Into Darkness (The Guardian Book 2)

by Jason Davis

  There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as… Suddenly, he had The Twilight Zone theme stuck in his head. Na na, Na na, NAAA.

  And he had just hit a new level a boredom. The boredom of the sixth dimension. You have traveled here from the small little town of Standard, the last town on earth. Only four people remain, and there is nothing to do. They are stranded there and…

  David’s eyes narrowed. Who’s that?

  Someone walked up the side road across the street. He watched her as she approached the streetlight, recognizing her. She looked different than her daughter, but he sometimes wondered if that had to do with the rough life she had endured. He knew she was much younger than she looked, but he could easily recognize Ally’s mom.

  Ms. Taylor stood on the other side of the street, visibly agitated, looking around before settling her gaze on him.

  * * * *

  There was still no sign of Bobby. Wendy wasn’t sure how long it had been since she left her house. It couldn’t have been too long, but she just wanted to hurry home and check to see if he were there. What if she missed him? She could be out there for hours, and he could be home playing video games.

  She had walked out of her house and strode to the neighbor’s, asking Mr. Rawslon if he could keep a lookout for Bobby. Now she couldn’t remember if she have given him her number. He had the landline, but did he have her cell? She was always so reluctant to give that out to anyone, but she thought she had written it down for him. Part of her wanted to turn around, go back and double check, but she had already gone around the block and was halfway to Main Street. It wasn’t all that far, but she thought she remembered writing it down on the little notepad by the television.

  All of this was just too much for her. She shouldn’t have to be doing any of this…not again…not after last year…not after Mikey. She should be able to just go home, walk into his room, and find him playing video games. This wouldn’t be like last time. This couldn’t be like Mikey…

  A mother should never have to deal with that. One missing child was enough, but to have two children taken less than a year apart…

  When she reached Main Street, she scanned the direction he should have come from. Nothing. So he hadn’t snuck off with his friends to the park. She hadn’t thought he had. He knew he needed to come home. It was that or she’d tan his hide, and she was pretty sure he had gotten most of the coming home late garbage out of his system by now. He knew better.

  So which way to go? Bobby was supposed to walk down Main Street. After a couple blocks, she would turn down the side street and be at her mom’s. If he had gone that way, she would have seen him by now. He had to have taken a different way home or gone to a friend’s. He had so few of friends, though, and she didn’t know their phone numbers. Dang it. Why didn’t she know where any of them even lived? They always played outside. By the time she’d get home from work on weekends, he would already be home. She never had to go to any of their houses.

  He was never this late. Never.

  She hoped he had just gone to the park with a couple friends. Otherwise, she could walk around all night and never come across him.

  She looked over at the sweet shop. Kids always hung out there. Sometimes there were decent ones, but it was usually the hooligans who harassed her Bobby. Good-for-nothings who just liked to cause trouble. She’d heard stories about people’s houses and barns getting vandalized. Not that anyone talked about it too loud or told the chief because that would just get their tires slashed. A bunch of young miscreants she was determined to keep her angel from.

  Bobby wouldn’t have gone near them. He always kept his distance. He hadn’t said too much to her about them, but she still heard it. It broke her heart when she was just a few cars away and heard them yelling at him, pushing him around. If she got involved, he’d never be able to stand up for himself. She couldn’t always protect him.

  That tall kid was the worst of them. He never gave an inch, was always the first one to make a comment. She didn’t know his name, but he was the ringleader of it all.

  Then she noticed David. What was he doing up there with them? He was a good kid. But maybe it was good that he was there. If Bobby walked by, he would have seen him. Maybe he knew where he went.

  * * * *

  Maybe she was thirsty. That wasn’t too much of a stretch. There had been many times Ally and he had gone to get a Coke and she had asked them to bring her back one. She always got the same thing—vanilla Coke, extra vanilla, topped with marshmallow. David hated the combination because the marshmallow always made the Coke leak through the top of the plastic lid, and either Ally or he would have to lick it off their fingers.

  As David looked closer, he saw she looked upset. Glancing around, she approached him. The closer she got, he saw she was shaking. He shivered, the memories of last year creeping back. Memories he tried not to think about.

  He remembered where he had been when Allison had gotten the word her youngest brother was missing. It had been a beautiful summer day, so they went for a drive, ending up lost. He kind of knew where they were and knew he could find his way back. The whole purpose of the drive had been to get out of there and be together.

  It had been a long day. Her parents had been fighting and so had his. They both needed to just get away. Like most times when it seemed the world around them was nothing but shit, they left to find their own private spot. It usually lead to just a long night of joking and goofing around, but this time, Ally had been really upset, worried about her brothers.

  She usually worried about them, but she was more concerned this time as Kurt, her step-father, was drunk again. David wasn’t sure, but he thought Ally was afraid he might hurt them while she was away.

  They had driven, driven, driven. When they finally pulled down a long dirt road to a cemetery, they really didn’t know where they were. It didn’t matter, though. The sun had started to set, so they watched as it lowered past the tombstones, the red fire of the day fading into the purple flowing cloud flowers of the dusk. It felt like it belonged in a painting aged to beautiful museum perfection. They just held each other in silence until the day slipped away.

