The Vision Master

by William Hill

"No matter" Specks said. "But I'm afraid Johnson is right, you are definitely not who we want. I'm afraid that you've put us in the position where something must be done with you. Can't very well let you go about telling anyone what you now know. So I suggest we just take it easy until he returns."

  “I noticed a couple in my class besides myself that didn’t look comfortable with what Johnson was saying,” Liam announced. “What if there might be more than just me in this school who disagree with the ‘Program’? Don’t you think they might talk too?”

  “More? Well, thanks for than bit of information. I’ll make sure Johnson keeps his eyes open. We’ll find out if that’s true and deal with them accordingly, I assure you."

  Liam was immediately sorry that he had mentioned it. “How is it you've finally found your tongue? You're not the tongue-tied person you were", he said, changing the subject.

  "Purely an act, my dear Sherlock" he answered with a snort. "I thought it a nice ruse to make everyone in the Circle think me something of a buffoon. Useful, but harmless. I think I succeeded quite well, don't you?"

  Liam sat down on the hard concrete floor. How can I warn the others? Of course! I'll just cast a vision out of here, to Gran's, and tell her! He closed his eyes and began to envision her living room. Just as it began to focus in his mind, it became less clear. Refocusing, it began rematerializing, only to fade away again. Liam suddenly realized Specks was softly giggling under his breath.

  "Oh, my! The 'Boy Wonder', the 'Chosen One', indeed! Can't even overcome my limited ability to stop a vision!" Specks said as he began to laugh aloud.

  Liam was at a loss. He apparently wasn't strong enough in his gift, and he was trapped. He wondered, as he and Specks sat there, waiting, what they would do to him. Obviously, they wouldn't let him go.

  An hour had passed in silence between them when he heard the lock in the door click. It opened and in walked Johnson.

  "Well?" he asked Specks.

  "I'm afraid you're right. He knows now about 'our program' and my purpose on their Circle. And he's already tried to vision out somewhere. What do you propose?"

  "Well, we can't just let him go, though if we did I doubt anyone would believe him, at least at first, but it would seriously damage our efforts if they should. The only thing we can do is leave him here, locked in, suppress his mind so that he can't vision out, and let him die a natural death of starvation or dehydration in a few days. It can be explained that perhaps he was ditching class, got in here somehow, and couldn't get out. How will forever be a mystery. Poor boy."

  "That’s rather drastic, isn't it?" Specks asked.

  "Do you have an alternative plan?" Johnson wanted to know.

  "I have one," Liam offered. "You let me go and I forget everything I know."

  Ignoring him, Specks said that, unfortunately, no, he couldn't think of a better idea than Johnson's. He turned to Liam and said, "It really is a shame, you know. You had such great potential. I guess we'll never know."

  With that, and a last glance and a wave 'goodbye' to him, both men walked out of the room.

  The lock clicked.

  Carol hadn't seen Liam in the halls after first or second periods. She finished up her day at school and went home. It was after dinner, and she was in her room doing homework, when her phone rang. Excited that it was Liam, she answered it without checking the Caller ID.

  "Liam! Missed you between periods! How'd the rest of your day go?" she asked.

  "Very well, thank you. Missed you too. But this isn't Liam, it's Drew, and it's Liam I'm calling about."

  "Oh. I'm sorry Drew. What about Liam?"

  "He never showed up at school today."

  "What do you mean? He was there today, I saw him."

  "Maybe he was at your school, but he wasn't at mine. He was supposed to be in my third period, his first, there, but wasn't. He was supposed to be in Scott's last period, but wasn't. So I found one of his Crew buddies and asked him if he was going to the boat house. He said he was, so I asked him to give me a call when he got home and let me know if Liam showed up there. He just called and said 'No'. So I'm calling you to see if you know where he is."

  "No, I don't. I'll get back to you."

  She hung up and quickly speed-dialed Liam's cell. All she got was his voice mail. She left a message to call her, and then called his home phone. Liam's mother answered and Carol asked if Liam was in.

  "Not yet Carol" she answered. “He's not home from Crew yet."

  "Mrs. MacDonald, he never made it to Crew. He never made it to his second school. No one's seen him since I talked to him in the hallway after homeroom at my school!"

  "Oh Dear! Are you sure?"

  "Yes". She told her about Drew's call, and told her that the last thing Liam had said to her was that he was going to try to speak with Specks.

  "I'll give him a call and see if he knows anything," she told Carol. "I'll get back to you."

  Carol hung up, overtaken with a sense of dread. It wasn't like Liam to just up and do something without letting someone know. And, he had said that he felt Specks was dodging him this morning. Carol never did feel comfortable with Specks. Call it her female intuition, but he was...creepy, he made her skin crawl! She went downstairs and found her father in his den.

  "Dad, Liam's missing."

  "Missing?"

  She told him everything, and stressed the part about Liam wanting to talk to Specks about “Baker Street”, after which no one had seen or heard from Liam.

  "I wonder what that moron..." he began.

