Window in the Earth Trilogy

by Fish, Matthew

  James and Christopher readied their fishing lines, setting two poles aside for Kylie and Janice. Meanwhile Bones rolled out a large mat that smelled of sandalwood, carrying over the coolers and lunch supplies that he had brought with him.

  About half an hour after everything was set up, Kylie and Janice arrived, pulling up in their large black SUV. Christopher dashed up the hill and to the road to greet them. His bare feet were hot with pain, and he gritted his teeth as he ran to them on the gravel road. Once he got close enough, he decided to hobble the rest of the way. As the back door to the SUV opened up, Christopher looked upon Kylie in a childlike state of shock. She was wearing a black one-piece bathing suit with a skirt bottom, the black of the clothes lightening her hair in the sunlight and contrasting with her light blue eyes, making them appear to glow and shimmer in the same way that the lake itself did.

  Ignoring the fact that Christopher was blatantly staring at her, she quickly made her way to him, giving him a long embrace. “Great to see you again.”

  “Great to see you too,” Christopher whispered, a deep and profound sense of happiness filling him. It was almost as though he didn’t feel complete or whole until now.

  “Nice-looking kid,” Janice said as she made her way around the vehicle to greet Christopher, extending a hand out to him.

  Christopher blushed at the compliment and returned the handshake. “Nice to finally meet you.”

  “I’ve heard lots of good things…,” Janice said. She gave him a warm smile before making her way down to the lake to join Bones and James.

  Christopher and Kylie stared at each other for an awkward, quiet moment.

  “So did you hear?” Kylie asked, referring to the fact that her mother was making her move out all the way to Nevada.

  “Yeah…,” Christopher whispered. He wanted to say more. He wanted to tell her how he really felt about her and how he really wished she didn’t have to go, but he was interrupted by James, who came running up to them.

  “Did you tell her?” James asked, a little out of breath from running up the hill.

  “No…,” Christopher whispered, his mind still on Kylie moving away. “I was going to….”

  “Tell me what?” Kylie asked.

  “Bones went down the other day…,” James said. “It was amazing.”

  “I wish I could have been there for that,” Kylie said with a big smile on her face.

  “Yeah, and the night before, before he had decided to go…” Christopher paused, remembering back to the storm that had appeared, and the mysterious music that had played. “We thought we were dead.”

  “I was really worried about you….” Kylie stopped to correct herself. “I was worried about all of you guys. My mom got a call from Jack Olen, and he told her that a horrible storm was blowing through and that he thought he had even spotted a tornado down by your house…”

  “That tornado hit…,” Christopher said, still attempting to make sense of that strange moment. “Although something stopped it from hitting us, or at least hurting us.”

  “Yeah,” James agreed. “We heard glass breaking; it sounded like the walls in the house were being knocked down. We had to go down into the basement. It was crazy.”

  “But when we came back up…,” Christopher continued on James’ behalf, “…there was nothing, no damage at all.”

  “That’s amazing…,” Kylie said, shaking her head. “I’m so glad that nothing bad happened to you guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you all.”

  “Christopher was worried about you the whole time,” James said, smiling as he nudged Christopher in the ribs.

  “Well,” Christopher said quickly, “I knew we’d be fine”

  “Right,” James said, watching Kylie blush.

  “So then…,” Kylie began, changing the subject for Christopher’s sake, “…because of the storm Bones decided that the cave was good and that he had to go down?”

  “Yeah…,” Christopher said. He pulled the envelope that Bones had discovered out of the pocket of his shorts. “He found this when he was in there.…”

  “What is it?” Kylie asked, extending her right hand.

  “Bones thinks it’s your invitation,” James said. “We think that the room wants you to come inside next.”

  “It’s just an envelope. How do you know it’s for me?” Kylie asked, sounding very hesitant of the idea of going into the cave. Staring intently at the envelope, she slowly unfolded the letter and looked at the writing on the front. “Oh…it’s addressed to me….”

  “We didn’t open it,” Christopher said, trying to sound upbeat, so as to not worry Kylie about the contents. “Bones felt that you should open it.”

  “Okay….” Kylie paused for a moment, uncertain of what do to do next. “All right, well, I guess there’s no point in waiting any further.”

  After another moment’s hesitation, Kylie slowly ripped open the envelope. Holding out an open hand, she emptied the contents into it.

  “What is it?” Christopher asked as he watched a glowing object fall into Kylie’s hand and shimmer brightly in the sunlight.

  “It’s some kind of necklace…,” Kylie whispered, moving her hand back and forth and watching the silver necklace sparkle. Placing the empty envelope into her pocket, she brought her other hand up to unravel the length of silver chain. As she slowly unraveled it between her fingers, a small white charm in the shape of a cross fell out of the palm of her left hand and dangled in the air from the chain.

