Dreamstone

by Ben L. Hughes

  “See you later then,” Melissa replied cheerfully as he walked off.

  “Is it just me, or is he grumpy?” Melissa asked.

  “I don’t know, but like I said before, he’s not the same since the trip,” Matt conjectured.

  “I wonder why?” Melissa remarked.

  “Who knows, he’s always been a little bi-polar,” Matt added.

  “Well, I better get going so I’m not late to my next class,” Melissa said with a smile.

  Matt lingered for a few minutes, wishing he had something sweet and romantic to say, but his tongue was paralyzed with anxiety, too scared to say ‘I love you’ or show his affection. Melissa must have read his mind and she walked back over and kissed him on the lips. The kiss lasted only a moment, but it felt like time stopped as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. A student walking past whistled at them, and they quickly separated as to not cause a scene. Then Matt waved good-bye as she disappeared into the sea of students.

  Chapter 5

  Melissa picked up the pictures and went back to her dorm. She tried to wait to look at them until Matt and Greg arrived, but the urge to peek at the prints was too great. After opening the envelope she quickly sorted through the pictures, pulling out the best ones for a closer look. Then she hurriedly put them back into the envelope when she heard a knock at the door.

  “Who is it?” she asked as she tried to make the packaging appear unopened.

  “It’s me,” Matt replied as she let him in and then handed him the envelope. “I see you already looked at them.”

  “I was going to wait for you and Greg, but the envelope flap came loose and the pictures fell right into my hands. What could I do?” she exclaimed innocently. Matt laughed as he sat down on the couch. She snuggled next to him as they looked through the pictures together.

  “These are really good Melissa… we shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with a great presentation,” Matt complimented.

  “Thank Greg, he took most of them,” she replied.

  “Well, he did a good job and thankfully the two of you took so many pictures it required more than one memory card,” Matt remarked.

  “Sheer luck, but we still have to interpret the images and put the whole thing together by next week. I feel a bit rushed to get it all done by then,” Melissa confessed.

  “Relax, I’ll help you interpret the petroglyphs pics, and I’ll write up the presentation when we’re finished with that part. Greg has already volunteered to give the presentation to the class, so that’s covered. You know how he loves an audience, and he’s actually a pretty good public speaker,” Matt admitted.

  “That’s true,” Melissa acknowledged, a she handed Matt a smaller group of photos.

  “What are those?” he asked.

  “Just a few pictures I took of the desert, our camp, and you when you weren’t looking.” Matt shuffled though them slowly and then stopped when he came to a photo that overlooked the Panamint Valley.

  “When did you take this picture?” he asked.

  “Let me see... I took that when you were out looking for your watch,” she replied.

  “Is that me in the distance?”

  “Yep, you’re the small dark blue figure about half way to the lake,” she acknowledged.

  “Did you happen to notice if there was a faint outline of an object near the lake in the background?” Matt remarked in a concerned tone.

  “It’s just a reflection from the sun on the camera lens,” Melissa suggested.

  If that’s true, why does it look identical to the object we saw that morning?”

  “Let me see it,” Melissa said, as she took the picture from him. As she studied the photo closely, her expression slowly changed as she realized he was correct about the object. “What was that thing?” she reluctantly asked as she handed the picture back to him.

  “I don’t know, but it proves that what we saw that morning was definitely not a mirage. What bothers me is that I was right down there near it, and I didn’t even see it,” Matt confessed.

  “That’s a bit unsettling,” Melissa replied.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. Nothing bad happened, and I have no reason to think that it would have,” Matt said reassuringly.

  A moment later there was a knock at the door and Melissa got up to answer it.

  “Hi Greg, come on in,” she said with a welcoming smile.

  “Hi... did you get the pictures back from the photomart?” he asked in an anxious tone.

  “Yep, Matt is looking at them right now,” Melissa replied.

  “So, are there any good ones?” he asked after plopping down on the couch next to him.

  “Yeah, they’re excellent, nice job,” Matt remarked.

  “You’re right, they’re even better than I remember,” he concluded.

  Once Greg was finished with all the petroglyph pictures Matt handed him the picture of the object hovering near the lake.

  “What’s this?” Greg asked as he looked at the desert scene.

  “Do you see anything unusual in the background?” Matt questioned.

  “A circular reflection near the lake,” he observed.

  “Melissa and I believe that reflection is not a reflection at all, but actually the same object we saw over the lake earlier that morning,” Matt alleged.

  “Are you sure it looks the same?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

  “Absolutely!” Matt insisted.

  “Does it look the same to you Melissa?” Greg asked as he turned towards her.

  “It does,” she affirmed. Greg looked at the picture for a moment and then set it down. Then his expression changed and Matt knew he was formulating some explanation for the event.

  “I wonder if the military wanted us out of that area because they were testing some new kind of aircraft,” he proposed.

  “That might explain what we saw,” Melissa acknowledged. “What do you think Matt?”

  “Maybe,” he replied in his least convincing tone, unwilling to say what he really thought in front of Greg.

