Flying to the Light

by Elyse Salpeter

  Dobber replied eagerly. “Your parents implanted a small microchip in his inner ear. It is completely harmless, but we can locate him to the tenth of a mile so if he ever got into the wrong hands we could get to him. When I see you, I’ll be able to explain everything and I’ll take out the microchip so he won’t be tracked again. Don’t try to do it yourself, it’s very dangerous and could cause permanent damage.”

  Okay, he was finally getting some information. He still didn’t trust this guy, but maybe Dobber would tell him some more. “One more thing, you didn’t explain about the birds. Danny says they’re people. That’s not really true, is it?”

  Dobber laughed, and he finally sounded a little like the happy-go-lucky guy Michael remembered. “You seem to know a lot for someone who knew almost nothing twenty-four hours ago. Yes, we believe birds are people. Or, actually are people’s souls, if you want to be more specific. Over the last few years we learned birds are not really what you and the rest of the world think they are. All birds are simply vessels of the newly deceased. Your parents, with Danny’s help, have discovered that when we die in our human bodies, our souls become one with the birds. It is the first step before we are ready to meet the light. The Light of Heaven. In nearly every religion, there is a version of Heaven, a paradise realm, and though people believe in faith in this garden of eternity, the ability to physically understand it is an exceptional gift.”

  “Wait, you’re saying my brother can see Heaven?” he asked.

  “I’m saying Danny has exceptional abilities and can see the light,” Dobber answered. “He has the power to talk to the souls within the birds and send them on their way to Heaven. The version of Heaven which is the vision of every religion.”

  “Oh really?” Michael said. “Tell me, Dobber, what did they do before Danny was around? Are you telling me that all the birds in the land were just waiting for my little brother to be born before they could go to Heaven? That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. Why don’t you just tell me then that Danny is the new messiah and then maybe you can get all the religious cults to believe you, too.”

  “No, that’s not it, Michael. Not at all. Everything happened as it does now but no one knew. Don’t you understand? No one ever even conceived of this type of concept. Think of the possibilities! When we die in our human bodies, we’re not really dead. Our souls are just transferred before we finally leave this world and go to Heaven. But, imagine if you knew which people became what birds and you could stop them from finding the light. What power you would have. Anyone who had the power to determine who would and would not go to Heaven would be the most powerful being in the universe. They would be akin to God. That’s what Herrington wants. It’s not money. It’s not fame. It’s power. If he could determine whose soul was whose? What person wouldn’t do anything to make sure their loved ones moved on? His wife, Marta, is dying, but he’s hoping he can keep her soul a bit more, or at the very least, guarantee her soul moves on to the next realm.”

  Michael still wasn’t convinced. “Okay, but just how did my parents make this connection? How did they figure out which birds were which?”

  “Listen, we’re still working on this project and I can’t go into it anymore,” Dobber said impatiently. “I need to get to you and your brother. Now, I want you to wait there. I can be in New York by tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, I can’t leave yet or I’ll arouse suspicion. So, in the meantime, stay in the hotel, close your blinds and I’ll get to you by noon, okay? Remember, I have the tracer, but it’ll be harder to find you if you’re moving around. Will you do this for me? For your brother?”

  Did he have much of a choice? Maybe Dobber really was what he said. He’d given Michael more information than anyone so far. “Sure, I can do that, I guess.”

  He heard Dobber take a relieved breath. “Good, that’s very good,” he said. “Trust me, Michael, you’re doing the right thing. I promise we’ll talk more when I see you.” He hung up the phone.

  Michael turned back to the news. His house had burnt to the ground, and the firefighters were extinguishing the last of the flames. The newscasters showed Danny and Michael’s school pictures and asked anyone who had seen them last to please alert the authorities. He could imagine what his friends thought.

  “Well, I guess this is my fifteen minutes of fame,” Michael thought grimly.

  He shut off the TV and turned to his brother, who was stirring.

