Lisa raised her eyebrows. “What kind of stuff?”
“I don’t know. Just, like, you and me.”
She smiled. “Glad to hear that.”
“I miss having you here.”
“I miss having you here too. Wait. Never mind. You know what I mean.” She laughed at her own screw-up. “I miss you too. Did you have something on your mind? You look kind of…I don’t know…thoughtful. Everything okay?”
Ian didn’t realize he looked distracted and kind of wished he’d kept it voice-only. “Yeah, I’m good. Just missing you, that’s all.”
Lisa studied his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Sure that I miss you?” Ian forced a smile when he hadn’t imagined any need to force it before. “Definitely. How’s your gang doing? Did your sister get there okay?”
“Yeah, she came in yesterday. And guess what?”
Ian shook his head. “What’s going on?” But somehow he knew. He could feel it.
Lisa drew her lens closer, so close that all Ian could see was the excitement in her eyes. “She got engaged! She’s getting married next summer!”
“What? Seriously?”
“I know!”
“You’re talking about the guy she met at grad school, right? The same guy she met like six months ago?”
Lisa pulled her flexlet farther back again. She looked up for a moment as she thought. “Well, it’s been almost a year now. Ten months, I think. Something like that. Anyway, she’s super-excited. We all are.”
“That’s really great,” Ian said. “Tell her congratulations from me.”
“I will. Hang on, she’s right down the hall if you want to—”
“I should probably go,” Ian said.
“Oh, okay. Are you sure?”
Ian clicked off the camera facing the water, leaving the one showing him. “Yeah, it’s just that I told my parents I wouldn’t be gone all that long. Holiday stuff and all.”
Lisa nodded. “Okay. Got it. Call me later?”
“Definitely,” Ian said. “I’ll call again later.”
~~~
Ian walked back toward his car, the temperature starting to drop now, the skies clouding over. The extended sunbreak would soon end. This too was fine with him. After all, he’d grown up here—he had no issue with cloudy days. He thought about his conversation with Lisa and how close he’d come to actually telling her what he’d been thinking about. Maybe it was better that circumstances had prevented him from speaking prematurely. Had he really shared that whole marriage idea with Brent and Peter? Yes, he had. God. Ian couldn’t help smile, thinking about the shit they’d give him later but Brent and Peter were right. Sure, someday definitely. But it made no sense right now. Ian reminded himself of what Brent said. He had plenty of time. Why did it feel so important to remind himself of that?
Despite this part of town being long ago gentrified, a few remnants signaled that things here had once been less than prosperous. One such vestige caught Ian’s eye now, an old apartment building that hadn’t been renovated to match its surroundings. Ian knew he must have walked past it a thousand times without even thinking about it but for some reason it stood out for him today. He slowed his pace as he continued to stare at the drab stack of apartments.
An image flashed into his mind for no reason Ian could possibly imagine—a teenager standing on the roof as he stared out over the city, his long red hair blowing in the wind. Just as soon again the image was gone, as if noticing it within his mind had immediately forced the door to close. But not before he heard a word go through his mind too. A name, actually. Curtis. Why again that name? What the hell was going on?
As if to answer his question, Ian’s flexlet buzzed and he withdrew it from his pocket, thinking something must have crossed Lisa’s mind. Probably about her sister’s now upcoming wedding. He went to press the sensor, then stood staring at the name on the screen. Julie Meyers. It took him a moment. Right, Julie. Why would she possibly be calling him?
“Hi, how are you?” she said.
“Pretty good,” Ian said. “Just sort of kicking around downtown today. Saw some friends. How are you doing?”
A moment passed before she said. “So, you’re not too far away. Do you possibly have time to swing by? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
~~~
Julie sat across from him as she seemed to be collecting herself to speak. Ian blew across the top of his mug, wafting steam away, wondering if she always offered tea to those who came to see her, suspecting she must. A ritual of hers, apparently, which he appreciated. Her way of making uncomfortable people comfortable.
Finally, her eyes met his. “I wasn’t sure if I should call you. But I did, obviously.”
Ian nodded, looking into her eyes and wondering what was coming. He wanted to ask, “Can I trust you? Who are you and why are you in my life?” But he didn’t ask any of those questions. Instead, he waited, still trying to dispel the inexplicable image of that kid balanced on the edge of that sad building, his red hair blowing in the wind. About to do what?
“Have you ever had a feeling about something?” Julie said. “I know this might sound strange. But, you know, a feeling—like maybe you’d be better off not doing something or going somewhere?”
Ian shook his head even though the gesture didn’t truly reflect his thoughts. “I don’t know. Sure, I guess.”
“Well, in my experience it certainly can’t hurt to listen to those kinds of feelings. To act on them according to instinct.”
Ian sipped his tea and thought back to this morning. “Something like that happened earlier today.”
Julie’s eyes widened and she raised her eyebrows with interest. “What was it?”
“Something my mother said. It was totally weird but she asked me not to go to the mall. Like something bad was going to happen.” Ian supposed it possible that Julie picked up on something that was going to happen there too. In fact, that would be a lot less strange than his mother getting a feeling about it. Julie was supposedly psychic, after all.
