Ferdie and The Seven, book one_When the Angels are Gone

by Larry Buenafe

  haven"t heard anything from them since. Obviously we can"t just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but we don"t seem to have many other choices at the moment.

  Maybe that"s why I"m going crazy. I wish I could go and talk to Dr. Saresh, the

  psychologist from India that I used to see, but it"s too much of a risk because he might have to turn me in to Social Services, and that would be a mess.

  Since we lost Marsh-dog and Arnie, there are four of us left: Ling, Gabriella,

  Rafael, and me. In our little apartment, it"s me in one small bedroom, Ling and

  Gabriella in the other, and Rafael crashing on the couch in the little living room.

  I"ve been spending most of my time practicing at getting to the in-between: that

  space between dimensions, or universes, or whatever they are. I can get there

  instantaneously now, and I can stay there for quite a while before I get

  uncomfortable, maybe a couple of hours at a time. It"s a weird, shadowy, fuzzy

  place, the in-between. When you"re in there, you can see two locations at the same time, sort of superimposed on one another, and it"s confusing. For the sake of

  having a name for them, I"m going to call the different places universes because

  that"s what it seems like to me, although I don"t know if they"re that, or if they"re something else entirely. The universes I have seen so far are the one containing the

  “Good Line”, as the supernatural types call it, which we humans know as heaven,

  and the one containing the “Bad Line”, which, you guessed it, is what we call hell.

  So let"s say I"m in my room here in our little apartment, and I decide to go to the in-between. There is a certain vibration or frequency that I can connect with that will take me to one side, and a different vibration or frequency that will take me to the other side. I generally go to the part of the in-between containing the Good Line, because being on that side is much more pleasant. I can see the walls, desk, chairs, and everything else in my room, and also the whole universe at the same time, with the multicolored row of lights that make up the Good Line, extending across and out, seemingly forever. Calling them lights doesn"t exactly describe them; it"s kind of like a cloud that has a distinct boundary and is lit from inside somehow. That"s the closest I can get to describing them correctly. Anyway, while you watch, you can see more of these amorphous blobs of light flying past to join the Good Line, and it

  gives you the greatest feeling you can imagine. Once you get past being made sick by being in the in-between, I mean… it"s not a place that was meant for live humans, even half-supernatural ones like me.

  Like I said, though, I"ve gotten used to it, which is a good thing, because that"s where Marsh-dog lives now. There is no way I would have gotten this far without

  him, and we still have a lot more to do.

  On day 781 and counting down, I faded into the in-between to talk to Marsh-

  dog. I remember the first time I went there; it felt like the tiniest fishhooks in the universe hooked on to every cell in my body and pulled me in. In other words, it was painful; it kind of felt like torture to tell the truth. Ok, here I go, and here come the fishhooks… doesn’t even hurt anymore, just kind of uncomfortable… now tuning in to the right vibration, or frequency, or whatever, and…

  I am in the space between universes. The sight just never gets old… then, as

  usual, I heard behind me, “Hey, „Nando… it just doesn"t seem possible, but you have gotten even uglier than the last time I saw you. What"s going on, dude?”

  “Hey, Marsh. I would slug you if I knew my hand wouldn"t go right through

  you. And I told you before, „Nando is short for Fernando, not Ferdinand.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just use it „cause it annoys you.”

  “Well, mission accomplished. What"s up with you?”

  “Oh, just rattling some chains, saying „Boo!" a lot, you know, typical ghost

  stuff.”

  “Well, now we know one thing for sure, being a ghost does not improve the

  quality of your jokes.”

  “Ha! Very funny. Being alive hasn"t improved the quality of your looks, either, by the way.”

  “Alright, alright, you win as always. So what have you really been doing?”

