by Dale Mayer
More nervous now, she walked around the small building to the far side. “Hello?” After a moment in a slightly louder voice, she called out, “Anyone here?”
Still silence.
Until she heard the splash of something liquid. Like a large glass of water being filled right beside her. Only she was alone and there was no liquid around her.
Hearing footsteps behind her, she spun, her heart slamming in her chest, and peered into the darkness. “Hello?”
Out of nowhere, something slammed into her head and she collapsed to the ground.
And woke up crying out.
Hannah lay in the darkness, her limbs shaking so damn much she couldn’t believe Trevor slept beside her unaware. She snuggled up closer and realized his sleep was deep, maybe too deep. She couldn’t help herself from checking that he was still breathing. He was, thank God. She relaxed back against the pillows. Inside though, the weirdness of her nightmare disturbed her. She didn’t remember having nightmares like this before. In fact, she rarely had anything but a good night’s rest.
And she would have, wouldn’t she? The damn blocks. Shit, were these nightmares something she’d had long ago and once again someone “blocked” them out for her? They were disturbing to her as an adult so she couldn’t imagine the pain and terror she’d have experienced as a child. Once again she realized how much might have been done to help her out. Regardless of their good intentions, it had left her with less than half her memories. And no coping skills to deal with the nightmares now. If she’d adapted to them as a child then she’d have adjusted easier today, but instead it all piled up on her now.
Lying in the darkness she had to wonder. Was she capable of handling this nightmare?
Trevor made an odd sound beside her. She reached out, stroked his shoulder. He was such a special man and dare she say it – he was hers. She leaned over and kissed his warm shoulder. She draped her arm over his chest and smiled at the joy of being in his arms.
His body jerked.
She shifted back to study his face. And realized he wasn’t sleeping normally. Given all she’d learned lately, she had to question if he was “off” somewhere? She had no evidence of that, but his face was too slack for him to just be asleep. His breathing was too deep. She wondered if he was just having heavy dreams or did he do energy work at night? Or was he in grayscale? Just the thought gave her the shivers. Listen to her. A week ago she’d be placed under observation for speaking like this.
This was all so new to her. She closed her eyes and pondered that. It wasn’t new. Not really. Because of her mother, she’d been dealing in this type of work for a long time. She just hadn’t known it to be anything different than what everyone else did on a daily basis. The graywalker business was really bizarre though.
She threw back the covers and walked to the bathroom. As she passed the window she caught a glimpse of a strange light. Slipping to the side of the glass she stared out. And realized something else. She couldn’t see her reflection.
She raced to the mirror and studied the face looking back. Silvery gray tones hid the flesh colored skin, and her eyes already a deep purple had turned more violet. “Well,” she whispered. “What the hell happened to you?”
Yet she knew she was in her grayscale world. So that’s how people saw her – if they saw her – in this world. She had thought she was in the normal physical dimension. And that it was Trevor walking in other realities.
But if this was hers, why did Trevor look normal. Her mind instinctively supplied the answer – because that’s how she knew he looked.
Oh Lord.
She walked back out of the bathroom, swallowing hard. She was in her own grayscale for once. The people looked normal so that was one indicator she could learn to judge by. She clasped her hands together and recognized she could feel the pressure. So that was a secondary indicator that this was her world. She walked back to the window and the weird light flashed outside again. Only it looked odder still. And yet familiar. She closed her eyes and tried to control the panic welling up inside. Should she go take a look?
She opened her eyes again only to realize she’d teleported to the spot outside by just thinking about it. She wanted to laugh, but the only sound was hysterical laughter.
Then there was nothing to laugh about. She could see the odd light clearly now.
It was fire.
Burning. All around her.
*
Trevor heard her cry out. Heard her jerk in the bed beside him. He shifted realities to return to his sleeping body only to realize he was too late. Whatever she’d felt or seen had passed. She lay curled up in his arms, sleeping peacefully while he’d been wandering through grayscale. Checking up on some patients. Visiting with others. It was a nightly ritual he went through to touch base with those in his world.
He yawned gently. The early morning light hit the room and gave just enough visibility to see shadows yet enough light to also see through them. Gently he rolled onto his back, his arm coming down to tuck Hannah up against him. And found her skin cold.
Not just chilled but cold.
Holy crap. He rubbed her back and pulled the covers higher to her neck. He rolled her over gently and studied her face. She was off traveling. Of course. Like most people, she likely did that every night. Only instead of being deeply relaxed, waves of tension rolled off her. She could be in her grayscale. Chances were good that was her main traveling system, but she could be many other places too. During sleep people astral traveled anywhere. Including for some back and forth in time.
He had no idea what she could do.
And neither did she.
Should he just wait and try to wake her up?
