Flying to the Light

by Elyse Salpeter

  Jacobs shook his head, his cell phone ringing. He picked it up, talking and staring at Danny the entire time. Danny had moved over to peer at the saltwater tank set up in the corner of the room.

  He nodded. “Yes, they’re here. No, no one seemed to have followed them. I know, get here soon.”

  He clicked it shut. “We need to talk. I have to get you up to speed, and I have to get you up to speed now.”

  “You know what’s happening to us? You know what’s happened to my parents?”

  Jacobs nodded. “I know everything. Everything about you, your brother, your parents. Even what they were really working on.”

  Michael’s eyes widened. “People are saying my parents work for Herrington. Is that true?” His stomach roiled when Jacobs nodded.

  “To an extent.” He stared at Michael. “How much do you know?”

  “Know?”

  “Yeah, know. About your brother. Do you know about the birds? About your parent’s research?”

  Michael felt like he had left the planet for a few years and come back to people thinking they knew more things about his own brother and family than he did. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This has nothing to do with my brother or birds. My parents were just kidnapped by a bunch of crazy terrorists and Dobber, a guy from their lab, called to tell me these same people are after my brother and that the police who came to get us weren’t real. I mean, I fled my house with a bunch of cops sitting in my living room. I’m going to get into so much trouble.”

  Jacobs shook his head, exhaling. “It was a good thing you left. They weren’t real policemen.” He got up and opened a drawer in a cabinet, taking out a file. “The people who took your parents are after Danny. I’ve got men coming right now to take you to safety.”

  Michael was incredulous. “Why would anyone be after a six-year-old deaf kid? And why would they kidnap my parents?” Nothing made sense. “And how do you even know what I’m talking about?” He bordered on panic suddenly.

  Jacobs put a reassuring hand on his arm. “Michael, I’m not just your scout leader. I actually work for the FBI and had been assigned to watch out for you and Danny. There are things going on you just don’t understand. Things your brother knows.”

  Michael backed up, scared. He stared at Danny who had moved from the fish tank to a birdcage where a small parakeet chirped. He smiled at it and put his fingers through the bars to play with its feet. The bird twittered and shuffled around happily.

  Jacobs opened the file. “What your parents are involved in is complicated. They don’t just work at Hi-Core Industries. There are a lot of other things they’ve dipped their hands into.”

  “Are they spies or something? That’s not true, is it?”

  Jacobs nodded, and Michael felt he had been sucker punched. “They are.” He waved the file. “Here’s the background on your folks, a public file, and I’ll just read you the salient facts as quickly as I can. As you know, you have a practically non-existent extended family on each side. Your parents grew up brilliant, graduated at the top of their classes. Both of them went to Columbia and then on to Yale for Graduate school concentrating on pharmacology, biophysics, and chemistry, but after that there is nothing in this file for five years. They vanished off the face of the earth. That’s what the news is reporting. People don’t just vanish for five years and come back with an excessive amount of cash on them. They must have gotten it from someplace.”

  “What, they think they were doing something illegal?” Michael asked. They had always been such an open, honest family. There was no way his parents would do something like that.

  “Come on, Michael, that’s exactly what people are going to think, especially with the connection to Herrington in everyone’s mind. They left for five years and when they returned, these seemingly poor scientists with no family or means set up a top-notch research laboratory, including a pharmacology department, moving you to Rockland in a five bedroom house with a pool. Lexus and BMWs in the driveway.” Jacobs stared at him. “You were born while they were away you know, but when you moved back, did you ever think where all this newfound money came from? You know scientists don’t make that kind of cash regularly.”

  Michael stood up defensively. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re implying. You’re acting like my parents were drug runners or something. They’re not and, no, I never thought about the money. It’s not like we’re uber-rich. And we moved from a place in Florida to here. People move all the time.”

  Jacobs stared at him with such pity he was taken aback. “You just think you were living in Florida. Palm trees show up in lots of places.” He shook his head. “They should have trusted in you. I told them keeping you in the dark all this time was a bad idea. Dammit!” He slammed his fist on the table and the bird jumped. Danny turned to him, his brow furrowed.

  “Look, Herrington has been contacted by our government and of course he’s denied having any affiliation with the attack at the plaza. He’s blaming it on any of the regional terrorist splinter groups, both domestic and international, which are continuously popping up around the globe. But we know the truth. Your parents were working for him. You have to accept that, but there were reasons. With Herrington’s side proclivities leaning towards alternate physics, life, and death and your brother having the ability to know what happens to people when they die, well there’s no real stretch to figure why he’s after Danny now.”

  Michael stood up his jaw ajar. “Danny knows what happens to you when you die? Are you out of your mind? He’s not the kid from the Sixth Sense! He’s just a little deaf kid with a crazy interest in birds, Spiderman, and SpongeBob! You’re totally off base.” This was too much. Michael turned to his brother and took his hand, trying to smile, to make it seem like everything would be okay, but what he really wanted to do was scream at the top of his lungs.

  Jacobs softened a little as a phone rang somewhere else in the house. “I’ll be right back. Stay here while I take this call, okay?”

