Jump When Ready

by David Pandolfe

  “How long have you all been here?” I asked.

  Jamie answered first. “You mean Earth years, right?”

  “Um, yeah.” Until he said it, I hadn’t realized there were any other kind.

  Jamie reached out to a passing dragonfly. It landed on his finger, wings humming, then took to the air again. “About twenty-five, give or take.”

  I shook my head wondering if I’d heard right. “Twenty-five years? Hang on, that’s impossible. You’re about the same age as me.”

  “Well, not exactly,” Jamie said. “I kicked it when I was fifteen. I’ve been here for a while. But, yeah, I still see myself being basically that age. I mean, it wasn’t like I was ready to grow up or anything like that, never mind die. They say that happens a lot when people suddenly find themselves dead with no warning.”

  “You mean between lives, right?”

  “Just testing. Well done, you get an A. To be honest, I was just saying that for Naomi’s benefit. She’s still sensitive about it.”

  We walked along the path, sunlight streaming through the branches above, while Jamie told me about his last life. As it turned out, he’d been part of the original Goth crowd back in the 80s. Not surprisingly, his favorite band had been the Cure.

  Jamie told me how he’d died suddenly of a cerebral embolism one day, this weird blood clot deal that smacked into his brain and basically blew it up. Extremely unusual, he said, even for an adult never mind a kid. Just one of those freaky things that happen to people. One in a million. Lucky Jamie.

  “One minute, I was staring into the refrigerator wondering if my mother would freak if I ate a sandwich before dinner. Next thing I knew, I was saying hello to people here. Still holding a jar of mayonnaise, actually. Who knew you could bring condiments?”

  Nikki filled me in on Simon and Naomi. Simon’s death would have been laughable if, well, it hadn’t killed him. He’d also been fifteen and it happened when he was crossing a street in London. He’d been so intent on checking out some girls that he’d walked right in front of one of those double-decker buses. Splat, no more Simon. This happened in 1965.

  “1965? Holy crap,” I said. That was over 30 years before I was even born, never mind now.

  “Right at the height of all the Beatlemania stuff,” Nikki said. “I guess he was really into all that. He wanted to come to the U.S. too. Back then, everyone thought America was totally cool. In a way, I do think of Simon as part of the British Invasion—he’s sort of the bad aftertaste.”

  Naomi’s story, on the other hand, was nothing but sad. She’d been at some sort of national park with her family and she ran off a cliff trying to catch a butterfly. She’d been 11 at the time. This part really freaked me out—she died in 1957.

  “Yeah, she was just a little kid, really,” Jamie said. “She still kind of is, but that’s cool.”

  I was starting to wonder if Nikki was going to talk about herself but finally she sighed loudly, like she was ticked off about something. Then she told me that she’d died when she was sixteen. She’d grown up in Los Angeles and had hoped to become a professional dancer. She’d just been accepted to a prestigious high school for the arts and was going to start in the fall. Unfortunately, she’d been hit by a car while riding her bike one day that summer. She’d died in 1969.

  “As you can probably tell, I still get kind of pissed off about all of it sometimes,” Nikki said. “I really wanted to go to that school, for one thing.”

  “You do seem to have some bitchy moments,” I said.

  “Whatever. Get used to it.” Nikki smacked the back of my head lightly for effect.

  “What about Curtis? What happened to him?”

  I looked over at Jamie, who looked sad all of a sudden. Strangely, he hadn’t seemed particularly sad before, even as he’d been describing his own death. But I guessed that was all ancient history for him now.

  “Curtis is a different deal,” Jamie said. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell you, all things considered. But, okay, he died when he was seventeen. He jumped off the top of an apartment building in Seattle.”

  “You mean fell off, right?”

  Jamie shook his head. “No. Curtis really did commit suicide. He’s been here since 1972. I guess he had a tough life and you kind of expect someone to take a while getting over that sort of thing. But he seems to keep heading in the wrong direction, if you know what I mean.”

