Spark

by Melissa Dereberry

  Alex

  Zach had not only stopped to talk to me, he had offered to show me around town, which was odd because I’d lived there my whole life, but still, so much had changed. For someone normal, a date would be good news, but for me, at the moment, it scared the crud out of me. First of all, he seemed like a loner, which meant he was probably even freakier than me. And I didn’t need anything else filling up my Weird O’Meter. Plus, why was he hanging out at some old building? Something was strange about the old building, and why did he go around with that white shirt and sunglasses all the time. Cute, and tall, yes. Strange, definitely. But those eyes. And that perfect face. It gave me chills, in a good way.

  School was going to start in less than a week, and I needed to get off on the right foot. And that meant getting in with the right people. Despite being off-the-chain gorgeous and mysteriously attractive, Zach scared me a little. Plus I remembered Alex had offered to show me around, too. He seemed safe and people seemed to like him. It certainly couldn’t hurt to have an ally like him around. So I got up and turned on my computer, pulled up my web browser, and went directly to Alex's FB page.

  I typed in a quick note and added my phone number—hoping I didn't sound too goofy. I remembered how he’d interacted with the Beautiful People after orientation, how they’d joked and teased him. He seemed like a nice guy, and besides, I really did need someone to show me the ropes. It would be fun to get to know someone—anyone―normal.

  I felt a chill over my body, more like a vibration. What is happening to me? It's guess it's just stress over the move, the new school, I thought. I am just totally stressed out. Then again, I’d been out of commission for four years. All this technology stuff may be normal, but it still stressed me out. Would I ever catch up? If I couldn’t handle this, how was I going to handle the first day of school?

  I was surprised to a reply from Alex within minutes. A sign, I thought. It’s going to be a good year.

  Dear Tess,

  I love your name! Very cool. Anyway, I’m free tomorrow. Let’s get together and I’ll give you a personal tour of beautiful Colorado Springs! I’ll call you later.

  Alex

  Alex called me that afternoon, and arranged to pick me up at 9:00 the next morning. My parents had a million questions, and, while I couldn’t answer all of them because I didn’t know much about him yet, I was able to tell them he was student body president, which was, presumably, the most pertinent piece of information for a parent.

  My mom looked relieved. “Well, he sounds like a nice young man,” she said.

  My dad was a bit harder to convince. “What do his parents do? Does he have his own car? Where are you going?”

  “Dad!” I said. “He’s just going to show me around town. He’s lived here like forever, and he knows everyone.”

  “David, it will be good for her,” my mom said. “She needs to make friends here.”

  “Ok, but I want to meet him,” he said.

  “Fine,” I replied. “He’ll be here at 9:00 tomorrow morning.”

  My dad was dressed in a tie-dye Grateful Dead t-shirt from 1973, a pair of old jean shorts and orange flip-flops when he answered the door the next morning. Of all the possible outfits my dad could have chosen to put on that morning, it had to be that one. I cringed. Just when I had someone fooled that we were normal, I thought, my dad single-handedly tipped the Weird O’Meter back to high.

  Alex immediately reached out to shake his hand. “Hi Mr. Turner. I’m Alex Davis.” His blonde hair was cut in a flat top style, close to his head, a few longer bangs spiked up in the front. It looked like he’d put some sort of gel in it. His face was flushed slightly, as if he’d just scrubbed it with a washcloth. He wasn’t gorgeous or even handsome, but he had the look of a classic, All-American Guy—clean cut and blue-eyed, with a wide, friendly smile—the kind of guy who couldn’t help but make you feel at ease in his presence. I liked him already.

  My dad said hello and motioned him inside. “So Tess says you’ve lived in Colorado Springs a long time.”

  Alex nodded. “My whole life. My dad is a police officer and my mom teaches piano.”

  My mom came in from the kitchen. “Oh, how nice!” She approached Alex. “Hello, I’m Gloria. Tess says you’re student body president! How wonderful!” My mom’s grin was ten miles wide and freakishly sincere.

  “Nice to meet you,” said Alex.

  “Are you ready to go?” I said, starting for the door, swiftly intersecting between my parents and Alex.

  Alex said, “Don’t worry, we’re just going around town, maybe by the school—I have some things to pick up there and I thought I might show her around.”

  “Take your time,” my mom said, leading us to the door. “And have fun!”

  Alex talked non-stop on the way to school. He said he wanted to show me something there. There wasn’t a single car in the parking lot when we arrived, and it was a little spooky walking into the empty building. Still, walking in with Alex made me feel at ease. He took long strides up the stairs and dashed through the open front door. Even though he was shorter than me, he seemed to walk so fast that I had to scramble to keep up. “Isn’t the school, like, closed?” I asked. “And the front door is just unlocked? Are we going to get in trouble?”

  “Nah,” Alex scoffed. “It’s open because the janitors are here. Besides, I have special permission because I’m on the orientation committee. I can only use it between the hours of 10:00 and noon, though.”

  “What about me?” I asked. “I don’t have special permission. I’m barely even a student here yet.”