  Michael nodded, his head spinning. What if his parents were involved in something illegal, like drugs? Where did they get all their money from and what if his little brother really had some special gifts he didn’t know about? It wouldn’t be the first time he hadn’t noticed something which had been staring him in his face. He turned to Jacob’s retreating back, deciding for the moment to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  When they were finally alone, Michael turned to face Danny so he could sign to him. Trying to have an in-depth conversation with a six-year-old at any time was hard, but to ask him crazy questions about his parents and ridiculous ideas about the afterlife? He didn’t expect this to be easy.

  “Danny, did Mommy or Daddy ever talk to you about a guy named Samuel Herrington?”

  Danny shook his head, but then Michael didn’t think Danny would even know the guy if they had spoken about it.

  He had to try a different tack and then remembered the one strange thing he’d heard his mother say before she left last night. The birds in the back of the house. “Danny, I know you like those birds by the house, but I need to know more about them.”

  Danny looked up worriedly, his eyes filling with tears. “Am I in trouble?”

  Michael immediately shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was scare the kid even more. He needed him calm. “I just need to know about the birds. Are they friendly?”

  Danny smiled, more relaxed. “Most of them are,” he signed, bouncing up and down on the couch. “Lots of them like SpongeBob, too.”

  He felt like an idiot having this conversation. Geez, the kid was only six. All six-year-olds liked SpongeBob. “So, they like SpongeBob? Do they watch TV with you?”

  “You’re silly.” Danny giggled. “They don’t watch TV anymore. Not after they had to leave their families.”

  That remark made Michael pause. “What do you mean? Why’d they have to leave their families?”

  “Well, they couldn’t stay the way they were.” Bored with th
e conversation, Danny jumped up and started exploring the room as Michael sat back on the couch and thought.

  He stamped his foot on the ground, getting his brother’s attention. “So, you’re really just pretending the birds are like people and like SpongeBob and you can play with them, right? That’s all it is, a pretend game?”

  Danny shook his head. “I’m not pretending. They are people. Mommy and Daddy showed me how to talk to them before they fly away.”

  “But how can they be people?” Michael asked.

  Danny shrugged his shoulders. “Because they just are. They get sick or hurt when they’re people and then they turn into birds. That’s when I get to talk to them.”

  Chills ran down his spine when he realized what his brother was actually saying. It was like a horror movie and either his kid brother had a sick sense of humor he didn’t know about or someone was feeding him a load of bull. “Danny, you’re saying the birds were once living people, just like you or me, before they were birds?”

  Danny nodded his head. “And they’re my friends until they fly away into the sky.” He looked up at the ceiling.

  Was this what people thought? What Herrington thought? That his brother could talk to dead people? He started signing again. “Danny, Mommy and Daddy actually told you that you could talk to dead people? And they told you dead people turn into birds? Danny, listen to me. It’s not true. People don’t turn into birds when they die.”

  Danny gave him a sly look. “Mommy told me not to tell you because you wouldn’t believe us.”

  Michael tried to swallow this and had a hard time. So many secrets being kept from him. Mr. Jacobs was right. People had lied to him.

  “Danny, if this is really true, then how did Mommy and Daddy teach you to talk to them?”

  “I’ve been able to talk to the birds since I was a baby,” Danny said. “Mommy just showed me how to send them up to the sky and into the light. I’m a big boy now, and I can help them.”

  Michael suddenly remembered something. “What about the birds in back of the house. Why are they all burned up? Do you know?”

  His brother looked troubled. “I told them I couldn’t play with them because Mommy wanted me to stay inside. The birds wouldn’t listen and kept flying into the window to try to find me. I told Mommy what was happening and that they were getting hurt, but she kept playing with the machine. She said I had to get stronger to help them. She said the birds were confused and were trying to get to the light through me, but couldn’t understand why they couldn’t get there. I tried to tell Mommy to stop, that she was making it too strong for them, but she couldn’t see me. She kept looking into the machine. It wasn’t my fault.” Suddenly, his little hands fluttered, and he broke into a sob.

  “It’s okay, Danny, it’s okay,” he soothed, patting him on the head. “Hey, no more questions for now, all right?”

  Danny nodded and wiped his eyes.

  Michael ruffled his hair. “Why don’t you go play with that bird again. You guys seem to get along. I’m going to go ask Mr. Jacobs a question.”

  Michael turned to leave the room, but the sound of gunshots rang out and he flung himself onto Danny, forcing both of them to the floor.

  Chapter Four

  Samuel Herrington sat stiffly on the sumptuous leather chair, his bejeweled fingers tented, staring through the massive plate glass windows of his corner office and seeing nothing. The rage blinded him to everything, clouding his vision, making him shake. It was so consuming, it was all he could do not to throw something through those windows.

  He quieted his mind, letting it wander back to the woman laying on her deathbed in the room down the hall. Attended by no less than a staff of six nurses who changed shifts every four hours, she had the best of everything, yet she asked for nothing.

  The air conditioner hissed, so softly it sounded like a young girl sighing and the man closed his eyes. Anyone else would have been awed at the sheer beauty of the scene outside the windows before him, but to him, it was meaningless. On one side, the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean stretched out for miles in every direction. On the other stretched the village with its white walled houses and red stucco roofs adorned with flowering vines.

