Window in the Earth Trilogy

by Fish, Matthew

  Finally, it was James who spoke: “Do you think now that we’ve found her…do you think everything is over?”

  “I don’t know…,” Kylie whispered as she rested her head on Christopher’s shoulder. She was visibly exhausted from the day that they had had. “Either way, I’m thankful for everything that has come out of this….”

  “Yeah…,” Christopher said, smiling down at Kylie. “In a way, I have the cave to thank for the time I have with you.…”

  “Not to mention our lives,” James added. “Remember the storm….”

  “Yeah…,” Christopher quietly replied. Then he paused, remembering something that he had forgotten. With his free hand he reached down into his pocket, pulling out the large claw with his name on it. “I don’t think the business with the cave is over, even if our business with Alena is….”

  “I almost completely forgot about that,” James said with a heavy sigh. “And for once I thought everything might be going back to normal around here.”

  “Around here?” Kylie said sarcastically. “Nothing will ever be normal here. Not ever again….”

  “I wonder what the cave is,” Christopher said as he fidgeted around with the claw. “I wonder if we’ll ever know….”

  “Time will tell…,” James said as he closed his eyes, leaning his head against the back of the couch. “Only time will tell.”

  The three slowly nodded off, letting exhaustion finally get the better of them. Sleeping there, side by side on a couch that almost seemed way too small to ever seat three, there existed a sort of moment of pure contentment. Christopher was so tired, and it was so comforting to have Kylie’s head next to his heart that he could think of no other moment that he might have been more relaxed, more fulfilled.

  It was a few hours before Bones finally came to the front door, waking James up first, who gave Christopher a good shake, and then Christopher, in turn, woke Kylie. Bones slowly trudged in through the door, tossing his wet coat to the ground and letting out a heavy exhausted sigh.

  “Everything’s fine,” he said as noticed that everyone had woken up.

  “Good,” James said as he stretched his arms high into the air.

  “The police will be around for a while in shifts. Mr. Leiter has got a lot to answer to if they ever find him around here,” Bones said as he made his way into the kitchen to pour himself a drink. “So at least we can feel safe about that.”

  “Thank God,” Kylie said as she lay back against Christopher’s chest. “And thank you…you were really great today.”

  “Small thing to do,” Bones said with a smile and a chuckle, “for a future granddaughter.”

  Christopher’s face reddened considerably, and Kylie giggled.

  “I think you’ve still got a few years to go…,” James said, laughing as well.

  “Anyway…,” Bones said as he poured himself a big drink. “I’m done…I’m spent…I’m finished for the day. Christopher?”

  “Yeah?” Christopher asked, very tired to the point of his eyes being tiny slits.

  “Do you mind taking the couch and giving up your room for the night?” Bones asked as he made his way over to his bedroom door.

  “No, not at all,” Christopher answered.

  “Lucky you,” James said, chuckling. “Just married and already sleeping on the couch.”

  “Oh, be quiet already,” Christopher said as he gave James a good push, forcing him off of the couch that was now his bed. “No one wants to hear you anymore.…”

  Kylie laughed as she got to her feet. “Good night, honey,” Kylie said with a giggle as she reached down to give Christopher a long embrace.

  “Good night…,” Christopher whispered with a smile on his face, but then he shook his head. Everyone was picking on him now, it seemed. “If you get lonely, sleep with Fred…he’s a good dog.”

  “Who?” Kylie asked.

  “His stuffed dog. He’s a grown-ass man sleeping with a stuffed dog,” James said.

  “Just shut up already, James,” Christopher said as he shook his head once more, very annoyed. “Do you ever listen to yourself?”

  “Yeah, and I can’t get enough of me,” James said over his shoulder as he turned to leave.

  “I think it’s cute,” Kylie said. “It’ll make me think of you.…”

  As Kylie and James made their way upstairs to bed, Christopher finally let himself fall back onto the couch. He took in a deep breath of air and released it into the night. His heart was troubled by the discovery of Alena’s body, yet, on the other hand, he had so many things to be happy about he didn’t know exactly how he should feel. He guessed that was just how life is sometimes, though; good things happen at the same time that bad things do. There’s no real set order or alternation involved. Things just come when they want to come. Christopher thought back to what his father had said: “Changes change, because we are people who have no authority to change them.” Had he finally gotten it right that time?

  He shook his head, hoping all the thoughts and memories could be chased away like butterflies resting upon his mind. He tried to think hard about nothing at all, eventually resting his mind on Kylie, and he eventually fell asleep. He was sure that tonight he was going to stay asleep, too. He was so exhausted. However, someone had other plans.

