“Alex…”
“And then you came with us here. Loud and clear, honestly, I got it for a while.”
“Alex, you and I know better.”
“No you don’t. But…” I exhaled. “I appreciate the concern. Really, not a big deal. Thanks.” I stood up and walked to the door.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” I nodded. “I’m fine.”
Then without saying any more, without having to force myself to hear him say my name one more fucking time, I walked out.
I knew where I had to go and why.
Yeah, I told Beck I was fine. Truth be total, I was far from it.
EIGHTEEN
MERA
The new in-house phones were working really well. Congratulations had to go to Sonny on a job well done. I found out how well they worked when Sonny called after the meeting to say he was going to show Willy Wonka in the theater—the original version. After grabbing a snack from the dining hall, he’d be up to get the DVD. After I hung up with him, Danny called to say he was having a later dinner with Patty. Within minutes Beck called.
“I told him,” was the greeting Beck gave, the first words he spoke after I answered.
“Beck, I told you, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“I would have done it,” I told him.
“I love you, Mera, but to repeat Sonny, I don’t think you’d have the tact or compassion.”
“Can I ask you why you feel so obligated to protect Alex’s feelings? I get it, but I don’t get why you…. I mean, you two don’t get along.”
“We don’t. I still love him. He’s part of us,” Beck said. “Part of our lives. I don’t want him hurt. I feel really bad.”
“Why?”
“Let me ask you something, Mera. Be honest, okay, I won’t get angry,” Beck said. “After I called it off with us and left. Did anything happen between you and Alex?”
“He kissed me. And…I told you, I kissed him back. That was it.”
“And that is why I feel bad. Why I am worried about him. Alex would never have crossed that line if he didn’t think he had a clear shot with you. He would never had done that. Mera, I know there is something there between you and Alex. Something always was there. I get it. I understand.” Then Beck took on a joking tone. “As long as you don’t think of him while we make love.”
“That won’t happen, Beck, you’re too Charlton Heston like. Seriously though…how did the talk go?”
No sooner did I ask Beck that question, the fire door opened with a hard bang and Alex walked in. I saw the look on his face. “Beck, I’ll call you back. Alex walked in.” I hung up the phone and watched Alex move in a determined angry stride down the hall, peeking in each room.
“Alex,” I called to him.
He stopped at my room, looked in and turned to face me.
Alex looked as if all the air had left him. He lowered his head, looked as if he were composing himself then faced me again.
“Is this why he sent me out? So this could be done without my knowledge?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Beck had no idea.”
“Ten hours,” Alex stepped to me as he spoke with passion. “I’m gone ten hours and you think, hey, it’s a good time to uproot Alex’s life. Hell, I bet Ed lied about us ending up together. There’s no way you’re too Beckwashed to think about me.”
“This isn’t about you.”
“The hell it isn’t. Everything here on this floor is about me, you, us. All of us that started this whole thing together. I don’t get why you’re back to setting up a happy fucking home. He left you.”
“We have a history. We committed.”
“He left you,” Alex repeated.
“He came back.”
“We have a child together, Mera.”
“And Beck and I have children too.”
Alex shook his head slowly with closed eyes. “Keep countering everything I say.”
“I will. It’s what I need to do. Alex, listen to me. We all started this together, but from day one, Beck has had my back. He always had my back.”
“So did I…. Okay, maybe not. Still. Why? Because he had your back? That isn’t good enough.”
“Because of who he is. You and I…” I inched to Alex. “We know how Beck died. We know what he was doing when that happened. My back, all for me. He’s not selfish.”
“Bullshit. He is. You just don’t see it.”
“Stop.”
“All of this goes to the roof.”
“What?” I spat in confusion.
“The roof. When anyone asks you why you’re with Beck, you always go back to that day on the roof. When he stayed behind while the rest of us got on that chopper.”
“He was going to die for me and my daughter.” I brought my fist to my chest. “With us, without a second thought.”
“He was gonna die on the roof for you without a second thought? Well, la di fucking da. Guess what Mera, I would too. I would die for you. Padre put his life on the line for you. Hell, I think Sonny took a bite for you. Why don’t you move him into the king size room as well?”
“Stop it,” I told him. “Stop and leave poor Sonny out of this.”
“Poor Sonny. Why is it always Poor Sonny? Why is it never Poor Alex?”
“Because you’re too cocky and arrogant for anyone to call you Poor Alex,” I blasted, then calmed myself down. “I didn’t think you would get like this. I am so sorry.”
Alex huffed.
“I love you, Alex, I do, I really do.”
“I thought…” He leaned down to me. “I thought we had something special, Mera.”
“We do.”
He stared for a moment at me. “But not special enough.”
I couldn’t say anything.
“Silly me, and here I thought we did.” Without looking at me, he walked away.
My head lowered.
I was there, feeling really bad. I really should have expected his reaction.
Crunch.