  “No, I really don’t,” I said.

  “Did Martha maybe mention to you what hell was?”

  “She said it had something to do with anger and hatred.”

  “Right, she always makes that clear right off,” Jamie said. “And, I guess, if you stay angry like Curtis—I mean unforgiving, hateful angry—for a long enough period of time, you start to go there. After that, it’s really hard for anyone to pull you back again.”

  No one said any more as we walked toward the pond. I understood. Maybe there wasn’t anything to be done about Curtis. He was looking like a lost cause. But even that didn’t matter right now. I needed to help Bethany and time was passing. Already, I guessed it to be late afternoon. In the time we’d spent walking to the pond, I hadn’t exactly come up with a plan and I felt bad about spending that time to talk about how everyone had ended up here. But at least I’d had a chance to get to know Jamie and Nikki that much more. And when before I’d wondered if all I might hope for was advice, now I felt differently.

  When we reached the water’s edge, I turned to face them. “I need you two to come with me,” I said, not doubting they’d agree.

  Only a moment passed before Jamie said, “I don’t know. That’s probably not the best plan.”

  Then Nikki. “Same here. I mean, I’d like to help and all that. But, well, you know…”

  Silence followed, my heart sinking. It seemed like you could never be sure about anything, or anyone, in this place where I now lived.

  Then I felt myself getting pissed off. “Why? Got something better to do?”

  Nikki and Jamie looked at the ground.

  “What’s the deal? Come on, you guys, look at me!”

  Jamie made eye contact first. “It won’t make any difference.”

  “He’s right,” Nikki said.

  I glared at them. “So the better plan is to do nothing?”

  “It’s not like that,” Jamie said. “We both want to help. But, listen, after I Transitioned, I kept trying to get through to my family. Nothing ever happened. They had no idea I was even there. It was like some sort of nightmare and finally I had to stop trying before I went insane.”

  “Same thing for me, basically,” Nikki said. “I hate to even talk about it, but I watched my parents lose all their money when they trusted a bad man with their investments. I watched my sister marry a total loser who abused her. She was sad and alone most of the time and I couldn’t once reach out to her. I watched as my parents grew old and died, and again when my sister ended up dying of cancer. For decades, I kept going back but it didn’t matter that I was there or that I could hear their thoughts. Not once did my being there make a bit of difference.”

  We remained silent for a while after Nikki finished. I guess neither me or Jamie knew what to say.

  Then, Jamie turned to her. “Wait. You just said you could hear their thoughts.”

  “Don’t even go there,” Nikki said.

  “That’s what you were getting at before, wasn’t it? You’re a Reader and you never said anything! Why?”

  Nikki glared at him. “Because it’s entirely useless. Worse than useless, it’s painful. No one should be able to do that. Why would I tell anyone? Besides, what about you?”

  “What about me? Like I said before, I’ve got nothing for you. Sorry if that ruins whatever theory you’re working on. I can’t believe you never mentioned this before.”

  Nikki turned to me. “I know what you’re thinking. That just because I can hear the thoughts of living people, I can help you. Listen, I can’t help. I know.”

 
; I wasn’t entirely sure what Jamie and Nikki were talking about but I could guess what Nikki’s theory was—it couldn’t all be a coincidence. Curtis was a Manipulator, I was a Speaker, and now she’d admitted being a Reader. I had no idea what it all meant but I had to trust my instincts.

  “No, you’re wrong,” I said. “Those people who took Bethany. Everything about them is a lie. You could tell me what they’re thinking.”

  Nikki thought for a moment. “Possibly. It doesn’t work all the time. It depends.”

  “But it works some of the time, right? If you can get inside their heads, then maybe I could tell Bethany, or someone else. I don’t know, but we have to try.”

  Nikki looked up at the sky. She didn’t say anything at first and I wondered if she might be imagining the faces of her lost family. Who could say where they might be now or why they’d gone to some other place when their own lives ended?

