by Nic Tatano
“I’m good. I just had milk and cookies at home. Can’t break that after school habit.”
I see Roxanne in the corner of my eye walking out from the back room, hair up, wearing an apron. “Hey, Jillian,” she yells from behind the counter.
I look up at her. “Hi, Rox.”
She moves out from behind the counter and walks toward our table. “I didn’t know you were coming—” She looks at my father and her jaw drops. “Holy shit, J.T. Decker!”
“Hello there,” my father says.
“Wow, a celebrity in our shop! What in the world are you doing here?”
Though we’ve rehearsed up till this point we have no idea how my father will respond. Will he admit he’s my father, that he knew Roxanne when she was a baby?
“Jillian is being awarded a scholarship by my company,” he says, not missing a beat.
Coward.
“Wow, cool.” Roxanne turns toward me. “Why you didn’t tell me about this?”
“I didn’t want to jinx it,” I say. “I just found out today.”
“Great,” says Roxanne. “Hey, Mr Decker, can I get a picture of you in our shop? Otherwise no one will believe you were actually here.” She nods toward a wall behind the counter that’s covered with photos. “I’ll put you on the wall with the other famous people.”
“Sure,” he says.
“We’ve got a camera in the back room. I’ll be right back.”
She turns and heads to the back room. “She certainly turned out beautiful,” says my father.
“Beautiful inside, too,” I say. “We’re as close as sisters.”
“That’s nice to hear. She works here after school?”
“Yeah. So I get lots of free stuff. Sometimes I help out at the register, so her parents don’t think I’m a total freeloader.”
He smiles as Roxanne returns with a full size camera. “Okay, you two, can I get you guys up next to the display case?”
“Sure,” my father says.
We both stand up and head toward the case which will put my father’s back to his laptop. I look at Jake, he gives a slight nod back, then turns his attention to our table.
I take a quick glance at our table. The zip drive floats out of my purse and inserts itself into his laptop’s USB port.
Thirty seconds. Then all Jake has to do is hit “enter” with his mind. I’m counting down the seconds in my head. One Mississippi, two Mississippi…
Roxanne steps a few feet back as we stand next to each other against the bakery case. She holds the camera to her face, then pulls it down and gives a sideways wave with her hand. “Get a little closer, you two.”
Stall tactic.
We move closer, side by side. He puts one arm around my shoulder. My pulse jumps. I think we’re about at ten Mississippis.
“Okay, say cannoli!” says Roxanne.
“Cannoli!” we both say, as she takes the picture.
The flash goes off and blinds me for a second.
Then my vision clears and I’m on the couch, looking at Fuzzball.
For a split second.
Then back in the pastry shop.
My father looks at me, eyes blazing. “What the hell?”
Roxanne looks at the camera and fear fills her eyes. “Uh… that one was a little fuzzy. Let me get another shot—”
“Let me see that camera!” says my father.
I look at the laptop. The screen isn’t red yet.
I’ve lost track of Mississippis.
Need more time.
Just a few seconds.
My father lunges for the camera and grabs it.
Roxanne won’t let go. They’re both pulling hard. My father finally yanks it from her. Roxanne loses her balance, falls backward, hits her head on the corner of another table. Her eyes roll up into her head as she hits the floor hard.
A small pool of red begins to form on the tile.
“Roxanne!” Jake screams, jumps up from his table, grabs a towel off the counter and runs to her.
My father looks at the camera, then turns it to show me the photo Roxanne just took.
He’s there all alone. Arm around nothing but air.
He drops the camera, it shatters, he grabs my shoulders. “You disappeared. What the hell are you?”
His eyes are filled with something dark, something beyond hate. Bordering on something hypnotic, which seems to be sucking the life from me while injecting incredible fear. I begin to shake. “I’m your daughter.” My voice cracks.
“You’re some sort of… projection!” He shoves me against the wall.
“Ow!” My alter ego apparently can feel pain, as it shoots up my back.
In a flash he’s on me, nose to nose with me, squeezing my arms as he pins me against the wall. “You’re not my daughter. Who are you? What are you?”
I struggle to get away and turn my head, not wanting to look into those eyes any longer.
His laptop fills my vision.
The screen is red.
I yell. “Jake!”
But Jake is on the floor, cradling Roxanne’s head in his lap as he applies pressure to her head with the towel. He grabs his cell phone with his free hand to call for help.
She’s unconscious. Jake has forgotten what he’s supposed to do.
Just take one second and hit enter, dammit!
“Who are you?” asks my father again, in a guttural demonic voice that makes my heart slam against my chest.
The bell announcing a customer rings as the door flies open and bangs against the wall.
Ryan.
“Get your hands off her, you sononfabitch!”
“Ryan, no! He can’t hurt me!”
He’s forgotten this isn’t the real me.
My father whips his head toward Ryan as my boyfriend rushes toward him. “Ah. You again!”
He releases his grip on me, lowers his head, narrows his eyes and stops Ryan in his tracks.
Ryan grabs his head and screams.
