Foreign Identity : Becca Campbell
The Beginning
She awoke in the dark. Everything was fuzzy in her brain. She searched for the last thing she could remember and came up blank. Nothing. Why was it so dark here?
But then, she realized her eyes were still closed. She opened them and blinked a few times, causing the darkness to fade and the view to change. Looking around, she saw that she was in an odd, rectangular room. Without any apparent light fixtures, the ceiling glowed gently, illuminating the dirty concrete walls and floor. Long chains bound each of her hands and feet, with locks securing each of the cuffs in place. The chains disappeared into four holes in the wall behind her. It would be useless to try and break away. She needed to find the key.
Her eye fell on something at the opposite end of the room – a heap of dirty fabric. When it moved, she saw that it was a human form. She was not alone.
“Hello?” she said, her voice echoing in the chamber.
“Mmmmf,” came the drowsy response.
“Hello? Are you okay?” She asked the form.
Suddenly, he sat up. A man with messy brown hair and dark brown eyes, wearing some type of loose tunic she didn’t recognize. Covered in dirt stains with hair tangled, his appearance alarmed her. For a moment, fear of the stranger replaced her curiosity and she wished for a place to hide. But the clinking of chains as he sat up gave away the truth that he was a prisoner, too.
He held up his hands, surveying his own chains, and then looked across the room at her. “We’re trapped in here?”
She nodded.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “What’s yours?”
He hesitated for a moment before answering. “I don’t know either. But I guess for the moment, names are one thing we can do without. It seems like escaping is the priority.”
She nodded again.
“Have you tried any of the doors yet?” he asked, rising to his feet.
The room’s only apparent openings were four metal doors, two in the middle of the left wall and two in the middle of the right wall.
She shook her head and stood up. “I don’t know if I can reach them,” she said gesturing to her chains.
He approached the door on the left nearest him and when his chains were nearly taut to the wall, she felt herself being jerked backwards. He stopped a minute, studying her with a quizzical look, and took another step forward. Her left foot was again yanked back, but she caught herself before she fell.
“Our fate may ride on the ability to work together,” he said. “Can you step back to the wall?”
She did as requested and he made his way to the door. Spread-eagle, her arms and legs were pulled tight against the wall as he stretched out for the doorknob. It was locked.
He walked to the opposite side of the room and tried the other closest door. Again, her limbs were strained as he reached for the knob. Unlocked, the door opened for him, but all that was revealed was a blank, solid wall behind.
The other two doors were out of his reach. “Your turn,” he said, stepping back to the wall where his chains went through.
She made her way toward the door on her right, careful to go slow as her pull on the chains drew his limbs against the wall. Stretching her arm, she reached the doorknob and wrenched it open. Beyond the door was another blank wall, like the last.
“One last door,” she said, feeling her heartbeat quicken.
“Can I ask you something?” the man said, momentarily interrupting the pursuit of freedom.
“Sure. What is it?” she asked, turning to face him.
“If we get out of here…if you leave this place,” he said gesturing at their prison, “where will you go?”
Not knowing where she was, how she got there, or even her own identity, she was at a loss for an answer. “I have no idea. All I know is that I have to escape. I guess I’ll figure out the rest after that.” They had to deal with the present now. The future could wait until later.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding slowly. “But when we do get out, maybe until we know what exactly is going on, we should stick together.”
“Okay,” she agreed, not yet sure if she could trust him, but not wanting to go it alone either.
She walked across the room and reached for the door handle. When she opened it, the sight that met her eyes was mind-boggling. Beyond the door was a closet that contained only one thing. Keys. Thousands of keys.
How would they ever find the right one?
Somehow, the one object that she had sought, the thing that could bring hope to their situation, was the very thing that instead triggered an avalanche of despair. As the emotions rolled over her, her knees buckled and she felt herself sinking to the ground.
~~~
Part 2
He watched her lose it. The thin girl with long, stringy auburn hair and a complexion the color of porcelain. Whatever agony at their situation she had been holding back was unleashed as she fell to the ground. He had to keep it together. For both their sakes.
From the far end of the room, he could see into the open door – it was a closet. The contents were puzzling, but even from his distant location, there appeared to be an order to the rows of keys hanging inside. If only he could get closer, maybe he could make something of it. But his chains prevented him from reaching the door. She was their only hope.
“Hey,” he said in a gentle voice. “It’s going to be alright.”
Her only reply was a faint whimper.
“Please. Can you try to channel whatever strength you might have? Surely whoever imprisoned us wouldn’t have left a closet full of keys unless there was a purpose behind it. Maybe if we work together we can figure out which one will get us out of here.”
She looked up at him with a wry expression. “Unless it’s some sort of cruel joke. Maybe the keys are here to torture us with the sheer irony of the situation.”
“Maybe,” he said. He didn’t know anymore about what was going on than she did. “You could be right. But we have to at least consider the idea that there is a way out. If there’s even a thread of hope, I’m going to hold onto it.”
She considered his words for a moment. “Okay. What do you want me to do?”
“Can you examine the keys more closely and tell me what you see? Are they labeled in any way? Do any details stand out?”
She stood up and touched one of the hooks, moving it with her hand. The row of keys rotated slowly. They seemed to be hanging on a lazy-Susan of sorts. She reached two rows above and did the same thing, scrutinizing the keys as they revolved in front of her. He couldn’t tell how many rows there were. And he had no idea how many keys there might be on each.
“They all have different markings on them. Random letters that don’t make any sense. ‘RE,’ ‘ON,’ ‘BAS,’ ‘LE,’ ‘TIG,’” she answered after examining several rows.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“Other than that, they all look the same. No, wait a minute,” she said, her voice rising in pitch. “All the other keys have a circular grip. But this row has some with other shapes,” she said, pointing to one near the ground. “Triangles, octagons, hexagons and a few others…There aren’t very many of them compared to the thousands of circle ones.”
“How many, exactly,” he asked?
For each set she counted and answered. “Three triangle keys. Eight octagons. Six hexagons. Five pentagons. Seven…uh…” she hesitated.
“Heptagons?” he asked.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“A shape with seven equal sides.”
“Oh. Then yes. Seven of them. Ten that have ten sides—“
“Decagons.”
“How do you know all that?” she asked, turning to give him a quizzical look.
He considered for a moment. “I’m not really sure,” he admitted. “Somehow the right terms just popped into my brain.”
“Weird,” she said, turning back to the keys. “Okay where was I? Two squares—“
“Wait. Just two squares?” he asked.
She double checked. “Yes.”
“You sure there aren’t two more in there? All the other shapes had the same number as their sides. So there should be four squares,” he said.
“Nope. I only see two.”
He pondered this for a minute. “Are there markings on those keys?”
“Yes,” she answered. “One says, ‘JAX’ and one says ‘KEL.’”
“Try them on your shackles,” he said, hoping that the sheer incontinuity of the keys would mean something.
“What does ‘JAX’ or ‘KEL’ mean?” she asked.
“I have no idea.”
She tried one on the cuffs that bound her wrists, with no luck. But when she tried the second key, she gave a small yelp of excitement as her left cuff fell to the ground.
“It’s working!” she said, giving him a triumphant smile. Using the key, she freed her right arm. Hurriedly, she tried to unlock the shackles around her ankles. But they gave her greater difficulty.
“The key doesn’t fit these locks,” she said in frustration, finally giving up.
“Can we see if it works on mine?” he asked, waving his chained hands.
“I don’t know if I can reach you,” she said, her hesitation clearly apparent.
“Try walking to the center of the room,” he said.
As she slowly made her way to the middle, his chains eased up enough that he could step away from the wall and approach her, closing the gap in between them. Finally, they stood face to face, close enough to touch one another. At this proximity, he could see that her features were quite delicate and her eyes a striking blue. There was uncertainty in her eyes.
“Can I try it?” he asked, holding out his hand for the key. For a moment, it seemed as if she was wrestling with a decision – whether or not to trust him.
“Look,” he said gently, “I’m not going to hurt you. And if I get free, I’m not going to run off and leave you.”
“But how can I be sure?” she asked, her soft brows pulling together with concern.
“I have no way to prove anything to you,” he admitted. “But the only way that either of us is going to get out of here is if we trust one another. Will you trust me?”
She considered for a moment and then placed the key in his outstretched palm. He turned it over, seeing nothing out of ordinary except the letters ‘KEL’ that marked the square. Then, he tried it on his own cuffs. A sense of anticlimax hit him when none of the locks would accept it.
“Wait a minute,” he said, his mind still working feverishly. “Do you have the other one?”
“This one?” she asked, placing the square key labeled with the letters ‘JAX’ in his palm.
“Yes.” When he inserted the key into the cuff on his left hand, he heard a satisfying click and the chain fell away. A feeling of victory spread through him, although he could barely expect to have the same success on his ankles. At least his arms would be free. He repeated the process on his right hand, and this time when it came loose, he noticed a small metal object fall out of the cuff.
It was another key! He picked up the square key marked ‘KEL’ and tried it on his ankles as the young woman watched. No luck. Then, as an idea hit him, he handed it to her.
“Try this on your feet,” he said.
“I’m ‘KEL’ and you are ‘JAX,’” she said grasping his train of thought.
“Nice to meet you, Kel,” he said with a grin.
Sitting down, she was able to successfully unlock her left foot, and when another square key marked ‘JAX’ fell out, his heart began to pound wildly. Evidently she had decided to trust him, because without hesitating she handed him the key and went to work on her right foot.
He found the second key was a perfect match for his remaining locks. And just as he was removing the last cuff, an object fell out. It looked like a key that was broken, split in half with an odd tab sticking out of the side. He looked up to see the redhead holding an object very similar to his own. And then suddenly he realized what they were.
“Puzzle pieces!” he exclaimed. “Can I see yours?”
A look of realization crossed her face as she held out her key fragment. He placed them together and they were a perfect fit.
“It’s another key!” she said with excitement.
“Could it be…” he muttered to himself, deep in thought. Was this THE key that would provide escape?
Somehow it seemed too easy. What had been the real challenge to this whole thing? It wasn’t cracking the key puzzle. It was what they had to learn to solve it: trust. Whoever had imprisoned them together was trying to see if they could trust each other. And now they would head on through that door and face what was waiting for them.
The thought that their captors had arranged a means of escape sent a slight chill down his spine. Who would be waiting on the other side? Kel’s silence seemed to mirror his own apprehension.
“Are you ready to try it on that door?” he asked, pointing to the one that remained a mystery.
She nodded and reached for his hand. He took it, and together they made their way to the door.
~~~
Part 3
It all started when she took his hand. That rushing feeling of familiarity, more powerful than déjà vu. As if she had been here before. But she had no memory of this place or the mysterious stranger whose hand she now held. The stranger she knew only as “Jax.” The one who called her “Kel.”
At first, she had been afraid of him, but the one thing she knew was that to get out of here, she had to trust him. So she had made the decision. But the moment he took her hand and squeezed it gently, any sense of doubt vanished. She felt a strange sense of calm, as if a load was lifted from her shoulders and she somehow instinctively knew she could trust this man, without knowing anything about him.
Jax placed his hand on the doorknob, his body alert and in a posture of self-defense. He pulled her behind him and then dropped her hand as he held out the key. She heard the soft click as the lock responded to its counterpart and her heart began to thud loudly. She imagined a crowd of vicious men with guns awaiting them on the other side and held her breath.
And then Jax threw the door open. The scene before them was one thing she had not expected. A plain concrete corridor stretched ahead, deserted.
“Come on,” Jax said, grabbing her hand again and pulling her down the hall. “Let’s get out of here.”
There were no doors in sight, only the empty corridor which forked in three directions after a short distance. Jax stopped at the fork, hesitating. Finally, he turned to the right, and they hurried in the new direction. After a while, there was another fork in the path. Again, Kel let him guide their course.
They wound back and forth through the hallways, catching no glimpse of a door or any other means of escape. The passages all looked the same. She was beginning to wonder if they were going in circles. Maybe this labyrinth of hallways was the real prison. Jax showed no hint of frustration or bewilderment. Did he really know what he was doing or was he just pretending? Maybe she had been too quick to trust him.
“Um…Jax?” she said when they arrived at another intersection where the path branched in three directions.
“Yes?” he answered, surveying the options.
“Do you know where we’re going? It feels like we’ve been here before,” she said, trying not to let her voice betray the doubt she felt.
“You’re right,” he said matter-of-factly. “We have been here before. This is where we began.” He pointed down the hall.
She was surprised to see at the end of the corridor the open door to their cell, the chains they had left on the floor visible through the opening.
“I’ve been mapping our route in my mind,” he explained.
“You have?” she asked.
“Yes. From this point, we’ve covered all directions but one. We need to head that way.” He pointed to the right.
“You remember every path that we’ve travelled? Do you have some sort of photographic memory?” She asked.
“Well,” he began, and then with a twinkle in his brown eyes, “I can’t really remember, can I?” The hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lip.
“But how many people have that kind of ability?” she asked in disbelief.
“One in a million?” he guessed.“Exactly. That’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it?” she asked.
He was silent for a moment. “Or maybe it’s not a coincidence at all.”
Pensively, she considered his words.
“Come on,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “We need to keep going.”
They travelled a short distance, followed a bend in the path, and then abruptly made a new discovery. On the left side of the hall was a door, plain metal with no markings. Jax approached the door, placed his hand on the knob, and slowly eased it open.
The only thing they could see beyond the door was the blackness of night. But it was too dark for night. There was no moonlight or any other illumination. The door couldn’t lead outside. It must be another room.
Tentatively, Jax placed a foot past the doorframe.
“No,” she said, tugging his arm back. “It might be a trap.”
He met her eyes, his gaze tender. “I need to see what’s in here,” he said. “You can wait here, but I’m going in, with or without you.” He squeezed her hand gently and then released it.
She nodded reluctantly and watched him disappear into the darkness. After several minutes of silence, a sense of dread began to take over.
“Jax?” she called uncertainly through the open doorway. And at that moment, light flooded the room before her.
She stepped through the door and saw that they were alone.
“I found the light,” Jax said. He was surrounded by a collection of items that she recognized but failed to find any meaning in their relationship to each other or placement within the room. Some lay haphazardly and others were stacked in groups.
She surveyed the items. A stainless steel toaster. A glass vase of dried pussy willows. A nylon tent. A pair of silk panties. There was a large, jagged rock with a baby blanket draped over one side, several pinecones littering the floor around it. A rusty bucket sat nearby. She walked over to the bucket and saw that it held an assortment of items – a sponge, a baseball glove, a pincushion with pins sticking out, several balls of yarn, a scrap of sandpaper, a pair of scissors.
Looking up for a moment, she noticed that Jax seemed just as perplexed by the bizarre assortment of items. He was holding a paintbrush in his hands, absently stroking the bristles as he stared at the piles of odds and ends.
“What is all this?” he asked. “Someone’s collection of junk?”
Kel had no answer. She walked over to an antique Victorian-era wooden chair upholstered in velvet, upon which sat a teddy bear and several books. Picking up the stuffed toy, she read the titles beneath. One was the Bible and the other was a children’s book – Aesop’s Fables.
Feeling the soft fur of the bear between her fingers, she experienced an odd sensation, much like the one that had come from Jax. It was that of comfort, familiarity. Somehow touching the object in her hands had sparked a strange sense of belonging. She no longer felt like a victim. She felt like she was at home.
What was this place?
~~~
Part 4
The second Jax flipped the light switch, his brain switched into full gear. He quickly scanned the assortment of items and began to analyze what the meaning behind them could be. It was another puzzle. The combination of locks and keys, the maze of corridors and now this.
At first, he experienced the unexpected thrill that the new challenge triggered. But soon his excitement was replaced by frustration. Items, ancient and new, natural and manmade, adult and juvenile. As much as he tried, he was unable to find a connection among them.
The thought that kept nagging at him was the fact that he easily recognized every object in the room. Somehow his memory was complete when it came to generic knowledge of objects, but he had no recollection of his own identity. Whatever history he had was a blank slate.
Picking up the paintbrush was the first time he felt close to finding the answer. The first touch sent a jolt through him that made him feel strangely connected to the object. The feeling was so unnerving that he nearly dropped the brush. But after overcoming the initial shock, he held it tightly, stroking the bristles, trying to absorb every wisp of the fleeting sensation.
After a moment, he returned it and methodically began touching every object in the room. His hopes were tempered when nothing else produced a similar phenomenon. After searching his pants for a pocket, he retrieved the paintbrush and stowed it away, under the folds of his tunic. Then he looked up at Kel.
“Hey,” he said. “You ready to get out of here?”
Holding what looked like a child’s teddy bear, she appeared frozen in place until his words broke her trance. Looking back at him she asked, “But what is this place?”
He shrugged.
“But don’t you think there might be a significance to these items?” She asked, squeezing the bear tighter.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I think we should keep moving.”
“All right.”
Reluctantly, it seemed, she put down the bear and joined him near the doorway. Leaving the light on and the door open, together they stepped back into the corridor.
Systematically, Jax led Kel through the web of passages in a pattern that made it easy for him to memorize them. After a few minutes they came across another unmarked door.
He felt Kel reach for his arm as he slowly eased the door open. Rather than darkness, this time they were accosted by a barrage of colors and motion. As they stepped inside, tears of light streaked down the walls, playing tricks on his eyes and casting an eerie mood over the room. The source of the chaos was a collection of rotating disco balls and moving colored lights mounted on the ceiling.
Besides the odd lighting, there were objects in the room, too. A variety of paintings hung on the walls: a night sky filled with swirling stars overlooking a town, a portrait of the virgin and child, and a meadow covered in bright brushstrokes that emulated wildflowers. Names popped into his mind – Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Monet – but the fact that he knew these names and not his own continued to vex him.
Were these original pieces? What range of sins had those running this place committed?
There were other pictures, too, some that he did not recognize. One scene of some very fat women in tight, garish clothing was particularly unnerving and he had difficulty looking away. He forced his eyes to search the room. Several large televisions silently flashed scenes from nature, everything from a sunset to a waterfall. He walked over to a table covered in magazines and saw that some were comic books. Then, something more interesting caught his eye.
One corner of the room was set up like an art studio. There were several easels set up with blank canvasses awaiting transformation. A table nearby held an assortment of paints and paintbrushes. Colored pencils, charcoal sticks and drawing pads sat on a desk to his right. Feeling drawn to the items, Jax walked to the desk and picked up a piece of charcoal. When the bizarre surge of familiarity accompanied the object, he began to sketch furiously on the paper, as if obeying some unspoken command.
While his hand worked, he glanced up to check on Kel. She had entered the room and was fingering several items on another small table. After a few moments, she looked up at him, held up an old Polaroid camera and snapped a picture.
“Say cheese,” she said with a grin, pulling the undeveloped photo out and taking another one of him. Still focused on the strange sensation, he looked down at the sketch pad. A minute later, Kel joined him near the desk to see what he was doing.
“Wow,” she said, just above a murmur. “Did you just now draw that?”
A rough image of a girl with long, tangled hair holding a camera darkened the once-pristine paper. He drew in a sharp breath at the realization of his own handiwork.
“You are an artist!” she exclaimed. “That’s amazing!”
He shook his head in surprise. “I didn’t realize…” He met her eyes. “Not exactly a substitute for the real thing though,” he said sheepishly, the side of his mouth curling in a half-smile.
“Is that me?” she asked in surprise, touching her hair self-consciously.
He nodded. “Did you remember what you look like?”
“No. I didn’t,” she said. “Do you?”
“No.”
She held out the photos. “Here, have a look.”
He nodded at the images. “It’s a bit familiar, I guess,” he said.
“Well, are you ready to move on?” she asked, setting the camera on the desk.
He reached to tear off the drawing, folded it and placed it in his pocket next to the paintbrush. “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s get going.”
~~~
Part 5
While Jax seemed rigorously focused on the task at hand, Kel found her own mind lingering more on her mysterious companion. Was she wrong to trust him so blindly? Something about that first moment they touched hands had brought the end to the fear that was so gripping in the beginning. An odd calmness now flowed through her. Was it a sign?
She even found herself blushing when remembering the sketch of her he had drawn. What was the big deal? It wasn’t as if he was flirting. But she couldn’t help but wonder why, of the many things in that room, she had been the subject of his focus.
When Jax stopped short at the third doorway, she nearly tripped over him. She shook her head to dispel the thoughts and his voice brought her back to the present.
“Another door.”
