by Rik Johnston
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I
THE MORNING EDITION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1995
Tuesday Moxley woke refreshed and ready for another day of school. She woke up feeling happy, remembering that she had changed her dream about saving the bicyclist all by herself without any guidance from Doctor Frederiksen. She also recalled her dream of the passenger airliner, and even though she had died in the dream, she was not upset or disturbed by it. She was however curious as to why she could not change the outcome of that particular dream, only able to watch it and replay it over. It was something she was going to have to ask Doctor Frederiksen about when she got a chance.
The one thing that Tuesday was able to take away from that dream was that Jason was there with her, and they were holding hands. Did this mean that the two of them were meant to be together? She had hoped so with all her heart. What was she supposed to take away from that? The two would be together until their dying day? Maybe the entire dream was symbolic of that, at least that’s what she wanted to think. She didn’t have much experience with boys as Jason was the first boy that had ever paid any attention to her. But what if Jason were the only boy she was ever to be with, for her entire life. At the moment, that didn’t seem like such a bad thing to her. She didn’t want to read too much into it, but that thought certainly made her heart swell with happiness.
After showering and getting dressed, Tuesday came downstairs where surprisingly her mother had already been awake, preparing breakfast for her.
“Hey baby girl!” Megan greeted her cheerfully, pouring some fresh coffee into a cup for her as she did so. “How did you sleep?”
“Really good, actually.” Tuesday replied.
Megan seemed somewhat nervous, and was shaking just a little bit. Tuesday thought it might have had something to do with her relapse from the night before, but realized that she kept focusing her attention between Tuesday and the folded newspaper sitting on the table.
“What is it, Mom?” Tuesday asked, her voice changing to a more serious tone. “What’s wrong?”
“You really should take a look at the morning edition.” Megan replied, unsure of what else to say.
“Why Mom?” Tuesday pressed for an answer. “What is it?”
“I think it would be better if you just looked at it.” Megan responded, seemingly still in a state of confusion.
Tuesday sluggishly extended her arm and gripped the newspaper, pulling it toward her opening it up to reveal a headline that seemed familiar to her.
ALLEGED CHILD KILLER DIES BY HIS OWN KNIFE.
Beneath the headline, Tuesday inspected a picture of a woman holding a child in front of a frozen lake, giving a statement to a police officer, and that police officer was Douglas Downe. As she skimmed the details of the article, it said that the killer had slipped on some wet grass while attacking the child and that witnesses had said the lake had miraculously frozen over to keep the child from sliding in and drowning. The newspaper was throwing around terms like “divine intervention” and “miracles” to describe what had happened. The color drained from Tuesday’s face as she made an attempt to determine whether or not she was still dreaming, or whether nor not this was actually happening.
“Is this for real?” Tuesday managed to ask in shock and disbelief.
Megan nodded her head to the affirmative. “Yeah.” She replied, not knowing what to say. “I got it out of the paper box a little bit ago.”
Tuesday was silent for several minutes, trying to put it together in her mind. What was going on? The outcome had still turned out like she had dreamed it. Was this her curse, that she would be linked to the future no matter how she affected it? Why could she not escape this? Why hadn’t things turned out like Doctor Frederiksen had said they would? Every line of thought Tuesday went over in her mind brought her back to the same inevitable question; had she physically just changed the future?
Tuesday was finally able to think clearly enough to speak, “Mom, this is big!” She stated in complete and total bewilderment. “Do you know what just happened here?”
“Yeah.” Megan replied, exasperated by the revelation that had just came to fruition. “I’ve been thinking about it for the last twenty minutes.”
Tuesday was sure she knew what had happened, but couldn’t quite believe it herself. She needed to hear the words from a rational adult in order to make sense of the reality that she had apparently created. “So, what does this mean?” She asked, fishing for the same answer from her mother that she herself had arrived at. “Why is my dream still ending up the way that I dreamed it, even after I changed it?”
“I don’t know.” Megan stated, throwing her hands up in a defensive posture. “Maybe it’s divine intervention like the newspaper says.”
Tuesday looked her mother directly into her eyes before addressing her further. “I think that I may have changed the future.”