Sonny stood a few feet away, leaning on his door, eating some sort of cracker. The crunching slowed down. “Guess he knows.”
“Yeah. Can you stay with the babies?’
“I have to get Willy Wonka ready.”
“Thanks.” It didn’t register with me at first, that in a roundabout way, Sonny turned me down. It didn’t matter. I had to find Alex. I had to try to make things right.
It took about ten minutes, but I found him. He was sitting at the center of base on a bench that faced the flag stand and memorial.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I approached. “Alex, I am so…so sorry for hurting you.” I sat down next to him. “Please forgive me. If I thought…. I didn’t think.”
“You know, I saw this coming. I listened to Ed. I heard him. A part of me didn’t want to believe him. He said…he said you and Beck were together and you and me, we took another decade or so. I should have known it was coming. No…” He shook his head. “I knew. From the moment Hope was born, you and I weren’t this couple with a newborn, I was a pain in the ass that didn’t know what to do.”
“That’s not true.”
“Beck was always there.”
“That’s because Beck is the fucking baby whisper. You remember him with Phoenix and Keller.”
“Like the man was born to take care of babies. He’s good with Hope.”
“Yeah, he is and he loves her, Alex.”
“We all do.”
“Yes, we do. Alex…” I said. “When she was born. I really did keep you two at arm’s length. I wouldn’t give my heart to either. Then, I saw Peter and my memories came flooding back. Everything, every feeling, every memory. I remembered it all.”
“You r
emembered the roof.”
I nodded.
“You know if you ask either one of you, you both say the roof was it for you both,” Alex said. “In hindsight, it is a hell of a thing to do. He was gonna take a nuke for you. Kinda jealous I didn’t think of it first.”
“Today, I wasn’t thinking about how much this would hurt you. I was just thinking about how happy it would make Beck.”
“Wow. Thanks.”
I cringed. “Sorry. That came out callous. Please don’t hate me, Alex.”
“I could never hate you.” He looked at me.
“We do have something special. No one can take that from us. Beck knows that.”
Alex nodded.
“And I’m not…Beckwashed. Whatever that is.”
“Oh, come on, you know what I was saying. It was funny.”
I nodded. “Yeah it was. Wanna hear something even funnier?”
“Sure.”
“Sonny was standing there the whole time. Listening and eating crackers like popcorn at a movie.”
“Fucking Sonny.”
“And you’re so mean about him,” I said. “Poor Sonny.”
“You know, I’m gonna let you in on a secret that only me, Beck and Hot Doc know. And I swear to God, Mera, you better not say a word.”
“I won’t.”
“He is poor Sonny. We think…Sonny, not Michael is Sandman. Michael’s DNA fused with his.”
“No,” I said in disbelief. “We know Michael calls them.”
“Yeah he does. But Sonny can control them even more, and will. You haven’t noticed how buff he has gotten so fast.”
“Yes, but that’s because he spends a lot of time on that scooter. It gives him a total body work out.”
“Mera,” Alex laughed my name. “No.”
“Yeah, I have ridden it. It makes your body sore.”
“Mera, Sonny is not getting ripped from his lazy ass spending countless hours on a geriatric scooter. He…is…the Sandman. And we’re gonna fix him.”
“If he is, then I know Javier will. But I don’t believe it. Not Sonny. I just don’t feel like it is. Just like I don’t feel like Michael is.”
“Maybe you’re wrong.”
“Maybe you are.”
“Let’s agree to disagree,” Alex said.
“That works. And I won’t say a word.” I lifted my hand. “I promise. Besides, I have a plan for Sonny and him being the Sandman doesn’t fit that.”
“And that is?” He asked.
I sat up proudly. “I’m gonna fix him up with Stacy. She really is nice and pretty.”
“Stacy, the dumb former reality star?”
“Yes.”
Alex laughed.
“What’s so funny.”
“Mera, can you imagine if they had a kid? Good lord,” Alex laughed again. “The kid would either be a fifteen watt lightbulb or a freaking…” his speech slowed down. “Genius.” His eyes widened. “Holy fucking shit.”
“What?”
“How long into the future does Sandman show up?”
“Fifteen years. Maybe. I don’t remember. Why?”
“Hot Doc said it wasn’t scientifically possible for Sonny to Hulk out to a Super Shredder. Then kinda flipped on it. But what if he was originally right. That it was impossible.”
“Okay.”
“Mera, what if you’re right. Sonny isn’t the Sandman. His kid is.”
My mouth dropped opened.
“Yeah.” He pushed on my chin to close my mouth. “That feels right, doesn’t it?” He stood up. “I gotta go. Hot Doc is already gone. I gotta tell this theory to Beck.” He darted around the bench. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong.”
“I’m supposed to be upset with him right now.” He tapped his hand on the bench. “Hell with it. This is good.”
He started to leave and I grabbed his arm. “Alex, are we okay?”