“Stop it!” I yell. But my father is locked on Ryan, his stare seeming to drive him into the floor.
Ryan’s face twists, his eyes bulge. His whole body begins to convulse.
Roxanne is still unconscious.
Jake is on the phone yelling for help.
The laptop is still red.
I move forward and grab my father’s arm. “Dad, leave him alone!”
He shoves me hard, away from him, so hard that I fall and crash into another table, hitting my face on a chair. “I’m not your Dad!”
I feel my mouth fill with liquid, then see the blood drip on the floor.
I’m getting dizzy.
I can’t pass out now and end up back home.
Not now.
Or Ryan dies. Maybe Roxanne too.
I summon what little energy I have left. My eyes narrow at the man who would kill my boyfriend and best friend.
He’s still focused on Ryan, not looking at me as I crawl to the table. I use a chair to pull myself up, turn the laptop toward me—
“No, you’re sure as hell not my Dad.”
And hit enter.
My father stands bolt upright like he’s being electrocuted.
The laptop screen goes crazy. Numbers and symbols fly by at a dizzying rate.
My father grabs his head and screams like nothing I’ve ever heard, like an animal in mortal agony.
My phone starts making bizarre sounds; ring tones, chirps, dozens of songs all combine. The screen looks the same as the laptop as it begins to vibrate violently.
My father collapses, still holding his head. He’s lying on the floor, twitching, eyes wide open.
Looking directly at me.
I’m killing my own father.
But he’s not my Dad.
I look at Ryan, slumped on the floor next to Roxanne and Jake. His eyes stare into space.
I know what I have to do.
The room is beginning to spin. I use every ounce of strength I have left to crawl toward them and str
etch out my hands. I take Ryan’s hand with my left and Roxanne’s hand with my right.
I focus everything I have left on healing them both.
“Jillian.”
My father’s whisper distracts me for a moment. I turn to look at him. His face is pressed against the floor like it’s glued there. Eyes filled with sadness.
“Why?” he asks.
“You already answered your own question,” I say. “You’re not my Dad. And you never would have been.”
I turn back to the task of healing Ryan and Roxanne, focusing as intently as ever, sending every ounce of life I have left into them.
And I black out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Alas, the smoking hot redhead awakens.”
My vision clears and I see Ryan staring at me from a bed across the room. “Hey. You’re alive.”
“Last time I checked, yeah.”
I look around and realize I’m not home. (Obviously this is not the way I imagined us sharing a bedroom.) “Where the hell are we?”
“Hospital at The Summit.”
“How long was I out?”
“Four days.”
“Good God. Are you okay?”
“I’m on low power, but I’ll be fine. You saved me. Again.”
I look around and begin to sit up. “Where’s Roxanne?”
He nods toward the door. “Room across the hall.”
“Is she—”
“She’ll be fine. Had a pretty serious head injury when they got her here.”
“I saw blood.”
“She had a bad cut. Jake stopped the bleeding and they stitched her up. But you saved her too.”
“And my father?”
“They’ve got him in an escape proof vault, so he won’t be going anywhere.” Ryan swings his legs over the side of the bed and sits up.
“So it worked.”
“Yep. All the phones crashed, too. They’re completely dead.”
“Where’s my Mom?”
“She went to get something to eat, but she’s been here the whole time. She’ll be right back.”
“I wanna see Rox.”
I sit up and get a little dizzy. Ryan gets out of bed, takes my arm and helps me get on my feet. “Take it slowly, Sparks.”
I wrap one arm around his waist and lean against him. “Yeah, no kidding.”
He leads me across the hall to another room. The first thing I see is Roxanne’s head wrapped in a bandage. She’s propped up a bit in bed while Jake is seated in a chair next to her. Her face beams as she sees me. “You’re alive!”
“Kinda sorta. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”
“Right there with ya.” She extends her arms toward me. “Get your ass over here.”
Ryan helps me to her bed I sit on the edge and we hug like never before. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” I pull back and look at her.
“Thank you for saving my life,” she says, eyes tearing up.
I look at Jake, the only one in the room not on the disabled list. “So what the hell happened after I blacked out?”
“You mean after you disappeared,” he says. “Ryan and Roxanne started to come around just as the ambulance arrived. The Summit had a couple standing by and then you were all transferred here by helicopter.”
“The Summit had ambulances there?”
“I was the only one who knew about them,” says Jake. “They didn’t want you guys to worry that you might need them. Though it turned out you did.”
“And what happened to my father?”
“The virus fried him just as we thought. Since he was basically connected to all his phones, the virus spread to them and they died. The things shorted out and won’t even turn on. By the way, I grabbed the zip drive on the way out and it’s back at Homeland Security. The virus was confined to your father and the phones, and since the phones are dead and your father’s here, it can’t go anywhere else.”
“What about the pod people?”
“It’s like everyone woke up from a trance. We taped the news broadcasts for you. A whole bunch of teenagers stormed your father’s company. All they needed was torches and pitchforks to make a good horror movie. Hell hath no fury like a teenage girl without a cell phone. Anyway, the great DeckTech company is out of business.” He looks at Roxanne. “And we all presumably live happily ever after.”
