A New Beginning r-5

by Kevin Ryan

  Isabel nodded and said, "All right.”

  She took Jessica's hand, and they started walking for the bedroom door. They had only taken a few steps when Isabel felt the little girl jerk in her hand.

  Looking down, Isabel saw that something was pulling Jes- sica toward the bed. A claw with three fingers had snaked from underneath the bed and had grabbed Jessicas ankle. She recognized it as belonging to the creature from the closet.

  Jessica screamed, blind terror in her voice. "Help me, don't let him take me!”

  Isabel pulled on Jessica's hand, trying to tear her away from the bed. But the creature was very strong, and Jessica started to slip down to the floor.

  "Nooooo!" Isabel heard herself scream.

  Then the world flashed around her, and Isabel found herself in a large room. No, not quite a room, she realized as her heart hammered in her chest.

  She looked around frantically and saw that the creature was gone. She was relieved, but still felt the tension and adrenaline of the encounter in Jessica's bedroom. As she started to relax, she took note of her surroundings. She was in a… place that she had never seen before.

  It wasn't a room.

  It had a floor that was made of some sort of metal and a ceiling maybe ten feet above. But it did not have walls. The floor and ceiling seemed to go on forever on all sides until they just disappeared into the distance.

  There were no lights that she could see, but there was light all around her.

  Looking down, Isabel saw that Jessica was with her, lying on a low table. The girl had her eyes closed, but Isabel could tell that she wasn't sleeping.

  The little girl's eyes were shut, but they were being squeezed shut tightly. Jessica was afraid, Isabel saw. She was as afraid here as she had been in her bedroom. Isabel decided that she couldn't let this continue. She would have to try to contact Jessica directly. It risked waking her up and expelling Isabel from the dream, but she had no choice. She wasn't going to learn anything in this place.

  And the girl was terrified.

  Leaning down, she took Jessica's hand and whispered, "It's all right. I'm here to help you.”

  Keeping her eyes closed, the little girl shook her head and whispered back, "Don't make any noise, they'll come.”

  "I've come to find you. My friends and I are going to help you," she said.

  "No, run. They'll catch you if you stay," Jessica said.

  The little girl's eyes opened. Then her mouth opened. She was locked into a silent scream, gasping in terror over Isabel's shoulder. Spinning around, Isabel looked up and saw the monster from the closet's face. This time it was huge, hundreds of feet across and looking down at them from above.

  Jessica screamed again, and this one wasn't silent.

  Isabel realized a sound was rising in her own throat, and then the world shifted around her again.

  Isabel came out of the dream in the small room off of Johnny's Garage. Jessica's screaming still echoed in her mind as she shook her head to try to clear it.

  Someone had her by the shoulders.

  "Isabel!" a voice called to her.

  She focused on his face. It was Max. All at once, the screaming stopped. She realized that it was she who had been screaming.

  Her friends were circled around her, looking at her with concern. Their sympathy made it harder for her to keep her composure, so she stopped trying. She leaned into Max's arms and let him hold her. When she finally felt like she had control over herself, she pulled away.

  "What happened, Is?" Max asked, his voice gentle with concern.

  "She was having a nightmare," Isabel replied. She took a deep breath and explained everything she had just seen. When she had finished telling the story, Liz nodded and said, "Thank you, Isabel. I know that was hard for you.”

  "Not as hard as it was for Jessica," Isabel replied. "Wher- ever she is, she's in real trouble and she's terrified. And I don't think she'll live long if we don't do something.”

  "At the moment, there's nothing else we can do," Max said. "We still don't know anything that could help her.”

  "I'll have to keep trying," Isabel said.

  "Are you sure you want to do that?" Max said.

  "I'm sure I don't," she replied. "But if I don't, Jessica will die, and she's…" Isabel thought about how to explain how scared Jessica was. She was in terrible danger, and she was just a little girl on the inside And there was something else. Jessica had gone back to the closet to close the creature in… something Isabel was sure she would be afraid to do. And she had told Isabel to run, to save herself in that room. Jessica was brave and had tried to protect her.

