Nathan stared intently at Leah’s picture. Just to make sure, he read the list of names that ran next to the row of pictures; last row, third picture, Leah Davenport.
Tears began to swell in his eyes. “No,” he said, while diverting his gaze. “I didn’t know her.
Lafonda stood up; leaving the yearbook on the desk. “Jeez,” she said. “You act like I was speaking a different language or something.” She paused to fix her orange leadership shirt and then placed her foot on the wooden chair to tie her shoes. “Well – I guess I’ll let you go then,” she said. “I’d better get going before my group realizes I’m gone and decides to act crazy.”
“Wait, hold on,” he said, staring at her shoes. They weren’t the grey and pink ones she had been wearing in his dream; they were white.
Lafonda stopped mid-walk and turned around to face him. “What?” she said.
Nathan’s forehead wrinkled and he fidgeted a little before resting his hand on the back of his neck. “Umm – are those your only pair of sneakers?” he asked.
Casually, she looked down and then back at him. “Yes, here at camp,” she said. “What, you don’t like white sneakers?”
He took a deep breath and smiled. “No, no,” he said. “Those are fine.”
Lafonda smirked and looked down again. “Yeah, they’re kinda plain huh?”
Nathan almost fell off the edge of the bed. “No, no,” he said. “In fact, they are better than fine. Those are great!”
“Well, okay then,” she laughed. “Thanks, Nathan. I’ll see you downstairs.”
The cafeteria to Lawrence Hall was especially bright. Light from the morning sun poured in through the large floor-to-ceiling glass windows that surrounded half the room and the dining area. Nathan could almost see Lawrence Road, despite the many pine trees that lined the back of the building.
He noticed most of the gang was already seated at their usual table. But where is Jonathan Black? he wondered. I guess he wasn’t serious about changing his behavior like he promised to Erin the night before. “Erin is going to kill him,” he chuckled.
Carefully, he left the cafeteria counter and tried not to spill his large glass of orange juice that was filled to the rim. He took a seat next to Lafonda, but Angela, Alan, Lafonda, and Erin were already engrossed in a conversation and he hoped that no one would notice him. He scanned the cafeteria and caught a glimpse of Jonas joking around with Eva Marie Evans, Samantha Darding, and Christina Williams.
A red cardinal landed on the branch of the tree outside the window in front of him, but Nathan hardly noticed. His thoughts were elsewhere. He couldn’t stop his mind from revisiting his recent dream about Grimm Cemetery. “Ugh,” he murmured. There was a blank look on his face. All I know for sure is that it will eventually happen, he thought. All of my dreams about Leah happened, so why would this one be any different?
Nathan’s stomach twisted into knots as he remembered overhearing Lafonda and Amanda talking about Leah at Lafonda’s birthday party. He blinked his eyes realizing that was the moment his life had changed forever. Checking the yearbook to see Leah’s photo to verify it was really her, the same person in his dreams, had been his last chance at deniability.
He drew a big breath and then sighed heavily, finally noticing the red cardinal in the tree outside his window as it hopped from branch to branch. The cardinal finally stopped to flutter its wings before choosing to nestle on the side of the tree that received the most sun.
Everything is changing, Nathan thought.
Nathan couldn’t remember the last time he had just sat around and done nothing. Sure, this wasn’t his first year at camp and he expected to have constant day and night activities but this year was different. He couldn’t even recall the last time he’d actually had a restful night’s sleep without waking up startled by a dream. And when he wasn’t asleep, his thoughts were overwhelmed with the strange things that seemed to be constantly happening to him.
He took a sip of orange juice and then stared intently at his hands. And now apparently, I have blue flames that come out of my hands. This is getting way too weird.
Nathan’s vacant expression turned sad as he wished that he knew when it all would happen. A sickening feeling crept into his stomach. I wish I knew how we all end up in a cemetery.
The sound of laughter coming from another table interrupted his thoughts. Nathan recognized Jonas’s voice and turned around to see a huge smile on the camper’s face. Christina Williams had Jonas’s basketball and was teasing not to give it back to him.
