by Nye, Laine
“Yes,” she agreed. “But if he had stayed inside he would have been safe too.”
They all walked into their home and started doing more unpacking, arranging and organizing. Tomorrow was Sunday. On Monday Brad would be returning to school.
“Bradley!”
“Bradford!”
“Bradster!” Those were the greetings Brad received when he walked into his first period class Monday morning after class had started. It had taken a while for the administration to sort out a schedule for him to finish the school year. He looked up and saw Jeff Rowley, Brent Dixon, and Rudy Van Buskirk, his old friends sitting in the class.
“Hey guys!” He said back.
“Okay Bradley Bradford Bradster, take a seat and we'll talk at the end of the class,” the teacher said a little crossly.
“Sorry Mrs. C. but Brad here is our long-lost prodigal friend returning from paradise to mingle with us mere mortals,” Jeff said to Mrs. Cummings.
“That's enough Jeff. Let's get back to school now,” the teacher said.
In the hall after the class let out, Brad was more than glad to mingle with his friends once again especially Jeff who had always been his closest friend. Soon they all ran into Allen McAllister and his brother Paul. They were all reunited at last. Even though Brad now lived in North Ogden while his friends still lived in Huntsville, they all went to the same school. It felt good to Brad to be back at Weber High where all the people he had known for several years were at.
“Meet us after school before the buses take off Brad,” Jeff told him. There's someone else who will be glad to see you.”
“Who are you talking about,” Brad asked him.
“You'll see. Catch ya after school.”
The friends had to break up to go to their next classes. All of them had been reluctant to separate. They were glad Brad was back.
After school let out, Brad wandered over to where the Huntsville bus would be. Jeff and the others met him there and soon were joined by a person that initially Brad did not recognize.
“My little sister wanted to see you too,” Jeff said.
“Hi Brad, it's really good to have you back,” said the stranger.
Then he recognized her. It was Jeff's little sister. She had always been the ugly girl that pestered Jeff and Brad every time she could, always wanting to hang out with them. Brad had always done his best to avoid her when he lived in Huntsville because he thought she was obnoxious, spoiled and definitely too young to hang out with the guys. Besides which, she wasn't a guy!
But now, Brad stood there looking at her with his mouth slightly ajar from pure surprise. The ugly little girl had turned into a raving beauty, and he couldn't take his eyes off her lovely face. Her curves all seemed to be in the right place and in the right proportion. She had dark brown hair that glistened in the sun. She wore it long with a slight wave in it. She had a cute little turned up nose and deep brown eyes. Then there was her smile!
“She always had a crush on you Brad. That's how I knew she would like to see you,” Jeff told him with a smile.
“I did not,” Sherry Rowley protested.
“Yes, you did. And your face lit up like a Christmas tree when I told you he was back.”
“It's not true!” She argued through a deep blush. “But... It is nice to see you again Brad.
“It's nice to be seen!” Brad joked.
Especially by you. He thought to himself. A crush on me? I think I could get used to that.
“We better get on the bus you guys,” Sherry said. “We'll see you tomorrow Brad. I’m glad you're here.”
“I told you she liked you,” Jeff said with a smile.
Sherry slugged Jeff in the arm and then boarded the bus with one last smile at Brad that seemed to change his outlook on life.
“None of us can even turn her head,” Brent said. “I think you'll have her to yourself Brad.
Brent and Jeff laughed. “Tomorrow old buddy. I can't tell you how glad we are to have you back,” Jeff said.
Brad said goodbye to his five friends and then ran for his own bus. He wondered if he couldn't convince his dad to let him take one of their cars to school, so he could give Sherry a ride home.
“No you cannot take one of our cars to school,” Steve told Brad. “When you get your own car, you can take it anywhere you want to.”
“Dad, I just want to be able to give Sherry a lift home one of these nights,” Brad said in frustration.
“I know. That's what you said three other times. Notice how it didn't change my mind?”
“Now you sound like Albert. You know I'm a good driver, you saw it yourself.”
“It's not that I don't trust your driving skills. It's all the other kids at your school I don't trust. I don't want you coming home with bashed in doors, dented fenders, or no fenders. High school kids who drive to school are maniacs! I remember how it was.”
“Were you a maniac, Dad?”
Dad gave him a disapproving look.
“It's time for you to concede defeat Brad,” Kate said. “Your dad will not budge on this one. But I have a backup plan. How about we let you take the car on a Friday after school to do something?” Then, speaking to her husband, “See his eyes light up honey? Just throw him a bone and he's happy.” Then talking to Brad again, she said, “You won't be able to stay out later then say, eleven thirty this first time, but we'll offer you that.”
Brad reluctantly agreed by saying, “I'll talk to her and see if her parents will let her.” His tone was dejected and yet tinged with excitement.
“I agree with your mom's idea Brad,” his dad said. “You work on it from that angle and see where you get.”
Brad sighed and said, “I'll give it a try.”
Something else happened to Brad at nighttime when he slept besides the lifting off his bed until his nose and toes were against the ceiling. He began to have vivid dreams of the strange hole that had affected his life so much. These dreams led to a yearning in him to return to the hole for some inexplicable reason. It didn't just haunt his sleep. It was on his mind perpetually. When he had driven his dad to the hole, he was very frustrated that they had failed to find it.
