“My teacher said to keep it. No one had asked about it, and they don’t keep records of who had what locker.”
Since Teddy had never stolen anything, and wasn’t in the habit of lying, his parents accepted his story. He was glad they didn’t suspect he was lying, since they never would have believed the truth.
Later that night when Mr. Lyndhurst was answering emails in their office, Teddy approached his mother.
“Mom, remember when I told you a long time ago about that kingdom I went to?” She looked at him. “Well, every time there’s been a tornado I’ve gone there. Their time moves faster than ours. The boy who was a prince when I first went is the king now and one of his sons is my age. The people I stayed with, their kids are adults now. I went there again, which is why I didn’t come out of the storm cellar. I only just got back when you started knocking on the door. Their son, Sven, just got married. He gave me the ring. It was his.”
“Teddy, do you know how crazy that sounds?”
“Yeah, but this ring is proof I was there.”
He held out his hand so she could study the ring. It was an unusual design.
“Teddy, you have to get over this fear of the storms. I know it feels safer to pretend you’re somewhere else, but a place like that can’t exist. You’re very creative. I’m sure you could write some lovely stories about the place you pretend to go to, but you have to recognize these places aren’t real.”
“You just don’t believe me because you weren’t there. If I could take you, I would.”
“Teddy, if I thought I’d gone to a place like that, I’d be in a psychiatrist’s office the next day.”
“I’m not crazy! And if anything ever happens to you and dad in one of these storms, I’m going to stay there with my friends.”
“Nothing will ever happen to us. We know how to be safe.”
Well, he had tried. His mother preferred to think he had a good imagination. He supposed that’s how everyone would be. He could speak to no one about this. But he could write stories. He didn’t think people in Blevny would mind being in his stories for school.
Mrs. Thomas, the elderly librarian saw Teddy working in the library after school for several days. It was unusual to see a student a student so dedicated. She walked a little way behind him to make sure he wasn’t playing on the internet. Some students managed to bypass the security and go to sites they weren’t supposed to be on. This boy was doing work.
As he wrote, he left spaces where he put in boxes. One box was empty, but as he went back to another page, a picture of a unicorn adorned the top of the page. It made Mrs. Thomas gasp.
Teddy looked up. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
“No, I’m just startled to see a boy writing about unicorns. Usually, it’s the girls who are mad for those.”
“This is a story about a place where a unicorn happens to live.”
“Have you been there?” she asked, smiling. Teddy wondered if she was a bit out of touch, but another part of him wondered if she believed. No, adults would want him to see a psychiatrist if he believed.
He laughed. “It’s pretend. Places like that don’t exist.”
“Are you sure?”
“Have you ever been there?” he asked her.
“I was once. But I never got the chance to go back. And in a school where I used to teach was a girl who went there several times.”
“Did she stay? I mean, if that’s possible?”
“No. She became an author. Perhaps you’ve heard of her: Caitlyn Monroe.”
“Yeah, I’ve read some of her books. You know her?”
“I taught in her school, but she was never one of my pupils. I only spoke with her once.”
“But she writes about dragons and things like that. I don’t suppose they’re real?”
“Not to my knowledge. But you haven’t really been to the land of the unicorns?”
Teddy shook his head. He didn’t quite believe this woman, and since he didn’t really know her, it was possible this was some kind of trick.
She sighed. “I’ll leave you to your writing,” she said and walked away.
When he finished his work for the day, Teddy took the late bus home. His mother was already there.
“You’re home late,” she said.
“I wanted to look up some information on pictures for a story for school.”
“You could’ve done that here.”
“Yeah, but school has websites blocked they don’t want us on, so no one has to hover. They have quick access to some really cool clip art.”
“Is your story finished?”
“Almost. Mom, do you know Mrs. Thomas?”
“She’s the librarian, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, I know her.”
“What do you think of her?”
“She’s very nice. I imagine she knows a lot.”
“Did you know she used to teach in the school Caitlyn Monroe went to?”
“Did she?”
“She said she didn’t teach her, but she met her once.”
“How did you find this out?”
He told her about their conversation.
“I’m sure she was just teasing about the unicorns,” his mother said.
“Probably. But why would she?”
“That’s what some people do to challenge students to consider different pinots of view.”
“Then why don’t you want me to consider different points of view?”
She sighed. “I do. But I don’t want you believing you can go to some other world where unicorns exist just because you’re afraid of tornadoes and want to get away from them. You need to face your fears and come to terms with them. When you understand things, you realize you don’t have to be afraid of them.”
“Mom, tornadoes kill people.”
“I know that. And if you’re not in a shelter, pretending you’re with a unicorn isn’t going to keep you from getting killed.”
“But what if it were a true place?”
“Teddy, if it were, time would be the same there as it is here. You can’t defy the laws of physics.”
“If I were making it up, I wouldn’t have had my friends get a whole lot older than me. The king wouldn’t have died.”
“And all of these people simply accept you. They don’t question anything about you. And they all speak English?”
“I don’t know if they do. I just know I can understand them.”
