The Pull (The Emanation Saga Book 1)

by R. J. Lloyd

  She cleared her throat. “I know you’re right. At least, I hope so. I’m just scared of what’s going to happen between now and then.”

  He looked down at his hands. “Me, too. I’ll tell you what though, we might have a little time. So, we can lay low, gather some supplies and prepare before we head out again.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled through the puffiness that plagued her features after crying.

  They stayed in the hotel for two more days, letting their minds settle, getting familiar with each other even more and gathering supplies for more road time. Both of them agreed they couldn’t stay on the run; moving from place to place, never settling down. Always running from something and someone they didn’t even know if they needed to keep running from.

  Together, they organized a plan to get to Eva’s father without putting themselves in a situation where he could lock either of them away. Both knew that until they worked things out with him, there was no place they would feel safe, especially since they didn’t know what lengths he might go to and what his reasons were for trying to keep them apart.

  On the morning of the third day cooped up in their room, Eva busied herself early with gathering their things, packing them to get on the road. It was half to prepare to leave their temporary home and half to keep herself and her mind occupied.

  “I packed everything. The bags are by the door,” Eva announced as she placed the last pair of shoes in a bag.

  Ian stretched, waking from a deep sleep. “What time is it?”

  She sat on the side of the bed, facing him. “Eight.”

  “Couldn’t sleep?” He touched her hand.

  She smiled. “No. I’m too nervous.”

  He sat up, running his hand through his sleep-disheveled hair. “Nervous or scared?”

  “Yes.” She bowed her head, trying to avoid the later of those emotions. “But I’m ready.”

  Ian kissed her forehead before getting out of the bed. He smiled when he saw an outfit and toiletries set out on the hotel room desk.

  “Too much?” Eva clasped her hands in her lap.

  He laughed. “No. Just not used to being taken care of.” He picked up the provided items and headed to the bathroom.

  As he showered, Eva sat at the desk and picked up the pen and paper she’d gotten when they’d gone shopping two days prior. She had been staring at the blank page each day since they agreed to go confront her father, wanting to put everything down in writing so she wouldn’t forget and leave something unsaid. But before anything solid and logical came out of her pen, her mind would get muddled with emotions and memories and anger. Anger pushed tears to the edges of her eyelids when she thought about her own father betraying her like he seemed to be doing. The anger forcing her to drop the pen each time and leave the page blank.

  That time, though, she allowed the bitterness to mix with the comfort of her memories. Her mind wandered back through the years to the time before college when everything became foggy and more difficult to see clearly. She let herself get lost in them as some of the fog lifted, and she lost all sensation from reality.

  The rare moments she allowed herself to think that far back, scared her, and jerked her back to alertness. Years prior, Eva had been in an accident that left her with amnesia. Memories from her childhood were missing… foggy at best. Anytime she tried to bring them back, she always felt like she was falling down a hole. That time, though, she didn’t allow herself to fear them. That time, she thought maybe there would be some key to everything buried in there. And if not complete answers, maybe she could find something that would help her know where to start when questioning the man who had started to haunt her dreams.

  But what she found, she wasn’t prepared for.

  The hotel room melted away, and she no longer felt the chair beneath her or the pen in her hand. At first, she saw herself younger, a teenager, sitting in a classroom, listening to a teacher as they lectured on some scientific topic. Some of the names of the other students were on the tip of her tongue, and she struggled to recall them as she scanned the room. That is, until one student in particular came into view.

  Her heart started racing. She couldn’t hear him outside of her thoughts, but Ian had stepped out of the shower and came in the room. Seeing Eva gripping the desk, her entire body rigid, he called out her name, “Eva? Are you ok?”

  He toweled off quickly and threw on his pants, racing over to her. “Eva?”

  Nothing.

  She watched through the eyes of another her. A younger self who smiled and continued to glance over at one particular boy who paid her just as much attention. Only the boy wasn’t someone she didn't recognize. He looked exactly like Ian. All except one major detail. His name, in her memory, he wasn’t Ian.