  “Is that…,” James began in disbelief, and decided to change the last word of his sentence as he was speaking, “…yours?”

  “No,” Kylie said nervously, knowing what James was going to originally ask.

  “Is that Alena’s?” James whispered, finishing his original question.

  “Could it be?” Christopher said, wondering aloud, and slightly terrified at the mere thought of it. If that was Alena’s, then why did she want Kylie to have it? Then again, wasn’t the necklace one of the only remains they had found of Alena—that, and her shoes? What did it mean?

  Kylie looked apprehensively at the chain in her hand, almost as though she wished it was not in her possession. “I don’t know what this is….”

  “It’s got a white cross on it,” James said. “Just like the one painted on the cave floor.”

  “Maybe it is hers,” Christopher said.

  “Why should I have this?” Kylie asked, sounding very much confused. “This doesn’t have anything to do with me as far I can tell…. The book and the photograph…they both had a point to them, right?”

  “They were both things that weren’t supposed to be there,” Christopher said, attempting to make some kind of sense of the situation. “Maybe this isn’t supposed to be here, but now it is.”

  “But this doesn’t belong to me,” Kylie said, shaking her head. “I’ve never seen this before.”

  “Well…if it’s Alena’s then there must be some good reason why she wants you to have it,” James concluded.

  “I suppose so…,” Kylie said, staring apprehensively at the necklace. “I guess that means I have to go in next….”

  “You don’t have to go,” Christopher whispered, not knowing exactly what to say and hoping that this wouldn’t upset her any. “I mean…if you can’t do it, no one will think any less of you.”

  “Alena might…,” Kylie whispered as she took both ends of the chain and brought them around either side of her neck, clasping the ends together. “She gave me this for a reason. If she’s the reason that good things are happening here, then I think we owe it to her….”

  “Are you all going to stand up there all day long?” Bones shouted, waving to the three from the lakeside. “I thought you came here to have fun?”

  “He’s got a good point,” Kylie said, nodding. With a mischievous grin, she suddenly pushed both James and Christopher, causing them to stagger backward. “Race you down!”

  “Hey!” James said as he chased after her. �
��You cheated!”

  Christopher was laughing hard, and found it difficult to keep up. “Nice!” he yelled as he ran down the hill to join the rest of the group.

  There, underneath the sun and with the cooling breezes from the lake flowing over them, the three sat, their minds full of happiness and joy, fishing rods in hand and feet dangling from the short wooden dock into the water. They spent more time enjoying each other’s company than actually caring about whether or not they were catching any fish. For one thing, Christopher had hoped that he didn’t catch anything. He had never liked unhooking the fish, or even hooking one in the first place. To him it seemed a little mean. Fishing, as far as he was concerned, was more of an excuse to be lazy and enjoy the sunlight and nature.

  After fishing and talking with Christopher and Kylie for a few hours, James suddenly hopped to his feet, stating that he had wanted to go see what Bones and Janice were up to. Although Christopher secretly suspected—and this was soon confirmed with a wink from James—that he was really leaving Christopher and Kylie alone so that they could talk about a few things.

  Watching James head away from the dock and back toward the grassy area that Bones and Janice were, Christopher turned to Kylie, who was seated next to him. Her dark hair glistened with sunlight as it swayed in the soft lake breeze. Christopher watched her intently; she had not noticed his looks yet. Or perhaps she did, and she just simply did not mind. Her eyes were fixed on the water, and its dancing reflections of light lit up her face, accentuating the soft curves of her face and lips.

  “Do you…,” Kylie whispered, turning to look to Christopher, her expression serious and her eyes somewhat saddened. “Do you like me?”

  Christopher was taken aback for a moment. He didn’t think that this would come up, or at least come out of her so directly and honestly. He quickly broke their shared gaze and stared down at the lake, unsure as to why he was doing so.

  “It’s okay…,” Kylie whispered back, faking a bit of a smile. “If you don’t, I understand. I just thought that maybe…”

  “I do,” Christopher interrupted, feeling as though his entire body uncomfortably warm. He didn’t want her to continue with her last statement, as he knew for a fact that it was definitely not the case at all. “I really do….”

  “Even though I’m leaving?” Kylie asked, sounding very saddened.

  “Of course,” Christopher said. He reached over to gently place his hand over hers. Remembering what Bones had said to him when he found out that Kylie was leaving, he continued: “No matter how far away you are it won’t affect how I feel for you…. My feelings can reach that far.”