  “So you don’t have any wild ideas about it?” Greg questioned, sensing Matt was holding back

  “I’m not sure what we saw, but I do agree that the military did not want us there,” he replied.

  “That’s for sure,” Greg commented as he rubbed his chest where he was tasered.

  Once Greg was finished looking at the pictures, he handed them back to Matt and then glanced at the clock in the kitchen for a moment. “Well, I’m sorry I have to run, but I have a mountain of homework to do and I should probably get back to it,” he said in a reluctant tone.

  “Thanks for stopping by,” Melissa replied as she saw him to the door. Then she walked back over to the couch and sat next Matt. “How are you doing?” she asked, sensing some frustration.

  “I’m fine, I just don’t buy the whole military testing thing,” he replied.

  “I wondered if that’s what was bothering you. To be honest, his explanation would have made perfect sense to me had I not had that dream the other night,” Melissa admitted.

  “So you believe me?” Matt asked.

  “I’m just saying there seems to be a lot more to this than just some military aircraft testing,” she said with a smile.

  “I knew you had an open mind,” Matt remarked.

  “It’s only because you keep bombarding me with your crazy ideas,” she acknowledged. Matt smiled and then glanced at his watch and sighed.

  “Unfortunately I have a lot of homework that I need to work on tonight, but if you have any trouble sleeping come on over.” he offered.

  “I probably won’t tonight because I promised my friend Bella I would stop by and tutor her this evening. She’s been having a little trouble in her Calculus class.”

  “That’s nice of you,” Matt remarked as he got up off the couch.

  “Oh I almost forgot. I have to give you back that silly rock you brought back from the desert,” Melissa said as she ran into her bedro
om to retrieve it.

  “Thanks,” Matt replied when she came back out and dropped it into his hand.

  “You’re welcome,” she said, followed by a kiss good-by. Matt gave her a hug in return and then reluctantly headed out.

  As he started across the parking lot towards his room, he noticed an olive drab Hummer pull out of the lot and speed away. Normally, it wouldn’t have caught his attention, but the recent events had made him suspicious of any military-looking vehicles. Once the Hummer was out of sight, Matt made his way over to his dorm and gasped when he turned on the lights. The drawers to his dresser were pulled out, and their contents had been dumped onto the floor. His mattress had been turned over and all of the belongings in his closet where scattered about. Matt felt his face turn red with anger as the thought of being violated settled in. After taking a few deep breaths he picked up the phone in his room and called the campus police.

  “Hello, HSU Police, what’s your emergency?”

  “My dorm room has been ransacked,” he replied in a harsh tone.

  “My screen shows you are calling from room 114, is that correct?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Yes,” Matt replied, still frothing as he spoke.

  “Okay sir, I will send an officer over to take a report. Please wait outside of your room until he arrives,” the dispatcher ordered.

  Matt left the room, careful not to disturb anything, as he waited for the officer to arrive.

  After a few minutes, a campus police car pulled up next to the dorms and an officer got out and walked over to him.

  “When did you discover the break in?” the officer asked as he flipped open his clipboard and started filling out an incident report.

  “Just before I called you,” Matt replied.

  “Is there anything missing?” the officer asked.

  “I don’t know. I left everything alone not wanting to disturb the scene.” The officer rolled his eyes and then wrote something down on the report. Matt could see his personal information was already filled in at the top of the form. For some reason that bothered him, probably because it seemed so Orwellian.

  “Why don’t you go back in and see if anything was taken,” the officer suggested. Matt nodded and then went in and started searching through the mess while the officer stood in the doorway watching him.

  After a few minutes of searching without noticing anything missing, Matt went over to the officer and said, “It doesn’t look like anything is missing, but I won’t know for sure until I get everything cleaned up.”

  The policeman wrote a few more notes on the report and then took a couple of pictures of the room. Then he looked at Matt, and asked, “Are there any ex-girlfriends, ex-boyfriends, or anyone else that you can think of that might have a grudge against you?”

  “No. I keep to myself and I don’t have any enemies that I know of,” Matt replied.

  “Of course not,” the officer replied incredulously. “Well, the campus is full of practical jokers, if it happens again, or if you discover something is actually missing, then call back and I will amend my report. For now there isn’t much I can do, just remember to keep your door locked at all times and report any suspicious activity.”

  “I will,” Matt replied in an unenthusiastic tone, hoping the officer would hurry up and leave when he noticed spectators being drawn towards the flashing red and blue lights.

  “Sign here,” the officer ordered as he handed the clipboard over to Matt. Matt quickly signed the bottom of the report and handed it back to the officer. The officer glanced over it, and then headed back to his patrol car. Once the officer was gone, Matt went inside and called Melissa.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but you’re not going to believe what just happened.”

  “What is it? Melissa asked in a concerned tone.

  “When I got back to my dorm room, it had been ransacked, the place is an absolute mess, and I’m so upset about it.” Matt exclaimed in an angry and frustrated voice.

  “Don’t worry; I’ll be right over,” she offered.

  “I thought you had to go tutor your friend,” Matt replied.

