Dark Matter: SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE

by Jessica Loft

  Mackenzie looked at him, slightly horrified. “His blood?”

  “It’s just wine, Kenz. Grape juice for the youth. It’s a representation is all.”

  “Oh. I don’t get it.”

  “Next week, we go to group. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two.” He chuckled.

  “I’d rather go horseback riding with you.” She looked at him and smiled. His cheeks turned pink.

  The sound of scraping chairs made further conversation impossible. The kids headed for the door as the adults started coming out of the sanctuary.

  “Mackenzie!” Sophia wrapped her in a tight hug. “I am so glad that you moved here and became my friend.”

  “Me too!” Eva joined their hug.

  As people came out of the rooms and greeted each other, it seemed the excitement level was even higher than normal. If that were even possible. She looked at Luke and raised an eyebrow.

  He leaned in close to whisper, “It’s always worse after church.”

  “Worse?”

  “Yeah, I know. Like it’s not bad enough on a normal day.”

  Joanna and Nick came out and saw her. “Oh, Mackenzie!” They took turns hugging her, and Joanna wiped at a tear. “Did you enjoy your first church service?”

  “I did. I learned about communion.”

  She exchanged sly smiles with Luke.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful! To think, you’ve never celebrated the Lord’s Supper in your whole life. Well, good thing you’re here now. The Lord has protected you from your past and given you a bright future.”

  Joanna put her arm around her shoulder. They walked out and Kenzie waved to Luke, who watched her with an amused look on his face until his parents scooped him into a hug, too.

  Chapter 6

  As they drove home, Joanna and Nick went on and on about the pastor’s sermon.

  “Well, what he said about giving grace really hit me, you know?” Nick said. “I’ve been forgiven of so much, how could I not forgive someone else?”

  Joanna put her hand over his and agreed as they continued to discuss the details of forgiveness and grace. Mackenzie listened, but wasn’t really sure what they were talking about.

  They drove by several cornfields, each one made her think of Luke. Every time she saw a horse, she thought of Luke. And though chemistry wasn’t her favorite subject at school, she couldn’t wait to go to class tomorrow since that’s where she’d see him.

  “Oh, Mackenzie, I forgot to tell you! Pastor Dan invited us over for dinner tonight. He wants to meet our newest addition to town, isn’t that nice?”

  “Oh sure,” she said. Pastor Dan’s daughter was Jocelyn, a girl from her bus and math class. At least she’d have someone to talk to.

  They arrived home 15 minutes later and made a light lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches easily chatting. The three of them sat in the living room together eating their sandwiches and playing board games for an hour. It was something so simple, and if she’d thought about, it would have seemed lame, but she had a blast playing with them. She was almost sad when it was time to leave for dinner, but her stomach grumbled and reminded her how hungry she was. So she ran upstairs to freshen up.

  The pastor also lived on some sort of farm like Luke. There were trees stretching for acres and acres. As they turned down the driveway, she saw the large bunches of grapes hanging from the trees. Did that make this technically a vineyard then, instead of a farm? She didn’t see many animals, but maybe they were kept somewhere else.

  They pulled up at the front of the house and were greeted by the entire family standing at the porch. She was hugged and exclaimed over by Pastor Dan, his wife, Jocelyn, and even the younger kids—a boy and a girl.

  “Jocelyn, why don’t you give Mackenzie a quick tour before dinner?” Pastor’s wife said.

  “Sure!” Jocelyn grabbed her hand and they went off, walking along rows of plants.

  “So, do you grow grapes?”

  “Sure do. My daddy makes all his own grape juice and wine. All the wine and grape juice we drink at communion comes from right here. We have a bunch of grape presses in that building there.” She pointed to a large, flat building in the distance.

  “No animals, though?”

  “Oh, well, we have two dogs, Chester and Charlie, and the horses. Most people around here have horses.”

  Like Luke, she couldn’t help thinking. “Wow. It’s really beautiful.”

  “Isn’t it though?” Jocelyn clasped her hands together and gave Kenzie a dreamy smile. “When the air is the right temperature and the wind blows just right, the scent is sweet as heaven.”

  They made their way back to the house and took a seat at a long table. Large, overflowing plates of food were passed around. Ham, potatoes, green beans, rolls. Mackenzie loaded up her plate.

  She picked up her full fork and was about to dig in when she noticed that no one else was eating. She set her fork down cautiously and waiting until Pastor Dan said a prayer. Then he took the bread and broke it into pieces and said that it was their communion. She was glad Luke had explained it somewhat or she’d be totally lost. They all fell silent for a moment, praying to themselves she guessed, then they ate the piece of bread and drank their wine or grape juice. Mackenzie ate the bread and tilted the juice toward her lips. When she smelled the grape, though, she wrinkled her nose and put it back down. Hopefully that wouldn’t insult him, but she never had liked grape juice.

  As they ate, the Pastor shared stories of people from the congregation. Someone named Martha had been healed, and a man named Joe had gotten a new job. He and everyone at the table responded in excitement at each story he told.

  “So, Mackenzie, how are you liking Glorietta Creek so far?” he asked after finishing a story about someone’s found horse.

