by Dawn Brazil
“Chris, who is she?”
He tugged at my arm gently to propel me forward. I didn’t budge.
“She seems to know me…should I recognize her?” Just then, three huge men dressed in black emerged from thin air by the old woman’s side. They held long club-like black sticks with a red beam jutting out the end of each.
The old woman turned her attention away from me as they approached her. One of the men aimed the club at her head. A red beam flashed, spinning out from the club toward the old woman’s forehead. I gasped. Chris yanked me forward hard before I could see the impact the beam would have on the woman.
But I could imagine.
I shivered.
“Keep moving. Think hard about what just happened,” he whispered. “Why would that woman call you Chloe? No one here would call you that.” I turned to stare at him. What was he saying? He squeezed my hand a little tighter. “Anyone who recognized you would call you Amanda.” His words penetrated and my breath caught. Realization of who that was registered. The ENO.
“Oh no,” I said. “How could he find us here? What does that mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything, Chloe. Chill. That definitely wasn’t the ENO,” a feminine voice echoed in my head. I knew it wasn’t mine. My head popped up and I threw a look at Sam. It was her, it had to be. I shot her a huge grin and tried to pull away from Chris. But he held me tight around the waist.
“Stop that,” she barked in my head. “No emotion. Remember? But I’m totally stoked that you can hear me. I can’t wait to give you a huge hug once we’re alone.”
“Calm down, Sam,” Joseph said. He pulled her closer to him. She turned and buried her hand in his and didn’t look back at me.
In deep contrast to the exterior of the building, the platform loading and unloading area dramatically changed. The interior curved walls were covered in large metal steam vents and illuminated with flashes of bluish green bubble lights that sent jolts of color sporadically into the air. The dark tiled platform was full of people. But all that could be heard was the continual shuffle of feet as they hit the pavement below. Not even the distinct whimper of a child could be heard. How odd.
The rail car arrived, also suspended in the air. It had dark metal on the outside with green horizontal lines, much like the subway cars on Earth. The glass doors parted and we walked into the large metal car.
“Joseph’s very protective of Sam,” I thought in my head to Chris. “It’s endearing – they really love each other, don’t they?” I hadn’t considered the fact that I couldn’t hear him yet.
“They do,” he replied back in my head. As clearly as if he’d said it aloud to me. I jerked my head up, thrilled I could hear him, too. He squeezed my hand lightly. “I’m, as Sam would say, stoked that you can now hear me. But you have to remain calm. Oh, and just so you know, I think about you all the time. You’re my own personal addiction. So don’t get freaked if you hear your name in my thoughts a lot.”
I closed my eyes because I knew I’d grab him if I didn’t. “That’s so sweet.” What girl would get freaked by that? Was he serious?
“We’re here,” Chris announced.
I took a deep breath as I prepared to exit. What would I see this time?
More of the Twilight zone.
Chapter 17
In a moment, I’ll be face to face with the woman who gave me birth in this strange universe, I thought. Who will, or was, supposed to look identical to my Earth mother. But whom I suspected would be as different from her as I was from Raja. Now that I was already here, turning back wasn’t an option. I put one foot in front of the other, forcing myself to keep moving.
I didn’t say anything to anyone else. Not speaking seemed the appropriate action. At least until we arrived at our final destination. I feared I’d give us away with any emotion that alerted authorities to us. And it hadn’t been explained in detail how bad that could be, but based on those guys who showed up to quiet the old lady, I assumed it would be terrible. A shiver tore through me at the thought of what they might do to her.
Or what they’d already done to her.
I wasn’t an overly dramatic person. By nature, I was reserved, especially in the presence of people I didn’t know. But I was having a difficult time controlling my desire to talk and show emotion here. Hiding my emotions proved a perplexing task, though I often hid them purposely on Earth.
I wanted to gather the world in a giant hug and kiss everyone. What the hell’s the matter with me now? I wanted to sing, dance, and twirl around in the midday breeze. Not much of a breeze blew in under the walls of the subway station. But I still wanted to frolic in what little breeze entered. Stop, Chloe.