“Yeah.” Megan shook her head in agreement. “I think you’re right.”
The two of them were too freaked out to say anything further about it.
II
QUESTIONS AT THE NEXT SESSION
Tuesday spent the day in school with a lot of anxiety and much on her mind. She knew that she would be seeing Doctor Frederiksen after school, and she had much to ask him about. She needed to know why things were still ending up exactly like she had dreamed them. She needed answers, and she needed them soon.
Of course, the other kids at school were all talking about it, how the lake had frozen over on an afternoon that was 65 degrees. Thankfully, nobody had suspected that Tuesday had been responsible for such an event, as it was completely out of the realm of possibility for her to have done anything like that. As far as they were concerned, Tuesday had nightmares and people died. This was something completely different, so she kept to herself, as she normally did, as not to arouse any of their suspicions. If they even thought that she was responsible for this act, who knows what they might have been capable of? She could have ended up burned at the stake like a witch for all she knew.
The only person she talked to at school that day was Jason, and even then, she didn’t discuss what had happened other than agreeing that the event was just plain odd. When at last school had let out, Megan was already outside in the car to pick up Tuesday for appointment with Doctor Frederiksen.
The two of them talked about their day with each other, but tried to avoid the subject from the newspaper as best as they could. It was difficult because Megan’s customers had been buzzing about the frozen lake and the dead child killer all day long at Tuck’s Diner. Whenever the subject was brought up, she replied with “Yeah, that’s weird.”, and went on with her duties as if nothing had happened.
It had been an uncomfortable day for the two of them, knowing what had happened and keeping an airtight lid on it. Both were sure that Doctor Frederiksen was already more than aware of what had transpired, everyone knew what had happened but nobody knew why it had happened. They were absolutely hoping to keep this a secret because Tuesday didn’t need to be treated like any more of a pariah than she already was.
When they had arrived at The Millwork Tavern, Tuesday signed in for her appointment. When she was at the desk, she overheard Michelle on the phone talking about how the lake had frozen over and nobody knew why. Tuesday was certain at that point that Doctor Frederiksen had kept her secret, if indeed he had put two and two together and come up with the answer of the frozen lake. She couldn’t wait to get back to the office and discuss this new set of circumstances with him.
It seemed like no time at all was wasted in getting called back to Doctor Frederiksen’s office. He greeted her and took her right back to the room with the daybed in it, where Tuesday got herself comfortable and ready to discuss the events of the day with him. As it turned out, Doctor Frederiksen was already aware of the death of the child killer and the frozen lake, and had been anticipating discussing these events at the appoin
tment with her. Tuesday began to recall her morning with him.
“I got up this morning and my Mom showed me the newspaper.” Tuesday began, somewhat anxious about how to proceed with her wording. “It seems that things still happen the way I dream them.”
Doctor Frederiksen nodded his head, scribbling notes in his notebook at a energetic pace, as he acknowledged what she was saying. “Very interesting.” He concurred, speaking in a way that was empathetic to her situation. “No matter what happens, you see the future either way, whether you change it or not.”
“It certainly seems that way.” Tuesday admitted, shaking her head, fidgeting nervously with her fingers. “But what I want to know is why this is happening this way.”
A moment of silence passed between the two of them, Doctor Frederiksen was lost deep inside his thoughts on the issue. Tuesday sat uncomfortably on the daybed, wondering what Doctor Frederiksen’s thoughts on the matter would be. More than that though, she was thinking about her own consequences to these events.
Before she had learned some basic dream control techniques, her life had been completely unmanageable to the point where she couldn’t cope with her dreams or her reality. The last few days had brought her changes that she could have only hoped and dreamed for, and she didn’t want to let go of those things. But now an entirely new aspect to her problems had popped up, and had created an entirely new set of circumstances. On the surface, this new reality seemed awesomely cool to her. Upon deeper examination, much of which she had spent the day focusing on, it wasn’t as much of a blessing as it had turned out to be. The persistent thought rang out loudly in her mind, that while she had saved that child from a killer, who would have caused unspeakable pain in many lives, a life was still taken, and she wasn’t as settled with it as she anticipated she might be.