They’d gone to sleep early so of course they were awake early. But this early? Frowning he got up and walked over to the window, his mind consumed with the changes in his world. Didn’t it figure that everything had crunched together right now? Hannah’s return to his life. His marriage. Mr. Niggard’s case being reopened. There was too much going on now for this not to have the hand of fate involved. And when fate went to work, all kinds of shit happened.
He knew. He’d been on the receiving end many times. Maybe this time he’d be on the right end. He worried where Hannah was now. Could he find her? Follow her? He called out to her.
And found himself in grayscale in the middle of a scenario he’d dreamt up too many times – fire.
As an arrogant teen he’d had nightmares of burning alive in a fire for years. Mr. Niggard’s death had brought them on. He’d hoped to never see that particular nightmare again. In grayscale the immediacy and panic of the situation was diluted. Thank heavens.
He centered himself then turned to see where he was and why he was here.
And found Hannah, staring at the flames.
He walked closer, worried about startling her. Did she know where she was? Why she was here?
At her side he studied the location. He was at the old high school. The building on fire was the chemistry trailer that killed his teacher. Jesus. He could see several people milling about, trying to help, but there was no help to be had.
The building was past the point of saving, and he knew that the body hidden inside wouldn’t be found until the morning.
He slowly turned to study the people around him.
There were a few firefighters but they were focused on saving the other buildings. A few neighbors had come over to see what was going on. And…in the back…by the trees stood two people.
He tried to shift over there so he could see better but the images stayed frozen, locked in time and just out of reach. He squinted, searching for something identifiable. And came up blank, but there was something furtive about them. And something familiar.
One turned and he caught sight of her profile. Stones.
Jesus. That meant the other was most likely Sticks. But he had to be sure.
And he had no way to do that.
Chapter 36
Why was she here?
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She didn’t know this place. At least she didn’t think she knew this place. But it did look…familiar. Was this Sticks’s old school? Was that possible? She cast her mind back and found she could pull a few of the memories forward. There was something in there about his school. Had they gone there one evening? Yes, they’d sat on the front steps as he’d told her a little about the future he’d envisioned for himself. She didn’t remember the details. But she had assumed that he hadn’t been attending school at the time. She’d wanted to believe in him, but it was a little hard when he’d had grandiose plans for a kid like him. At the same time many a man carried on to be someone important.
It had been nice to sit out in the school yard – a place so different from her own. Hers had huge hallways, a big old stone building that had seen generations of the rich and famous walk its hallowed halls. She’d not fit in there either. But Sticks’s school had been undergoing renovations and many classes were being housed temporarily in trailers. Old and decrepit looking trailers, and the comparison to trailer trash had been hard to miss.
Still they’d shared a few beers, ones she paid for but he bought. Some buddy of his could score the booze for him. A connection she didn’t have, but she had plenty of money. She’d been a little obnoxious about that, she could see now, but at the time it hadn’t seemed like she’d been that way. Only kids who’d experienced hard knocks could pull the act off. She’d been playing at it.
She’d been a fool, trying to get back at her father. Lord, he must have hated that. She’d been a hellish child to raise. She was either acting out or in a mental hospital where doctors were trying to fix what was wrong. And what was wrong was that she’d been fighting him and he’d been trying to protect her. But her fighting had been at his tight rule over her and it made her look more irrational. They’d been in a cycle that no one could win. Then of course somewhere along the way there’d been these oh so lovely blocks placed in her head, and Will had started to stalk her.
Lord, no wonder she appeared to be a mess – she had been – but no longer. Clarity was winning – finally.
Now she was a graywalker traipsing through someone else’s memories. How unbelievable was that? Imagine if her father knew? None of the well-meaning medical staff had a clue what being a graywalker was all about. Given that, people like her couldn’t get help.
That’s why Trevor’s assistance was huge. He held a unique position to help people like her. Without him, she’d have been lost forever behind closed doors.
What a horrible future. Add in the drugs given to her healthy body and there was no end to the muck going on in her system.
How many people like her were there out in the world? Messed up and thinking they were getting help when in reality they needed to ditch the help and become one with their souls.
She smiled at that.
“Hey, Stefan,” she called out randomly. “Do you like that term?”
I do. The instant answer sent goose bumps down her spine.
She gasped. “Is that really you?”
It is. Trevor is standing beside you as well.
She spun around. “I can’t see him.”
He can see you. He’s opened a window into that particular gray world so he can look in where you are. If you shift your view slightly you’ll see him.
“Shift my view?”
Just mentally say you want to see him.
She did, and just like that, Trevor was beside her.
With a shout of joy, she threw her arms around him. And grasped nothing.
He laughed. So, this isn’t your or my grayscale.
“Oh Lord. I thought it was.” She squeezed her hands together but sure enough there was no pressure. “So I switched into someone else’s grayscale and didn’t know?” She spun around in shock. “When? How?”
“With your skills it could be as easy as a blink for you to switch from one to another.”
She shook her head. “The school is behind you. The trailer is burning. That’s the one you told me about,” she said quietly. “Only it’s happening all over again in this year, not twenty years ago.”
