by Amber Jaeger
“This is what you brought me here for? You saved my brother just so you could ask me about wine and cars?”
Jordan was quiet for a long moment, twirling the silver stem of glass between his fingers. He seemed younger and more real than he had in Nightmare Town. I could see the details of each dark wave of his hair, the calluses ringing the palms of his hands. My face began to heat again as I appreciated just how handsome he was.
“Is it so terrible? Being here with me?” he asked, not looking me in the face.
I felt bad. “No, it’s just … you went to all the trouble of saving my brother and getting him back to me just so you could ask me some mundane questions?”
“They aren’t mundane to me.” He had barely shifted in his chair and I was ready to jump out of mine and start pacing the floor.
“Okay, so why don’t you just go there and see for yourself if you’re so interested?”
He was quiet for a moment. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Jordan’s eyes narrowed. “You ask a lot of questions for an encyclopedia.”
My temper flared. “Sorry, I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”
He stood up from his chair. “I gave you your brother back and you are supposed to tell me about where you are from. I thought you would be more grateful. I could have asked for much more.”
I fidgeted with my dress, choosing my next words carefully. “Thank you for helping my brother. You have no idea how grateful I am to have him back. And I will uphold my end of the bargain. It’s just that I have no idea how any of this is possible and you seem to. I just want to know—”
“I think that’s enough questions for now,” he said, setting his glass down.
“I have a couple more,” I tried to say but he shook his head and pointed at a rosy glow coming up the smoke chain.
“I think you’re needed at home. Until next time,” he said with small, sad smile. He hesitated in front of the fireplace as I began to drift off. “I hope we can become friends.”
His face and the sound of the crackling fireplace faded to a rushing, dreamless gray.
Chapter 6
I AWOKE EXPECTING TO FEEL groggy or unsettled, but I was rested and alert, just as if from any regular dream or sleep. Even the bandage on my wrist was in place as it had been when I went to sleep. Noting the old blood that had seeped through, I stripped it off and to my horror found ... nothing. No cut, no mark, not a scar or even a faint line. I clamped my other hand over the area so I wouldn’t have to look at the proof.
“Proof of what?” I whispered to myself. “That I’m crazy?”
“Bixby!” my dad bellowed up the stairs, interrupting my panic. “We’re leaving in five minutes; your grandma is already down here.”
“‘Kay,” I tried to respond normally, but my voice came out a squeak.
I splashed water on my face, brushed my teeth and threw my hair into the messiest ponytail ever. I was sure my dad wouldn’t notice anything wrong and I hoped to be calm by the time we got to Linc, but to myself I looked crazed.
I curled up in the backseat as Dad drove us back to the hospital but the thought of seeing Linc again after thinking him gone forever couldn’t keep my mood dark.
“Now, Bixby,” my dad said as we pulled into the parking garage.”Don’t say anything to anyone.”
“Who would want to talk to me?”
“Don’t smart ass me!” he snapped.”Just keep your mouth shut.”
I sighed as quietly as I could and reminded myself he would be gone again in a few days.
Up on Linc’s floor, I noticed the stares from the nurses and a security guard twirling around a chair at the nurses’ station.
Linc’s face lit up when I walked in the room. “Bixby! You come to take me home?”
I looked at my dad who looked at the nurse that had followed us in. “Tomorrow,” she promised.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
She nodded. “A concussion, some fractured ribs, he’s been rehydrated and will need to finish up his antibiotic for pneumonia, but he’ll be fine to go home.”
Linc and I grinned at each other.
“Mr. Gray, if we could just have a word?” she asked, pointing towards the hallway.
When dad was out, Lincoln whispered, “Bix, did you know there are reporters here?”
I nodded.
“What do they want?”
I chewed my lip. “Well, everybody sort of thought you were dead, so I guess they want to know where you were and what happened.”
He nodded and chewed his own lip. He looked so foreign to me, sitting so still, so pale, and his eyes looking large in his thinner face.
“Bixby?” he finally asked.
“Hmmm?”
“If I’m not dead, who did you guys bury?”
My stomach rolled at the thought. “I don’t know. I’m sure the police will figure it out.”
“Well, where did they find the body? Couldn’t you guys tell it wasn’t me?”
I shifted uncomfortably, knowing what I was about to say may not apply to him anymore but did apply to the guy who had been his best friend.
“It was a pretty bad accident. The car was in really bad shape and there was a fire ...”
He was quiet, and then said, “So how did you guys decide it was us? ‘Cause if we were so burned up, our wallets would have been too, right?”
“Your school IDs were in your backpacks, in the trunk. The fire started in the front of the car.”
Lincoln nodded and turned from me. I could see his drawn face reflected in the window but didn’t know how to comfort him.
Our dad stormed back in the room. “Well Linc, brush your damn hair, I guess you’re going to be on the news.”
Linc paled even more than he already was. “Why?”
My heart ached seeing my normally strong brother so skittish and scared.
“The cops want to be the ones to break the news, I guess, and whoever runs this place agrees. Said he can explain better why you can’t explain what happened.”
