by Dawn Dagger
She sure hoped so.
Maybe no one cried in Heaven because they could send help to those they loved. Maybe they sent Dierdre and Clayton to save her. They were so nice. She would do anything at all for Dierdre and Clayton. They weren’t quite a mommy and daddy to her, no, she already had those… But, more like an aunt and uncle. Yes, her mommy and daddy had sent her an aunt and uncle to take care of her.
She sped around the inside of a half dozen rooms, kicking up papers, but none of them were any sort of exist. She wasn’t bothered, though. The bad guys couldn’t catch her. She was too fast! A superhero!
No one could hurt Dierdre or Clayton! She wouldn’t let them!
Amy stopped short, panting, as she saw someone rounding the corner of the hallway. It was someone she had never seen before. The man held a gun at his side, and that made Amy nervous. She ducked beside a vase and slid behind it, hoping the sticks branching out of the top of it would hide her.
She watched the man fearfully. If he caught her, would he shoot her?
No, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. She was faster than his bullets. So, should she steal his gun, so he couldn’t hurt Dierdre and Clayton? No, it was fine. He was walking away now. Walking away from where they were. It was all okay.
Amy continued her run down the hallway, keeping a more careful eye this time.
She stopped beside a water fountain to take a breath and a drink. She pulled the rattlesnake from her pocket and kissed its cute, little nose. “Thanks, Marcha. For making me fast,” she murmured to him.
She placed him back into her pocket and continued her journey. She wasn’t finding anywhere that led outside, or any place titled ‘Exit’. And she was getting really, really hungry.
“No,” Amy told herself. “Good guys, superheros, don’t get lunch breaks. They get big parties after they save everyone!”
At that moment the hallway broke into two, giant red doors. Amy stared in awe at the doors, twice as tall as her. She glanced at the keypad beside them. She was bad at math, so she couldn’t figure out the code.
How could she get into the room? She knew the exit had to be inside there. It just looked like an exit. She glanced at the ceiling, and realized there was a vent in it. She jumped, trying to reach for it. She couldn’t quite grab it, being very short and all.
I wonder if this is like those video games Buddy plays… She mused, glancing at the walls on either side of the halls.
Amy slid backwards, pressing her back against one wall, then ran towards the other, leaping. Her feet hit the wall hard and she bounced off, then fell hard onto the ground. Falling hurt, a lot, but her heart was racing with excitement.
She could jump from wall to wall, into the vent! Just like ninja turtles!
Amy did it again. She bounced off the wall, but lost her footing on the second wall and fell. It hurt a little more this time, her elbow and hip popping, but she ignored it. Again and again, until, on the fifth try, she managed to grab the grates of the vent.
Amy yelped as the metal cut into her palm and blood welled around the metal, but she bit back the pain and swung herself up, so her legs wrapped around the vent and she hung upside down like a sloth.
Amy had done this plenty of times with Buddy in the trees. She pulled the grate out of the vent, but it was heavier than she thought, and fell heavily on the ground. She grimaced as it clanged on the floor. No one seemed to notice.
Amy managed to pull herself up into the vent, and began to crawl through it as quietly as she could, leaving bloody streaks in the dust. The dust burned her nose, but she swallowed the urge to sneeze.
As she crawled she came to a cross… vent. She listened hard, and above the sound of the fan far behind her, she could hear someone talking quietly to her left. Amy crawled into the vent as quietly as she could, and soon found a small grate in the vent. She laid on her belly and wriggled forward, then peered down through the grate.
Below her was a huge room full of vents and machines and glowing lights. She could see the giant, red doors on one wall of the room.
Look at her! She had done it! She was like a super secret super spy! She was a hero! She was Clayton had trusted her with carrying the snake. He was going to be so proud.
Beside the machine was a giant silver can. There was a door open in the side of the can, and two people stood below her. She pressed her ear to the grate and held her breath, trying to hear them over her heart, which was pounding.
The person standing beside the big machine said, “I’m sending you to the 21st century. In your bag is a map, circled on it is where the turtle should be. Press the button on your necklace if you need teleported back. We’ll have someone watching 24/7. You ready for this?”