  She tucked herself into him, placing her head on his chest. With how often others looked at him as the fat kid who was picked on more than talked to, he felt like her protector, felt like he was good for something.

  He had no idea how long they sat there. Time lost itself, and dark had long since settled when her cell phone buzzed. When she didn’t reach for it the first time, it immediately started to buzz again. With a sigh, she uncurled herself from his arms and took the phone from her little clutch purse.

  After she hung up, he saw the devastation on her face, the worry lines forming on her brow. He had tried to pull her back to him, asking what was wrong, but she pushed him away, saying she needed to get home.

  For weeks, he tried to visit her, help find her youngest brother, Mikey. He had talked to Ms. Taylor more than Allison. Allison was always busy, always fighting with her step-dad. He watched from a distance as she screamed and blamed Kurt. When David would come to the door, Wendy answered it, telling him there was no news and they appreciated his help.

  Understandably, the family had fallen apart. He had no idea how it felt to lose a child, to never know what happened. It had to be the hardest thing for a parent to live though.

  She continued to push him away. Before he knew it, it was the night before she left for college.

  He hadn’t talked to Wendy since Allison left. Growing up, she was like a second mother to him, but now that Ally wasn’t around, he had no reason to go over there. Even when they talked, there was a strange awkwardness between them. It didn’t matter how close they had been before. Now all they gave each other was a passing “hey”.

  Then there was the pain whenever he talked to her, reminding him how much he missed Ally. He knew Ally no longer blamed him. They talked on the phone. The ca
maraderie that had once been there had started coming back, but she wasn’t here. He missed actually being able to touch her, look into her eyes. He wanted to tell her he loved her and needed to be with her.

  Wendy hurried up to him, out of breath. “Dave.”

  The other kids stiffened. Tina slinked back into the shadows, while Singer seemed to step forward, like he wanted to confront Wendy. David didn’t think he would. He was probably just posturing. Wendy didn’t pay any attention to him.

  “Is something wrong? Is Ally okay?” David felt a huge weight on his chest, moistness forming in the corner of his eyes.

  Wendy blinked, as if he had asked something that wasn’t processing. She blinked a few more times, then shook her head, pushing away the noise of useless thoughts.

  “No, no, no. Bobby… Have you seen him?”

  “Bobby? No. He hasn’t been around.” David talked slowly, double-checking his memory. He was pretty sure he hadn’t seen the kid. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed kinda strange. Now that Ally wasn’t home to watch him, he knew Bobby went to his grandma’s after school. He should have walked by there…unless he went through the coal dump.

  Wendy was talking, but he had lost part of it. He heard her say Bobby hadn’t come home yet. Because it was dark, David understood why she would be worried about him.

  “Can you help me look for him?” He heard the plea in her voice.

  David nodded. He remembered Bobby. A prankster, he would always bother Ally and him while they were in her room. But just because he couldn’t stand the little turd didn’t mean he wouldn’t help look for him.

  “Of course. Have you looked through the coal dump yet?”

  Wendy shook her head. “No, he wouldn’t have gone through there, not after his brother.”

  David wanted to agree with her, but he’d seen Bobby up there quite a few times since Mikey. However, he didn’t think now was the time to tell his mom that.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right, but I’ll double-check anyway.”

  “We’ll help. We’ll drive around, see what we can find.”

  David turned, surprised to see Singer pulling his truck keys from his pocket. Was that actual concern he saw on his face? Maybe he wasn’t so cold-hearted after all. Still, David wondered how Bobby would react if Singer, a guy who bullied him, were the one to find him. They needed everyone they could get, though.

  And if this were one of Bobby’s little pranks, maybe it would do the little turd nugget some good if Singer found him. The little snot would never live it down.

  “Okay.” David didn’t know why, but he felt himself taking control. He turned back to Wendy. “You need to go back home and stay by the phone. I’ll call if we find anything. If he’s not home when you get there, call the police. The chief should be on duty, right? He can help look.”

  Wendy nodded, a fresh rush of tears coming to her. “Thank you. Thank you,” she kept repeating. He almost pulled her into a hug to tell her it would be okay. She felt so much like a mother to him, it hurt to see her like this.

  “Come on. I’ll drive you home,” Kim said, gently pulling Wendy with her. Good. David didn’t like the idea of her walking back home. In her condition, she’d probably walk down the center of the street.

  Bobby was missing. With Mikey still fresh in his memory, all of this just felt way too familiar. Why was this happening to the family again?

  He could imagine how Ally would take the news her other brother was now missing. He had to find him. He couldn’t let her go through that again.

  He looked at the dark shadow looming in the distance, a large shape rising up. Somehow, even at night, the coal dump was darker, visible only because of how black it was.

  He had been up there many times, but something about it now, how it looked so ominous, sent goosebumps along his arm. In the pit of his stomach, he felt lead forming, a little voice in the back of his mind telling him not to go up there.

