by RP Halliway
RED892: “I have to go. I’ll message you later. Goodnight.”
PS51399: ‘oh ok. goodnight.’
“Okay, I can talk now,” Evie said as she ran up the stairs to her room.
Chapter 5
Silas awoke for the second time feeling a phantom hand holding his. Eyes closed, he felt around in the darkened room, trying to remember if his notebook was close. He rolled over and reached toward his nightstand stack of books. No notebook, but he felt an envelope. It was better than nothing. He started scribbling the details in the dark as he recounted the dream in his mind.
“Started out in a large concrete building”
“2nd floor, play room?”
“Virginia?”
“research library?”
“Timmy, 4 years old”
“Robert 8 years old”
“professor”
“no faces, no voices”
Had Red had the dream, too? He looked at the clock, 7:15am. 4:15am in California. Too early to expect an immediate reply.
He found his notebook and transcribed the scribbles, adding a few more notes, then got dressed. When he walked out of his room, his roommate Eric was about to head out the door.
“Early work on Saturday?”
“Yep. Lots to do,” Eric said. “Coffee is in the pot, only one cup left though.”
“Thanks,” Silas walked to the kitchen and grabbed a cup. He poured the dark liquid into the mug and took a small sip. Dark and rich, the coffee flavor produced a small wakeup response, due to the stimulants or the conditioned response, he would probably never know.
Even though she was probably still asleep, Silas logged onto the social media site and posted a quick message to Red.
‘another dream. Virginia mean anything to you?’
He knew he wouldn’t get a response for a while, bit still it felt like torture until the response finally came through. Shortly after 9:30AM, Silas noticed a message alert pop up on the website. He clicked the blue ‘P’ and saw the message that made him shiver.
“me too. I had another dream. I have no connections to Virginia, but saw a building very clearly. Kids running around. What does it mean? Chat?”
She’d seen a building, too? This had to be more than coincidence.
“Definitely,” Silas wrote. Then he took another sip of coffee and loaded up the chat site.
At the other end of the message, Evie had woken up with the dream standing out vividly in her memory. Then she’d seen the message. She opened up the chat site and didn’t wait long before the ding sounded on her laptop.
PS51399: ‘morning Red’
RED892: “morning. My name is Evie”
PS51399: ‘oh, sorry.’
RED892: “don’t be sorry, lol. Red is my friend. she was helping me.”
PS51399: ‘ah, that’s nice. nice to meet you Evie.’
RED892: “Nice to formally meet you, Silas. Tell me about your dream.”
PS51399: ‘thanks. my dream started in a building, very impersonal, concrete mostly, halls, rooms, windows in the stairwells. i didn’t see faces this time, just walking around talking to some guy in a lab coat. probably a professor. walking around looking at different playground type things, with some kids running around. the professor pointed out two kids to me—Timmy, around 4 years old, i think, and Robert, who was 8, but wasn’t there.’
It was like he was describing her dream! She couldn’t type fast enough.
RED892: “My dream was the same. I was talking to people—lots of voices, kids, having playtime. Then they aged to a certain point and disappeared. One assistant talked at some point.”
PS51399: ‘any clues about where it was?’
Evie, whether from bravery in the early hour, or trying to find out Silas’ sense of humor, smiled as she typed.
RED892: “Virginia”
PS51399: ‘hahaha, very funny. anywhere more specific?’
Evie laughed aloud, feeling both comfort and relief as the joke seemed to find its mark. She replayed the dream, hoping to discover a useful clue.
RED892: “no, but the assistant was talking about reclaimed memories. Maybe if we search on that.”
PS51399: ‘searching now….’
RED892: “me too”
In a search window, Evie typed “Virginia” and “reclaimed memories” not expecting there to actually be results. But the search window filled with results.
PS51399: ‘wow’
RED892: “OMG”
PS51399: ‘it exists’
RED892: “How crazy is that?”
Evie paused, trying to make sense of it, and with no response from Silas, she figured maybe he was doing the same.
PS51399: ‘what do we do now?’
They both seemed to have the same thought.
RED892: “I have no idea.”
RED892: “and how can this even happen?”
PS51399: ‘i don’t know. but if this was a movie it would be a message for us to meet and go there.’ Silas typed.
RED892: “Maybe it is a message.”
PS51399: ‘i would have a hard time going anywhere, especially that far.’
RED892: “Me too. The expenses would be hard to cover, I can’t afford taking a vacation to chase after a dream”
PS51399: ‘i’m in the same boat.’
Another long pause ensued as each end of the conversation seemed to be thinking or working on a plan.
RED892: “We couldn’t, could we?” Evie finally typed.
PS51399: ‘no, it would be crazy’
RED892: “Exactly. We don’t know each other, and we have no idea what it means. It would be insane to chase after a dream.”
PS51399: ‘absolutely.’
Even as she watched the words appear on the screen, she knew she had to do this. She had to find a way.
PS51399: ‘if you can fly here, it is only a 7 hour drive from me.’ Silas typed.
