Flying to the Light

by Elyse Salpeter

  “I can see Mr. Daley,” he explained. “He’s so sad. He doesn’t know what to do.”

  “Bob is down there?” Gary asked.

  Danny nodded. “Herrington still believes he’s one of them, and he thinks all of us are dead.”

  “Wait, but what about me?” Michael asked. “I didn’t get shot, but I remember something happening to me. Like I had a seizure or something. How did I get here?”

  Danny gave him a solemn expression. “I brought you here.”

  Michael immediately understood the implications. “So, you killed me somehow, didn’t you? How did you learn how to do that?”

  Danny laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t kill you. I just borrowed your soul for a little while. Then I took yours and mine and left our bodies back in the lab room and came here. This way Herrington would think we died. Later, after it’s safe, we can go back and get away.”

  Michael turned to his mother. “Mom, how can he do this?”

  Maddy seemed at a loss. “I had no idea the depth of Danny’s powers. This wonderful place is as much a mystery to me as it is to you and your father. But taking us here is not the only change I’ve noticed in him. It’s not just that he can hear and speak now, but also how he speaks. It’s as if he’s all grown-up.”

  Danny turned to her, grasping her hand. “Mommy, I’m older here. I can understand more. I think it’s these souls talking to me. It’s all because of the light.”

  Michael was confused. “Wait a second. I still don’t fully understand. Isn’t this the light? Isn’t this Heaven?” He let his eyes explore the paradise surrounding him.

  “This is level fifteen, but this isn’t Heaven,” Danny said. “Heaven’s up there.” He pointed to the sky above them.

  Michael stared amazed as he tilted his head straight up. He was incredulous that he hadn’t noticed this phenomenon before now. Above him was what appeared to be a humongous ruby colored crystal sparkling gloriously in every conceivable direction. Around this crystal were hundreds of pinpoints of light, each pulsing and glowing and casting piercing streaks of white illumination which reflected back to the crystal and bounced off from it. Each ray that extended from the crystal resembled a fire burst which shot out all around it. “What is that, Danny? It looks like a gem.”

  “It’s the ultimate place,” Danny whispered. “It just looks like a gem to us, but it’s really just the power of all light. If we flew up there and went into it, I think we’d disappear. That’s what I hear from the souls from above. Once you go there, it’s not like Earth with trees and flowers and birds. It’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced. Just one vast place where everyone converges into each other. You can create your own dream world there and even though there are millions and millions of souls, you’re still an individual in a group of many.”

  “But if this isn’t Heaven, then what is this place?” Michael asked.

  “It’s a resting place for those whose bodies are still alive on Earth,” he said. “It’s a place to go to when your soul can’t decide if it’s time to leave or not. Once you make the decision you can either go back to Earth or go up higher. We can stay here until we decide what to do.”

  “Son, are we to go up? Is that our fate?” Gary asked, staring longingly at the sky.

  Michael knew what his father was feeling. There was a pull on his very being to go further.

  Danny shook his head. “No, Daddy. I know how it feels, but it’s not our time yet. Not for any of us. We can’t go, and I can’t send you. I don’t have the strength.”

  Gary smiled. “I don’t really want to go, son. I just feel it pulling on me. It’s like a gentle tug, caressing my arm.”

  Maddy spoke up. “Danny, honey, when can we go back down?”

  Danny nodded. “Soon, but one of us has to go and let Mr. Daley know to get us out of there. Mommy and Daddy, you need to get out of the lab and to people who can help you before I put you back into your bodies. You’re both really hurt, and you’ll be too weak to get out yourselves. The bleeding has stopped for the moment, but if you move before you have help it will start again. Then you really will go to the light.”

  “Danny, it’s okay,” Gary said. “I’ll be the one to go. I don’t want to risk any one of you getting into Herrington’s hands again. Not after all you’ve been through. I can do this with Bob. Daley and I go way back. He’ll find a way to get us out.”

