The Legend of the Firewalker

by Steve Bevil [paranormal/YA]

  Angela gave Alan a mean look. “Knock it off Alan,” she said. “I wish you would stop putting on your grumpy pants whenever you actually have to do work.”

  Alan looked down at his pants and dusted them off with his hands. “That’s just it,” he complained. “I didn’t know that LaDonda would volunteer us to setup these grungy chairs today!”

  “Why not?” asked Nathan in a playful tone. “It’s been practically raining all day. Didn’t you know not to wear your nice pants today?”

  Alan rolled his eyes and his upper lip curled. “Ha-ha. Funny.”

  Angela laughed.

  Nathan turned around to look at Lafonda. “I figured because of the rain we weren’t going to be outside today,” he said. He spoke louder so that Alan could hear him. “I just didn’t know what we would be doing instead!”

  Alan looked at Nathan briefly, but turned his attention back to his pants. “Ugh – look Angela!” he grumbled. “This black smudge mark is not coming off. I am going to the bathroom so I can get some water to try to wipe this off!”

  “Wait!” said Angela. “Shouldn’t you wait until we are done setting up? What if you get more spots on your pants?”

  “If I get one more smudge on my pants,” he protested. “I am going upstairs and you can just tell LaDonda I got sick!”

  Nathan shook his head as Alan trotted off to the men’s bathroom. “So, where do you want me?” he asked. “What do you want me to do?”

  Lafonda stood up again and pointed to where Christina, Eva Marie, and Samantha were setting up chairs. “Can you help them?” she asked. She squinted and then scratched her head. “And I don’t know what Jonas is doing over there by himself.”

  Nathan nodded. “Okay, I’ll see if I can help the girls.” He stopped mid-walk and grinned. “And I’ll check on Jonas.”

  “And I don’t know what’s up with him,” mumbled Christina. Nathan could see the worry on her face. “He’s been acting strange all week.”

  “I don’t know either,” shrugged Eva Marie. “You need to ask him what’s going on instead of just talking to us about it.”

  Christina looked over at Jonas as he attempted to setup a table. “What do you think Sam?” she asked.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I agree with Christina. You won’t know how to react until you know what’s going on. As far as you know, you could be overreacting.”

  “Overreacting!” she howled. “Ugh!” Christina glanced up and looked embarrassed when she noticed Nathan. “Oh – uh – hi Nathan,” she uttered.

  Nathan grinned. “Hi Christina.” He tried to smile reassuringly. “So, Lafonda said you guys might need my help.”

  Christina hesitated and her voice quivered. “Uh – sure,” she said.

  Eva Marie smiled and kindly stepped in front of her. “Excuse Christina,” she said. She gave her a quick look. “She’s a little sick today.”

  Christina’s mouth fell open.

  Eva Marie glared at her, raised her eyebrows, and then continued to talk to Nathan. “Can you grab more chairs from the closet for us?” she asked.

  “Sure,” said Nathan.

  Samantha laughed. “Hi Nathan,” she said.

  “Hi Sam,” he smiled.

  Eva Marie gestured her head towards Jonas. “See Jonas over there was helping us in the beginning, but it looks like he is preoccupied at the moment.”

  Nathan and the others looked up to find Jonas struggling to put up the table.

  Eva Marie pointed. “The closet is over there,” she said.

  “Okay,” Nathan nodded. “I’ll be back with more chairs.”

  Before heading to the closet, Nathan decided to chat with Jonas. Jonas was bent over and trying to balance the table with one hand while trying to get one of the legs to open with the other. Nathan reached out with his hand and balanced the table and Jonas looked up and smiled. He then proceeded to lower all the legs of the table. “Thanks Nathan,” he smiled, sounding relieved.

  Nathan grinned. “No problem.”

  Jonas proceeded to set up the chairs that were now on the floor next to the table. Nathan could tell by the look on his face that something was bothering him; he didn’t even have his basketball with him.

  Nathan grabbed a chair and set it up. “So?” he said. “How’s it going?”

  Jonas continued working. “Good,” he responded.

