Vero knew that lying was wrong, but he couldn’t tell her the truth. It was kind of like when Great-Aunt Sophie’s hairdresser burned a huge bald spot on the top of Sophie’s head. When she asked Vero if she still looked pretty, he told her yes. It was a lie, of course. But the way Vero saw it, to tell the truth in that instance would just be mean.
Now with his sanity being questioned, Vero decided this was another time when he would need to stretch the truth. “I said he was wrestling with the steering wheel.” Then Vero looked at the floor and managed to produce some real tears to make his story more convincing. “The car slid a little bit into our lane. Just like everyone said. I made the whole story up.”
She handed him a tissue. “Why, Vero? Why did you do that?”
“Everyone was being mean to me. I had a bad day at school, and Tack, he’s my best friend, he was mad at me and wouldn’t let me sit with him on the bus. And then my sister ignored me. I was mad at both of them. So when the car slid across the center line, I thought that if I pretended to save everyone, then Tack and Clover would think I’d saved their lives and be nice to me again.”
Dr. Weiss handed Vero another tissue, gave his forearm an encouraging squeeze, looked him square in the eyes, and said, “That was excellent sharing, Vero.” Then she winked at Sprite and said, “And you’re getting a steak bone tonight.”
Vero glanced at the clock. It was exactly 11:30 a.m. Right now the kids in his class would be headed to the cafeteria for lunch. It was a bright, clear day, so they’d probably go outside and pelt each other with snowballs after they finished eating. He, however, was stuck sitting in the waiting room while his parents met with Dr. Weiss.
The receptionist was out for lunch. Vero had already leafed through all of the magazines, so he walked over to the aquarium and watched the fish swim back and forth, back and forth, over and over again. He envied the simplicity of their existence. Their entire lives were limited to the space within those four glass walls. Every day it was always the same — no surprises. The fish knew exactly what to expect — something Vero deeply craved.
Vero decided to use the restroom. He picked up the bathroom key from the receptionist’s desk. The key was attached to a Rubik’s Cube by a little chain, so no one could put it in his pocket and accidentally take off with it. Vero walked out of the waiting room and down the hallway to the men’s room.
The doors on all three stalls were closed, so Vero bent down and looked for feet underneath. Empty.
A minute later, Vero was washing his hands in the sink when a rattling sound came from one of the stalls. Startled, he splashed water on himself.
“Ah man . . . ” he said aloud. He turned around, but the restroom was still empty. His heartbeat picked up a beat. But then he noticed an exposed heating unit overhead, just like the one in Tack’s house.
That was it, Vero thought. The heater in Tack’s house was ancient and made the same sound when it was running.
Vero looked down and saw that the front of his pants were wet. “Great,” he said. “Now it looks like I peed my pants.” He could just imagine the worried glances that would fly between his mom and dad and Dr. Weiss. Maybe he’s worse than we thought. He searched for some paper towels, but there was only an electric hand dryer. He turned the drying nozzle so it pointed toward the floor and tried to contort his body underneath it. He was about to press the On button when a loud banging started from inside the end stall. Vero whipped around, his chest tight with fear, and his wet pants forgotten.
“Who’s there?” Vero asked, but he knew no one had come into the restroom.
No reply.
Get out! Something inside urged him. Now!
Vero turned to run out, but he slipped on the wet floor and fell — hard. With his head pressed to the concrete floor, he now had a clear view under the bathroom stalls. This time he saw two sets of feet that hadn’t been there before — and they weren’t human!
Am I hallucinating? Do I need to be locked up in a loony bin?
What he saw were two sets of ugly, claw-like feet that resembled talons. He’d just hit his head on the floor, so could he be unconscious? Dreaming? Then the stall doors opened, and Vero saw the rest of the creatures who were attached to the clawed feet. He was in trouble.
They were covered in scales and fur and sharp claws for their hands and feet, a tiny slit for a mouth, and where there should have been a nose was only a flat space. But the worst part of their appearance was their eyes — or, actually, eye. Each creature had a single eye.