  “Gary, don’t be ridiculous,” Maddy said. “Didn’t you hear what Danny just said? You were shot at point blank range. I saw it. How are you going to walk around with a bullet in your chest and not bleed to death? If Danny says you’ll die, then you have to listen to him.” She took Michael’s arm. “It’s got to be Michael, doesn’t it?”

  Danny nodded. “Both you and Daddy can’t go and neither can I. I have to stay here and make sure you don’t wake up on your own. Michael’s the only one who can go back and help Mr. Daley get us out.”

  “Danny, how will you know when it’s safe?” Michael asked. “How will you know when it’s the right time?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll know,” he said, waving his hands around. “Everyone here will help me.” Flitting in and out of the air were hundreds of transparent birds. “And, Michael, I’ll be able to see you, too. As soon as I’m sure Mommy and Daddy are safe, I’ll bring us back. I promise.” He turned and suddenly hugged Michael fiercely. “You are the best big brother in the world.”

  Michael’s eyes began to tear. “Oh, boy, Birdman. You have a way of saying just the right thing. Okay, send me back before I chicken out. This place is so beautiful I don’t want to leave.” He stepped away and smiled at each of them.

  Danny closed his eyes and suddenly hundreds of birds materialized in the air. One of them made a dive, straight at Michael. Again he found himself shutting his eyes, thinking the bird was going to crash into him. Instead, it went inside him and he felt his body changing.

  “We love you, Michael,” he heard his family calling out, as he plummeted downward, fast, back to Earth at heart-wrenching speeds. Within seconds the calm feeling he had felt with his brother was replaced by the hard tiled floor and the feel of his mother’s limp, soft hand under his arm. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw Daley slumped next to them in a chair, his face in his hands.

  “Mr. Daley?” he called out softly. No matter how softly he said it, it still wouldn’t have made it any easier for Mr. Daley. Startled, he jumped up and cried out.

  “Michael?” he asked, confused. He rushed over to him.

  Michael smiled, and slowly sat up. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m okay.”

  Michael could see the relief in Mr. Daley’s eyes. “Oh, thank God. I thought we’d lost you, too.” He looked sadly over at Michael’s family lying next to him.

  “I’m sorry, Michael. I’m so sorry about your family. There was nothing I could do.” He leaned close to Danny and gently stroked his cheek.

  “Yes, there is, Mr. Daley,” he said, pointing at his parents. “You can help me, and help them.”

  “Michael, they’re beyond help. What we need to do is get you out of here right now. Come on!” He tried to pull Michael to his feet and out of the room.

  “Mr. Daley, wait. My parents aren’t dead.”

  Daley stared at him. “Michael,” he began carefully, “I examined them myself. I’m sorry, but there is nothing else we can do for them.”

  Instead of crying, which is what anyone would have expected Michael to do, he laughed. As Daley stared at him stupefied Michael said, “Boy, do I have something to tell you that’ll blow your mind.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Michael, keep your head down,” Daley whispered, while he ushered him through the hallway, pushing the remaining members of the Anderson family in a storage cart. “And stop fidgeting.”

  “I’m having trouble with the pants.” Two sizes too big, he hitched up the stolen lab uniform used by the scientists during quarantine procedures. He paused to pull the safety cap lower over his bro
w.

  There was a commotion from the end of the hall and three men appeared.

  “Okay, here we go,” Daley murmured. “Two of Herrington’s men, Johnson and Gallagher and one of our own, a double-agent named Sean. Just keep your cool, follow my lead, and don’t say a word.”

  The three men approached. “So, you’ve got corpse duty, Daley?” Johnson laughed. “What’s the matter? You get on Herrington’s bad side so he finally pulled you from the cushy school job?”

  “Oh, leave him alone, Johnson,” Sean said. “It could just as easily be you doing this. And will be soon if Herrington finds out you’ve been dipping into his stash.”

  Johnson straightened up. “No sense of humor, any of you. Fine, get rid of them, though I hate to see Maddy go. She was fine to look at in the lab, I’ll tell you that.” He winked at them. “As for the kid? I never thought there was anything special about him anyway.” He slapped Danny on the back of his head.