  Michael stretched his legs and moved over to the window, pulling the curtain back. Two sedans were pulling up across the street. One of the doors opened and two policemen jumped out, moving quickly to the front office. Michael immediately recognized the male and female police officers from his house. But how could they possibly have found them? The only person who knew where they were was Dobber.

  Realization hit him and he smacked his hand to his forehead. He was such an idiot. Dobber was still working for Herrington and had used the motel phone, or the device in Danny’s ear, to track them. Served him right for thinking he could trust someone. Michael flew to the bed, shaking Danny fully awake.

  Then he went and glanced back out the window and watched as two more officers got out of the other sedan and started to move briskly towards the front office.

  “Michael, what’s the matter?” Danny signed, alarmed. “Are the bad men here?”

  Michael nodded, his face grim. “Yeah, come on, we have to get out of here.” Danny jumped up and Michael grabbed his knapsack, his brother, and slowly opened the door. He peeked over the side rail on the right side and saw the fake cops come out of the front office and start for the stairs, guns drawn. Michael quickly locked the door to delay them and then made a left down a short hallway which ran around to the back of the motel. There was a staircase at the end and they bolted down it, leading them straight into the back parking lot. Behind the lot, about two hundred yards away, was a five store strip mall. Michael heard a commotion behind him, heard the officers pounding on the door. This was followed immediately by a loud gunshot and the sound of the doorjamb ripping apart. Heart pounding, Michael grabbed Danny’s hand, and they made a mad dash across the lot and into the first of the strip stores.

  It was a 7-Eleven. The smell of antiseptic cleansers, microwave burritos, and coffee assaulted his senses. A bell announced his entrance and he tried not to flinch. Calming himself down as best he could, he strolled casually to the counter. “Hey, you have a bathroom around here? My brother really has to go.”

  The teen behind the counter with his red Mohawk and multi-pierced ears yawned and pointed towards the back of the store. “Yeah, dude. Go through there, past the staircase.”

  “Thanks.” Michael took a quick glance back at the motel and saw the cops standing at the bottom of the steps, glancing around. Abruptly, the female officer moved a few feet in their direction and stopped. She bent down and picked up something lying on the ground.

  Michael thought he was going to be sick. It was Mr. Teddy.

  Herrington’s agents immediately started towards the stores at a brisk pace. Without waiting to see anything further Michael grabbed Danny’s hand and dragged him to the back rooms, seeing the staircase the attendant had mentioned. He hoped it connected to some of the other stores on the strip or to a back door. Ignoring the bathroom, Michael raced down the steps. Just as he reached the bottom rung, he heard the bell. The agents were in the store.

  Michael dashed through a narrow hallway, stacked high with boxes, and came to a metal door. It was locked. He threw his weight against it, but nothing happened.

  He froze as he heard Garrett talking to the counter clerk.

  “Look at this photo. You see these two kids come in here?”

  “No, I didn’t see them. Why, what’d they do?”

  Michael was shocked. The kid’s protecting us!

  Garrett apparently wasn’t buying his line. “I’m going to let you take another look and ask you again. Have you seen them?”

  “I told you I didn’t see anyone,” t
he clerk yelled. “You know, this store is taped. You can’t threaten me or I’ll sue you for police brutality.”

  A sudden single gunshot blast shook the walls, followed by a deafening silence.

  Michael’s paralysis broke. Frantically, he searched the room and noticed a rotting piece of wood covering a narrow, dank crawlspace under the stairs. “Danny, come here. The bad men are here.” Danny ran over to him, whimpering.

  Michael knew Danny hated the dark. Knew he wouldn’t be able to see him to sign to him.

  “I know this is scary, but please don’t be afraid. We have to go in there right now. You have to be brave, Birdman. I promise you, I’ll be right behind you.” Danny wouldn’t move, and Michael had no choice. He picked him up and pushed him through the hole, kicking and screaming.