One of them turned its hideous head, and Vero saw that the eye went clear through, so it could see backward and forward at the same time!
Vero jumped up and sprinted for the door. Both creatures got down on all fours and bounded after him. Vero grabbed the door handle. A vague image of his mother flew through his mind, and he heard her say, “Use a paper towel whenever you leave a public bathroom, so you don’t pick up more germs.”
Sorry, Mom.
He needed to get out of there now! But before he could leave the room, a sharp pain ripped through his leg. One of the creatures had clawed him and was attempting to pull him back. Not waiting to see what would happen next, Vero kicked the creature as hard as he could in its grizzly face and dashed into the hallway.
He meant to run back to Dr. Weiss’s office, but he sprinted the wrong way down the hall. He ran as fast as he could. He knew he needed to get outside, but he’d never been inside this building before. He ran straight into a dead end. He quickly turned around and, to his horror, saw the two creatures blocking him in, taunting him, and slowly, methodically approaching him from the other end of the hallway.
Vero stood frozen with terror.
Suddenly, they leapt toward him. Their bodies were turned backward as they flew the length of the hallway — the bloodshot eye in the back of each creature’s head guiding them.
Please help me.
From the corner of his eye, Vero saw an emergency exit door, and he pushed through it mere milliseconds before the creatures were upon him.
Vero dashed up a staircase, winning some distance as the creatures struggled to open the door with their claws. But they soon followed, screeching in rage.
As Vero ran, he realized he was jumping whole staircases in a single bound — just like when he’d run the hurdles. He was so light on his feet that he quickly found himself at the top of the emergency staircase and bounded onto the roof of the office building. Though he had just cleared nine stories in a blink, Vero felt no need to catch his breath. He rapidly scanned the roof, looking for some way to escape. He was trapped.
The creatures appeared on the roof. Feeling no need to rush since Vero had nowhere to go, they steadily approached him, smiling evil, hideous smiles.
And that smile stretched their slitlike mouths clear across their faces, revealing rows of sharp, yellow fangs. When Vero glimpsed those fangs, he knew he couldn’t win.
“What do you want?” Vero asked desperately.
The creatures’ loud replies contained no words, only strange clicking and hissing sounds.
Vero slowly backed away until he was almost standing at the edge of the roof, and still the creatures pressed him. Then his foot got caught on a metal pipe that was part of the air conditioning system, and for a single moment, Vero balanced on the edge. But he was too far gone.
As he plunged off the side of the building, he flailed his arms wildly and somehow managed to catch hold of a ledge with his right hand. Then he swung his left hand up and dangled there, breathing heavily, nine stories above the concrete sidewalk below.
His whole life, Vero had believed he could fly. And he’d fearlessly jumped off of anything he could climb. But now, Vero wanted to cling to that edge with all his might. He closed his eyes against the dizziness.
Help me! Please!
From the rooftop above him, Vero heard an ear-piercing shriek, then the sound of metal clanging on metal, like the sound of clashing swords.
As Vero s
quinted into the sunlight above, the horrid face of one of the beasts appeared over the edge. Vero’s heart pounded as he dangled from the ledge and looked into the eye of the beast. He saw the decaying, putrid teeth, and a drop of saliva fell from its gnarled tongue onto Vero’s cheek, burning it like acid. But Vero did not let go. He could hear a scuffle on the roof above and beyond his line of sight.
The creature snarled viciously and opened its mouth, preparing to attack. But suddenly its head jerked back violently and out of Vero’s view. Then a shrill wail sent a chill straight through him, and it was followed by an enormous thud. Vero felt himself slipping. He closed his eyes, preparing to fall, when a man’s head peered out over the ledge.
“Grab my hand!” the man shouted.
The man stretched his hand toward Vero. Vero hesitated. Could this be one of the creatures in disguise? But his violet eyes looked familiar.
