“Got more in the truck.” Bones strained a bit, placing everything he was carrying on the living room floor. “Would you guys mind?”
“What’s all this?” James asked, surveying with wide eyes the large pile before him. “Did you go out and buy a whole store?”
“There’s more, too?” Christopher asked.
“It’s time to celebrate!” Bones stretched his arms out widely. “Let’s go get the rest!”
“To celebrate what?” Christopher asked. He and James were both trying to keep up with Bones’ energy as they headed out to the truck.
“Well…,” Bones said as he stepped outside with them. There was pep in his step and happiness flowing through his voice. “How about you guys being here for five days and everything going so well? Or maybe just…maybe just celebrating life. Or…how about birthdays? When are your birthdays anyway?”
“September twenty-ninth…,” Christopher said, amused and confused at both the same time. Quite an odd combination, he thought.
“August fifth…,” James said.
“Okay…,” Bones said, still with an upbeat tone. “Well, so it’s not your birthdays, but it’s close enough, isn’t it?”
The back of the white (well, originally and partially white anyway) rusty old truck was completely full of boxes and bulging plastic bags. It reminded Christopher of Christmas back in the older days, when things were normal. It reminded him of waking up on Christmas morning and stepping down the stairs to a tree surrounded by presents. He and James would have so much fun tearing through them, comparing what they each had gotten, and then spending the rest of the day playing. He was already very grateful for everything that Bones was doing, and for Bones to go and do this for them as well…it was just simply amazing!
It took them quite a few trips to finally unload all the contents of the truck. Some of the items were from a grocery store, and they were real groceries for once, too. Their meals would no longer consist of mystery food, faux-sausages, or boxes of pasta from the Paleolithic Era. Instead they would have real, legitimate brand-name canned foods, and frozen pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, and ice cream. Nothing really healthy, save for a few cans of fruit cocktail. However, this was very impressive, given Bones’ track record.
After unpacking the food, Bones excitedly led the children back into the living room to start going through the boxes. It really was just like Christmas. Bones had gotten them a few things that they needed: some packaged T-shirts and socks, extra toothpaste and things that you don’t really care about too much when you’re at the age the brothers were. However, they were things you’d miss when you didn’t have them. The rest of the stuff, in contrast to the things had gotten them that they needed, were fun things. Things like games, a copy of Scrabble, a portable CD player and a sampling of random CDs. It was questionable whether these were actually bands that Bones listened to, or whether he had just grabbed a few things that he thought they might like, or looked popular. There were some magazines, as well as a couple of videogame magazines for Christopher, which he became very excited about. Inside the mound of magazines was a copy of Playboy, which Bones quickly grabbed out of James’ hand, much to his dismay. Bones had meant to remove that earlier, yet had forgotten in his excitement.
A big whiskey drink in hand (another thing he had purchased in large supply), Bones sat back against the couch, a great big smile on his face as he watched the brothers sort through all their new stuff. As they got to the last box, Bones got to his feet as though this last box was extra special. Pulling the box open himself, Bones paused for dramatic effect.
“For all your further explorations…,” Bones announced, carefully pulling out of the box the mother of all flashlights. It was one of those large deals with the high-powered beam on the front and a room-illuminating lantern attached to the back. The battery was so large it looked as though it could power an entire car on its own. “No more cheap-ass, crappy plastic Wal-Mart flashlights here….”
“Amazing…,” Christopher said in awe of the super flashlight.
“That’s great!” James exclaimed, taking the flashlight from Bones and immediately starting to play with all of the features, momentarily blinding himself in the process. “This is perfect,” he said, trying to blink away the big purplish blob that was now swimming before his eyes. “We’re going back down tomorrow…this is wonderful.”
“That’s not all!” Bones said with the gusto of a salesman proudly showing off his various wares. “I saw your shoes the last time you guys went out there…not very pretty.”
Bones pulled out two pairs of black, ankle-high rubber boots, the perfect kind for going through water or trudging through mud. After handing a pair to both Christopher and James, he continued sifting through the big box of cool cave junk. He paused with each item, just as before, until he revealed a length of rope, a few chemiluminescent glow sticks, and a single head-mounted flashlight for hands-free cave exploring. Then, the final topping on the proverbial cake: a pair of walkie-talkies.
“Now you guys are real explorers.” Bones started cleaning up a few of the boxes, pausing for a moment to take another drink of whiskey.
“This is all just so amazing….” Christopher toyed around with the head-mounted light. “So much great stuff; thank you so much.”
“Yeah…,” James said. He was still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles on the large flashlight/lantern. “This is awesome. Thanks….”
“Hey, no problem.” Bones pushed a few more boxes up into a growing pile. “Just consider these all early birthday presents, as I’ve already well-forgotten when your birthdays are.”