  He watched as Singer and Tina climbed into his large, jacked-up Chevy truck, Wendy and Kim slinking down into her little Grand Prix.

  The world around him suddenly seemed to be a much darker place. It had to be his imagination, but even the stars seemed to fade away as he stared up at the sky, saying a little prayer before he took a step forward, committing to searching the coal dump.

  CHAPTER 4

  Rob looked down the long barrel in apprehension. It was aimed right at him. At any second, it would fire, giving him little hope he would survive it. Just the thought sent a shiver through him, his bones getting chilled.

  “Are you ready?”

  He could hear the playfulness in the female voice. In the little glow from the back porch light, he saw her smile as she held the hose steady. She was enjoying this. He had just a second to think he might have married a sadist before he felt the water hit him.

  He howled. It was cold. The breeze picked up, making him feel like ice, sending tingles across his skin. Hot damn, he thought, shivering as he spun.

  Then the water stopped. His shoulders slumped, his shaking growing worse. He was going to get pneumonia and have to call in sick. Then what would they do for money?

  As he took a step toward the door, Robyn called out to him.

  “Oh no, you’re not done yet. Strip.”

  He turned around to glare at her. He was no longer happy with this game, and he felt a heat rise up in him. His anger burned at he got ready to snap something back at her.

  Growing up, he had anger issues. He would be quick to get into a fight, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you grew up on the streets of Chicago. In an Italian neighborhood, anger always ran hot, fights were often, and you either adapted or you got hurt. When he got into high school, he started to realize how fighting would only get him into more trouble. More and more kids in the neighborhood started going to juvie. Others got pulled into the outer fringes of the local mob family. Crime called for many of his friends, but he didn’t want to be part of it. Not when he came from a family of cops.

  Rob’s mother had always told him to calm his temper. Somewhere along the line, he had. It wasn’t easy, and it took a lot of self-control. He had to have a reason to keep calm. Robyn was usually it.

  Although, right now, Robyn was not “enhancing that calm”, as she often joked. She was doing the opposite.

  “Hey now, pretty boy. I said to strip. Come on. Dance for me.”

  He lifted the bottom of his sweater and pulled it over his head. However, the white undershirt clung to the growing bulge of his stomach. Because of the more sedentary working conditions, his stomach had increasingly gotten bigger, his shirts becoming tighter. Struggling to pull it free, he gave a loud grunt, pulled it over his head, and tossed it on top of the sweater.

  As he fumbled with the button on his pants, he heard her giggling.

  “Come on, ‘Da Bear’. When did bears start having issues tearing their way out of their clothes?”

  Rob looked up at her as he pushed his pants down and let out a guttural growl. Robyn laughed harder. He pulled his pants off and tossed them on the pile. He looked around, thankful that the high wooden fence hid the surrounding houses’ view.

  “No striptease?”

  He was so glad she was enjoying this. He shivered, maybe even showing the first signs of hypothermia, but she just made jokes. He wanted to curse her in response, but his teeth chattered so hard, he didn’t think he could get the words out. Could she not hear them? They sounded like a Led Zeppelin drum solo in his mouth. The woman was crazy. That was all there was to it.

  “You might want to take that off.” Robyn pointed to his cross, the one dangling around his neck, the one his grandmother had given him. He wore it every day, feeling the comfort of it against his skin.

  Rob undid the clasp as she held her hand out. He lowered it gently into her palm. She closed her hand around it, then reached out for his arm, pulling him to her. He wasn’t expecting it and stumbled forward into her awaiting kiss.
/>
  Her tongue quickly made it into his mouth, and he could feel her warmth. Her arms went around him, pulling him closer. He could smell the familiar scent of her shampoo, a fragrance he had come to associate with her over the years.

  “You’re shivering. Let me warm you up,” she whispered against his lips.

  And she did. Her presence filled him with an inner warmth. He did everything he could to pull her closer, wishing to feel all of her in his arms.

  “You already have.” His shivering relaxed, his teeth no longer chattering.

  “Why didn't you tell me you were so cold?”

  “What do you mean cold? It's a warm summer’s day. How about we light a fire and toast some marshmallows.”

  “Don't be such an jerk.” Robyn vigorously rubbed her hands along his arms, the friction barely generating any kind of heat. “We should get you inside so you can take a hot shower.”

  “You going to join me?”

  “Maybe after you wash off your stink.” She pulled away, waving her hand in front of her nose. She turned, picking up his soiled clothes and tossing them to the back steps.

  “I think you should. After all, you’ll need to get out of those wet clothes.”

  She spun around to see the hose pointed at her.

  “You wouldn't.” Judging from Rob’s smile, she knew he most definitely would. “Don't you dare.” Robyn took a step back, not taking her eye off the hose. “You pull that trigger and you’ll be sleeping on the couch, mister.”

  Rob took a step forward, measuring her distance to the door. He still had plenty of time to soak her.

  “Oh, I think I will.”

  “You’d better not.”

  He let the hose respond for him. The water flowed out, catching her in the chest, drenching the knitted fabric of her sweater.