by J. D. Cavan
He watched as figures in black military gear carrying semi-automatic weapons entered the metal cylinder. They returned quickly, carrying giant black nets with what looked like homeless kids in them. Luca grabbed Charlie’s arm and pulled him back even further away, over the ridge, as they tried to stay completely out of sight.
Then a large armored vehicle drove up and more figures in military gear with guns got out. It seemed like they were searching the area for something. They had one of the homeless kids, a young girl, on the ground with a rifle pointed at her. It looked like they were saying something, threatening her.
“What the hell’s going on?” Charlie whispered to Luca.
“Something bad, real bad. Let’s get out of here,” Luca said in a low voice. They both stood up and turned to go, but facing them were two of the military people in the shadows, automatic rifles in their hands.
“Don’t run,” one of them said. It was a girl’s voice. “Walk this way.” Charlie and Luca followed them over to a small clearing up over the ridge and out of sight of the scene in the maintenance lot.
“Have a seat on the grass,” the girl ordered. They were both wearing black hoods covering their faces and aiming the guns at them, and then in unison they took their hoods off. One of the girls was dark skinned and had black-framed glasses on, and the other girl was smaller, with blonde hair in strange-looking ponytails.
“You don’t remember us, do you?” the girl with the glasses said. Charlie couldn’t get words out, so he just stared at them blankly. “We didn’t think so. I’m Blavatsky, and this is Kid. We knew you, Charlie. We knew you well,” the girl with the glasses said. Luca stared at him and Charlie felt himself try to catch his breath. Finally, the thing he’d wanted and searched his mind for was about to happen. His past life would be known. He swallowed hard and felt a moment of excitement. Then he felt himself get paranoid. What if they’re part of the Serial Seven?
“Relax,” the girl named Kid said—she was the shorter one with the odd-looking ponytails. “We don’t have a lot of time, so you need to listen up.” Charlie nodded and slowed his breathing.
“You were a Thought Changer; that’s how we met you. We made it through the Experiment together.” Blavatsky spoke politely.
“Thought Changer?” Charlie uttered.
“We’re an elite group. We travel through time and space, invisibly, saving people around the world from catastrophic events and dangerous people,” Blavatsky explained.
“We were heroes,” Kid blurted. Charlie’s mind flashed for a second. Although no memories of what they said came back to him, Samantha’s stories of how he had saved her from the serial killer returned to his mind. I must have been a Thought Changer back then.
“You saved a lot of lives, Charlie.” Blavatsky looked at him and Charlie sensed that she was serious.
“I don’t remember,” Charlie replied. He felt the familiar misery of having no knowledge of his life. If someone reminds you of something, you usually remember it, and what a relief that is—but never for him, just blankness. He’d thought finding out about his life would give him some relief, but now he was discovering it only left him with more questions.
“It don’t matter now. What matters is that you realize what’s happening. A man named Mr. Scott is our leader, the head Thought Changer you could call him, and he’s flipped the script. We don’t do Thought Changer jobs anymore, just Third jobs now,” Kid said.
“Third?” Charlie shook his head. This was all too much for him.
“Yes, but it’s too long to go into. Thirds are supposed to be dangerous, so we capture them and bring them back to the castle,” Blavatsky said with what Charlie thought was sympathy in her voice.
“Is that what you and your buddies are doing in the maintenance lot?” Luca asked.
Kid and Blavatsky glanced at each other before Kid spoke. “Who are you?” she said nastily.
“He’s with me, saved my life, so don’t worry about him. I have questions, a lot of them,” Charlie replied. “Castle? Was I in a stone castle?” Charlie quickly asked. The two of them nodded. The memory of his dream was coming back to him. “Is there a boy named Jack there?”
“Charlie, Jack was your best friend,” Blavatsky said. “We were all Thought Changers together.”
“You remember Jack?” Kid asked.
“That’s all I do—and there was a man with a dark cloak and hood.” Charlie glanced down. He felt a wave of sadness come over him at the idea of having friends he’d lost and being a part of something that was gone.
