by JM HART
“How did you find us?” Terry said.
“Joe,” Father McDonald said.
Joe blushed. Regardless of his size, Casey thought, he seemed harmless.
“Do you mind if we could dry off our clothes?” Joe asked.
Casey ran upstairs and fetched towels for them.
“Thanks son,” Father McDonald said, drying his clothes before draping the towel around his shoulders.
Casey couldn’t quite believe what was going on. As they sat down to eat, Joe helped himself and began telling them how he had met up with Sophia and Father McDonald. How they escaped the giant hooved creatures; that the evil eye was searching for them. Amy told them about being visited by demons and wandering spirits that were starting to appear more often. She also mentioned what happened in the barn and how he had glowed and used telekinesis to rebuild a wall to protect them. Everyone was talking at a hundred miles a minute, spilling details of every danger they had come face to face with over the past few months.
“These eggs taste so good,” Joe said.
Sophia was enjoying the porridge with rhubarb and Father MacDonald had his hands wrapped around a warm cup of tea. The worst, Casey thought, was the shooting at the church. Sophia told the story with such sadness, his heart ached; and she believed it had been her fault. Casey could see Terry on the edge of his seat, wanting to pick her up and protect her from all the evil that she had seen. Sophia was mesmerizing. He supposed he had fallen under her spell over a year ago when he first saw her in his dreams. He was surprised how much she looked like Amy.
Terry started clearing the dirty dishes off the table and Joe stood to help. “No offense,” Terry said, “but you guys could focus on a bath.”
“Right you are,” Joe said, taking a whiff of his armpit.
“The challenge is going to be coming up with some clothes for you,” Amy said, leading them out of the kitchen.
Casey started clearing the table. “You go help Amy,” Terry said. “Go practice whatever you call it, do your thing. And make a few quick beds.”
Casey smiled and headed out of the room, but not before Terry whipped his behind with the wet end of the tea towel.
“Oi, that hurt,” Casey said, rubbing his butt.
“Oi, that hurt,” Terry mimicked, enjoying their play.
“You must be tired, and dreaming of a warm shower,” Amy said.
“You smell like you’ve been buried alive,” Casey said.
“What sort of comment is that?” Amy said. “And how do you know what it smells like to be buried alive — no, don’t answer that.”
“I just meant they smell of dirt and murky water laced with sweat.”
Amy crinkled her nose and shook her head. “Only a boy would say something like that. Come on, everyone, let’s go upstairs and rustle you up some clothes. Then you can shower.”
Terry placed a supportive hand on Father McDonald’s elbow. “Are you okay with the stairs?”
“I’ll be fine. Just need to go slow. I will be much better after a good sleep.”
“I’ll help you, Father,” Sophia said, taking his arm.
10
Order amongst chaos: Jade. Australia.
Daniel took off his seat belt and asked, “Sally, are you okay?” as he reached back between the two front seats to check on Alex as well. He could feel Sally’s arm moving against his, and he could see Kath and Shaun in his peripheral vision. Alex was conscious, and didn’t appear to have a mark on him. His little face looked like it was about to crumble into tears. “Did we crash-land in heaven, Daddy? Did nanna and pops ask God for their house to go to heaven, too?”
“No, mate, you can’t take things like houses to heaven,” Daniel said.
Daniel looked at Kath. “You okay?”
“Freaked. Where did that house come from? Where are we? What happened?” Kath said.
Daniel checked Shaun. His head was flopped over and bleeding. “We are at the foot of Saddleback Mountain at Alex’s nanna and pop’s house. Isn’t that right, Alex?” He wanted to hear him talking to know he was still okay.
“Yes, Daddy.”
Shaun was unconscious and had a massive lump on the side of his head.
Kath looked out the window as if they were on Mars.
“Sally, talk to me,” Daniel said. “Kath, sweetie, listen to me, can you move okay? Can you check on your mom?”
Kath slowly got out of the car, steadied herself and pulled her mother’s door open. “Mom, Mom, you okay? Show me — show me your face. Ah — that’s got to hurt.”
