by Daise, Sonny
“I believe it, I know it.” I looked down, trying to hide the tears that had escaped. “And trust me; I would never take that chance.”
Chapter 5: Greenview
I woke up in his arms on the couch. We had both fallen asleep, and I knew he would be angry if he woke up and found us like this. I moved away, and grabbed the sketch pad. I went through every last page. When I came to the picture of Grace, I stopped. I sat there staring at her face, and then I shifted my eyes to the background. I hadn’t been paying much attention to the backgrounds of the pictures, only the people and their facial expressions. In the background of this picture, was a house. It was so detailed, right down to the address. I couldn’t be sure that it was her house, but it would point us in the right direction. The only problem? I didn’t know what city she lived in, or what street she lived on. I touched the picture and like Allison had the other night, I couldn’t help but talk to it.
“Where are you Grace?”
It was harder to find her when she wasn’t imprisoned.
I was sucked into the vision, again Allison’s, not mine. I could stay in the picture as long as I wanted, but it stayed still. It felt wrong being there; I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I walked to the mail box—it looked just like it did in the picture. I grabbed a letter out of the box, but before I could look, I was back in Dante’s basement.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
“Huh?”
“I’ve been talking to you for like two minutes, and you’ve been ignoring me.” He looked down at my hand. “Where did that come from?” he asked, almost frightened.
When I looked down I couldn’t help but gasp—the letter. I had somehow taken it with me.
“I think we found Grace.”
She lived two towns over in Greenview. It would take about an hour to get there. I had to convince Dante to go with me, otherwise I would have to try and borrow Rose’s car—which she went out of her way to explain the difficulty of such a situation.
“So what do we do?” He asked.
“Look, I know this isn’t the best thing to do—and if you don’t want to I won’t force you—but I need to go find Grace, today.”
“So you’re asking me if I would skip school?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m asking, but if you say no, it’s alright. I wasn’t planning on returning to school anyway,” I mumbled.
“What happened yesterday?” he asked.
“I can’t control my powers anymore; I disappeared in front of an entire classroom of people.”
“There has to be some way you could explain it….”
“Right, if you think of something that would explain that, let me know. Until then, I don’t know if I can even go home. They must have called home, right?”
“It’s possible.”
“So, are you in?”
He stopped for a moment. He was deep in thought. “I’m in.”
We got in the car and sped off, heading for Greenview. Dante kept his eyes focused on the road, and I’m sure his mind was focused on Allison.
“So… how long have you and Allison been together?” I wondered.
“A long time,” he answered.
“So, you’re happy with her, I assume.”
“Sometimes, I care a lot about her, but sometimes I think it’s more the idea of her that I love.”
“You seemed… I don’t know. You were very upset at her house last night.”
“She’s the only girlfriend I’ve had, ever.”
Being this close to him was hard. I wasn’t the kind of person who would go after someone else’s boyfriend. He was my boyfriend, but I lost him. This wasn’t real to me; this wasn’t my home, but it was his and my Dante was dead.
“Are we close?” I asked him.
“Yeah we should be there in about fifteen minutes,” he replied. “So, in the future… we were—”
“It doesn’t matter… this place is completely different; nothing is the same.”
“Oh, it’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it,” he said.
“There really isn’t much to say, unless I want to make a fool of myself.”
When we made it to the house, I recognized it instantly. This was the house from the drawing. Grace would be at school, so we decided to check and see if anyone was home. I knocked on the door—no answer. I checked the windows, and one was unlocked. I went to go lift it up, but Dante grabbed my arm.
“Are you crazy?” Dante almost screamed. “I am not breaking into someone’s house.”
“We’ll be fine,” I promised. “We’re not here to steal anything; we’re here to possibly save someone’s life.”
I climbed through the window and motioned for him to follow; I walked away before I knew for sure that he would. I walked down the hall and found a bedroom that looked like it could have belonged to a teenage girl—to Grace.
I walked in, taking in everything around me. The walls were electric purple. Unlike Grace’s old room, she had no pictures on the walls. I found it strange because there was hardly any room for anything else on the old Grace’s walls. I sat down on the bed and opened a drawer. There was nothing unusual, a couple of books, some chap stick, a few CDs, and a tin of mints.
I closed the drawer and fell back onto her bed crying; I missed her so much. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was in any danger, or if me being here could cause the events to be pushed into motion. I couldn’t tell what the answer was, what the right thing to do would be, but I figured she would be safer with us.
I walked back out into the living room. Dante was sitting on the couch.
“You know you’re a bad influence, right?” He said without a hint of humor.
“You know there are far worse things going on at this very moment, right?” I retorted.
“We just broke into someone’s house.”
“They’ll never know and it’s not like we’re here to steal, or write graffiti on the walls.” I turned around, then looked back at him. “Come on.”