  Christopher felt rather embarrassed, being so open was very difficult for him, especially when it came to how he felt about Kylie. He didn’t know why it was such a difficult subject for him; he wished he could just say everything and anything that he wanted to. It bothered him a bit that he had to be and feel so reserved all the time in these kinds of situations. My feelings can reach that far, Christopher thought to himself. It sounded a little corny when he thought more about it. He had said that part, right? It sounded better when Bones had said it; he hoped it came out right. Many unpleasant thoughts were racing through Christopher’s mind. He was so worried about sounding right and saying the right things that he was completely oblivious to the fact that Kylie’s face was hovering toward his own. An expression of complete shock washed over Christopher’s face as Kylie brought her lips up to meet his and they touched.

  All of the bad thoughts and the feelings of awkwardness were suddenly washed away from Christopher’s mind as new emotions flooded through him. The world felt brighter, the sun felt warmer, the wind cooler. His senses seemed heightened to their utmost. The world had changed in an instant, and though the moment was soon over, he could still feel her presence on his lips. Like a painted handprint on the wall of his memories, it would forever be emblazoned in his mind.

  “I really like you, too,” Kylie whispered as she smiled contentedly, and then started to giggle uncontrollably.

  “What’s so funny?” Christopher asked, smiling happily.

  “You should see your face,” Kylie said, as she embraced Christopher once more.

  There, on the docks, the moments seemed to melt away like wax from a slowly burning candle. To Christopher, everything seemed so different and almost as though he was seeing the world through new eyes. He had never felt so good deep inside, even back in the days when his parents were still around and everything seemed so stable and predictable. It was like the world didn’t matter anymore. Things could be bad, things could not work out, yet it all just seemed a million miles away. It all just seemed so small and unimportant.

  They sat there for a few more hours, just enjoying being in each other’s presence beneath the sky and within the universe that surrounded them.

  That evening they all barbequed together at the lake, like one big happy family. Christopher couldn’t have imagined a more perfect day, no matter how hard he tried. Everyone just seemed so happy, their faces full of smiles and joy in their voices. They played games together along the lake and swam for a short time when they got tired of running and playing.

  As the sun slowly faded from the sky, rain clouds slowly approached from the opposite end of the lake. Much to Christopher’s dismay, the day would eventually have to come to an end. There was nothing he could do to stop it, no matter how much he wanted the time to just go on forever and ever.

  The group packed up their respective gear and made their way back to their respective vehicles. Tossing the gear into the truck, Bones paused for a moment to thank Janice.

  “Lovely idea,” Bones said, nodding in acknowledgement. “Thanks for having us all come out here.”

  “No problem,” Janice said with a big smile on her face.

  Christopher gave Kylie one more long hug. He felt sad that he had to leave her once again; he wished that they could be together all the time. Reluctantly climbing back into the truck behind James, he waved one last time.

  “Can I ask you a favor?” Janice asked, cocking her head to the side as though she wanted to talk in private.

  “Always happy to oblige,” Bones said, nodding.

  The two of them walked behind her big black SUV.

  For several moments Christopher and James sat in the truck, wondering what was going on. Not more bad news, Christopher hoped with all of his heart. It was already bad enough that Kylie was leaving in just six more days! He didn’t feel that he could take it if it were anything worse than that.

  Bones carefully climbed back into the rusty old white truck, a confident smile on his face as he waved his hand out the window to the SUV as it rolled past.

  “So what’s going on?” Christopher exclaimed, sounding as though he was about to simply explode if he didn’t find out.

  “Janice is going to head out there to Nevada for three days; she’s leaving in the morning…,” Bones began.

  “Oh…,” Christopher whispered sadly.

  “So she’s going drop Kylie off in the morning, and she’s going to be staying with us for those three days,” Bones quickly added, noticing Christopher’s obvious disappointment.

  Oh!” Christopher exclaimed. This wasn’t the kind of news he was expecting at all. In fact, this was great news! He would get to see her every day for the next three days! This was the best news he had heard in his entire life.

  “Just don’t get any funny ideas…,” Bones said as he put the truck into gear and started to drive away from the lake. “Remember, I was a kid once, too.”

  “Yeah, like five hundred years ago,” James added, smirking.

  “Longer than that,” Bones said with a big goofy smile on his face.

  They continued on into the night as the last light of the sun day drifted down below the horizon. A light rain started, and Bones had to turn on the windshield wipers to see where he was going. Christopher hoped that this wasn’t a sign of bad things to come, as they still had a lot of thin
gs to do within the cave, a lot of mysteries to solve.

  “That girl of yours…,” Bones said as he turned to James, and then back to watch the road ahead of him.

  “What girl?” James asked, confused for a moment.

  “You remember telling me before that you had seen her, right?” Bones said. “The girl from the cave? What did she look like?”

  “It’s hard to remember now,” James said, bringing his hand to his mouth as though in deep thought. “She was real pretty; she was kind of glowing in the moonlight when I saw her. Her hair was light and looked like it was flowing or floating, like it was underwater or something.”