Beyond it lay another room of objects, but this time they seemed to have more in common with each other. An array of musical instruments filled the space, from a set of drums to a triangle and everything in between. In addition, there were barrels, pots and pans, trash can lids, and other things that could be used to make noise. Kel vaguely remembered a group of people who used just that type of random items to make “music,” although she couldn’t recall the name of the group.
On a table, there was an MP3 player hooked up to some very large speakers. Jax scrolled through the menu and played several songs, one at a time. Kel thought a few of them sounded familiar, but no names came to mind. Music must not have been an integral part of her past.
“When I grow up to be a man…” Jax sang along with the music before abruptly turning it off.
“Recognize that one?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling at her. “Beach Boys.” He shook his head. “Funny how my mind can capture some things so firmly but others are as slippery as an eel, impossible to hold on to.”
Kel frowned. “I haven’t found many things that have given me a strong impression…yet,” she added. “Except—” She broke off quickly, turning red.
“Except what?” Jax asked.
“Never mind.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly just one thing…I mean, it was more of a feeling than a memory.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Some of mine have been specific and others just impressions of familiarity.”
“So what do you think about all this?” she asked, sweeping her arm in an arc around the room.
“Music,” he said simply. “That’s the common factor in this room. Even that pile of junk over there could be used by talented people to make music.”
Kel nodded. “That’s about what I thought.”
“Let’s keep going,” he said.
They left the room and continued to make their way through the corridors. After what felt like almost an hour, they finally stumbled onto another door, the same as all the others.
A cacophony of scents arrested them as they entered room number four. Tables lined the walls of the space, covered with an assortment of glass jars. Kel walked over to one of the tables and began examining the jars. Each one contained something different – herbs, spices, dried leaves and grasses, dried bits of fruit and flower petals. She unscrewed a lid at random and sniffed at the contents, noting that the smell of the tree bark was quite potent. Replacing the lid, she explored a few more. Smelling a jar of dried fruit made her stomach growl, but she was hesitant to eat anything found in this place, so she resisted the urge. Several jars contained liquids and one seemed to hold some sort of animal dung. That one, she avoided opening.
“It’s kind of like a crude science lab,” she said, and then amended her thought. “Well, not a lab exactly. More like someone’s collection of specimens.”
“Scent specimens,” Jax said, replacing a lid on a jar of what looked like dried lilac petals. Kel wondered how she knew what lilacs were.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The last room was all about sounds. This one is about scents,” he said.
She considered for a moment. It made sense. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “So what about the other two rooms?” she asked.
“The one with the artwork was about visual things – lights, televisions, books and magazines. The first room…” he thought for a moment. “That one didn’t have as obvious a theme. If I had to guess, I would say that possibly each room involves primarily one of the five senses. So we’ve found: hearing, sight, and smell. What does that leave?”
“Touch and taste,” she answered.
“Right. And the first room couldn’t have been about taste. So it must have been touch.”
Kel remembered holding the soft bear in her hands and the sensation it had brought her. Possibly a buried memory of her childhood?
“Does that mean the next room we find will be the taste room?” she asked.
“It means that if we find a room that does involve taste, my idea is at least on the right track,” he said.
“Well, then let’s get going,” she said, returning the jar in her hands to the table.
Jax hurried the pace, seeming just as anxious as she was to discover the next room. But making their way through this place was mind numbing with the endless gray walls and floors stretching out before them. How long had they been trapped in this place? Her stomach growled again. How long since she had eaten anything? She was beginning to feel weak and her legs were aching from all the walking.
She could barely believe that only a matter of hours ago she had awoken, locked in that cell. It all felt so far away now. An eternity. She ached to be done with this whole charade and finally regain her freedom.
~~~
Part 6
Jax had no way of keeping time, but he guessed that they had been travelling the halls for hours. How much longer had they been trapped before escaping the cell? Only one thing was for sure: he was exhausted and hungry.
After the scent room, the corridor had branched off at multiple points, causing them to back track several times, just to get a gauge of their location. Jax wasn’t lost. He could still visualize the floor plan of the area of the building they had covered.
“This place is massive,” he told Kel as they trudged on through the bleak halls.
“Will it ever end?” she asked in a tired voice.
“I’m hoping for a final door. And that it leads to escape,” he said. He wished he really held the confidence that his words portrayed.
After a long time, they came to another door, the same style as all the others.
When Jax opened the door, a mixture of smells wafted temptingly their direction. Instantly, he saw the tables laden with foods of all varieties. His mouth watered. Everything looked so good. He glanced over at Kel, who was staring at the food with bulging eyes.
“Wait,” he said, putting out a hand to stop her when she leapt towards the buffet. “We need to be careful. We don’t know if this is safe to eat or not.”
She glowered at him. “An hour ago, I might have agreed with you,” she said. “But I’m starving. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out without something to eat.” She reached past his arm towards a bowl of fruit.
“I know,” he said. “I’m hungry too. But let’s wait a minute while we think this through.”
“Why should I?” she asked, her hand poised just above a ripe looking apple. It was more of a complaint than a protest. Jax excused her obstinacy as nothing more than a sign of low blood sugar.
“Because,” he said, “I don’t know what would happen if you ate that apple. And I need you here,” he added, his tone filled with tenderness.
“Need me? But why?” she asked, pulling her hand back with a quizzical look. “You are the one that has all the smarts when it comes to escape. I haven’t done anything helpful. Why do you care so much about me?”
Jax hesitated for several long minutes, and then finally answered. “I need you, because if something happens to you, I will have no one else on my side. And it’s not just that,” he added. “Your presence here gives me the drive to keep going.”
“But you’d try to get out of here even if you were all alone,” she said.
“Yes. But having someone else rely on me makes it all the more important. I’m not just responsible for myself anymore.” He broke the eye contact and looked away.
“But you aren’t responsible for me,” she argued.
“Maybe I’m not,” he said, “but I feel like I should be. And that’s enough.” He couldn’t explain why he felt protective over this woman who was still nearly a stranger to him. Maybe it was because they had been imprisoned together. Or maybe it was something deeper.
“Okay,” she said.
Jax took a deep breath. “So, what do we know?” he asked, trying to get his thoughts together. Kel was quiet as she waited for him to continue. “We know that we were prisoners of some sort. But our captors left us a way out. Since we escaped, no one has tried to kill or capture us. We haven’t seen anyone, good or bad. In all the rooms we’ve found, there has been no sign of danger. But we haven’t covered the entire building.
“So what does this tell us about the food?” he continued. “We don’t know if it was meant for us or for someone else. If it was intended for us, there are no signs of whether it was left to help or hurt us. So basically, there’s no way to know for sure if it’s safe to eat.” He sighed, feeling he was getting nowhere.
He glanced over at Kel, who was still silent. Though she was compliant and hadn’t tried to eat anything, she appeared intensely focused on the apple. He wondered if she had heard anything he had said.
His gaze trailed to the apple, but he blinked when he thought he saw movement. And then, suddenly the apple lifted into the air and slowly floated towards Kel. He stared for a moment, wondering if he was losing his mind. She let out a yelp, jumping back from the object, as shocked as he was. At her outburst, the apple fell to the ground, as still as the inanimate object it once had been.
Still staring at the round, red object, Jax kicked it lightly with his foot and it rolled across the room without protest.
“Let’s get out of here,” Kel said in a frightened voice, tugging on his sleeve. He nodded and quickly led her back out the door and down the corridor.
The air around them was thick with unspoken thoughts and emotions as they hurried away from the room. Kel seemed afraid to speak and Jax could think of nothing worthy of words either.
But apprehension turned to wonder when they came upon a new door, this one different from all the rest. It was wooden, covered with thick panels and ironwork. There were several locking mechanisms above the handle.
Jax’s heart pounded loudly as he realized what the door might mean. Could this be the exit? It seemed too much to hope for. He looked at Kel and tentatively placed his hand on the doorknob. She met his eyes and silently reached for his free hand. And then he wrenched open the door.
The soft glow of dusk cast shadows on the world beyond. Jax placed a foot outside and surveyed the surroundings. On either side of the door, the tall beige walls of the building stretched as far as he could see. In front of them, a dense forest created a natural wall, parallel to the building. Nothing else was visible.
Jax looked at Kel and she nodded. Then, together, they sprinted toward the trees.
~~~
Part 7
Kel did her best to keep up with Jax as he raced across the unprotected expanse. Holding hands restricted their pace, so when Jax released hers, she didn’t protest. Though they had spotted no security cameras, she felt eyes on her back as they fled the strange building. She had no idea if they were actually being followed or if it was just her imagination. All she could think of was getting to the trees. Each stride seemed to bring them a little closer to safety.
But once they entered the dense foliage, the surrounding blackness clouded her hope with doubt. The sinister shadows of the woods brought no sense of security, instead they were frightening.
The breaking of sticks and crushing of leaves were loud as Jax made his way through the bushes ahead of her, but his form was entirely lost in the dark. Struggling to keep up, she fell, scraping her knee on something sharp. She got to her feet only to trip again, a few moments later, fists full of moist soil as she landed. Going at this speed might be no problem for Jax, but she needed to ease the pace a bit, if she were going to make any progress.
Getting to her feet again, she stopped to listen for his position, but the only sounds were the noises of nighttime insects. Had she lost him?
“Jax?” she said in a hoarse whisper, trying to sound casual rather than give in to the panic that was swiftly filling her lungs. Fear of who or what might hear kept her from yelling at the top of her voice. She stood frozen, waiting for him to respond.
Straining to listen in the darkness, to pick out any noise that might be human, a cold chill crept over her. Again, she had the feeling that she was being watched. She was not alone. And Jax was gone. Terror surged in her veins.
At first distant, a strange sound met her ears, one that seemed to have no place in the woods. She struggled to place the noise as it floated nearer. A metallic buzz – no, more like a hum – sounded close by, almost in her ear. With nowhere to run and no way to defend herself, Kel wrapped her arms tightly around her chest, clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the unknown. The sound permeated the night for a moment and then gradually faded away, in the opposite direction of where it had come.
After a long moment, Kel took a deep breath and released herself. I must keep going, she thought. I have to find Jax. She refused to heed the nagging voice that plagued her mind.
No, he didn’t leave me. He said he needs me, she reminded herself.
Past her fear, her doubt and her insecurity, she pushed herself, making her way deeper into the forest. Every few paces she stopped to listen and softly call his name.
Suddenly, something grabbed her. But relief folded around her like a warm blanket when she heard the familiar voice speak her name.
“Kel? Kel! Where have you been?”
“I – I – got lost,” she stammered, grateful to feel his warm hand on her arm.
“Come on. Let’s go,” he said without a moment’s hesitation.
“Don’t let go of me,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to get lost again.”
“I won’t,” he said, gripping her arm tightly.
Stumbling into trees and over bushes, they made their way through the forest. Kel couldn’t see a thing. She wondered where Jax was leading them. The foliage was so dense that there was no way they could be travelling in a straight line. But, as before, she decided to trust him.
Hours later, he stopped. Kel was exhausted and her limbs burned with fresh cuts and bruises. Her muscles ached and she felt weak from hunger.
“Let’s stop to rest,” Jax said, stooping to the ground next to a large tree and guiding her down next to him. Gratefully, she sat.
“Do you think it’s safe?” she asked.
“If someone was following us, they would have caught us by now,” he said, leaning back against the tree. “We’re both so worn-out that we weren’t going very fast.”
Kel leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed. As little as his words did to reassure her, his presence soothed her very being. She closed her eyes and felt herself falling swiftly out of consciousness. She felt as though she could sleep forever.
~~~
Part 8
Jax awoke with filtered morning light sweeping his face and the sounds of bird calls echoing through the trees. He lay on the uneven forest floor with sharp twigs and pine needles sticking into his back, obstacles that had seemed trivial in his exhaustion the previous night. Kel was beside him, her head nestled in the crook of his arm. Her hand grasped the loose fabric at the side of his tunic, as if she were afraid of being separated from him again.
He stretched gently and she opened her eyes, blinking a few times. She sat up, pulling away from him quickly with a bashful smile.
“Good morning,” he said, rising to his feet and brushing the leaves from his clothing.
“Morning,” she said in a sleepy voice as she sat up.
“I think we should get moving,” he said. “Need to take care of business first, though.”
“Me too,” she admitted with a slight blush.
“I’ll go this way, you go that way,” he said, gesturing in opposite directions with his hands.
“Don’t go too far,” she said, concern lining her brow.
“I won’t. But I figure we both could use some privacy.”
She nodded.
Jax searched for a secluded spot to meet the call of nature. It was bizarre how the relief that came was familiar, though he had no tangible memory of ever doing so before. Everything about their loss of memory was strange. He knew that one person could have amnesia, but collective memory loss? It seemed highly unusual.
He was just about to go search for Kel when he heard her voice, a pitch higher than normal, shouting his name.
He darted through the trees, stumbling to reach her as quickly as possible.
“Kel! Kel, what’s wrong?” he called as he ran.
Breathless, he stopped suddenly, almost running her down. She was alone and looked unharmed.
“What is it? Are you okay?” he asked.
“Shhhhhh,” she said, putting a finger to her lips. “Don’t you hear that?”
Still panting, Jax tried to listen over the thudding of his heart.
He recognized the faint gurgling sound at once.
“Water!” he cried, excitement replacing the panic in his chest. “Come on!”
With Kel at his heels, they ran towards the sound until they came upon a wide stream that reflected the sunlight like diamonds. The clear water flowed calmly, bubbling and circling when it cascaded into rocks. It looked shallow enough to wade across, but Jax was not eager to soak the only pair of clothing he had at the moment.
He stopped at the edge, wondering if it was safe to drink. At this point, did it matter? His throat was burning from thirst. How long before dehydration would set in?
Next to him, Kel knelt down and scooped a handful of the clear water in her hands. She sniffed it and took a small sip. “It’s pure,” she said, and took a large gulp.
Jax had no idea how she could know for sure, but at this point he was beyond caring. He plunged his hands deep into the water and began to drink greedily. The water felt spectacular as it rushed down his throat, soothing his body from the inside out. He drank and drank and once his thirst was quenched, he brought handfuls of the revitalizing liquid up to splash on his face and drench his hair. He scrubbed his rugged face, now covered with stubble, and scratched his scalp, running his fingers through his wet hair when he was finished.
Finally, he breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction and looked over at Kel, who had rolled up the sleeves of her tunic to do the same. Her dripping hair and wide smile told him that she was as thoroughly refreshed as he. There was something else, too: she looked different. It took him a moment to realize that the change was in her ivory skin, pristinely clean, and full lips, pink from the cold water.
She was stunning.
Feeling a slight euphoric dizziness, either from the rush of the water or from the beauty before him, he returned the smile.
“Feel better?” she asked.
“Much,” he answered.
Kel wrung out her long hair and twisted it into a knot. Grabbing a nearby tree branch, she broke off a twig and shoved it through the knot to secure her hair in place. “So where do we head now?” she asked. “Across the river or another way?”
“I don’t think we need to cross it. Yet, anyway,” he answered. “But it might be a good plan to follow it. Maybe it will lead us to civilization,” he said hopefully.
“Sounds good to me,” she said, getting to her feet.
“So,” she asked, as they hiked under the woody canopy, “Do you know where we are now? I mean, you had the layout of that whole building memorized. So have you mapped out the woods since we entered last night?”
Jax shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’m completely lost now. I couldn’t keep track of our location when we were running in the dark. I can’t even tell you which direction we came from yesterday. I was probably going in circles trying to find you.”
“Oh,” she said. He couldn’t tell if she was disappointed in him or just had nothing more to say.
“But I think travelling in daylight will help,” he added. “I’m hoping maybe from here on out I can track our position, if we only travel when it’s light out. That’s why I think we should follow the river – it’ll give us a point of reference.”
After a while, Jax noticed that the vegetation on the other side of the creek seemed to thin out. He focused his eyes and soon saw a rhythm to the trees. They seemed to be organized in regular rows, the grass beneath them tidy rather than overrun by weeds. And then he spotted something bright red hanging from one of the branches. It was an orchard!
“Look!” he said, grabbing Kel’s hand to stop her.
“Apples!” she cried. “Let’s go!”
Jax splashed behind her through the cool water, no longer concerned about getting wet. He pushed aside the concerns about whose orchard it might be or what actions might get them into trouble. The only thing on his mind was the prospect of getting something to eat. His mouth watered as they neared the ripe fruit.
~~~
Part 9
Kel ran ahead, her clothing soaked and water streaming down her legs. She grabbed the first apple that was in her reach and bit deeply into its firm skin. The taste was heavenly. Unconsciously, she let a small moan of pleasure escape. As she ate the fruit in her left hand, she used the right one to collect more. Jax followed suit as they walked down the row of trees. After devouring two apples, Kel grabbed the front of her long tunic like an apron to carry her loot.
Where the first row of trees ended, another began. But here, when Kel reached up to grab the fruit, she felt the soft fuzz of a peach. Her empty stomach hadn’t been picky, but when she bit into the juicy peach, the unexpected new flavor made her taste buds go wild.
She and Jax continued through the orchard, finding and collecting new fruits along their way. There were pears, cherries, plums, and several fields of berry bushes. In addition to the variety of fruits, they also found pecan and walnut trees.
When they had collected as much food as they could carry, they sat down beneath a large walnut tree, letting their plunder spill out on the grass in front of them. As they ate, they talked, the bliss of their discovery quickly dispelling all anxiety from their minds. The urgency of the quest had vanished, and all sense of danger along with it. At the moment, they were in paradise.
“What’s your favorite?” Kel asked as they lounged in the grass, lethargic from gorging.
“Peaches, I think,” Jax said, twirling one around in his hand as he gazed at it. “The mix of tang and sweetness. It’s a perfect combination. How about you?”
“Mmmm, cherries, definitely,” she said, plopping one into her mouth and then spitting the seed off to the side as gracefully as she could manage.
“I can tell,” he said, laughing. She liked the way his eyes danced when he laughed, almost as if they were squinting in the sunlight. But she didn’t like the fact that he seemed to be laughing at her.
“What?” she asked, a cross expression wrinkling her forehead.
“Your mouth is stained bright red,” he said, still grinning at her.
“I can’t help it,” she said, feeling slightly irritated. “They’re really juicy.” She frowned at him.
“Don’t be upset,” he said, turning serious. “I’m not making fun of you.” He reached over to wipe the corner of her mouth with his finger, and then touched it to his tongue. “It’s sweet,” he said, smiling softly at her.
His intense, deep eyes made Kel feel like her insides were being assaulted by a hoard of butterflies. She wanted to look away, but was unable to move. As she held his gaze, she wondered again about the strange connection she had felt, back in the building.
“Jax,” she said, pushing past the butterflies, “have you ever wondered…” She broke off for a moment, trying to arrange the muddled thoughts into coherent words. He watched her attentively, patiently waiting for her to go on.
“I guess what I’m trying to ask,” she continued, “is if you think we knew each other…before.”
“Before we lost our memories?” he asked. “I don’t know. Why?”
“Well, it’s just that I’ve had this feeling. Like you aren’t really a stranger, but something more. Like maybe I should remember you.” She frowned and shook her head. “It’s very frustrating. Do I seem familiar at all to you?” she asked, searching his expression.
His forehead creased as he concentrated on her face. The change in his focus from enchanted to businesslike made her uncomfortable. This time she really did want to look away. Maybe it was wrong of her to ask him. Especially so soon. What if he didn’t recognize her? She blinked rapidly a few times, fighting back the mortification she knew would come, but refused to break eye contact. She had been the one to ask, after all.
After a long pause, he finally sighed and shook his head. “Maybe,” he said. “It’s about the same as with the image of myself. I didn’t immediately remember anything, but there is something familiar there. I just can’t put my finger on what, exactly.”
“It’s okay,” she said, forcing a casual smile and hoping it didn’t seem phony. “Do you know anything about memory loss?”
“No,” he said.
“Well, thanks for sticking with me, anyway.” she said.
“I should tell you the same thing,” he said with a smile. “But it’s only natural, isn’t it? I don’t think either of us wants to be alone. Besides, you aren’t exactly unbearable company to be around.”
She felt the mood lighten as his smile warmed her insides.
“Maybe we should get going,” he said.
“Yeah,” she agreed. She piled the uneaten food back onto her lap, not wanting to waste any of it.
“No, wait. I have an idea,” he said. He pulled off his wet tunic and wrung it out. Then he filled it with the fruit and tied it like a knapsack. “I’ll dry quicker like this, anyway,” he said, gesturing to the simple T-shirt he wore. “Now we just need to find a branch,” he said.