In her previous nightmares, the deaths of the victims were not of Tuesday’s doing and she had always been powerless to stop them from happening. This was a completely different animal to her. If she had known that the situation would still play itself out in reality the way she changed her dream to be, she never would have caused an action that would have caused the death of the killer. This was something to be cognizant of now that the actions in her dreams would have real world percussions. An overwhelming sense of remorse had been on her mind all day, and when the other kids at school looked at her, she felt for the first time like the murderer they had always claimed her to be. Ironically, if anybody at school had suspected Tuesday’s involvement, not one person had the nerve to say anything to her about it, not even the usually vocal Jackson Twins. This was not a sentiment she was ready to share with Doctor Frederiksen, as she didn’t know how much personal information to give him on matters such as these. Tuesday had even wondered if there was some unwritten rule in the use of her future seeing ability, regardless of whether she controlled it or not, that if somebody was destined to die, another person would have to take that person’s place for an outcome to manifest itself. This was something she was going to have to put to the test, and see if she could create an outcome where everybody involved would live to tell the tale. If she couldn’t, she knew that this would be the curse that she had always suspected it was. But this was something to strive toward.
Tuesday’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Doctor Frederiksen, who broke the silence with a new line of questioning. “Do you remember when I told you that everybody has the ability to tap into the future?” Doctor Frederiksen asked, prompting her to remember what he had taught her.
“Yes.” Tuesday replied, quietly and reverently. “I remember.”
“Excellent, Miss Moxley.” Doctor Frederiksen continued, looking through his notes as he was speaking. “And you remember that your brain automatically decodes signs for you?”
“Yup yup.” Tuesday replied, nodding her head to the affirmative.
“This has taught us that no matter what you dream, no matter how you change it, your dreams still become the future.” Doctor Frederiksen conceded, astonished by the reality of the words he had just spoken.
“Does that mean that I can control the future then?” Tuesday asked, her breath baited with anticipation for the answer to come.
“It certainly appears that you can.” Doctor Frederiksen admitted, hopeful of experimenting further with this newfound revelation. “Would you like to continue?”
Another brief silence momentarily shot up a wall between them. Tuesday desperately wanted to further explore something she had only touched the surface of, but not at the cost of human lives. She thought that she probably should break that barrier and confess how she was feeling about the death of the child killer, as it was causing her some apprehension in working toward the progression of her wellness.
“Yes.” Tuesday said warily. “But I need to discuss something first.”
“What is it, Miss Moxley?” Doctor Frederiksen asked, his curiosity piqued.
“I’ve been thinking about this all morning, since I saw the newspaper.” Tuesday began. “When I used to have my nightmares, and people died, all I wanted to do was to save their lives. Now I’ve discovered that power, and I did save a life. But it was at the cost of another life. Before today, I don’t feel like I’ve ever taken a life. I’ve seen many people die, but it was beyond my control. The child killer died as a result of my actions. I realize that when I dreamed the death of the child killer, I thought I was only changing my dream, I didn’t know that I was going to change the future.”
Doctor Frederiksen scribbled down notes as she spoke, nodding his head slightly, and going back and forth between eye contact, and the legal pad on the clipboard on his lap. “You’re telling me that you’re feeling some guilt over the death of the child killer?”
“Yes, sir.” Tuesday replied quietly, her head looking down at the floor.
“I honestly don’t think either of us could have predicted this would be the case.” Doctor Frederiksen stated, trying to console his patient’s feelings of guilt. “This is a wholly unprecedented standard in the field of dream therapy. My hypothesis concluded that if you changed your dream, you wouldn’t have the same dream as the subsequent events, and you would be free of your nightmares. I never expected that changing your dreams would change the future.”
“I didn’t either.” Tuesday confessed, rolling the possibilities around in her mind. “I mean, that’s impossible, isn’t it?
“Apparently, it isn’t.” Doctor Frederiksen marveled at their content and maturity of their discussion. Here was a patient who had extreme nightmares, some psychosis attached to the nightmares, and while it was a case that was one in a ten million, recent events have elevated it to a case of one in seven billion.”