  Christopher woke up to find himself looking at the digital clock across the room. He thought he had heard someone whispering. His eyes were heavy and the red numbers on the digital display were blurry in the darkness of the room. He couldn’t remember what had awoken him, or even why he had decided to check the time. He slowly let his eyes focus on the clock, and, to his complete disappointment, it was just flashing 12:00 over and over. The power must have gone out. Perhaps it was storming again.

  He slowly got up to a sitting position on the couch, not sure why he did so. It was almost as though something was compelling him to rise, some strange force both unknown and unseen. Whatever reason he was awake, he didn’t really want to be. His body still felt the exhaustion that it had earlier.

  He scanned around the room, searching for whatever had awoken him. He focused on the picture window, and for a moment thought he had seen a shadow there. He unconsciously let himself fall back against the couch, and panic shot through him as he felt a pain in his back. He quickly reached back, sure that something was either biting him or cutting into him, and then he pulled the large claw that Kylie had gotten in the cave out from under him. He shook his head as he set the claw down on the table. “My fault for leaving it on the couch, I guess…,” Christopher whispered to himself as he got ready to lie back down.

  However, just as he was about to relax, the same shadow he had seen streaking past the window reappeared, only, this time, it lingered. Christopher, at a snail’s pace, got to his feet and made his way to the large picture window. There was definitely something there. Something small.

  The shadow turned toward him, exposing a pair of glowing eyes and causing Christopher to fall back in shock. He realized what it was, or rather, who it was—it was Stinky. Christopher placed his hand against the window, careful to not startle the stray cat. “Hey, Stinky…haven’t seen you since that first day in the cave….”

  The cat curiously placed his paw up to meet Christopher’s, and for a moment it was as though they were touching. That’s just cute, Christopher thought as he watched the small gray-and-white cat. “Was it you, eh? Was it you who woke me up?” he asked.

  Very tired, Christopher slowly removed his hand from the window, turning back to the couch. He was convinced that he had found the culprit and was now ready to retire. As he took a few steps forward he felt something rub against the back of his leg. Startled, he whirled around and glanced down. Stinky was there at his feet.

  “That’s impossible…,” Christopher whispered, more to himself than to the cat. “The window…”

  Stinky looked up and met Christopher’s gaze, the cat’s eyes glowing in the dark of the room. It let out a single meow, which came out no
t only in sound but in complete word form, as though the word had been written down and forced out of the cat’s mouth. The word swirled around and danced in the air of the living room, eventually floating up to the ceiling and disappearing in a small puff of hot white smoke.

  There’s something real familiar about this, Christopher thought. “I should be scared, but, honestly, I have to say that I’ve come to expect this kind of thing,” he said as he reached down and carefully petted Stinky, rubbing behind his ears.

  He then shuffled over to the couch, the cat following at his heels. Christopher was a little freaked out. After all, the cat had passed through the window, and then an onomatopoeia—meow—had gone up and floated away like smoke from a cigar pipe. Really, though, Christopher was just too exhausted. He half-believed that he was even awake at this point.

  Then, as if things could not possibly get any stranger, the cat leapt onto the coffee table in front of the couch and started talking. Not cat-talk either—nothing even sounding remotely like a cat’s meow or any other sound one would normally come to expect from a cat. This was regular speech, the usually-reserved-only-for-people kind of talk.

  “Are you coming tomorrow?” the cat asked. It sounded more like a woman or girl’s voice; it was soft and rather gentle.

  Christopher cocked his head, much like he had seen Poppy and Kate do when they were curious about things. “Did you seriously just ask me a question?”

  “You must come soon,” the cat said. Each of the cat’s words followed with a little puff of bluish smoke from its mouth. The smoke would glow for a bit, and then dissipate into the air. “As the water advances, so do the bad things.…”

  “What bad things?” Christopher asked, more concerned than weirded out by the thought of the talking cat.

  “Tomorrow,” the cat whispered. It slowly made its way across the living room, leaping up onto the shelf underneath the picture window.

  “I…,” Christopher said, pausing for a moment as he was very unsure how to answer. Should he go ahead and tell the cat he was uncertain about going back in, and whether it would really make a difference at all? “Yeah….”

  Stinky looked to Christopher, his expressionless face offering no reply. Then, as quickly as lightning, the cat jumped right through the window. Not causing any damage, of course, to either itself or the window. However a strange blue layer of glowing smoke was left behind. It rippled and danced like water as it slowly faded, mixing with the regular air.

  “Well, I guess I have to go,” Christopher said to himself, letting himself relax. Talking to himself helped him relax, too, sometimes. “Unless this is just a dream. It feels kind of like a dream…so, in theory, it could be a dream. Who am I kidding…?” Christopher finally concluded. “This is not a dream…dreams aren’t this damn strange.”