Within just a couple of days of visiting Albert, the urge to return to the hole had become very powerful in him. It was like the worst craving a person could have. No. It was stronger than that. He had never felt it before but there it was. He talked with his parents, coaxing them to let him return to Albert's home by himself this time. They finally agreed after a half hour of him pleading. He was allowed to borrow his father's car. Brad deliberately left late in the evening so that he could get to the hole just before dusk. Maybe he would stop in to see Albert after he was at the hole for a while. He needed to see if he could shake off this yearning for him to return to the hole. He felt that by visiting it this deep itch could be relieved.
He had no problem finding the hole this time. It was well hidden in the weeds and brush but with the feelings that had been pulling him toward the hole, he had no problem locating it. Just a few days ago he could not find it with his father. But now He could tell exactly where it was. He stood there just three feet from its edge staring into its darkness. He soon sensed the energy start its way up from the deep recesses of the hole. Until recently he had never been aware of sensing anything about the orifice that went so deep into the ground.
Now he could actually feel the energy begin to build up as it sought its way to the top for release. He put his hand out over the hole to see if he could physically feel the energy when it would emerge but it never happened. Instead there had been a sudden reversal of the energy. What felt like a huge rush of air or something was being pulled violently into the hole. It was so intense that it had him in its grip and he, not being prepared for such an aberration, was yanked off balance.
He was pulled forward, falling face first toward the opening so he tried to jump over the hole to compensate for his sudden loss of balance. As soon as he jumped to clear the hole
, the forward momentum of his leap was stopped dead as he was going over the opening. And he was jerked into the hole feet first. He grabbed the lip of the opening on the opposite side from where he had originally been standing. The downdraft of energy was too powerful for him. It was like a powerful vacuum sucking up dirt and he was pulled all the way in still gripping clods of earth in his hands from the edge that had not held him from the fall. And so began his unexpected descent into the deep while he released the dirt from his hands.
Brad Shaw was falling! He could not prevent it from happening. He could hardly comprehend how this could be happening. He exerted all of his g-force energy to stop his fall but got no results. One who could control gravity wasn't supposed to fall against his will but it was happening. This same hole that had once emitted energy that caused him to gain his extraordinary ability was now pulling him to his death.
Where was his gravity control now? This hole was very, very deep and perfectly straight. Every second he spent falling through the shaft his speed increased. He was still trying with all of his concentration to send down to the very bottom his gravity control force so he could stop his descent or at least slow it, but to no avail. Maybe his shock and panic were ruining his concentration. Maybe he had been so startled by the sudden draft of energy that had literally pulled him into the hole that he had not recovered sufficiently. But no. That was not possible. His instinct for survival should have kicked in. In fact, now that he considered it, he had not felt the tingling in his spine. It's just that the instinct was not working and he could not make his long fall stop or even diminish. His effort was making no difference at all.
The darkness in the hole was absolute. He could see nothing. That added to his panic. His shoulder grazed the side of the shaft which caused him to bounce over to the other side of the shaft. Banging into that side more forcefully he careened back to the first side. This continued to get more violent for him was he was slammed back and forth until he threw his hands out and clawed at the sides to stabilize himself back into the center of the hole before he hit so hard that something got broken; Before his head hit too hard. His hands were torn and lacerated by grabbing at the sides of the vertical tunnel where rock was embedded in the tube, but the bouncing back and forth stopped.
He braced himself for the inevitable impact at the bottom that would kill him. He thought of his parents who would never know what happened to him or if they did they would never be able to reach his body. Thoughts were pulsing through his mind at lightning speed. His fears carried him helplessly on an irresistible tide as he fell deeper and was still trying to think of a solution that would allow him to survive.
Terminal velocity. That was the term that rushed into his mind. That was the term used to describe something falling a long distance until they were traveling at a very high rate of speed. At some point during their fall they reach maximum speed of the fall where no higher speed is attainable. That would be comforting if it weren't that terminal velocity for a falling human was about one hundred twenty miles per hour. He wondered if he had reached terminal velocity. His impact at the bottom would be instant death. The death might be instant, but his long fall was agonizingly slow. He had far too much time to think about how afraid he was as he braced for impact.
An unexpected event began to happen at that point in time. Even though he was totally blinded by the darkness in the hole, he knew that somehow his descent was slowing down. The change in speed was definitely happening but he could not at first understand how that could be so. The velocity slowed until he finally came to a gentle halt. It was not because of his gravity control for that had become inoperable. He had given up on that after it had not worked for so long. He was hovering there just like he did when he used gravity control; Just like he did when he had been placed over the hole by Albert before. The energy was flowing again and had stopped his fall. Great relief flooded through him. He began to shake like someone with essential tremors.
Just before he slowed to a complete stop he began to regain his eyesight. He could see dimly in the environment he was in. There must be a luminescence down here allowing me to see. He thought as his mind raced to catch up to all the changing events that were happening so very far beyond his control.