  Nathan had a good idea what was bothering him. Oddly enough, he didn’t think it had anything to do with Jonas learning about Nathan’s ability or that he himself had powers. He didn’t think Jonas was too worried about the creatures they encountered in the pseudo-stairway either. He knew this was mostly about his brother.

  “So,” he said. “What’s new with your brother? Were you able to talk to him again today?”

  Jonas’s eyes lit up, but there was a hint of sadness in his voice. “Yeah,” he said. “Mom’s been calling me after she picks up Bobby from Aunt Carol’s after work.”

  Nathan nodded. “Right,” he said. “You mentioned before that your aunt was watching him while your mom worked.”

  “Yeah and he’s also in summer school,” said Jonas. “He didn’t do too well last year and has to attend summer classes to catch up.” He had a somber look on his face. “But it’s only temporary.”

  Nathan paused to setup another chair. “You mean the part about him being watched by your Aunt Carol?” he asked.

  Jonas smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “Because I’ll soon be home again.”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” called out a familiar voice. “Sorry, but the tables and chairs are facing the wrong direction.”

  Everyone stopped working to find LaDonda Devaro standing in the middle of the lounge area. She wore a dark blue poncho, from which water dripped on the floor. “Sorry guys!” she said in a cheery voice. “I need all the chairs and tables facing the other way.”

  Lafonda stood up and wiped the sweat from her face. She paused to look at the rows of chairs. “But why Grandma?” she protested. “Why can’t we leave them the way they are?”

  LaDonda held up a red, white, and blue DVD that was in her hand. “Because you guys will be watching this tonight,” she said. “And the screen and the projector are facing that way.”

  Lafonda’s forehead wrinkled. “Oh,” she said. She soon had an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry guys, my mistake – we have to turn the tables and chairs the other way.”

  “Ugh,” sighed Christina.

  Eva Marie mumbled words of protest underneath her breath. Samantha helped Angela to turn some of the tables around.

  “What are you guys doing?” blurted out Alan.

  Lafonda looked up to see Alan standing outside the restrooms. His mouth was wide open. “We’re turning the tables and chairs around?”

  Alan’s pants leg was wet and he had a distressed look on his face. “Why?” he said. “For what? I thought we were close to being done.”

  Lafonda pointed to the projector and then the retractable screen. “It’s my fault,” she said. “I didn’t know we were using the projector to watch the movie.”

  “Who said we were using the projector?” grumped Alan.

  Lafonda looked past him. “My grandmother.”

  Alan turned around to find LaDonda instructing Nathan and Jonas where to move one of the tables. “Freaking unbelievable!” he said.

  Eva Marie stopped turning chairs around and walked over to Lafonda. “Dinner is almost over,” she whispered, pointing to the cafeteria doors. “And we probably don’t have enough chairs set out yet. Do you want me to grab some more guys to help setup some more?”

  Lafonda scanned the room. “You’re probably right,” she said. “Grandma – dinner is almost over. Do you want us to get more people to help us set-up?”

  LaDonda headed to the front of the room and stood next to Alan and Lafonda. “We have enough chairs,” she said. “If we run out of seats, people can just sit on the floor.”

  Alan stared at the floor and frowned. “Unbeliev
able,” he muttered. “I am not sitting on the floor.”

  “Why not?” asked Angela.

  He gawked at her and pointed to the dripping water from LaDonda’s poncho. “Because it’s wet.”

  Angela’s face turned sour. “Oh.”

  Alan took in a deep breath. “So what movie are we watching anyway?” he sighed.

  “Grandma,” called Lafonda. “Can I see the DVD?” LaDonda handed her the DVD and she glanced at it before passing it to Alan.

  Alan frowned and leaned over to Angela to whisper. “We’re watching this,” he muttered. “What does watching the last Presidential Inauguration have to do with inspiring leadership?”

  “Oh-no!” said LaDonda in a worried voice. A loud crack of thunder filled the room and the lights flickered on and off. “I hope we don’t lose power because of this storm,” she said. “Then what are we going to do?”

  “Not stay down here,” Alan snickered.

  Angela and Lafonda laughed.