  “Oh, it’s really nice. I like it a lot here.”

  “Good. That makes us so happy. And the way you got here. Well, nothing short of a miracle.”

  Mackenzie smiled and nodded.

  “Oh, you haven’t had any grape juice,” he said.

  She looked at the glass of purple liquid by her plate. “Oh, thanks, but I don’t really like grape juice much.”

  “You have to try Daddy’s grape juice, though,” Jocelyn said. “It’s not like anything else you’ve ever had.”

  “Please,” Pastor Dan said. “Go on, now.”

  “Oh, I…” They all looked at her, waiting with encouraging smiles for her to taste it. Should she lie if she didn’t like it?

  “Go on, now,” Pastor Dan said again, the hint of a sharpness in his voice that caught her attention. “Everyone loves my grape juice.”

  She reached out for the glass and took a small sip. Jocelyn was right. It was nothing like the store-bought stuff. But the tangy sweetness of it still wasn’t something she preferred. “It’s good. Thanks.” She smiled at them and put another forkful of potatoes in her mouth.

  “Mackenzie, you have to drink more than that,” he insisted. “Or you won’t get the full flavor.”

  She looked at the pastor, and for the first time, he wasn’t smiling. She thought his eyes narrowed slightly as he nodded towards the glass.

  A tiny pang of unease shot through her stomach. She picked up the glass and took several long sips. When she looked at him again, he had a wide, beaming smile.

  “Everyone loves my grape juice,” he said.

  By the time dinner ended, any fear or unease Mackenzie had felt earlier was long gone. Now she felt happy and free. More full of joy than she ever had before. When they got home, she took out one of her new books.

  “It’s such a lovely night,” she said to Joanna and Nick. “I’m going to sit on the porch and read for a little while.” She grinned at them and hugged the book tight to her chest.

  “That sounds really nice,” Nick replied.

  “I’ll bring some iced tea out to you in a few minutes.”

  “That would be great!” She turned and went to the porch, where she paused for a moment, brea
thing in the warmth and light of the evening. She was happier than she’d ever felt in her life. She never wanted to leave this town.

  For hours, she read her book and sipped her iced tea. The sound of hooves on pavement made her grin as she thought of Luke. And then, she looked up, and he was there, on his horse at the edge of their yard.

  “Luke!” She almost tossed the book down and ran to meet him.

  He slid down from his horse and she threw her arms around him in an exuberant hug.

  “It’s so good to see you!”

  “You, too,” he said. “I was just out for a ride and saw you sitting there and thought I’d come talk to you for a little while.”

  “I am so glad you did. This morning was so much fun. I love riding horses. It might be my favorite thing in the whole world.” She closed her eyes and beamed.

  “Kenz?”

  She opened her eyes and smiled at Luke. “Yes?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m wonderful! I’m just so happy here. Isn’t it great here?”

  “Yeah…” He looked at her with a disappointed face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I… should get going. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

  “Yes!” She clapped her hands together. “Chemistry is so much more fun with you there to talk to.”

  He nodded, climbed on his horse, and rode off. Mackenzie danced back to the porch and picked up her book.

  Chapter 7

  In chemistry class on Monday, Luke gave Mackenzie a wary look when she slid into her seat.

  “Hey,” she said.

  He hesitated. “Hey. So are you… back to yourself?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Last night when I stopped by, you were a little too excited. Like them.”

  She thought about last night. How she’d felt so good. She didn’t think she was acting strange, though. “I was just happy, that’s all.”

  “Exactly. You were acting just like they all do.”

  “But why would I have? What could have made me act like that? And I’m not acting weird now, right?”

  “No, you’re not. I don’t know. What did you do after I saw you at church?”

  “Went to Pastor’s Dan’s for dinner and had a really good time. Then I just felt happy.”

  “Well, something was not right.”

  “There was this weird thing that happened. You know how Pastor Dan makes grape juice and wine? I didn’t want to drink the grape juice. I’ve never liked it. But he kinda freaked out and made me.”

  Luke pulled his eyebrows together. “Weird. My parents always used to try to get me to drink it, too, but we found out I’m allergic to grapes.”

  Class started, but Mackenzie kept thinking about what he said. Could the wine and grape juice have something to do with the way the town acted? And did that mean Pastor Dan had something to do with it?

  When class ended, Luke leaned over to her. “What are you doing right now? Do you have to be anywhere?”

  Mackenzie picked up her backpack. “No. I just have homework.”

  “Will you come with me somewhere? There’s someone I want to talk to.”

  She followed him out of the school and they walked for about a mile down the road until they came to a little store. It looked like a small grocery store. Something Mackenzie had only seen in the movies. There was even a long porch and an elderly man sitting in a rocking chair out front.

  “Hey, Mr. Harris,” Luke said to the man. “Can we talk to you for a minute?”

  He nodded slowly. “I reckon.”

  “Well, we’ve noticed that things have been strange around here in the last few years,” Luke said. “Everyone is just so happy all the time. But you seem… Not like them.”

  Mr. Harris leaned over and spit a dark wad into a metal jug, making a soft plink sound. “Good for you. Guess you think you’re pretty smart, eh?”

