Zachary sat on his bed for as long as he could, but finally he had to admit he needed to find food somehow.
He went outside, shutting the door behind him, and walked.
He walked for what seemed like hours, until he came upon a group of kids standing on a curb. They were in front of a school. Zachary had never been there, but he knew what it was. He had often wished he could go there, but his father preferred to teach him at home. Schools, his father said, were a place where God was not welcome.
Zachary approached a girl standing on the sidewalk.
"Oh!" she jumped as she saw him. "You scared me. I didn't see you there." She took little white things out of her ears, they were attached by slim cord to a plastic box. "Hello," she said.
Zachary was silent. He tried to think of a way to ask her for food.
"I'm Heather," she said, "I'm just waiting for my boyfriend." She emphasized those last two words and sighed with a excited thrill.
A school bus pulled up to the curb, and kids started to file into it.
"Where are your shoes?" she asked, seeing Zachary's bare feet.
Zachary was silent.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "What's your name?"
Finally, a question he could answer! He held his Bible up to her, and opened it.
"You...want to show me your Bible?" she asked, then peered at it. "My name is Zachary," she read. "Okay...Zachary..." she slowed her voice, as they all did.
A tall Asian boy walked up and put his arm around her. "Hey!" he said.
"Hey!" she said, flashing a big smile. "You almost made us late, come on!"
They started to get on the bus, but Heather turned at the last minute. "Oh! I'm sorry, this is Zachary!"
Her boyfriend turned and nodded, "Hey Zach! Nice to meet you."
They got on board.
He wasn't sure what to do. They were leaving. He didn't want his only friends to leave him all alone, so he climbed up the steps and boarded the bus.
On the first seat behind the driver was a boy with jet black hair, wearing sunglasses. Next to him Zachary was surprised to see a dog, a big German shepherd! Zachary had always wanted a dog, but his father said they could not afford to keep pets. He sat down next to them, petting the dog. He was wearing some kind of harness.
"His name's Max," said the black-haired boy. "Sounds like he likes you."
Zachary smiled.
"I'm Tyler," the boy said, extending a hand. He extended it in a vague direction in front of Zachary, not toward him.
Zachary reached out and took his hand.
"Hey!" The driver, a man with white hair and wire-rimmed glasses, turned around and grabbed Zachary by the shirt. "I don't know you. Are you supposed to be on this bus?
Zachary said nothing.
"ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE HERE?" The man repeated angrily.
"He's cool," Tyler said. "This is a friend of mine."
The driver shook his head. "Whatever, I don't get paid enough to deal with it."
After the last of the kids boarded, the driver shut the door. The bus pulled away from the curb.
*****
God spoke for a long time, while Zachary listened. Finally, he stopped.
"Do you have any questions, Zachary?"
Zachary looked up at him, worried. "Is this the end times?"
God put a warm hand on his back. "There are those who would make it so," he said.
"Can't you stop them?"
God smiled. "It's up to you Zachary. You and the others."
He turned, taking Zachary by the shoulders. "You may be frightened, Zachary. But in the darkest of darkness, I'll be with you. You remember that."
"I will."
"I need you to wake up now, Zachary. Be good. BE BRAVE."
Zachary opened his eyes.
The water was rushing in all around him, ice cold and dark. He tried to stand, but found himself held by a weight. He looked down at his chest.
There was a huge fragment of glass, impaling him through his shirt.
Zachary reached down and grasped it. The edges sliced into his palms as he pulled at it. It took all his strength, and he thought he might pass out, but somehow he pulled it free, and dropped it into the water.
His skin sealed up behind it, leaving no trace it was ever there.
A sound reached him, the sound of a dog barking, echoing as if through a long hallway. Zachary looked to his left, and saw Max, the German shepherd. Max was pale and ghostly, as if he wasn't even there.
Max was looking up at Tyler, who was unconscious, laying back in his seat.
Zachary grabbed hold of Tyler, and dragged him, pulling him through the water to the bus door, which was open. As the bus filled up, the rush of the incoming water lessened, and Zachary was able to drag him out and swim for the surface.
He dragged Tyler to the shore, gasping for breath. He lay Tyler's body down on the grass and looked back at the water.
Max stood by his side, nothing but a specter that glowed in the moonlight.
"I have to be brave, Max. I have to be brave."
He waded out into the water and dove down to swim back down for the others.
CHAPTER EIGHT
TYLER
"There are worlds inside all of us."
Tyler twirled, tapping the cane around him and wiggling his top hat as he did so.
He was approaching the end of the number. This was a showstopper, the end of act one, so he had to really sell it.
The other dancers backed away from him as he threw his cane to Julie on one side, and his top hat to Marcus on the other.
He threw himself to his knees and slid toward the lip of the stage, feeling the spotlight catch up to him as his voice held the final note.
One measure. Two. Three. Four, and...Stop.
He held his hands out wide and gave the audience his broadest smile. They exploded in applause as the curtains closed.
After the show, the mood in the dressing room was electric. For Tyler, there was no other feeling like being on stage. Under the lights, losing himself in the song and dance, the world seemed to stand still. It was like freezing time and being lost in another dimension.
