The Pull (The Emanation Saga Book 1)

by R. J. Lloyd

  Finally, her breath hitched, ragged, and she shifted her gaze down. “How?”

  Realization dawned on him, and he leaned back, looking for the wound. But there was none. The knife fell from her hand, hitting the ground without even a speck of blood on it. And only a small hole resided in her shirt where the blade had been.

  He ripped open her shirt. “You’re fine? You’re fine! Holy crap. Thank God! You’re fine.”

  “But how?” she repeated softly.

  “I don’t care how.” He grabbed her shoulders. “Don't you ever do that to me again.”

  “But, Ian. I don’t understand.”

  He picked the knife up and threw it far away from them. “It's crazy, sure. All of this is crazy. And if this is some insane dream one of us is having, whatever. But what if it’s not? I can only go on what I'm seeing, and as crazy as it may be, we are not normal. And Maybe we’re dead. I don't know if we’re ghosts some cracked out scientists have experimented on or living people with special powers. I just know there’s something more going on here than we ever bargained for.”

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  He looked around. “We need to read those files. But we also need to figure out why you were able to get hurt earlier and not now. Do you feel any different?”

  She thought for a moment. “No. I mean, not other than that, I feel like I’m falling apart mentally. I think it has to do with what I said earlier. I think once I stopped actively remembering us as Brendan and Connie, I went back to not being able to be hurt. Maybe?” She sat up and held her head. “I don’t know! None of this makes any sense.”

  “Okay.” He searched for the wound from earlier. It was gone. “You're healed.”

  She scanned where she’d been injured earlier. “But…”

  “That’s it!” He jumped to his feet. “When we’re allowing those memories to be a part of us, we become them. But as long as we are us, Ian and Eva us, we are… immortal.”

  “Immortal? No. No. That can’t be true. None of this can be true.” She struggled to bring them back, the fog creeping into her vision as she did. Longing to be Connie and Brendan again.

  “No! Eva!” Ian fell back down on his knees and shook her. “Don’t try to remember. You can’t remember.”

  She blinked. “Why not? I just want to go back to… to…”

  “I think they were right. I think when you remember, it affects us.” He sat on the ground. “Don’t you see? Each time one of us have had memories, there’s been an incident where someone wasn't able to see us. And after you talked about your memories, you were able to get hurt. What if…”

  “What if remembering who we were before they killed us can kill us now?” She slumped down across from him. “What if we can die all over again? But if we give up who we really are, we can live for who knows how long? Maybe forever?”

  “Yes!” He tilted his head to look at her.

  “Doesn’t that sound insane to you?”

  It only took the look in her eyes, and he knew she was empty. All of her coping abilities were fried.

  He smoothed back her disheveled hair. “Yes. It does. I can’t tell you anything for sure right now other than I love you, and I’m going to get you somewhere safe where you can rest.”

  As her sobs returned, he lifted her from the ground and carried her to the car, dusting off her clothes and buckling her in. He brought a blanket out of the trunk and covered her, making sure her door was shut secure and locked. He pulled back out onto the road, not sure what direction to drive in.

  He held her hand as she stared out the window. It wasn't long before she was asleep. Ian kept driving, crossing the state border at some point, completely unsure as to where he was going. He hadn't even paid attention to how many hours they had driven, let alone any signs when he pulled off the expressway again, seeing a motel off the exit.

  Ian carried Eva into the room after checking in and laid her on the bed. She barely stirred as he set her down and hadn’t responded at all as he came in and out with their bags.

  He took the opportunity to run out for food, leaving a cell phone and note on the nightstand for her in case she woke.

  When he returned, she was in the bed, but he could see she’d showered, and there were two empty granola bar wrappers on the stand next to the phone and a half empty bottle of water. Relieved she had at least eaten, he sat on the edge of the bed and ran his hand down her arm. “Eva. I’m back. I brought you some warm food.”

  She murmured back.

  He kissed her forehead. “When you’re ready.”

  Slowly, Eva came out from under the covers and off the bed. Her feet shuffled across the matted carpet as she made her way to the round table by the window and sat. All the enthusiasm and curiosity Ian was used to seeing in her was gone. Just as he’d seen in her eyes back in the field, the emptiness had spread over her entirely.

  She opened the to-go container and unwrapped a set of plastic silverware. All her movements were slow and sluggish. It was painful for Ian to watch her like that, but he was scared that if he tried to help, she would see it as an insult or an intrusion. He tried to be satisfied that she ate anything at all as he flashed her a smile the few times she looked up at him.

  She ate less than half of her meal, drank down the rest of her water and went back to the bed without saying anything. With the covers pulled up to her chin, she quickly fell right back to sleep. Ian finished his food and put her leftovers in the mini fridge.

  Once again, he kissed her forehead on his way back to the table. He picked the box of files up off the floor and set them down on the table in front of him. The top one was his own. In bold, block letters on the file tab was his name.

  IAN FULLER – BRENDAN OWENS

  He flipped up the folder and looked at the second one.

