“No, please,” she protested, bringing out a few coins from her purse. “I don’t mind.”
“I won’t take it,” Mr. Leiter replied with a creepy, unsettling smile on his rough face. “Just your company is payment enough.”
“Thank you, Mr. Leiter,” she said rather uncomfortably, collecting her things and leaving the store. “Have a good day….”
“Oh, I will,” he replied confidently.
Christopher followed behind Alena as she walked along the dirt road. He could feel the cool wind around him, and it seemed exactly like late fall. It was a rather amazing feeling, just being able to float along the air. Too bad it had to be under such conditions.
Alena reached an area that Christopher found rather familiar. It seemed as though she was making her way back to the cave.
“Your place is down this way,” she said in Christopher’s mind. “Bones hasn’t lived there yet though.”
Christopher stopped following Alena as a car barreled toward her off in the distance, kicking up dirt and dust in swirling clouds behind it. The old black car closed the gap between them in seconds, skidding to a stop next to her. It was Mr. Leiter. What was he doing all the way down here?
“Alena,” Mr. Leiter announced as he rolled down the driver’s-side window.
Alena nervously turned around, stopping dead in her tracks. “Yes, sir?”
“You need a ride somewhere?” Mr. Leiter asked.
“No, I’m fine,” Alena said nervously. “Thank you, of course.”
“Suit yourself,” Mr. Leiter answered. “You shouldn’t be playing down in that cave though; you know it’s haunted by them Indian spirits, don’t you?”
“I’m on my way home,” Alena answered back, trying to change the subject.
“Good,” Mr. Leiter replied. He slowly drove off, not taking his eyes off of Alena for even a moment.
Alena made her way into the trees, following the stream and eventually arriving at the cave. Christopher followed behind her, in awe of the area. It was a lot like he remembered it from his time; only, the cave entrance was a lot more clean and clear. She carefully sat down against the cave wall, retrieving her soda from the brown bag and taking a big drink. Letting out a little burp, she set the bottle down as she rummaged through her purse and pulled out a blue piece of charcoal.
Alena whistled a little tune as she drew a picture of a blue house, placing a few stick people around the building. Hearing a strange sound outside, she quickly placed the charcoal piece onto the ground and peered over her shoulder. Shaking her head for a moment, she picked the charcoal up, content that no one was there.
Christopher watched in silence as he saw a looming shadow fall over Alena. The shadow of Mr. Leiter grew taller and taller, enveloping her. He wished in that moment that he could warn her, yet she was unable to hear any of his attempts.
Alena’s eyes slowly turned to Mr. Leiter as the piece of chalk dropped from her trembling hand. “Mr. Leiter…”
Mr. Leiter reached down and grabbed a hold of Alena’s hand, yanking her up to her feet. “You shouldn’t be playing down here. Your parents would be worried about you.”
“Yes,” Alena whispered, her body shaking. “I’m sorry…I’ll head home now.”
Mr. Leiter drew her closer, and she could smell the stinking warmth of his breath, could feel his eyes on her.
“Don’t worry,” he said; “I’m not going to tell on you.”
“All right,” Alena whispered, trying to free her arm as best she could. “Please…just let go, and I’ll head home now. I promise.”
Instead of releasing her, Mr. Leiter only gripped her arm tighter. He pulled himself even closer to her. She could feel his other hand running down her back. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul,” he said in a sick, husky voice.
Alena quickly pushed back with all of her strength, and Mr. Leiter stumbled back a few paces, yet she was unable to break free of his hold. “Please! Just let go of me!” she pleaded, flinging her free hand at his face.
Mr. Leiter caught her sailing hand, tossed it aside, and then punched Alena squarely in the jaw, sending her sprawling to the ground. “You little bitch. All you had to do was listen… Why can’t you even listen?”
“Please…” Alena coughed, holding a hand to her bleeding mouth.
Mr. Leiter shook his head, sweat pouring down his face. He reached down and grabbed a hold of Alena’s leg, twisting it until she gasped. “You stupid little bitch, I’m going to have to teach you a few things.”
Alena kicked fiercely at him, trying to free her leg. She managed to catch him right in the side of the knee, and he released his grip in surprise and pain and his legs buckled under him slightly. Without hesitating another moment she jumped her feet, crying out and limping a little from the sudden pain that wasn’t there before. She ran as fast as she could down the back passage of the cave.
Christopher watched in complete horror as Mr. Leiter calmly regained his composure. His eyes were slated and black like obsidian and resembled the eyes of a snake. His fists clenched and his breathing was heavy and menacing. Christopher had known that this was going to be a bad experience, but had no idea it was going to be this bad. He didn’t want to see another moment of it.