  “Eva!” He touched her shoulder.

  She jumped. “Brendan!” She turned and gripped his forearm, the name flying past her lips before she could stop it.

  He looked confused. “Brendan?”

  Eva’s breaths were coming ragged as she stared at the man before her that looked only slightly older than the boy she was just remembering. And she froze, unsure what to make of it and completely at a loss for words. Her eyes were wide, and her hands clenched his arms, her body rigid as if she was ready to spring up from her chair at any second.

  “Eva? Who is Brendan? What happened? Are you alright? Are they alright?” He knelt down in front of her.

  She blinked. “Ian?”

  “Yes?” This time, he touched her hand, trying to guide it from his arm where her fingers were pressed so tight the tips were white.

  She jerked back.

  He flinched, not sure if what he had seen was real or not. When she pulled her hand back, he was sure her fingers went right through his. But that couldn’t have been. He figured his eyes were still blurry, and he shrugged it off. “What happened?”

  Eva looked at him another moment as her breathing slowed. “It was you. Only it wasn’t you. You were younger, and we were in class at some school, and we were smiling at each other, and your name was Brendan. And we knew each other. Like really knew each other.” She stared at Ian as he processed her words. Having said it out loud, her expression changes. She felt ridiculous. “I’m sorry. I must have fallen asleep. It was probably just a dream or something.”

  He leaned back in toward her. “Fell asleep? You were wide awake. That was more like a vision.”

  She pretended to laugh. “A vision? I don’t think so.”

  Ian took her hand in his, letting out a breath of relief that she wasn’t going through him. “Whatever it was, that was freaky. Maybe just a delayed side effect of the drugs they gave you while you were locked up.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

  Both of them sat there, not really looking at each other. After a long moment, they both stood and went about packing the remaining few items and gathering themselves.

  Without saying much, Ian went up to the front desk and checked out as Eva arranged things in the car for them to leave.

  Sixteen

  Traveling Back

  Ian and Eva were quiet for the first three hours of the drive. Aside from Eva asking him if he wanted a snack or a bottle of water, neither had spoken. Ian simply pointed the car toward their destination and set the cruise control.

  His mind reeled with unanswered questions. Why were they connected? How did he know she was real? Why was Eva’s father locking her away in what was listed as a closed asylum… that was obviously not? Why had she gone ghost-like back in the hotel? And why had they been dreaming of each other?

  The entire thing seemed like an impossible puzzle. The kind of mystery you would only read about in a book or watch on television. But there they were, on the road, facing numerous unanswered questions.

  “Eva?” He kept his eyes on the road.

  She finished the last bite of her cheese stick. “Yeah?”

  “When did you start dreaming of me?”

  “What do you mean?” S
he adjusted in her seat to look at him.

  “Our dreams. I mean, your dreams… when did the dreams of us in that restaurant start for you? Do you remember the first time? When it was?” The creases in his forehead deepened.

  “I don’t know. A few months ago. Why?” She tilted her head.

  “Just go with me on this.”

  “Okay? When did the dreams start?” Her words trailed off as she thought about his question.

  “Was it in the spring? Maybe May?” he asked.

  Biting her lower lip, she thought for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. That sounds about right. Closer to the middle of May, I think.”

  “I was in your town for a business meeting about then. Well, Kyle said it was a business meeting, but it ended up mostly being us in the bars. I’ve always thought that night was the first dream, but now I’m starting to wonder.” He steered the car onto the off ramp, taking the next exit to Quincy, having passed through Missouri and into Illinois.

  “It was!” she said excitedly, “I remember. It was two parts or something. At first, we were both in a diner. You had ditched your friend and left the bar, rather intoxicated. I saw you walk through the door and…”

  He cut her off. “I walked directly to your booth and sat down.”

  “It was as if we had already known each other,” they said in unison.