“Take it if you want to save your life! They’re going to come right back!”
At this point Vero realized he didn’t have much of a choice. So in an act of complete blind faith, Vero removed his right hand from the ledge and reached up to grab the man’s hand. The man smiled warmly, and Vero felt relief — until the man abruptly withdrew his hand.
That day, Vero Leland fell nine stories and hit the pavement with a bone-crushing thud. He was dead.
8
HOME
Tack once told Vero a joke.
“What’s the last thing that goes through a bug’s mind when it hits the windshield?”
Vero shrugged, not knowing.
“His butt!” Tack laughed.
A lot of things went through Vero’s mind before he hit the pavement. Thoughts flew through his mind in flashes, in fractions of seconds, in completely random segments:
He wondered how much pain he would feel when his body broke into pieces.
He thought of his last birthday and realized there would never be another soccer ball cake or thirteenth birthday.
He thought of the bathroom key attached to the Rubik’s cube. What had happened to it during his struggle with those creatures?
His last thought was of his mother and the heartbreaking look on her face when she was given the news of his death.
Then blackness.
“Come on, get up,” Vero heard the voice and felt someone nudge his shoulder. He opened his eyes, and a face gradually came into focus.
“You!” Vero cried. “You tricked me!” It was the man from the ledge.
“Now before you jump to conclusions,” the man said, “there are two sides to every story.”
“Not in this case,” Vero argued. He sat up and touched his chest, his shoulders, his head. “You let me fall!”
“If you’ll recall, I said to take my hand if you want to live, and now here you are.”
“What the . . . ?” Vero found no blood, nor cuts or bruises. His bones appeared to be intact. “Am I dead?”
“Well,” the man answered. “That’s not an easy question to answer.”
“I fell from up there.” Vero pointed to the top of the building.
Vero was more confused than ever, but one thing became very clear to him — he knew the man standing before him. He recognized the tightly cropped silver beard, which was the same color as his shoulder-length hair, the strong jawline, and those bright violet eyes.
“You caught me when I jumped off the roof that Christmas.”
The man nodded. “See? I said you could trust me.”
“You twisted my ankle!” Vero said. “And now you dropped me off a nine-story building! Who are you? And what’s going on?” Vero jumped up and began pacing frantically, still checking his arms, his head, his ankles.
“I didn’t have a choice, Vero. I had to make it look real. I couldn’t have them find out who you are.”
Vero froze. “Who am I?” he asked. He gazed into the man’s eyes trying to decipher something, anything that might explain how he was still walking and talking instead of being road pizza.
“Not now. We’ve got to get out of here.”
The man held his hand.
“I’m not falling for that again.”
“Look, Vero, it seems you and I got off on the wrong foot . . . no pun intended,” he began. “But you need to — ”
“You just killed me! That’s a bit worse than getting off on the wrong foot!” Vero yelled. “And now you won’t even tell me if I’m dead or not!”
“Do you see those two creatures anywhere? The ones who were about to rip off your head?”
Vero looked around. The creatures were nowhere in sight.
“Yeah, you can thank me for that,” the man answered. “Now come with me.”
Vero shook his head and backed away from the stranger. He ran to the front of the building where just an hour before he’d arrived with his mom and dad to see Dr. Weiss. Vero pulled on the door handle, but no matter how hard he tugged, the door wouldn’t open. He kicked the door.
“Open!” he screamed. Then he kicked the door again.
“You’re wasting my time,” the man said.
Vero didn’t care. He ran the length of the building to Dr. Weiss’s window, where he could see his parents deeply engrossed in conversation with the doctor, talking about him.
“Mom! Dad!” Vero screamed and wildly flailed his arms, but not one of them so much as glanced Vero’s way.
The man followed Vero and watched him pound on the glass. “They can’t see you,” he said.
“Then I am dead.” The awareness was brutal.
The man placed his hand on Vero’s shoulder. “Now will you come with me?”