“My face really hurts. I think the airbag broke my nose.”
Daniel pulled himself back between the two seats and took a look at Sally. Her nose was broken. “This is going to hurt, but it will be quick.”
Sally screamed as Daniel cupped his hands around her nose and snapped it back into place.
Daniel got out of the car, rechecked Shaun, then gently moved him from the car and laid him on the ground making sure his airways were open. “Watch him,” he said to Kath.
Daniel lifted Alex out of the child seat and sat him on the grass next to Shaun. “If he wakes up, Alex, tell him he has to stay still. Can you do that?”
Alex nodded.
Daniel approached the Dodge where he saw Callie slumped over the steering wheel. His stomach tied in knots. “Callie, Kevin, you okay in there? Answer me, Cal.” Kevin opened his door and stumbled out, carrying Molly. Tim was close behind. “You all right, mate?” Daniel asked, placing his hands on Kevin’s shoulders. He held him at arm’s length and looked into his eyes then checked Molly. Satisfied they were fine he scanned Tim’s eyes and body; he too was all right. This is incredible, Daniel thought. “Go help your mother, Tim. She’s okay, just got a bloody broken nose.”
“No need to swear, Mr D.”
Daniel walked around to Callie’s door, staring back at Tim. “You’re not squeamish with blood, are you, mate?” he said, opening Callie’s door.
“No, I’m good as long as it’s not mine,” Tim said, getting out of the car.
Callie’s and Jade’s airbags had been released. Jade’s head had been pushed back into her seat and he was afraid that the blow of the exploding bag had snapped her neck. He checked Callie’s pulse. She was alive. He reached over and felt for Jade’s and she started to stir.
“Don’t move, Jade. Don’t nod or shake your head, keep still until I come over and check you. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyelashes glistened. “You need to make sure I haven’t snapped my neck, don’t you? I can feel my fingers and toes.”
“That’s great, Jade. Just keep still for me. I’m checking on Cal … she’s unconscious. I’m just going to check she is breathing okay.”
He carefully moved Callie’s head back against the head-rest. No bleeding from the ears. Her left eye and cheek was swollen and the airbag had knocked her out cold. He pushed her hair off her face and lifted her eyelids, checking her pupils. She started to come around.
“How you doing, Jade? Not much longer.”
*
Jade kept as still as she could. Everything in front of her was like looking through a kaleidoscope. She wanted to move and wipe away the tears. Even though she was scared she was impressed. She was facing a pretty, blue-grey two-and-a-half-story house. White window frames and a large homely wrap-around veranda. A cane chair hanging on the veranda was swinging slightly. They were in the country! Kevin has an incredible talent.
“How are you, Cal?”
“Sore, like I fell on my face.”
“Wiggle your fingers and toes for me. Does it hurt anywhere? Look at my finger, any dizziness?”
“I think I’m dreaming. Is this a dream?” “Why do you think you’re dreaming, Cal?”
“Because we’re butted up against my parent’s veranda forty minutes away from Wollongong?” Suddenly she sat up and whipped her head left and right searching for the swarm that had chased them. Her eyes widened, memories
flooding in. “The beast, the swarm, where is it? The kids, Daniel, the kids!”
“Keep still. No sudden movements, we’re all safe. How did you do it, Callie? How did you get us here?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.”
“It was Kevin,” Jade said, still rigid in her seat, only swiveling her eyes in their direction.
“What? Kevin, how?” Daniel moved around the front of the car yelling back at the others. “Sally, Kath, Alex — how are you guys doing?”
“Shaun woke up, Daddy. Kath said if he moves she’s going to sit on him.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Alex. Maybe you should keep an eye on both of them.”
Jade tried hard not to laugh, afraid of moving. It was all so absurd.
“Okay, Daddy.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Jade saw Sally come up on Callie’s side of the car holding her nose. “I'm all right, Daniel. How are you, Cal?”
“Could be better.”