  “Exactly,” Ian added. “And we talked for hours. Then, there was a split in the dream after you left the diner and went home.”

  “You kissed me that night.” Eva blushed.

  Ian smiled. “I did. And then I went back to my hotel. The next thing I remember, we were in that dream restaurant. It was similar to the one we met in, but not quite the same. And every dream started there after that.”

  “Yeah; every other dream started there,” she agreed.

  “You remember?” he asked.

  Eva let out a humored breath. “Of course I remember; it was the first dream in… in… well, in our relationship.”

  “But what if that part wasn’t a dream?” His tone was full of excited curiosity. “What if that night was real? What if we actually met, and that is what started all of the dreams?”

  “I guess that makes sense. I mean, it makes about as much sense as the rest of this. So, I guess it’s a possibility. There’s only one way to find out, though.” Eva looked down at the phone in her lap.

  Ian glanced over at her. “What do you mean?”

  She took a deep breath. “I would have to ask Michelle. She would know what happened better than me that night. It’s all an alcohol-hazy blur to me.”

  “Then ask her,” he suggested.

  Eva cringed. “But what if she tells my father where we are?”

  “Eva.” Ian held his hand. “First thing, we’re going to go find your father. Second, it’s a burner phone. She can’t trace it unless she’s teamed up with some crazy, insane hackers or the cops on this. If she can give us answers, I'm willing to risk it. So, if you have her number memorized, I’d say call it. I know I’d love to have some answers. It’s awesome to know you’re real and to be with you in person. But seriously? This all seems so insane.”

  With a nod, Eva picked up the phone and stared at it. Slowly, she punched in the numbers of Michelle’s cell. “She always knew where I was. We hardly do things without the other. That night, we had been out doing some alcohol therapy after her most recent breakup. She would have been completely wasted. But I don’t remember where she was while I was in the diner. Frankly, I don’t remember going there. I just remember when you walked through the door, and from that point on. Well, except for how I got home. It goes blank after walking out of there.”

  “Then let's see if she remembers how you got there.” He pulled up to a gas station close to the expressway.

  She hit the call button, and the phone rang.

  Eva was about to hang up when she heard Michelle’s voice. “Hello? Eva? Ian?”

  Eva cleared her throat. “Michelle?”

  “Oh my God, it’s you!” Michelle practically yelled into the receiver. “Where are you? Is Ian with you? Are you okay? What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you everything when I can, but I have a question first,” Eva explained.

  Confused, Michelle tried to calm herself. “Okay? What do you need?”

  “I need to know if you remember something,” Eva said. “That night we went out drinking in May after you and Craig broke up, do you remember how I got to Sydney’s Diner downtown? I remember being at something like the third bar, drinking heavily. I don’t even remember the name of the bar we were at. But after that, there’s a gap before I remember sitting, alone, at the diner. I sorta remember being there, then there’s a gap between walking outside of it and being home. Do you remember anything from that night? Or am I imagining the diner after the bar hopping? Did we just go home and pass out?”

  Michelle giggled. “Of course I remember. I’m not the one who blacks out when drinking.”

  “Yeah, yeah. What happened then?” Eva rolled her eyes. She put the phone on speaker so Ian could hear.

  Michelle scoffed. “Well, when I got bored at the third bar, we walked around for a bit as we sent Craig texts, chewing him out for being such a jerk. We told him where we were, standing outside that little boutique we love on main, and he showed up, apologizing. So, he and I walked you, completely drunk, to the diner so he and I could go somewhere to talk and you could eat something with all that alcohol in your system. I don’t know how you got home. I only know once I got you into a booth and ordered you some hot chocolate and some food, we left. I got home the next morning to find you swooning over a bowl of cereal, talking about how you’d met the man of your dreams.”

  Eva’s cheeks turned three shades of red. “Okay, okay. But did I say how I’d gotten home?”

  “Not really,” Michelle replied. “You just said you’d met some guy and then came home and dreamed about him. Oh! A cab! You said you took a cab!”