  The door from the cafeteria opened and the lobby filled with the sounds of chatter and laughter. Erin, Jonathan, and the other counselors and campers slowly trickled into the lobby area. Lafonda looked around the room. “Good,” she said with an exhausted tone. “Guys, I think we’re done!”

  Eva Marie and Christina looked at each other with relief and sat down.

  “Awesome!” cried Alan. “Finally!” He glanced down at his pants and then his hands. “Ugh,” he sighed. “I’m going to wash my hands.”

  “Me too!” said Angela, running to catch up with him.

  Nathan watched from the back of the lounge as everyone came in and took seats. He was surprised that although there were seats still open, some took to the floor. When he turned around, Jonas was no longer standing next to him. Where did he run off to? he wondered.

  Nathan searched around the room to see if he could find Jonas. He stood on the tips of his toes and tried to see further back and over the crowd. As he was scanning the different faces for Jonas, he saw a familiar face looking back at him. Malick grinned and headed towards him.

  “So look who found a way to get out of work today,” chuckled Malick.

  Nathan grinned. “Ha-ha,” he said. “Tonight’s bonfire was only canceled due to the rain and not because of me.”

  “I know, I know,” said Malick with hands up in the air. “I was just teasing you.” He ran his hand through his hair. “So, what happened to you?” he asked. “If the bonfire was cancelled tonight, why weren’t you at dinner?”

  Nathan’s eyes quickly darted over Malick’s shoulder. He continued to look for Jonas. “Oh,” he said. “I ate quick and left early today.”

  Malick had a confused look on his face.

  “I knew that LaDonda would have something else planned for us, so I wanted to call my grandfather before whatever that was got started,” he said. “You know, before I forgot about it.”

  “Got it,” Malick said.

  Nathan’s eyes perked up. He got a glimpse of Jonas heading towards the cafeteria doors. “Excuse me, Malick. But I wanted to talk to Jonas about something.”

  He tried to quickly maneuver through the crowd of counselors and campers while keeping a watchful eye on Jonas. “Jonas!” he called out.

  Jonas froze as if his hands had been caught in a cookie jar. He slowly turned around, but suddenly looked relieved. “Oh,” he uttered, his breath sounding a little labored. “It’s you, Nathan.”

  Nathan was a little confused. “Yeah,” he replied. “Were you expecting someone else?”

  “Oh—no,” said Jonas. He smiled wearily. “You just caught me off guard.”

  Nathan had a skeptical look on his face. “Caught off guard from what?” he asked.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” responded Jonas. “I was just heading into the cafeteria to grab something I’d forgotten.”

  “Wait,” said Nathan, catching Jonas by the arm. “How are you doing?”

  Jonas raised his eyebrows. He looked confused.

  Nathan leaned in closer and then spoke softly, “You know,” he said. “How are you dealing with everything else? You know, with your ability and…”

  “Oh, you mean with the monsters and having no memory of how I got there. I just don’t think about it,” he shrugged. “I just concentrate on something else.”

  Like your brother? said Nathan to himself.

  Jonas took a deep breath. “Well, it looks like LaDonda will be starting soon,” he said. “I better go grab my stuff.”

  “Wait,” said Nathan and Jonas turned around again. Nathan noticed that this time, he looked nervous. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No!” responded Jonas abruptly.

  Nathan was surprised by Jonas’s reaction and he frowned.

  “I mean – it’s okay,” said Jonas immediately. “I got it.”

  Nathan folded his arms across his chest and his eyes squinted. “Hold on,” he said. “Something is not right; you are definitely up to something.”

  “Everything is cool,” Jonas said.

  Nathan rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh, right,” he said. “Something isn’t right. You don’t even have your basketball with you.”

  Jonas glanced down. His cheeks began to turn red. “I’m going to see my brother!” he blurted out.

  “What?” Nathan quickly grabbed Jonas by the arm and pulled him to the side. “What are you talking about?”

  Jonas winced. “I figured since the bonfire is cancelled tonight that I would go home,” he said.

  Nathan shook his head. “You can’t go see your brother,” he said. “No one is supposed to leave Lawrence Hall alone – let alone campus!”