“That man was probably Mr. Scott,” Kid said.
“Listen, Charlie. We have to go, like right now. You and Jack, you’re not friends anymore,” Blavatsky said with a dead-serious look on her face.
“I think he was trying to help me,” Charlie uttered to himself as he thought about Jack’s warning. The two of them glanced at each other, as if deciding whether to go on with more. Blavatsky nodded her head at Kid.
“Jack says you’re a Third now,” Kid blurted out. Charlie felt himself stiffen and instead of sadness, a burst of anger gripped him.
“So you’re here to capture me?”
“No, we don’t believe him,” Blavatsky replied. “And we have to go—”
“Wait! Do you know what happened to my memory?” Charlie asked.
“The two stared at each other again and said in unison, “Mind Clear,” before Blavatsky went on. “Jack has the power to take people’s memories, wipe their identities away completely.” Charlie felt his heart sink and took a couple steps backward. His best friend had taken his memory, betrayed him. The story of his life was worse than he had ever allowed himself to imagine.
“So what do you want from me?” Charlie muttered.
“We don’t want nothing from you. We saw you and your friend over here and are tryin’ to save your ass,” Kid replied.
“Thought Changers are trained to believe there is nothing random in life, that each event has meaning,” Blavatsky stated. “So us seeing you here can’t be random.”
“But you need to book. Changers will be scouring this area any minute and if they you find you…” Kid frowned. “You’re toast.”
“Things are different now. It’s not just Changers out there,” Blavatsky said, then got quiet and seemed to look over her shoulder as if someone might be listening.
“What do you mean?” Charlie asked.
“Other things we can’t mention.” Kid’s voice dropped, like she was saying something she shouldn’t. “Mr. Scott and another man you probably don’t remember, Professor Sheldracky, are working on something really nasty and far stronger than Changers.
“What?” Charlie felt totally lost.
“We’ve prob told you too much already. Let’s scram,” Kid said and they both started to walk away.
“That’s all?” Charlie asked in desperation, following behind them. He knew he only had a fraction of knowledge about his past life.
“Keep on the run, Charlie,” Blavatsky advised.
“The Serial Seven, who are they?” The two shook their heads. They had no idea, Charlie could tell. Then he watched them vanish into the night, leaving him with just broken bits of his old life.
As Charlie wandered back out of the park, still in a state of shock, Luca said sarcastically, “Nice friends you’ve got there, Charlie. I guess we don’t have to wonder where all the homeless kids are going anymore.” Luca glanced down at his phone. Charlie was still in a state of shock, trying to fit all the details he’d just learned into some kind of coherent story of his life.
“We aren’t meeting at the hotel. We’re all going to BKB’s penthouse instead; Sam spent the day with him,” Luca reported as he glanced up from his phone. Charlie felt his stomach drop. Even though he’d found out a little bit about who he was it had been bizarre and sad. The knowledge of his life as a Thought Changer and now as a Third didn’t fill him up at all, but only seemed to add to the emptiness he felt inside. The news of Saman
tha and BKB just made that feeling worse.
* * *
THE PENTHOUSE APARTMENT was amazing, not that Charlie had seen anything that could compare. It was high up in one of the luxury buildings overlooking the beach and ocean. The waves crashed and the wind blew through the giant open terrace doors when Samantha walked down a long flight of stairs that led to a higher floor of the apartment.
“Hey!” Samantha called out, then raced over to Sarah and gave her a big hug. Charlie and Luca glanced at each other and Luca shook his head. “That so wasn’t a Samantha move,” Charlie whispered.
Samantha had on expensive-looking jeans and new shoes. BKB had let them in wearing an expensive jogging suit. He plopped himself down on his circle couch that surrounded a huge fireplace in the center of the room. Pictures of himself and his restaurants hung all over the walls.
“Grab a seat, bros,” he said to them. Charlie slowly came over and sat down while Luca followed.