Tuesday seemed unimpressed by this, or simply didn’t understand the numbers that were in her favor. Either way, she wanted to state her position on the subject. “I want to see where we can go with this, but I need to be more careful.” Tuesday said confidently. “I can’t and won’t be the cause of anybody’s death.”
“That is ethically the precise way to proceed, Miss Moxley.” Doctor Frederiksen told her, beaming with pride at the maturity being displayed by his young patient. “Now, are you ready to continue your journey? To open your eyes and see things that you’ve never seen before?”
Doctor Frederiksen’s words were intoxicating to Tuesday, drawing her in and building anticipation for the next lesion. She had wondered, only for a second, if this is how addiction had felt for her mother. “Yes, show me more!”
III
GUIDANCE
The procedure for getting Tuesday back into hypnosis was much smoother than the previous time, mostly because Tuesday’s anxieties regarding the process weren’t as intense as they had been the first time. In fact, it didn’t take much effort at all on the part of Doctor Frederiksen to get her into that state, and soon she was under the power of his suggestion.
When Tuesday awoke in her dream, she found hers
elf in a trashy and dirty alley downtown in The Devil’s City. The tightly enclosed space smelled of refuse and rotted leftovers having been thrown into the dumpsters that lined the backstreet. Sleeping under the protection of cardboard boxes and newspapers, some of the local transients were trying to find shelter from the incessant drizzle, empty bottles of cheap wine littered in a random fashion around them, with only the rats as a witness to the squalor they lived in. Ascending the backs of the buildings were several wrought iron fire escapes, many of them set into old brickwork that had fallen into dilapidation and looked as if they could not support the weight of more than a person or two at a time. Tuesday shuddered to think what would happen if there had been a fire in one of those buildings and many people needed to get out of the structure at one time. The overcast, late afternoon light dimly lit the alley, and the wet pavement glistened in what little light there was.
Tuesday didn’t particularly care for The Devil’s City as it had a reputation for violence, theft, and drugs. Cadence Falls and The Devil’s City bordered one another, but were separated by a good-sized river that featured a large enough channel to bring lumber down from the higher logging towns. The Devil’s City was a large river port that primarily exported paper from the mills there. The lumber companies would load their logs onto barges and set them to sail down to The Devil’s City, where the paper mills would pay for them to use in their production. The longshoremen would often turn a blind eye for cash so opium and heroin could be imported from Asia, and marijuana from Central and South America. This fueled the drug trade in The Devil’s City. Tuesday suspected that at one point her mother knew much more about those operations than a lot of people did. While the Jackson Consortium was a legitimate face of business in The Devil’s City, the true rulers of the urban area were the opulent and decadent Corelle Family who allegedly had ties to a street gang called The Blackbirds. There wasn’t an ounce of dirty business in The Devil’s City that the Corelle Family didn’t have their fingers in, one way or another, and they always got their cut of everything. The Jackson Family dealt in legitimate business and came from old money and were prone to shady dealings from time to time, but the Corelle Family manipulated their way to the top of The Devil’s City through deceit and corruption.
Tuesday wasn’t entirely sure why her subconscious had placed her here in The Devil’s City, but whatever the reason was, she was sure that she would need Doctor Frederiksen’s guidance through this encounter. She took a moment to survey her surroundings, opening herself up to the environment around her and allowing it to become familiar to her. For being such a dingy location, Tuesday felt as if there was a peacefulness to it, save the sound of homeless people having brash conversation about adult subjects that she didn’t want to hear about. When Tuesday felt as if she had seen there was all to see, she knew that it was time to bring in the Doctor.
“Doctor Frederiksen, you’re invited in.” Tuesday called out, letting him know that he was invited into her dream world once again.
The moment she had spoken the words, the image of Doctor Frederiksen appeared right next to her. He looked around, though he could not actually see the environment he was in. He could only ascertain what was going on through her description of the environment, which she took a moment to fill him in on.
“It is very important that you explain the details of your surroundings to me, as I cannot actually see what you are seeing Miss Moxley.” Doctor Frederiksen said somberly. “I appear in your dream so that your mind actually understands that I am communicating with you, even though I am speaking to you in the natural world.”
Tuesday nodded her head in acknowledgment.