  Finally, she said, “Sure, I guess. I mean, I never quite managed to help my sister but we could at least try to help yours. Just don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

  “Let’s just see what happens.” I held out my hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Really, I have to hold your hand?” Nikki smirked at me. “Don’t worry, I won’t get lost.”

  “Yeah, but I might. Wherever it was they took Bethany, I’ve only been there once.”

  Nikki hesitated, then reached for my hand. “Fair enough. Just don’t get the wrong idea or I’ll kick your butt.”

  I had to smile. “Deal.” I turned to Jamie. “Are you in? I need your help too.”

  Jamie grabbed onto our locked hands just in time.

  ~~~

  Despite what I now thought about Curtis, apparently he’d taught me how to get where I needed to go. A few seconds later, we touched down outside the cabin. We stood looking around at the forest surrounding us, then peering through the trees at the mountains.

  “Anyone know where we are?” Jamie asked.

  “I’m thinking the middle of nowhere,” Nikki said. “But, no, I’ve never been here before. It’s so isolated. Sorry, but it kind of gives me the creeps.”

  “Which makes it a perfect place to hide someone you abducted,” I said.

  At the same time, there was something familiar about this place. Not so much the cabin or anything nearby—I’d seen my immediate surroundings, more or less, the night before. Instead, it was the mountains visible in the distance. I felt like I’d seen them before but I didn’t know how that was possible. Then again, I had no idea where we were geographically.

  “Let’s go inside,” Nikki said.

  I took a few steps toward the cabin, then stopped.

  “What’s up?” Jamie said.

  “There’s something I forgot to tell you guys. Last night, for some reason, I got, well, sort of sucked out of here. The next thing I knew, I was at the pond. I have no idea how I got there or why. I don’t know, it was like something just took control of me. The whole thing was freaky as hell.”

  Jamie and Nikki exchanged glances but neither spoke.

  “What?”

  “Not good,” Jamie said.

  I wondered how many decades it would take to actually join their club and stop feeling confused. “Please explain.”

  “This is too intense for you right now,” Nikki said.

  “Yeah, it’s intense. I get that.”

  Jamie stepped closer. “What Nikki means is that normally you have more time to get used to things. Like Transitioning’s not stressful enough. But you barely adjusted before this other thing happened to your sister.”

  “Sorry,” I said, “still not sure I’m entirely with you.”

  “It was just too much for you to handle,” Jamie said. “That must be why you chose the pond. It must have been a place where you felt safe.”

  “Exactly,” Nikki said. “You needed a place where you could protect yourself from what was happening. So, you went someplace safe inside your mind. A place that brought back good memories.”

  I shook my head, not willing to accept what they were telling me. “No, I couldn’t have. You’re saying I ran away?”

  “Don’t blame yourself,” Nikki said. “There’s no way you could have known. Besides, look at it this way—it gave you time to think so you could come up with a plan. Feeling guilty isn’t going to accomplish anything. Just be sure to tell us if it starts happening again.”

  I tried to process what they were telling me. That, on top of everything else, if I got too confused I could hide someplace inside a memory without even knowing it. Just one more thing to add to the list of things that seemed impossible.

  “Sure, fine,” I said. “I’ll let you know if I feel myself getting vacuumed into outer space. Let’s try to find my sister.”

  Inside the cabin, we started passing through walls searching for Bethany. The cabin was small and we found her almost immediately, in one of the bedrooms where she lay curled up on the bed. The room was dark, the only light coming from a small lamp on the bedside table. The walls and any windows were covered by corkboard, which must have been put there for soundproofing. That’s why the room was so dark. In that moment, I realized this was the place I’d seen in my dream. I’d kept telling myself it was just a dream but I couldn’t do that any longer.

  Bethany’s eyes were glazed and her mouth hung partly open as she stared into space. I stood next to her. “Bethany, are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

  Bethany didn’t look at me.

  “Bethany, I’m right here. Can you hear me?”