“Did you do as she asked?”
Ian nodded. “I didn’t really understand but I decided not to go. I went to Green Lake instead. Is that what this is about?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Julie said. “It might be. Do you know if anything happened there today?” The way she said it was almost hopeful and Ian couldn’t understand why that might be.
“I don’t think so. At least I didn’t hear anything.” Ian sat back on the sofa, trying to at least appear relaxed although he didn’t feel that way. In fact, he couldn’t help feel nervous. “I kind of get the feeling you’re not telling me something. Sorry, but that’s just how it seems.”
Julie’s face reddened but she didn’t seem offended. More, she looked nervous too. She thought for a moment, then said, “When you came here for a reading, there was something I didn’t tell you. I just wasn’t sure about it, especially at first.”
It wasn’t like Ian had forgotten that moment. Or the next day when she’d refused to come to the door. “Was that when you got a feeling about something happening?”
Julie hesitated, then nodded. “There’s an aspect to what I do that can be troubling. As far as I’m concerned, I see it as an ethical issue. Should I tell someone if I think something bad might be about to happen? Especially, if I don’t know what it is specifically?” She took another moment to formulate her words. “For example, if what I felt might frighten someone but for no reason that I could explain. Would it do them any good?”
Ian shook his head. “No, I guess not. I mean, what would be the point?”
Julie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Exactly. I mean, unless I can offer something specific, all I’m causing is needless worry. Add to that, sometimes the things I see might not take place for years. Intuition isn’t an exact science, after all.”
Ian didn’t know what to say so he waited. He felt both a little frightened and at the same time wondered if she migh
t be a slightly unstable. He wished he’d never grabbed her number off that telephone pole. There was a feeling he probably should have acted upon.
“The other day, something else happened,” Julie said. “When I was giving a reading. I told myself I shouldn’t tell you. I told them I wouldn’t tell you. That it wasn’t our place. But now, I don’t know.” She ran a trembling hand through her hair, pulling it back.
“Them?”
“Yes, people that knew you on the other side.”
Ian perched forward, ostensibly for a sip of tea but really more preparing to stand. This had gotten weird enough already. As far as he was concerned, he needed to get out of there at the first opportunity and never look back. Lesson learned: Next time you see a flyer advertising psychic readings, keep walking.
“Why do you think they contacted you?” Ian wasn’t sure what else to say.
Julie leveled him with a serious gaze. “They were concerned for your well-being. They asked me to tell you. As I said, I wasn’t sure it was my place to do that but, upon thinking about it more, it seemed only fair. That’s why I called you, so I could contact them again with you here.”
Ian set his mug down on her coffee table. “Are you going to do that now?”
“With your permission, of course. It isn’t my place to open channels of this nature if it’s something you’d rather I didn’t do.”
Ian nodded, pretending to give it some thought. “Honestly, I don’t know if I’m all that comfortable with the idea. Besides, I didn’t really expect to be coming here today. I sort of have to be somewhere soon.”
“Oh, of course.”
It surprised Ian a little, the look of relief on Julie’s face. He hated to think poorly of another person but he really had assumed her calling up these supposed spirits was exactly what she wanted to do. It might even be some method she used for getting people to continue seeing her.
Ian got to his feet. “Thank you for letting me know, though. I appreciate your taking the time.”
Julie stood as well. “You’re welcome. And listen to your feelings about things, okay? If you get a feeling about something, don’t just ignore it.”
Ian offered a smile. She really did seem like a nice person. Maybe she was just taking this psychic thing a little too seriously. “I will,” he said. “If I get a feeling about something, I won’t ignore it.”
He was almost out the door when she spoke again, her voice soft. “Ian?”
He turned, not at all prepared to see her eyes glistening.
“Please be careful, okay?”
~~~
Ian started his car and sat thinking about what Julie had just said. He didn’t doubt that she meant it, that she believed in whatever she’d experienced. His last look at her misting eyes had confirmed that. Still, none of it made any sense. People who knew him from the other side? Spirits worried about his well-being? Yeah, okay. Sure.
He shook his head to dispel the thoughts. Time to go. Time to erase this strange little episode from his life. And not look back, definitely. He turned on the radio to hear some music and pulled away from the curb.
16
Hour By Hour
“Maybe we’ve been coming at this from the wrong angle,” Henry said, before swallowing another bite of his Philly cheesesteak. “We’ve been staying close to Ian the whole time. Maybe that’s not the answer.”
Nikki didn’t give him a hard time about scarfing down food this time. They needed to eat and rest on this side while they had the chance. By her guess, they’d only been gone an hour or two, Earth time. She hoped her guess was somewhere close to right. “What are you thinking?”
“The kid who actually did it,” Henry said. “What about we try tapping into him before it’s too late?”
Jamie leaned in over his plate of pasta. “Damn, you might be right. Good idea.” He turned to Nikki. “Why didn’t you think of that?”
Nikki’s face grew warm. “Well, of course it did occur to me that—”
“Oh, come on.” Jamie rolled his eyes.
Nikki stared at him, her gaze flat. “What was I going to say?”