  EVA THOMAS – CONNIE FRASER-OWENS

  Quickly, he flipped through the rest of the files. Each one had two names on the tabs. All except for the last one. It was a title.

  THOMAS-FINNIGAN LABS

  He yanked the folder out of its place at the bottom of the stack and laid it out on the table in front of him, setting the box on the floor by his feet. Opening the file, he scanned the first few pages and realized it was not only the basics of the company but the legal holdings information as well as outlines of some of the experiments.

  He dove into the paperwork, reading everything thoroughly. After he was done with the company’s documents, he went through each of the files for the other people, learning he and Eva were not the only people they'd managed to fully materialize. They were, however, the only two who were transplanted into society. It appeared all the others were kept in the facility and under constant testing. Various reasons were listed as to why, mostly just to keep experimenting on them. All he could really derive was that the society implementation was just another experiment and done only on Eva and himself.

  Eva was still asleep when he finished the last file, tucking it back in the box. He lifted their folders and looked at them a moment. Setting them back on the table, he turned to her, sleeping soundly in the bed only a few feet away. He had no clue what he would find between the covers of either folder. Some of the experiments they were subjected to? Information about their lives before their deaths? Evidence Eva and Mitchell had actually been closer than he would ever want to hear about? No matter what was in there, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know any of it. In that moment, all Ian wanted was to hold Eva and repair the damage… all of it. To fix what was broken so she could smile again.

  Quietly, he tucked the files with their names on them at the bottom, slid the box into the back of the closet and made sure the motel door was shut and locked securely. Then, he took off his shoes and climbed into bed with her. Wrapping his arms around her, she nuzzled back against him and entwined her fingers with his. He lay there holding her, trying to slow his mind enough to drift off.

  Ian woke and stretched. He tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes enough to loo
k at the alarm clock on the night stand to see the time. He felt exhaustion through every inch of his body. As he rolled over, he realized Eva was not in the bed any longer.

  “Good morning.” She sounded much more rested.

  His vision finally cleared, and he chuckled. “Is it eleven in the morning, or at night?”

  She peeked out through the curtain. “I’d guess morning, since it’s bright out.”

  “You had to look?” He laughed.

  She grinned. “Yeah. I still don't even know what day it is.”

  Seeing her smile made him feel a lot better. He got out of the bed, picked up the burner phone and checked the date. “You were only out for a day. Don't worry.”

  “Whew.” She smiled again. “Sorry about that.”

  “Sorry? For what?” He started a cup of coffee in the single cup pot on the counter.

  She crossed the room to him. “For losing it like that. For breaking down. For basically going to sleep and shutting the world out, leaving you to deal with everything on your own, including me.”

  He set his cup down and put his hands on her hips. “You needed to retreat. I get it. There is nothing to feel sorry for. I’m just sorry I couldn’t help you.”

  She curled up against his chest. “I love you.”

  He put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. “I love you, too. I don’t care what we are. I just want to put all of this behind us and be together finally. Not in a dream world, but in this world. Screw all the rest of it. Screw the past. We will figure things out as we go.”

  He pressed his lips to hers gently. Then, he lifted her off the ground and carried her over to the bed, kissing her with an eagerness as he lay down with her. The next couple hours passed as they worked out all their frustration, fears and even a little anger through more passion than either had ever experienced. Afterword, they both collapsed on the bare mattress, panting and covered in sweat and a lot less burdened than before.

  Eva looked up at Ian, a realization coming to her and reaching her eyes. She kissed him softly. “You’re right. We have us. We will figure this out. We have both rebuilt before, seemingly several times. I am stronger with you with me.”

  Twenty

  The Others

  Another night’s sleep, and Ian and Eva awoke to feeling like a month had passed them. Ian stretched. “I officially think there’s such a thing as sleeping too much.”

  She groaned in response and rolled over to the edge of the bed, pushing herself up. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please.” He flopped back against his pillow.

  After handing him a steaming mug, she took her hot cup of coffee and sat it down on the table. Making her way to the closet, she pulled the box of files out, taking a seat at the table and placing the box on her lap, hands resting on its lid. “So, did you find anything fun in here?”

  He jumped up, wrapping the sheet around his waist, and ran over, snatching the box from her lap. “Yes, actually. And I'm not going to tell you that you can’t read them. But I want to warn you about a couple things first.”

  She eyed the cardboard in his grip. “Warn me?”

  “Yes.” He slowly, cautiously handed the box back to her. “There are files on the history of the lab Marcus and Stanley have, as well as on them. There’s also a stack of files on what appears to be other people whose spirits they’ve acquired right out of death and materialized. So, we’re not the only ones.” He paused a moment as she took the box from him. “There’s also two files on the bottom… one for each of us.”

  Her head snapped up. “Us? What do they say?”

  He looked down. “I don't know. I couldn't bring myself to read them. If they’re right in this whole theory that when we remember, we become mortal, I’m not so sure I want to know.”

  She flipped through to the bottom of the stack and pulled out their files, staring at them like she was being forced to play Russian roulette. Things could go either way. A chill ran up her arms. A warning that whatever waited on those pages for her would change things forever, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know how.

