by Simon Rose
There were numerous paper items on the kitchen counter and table. Some were flyers from a range of local companies and others were bills that either needed to be paid or had already been attended to and were waiting to be filed away. There was also a wooden bowl on the counter beside the fridge. The bowl contained a variety of keys but also a number of seemingly random items, such as pens, mismatched batteries, a phone charger, some coins, and Jeff’s mom’s bar-coded name badge from work. On the coffee table in front of the TV, Jeff’s mom’s laptop sat with the top still open. She’d probably neglected to close it the night before. Max smiled to himself. Jeff spent most of his indoor time in the basement where he and his friends played games, watched TV, and generally just hung out, yet the basement was always in better shape than the rest of the house.
Max heard footsteps approaching outside. He dropped the house key into the bowl on the kitchen counter just as Jeff and Jason entered through the kitchen door. Jeff was carrying several bags of chips while Jason had a plastic shopping bag containing two six-packs of pop.
“Hey, Max, nice of you to join us,” said Jeff.
“Yeah,” Jason added. “Did you have a late night or what?”
Jason was the bigger of the two, tall and willowy with very short blonde hair. Jeff had the same light brown hair as Max and a similar build but was stockier, like his father.
“Just sleeping in,” replied Max. “It’s the weekend, you know.”
“Did you put the key back?” Jeff asked.
Max nodded.
“It’s in the bowl with the others.”
“Well, it’s no good in there, is it,” said Jeff, grinning. “What happens the next time I’m locked out? Pass it here.”
Max reached into the bowl for the key and tossed it to Jeff, who caught the key and handed it to Jason.
“Here you go.”
Jason stepped outside to put the key back under the rock.
“Is your mom at your grandma’s again?” said Max.
“Yeah,” Jeff replied. “They’re doing a bit of shopping before the trip. Dad’s golfing, of course, even though he’ll be doing that for most of the time when we’re down there.”
“That’s right, I forgot about that. When are you going?”
“Wednesday. I forget what time the flight is to California.”
“Is your sister going?” asked Max.
“No, she’s only just gone back to university, so she can’t get away this time.”
“Are we playing these games or what?” said Jason, as he came back inside the house and closed the back door.
THEY ALL WENT downstairs to Jeff’s den in the basement, which was remarkably neat and tidy. At Max’s house they played video games in his bedroom, and Max never bothered to clean up or put anything away properly. In contrast, Jeff’s gaming area was if not spotless then almost perfectly organized. Jeff’s mom had always insisted that the basement be kept in good condition if Jeff wanted to keep using it with his friends. There were three TVs although they played games on the biggest one and rarely used the others. The basement’s main room had a couple of old couches and a well-worn armchair with a couple of springs sticking out the back. The walls were decorated with posters of bands or from video games and movies. Jeff’s dad’s spare set of golf clubs and an old foosball table stood against the wall in the corner next to the entrance of the basement’s storage area.
The lighting was always low because Jeff never bothered to turn on the main lights. Max thought that they were too bright anyway for a regular gaming environment and they were all used to the basement’s semi-gloom. Jeff’s games were all neatly stacked on one of the bookcases next to his dad’s treasured collection of fantasy, science fiction, and horror novels. There were also a few DVDs although Max and his friends usually watched movies online these days if they weren’t gaming.
Jason put the bags of chips and three cans of pop on the coffee table. They grabbed a can each and sat down with their game controllers, Jeff in the armchair and Max and Jason on either end of one of the couches.
“So, what’s this trip to California all about?” asked Jason, as they waited for the game to load. “School’s only just started.”
“It’s a family reunion that they usually have in the summer,” Jeff replied. “While my granddad was sick it got put off, but rather than wait until next year we thought we’d still do it while the weather’s still good. My mom thinks it might do my grandma good to get away too after my granddad died, see some familiar faces, that kind of thing.”
“How long are you gone?” asked Max.
“Less than a week,” Jeff replied. “Hey, it’s starting.”
“Time to kick your butts again, I guess,” said Jason, with a huge grin.
He’d beaten Max and Jeff just about every time at this particular game. Max was determined to alter that and win for a change but his heart wasn’t really in it that afternoon. His mind was elsewhere, thinking about everything that had happened. He’d played this game so many times that although he was shooting enemy soldiers, blowing up buildings, racing vehicles, and everything else that was involved in a simulated war experience, he couldn’t stop thinking about his mother. For the next few hours Max was just going through the motions with his friends and neither of them noticed anything unusual until Max suddenly felt as if he were somewhere else.
Max was standing on a train platform in the sunshine beside a small kiosk selling snacks and drinks. Beside him was a baby in a stroller and his father as a young man. His hair was thick and black, not the grey Max was familiar with in his own era. Max seemed to be seeing the scene at the station through his mother’s eyes this time. Max heard himself speak but bizarrely it wasn’t his voice.