  Marsh-dog"s expression turned serious, and he sat down on a rock that somehow

  appeared out of nowhere. “I"ve been trying to make contact with Dr. Reyes up at the university. If I concentrate I can push the keys on the keyboard of his computer and I"ve been trying to talk to him that way, but so far he just thinks he has some kind of virus. I need him to let me into the system so I can complete my simulations. I was so close to locating another of those Seven dudes; you know, supernatural dorks like you, and cool ones like Ling, when that jerk McCandless shot me and I ended up

  here. I do not like that dude. Anyway, somehow I need to get him to do just a

  couple of things, and then let it run. It won"t even take long, but it has to get done.

  Plus, did you know there are other ghosts in here? I run into some of them every once in a while. I can"t talk to them, though, they all seem like they"re mental or something. Sorry, I"m kind of free-associating; I need someone to talk to.”

  It suddenly seemed as if Marsh-dog might cry, and I couldn"t really blame him.

  “I"m sorry, Marsh, I wish there was something I could do to change your situation.

  But remember, we are in this together, no matter what happens. And we are going to make them pay, no matter what.”

  “Yeah, well, let"s get this crap wagon rolling, ok? I don"t want to be stuck here forever.”

  “So what should we do to get Dr. Reyes to help complete your… what did you

  call them? Stimulations?”

  “Dude, If we went with stimulations instead of simulations we would get a whole different kind of result. Let me think… hey, how about this: how would you feel about going down to the college and talking to Dr. Reyes yourself? You could tell him we were working on the simulation together and you"re trying to finish it up as a memorial to me or something.”

  “Dude, I"m not sure about that. What if he tries to contact social services or the police? Does he know who I am? Did you ever talk to him about me?”

  “Man, are you a narcissist or what? Do you think I"m going to talk to everyone

  I know about you? „Hey, Dr. Reyes, have I ever told you about my friend, The Great Ferdie? He"s a superhero!" Of course I haven"t told him about you; he won"t know you from The Green Lantern.”

  I stared at Marsh-Dog. “Man, being in this place is making you crabby.”

  “Yeah, well you try staying in here permanently with crazy ghosts and other

  stuff floating around. It"s creepy. Sorry dude, you"re right, I need to calm down.”

  Now he had my curiosity aroused. “What do the other ghosts look like?”

  “Oh, mostly like sheets. What do you think? They look like people, dummy.

  They all just seem kind of like, I don"t know, blanked out or something, like they"re so preoccupied with whatever"s keeping them here that they can"t pay attention to anything else.”

  “So you can"t talk to any of them?”

  “Well, none so far. They just act like I"m not there. It"s freakin" weird.”

  “Dude… you said there"s some other stuff in here besides other ghosts. What did you mean?”

  “I"m not sure yet… there"s something here but I don"t quite have a handle on it.

  I"m gonna figure it out, though, just give me a little time.”

  “Ok, well, if I go over to the university to talk to Dr. Reyes, what should I say?”

  The conversation swung to more constructive things, and soon it was time for

  me to leave, as I was beginning to feel a little nauseous. “Ok, dude,” said Marsh-dog, “You think you got it?”

  Putting on my gruffest voice, I growled, “Sure, I got it. Just
leave it to me,

  because… I’m Batman.”

  Marsh-dog started cackling, which was music to my ears. Ah, finally got him to loosen up a little bit!

  “Alright, Batman, you better take off, but if you call me Robin I swear I will

  haunt you from the grave.”

  Then it was my turn to laugh. “Ok, dude, I"ll see you later.”

  Chapter 2

  I faded back into the claustrophobic world of our little apartment, and standing right in front of me was Ling Lee. Ling is looking a little rough… she’s usually careful about her appearance, but her hair is kind of messed up and her clothes are wrinkled… I wonder what’s wrong… I mean, aside from being thousands of miles

  away from home, being blind in one eye, and having a death sentence hanging over her head? “Hi Ling, I was just talking to Marsh-dog. We were making some plans that include you, so I"m glad you"re here so we can talk about it.”