A person beside the can nodded, pulling funny-looking goggles over their eyes. “You got it. I’ll find the artifact, don’t you worry.” The person stepped inside the can and the other guy began to press a bunch of buttons. There was a hissing sound, then the door of the can closed.
A flash of light blinded Amy, then disappeared. The doors to the can popped open and Amy gasped.
There was no one inside.
24
The relief pouring through my body was more liberating and adrenaline-inducing than riding my bike at night, or throwing great oak desks, or smoking awful-smelling plants with the kids with beads in their hair and no parents, just like me.
I hugged her tightly, pulling her close to me. I could feel her heart beat against me. She hugged me as tightly as she could, her body shivering. “Oh, Dierdre, you’re okay… Oh…”
Dierdre pushed me away gently, tears streaming down her face. She glanced around, then her eyes widened. She gestured frantically with her hands, sign language I did not understand.
“I’m sorry, Dierdre, I don’t--”
She pointed to herself, then a downwards motion, like someone who was shorter than her.
“Oh! Amy! Amy has the rattlesnake! She’s fast now! Super speed. She’s looking for an exit. She should be back in just a minute. Do you know how to get out of here, Dierdre?”
She opened her mouth to respond, then looked pain, swallowing. She teetered her hand back and forth. Maybe.
The door was suddenly thrown open and Amy came into the room, rolling head over heels. She rolled across the room and fell on her back, so she was on the ground and her legs were propped against the wall.
I jumped up. “Amy, are you okay?!”
She was on her feet in a second. “I found a thing!” She panted. She leaned on her knees, struggling for air. “I found a thing! A device. A big whole room! It’s got a huge silver thing in it and a ton of buttons! Someone extra fancy was talking about a tortoise and then pressed a bunch of buttons and then someone just,” she spread her hands, “poof! Gone!”
Dierdre opened her mouth, sitting up, then closed it, looking frustrated and hollow. Amy ran over to her and hugged her tightly, chirping, “Oh! Dierdre! You’re okay! You’re okay!”
Dierdre patted her shoulder, then bit her lip, thinking hard. She made the letters ‘M’, ‘M’, ‘E’, and ‘A’ with her hands, which I could just barely understand. She pointed to everyone in the room, then made the same ‘poof’ motion.
“It’s like what the MMEA uses!” I gasped. “You’re right!”
She nodded fervently.
“Should we leave now then?” She nodded and I slipped my arms underneath my mother’s frail body and lifted her, cradling her. Dierdre ripped the IV out of her own arm, then stumbled over to my mom, removing her IV.
“Amy, c’mon. You’ve got to show us where the machine is.” She nodded excitedly. “Just don’t go too fast okay?”
We opened the door and set out. Dierdre was at my elbow as we followed Amy. Still, no people were pouring out to grab us. No one was trying to hurt us. Had they really been so confident and distracted they didn’t realize their prisoners were escaping?
Would they really put so much effort into hurting Dierdre, and then not even make sure she stayed?
My stomach burned.
We ran down the halls for an anxious forever, then Amy finally stopped in front of a pair of giant, sliding doors. She gestured, panting. Now I could see her hands were caked with dust and blood.
I set my mother gently on the ground and approached the door. I punched it as hard as I could, but it didn’t even dent. The power of the blow bounced back through me, sending me stumbling back. I gasped, shaking my hand. I took a deep breath and ran at the doors, slamming my shoulder against them.
Instead of completely blowing inwards, they barely rattled. I groaned and fell onto my butt, glaring at the door. I rolled my shoulders and my shoulder popped. I gritted my teeth as pain exploded through it.
“Amy, it won’t budge! How did you get in there the first time?”
“I climbed in through the vent!”
I picked Amy up and lifted her to the vent. “Do it again!”
“Okay!” she chirped, crawling into the vent. I picked my mother up and waited anxiously for the doors to open. Still no alarms. No footsteps. Were we really going to get out without any trouble? There was absolutely no way.