  “But I don’t live far from here,” Jonas pleaded. “We would be back before anyone even noticed that we were gone.”

  “We?” blurted Nathan.

  “Yeah,” explained Jonas. “You said no one could leave campus alone; you could go with me.”

  “Go where?” asked Malick, suddenly joining the conversation.

  Nathan rolled his eyes.

  “Home,” said Jonas. “I mean – to my parent’s house – to see my brother.”

  Malick’s eyes lit up. “How far away is it?” he asked.

  “Not far at all,” said Jonas. “It wouldn’t take us that long to walk there.”

  Malick dangled the keys he withdrew from his pocket and grinned. “Why walk when you can drive?” he said.

  “We’re not going anywhere,” whispered Nathan in protest. “No one is supposed to leave Lawrence Hall and besides, I have duties.” He glowered at Malick. “And you have duties too. We both are supposed to be here at camp.”

  Jonas had a sad look on his face.

  Malick looked at Jonas. He then placed his arm around Nathan’s shoulder.

  “Look,” he said. “The kid really needs to see his brother and who are we to stand in the way of that?” He leaned in close to Jonas and spoke softly. “Why are we going to see your brother again?” he asked.

  Jonas hesitated. “Uh – he’s in summer school,” he said. “And my mom said he’s been falling asleep in class – I’m worried about him.”

  “See,” said Malick. “It’s important.”

  Nathan shook his head. “You know no one is supposed to leave campus,” he said. “What are we going to say to LaDonda and the others?”

  Malick paused shortly and then a huge smile formed on his face. Nathan’s stomach twisted into knots; he hadn’t felt that way since Malick had challenged him to a bonfire lighting competition weeks ago. Here we go, he thought. He recalled how Malick had mysteriously started all twelve fires in record time – he had to have cheated.

  “We won’t have to say anything,” said Malick. “We’ll slip out through the kitchen after the movie starts and LaDonda turns off the lights. We’ll be back before anyone even notices.”

  Nathan caught a glimpse of Lafonda looking his way. “Don’t count on it,” he said, underneath his breath.

  “All right everyone,” shouted LaDonda. �
�Quiet now, I am about to start the movie. Please take your seats!”

  Malick walked over to the light switch that was closest to the cafeteria doors. “I got the lights Mrs. Devaro!” he said.

  LaDonda smiled. “Thank you Stephen!” she replied.

  Malick looked at Nathan intently. He was waiting for him to signal.

  Nathan caught a glimpse of Lafonda looking at him again before she took her seat. He heard Malick clear his throat. “Jonas,” Nathan said, letting out a huge sigh. “Do you still feel like your brother was in the stairway that night?”

  Jonas eagerly responded. “Yes.”

  Nathan then slowly nodded his head and Malick turned off the lights.

  15

  MIDNIGHT TRAIN

  The back door to the kitchen of Lawrence Hall swung open. Nathan blinked furiously. He was doing his best to see through the rain but he barely missed bumping into the dumpster. The rain continued to pound against them as Malick, Nathan, and Jonas darted towards the silver metallic car. Before Nathan could grab the door handle, the polished-looking vehicle with aluminum wheels purred to life while blinking its red lights. Nathan heard the sound of the door locks pop open.

  “Wow,” said Jonas. “It’s really crazy out here!”

  Moving quickly, Nathan folded back the front seat so that Jonas could climb in. “Yeah,” he said. “And you were going to walk in this?”

  Nathan wiped the rain from his forehead, feeling the cool of the leather seats underneath his damp clothes. The Camaro was relatively clean and still had that new car smell. He glanced over to find a gleaming Stephen Malick grinning at him from the driver’s seat. “What are you so happy about?” he asked.

  “I’m sure you never imagined that one day you would be riding shotgun in this car,” he laughed.

  Nathan frowned as he continued to wipe the rain from his forehead and his arms. “Not exactly,” he said. “Not after the stunt you pulled on the first day of camp.”

  Malick started the windshield wipers and turned on the heat to defog the windows. “Did I ever apologize about that?” he asked.