RED892: “OMG”
PS51399: ‘you’re thinking about it, aren’t you? lol’
RED892: “maybe lmao”
PS51399: ‘are we crazy?’
RED892: “Totally. Totally crazy”
PS51399: ‘you could fly into columbus.’
RED892: “hahaha,”
But almost like someone else was controlling her common sense, she found herself searching on the airline site.
RED892: “OMG, there is space available tomorrow morning.”
PS51399: ‘arriving when?’
RED892: “I can’t do it. I don’t know you.”
This is the kind of thing that every person, especially females, knew to never do. But this was different. The dreams. It felt like there was more to this. She wanted to know. She needed to know.
PS51399: ‘i know. And i don’t’ know you. But i also feel like i do. LOL’
Evie started to feel a comfort in the connection while talking with Silas, at least understanding his responses.
RED892: “LOL” Evie typed, switching back and forth to the search and the chat.
RED892: “arriving at 8pm. that’s too late to drive to Virginia. oh, there’s a red-eye, arriving at 4:30am. Is that too early”
PS51399: ‘no that works. i could pick you up and we could drive to virginia. get there in the afternoon.’
RED892: “and they’re open on Mondays.”
PS51399: ‘who’s open?’
RED892: “the reclaimed memories institute”
PS51399: ‘holy shit. are we doing this?’
RED892: “I gotta run it by my dad. But yeah, we are.”
PS51399: ‘your dad? wait how old are you?’
RED892: “26. But I am living with dad for now. I just moved here for my job and haven’t looked for a place yet.”
PS51
399: ‘you think he’ll be okay with it?’
RED892: “as long as you give him all your details so he can track you down.”
PS51399: ‘in case he needs to report me to the police?’
RED892: “Nope, no police. He will track you down himself, and the police will never find the body. He has mad skills.”
PS51399: ‘oh….’ Appeared after a few long seconds.
RED892: “lmao”
RED892: “Don’t worry, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
PS51399: ‘ok, if you say so.’
RED892: “yeah, pretty crazy that two people who met two days ago, formally an hour ago, are going to chase a crazy dream all the way across the country.”
PS51399: ‘very crazy. LOL’
RED892: “I’m booked on the 9pm flight tomorrow, arriving Monday morning at 4:30 Ohio time.”
PS51399: ‘i will be there to pick you up’
Chapter 6
The plane arrived 20 minutes later than scheduled. The passengers deplaned as Silas waited by the baggage claim area, watching the mass of tired people from the overnight flight disburse toward other gates and exits. He looked for one face in particular. The face that had started the adventure.
Silas had not predicted how her appearance in person would affect him. His face was hot, and his stomach felt like butterflies were having a full-on dance party inside. If they hadn’t planned to drive to Virginia right away, he almost felt like he would bolt and pretend none of this ever happened.
“Hello,” Evie said. And she smiled at the almost complete stranger.
“H—” he tried to say, feeling a lump in his throat. It came out more as a croak. “Hello,” he managed to vocalize. “Nice to meet you. I admit I’m pretty nervous. I don’t know . . .” he realized he was stammering and rambling, and stopped talking.
“I feel the same way,” Evie said, seeing his obvious nervousness. “It’s so bizarre that we’re doing this.”
Silas reached for her bag to take it to car, at the same moment Evie also picked it up, their hands touching for a second. Silas’ tug on the handle pulled her forward slightly, along with the bag. She relinquished her hold on the bag and grabbed his arm to steady herself. After grabbing his arm and regaining her balance, she didn’t let go, but instead continued to hold it gently. She wasn’t exactly sure what made her do it, but it seemed like a comfortable thing to do at the moment.
Silas felt her arm lock with his, and all his butterflies disappeared. The pair walked to his waiting car and he placed her bag into the trunk.
“Oh, shit! I forgot to ask if you needed the restroom or anything before we start driving.”
“I’m fine,” Evie said with a small laugh. “I thought something bad happened.”
“Like I said, I’m nervous.” Silas closed the trunk and unlocked the car doors. “This type of thing doesn’t regularly happen to me. Or to anyone I guess.”
“True. I’m nervous too,” Evie said. “But you seem normal enough.”
Their mutual laugh echoed in the concrete car park. Silas opened her car door, and she responded with a lady-like small bow, and took her seat in the passenger side.
“Did you want to drive?” Silas asked, feeling his face warm anew as he settled in the driver’s seat.
“Just be yourself. And, no. I’m fine for now.”
“That’s the exact thing my friends told me to not do!” He laughed as the car started and he checked for traffic.
“Maybe you need new friends. I think you’re doing fine.”
“I feel like I am double-thinking everything I’m doing. I don’t usually do that.” He snapped his phone into a holder on the dash, and opened the GPS app. “I have no idea where I’m going.”
“Neither do I,” Evie said, watching the app display the route, then smiled at Silas. “So I guess we’re up for an adventure.”
The car left the airport frontage road and was soon on the Interstate. “Set the temp and fan to whatever you need. And the radio if you want,” Silas said, settling into the very early light freeway traffic.