“Where did you get those?” Sarah asked Samantha, talking about her clothing.
“At my shoot today. They had all this stuff and just gave me a bunch. Some will fit you, I’m sure!” she said, excited.
“Your shoot?” Sarah almost shouted.
“Sam had her first real photo gig today and she knocked it out of the park,” BKB said.
“And get this, Baby and I are having dinner with a Hollywood producer tonight. He thinks I can impress her and get into acting!” Samantha announced, again almost screaming her words. Sarah started jumping up and down and Charlie found himself rolling his eyes while Luca shook his head.
“Don’t you think this is fast, Samantha?” Charlie said. He was not just jealous, but furious. Samantha had changed in one day. She hadn’t even bothered to ask how their day had gone; it was all about her.
“That’s how it goes, bros. That’s how it went for me,” BKB replied for Samantha. Charlie felt his face get red with anger. Now he’s answering for her, Charlie thought before BKB went on. “We have to get going, S, if we’re gonna meet her. She’s super important, a super-busy producer lady—”
He’s calling her, S? Charlie thought to himself. “Oh yeah, we have to get going too. We’re super important and super busy too, BRO!” Charlie said nastily, then stood up and headed toward the door.
“Wow, chill. See S, it’s not you who has to get used to the fame, it’s other people who freak about it. That’s what I was tellin’ you,” BKB said as Charlie walked past him.
“Hold it, Charlie.” Samantha ran over to him and took him by the arm. Charlie walked her to the door, away from the group.
“What’s your prob!” she said.
“Prob? You don’t even sound like yourself.” Charlie tried to turn away from her but she pulled him back. “You didn’t even bother to ask how my day was.” Charlie couldn’t hide the hurt in his voice.
“Shit, I’m sorry. It’s just that my life is changing so fast—” She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head.
“Forget it,” Charlie responded.
“No, I want to hear,” she replied, looking like she was pretending to be interested.
“I found out more about who I am today.” Charlie couldn’t wait to tell Samantha. She was the one he had wanted to tell the most.
“Reals? Aws! I want to hear,” she said after glancing over her shoulder toward BKB.
“Reals? Forget it!” Charlie snapped. “You’re lost.” Samantha’s face dropped. Charlie could tell she was pissed.
“Tell me, or don’t tell me,” she said back impatiently. There was a pause.
“If you care, I found out I was a Thought Changer; that’s how I saved you. That’s who I was,” Charlie said.
“So go be a Thought Changer.” Samantha’s face looked cruel. He’d seen her angry, but never mean like that.
“They threw me out. I’m supposed to be a Third now, or something, and that’s not good,” Charlie uttered, angrily.
“Whatever,” Samantha replied.
“Whatever?” Charlie felt his heart crack. Samantha gazed nervously over her shoulder again.
“I have to go,” she finally said before walking away. Charlie was sick. It was obvious she didn’t give a crap—on to bigger and better things, he could see. If the day could have gotten any more crummy, it just did, he thought.
* * *
AS CHARLIE and Luca walked back to the hotel room through the city streets, Charlie felt divided inside himself. He so wanted to open up to Luca and tell him how he was feeling about Samantha, but another part of him knew he shouldn’t. He went back and forth before Luca spoke up.
“She calls him Baby for short, makes me want to puke.” Luca made a face like he’d just eaten something really sour.
“Yeah, and he calls her S. Blah!” Charlie muttered in disgust.
“I tried to tell her what I learned about myself, being a Thought Changer and a Third. It could have to do with the Serial Seven and she could care less!” Charlie said bitterly.
“It’s over probably. And if she becomes big time like she says, we’ll probably never see her again—” Luca said.
“Yeah, totally agree.” Charlie stopped walking for a second and stood looking into a pizza shop window. The night air had gotten cool. “I would miss her, I have to admit that,” he said, staring at the men making the pizza inside.