  "Liam's NOT a moron!"

  "I didn't mean Liam, Honey, I meant Specks. Never trusted him, always screwing things up. If he's put Liam in jeopardy, I’ll...well, let's just say it'll be the end of him. Let’s wait a while and see what his mother has to say when she calls, okay? I'm sure Liam'll turn up."

  She wasn't so sure, but she was glad to hear her father's assessment of Specks; at least she now knew she wasn't the only one to feel that way. She went back to her room and tried to resume her homework, but couldn't concentrate. She called Drew and Scott, and told them what she knew. She kept looking over at her phone, expecting it to ring, hopefully with Liam's voice on the other end.

  After talking to Carol, Liam's mother went into the living room where her husband was watching TV, and told him what Carol told her. "I think we should call Specks, don't you?" she asked him.

  Will was immediately on the phone. The conversation was brief. When he hung up, he told her that Specks said Liam had been in both his homeroom and English class, but no, he hadn't talked to or seen Liam since. Will then called the police to report Liam missing, spending what he considered an inordinate amount of time answering questions and ending by promising to fax them a recent picture of Liam.

  "They say they will distribute around his picture, but at this time they'll consider him a runaway, and a fifteen year old boy runaway is not top priority. And we should call back if he either comes home or if we get a ransom call. Can you believe that?" he sneered, as he told his wife.

  "But he's not! Why would he run away? You don't think he has been kidnapped, do you?" she cried.

  "I know he's not run away" he assured her. "Kidnapped? Whatever for? We’re not rich. But something's not kosher here. I'll call Mom. Maybe she's felt something."

  Scott was worried. Liam was a close friend, and his friend was missing. He was Drew's friend too, of course, but Drew had told him that he wasn't overly concerned, Liam was probably off on a lark some place and had just forgotten to call in. Maybe he was off in a vision of some kind, another pirate adventure or something, and had just lost track of time. But Scott knew Drew didn't really believe that; Drew’s voice had a tremble in it as he spoke, something that only happened when Drew was nervous or scared. And, Liam had promised them that the next time he did anything, like go on a vision, he'd take them along, and Liam was a man of his word.

&n
bsp; "Drew?"

  “Yeah?” He, like Scott, on his own bed in the room they shared, and on his back starring at the ceiling, was caught up in his own thoughts.

  "I have a bad feeling."

  Knowing that his brother was talking about Liam, since that's where his own thoughts had been all evening, answered, "So, you're like Liam's Gran, yeah?"

  "I don't know. We are family, right? I just have the feeling that Liam needs help".

  "So what can we do about it?"

  "I don't know."

  "Well, all I know is that if you don’t have another feeling, like where he is, there's nothing we can do tonight, and since we've school in the morning, we'd better go to sleep. I'll bet in the morning we'll find that Liam found his way home and will have a good story to tell us."

  "I guess you're right," Scott said, but he still didn't believe it.

  The phone rang and Marion looked at the ID. It was her son. "Hello, Will."

  "Mom”. He told her how Liam was missing and everything they had learned from Carol. He also told her about what Specks had told him, and that he'd called the police. Then he asked if she had 'felt' anything today about Liam.

  "No, I haven't" she told him. “But it's like any other kind of gift, it's often also a curse, and the curse is that it doesn't always work. Kidnapped? Bah! A runaway? My bahookie! If he hasn't just lost track of time in some silly dream, then he may be in some kind of trouble, but I've no idea what we can do. If he is in trouble, he could vision out to one of us, but only if it was safe to do so. Since he hasn't, if he is in trouble, then something...or someone... Maybe he can't because someone is blocking him!"

  "I can't imagine what, who, or why" he confessed.

  "Neither can I" she admitted. "But until something comes up, there's not much we can do except get some sleep. When something does come up, and it will, we're going to need all the strength we've got, I have a feeling."

  "I thought you didn't have a feeling," Will said.

  "Just a figure of speech. Go to bed. Staying up fretting over the unknown isn't productive. I'll call you in the morning, unless you call me first. But don't unless it's good news. I need my beauty sleep, and bad news can wait until morning.”

  Will told his wife what his mother had said. Louise laughed. "I don't care what she said, if I know her, she isn't going to get any more sleep tonight than I am. It's a 'mother thing'. She's right, you need to try and get some sleep. Liam may need you and your gift. You'll need all your strength. I can stay awake and worry for the both of us."

  Grudgingly, he acknowledged the wisdom in what she said, and headed off to their bedroom. Once he was gone, she picked up the phone and called Carol back.

  "Hello? Mrs. MacDonald?" Carol answered.

  "Carol, Honey, no one seems to know anything. We've called the police to report him missing, spoken to Mr. Specks, who knows nothing, and to his grandmother, who also neither knows nor has felt anything. I suggest that you go to bed. If we hear anything, anything at all, I'll call you, okay?"