“To control your surroundings, you must completely get to know your environment.” Doctor Frederiksen tutored her, attempting to make the process feel more natural to Tuesday. “You must become intimate with your environment, to feel that it’s existence is more than just a part of a system. You must feel as if you’re an artist, painting every element in your world to your liking. Reach out and feel every stick and stone around you, and if you listen closely, you will hear the thoughts of the people around you. If you empathize, you will feel and understand each emotion, which is why you feel the pain or joy these people experience. If you open your senses, they will overwhelm you and you can smell, taste, hear, touch and as you have already learned, see what others in your dream can sense. You must feel as if you are a god, and you are recreating the world the way you want it to be.”
“How do I do that?” Tuesday looked at Doctor Frederiksen, crinkling her nose up. “I’m not exactly sure how I did it last time.”
“Do not think about your environment.” Doctor Frederiksen stated, the confidence of leadership ringing in his voice. “Feel your environment and you will soon master it.”
A light visibly came on inside Tuesday’s mind as she seemed to grasp the concept of what Doctor Frederiksen was saying. She shook her head slowly, continuing to listen to what he had to say on the subject.
“The reason your nightmares have all been so intense is because you’re emotionally connected to them.” Doctor Frederiksen continued, speaking slowly and deliberately so his meaning could not be misunderstood. “You feel the pain that the people in your dreams feel, you feel all of their emotions, their joy, their hate, their anxiety, and most of all their physical pain. This is what you will use to fuel your own power.”
“So, it works more on an emotional level than an intellectual level?” Tuesday asked, seeking validation for what he had just taught her. “Feel it, don’t think it?
“Yes, Exactly!” Doctor Frederiksen replied, overjoyed at the thought that she might have just connected with her ability. “But you still must be diligent about what you are doing in the dream world, especially now that you know that your actions have consequences in the real world as well.”
The thought was sobering to Tuesday. She wasn’t certain that she wanted that kind of power, and knew that if she were pushed, she could very well alter the fabric of reality. But she decided to shelve the thought to save for their inevitable discussion later. She returned her attention to Doctor Frederiksen, and listened to what he had to say next.
“Do you see that fire escape up there?” Doctor Frederiksen asked, gesturing up to the back of the building, high above the street.
Tuesday tilted her head back and looked up at it, inspecting the height of the building above her. “Yes, of course.”
“Feel and imagine yourself up on that fire escape.” Doctor Frederiksen instructed, coming across as some sort of real world Yoda. “Feel that you are looking down on this very spot from that point of view.”
Tuesday had begun to wonder what she had gotten herself into. Was she seeing a therapist, or was she attending some sort of mysticism seminar. The only way she would find the answers was to follow Doctor Frederiksen’s guidance, wherever it might lead her.
IV
TESTING THE THEORY
Tuesday squeezed her eyes tightly closed and reached deep inside of herself, hoping to understand what it was that Doctor Frederiksen was trying to teach her. She worked to tap into the emotions that he had told her about and tried to think what it would feel like to be up on that fire escape, looking down at where Doctor Frederiksen was standing. She tried to imagine the way the light angled down into the alley, the way the shadows married it and settled in its patterns. She tried to feel every single puddle in the alley, every piece of trash, every dumpster, every door, every nook and every cranny. When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking down at the very sight that she had imagined.
“I did it!” Tuesday squealed with excitement, having accomplished something new. “Did I fly up here?”
“No, you didn’t fly.” Doctor Frederiksen explained, choosing his words very carefully. “It was more like you transported yourself up there. You were down here, you disappeared, and then reappeared up there.”
“Well, do you think
I could fly?” Tuesday asked, the excitement in her voice reaching fever pitch, as she looked up to the clouds and off to the horizon. “I’ve always wanted to fly. Sometimes I sit awake at night and wish that I had wings to fly myself far away from everything going on in this world.”
“You seem emotionally attached enough to the notion.” Doctor Frederiksen coached, chucking to himself. “If this is what your heart truly desires, why don’t you give it a try.
Doctor Frederiksen was exceptionally pleased to see his patient making so much progress in such a short amount of time. When they were doing their in-dream sessions, he preferred to think of her less as a patient and more as a student. He had been theorizing about much of this stuff for a long, long time, and it was happy to finally find a patient with who he could truly explore his theories with.