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah, just a little hungry, I think,” his dad replied. “Let’s hope he can wait until we get home.”
Max leaned into the stroller and kissed the baby on the cheek.
“Okay. Just drive him up and down the platform a little. I’ll see if the train’s nearly here.”
Max walked toward the train tracks. He glanced over his shoulder and saw his dad turn the stroller and begin pushing it along the platform. Max stopped at the edge of the platform next to the entrance to an underpass. That section of the platform was empty. He leaned slightly over the edge of the platform and peered along the track. The train was coming. He was about to head back to his dad and the stroller when he felt someone push him from behind. He fell forward toward the path of the train, seeing someone darting into the shadows of the underpass before everything went black.
“MAX!” JASON YELLED.
“Huh?”
Max was surprised to find himself lying on his back on the basement carpet next to the couch.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What?”
“You can’t just stop playing like that without warning,” said Jason.
“Did you fall asleep?” Jeff added.
“Sorry,” said Max, trying to regain his composure, but he had no idea what had just happened. “I lost focus for a second.”
“Well, it’s too late now for that level,” said Jason, looking frustrated.
Max pushed himself up from the floor and sat back down on the couch.
“What happened, Max?” Jeff asked. “You just stopped playing and looked like you’d seen a ghost then you fell off the end of the couch.”
“It’s just a game, Max,” said Jason, laughing. “You afraid to lose to me again? I’m beginning to think that even my little sister could beat you at this one.”
Jeff didn’t join in the laughter and regarded Max more seriously with apparent concern. For a fleeting second Max wondered if Jeff remembered when he’d had the odd experience next to the Dexters’ gravesite at the cemetery in the summer. Max quickly dismissed the idea but knew that he still had to tell his friends something.
“Just a headache,” he said. “I’ve had it all morning. I thought I’d walk it off co
ming over here and that maybe the games might help, but I guess not.”
“Well, you can just sit this one out if you like,” Jeff suggested. “See how you feel in a bit?”
“Maybe I’ll just go home.”
“You sure?” asked Jeff.
“Yeah,” Max replied, standing up. “I think I’ll take something for my headache and have a lie down.”
“Good idea,” said Jason. “You don’t want to miss school tomorrow.”
Max smiled and they all laughed. Max hoped that his friends didn’t notice that he was faking it.
“I’ll text you later or see you at school in the morning,” said Jeff.
“Okay, I’ll see you both later,” Max replied, before walking over to the basement stairs.
“Take it easy,” added Jason, taking a drink from his can of pop as he and Jeff resumed the game.
MAX’S MIND WAS in utter turmoil as he hurried home. If he hadn’t experienced the visions of David Dexter and lived in his memories in the early summer Max would have been convinced that he was going crazy. Was his mother trying to contact him? Surely that had to be the answer. It couldn’t merely be the objects in the box that had somehow triggered all these odd experiences, some truly harrowing. And although he’d had the strange dream about some kind of prison, the incident at the train station seemed to be the dominant feature. Was his mom trying to send him some sort of clue regarding how she’d died?
Max shuddered. He didn’t like to consider the possibility but it seemed that his mom might have been pushed off the station platform. Could that even be true? And how could he be viewing the memories of someone that he didn’t even remember? Then again Max hadn’t known David either and he hadn’t even been a family member. Perhaps the familial link was helping his mom somehow in her efforts to reach out to him. David had given Max his memories but had also taken a more direct approach, trying to connect to him a few times before they met on the bus. Was Max’s mother also going to appear as a ghost at some point? And why was all this happening now? She’d been dead for over fourteen years and Max had never experienced anything like this before. Or had he?
He suddenly recalled the voice he’d heard when he’d been a prisoner at Kovac’s lab. Max remembered going down a tunnel filled with light, where a mysterious voice had told him that he had to go back because it wasn’t his time or something like that. He’d been convinced that it was his mother although it was only a feeling with nothing to back it up. He’d never heard his mother’s voice since he’d only been a baby when she died. Max shuddered again. The voice that he’d heard himself using in the most recent vision of the train station platform had been the same voice he’d heard at the lab. He had to learn more.
Chapter Four
Unlocking the Past
MAX NOTICED THAT his dad’s truck was parked outside the condo as he approached. He opened the front door and saw his dad standing in front of the stove in the kitchen, stirring something in a saucepan.
“Hey, Max,” said his dad, glancing over his shoulder. “I thought you were over at Jeff’s?”
“I was but we’re done now.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, fine. What are you making?”
“Just some pasta and chicken,” said his dad. “I was going to leave some for you in the fridge. I have to have an early dinner before I go to your grandma’s. She wants me to get the deck finished before the fall weather arrives. I bought some stuff for that project when I was at the hardware store. Are you hungry?”
“Sure, I just had chips at Jeff’s.”
“Okay, this is nearly ready. Put some plates and cutlery on the table, will you?”
