Thaw (Night Fall ™)

by Richard Reece

  “The freezing preserved us for a time, but the thawing happened a little more, ah, quickly than would have been ideal. To put it simply, we’re spoiling. The cold prolongs our existence here, but only briefly. Before long, in two days in fact, we will all ascend to the true kingdom. We will discard our tired bodies and shine like youthful gods!”

  “How will that happen?” I asked.

  Scatter’s black eyes flashed. “In a flash of light! In a tower of fire! We will ascend the heavenly staircase to the true kingdom. We will be clothed in light and our souls will endure forever!”

  All of a sudden, Scatter started to cough uncontrollably. Jake jumped up and found him a glass of water. When Scatter stopped coughing, Jake checked the oxygen tank and adjusted the nasal tubes. I heard footsteps in the bedroom, and a woman in a robe made of white fur came out.

  “Hello, Dani.” It was Jake’s mom.

  “Hello, Mrs. . . . ?”

  “You can call me Bonnie.” She kissed Scatter on the forehead, then came over and hugged Jake.

  I could barely control myself. I turned to Scatter. “So you sent Vincent to get Jake? And then to get me?”

  Scatter laughed. He started to wheeze, but recovered himself.

  “Ah, Vincent,” he said. “My poor, confused little brother! For a long time he was one of my most devoted followers. He was imprisoned at the same time I was, but he stayed loyal to me. When I was frozen in the government laboratory at Bridgewater, Vincent was happy to follow me even there, after his first death. But even in the early days Vincent was prone to these attacks of what he would call ‘conscience.’

  “After the first resurrection, we had a falling-out. He was opposed to anything he thought was motivated by revenge. ‘Just build the kingdom,’ he said. ‘Forget about the past.’ When he learned we were going to take Philip and Bonnie and Jake, he interfered. Because of his meddling, we didn’t get Jake at first. And then he sent Jake here, believing his nephew could actually undo my plans.”

  “That’s what I thought I wanted then, Dani,” Jake interrupted. “The hard part was leaving you out. That’s why I made the video. But Vincent was false. He pretended to help me, but he was actually hoping to use me against my father.”

  “When Jake didn’t return,” Scatter continued, “Vincent imagined some evil had befallen him. And being Vincent, he felt responsible. So he tried once more, Danielle, as you know.”

  “What happened to Philip?”

  Jake and his mother looked at each other. Scatter’s voice got harder. “Philip,” he said, “is no longer among us.”

  By now I was suffocating in the weirdness. Jake had gone insane, just like his dying father—if, in fact, Scatter even was his father. Perhaps he had helped murder Philip. There was nothing I could do for Jake as long as we were in this place. Trey was right. We needed to get him home.

  My heart fell into my stomach. Where was the paw?!

  13

  I tried as best I could to hide my panic. When “family time” was finally over and I was escorted away from Scatter’s private quarters, I sprinted across the grounds to the dormitory and ran to my room. My old clothes were cleaned and folded on the bed, along with fresh towels. My jacket pockets were empty. The paw was gone.

  For a while I just sat on the bed feeling sick. Every now and then I would go through the pockets again, as if the paw might magically appear there. Maybe it had fallen out. I looked under the bed, tore off the sheets. Nothing. The laundry! There was a washing machine and dryer next to the bathroom. I ran down the hall to look. Both machines were empty. How could I have let our only chance of escape get away from me?

  I wandered out of the dorm and walked in a trance around the grounds.

  “Dani!” It was Trey calling. He walked up and put an arm around my shoulders. “How did it go?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’m sorry,” Trey said, and I could tell that he really was. “While you were gone I snooped around a little and . . . . Hey, what’s the matter?”

  For the second time in twenty-four hours I was gasping and crying. I couldn’t talk. I just sobbed and shook while Trey held me. Because of my carelessness, my stupid fixation on Jake, Trey was trapped here too.

  I finally had to tell him. I explained a little about meeting Jake and Scatter, and about Scatter’s latest prophecy. Then I told him about the paw and started to cry again. “I’m so sorry, Trey! It’s my fault. Now we’re stuck here. There’s no way out!”

  I think I expected him to be angry. Instead he put a hand on my cheek and made me look at him. With his other hand he wiped away the tears on my face. “There’s always a way out, Dani. Maybe it’s not as easy as we might have expected. But the way in here wasn’t easy either, and we did it, together. We’ll get out together too.”

  Then he leaned down and kissed me. I kissed him back. He took my hand, and now it was the two of us, walking aimlessly around the compound. We were probably doomed, but smiling and feeling, nevertheless, some kind of weird, out-of-place happy.

  “Dani,” Trey said finally, “do you remember at the club, when that guy Vincent showed up? You know what he said to me?”

  “He said he told you something about yourself you thought nobody knew.”

  “He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘You hate yourself.’ And he was right.”

  “Whatever, Trey . . . Are you serious?”

  Trey smiled. “Yeah, I act just the opposite. Rich kid, football player, girlfriends, all that. But, I don’t know, most of the time I just feel empty. Or I did. The last day or so, yeah, it’s been a trip, but I’ve actually felt like I have a purpose, like I can help someone beside myself.”