  He stood up from his granite covered desk, counting the fifteen steps it would take to move through the ornate office, ignoring the sculptures that cost more money than ten lifetime’s of his cleaning woman’s salary. Down the hall of twenty-five steps, adorned with artwork from master painters, past the guards who strolled continuously throughout the property, there solely to protect him. He moved through two fifteen foot chambers, secretaries and messengers shuttling to and from on various errands, each nodding at him respectfully and hurrying on. He opened the door to the suite, and moved quickly the remaining eighteen feet to the bedroom. The nurse glanced at him, and then scurried out.

  Samuel stood over the dying woman lying in the stark hospital bed, the white Egyptian silk sheets nearly the color of her skin. Gone was the decadent king-sized headboard with the gold detailing and thick mattress they both had shared. Monitors hummed and beeped, the breathing machine inhaling and exhaling each breath for her. He traced the woman’s fingers with his pointer, her skin so fragile he bruised it with his simple touch. Her hand was black and blue from the IV line. Slowly he pulled his hand away and moved to her face.

  Her eyes were half open in a drug-induced stupor, yellowed from her poisoned liver seeping its disease into her being. Her scalp showed through her sparse hair, now just wisps of blonde. More strands lay on her pillow. He remembered once when her hair was so thick he couldn’t run his fingers through it.

  He squinted his eyes and the rage started to build again. He had money. He had power. He had means, yet he had no way to save this woman. At least not on this earth. But maybe he could save her soul.

  He turned and fled back to his office, forgetting to count, and picked up the phone, dialing the all too familiar number. He waited mere seconds, then spoke, his voice hard. “Don’t make me ask again. Find me the boy, now.”

  He hung up the phone and stared at the window again, this time glancing to the island off shore where soon his men were bringing the couple. The couple he had nurtured in his beliefs, set up with everything they ever wanted, allowed to have the best of everything as long as they followed his agenda. But they had lied to him.

  His rage clouded his vision as he remembered the call.

  “Samuel, the Anderson’s have been keeping secrets from you. They discovered what happens to you when you die. Their boy knows. It all has to do with the birds that encircle their house. We’ve got hundreds of photographs proving the connection. They’ve deceived you.”

  “Get them here now,” he demanded. “And get the kids. Bring them all here.”

  No one lied to Samuel Herrington.

  No one who lived, that was.

  Chapter Five

  Jacobs flew into the room, his eyes wild. “Come with me.” He opened the back door as another round of gunshots riddled the front door.

  “What’s happening?” Michael yelled, standing and pulling Danny to his feet. The home security alarm went off, squealing shrilly. Danny stared at Michael, frightened, clutching Mr. Teddy tightly in his arms.

  “We’re being attacked,” Jacobs said. “Whoever took your parents knows you’re here and they’re coming after your brother. Damn tracking device. I didn’t know where it was or I would have taken it out myself. Come on. Let’s go.” He corralled them into the backyard towards the garage. A jeep with tinted windows stood in the driveway. “Get in,” Jacobs said, opening the door to the car. He felt inside his pockets. “Damn. I forgot my keys. Get inside and stay down on the floor until I get back. Do you understand? Don’t move.”

  Michael nodded, his body shaking so hard he nearly bit his tongue.

  Jacobs turned, now with a gun in his hands and ran back to the house. Michael pushed Danny into the back seat floor well and covered him with his own body.

  “W
hat’s happening?” Danny asked.

  Michael had never seen his brother so terrified. Thank God Danny couldn’t hear the gunshots. He knew it was no time to lie to him. It was too important he understand the danger they were in. He signed quickly. “Danny, someone is mad at Mom and Dad and now they’re trying to find us. They’re in Mr. Jacob’s house right now, and we need to hide from them until they leave. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe here.” He leaned over and locked the car doors as he heard another volley of gunshots erupt from the house and covered his brother with his body.

  There was a loud commotion and the sound of angry voices.

  “Where the hell did they go?” a man yelled.

  A woman replied. “I’m sure they’re nearby. Michael’s jacket is still in the house.”

  The voices came closer, and the woman chastised the man, “Jacobs probably got them away right before we came in. What were you thinking, shooting him?”

  The voices halted in front of the car. “I was just doing my job. You want to be the one to tell Herrington they got away again? We should have grabbed them in the house rather than sitting in their living room passively with the kid making us look like idiots. Now we’ll have to wait until we pick up the signal again. This is wasting time.”

  It was the cops from his house. Dobber was right. They were fakes. He heard the woman try the locks on the car and then saw her lean in, trying to see past the tinted windows.

  Danny, please don’t move, Michael prayed silently, when suddenly Michael heard a bird screeching and the woman screamed. “Get it away from me.”

  “Carol, will you move and let me shoot the damned bird already?”

  “Garrett, you know who this is?” Carol spoke up. “This is probably Jacobs. You know, the guy you offed a few minutes ago thinking you were just doing your job? It’s why I told you not to kill anyone in any way connected to the kid. You were just supposed to scare them into giving them to us.”