As he searched the trees around them, Kel noticed that one apple had fallen out of the pack. She reached to grab it, but was overcome with a strange feeling, and froze in place. It was a memory, not from her past, but from yesterday. After their escape from the building and trek through the woods, she had nearly forgotten the bizarre incident with the floating apple.
She strained to remember the scene exactly. What had she been thinking at the time? She had been intently focused on getting that apple, though restraining herself from grabbing it.
She stared at the apple. And then it budged. Blinking, she glanced over at Jax, who was still preoccupied with getting a stick into the knapsack. Arm still extended, she focused on the apple again. And this time, it rolled across the grass towards her, and into the palm of her hand.
Kel’s mind was reeling, but Jax’s voice startled her from her thoughts.
“What are you?” he asked, gaping as if he were face to face with the devil.
~~~
Part 10
In that moment, Jax doubted everything he had so quickly assumed about Kel. Her memory loss, her innocence, even her humanity. His mind reeled with the events of the time since they had been together, now colored with a stain of uncertainty. She had convinced him that she was just as clueless as he about her identity. Was it all an act? Had she used him as a means of escape? The logic behind the idea didn’t make complete sense, after all, she was still with him now. But he didn’t know what else to think.
Kel didn’t answer him, but instead shook her head and stared at her hands as if she were struggling with her own set of questions. He waited, but she didn’t try to justify either her own innocence or the phenomenon itself.
Jax decided that instead of immediately confronting her with his suspicions, he would wait. Maybe after he had time to think things through he would give her a chance to defend herself. In the meantime, he would be more careful, not so easy to be deceived.
Shrugging his shoulders at her as if to say that it was no big deal, he picked up the knapsack and stood. “You coming?” he asked, looking over his shoulder before continuing their trek through the woods. Nodding, she scrambled to her feet and hastily fell into step behind him.
They left the orchards, heading in a direction that Jax hoped would intersect the river once again. After passing through the dense trees, they came upon a clearing, where a small log cottage sat. The sound of trickling water confirmed that the stream was close, although not in view.
“Look! A house!” Kel exclaimed, pointing to the modest structure. “Maybe we can get help from whoever lives there.”
Jax nodded. “Let’s circle the place first,” he said. “I want to get a good look before we just go up and knock on the door.”
Rounding the back side, the outline of a translucent structure met the cabin. It looked like a greenhouse. Oddly, there was no sign of a road or even a path leading to the house from any direction. They returned to the front porch and with some hesitation, Jax went up to the door. He waited a few minutes, but when his knocks went unanswered, he decided to try the handle. It was unlocked, but more surprising was the fact that when he pulled it open, he found the door had no lock.
“Hello?” Jax called. They entered and soon found that the cabin’s four small rooms were void of inhabitants. There was a kitchenette, two bedrooms and a bathroom, all made bright and cheery by the many windows. A back door led from the hall into the greenhouse.
Though fully furnished, the inside was simple and undecorated except for necessities such as curtains and bedding. There were no pictures on the walls or knickknacks sitting around. Possibly because of their lack of possessions, the occupants kept an immaculate house. There was no sign of dust and not a dish was out of its place in the cupboard. After poking around the closets a bit, they discovered that one bedroom belonged to a man and the other to a woman, if the clothing hanging inside was any clue.
Kel pulled a hanger from the back bedroom closet and held it out at arm’s length. “She’s about my size.”
Jax was about to answer when he heard a “plop” sound and looked down to see the small puddle of water that had dripped from his clothes and onto the floor.
Kel followed his gaze. “Yeah, I’m making a mess, too,” she said, gesturing to her own wet clothing. “I think I might ‘borrow’ an outfit. Since I don’t have a spare. Maybe you should do the same,” she suggested.
Jax decided that he would much rather be dry than stay in his wet clothes, despite whatever encroachment that meant. He headed toward the second bedroom and heard Kel shut the door behind him.
Without much deliberation, Jax grabbed a shirt and pants and changed into the dry clothes. He started to fold up his wet pants when he felt something sticking out of the pocket. The paintbrush. He sat it on the nearby dresser and found the other item he had taken from the building.
The drawing of Kel was smeared from the water and creased where it had been folded, but it still bore a striking resemblance to her. He sat on the bed and smoothed it on his lap, studying the image carefully. How natural it had been for him to draw… Not just to draw, but to draw her.
Try as he might, he could not feel threatened by her. Even if she did have some sort of telekinetic ability, even if that whole apple thing was more than a fluke. She was not a monster. Kel did much the opposite of making him feel nauseous. He was drawn to her in a way that he couldn’t explain.
Jax sighed. He still had no idea who or what Kel was, but the truth was that she did strike him as familiar, in some obscure way. He couldn’t deny it any more than he could deny his ability to draw. Or his ability to remember specific details like the layout of that building. Maybe he was just as much of a freak as she.
He focused on the drawing, straining as if to summon a vision to his consciousness – a memory from before. Anything.
But there was nothing.
~~~
Part 11
After the food and change into dry clothes, Kel felt a hundred times better. She took the photos from her pocket, wadded the dripping clothes into a ball and headed to the bathroom. The door to the other bedroom was closed, so Jax must still be changing inside. Shutting the door behind her, she sat the photos near the sink and wrung out the clothes, hanging them over the bathtub when she was finished.
From the sink, the picture of Jax gazed at her, his deep brown eyes drawing her in. She picked up the Polaroid and fingered it lightly in her hands, studying the face of her hero. Of course he was just a man, but it was hard to think of him that way, the one who had rescued her on several occasions. She would have never escaped that prison on her own, and being lost in the woods would have been no fun either.
She had no recollection of another soul, not even her own father. There was only Jax. Her knight in shining armor. It made her wonder, if her memory never returned, would her ideal always be tainted by this one, the first man she met after her imprisonment?
She washed her face and hands in the sink and let down her hair so that it could dry. From under the mass of auburn waves, clear blue eyes stared back as she pondered the face in the mirror. Who was the mysterious girl and what did she used to be, before her abduction? Kel studied the reflection, mentally superimposing identities to see if they fit her image. Doctor? Teacher? Nail technician? She sighed. There was no telling.
Placing the pictures in her pocket, she decided to investigate the place a bit more. She left the bathroom and entered the greenhouse. The strong smell of peat and vegetation arrested her senses, bringing with it a sensation of familiarity stronger than anything she’d felt up to that point. She walked down the rows of plants, touching leaves and sniffing blossoms wistfully, trying to summon back any trace of a clue from her past.
After examining several rows, she noted that most of the plants seemed in dire need of watering. They weren’t turning brown yet, but she could tell that they were thirsty. Looking around, she saw a hose with a sprayer attached to one of the walls. As she began watering, a voice behind her made her jump.
“You got a thing for plants?” Jax asked, giving her a curious look.
She shrugged and turned back to her work. “They need water. Whoever lives here hasn’t attended to them in several days.”
“Looks like quite a variety,” he said as he casually browsed the rows.
“It is. Flowers, succulents, ivy, palms, fruits, vegetables. An assortment of species, too. Three kinds of tomatoes, five kinds of cacti, several palms—”
“I wonder if these little round berries are any good,” he interrupted, examining a plant in his fingers.
“Don’t eat them,” she warned. “Holly berries are poisonous.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
“I just know. I’m not sure how, exactly. But I also know the scientific names of a good number of these plants. That’s not normal, is it?”
“Well,” he said, “I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘normal.’ If you mean knowledge that every person holds, then, probably not, no.”
“I wonder if my background had anything to do with botany,” she said, more to herself than to him.
Abruptly, Jax stepped in front of her and stared her down. “Kel, have you ever been in this house before?” His suddenly direct manner and severe tone alarmed her.
“Wh-what?” she asked, her voice faltering. “I don’t think so. Not that I can remember. I mean, this house isn’t familiar at all, just the plants.”
“Don’t play games with me,” he said, his tone accusing. “I’m not an idiot. I know that something’s going on here.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“What was all the smoke and mirrors earlier? The apple in the woods? And back in the building yesterday? You are… You’re different,” he said.
Kel stared unseeingly at the hose she still held in her hand. She felt the burning of tears welling in her eyes, but fought to hold them back.
“I don’t know,” she answered in a meek voice. “I don’t know what I am. I don’t remember anything.”
“Turn off the water,” he said, his voice commanding.
She looked at him questioningly, and then started to take a step to the spigot. It was about five feet away. He put his hand out to stop her.
“No,” he said. “From here. Without using your hands.”
Her reason for responding to his order arose more from her own curiosity than a sense that she owed him an explanation. With her free hand, she reached towards the knob and mentally willed it to turn. After a few seconds, the metal yielded to her command and the spray of water dwindled to a drip.
She looked back at Jax. He stared at her, his eyes saying it all. Words couldn’t have made her feel worse.
“I don’t know how or why I’m able to do this,” she said. “I don’t have any memory of being different.” Her eyes pleaded with him to understand. To trust her like she had trusted him.
The awkwardness of the silence between them was unbearable. She felt like her insides were crawling with worms.
“Don’t you believe me?” she finally said, in a tiny voice.
Jax looked away. “I don’t know what to think,” he said in a husky voice, avoiding her gaze. He still looked wary but he had settled down some. The accusing tone was gone.
“I know it’s weird,” she said. “I’ve got to be more weirded out than you are. This whole thing is freaking me out.” She took a deep breath and decided to be bold. “Look. You were the one that suggested we stick together. That we would have to trust each other. And the fact that you can memorize an entire floorplan, while the discovery might have been good fortune for us, that was a little weird too, don’t you think?”
He met her gaze again, and this time his eyes were soft. But he still didn’t answer.
“All I’m asking is that you at least try to understand where I’m coming from. Just consider that I might be telling the truth.”
“Okay,” he said finally.
She breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that he meant it.
~~~
Part 12
Their search of the house turned out to be fruitless. Not only was it empty of inhabitants, but it held no means of outside communication either. No phones, no computer, not even a mailbox, Jax thought wryly. The cabin had working plumbing and electricity, but there were no signs of any exterior wires leading to it, something he found quite odd.
“So what’s the plan now?” Kel asked, once they had exhausted their search.
“We should leave in case the owners return. I’d hate to get on their bad side by being caught breaking and entering.”
“We didn’t break anything,” she said.
“Well, entering then.”
Kel sighed. “I thought we were close to finding someone. I hate the thought of giving up now.”
“I know,” he said. “I feel like staying close is our best chance of finding someone, too. But I think it would be wise to not be in the house at that time. We could find a good spot to sit and watch the place. Somewhere that we can’t be found, but we can see when anyone comes.”
Kel’s countenance brightened a little at his suggestion. “Alright,” she said, “Let’s go.”
They packed up their belongings, again using Jax’s shirt for a sack. He slipped the drawing of Kel back into his pocket without her noticing. Then, making sure not to leave any signs that they had been present, they headed back into the forest.
Sitting silently next to Kel in a secluded spot where they could watch the front door to the cottage, Jax brooded over the way he had lashed out at her earlier. He hadn’t meant to be unkind, it was just that he was afraid of losing control. Of being taken advantage of. He had to protect himself, and unfortunately it had come out in a heartless way.
He wanted to trust her but the fact was, he didn’t yet know if he could…or should. Trusting would be too easy. Once his guard was down, there was no telling what might happen. And he couldn’t make himself vulnerable just yet. Not until he really knew what was going on.
They stayed in the area until dark, munching on the leftover fruit, only separating for a few minutes at a time to relieve themselves or grab a drink of water from the nearby stream. They took turns, because Jax insisted that one of them be there to watch the house at all times. They couldn’t risk missing someone.
When night fell, it was incredibly black. The sounds of the forest crept in around them. Every time an owl hooted or leaves rustled nearby, Kel grabbed for him. He let her cling to his arm, secretly glad that he wasn’t alone in the darkness. His senses were on high alert as he imagined the nighttime creatures that lurked around them.
After a while, Kel’s hand remained motionless on his arm and he was sure she was finally asleep. A short time later, he gave in to slumber as well.
The night before, Jax hadn’t dreamt at all, but this night, his dreams were intense and alarming. They were back in the building, being chased by monsters. But somehow, he was invisible to the beasts and Kel was the one they sought. She screamed for him as she ran, pleading for his help, but he could only stand, frozen in place, ignoring her cries. He wanted to help her, but his own words taunted him. You said you couldn’t trust her. You said you wouldn’t trust her. He fought hard to run, but his body remained rigid, not heeding his own wishes. And he knew that if he couldn’t save her, she was going to die.
And then a chilling sound rose from the monsters, a metallic low buzzing noise. The creatures transformed into a hoard of radioactive bees, shooting lightning bolts out of their stingers as they flew at Kel. The buzz grew louder and louder until Jax awoke, shaking.
He was not in the building, but back in the darkness of the woods. There were no bees, but the humming sound was louder than ever now, close to him as if it were about to attack.
And Kel’s warm hand was gone. Where was she? “Kel? Kel!” he gasped, feeling the ground where she had fallen asleep next to him. She wasn’t there.
“What is it?” Her voice came from his other side. How did she get over there?
“Do you hear that?” He asked, grasping for her in the darkness. His arms found her and held her tightly.
“Shhhh,” she whispered, clinging to him as the noise became nearly deafening. They both froze and waited.
It was coming for them. It wanted them. But he would not let her go.
And then, the sound slowly lessened until it faded altogether. Jax strained his ears, but he could only hear the sounds of the forest. There was no trace of the eerie hum. He breathed deeply, attempting to get his heart rate to return to normal.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I heard the same thing last night, when we got separated.”
“Why were you over there?” he asked. “I was so worried when you weren’t right here next to me.”
“I got up to use the restroom after you fell asleep. When I came back, I decided this side was softer,” she said.
Jax let out a big breath. “I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said. This time when he fell asleep, he would make sure not to let her go.
~~~
Part 13
Kel alternated between digging in the dirt with a stick and picking at the grass around where she and Jax sat. She was in pain, and the name of that pain was boredom. Not only that, but she was starting to get irritated with Jax after so much time in close proximity. Somehow, he seemed unaware of her frustrations and that only made her more upset.
“Jax,” she said, finally deciding to call attention to the problem at hand, “it’s been three days and we haven’t seen a soul. Three days of sleeping on the ground. Of sitting out here all day long with nothing to do. I don’t think I can take it any longer.”
“I know,” he said calmly. “It hasn’t been that exciting for me, either. I just don’t have a better plan at the moment.”
“I haven’t had a shower in who knows how long,” she continued. “I’m sure I look horrible, and I probably stink, too. It seems silly to be sleeping out here when there are two perfectly comfortable beds right over there,” she added, pointing to the cabin. “And a bathroom! I know the plan was to sit here and watch the house, but please, can we call it quits?”
Jax eyed her silently for a moment. Finally, he sighed, and with a resigned look, he answered. “All right. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate the plan. It’s beginning to seem unlikely that anyone will show.”
Feeling an automatic smile spread across her face and warm her insides, Kel jumped to her feet and stretched. Beside her, Jax stood and they headed back to the small cottage.
After a long shower, the dull gray haze that had fogged Kel’s mental state lifted, leaving her bright and cheery. She put on a simple cotton t-shirt and shorts from the bedroom closet and tossed her worn clothing into a heap on the floor. Then, she headed out to the greenhouse while Jax took his turn in the bathroom.
After watering the plants, Kel selected a variety of vegetables and brought them into the kitchen to make lunch. After so many meals in a row consisting only of fruit and nuts, it was refreshing to have something new for a change.
With hair tousled and still wet from his shower, Jax came into the kitchen and sat down just as Kel was putting the plates on the table.
“Thanks for making lunch,” he said.
“No problem. So what’s the new plan?” she asked between bites of salad.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” he began. “I have a suggestion, but tell me what you think.”
“All right,” she said.
“We could just take off into the woods, keep following the stream until we find civilization. The only problem is, we have no idea how many miles that might take, and on foot we won’t make it very far. There’s the added problem of finding food. Even if we stock up before we leave, we can’t carry more than a few days’ worth.”
“I don’t know if I like that idea,” Kel said with a slight frown. “The risks…and it doesn’t sound all too promising.”
“Right,” he agreed. “So my suggestion is that one of us, preferably you, stays behind, and keeps watch in case anyone returns. I’ll go searching for signs of life, but stay within a few days’ worth of travel. I’ll follow the river downstream as far as I can, and if I don’t find anything, then I’ll go upstream and then out in other directions, if necessary.”
“Why do you think you should go?” she asked.
“Several reasons. The first is because I plan on mapping out the woods as I travel. I don’t think I’ll have a problem finding my way, and if you went, I’d hate for you to end up getting lost. Also, someone needs to stay here and take care of the plants, right? And I’m pretty sure I’d be terrible at that.” Besides,” he added, giving her a slight smile, “I’d hate to leave you alone in the woods with all those vicious creatures roaming about.”
She returned his smile, and decided that he was right. She would rather stay. They hadn’t seen any wildlife beyond bigger than rabbits and the weird buzzing sound hadn’t returned, but the prospect of trekking off into the woods without a shower or bathroom didn’t have much appeal. “All right,” she said. “I’ll stay.”
They decided that Jax would leave at dawn, to make the most of the daylight. They retired to their rooms early, to get a good night’s sleep. Kel had looked forward to sleeping in a real bed, but once she lay down, she couldn’t fall asleep. It felt weird without Jax next to her. She sighed. She had mixed feelings about him leaving. He was the only person in the world she could rely on. What if he didn’t come back?
The next morning Jax packed food and blankets as well as a notepad and pencil they had found into a knapsack for his journey. With his pack on his shoulder, he hovered on the threshold as he and Kel looked at each other. She couldn’t think of what to say.
“Well, I guess I’m off,” he said after a moment, giving a small awkward wave.
“How long will you be gone?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. Hopefully not more than a few days,” he said. “You should stay close to the house while I’m gone. Don’t go farther than the orchard, okay?”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he said simply.
“Okay,” she said, knowing she would honor his request. After all, what else could she do?
“Well, goodbye,” he said.
She hesitated for a moment and then at the last minute before he turned to leave, abruptly leaned forward, throwing her arms around him impulsively. He returned the hug and released her.
“Goodbye, Jax,” she said. Come back soon.
~~~
Part 14
When Jax said goodbye and left to explore the forest, he was all no-nonsense. His mind was sharp as he focused on his surroundings, memorizing the placement of the trees and the creek in relationship to the house. Soon he would stop to create the beginnings of a map. But for the moment, he just took it all in as he hiked.
Ever since Kel’s strange ability had shown itself, things had been a bit awkward between the two of them. He was disconcerted by her and she wasn’t all that happy with him at the moment either. His initial distrust had been somewhat tempered by the vivid dream, but now he had other concerns: he was beginning to care for her, and he didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.
He didn’t want to think about it all now, though, which was why he compulsively focused on plotting the terrain. It was easy enough to block out the emotional drama as long as he focused on his work at hand.
A little way off from the house, he discovered a clearing in the center of the woods. Upon closer examination, he discovered it was a garden, fully stocked with whatever foods its cultivators were unable to grow in the greenhouse. This was an assumption on his part, but the cabin was near enough that he guessed whoever owned it also planted the garden. It seemed there was no end to the food supplies growing nearby. Was this because the residents had a passion for planting or because of their remoteness from civilization?
The possibility concerned him. If he were unsuccessful in finding signs of life within a few days’ worth of travel, they would be left with only one other option. And it was a thought he did not relish.
Jax continued on his trek, seeing more wildlife in the next several hours than he had in all the days previous. Shy rabbits bounded away as he stumbled upon their nests. Once, a doe and her fawn locked eyes with him for a moment before darting off through the trees. Two birds with brightly colored wing tips raced through the air in front of him and disappeared beyond the surrounding foliage. He even caught a family of beavers in the midst of building a dam further downstream.
He stopped for lunch, the only break he allowed his tired legs other than the short pauses to update the map. After that, he ignored his stomach’s complaints, pushing himself onward until the sun’s descent formed long shadows across the open spaces. Finally, he stopped in a lush meadow, sat down, and untied the shirt that still doubled as a pack for his belongings. He ate hungrily, gathering up the remains of the food once he was finished. There was probably enough left for two more days, he reasoned, as long as no animals found his stash during the night while he slept.
He was taking advantage of the last few moments of daylight, reviewing his sketches in the notebook, when he heard an odd sound approaching. The noise was still familiar although it had been several days since it first arrested his consciousness. The dream had been so vivid that he was immediately overwhelmed with a vision of being chased by buzzing metal bees. But when he looked for the source, he saw something quite different.