  “I’m glad you’re here,” I said and squeezed his hand. And honestly, I really was.

  After a while, Trey pointed at the brick building to the right of the lodge. “That’s the power plant,” he said. “There’s a generator in there and barrels of oil to run it. It powers the air conditioning, the lights, the water pumps— everything. After the morning service, most of the hooded folks leave the compound. I’m not sure where they go. Judging by supper last night, there must be a convenience store around here somewhere.”

  I actually smiled.

  Wherever the hoods went during the day, we learned that they could gather at headquarters quickly if needed. That afternoon an alarm like a storm siren sounded in the compound. Instantly, cult members came running from every direction and gathered in front of the building where the prayer services were held. Some of them had guns.

  One with a large rifle seemed to be a kind of leader. He said something to the group and then whirled his right hand in a circle over his head. Apparently the gesture meant “Search the area,” because that’s what the members did. They spread out as if they knew their individual assignments. They had done this before.

  “What’s up, do you think?” I asked Trey.

  He shrugged. “Maybe some kind of drill.”

  After half an hour they were back together again, shaking their heads. Then, at a signal from the leader, they went their separate ways.

  “You know, Trey,” I said, “when you think about it, except for the guys with guns, this place has pretty lousy security.”

  “Yeah,” Trey agreed, “but who would want to break in here anyway?”

  14

  That night I prayed. I’m not a real religious person. Mom, Dad, and I go to Saint Matthew’s, the Episcopalian church in Bridgewater, but only on Christmas and Easter. When I pray on my own, it’s usually because I’m desperate or grateful. That night I was both.

  “God, thank you for Trey!” I whispered. “I don’t think I could face this without him. And please . . . . Please! Find a way for us—and Jake— to go home.”

  That night I dreamed of the drowned girl again.

  Once again she was huddled, crying, in a corner of my room. I went over and sat down beside her, and she threw her arms around me as she had done the night before. I just held her.
Suddenly I heard heavy footsteps in the hall. The girl started shaking and looking at the door. As we heard the lock turning, I jumped up and held myself against the door. Someone was trying to get in, someone very strong. I pushed back as hard as I could.

  I tried to yell “Go away!” but I couldn’t make a sound. Then in the distance I heard a voice. It was Jake. “Father?”

  The pressure on the door stopped, and footsteps retreated down the hall. When I turned back, the girl was gone.

  In the morning I found Trey out in front of the dorm. He kissed me as soon as I reached him. And then the loudspeaker began broadcasting Scatter’s morning message:

  “Children, we are on the brink of bliss. Prepare your souls! Let go of all your anxieties and look to me. One day from now— tomorrow!—we will all climb together into the sky. I will go to my palace, and I will take you with me!” And so on.

  “What does that mean, Trey? Just that they’ll all die and we’ll be in this weird place alone?”

  “I don’t know. A lot of these guys make prophecies about the end of the world that don’t turn out.”

  “I want us all to go home, Trey. You and me and Jake. Maybe once we’re there, we can help him.”

  “That’s what I want too, Dani. Don’t worry. We’ll figure out something.”

  That was when we noticed Jake advancing toward us. He hugged me and shook Trey’s hand.

  “How are the both of you?” he asked. “Is there anything you need?”

  What the heck? “Jake, I need you to listen to me.”

  “Of course.”

  “Have you forgotten eight years of our being best friends?”

  He sighed. “Dani, does being best friends mean we only do what the other one wants? Doesn’t it mean we want the best for each other?”

  “It means that when one of us is hurting, or doing something hurtful, the other one tries to help them.”

  “But I’m not hurting. I’m happy here.”

  “I don’t think what you say you want is really your idea. It’s something Scatter put there! Come back to Bridgewater with me. You’re not yourself!”

  “In fact,” Jake said coldly, “myself is just what I am. What I was, what you know—I’m more than that now. I wish you could see that.”

  Jake turned to go, but then he stopped and turned back. “I want you both to have a chance to be with us forever. Join us! Think about it, please! I’ll speak with you again in the morning.” Then he bowed and walked off.

  “He’s so strange, Trey,” I said.

  “We need to get him away from all this,” Trey agreed.

  The problem, of course, was that we didn’t even know how to get ourselves out of here.

  “Maybe we could retrace our steps,” Trey said. “Head up there,” he pointed to the lake and woods outside the compound, “and then . . .”

  “Even if we could,” I said as sadness settled over me, “how could we drag Jake all that way if he didn’t want to come?”

  Then a voice right behind us made us jump.

  “Maybe a tranquilizer? Something to put him to sleep?” There was no mistaking that whistle. It was Vincent!

  “Don’t act as if anything is unusual,” he warned. “I’m just a member of the community standing near you.” And that’s what he looked like, another hooded figure, tall and thin, with scaly hands.

  I faced Trey, as if we were just continuing our conversation, and said, “Vincent, how did you know . . . ?”

  “Well,” he said, “the cat’s paw came back to me, so I knew you’d been separated.”

  “But you said you couldn’t come into this world because—”

  “Because my heart was heavy. And it was true. I was a slave to my anger toward my brother.”

