by Steve Voake
Cal was still trying to work out what he meant when Eden leapt across the room, grabbed the shotgun from the table and pointed it at Jefferson’s head.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘Give me the keys to the van.’
Cal looked at her incredulously.
‘Eden, what are you doing? You can’t even drive.’
‘Oh yeah? Just watch me.’
‘Don’t be a fool,’ said Jefferson, holding out his hand. ‘Give it to me.’
‘Oh, I’ll give it to you all right,’ said Eden, holding the shotgun level and backing towards the door. ‘Come any closer and I’ll give you both barrels.’
Jefferson didn’t seem to hear her. Or if he did, he didn’t take any notice. Tight-lipped with anger, he strode across the floor and closed his hand around the end of the gun.
‘Now what are you going to do?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to kill me? Or are you going to stop this nonsense so that everyone can go home?’
Cal saw the hesitation in Eden’s eyes and knew that Jefferson saw it too. When he pulled on the end of the gun, there was no resistance; Eden loosened her grip and he took the weapon and placed it on the table.
‘You don’t have to hate me, you know,’ he said.
Eden narrowed her eyes, concentrating all her emotions into a single stare.
‘I don’t have to like you either,’ she said.
Jefferson’s lip quivered momentarily and it made Cal think of a small boy standing alone in a playground, waiting to join in the others’ games.
But then Jefferson’s anger returned.
‘We can do this easy,’ he said, ‘or we can do it hard. Either way, it’s going to get done. So what do you say?’
‘I say we do it easy,’ said Cal quickly, before Eden could start another argument. ‘Why don’t you go and lie down, get yourself comfortable? Then when you’re ready, we’ll see about finding your dog.’
‘Is that a promise?’ asked Jefferson suspiciously. ‘Do you give me your word?’
Cal nodded.
‘I promise,’ he said.
When he heard this, Jefferson seemed to calm down a little. He walked across to the kitchen cupboard and took out a mug and a bottle of whisky.
‘I don’t want your friend in there,’ he said, half-filling the mug with whisky and taking a mouthful. ‘She’ll ruin it. Same as she probably ruins everything. I knew I shoulda left her back there in the woods.’
‘Whatever you want, OK?’ said Cal as Eden sat on the sofa and folded her arms, refusing to look at them. ‘Whatever you want.’
Outside, the sun was setting and a pale moon rose above the trees.
Jefferson lit the oil lamp and placed it on the table. Then he walked towards the bedroom with the whisky in one hand and the mug in the other. He stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at Eden. ‘You upset me, you know that? How am I going to find my dog with all that bad energy running around in my head?’
‘Maybe you should have thought of that before you drugged me and threw me in your van,’ said Eden.
Jefferson took a slug of whisky straight from the bottle and shook his head.
‘Just keep her away from me, OK?’ he said. Then he walked into the bedroom and closed the door.
‘What are you doing?’ hissed Cal.
Eden turned to look at him, her green eyes sparkling with anger.
‘What am I doing? What are you doing, more like.’
‘I’m trying to get us out of here without anyone getting killed.’ He looked at the gun on the table. ‘And I mean anyone.’
‘I should have done it,’ said Eden. ‘I should have pulled the damn trigger.’
‘Yeah, because you so would,’ said Cal.
‘How do you know I wouldn’t?’
‘Because you’re a good person,’ Cal replied. ‘And good people don’t kill other people.’
‘Maybe they do if they have to.’ Eden walked over to the table and picked up the shotgun.
‘Don’t, I mean it,’ warned Cal. ‘Let’s just do what we have to do and get out of here.’
‘My thoughts exactly,’ said Eden. She turned the shotgun over in her hands and Cal guessed she must have handled one before on her dad’s farm. Holding the barrels in one hand and the stock in the other, she put it over her knee and broke it open.
‘Well I’ll be,’ she said.
She turned the gun around to show Cal.
‘It was never loaded,’ she said. ‘The chambers are empty.’