  Michael wanted to grab him and break his neck.

  Daley shrugged. “I just take orders, Johnson.” He began to pull the cart down the hallway as Michael pushed.

  Suddenly Gallagher, who had been quiet, spoke up and sauntered towards Michael. “Wait! I don’t remember Herrington hiring any children. What, this a new genius interning with us? Come here, kid.” Though Michael moved quickly, Gallagher deftly made a grab for his cap and yanked it off his head.

  Gallagher stepped back, shocked. “It’s the Anderson kid.” He turned to Daley, his expression stunned. “You’re a traitor, Daley? After all these years?” He drew his gun.

  “Gallagher, I’m not a spy,” Daley said, buying time. “You’re making a mistake. This isn’t the boy you think it is.”

  Out of the corner of his eye Michael saw Agent Sean quietly take a long knife out from inside his shirt.

  Gallagher yelled, advancing towards Michael. “Liar. The boy must be taken out.” He trained his gun at Michael.

  “Michael, run,” Daley ordered.

  Michael immediately took off down the hallway, when suddenly a massive ripping noise tore through the building and it felt like the entire facility lifted and slammed to the floor. He fell to the ground with a violent crash, rolling over repeatedly as sirens shrieked through the building.

  Terrified and not understanding immediately what was happening, Michael tried to stand, but the building was shaking so badly he fell to the floor again. The sprinklers came on dousing him and as he tried to rise someone slammed him to the floor, their knees pinned to his chest and a pair of hands squeezed his neck so hard he couldn’t breathe. As his world came in and out of focus a gunshot rang out, once, twice and as he was about to black out from lack of oxygen, the hands released.

  Seconds later, Daley was by his side, Sean next to him. “Come on, Michael, we have to get out of here while we can. We’re having an earthquake.”

  Michael nodded, coughing, and crawled across the sopping wet floor to the cart, which held his family. It was shaking and slamming into the wall.

  The three of them pushed the cart down the hall when the shaking ceased.

  “Is it over?” Michael asked. He had never been in an earthquake before. Just then, the ground started shaking again. He felt like the world was falling apart.

  Daley grimaced. “Not yet. Now we get the aftershocks.” They swung the cart towards the elevator.

  “We’re going in there?” Michael asked, appalled. “In an earthquake?”

  Daley nodded. “Only way to get your folks down. Don’t worry. This facility is supposedly earthquake-proof. Herrington made it so nothing will stop those elevators. The guy is scared of them and made this his number one priority for the building so he’d never get locked in.” They pulled up to them, and he slammed his hand to the button as he slipped, nearly falling.

  Shouts echoed from the staircase on the far end of the hall and Michael saw armed guards trying to get down the hall. They were thrown into the walls, falling down, but kept getting back up. One aimed and fired, the bullet hitting the wall next to Michael.

  The elevator opened. “Get in,” yelled Daley, shoving the cart inside. The three of them piled in and Daley hit the button, the elevator doors slamming shut as another round of bullets riddled the door.

  As the elevator descended, a roar like a giant train rumbling shook the elevator and Michael fell to the floor. The elevator vibrated so drastically he was sure the entire structure was going to crumble into a million pieces around him.

  And then silence.

  Michael glanced around him. Daley and Sean picked themselves shakily up off the floor, holding onto the cart, which miraculously was still holding Michael’s family.

  The elevator had stopped moving.

  Daley hit the buttons, but nothing happened. He picked up the phone, but it was dead. Placing his ear to the elevator door, he listened, furrowing his brow. “I think I hear something.” He tried to manually open the door but stopped when the sudden flapping and cawing of thousands of birds screeched through the walls of the elevator. Terrified, Michael threw himself back against the wall, holding his hands to his ears to drown out the excruciating noise of hundreds of bird’s talons scraping against the metal frame of the elevator.

  Human screams met their ears. The elevator vibrated and shook again, throwing them to the ground. The cart collided with Michael, and he bumped his head. For a split second it seemed as if the world had stopped, but then it was eerily silent yet again.