  “He said you had a falling-out over kidnapping the Sawyers,” I continued.

  “I disagreed with that plan,” he said. “I hoped the violence had stopped when the community broke up. But that wasn’t the reason for my anger. Many years ago, our parents vanished without a trace. In due time, they were declared dead. Scatter inherited their property and used the money to start the community in New York.

  “While I was in prison, I learned that my brother had had them killed. That destroyed me. I had always worshipped my brother. He was smarter than I was, with this incredible magnetism that drew followers to him. And he had a huge knowledge of magic and the spirit world, much of which he shared with me. He can move among worlds. He can control people’s wills. He can summon storms—I can’t do that one.”

  “Did he summon the storm in Bridgewater?” I was really thinking about the storm at Rock of Ages Bible Camp.

  “Oh, yes. Before he was frozen, he chose the date and set the spell.”

  “And did he give you the paw?”

  “Yes, and showed me how to use it. But the paw opens no gates for those with evil intentions. As long as I was dominated by anger at my brother, I could not follow him.”

  “He said you agreed to be frozen in Bridgewater in order to follow him.”

  “That was before I learned what he’d done. When I did learn, I shut him out of my life. It didn’t seem that what would happen to my body mattered anymore. When I was resurrected, and Scatter was still in charge, I was stunned and afraid. And still angry.”

  “What changed?”

  “I gained a higher purpose. At this point, Scatter will do what he will do. Which, I believe, is die. But I was responsible for sending three innocents here, and I realized it was my duty— my higher purpose, if you will—to help them escape before doomsday. Once I gave up my anger and committed myself to that mission, the paw was happy to assist.”

  “Doomsday?” Trey and I asked at the same time.

  “Children,” Vincent began, “this world and everything in it—including you—is Scatter’s dream. When the dreamer dies, everything in the dream ceases to exist.”

  “But Scatter says he’s taking his followers into the sky with him tomorrow!”

  “Scatter’s prophecies are often imprecise,” Vincent said, “but there’s no reason for us to delay. I just need the three of you, you two and Jake, in one place.”

  “Jake will meet us in the morning,” I said. “He wants us to join the cult.”

  “Perfect. Danielle, take this.” He handed me a small leather bag. I peeked inside and saw a medical syringe filled with a clear liquid. “I’ll watch,” Vincent continued. “When you are together, you will need to administer the tranquilizer to Jake. Then I’ll join you, and we’ll all return to Bridgewater.”

  I didn’t fully trust it, but still. . . . It was a plan.

  15

  Vincent wandered off. I felt hope in my heart again, and Trey was beaming. “That’s what happened with my aunt,” he said. “They hired professionals who drugged her and then yanked her from the cult.”

  The rest of the day seemed to go too slowly. That night, I was afraid I’d be too jacked up to sleep. But I must have drifted off.

  I felt something cold on my arm. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that it was the hand of the young girl I’d watched Scatter abduct the night before. She motioned for me to follow her. We walked out of the dormitory, across the grounds, and out to the church. When we got there, she pointed to the front of her shirt, where it said “Amazing Grace.” She pointed to the second word and looked at me.

  “Your name is Grace?” I asked, and she nodded.

  Then she pointed at the upside-down cross over the church door and frowned. She stood on tiptoes to reach it, but she wasn’t tall enough. When she looked back at me, I knew what she wanted. I bent over so she could climb up on my back. Standing on my shoulders, she pulled the cross off the wall. Then she jumped down beside me. Over the door where the cross had been was the dark imprint of the upright cross where it had hung for decades before Scatter had reversed it.

  Grace started across the camp again, and I followed her to the fence behind the lodge. Close to the ground there was a hole in the wire. The girl
scrambled through and motioned to me to do the same. In a few minutes we were at the beach.

  Suddenly the water began to foam. One by one, children came out from it and began swimming toward us. The smell of decay was overpowering. As the dead kids walked stiffly onto the beach, they lined up in front of Grace. Then the first child, a boy of ten or so, stepped forward.

  Grace handed him the cross, and as she did she was transformed. The color returned to her skin, and her wet green hair turned blond. She was coming to life before my eyes! She turned to me with a huge smile. Then she pointed at the other children. As each one handed the cross to the next one in line, he or she would come to life like Grace. In just a few moments, I was surrounded by happy, living children.

  When the last one, a very little girl, had been restored, she handed the cross back to Grace. Then every last child disappeared into the woods.

  16

  A soft, insistent knocking woke me from my dream. There was someone at my door.

  “Who is it?” I said, I hoped not too loudly.

  “It’s me, Dani. Jake.”

  I went to the door and opened it. Jake gathered me in a hug. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course.” We sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “Dani, you look at me as if I were someone you never knew.”

  I hesitated. “Honestly, Jake, since we came here, you seem like someone I never knew.”

  “If you love me . . .”

  “I do love you, Jake. Why do you think I came here?”

  “Then you should be happy for me. I’ve discovered the reason I was born!”

  “To lead a cult?”

  “To lead a people! To make their lives unimaginably better.”

  Hearing the friend I’d loved as a brother go on like this made me sadder than I’d ever felt before.