  Well, apparently that was totally the wrong thing to say. Looking intense and

  angry, she growled, “You cannot just make plans for me without speaking first to

  me, you know. I am not your servant.”

  Wow, something is wrong. What did I do? Oh, there I go again… it might not

  have anything to do with me, so why would I immediately think it’s something I did?

  Come on, dude, not everything is about you… “I"m sorry, Ling. What"s going on with you? You seem awfully upset.”

  Ling"s anger faded and was replaced by tears. “Oh, Ferdie, I too am sorry.

  There are many problems I need to discuss, can we now talk?”

  I harbored a secret smile, because her way of saying things has always been

  funny to me for some reason. “Sure, do you want to, like, sit down or something?”

  We went into the little kitchen and sat at the table below the window looking out onto the surrounding neighborhood, and the university in the distance. Ling had

  regained her usual composure, and said, “These are the problems, Ferdie: I have not seen my family and friends in many months, and I am the, how do you say it? Sick for home? No, homesick, that is it. The next problem is I cannot see from my left eye; this is not so bad, but I think it is affecting my ability somehow. I cannot seem to get back to the in-between very well, and when I am able, I feel very ill, more than before. And, I am sorry to not be brave, but I do not want to die, and most of all I do not want to go to that bad place, Ferdie. I am very much afraid.”

  Ling was shaking a little as she spoke, which made me feel terribly sorry for her and guilty for getting her mixed up in everything. I felt like I was going to cry, but I stopped myself… come on, that’s not going to do any good right now, let’s come up with some ways to help instead… She seemed to know what I was thinking, as she said, “Please, Ferdie, do not feel bad. It was my choice to come here and help you, to be a part of this quest. I am feeling bad for myself but I will conquer my feelings if you will help me.”

  After that I couldn"t help it, a few tears leaked out. “Well, what if you flew

  home for a week or two? You could tell them you"re on vacation from school or

  something. We can manage without you for a little while. And as far as your eye

  goes, I wonder if we should take you to a doctor. I know we"ve been avoiding it, because it may bring up some questions that we can"t answer, but maybe getting to the in-between has something to do with eyesight… I"m just thinking out loud, but we rely on our sight so much, maybe you need both eyes working to get to the right frequency or something. I don"t know for sure how it works, but I bet that has

  something to do with it. And as far as going to the Bad Line goes, I"m not looking forward to that either. We"ve got to stop The Others; I feel sure that if we do it will change our future, and then it will be up to us and our behavior as to where we end up.”

  Ling walked to the window and stood there for a moment, gazing out

  thoughtfully with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Finally, she said, “Yes, I think that is true. So much of going to in-between is picturing the place in your mind, how you say, envisioning it, and because one side is damaged, my aim is a little off. To do it I must squeeze my vision and look a little not in focus, and it is difficult to keep it like that. It causes headache.”

  As she was talking, I felt part of an idea taking shape in my mind. Hmm… I

  might have something that could help… “Hey, Ling, I was just thinking… when I first went to the in-between and felt the vibrations, or frequencies, or whatever it is that happens to get us there, it reminded me of something one of my teachers

  discussed when we were studying science. She was talking about medical stuff,

  including MRI machines and how they work. Are you familiar with them?”

  “Oh, yes, I was in the study of technology at the university in Hong Kong, and

  we learned about the magnetic resonance imaging machine. Very interesting.

  Powerful magnets cause certain atoms to line up in a predictable way, then send

  pulses of radio waves through, making very clear picture of inside the body. Very clever machine.”

  “Ok, I"m thinking out loud again, but isn"t that kind of what we"re doing when

  we go to the in-between? I mean the part about our atoms lining up in a certain way?

  I know it"s not exactly the same, but I just wonder if there is some point in there that… um, how about this: you know how I can see into another person"s mind?