Doctor Frederiksen had graduated from Harvard University, Valedictorian of his class in the field of Psychiatry, particularly the study of children and young adults. To pay for his student loans, he had worked for a pharmaceutical company in Whatcom County, helping to research and develop new drugs to help with anxiety, depression and psychosis, but it wasn’t long until he had been promoted and was the lead on his research team. He studied the effects of medications on patients for a few years, but found that he preferred to treat the actual patient, instead of treating the symptoms. He left the company he was working for and began a practice in Renton, outside of Seattle to treat children and young adults.
As he began to develop a history with his patients, he began to understand the subconscious link between their nightmares and their behaviors, causing him to research these ideas much more extensively. He understood that hypnosis was the way to unlock the psyche of the subconscious mind, and soon began to find the answers he was seeking. He had always hoped to find a patient who had premonition style nightmares, and was very curious about where his therapy could lead with that. After many years of successfully treating children and young adults in Renton, a case file came across his desk about a girl who had debilitating nightmares, to the point that seemed as if she might have the very premonitions that he had been hoping to research. He did all he could to gather information on the case, and studied case notes from other therapists who had little or no luck with the girl or her case. And then it seemed as if she had fallen off the radar, so the time was right for Doctor Frederiksen to move his practice to Cadence Falls, where he might have the opportunity to work with this girl, should she resurface in the psychological world. He reestablished his office in The Millwork Tavern, and put out a few feelers, and as luck would have it, an old classmate of his had been hired as a counselor at Cadence Falls High School. He contacted his old friend, and had then asked him to keep an eye out for the girl he was looking for, and to make a referral to him should she need future counselling. It wasn’t long before Tuesday had surfaced, and the seed had been planted. In just a few short sessions, Tuesday had exceeded his expectations by more than a country mile. Her progress was nothing short of astounding to him.
When Doctor Frederiksen looked back up at the fire escape, he saw Tuesday squeezing her eyes tightly together, imagining what it would be like to fly. Instinctively her arms raised themselves up and extended out to her sides, where they hung loosely for a moment. A gentle breeze rushed into the alley which caught Tuesday’s hair and clothing, blowing and rippling it. A look of intense concentration crossed Tuesday’s face and then it suddenly relaxed as her toes lifted from the steel grating of the fire escape. Her body floated six feet over and beyond the edge of the fire escape, and when she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing!
“Doctor Frederiksen, look!” Tuesday cried out, tears of joy filling her eyes. “I’m flying! Look at me, I’m flying!”
Doctor Frederiksen couldn’t have been prouder of her at that very moment. “Yes, Miss Moxley!” He beamed with pride. “I see that!”
Tuesday then flew off with an incredible burst of speed, twisting and turning as she glided on the breeze. She flew up from The Devil’s city, high into the sky, until she could see the Cadence Falls on the other side of the river. She then aimed herself toward her hometown and it wasn’t long until she was flying through her neighborhood on the hill. She streaked above the houses, and made her way to where Jason’s home was at, stopping long enough to see him inside, helping with one of the foster children there who appeared to be disabled in some way or another. Tuesday felt her soft spot for Jason growing even more. He was truly a compassionate human being, and she felt very fortunate to know him.
She then flew up and away from Jason’s house and down near the main street off the interstate where The Millwork Tavern was located. She levitated herself in front of the window at the end of the corridor long enough to see her mother sitting there waiting patiently for her to finish her session. As she was waiting, a young man entered the waiting area and checked in who seemed to know her mother. A short, but unintelligible conversation transpired between the two that seemed to leave Megan uneasy. This would be something she would have to ask her mother about later.
Realizing that she was short on time left for this session, Tuesday decided that she had better return to the alley in The Devil’s City to finish her lesson for today. She was almost certain that there would be more to what she was supposed to learn than flying around Cadence Falls spying on the people she cared about.
When Tuesday arrived back at the alley, she found Doctor Frederiksen there, patiently waiting for her to return, a smile of satisfaction spread across his face. She levitated at the end of the alley, as if she were a superhero, waiting to leap into action.