“Earth to Nathan?” called out a familiar voice.
Nathan turned around to find Lafonda glaring at him. He raised his eyebrows in response to her stare. “What?”
“You didn’t hear me talking to you?” she said, her brown eyes scrutinizing his.
Nathan could see that Lafonda wasn’t the only one at the table anticipating a response. He opened his mouth to speak and thought about answering sarcastically, but then he saw the look on her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.
Lafonda tilted her head and her forehead wrinkled with a look of concern. “You really have been acting strange lately. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Ah, give him some slack,” commented Alan. “Let him enjoy his pancakes and orange juice.”
“Do you always have pancakes and orange juice for breakfast?” asked Angela.
Nathan was surprised by the question and looked down at his half-eaten plate. He didn’t realize just how often he chose pancakes for breakfast. “Yup,” he said. “Pecan pancakes and orange juice – my favorite.”
Lafonda pushed her empty tray from in front of her and slapped her hand down on the table. “Whatever,” she moaned. “I know something is going on. He even bothered to remember to put on his leadership shirt this morning.”
Alan let out a huge laugh. “I guess she has a point there,” he said. “What’s gotten into you?”
Nathan took a moment to look at the orange leadership shirt he was wearing and shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s just a shirt.”
Lafonda rolled her eyes before leaning forward. “But you never wear it,” she explained. “Well, at least not without coercion.”
Angela ran her hand through her carefully groomed locks of blonde hair and smiled. “Well, love is in the air,” she said. “Maybe he’s in love?”
“Love?” laughed Lafonda. “That’s doubtful.”
Angela rested her chin on the back of her hand and blinked her long eyelashes playfully. “Why not?” she said. “Summer is the season of love and I believe the summer love bug has bitten our little Jonas.”
Everyone turned around to see Jonas laughing and joking around with Christina Williams. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces.
“And speaking of love,” said Angela with a huge smile on her own face. “Lafonda, how’s it going with the hunky Jim Darding?”
Nathan sat up in his chair and snickered. He couldn’t wait to hear her response on this one.
Lafonda gave him a disapproving glare and tossed her long black hair over her shoulders. “Well,” she said. “If you must know, Jim and I have decided to take a break.”
“A break?” blurted Alan, instantly scooting back in his chair. “Since when? Does Jim know you two are on a break? When did this happen?”
“At her birthday party a couple of weeks ago,” answered Nathan, before Lafonda could respond.
“Nathan!” said Lafonda, angrily.
“What?” he shrugged, while raising his eyebrows. “It’s the truth.”
Alan grinned. “So, that’s why Jim left early the night of your birthday party.”
“Alan, that’s none of your business,” spouted Angela. “And how do you know Jim left early? You weren’t even at the party.”
He smiled and held up his cell phone. “Text darling, text,” he said. “I have friends that were there.”
Alan suddenly had an apologetic look on his face. “And my condolences about th
e dress Lafonda – I heard it was quite smashing.”
“Yeah, me too,” winced Angela. “I heard about what happened to your dress.”
“Okay, guys,” said Erin, after slamming her glass of apple juice on the table. “I’m sure Lafonda would rather not relive that night – isn’t that right Nathan?”
Nathan looked embarrassed and gave a forced smile.
“It’s okay, guys,” said Lafonda. She took a deep breath and then smiled. “Really.”
Angela quickly pulled herself closer to the table. “Well, while we’re on the subject of hunks,” she grinned. “I wonder where is that Stephen Malick?”
Alan huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Yeah,” added Erin. “And I wonder where is that Jonathan Black? He said he would be here early this morning.”
Lafonda sighed. “Do we really need to bring him up at breakfast today?” she asked.
Erin looked confused. “Bring up whom?” she asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” said Alan. “Who else does Angela talk about every morning?”
Angela frowned at him and then suddenly had a huge smile across her face. “There he is!” she said. Her rosy cheeks became a deeper hue. “Guys, he’s coming this way.”
“This conversation is getting old,” griped Alan. “I’d better go before my clothes go out of style.”