  Bethany still didn’t react.

  “Is she okay?” Jamie said.

  “I’m not sure,” I said.

  “Look,” Nikki said. “That just pisses me off. I just so want to kill those bastards now.”

  I hadn’t noticed before, but Bethany still wore the handcuffs, being used now to chain one of her wrists to the headboard. I took a deep breath, hoping not to lose it entirely. “Those two freaks can think whatever they want about themselves,” I said. “But they’re still barbarians. Where the hell are they?”

  “I didn’t spot anyone,” Jamie said.

  Nikki made a sound I could only describe as a growl. “Please tell me they didn’t go somewhere and leave your sister here all alone like—”

  Just then, we heard a door creak open down the hall, then the sound of what had to be Will and Karen heading toward the kitchen.

  “We’ll be right back,” I told Bethany. I know it made no sense, but part of me wanted to believe she knew we were there with her.

  When we first entered the kitchen, I thought there had to be some sort of mistake. The two people just taking seats at the table didn’t look like anyone I’d seen before. But then I realized what had happened. Will was cleanly shaven now, his hair a short bristle across the top of his scalp. Karen was no longer blonde, her eyes no longer green. Now she had short brown hair, freckles and brown eyes. She must have been wearing a wig and contact lenses when they’d abducted Bethany. I kept staring at their faces to be sure it really was them.

  After a moment, Karen sighed. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting nervous. Are you sure they won’t know where it came from?”

  Will glanced at the ceiling, exhaled, then looked back at her across the table. “Maybe if you weren’t stoned half the time, I wouldn’t have to go over all this again. But, okay, fine. Basically, it’s spammer code. The email hacks into open proxies and bounces around the globe. We’re talking IP addresses like Lithuania, Peru and China. But unlike spam, it never replicates. There’s only one recipient. Which is what makes it so beautiful. It seems like you might be forgetting what I do.”

  Karen shook her head, then lit a cigarette. “No, it’s not that. I know you’re good. But things were different before, you know? I mean, this is real now.” She pointed to a laptop sitting on the living room coffee table. “Why wouldn’t they be able to trace it to that?”

  Will rolled his eyes. “Do you ever listen to me? They can�
�t. I wrote the code to randomly scramble the origin addresses. Basically, it’s a needle in a haystack—and we’re talking one huge international haystack. But even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. Technically, I never owned that machine or any accounts associated with it. Besides, I’m going to wipe the hard drive completely before I burn the thing. Let me know if I missed any steps.”

  Karen blew out smoke. “Okay, like I’m ever going to completely understand all the tech stuff. But you email them, telling them what we want, and attach video of Bethany.”

  “Exactly. We have her read from that day’s newspaper so they know she’s alive. Sure, it’s a little cliché, but that’s how it’s done. Then, after they wire the money, we drop her at the place we talked about. Simple as that.”

  Karen stubbed out her cigarette. “What if they don’t send the money?”

  “They will. They have two options as far as they know—send the money or never see their daughter again. They won’t risk it.”

  “God, it seems so much creepier now.” Karen looked off across the room, toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

  Will shrugged. “Yeah, well. What can you do?”

  “When is all this going to happen?”

  “Just be patient. Soon, okay?”

  Karen sighed again. “And he can really come up with that much?”

  “Well, it’s not like he won’t feel it,” Will said. “Even to him, a million is a pretty big chunk of change. But he has the resources to make it happen.”

  I turned to Jamie and Nikki. “Who the hell is he talking about? That can’t be my father. He works at a college and my mother sells insurance. They don’t have anything like that kind of money. Nikki, what’s he thinking? Can you read him at all?”

  Nikki shook her head. “Not right now. He’s just thinking about the money. That’s the only thing he’s focusing on. I’m sorry.”

  Karen’s chair screeched at the floor as she got up from the table. She went into the kitchen, got some things from the refrigerator and started making a sandwich. “And the bank account?” she said. “You’re sure?”