Suddenly her Osprey Vision snapped into focus and revealed a drunken transient, passed out in the alley under a large pile of industrial paper and cardboard. As her vision reached the man, it snapped to the other end of the alley, where a very large garbage truck had just turned in and was approaching the homeless man at a high rate of speed. Realizing the danger, Tuesday sprang into action without a second thought, flying down in a desperate attempt to reach the sleeping bum before the truck ran over him, and likely killing him, unbeknownst to the driver. Realizing there was no way she was going to reach the truck in time, she closed her eyes, focusing on the truck itself, not thinking, just acting.
The garbage truck came to a dead halt in the alley just short of killing the transient to the astonishment of the driver. Smoke billowed out from under the hood, and so the driver got out of his truck to investigate what might have caused the problem. A few obvious curse words escaped his lips as he climbed down out of the driver’s seat, and his boots landed on the asphalt with a dull thud. When he opened the hood of the truck, he was not prepared for what he saw, the entire internal workings of the vehicle had been fused together into one metal sphere, all its components mashed together, from the engine, to the transmission, to the driveline and every other part as well.
The garbage truck driver spewed out a long string of profanities at seeing this, thinking that he was going to get fired. The noise of the driver caused the homeless man to wake up, who crawled out from underneath the paper and cardboard, looking to see what all the commotion was about. When the driver spotted him, and had realized what had just happened, he dropped to his knees and began to pray, asking for forgiveness, having witnessed what he could only classify as divine intervention.
Tuesday drifted over to where Doctor Frederiksen was standing and hovered just off the ground next to where he was standing. Doctor Frederiksen realized that not only was she gifted, she had now learned to take control of a situation when the need was present.
“You saved that transient.” Doctor Frederiksen marveled at her accomplishment. “How did you know he was under all of that debris?”
“My Osprey Vision alerted me to his presence.” Tuesday replied not quite believing it herself. “I knew I couldn’t let him be killed.”
Tuesday then positioned herself directly in front
of Doctor Frederiksen to address him directly. “I’m tired of the accidents. I’m sick of the suffering.” Tuesday began, her voice sounding stronger and more dedicated than it previously had. “But most of all, I don’t want to see any more of this. I’ve seen too much death, much more than somebody of my age should have to. I’ve felt the pain and the loss of the loved ones left behind, and I don’t want to bear that burden anymore. From now on, if I can save a life, I will choose to.”
Doctor Frederiksen doesn’t know where this sudden change in Tuesday came from, but he is looking on her with a new-found respect. If Doctor Frederiksen didn’t know any better, it would certainly appear that the two of them created a superhero, one with the infinite power to do anything she wanted.
For the first time, Doctor Frederiksen didn’t know whether to be encouraging, or to be frightened. But what he did know was that he absolutely commended her decision to save lives. “That is a very mature decision, Miss Moxley.” He said to her, realizing that his therapy with her had taken a turn into some very uncharted waters.
As the two of them were speaking, the sky grew very dark, and everything around them creeped down to nearly a standstill. The only thing still moving in any sort of normal capacity was the two of them. And as the environment around them began to darken, a large black cloaked figure wearing a hood emerged from the dusk. The figure stood ten feet tall, and its cloak was tattered and torn, and it smelled like a dead animal that had spent too many days baking in the hot sun after it had died. Its cloak had sleeves, but no hands came out of it. It only had the wispy illusion of bony looking hands one of which was raised, pointing at Doctor Frederiksen. The figure also had no feet, but the cloak simply floated, just a few inches off the ground.
“Your presence is no longer needed, Doctor.” The figure hissed as it teleported twenty feet from its previous position, instantaneously reaching Doctor Frederiksen and with its ghostly palm shoving him hard, pushing him completely out of Tuesday’s dream. At that point, Doctor Frederiksen was no longer visible to her, and could not hear him at all, not even from the therapy room. It was as if he was completely cut off from her and could not guide her.
It didn’t take Tuesday long to realize that this was the same dark voice she had heard in one of her dreams. “Why are you here?” Tuesday screamed, feeling the fear rise up inside of her again, which dropped her from the spot she was levitating down to the ground. “What do you want?”