“You just make sure that when there’s a tornado alarm, you get into a safe place.”
Teddy’s teacher liked the story, telling him it was very creative. When he next saw the librarian, he told her his teacher liked his story.
“Maybe you’ll become an author like Caitlyn Monroe,” she said.
“I don’t know. I was kind of thinking of becoming an architect.”
“I’m sure you’ll be successful whatever you do.”
They had a lot of snow that year. By the third snow day, Teddy almost wished snow would take him to his other realm. Of course, it wouldn’t do much good to have a long adventure only to find five minutes had passed at home, and he still had the rest of the day.
He also wondered if going to Blevny would age him faster. He had lived there entire days. Did he age a whole day for every one there, or did it only count as the five minutes that had passed in the real world? King Eustace had said he was born in the real world. He had lived the rest of his life in Blevny and had died there, aging in their time, not in real world time. Perhaps you only aged in Blevny time if you stayed there. He didn’t know. He also didn’t know how Eustace went from being a real-world person to the king of Blevny.
High school passed in a blur of activities, as if time had sped up. There were tornadoes in neighboring towns and in different parts of the state, but none of that affected him. Blevny and its people drifted from his mind as he prepared to go to college. His parents weren’t surprised when he applied to colleges on the east coast. H
e wanted to be away from “Tornado Alley.”
As his eighteenth birthday approached, he decided to visit the college he had chosen. He flew there alone the day after he graduated high school. The school year wasn’t yet over for his mother, so she couldn’t take the time off, and his father had a big project at work. They thought he could have a little taste of freedom by going alone. They had made arrangements for him to stay with his aunt Sylvia, who lived near the university.
His cousin, Stephen, who attended the university, lived in the city. Stephen took him to see the sights and get a college student’s perspective on things. Teddy hadn’t seen Stephen in a long time, and they quickly became close friends as well as cousins.
He had been there four days when he returned from sightseeing with Stephen to find his aunt in tears.
“Oh, Teddy!” she said, pulling him to her in a hug.
“What is it, Aunt Sylvia?”
“A tornado.”
Something had happened to one of his parents, he was sure. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, and his mouth felt dry.
“What happened?” he asked, stepping back and looking at her. She had obviously been crying.
She sat down and gestured for him to sit on the chair opposite.
“There was a tornado while your mother was at school. Some serious kind – I don’t know much about them. Oh, Teddy, it destroyed everything. Where the school was, there’s nothing but rubble. Only two survived in the whole school.”
“Mom?”
Aunt Sylvia shook her head. “I’m sorry, Teddy. She’s gone.”
“Maybe she’s just trapped under some rubble.”
“They have recovered all of the bodies. They found hers. She was trying to protect a couple of students. One of them was one of the survivors. Apparently something fell on her and knocked her out, so she didn’t suffer.”
Tears streamed down his face.
“Dad will need –”
He had been on his way home. The area between work and home looked like the tornado had wreaked havoc before it reached the school. There were a number of destroyed or damaged homes and trees down. He had to take a detour down a different street. Apparently, after the detour signs were put up a tree came down on a parked car. Mr. Lyndhurst had to stop suddenly shortly after he turned the corner to keep from hitting it. He was about to turn his car around and try another way when another driver, not so cautious, sped around the corner and slammed into Mr. Lyndhurst’s car. His car was crushed between the car wedged under the tree and the one behind. The police thought he’d died instantly, and not suffered from the multiple injuries.
“Oh, Teddy!” Aunt Sylvia cried after she had explained the second catastrophe.
“They’re both gone?” he asked in a whisper.
“I’m so sorry. You can stay here, of course.”
“I have to go.”
“No!”
“Yes, Aunt Sylvia. I have to make the arrangements.”
He dashed upstairs and packed his bag. He didn’t know what he would do. He had to be sure his aunt wasn’t mistaken. He hoped she was. To have lost both parents in a day was beyond imagination. He had lost everything. The worst tornado of his life had happened while he was away. There was really nothing to go back to unless his aunt was wrong about what had happened.
He was 18. Perhaps if he’d been there he could have escaped to Blevny, but now, he thought, Blevny was closed to him. Fury had told him he had to choose when he was eighteen.
He made arrangements for a flight home. When he arrived, he called his friend, Kenny, to meet him at the airport.
“Your parents?” Kenny asked.
“My aunt said they’re both gone. Maybe she was wrong.”
Kenny put a hand on Teddy’s shoulder, and then led him to the car.
Without a word, Kenny drove Teddy past the heap that had been his mother’s school. A chimney still stood amid the rubble, but everything around, as far as he could see, had been destroyed. Huge rigs of all kinds were moving the destruction into trucks to be hauled away.
“They’ll need you to make identifications,” Kenny said quietly. “Shall I take you home first?”
“No,” Teddy said.
Kenny drove to the hospital. Neither of them spoke. Teddy was too devastated. Kenny didn’t know what he could say that would be helpful.
