Chapter Thirteen: Goodbye and Hello (Saturday, November 4, 1994)
With homecoming tonight and my father leaving today, I’m sorry, but I just don’t feel like going out or seeing anyone. Last I heard Teresa was still planning on going with Robby and Ty was still dateless. My guess it’s Teresa doing in order to try to get me to go with him. Zar-Q is still unable to figure out who they really are and for right now, we treat them as normal students at my school.
I’m at the airport seeing my dad off with Raven Sandon, my uncle whom I’m going to live with until I’m old enough to get a place of my own. I should be worried about putting Raven’s life in danger and I am but my dad is my dad, I want to make sure he’s safe. Besides, Raven is ex-military so he is more capable of taking care of himself if need be.
Raven hasn’t changed much since I last saw him, tall, black hair and dark eyes with a clean shaven face and always wearing black and now he sports a long leather coat. It’s a bit odd since this is Florida after all.
I hug my father goodbye and walk back with Raven to his SUV. My stuff has already been moved into his house but I haven’t seen my new room yet.
“If you need to talk, I’m here,” he says.
“I’m good, thanks” I say with a long face. It’s going to take me a while to get used to my dad being away.
“Are you going to Homecoming tonight?”
“How did you know?’ I ask.
“Your father told me.”
“I don’t think so; I still need to unpack…”
“I’m sure going out with your friends will get you in a better mood,” Raven reassures as we reach his SUV.
“We’ll see,” I answer. I really don’t feel like fighting with my uncle over homecoming. The football game against our rival school was yesterday and I didn’t even attend that.
I look out the window as we drive past the terminals at the airport. I can see family members and friends saying goodbye to each other with hugs and kisses. My dad was my only real family since my mom left when I was seven. Yes, Raven is family but it’s not the same. As far as friends, the only reason why I know Kyle, Celestria, Tom, Z, Josh and Taryn is because we all have something unusual in common. When I really think about it, my pool of friends before this madness was pretty much only Miles and that was through babysitting. My oldest friend is an eight year old computer wiz. This is just what I don’t need right now, to feel sorry for myself, especially at a time like this.
Once back at the two story house, I make my way upstairs to inspect my new room. It’s at the end of the hallway and in fact out of the way and it is massive! I’m used to living in a small bedroom in an old trailer but this is something new. The room is furnished with a big screen TV, several gaming systems, a large bookcase filled with fantasy novels, a miniature refrigerator, and a queen size bed.
“Wow,” I say aloud.
Sure, I have a castle but this room is amazing. I crack a smile yet I still feel down. I plop onto the bed and I almost sink into it. A bed this soft should not be allowed to exist.
I close my eyes and I can feel myself falling to sleep.
Water drips down from a ledge, missing me by a few inches. Thankfully, it’s all over, yet the weather is bleak and lifeless. I’m not sure why I took this path home, or why I am alone in the first place. I guess after everything, I just need some space and some time away. I really haven’t had a chance to gather my thoughts about what has happened to me during this past year. I remember it was just yesterday when I was at lunch with my friends, talking about nothing.
Kicking a small rock, I look up to the cloudy sky and sigh. I then pause, feeling a presence nearby. I turn my head slightly to the right. I can see a figure; actually, it’s more of a shadow, dim and grey.
“Do you believe in reincarnation,” she finally speaks.
“Excuse me?” I say.
I can almost make out a physical form as it walks in front of me. She, It, stops for a minute, before she walks again, circling me. Is this the voice that has been speaking within my mind? Is this the future or just a simple dream running away with itself?
“You’ve read the reports, the lore, you’ve even experienced a bit of it, but do you believe in it?”
“Look, I don’t know what you want from me, but it’s over. You shouldn’t even be here,” I follow her with my eyes.
“You didn’t answer my question,” laughing a little, she goes on. “It doesn’t matter what you believe in.” She stops right behind me. I tense up, if I try to attack now, she’ll see right through it. “By the way, you might want to thank the person who gave you that relic.”
I slowly pull the relic out from my jacket pocket, I look at it before turning around, but before I can say a word the entity begins to glow brightly and I can feel a sharp searing pain. I cannot pinpoint where it’s coming from, and before I know it, I fall to my knees. My chest begins to burn, my vision is blocked by bright yellow and red lights, and that’s the last thing I remember before hitting the wet concrete.
I jolt awake in my bed, dripping in sweat, my vision blurry and my heart beating fast. What the hell was that? A dream? A vision? Someone’s mind game? I blink rapidly trying to adjust my vision. I look over at the clock on the bed stand and two hours have passed by, making it 1pm. It felt so real and extremely eerie at the same time. My head is swirling with several different thoughts of what just happened.
There’s a knock at my door and it slowly opens, it’s Teresa.
“You’re uncle let me in,” she says. “Wow, you look awful.”
“Heh, thanks,” I mutter.
“Come on, we need to get you ready,” she grins.
“I’m not going,” I plop back onto the bed, placing my arm over my forehand, feeling the heat emitting from it.
“Yes you are, it will make you feel better.”