‘That’s what I was trying to tell you. He doesn’t want to hurt us, Eden. He just wants us to help him. And when we’ve done that, we can go home.’
‘You really believe that, don’t you?’
‘Yeah. What’s wrong with that?’
‘You’re a fool, Cal. Don’t you see? There’s no way he’s going to let us go after this. He knows if he does then the authorities are going to find him and lock him up for a long, long time. You really think he’s going to let that happen?’
Cal shrugged.
‘Maybe we don’t have to tell anyone.’
‘What? And let that freak do the same thing to some other poor kids? I don’t think so.’
‘He gave me his word,’ said Cal. ‘And I gave him mine.’
‘Yeah, well you’ll excuse me if I don’t share your faith in human nature.’
Eden glanced at the door and then lowered her voice.
‘While he’s busy drinking himself to sleep in there, I’m going to get busy finding the keys to his van. And when I do, I’m out of here. Now are you with me, or are you going to stay here and play let’s pretend? Cos I’m telling you, Cal, when he finally realises this whole thing is just a product of his warped imagination, he’s going to flip.’
‘I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s like that.’
‘You’ve got to stop kidding yourself, Cal. You saw how crazy he got when he heard me talking about him.’
‘That’s because you called him a freak. And he isn’t a freak. He’s just trying to get back something he lost.’
‘OK, Cal, you know what? I can’t deal with this. Either you come with me now, or I’m going to have to go without you.’
Cal shrugged.
‘You do what you want. But I think you’re making a big mistake.’
‘No, Cal, you’re the one making the mistake.’ As Cal turned towards the bedroom, she tried one last time.
‘Please, Cal. Don’t do it. Come with me.’
‘I can’t,’ said Cal. ‘Like I said. I gave him my word.’
Then he went into the room and closed the door behind him.
Eighteen
The room was dark, lit only by the faint glow from the computer screen. Jefferson was lying on his side, clutching the empty whisky bottle to his chest. When he saw Cal, he leaned over and placed the bottle on the floor.
‘I’m ready,’ he said. He looked past Cal towards the open door. ‘Where’s your friend? Planning new ways to mess things up?’
Cal shook his head.
‘She doesn’t want to get involved.’
‘Good,’ said Jefferson, fastening the metal discs to the side of his head.
‘You remember what to do?’
‘I think so,’ said Cal. He stood beside the monitor and watched a snowstorm of static fizz across the screen. ‘I’m not getting any pictures.’
‘That’s because it’s not tuned into conscious thought,’ said Jefferson, settling back onto the pillow. ‘Nothing will happen until I reach the second phase of sleep. That’s when you’ll start getting images. And when you see my dog, I want you to move in and grab her.’
‘With the cursor?’
‘Same as I showed you before. Isolate her, cut her out and the machine will do the rest.’
‘You might not even dream about her, though.’
‘Believe me, I will. She’s all I ever dream about.’
From his top pocket Jefferson took out the photograph he’d shown Cal earlier and held it between the tips
of his fingers.
‘Take it. Remind yourself what she looks like.’
Cal took the photograph and studied it closely.
‘She was a nice-looking dog,’ he said.
Jefferson nodded.
‘Best friend I ever had.’
Cal stared at the walls of the cabin that Jefferson had built miles from anywhere and wondered if she was the only friend he ever had.
‘I’ll hang on to this, shall I?’ he asked. ‘Just to make sure.’
‘Yeah. You do that.’
As Jefferson sank deeper into his pillow, Cal put the photograph next to the monitor and wondered if Eden had found the van keys. If she had, he hoped Jefferson wouldn’t hear her start the engine. He was determined to do this now, determined to help Jefferson find what he was searching for, no matter what Eden or anyone else might think. Naturally, he was curious, but more than that, it felt like he would be doing a good thing, and Cal couldn’t remember the last time he had felt that way about anything.
‘You’re a good kid,’ Jefferson murmured as he closed his eyes. ‘You know that, don’t you?’