I recognized these things weren’t my normal characteristics but I assumed it was the excitement of being somewhere I shouldn’t be. Doing something I shouldn’t be doing. Wrapping my arms around Chris and kissing him until we floated again sprang to mind. Mmm. Wanting to kiss Chris wasn’t an entirely new desire, though.
My longings weren’t merely thoughts drifting in the wind any longer. They had taken flight and pulled me away from Chris in the opposite direction. I want to explore. He grabbed hold of my arm and led me with him and the others. “What’s the matter with you? Calm down,” he whispered beside me. “Are you okay?” He gazed at me as if he were a doctor examining me.
“I’m fine,” I said, not meeting his gaze. I did, however, see Sam shake her head to dispute my assertion. “Shut up, Sam.” I squinted my eyes and glared at her with the most evil stare I could muster.
“Calm down. At least until we get out of sight of other people,” Chris whispered. “I should have seen this coming.” I noticed he smirked in Sam’s direction.
When he focused his attention back on me, I’d placed the ends of my hair in my mouth and began to chew. “Shit. Stop that,” he ordered. He pulled my hair from my mouth and tucked it behind my ear. It kinda tasted good. Like some exotic fruit.
His hand had caressed my earlobe and now a flurry of butterflies attacked my belly. I stared at him longingly for a moment. It felt as if my heart would shatter into a thousand tiny pieces from the sensation of his skin touching mine. Enraptured in the moment also, he stared back with unabashed adoration, biting down on his bottom lip.
Raja shouted incoherent threats at Chris in his head until he snapped out of it. He spun around, caught hold of my hand and then pulled me along with him. She makes me sick. I could smack her right now for ruining my moment. But I was distracted by the growl of my stomach.
“I’m hungry. Can we get something to eat?” I shouted.
“As soon as we get where we’re going,” Raja said. But it wasn’t in her usual annoyed voice. I stole a glance around Chris and she looked back with a mischievous smirk. I quickly ducked my head back and pondered her strange demeanor. Why is she smiling?
No one spoke as we stepped off the train. They led me through a long hall that connected what appeared to be an older rail line with a newer line. Dreary gray walls lined the station here and offered no appealing view for my hungry eyes to feast upon.
Instead of concentrating on the lack of scenery before me, I watched the people who walked about with amazement. They had the exact mannerism of robots. With the exception of their appearance; they didn’t appear to be human at all. They had no emotion, like androids from a science fiction movie. It reminded me of the movie The Stepford Wives. All the people of Tierra reminded me of those women. Their husbands had wanted submissive, obedient wives, so they altered them to this androidian state of permanent submission. The women robots in the movie were mechanical in their behavior. I found it amusing – the idea of such a thing – though I didn’t think it was meant to be a comedy.
What I witnessed here, however, was not comical at all. These were real people, not actors. Dehumanized. How sad for them. My heart overflowed with grief for these afflicted people.
I eyed my hand engulfed by Chris’s. The sight of our hands entwined caused a jolt of elec
tricity to shoot from my hand to my heart. To reign in my thoughts and compress my feelings as much as I could, I bit my lower lip.
It didn’t work. What’s wrong with me?
We finally stepped out from under the cover of the subway station and my heart leapt at the beauty of Tierra. I sprinted forward, out of Chris’s grasp, and threw myself to the ground. Remembering the no emotion rule, I surveyed the area to find not one person from Tierra was near us. We were totally alone.
The others seemed to walk in slow motion to the spot that I’d flung myself to the ground. No matter. I peered from where I sat at the beauty that was Tierra.
Gone were the gray, gloomy colors in the station a moment ago. We had emerged to a tree-lined street with beautiful fully-grown maples that contained leaves of every shade imaginable. I inhaled deeply. In the air, the sweet aroma of pine, cinnamon, and cloves radiated. But the air possessed another element. Some other sweet-smelling perfume of some sort.