  Chapter 14: A Home in the Earth

  Mostly asleep, Christopher attempted to slap at whatever was tickling his nose. He didn’t know whether it was some sort of bug, or something much more sinister. After the events of the night before, which, surprisingly enough, he kind of remembered, he came to expect almost anything.

  He slowly opened his eyes. It was still very early and the room was filled with the dull gray light of a cloudy summer morning. He slowly got up to a sitting position on the couch, looking around the room for whatever had awakened him. Seeing nothing at all before him, he let out a great big yawn, his arms stretched up and outward, toward to the ceiling.

  Just as he was at the highest point of his morning stretch, two arms quickly came at him from behind the couch. He jumped in shock, letting out a strange little squeak. Then, realizing what was going on, he shook his head and let out a little laugh. “Kylie…,” he said.

  Kylie bounded over the couch, embracing Christopher in her arms as she giggled deviously. “I couldn’t it help it,” she said. “Besides, I couldn’t wait any longer to see you.”

  “I don’t mind,” he smiled, placing his hand on her arm. “What time is it anyway?”

  “I don’t know!” she said, sitting down next to him on the couch. “You know, there’s no clock in your room.”

  “Yeah I know,” he said, remembering from the night before that the downstairs clock was still flashing 12:00 over and over. “I’m not even sure if there is a correct clock in this entire house.”

  “I’d guess it’s seven,” she said, looking out the large picture window. “It looks like about seven or so.”

  “It’s not raining today,” he said as he stared out the window as well. “I’m surprised. I figured I’d never see a day without rain again.”

  “Day’s just begun,” she whispered, bringing her head to rest against his shoulder. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course.…” He gently placed his arm around her.

  “What do you think will happen to us?” she asked quietly, sounding just a little bit sad. “I mean, when I have to move.”

  “I don’t know,” Christopher said. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t thought about that at all. In fact, it was always in his thoughts ever since he found out, hiding in the far corners of his mind and coming out now and again. If things hadn’t been so crazy lately, he figured that he might have thought about it a heck of a lot more. “I hope that we can see each other, even when you’re in Nevada.”

  “Me too,” Kylie whispered. “Promise me that you won’t forget about me…. Not that I think that you would. It’s just that I know it will be hard for me to not get to see you, but I’ll feel better inside if I know that you’re at least thinking of me.”

  “I promise,” he said, squeezing her closer to him. “I promise I will think about you every day.”

  Christopher felt a bit sad at the thought, but it was all he really had to offer her. Life had just simply arranged itself in such a way that made things very difficult to think about. The two of them, being so young, had no real control over where their lives would lead them. It was almost as though they were two leaves floating down a stream, and up ahead the stream forked in two directions. The most that they could hope for was that the two separate streams would join once again.

  “I hate thinking about leaving,” Kylie said, her voice heavy and sad. “I don’t even know what the place I’m moving too will be like; I guess it will be a lot like when you moved here, right?”

  “Yeah,” Christopher said as he thought back to his first day in Pine Hallow. “I’d imagine so, but eventually I think it will be all right. Besides, at least you are going somewhere where you don’t have to worry about your father anymore.”

  “I know,” Kylie said, slowly bringing her face up next to his. “I just wish you could come with me.” She quickly leaned in and pressed her lips against Christopher’s, kissing him softly. “But in a way…,” she whispered as she slowly parted her lips from his, “…you will be.”

  Christopher blushed at the thought and nodded in agreement. He nodded a lot when he didn’t want to talk or was utterly speechless, like now. She seemed to have a talent for making him become completely brainless at times.

  The two sat alone upon the couch in silence, their bodies close together as they watched the day outside grow ever brighter. The clouds eventually broke, and a streak of sunlight could be seen shining down into the trees. It seemed as though the morning was putting on a little show just for them as the clouds moved swiftly overhead and beams of sun shone down in streams of beautiful, golden light.

  It was Bones who was awake next, coming out of his bedroom fully dressed for a change, and almost immediately making his way to the kitchen.

  “Morning,” Bones said, smiling at the two before passing through. “Hope you weren’t there all night long, Kylie. I’ll have quite a bit of explaining to do to your mother.”

  “She came down to wake me up,” Christopher announced, chuckling. “Besides, we have a busy day today.”

  Bones popped his head back into the living room for a moment. “Going back down to the cave then?”

  “Yeah,�
� Christopher said. “Probably for the last time too.”

  “As long as we’ve done what we were meant to…,” Kylie said.

  “Wish I could be there,” Bones said as he made his way into the room, a cup of coffee in his hands and an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

  “You could come down, too,” Christopher said, making a space on the couch for Bones to sit. “I’m sure you’d be welcome.”

  “Can’t today; I’ve got another damned doctor appointment. Afraid if I miss again they’re going to call me up all angry…again,” Bones said, clearly annoyed at the thought.