“Thanks to your idea,” says Ryan.
“Yeah, it worked even though we had to wing it at the end.”
“I don’t understand,” says Roxanne. “I thought everything worked perfectly. Right?”
Jake shakes his head. “I wanted to wait till Jillian was awake to tell you she’s the one who deserves all the credit.”
“I don’t get it either,” says Ryan.
“I got the zip drive in the computer,” says Jake. “But Jillian pushed the button.”
“You were otherwise preoccupied,” I say.
“With what?” asks Rox.
“Taking care of you,” I say. “You hit your head and were bleeding. He grabbed a towel and stopped it. Called for help.”
Jake looks down at the floor. “Thankfully Jillian had enough strength left to get to the laptop or … I’m sorry. I should have…”
“You should have what?” asks Roxanne.
“You know. I had one thing left to do and I froze. I panicked. If Jillian hadn’t been there…”
Roxanne reaches out, grabs his chin and tilts it up. “Hey, look at me.”
Jake’s eyes are still looking at the floor. “What?”
“Look at me.”
He looks up and their eyes meet.
“You put my life above everything and saved me. You are a great boyfriend. I couldn’t ask for a better one.” She takes his face with both hands, pulls him toward her and gives him a long, serious kiss.
“Geeks may think they rule the world,” says Ryan, “but love conquers all.”
“Not quite all,” says Roxanne, who turns to look at me with a faux glare. “My guilt is back. Sonofabitch.”
***
Mom takes my hand as we enter the room. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”
“Let’s get it over with.”
Sebastien is alone in the antiseptic white room dominated by the steel gray chamber in the center. Several monitors sit on a console surrounding it, filled with lines and graphs that make no sense to me.
The chamber has a glass window on one side, but I cannot see through it.
“Jillian, good to see you up and around,” says Sebastien, as he takes my hands.
“Good to see you too.”
“We are of course, forever in your debt. And very proud of you as well.”
“Thank you. Nice to hear.” I look at the window.
“Ready?” asks Mom.
I take a deep breath. “Yeah. What the hell, he can’t hurt us anymore.”
She leads me to the side so that we can look through the window.
The sight doesn’t shock me. It doesn’t affect me at all.
My father, in a bed, staring at the ceiling. Electrodes attached to his head.
“The brainwaves he used to interface with technology are gone,” says Sebastien, moving behind us. “In fact, all that is left is a very low amount of activity. If he ever awakens, which we doubt, we do not think he would have any powers at all. He would be a normal human being.”
I nod, studying his face, which is expressionless. The hate in the eyes is gone, as they’re now vacant. “So what’s going to happen to him?”
“We will study the brain activity he has left,” says Sebastien. “Obviously he will never leave this place, even if he wakes up. We could not take the chance. But…”
“But what?” I ask.
“This is purely your decision. And you may take all the time you need to make it. Should you desire… The Council has decided that we would allow you to heal him with your powers.”
I furrow my brow and turn to Sebastien. “Are you out of your mind?”
“His powers are gone. He could be normal. Might be back to what he once was before the second power.”
I turn to my Mom who is staring through the glass with tears in her eyes. “Do you want me to, Mom?”
She says nothing.
“Mom?”
“Now that I see him in person… even though he’s changed physically… I miss what he was. I never stopped missing him, Jillian. The old version of him.”
I put my arm around her shoulder. “I’ll try to heal him if you want me to.”
And then she surprises me and shows me where I get my strength. “No,” she says, wiping her eyes. “There’s too much of a risk. I cannot risk losing you for a memory. Besides, the best parts of what he was are in you.”
***
I find a colorful ticket in my hand as I head to the gate. It reads New York World’s Fair. The price is two dollars.
Men in fedoras and women in colorful wide brimmed hats surround me in line. The Unisphere is visible in the distance while old Shea Stadium is brand new across the massive parking lot. I hear a roar go up from that direction. The Mets must have done something good. I feel the sun warm my face as a nice breeze plays with my hair.
“They don’t have World’s Fairs anymore,” says Carrielle, suddenly appearing beside me. “Your generation may have technology, but there are so many things you can never experience.”
“Well, I apparently have the world’s best travel agent.”
We move through the turnstile, handing the pleasant old man at the gate our tickets. He simply says, “Enjoy!” as we head into the park. An open-air tram is loading up to our left, and we climb in.
“So where are we going?”
“Everywhere,” says Carrielle. “I want you to experience everything. We have all the time in the world.”
“Any particular reason?”
“You’ll figure it out. You’re a smart young woman.” The tram pulls away and heads into the park, which looks like a very retro Disney World, only everything is brand spanking new. “We’re very proud of you, Jillian. You have given the world back its future.”
“Do you know what the future holds?”
“Funny you should ask,” he says, as the tram pulls up to a pavilion called The Futurama. “This is what man of 1964 thought the future would look like. As you’re about to see, it’s pretty hard to predict.”