  Isabel thought of how to explain that to her friends and decided she couldn't… not that it mattered. What she had to do, they couldn't help her with.

  "Maybe there was something in the dream we could use," Liz said, turning to Maria.

  "You used to interpret my dreams. What does the room mean? The monster?" Liz asked her.

  Maria thought for a minute and said, "Well, her room symbolizes security. When we dream about home, it rep- resents a place where we can't be hurt. The fact that the monster is threatening her in her room is odd. Monsters usually represent the bad characteristics of the dreamer.”

  She shrugged and continued: "The large room without walls is emptiness. It usually means disappointment that a lot of effort put into something has come to nothing. The fact that she's stuck on the table is pretty clear: helpless- ness. All in all, not very useful. Sorry.”

  "What if some of the dream images are real?" Isabel asked.

  "Which ones?" Max said, looking at her with surprise.

  "I don't know… what if the monster is just the guy threatening her? No, not a guy. She said they," Isabel said. "And what if she really is tied to a table somewhere?”

  "You may be right… you probably are… but that still doesn't help us," Liz said.

  "I'll have to go back," Isabel said.

  "But not tonight," Max said. "If she woke up, it will be a while before she's asleep and dreaming again. You need some rest.”

  Isabel nodded. She quickly undressed for bed, using her powers to make her shirt into a longer nightshirt. She was barely aware of the others around her. She crawled into her sleeping bag and put her head down. Though she was tired, she found that she was reluctant to close her eyes. Finally, she did.

  She only hoped that no dreams came.

  Kyle and the others went to bed right after Isabel. After watching her dreamwalk and hearing her tell the story, no one wanted to talk or play cards anymore. That was just as well with him. It had been a long day. He had worked a full shift, and then there had been that business with Gomer.

  Settling under the blanket, he was suddenly very aware of the short distance between himself and Isabel… barely a foot separated them. It wasn't that he'd minded. It was just that… well, he knew it was a necessity. There just wasn't room in the small apartment to give anyone much space on the floor.

  Still, he found he was very conscious of her breathing next to him. And, as usual, she smelled wonderful. Then he realized that Dawn was nothing compared with Isabel. No, not nothing. She seemed nice enough but, she wasn't what he wanted.

  Well, it might be an accident, but it harmed no one if he enjoyed being close to her. His thoughts were foolish, he knew. She had just broken up with her husband.

  Her husband.

  Not her boyfriend, but her husband. And even before Jesse, when she was free, she had never looked at Kyle in any way other than friendship. Still, the thoughts came, anyway. And though they were foolish, he also knew that it wouldn't hurt anyone if he indulged in them.

  Isabel started in her sleep, and for a moment, Kyle thought she might wake up. She didn't. Instead, her hand reached out and found his chest, and rested there for a moment. He found that the sound of his own breathing and the beating of his heart seemed deafening. However, no one else in the otherwise quiet room seemed to notice.

  Then she was moving towar
d him in a sleepy haze. Kyle held his breath as she put her head down on his chest. He was amazed that the thundering inside didn't wake her, but she stayed asleep.

  Well, he thought. She's had a scare. It's only natural. She probably thinks I'm Jesse.

  Kyle regained his breath and slowly put his arm around Isabel's shoulder. He suddenly felt guilty about his thoughts about her. She was grieving the loss of her hus- band, and scared to death for some poor girl. And there he was entertaining a schoolboy crush.

  They had more important things to think about now. Something awful was happening in this town. Liz, Isabel, and the others were trying to help. And Kyle knew what his own father would do. Sheriff or not, his father had never backed away from someone in trouble. Kyle would do the same. He didn't know what good it would do any- one. He didn't have Max's powers, or ever Liz's. He only had himself. Still, he would lend whatever help he could.

  Isabel stirred, and Kyle looked down at the top of her head. She did smell wonderful.

  Kyle knew it would be a long time before he fell asleep.