“Get back here!” Mr. Leiter said, running down the passage at a lightning-quick pace.
Christopher strained his eyes to see in the dimness passageway. Was he behind her?
“I’m up ahead,” Alena’s voice said inside his head. “I’m there….”
Christopher could barely make out the Alena’s faint form. She was running as fast as she could through the darkness of the passage. As each footfall echoed throughout the cave, he felt his heart grow colder, and soon a moment of realization washed over him. Alena had no light to see by, and there was no trickling stream from the pond to warn her….
With a scream, Alena went forward and down over the edge, as though the ground had simply disappeared beneath her feet. Her scream could be heard for what seemed like an eternity, and then there was a sudden noise that ended the screaming. It was a noise that Christopher would remember for the rest of his life. It was a sound like that of something breaking, something coming apart. It was the sickeningly wet sound of collision.
“I didn’t think that I had died,” Alena whispered.
“I’m so sorry…,” Christopher whispered. He felt so cold, just so cold and so sad. He felt as though he may never be happy again, that every moment would just be this darkness and sadness.
“I was still pretty aware of what was going on,” Alena said softly. “I could hear him approaching, and I thought to myself…I thought, ‘I’ll just lay here and pretend to be dead and he’ll just leave me alone. I’ll just pretend not to move, and he’ll get scared and he’ll go away.’ I remember it seemed like a long time had passed, and that maybe I should try and get up. My entire body felt like it was on fire, and I couldn’t think clearly. Everything just felt like I was drowning. I tried to move, and then I realized that I couldn’t.”
“I’m so sorry…,” Christopher said quietly, not wanting to listen anymore.
“Then I realized,” Alena said, and continued, her voice very shaky, “I wasn’t pretending. I remember I was laying there just thinking. What was I going to do, what was going to happen to me? I was so scared. I pleaded for someone to help me, though I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t even move my lips. Then, it happened.”
Christopher watched as a light filled the room, dimly revealing the outline of Alena’s broken body against the cave floor. He watched in horror as more and more of her remains were revealed. Her blood stained the floor a bright red, her body twisted in ways that would give Christopher nightmares for many years to come. Then, turning to the source of light, Christopher realized what the light was.
“The window…,” Christopher said as he floated next to Alena’s body.
He watched in amazement as glowing blue smoke slowly steamed out of her body. First it was just a few
trails of the blue swirling smoke, and then more and more came rushing out. They danced and moved in waves as they slowly shifted into a humanlike form.
“Someone must have heard me,” Alena whispered. “They made a room for me. First a room, and then a whole world. A whole world where I could live in my memories.…”
The new smoky form of Alena unsteadily traveled to the light of the window. It looked back at its former body for a moment, and then disappeared as a puff of smoke against the closed window, causing the window to disappear as well.
“I waited and watched for a long time,” Alena said, a sense of sadness and longing in her voice. “He came back later with a lantern, and took my shoes and my cross-shaped necklace and left them here. He cleaned up as much of the mess as he could, and carried my body away. I never saw it again.”
“He took you to the store…,” Christopher whispered.
“Yes,” Alena said. “I remember my parents coming down here with a few people that were helping them. They must have all been looking for me. I waited at the window, watching their every move. I remember banging on the window and yelling to them that I was here, yet no one ever noticed. One day while she was alone my mother painted a cross on the ground, and after that she never came back.”
The world around Christopher faded away, engulfed by complete darkness. Then the painful golden light filled his eyes and eventually phased out. He was back at the cave entrance. Alena was still busy drawing on the wall, and Face sat next to her, protecting her.
Christopher fell to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes. “I’m so sorry….” It was all he could say to Alena. He had never seen such sadness, had never seen anything so terrible before.
Alena smiled as she stopped drawing, turning to face Christopher. “Please don’t cry.”
He rubbed his eyes, trying to hide how upset and despaired he was. “I’m sorry; it’s just that I had no idea.”
“I know,” Alena said. Her eyes were bright and she smiled a little. “I’m glad that you were all here. I got to live in other memories through all of you. For that, I will be forever grateful.”
“No…,” Christopher said. “It’s to you who we are grateful—for saving us, for showing us, and just for…everything.”
“It’s a good friendship, then,” Alena replied, smiling more widely. “I’ve been alone for so many years…. I just want you to let Kylie know that I will never blame her for anything that her family has done….”
“I will,” Christopher whispered as he sat on the ground. “She’ll be very happy to hear that.”
“Tell her to keep the cross,” Alena said. “She deserves it; I never had the time to give her a properly good memory. I do feel bad about that.”
“She’s happy just to know the truth.”
“And Christopher…,” Alena said, a serious tone in her voice. “I don’t know the future, but I have an idea that bad things can and might happen.”