  He heard the agents start down the stairs.

  Michael pushed his way into the crawlspace behind his brother and shoved the wood into place.

  Danny threw himself onto Michael’s back, digging his fingers into his skin. Michael knew he was terrified. He turned him and hugged him and then, in the dark, as he couldn’t sign, he put his hand over his mouth and then over Danny’s ears. His brother thankfully quieted, but still whimpered softly.

  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he noticed a faint light about fifty feet ahead. The crawlspace was only about four feet high, so taking Danny by the hand, they half-crawled, half-walked through dirt and rotted pieces of wood towards the light.

  Halfway to the light source he abruptly stopped, holding Danny in place and covering his mouth with his hands again. He turned around and saw the filtering light from the storage room, but froze when one of the police officers removed the wood covering the crawl space. He was never so happy in his life to be sitting in almost total darkness.

  “Do you think they went in here?” someone asked.

  “Probably, you idiot. Get me a flashlight,” the woman said, peering into the crawlspace. Michael knew she couldn’t see them, but it seemed as if she stared right at him. Without waiting for someone to get her a flashlight, Michael pushed Danny quietly along and in a few more seconds they were up against a mesh wire covering which let them out in the back lot of the strip mall. He pushed Danny gently to one side and then using all his strength, Michael kicked in the mesh. It was old and fell off its hinges with two more swift kicks. He dropped Danny through the vent and followed him, just as a flashlight beam glided by them.

  They hit the pavement, and Michael grabbed Danny and ran to the far side of the strip mall and across the street into the woods.

  “Where are we going?” Danny signed, crying. He was covered in dust.

  Michael sighed, wiping a small spot of blood off of his arm where he had cut it coming out of the crawlspace. He turned and brushed the dust out of Danny’s hair. “I don’t know, yet. We’re just going to have to keep moving.”

  Michael pulled Danny along through several miles in the backwoods of their hometown, all the while staring back, expecting to see the police officers running through the woods after them. Danny complained about all the walking, dragging his feet and Michael had to push him forward, making empty promises of rewards he would get for listening. Promises he was sure he wasn’t going to be able to keep. Finally, he recognized where they were and moved them along a path, which led to a local horse farm. It was the McKenna property and Michael had a great working knowledge of the place, having dated Becky McKenna his entire sophomore and junior year in high school, right up until her dad had accepted a corporate job in Raleigh a few months before. As far as he knew, the farm still hadn’t been sold, so it was empty. Score one for him and the bad economy.

  The McKenna’s had raised thoroughbreds and as they passed by the deserted stables, towards the farmhouse, he was struck again by its size. It reminded him of the great Victorian houses from the literature books he’d read in English class. He remembered Becky teaching him about the trick lock to the basement door at the back of the house, the one that used to be used by servants in the old days. You just had to jiggle the knob at the same time you put pressure on the lower panel and the door would pop open. On quite a few occasions he had used this technique to sneak in to see Becky while her parents thought she was doing her homework.

  The basement was finished and the blue carpet was as thick as he remembered, though the moldy smell which pervaded the house was something Mrs. McKenna would never have allowed. He saw the source of the smell on the wall next to him. Brown water stains streaked down the white walls and the carpet below them was discolored and warped from water damage.

  “Let’s go upstairs.” He brought Danny up to the first floor and checked the thermostat. He was pleasantly surprised the electricity hadn’t been turned off and, though he had no intention of turning on the lights and calling attention to them, he certainly had no problem turning the heat on. April nights were still cold in Rockland.

  They moved to the second floor and into the master bathroom. Michael signed to Danny. “Come over here, Birdman. I need to look in your ears.” He risked turning on the bathroom light so he could see.

  Danny flopped in front of him, exhausted. His eyes were half closed.

  Michael first checked in his left ear and didn’t see anything. He wasn’t quite sure he even knew what he was searching for. Still, if Dobber was telling the truth, then there had to be some sort of tracking device on him or how else could they have been located two different times already? But then, why would Dobber have told him the truth in the first place if he were one of Herrington’s agents?