There was something in the air, about ten feet in front of him. Jax rose to his feet, watching the thin ribbon, as translucent as if it were a heat ripple or a distortion in the atmosphere. It seemed to grow slowly as it floated toward him. The shapes of the leaves and trees twisted and then returned to normal as the buzzing anomaly passed over them. He gazed, starry-eyed at the strange wrinkle, rooted to the spot until his curiosity couldn’t resist its pull any longer.
Mesmerized, Jax reached out to touch the ribbon, now only a foot from his face.
Contact.
And then there was pain. Only pain. A burning sensation like an electrical current flowed through his bones, jarring all his senses until his mind turned to mush. And then his world went black.
~~~
Part 15
Jax was gone. The weight of the revelation hit Kel hard the moment his form disappeared in the shadows of the forest. She hadn’t wanted him to leave, not for a moment. But his plan was the best one they had, so she had put on a brave face for his departure. Her real torment was the plaguing idea that their separation was more difficult for her than him. She refused to dwell on the fear that the attraction wasn’t equal between them. That idea hurt too much…her pride, if nothing else. Besides, his actions were conflicting. One moment he showed disinterest and the next he was worried about her. Were all men this hard to read?
Kel sighed and went back inside. She cleaned up the remnants of breakfast, carrying the dishes to the sink. Then she roamed the house idly. The greenhouse didn’t need her at the moment. What should she do? Opening the door to Jax’s bedroom, she plopped down on the bed, thinking about the space he’d occupied last night. Now it was so empty. She stared at the wooden dresser in front of her. Then, on a whim, she opened the first drawer and rifled through the contents. The top drawer contained pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners and notepads. Some of the tablets were lined, some held graph paper, and others were blank. She flipped through them, but they were all spotless, hiding no notes from the previous occupants or any other helpful clues.
Just then, an overwhelming urge struck her. A desire – from her past? She grabbed one of the lined pads and a pen, shoved the drawer closed, and planted herself at the kitchen table. Opening the book, she began to write. It was the first time she had done so since losing her memory, but the simple motion of the pen smoothly caressing the paper was therapeutic for her. She could feel herself relaxing, her anxiety lifting.
At the Cabin. Day 1.
Jax left today. It’s the first time we’ve been apart for more than a few minutes. It feels weird, like I’ve lost part of myself. It’s so quiet here without him. He’s my savior – thanks to him I’m free from that prison. Geez, was I this dependant in my previous life? Maybe I need to learn to be more self-sufficient.
I have so many mixed emotions about this plan of his. I hate being separated, but there’s one thing I want more than I want to be with Jax. I want to know.
Who am I? What is my story? Do I have a family? Were Jax and I joined in the past like we are now? Was he a friend? A brother? A husband?
And what is this strange ability that I have? I can move things with my mind. That’s not normal. I’m sure of it. I would know that much, the same way I know that grass is supposed to be green.
These questions burn inside of me. They are on my mind every moment of every day. We must find an answer. Maybe Jax will find someone who can give us a clue to the puzzle.
A sound interrupted Kel’s thoughts, abruptly breaking the silence around her. It triggered a memory, one that drained all her calm and shot panic through her veins. She looked up from her writing and froze. The hum seemed to be coming from outside. From where she sat, she could clearly see out the window. At first there was nothing but the sound. And then a strange wave in the air broke the stillness outside. For a moment, it seemed to hover at the window, but an instant later, the buzzing grew loud as the ripple merged with the glass and then passed through it.
Kel had never seen anything like it. She blinked several times and shook her head, but the odd distortion didn’t clear. It must be more than a cloud in her vision. Confusion muddied her brain as she tried to summon some description of what it could be. She watched in awe as it floated slowly towards her, circled her chair and then passed through the back door of the house – into the greenhouse.
A few minutes after it disappeared, Kel scrambled out of her chair and pulled the door open. Curiosity implored her to follow it. She watched as the translucent wave continued through the house and passed through the back wall. There was no exterior door here, so she was forced to backtrack through the kitchen, out the front door, and around to the back of the cabin. By the time she made it outside, there was no sign of the strange ribbon. The buzzing was gone and all was silent again.
She circled the house, but found nothing. Disappointed, she returned to the kitchen table and sat down. With her mind, she summoned the pen, which flew neatly between her fingers into the proper position. She sighed loudly and began to write again.
What was that? Am I going crazy?
~~~
Part 16
The bright light of dawn slowly crept over the meadow, unveiling Jax’s still form on the ground. When the light hit his face, he groaned and rolled onto his side. His body ached.
What happened?
And then he remembered the weird floating, buzzing ribbon…remembered touching it…remembered the sensation of pain flooding his limbs. Had that been real or had he dreamt the whole thing up? Unsteadily, he got to his feet and examined himself – not a scratch anywhere. But the lingering soreness told him it must have been real. He had a vague memory of regaining consciousness sometime in the night, but he must been out of it and fallen asleep afterward.
He shook the tingles out of his limbs, grabbed his pack of food and hobbled toward the stream. At the edge of the water, his legs buckled and Jax fell to his knees, feeling dizziness overcome him for a moment. Maybe he should rest a bit more before getting started.
He cupped his hands and took a swig of water from the clear brook, then splashed a second handful at his face, feeling the cold liquid refresh him. He opened his bag and began to eat from the assortment of fruits and vegetables he’d packed. The sensation of food hitting his empty stomach made him feel a little better. He puckered at the sourness of the cherries on his tongue, but the sharp taste in his mouth made him feel more alert.
The cherries drew his thoughts to Kel. He grinned unconsciously at the memory of the juice running down her mouth but then sobered when he remembered her strange power. What was she doing right now? He was glad he left her at the house for two reasons. It seemed safer than bringing her through the woods. And he needed some alone time to think.
He leaned down to wash his hands in the stream, noticing the small pool of water off to the side. He stared at his reflection, taking in his messy hair which stood out in every direction. Did it look this bad every morning? He shook his head and tried to smooth it down with his wet hands, parting it on one side. No, that just looked stupid. On second thought, maybe he should just leave it messy.
What was he doing? Who cared how he usually did his hair? Details of his past like that were just about as important as trying to remember if he was popular in high school! And what would that gain him? What he really wanted to know about himself went so much deeper. He had to find some real answers.
He decided to review his sketches from the previous day, pulling out the notepad and setting the pencil on the ground next to him. He was just about to flip the pad open when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the pencil begin to roll down the bank, towards the stream. His arm shot towards it, but it was beyond his reach. No! he thought frantically, not wanting to lose the only writing instrument he’d brought. And then suddenly, it stopped rolling. His eyes widened when he saw the pencil halted precariously on the smooth dirt edge of the riverbank, with nothing apparent holding it in place on the slope.
He was just about to scramble forward and seize the thing when a thought struck him. On a whim, he held his hand in place and mentally willed the pencil to roll back uphill towards him. It only took a second to respond. And then it was back where he had placed it.
Whoa…
Rather than immediately brooding about the ramifications of his discovery, there was only one thought in his mind. Let’s try that again. This time, he held his hand in the air, a foot above the pencil. At his unspoken command, it leapt to his fingers and he closed his palm around it.
Hmmmm… he thought, pursuing the idea further. He placed the pencil on the pad in front of him. Then, hands clasped in his lap, he watched in awe as both objects levitated in front of his face and silently rotated around his head – in opposite directions – obeying his intentions perfectly. He practiced speeding and slowing them individually at will. The complete control he had over this power was astounding.
Finally, Jax stopped playing around to consider what his discovery meant. He had no idea whether he’d been in possession of the ability before his memory loss. Nothing about it was familiar, but then he’d found very little that was familiar to him at all.
Maybe it was Kel’s own discovery, maybe it was the contact with the weird floating ribbon, or maybe he was just getting used to bizarre things, but for some reason his discovery didn’t freak him out half as much as he thought it should. Suddenly Kel seemed like the most normal girl in the world.
Guess I have something to tell her, he thought wryly. Smoke and mirrors? There’s no way this one is fake. Guess we’re more alike than I thought.
~~~
Part 17
At the Cabin. Day 3.
Jax is still gone. Ever since we said Goodbye, the ache has grown worse. What if I never see him again? I should have kissed him instead of trying to act tough. Now I may never have the chance.
The silence is relentless. It’s so hard to be alone.
No sign of that strange ripple in the air. Maybe I just imagined it. Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s fantasy, when there’s no one to talk to.
Jax has a plan. He will search for the answers. But what’s my goal here? Sitting in this house day after day, waiting for him to return? I’d rather be useful.
I’ve been trying hard to keep busy. I work in the greenhouse. I take walks in the woods nearby. Sometimes I run. Running feels good. It’s familiar. Like something I used to do. Intuition makes me feel like I need to keep my body in shape.
Nights are the hardest. I’ve been having trouble sleeping. The last two nights I’ve slept in Jax’s room. His sheets have a familiar scent, like an old friend. It brings me comfort when I’m alone. I lie there, picturing his face, his dark eyes, his wild hair, until I finally fall asleep.
The only thing I can really classify as entertainment, here alone in the woods, is the time I spend ‘practicing’ my ability. (Writing doesn’t really count, it’s more of a necessity.) Ever since I moved that first apple, I’ve been curious (after getting over the initial shock). What are the limits? Can I stretch them?
I’ve discovered that I can move things…almost anything…as long as it doesn’t have a mind of it’s own. Manmade objects: yes. Plant life: yes. Animals: no. I can’t even control something as small as a grasshopper. But if it’s inanimate, it seems my mind has a power equal to what my body would have. I can’t lift a tree from its roots, but I can break off a small branch. The range of my mind is pretty far-reaching. As long as it’s in my vision, the telekinesis works. It’s getting easier. Feeling more natural.
Kel looked up from her writing and fixed her gaze on the kitchen sink, at the other end of the room. She willed the faucet on, just a small trickle, and then mentally drew the water to her lips, watching as it formed a twisting, writhing rope through the air, across the room and into her open mouth. Not a drip hit the floor. When she had quenched her thirst, the faucet shut off, at her command. The last of the water trickled into her mouth and she licked her lips. Pleased, she smiled to herself. She was really beginning to enjoy her gift. Now if only Jax could accept it…
Her gaze returned to the paper and pencil in her grasp. She could’ve made the journal entry without using her hand, but somehow the familiarity of touching the thin object was a comfort to her. It was like fulfilling a long time formed habit.
But why? Why do I have this ability? Was I born with it? Did I acquire it somehow? Is there a purpose? For these questions I have no answers. But I’m hoping Jax will find something. Maybe if I find out who I am, all these other questions will be answered as well. If only he makes it back safely.
A sound at the door rattled her from her thoughts and Kel looked up abruptly. Her heart leapt at the sight of the form that emerged through the doorway. His face and clothes were dirty and his brown hair was messier than ever. An exhausted expression filled his dark eyes as his lids drooped. But he smiled when he saw her, letting his pack sink to the floor. Kel dropped her pen and scampered across the room. Throwing her arms around him, she tucked her face into his neck, ignoring the strong stench of the outdoors he emitted.
“Jax!” she cried. He held her for a moment before pulling back to look at her.
“I’m starving,” he said with a lopsided grin. “You got anything for a guy to eat?”
~~~
Part 18
At the sight of Kel, Jax’s pulse turned from its calm rhythm into a fast thudding sensation in his chest. Until he came face to face with her bright blue eyes and perfect smile, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her. He wondered if she could feel his heartbeat as she was pressed against his chest in the tight embrace.
He succeeded in keeping his escalating emotions under wraps through their greeting, excusing himself for a much needed shower when Kel began to prepare dinner. With fresh clothes and hair still damp, he returned to the kitchen and plopped himself into a chair, releasing a deep sigh. He was exhausted. Kel beamed at him as she brought the food to the table. She seemed almost giddy since his return.
“Thanks,” he said, returning her smile before taking a bite of food.
“So?” she asked, her eyes wide with expectation. “What did you find?”
“Not much of consequence, yet,” he said with an apologetic shrug. “I’ve begun mapping out the terrain, but there’s still a lot more to go. I’ve only been south, so far.”
Her face fell a little at his lack of news.
“Oh, but there’s one thing you’ll like,” he said, brightening as he remembered. “There’s a garden just a little ways down the river. Pretty lucky that we have access to all this great food, huh?”
“Cool. I’ll have to go check it out,” she said. “So that’s it? Nothing else?”
“Um, yeah. So far.” Jax decided not to mention his strange encounter with the floating ribbon that had left him unconscious. No need to worry her since he wasn’t hurt. He had a feeling that if she knew, she would be wildly against letting him go out again. “I need to get back out there tomorrow and keep searching,” he added.
“Tomorrow? You’re going back already?” she asked, a frown creasing her brow. Her voice wasn’t angry, but sad.
“I need to keep working on the map. See if I can find anything or anyone.”
“I didn’t realize you’d have to leave so soon,” she said, her voice trailing off on the last word.
“Well, hanging around here isn’t going to accomplish anything,” he said.
Her face fell, disappointment transforming her features.
He scooted his chair closer to hers and put his hand on her arm. “Kel. Don’t you want to find out who we are?” he asked, his voice tender.
She sighed. “Yes. More than anything. It’s just hard…” she hesitated and then met him with her eyes. “…being alone so much.”
As Jax gazed at her, for the first time her true vulnerability was transparent. He realized how much she really needed him. Not to solve a puzzle or save her or find the answers, but needed him emotionally. His heart went out and he wanted to comfort her. He did, maybe not the most appropriate thing, but the only thing he could think to do. He kissed her.
And then the flood was unleashed and his heart felt like it would burst. That one moment was passionate, tender, provocative and true. But topping off the extreme emotions was the vivid sense of familiarity like nothing he’d experienced before, all wrapped up in one simple kiss. The sensation was so unexpected, so intense, that he broke away after only a few seconds, his eyes wide in shock. He wasn’t entirely sure, but had a strong feeling that at one time he had been in love with this woman.
Kel stared at him, looking completely taken aback. “What made you do that?” she asked in a hushed tone, her normally pale cheeks bright red.
“I…I don’t know,” he said, still trying to process exactly what had passed between them. Had Kel felt it too? He didn’t know if her response went any deeper than being flattered by the kiss itself. And he couldn’t bring himself to ask just yet. After taking in a long breath and releasing it slowly, he finally spoke again. “Kel, there’s something I need to tell you. You aren’t as alone as you think.”
Her expression turned puzzled, but she waited as his eyes searched for something… Finally his gaze lingered on the door to the greenhouse. Still seated in the chair, he took a deep breath and slowly turned the knob, willing the door open – all with his mind. Kel’s jaw dropped. She watched as one of the flowers from beyond was plucked from its bed of soil and rose into the air, floating gently towards them. Jax made it hover in front of her, rotating slowly. He glanced back at her and his lip curled in a sheepish lopsided grin.
A soft smile crept over her lips as she reached out to retrieve the flower. She met his eyes again, shaking her head and twirling the flower between her fingers. “How long have you known?” she asked.
“Since yesterday,” he said, shrugging. “I’m sorry I gave you a hard time. You know, earlier.”
“That’s alright,” she said, her eyes kind. He almost thought she looked relieved at his revelation. “So what does this mean? That we both have this strange ability?”
“I guess it means we have more in common than we thought…” Maybe more than just an ability… He shook his head. “All I know is, it makes me more curious than ever to find out about my past.”
“About our pasts.”
Jax looked at her sideways, trying to read the expression in her eyes, to gauge what she was thinking.
A beat passed and then suddenly Kel’s face lit up, her blue eyes dancing. “You know what? We should test out our skills. I mean, see what we can do together. I’ve already experimented to see what my own limits are, but what would be the result of our combined powers?”
Jax smiled at her excitement. The last orange rays of sunlight were fading from the windows. He was tired and worn out, but he was also curious. And Kel seemed to have her heart set on this. So much for a calm, cozy evening of relaxing.
~~~
Part 19
At the Cabin. Day 24.
Today is the fifth day. It’s Jax’s longest stint yet. He must have run out of food two days ago. Where is he? Why hasn’t he returned? What if something happened to him? How long should I wait before going off after him?
He pushes himself too hard. He’s dedicated to his mission, but at what cost? At some point being over-zealous turns into being irresponsible. Each time he comes back he’s a little thinner, a little more haggard. He can’t possibly get a good rest sleeping out in the woods every night. And he’s always ravenous when he returns.
The nights he’s home are as festive as Christmas. We practice our ‘skillz,’ as he calls them. We play games to see who’s faster, to guess what the other person will do next with his telekinesis. We sit up in Jax’s room talking and until the wee hours. I usually end up falling asleep next to him. His room is the only one that’s comforting to me, anyway, whether he’s here or not.
But he always leaves at dawn the next morning. No matter how much I try to get him to stay an extra day, it’s impossible to convince him. I’m amazed at how focused he is despite the lack of sleep and lack of progress. Sure, he’s expanded the map a good deal, but other than that, he’s found nothing. Absolutely nothing. If it weren’t for him, I might have given up hope long ago.
Besides the outward change, something else about Jax is different. The way that he talks to me, the level of tenderness he shows. He’s been different somehow, ever since the day he kissed me. It’s almost like something happened in that moment, like something internal was activated. There’s a connection between us, and it’s growing stronger all the time. I can tell he cares for me, but he hasn’t kissed me again. I’m not sure what that means.
Kel put down her pencil and gazed out the dark windows. When she’d first started to write, dusk had just begun to fall, but now it was pitch black. Jax never came home after dark. It was too difficult to travel at night.
She sighed and went to get ready for bed. After changing clothes, she crawled into Jax’s bed and pulled the covers up close to her face. Tonight might be one of those nights where sleep never came. After lying awake for a while, she heard a thud and a rattle at the front door. The creaking of the hinges and footsteps across the kitchen sent chills down her spine, but she was frozen in place. Terror gripped her as she clung to the blankets, waiting for whatever it was. She imagined a cold hand grabbing her by the throat and wrenching her out of bed.
And suddenly, she was blind. The light was too bright. She strained, but it hurt her eyes. She struggled for a moment, but before she could see, she heard the familiar, heavenly voice.
“Kel! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Jax said, his low tones soothing to her nerves.
“It’s okay. I’m not asleep,” she said, sitting up and squinting at him.
He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, breathing a deep sigh of exhaustion as he sunk into the soft mattress. “Do you sleep in here every night I’m away?”
She nodded and shrugged, looking down at the sheets. “Yeah. It helps me sleep better. I guess it makes me feel like you’re close by. I hope you don’t mind.”
He smiled and patted her hand. “No problem there.”
“So, any news?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. But I want to show you something.” He pulled a patched stack of paper out of his pocket. Opening it carefully, he spread the map out across the bed. Scotch tape held the pieces together, the edges of which were worn from being unfolded so often. Kel had never examined it closely.
“Here’s where we are,” he said, pointing to a small square in the center. Close by, a long, squiggly line ran vertically down the paper, cutting the map in half. “Here’s the river, basically running North-South. Here’s the orchard, the garden.” Besides the landmarks he pointed out, the only other designations seemed to be about terrain: trees, clearings, hills, and ponds.
“I’ve traveled the entire surrounding area,” he continued. “There’s no sign of civilization within days – and I’ve been making good time. If we left together, it would take even longer – maybe five days to make it to the edge of the map. We wouldn’t be able to carry enough food for that long. And who knows how much further we’d need to go. Hundreds of miles, maybe.”
The meaning behind his words sunk in as Kel stared at the patchwork of note paper. She felt her heart sinking. Were they stuck here, then? Was there no means of escape? No hope of ever finding the answers? She should have known this was the case all along, but nothing in her could believe it was really true.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to bury herself in the covers, weeping, and not come out for days. Yes, she was alive. Yes, she had food and shelter. Yes, she had Jax. But what she wanted more than anything was to know. Her identity was not replaceable. Without it, living was empty. Where was the meaning? Didn’t someone very wise once say, “Know Thyself?”
But before any of her extreme reactions got the better of her, Jax moved his hand just slightly, and she saw a rectangular marking on the map that she hadn’t noticed earlier. Struggling to guess what it might be, she looked into Jax’s eyes and found that an odd expression had come over his face.
“Kel,” he began, his voice somber, “if we want to get answers, there’s only one thing we can do.” He placed one finger on the rectangle and tapped the map. “We have to go back.”
“Back?” Her voice sounded hollow to her own ears. She was aware of the dull thudding of her heart as she absorbed the meaning.
“Back to where we came from.”