  “I’ll reschedule it, this is far more important,” she said in a calm reassuring voice.

  “Thank you so much,” Matt replied. “You’re always there when I need you.”

  “You would do the same for me,” she replied. “Just sit tight for a few minutes and I’ll be right there.”

  Matt hung up the phone and waited by the door for her to arrive. Then when he saw her, he quickly ushered her in.

  “What did the police say?” Melissa asked, dumbfounded by the mess.

  “The officer seemed to think it was a prank. He took a few pictures and then told me to call back if I found anything missing.”

  “Was anything taken?” Melissa asked with a concerned look.

  “No, but guess what I saw on my way over here from your place.”

  “What?” she asked at the seemingly irrelevant question.

  “A military vehicle speeding out of the parking lot.”

  “No way! Melissa gasped. “Do you think they were looking for the pictures that we took?”

  “I don’t know,” Matt replied hesitantly.

  “Well, if it’s not that, then what else could it be? Melissa questioned.

  “The interrogator seemed obsessed over the possibility that we might have taken an artifact or something important from the area,” Matt conjectured.

  “But we didn’t take anything…” Melissa pause mid-sentence when she realized that Matt had brought the little stone back from the desert.

  “What is it?” Matt asked when she didn’t finish her sentence.

  “Can I see that rock that I gave back to you?” Melissa asked.

  “Sure,” Matt replied as he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her.

  “Exactly where did you find it,” she asked.

  “It was next to my watch. I only kept it because it was out of place and caught my eye,” Matt remarked.

  “Is there anything special about it?” Melissa asked as looked down at the unassuming little stone.

  “Not really, it’s an erratic, but other than that it appears to be common quartz,” Matt replied. A moment later his expression changed as he remembered the dream he was having just before the military abducted them.

  “What are you thinking?” Melissa asked when she noticed he seemed to be lost in thought.

  “I just realized that the night the military abducted us, I was told in my dream to keep the stone safe,” Matt recalled.

  “By whom?” Melissa asked.

  “The same stranger that was in the other dreams,” Matt gulped.

  “Good grief, you just remembered that now!” Melissa exclaimed.

  “I’m sorry... I must have repressed it when the interrogator accused me of lying and threatened my life,” Matt said in sharp tone.

  “Well, that’s understandable, but if the stone is what they are after, then maybe you should just return?” Melissa suggested.

  “I don’t think I should do that,” Matt replied. “I was told to keep to safe for a reason, and until I know what that is, I’m going to follow my gut instinct and hold on to it.”

  “What if you’re in danger because of it,” Melissa warned.

  “I didn’t want to freak you out by mentioning this earlier, but the stranger from the dream protected us,” Matt disclosed.

  “Okay, tell me everything that you have been keeping from me right now, or I’m walking out the door!” Melissa threatened.

  “I’m sorry, I should have told you before now, but I fell asleep at the wheel when we were driving back from the Mojave train station,” Matt admitted.

  “Go on...” Melissa glared expectantly.

  “Well, immediately after I fell asleep, the stranger appeared in my dream and told me to wake up. When I did, we were heading into the oncoming lane and I was able to swerve back into our lane just
in time. Had the stranger not woken me up right then, we would have had a head on collision,” Matt said in a jittery voice, still shaken by the incident. Melissa thought back to that night and did remember Matt abruptly changing lanes on their way to Bakersfield, but she didn’t realize it was to avoid an oncoming car.

  “What else aren’t you telling me,” Melissa accused.

  “Nothing, I honestly didn’t remember the dream I had about the stone until you came over,” Matt pleaded. Melissa reached out and grabbed Matt’s arm, then she pulled him close to her and gave him a hug.

  “I believe you,” she whispered in his ear. Matt felt relieved that she wasn’t going to leave him, and he promised himself that he would never keep the truth from her again.

  “What are you going to do with the stone?” Melissa asked after she finished hugging him.

  “I would like my Geology teacher to take a look at it before I do anything else,” Matt replied as he took the stone and put it back in his pocket.

  “Do you think the military will come back and search my dorm or Greg’s?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Matt replied.

  “They better not,” she said with a look of anger at the thought of having her privacy invaded.

  “Thanks again for coming over,” Matt remarked as he started picking his clothes up off the floor.

  “I was going to stay and help clean up,” Melissa offered.

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Matt replied.

  “Are you afraid I’ll find more secrets hidden in your stuff?” she said jokingly.

  “Nope, feel free to snoop all you like,” he challenged.

  Melissa picked up a folded pair of underwear off the floor and proceeded to wave them in front of his face.

  “Yes, I wear underwear, those go back in the top drawer of the dresser,” he explained as if talking to a child. Melissa smirked when she saw a sock puppet under some of his clothing. Then she promptly slipped it onto her hand and began attacking his head with it.

  “Put that down, it’s a toy for my nephew,” Matt calmly explained to her. Melissa giggled and then attacked his head with the puppet again. Matt tried to grab it from her, and she ran to the opposite side of his bed laughing and taunting him with it.