Christopher laughed hard at the reply. “Still, this is great. Thanks.”
“So, going back in there as soon as tomorrow then?” Bones sat back and relaxed on the couch, content with what he had done, and mostly just happy to be back home. This was where he was when he seemed most comfortable.
“Yeah…,” James said as he laced up his brand-new boots. “I think there is something down there after all.”
“Really?” Bones said. “The other day you said you didn’t really believe there was anything strange down there.”
“Well…,” James said, sliding a foot into his boot. “I think I may have been wrong about that.”
“We think Alena’s spirit is still hanging around here,” Christopher said, unearthing his buried nose from one of his new videogame magazines.
James quickly shot a glance over to Christopher, as though he had said something he shouldn’t have. Then James continued, “We’re not really sure about that, but we have reason to think that something strange could be going on down there.”
“Hmm...” Bones took another drink from the glass. “Well then, you be sure to be extra careful.”
“Kylie’s coming, too,” Christopher said, looking up from the magazine once again. He was really excited about that part.
“Then you guys will be extra, extra careful…,” Bones said as he rested his head back against the head of the couch. “Anything happens to her, or if she gets hurt out there, then Ms. Leiter will have me for lunch.”
“Ms. Leiter…” Christopher placed the magazine down for a moment, remembering something he had wanted to ask. “Kylie’s mom—do you know what happened with her?”
“Her dad was a jerk and took off,” James said. He wondered why Christopher was asking questions to which he already knew the answer. “Just like Kylie said, remember?”
“I mean, do you know why he left?” Christopher reiterated.
“Hmm…” Bones emptied the rest of his glass down his throat. “That was a few years back…let’s see…I remember that it had somethin‘ to do with the store not doing as well as Mr. Leiter either thought or was told that it would. Really though, out in this place you got to not expect too much. It’s not like we’re on the side of a busy highway or Disneyland or anything like that.”
“Kylie mentioned something about that, and that he hit her mom…,” C
hristopher said.
“Yeah…that did happen,” Bones said. “From what I got out of it, things got to the point where he was always gone. Ms. Leiter—Janice—suspected that he was having an affair with some other woman. One night before he was about to leave she confronted him about it, and he got real angry and just snapped on her.”
“Why, though?” Christopher asked.
“Probably ’cause it was true…,” James said.
“Don’t rightly know,” Bones said. “Next thing I hear happened was that he just hauled right back and punched her right in the face. She was on the ground, crying, and when Kylie came into the room to see what was going on and all, she saw what had happened and just grabbed her mother’s hand and started to pull her away toward the front door.”
“Damn…,” James said. “Kylie had said that he gave her a black eye but I didn’t know it was like that.”
“Well, what happened next is the worse part…,” Bones said as he sat upright, setting down his empty whiskey glass so that he could concentrate more on his story. “Her father sees her trying to pull her mother away and gets into the kitchen drawer and pulls out a knife. So Kylie and Janice are just terrified; they don’t know what they did to set him off, but he’s back there yelling and screaming about how everything is their fault and that he’s going to go ahead and just kill them.”
“Really?” Christopher interrupted, more out of complete shock than anything. He had thought that it was bad enough before, but Kylie had mentioned nothing of this. The more he thought on it, he could really see why she had not.
“Indeed,” Bones said, continuing with the story, “So they set off into the woods, both running as fast as they could. They managed to make it to Jack Olen’s, this area’s resident guardian angel, apparently, luckily enough for them, he’s there. They burst in on him, yelling and screaming. Of course, he’s in there in bed with that Bill guy he goes with. Well, anyway, Jack manages to get enough information out of Janice and Kylie to realize that he needs to get his shotgun, and fast. So he and Bill go out and convince Mr. Leiter that he needs to go back, unless he’d rather be filled up with buckshot.”
Christopher remembered the conversation. He had asked Kylie if she was ever afraid if her father would come back. He didn’t realize at the time how that question must have affected her. It was strange that she was able to laugh about it though. “So they never saw him after that?”
“I hope he never comes back here,” James said.
“Well…” Bones rose creakily to his feet, stretching for a moment and then sitting back down. “Janice and Kylie stayed up there at Jack’s cabin until the authorities arrived in town, had to come all the way down from Springfield. They searched through the house and the whole area, but found no sign of him. He didn’t take any of his stuff or anything, just up and disappeared. The police hung around for a few days and took turns camping out in their cars front of the house. He didn’t ever show back up then, so everyone figured that the trouble had gone and past.”
“Kylie is so brave…,” Christopher whispered as he thought of the ordeal Kylie had been through. It only seemed to make him feel more toward her. She really was an amazing person.