Angela grabbed Alan by the arm and yanked him back into his chair. “Sit down Alan,” she murmured, sounding annoyed. “It’s not time to go yet.”
She quickly ran her fingers through her hair and smiled. “Hi, Stephen,” she said. “How are you this morning?”
Stephen Malick was wearing sunglasses and carrying a tray of breakfast food. Several girls at a nearby table giggled and grinned when he walked past them. “Good morning, ladies,” he said. “And gentlemen.”
Angela smiled and her long eyelashes fluttered a few times. “Good morning, Malick,” she said.
“Oh, brother,” sighed Alan and Lafonda in unison.
He smiled. “Hello, Lafonda,” he said. “How are you this morning?”
Lafonda spun fully around in her chair to face him. She had a smirk on her face. “Good,” she responded, while crossing her legs and folding her arms. “Still wearing your sunglasses indoors?”
Malick grinned and then quickly removed his glasses. “Thanks for looking out for me,” he said, with a wink. “I already ran into LaDonda out in the hallway; got to make sure we set a good example for the kids.”
Lafonda rolled her eyes.
“So, Nathan,” said Malick. “LaDonda wanted me to remind you that we are all set to go this Friday to help Argus with the bonfires. So – North entrance again – a quarter to six?”
Nathan leaned back in his chair and raised his eyebrows. “Sure,” he said. “Looking forward to it.”
Malick laughed and headed towards the tables that were lined up against the glass windows. “Sure you are,” he said.
Quickly, Angela spun around. “Lafonda!” she cried. “No wonder Malick doesn’t want to sit with us!” She crossed her arms and pouted her lips. “Why do you have to be so mean to him?”
“Mean?” she huffed. She raised her eyebrows. “To him? Doubt it. He’s the one that is mean.”
Angela bounced forward in her chair. “What do you mean?” she asked. “He was nothing but nice to you right now.”
“Ha!” she responded. “Yeah, right now he is, but he wasn’t last night.”
Angela’s forehead creased. “Last night?” she said. “What happened last night?”
Lafonda placed her hands into her lap and leaned closer to Angela. “You don’t remember how rude he was to me last night?” she said. “When I was talking to Jonathan? I was trying to understand the whole Cahokia myth thing and he made it seem like I was five years old or something.”
“Oh,” uttered Angela. “You mean the story about The Fallen Ones.”
Lafonda folded her arms and leaned back into her chair. “Yes,” she said. “Almost every question I had for Jonathan, Malick followed up with his, ‘it’s just a myth’ comment; like I was wasting his time by asking stupid questions.”
Alan ran his hand through his blonde hair to fix a loose strand and laughed. “I don’t know which is more comical,” he said. “Angela being all goo-goo-eyed over Malick like some fourteen-year-old or Lafonda claiming he’s doing something bad to her all the time.”
Both Angela and Lafonda turned to gawk at him in protest. “Whatever Alan,” huffed Angela, while rolling her eyes.
He laughed. “Now Lafonda, before you yell at me,” he said. “I don’t think you were wasting time by asking stupid questions. I think the whole conversation to begin with was stupid. You were just trying to make sense of Jonathan’s ridiculous story.”
“Alan!” cried Angela.
“What?” he said. “You know the whole story sounded crazy; all this nonsense about pissed-off angels and parallel dimensions. Now that was a waste of time and don’t think I forgot Angela that you wanted to follow him into some dirty cave.” He looked around and then up towards the cafeteria doors. “Where is the lunatic anyway?”
“Jonathan is not a lunatic, Alan,” she said, firmly. “Jonathan didn’t make up the story about The Fallen Ones. He was just interpreting the symbols.”
“Whatever,” grumbled Alan. “Symbols or no symbols, if he believes that story, he’s a lunatic.”
“Okay,” said Erin. “Even though I have my own bone to pick with our residential archeologist, no pun intended, let’s put a rest on the name calling. Jonathan may not be punctual and may be a little eccentric, but he’s not a lunatic.”