~~~
Part 20
The building. It was synonymous with prison, the place they had been held captive. For three weeks, Jax had searched for an alternative that would keep them from having to return to that cursed monolith. He’d been overly thorough, covering every inch of the surrounding land, looking for any clue, any sign of the direction of civilization. He’d found the building on trek number three, but hadn’t wanted to say anything to Kel until it was absolutely necessary.
Her expression still displayed shock from the jolt his suggestion had given her.
“We have to go back, Kel. It’s the only way. It’s the only place that holds a clue to our past.”
“But we already searched the building. What are you hoping to find?” she asked.
Jax got up from the bed and went to the dresser. He took out a fresh supply of paper and tape and then grabbed a new pencil. “Come with me,” he said.
Kel followed him to the kitchen and they sat down at the table, Jax tearing off sheets of paper and connecting them with the tape until it covered the entire surface. Then, he began sketching. Allowing his hand to react to the information in his brain, he mechanically recorded the complex layout of halls and rooms of the building as he remembered them.
After a few minutes, he stopped and looked up at Kel. She was watching him with eyebrows raised. When he met her gaze she blinked a few times and shook her head. “Wow. That’s some memory.”
He shrugged. “I like making maps. Guess it’s just natural for my brain to record stuff like this.”
“What happened here?” she asked, pointing to an area where the floorplan stopped abruptly. “You didn’t finish drawing this part.”
“That’s what I wanted to show you. What I’ve drawn is everywhere we’ve been so far. But as you can see, there are several corridors that continue on to the north side of the building – where we haven’t been. And from what I’ve seen of the outside…” he hesitated for a moment. “Well, let’s just say, I’m pretty sure the place is large enough to fill this entire paper. At least double of what we’ve already covered.”
Her eyes widened.
“So,” he continued. “We go back. We search the heck outta that sucker until we find something. There’s got to be a point to that place and all its crazy rooms, and we still haven’t figured it out. But we will,” he said, looking her resolutely in the eye. “We will find the answer.”
She struggled silently for a moment, first frowning, then sighing, then shaking her head. “I don’t want to go back,” she said in a whisper.
He frowned at her. “You want me to go alone?” The ache that came with his question was sudden, as if she’d clubbed him over the head, but it shouldn’t have surprised him. The last five days had been hard, being away from her for so long. How many times had he pulled that sketch out of his pocket, just to see her face and remember his drive to keep going? His endless search was to find the answer, but it was also for her.
She shook her head, her jaw tightening with her words. “No. I don’t want you to go. I don’t’ want you to leave. It feels like you’re always leaving me.”
He breathed out a deep sigh. “Kel. I’ll never leave you again.” A promise he meant with all his heart, although he had no idea if he could keep it. “But we have to do this. There’s no other way.”
Her eyes locked on his as a heavy silence lingered between them. Finally, her jaw slackened and he saw the sign of acceptance in her eyes as she released a defeated sigh. “Okay. But I have one request,” she added.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Give me one day.”
He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t ask to go tomorrow. I just want one full day here with you before we leave. Who knows what we may come across in that place…what might happen…” Her voice turned to a whisper as she choked on the last word. She quickly looked away.
“Of course.” He knew all too well how she felt. He was just as worried as she about what they might find. Maybe more so… he thought, remembering the anomaly that had shocked him senseless in the woods just a few weeks back. The sensation was still fresh in his mind.
There was nothing he could do to cheer her, but at least they were in it together. No more alone. That was one consolation. He stood from the table and held out his arms. “Come here.”
She stood and he wrapped her in a close embrace. “All day tomorrow is yours,” he whispered in her ear. “Whatever you want to do.” She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed as if she were melting into him. He stroked her hair, feeling her relax in his arms.
“I missed you,” she said softly.
He didn’t mind waiting a day to go back. Plus, it would be a good opportunity to hone their skills…just in case.
“Kel?” he said after a minute.
“Yes?” she asked, not moving an inch.
“Does this feel…” he let the sentence hang for a moment before finishing it. “Familiar?”
She was silent a moment and then a breathy, “Yes.”
“Like we’ve done this before?”
She nodded. “Like this is where I belong.”
At that moment, in his arms was exactly where he wanted her.
~~~
Part 21
The next day passed all too quickly for Kel. Jax made breakfast. They waded in the stream, enjoying the cool relief from the heat of the day. Jax used his power to splash her without lifting a finger. She grinned and telekinetically overtook him with a tidal wave, destroying his casual stance and innocent expression. For lunch, she cooked an elaborate meal from the finest crops in the garden. Afterwards, they sat in the orchard, playing apple races to see who was the fastest. She was quicker, but he had better control of the skill.
“Who’s the winner?” she sang out, laughing at him. “What do you have to say about that?” Her eyes and her heart were dancing. It was a perfect day. She couldn’t remember feeling happier.
“All right,” he said, rolling his eyes but smiling in spite of himself. “It’s you. You’re the fastest. Happy now?”
“Yes, actually. Maybe now you’ll learn not to talk trash when you don’t have the skills to back it up.”
“But whose ability is more developed? My accuracy pwns you big time!”
“Whatever! I’m the winner!” She said, sticking her tongue out at him.
“I give up,” he said, raising his hands in surrender and then falling backward onto the ground. He folded his arms beneath his head and stared up into the branches of the tree above them.
Kel sat next to him, watching his chest rise and fall as he took a deep breath and blew out a sigh.
“This is nice,” he said after a minute. “Getting to relax for a change.”
“You should do it more often. You’ve been working too hard,” she said, frowning at him. I’ve barely gotten to see you the last few weeks. “Maybe…”
“What?” he asked, glancing at her.
“Well…I was just thinking maybe we could stay here a little longer.” There was hope in her voice, but she knew it was a futile wish.
He propped his chin up, resting on his elbow. “It’s fun just hanging out, but you know I can’t be satisfied just living here, blind to the past. I won’t really be happy until the mystery is solved. And I have a feeling you won’t be, either.”
Her heart sank, but she knew he was right. Part of her didn’t want any of this to end, but would she really be truly happy without having an answer to her identity? “So I guess this is it, then? Our last day here.”
He nodded and sat up. “We’ll wake up early, eat a hearty breakfast and be on our way, first thing in the morning.” His eyes grew wide and his voice shrunk to a whisper. “The answers are in there, Kel.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.” He shook his head. “I can’t explain it. I just have this feeling we’ll find what we’re looking for. Back in that place where this all started.”
Kel knew she should be excited about the prospect of finding the answers, but the only feeling permeating her being was a sense of dread, starting in the pit of her stomach and slowly working itself up into her lungs. She felt her breathing quicken. Why did they have to go back there?
“Are you scared?” she asked in a small voice, eyes wide as she remembered the chains binding her limbs.
“To go back?”
She nodded.
“Yes. But there’s something else I’m more afraid of than entering that building.”
“What?” she asked.
He looked down at a patch of grass and twisted the blades between his fingers. “I guess I’m a little worried about what we might discover…about ourselves. Don’t get me wrong – I want it more than anything. But…Well, I’m sure we both have expectations. What if the past isn’t what we hope it is?”
His eyes met hers again and she stared back at him, silently wondering about the truth. That it might not turn out to be what she wanted wasn’t an option she’d considered up until this point. What if he wasn’t a part of her life? What if they’d never known each other… or worse, what if she was partnered with someone else? She couldn’t imagine not being with Jax – solving the mystery of their identities and then going their separate ways. Was that a real possibility?
“Kel,” He said in a husky voice, grabbing her hand in his. “I don’t know what’s going to happen after we get our answers, but I know one thing. I want to be with you. That won’t change. It can’t. Even if I get my memory back. In any reality, I’ll want to be with you.” He said the words fervently, almost as if he were trying to convince himself.
She wondered if it was true. Could their relationship stay the same even if their memory returned? More than anything, she wanted to believe it.
“I want to be with you, too,” she said. “But I know it’s wrong for me to ask you to promise that we’ll always be together. And I won’t hold you to it if…if something changes.” She forced the words across her tongue even though they tasted bitter. Saying them was almost too much to bear.
“It won’t.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. And then he kissed her and she knew that he believed it with his whole heart. Kissing Jax was like being home. It was like being aroused and comforted all in one. More than anything she hoped that what he said was true – that they would be together forever.
~~~
Part 22
From the edge of the woods, Jax stared at the building. Its plain walls stretched bleakly in either direction as far as he could see. An ominous feeling crept over him. He tried to ignore the inner voice telling him that this was a bad idea. But they had to go inside. There was no other way.
He and Kel slowly emerged from the trees and walked up to the door. He grabbed the knob and eased it open. They stepped inside and the door shut behind them with a deep thud, enveloping them in dim artificial light that was cast with an eerie blue undertone.
Her hand trembled in his and he determined to keep it together. He didn’t know what it might take to shatter her confidence, and didn’t want to find out.
One thing he’d decided about this trip was that he wanted it to be efficient. No random wandering of corridors and no returning to the rooms they’d already seen. He was going to chart out new territory and find some answers, asap.
After passing through a good amount of empty halls, they came upon a series of doors evenly spaced along one wall.
Jax took a deep breath and yanked open the first door. In the middle of the room was a long table. With Kel at his heels, he walked up to it and examined the array of objects it held. He picked up a cluster of small metal hoops and chains that were intertwined in an odd arrangement. Next to him, she fingered a wooden object with interlocking parts.
“What are these?” she asked.
“Brain teasers,” he said after scanning the rest of the objects. There was even a Chinese finger trap. “The type of trinkets you’d find at novelty stores.”
“A Rubik’s Cube,” she said, pointing to the colorful cluster of squares. “Weird.”
Jax picked up the cube and rotated the sides mechanically. Within a matter of minutes he’d solved it. He placed it back on the table, each side now perfect with a single color.
“Whoa. How’d you do that?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It’s just a pattern of rotations. Guess I memorized it at some point in my past.”
Kel shook her head, a blank stare fixed on the object. “Jax, sometimes you weird me out a little.” She looked back at him quickly. “In a good way, I mean.”
“I’m beginning to think that in my past life I might have been something of a geek…” he said.
Some part of him was drawn to the objects, but not because of familiarity. It was something he couldn’t explain, but it made him want to stay in the room and try to figure out the puzzles. He was compelled by the challenge. If he had enough time he could solve them all, but doing so wouldn’t benefit their search. So he led them out the room and to the next door.
“This room seems to be all about languages,” Kel said, staring at the walls that were completely covered with words and symbols.
“Languages, yes, but more than that, I think,” Jax said, pointing at one part that was written in English. There are rhymes…patterns… I think maybe a code of some sort. And here – look at the way these letters are arranged.”
She stared at the words with a puzzled look on her face. “I don’t know.”“Wait – look here! It’s a word find. See the word ‘gargantuan’ hidden in these letters?”
“And here’s a crossword,” she said, pointing to a spot on another wall.
“They’re all different kinds of word puzzles. Of course, other than these few, most of them are way out of my league. I don’t think languages were ever my specialty – English or otherwise.”
“Yeah. Let’s keep going,” she said.
The third and final door led them into a room containing two large computer monitors, mounted on the far wall, and two basic classroom-type desks in the center of the room. There was a wireless mouse on each.
Jax sat down at one of the desks and clicked a button. A series of figures appeared on the computer screen in front of him. “Which comes next in the pattern?” he read aloud. He clicked an answer and another question appeared. “If 10 people shake hands with each other, how many handshakes will there be total?” He thought for a minute and did some quick math in his head. He clicked on “45” and it brought up a third problem. “It’s an I.Q. test,” he said, realizing the significance.
“Meant for us?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” Bit by bit a feeling of edginess was beginning to tear apart the calm demeanor that he’d set in place upon entering the building. He had a sudden desire to leave the room. “Come on, let’s get going,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.
~~~
Part 23
They continued down the corridors, stopping every now and then for Jax to pull out his map and copy more of the floorplan. He was right, Kel thought. The place was massive.
“You really are a pro,” she said, watching over his shoulder as he worked. He just shrugged. “I’m serious!” she said. “Without that skill, it would take forever to make any headway in this place. I’d be lost without you.” She kept her tone light, managing to give him a smile in an attempt to keep her morbid fears at bay.
After another thirty minutes or so, they found a new door. Simple metal lockers lined the room before them. Plain wooden benches sat in the center and there was another door on the far wall. Jax tossed the map on the closest bench and walked over to the row of lockers on the right, opening the first one. It was empty.
“Why don’t you check that side and I’ll look in these. It’ll go faster,” he said.
Kel walked over to the opposite wall and began to search the lockers. The first three were empty. But when she opened the fourth, she spotted a pile of clothing inside. There was a blue silk blouse, a gray pencil skirt and a matching jacket. Very professional attire, she thought. When she picked up the first garment and gently shook it out, a faint scent arrested her. She instantly recognized the aroma of honeysuckle and vanilla – her favorite perfume. The wonderful scent brought with it a plethora of emotions, many of which she didn’t understand. Joy but also sorrow. Bliss but also pain. She frowned, trying to make sense of it all. Somehow the smell must be connecting her with moments in her past, even though she couldn’t remember them.
Underneath the clothing she found another item – a thick book with a plain leather cover. She stroked the smooth surface with her fingertips, hoping to feel something…a connection of some kind. Then she casually flipped through the pages, glancing briefly at the contents, handwritten in black ink. A few disjointed phrases stuck out from various pages, “…ran three miles today…” “…hectic at the lab…” “…what a loser…” “…going out tonight…” She sucked in a deep gulp of air when she realized that the gently slanting script before her was the same writing that filled the notebook she’d used at the cabin.
“Jax! Look what I found!” she cried, turning around and holding up the book.
He turned from the locker he was examining to look at her. “I found something too,” he said, holding out a brown shirt. “I think these might be my clothes.”
“Yeah, but look at this!” she said, beckoning him over.
“What is it?” he asked, walking to her side.
She took a deep breath and said in nearly a whisper, “I think this was my journal – from the past!”
His eyes went wide. “Really? How do you know?”
“The writing – see?” She flipped through the pages again and something fell out.
He reached down to pick it up and held it out to her. Together, they stared at the photograph, a beat passing between them as they took in its full meaning.
Clinging tightly to each other, a happy couple smiled brightly at an unseen camera, traces of laughter still fresh on both their faces. The man was tan with deep brown eyes and messy brown hair, contrasting harshly with his crisp tuxedo and black tie. The woman, fair with striking blue eyes, was adorned in a strapless satin gown with a white veil clipped atop her cascading auburn ringlets.
Kel’s heart lurched in her chest. Words sped through her mind like cars on the autobahn, but none reached her vocal chords. What conversation could say more than this photo? Instead of speaking, she stared mutely at the picture, too intimidated to make eye contact with the man next to her.
“Well, I guess that answers one question,” he said with a chuckle, interrupting the awkward silence. She still couldn’t muster a peek to see if he was looking at her. Casually, he flipped the photo over to check the back. There was a simple caption. “Noah and Sierra, June 11th, 2005”
Now she couldn’t keep herself from looking at him. “Noah?” she asked, uncertainty in her voice. She had a hard time connecting the new title with the man next to her.
He shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “Guess so. Huh.” He shook his head. “Man. That’ll take a while to get used to. Will you be upset if I still call you Kel?”
She shook her head. She wasn’t sure how she felt about discovering her own first name, either. If he called her “Sierra” she probably wouldn’t even realize he was talking to her.
“This is so weird,” she muttered, glancing back at the photo.
“You’re telling me,” he said, shaking his head. Then he looked back at the open locker. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing to a small wooden box on the top shelf.
“I don’t know,” she said, reaching for it and opening the lid. Two rings glimmered inside: a wide gold band and a solitaire with a huge diamond. “Ummm…” she held them out to him. Her mind was spinning again.
She wanted to be with Jax…er…Noah, but marriage? She felt like she’d only known the guy a few weeks. Heck, she just learned his name five seconds ago. It seemed like putting on the ring was a huge commitment. Maybe one she’d already made, but… It was just that their relationship still felt like it was in the dating phase. What would be expected of her if she wore his ring on her finger? She felt her face flush.
“Do you want to put these in your pocket…for now?” she asked, trying not to look as mortified as she felt.
He cleared his throat and took them from her. “Uh, yeah, sure,” he said, sliding them into his pocket. She half expected him to question her, but either he felt the same way as she or he was too proud to protest because he said nothing more on the topic. “So,” he said, breaking the tension in the room. “There’s another door here. Ready to check it out?”
“Sure.” She nodded, clutching the journal tightly under her arm, and followed him into the adjoining room.
It was empty except for two identical objects in the center, planted side by side. The elaborate metal chairs had high backs with head and foot rests. At first glance, they exuded the feeling of dentist chairs, except for the series of cuffs and belts running down the full length that gave them a more threatening presence. Kel shivered when she realized that they bore a striking similarity to something else – execution chairs.
She stood frozen in the doorway as Jax circled the room. She watched him study the chairs from every angle, noting that he was careful to keep his distance. When he was on the far side, he stopped for a moment.
It was at that instant that the lights flickered. A droning hum sounded close by and intensified suddenly as the walls of the room began to ripple. Jax twirled frantically, searching for the source of the sound.
And then Kel realized that the wrinkles were individual waves – like the one that floated through the house that day. A hoard of them emerged through the walls and writhed through the air, swarming around Jax – and around her.The lights blinked again and went out, leaving the room in blackness. She shrieked in terror as she was enveloped in a sea of writhing tentacles. The ripples undulated like jellyfish without bodies, flickering with faint blue light. And every moment they slithered closer.
In the dim light, she couldn’t see Jax anymore. But she couldn’t mistake his rasping scream. “Kel! Run!”
~~~
Part 24
The lights blinked again, this time setting the room in an overall dim glow. Jax stared at Kel, where she stood near the open door on the opposite side of the room. Her eyes, wide with fright, flicked back and forth between him and the unusual entities. The sea of flickering, rippling forms filled the space between them. He had a bad feeling about this…a really bad feeling.
“Careful! Don’t let them touch you!” he said, backing away. “I touched one in the woods a while back and it wasn’t pretty. I got shocked and passed out for a while. I think they have some kind of electrical charge.”
“What?” she asked, her face going a shade paler. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I’m fine now,” he said, trying to reassure her, “but that was just one of them. I can’t imagine what kind of damage a whole herd of them could do.”
She shivered. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah. No problem. I’ll just use the force.” He tried to push them away, but either his telekinesis was faulty or it had no effect on the waves. “It’s not working.”
“Mine’s not either,” she said. “But you’re trapped. Jax, how are you going to get out?” A frown crossed her brow.
“I’ll figure a way. Don’t write me off yet, he said, attempting a lighthearted chuckle.
He glanced around and back at her. He still had some breathing room but the ribbons were moving in around her, swiftly clearing the distance. They’re too close! His heart rate spiked as fear wrapped its icy fingers around his throat. But the doorway behind her was clear. She could still escape.
“Kel! The doorway – get out of here. I’ll meet you outside.”
She shook her head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“I’ll be fine on my own,” he said.
“What are you trying to prove?” she asked.
“Nothing. I’m just going to carefully pick my way through these glow worms. But it’s going to take some intense concentration. And I can’t focus on getting myself out if I’m worrying about you,” he said.
And then there was a flash of blue light in the room beyond. They were coming from the other direction, too?
“Watch out! Behind you!” he shouted.
She spun around, but was too late. One of them touched the back of her leg and there was a sound like a bug zapper taking its next victim. She yelped and jumped away, grabbing her leg, but didn’t lose consciousness.
“Go while you still have an exit!” he said. “Grab the map and make a run for it!”
She looked unsure. “But how will you –”
“I’ve got this place memorized.”
“But –”
“I’ll be right behind you!”
She hesitated for a minute longer, backing up as one of the waves advanced toward her face.
“Go!” he screamed.
Finally, she turned and fled. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her escape to the corridor, the outer door closed behind her with a thud. He prayed there weren’t more of them in the hallways. She had to make it out of the building safely.
The rest of the undulations were closing in on him now. He glanced around and behind. They hovered, nearing his waist, his ankles, his face. How to escape? Think, Jax, think. Somehow he had to make it out of here whole. He took a deep breath. No problem…I’ll just pretend I’m some big shot criminal like Tom Cruise and I’m navigating laser beams. Moving laser beams, that is…
He took a step forward and then to the right as one almost nipped his foot. He raised his arm just in time to avoid another one, coming at him from the left. Almost as if in response, the glowing ribbon changed course and directed itself upward toward his hand. Could they sense his presence? He shook his head and blinked. Focus!