“Great,” Lincoln said bitterly. “So why do I have to be there?”
“Don’t smart ass me, boy,” my dad snapped.
I rolled my eyes behind his back.
The nurse came back in and shooed us out so she could get Lincoln ready. “We’re doing this now?” I asked my dad nervously.
“I guess,” he said, taking his hat off and rubbing it over his face.
“You think it’s going to be bad?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Not bad, just ... not good. People make a big hairy deal about stuff like this. We don’t need your brother all over the news or the Internet or whatever.”
I nodded then excused myself to fix my ponytail. Grandma followed me into the bathroom and watched me try to smooth out the mess.
“You have pretty hair,” she said. “You should brush it.”
My hair was long like hers, but instead of a gorgeous soft black, the Irish from dad’s side had come out and I was left with a not-brown, not-red, not-auburn color. Nobody but Grandma ever said I had pretty hair, they always said, “Well, I guess it’s not really red, is it?”
A bunch of men and women in suits led my family down to a conference room that had been set up. There was a table with glasses of water and tape recorders all lined up. Bright lights washed everything in a harsh glow. My brother looked even weaker and smaller once wheeled up there.
Dad took a seat next to him and Grandma and I stood off to the side. One of the suits harrumphed into the microphone, silencing the dozen or so reporters that had started buzzing when Linc was wheeled in.
The man introduced the lead detective who read a short, terse statement from note cards. “Lincoln Gray, assumed to have died in an accident two weeks ago, was taken to St. Worth’s hospital from a local men’s homeless shelter yesterday. He is unable to remember the events of the last two weeks, the accident he was supposed to have been in or who m
ight have actually been in the car. We’re asking anyone that may have seen Lincoln that day or since to come forward.”
The reporters erupted with questions, most of them shouted at Lincoln. Linc’s doctor stood up and took the microphone from the detective. He held his hands help out in a silent plea.
“Please folks, let me get through this part and you can ask your questions.”
He consulted his own note cards then continued. “Detective Clemet has explained the facts, or I guess lack thereof. I’m just going to explain our young patient’s condition. I’m sure you’re all thinking we should just ask him what happened—” He paused to glare at a reporter that dared shout out his agreement. “But unfortunately, we are dealing with a closed head injury that has somewhat impaired his memory. Hours before and days after are just wiped clean, gone. I can tell you that his injuries are consistent with a car accident, although there is no evidence of burns, which I understand the other passenger, uh, passengers in the car suffered from.” He glanced back at the detective. “Anything to add?”
Detective Clemet leaned over his shoulder to speak into the microphone. “Any tips can be called in to the Michigan State Police.”
Dr. Herpa cleared his throat. “Any questions?”
The reporters jumped to their feet and started yelling over each other. I watched the color fade from Linc’s face as he scrunched down in his wheelchair. Even Grandma was watching him with narrowed eyes. What had happened to my fearless brother?
Finally, a female reporter managed to over-shout all the others. “Dr. Herpa and Detective Clemet, do you really still believe he was in the car accident?”
“Like I said, his injuries are consistent with a car accident and appear to date back about two weeks.”
Detective Clemet cleared his throat. “At this point we aren’t ruling anything out.”
Another reporter jumped up to shout her question. “Lincoln, do you really not remember what happened before or after the accident?”
Linc looked at my dad then leaned toward the microphone. “Yeah.”
The woman sat down, looking annoyed.
A man popped up and shouted, “How does it feel to be back with your family?”
At this Linc gave a goofy little grin. “Good?”
That reporter sat down annoyed as well.
“Will you be returning to school soon?” another shouted.
Dr. Herpa answered that one. “Within the week, I should hope. But sports will have to wait a bit longer,” he said pointedly to Lincoln.
The longer Linc sat up there and answered their stupid questions, the more relaxed he became. He sat up straighter, smiled and made a few jokes. The doctor finally cut them off citing his patient needing rest and we were all escorted back upstairs.
Relieved to see Linc more like himself, I gave him a tiny hug good-bye but was surprised when he wouldn’t let go.
“Bixby?” he whispered into my hair.
“What?”
“Can’t you stay here tonight?”
I pulled back a little and looked from him to our dad. “I have to take care of Grandma. What’s wrong?”
He shrugged, and then whispered, “Nothing. Just bad dreams I guess.”
He heard my tiny intake of breath and looked at me quizzically.
“What kind of dreams?” I wheezed.
“Just ... bad ones. Like I’m stuck, or ... stuck, I guess.” He shook his head. “I don’t know, don’t worry about it.”
I nodded and shoved my shaking hands into my pockets. “There are nurses out there all night if you need anything, okay? And we’ll be back tomorrow to bring you home. I’ll make Salisbury steak, okay?”
Even that didn’t cheer him up and I left the hospital feeling like a jerk. He was sick and in pain and having nightmares and not only could I not stay to keep him company, I couldn’t help but be worried for myself. I had been distracted for the last few hours but bedtime was only a short ways away and I was worried for my sanity.