The doors hissed, then slowly began to open. Diedre and I slipped in as quickly as we could, and were indeed presented with a set-up much like the MMEA had.
It was more primitive, as it did not have the alarms for the different timelines as the MMEA had, and the circle was concealed, but it was the same device. Dierdre dashed over to the panel and began to frantically stab buttons.
“Amy, get in the pod.” I commanded, setting my mother down on the outside of the pod. I glanced over Dierdre’s shoulder.
3000. U.S.A. Jan. 13. OH. Yes. No. Multiple. Enhance.
It wasn’t the location of the MMEA. Smart. We couldn’t just drag the bad guys right to the headquarters. If they could track the time travelling, that would be suicide. It would be hard for them to find us on an inhabited planet.
“I tried so, so hard to be nice to you.” a voice hissed behind us. I wheeled around to see Hazel standing in the doorway, her shadow stretching long across the floor. Dierdre did not turn around, concentrating harder on the screens.
Hazel lifted her hand and the darkness seemed to swirl around her palm as she continued to pace towards us. Her boots clicked on the floor, echoing. “Clayton!” She boomed. “I fed you and let you shower! I let you see your mother. I let Amy be taken care of. I have you two everything.”
“That monster was going to rape Amy!” I shouted, my chest and stomach turning to fire. “You cut out Dierdre’s fucking tongue!” I was screaming. My vision was red. There people couldn’t live. I wouldn’t let them.
The shadow on the floor grew whipping tendrils out of the sides, and I watched in horror as around Hazel the apparitions of the tentacles appeared around her. They rose high above her and lashed out. Her eyes glowed. She looked like a demon.
Was I drugged? Was I going insane?
“You’ll never understand what we’re trying to do.” she growled, her voice echoing and dripping. “We just want to destroy the inconsequential timelines. How bad is that? Why are we wrong for wanting perfect balance?”
I glanced at Dierdre. She threw me a sidelong glance, mouthing to herself. I understood that look. Buy us some time.
“No, we won’t understand it!” I shouted, starting forward, meeting her in the middle. “We won’t ever understand massacre and torture!”
We both continued walking, until we were only five feet from each other. Hazel glared at me. Her eyes really were glowing. My stomach twisted and I swallowed down the bile clawing up my throat.
“You ruined everything, you know, Clayton? But I was willing to take you under my wing. I would keep you safe and use your strength. But, no. You just had to think about that stupid color so much that you drove yourself to insanity!”
She meant Yellow. She meant me, replying yellow in my head over and over, until I realized it fit in a crevice of memory that didn’t exist to cradle its existence.
She could read my thoughts.
But she had not… had not caught us before now.
It was some sick, cruel game, I realized.
“Tell Amy to step out of the pod. We can go back to how it was. You can and Amy can be happy and learn to control your powers, Dierdre will be useful until she isn’t anymore, and your mother will get better.”
“You are not hurting Dierdre,” I snarled, balling my fists. Hazel lashed out, her tendrils slamming down towards me. I yelled and rolled out of the way. The shadows flicked past my cheek, but did not hit me.
I fell hard to the ground, then rose to my feet. I jumped forward, hoping to kick against Hazel’s chest and knock her over. She sidestepped and I felt cold wrap around my body. I screamed as tendrils squeezed me until my spine popped.
I writhed and twisted, trying to escape the freezing, burning pain. I couldn’t breathe. “Leave him alone!” Amy screamed. She blurred around Hazel, then the woman stumbled. The tentacles released me and I fell hard onto the ground.
I coughed and pushed myself to my feet. Hazel was lashing out at Amy, who was running circles around her in a blur. She was like a small tornado. I jumped, and came down against Hazel, knocking her backwards. She gasped and I wheeled up to punch her, but something stopped me.
I didn’t like hurting people. Then thought flared through my whole body. I couldn’t hit a woman. All I could see was her amber eyes and soft face. How could I kill someone? They hurt Dierdre! My mind screamed. Kill her! But I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed. My heart thundered in my ears.