He followed me into the kitchen. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but it was better to check everywhere and find nothing, than to check only one place and miss everything. There was a note on the counter.
Grace,
I’ll be home late tonight. I’ll call if anything changes. Oh, and your dad can’t come pick you up this weekend.
Love, Mom
“Her parents are divorced?” I said aloud. “Well I guess this is a good thing, for us anyway.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“She needs to come with us.”
“Scarlett,” he protested. “Where do you expect us to stay or just you two, for that matter? You said you couldn’t go home, yet you want us to take her with us?”
“We’ll have to figure something out.”
He was quiet for a while, just following me as I examined everything in the house. I went to her mother’s room; it was spotless. She had a book shelf, everything was in alphabetical order, and I couldn’t find a single thing out of place. Her bed was made; it almost seemed as though no one had been here for a while.
We went back to Grace’s room and sat on the bed. The phone rang, and I jumped. I saw the answering machine in the kitchen and went to go listen.
“Grace, I know you’re not home from school yet, but I’m going on a business trip…” she trailed off. “I don’t know when I’ll be home, a week… maybe longer. I’m going home right now to leave you some money. I would go after you’ll be home from school, but I have to leave in an hour. Take care of yourself. If you need anything call your father or Aunt Alex, okay? I love you.”
“We have to hide,” I said, startled.
I ran to the window we came in through and made sure it was just as it was before we got here. Then, I made sure nothing was moved—by the looks of her mom’s room, she would notice the smallest thing out of place. Then we went into Grace’s room and hid under the bed. It was the best place to hide; it was closest
to the front door and the kitchen, so we’d hear when she left.
As I lay there next to Dante, I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the future again. The only difference—he didn’t care about me. We heard the front door unlock and open. Even though I knew I was far enough under the bed not to be seen, I moved a little closer to him. Within just two minutes, she was back out the front door. I climbed out from under the bed, but Dante stayed under the bed for a minute.
“What are you doing?” I wondered.
“I found something,” he replied.
He crawled out with a book in his hands; it looked old, and there was no title. He opened to the first page; the pages were brown as if they had been dipped in coffee.
“What is this?” I said, breathless.
“It looks like it’s about powers.”
“Why would Grace have this?”
Chapter 6: Paralyze
I continued going through every drawer. I knew it was an invasion of privacy, but I hoped for a clue. A clue to why someone would want to hurt her, to why she had that book—anything. Dante kept his eyes glued to the book, page after page, he kept reading.
Then he mumbled something like, “sharing powers is a rare and meaningful thing.” He kept reading.
“Hey, Grace will be home soon. We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”
“Alright, but later I think I need to go visit Allison,” he sighed.
“Why?” I asked, disappointed.
“I just need to, but I’ll wait until after we talk to Grace.”
“Promise you’ll come back?” I said, trying not to sound desperate.
“I promise,” he smiled and for an instant, I saw a tiny glimpse of the Dante I used to know.
We sat around waiting. Two o’clock turned into three, and by that time we decided it would be best if we waited behind the basement door. We figured it would be better to let her get home and settled and listen to the voicemail from her mom. It was about three thirty when we heard the front door open. She walked into the kitchen and dropped her bag onto the floor. Then, she walked over to the answering machine and sighed as she pressed the button.
The message played and when it stopped I heard her mumble: “What else is new?”
I peeked through the door and when I did, I saw a girl who looked nothing like my friend Grace. Her hair was jet-black with a few streams of blue flowing down. When she turned around, I noticed she was as pale as a ghost, and she had rings of black makeup around her eyes. She looked like she was going to cry, that was when I decided to come out.
I opened the door slowly, and it creaked. She turned back around and the instant her eyes locked with mine, I collapsed to the floor. I managed to look up at her; she looked terrified, but she held her eyes on me. I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. It took a lot of energy to even look up at her, and when I could I realized that she was glowing. Dante ran up the stairs and stood in the doorway; he hurried up and tried to explain things.
“We’re here to help you. We think something really bad is going to happen to you,” he said.
Once he finished speaking, I felt normal. I took a few deep breaths and sat up. She kept her eyes on us. She looked unsure of whether to believe us.
“This is going to sound crazy, but I need you to believe me…” I began. “We were friends—in what I can only explain as another life—I came back from the future, and everything has changed. Some really bad things happened.”
I explained the whole thing to Grace, who sat there listening the entire time. A few parts of the story shocked her, but other than that she seemed to believe me. She invited us to stay, but after that she pretty much kept quiet. Once Dante was sure everything was okay, he disappeared with a swirl of blue and green.