  “But I clarified I had met him and then dreamed about him? Like actually said we’d met?” Eva asked.

  “Yes.” Michelle paused. “But you were still drunk. Later on that day, you gave more details about him, and you were not clear on that. You figured you must have dreamed the whole thing.”

  “Right,” Eva replied absentmindedly as she stared out the windshield. Shaking herself into focus, she asked, “But why would I have started thinking it was all a dream?”

  “Because you had no evidence of having met him. No phone number or anything.” Michelle gasped. “Wait! That guy is Ian! The Ian you’re with now, right?”

  “That’s me,” Ian announced, proudly.

  “Oh crap. Do you guys think the dreams started after actually meeting that night?” Michelle’s words sped up as she spoke.

  Ian chuckled. “Nothing gets past this one, does it?”

  Eva slapped his leg with the back of her hand. “We are wondering that, yeah. This whole thing is so confusing and crazy. Really, I’m not sure. Nothing makes sense anymore. But we’re going to find out what’s going on. You have to admit, that’s a strange coincidence if that’s what happened.”

  “You know, because it’s not strange enough you two dream of each other like you do.” Michelle’s tone calmed. “So, what now? Where are you two? I hear road noises. Do you know where you’re going? It’s not safe to just come home, is it?”

  “No.” Eva looked down. “Ian is driving, and I told him we should start with taking me there. But honestly, I don’t know where my father is right now, and we want to try to talk to him. But the place he took me? Michelle, it was in some closed mental wing for criminally insane. It was fucking scary, Michelle.”

  “What the hell? That’s messed up. But you’re out. And he’s here. Well, not here, here. He’s in town. He stops by or calls three times a day, asking me if I’ve seen you or heard from you.” Michelle talked fast.

  Ian asked, “Is he there now?”

  “I already said he wasn’
t,” Michelle replied. “But he was earlier. And I am sure he will at least call later. What do you want me to do? Lie and say I haven’t heard from you guys?”

  “No. We are coming there to find him anyway. Tell him. And if you can, give him a message for me?” Eva requested.

  “Anything.” Remorse was still thick in Michelle’s voice.

  Eva got serious. “Tell him he’d better have an explanation, and it had better be the truth. And tell him we will be at the Starbucks downtown at three in two days.”

  “The truth. Starbucks. Three. Two days. Got it.” The sounds of Michelle playing with the pen as she wrote echoed over the line. “Hey, Eva?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m really sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  “Me, too.”

  Eva hung up the phone.

  The next day, they were back in Venice, and all Eva wanted was go to her house. She longed to curl up in her own bed, get a change of her own clothes, get food from her own fridge, take a shower with her own toiletries and lounge on her own couch, watching her own TV. But she knew it was too risky for all of that. There was no telling what was still going on, let alone where Michelle stood on it all. Plus, when she saw her father, she wanted it to be in public. She wanted to have the chance to be prepared if he tried to pull something.

  The couple checked into a hotel room in the downtown area and stayed quiet for the night, putting the room under Ian’s name, figuring that if Eva's father was looking for them in town, he wouldn’t know Ian’s full name to track them. Then, after dinner, they settled in and sorted through their bags to assess their supplies. Ian had suggested they take the time to replenish just in case they needed to run again.

  After they wrote a list of needed items, he activated two pre-paid phones they picked up at a nearby gas station and made sure the room was secure. Then, Ian headed to the local supermarket, leaving Eva in the hotel room to stay out of sight.

  At first, Eva was fine. She repacked the items they wouldn’t need that night and laid out ones they would. Then, she finished off a bag of chips and the last water bottle. After that, she sat in the chair with a book. The words on the page kept falling to the wayside as she allowed herself to drift away with memories from a time she couldn’t quite remember. Those moments from her past, beyond the fog. That time period when she barely recognized herself. That time when Ian wasn’t Ian.