  "Thanks, Mrs. MacDonald. Good night." Carol knew she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

  Liam awoke. He looked at his watch. It was nine-thirty in the morning. He couldn't remember going to sleep. From the minute Specks and Johnson left him alone locked in the boiler room, he had felt an oppressive darkness cloud his mind. It had taken all his strength to keep focused on his surroundings, to remember who he was and why he was where he was. Several times, he tried to envision himself somewhere else, but each time he couldn't concentrate enough to remember the necessary details of where he wanted to go. It was exhausting just trying to think. At some point, he simply have simply given in and closed his eyes. Now, however, refreshed after many hours of rest, he found himself thinking more clearly. Maybe it's the sleep I got, he thought to himself, or maybe because Specks and Johnson have to split their attention between me and the class their teaching. He tried again to vision-out, to go home, where he knew his folks would be. As he started to envision his living room, it started to come into focus. He felt himself almost there. Suddenly, however, the vision dissipated, and he felt the gray fog descend once again on his mind, only not as heavy as the night before. Perhaps he was right, maybe having to split their attention, Specks' and Johnson's strength over him diminished. If he could just wait until they were really engaged in something he'd have a chance! But when would that be? Realistically, he knew time was on their side. Soon, in just a day or two, he would start to weaken quickly from a lack of water and food. Again, he started feeling tired. Can’t think. Need…to...sleep.

  Carol slept in fits and spurts. She kept waking up in a start, thinking she'd heard her phone ring, only to find it a dream. When the alarm went off, she sluggishly crawled out of bed, did her bathroom necessaries, dressed, and made it to the kitchen for breakfast. Having eaten, she felt refreshed and finally awake. She wondered if it was too early to call Liam's house, and decided she didn't care.

  "Morning, Carol" Liam's dad answered.

  "Morning, Mr. MacDonald, any word?"

  "Sorry, no. But you'll be the first we'll call."

  "Thanks" she said, hanging up.

  She gathered up her things, put on a light sweater against the morning chill, said "Goodbye" to her mom, and went out the front door. She suddenly felt lonely. She missed Liam's company on her walk to school. They had walked together since first grade and she felt naked and exposed without his presence to protect her from the world. She reflected for a moment on that feeling and decided she didn't need him, but she sure wanted him. She hurried her pace.

  Arriving at the school, she walked in and passed the office. Stopping, she turned back and went in. A woman behind the counter looked up at her and said, "Good morning! Can I help you?"

  "My name's Carol and I am a friend of Liam MacDonald, a student here."

  "Yes! I've met Mr. MacDonald. Wonderfully pleasant lad. Sorry to hear he's been listed truant.”

  "Yes, me too, but...I was wondering...have you any idea? Did you see him yesterday?"

  "Ye know, yer ta first to axe me tat" she said, lowering her voice and leaning over the counter to get near Carol's ear. "I did indeed, it twas neer ta end o the second period. Ah dinnae ken why…”

  “Sorry, ‘Ah-din-nah-ken’?” interrupted Carol.

  “Sorry Love, sometimes I lapse into me native tongue. It means ‘I don’t know’. Anyway, I just happened to look up and saw Mr. Johnson ushering young MacDonald past the door, and it wasn't a minute later I noticed Mr. Specks pass by in the same direction. Then, maybe ten minutes later, Mr. Johnson passed by again, only going back ta'other way. Never did see if Mr. Specks came back, come ta' think of it. I thought at the time that it was most unusual. If Mr. MacDonald was leaving school early no one told me, and I'd need ta' know as I keep the attendance, and if he was being ejected for bad behavior, no one told me, and I'd need ta' know as I keep those records, as well. So where they went, or why, is a mystery to me!”

  "That is curious. Thank you," Carol said.

  "I hope your young man turns up soon, Miss. He's fine, I'll wager, ditching, playing a bit of hooky, to be sure!”

  Carol just gave her a smile and walked out of the office. Standing just outside the door, she looked down the hall in the direction Liam was last seen heading, with Johnson. And followed by Specks? All she saw was a door-less hall, walls covered with trophy cases, bulletin boards and posters, ending in a pair of large, double front doors. Then she noticed it. Just as you reached the entry doors, there was a small closet-like door on the left. It was easy to overlook leaving the building as one would be on the opposite side of the hall, and easy to miss coming in as the opening door would obscure it. In any event, who would notice it in the chaotic rush of students either coming or going through the doors? She didn't believe for a moment that Johnson had kicked Liam out. Ergo, its Elementary Watson...they had to have gone there! She w
alked over to the door and tried the handle. It turned, and she pulled the door open. A narrow staircase only went down. At the bottom was a small, maybe ten-by-ten landing with a massive door opposite the stairs. Stenciled on the door was "S-1 Boiler Room". She tried the handle. It turned, but the door wouldn't open.

  "Liam? Are you in there?" she called out. No answer, but she was certain Liam had to be in there; she felt his presence somewhere nearby…and there was nowhere else but this room.

  "LIAM!" she yelled while pounding on the door. "LIAM!”

  Chapter Sixteen: The Rescue

  “Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.”