“Me too,” Luca said, sadly. “I’ll really miss her.” Charlie turned toward him and the two of them made eye contact. It was a moment of knowing between them, how they each felt about Samantha. Luca opened his mouth to go on and Charlie was sure he was going to talk more about his love for her, but he glanced back into the pizza shop instead.
“That pizza looks damn good,” Luca said with a little smile. Charlie threw his arm around Luca’s shoulder, opened the door and they walked inside.
* * *
IT WAS VERY late that night when Charlie heard Samantha come back to the hotel room. Everyone was asleep, and he pretended to be as well. He felt the pain, a pain he’d not felt in the short memory of his life. It wasn’t anger or sadness or even jealously; it was like he was worthless, didn’t even matter or exist at all.
He didn’t want to believe Samantha was BKB’s new girlfriend now. He wanted to deny it. But it was obvious—she’d spent the night with him, dinner and hanging out. Her life was taking off and his was becoming more messed up and convoluted—a car wreck.
He so wanted to talk to her about everything, about Kid and Blavatsky and all they had told him about his past. But he didn’t. Instead he lay silent while listening to her get ready for bed.
After Samantha had fallen asleep, Charlie decided to finally do what he should have done months ago. He quietly packed his bag and walked out. He wandered the city streets alone, moving past the all-night restaurants and clubs. It was a chilly night and he found a spot in the park, the same one he and Luca had been in. He walked back over to where he had found out about his life. It was pitch dark and not a soul was in the area where the Thought Changers had been with the homeless kids.
He wished he’d never found out about his life as a Thought Changer, or that he’d never met Samantha and Luca. He actually missed the Yukon. Knowing nothing in the wilderness was better than finding out a bunch of useless information about yourself, or having a friend he thought he was falling in love with drop him like he was garbage.
He took a deep breath, gazed out over the dark landscape, and noticed a fire burning in the distance. He focused his eyes on it, trying to see where it was coming from. He started walking toward it, down the sloping hills and through the deserted maintenance lot over toward a huge playing field of some kind. He could see now that the fire was burning in a large metal trashcan. Three figures stood by the can, warming themselves. As he got closer, he could see they were kids, younger than him. As he walked up to the smoky, smelly fire, they barely acknowledge him. They looked worn through, dirty and skinny, like they hadn’t eaten a decent meal in months.
Charlie felt
something stir in his heart, something that woke him up out of his own self-pity. It went past sympathy, past sadness, and reached down into anger and rage that kids just like him should be living without anyone, surviving on nothing and at risk for everything. He felt disgusted, and wondered how many kids there were like this in the world. How many were being hunted by Thought Changers? What kind of person did that? He hated everything for a moment, but then realized what he needed to do.
* * *
FIRST THING THE next morning, Charlie showed up to the food kitchen waiting for the doors to open. He walked directly to Robert’s office and banged on the door, intending to tell him everything.
“Come on in,” Robert said as Charlie swung the door open. “Hey Charlie.” He looked confused.
“I know where the all the homeless kids are disappearing to,” he said, realizing he was taking a big risk trying to explain Thought Changers and covert operations to Robert. He went ahead anyway and told Robert what he had seen that night with Luca, all the homeless kids getting rounded up by people in military gear. Robert sat there listening and then seemed to genuinely believe him, which totally surprised Charlie.
“Charlie, did you get a good look at any of the kids?” Robert asked.
“A little, yeah, but it was dark and there were a lot of them. Why?”
“I want to show you something.” He turned his chair. “I have pictures of all the missing kids. I kept them in there.” Robert pointed to another door in the back of his office. It was behind some filing cabinets and Charlie hadn’t noticed it at all.
“Why do you have their pictures?” Charlie asked.
“So we know who to look for. Why else?” Robert sincerely replied, then stood up and walked toward the door. Charlie felt a little foolish. “It’s right through here,” he said, leading him toward the back room. Charlie was wondering why Robert kept the pictures of the kids behind some strange door in his office. Robert grabbed the knob and then looked at Charlie.