The monitor was flickering, reds and greens bleeding from the edges and mixing together in the centre of the screen. Cal looked up and saw that Jefferson’s hands were folded across his chest, like a knight lying in state. His breathing was deeper now, eyelids twitching as his eyes followed the dreams that emerged from the shadows of his mind.
The colours on the screen were starting to blend, solidifying into the reds and browns of autumn leaves. As they floated from the trees, adding to those already carpeting the forest floor, Cal saw, through a gap in the branches, a path leading down to a lake. He glanced across at Jefferson, astonished to think that he was witnessing the scene unfolding inside his head. Turning his attention back to the screen, he saw that something was waiting by the water’s edge. The picture began moving rapidly towards it, as if the person in the dream had started to run.
The colours were glowing, so sharp and bright that Cal felt almost as if he was having the dream himself. His heart beat faster as he realised that the image beside the lake was that of a dog.
Tansy.
As the image came closer, Cal used the mouse to position the cursor in the centre of it. He was about to click on the mouse when he noticed something moving in the left of the picture.
It was a red-haired girl, waving her arms about and shouting, and as Cal realised that the girl looked very much like Eden, the dog bared its teeth and snarled. Then Cal clicked the mouse and the image froze, captured in mid-snarl by a red outline. The word ENLARGE? appeared on the screen and Cal clicked the YES option, then CUT & SAVE and the image of the lake returned to the screen. Only this time there was no sign of the dog.
In the corner of the room, Jefferson began to whimper softly.
‘Cal,’ hissed a voice behind him. ‘Cal!’
Cal turned to see Eden standing in the doorway, silhouetted in the light from the living room.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked. ‘I thought you’d gone.’
Eden held up a set of keys and dangled them from side to side. ‘I found these in the kitchen drawer. They don’t open the van, but maybe there’s another one somewhere. Want to help me look?’
Cal saw that they were the keys Jefferson had used to open the door of the building across the clearing.
‘I know what they’re for,’ he said, switching off the monitor. Jefferson turned to face the wall, but Cal could see from the slow rise and fall of his shoulders that he was still asleep. ‘Come on.’
‘Wait,’ said Eden, ‘I’m taking the gun.’
‘It’s not loaded, remember?’
‘Doesn’t mean he can’t load it when he wakes up.’ Eden picked the shotgun up off the table and followed Cal across the living room to the back door.
‘Where are we going?’
‘I need to check on something,’ said Cal. ‘I need to make sure I did it right.’
He stepped outside and smelled the heavy fragrance of pine needles in the warm night air. The trees were silhouetted against a sky full of stars.
‘It’ll only take a minute. If everything’s OK, I’ll have kept my side of the bargain and Jefferson will have to take us home.’
‘You really believe in this whole dream thing, don’t you?’
‘Yeah. I guess I do.’
Eden rested the shotgun barrels in the dirt and stared at him. ‘OK. But if it hasn’t worked, will you come with me?’
‘It will work, Eden. I’ve seen it.’
‘But if it doesn’t?’
Cal remembered Jefferson’s anger when Eden had called him crazy. He thought of the image of her in his dream and the vicious snarl of the dog.
‘If it doesn’t, then I’ll come,’ he said.
Nineteen
When they reached the building, Cal sorted through the keys until he found the one Jefferson had used to open the door. The metal was rusted, small flakes of silver lifting along the length of the stem.
As Cal turned the key, Eden put a hand on his arm.
‘Listen,’ she said.
Cal heard a whisper like the wind in the trees.
‘It’s nothing,’ he said. ‘It’s only the wind.’
But as he stepped into the corridor the sound became more insistent and for a moment he thought he heard someone speak his name. Then the sound stopped and he turned to see Eden waiting at the doorway, still listening.
‘It came from down there,’ she said. ‘I’m sure of it.’
‘Can you hear it now?’
Eden stepped into the corridor and shook her head.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t hear anything now.’