  Daley again put his ear to the door, but this time all was quiet. After a quick glance at Michael, he and Sean shoved their fingers in the middle of the elevator doors and started to pry them apart. Once it was open a bit, Sean grabbed his gun, covering Daley until they had the door wide open. Miraculously, they were on ground level.

  “Stay behind us, Michael,” Daley ordered as they moved into the downstairs lobby. As they wheeled the cart into the room, they stared, shocked, into the dead faces of Herrington’s guards littering the floor. Blood was everywhere and the carnage had been vicious. Long, piercing cuts ran the length of their bodies and their faces appeared to have been picked apart by someone, or something, with very sharp claws.

  “Were they attacked by a pack of wild animals?” Agent Sean asked, amazed.

  Daley glanced at Michael knowingly. “Birds, Sean. They were attacked by birds.”

  Michael pointed to a dead bird on the floor. In fact, there was a dead bird next to each and every one of the guards. “These guys aren’t going anywhere.”

  He turned to Daley. “It was Danny who did this. He sent the birds to help us. My job was to get my parents out of the lab room and only then would he be able to help us.” He faced the ceiling. “Thanks, Danny.” He could swear he felt his brother smiling at him.

  They wheeled the cart outside the room and through a large swinging door, which led to the outside of the facility. They were met with an awesome spectacle.

  The once silent island was now filled with FBI agents and police officers swarming around, handcuffing Herrington’s people and escorting them to boats to take them to the mainland. Michael glared as he watched Herrington being dragged out from a side building. He had a long gash running down his cheek and his left eye bled freely. He was screaming hysterically at a woman being taken from another building on a hospital gurney and shuttled onto a boat.

  Three of Daley’s men raced to them.

  “We got any extra paramedics here?” Daley asked.

  One of the agents nodded, speaking into his walkie-talkie. Within seconds paramedics were racing towards them.

  Michael spoke. “I know it looks like everyone in my family has been killed, but they’re not, trust me.”

  The paramedics glanced at the Andersons and stalled for just a moment until Daley barked at them. “Treat these people as if they’re still alive.”

  Immediately, Maddy, Gary, and Danny were placed on gurneys of their own and moved quickly towards the harbor port. From Michael’s vantage point, he could se
e the entire marina, loaded with police boats and military personnel.

  Daley turned to one of the guards. “What exactly went on here? How did you get them into custody?”

  “We were hoping you could explain some of it for us,” the agent said. “We were hiding along the shoreline, waiting for a sign, any sign you had gotten to Maddy and Gary when the earthquake occurred. It was all we could do to keep our positions, when the most incredible thing happened. As if a giant thundercloud had erupted, thousands upon thousands of birds flew from the mainland straight into the facility. Windows had shattered from the earthquake, and the birds tore into every available opening to get inside. They went into storm drains, air vents, sewers. Any place there could have possibly been an opening. And I’m talking thousands, Daley. The sky was pitch black. We heard screaming coming from the building and then Herrington’s men charged out, literally throwing themselves into our hands. Birds were everywhere, attacking them and as soon as Herrington’s people got near us the birds simply disappeared. I mean disappeared, right in front of our eyes. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Daley nodded at Michael. “Yes, incredible, isn’t it?”

  Michael just grinned and moved with Daley to the docks.

  They glanced up at the commotion coming from one of the boats where Michael’s parents had been placed. The trauma paramedics were racing around frantically and Michael’s heart swelled when he saw his mother raise her hand and place it on her forehead. The boat started and immediately moved away, speeding towards the mainland.

  Michael jumped onto another boat with Daley and they followed his parents and Danny. As the wind whipped his face, he turned to Daley. “I think it’s finally over, isn’t it?”

  “Yes it is, kid. It’s over.”

  As the boat left the island, Michael glanced back to the pier. A beautiful group of white doves sat on top of a group of pillars, quietly watching as they sped away.

  Epilogue