Vero looked at the man, at his outstretched hand, and Vero grabbed hold of it.
The buildings, the trees, cars and people, everything before Vero’s eyes melted away in a flash and was replaced by a lush green field that had no end. Effervescent wildflowers dotted the fields with colors so bright that Vero wished he had his sunglasses. Instead, he shaded his eyes with his hand and tried to take it all in.
In the distance Vero saw clusters of magnificent trees with leaves that closely matched the colors of the brilliant wildflowers. Red wasn’t just red, and blue wasn’t just blue. It was as if someone had taken a rainbow and wrung it through their hands, pouring the colors out upon the earth. The sky above was a blue so deep that it was nearly violet, and he felt warmth emanating from it, yet he saw no sun. It was as if he was being embraced by the sky. And the longer Vero stood there, the more he felt like this place wasn’t so foreign after all. He felt comfortable with his surroundings, a sense of belonging.
“Is this heaven?”
“No.”
“But if I’m dead, there are only two places you can go.” A real fear overtook his thoughts. “So if it’s not heaven, then is it . . . ?”
“It’s the Ether.”
“That’s what I’m asking. Either what?”
“Not either. Ether. E-t-h-e-r.” The man spelled it out. “The upper air. It has existed since the beginning. It’s what ancient Greek philosophers described as that which is not known or understood but is essential to life. The Ether cannot be tested or proven in a lab, yet it is all around us.”
The man looked at Vero with a steadfast gaze, his violet eyes intense. “You know this place, Vero. Close your eyes and let it wash over you. It’s calling to you.”
Vero closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. The man picked a wildflower and placed it in Vero’s hand. As Vero opened his eyes and looked at the flower, he instantly understood the complexity of its nature and its simple beauty all at once, as if he could see right through it.
Vero felt as if he were seeing things clearly for the first time in his life. He looked at his surroundings. The trees, the grass, the sky, it all beckoned to him.
“Where are you, Vero?”
Vero didn’t hesitate.
“Home.”
“It’s been a long time since you were here,” the man said.
“I guess. I don
’t remember much,” Vero replied.
“True knowledge unfolds in its own sweet time, and we don’t want to overload you all at once.”
Suddenly, a rustling in the tall grass caught Vero’s attention, and he saw gazelles calmly grazing next to a pair of lions a few feet away. A male and female monkey happily swung from tree branch to tree branch. Two hippos sunned themselves along the banks of a mighty river. Vero gazed across the scene before him. Animals of all kinds roamed in every direction.
“Why are there two of all the animals?” Vero asked.
“You’ve gone to Sunday school, so you should know the answer,” the man replied.
“You mean these are the actual animals . . . ?”
The man nodded.
“But they get along with each other.”
“When they lived in such tight quarters on the ark, they learned to get along if they were to survive . . . a lesson humans have yet to learn.”
Without warning, the male lion bounded out from under a tree and darted over to Vero. Vero froze. His legs wouldn’t move. As the lion approached, Vero protectively covered his face with his arms. But then, the ferocious lion fell to his feet, bowing his head to Vero. Vero’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
“He’s friendly,” the man encouraged him.
Vero hesitantly stretched out his hand and stroked the lion’s head. The lion rubbed his body against Vero like a cat.
Suddenly, the light above began to swirl into the shape of a circle, growing bigger and bigger. It spun so wide, it looked as if the sky had opened up. The swirling lights began to take form. They were angels, thousands and thousands of angelic beings flying at high speed.
Vero’s mouth dropped open at the sight of the grandiose creatures with colossal wings. He felt their strength and power. He longed to join them, to be in their company.
Vero fell to the ground. He felt as if someone had punched him hard in the back, followed by overwhelming relief. He rose to his feet and stood, magnificent alabaster wings jutting out between his shoulders. The sky closed up, and the angelic beings disappeared from sight. Vero turned to the man.
The Ether Page 6