The medical examiner let Kenny come with Teddy. She showed Teddy his parents. His mother looked peaceful at least, but there was no doubt she was gone. Teddy nodded, and then covered his face with his hands while the medical examiner pulled the sheet that covered Mrs. Lyndhurst up to cover her face.
When he had control of himself, Teddy looked at his father. He had some scrapes on his face. Teddy couldn’t tell whether or not there was any other damage. He, too, looked peaceful, as if he’d simply fallen asleep.
Kenny stood behind Teddy the whole time, his hands on Teddy’s shoulders. He led him out to the hall where there were chairs against the wall. They both sat. Both young men cried. Kenny had been in Mrs. Lyndhurst’s sixth grade class.
“I have nothing left, Ken. My family is gone and I can’t even go to Blevny.”
Kenny looked at him in surprise. “You mean that place was real?”
Teddy looked at his hands. “I know you thought I was crazy, and no one ever believed me, but yes. I believe it was. A friend there gave me this.”
He held out his hand to show the fish ring he now wore on his pinky finger.
“But you could still go –”
Teddy shook his head. “They said I’d have to decide by the time I was eighteen.”
“Did you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been there since I was fourteen. I guess choosing to go to college must have been the decision.”
“Wow.”
They sat quietly for several minutes while Teddy signed some forms. Then Kenny took him home.
Home. Although everything was familiar, this house was only an empty shell, a painful reminder of what had been. He wandered through the rooms like a zombie, memories flooding his brain at the sight of some of the everyday things in the house
He went into his parents’ room and chose an outfit for each of them to be buried in. He knew people did that. When he had everything ready, he went to see the funeral director to make arrangements.
The days between then and the funeral were a blur. Kenny’s parents offered Teddy a place to stay, but he preferred to stay by himself in his own house. He didn’t want to be social and have to pretend to be all right.
On the day of the funeral, Teddy, dressed in his best suit, looked like an adult. His expression was sad, but he had done all of his crying at home.
His parents’ caskets were side by side at the cemetery. Teachers from the school district came. Most were friends of his mother’s, and several had been his teachers. Many of her former students were also there.
Many of Mr. Lyndhurst’s friends and work colleagues also attended the funeral. Teddy was a bit surprised to see his cousin, Stephen. He thought it would have been too far for him to travel for a funeral. Aunt Sylvia came with him. Other relatives who lived closer were also there. So were classmates he hadn’t thought really liked him. Of course, Kenny and his family were there. Teddy could always depend on him, and he was sad that he hadn’t been honest with Kenny about the kingdom of Blevny. He also regretted that he could never bring Kenny with him to the kingdom.
That part of his life was over now. He’d have to see how everything could be taken care of here before he started college. At least he hoped he could still afford college.
He wanted to sell the house. After what had happened to his parents, he never wanted to live in this part of the country again. He thought Aunt Sylvia or Stephen would let him stay with them when school was out, and once he graduated from college he would find his own place on the East Coast. He’d heard they had hurricanes, but that as long as he lived far enough north, they didn’t happen very often.
&
nbsp; When the last prayers were said and carnations laid on the coffins, the mourners left the cemetery. Teddy went to dinner with his relatives, but didn’t feel like talking. He forced himself to be social so they wouldn’t think he was rude, but he just wanted to be left alone.
They finally went their separate ways. Aunt Sylvia didn’t want to let Teddy go home alone, but Stephen finally convinced her that her nephew was an adult and could take care of himself. Teddy was grateful to his cousin.
Once home, he took off his suit and changed into jeans and a T shirt. He hoped no one would decide he needed company. He locked the doors and left lights off. It wasn’t dark, and the late June evening was pleasant. If everyone would just leave him alone, he’d figure something out.
Nighttime came, but he wasn’t tired. He wandered out to the yard, and decided to check out the storm cellar. He switched on the light to make sure the batteries were still good, and looked around as if he’d never seen the room before. The chair his mother always sat in looked old, the cushions frayed, and the stuffing came out at some of the seams. His old children’s novels lay in stacks on the little table, and a shelf held other books, magazines and snack foods. His old sleeping bag lay on top of a thick yoga mat on the floor.
He lay on the sleeping bag and closed his eyes, wondering why he had chosen to go back east when he did. He hadn’t been able to say goodbye to his parents. In truth, even if he’d been home they would all have been in different places. The outcome wouldn’t have been different.
If I’d been home, perhaps I would have had one more trip to Blevny. Perhaps I could have chosen to stay there. But then I wouldn’t have known of their deaths, he thought.
Tears ran down his face. He was a man now, not that boy full of dreams. But he didn’t want to be an adult. He wanted to be a child just a while longer, and make his own choice about whether to stay in the real world or stay forever in Blevny.
He was so lost in his own misery, he didn’t notice that the wind had picked up, and the unlocked storm cellar door was rattling against the frame. In the storm cellar, he couldn’t clearly hear the siren. He was as unaware of the real world as if he wasn’t in it.
Fury: The Wind Unicorn (The Unicorn Tales Book 2) Page 6