  Mackenzie saw why Luke wanted to talk to him. He was the only one in the whole town who could be considered something close to rude.

  “Do you know why?” Mackenzie asked.

  He squinted at her. “You’re new. You don’t belong here, girl. Get out while you still can.”

  Luke put a hand on her arm for a moment. “But do you know anything?”

  Mr. Harris looked them over, taking his time in answering. “I ain’t never drank that pastor’s loony juice and you shouldn’t either.”

  “You think Pastor Dan has something to do with it?” Mackenzie asked.

  “Well.” He leaned over and spat out another wad. “All’s I know is, things started getting weird after he came to town. Take from that what you will.”

  Mackenzie and Luke exchanged a look and thanked him before walking away.

  “You know Pastor Dan makes all the wine and grape juice right there on his property, right?” Mackenzie said.

  “We should go check it out. I can’t see what wine or grape juice would have to do with the craziness around here, but who knows.”

  They detoured to Luke’s house to get his horse first, then rode together to Pastor Dan’s, in silence. Leaving the horse tied next to a tree hidden at the edge of the woods they slowly crept through the field. They used the line of grapevines for cover, moving towards the building where Jocelyn whispered that the wine and juice were made.

  “How are we going to get inside?” Mackenzie asked.

  “Carefully and hopefully without being seen.”

  They looked around, cautiously, checking their surroundings for a clue they had been spotted. The sat there motionless waiting for several minutes listening for any sign of dogs and to make sure no one was nearby. When they were positive no one was around they snuck to the door. Luke turned the handle slowly, but the door didn’t open.

  “Locked.”

  “Maybe there’s another door around back?”

  They crept behind the building and found another door. This one, too, locked.

  “I have an idea.” Mackenzie took her keys out of her pocket. On the chain was the small plastic card that was her access to buy lunch at school. She slid the card into the door jam and wiggled it until the lock clicked open. Pulling open the door, they quietly slipped inside.

  “That was impressive,” Luke said.

  “I had a bad habit of locking myself out back home.”

  The looked around, awed. The main floor of the building had several huge pieces of machinery. Many had large barrels attached, and she guessed those were for pressing the grapes. They walked by each piece of machinery and inspected the equipment, but nothing seemed unusual. Not that they knew what a normal wine press should look like.

  “There are stairs.” Luke whispered and pointed across the room.

  They took the stairs down into a cool basement where they found rows and rows of bottles. Wine and grape juice and empty bottles waiting for their contents. A stack of wooden crates lined the walls.

  Mackenzie walked down a few aisles, pulling out random bottles and inspecting the labels. Every bottle she checked, the ingredients listed nothing beyond the regular juice of the grapes.

  “Hey,” Luke exclaimed. “Look at this.”

  Mackenzie went to the row at the far left corner. She found Luke standing there, holding a large white jug. Several identical jugs sat on the floor next to him. Beside the jugs was a long grey table that reminded her of chemistry class. Test tubes, chemicals, a Bunsen burner and measuring cups.

  “What is this?” she asked.

  Luke screwed the top off the jug and took a whiff. “I think Pastor Dan is secretly a mad scientist.” He lifted the jug to his mouth and took a small sip.

  “What are you doing?!” Mackenzie snatched the jug from him. “You have no idea what’s in there.” She sniffed the contents. It smelled sweet, but not like anything she recognized.

  “Tasting is a good way to figure out what chemical components are in something,” he said.

  “It’s also a good way to poison yourself.” />
  Luke pointed to a symbol stamped onto the jug that looked like a wine glass and fork. “That means it’s food safe.” He giggled at her. “You’re so funny, Kenz.”

  She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Oh really?”

  He gave her a beaming grin and nodded. She reached over and shoved him hard in the shoulder.

  He laughed. “You almost knocked me over, silly!”

  She shook her head and let out a sigh. “Well, I think we found the happy juice. It must be whatever this stuff is that’s making everyone so super nice all the time.”

  “This stuff is great.” Luke picked up another jug and moved to take a sip.

  Mackenzie snatched it out of his hand. “Enough. Who knows how long you’ll be messed up.”

  He chuckled. “I feel so happy.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Hey,” he whispered. “If the whole town drank this then everyone would be happy all the time! I bet everyone would be much nicer to each other.”

  She threw her hands in the air. “Obviously that’s what’s happening here. Pastor Dan must put this stuff in all his wine and grape juice. Then everyone drinks it at church.”

  “And school. And he gives it away to everyone because he’s so nice.”

  “Yeah. Nice. No wonder the whole town is affected. I guess that’s why every school lunch comes served with the juice, too. This whole town is high on happy juice.”

  “I don’t let blame them. I love this stuff!”

  He tried to grab one of the jugs back from her, but she set it down and took his hand to pull him away. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 8

  Mackenzie and Luke ran back to his horse and jumped on. They rode as fast as they could back to his house. Her feet hit the dirt a second after his, and she reached out to shove him again.

  “You keep doing that.” He laughed. “You better stop or I’m going to start thinking you like me.” He winked at her and grinned.

  “Okay, so you’re still hopped up on happy juice. Wonder how long it lasts.”