  “Wait here,” he said, stepping up to the scanner. He stood in front of the scanner and flashed a grin. “I just need to pick up some things for the fundraiser next week. Be right back.”

  Alex disappeared down the hall. I examined the scanner, remembering how it had malfunctioned on orientation day and had automatically beeped me through the system. Curious, I walked up to the two vertical bars, looking around to see if anyone was watching. If I stepped into it and it admitted me without my i.d., especially on a high-security day when only certain people could be admitted, I could be fairly certain it wasn’t just a glitch in the system. I stepped in between the bars, and before I could look up and smile at the camera or insert my i.d. card, it beeped me through.

  So it was official. Something was definitely going on. But what? I closed my eyes, feeling a lump in my throat. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying out of frustration.

  “Whoa, that’s strange,” I heard Alex say, coming back down the hallway.

  I looked up, startled, stepped back outside the bars. “Sorry, I—was just—“

  “Must be a glitch in the system,” he said. “Unless they forgot to put it in restricted mode. Anyway, since you’re in, follow me,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll give you a tour.”

  “All this high-tech stuff sort of freaks me out,” I said, feeling bewildered and nervous. “Speaking of computer labs,” Alex said. “How’d you like to see the new one?”

  “It’s all new to me.”

  Alex chuckled. “That would be true. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  He took me outside and through a set of glass doors into a huge outdoor fenced area that was full of trees and shrubs and dozens of flowers. It looked like someone had taken care of it, pruned the bushes and swept the walk. There were iron benches that sat beside gray stone walkways. Computer terminals were scattered here and there inside little covered cubicles. Birds flew through the trees, chattering and chirping. It reminded me of some exotic courtyard, forgotten long ago.

  “Look up,” Alex said, stopping at yet another small circuit board. He punched in a number, and I was shocked when it actually beeped.

  Above us was an enormous metal and glass dome that resembled an intricate birdcage. I didn’t know what to say. It was unlike anything I’d ever s
een—an enormous, elaborate structure that made me feel incredibly small. It was then that the ringing in my ears returned, only this time, it was as if the ringing was outside myself and that the sound was running through my body like a current, spiraling in all directions around me, as if the dome were a gigantic satellite dish and I was at the center. It was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time.

  What on earth? I looked up again; the birdcage seemed to spin around me as if I were trapped inside.

  “This is the Wi-Fi court. Complete with a multi-station 802-11ac wireless router with 1 gigabit per second throughput. This thing isn’t even on the market yet. Not only is it state of the art, but the atmosphere is to die for.”

  I laughed. “Wow, this is different. So can anyone use it?”

  “Certain classes will be held here, and it will be open for use during lunch and before and after school.”

  “Cool! Except I don’t have a laptop.”

  “No problem—you can check one out from the library. And with this government program in place, they have the latest software and high speed processors.”

  “You sure know a lot about computers.”

  “I’m the resident computer nerd. Three years of computer tech under my belt.”

  I felt so comfortable there with Alex. He was like a big brother, with his broad shoulders and freckles. I have no idea why, but I found myself telling him everything, from the beginning, from my birthday party to the day I woke up from the coma, to feeling like an outcast, even now. I even told him about following Zach, about meeting him outside the movie theater. How crazy is that? I kept my head down, rambling through every awful detail, and when I looked up, expecting to see Alex, wide-eyed and fearful, sure he’d stumbled upon the craziest person on the planet, and he just placed his hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m sorry about your friend. That makes me sad,” he said.

  “Me, too. I really miss her. She was, like, the only person who really knew who I was, you know? She got it.”

  “Personally, I think you’re cool.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. You’re different. I like that.”

  “Well, I’m definitely different,” I agreed. “A mess, in fact.”

  “Hmm.” Alex squinted, as if in deep thought. He was actually taking me seriously. He didn’t think I was a freak. I was just a normal teenager with a strange experience—and the kind way Alex looked at me said it all: You are going to be ok. You’re not weird or crazy. I believe you.

  “I’m not a doctor, but maybe some of this stuff is, you know, normal. After what you’ve been through. Have you talked to your parents?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “You should tell them. That’s what parents are for.”

  “I’ll try,” I said.

  “In the meantime, you might want to steer clear of Zach Webb.”

  My head jerked up. “Why?”

  Alex shrugged. “He’s sort of… different—but in a bad way—the opposite of different-cool, like you.”

  “I don’t even know him” I said with a shrug, trying to act like I was indifferent. “I only talked to him once.”

  “Good. Just be careful, ok?"

  I nodded. “Got it.”

  Alex was quiet for a moment, and I started to feel sick to my stomach. He’s probably regretting ever asking me to come with him today, I thought. One of the most popular guys in school and I had to go and spill my whole stupid story to him. I was wishing I’d brought my own car so I could make a quick exit. Invisibility would come in handy right about now.

  “I’m here for you,” Alex said, shrugging naturally as if digesting lunatic spiel were an everyday occurrence for him. “For whatever that’s worth.”

  “Then you don’t think I’m a freak?” I asked.