Daniel opened Jade’s door and went through the same procedure he’d probably done a thousand times for car crash victims.
“You seem uninjured,” Daniel said. “Although without an X-ray I can’t be a hundred per cent sure.”
Callie was already getting out of the car, ignoring his protests. “Jade, sweetie, are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Jade said, slowly moving and rubbing her neck.
Kevin, with Molly in his arms, came up on Jade’s side of the car. Callie walked around and hugged Kevin and Molly as one, before taking the baby into her arms. Kevin stood there as if stunned, but automatically reached out his hand to Jade and helped her from the vehicle.
Alex shouted, “I’d give you a hug, Mommy, but I have to watch Shaun.”
Callie went to him and affectionately ruffled his hair. Jade saw the way Kath was looking at Shaun. Callie passed Molly over to Kath and said, “Take care of her, will you,” as she knelt by Shaun and went through the same procedures as Daniel, making sure there was no bleeding or symptoms of internal damage. He was obviously concussed and had a gash on his head.
“Do you think you can sit up?”
“Yeah … my hands — they don’t hurt.” He sat up and started to pull at his bandages with his teeth. “Take them off,” he said, in between biting at the bandages. “Take them off.”
“Shaun, you need to leave them on. It’s going to take a few weeks for them to heal,” Daniel shouted.
“TAKE THEM OFF.”
Callie frowned and moved away.
“Hey, mate!” Daniel said. “That’s no way to talk. If you want them off that badly, okay. But you won’t be able to do anything and it’s going to hurt like hell if you knock them.”
“They don’t hurt any more,” Shaun said. “They just stopped. One second they were on fire and then they just stopped hurting.”
Daniel unwrapped Shaun’s right hand and Callie unwrapped his left. They both slowed as they removed the final strands, careful not to rip the wet gauze too fast.
“This is going to hurt a bit,” Callie said.
“No, no, it won’t. It doesn’t hurt any more.” Shaun jerked his hands away and the final bandage fell to the ground. His hands were healed. There was no sign of the burns.
“Just like my leg,” Tim said. Tim flinched as Kevin nudged him in the ribs.
Callie and Daniel were flipping and rubbing Shaun’s hands, over and over. Shaun smiled. Jade thought it was the first time she had seen him smile.
Tim said quietly to Kevin, “Why have his hands healed, but his head is still bleeding, and my mom has a broken —?” Kevin elbowed him hard.
“I can answer that,” Jade said. “When we passed through the membrane of the parallel world, he was healed of existing injuries. But when we were ejected back into this reality we were at the mercy of gravity and he hit his head when the cars crashed. And your mom was probably king-hit by the airbag like Callie and I.”
Everyone looked at Jade.
“Don’t you know anything about quantum physics? It’s the healing part that really confuses me,” she said. “And don’t look at me for answers,” she said, looking directly at Callie. “It’s your son who can manipulate time and space.”
“How did we get here?” Sally asked Daniel, ignoring Jade as if she found her words baffling.
“Right now, your guess is as good as mine,” Daniel said, watching Kevin, Tim and Alex walk up the veranda steps to the house. Kevin fished the spare key out of the hanging flowerpot and opened the front door.
“How about we get our things inside? We also need to separate these cars. We can talk about this when our nerves have calmed, and we can rationally analyze the situation.” Daniel lifted the cover off the back of the Dodge and started unloading. Shaun stood next to him. “Why don’t you go inside with the others and take it easy? Just don’t fall asleep for a few hours.”
“No, I want to help. My hands don’t hurt. I can’t believe it. There is a place where everything can be healed. How did it happen?” He raised his eyes up and looked directly into Daniel’s. “My dad believed there was such a place. I thought he was just …” Shaun looked away.
Daniel saw the pain. “I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know, mate. I’m just as confused as you. I thank God we’re alive. What was that thing chasing us? I have never seen anything like it in my life.”
“It’s from hell,” Shaun said.
“Well, it has to have come from somewhere, but I’m not sure that hell is the answer. You want to take this?” Daniel handed over the cardboard box of canned and packet foods.