Jamie frowned. “That you also thought we should try following that kid we saw at the mall.”
Nikki nodded. “Exactly. I’m surprised it didn’t occur to you too. Oh, well.”
Henry burst out laughing, the message in his eyes being he got it. Nikki just loved pushing those buttons—particularly for Jamie and Simon since they so often took the bait. “What do you think, Nikki? Can we find him somehow? We don’t know anything about him.”
Even before Henry asked, she’d started wondering the same thing. They’d never before tried locking onto someone without some sort of direct experience first. And this time, they’d had none at all. As visceral as those moments had been, they hadn’t happened yet. Essentially, each time they’d been watching a 3-D movie about some future event.
“We don’t even know his name,” Nikki said.
Jamie tapped on his chin. “Do we need to?”
“Honestly, I have no idea.”
“Let’s give it a shot,” Henry said. “Something has to go right eventually.”
Nikki had never known Henry to be pessimistic but she could hardly blame him. So far, nothing had gone right and they were definitely running out of time.
Instinctively, the three of them did something they hadn’t had any reason to since they’d been desperately trying to rescue Henry’s sister. They closed their eyes, reached out and took hold of each other’s hands. Moments later, they stood in a school hallway and Nikki winced against the clanging of a bell.
“I always hated that sound,” she said.
“Except for the last one of the day,” Jamie said.
“How about that—they still use actual bells,” Henry said.
Students started spilling from doorways, the throng soon choking the hall as they jostled one another on their way to their next class. Nikki immediately became uncomfortable—more uncomfortable than usual when this sort of thing happened—as some of these kids unknowingly passed through her. She knew that the others in her group experienced something like it, but for her the sensation was more pronounced. What she picked up on now was an almost uniformly pervasive guardedness and hostility—a mixture of fear, anger, resentment and distrust.
The emotional eddy was enough to make her feel queasy and she pressed against a wall to get out of the way. Apparently, Henry and Jamie felt similarly since they lined the wall alongside her.
Maybe it was because the door next to them offered the easiest escape, or maybe it was because of the inexplicable sense of curiosity that overcame her, but Nikki decided that’s where they needed to go. She dodged inside the classroom and took a sudden breath.
“That’s definitely him,” Henry said.
“Damn, we did it,” Jamie said.
No doubt about it, there he was—the kid whose eyes had haunted Nikki since that first time they’d jumped forward. He was just about to leave the classroom, backpack slung over his shoulder, when the man behind him spoke.
“Emilio, hang on a second.”
The kid, Emilio, stopped but didn’t turn around to face his teacher. “Come on, Mr. Posten. I’ll be late for my next class.”
Mr. Posten smiled even though Emilio kept his back turned. “You already know my super power. I’m a teacher, therefore I can write hall passes.”
His words actually had the intended effect, which surprised Nikki a little. Emilio smiled. But he erased the smile again before turning around. “What is it this time?”
“Same as last time. Plus there’s something else I wanted to ask you about. First, have you talked to your guidance counselor yet? You have Mrs. Gonzalves, if I’m not mistaken. And I know I’m not mistaken since I spoke to her last week.”
Emilio plunked his backpack down on Mr. Posten’s desk with a thud that was almost certainly meant to be disrespectful. “Then you must know I haven’t talked to her.”
Mr. Poste
n eyed the backpack as if he might shove it onto the floor. Nikki picked up on an anger in him, one he fought to control at all times, like water about to boil but always somehow kept simmering. “Like I said, it was last week. It occurred to me that you might have managed to squeeze her into your busy calendar between now and then.”
“Didn’t happen, obviously.”
Mr. Posten sighed. “Got it. Listen, let’s not do this, okay? Your homies aren’t here right now. I promise not to tell them you’re an intelligent kid who might still have a future. Deal?”
Emilio hesitated, then sighed too. He cast his gaze at the floor for a moment before raising his eyes again. Mr. Posten must have chosen the right words because Emilio’s eyes were misting. He kept blinking as he struggled to maintain control. “Deal.”
“Good. Listen. Let me take a guess. You can’t go see Mrs. Gonsalvez because the homies would know. Got it. I understand. Been there. Just nod if I’m on the right track.”
Emilio nodded but the effect was more like he hung his head.
Mr. Posten closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose, keeping that water simmering. “Yeah, sure. We’ll find a way of dealing with them.”
“How?” Emilio said.
“Hour by hour. Day by day. Until they’re part of your past. I did it and you can too. Listen, Emilio, I believe in you.”
Emilio shook his head, tears coming to his eyes. He looked at the smeared window and the gray day outside, then rubbed the back of his hand across his face. “I don’t know, Mr. Posten.”
“I do. I have another idea. I have a friend who owns a restaurant. He says he’s looking for a dishwasher. I was thinking you could talk to him. Work there on weekends or even a few nights. That would give you some space, some time away from them. Also, it would look good on your college applications.”
Emilio reached for his backpack and hefted it onto his shoulder. “College, Mr. P? Do I look like I’m going to college?”
Mr. Posted held his hand up in a gesture saying, please wait, listen. “Sure, it’s possible. It’s entirely possible.”
Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 Page 13