  “Everyone’s a little bit freaky. Even me.”

  I made a mental note to ask him about the details of his freakiness later, but for now, I was simply relieved to have found a friend. “Thank you,” I said.

  I looked up and through the panes of glass, I could see the sky, gray clouds forming in enormous clumps overhead, like angry fists. I could almost feel the wind lifting my hair, but I knew we were completely enclosed in the dome. “Looks like a storm is coming,” I said.

  Alex nodded. “We should go. I left my car windows down.”

  I followed him across the walkway back toward the door. I paused and for some reason, I just stood there staring at the sky, like I was hypnotized by it. The whole courtyard had turned dark by then, as if a shade had been thrown over it.

  “I need to just activate the alarm,” he said, stopping at the circuit board.

  I was just thinking about what Alex had said, replaying it over and over in my head. I believe you. I believe you. Everyone’s a little bit freaky. If I was a little bit freaky, I wondered, what was someone a lot freaky like?

  That night, I had another dream about Zach. We were floating in a hot air balloon and he was holding my hand. It was spring time and everything was green—giant fields, trees—the sky was blue, not a cloud in sight. And he looked at me and said, “I can see my future up here.”

  In the middle of the night, thunder woke me up and I thought about the dream. I got up to look outside and it was just beginning to rain. Huge, globby pelts of rain fell on the streetlight. I watched it fall for a few minutes and then looked up at the sky. I could have sworn I saw the moon—perfectly clear and full. Not a cloud in sight. But I was half awake and it took me only a few seconds to drift back to sleep thinking about Zach in a hot air balloon, the way his eyes reflected the clouds.

  First Day of School

  I read the text from Cricket as I stood outside of school on the first day:

  -Wait for me. Be there in a sec

  -Ok, I will, I answered.

  I was early anyway, so it gave me a few minutes to collect my thoughts. I had two really big things to tell her: Number one, I had gone out with Alex. Number two, I had talked to Mystery Man Zach Webb. I knew Cricket would be skeptical, but it was really bugging the heck out of me. I just had to tell her. It was like the most exciting news of the century… for me.

  Cricket was running up dressed in a bright orange jacket and a black and white polka dotted headband. “Nice,” I said. “Like your outfit.”

  “Thanks.” She tossed back her hair. “So. I hear you and Alex are an item.”

  “No,” I scoffed. “Just friends.”

  Cricket giggled. “Sure you are.”

  “Anyway, guess who I ran into on Saturday,” I said. Might as well just jump right in.

  Cricket shrugged. “Who?”

  “Zach Webb.”

  “And?”

  “We talked. He wanted to go out.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Shut. Up.”

  When I didn’t say anything, Cricket slapped my arm.

  “Seriously,” she said. “Shut the heck up.”

  “That’s it. He wants to take me sight-seeing.”

  “Oohh. The old sight-seeing trick.”

  “Please. He seems nice enough.”

  “Well, be careful. You never know about guys like him.”

  “Oh so you’re an expert on guys now? An expert on Zach Webb.”

  “No, but I know his type,” she said, squinting her eyes.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Cricket paused, glanced around. She looked a little nervous, like she really wanted to tell me something, but had sworn not to.

  “What?” I asked. “What is it? Tell me.”

  She sighed. “Ok. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

  “Ok.”

  “Kelsey Hardy’s parents have a store downtown. She says she sees Zach walking around down there all the time, like hanging out at thi
s old warehouse across the street. Creepy I mean, what’s he doing in there? You think he’s a junkie?”

  Cricket would have a heart attack right there if she knew I’d followed him and actually watched him go inside that building. To tell you the truth, it was sort of creepy. If I told Cricket what I knew now, I’d never hear the end of it, especially if I decided to meet him again.

  Then I remembered Zach’s hand, the way he’d touched my hand in front of the movie theater, how we’d shocked each other. Surely that sort of thing wasn’t completely outside the realm of normal events. Just the other day, I shocked the lady at the convenience store when I reached out to get my change. But somehow that one was different and I knew it. It was stronger with Zach. More memorable. My whole hand tingled afterwards.

  “No way,” I said, rubbing my hand where Zach had touched me. “Maybe he’s supposed to be there. Like, maybe he has a class or something. Karate. Piano...”

  “Tess, it’s an old abandoned building. Like, why would he be hanging out there? So not cool.”

  “I don’t know, maybe he’s just exploring. Maybe it’s not abandoned. Has anyone else ever been inside the place?”

  Cricket shook her head. “No, Kelsey says it’s for sure empty. Has been for years.”

  “Has she ever been in it?”

  “I don’t think so. I’ll have to ask her. Or we could just find out who owns it and ask them. Problem solved.”

  “Maybe his parents own it.”

  “Why would they own an old empty building?”

  “Who knows? It’s not like it’s a toxic waste site or something. It’s just a building. People own buildings. Maybe they own it and they’re fixing it up. Maybe that’s why Zach is there … to work on it.”

  Cricket gave me a serious look. “You know there’s only one way to find out for sure.”