Chapter 7
THE RIDE HOME WAS ANOTHER silent one and to my dismay, Grandma wanted to go to bed right away. I would have straightened Lincoln’s room for him but I had done that obsessively after the funeral, washing and folding his clothes and making his bed, doing it all over again when my hands had been still for too long.
I tried to loiter in the living room with my dad but he kicked me out. “Seriously, Bixby, can I have five minutes to myself?”
Our outdated water heater only gave me fifteen minutes of soothing, distracting hot water and even my hair didn’t need more than a few minutes with the hair dryer. Frustrated and nervous, I found myself in bed at ten o’clock.
I lay thinking then reached over to my nightstand for a pen. After another minute of thinking, I carefully wrote out “Lincoln” on the back of my left hand and lay back down.
I tried to pay attention as I drifted off. Was it at all different than how I normally felt falling asleep? Was coming to in this new kind of dream different than Nightmare Town?
Hearing the distinct crackle of the fireplace again I realized that it was. I didn’t ever wake up in Nightmare Town, I just was there. I fell asleep, floated around in darkness for a while then my mind faded in with me standing in front of the display cases in the general store, or walking down the road to my house, or in the alley behind the pub. Here, in Jordan’s world, or dream world, I was waking up in bed.
“You are awake, aren’t you?” Ash asked.
I sighed and sat up. “Yup.”
“Good,” she said with smile, reaching into the wardrobe, searching for another ridiculous dress.
I glanced down to see the same nightgown and the carefully printed letters on my hand. With some spit and vicious rubbing, I scrubbed the ink off entirely. “You have a pen?” I asked.
Ash poked her head back out of the wardrobe. “A pin?”
“Pen.”
She shook her head. “You’ll have to ask Jordan.” The dress she pulled out was only slightly less frilly than the others. I put it on without argument and ran my fingers through my hair.
I tried to focus on the questions I wanted to ask the most. I would be getting some answers from him.
I expected to be led back to the small library, but instead of going down the stone hallway, she led me out under a stone archway and into a huge, paved yard. Giant torches lit the whole area and I was surprised to see so many people around, some pushing carts or wheelbarrows or carrying baskets or just rushing around in general.
“Isn’t it kind of late to be working?” I asked.
Ash shrugged. “I think we live on a different schedule than people do.”
I frowned at that, opened my mouth to ask her about it and promptly had it snap shut on me when I saw what was in the stable I had been led into.
A huge glossy carriage sat in the wide aisle way and in front of it were the two hugest, blackest horses I had ever seen. They looked like evil sculptures, all curves of muscles and flared nostrils and round, angry eyes. Their stamping shook the floor and if I had been suicidal enough to measure myself against them, I’m sure I would have found I could easily walk under their barreled stomachs.
Ash, who had kept walking, finally noticed I was still standing in the doorway. “Come on,” she prompted with a little wave.
I followed, skimming close to the wall. But when she opened the door to the oversized black carriage and motioned up, I balked. “No way,” I squeaked. “Not with those things pulling it.”
“Come on,” she said more forcefully, making hand motions like it would be both our necks if I didn’t jump in the carriage.
I closed my eyes and whispered to myself, “This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream.”
Ash grabbed my hand and shoved me up into the carriage.
Jordan was seated on one bench, looking bored. “What took so long?” he asked. “We only have a few hours.”
“What the hell are those things?” I hissed.
He frowned.
“Horses. You don’t have horses in Michigan? What a weird place.”
I flung myself down onto the opposite bench. “We have horses. Normal, nice looking horses that are small enough to ride. Those look like Satan’s horses!”
Jordan grinned and managed not to be knocked from his bench like me when the carriage jerked to a start unexpectedly.
I picked myself and tried not to be totally indignant. “So what exactly is it that we’re doing?”
“I thought I’d take you on a tour of the countryside.”
“Okay, A., I didn’t realize this was a Jane Austen novel and B., it’s dark outside.”
“Jane Austen?”
“A famous classic writer!” I snapped. “I know you have books.”
Jordan frowned. “Are you angry with me?”
I sighed and took a moment to arrange the long skirt of the dress. “No. I’m just ... this is really weird. And I’m starting to think it’s real, which just makes it weirder.”
He nodded sympathetically. “But it is worth it, right? How’s your brother?”
With that my game plan snapped back into my mind. “Right! My brother! What’s wrong with him?”
Jordan rubbed a thumb down the seam of the bench. “I’d imagine the sorts of things that would be wrong with anyone who suffered in a car accident like he did.”
I shook my head. “No, well, yes, he has some injuries they say would have come from a car crash but I mean he’s not acting like Lincoln. My brother is totally fearless, he’s the best at everything, he spends all his time playing sports and off-roading in his truck. Now he’s pale and timid. And he’s having bad dreams.”
Jordan raised an eyebrow.
“Not like me. Just bad, I guess.”
He nodded and said, “So your brother is hurt, survived an accident his friend died in that he can’t remember, learned his family thought him dead and buried him and now he is having trouble sleeping?”
I chewed my lip for a moment. “You’re right. I would probably be on a psych ward right now.”
“Psych ward?”