“Dierdre’s ready!” Amy cried, running up and grabbing my hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”
I turned and ran after her. Dierdre had dragged my mother into the pod and was waiting, gesturing frantically. Hazel still laid on the ground. She must have hit her head… Good. We’re safe.
I stumbled into the cylinder and Dierdre snatched my hand. I gripped Amy’s, then reached for my mother as Dierdre closed her eyes. Dierdre used her free hand to press a button inside the cylinder.
Before I could grab my mother’s hand, her body disappeared! I screamed and jumped out, attempting to grab her foot, letting go of Amy and Dierdre, as she was jerked out of the cylinder. My fingers just brushed her heel when something grabbed the back of my shirt.
Dierdre wrapped her hands around my arm and jerked me back, ignoring my shriek, and the world disappeared.
25
We fell hard onto a hill covered in grass. Black spotted my vision and I struggled to blink it away, pushing myself up. The grass was brittle and yellow-green, tall enough to wave above my shoulders, even sitting upright. Lizards scattered away from us. The sky was a sweltering blue.
“Clayton?” Amy squeaked, and the grass began to rustle. “Dierdre?”
“I’m here,” I responded, standing up. I looked around. Dierdre laid, unconscious in the grass. Amy was standing not far from her. My heart fell into my stomach as I gazed over the rolling hills.
There lay no third figure. I wandered in a large circle through the grass, feeling lost. I knew the truth in the depths of my churning stomach, but I still couldn’t help but look.
We hadn’t saved her.
I tried so hard. I had been touching her. But it didn’t matter. She was gone. Why couldn’t I have just died like I was supposed to?
I screamed to the blue sky. My voice echoed over the plains. I screamed until I choked.
I turned and picked up Dierdre gently, saying, “C’mon, my. Let’s go find a place to rest.”
We wandered down the hill, towards a city that glittered along the horizon. It wasn’t my city, the skyscrapers were too short for that. But I didn’t care. Nothing was mine in the world.
Amy was quiet beside me. She understood we had not saved my mother. She knew I was upset. I appreciated her keeping quiet and not asking questions. I had no answers for her.
The city was quiet and small, as if it were also mourning my inability to help people.
&
nbsp; I realized as we passed a quaint hotel that neither I nor Diedre had any sort of money. We couldn’t buy food, couldn’t rent a hotel, nothing of the sort. That was fine. We could survive.
After questioning a few, soft-spoken, accented people, we found a no-question shelter. The woman at the desk was genuine, with a round face and red glasses. She showed us to a room with a window, a cot, and a bunk bed.
I laid Dierdre on the cot and tucked her in while Amy climbed into the bunkbed. I stared out the window, watching the sun perched in the sky. The sweet woman brought us bowls of soup and hunks of bread. She offered us showers and a look at the clothing that had been donated.
We ate while Dierdre slept, then looked through the clothes. I found a pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt, and Amy found a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. We decided on a t-shirt dress and leggings for Dierdre. The dress was yellow. Upon asking, the woman set out to find proper underclothes for her.
Once she had retrieved them, I folded everything neatly and laid it at the end of the cot, in case Dierdre woke before we did.
The sun stained the room red, then everything went dark. The woman bade us goodnight in soft tones, and Amy and I laid down. Amy snored contently, feeling safe. I stared at the top of her bunk in the dark, lost in thought son deeply I was afraid I might not resurface.
Dierdre did not stir, sleeping through the night.
In the morning I was up at sunrise, despite never falling asleep. I wandered into the kitchen, offering to help cook breakfast for the others in the building. I was offered the job of peeling potatoes, which I didn’t mind. We were all silent.
I was offered a cup of black coffee, and accepted, despite never really liking coffee. I liked the way it was hot and heavy in my throat and stomach. I liked the ability to blame the sick in my stomach on the drink, and not my own heavy thoughts.
I woke Amy for breakfast and we ate quietly. She went off to watch movies and play games with the other kids, and after washing the dishes, opted to sit on the edge of Dierdre’s bed. I cleaned her wounds and dressed them, then just rubbed her back gently.