“Yeah,” Bones agreed. “Janice, she’s brave too. Just an amazing woman, just went and took over the store and managed to do okay on her own. One time, though, when I was up at the store, she let it slip to me that she still saw him hanging around sometimes.”
“You’re kidding,” James said, dropping the boot that he was lacing to the ground.
“No, it’s true,” Bones said. “Although it was never for very long, and always just in the strangest places. She’d see ’im in the rearview mirror of her car at times, or in the corner of a window at the store. Things that never really made much sense yet were just enough to make her jump a bit. She never really took it too seriously, though; just figured that what happened to her and Kylie scared her so much that seeing him around sometimes was just the ‘after-effects.’”
“It’s good that he’s not really there, though,” Christopher said. “I couldn’t imagine how terrifying that would be if he ever came back for them.”
“If I were Ms. Leiter, I would have wanted Jack to just go ahead and shoot him,” James said, shaking his head. “At least they’d know for sure.”
“Well…,” Bones said, pausing for a moment. “No one knew exactly why he acted out like that; it was just theories. You can’t just go shooting people based on theories.”
“I have to agree, though.” Christopher pushed aside the magazine he had been reading and reaching for his boots. “I couldn’t imagine living with that, knowing that at some time someone could be out to kill you. Especially after seeing them every now and then and not knowing whether or not it was real. That’s just scary.”
“Well, the world can be a scary place.” Bones let out a long, deep sigh. “Besides…James?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you prepared for the possibility that there really is nothing at all magical in Alena’s Cave?” Bones said in an unusually serious tone, his eyes fixed on James. “That what you might have seen is just an after-effect of a traumatic event?”
“I really don’t think it is,” James said, trying to sound assured. “Why would I see someone else’s ‘after-effect’ anyhow…?”
“I believe in it, too,” Christopher said, backing up his brother.
“I’m not saying…” Bones smiled for a moment, as though had said something he really didn’t mean, or at least didn’t completely believe. “I just want you to be happy with whatever happens. Don’t listen to me; I’m just growing bitter. Too many bad things happen in the world. Just be careful, so this won’t be one of ’em.”
“I don’t think it is,” James said. “I don’t feel like it’s bad. If it is Alena, then I don’t think she means to hurt me in any way. Even if she is just a girl in my head, then still I don’t feel like it’s a bad thing to believe that she’d want us to know about her either…
“Very true…,” Bones said. “I think it would make her happy that someone cared about her after all these years. Sometimes I think that’s just about the best thing that people can hope for is that when they’re gone someone remembers them.…”
“Yeah…,” Christopher said. The thought made him feel very empty and sad inside. He had never really thought about himself dying. He did have to agree, though, that if he ever had to leave, he’d want to be remembered. After all, he still remembered his parents. He liked the idea of them maybe feeling better because of that.
“Don’t mind me anyway,” Bones said, chuckling for a moment. The laugh sounded more empty and false than jovial. “I get so serious when I’ve been drinking, anyway. It’s a big day tomorrow, then, and you guys should get some sleep.”
“We should,” James agreed. It was rather late, after all.
Christopher and James made their way up the stairs, a few of their new gifts in hand.
“I’m really glad that you’re both here,” Bones said as he rested his head on the back of the couch. “If I haven’t said so before.”
Before either Christopher or James could reply, Bones snored very loudly. It was obvious that he was already out like a light. They shared a quiet laugh between themselves before walking the rest of the way up the staircase.
That night James proposed that they should sleep in the same room, just in case they had any mysterious visitors. If one should happen to wake and see the girl, he could wake the other and a small part of the mystery may finally be solved at last. It seemed like a great idea, after all.
The two of them lay together in bed and talked about rather unimportant things. Outside the window, the wind would occasionally press and blow against the house, causing a howling sound. The haunting noise, followed later by the sound of rain tapping gently against the ceiling, left the brothers sleepless for but a few moments more than they would have. It was Christopher who fell asleep first, yet, unfortunately, it did not st
ay that way.
Christopher’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness as he opened them. He knew that he had been asleep for some time. A lot of things were running through his mind, like why he was awake again.
I feel pretty normal, Christopher thought to himself. Then again, why should he have any reason to not feel normal? As far as he could remember, he had had quite a few nights where he had woken up like this. Perhaps this was just something that was becoming the usual, something that he would have to get used to. However, in the back of his mind, there was something that he just couldn’t quite shake: an idea, or maybe just a feeling. He experienced some strange sense of déjà vu, like when he lay awake and unmoving the other nights before.
There was a difference this time. He didn’t feel any different. He couldn’t remember much about what had happened the last couple of times he woke up like this. One thing he did remember, however, was that the other times just felt so different. Odd, even, and possibly too strange to even remember.
Window in the Earth Trilogy Page 8