With his eyesight now fully restored from the darkness, he looked down between his feet. There was the bottom, about twenty feet below him. The energy from the hole was being emitted like it always did at dusk. His heart began to calm down from the panic. He tried to comprehend everything that had happened.
Tonight, he believed the energy from the hole had somehow behaved differently. It was like the Earth was breathing. When he had been standing next to the hole at the top before his fall he had felt the energy release begin to increase as it rose up from the bottom of the shaft; breathing out. Everything had abruptly changed and suddenly it was sucking in a huge volume of...something, he didn't know what; Breathing in. It had pulled him in. Now the energy had started breathing out again.
Albert Belasco had never mentioned this phenomenon to Brad before. He wondered if Albert knew. It seemed to Brad that the shaft had reacted erratically tonight. Was it the aberration that had drawn his attention for the last couple nights as he slept? Was that why he had felt compelled to come here? What of the luminescence? What was causing the earthen tube to glow so that Brad could see?
Brad looked more carefully at the walls. They were made up of plain dirt, rock and mud. There was nothing that would cause a glow. Then he understood. Brad had received another ability. He could now see in utter blackness. He shook his head in disbelief. What else could happen to one who encountered this hole.
After a time that Brad could not measure with so much going through his mind, the energy flow was ebbing to a finish. Brad was descending to the bottom again but gradually this time. When his feet touched down he stood amazed as he looked around. There was a cavern at the west side that went on and on until he could not see any further. It was large compared to the narrow shaft he had fallen through; About twelve feet wide and ten feet tall. He wanted to explore it but felt ill as ease about doing so.
The bottom of the shaft he'd fallen through had opened up into a bell-shaped room that was about fifteen feet across and twelve feet high before the entrance of the tube started above. He heard a cracking noise below him and felt a slight shift under his feet. He looked down at the landing he was standing on and immediately felt his hear start pounding again. He was not at the bottom of the hole. He was standing on a protrusion of rock that partially blocked the continuation of the tube. Brad could see below the edges of the rock on three sides. The fourth side was where the rock was lodged into the side of the hole and the rock was making a cracking sound again.
He bent over a little to see past the edge of the rock he was standing on. He could see a long distance with his new special eyesight, but he still could not see the bottom. How much deeper does this thing go? He wondered in awe. But a more immediate concern was the rock he was standing on. It was not supporting his weight sufficiently. He had to get off. He tried his g-force ability hoping that this time it might work. It did! He started to rise up towards the narrow shaft he had fallen through. He was still puzzled about the failure of his g-force earlier but put those thoughts away for now. He would try to figure all of that out later. Right now, he just wanted to rise up and out of the hole. He couldn't wait to see the moon and stars which by now should be bright in the sky.
He rose up for a long time covering a great distance before he found he was no longer climbing upward. He was just hovering. He should have been able to float as high up as he wanted to; Above the hole, above the earth and as high as he wanted to go in the atmosphere until he would not be able to breath. It was not happening. Why there was this sudden limitation on his g-force ability, he could not imagine. He had to adapt if he was ever going to get out of the trap he was in. Falling in the hole had felt almost like a trap. Like a mousetrap. He was drawn to the hole only to be trapped in it li
ke a mouse drawn to cheese.
He reached out to the side with his hands over his head while looking up. He grabbed hold of the rock and dirt and began to pull himself upward with the gravity control still helping to make him lighter. With feet, hands and g-force he continued up the shaft. He climbed effortlessly this way but finally he knew he was getting no more assistance from the gravity control. His arms and legs were quickly growing weary and he was in danger of losing his grip and falling. Maybe further down his g-force would work again but it would ruin the progress he had made if he fell back down.
Brad quickly planted his feet on the wall and thrust with his legs firmly pushing his back into the opposite wall as he released his hands from their tentative grip. After his arms had rested for a while he put his hands down each side of him and pushed upward to lift himself up a little bit higher then adjusted his legs to the new position. In this manner he inched up the tube. He continued this until he was wearing out again. He stopped climbing to rest, carefully keeping his body wedged tightly in the hole with his legs. He knew he could not lose any hard-fought ground. He had to continue to go up without losing any of the distance he had come. But the climb was very tiring. He had a long way to go.
He had another idea strike him even as his legs and arms were becoming shaky and weak. He looked upward many feet above, concentrated and projected his power upward using the side of the tube higher up as a focal point for the gravity control to lift him. It worked. He began to effortlessly float higher until he came near the focal point. He dug in with his legs and back again at that location and started the process all over; lifting himself as if down was above him and gravity was pulling him 'down'. Three more times he was able to gain considerable distance this way.
The fourth time he pulled himself from above, the earth broke loose from the focal point and started falling. He yelled in panic as he braced himself with his legs and back preparing for the impact from the load of dirt. He ducked his head. The dirt fell upon him covering him but it wasn't as much dirt as he thought. He was okay. He projected upward again finding a different location to concentrate the gravity. He began pulling again. This time a large quantity of dirt was dislodged. He knew he was in trouble. It slammed down on him. A large rock struck his head. His tenuous grip was neutralized by the weight and impact of the dirt. His legs were knocked away from his bracing point and he was falling with the heavy load of dirt increasing his weight.