Suddenly he felt a zap at his elbow. He jerked the arm back and rubbed it with his other hand. The shock wasn’t as severe as the one in the woods, but it still hurt. There was another jolt, this time he felt the current pass through his kneecap. He took a step back. They were cornering him. Before he realized what was happening, he was stunned in the chest as if he’d been hit with a taser. He stumbled backward and fell. His limbs flailed and twitched spastically as he lay helpless on the floor.
At that moment, the truth of his predicament became a glaring reality. It crushed his hopes of finding an answer until they were smashed to bits. In that instant, the futility of his efforts was as obvious as the glowing ribbons before him. He’d never find out what was in that journal. Never truly know who he was. He was haunted with only one final thought. I love you, Kel.
The light above him flickered. There was a flash of blue. And the room went black.
~~~
Part 25
The buzzing sounds were loud in Kel’s ears as she fled through the corridors. It felt like they were right on her heels. She only skidded to a halt briefly whenever there was an intersection and she needed to glance at the map to get her bearings.
Finally, she made it outside. The door slammed shut behind her as she disappeared into the cover of the trees. Once safely out of the open, she collapsed, leaning back onto a large tree trunk as all the strength drained from her limbs.
Through the gaps in the foliage, she had a clear view of the door to the building. She sat panting, eyes fixed on the door, waiting to see if she was being followed. Finally, after a few uneventful minutes, her breathing calmed down and she began to relax. Now she just had to wait for Jax.
She still grasped the leather journal tightly in her hand. Placing it on her lap, she touched the cover. This was it. Finally the truth was in her hands, a tangible thing. Savoring the moment, she slowly cracked the book open and began reading.
5.2.07
I really like my new job. The people at the lab are really friendly, especially Emily. She’s the one I work most closely alongside. She can talk an ear off, but I really don’t mind. We hit it off instantly on my first day. She’s been here for two years, so she’s been showing me the ropes and giving me the update on all the interpersonal gossip.
We’re going to change the world. We hope so, anyway. It’s an awesome feeling to think that what I do really matters, that I’m actually making a difference. Of course, there’s no guarantee that we’ll find the answer anytime soon, but even the slightest chance that we can find the cure is enough to make my days meaningful.
The greenhouse is my favorite place to be. It’s amazing to see the range of plants growing there, each with its own hidden mysteries. Secrets just waiting for us to discover them. Finally, I’ve found my niche. After two long and agonizing years of job hopping I finally have what Noah’s had since graduation. A place in the world. My purpose to fulfill. It feels wonderful.
Her signature was at the bottom in the same gently sloping hand that flowed across the page. It was still so weird to think of her real name when she couldn’t remember ever being called Sierra. She flipped to the next entry and continued reading.
6.10.07
Noah is taking me out for our anniversary tomorrow. I can’t believe it’s been two years already. The time’s flown by. It’ll be nice to have some time alone, for a change. With work, we’ve both been so busy. I’m so ready for an evening of complete and total bliss. I miss those times back when we were dating. Life was definitely easier back then, before we had stuff to complicate it…like jobs.
6.12.07
Last night was a bust. Noah had to work late so he canceled our plans. I guess something unexpected came up at the office. I ended up glued to the sofa, drinking wine and watching chick flicks until I nearly drowned in tears. I should’ve known better. Watching a romantic movie when you’re disappointed in your own partner is pretty much the fastest way to get depressed. Finishing off the bottle of merlot helped a little.
8.27.07
When I got to work today, Emily was talking (and when I say talking I mean flirting heavily) with a new guy. It turns out Jaidev is a wealth of knowledge in the lab, considering he’s been researching the scientific value of Cherokee medicine for almost ten years. He’s going to be a huge asset to our work. Of course, Emily’s more focused on his bulging tanned biceps and his “dark chocolate eyes.” It’s all I heard about today. With her yapping away, I could barely focus on work, and I doubt she got much done, either.
9.14.07
I’m taking Emily out for her birthday tonight. I’m pretty sure she’d rather spend it with Jaidev, but he still hasn’t asked her out, despite all the sexual tension at work. It’s been three weeks, which has to be a record of some sort. I’d say she typically has the latest prospective boyfriend wrapped around her finger within two. I’m not sure how this one’s managed to withstand her devices for so long, but he’s the quiet type. Everything is a mystery about him. Em’s got a plan though. She finally got him to fess up about where he goes to the gym. So now she can get a membership and pester him there, too. What am I going to do with her?
11.5.07
Does every marriage have that moment when you realize the honeymoon’s over? Maybe a crashing tidal wave of revelation hits or maybe it takes just one tiny thing to make you see things have changed. Like your husband forgetting to say goodbye.
I miss the days back when we were so close that we could almost read each other’s thoughts. After work, we’d come home, eat dinner and then crash on the couch, watching movies in each other’s arms until we fell asleep. And leaving for work in the morning was agony. Noah had to be off before me, but he’d kiss me and before he could make it out the door, he’d be back again, stealing one more kiss. Sometimes he’d get carried away. Those were the days we both made it into work late…and I don’t think either of us cared. I’d coast through the day with a permanent glow. But now half the time he forgets to even kiss me before he leaves.
1.10.08
I miss Noah. He’s been working overtime at the office like crazy. I barely see him anymore. He assures me that it’s just the deadline on this project and then things will be better. But at the end of the workday when I come home, I don’t know what to do with myself.
I’ve drifted from one hobby to another – reading, crocheting, playing sudoku, but nothing fills the void. I wish he’d come home and rescue me from boredom. It’s already late. And I’ll probably be fast asleep before he ever walks in the door. That’s the norm, nowadays.
I think I’m going to join the gym. I haven’t had time to work out since college, but I miss it. If nothing else, it’s something else to keep me busy. And it won’t be lonely, either, with Em and Jaidev to keep me company.
~~~
Part 26
Cold. There was nothing but the chill, at first. His body felt like ice. Numbly, Jax’s mind attempted to grasp where he was, but the streaks of cold on his arms, his legs and his back distracted him. Location wasn’t important at the moment. The feeling was all that mattered right now. He’d search for the source of the cold if only he could get his eyes open.
He cracked one lid just a hair but quickly squeezed it back shut when the glare of light and color attacked. Maybe he wasn’t quite ready for that yet. Working automatically, his lungs took in a deep breath of air and he felt the calm take over his body. But an instant later, he registered the torrent of smells that came with the breath. Body sweat, sickly sweet. Tangy metal. A charred scent like burnt hair. All so strong it was as if all the culprits were being shoved into his nasal cavity simultaneously. It made him want to hold his breath.
Instead, he swallowed. A pleasant sweet taste awakened his tongue, followed by tartness, trailing its way down his throat with the gulp. It must be whatever he’d eaten for breakfast, the flavor still lingering in his mouth. But the sensation was so strong. It was like nothing he’d ever before experienced.
He tried his eyes again, blinking rapidly in an attempt to acclimate himself. He stared at the blank wall before him. It was gray, but not the colorless gray he’d expected. Instead, it was a rich elephant gray, the blue in the pigment glaringly obvious to his sensitive eyes. He blinked again and looked up. The ceiling flickered, emitting a golden glowing light like magic.
Somehow he knew the room around him was plain, but his eyes perceived it anew. It was as if he were being born for the first time, fully aware of every minuscule detail. The intensity of the experience was astronomical, like nothing he’d experienced before. Had he died? Was he in Heaven?
He looked around. The room was empty except two metal chairs. He was restrained in one of them. Surveying his limbs, he found the source of the cold – the metal. He felt it through his clothing anywhere he touched the chair. His legs were pinned in braces and his forearms rested on metal armrests, bound by cuffs. His hands were trembling. Not heaven, then. Maybe it was the other place.
All at once, he remembered. The electrified waves. He’d been shocked and then…woke up in this chair. He couldn’t remember how he got here; someone must have moved him once he was unconscious. Were they going to torture him? If he wasn’t dead, what other possibility could there be? Struck by sudden panic, he strained, wrestling against the restraints. He tried using his mind, but for some reason his power wasn’t working…almost like he’d been deactivated.
He tried to force a cry through his windpipe but terror squeezed his larynx and all he managed was a wheezing cough. He tried again. “Hey!” The sound reverberated off his ear drums as if he’d never used them before. He tried to get past the strange sensation of heightened hearing and focus on the problem at hand. He spoke again.
“Kel?”
Where was she? Did she make it out of the building? He wished she was with him and then felt guilty for the thought. It was better if she was safe. And if he was in hell, he should thank God she wasn’t here. He’d have to figure this one out alone.
But before another thought could enter his mind, the room was buzzing with the translucent, writhing ribbons again. He struggled in vain as a league of ominous ripples swam through the walls and surrounded him. He pressed his skull back into the headrest, bracing himself for the pain. When the three of them converged at his temple there was warmth and a soft zap. And then the entire scene changed.
It was as If he’d fallen through a portal to an alternate reality. He was no longer in an enclosed room surrounded by electrified waves. Instead, he was facing the façade of a high class restaurant, gazing into the plate-glass window. There was no pain.
But what struck Jax more than the change in location was the change in the quality of his vision. His world had turned grainy and grayscale as if he’d put on scratched, monochromatic lenses. There was fuzz and distortion too, almost like watching an old black and white film. He blinked a few times, but the picture didn’t clear.
Through the visual noise, he forced his eyes to focus on the scene. Four nicely dressed patrons, two men and two women, sat at a table by the window as a waiter cleared away their plates. They appeared to be laughing and chatting although he couldn’t hear their conversation. After a few moments, the waiter returned with dessert – four crystal dishes filled with a dark substance.
Directly in his line of view, he watched the woman with blonde hair and bright red lips pick up her spoon and delicately scoop some of the creamy dessert. It looked like chocolate mousse. When her lips met around the spoon, her eyes closed involuntarily and her brow creased as she savored the bite. It almost seemed to be a spiritual experience. The others at the table seemed oblivious to her reaction as they focused on their own bowls. Imagining the rich taste of the mousse, smooth and creamy on his tongue, Jax felt his own mouth watering and realized his jaw was hanging open. He clamped it shut just as the scene changed again.
~~~
Part 27
2.5.08
I forgot how much I love working out. I ran three miles today and I feel so much better. Pushing myself like that feels amazing. I love the sensation that I’m in total control and don’t need anyone else. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym lately. At first I owed the faithful workouts to Em’s influence, but even when she started flaking out on me, I still craved to be there daily. Jaidev’s taken the role of self-appointed personal trainer, which suits him well. I’ve already lost one dress size and my abs are getting really hard.
Not that Noah has noticed. When he is home, I don’t think he thinks about much more than the blueprints strewn out over his desk and the floorplans on his computer. Work. That’s’ all he thinks about. There are always endless projects, clients and deadlines. I’ve stopped asking him when he’ll be home. What’s the point? I know it’ll just lead to another argument.
4.3.08
I’m going out with Emily after work tomorrow. Noah will be working late…again. Knowing I hate sitting at home alone, she insisted I come with her. Hopefully it’ll be fun. I haven’t been to a club in forever. I’m not even sure what to wear. I guess she’s given up on Jaidev, either for good or just for the time being. Either way it’s a good thing.
5.14.08
It’s been hectic at the lab lately, a nice change, actually. Now it’s me working late hours with Noah coming home to an empty house. It’s about time! Now it’s his turn to feel abandoned at home. Of course that’s assuming he’ll even notice I’m gone.
The boss called Jaidev and I into his office today. I was worried we were going to get griped out for not keeping up with our tasks. But instead it was good news: he’s sending us out into the field to gather specimens, a three day trip. Apparently Jaidev let him know that we were lacking one key plant that he’s worked with in the past. Jaidev’s a genius herbalist, a master of the territory, but I’m not really sure why they asked me to go with him. Em is insanely jealous, of course. She’s not speaking to me at the moment – as if it were my decision. But she’s just narrow-minded like that when it comes to men.
5.23.08
The trip was great. It went fast, but we got a lot accomplished including successfully finding several plants to bring back to the greenhouse. We also had time to visit Jaidev’s family on the reservation. They all have so much knowledge of the plants and animals in the area. His mother cooked dinner for us and his grandfather told us stories – ancient Cherokee legends about their people, the nature and magic. Getting to hear them first hand was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget.
I also found out the source of Jaidev’s passion for our work. His father died of cancer when he was a teenager. Ever since then, he’s dedicated his life to the cause, trying to find a cure so he can help others. It’s a really tragic, heart-wrenching story, but I find it inspiring.
On the way back we got pulled over for speeding. Apparently Jaidev’s the passive aggressive type. (You know, holds the door open when he meets people face to face but tails them when he’s behind the wheel.) I’m not completely sure what happened, but somehow he was able to talk his way out of getting a ticket. He may be quiet but when he has to pull out the guns, he’s one smooth talker. It was pretty impressive, I have to say. It still makes me smile when I think about it.
7.22.08
I just got home from work and the house is deathly still. It’s always so quiet here, even when we’re both home. No talking, no laughing. Just silence.
Lately I’ve realized that this marriage has become automated. There’s no passion, just routine. Get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed. All separately. I don’t know exactly where or when it started, but at some point the enthusiasm waned. Now it’s like we’re just going through the motions.
I used to want to have children, but when I think about our lives now, I’m glad we decided not to. The combination of busy work schedules and tension at home isn’t a great environment for a baby. Besides, Noah would probably barely see them, and I don’t want to be stuck at home all day long either.
10.3.08
Noah and I just had a huge fight. He said I’ve been neglecting him. Imagine that! Maybe I spend an hour and a half at the gym after work every night, and maybe I hang out with Emily in the evenings more that I see him, but honestly. If it weren’t for that I wouldn’t have a life. He doesn’t understand that work alone isn’t enough for me.
I don’t think he realizes that this life is all his own creation. Maybe he’s got a light load at the office now and has been able to leave at five sharp every night this week, but it wasn’t always like that. I’m done sitting up waiting for him. And I’m not about to change my plans just to give in to this whim of his to suddenly spend time together. How long would it last, anyway? If I open up myself now, I’ll just get hurt all over again.
12.19.08
I just found out that Noah won’t be able to come with me to visit my family over the holidays. We had another fight. He claims he can’t take off work, but he’s had no problem getting vacation time in the past. When I got upset he said that in all the past years he’d just been enduring for my sake, anyway. And all this time I thought he liked my family. Guess I’ll be spending the week of Christmas without him.
~~~
Part 28
Jax felt as though he’d slipped from a digital universe into an analog world. Everything was black and white, grainy, and not quite real. Almost like being in a dream. A strange paranoia snuck over him. Where was he?
He took in the scene before him. He was mid-way up in a multi-story building. Modern artwork lined the gently curving walls of the perimeter. The large open center of the room allowed him a view of the airy atrium below. Moving throughout the room without meaning to, he noticed that the floor sloped gradually, effectively merging all stories together as one gigantic ramp that spiraled down from top to bottom. The view up through the center of the building gave him the impression of being inside a giant conch shell, with the organic curve of each floor’s consecutive balcony forming the interior skeleton.
He knew this place.
Jax wracked his brain, certain that he’d never actually been here before. But something about it was definitely familiar. Adrenaline pumped through him. He felt so close to the answer. Think, Jax! And then words popped into his brain. Guggenheim. Frank Lloyd Wright. With the words came other images, but not from this dim reality. Those scenes of the place, including the outside were trapped in his mind and unavailable to his eyes. They were in full color, high quality – photographs, he realized. He’d seen pictures of this famous piece of architecture somewhere in his unremembered past.
The people around him were perusing the art, not a crowd, but a small scattering throughout the place. He watched a middle aged couple as they visually drank in one of the paintings. They gazed at the solid square of gray as if in awe of the masterpiece before them. He tried to speak, to question how he got here, but nothing came out. Watching the other patrons, it dawned on him that no one here could see him. Was he a ghost?
An ominous feeling crept over him, chilling his insides. He was just about to reach out and try to touch the rail of the balcony in front of him – to see if it would resist his hand or if he would pass right through it like a vapor – but at that instant, the room disappeared.
He blinked, trying to clarify his vision. Still fuzzy, he saw in all gray tones that he was outside in the middle of a field. A little girl in a sundress (she looked about four years old) was taking advantage of the wildflowers that were prolific here. She plucked one from the ground as if it were a prized treasure and carefully tucked it behind her ear. Then, one at a time, she gathered a bundle of the blossoms, apparently unconcerned with their dreary lack of color. Putting them to her nose, she took a big whiff of the scent and smiled broadly.
Once her bouquet was full, she turned and danced across the field. It was at that moment that Jax saw the other people. A short distance off, a man and woman sat on a checked blanket. The girl’s arrival broke the gaze held between them. The woman smiled and reached out as the girl gifted her with the bunch of wildflowers. She put them to her face and smelled them. The man continued to watch the woman until she returned his attention. He smiled at her and pulled her close, burying his nose in her hair. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply and she laughed soundlessly at his affection.
The field and small family in it flickered and were gone. He wasn’t outside anymore. He was in an enormous darkened music hall. Every seat in the auditorium was filled. The audience sat in awed stillness, their gaze fixed on the illuminated orchestra. On the elevated stage a multitude of formally clad musicians each played his or her instrument with intense passion. But Jax could not hear a sound. There was only silence, like watching a muted television program.
A flash. Another scene. This one had the creepy overtones that came from Jax sharing an intimate encounter with a couple. Specifically, he was standing at the foot of their bed. The man and woman, clad in only sheets, seemed to be having a cozy conversation, she lying on her back looking into the man’s eyes and he on his side, leaning on his elbow, eyes locked her face.
Jax’s insides crawled as he watched unwillingly. He tried to escape, to back up, to exit the room as quickly as possible, but he was unable to move. If the man spotted him, he knew he was going to be in a world of trouble. What kind of scum spied on people like this? There might very well be bloodshed and from the looks of that guy’s muscled arms, it wouldn’t be his.
The man’s gaze flickered up at the window for a moment and then back to his beloved, the adoring smile on his lips never once faltering. Jax’s heart skipped a beat, realizing that again he couldn’t be seen. Somehow he was frozen here, forced to watch whatever was placed before him. There must be a reason for these scenes. But what?
He scanned the room, realizing he was also unable to turn his head or change the view whatsoever. What was important about this picture, about all of them?
Still uncomfortable, he forced himself to take in every detail of the interaction. The man was still talking, without sound, and his fingers gently trailed up the woman’s arm, from wrist to shoulder. He lightly cupped her cheek in his hand and leaned forward to press his lips on hers. Just as the scene died away, Jax realized what it was. Touch.
His vision went black for a second, but his mind analyzed with speedy efficiency the five scenes he’d just witnessed. The restaurant – taste. The art museum – sight. The girl with the flowers – smell. The concert hall – hearing. It was the five senses again. What was the connection between these and the mysterious rooms in the building?
He processed all these thoughts in a fraction of a second – the amount of time that it took for the last scene to dissolve into blackness and be replaced by a new view. He was back in the solitary room in the building. His sight was normal again. And he was still strapped to the metal chair. He’d never left?
The waves hovered in the air around him, as if waiting for something.
“So what’s the point?” he asked aloud. “Five rooms to appeal to the five senses. Five scenes, each focused on one of them.” He looked at the ripples, wondering if it was too much to expect some type of answer. “So you’re obsessed with senses. But why show me them this way?” Who was he talking to, anyway? He had no idea, but something kept him going. It was that ever-present compulsion to find the answer.
“If you’re trying to make me experience things, there’s one problem. I’m just an observer here. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t taste or touch or smell anything either. And my sight was greatly limited – the visions aren’t even in color, for Pete’s sake. Is that really the best you can do?”
He looked at the distortions again, at the moment not concerned about his well-being. He wanted to solve the puzzle. Cocking his head thoughtfully, he spoke again.
“You can’t fool me with cheap imitations. I know those aren’t real. They’re more like…well like a distant memory than a reality.”
At that, the waves converged on him again, and this time his curiosity trumped fear. He felt the light zap of the electrical current again, but it wasn’t enough to cause serious pain.
A new scene. Black and white. He was in a small bedroom. Darkness cloaked the room except where a thin trail of moonlight illuminated a figure, lying on her side in bed. The woman’s back was to him but he could see the outline of her curves through the sheets. Completely still, she appeared fast asleep, completely oblivious to her observer. But after a moment, she rolled onto her back and he saw her face. His pulse raced when he recognized the gentle curve of the cheek, the closed lids, and the thick curls framing her face. Kel.