  Taking Ian’s lead, she put them back in the bottom of the box and pulled out the rest.

  “Let me know if you need me.” He left her to read through them as he went for a shower.

  She was still scouring the pages when he came out, toweling himself off. They’d driven for so long and just tucked themselves into the room without worrying too much about their location or even supplies. So, he sat down on the bed and started a list of necessities to pick up as he pulled out his receipt for the room to see where they were.

  “De Berry, Texas,” he announced.

  “What?” She started opened another folder, pausing to look through the name tabs of the files. “De who?”

  “No, not in there. That’s where we are.” He held up the hotel slip. “It’s just over a half hour west of Shreveport, Louisiana.”

  “Isn’t that about thirteen hours from where we were?”

  He thought about it for a moment. “That sounds about right. Maybe a little more.”

  “And you drove all that way while I was passed out?”

  “Well, you had just stabbed yourself,” he half chuckled.

  She threw an empty water bottle at him.

  He laughed. “Hey! Careful!”

  “Careful? If a knife can’t hurt us, I doubt a water bottle will do much.”

  “Not me.” He pointed to the lamp next to him on the end table. “You don’t want to break something in the room.”

  Eva set the folders down on the table and walked over next to the bed. Bending down, she picked up a pillow with a smirk on her face. “Like this?”

  The case was torn along the seam, and the stuffing poured out of the opening. Ian examined it. “I’d tell you to be more careful again, but I have a feeling that was all me.”

  She let it drop. “Please, don't start being careful now.”

  Swiftly, Ian popped up onto his knees and pulled her into him. “I have no plans to.”

  “Good.” She smiled.

  He released her and climbed off the bed, pulling on his pants, tossing the list on the nightstand. Taking the seat by the window, he motioned toward the box. “You get through them all?”

  “No.” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “I can’t. It's too much to take in. All those poor people. I don’t understand.”

  “What I don't get is why Mitchell gave all of those to us.” Ian leaned forward, propping himself up on his knees. “I mean, what are we supposed to do with this?”

  She took her seat at the table. “I don’t know. Maybe to help us feel less alone?”

  “Less alone?” He scoffed. “It’s kinda hard not to feel at least a little alone when you find out you're dead.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” She couldn’t help but let that thought get to her. “Welp, what now?”

  “Now? I’ll go get us some food and maybe some clean clothes. Then, we make a plan,” he suggested.

  She pushed the box away from her. “What kind of plan?”

  “We can’t live out of hotels forever,” he said.

  “True,” she agreed. “And I'm pretty sure I’ve lost my job by now.”

  “Well, I own my company. Co-own to be technical. Maybe we can make our way back there. We can just settle down, chill out and figure out our next steps. And if we have to deal with Stanley or anything more, we can from there. Would you be interested in that? Making a life with me in Detroit?” Ian's eyes were full of hope.

  “Yes.” There was no hesitation in her voice. “Yes.”

  “Yes,” he whispered back. He exhaled with a smile. “Okay, I'm going to finish getting dressed and go. Since it’s after checkout time, we can stay and relax tonight then head out tomorrow morning. We can stop in Newport, Kentucky, and I can show you this really cool spaceship house and a few other things there.”

  She giggled. “Spaceship house?”

  He finished pulling on his shirt and kissed
her quickly. “Yup. You’ll see. We can shake off all of this and just have some fun. You need to have some fun.”

  After Ian left, Eva soaked in a tub. They’d done so much traveling, and there’d been such an urgency and a black cloud over them the entire time. The idea of going somewhere without all the heavy emotion and chaos was a welcome concept. Plus, to make the trip up to where he was from sounded fun. Even if it was to start over and leave her whole life behind.

  That thought brought Michelle to her mind. It sent a pain shooting through her as she realized Michelle would also be devastated by Marcus’s death and Eva’s subsequent choice to move across the country without notice. Eva wanted to call her best friend, but she didn't know what to say. Should she tell her everything? That Marcus wasn’t actually her father, and he was dead? Killed by the man Ian thought was his college professor and mentor? Or should she just tell her he had died in an accident, and in her grief, she was going to go stay with Ian?

  And what about all of her belongings? Should she just leave them? So much would be a reminder of a life that was a lie. But then again, it was her life for those years. And how do you just let go of that?

  The water had gone cold, and Eva had gotten out, dried off and slipped on Ian's t-shirt, her mind in a swirl again, when there was a knock on the door. Assuming Ian had forgotten his key or couldn’t get to it in his pocket, she opened the door.

  She stumbled back. “Mitchell? How did you find us?”

  “We’re connected, remember?” He smiled and reached out for a hug. “I'm sorry all that happened back there.”

  She took the hug a little reluctantly, feeling awkward about the fact he could track her like that. “Yeah. Thank you for helping us get out of there.”

  Mitchell walked past her and into the room. “Where’s Ian?”

  “He should be back any minute.” She glanced down the hallway, hoping to see him. When she didn’t, she went back in and closed the door. “He just went to get a few things from the store.”