“Actually, if you don’t mind, I think I will just sleep for a bit.”
“Oh, I should have thought of that too! You must be tired from the red-eye flight.”
“Yeah, I am a little tired. Wake me if you need anything.” Evie shifted around until she was more comfortable in the passenger seat. Then she closed her eyes.
The first three hours of the trip passed without trouble. Around eight thirty the traffic started to back up on the filling interstate.
“Monday morning rush hour?” Evie asked, waking to the stop and go traffic and the small roar of the car noises.
“I guess so. Even West Virginia must have rush hour. Couldn’t say for sure.”
“Where are we?”
“South West Virginia,”
“I thought we were going to central Virginia?” Evie asked, with a laugh.
“Funny. After this we should be headed through the mountains and the traffic should be lighter, I think.” Silas nodded toward the GPS routing directions. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really. I could wait for lunch until we get to Virginia,” Evie said, staring out the window at all the traffic.
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Silas said. “I like to get a good start and then slow down toward the end.”
“That’s how my dad always traveled too. He never wanted to stop until we got where we were going.”
“Did you travel a lot?” Silas asked. “Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer, I’m just trying to make conversation.”
“Don’t worry about it. I think we should probably get to know each other,” Evie said, with a reassuring pat on his arm. “I guess we traveled a lot, up until I went to college. Each summer we would travel to someplace in California, and that can be a long, long trip sometimes. We like to camp, but not necessarily rough it—if you know what I mean.”
“I get it. I used to spend my teen years doing campground build and repair, cabin types. It wasn’t out in the middle of nowhere usually, with cabins, but sometimes we ended up in tents and not cabins.” Silas felt his face warm again, making Evie laugh a little. “That is what gave me my interest in construction. Making things out of raw materials that will withstand the storms.”
“Nice. Traveling didn’t really inspire me to do anything. I went to college and got into computers and data research.”
“Wow,” Silas said, giving Evie a low whistle. “I had no idea what you did.”
She nodded. “I enter data from research and run computer simulations and analysis on the data.”
“Do you do the research?”
“Usually not. I just enter the data for now. I am working towards running my own research and analysis someday, but for now I am just learning the ropes.” Evie looked out the passenger window for a few seconds.
“What is your degree in?”
“I majored in computer information systems, and minored in stats—statistics,” Evie said. “But have been learning different design aspects, so I can start to learn the research.”
“So you program and stuff? I don’t understand any of that lingo.”
“In a way. I am not a coder—like most people would call it, but I program what I need to. That is one of my goals. I want to try programming some artificial intelligence systems at some point. But I am just beginning to learn about it, and have a long way to go.”
“That’s totally amazing. I just know how to hammer things.” He laughed at the contrast, and Evie laughed with him.
“You look it,” Evie said, and Silas immediately felt his face grow hot. “That’s not what I meant,” she added quickly. “I mean that you look very muscular from . . .” Evie started and just stopped talking, looking out the passenger window to keep from looking at Silas.
“Thanks.” He had no idea how to answer.
“Sure is pretty up here.” Silas nodded slightly toward the mountain pass.
“Yes it is,” Evie said. “And I’m sorry. It’s just that I feel like I already know you.”
“I have the same feeling. It’s—hard to stop myself from talking to you like an old friend. But then I feel that talking like old friends would be considered quite aggressive.”
“I have the same feeling,” Evie said, now it was her turn to blush. “I don’t know what we will end up like, but I think we have to get past this initial awkward phase first.”
“Seems like that is the case. It felt nice when you took my arm at the airport. Felt like an old friend moment.”
“I don’t know what made me do it either,” Evie said, “but it felt comforting . . .”
Evie’s phone rang, stopping the conversation. “Oh, hi Dad. Yep, we are still on the road.” Pause. “Sounds like the car is doing fine, handling the mountain roads like a champ.” Pause. “We decided to get lunch in Virginia. No, he isn’t forcing me to starve.” Pause. “Dad, it isn’t that at all. It is quite pleasant.” Pause. “Yes, he opened the door.” Another short pause as Evie looked over at Silas. “I think I could take him,” Evie said, giving Silas a big smile. “Yes, we have that all figured out so far.” Pause. “Tell everyone not to worry, I’m safe, and feel very safe with him.” Pause. “Dad? Dad? Must be the mountains, I’m losing receptions. I’ll call you from the hotel.” Pause. “From the hotel. Okay, Dad, love you. Bye.”
“Sorry about that,” Evie said, her face turning red. “Dad checking in.”
“You think you could take me?” Silas raised his eyebrows.
Evie laughed. “I’d certainly give it my best. Might be some genetics involved.”
“Well, thankfully we shouldn’t ever have to find out. And you have a nice laugh.”
“So do you,” Evie said. Then, to distract herself, she started looking for places to eat as the reception faded in and out. “Here is a neat looking mom and pop diner. I bet we’d get the full West Virginia/Virginia dining experience.”
“Sounds like a plan. Find a place you like and put it in the GPS.”