  When Kyle woke up, Isabel was already up. In fact, all the girls were. He saw that Max and Michael were just getting up as well.

  Maria was looking down at Michael and nudging him with her foot. "Come on, Space Boy, you can walk us to work," she said.

  "We all will," Kyle said, getting up himself.

  "Isabel, you should come too. I don't want you here alone," Max said.

  Isabel nodded and said, "I tried again, Max. I couldn't make contact at all.”

  Kyle stepped forward and said, "Maybe she's just awake.”

  "Maybe," Isabel said flatly as she stepped outside. The others followed.

  Kyle could tell Isabel was still shaken up. Something had happened to her in the dream. She was scared. That told Kyle all he had to know about what they were up against.

  He had rarely seen Isabel frightened. Kyle had always thought she was fearless by nature, cooler even than Max. Part of it was her powers, he guessed. She could defend herself against almost anything. A larger part of it was just her nature, though. He had never seen her back down from anything from a fight with an alien menace to an uncomfortable situation with a friend.

  Fear looked unnatural on her face, and Kyle found something strange rising up in himself: anger. He was angry that something would take hold of Isabel that way. She had suffered enough. She had given up enough. Instinctively, Kyle found himself walking closer to her. It was absurd. Of the three guys in the group, he was the least able to protect her or anyone else. In fact, if it were not for Michael, he might not have survived his encounter with Gomer.

  Still, Kyle decided that anyone out to hurt Isabel would have to go through him first.

  At the diner, Bell insisted that they stay to eat breakfast before the place opened. Kyle was glad. The food seemed to take Isabels mind off what was bothering her. Kyle ate quickly; he had something he wanted to do before work. He leaned down to Isabel and said, "Are you going to be okay?”

  "Sure," she said. She looked cool and collected. It seemed like the old Isabel was back, but Kyle didn't believe it for a minute.

  "Don't go to the Laundromat," he said. "Stay with Max and Michael.”

  She started to protest, but Max interjected, "You can keep trying to contact Jessica.”

  "I'll check out the Laundromat," Michael said. "I was the first runner-up for the relief-attendant position.”

  "Okay," Isabel said. "I'll keep trying to reach Jessica.”

  Satisfied, Kyle said his good-byes and headed back to the garage. He had about a half hour before work, and no one was in yet. Heading around back, Kyle found the minibus. It was sitting on cinder blocks and looking every one of its thirty-some years of age.

  It had been a hippie vehicle… that much Kyle could see from the psychedelic paint. He wondered if Dan had been a hippie back then. Dan wore his long gray hair in a ponytail, but, still, the image didn't fit. He was way too serious a person.

  Kyle grabbed a few old tools from the shed in the back and got back to the van.-He opened up the hood and checked out the engine compartment. He would need Dan's permission to open up the engine and take a look at the timing chain, but he did see a number of parts they could use: alternator, starter, fuel pump. They were all things that it would be a good idea to carry around as spares if they kept the van. After all, it was at least as old as his father, and Kyle was pretty sure that keeping it running would be a serious part-time job for him in the weeks to come.

  Next, he opened the driver's side door… which took some doing… and climbed inside. The interior wasn't in very good condition, with plenty of rust on the various pieces of exposed metal.

  There were only two seats in the front. The back was left open, covered by a light blue shag carpet that looked older than the van. It was also littered with old magazines and other junk, including a broken guitar. He checked the date on one of the magazines; it was a Life magazine from 1970. Like the van itself, it was an artifact from a different age… or a different world. In all likelihood, the van had been sitting on these cinder blocks since that time. In that case, it would never be good for anything other than parts and scrap metal.

  When he put the magazine down, it opened and some- thing fell out. Kyle thought it was a response card and started to turn away when he noticed that it was actually a color photo.