He wanted to scream her name, but he was unable to make a sound. What was she doing in these visions? His thoughts were chaotic and disorganized. Had she made it back? Was there was some sort of video feed watching her? Were somehow these electrical waves able to project the image into his mind? That kind of technology seemed farfetched, but there had to be an answer.
His eyes stayed on her even when he felt the sensation of movement. It was as if he was floating through the room. But he was unable to keep focus on her as he passed through the closed door and down the darkened hall. The vision stopped him in front of another door. It was at that moment that he recognized the house and its familiar layout. Even before materializing through the closed door, he knew exactly what he’d see on the other side. A bedroom. His bedroom…from before.
But one thing he didn’t expect. There, lying in his bed, was a man. In his sleep, he tossed and turned, a frown creasing his brow, the picture of pure restlessness. His hands clenched and his face distorted as he suffered silently from an unseen nightmare. Jax stared at the face, framed by a mess of tangled dark hair.
The man was himself.
~~~
Part 29
2.14.09
Today was the worst Valentine’s Day of my life. It was going to be the date to change everything – that’s what Noah said. I decided to give him a chance. I bought a fancy dress. He made reservations at an expensive restaurant. But the whole thing was too good to be true. He stood me up for work. Again. But you know what’s different this time? He didn’t even buy me a gift.
Sure, he had plenty of excuses and apologies. Didn’t have time…blah blah blah. He’s always apologizing, as if he’s trying to make me the bad guy by staying mad at him. But sorry isn’t enough. I need a change.
He’s married to his job. It would be all right if he were cheating on it with me, but no such luck. He’s old faithful when it comes to keeping up that relationship. Ours, however, apparently doesn’t matter anymore.
3.2.09
Work was agonizing today. Why is it so hard to let someone else be happy when you are miserable? Emily and her new boyfriend, Travis, went away for the weekend. Their first date was on Valentine’s Day and ever since then, their whole relationship has been just uber-romantic. It’s a bit more than I can stomach lately. And who am I to rain on her parade? I’m too pathetic to even tell her that Noah and I are sleeping in separate bedrooms.
3.23.09
This day turned out so much different than I thought it would.
It started out with work being interrupted every few hours by an Emily breakdown. Apparently Trevor broke things off over the weekend, which meant that my main role at the office today was that of comforter. I was trying to convince her that she’s too good for him, and I was just pointing out how she could have any other guy she wanted when who walked up at that very moment? The one guy she never got. Jaidev. He’d heard most of the conversation and completely out of character, he suggested that the three of us go out that night, to help her get her mind off Trevor.
The answer was a no-brainer for Em, and I was happy to appease as well, so we all agreed to meet for dinner. But when I showed up at the restaurant, Jaidev was waiting alone and there was no sign of Em. After fifteen minutes, we decided to go ahead and get a table. As soon as we sat down, I got a text from her saying that Trevor had called and she was meeting him for dinner, so she wouldn’t be able to make it.
At first I was worried dinner would be awkward without her. But it wasn’t. Jaidev just has one of those personalities that makes you feel comfortable. A meal and two glasses of wine later, I found myself sitting across the table from him, sharing a decadent chocolate dessert and pouring my heart out about my train wreck marriage.
I’m pretty sure I told him almost everything. Noah’s long work hours. My nights alone. The failed Valentine’s Day. Somehow, I managed not to cry, thank god. You’d think all my complaining would annoy Jaidev, but instead he was incredibly sympathetic. “You deserve better than that,” he told me. “Someone who won’t neglect you. He’s not good enough for you.”
For one evening, I felt special again. After dinner we went out for coffee, and ended up talking for another hour. Now that I’m home I keep pacing, wired from the caffeine, caught between two emotions that take turns jolting me with the shock of their intensities. The first one is a sinking feeling that Noah and I are through. The second is a surprising buoyancy that comes from having an amazing evening, despite myself.
4.9.09
Back together, Em and Trevor are as goo-goo over each other as they ever were. He comes to visit her at the lab at least once a day. They go out every night and she spends every break she gets on the phone with him. The only thing that makes it more palatable is that I have Jaidev there.
The inside joke started with him sending me a text from across the room as a means of mocking Em’s constant communication with Trevor. From that, we somehow ended up texting each other back and forth throughout the day. Em is as clueless as ever. It’s our little secret.
I’m sure that Noah has no clue of the threat of any other man taking his place. Not that I’m going to go and cheat on him, and not that Jaidev is even interested in me that way, but it’s at least nice to feel important again.
5.25.09
Divorce. The word came up today for the first time. In one of the rare moments we both happened to be eating dinner at the same time, at the same table (Noah, pizza pockets and me, a salad from the café down the street), the state of our relationship came up. I mentioned his lack of nutritious dinner choice. He criticized my cooking (or lack thereof). And before I knew it, we were in a heated debate. The house feels huge when I’m alone, but it has become way too cramped when the two of us are in it together. This is what we have to do.
I don’t want to get a divorce. I want things to go back to normal. Back before our worlds shifted in different directions. But I’m a fool to hope that things will change. Seeing Noah every day is so hard. I’m so angry at him…at what he’s put me through. He makes me want to lash out and attack. Seeing him is also like a razor to my heart, agonizing, painful.
6.4.09
I can’t believe it. All this time and I never saw it. Never had a clue. Word got out at the office that I’m getting a divorce. This afternoon, Jaidev pulled me aside. He told me he was sorry to hear it. But then he said that he wasn’t too sorry. As I stood there gaping, he confessed that he was in love with me.
Can you believe it? It’s such a shock, I’m still not sure what to think. My response was not too nimble, as I just stuttered and choked on my words for the next five minutes. He asked me out and I managed to tell him I’d let him know. Apparently he’s been into me for a while now, but was just too squeamish to bring it up sooner, what with the carcass of my dying marriage stinking up my life.
~~~
Part 30
Jax stared at the image of himself, realizing he wasn’t watching a live video feed. Before he could wrap his mind around what he was seeing, the vision disappeared. For an instant he was back in the building, strapped into the chair. But then another scene appeared.
He was still looking at his own sleeping face, but something was different. The form was wearing different clothing, the room was lit, and he was lying on the floor. Suddenly, Jax realized where he was. The concrete floor, the doors, the chains.
He felt nauseated at the sensation of being back in the cell. The memory was too familiar. But something was wrong. Where was Kel?
And then before his eyes, her unconscious body, lying on some invisible platform with her hands folded over her chest in a funereal posture, floated down from somewhere above. He tried to find the origin but the vision was restricting his view of the ceiling. He felt weak, watching her descend and land gently on the opposite side of the cell. As if by magic, the four chains on the wall behind her simultaneously leapt up and bound her limbs.
For a long moment she was still but then her arm twitched and she blinked and opened her eyes. But it was only a split second before it all vanished.
He was in the woods, soaring through dense foliage. He broke through the trees and recognized the cabin in the center of the clearing – their home for the past several weeks. He felt nothing as he was pulled forward towards it and through one of the small windows. He was in the kitchen.
Kel sat at the small table with her back to him but she had craned her neck to look at the window. She stared directly at him with a puzzled expression. Her eyes followed him without blinking as he glided through the room and past her. Then, he sank into the opposite wall of the room and the vision dissolved.
Another scene. Back in the woods. He saw a man sitting on the ground – it was himself – with a pencil and notebook in his lap. The man raised an eyebrow, gazed at him, and then stood and began to walk toward him. It was all so familiar. He could remember every detail, but this time he was experiencing it from the opposite perspective. He cringed as the man did the unthinkable – reaching out his hand.
Jax wanted to flinch away as the man’s hand encroached on his personal space, as if it were going to stab him in the eyes. The pain was still fresh, raw in his mind, making him feel unwell as he anticipated the fated outcome of the scene. But then the picture flashed and was gone, replaced with a new one.
From a distance far away and above, he watched a lone car drive along a curving two lane road through a desolate landscape. Almost as if he was parachute-clad, floating down from the sky, he slowly descended until hovering just above the car. The convertible’s top was down and he had a clear view of the backs of two people inside.
The view rotated slightly, allowing him a profile shot. Both the man and woman, dressed in business attire, looked straight ahead, not joking, speaking and or allowing even the hint of a smile to pass in between them. In the driver’s seat, the man pulled his eyebrows taut and his mouth was set in a silent frown. The woman’s face was similarly grim.
Spotting something white fluttering in the backseat of the vehicle, Jax’s wonder at watching himself was momentarily overcome by curiosity. As he strained to look closer, the picture seemed to infer his desire and zoomed in, allowing him a clearer view. The breeze flapped a stack of papers, a binder clip keeping them from blowing around the car. Despite the movement, a phrase at the top of the first page popped out at him: “Dissolution of Marriage.”
He was confused. Was this an actual scene from his life? One that had been erased from his memory?
Distracted, Jax didn’t at first realize that the vision continued to advance on the couple in the car. They rode on, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched…no, stalked. He kept expecting the monochromatic scene to flicker and die away again, but instead it kept growing closer. Unable to scream a warning, he watched helplessly until the only thing in view was the man’s skull. At the moment of impact, the scene went black.
~~~
Part 31
8.31.10
This is it. The last day of this nightmare called a marriage. Noah is bringing the papers over to sign this afternoon and then we’ll drive them to the attorney and tie up all the final details. All I can say is good riddance. I’m just ready to be done with the whole thing so I can get over it. I’m still kicking myself for letting him abduct my heart in the first place. Why did I ever allow him to take me captive so easily? It’s so difficult to remember…I can recall the physical details of our first date, but what was his motive in asking me out? What was it about me he ever found attractive, and what did I do to lose that?
I’m finally going out with Jaidev for the first time tonight. I don’t know if he’s the one, but there’s only one way to find out. I’ve been in a steady pattern of loneliness and it’s time to break out. I’m not eager to enter the dating world again, but being alone is so much worse. Heck, I should know. It’s basically synonymous with being married to Noah. What a loser he turned out to be.
I like Jaidev; I really do. There’s something comforting about his warm smile. In so many ways he’s Noah’s opposite – the sturdy build, the quiet façade. But I can’t say definitively he’s my type, or that he’s exactly what I want. I don’t know if I even have a “type.”
More than anything, I wish there was a way for Noah and I to return to our lives the way they were before. Back when he was like an addictive substance to me…and I was the apple of his eye. I’m not really sure how it went south. I thought we’d always be together. But I’m not a kid anymore and I’ve found that real life doesn’t mimic fairytales.
Kel turned the page, then flipped through to the end of the journal, but that was the last entry. The rest of the pages were blank. After reading the last entry, she felt like a good story had been ripped out of her hands right at the cliffhanger. Where was the resolution?
Worse than that, the fantasy of their previous lives she’d put together in her head had been shattered, leaving her with a crumbled mess of confusion and denial. It couldn’t be true. They were perfect for each other now…they must have been then. If she dared believe the words before her eyes, penned in her own hand, then her true identity was not a pretty picture, but a heap of dung.
Maybe blindness was better than knowledge when it came to finding out that your real life was screwed up. But what did it mean – this newly discovered truth? If they were divorced before their amnesia, could they be together now? What if their memories came back? And what if Jax found out the truth? What would he think of what she had written in the journal? Of who she…Sierra…really was?
~~~
Part 32
After a second, the blackness was again replaced by a new scene. This time Jax was in a classroom. Printed pictures decorated the walls in a hodgepodge of kindergarten-type subjects – namely animals and cartoony children with smiling faces. Above him, crude childish drawings hung by clothespins from a string. Short shelves lined the walls, filled on one side of the room with books and on the other with toys.
Chairs were scattered in the center, all facing a table at one end and all filled with young children, their curious eyes either riveted on the teacher standing in front or distracted by the peers on either side. None seemed to see him.
The view zoomed in, focusing on the teacher just as Jax had begun to wonder what the topic of the class was. He eyed her, a petite 40-ish woman – thin with graying dishwater blonde hair – she wasn’t familiar in any way. But a slow-burning curiosity drew his attention from her face and onto the bucket in her hand. It looked like she was preparing for a demonstration.
On the table next to her stood a sheet of fabric depicting an ocean scene – waves and sky. It was upright as if draped over an easel. The teacher placed a felt cut-out of a large boat on the center of the scene, smoothing it onto the fabric with the back of her hand. Her lips moved and her eyes lit up as though she was telling a story, although Jax heard nothing. From the bucket, the woman produced a small figurine – it looked like a plastic toy – of a man clad in a robe and sandals. She placed it on the table in front of the scene and reached in for another object.
No – a series of objects. Two at a time, the woman placed a series of miniature figures next to the man. Elephants. Giraffes. Zebras. Alligators. And then it hit him – that boat on the…flannelgraph…was an ark. Now he understood the scene. But what he didn’t grasp was how it affected him.
The other visions, except for the sense-focused ones, had all revolved around himself or Kel. Sierra, he thought, shaking his head. He studied the teacher, the children and the classroom, but nothing was familiar here. The more he tried to draw a connection, the less it made sense. If the scene wasn’t depicting his history, it must be conveying something else…but what?
And then the blackness returned. But instead of flickering away like it had each time before, his inky view was dotted with pinpricks of white. First a few, then a sea of spots. And then the spots became streaks of light and he had the sensation of zooming through a massive expanse.
First from a distance, and then nearing upon it, he saw a round object, hovering in the blackness swirled with shades of gray and white. Once he was close enough for the orb to nearly fill his vision, he recognized it as the Earth, viewed from space.
He hovered near the globe for a moment before zooming off again. Then black, streaked with stars. Many, many stars. An abundance of space. And then finally, another planet.
He neared the monochromatic sphere, closer this time until he descended fully. He couldn’t feel his feet touch the ground – he couldn’t see them, for that matter – but he knew he was on the surface of the unknown planet. Surrounded by only a dusty expanse of rock, craters possibly several miles away and looming mountains in the distance (that looked more like dormant volcanoes), he saw no sign of life or vegetation whatsoever. A suffocating feeling constricted his chest when he realized if he was really here, he probably wouldn’t be able to breathe. He fought claustrophobia, reminding himself that it was only a vision.
Several beats passed before anything happened, but when it did, his mind could barely handle it. A haze appeared in the black space above him, slowly becoming denser until it was very light – almost as if a giant airbrush had spray-painted the sky white. Then he watched as a sun appeared and clouds formed – not in the way he would expect, but unnaturally, almost as if they’d been painted on.
After that, things happened in a blur – dirt and grass appeared on the ground, trees grew up around him and fruit appeared on the gnarly branches of some. First a trickle and then a gush of water appeared from nowhere, filling a shallow trench and forming a stream nearby. Everything happened fast-pace, as if he were watching a time lapse video – on steroids.
The day to night cycle went by so quickly that the flashes of darkness were only flickers and didn’t diminish his view. Clouds floated in the sky overhead and trees matured from saplings to tall structures. He watched in amazement as fruit developed and ripened on a tree, focusing on a single cherry as it plumped, rotted and then its curvy stem dropped it to the ground to decompose. He had little sensation of time, yet years seemed to fly by.
He stood in the center of a very familiar clearing between an orchard and a stream, watching a world thrive around him that had only a moment ago been a sea of dust and rock. But not only was the landscape thriving, there was also an abundance of animal life.
It began with just two fluffy rabbits, but after a few seconds they had multiplied into a family – and more. A set of wolves chased them away, looking to claim the territory it seemed. But they moved on and more animals appeared – deer, squirrels, raccoons, beavers – cows (a bull and a dairy cow?). They all seemed to originate from the same place – from somewhere unseen past the stream – and then dissipate in different directions. They arrived mostly in pairs but soon reproduced into families before his eyes.
After the animals scattered, a sea of electric waves convened around him in the clearing – first a few and soon a crowd. They hovered nearby as a simple wood cabin was constructed, boards and trim flying into place of their own accord. After only a few moments the entire cottage was complete, just the way it was when he had found it.
But that wasn’t possible, was it? Building materials couldn’t assemble themselves. Then again, just a few weeks ago he would have sworn he couldn’t move things with his mind, either. Was any of this real? Maybe it was some kind of dream.
The scene vanished and left him shackled to the same chair, staring into the sea of glowing ribbons.
~~~
Foreign Identity
Part 33
All that he had seen filled Jax’s mind like a boiling concoction. One idea would rise above the rest and then sink back into the mix as a new idea bubbled to the surface. Still bound by the metal cuffs, he sat in the hard metal chair, trying to work out exactly what the visions meant. It was another puzzle. It had to be. The synchronicity of the scenes picked at his brain.
He considered the idea that they were real, depicting events from the past. Some he remembered and others might be from the life he had forgotten. But if that was true, what were the implications of the last set of visions? The teacher depicting the story of Noah’s ark and then his flight through space. Arriving at a barren planet where he’d witnessed the creation of nature and introduction of animal life. If the visions were true, did it mean he was on this newly created world?
“No.” The word came out like a breath, barely audible. “It can’t be true.” He shook his head, denial thick in his mind like pudding, much more palatable than the alternative. He focused on the writhing mass of glowing waves that formed an arc around him like a school of electric eels cornering their prey. The spacing between them diminished as they intertwined and closed around him even tighter. None were touching him, but they formed a dense barrier that made it difficult to see the room beyond.
“It can’t be true!” he screamed, his voice raw from lack of use. How long had he been held captive? He had no sense of time. “No. I won’t believe it until I see it.” He set his jaw and stared them down.
At his words, the ribbons flickered like static. A response? An instant later, they separated into two clusters, leaving a wide pathway down the middle. One of the waves broke away from the others, hovering close in front of him in the center of the gap. A loud clink startled him. He looked down to see his restraints fall open, freeing his arms and legs.
He blinked and stared at the single ripple. And then it started to move. Gradually, it floated through the parted sea of waves.
Jax pulled himself upright. His legs felt numb. His right one was asleep. He half walked, half hobbled though the gap, shaking his leg as he went. He halted in front of the door where the lone ripple had stopped. An instant later, it vanished through the door.
He hesitated only an instant before grabbing the handle and wrenching the door open. In the next room, the one with the lockers, the ripple waited for him. At his appearance, it glided toward the other door, once again disappearing into the solid metal surface.
Just as he opened the next door, a sensation hit his stomach. Something told him he was being followed. He whirled around. The rest of the waves were moving now, following him out of the room in a mass exodus. His heart thudded and he turned back to the open doorway. The single ripple awaited him in the corridor.
He stepped into the hall.
His guide continued to flow smoothly through the air in front of him as he trailed after it. It hesitated anytime there was a fork in the path, as if to make sure he went the right way. He glanced over his shoulder a few times, but the sea of waves was still trailing behind. The idea of having his back to that mass filled him with anxiety the same way a gunman breathing down his neck might have. As far as he knew, he wasn’t any better off.
The ripple led him into new territory – this wasn’t the area he and Kel had charted. Instead of approaching the entrance, they seemed to be heading further away from it. Once when they crossed a side passage, he wondered what would happen if he made a run for it. But he wasn’t the runner: Kel was. And he hadn’t been down that path before. He had no idea where it led.
In the middle of the trek, they turned onto a corridor that was pitch black. Jax stopped. The lights from behind were still bright, but little illumination reached the hall ahead of him. An eerie feeling crept over him as he wondered what flaws of the electrical system were responsible for the outage – and then realized the darkness might be by design. He shuddered.
The ripple eased a short way into the blackness and waited. Its faint glow cast strange blue highlights and shadows across the walls, doing nothing to calm his nerves. He glanced over his shoulder once more. The hoard loomed behind him, close by as always. He drew a shaky breath and stepped into the darkness, wondering what fate awaited him.
The ripple, his own personal glow worm chauffer, moved slower now. He was thankful that at least he didn’t have to hurry along to keep up in the darkness. His feet were just two murky black lumps beneath him. Once entering the unlit area, there was no sign of the rest of the population of waves. Either they were waiting back there or they were still trailing him but had doused their lights. Thinking about the latter possibility sent cold chills through his body. He tried to keep his mind on the glow worm.
After what felt like a long time, the ripple stopped. Jax halted, a few paces back. Then, the glowing wave floated to the right wall of the hallway. As the light moved, Jax realized the surface wasn’t a normal wall like all the rest. There was a window. And his sense of direction told him this was the opposite side of the building, where he’d never been.
As he approached, the darkness through the window slowly differentiated from the darkness inside the corridor. When he stepped up to the glass, his mouth dropped open. He put both hands flat against the cold surface, pulling his face in as close as possible. He didn’t stop until his nose was touching, his raspy breathing making condensation on the glass.