He flashed a closed mouth smile and kissed me on the cheek. “Yeah, Mera. We’ll be just fine.”
His arm slipped from my grip.
I stayed on the bench for a few minutes, then remembered I left Sonny as an unwilling babysitter.
Alex was wrong. There was no way Sonny was the Sandman. DNA could morph a body, but it couldn’t morph a soul.
The Sandman was evil and Sonny was so far from that. Nothing, at least in my mind, could take away and change the pure and good heart that he had.
NINETEEN
SONNY
More than likely, Peter probably thought I was nuts. I wanted to speak to him again, just wasn’t planning on doing so at the crack of dawn.
Alex always said that was when the fishing was best. When I asked him why that was, he said the fish like to feed on insects near the surface of the water and since they don’t have eyelids, they can’t go to the surface when the sun is too bright.
I never knew if that was true or not, but it was Alex and he was—until Peter—the best fisherman.
It was after I made my way to the pier, ready to grab the rowboat, when I saw Peter across the bay. He lifted his hand in a wave, then I did my best sign language. Pointing to him, then myself and my rod.
I wasn’t sure he understood what I was trying to say, until he gave a thumbs up. Minutes later he was making his way to me with his small motor boat.
Once he was next to the dock, I joined him in the boat.
“Wow, thanks,” I said.
“You like to fish?”
“I do. If you ask me if I’m good, I have to say no. Alex is our residential fisherman.”
“Alex?”
“Sans.”
“Ah….” He nodded. “I’d like to meet him.”
“I’m sure you will. Everyone is really excited about those resource spots.”
He responded with something like “good” or “thanks”, then revved the boat engine, steering it out of the bay, down the streams or rivers and out to the deeper water.
I was pretty excited and almost forgot what I wanted to talk to him about.
We did talk about other things at first. The best fish to freeze or dry, and how fishing was like a religious experience to him. A meditation that he needed every day, and he was just glad to be able to share what he caught.
“You know,” I told him, “I did want to make my way over to you, to talk again, just didn’t figure we’d meet this morning. So I don’t want you to think I was stalking you.”
“I’m not really familiar with that term.”
“It means watching you, waiting for you to do something so I can make my approach.”
“Ah, sort of like what we are doing with the Sandman.”
“In a way. But to stalk someone you have to know who they are,” I said. “Anyhow, we have these two guys, I mean they came way, way from the future. Farther than you. They brought a bunch of people through in order to save the last of the human race. So much so, it caused the great divide.”
Peter nodded. “I know. It’s briefly mentioned in the Doctrines. Not much, though. We always took that as a dismal future we needed to change.”
“Bingo.” I snapped my finger.
“I’m sorry. Bingo?”
“Never mind. We…as you know, are all on the same wavelength. Stop the Sandman before he evolves into the beast that leads the Sleepers.”
“Logan…”
“Sonny.”
“Yes, sorry, Sonny. Sonny, it’s more than that. He controls them now, I told you that. He just doesn’t know it.”
“And to the best of your historian knowledge, how long was it before he rose.”
“A decade or two before he become the Sandman completely. But it is noted that they were already evolving before that. Long before that. Moving more on human instincts, acting more as their human selve
s.”
“What do they become, Peter? In your time, what are the Sleepers? Tell me,” I requested.
“They are shells of human beings, void of emotion and feelings. They don’t advance technology, they live to kill humans. They’ve ravaged the world.”
“So would you say they are like animals?”
“There are very few animals left in the world, Sonny.”
I nodded, listening to him. “And according to Levi and Noah, there is nothing left to sustain human life in the far future. So everything that happens, right here and right now, determines that future.”
“Yes.”
“You came back in time with…did you have any intention to return?”
“No matter what, my world would be different, so no.”
“Good. So…seeing that we’re all on the same page, the same mission? Peter, I’m going to need your copy of the Doctrines and everything else you bought with you that can help me.”
He laughed as if that were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.
“Why is that funny?” I asked.
“Because I can’t just hand things over.”
“Yes, you can.”
“No one should know too much of their own future.”
“Why not? So we can’t change it? Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“No, it isn’t a we, it’s so you can not change it. You write them, you can change them with a swipe of a pen.”
I smiled. “Exactly.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
“Peter, again, why are you here?” I asked.
“To stop the Sandman.”
“Yeah, well, I need to see those Doctrines. I need to see the course everything takes, if what we’ve done so far has made a difference. Your Doctrines are the newest version from the future. I need them.”
“I’m not giving them up for you to rewrite them.”
“They say, at least in my time,” I told him, “the pen is mightier than the sword. I yield a pretty powerful pen.”
“You do,” he replied. “Which is why I can’t give them to you.”
“Hmm. You know, my friend Randy, the one you met, he died. He died and Levi said, ‘well, he will still be born in the future…so…,” I cast my rod. “I wrote him back into the Doctrines to come back.”
Sleepers | Book 8 Page 8