The newly fallen leaves sprang out at every corner my eyes took in and the pine trees expelled a wonderful scent that reeled of Christmas. The violet sun peeked through the trees, casting a perfect twilight shadow over the entire scene and creating a path to paradise. I kneeled on the ground, soaking in the beauty of this foreign place. A beauty far removed from my New York City, Upper West Side upbringing.
I gathered a handful of leaves from the ground and rubbed them softly across my face. Even the leaves were swathed in the strange perfume. Quite possibly this was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. I could barely contain the impulse to skip and run about the immaculately clean cobblestone street. I took another gulp of the air, savoring in the heavy fragrance.
Hands reached for me. They pulled me backwards with force. My feet and hands flailed , fighting to stay surrounded by the beauty of nature, but they continued to draw me back, away from the street with its splendor. I couldn’t fight them. It felt like I’d been dropped in a giant bowl of jello. My limbs moved with exaggerated slowness. They were much too strong. I relented.
Heavy tears stung my eyes. I’d hoped my tears would move them.
It didn’t.
They laughed at me. And as much as I didn’t want to take my eyes from the scene on the road, I had to look away. I had to stop them from stealing my beautiful moment. They stared at me. Their faces turned up mocking me. Laughing at me.
“What?” I yelled. “Why are you harassing me? I wanna look at the pretty flowers and trees. Nature is so wonderful.” I wrapped my arms around myself, ready to cry at the beauty that surrounded me. “I’ve never seen anything so pretty,” I explained through my tears.
“Look at yourself,” Raja said. She laughed and shook her head at me. She produced a mirror from her bag. They continued to laugh. I couldn’t fathom why. I snatched the mirror from her hand and glanced at my reflection.
My head was covered in red, gold, and brown leaves. They stuck to my face, with my tears and the sticky moisture in the air supplying the gluing power. I had put on mascara and my idiotic crying had caused it to smear. So I had two large black circles around my eyes and streaks of black ran down the length of my face. My hair, thrown about, resembled a perfectly coiffed haystack.
I looked like a psychotic, frightened raccoon.
Angry and ashamed, I glared at everyone. They managed to find the humor in this peculiar situation. Even Sam, who was supposed to be my friend, howled with laughter. A rage boiled inside me. Left with no choice, I did the only thing I could think. I broke the mirror. Shards of glass lay at their feet. I glanced up at them with indignation and promptly stuck my tongue out. Outnumbered by seven powerful supernatural beings, even in my angry state, I knew I couldn’t have fought them all.
“I don’t wanna go,” I announced in a stern voice. I sat cross-legged on the ground with my lip poked out. “I wanna go home.” There. That’ll teach them to laugh at me.
“No, you don’t,” Chris said. He bent and plucked me up easily from the ground, despite my attempt to fight him off. “Here, put this on. It’ll help.” I looked at what he handed me. It looked like a gas mask.
“Why in the world would I put that on?” I asked. I tossed the small, thin, black plastic mask back to him. “You on should put it. I no wanna mess me hair more.” I ran my hands through my hair to untangle it. It was useless. I gave up after a couple seconds with one large knot in the front. I stumbled to the side but grabbed Chris’s arm to steady myself.
“Chloe.” Chris grabbed me and pulled me closer. “Trust me, please. I need you to put this on right now.” He looked really serious. And handsome. Gosh he was so handsome. Sexy. His lips were perfectly smooth, plump. I reached up and ran my index finger across his full bottom lip. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath.
I pushed forward and tried to kiss him, forgetting about being upset. All I wanted was his lips on mine. I didn’t care if everyone else waited. They could wait.
“Chris, love you I do. You make me heart go pitter-patter all the time. I met anyone like you never before. Will you please be mine? Need you, please,” I pleaded.
Now all I needed was his lips on me. I wanted the electric current that passed through us every time he touched me. But he backed away with a hurt expression on his face. What had I done? No. Don’t walk away. Come back. But I didn’t say anything. What’s wrong with him? Sam walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder and said something that I couldn’t make out.