Tyler handed his jacket and trousers off to one of the costuming students, then slipped his own shirt on.
"You were on fire out there," a voice from behind him said. Marcus slipped a hand around his waist. He was a very handsome Latino with short-clipped brown hair and broad shoulders.
"Thanks," Tyler said. He turned, slipping Marcus' hand away from him and holding it for a moment before letting go. "I have to get out there pretty quick, sorry."
Marcus' brow wrinkled. "I know, I just..."
"See you later," Tyler said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
Tyler grabbed his keys, shoved them in his pocket and headed for the door.
"I just wanted to say you were great...that's all," he heard Marcus say behind him, before the door closed.
He felt like a jerk, but Marcus was acting like he was in love or something lately, and Tyler liked him fine but...he had a future. He was auditioning not only at schools but for real agents. They were saying he might land television roles. It was not time for him to be thinking about guys, or girls either, for that matter.
His parents were waiting for him, along with another prospective agent who had come to see the show.
Tyler grinned. His future was looking brighter all the time. The world was opening up in front of him, and Tyler had to be ready.
*****
His body jolted against the side of the bus as it swerved. Tyler put a hand out to steady himself.
"What's going on?" he asked, but no one answered.
There was a flash then. For just a moment, Tyler saw something, a flash of light around an outline.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, reaching up a hand to his face. "My eyes!"
Then he saw a point of light, a point that opened before him to reveal the front of the bus, the driver, the night outside.
&nb
sp; The bus gained speed, and Tyler stared forward, unable to stop.
*****
Tyler performed the familiar twirl, tapping his cane and wiggling the top hat. The finish was approaching, so he stepped forward, preparing to toss his hat and cane.
Julie was in place to his left, but something was wrong. Her face was in shadow, the usual light not shining on her as it had every night.
Muscle memory forced Tyler to toss the cane without thinking, but as Julie went to catch it, Tyler's gaze went up, into the lights.
The light that normally shone down on her was hanging by one end, wavering.
Julie caught the cane, not seeing her danger. At the end of the number, she usually stepped forward, under that light, anchoring that corner of the stage in pose just before the curtain fell.
The light broke free. Julie moved forward.
Tyler's voice fell silent. He lunged toward her. Time seemed to stand still as he pulled her back. The audience gasped. He pulled Julie right off her feet, but fell forward himself.
The light struck the stage, and there was a shower of sparks. Light exploded in front of Tyler as he fell.
The music stopped. Tyler felt people's hands, heard them ask if he was all right. He could hear them all around him, but they were in complete darkness.
"I'm okay," he said. "Someone turn the lights on."
"The lights are on," someone said.
Tyler felt his face. His eyes were open, uncovered.
"I can't see," he said, a quiver in his voice. "I can't see."
*****
Tyler sputtered, coughing water out of his lungs. A man leaned over him. The man rolled him on to his side, clapping him on the back to help him get the water out.
"That's it," the man said, "good."
Tyler was soaking wet, lying on wet grass. There were flashing lights all around.
"Where am I?"
"You're okay, you were involved in a collision, but we're gonna get you to the hospital and get you checked out, okay?"
The man was clean-shaven, with short orange-red hair. Tyler reached up to touch his face.
The man took his hand and held it away. "You all right? Tell me what's going on."
"I can see you!" Tyler said.
"Well, good." the man said. "Is your vision blurry at all? Are you seeing double?"
"I can see you!" Tyler said again.
The man nodded. "Okay, we're gonna get you in the ambulance now."
As they lifted him onto the gurney, Tyler reached out a hand to stop them. There was a flash, and his gaze seemed to rush into the man's skin, through his pores, into a universe of spinning worlds, which halted their motion.
The man seemed frozen in place.
"Wait!" he said. "Where's Max? MAX?" he called.
The man didn't move. Finally, Tyler blinked. The worlds inside the man spun on their axes once more, and he moved.
"Who's Max?" he asked.
Tyler didn't know how to deal with this, so he went on as if it hadn't happened.
"My dog. He's a...a service animal. A seeing-eye dog."
The orange haired man looked at his partner.
"I'm real sorry," he said. "We haven't found a dog."
"I'm sure they'll find him," said the other man in a reassuring tone.
"MAAAAAX?" Tyler called. He tried to lean forward, and his gaze flew out over the water, skimming the far side of the river, and the trees beyond.
"Okay, we're gonna have to get you to the hospital, buddy. We'll tell them to keep looking for your dog.
"MAX!"
They loaded him into the ambulance, and closed the doors behind him.
Just as the doors closed, Tyler thought he heard a barking, as if from a great distance.
The ambulance pulled away.
At the hospital, his family was waiting for him.
He didn't even need to tell them he could see. They could tell immediately, by the way he looked at all of them. His mom and dad were delighted of course, as was Tyler. They hugged and hugged, overjoyed. Living through the bus crash seemed almost secondary.
Tyler did not tell them what had happened at the river, when he had frozen the EMT in place. He had already decided the whole thing was in his imagination.