  Leaning down, Kyle picked it up and looked into a window straight into the past. The photo was of the van when the psychedelic paint job must have been new. It was parked in front of the garage, which looked much newer as well. In front of the van was a tall, gangly teenager with long hair, who was making a peace sign with his hand. He looked maybe seventeen, about Kyle's own age. Next to him was a boy of twelve or thirteen who had his arm wrapped around the older boy's waist. The young boy was smiling broadly and looking up in unabashed admiration at the hippie teenager. Kyle turned the picture over and saw, scrawled on the back, the words "Me and Johnny.”

  Turning it over again, Kyle studied the picture once more. There was something touching about the way the younger boy was looking at the older one. And something familiar.

  "Hey," a voice said from outside.

  Surprised, Kyle lifted his head up quickly and banged it on the top of the van. Turning around, he saw Dan looking at him through the windshield. Up until now, Dan had been stiff and serious. In fact, Kyle realized that he had never seen the man smile.

  But there was no mistaking the expression on his face. Dan was angry.

  Kyle stepped forward, not sure how to handle this. What was his new boss thinking? Feeling clumsy, Kyle got into the driver's seat and pushed the door open. Once again, it was stuck and he had to struggle with it to force it open.

  The whole time, Dan watched him, scowling.

  When he was outside, Kyle said, "I didn't mean to… I'm sorry if I… ”

  "What are you doing?" Dan asked.

  "I was just checking out the van to see if there was any- thing we could salvage," Kyle said.

  "But it's not your van, is it?" Dan said, his voice stern.

  Kyle got the feeling that Dan was holding himself back with some effort.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would bother you. I wasn't taking anything. You said we could talk about us maybe using some of the parts to fix our van," Kyle said.

  Dan was silent for a moment. His face didn't change, or soften at all, though. Finally, he said, "You've got work to do. I need you to put a new carburetor on the pickup inside. Dawn has the parts in the office.”

  Then Dan turned and walked toward the garage. Kyle gave him a few seconds' head start and then started after him.

  When Bell turned the sign on the door to open, Liz real- ized that something was wrong.

  "Where's Jimmy?" she asked, as the first customers came inside.

  Bell shrugged. "He's usually on time, but he hasn't been the same since…”

  There were a dozen people inside the diner. Liz knew more were
on the way. Liz had to put aside her worry for Jimmy and his sister.

  "What can I get you?" she asked the three men at her first table.

  Twenty minutes later, Jimmy came in. Gone was any pretense of normality. His face was vacant. No, not vacant, haunted.

  "Hi Jimmy," she said.

  He didn't look up until she repeated herself. Then he glanced at her mustering a thin smile that died quickly. Liz hated to see the broken expression on his innocent and open face. It didn't belong there, even though Liz knew she had seen it before: in her vision of Jimmy at his sisters funeral.

  Suddenly Liz was overwhelmed with feelings of help- lessness. For all of the incredible things Max and her friends could do… things she was beginning to do her- self… they could do nothing to help a scared teenage girl in trouble and this boy who had lost his sister.

  Bell came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay, Jimmy?" she asked.

  He nodded.

  "You don't have to work today if you don't want to. Why don't you go home," she said.

  He shook his head. "She'll come here first. She knows I'm working today.”

  Jimmy disappeared into the back and came back out with his apron on. He immediately began collecting the first batch of dirty dishes. When he came back, he grabbed another tray to get some more. He stopped what he was doing for a moment, looked up at Bell, and said, "Sorry about the mess.”

  "What?" she said.

  "The mess. I'm sorry," he said.

  Then he turned quickly, accidentally smashing his tray into the pot of coffee that Maria was carrying. Maria let go immediately and the coffeepot went flying to the floor, breaking and spilling half a pot of coffee onto the floor.

  Though Maria jumped back, Jimmy just looked at the coffee and then at Bell. "Sorry, I'll clean it up.”

  Bell was right there, putting a hand on Jimmy's shoul- der again. "It's okay. Why don't you come with me?”

  She took Jimmy to an open booth near the window and sat him down gently "Why don't you take some time, Jimmy?”

  "She might come," he protested.

  "Then you can stay right here and watch for her," Bell said.