  How I just picture walking down a hall until I find a door that corresponds to them, and open it and there I am in their mind? So here"s what I"m wondering… if you

  were at some point in going to the in-between, and I was in your mind at the right moment, maybe I could see not only what you"re thinking, but also the actual

  structure of your brain. Do you see where I"m going with this?”

  Ling"s eyebrows scrunched together thoughtfully. “So if you were capable of

  this, and if you were knowing what to look for, you could perhaps see where my

  vision problem is. You do not think there is any way possible that you could even cause my problem to be fixed, do you?”

  “Well, I didn"t think that far ahead, but maybe it"s worth a try… I can do lots of other crap I had no idea was possible, right?”

  “Please, Ferdie, I do not want you to do the crap in my brain.”

  “No, that"s just an… oh, never mind. How about we start by looking up how the

  eyes work.” We dashed to one of Marsh-dog"s computers and did a little research on the brain, especially how the eyes work and how they are connected to the brain.

  “Hey, look here, Ling. Did you know that the ocular nerves decussate at the medular level on their path back to the occipital lobe of the brain?”

  A puzzled expression crossed Ling"s face. “You have not an idea what that

  means, do you?”

  “Well, no,” I snickered, “but it sounded good there for a minute, didn"t it?”

  We continued researching in this manner until we felt we had an accurate mental

  picture of the structures of the eyes and nerves. “Well, do you want to try it? I promise, if I"m able to actually see into your brain, which is a big if, and see any kind of problem, which is an even bigger if, and can cause something to change in there, which is the biggest if of all, I won"t do anything that could hurt you or make things worse. In fact, how about this: I"ll just take a look in there, and then we"ll stop and talk about it before doing anything else. Is that good for you?”

  Ling smiled, clapped her hands, and said, “I think to try is worth it. What is the American saying? Oh, yes, „nothing ventured, nothing gained".”

  “Yeah, but there"s this other American saying: „no good deed goes unpunished".

  Let"s hope that saying doesn"t apply to this situation. By the way, have you seen Gabriella or Rafael lately?”

  “Well, they have a
way of disappearing often without notice. And, it is

  interesting how they also seem to appear just when they are being thought about.”

  “Yeah, I"ve noticed that too. Well, anyway, are you ready to give it a try?”

  Ling took several deep breaths, and I did the same. It seemed like a good idea, but now it just seems risky… Ling stood up and said, “Ok, Ferdie, I am ready. What should I first do?”

  “Well, I"ve done this exactly zero times, so we"ll have to figure it out together.

  Let"s try this: I"m going to peek into your mind, and when I"m there I"ll give you a signal. What should we use?”

  “I am happy to do the high-five. Would that be a good one?”

  “That"s a perfect one. High-five it is. Ok, get ready…”

  I did my old trick: I walked down the hallway in my mind until I found Ling"s

  door, opened it just a crack, and peeked in. I held my hand up, we high-fived, and I don"t know why, that just seemed funny to me so I started giggling. Of course

  laughing is contagious, kind of like yawning, so Ling started up too. “Ok, Ling, I"m ready. Start going toward the in-between, and I"ll let you know if I see anything.”

  Ling"s concentration was strong, but she was still struggling. She’s right, this is really difficult for her now… she was getting there easily before, but now she’s shaking and sweating… I don’t think she’s going to get there… wait a minute, she’s starting to vibrate… I can feel her mind fading, though, like she might pass out… oh crap…

  I had to lunge out to grab Ling as she fell, and I eased her down to a chair at the kitchen table. Her eyes were rolling around, unfocused, but she recovered swiftly.

  “Whoa, Ling, you scared me there! What can I do for you?”

  “Please, Ferdie, a drink of water. I have bad headache.”

  I ran to the sink and poured some water, then rummaged around in one of the

  cabinets and grabbed the Ibuprofen. Dude, I hope this water is ok… better take three Ibuprofen… two is for wimps… Ling downed the pills, choked a little bit, and said,

  “In just a minute I will be ready for trying again. Will you be ready also?”