No, Hannah. You are in the grayscale world of someone who has access to his memories in a way most of us can’t see. He’s traveling through them in grayscale.
She froze. “So I’m back in time?”
I don’t think it’s time travel as much as he’s reliving in his memories – ones he loves so much he spends a lot of time here rejoicing and that’s where you found him.
“What am I supposed to say to that?” she whispered. “That’s so bizarre.”
Stefan spoke up. Although this may look like real time, you can’t actually walk about the buildings and see the back of them. You can only walk where he walked as that is part of his memories. Any place that he didn’t go, you can’t access.
She blinked.
“So the person whose grayscale I’m in is…”
The man who set the fire, Trevor said in a low tone. And very likely the man who killed my teacher.
She gasped. “I’m in the grayscale of a murderer?”
Yes. And now the question we need answered – do you know whose grayscale world you are in?
*
He watched her shake her head. Damn. Too bad. That would help us tremendously.
“I have no idea. Why would I come here? And at this time frame. I never knew anything about the school fire. I wasn’t even with Sticks when it happened. That was after we broke up. There’s no way he did it because we broke up. He didn’t care about me in the least.”
We’re not saying it’s him at all.
She seemed to calm down slightly at that reassurance. “But if I’m here, you’re saying I’m connected. If I’m connected that means it has to be through one of your old group, Trevor.”
And that leaves us five options.
“Seven, you said.”
Right, but the other two had left a long time ago.
She nodded. “Does that mean they are ruled out then? Or are they even more possible suspects as they might have left for a reason.”
I don’t remember the details. They were both heavy drug users so who knows if they are even still alive. His tone of voice changed. But it’s time to come home, sweetheart. Stefan needs his beauty sleep.
Why would you let me get it now? Stefan said. Hannah. Before you leave, take a close look around and try to retain this image. Not just with your eyes but also with your ears, your nose.
“That’s it!” she cried. “I stood here before the fire started. That’s when I heard liquid pouring, but I couldn’t see where or what until I recognized the gasoline smell. Someone was pouring gasoline around the trailer.”
Do you know who? Trevor asked.
She shook her head. “No idea.”
Was it male or female? Can you tell that much?
She closed her eyes, trying to draw that memory back to her. And caught a whiff of perfume. “It was female,” she whispered. “At least there was a woman there.”
If that was Stones, Sticks wouldn’t have been far behind.
We don’t know it was either of them, Stefan cautioned.
“Didn’t you say another teacher had been fired because of having an affair with a student? She’d been a hard type and likely had the affair to bring down her teacher?”
Yes, but that was the same girl. Trevor’s voice slowed. She’d broken it off with Sticks before you came on the scene. Then she wanted to get back together with Sticks. Or he managed to get her back on his side.
I suspect the fire was lit to hide their tracks, Stefan said. My gut instinct says that’s key. We need to locate them both now.
“How do we do that?” Hannah asked. “It happened was decades ago.”
Lots of ways. Fingerprints are one, Trevor said. We were all printed back then. They’d found a couple of gas cans thrown away with prints on them, we heard but nothing more was mentioned about it. We all assumed they never matched a suspect. But we were kids, and no
one was sharing information with us.
Stefan said seriously. Considering their prints haven’t shown up since, they’ve managed to keep under the police radar, so we aren’t going to have much luck there. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to try to track that energy backwards and find them that way.
*
Did he see what he thought he saw?
No…hell no. She couldn’t be here.
Not in his dreams.
Wait…if she was here – was he dreaming her presence? Not that he had any idea why he’d do such a thing. He wouldn’t. There’s no way he would.
This was bullshit. Then he realized she wasn’t in his dreams, she’d walked into his memories. Memories he held precious. Memories where he’d snuck in and around watching the others…always watching what everyone did.
And icy fingers walked up his spine.
Jesus. That couldn’t be.
She couldn’t do that.
There was no way.
And if she could do that – could others?
There was no way in hell he wanted anyone walking through his mind, past, present or future. He’d done some shit no one could know about. And he planned to do a whole lot more.
Chapter 37
Trying to follow Stefan’s instructions she studied the fire burning around her, looking for someone she’d recognize. Looking for a face to take back with her. She might walk in this person’s grayscale world again but that didn’t mean she’d be able to walk in this particular memory twice so she had to make this visit count.
Was he a pyromaniac? A person who thrived on fires? Fascinated to see the world burn? If so, then why kill the science teacher? Or had his death been an accident? Maybe no one knew he was in the trailer marking papers. He’d lived alone and it wasn’t unreasonable for him to stay late with his assignments to mark and his bottle to keep him company.
“Here, hold this.”
Something was thrust into her hand. Instinctively she reached out to grab it. And found a gas can in her hand.
She searched around for the person who’d given it to her, but she’d only seen the black gloves.