  For lack of any other ideas, Michael ran his fingers through Danny’s hair, made him open his mouth, checked his teeth and then tried the other ear. He pulled the lobe out a bit so he could look into the canal, and then he saw what he was searching for. Just inside the canal was a small metal microchip, the size of a Tic-Tac, but much flatter.

  Dobber had been telling the truth. Why?

  Michael turned back to his brother. “Danny, I don’t want you to be worried, but you have something in your ear.”

  Danny yawned. “You mean my robot parts?”

  He was surprised. “You know what’s in your ear?”

  Danny nodded. “Mommy says I’m like a superhero and it makes me strong. She takes it out and fixes it sometimes. I’m just like Spiderman.” He pointed to his idol on his shirt.

  So many secrets. His own mother had a tracking device on him. Just how dangerous did everyone think his brother was? He cocked his head and started signing again. “Danny, how does Mommy take it out? Does it hurt when she does it?” He remembered Dobber talking about permanent damage if he tried to remove it, but didn’t believe him.

  Danny scrunched up his face. “It hurts a little but Mommy pulls it out with a metal thing. She says I’m a really brave boy.”

  “Yeah, you are a brave kid.” If his mother could take it out, then he could do it, too. There was no way he was going to allow Dobber or his people to find his brother again if he could help it. Michael pulled a Swiss army knife out of a side pocket of his knapsack. It was one of the master knives with everything from forks and spoons to a fishing hook and of course, tweezers.

  Michael took out the tweezers and tilted his brother’s head towards the light. “Bet you didn’t expect us to get away, did you, Dobber?” Michael whispered, concentrating on directing the tweezers into Danny’s ear without hurting him. He felt like he was playing the kid’s game Operation.

  The microchip was within the tweezers’ grasp, and he pulled on it gently. He could see just one hair-thin suture connecting the chip to Danny’s ear canal. What he needed was a minute pair of scissors, but since he didn’t have one, and was scared to use one of the knives, he decided to just pull it out. He took a deep breath and yanked on it. The suture snapped easily, and Danny cried out.

  “Did I hurt you?” Michael asked, grimacing.

  Danny made a face and held his hand to his ear. “Mommy does it a lot better.”

  “I’m so
rry.” Michael checked his ear again and saw that the small tear was already clotting. He then examined the microchip in the tweezers with disgust before placing it on the floor. He moved Danny out of the way and then stamped on it with his shoe. When it didn’t shatter, he grabbed a piece of tile that was loose on the wall and smashed it onto the chip. It broke into five neat pieces and Michael struck them repeatedly until they were completely crushed. Afterwards, he dumped all the pieces into the toilet and flushed them away, only then breathing a sigh of relief.

  “We’re going to be okay for the moment, Danny.”

  Danny was frowning at him, his arms crossed across his chest.

  “What?” Michael asked.

  “Why did you smash up my superhero parts?”

  Michael stifled a grin. “Mom would want me to do that. They weren’t working anymore. As soon as we find her we’ll get you new parts. I promise.”

  In one of the bedrooms there was an old couch the McKenna’s had abandoned. Michael lay down on it and let Danny crawl into his arms. After a minute, Danny looked up sadly and signed, “Did the bad men take Mr. Teddy?”

  He sighed. “Yeah, they did. We dropped him back at the hotel. I’m really sorry, Danny.”

  Instead of crying, Danny gave Michael a brave smile. “It’s okay. I’m a big boy. Mr. Teddy was for babies.” He lay back on Michael’s chest. “And anyway, at least Mr. Teddy still has his robot parts.”

  Michael smiled. A real one for the first time in days. Two tracking devices and both gone. Now no one should be able to locate them and they were truly on their own.

  Michael patted Danny’s back until he fell asleep, not having any idea what the morning would bring.