“Bad things?” he asked, remembering the night with the cat. “What are the bad things?”
“I can’t say for certain,” she said as she continued, her tone still very serious, “but, I know this: As the water grows closer and closer to the window, the closer and closer the bad things are.”
“What can I do to stop them?” he asked, very much concerned.
“I don’t know…,” she said. “You’ll just have to make choices—that’s all you can do. Some may be right, some may be wrong. Some may bring the bad things closer and some may chase them off.”
“So that’s all I can do?” Christopher asked, sounding a bit frustrated. If he or anyone he cared about was in trouble he wanted some way to fight this trouble off, or some way to avoid it. How was he supposed to avoid fighting something that he didn’t even know of?
“That’s all anyone can hope to do,” Alena said. “I’m afraid our time is passing.”
Christopher glanced out the cave entrance. It was growing darker and the leaves on the trees were falling as heavily as rain. It appeared that the entire season of autumn was taking course in a matter of seconds.
“Can we come back?” he asked, desperately wanting to know more.
“I don’t think there will be time,” she said with a hint of sadness, shutting her eyes for a moment.
“Never again?” he asked. “There must be some way.…”
“There is always a way, but there is never enough time. Sometimes things that are impossible are only impossible because our time is so short,” Alena said as she rummaged through her purse, and then produced a large blue feather. Handing it over to Christopher, she continued, “Give this to James. I’d give him more, but he already has my heart.”
Christopher took the large feather, turning it over in his hand. “What’s it for?”
“He comes here in his dreams, you know?” Alena said with a smile.
Before Christopher could ask more questions he felt something tug tightly on his back. “No…,” he said aloud, to nobody in particular. “I’m not ready!” he screamed as a something yanked him violently out of Alena’s Cave and high up into the sky. For a moment he locked eyes with Alena as she ran out of the cave.
“There is always a way!” Alena yelled, her voice fading fast as she became smaller and smaller, and eventually disappeared completely behind some clouds.
Christopher soared backward through the air, and just as before the Earth lay before his eyes, beautiful as it slowly grew dark and stars filled the sky. He stared at the Earth with a newfound appreciation, knowing that he would never see it like this again. A huge tearing sound rippled across his body as he was flung backward through the window and out onto the cold cave floor.
Chapter 15: Journey to a Different World
However dim the light of the world may be, it is hope that brings us back from the edge. However sad the song may get, it is always the dance that makes us happy again.
Once the group was back at home, Christopher sat on the couch and carefully recounted every moment of his experience inside the cave. He left out no detail, going over everything that he had seen, and describing every sound that he had heard. As he finished, he reached down into his pocket, producing the large blue feather.
Kylie and James had listened intently throughout the entire story. When Christopher finished they sat there for many moments, digesting the entire affair. They were both completely speechless.
“So…,” Christopher began with a heavy sigh as he handed the blue feather over to James, “…this is for you.”
“For me?” James asked as he ran the large feather through his fingers. “I don’t know what this is for.”
“I didn’t get a good chance to ask,” Christopher said, shaking his head. “She said it was all she had left to give you, something about you already having her heart.”
“I wonder what that means…,” James whispered.
“Maybe she likes you?” Kylie asked, sounding equally confused.
“Anyway,” Christopher said, moving on. “Kylie, she wanted you to keep the cross, and she was sorry she didn’t have time to give you a good memory….”
Kylie touched the cross around her neck, running the chain it hung from through her fingers. “I’m glad that we were able to help her.”
“Me too…,” James said, still carefully examining the big blue feather. “In a way, I’m really sad that this is all over….”
“Before I had to leave,” Christopher said, “she said something about bad things coming. That, as the water grows closer and closer to the window, so do the bad things.”
“What are ‘the bad things’?” Kylie asked, very concerned at the thought.
“Bad spirits? Or bad people?” James asked.
“She didn’t say…,” Christopher answered. He really did wish that he had an answer to that question, though. It left him feeling rather frustrated, since he had no idea how to warn anyone or to even prepare for what might happen. It left him feeling helpless and frustrated. “I’m not sure if even
she really knew,” he said.
“What do we do then?” Kylie asked.
“I’m not sure if there’s anything that we can do,” Christopher answered quietly. “All she said that we could do was make choices.”
The evening grew late as the three sat about the house, waiting for Bones to return so that they could tell him about the discoveries that they had made. Christopher and Kylie sat in front of the TV, their hands interlocked. The news was showing images of Saint Louis. Sections of the city along the Mississippi river were completely underwater.
“I didn’t know it was that bad…,” Christopher whispered, viewing the images of different neighborhoods that were completely submerged.
Window in the Earth Trilogy Page 22