I groan and turn over. I don’t feel like debating this but Teresa won’t stop until she gets her way. I turn over to face Teresa, “I don’t have a dress.”
“Go soak in the tub for an hour and I’ll be back,” she makes her way to the door. “Robby is waiting in his car outside and I can get him to take me to the mall to get you a dress. Just clean up before I get back, okay?”
Teresa leaves and I gradually get out of bed. It’s just homecoming, not prom, even though both dances I am equally uninterested in. I walk across the room and open the door to my bathroom, which is also impressive as it is fitted with a Roman tub with a shower head so I can choose between a shower and a bath. There’s a large vanity across from the tub.
Yawning, I start the bath with exceptionally hot water. As I get comfortable in the tub, I fear closing my eyes. Before it was only a voice but now I’m having vivid dreams as well? Even with the hot water I can feel myself shaking. I need more time to deal with this.
Thirty minutes pass by and I finally exit the tub. The bath did feel pleasant, but mentally, I am a wreck. I wrap myself in a white robe as I dry off my hair with a blue towel.
Fifteen minutes later and Teresa is back in my room, dress in hand. It is covered in a protective plastic cover and she places it on my bed. She grabs the blue towel and a hairdryer and starts working on my hair.
“We’re not having that ponytail that you always like, not for tonight. How about a high bun, that way the dress can show off your back.”
“My what?” I say. “What kind of dress did you get me?”
“Oh don’t worry, you’ll like it, it’s purple.”
It takes two hours before Teresa is happy with how I look. The dance and festivities isn’t scheduled to start until 5pm but Teresa has assured me that getting there an hour early is fine.
Once we arrive at the venue, which is a small convention hall, several students are already on the dance floor, having a good time. Teresa, wearing a short dark blue dress locates a table for the four of us. I haven’t officially said that I was going with Ty and thankfully he understands. Ty is wearing a white suit while Robby a red one, to match his hair, I assume. As for me, Teresa did do well in picking a dress for me. It’s sleeveless and shows off my shoulders and upper back and it stops right where my feet begin. The purple shimmers as if someone threw glitter all over it.
“I’m not waiting for this place to get crowed, I’ll see you guy on the dance floor,” Teresa says, grabbing Robby by the hand and dragging him out to dance.
“How did she manage to get you to go?” Ty asks in his Jamaican accent.
“Teresa can be very persuasive,” I tell him, looking around at the other students. I wonder who else will show up tonight. “So, what’s your story?”
If Z can’t find anything on these guys, maybe I can. However I doubt they’ll reveal anything of importance.
“I was born in Jamaica and lived there until I was eleven and I’ve been here since,” he tells me.
“You?”
“Born and raised.”
“Really, that’s rare.”
“Yea, people keep telling me that,” I shrug. “Were you dragged here as well?”
“To tell you the truth, I rather be playing soccer right now,” Ty says. “I can tell you don’t like being here.”
“Yea…it’s just not my thing.”
“What about soccer?”
“Nope, baseball,” I answer.
“But it’s so boring!” Ty exclaims.
“My dad took me to my first baseball game when I was thirteen, I’ve been hooked ever since,” I reminisce.
I groan at all the songs from last year being played over the speakers but the small talk with Ty is nice. It’s a shame that my suspension of him and Robby still remains. I look over to the dance floor to see Teresa and Robby dancing and having fun. I then notice Kyle and Taryn walking through the doors. Taryn walks over to a small group of girls from her afterschool math tutor group, I assume to admire each others’ dresses. Taryn is wearing a light pink dress and has a flower in her hair. Kyle has on black dress pants and a grey vest on top of a white dress shirt. Then I realize that they don’t know that I’m here.
Teresa runs over to the table and asks, out of breath from dancing, “Are you guys going to dance or sit there all night?”
“You know I don’t dance,” I say, still looking over at Kyle.
“We’re just talking and having a good time here,” Ty tells her.
“Strange,” she says, making her way back to Robby.
I roll my eyes and turn to Ty, “I hate to do this, but I’m going to head home, it’s been a long day.”
“Do you need a ride?”
“Nah, I’ll be fine, thanks,” I stand and start to make my way to the exit, making sure to avoid both Kyle and Taryn.
No such luck as I get closer to the exit and I hear a familiar voice, “Oh my, I love your dress!”
At least it’s not Victoria or anyone else who might try to attack during homecoming, now that would be cliché.
“Thanks,” I say
“I didn’t think you were going to come, what happened?” Taryn asks.
“Teresa, she kind of forced me to come,” I shrug. “I think I’m going to head out though. Have fun,” I say before quickly walking outside.
The air is much cooler than last week but at least I know it isn’t Taryn’s doing. There are a few students hanging outside and in the parking lot. I might have to walk around to find a spot to teleport. I turn the corner in hopes to find a place to be alone and instead I bump into Kyle.
“You actually came?” he asks, shocked.
“Yep, and now I’m leaving,” I say, trying to walk past but unable to, avoiding his eyes.
“So soon?”