Chris walked back to me. But he kept his distance this time. He pulled the gas mask up and over my head with one quick motion. He grabbed my head from behind and held it in place. My hands flailed wildly, trying to get him to remove it. He didn’t. His hand was inches from my face, so I pushed forward – pulling the gas mask up enough to clamp my teeth onto his wrist. He jumped back but managed to grab hold of my hip and pull me back to him. His hands were back at my head in an instant pushing the mask back down. It was securely in place despite my feeble attempts to rip it off.
After another moment, I realized it was no use fighting him. I relaxed my muscles because they spasmed painfully. I allowed him to keep the stupid thing on me.
As soon as his hold on me relaxed, however, I took full advantage of the opportunity. I whirled around wildly. Set to return to the subway station and back to Earth and everything that was normal and familiar to me.
As soon as I spun around, it felt as if someone had knocked my legs from underneath me. I stumbled backwards. And I could see the periwinkle and blueberry of the sky overhead. I was falling. My body felt like a giant glob of Jell-o as I floated in the air. I tried to catch myself, to prevent the pain I knew would be unavoidable from such a fall.
Instead of feeling the gravel on my rear, someone had lifted me to safety. I looked up and into Chris’s saddened face. I rubbed my hands across his cheeks and along his jawline as he cradled me to him. He held me as he would hold a child.
Without warning, my eyelids grew heavy and flitted closed, though I tried to keep them open. I drifted from everyone’s voices and the wonderful intimacy I felt at Chris’s touch.
I floated away into nothing, and the darkness held secrets.
But it wasn’t telling.
Chapter 18
I woke with a start, unable to catch my breath. Wet. Everything was wet. Water converged on me from all sides.
I was drowning.
The water sucked me under with its heavy current. I resurfaced, stretching my arms up over my head. My eyes popped open and salty water stung them shut. Panicked, my arms thrashed wildly in the water. I was a great swimmer, but I couldn’t stop my frantic movements, a result of instinct. Something warm and soft smacked my outstretched arm.
Someone’s hand reached for me. Someone was trying to rescue me from certain death. I dared open my eyes again to accept this aid.
Gasping for air, I pushed forward. I grabbed the outstretched hand. They hauled me up, and in no time, I was free of the murky water.
Once on land, I looked ov
er at my rescuer, intent on a grand thank you. But my search drew a blank. No one sat beside me. I was alone. Where has my hero gone? Alarm set in. What happened to him?
“I’m here. Calm down,” a voice called from behind me. Relief poured over me. I stumbled to my feet. I turned to greet my new hero. Confusion twisted within me as I greeted my rescuer whose face I couldn’t see.
“Um…thank you for saving me. I…don’t know you. Do I?” I peered hesitantly at the person wearing jeans and a black hoodie that hung low, shielding their face from my view.
“Of course you do, silly,” came the response. My rescuer dropped the hood of the jacket to reveal her face. I stumbled backwards and landed on my rear.
I looked up and I stared back stunned.
It was me.
I sat bolt upright in bed. Confused. What was I doing? I leaned back and closed my eyes. I tried to shake the feeling of disorientation. What was up with these dreams? I slouched forward and rubbed my temple.
I’d better get up and get dressed for school, I thought lazily. Still, I didn’t move. I kept my eyes closed, welcoming a few extra minutes of rest. I’d been working hard on producing more abilities and was mentally and physically exhausted.
Chris’s face popped into my head as if someone had pushed a photo into my eyes’ path. The best part of school was seeing him. Not even Melissa and Emily were enough anymore. Why couldn’t he have found me sooner?
I stretched once more, still sluggish. Then I pushed the blanket off and opened my eyes. I scanned the room sleepily. But I wasn’t in my bedroom.
I leapt from the bed. Where am I? I wasn’t in my house. Why would I be asleep here, in a strange place? This was extremely puzzling. My head spun from right to left, trying to find something familiar, anything to help me make sense of my surroundings.
I was in a large robin’s egg blue-colored bedroom. I looked around wildly and tried to recall how I’d gotten here. Noticing the chandelier above my head, I flicked my hands up once. Light cascaded from the dull fluorescent bulb.