Grace went into her room, and told me to help myself to whatever I needed. She stayed in there for quite a while until there was a knock on the door. She ran in and put her finger up to her lips to silence me, and then she looked through the peephole. She sighed with relief but didn’t open the door.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“I think you’re right; I am in trouble,” she whispered.
Someone had been following her, just like in my vision when she came over. This time, however, she had powers… I didn’t understand.
“So how long have they been following you?”
“A week, at the most, but sometimes I could swear I saw a person looking through my window, wandering around my house late at night.”
“A week?” I asked.
“It might not even have been that long; I didn’t notice them until a few days ago.”
“It’s so funny,” I laughed without emotion. “All of the good things have been taken from my life with this trip to the past, and yet all the same horrible things remain.”
“I’m sorry. You seem like a great person, and I have no doubt in my mind that we were best friends.”
She got up and walked away without saying another word. When she returned, she had something in her hand.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A picture…” she said, looking closely at me. “I think whoever’s following me dropped it outside.”
She handed it to me and watched my face the entire time I stared. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t put it down, and I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I felt tears lining my eyes, and a horrible feeling, deep down inside. I had no explanation for it, but I knew it wasn’t good.
Something from the future had followed me here, but I didn’t take anything with me. The confusion all but paralyzed me as I stared down at a photo of me, Dante and Grace. This wasn’t just any picture; I knew this picture. I held it in my hands, and it brought me hope every single day I was in Meadowbrook—and I hadn’t seen it since.
“Are you up for a road trip?” I asked, never taking my eyes away from the picture.
“Sure,” she said, sounding a little confused.
We sat there waiting for Dante in silence. About an hour after he left, he returned. First, the blue and green swirls lit up the room, and then he appeared. He held his hand out like he was grasping something, then he looked next to him, disappointed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing I just thought… never mind.”
“Okay…. We were thinking about taking a little trip,” I explained as I handed him the picture.
“Alright, but let’s wait until morning,” he said and sat down. “What’s this?”
“It’s us, when we were friends.”
He sat there staring at the photo; I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
“One of you can use the guest room,” Grace said.
“I’ll take the couch,” Dante said in a flat tone, never taking his eyes away from the picture.
“Thanks,” I said to Grace.
It was starting to get dark, Grace went to her room, and I sat there for a moment with Dante.
“Well, I guess I’ll leave you alone,” I said as I got up.
“Sweet dreams,” he whispered as I walked away.
I sat down on the bed and for a moment, I wondered if I could get myself back to the future. There was nothing for me here, Grace was alive, but she didn’t know me, and she seemed capable of taking care of herself. Dante was alive, but he would never love me. I had no one. I closed my eyes and imagined the night that Dante and I spent alone; the night before I found the house covered in blood. I wanted to get back to that time; I knew what would happen, and I could save him. A voice disrupted my concentration. It was Dante, or rather, his ghost. He seemed more transparent than usual, but I didn’t know if this was cause for concern.
“Hey, are you alright?” I asked.
“This is the last time you’ll see me like this,” he said.
“What, why?” I cried.
“This is reality now. You’ve been gone for too long….”
“I don’t understand, what about everyone else in the future?”
“
Anyone who is in the future is here, too. Everything past today is disappearing.”
“I don’t understand,” I admitted.
“There is nothing to understand, this is reality now, and it will never be any other way.”
“What about you? What about us?”
“I’m here. I’m right downstairs.”
“No,” I protested, shaking my head and letting the tears blind me.
“I’m sorry Scarlett,” he said.
“I can still change it. I’m going to Meadowbrook tomorrow; I’ll have everything figured out in no time,” I promised.
“It’s too late,” he sighed. “Everyone you love is still here; you need to find a way to get close to them again.”
“I can’t Dante,” I cried.
“You are going to be just fine,” he said before he was gone entirely.
I laid my head down on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t even begin to think about what Dante said. This couldn’t be all there is; the future couldn’t be gone.
I closed my eyes and soon was deep asleep in a dream that I wasn’t even in.
Dante paced around the room—Allison’s room. She was nowhere to be seen, and he was visibly nervous. He walked in circles and then finally sat down and put his head in his hands. He sat there for a long time, just waiting. I heard footsteps coming up to the door; he froze, and then Allison walked in.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him.
“We need to talk….”
“…About?” She said in a quiet voice.
“Everything.”
She went to grab his hand, but he pulled it back. He looked into her eyes, and all of the emotion I’d seen before was gone.
“Are you breaking up with me?” she asked.
“If I leave without you—then yes.” He grabbed her hand and a swirl of blue and green lit up the room. He was gone, but she remained.
She sat down on the bed as if nothing unusual had happened; the only thing that remained was her sadness. She closed her eyes and then they popped open. She searched around for something, but couldn’t find it. The sketchpad. I needed to return it, that was the least I could do. She grabbed a piece of paper and started drawing.
