“It was? How is this possible, though?”
“I believe it was God. He gave you this strength.”
“But why? God doesn’t do that kind of thing any more. I remember Jack telling me that the miraculous gifts from the Holy Spirit stopped after the apostles had passed away. There are still gifts from the Spirit, but the ‘sign’ gifts had ceased.”
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