They walked down the corridor a little way until they came to the first room, the room where Jefferson had shown Cal the teddy bear.
‘OK, this is the place,’ said Cal, searching for the key.
‘What place?’
‘The place where the objects materialise.’
‘Oh yeah, right. Of course.’
Eden glanced back the way they had come as if she had already decided that this was going to be a waste of time. But as Cal pushed the door open and fumbled for the light switch, he heard the unmistakable sound of a dog growling.
As the bare thirty-watt bulb glowed dull orange he saw the dog crouching in the middle of the cage with its hackles raised.
‘Hey there, Tansy,’ he said. ‘Good dog. Everything’s going to be all right.’
But as he approached the cage, the dog’s ears flattened against its head and it launched itself at the bars, barking and snapping its jaws together.
Cal jumped backwards and Eden pulled him out into the corridor, slamming the door shut.
‘What have I done?’ he whispered.
‘I don’t know,’ said Eden, clearly shocked by what she had just seen. ‘What have you done?’
‘I think I got it too early,’ said Cal. ‘I clicked on it when it was mad at you or something, and now it just seems crazy.’
‘What do you mean, mad at me?’ asked Eden. ‘I’ve never seen it before in my life.’
‘I know, but you were there in Jefferson’s dream. I saw you. Maybe it’s because you had that argument or something. But you came and scared the dog and now I’m worried it’s not the dog he was hoping for.’
‘Is all this really true?’ asked Eden, running her hand through her hair. ‘With the dog and my teddy bear and everything?’
‘Take a look in there if you don’t believe me,’ said Cal. ‘There’s nothing made up about that dog, I can tell you.’
Eden leaned against the door frame and although she was in shadow, there was enough moonlight for Cal to see that she was afraid.
‘This is crazy,’ she said. ‘Insane.’
‘I know,’ said Cal. ‘I tried to tell you.’
Although the door was closed, Cal could hear the muffled barks and the clanking of the cage as the dog continued to throw itself against the ba
rs.
‘We have to go before Jefferson wakes up,’ said Eden. ‘When he finds out what’s happened to his dog, he’ll go nuts.’
‘But how? You said you couldn’t find the keys.’
‘Maybe he’s got them in his pocket or something. How was he when you left him?’
Cal shrugged. ‘He was pretty much out of it.’ He looked at Eden doubtfully. ‘Since when have you been able to drive?’
‘Dad lets me drive his truck around the farm sometimes.’
‘Have you ever driven on the road?’
‘No, but how hard can it be? You turn the wheel when you want to go round corners and hit the brakes when you don’t. It’s no big deal.’
‘So you’re saying we just take his keys and drive out of here?’
‘Yes, Cal. That’s exactly what I’m saying.’
‘But what about Jefferson?’
‘What about him?’
‘He’ll be left miles from anywhere without any transport.’
‘Yeah, well you can worry about that if you want to. I’m more worried about what he’s gonna do when he wakes up and finds out you’ve turned his favourite dog into a psycho. Now are we going to do this, or what?’
Cal leaned his head back against the wall and sighed.
‘OK, let’s do it.’
He was about to step out through the door when he heard the whispering again. It was louder now, more insistent. And then came the words, soft but unmistakable:
Help me.
Let me out.
‘Cal,’ said Eden, her voice trembling. ‘I think there’s someone down there.’
Twenty
As they crept down the corridor they passed two locked doors and Cal began to wonder if he had been wrong about Jefferson. Were there others who had believed his promises, only to find themselves locked away? The faint light from the entrance to the building was some way behind them now and as they reached the end of the corridor it was almost impossible to see.
‘Are you still there?’ whispered Eden as he slid his shoulder along the wall, feeling for a doorway.
‘I’m here,’ he said, touching her arm for reassurance.
‘There’s another door here,’ whispered Eden. He heard the rattle of metal as she tried the handle. ‘I think it’s locked.’
Cal pressed his ear against the cold steel and listened.
I know you’re out there, whispered a voice. I can hear you breathing.