Alan shook his head. “Well, it’s time to go anyway,” he said. “Looks like Lady D is rallying up the troops.”
“Lady D?” asked Angela. “Who is Lady D?”
“LaDonda,” responded Alan, confidently.
“My grandmother?” laughed Lafonda.
“Yeah,” said Alan. “Lady D.”
Angela laughed. “Where did you get that one?” she asked.
“It’s short for LaDonda,” explained Alan. “Lafonda and her grandmother’s name are too close sounding to each other – It can be a bit confusing.”
“Come on, Lafonda,” said Angela, standing up and grabbing her tray. “Let’s go share with your grandmother the new name Alan has for her.”
“Whatever,” he sneered. “You just wish you thought of it.”
Nathan watched as the others walked away, but remained seated at the table. He wanted to finish the remaining amount of orange juice in his glass before dealing with the guys on his floor.
“Come on, Nathan!” called Lafonda. “My grandmother wants us to assemble everyone and to meet her in the front lobby.”
“Okay, I’m coming,” he said, quickly finishing the last sip of orange juice while scarfing down another bite of pancakes. He was reluctant to pick up his tray and wished he had another moment to relax and to finish his food before running off to deal with Lafonda and the others. Nathan looked outside the window and saw the red cardinal he had watched earlier still resting on the tree branch. He thought about his dream and the blue flame that emerged from his hand. He also thought about the blue flame that mysteriously appeared at the foot of his bed. “Did that blue flame really come from out of my hands?” he pondered. “Just so much to deal with at once.”
He turned to look at Lafonda and still felt relief to see her wearing white sneakers. I just wish I knew when this will all happen, he thought again.
Nathan sighed. He picked up his tray and paused to look at the cardinal one last time, but it was gone.
11
TWO THINGS FOR CERTAIN
It was Friday, the end of the day and the end of the second week at camp. Nathan waited for Malick at the north entrance to Lake Charleston. He was a little early arriving at the entrance this time, but didn’t mind. He was looking forward to having a break from the guys on his floor. He wasn’t, however, looking forward to preparing f
ire pits for the night’s bonfire with Stephen Malick. But he figured, although he had to hangout with Malick and perform manual labor, at least he was outdoors.
A gust of wind passed him and Nathan let his mind wander aimlessly. He stared at the large and small trees that lined the north entrance and Lawrence Road. Leaning against the forest preserve sign, he tried to block out the sound of the few cars that drove by and tune into the silence of the forest. He tried to welcome the silence but couldn’t. The same thoughts that had plagued him all week began to replay in his mind like a broken record.
Nathan had spent most of the week thinking about Lafonda and the others and how he could possibly prevent his recent nightmare starring the mysterious woman in white from coming true. His only saving grace about the situation was keeping a watchful eye on Lafonda’s tennis shoes. He would occasionally compliment Lafonda on her shoe of choice hoping to deter her from buying a new pair. He figured that knowing Lafonda and her love for clothing and everything stylish and modern, it was only a matter of time before she traded up. To prevent the grey and pink sneakers he dreaded would one day appear on her feet, he tried everything possible to convince her that white shoes was the way to go.
Although he cringed at the thought of it, Nathan had hoped to revisit Grimm Cemetery again in his dreams. He thought if he had the same dream again that maybe he could learn something he hadn’t seen the first time. Maybe there was something he had missed that could help to prevent the dream from happening. Unlike the many dreams he’d had before about Leah, nothing happened. In fact, all week Nathan couldn’t remember dreaming about anything. His dreams were just as absent as a solution on what to do.
He began to doubt whether or not it was even a dream to begin with because everything seemed so real. Unlike before, with his dreams about Leah, Nathan had felt like he was actually there. The only thing he knew for certain, the only conclusion he kept coming to over and over, was that the blue flame in his room was real and so was Leah.
Everything happening felt so real; especially for Leah; so real that she was committed to a mental hospital because of it. When he wasn’t thinking about his dream at Grimm Cemetery and how to prevent it, he was thinking about Leah. He wondered how she was doing and if she was okay.
The Legend of the Firewalker Page 14