The doctors examined him, and said he seemed fine. The doctor took special care to closely examine Tyler's eyes, having him sit still for all kinds of tests.
The only strange result seemed to be from a variation on the standard eye test: reading signs on the wall. Tyler could read every single one, no matter how far or small.
Eventually, the doctor left, and when he returned he was a bit pale.
"Tyler, some men would like to speak with you. About the crash, and about the after-effects."
"After-effects?" Tyler's father said. He was a wealthy man, an attorney, dressed in a dark suit. "My son can see again, that's not an after effect."
The doctor nodded. "The truth is, um." He cleared his throat. "Tyler's records show that he suffered permanent nerve damage from the accident which took his sight. I'm not really...I'm not able to explain, medically-speaking, explain the regeneration of those nerves."
"It's a miracle," Tyler's mother said.
"Well, um..." the doctor wiped his brow.
"It is!" she repeated. "It's a miracle!" She wrapped her hands around Tyler, who hugged her back.
One wall faded out before Tyler's eyes. He could see the men standing on the other side: soldiers.
Tyler thought he heard a growling sound, coming to him as if it echoed down a long tunnel. Max?
"Anyway, these men would like to see you, Tyler. Just for a bit."
"No," Tyler's father said, the voice of a man accustomed to getting his way. "We're leaving. We're taking our son home where he belongs."
Tyler sighed in relief. He did not want to stay and see why soldiers wanted him.
His mind refused to let him think about how he knew they were soldiers.
Tyler's dad helped him up and his parents ushered him from the hospital.
*****
The school bus struck the railing, but Tyler didn't see or feel it. His vision continued to open up before him, and as it did he saw past the window, past the bridge, past the river and the woods beyond.
Tyler stared, his jaw dropping, as the world sped past him. He saw over fields and towns and roads. The vision zoomed past.
The bus hung in the air for a moment, and Tyler's gaze skipped off the curve of the earth and went sailing into the night.
*****
"Tyler, Doctor Storm is here to talk to you."
He didn't answer, just sat and faced forward, his eyes hidden behind the dark sunglasses. Tyler had tried to describe to people how it felt to see nothing. The initial blackness had faded away, leaving no black, no gray, just a field of nothing, as if he was looking through an opening, with another opening on the other side.
"Hello, Tyler." Doctor Storm said. She had a very pleasant, rich voice. Tyler pictured her as a mature, attractive woman, with short pale blonde hair and glasses. He had no idea if this was true of course, but it was how he pictured her. "Your mom tells me you've been having some difficulty."
"Is that what she tells you," he said.
His rehabilitation had not been going well. The main problem was the cane. Every time he touched it he thought of the stage. When he tapped it, he thought of the musical number. When he swung it he thought of throwing it, then of Julie, then the light falling from above. He couldn't bear using it. Without it, he had difficulty learning how to get around, and was slowly giving up. He had retreated into his room, and then into himself. Where he had been a graceful, coordinated dancer, effortlessly gliding through choreography and hitting every mark on stage, he was now a clumsy ox, stampeding through life. Better not to go at all.
"We think maybe a different approach might be helpful."
He heard someone open a door, and there was a sound he didn't recognize, like someone small padding across the floo
r. An animal?
Suddenly, there was a big sloppy tongue licking his cheek. Tyler couldn't help but smile as he pulled his face away. He put his hands out and felt a big furry dog, which then lifted its paws up to his lap. Tyler hugged him and the dog seemed delighted.
"Tyler," said the doctor, "meet Max. I think you're going to get along great."
*****
Tyler had just collapsed in bed after returning from the hospital when he heard the tapping at his window. He lifted himself up and peered outside. Marcus stood there, tapping his finger against the glass.
Tyler opened the window. "Marcus?" He climbed out and slid the window down behind him. He knew if they stayed inside his parents would hear.
"Oh my God it's true! You can see!"
Tyler turned and embraced him. "Yes! I don't know how! I just woke up after the crash and could see!"
"Oh thank God, thank God!" Marcus said, holding him tight. "I was so...I was so..."
"Shh..." Tyler pulled back and held his face in his hands, slick with tears. "I'm okay. It's okay."
"No, it's not." Tears welled forth uncontrollably from Marcus' eyes. "I'm so sorry. So sorry."
"What are you sorry about? I'm the one who should be sorry for pushing you away."
"Not that. The light." Marcus' voice hitched. "The stage light. I was helping the tech crew, and I was switching out the lamp."
Tyler let go of him. "You did it?"
"I was changing the lamp. I unscrewed it and replaced the bulb and rea- reattached it. I'm sorry I'm sorry..."
"You did this to me? What, because you were angry at me?" Tyler felt his eyes dial open and the chasm inside Marcus yawned wide before him, showing the worlds endlessly spinning and dancing inside him.
"No! No! Oh my God, I would NEVER!"
Tyler felt his rage build and the worlds responded, dancing faster, spinning more wildly in their orbits.
"It was an accident! An acci-- ah...AHH"
The orbits decayed, the worlds spun apart, and Marcus' body began to fray at the edges.
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