Outside, the sky was black. But not the blackness of night. There was no moon, no clouds – no anything except a sea of stars. Beneath the pin-dotted sky lay only one thing: the dusty red surface of a flat, barren planet.
Jax doubled over and heaved, but nothing came out. He gasped several lungfulls of air and came back up. Pounding his fists on the glass, he willed the scene before him to dissolve into a vision, a dream, a nightmare. But he couldn’t blink it away. This wasn’t a vision. He was in full control of his senses and they told him that this was most definitely real.
“No!” He spun back around to face Glow Worm. “Take us back! We don’t want to be here. You have no right to mess with our lives! We aren’t actors in some twisted drama, existing just for your sick enjoyment. Or whatever the reason is that you brought us here. We are real people with real lives!”
At his outburst, the corridor suddenly came to life. A loud buzzing noise surrounded him just as a hundred ripples lit up around him, their brightness illuminating the corridor.
They came at him swiftly this time, no lazy floating. He stumbled backward, flailing his arms as a last desperate attempt to ward them off. They zoomed in and before he knew it, he was getting stung by one after another of them. Current zapped through his body like he’d been tased.
Only one of the ripples remained motionless. As Jax went down, his limbs twitching, he focused on the leader – Glow Worm. There was one lingering question in his mind. A final plea for an answer.
Why?
~~~
Part 34
When Jax awoke, his mind was fuzzy. His muscles ached. They were sore and stiff like he’d been asleep for days. Maybe he had. His stomach growled loudly, but it was the least of his concerns. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a small room. It had four white walls, a hard floor and one light fixture mounted on the ceiling above. He was alone.
He tried to concentrate, to focus his brain. He couldn’t remember how he’d gotten here. He remembered being assaulted by the mass of waves, but nothing after that. Something wasn’t right. He stood, turned in a circle, and then a startling fact hit him. There wasn’t a single door. Or any other way out. In or out. He was utterly trapped, and there was no hope of escape.
He crumpled to the floor, dropped his head into his hands and wept.
He remained a prostrate heap on the floor long after his tears had dried up. There were so many questions left unanswered, and yet all he could focus on was the bitter regret.
Why had he ever left the cabin in the woods? Why had he been curious enough to risk it all, to come back to this horrid place? Back there, he had sustenance. A soft bed. And he had Kel. A lump lodged itself in his throat when he thought of her – her alluring blue eyes, her sultry lips and her soft, endearing manner.
He hadn’t allowed himself to think of her since she had fled the room. Hopefully she’d made it out of the building safely. The idea that something else might have happened was too dire to consider. He sat back against the wall, put his head in his hands and wondered what she was doing right at that moment.
If they hadn’t left, they would never have found the wedding picture or the journal. They had been married…they were married, but that was in another lifetime, back in some other world where their identities were known.
If he hadn’t been so desperate to know, he could have settled for peace and tranquility. They had had all that back at the cabin. But instead, he’d used his powers of persuasion to get her to come with him. He should have gotten on one knee and asked her to be his, forever, once and for all, instead of traipsing back to this nightmare of a place. They could have started a family. Watched their children grow up. He could’ve become a grandfather, she a grandmother. The prospect was more than attractive from where he now sat. But for some reason, seeking answers had been more tempting then. Perhaps the greatest mystery was why this place held such great powers of seduction.
He looked up suddenly, realizing he wasn’t alone. A single ripple hung in mid-air on the other side of the small room. How long had it been there? He shot it a glare. “Here to torture me some more?” But it just hovered, silently undulating in place.
“Where are the rest of them? Did the other bug zappers draft you to do their dirty work? Or did they just want a break from all the zapping?”
No response.
“Take your time. I’m in no hurry for an answer.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. He scooted back against the wall, folded his arms across his chest and stared daggers at the thing. After several long minutes, his stomach rumbled again.
As if on cue, the wave flickered a few times, emitting a short series of buzzes. Then, it vanished.“Well, that was weird.” He frowned. Everything in this whole place was nothing less than bizarre.
A few minutes later, the ripple was back. It had just materialized through the wall. With it was another object – an apple. The fruit floated over to him and gently descended to the floor in front of him. He looked at it, blinked, and then looked back at the wave.
“Bringing me food? What do you want from me, anyway?”
Silence.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but it’s going to take a lot more than an apple to charm me.” He gave it another glare.
After several minutes, the wave disappeared again. When it returned, a huge assortment of fruit materialized, one by one each piece gliding to him and plopping itself down at his feet. His jaw dropped open, but then he looked back at the wave, clamping it shut again.
He sat there silent for a long time, his gaze alternating between the fruit and the ripple. It was almost as if it was trying to be…nice? Or maybe it wanted him to think that. But he needed more convincing.
While the fruit smelled quite appealing, pride kept him from diving for it. He still couldn’t get his mind off Kel, or shake the feeling that something had happened to her. He felt weak, dizzy. He was wearing thin. Finally, the last of his obstinacy melted away.
“Where is she?” he asked.
The wave flickered blue light and zapped for an instant.
His eyes widened. “You know something, don’t you?”
It flickered again.
He frowned. Even if it could understand him, how could he communicate with it? All the stupid zapper could do was flash and buzz. Then he had an idea. He sat forward. “Can you understand me? Zap once for no and twice for yes.”
Zap, zap.
His heart raced. What did he want to know the most? “Is she safe?”
Zap, zap.
“Why are you here?”
The ribbon stuttered a mess of flickering buzzes.
He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. Let’s try that again. He looked at the ribbon. “Are you here to hurt me?”
Zap.
He took a deep breath. “I’m not on Earth anymore, am I?”
Zap.
“Are we on another planet?”
Zap, zap.
“Can you send me back home?”
Zap.
He sighed and collapsed back against the wall. Then what was the point of anything? He grabbed the apple and sunk his teeth in, tasting only the bitterness of his hopeless situation.
~~~
Part 35
Jax glumly surveyed the pile of compost. It was ironic how much he and Kel had enjoyed the delicious fruits only days ago. This time he had forced himself to eat and hadn’t tasted a thing. He sat back against the wall and frowned at the floating entity, the only company in this strange, lonely prison.
Satiating his hunger had taken the edge off his anger, for the time being. He was still frustrated about his imprisonment, but at least he was alive. It could be worse.
His mind was clear again, acutely aware of the newest challenge. Escape. It was just another problem for him to solve. And he knew without a doubt his only chance at freedom was through communication with the mysterious entity in front of him. Its translucent form fluctuated gently, hovering in the air nearby. It hadn’t left the room since bringing him dinner.
He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes, ready to begin the interrogation.
“How did Kel and I get here?” he asked.
The response was a sputter of flickers and buzzes as if the electric wave was a motorboat.
Jax put up his hand. “Okay, okay. Calm down, Zapper. Let me rephrase the question.”
The wave was silent.
“Did you bring us to this planet?”
Zap, zap.
“But not to hurt us?”
Zap.
“Okay. Then did you bring us here for your benefit?”
Zap, zap.
“So do you think of us as like your pets or something?”
Zap.
“Hmm. It’s more than that, isn’t it?”
Zap, zap.
“Are there any other people…humans…on this planet?”
Zap.
His heart sank. Plummeted, really – all the way to his knees. So it was true: they were totally isolated. But somehow, they still had a bounty of provisions – as if it had been prepared ahead of time. If humans hadn’t made it all, then who? Then he remembered his visions. He had watched the creation of the cabin and seen the orchard develop from saplings.
“So…Us discovering the cabin in the woods…and the fact that there was a garden and an orchard and a greenhouse nearby – that wasn’t serendipity, was it?”
Zap.
Everything they needed to survive. Jax thought hard. “Can you make stuff materialize from thin air? From nothing?”
Zap.
“But you can telekinetically move objects?”
Zap, zap. One of the apple cores lifted up into the air and slowly revolved before his eyes. Then, it dropped to the ground where it was lifeless again.
He nodded, then frowned. “I can do that, too. But that isn’t normal for humans, is it?”
Zap.
“So is it something having to do with being on this planet, then?”
Zap.
If that was true, how did they get their abilities? “Do you know why we have this power?”
Silence.
Jax waited for a response, but the wave entity didn’t humor him. What was it hiding? He decided to try a new train of thought. “So, if I asked you to bring me something, my notebook and pencil, for example, could you do it?”
Instead of answering, the wave vanished. Several moments later, it returned, followed by the two objects he’d mentioned. When the book and pencil plunked down onto the floor, he scrambled over to see. He grabbed the notebook, turning it over in his hand. He recognized it as the same one he’d used to chart his journey through the woods, although those pages had been torn out when he’d created the map.
He walked to the place where the objects had come through wall and placed his hand on the surface. It felt smooth and hard. He looked back at the floating ripple. “So, you’re able to bring objects through solid walls?”
Zap, zap.
“If you can bring things in here, then that means you can transport things out, too, right?”
The wave hesitated for a moment and then gave two short pulses. Zap, zap.
Bingo. Now all he needed was a bargaining chip. What in the world could he offer an electric, humming bug zapper from another planet?
Jax stroked his chin and paced the room. Then, he stopped and looked straight at the wave. “I assume you know what I want – freedom. I need out of this cell. But what is it that you want?” He cocked his head and took a step closer. The ripple floated back, maintaining a fixed distance. He frowned, taking a few more steps closer. The wave backed up more. Swiftly, Jax lunged, trying to clear the gap between them in one huge leap. And with that, the entity buzzed and sank through the wall.
“Zap, wait!” Jax called, reaching out his arm, but it had already vanished. He paced the room again for what felt like a good hour, waiting for Zap’s return. But when there was no sign of the alien creature, he finally sighed and settled himself down on the floor.
Bored, he grabbed the notebook and began to doodle. After a few minutes, he stopped to survey his scribbles. Without consciously meaning to, he’d drawn a couple of cartoon characters – a little boy with spiky hair and a tiger that stood on two feet. Both were grinning wickedly. He took in the sketch with surprise, realizing he must have drawn them before, although he couldn’t remember their names.
Sighing, he sprawled onto his belly. He thought for a moment and then turned to a fresh page. While his mind lingered on the only girl he could remember, his pencil scratched the paper, not doing her features justice. In his head he could see the piercing blue eyes, sometimes bright, sometimes so dark they were almost indigo. The colorless graphite did little to convey the vibrancy that shone in those irises. Still, he put all of his effort into the only task at hand, shading her jaw and neck carefully where the light might cast shadows.
Where was she? What was she doing right now? Part of him wished she were here, but he scolded the thought quickly when it came. He could never wish imprisonment on her, even it would spare him some of the loneliness. He hoped that wherever she was, she was happy.
Jax sketched for a long time. He felt himself drifting as the pencil drooped in his hand. Taking one last glance at the drawing that was perfect except for its lifelessness, he pushed it aside and lay his head on the hard floor. His lids flickered a few times and then he let them close, welcoming the escape of sleep.
When he awoke, he had no sense of how much time had passed. Maybe thirty minutes…or maybe several hours. Opening his eyes, he wasn’t surprised to find himself in the same white room – he hadn’t dreamt and hadn’t forgotten where he was. What he was surprised to see was another person in the room with him. She lay on the floor nearby, her face peacefully calm, her pale lashes closed against alabaster cheeks. Her chest rose and fell softly as she slept, unaware of her surroundings.
“Kel?”
~~~
Part 36
Kel blinked when she heard her name, but it was a struggle to force open her heavy eyelids. How long had she been asleep? It felt like she’d awaken from a coma. The last thing she remembered was lying down in her own bed, back in the cabin.
She’d waited for Jax all day, staying near the edge of the forest until hunger made her feel faint. But she’d pushed past it, waiting until dusk for him to return. When he never did, fear picked apart her insides, a little at a time. She knew something very bad had happened to him. And yet she was too much of a coward to go back in the building after him. Her own weakness made her feel ashamed. She fled and when darkness came, she was safely back at the cabin.
But now, having opened her eyes, she found herself in a new place: a white room with no windows or doors. Her heart fluttered when she heard Jax’s voice again, but the jubilee at finding him alive was quickly crushed. She was struck with an intense sense of déjà vu – one that brought a sharp fear along with it. She was waking up in a strange place with no memory of how she got there and the two of them were together again. It was just like the beginning of the whole ordeal. The memory of that first prison was all too fresh in her mind.
Was it a dream? She lay there for a moment, taking it all in with her cockeyed view, head still against the cold floor. Jax rushed over to her, kneeling down at her side. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and he threw his arms around her.
“Kel!”
Her heart flooded with emotions as she held him tightly, as if trying to absorb all that was rushing from him. She savored the embrace after so recently living the heartbreak contained within the journal. This moment was a stark contrast to all she’d discovered, and she cherished it. Maybe it could erase the reality of their past.
But an instant later all the warm feelings vanished and a cold fear crept up her spine, bristling the hairs on the back of her neck. With Jax’s arms still around her, she froze, staring at the hovering entity across the room. For a second, she couldn’t speak. She gulped and forced the fear out of her throat.
“Jax – it’s here!” Her voice came out in just a gasp of a whisper. He tore himself away and whirled around to see what she meant. But the initial concern on his face faded into something resembling more of a resigned frustration. His shoulders sagged and he glared at the thing.
“I know,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Where are we? And how did I get here?” she asked.
“Zap brought you.”“Zap?” Her eyes followed his, settling again on the strange, hovering wave. “It has a name?”
He looked away sheepishly. “I just started calling it that.”
“Is it…” She hesitated. “…alive?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. But it can communicate.”
“What?”
“I have a system. I ask a question. It zaps once for no, twice for yes.”
Kel felt her mouth hanging open. She clamped it shut. “But weren’t these things…trying to kill us? When I ran out of the building, they had you cornered. What did they do to you, Jax?” Her voice rose in pitch at the end, growing frantic with confusion. The waves were the enemy, right? So why did it seem like Jax was suddenly comfortable around this creature, this…thing? It didn’t compute.
He folded his arms and looked at her evenly. “Well, they aren’t the most considerate creatures.” He paused a moment. “But if they were trying to kill us, they already would have. Believe me, they’ve had every opportunity.” He shuddered and she wondered what he wasn’t telling her.
“In that room with the chairs…they showed me things. We’re on another planet, Kel. They brought us here for some reason…I haven’t figured out why yet.”
Her knees went weak. She felt herself falling. Still close, Jax grabbed her by the arm, guiding her gracefully down to the floor. Mind reeling, she forced herself to focus on something. Her eyes landed on his worry-creased face. She held his gaze without blinking. Coherence was paramount.
“I have one question,” she finally managed.
“What is it?” he asked, his deep eyes searching her face.
“They brought us here, against our will. Wiped our memories. They kept us locked in a cell. We escaped, but upon our return, they captured you again, and then brought me here, too. We’re trapped all over again.”
He nodded slowly. “I’m not sure about the memory loss, but the rest is pretty much accurate, I think. What’s your question?”
“My question is, considering all that, exactly what leads you to believe they aren’t the enemy?”
He didn’t answer immediately. For a moment, he seemed deep in thought. Then his gaze traveled to the floating wave. She followed with her eyes. It might have been her imagination, but she thought the hovering ripple was closer now. She frowned and looked back at him.
“Of course everything you say is true. But Zap has…helped me.” When he met her eyes again she saw in them a trace of something out of place…guilt?
“I wish you’d stop calling it that. What exactly has it done for you?”
“He…it brought me food…answered my questions…and I think it misunderstood my wishes…” He glanced over at the corner of the room. Kel turned to see what he was looking at and for the first time noticed a notebook on the floor. It lay open to a sketch of a woman. She stretched over, grabbed it, and surveyed the picture. He’d been drawing her again?
The sheepish look was back. “I think it thought I wanted it to bring you here.”
Kel was about to speak when she saw from the corner of her eye that the wave was much closer now. She whirled to see it surreptitiously creeping up on them. It must have been inching this way the whole time. It was only a foot away from Jax, behind him on the right.
“Jax! Watch—”
Jax turned and threw out his hand before she had time to finish. His arm made contact with the wave, making it buzz and flicker spastically. Jax’s whole body jerked and his eyes rolled back into his skull. Kel watched, horrified. The whole episode must have lasted only a second. Before she could shake the shock and react, all was calm again.
Jax blinked three times, but something seemed wrong. His posture had changed, somehow. Straightened. His head rotated mechanically, surveying her and then turning back to the wave. Then his eyes flared.
“Get me out of here!” A roar thundered from Jax’s mouth, making his entire body tremble. He shook his fists with rage. Kel scrambled back from the ferocity of the outburst, cowering in the corner of the room.
“This is hell, do you hear me, you ignorant piece of recycle? Ejection is paramount!” His eyes were wide and mad-looking. He was raving like a psychopath, yelling at the wave which in turn shrunk lower. It seemed to exude its own dose of fright, if that was at all possible.
After his outburst, the wave flickered a few times, but not haphazardly. It was staccato, a series of short pulses, almost like it was sending a Morse code signal of some sort.
Jax (or the person who had been Jax only moments earlier) stared at it, concentrating on its rhythm as if reading a response of some sort. When the waved stopped pulsing, he shook his head vigorously.
“No. The project is fail! We must abort the venture. You must find a way to extract!”
Another series of pulsing buzzes.
“What do mean you can’t decode? There are trillions of you. If I could merge right now I would solve this whole thing in a gigawatt.”
Zap, zap, zap.
“Then multiply, you spawn of a neuron!” He slapped his forehead with his hand, then stalked back and forth in an awkward pacing motion. “An entire species and you can’t do a simple retraction? I swear, if I could input my intellect, it would all be complete. Process a little harder and get us out.” He gestured at Kel when he said “us,” the first time he’d acknowledged her presence since the horrific transformation. She shuddered and hugged her knees.
“And when you get us out, exterminate the hosts. And the rest of the humans, for that matter. Nothing less than great annihilation.”
The wave emitted a long series of frantic and erratic pulses.
“What the quark is wrong with you? Are you out of your nucleus? What do you mean you are ‘fond of them?’ You don’t have empathy with the offenders holding us hostage! You have empathy with your own kind! Wake up you electric piece of vapor!”
Suddenly, the wave made contact again, interrupting the conversation (if that’s what you could call it), and short-circuiting Jax again. He fell onto his side, twitched a few times and was motionless.
Kel stared, mouth hanging open. What had she just witnessed?
After a few moments, Jax groaned. His head rolled and he rubbed his temple. Then he opened his eyes and looked at her.
~~~
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Hey Courtney, I’m on part 8 right now but I wanted to leave you a comment earlier. Somewhere around part 5 or so I started thinking “Shouldn’t they be hungry and exhausted by now? They woke up after who knows how long of being shackled up, their adrenaline must be running and they’ve been walking around for a couple hours now trying to escape?” and then no less than two sentences later you addressed those very issues. I was really pleased with that, and since then you’ve continued to do a great job addressing realistic, if more mundane, concerns which makes for a more believable, higher quality story.
I am really enjoying it. You’ve more than piqued my curiosity. It is a strange set of circumstances and doesn’t seem to follow a predictable plot. I’m really interested to know the motivations behind whoever put them in this situation. I’m excited for the rest!
LOL, Carlos, you called me Courtney.
Anyway, glad you’re liking it and that it’s addressing your questions adequately. It IS just the rough draft, so of course it’s still a bit rough. I know where it’s going, just haven’t mapped out every single step along the way. I’m hoping for a full-length novel out of this one.
haha!! whoops! Sorry Becca.
Yes, I am liking it a lot. As I read further today and Kel “remembered” about her incident the day before with the apple, I was impressed because that incident had also slipped into the back of my mind with the rest of what was going on. You did a good job keeping the reader (me) caught up in the story so that something as strange as that would become something to be remembered just like it did for the character…this “rough draft” is a hell of a great start. Keep going, I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Chapter 11 was a really cool scene. I liked how you separated them both and gave them a chance to think privately about the other and then brought them back together. Poor Kel; it’s gotta suck to have the only person you know be mistrusting of you, especially in the crazy situation she’s in.
Can’t wait for part 12.
Thanks for the comments, Carlos.
There are so many ideas about the story in my head right now, I just need to organize them! Glad to have you along for the ride.
Hey Courtney! LOL – in another world, you’re Becca, right?
This is a wonderful tale! I’m all caught up.
There is so much to like about this novel-in-the-making. Hints of allegories, creative use of the senses and, of course, the alien Zappers.
Keep ‘em coming!
Cheers,
Mitch
Thanks, Mitch. I’m glad you’re enjoying it! Writing this thing has been quite a ride — and I’m loving it.
Thanks for reading!