“It is. I was there — when the gates were opened ten years ago in the Middle East.”
Daniel stopped and looked at Shaun, not sure what he was talking about. Shaun was struggling to reveal something he had kept hidden for a very long time.
“He took me on a dig. He was an archaeologist, my dad. My mom was dying and he believed he had found a cure. A world where there was no pain and suffering. Immortality. He called it heaven on earth. He blew up ten men along with a young girl, Rachel, to have that artefact. But then he sold it to a prince, or a Russian oil tycoon in Egypt, I’m not sure. I am only starting to recall what happened and piece the memories together. I thought he just wanted the money for medicine.” There were two flights, not one, he remembered. “My dad argued with the buyer about something. I was drugged most of the time, lying on a red and gold silky daybed, but occasionally I woke to hear my dad yelling, begging them to let him use the artefact, to open the door to a place that would heal his dying wife. My father carried me as they escorted us off the premises, shoving us into a limo and driving us to the airport.”
Jade couldn’t help her curiosity, but now wished she had gone in with the others. Daniel seemed as if he didn’t know what to say to Shaun. She felt he was telling the truth. Maybe some of the story was confused in Shaun’s mind because he was young and fragile when something extraordinary happened to him and now he believed all of it to be true memories. She watched Shaun pull out a bulging leather pouch and pour the contents into his hand.
“I think they somehow needed these too.”
Jade couldn’t see.
“They fell out of Dad’s backpack to the Jeep’s floor and I took them.”
Kookaburras laughed, crows cawed and the smell of cow manure suddenly overwhelmed Jade’s senses. Shaun tipped the contents back into the pouch and shoved them deep into his front pocket.
“Be careful you don’t lose them. They would be worth a fair bit. You shouldn’t carry them around.”
“Sure.” Shaun took the boxes from Daniel and walked up the porch stairs.
*
Night was falling by the time they had dinner, cleaned up and were settled for the evening. In the living room, Shaun was playing a game of jacks with Alex on the rug using the stones from his pocket. He scooped them up off the floor as soon as Daniel walked into the room. “Where’s Kevin?”
“He went out
side to the hangar to show off the plane to Jade. I think he’s got a thing for her. Has he really flown it?”
“Yeah, Callie’s dad taught him as soon as he could see out the window. He’s a pretty awesome dude. Why don’t you guys get along?”
“I don’t know.” Shaun closed up and walked out of the house.
“Come on, little guy, it’s past your bedtime.” Alex jumped up into Daniel’s arms and hugged him tight.
“I don’t want to sleep alone. I’m scared the angry giant is going to pull the roof off the house when I’m sleeping, and stick his hand inside and search through the rooms until he finds me. Shaun said that he would sleep with me and stab its hand if it tried to get me. But he just left, where is he going?”
“He’s just gone to get some fresh air. How about I stay with you until he comes back?” Daniel carried Alex to bed. He nudged open the bedroom door with his foot and laid him down on the bed.
“No, not this bed! Shaun said he would sleep in this bed in case it comes through the door and he will attack it so I can run away.”
“Okay, buddy,” he said, laying Alex on the other single bed. He closed the window and the shutters. Alex was making him aware of his own fears. I suppose we are all going to be a little jumpy and afraid for a while. Daniel lay on the bed, sharing the pillow with Alex, and started to tell him a story about the time when Alex had visited his nanna and pop in the school holidays with Callie and Kevin. “Early in the morning, Kevin showed you how to milk the cow. When you were finished, he pulled two straws out of his back pocket and gave you one. Together you sat in the barn on the hay drinking the warm milk.” Daniel felt Alex’s breathing settle into a peaceful rhythm. The door squeaked open and Shaun popped his head in. Daniel waved for him to come in and turned on the bedside light and whispered, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, tired. I’m going to hit the pillow,” Shaun said.
“I’ll come in and check on you both later. Thanks for your help today.”
“You don’t need to check on me,” Shaun said, lying on the bed with his back to Daniel.