Max took some plates and dishes from the kitchen cabinet, along with the salt and pepper, and placed them on the table. He grabbed some knives, forks, and serving spoons from the drawer, took them over to the table, and sat down on one of the chairs. His dad turned off the stove, served the pasta into a large dish, and carried it over to the table.
“I put all that stuff of your mom’s back in the box and left it up in your room on the desk,” he said, as he sat down. “I thought you might want to look at it in your own time. You can ask me any questions you want later.”
“Okay.”
As they began eating, Max wanted to ask questions right away. However, he knew that if he appeared anxious or agitated his dad might get worried. Max suspected that going through his mom’s belongings might have stirred old feelings for his dad, including his concerns about Max’s health. His dad might even have been worried that the box of items had unsettled him and that Max was bottling it all up.
“So, can I ask a question about my mom?” said Max.
“Sure, Max. I did get a little emotional yesterday but like I said to your grandma when I was taking her home, this has to be faced. I promised that I’d show you those things when you were fifteen, and I knew there’d be questions, so ask away. I’m ready.”
“Okay,” said Max, pausing before he continued. “Can you tell me how she died?”
His dad didn’t immediately respond, then put down his fork.
“Well, that’s certainly not the kind of question I was expecting.”
“I’m sorry if it’s upsetting, Dad.”
“No, you have a right to know.”
His dad paused before continuing.
“She apparently took her own life by jumping in front of a train. Based on her medical history, the police and the doctors weren’t too surprised, although obviously, we were all devastated.”
“Did you see her jump?”
His dad shook his head.
“No, Max, I didn’t. I was with you, pushing the stroller, and I’d turned away then heard people screaming. If only I’d been with her. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve gone over that day over the years. I mean, I could just have left you with one of the other passengers, just for a second, but it all happened too fast. Could I have saved her? I really don’t know, but it doesn’t stop me thinking about it.”
“So, you didn’t see her jump?”
“No, I simply wasn’t close enough to where she was standing.”
“So, she could have been pushed?” Max asked.
“I don’t think so,” replied his dad. “There were plenty of witnesses but no one said anything about anyone being really close to her. There was nothing that anyone could have done. I found out about everything later, from the police and the medical people. It’s what was in the newspaper report as well. Everyone said she was just walking on the platform, looked along the track, saw that the train was coming then fell into its path.”
“So, fell, not jumped?”
“Well, I don’t know, Max. Does it really matter?”
“I suppose not. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Is there anything else you’d like to know?”
“I don’t think so,” said Max. “I’m just curious. I think I’ll look through the box again and ask you any questions if I need to know anything.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” said Max, smiling.
For the remainder of the meal, they chatted about general topics, including Max’s first weeks at school. When they’d finished eating, Max helped his dad to clear the table and load the dishwasher.
“Okay, I’d better get over to your grandma’s,” said his dad. “You know what she’s like. She’ll be wondering where I am. We’ll pick this up later about your mom, if you like? I shouldn’t be too late.”
“Don’t worry about it, Dad. I might be in bed early anyway. I’ve got school tomorrow.”
“Well, if you say so. I’ll catch you later, okay?”
Max’s dad smiled as he grabbed his car keys from the kitchen counter.
“And please don’t worry about asking me any more questions about your mom,” he said, as he paused at the front door. “It’s a long time ago now and I’m really fine with all that, I promise.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
MAX WENT UP to his room, ignoring the clothes and pillows that lay on the floor where he’d left them earlier that day. He sat down at his desk, shoved the papers, binders, and folders to one side and turned on his new laptop. His grandmother had given it to him at the start of the school year as an early birthday present. Max gently ran his fingers across the top of the box containing his mother’s belongings. Despite what his dad had honestly told him about his mother’s last moments, Max was determined to learn more. He was experienced enough now with psychic phenomena to know that there was definitely something unusual about what he’d recently been viewing in his mind. An odd dream or some kind of vision was one thing, but repeated experiences of the same scene were very different. Max was not only convinced that it all meant something but also that he was meant to discover the truth. Even if his dad believed that his mom hadn’t been pushed off the platform, Max believed that he had evidence to the contrary, even if he could never tell anyone about it. As soon as the computer was ready he began his search. He thought that there must be something about his mother’s death online since it had possibly been a big news story at the time.
Max typed a few clues into the search box, including his mother’s name, the date of her death, and the name of the local newspaper. He soon found the appropriate news story archive and clicked on the link, although the story was very brief.
Tragedy at Local Train Station
A young mother died tragically on Saturday at the Oaktree Avenue Station. 25-year-old Marina Garrison reportedly took her own life by jumping onto the tracks as the westbound train approached the platform. Witnesses at the scene stated that there was no warning and no one noticed anything unusual about Mrs. Garrison’s actions prior to the train’s arrival. The Oaktree Avenue Station was closed for several hours following the incident. Mrs. Garrison had a history of depression and leaves a husband and a son aged eleven months.