“I’ve had a hard day,” I start. “Actually no, I’ve had a hard month. I have a clone that mocks me and wants to kill me, Ozma is taking her sweet time unless her plan is already underway and we don’t know it, I had to say goodbye to my dad this morning because I fear something might happen to him if he stays here, I keep hearing this dark voice in my head and every time I teleport I can feel emptiness and don’t get me started on the dream I had this afternoon.” Before I realize it, I accidently blurt out the parts that I’ve been keeping from everyone. “Forget that last part.”
“What voice?” Kyle asks, concerned.
“It’s nothing,” I finally manage to push my way through and into an alley way that leads to the back of the building. I can feel myself cracking inside and of all times, why did it have to be at homecoming and in a dress? I must look really foolish.
I sigh and I know that Kyle won’t let this go, not after that outburst. I spin around, “Not here.”
I teleport back to my bedroom, wanting nothing more to get out of that dress, I toss it onto my bed and throw on a pair of jean shorts and a white t-shirt from an open suitcase on the floor. For all I know, the clothes might be dirty, I just don’t care.
I return to the alley, with Kyle leaning on the wall, “You need to tell me where you’re going first before you run off an teleport away and I liked the dress, you didn’t have to change.”
“…do you want to know or not?”
“That’s not an option, you need to tell me,” he crosses his arms. “So where to?”
“Your place,” I vanish and then open the door to the refrigerator that is now in front of me. I pull out a carton of orange juice and pour myself a glass.
“Wait, why my place?” Kyle asks as soon as walks through the portal.
“You can’t tell anyone,” I plea, ignoring his question.
“You’ve been saying that a lot recently,” he notes, sitting on his tan sofa, turning his body around to face me.
“Yea, I know…I just don’t want the others to worry. Z is busy with this computer issues, Miles is too young to understand, Taryn is newer to this than we are and she still doesn’t know everything that’s going on, Celestria will just lecture me and make me read a book, Josh isn’t even around and Tom is helping out Dorter so you’re the only one that’s left,” I ramble.
“And that’s your only reason?”
“Ummm, yea, it is…so where do you want me to start?” I take a drink of orange juice, feeling tremendously uncomfortable.
“The voice,” Kyle says.
“…just out of the blue I started to hear this voice in my head, very dark and depressing. It’s like its part of me but separate…it’s really hard to say. I think it has something to do with my teleportation. I’ve talked to Celestria a little about this and she thinks it’s connected to The Void, the place between life and death and the next life. Every time I teleport I can feel it,” I take another drink, my hand shaking even more now. “It’s like the darkness wants to consume me.”
“Why don’t you stop teleporting until we figure out what’s going on?”
“Thing is, we have so much listed as ‘we’ll figure it out later’ that what if we find out and it’s too late? Part of me believes that I can find out on my own,” I take another drink and I can feel my legs getting weak. I decide to walk over to a small couch. “The other part enjoys it and I’m not talking about the teleportation part but the feeling of the darkness. It’s like something is feeding off of it.” There’s a lump in my throat as I personally try to convince myself that the path I am taking is the right one. “I think I’m at the verge of figuring it all out where I can teleport without having to feel the presence of The Void. Then add in Victoria and my dad leaving…”
“…why didn’t you mention this before?”
“I didn’t want to add to everything that’s already going on,” I blush out of embarrassment.
Kyle walks over to the smaller couch and sits next to me, “You can trust us.”
“It’s not about trust; I just didn’t want to bother anyone. I mean, Z and Josh knew about my dad, heck, they set it all up for me, but it didn’t feel real until this morning. And the stupid dance, I didn’t even want to go. Listen; just keep this between us, at least for right now.”
I feel both drained and scared right now. I wasn’t ready to tell anyone about this and alas it sort of just happened on its own. I close my eyes, but even the darkness under my eye lids bothers me. I can’t stay awake 24/7 but I can’t be afraid of sleeping either. I quickly open my eyes to find Kyle gone.
“Do you want to stay here tonight?” he asks from the other room. He then walks out seconds later with a pillow and covers in tow. He tosses them onto the larger sofa.
I stand, “Is that okay?” I ask as I make my way towards the larger sofa.
“Nope.”
“…”
“I mean no to the sofa, you need a good night’s sleep and even though the sofa is comfortable, I think you’ll be more relaxed on the bed.”
“But I don’t want—-“
Kyle pushes me in the direction of the bedroom, not giving me much of a choice. I hate being a bother to anyone but he’s right and the last thing I want to be is alone right now. I leave the bedroom light on as I try to relax in the bed. Maybe I’m just lonely, being an only child tends to have its drawbacks every once in a while.
“Or maybe you know that you can’t control what’s coming.”
My eyes widen as I hear that voice again, deeper and closer now. I swear I should just go head first into The Void and drag her or it out. How am I supposed to stop something that’s in my head?
I step onto the wooden floor and make my way into the living room where Kyle is already asleep, with a blanket clinched in my hand and partly being dragged on the floor. It’s not like it will do any good, but right now, I don’t want to sleep alone in the darkness.
