by D. B. Green
The scientist removes his gloves and claps his hands together. The dampening hum hides the sound. “Right then. Dinner?” he says.
“You paying?”
“Don’t I always?” He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her tight to his chest. He kisses her passionately on the lips, then spins around with her. They look like ballroom dancers, their spinning reflections shining on the weird, polished floor. They finish their dance and then head deeper into the crypt, arms wrapped around each other.
Penny taps me on the shoulder. “Look,” she whispers, pointing to where they’re heading. “Stairs.”
Miss Slayter and the scientist climb a spiral staircase at the back of the crypt. It winds between the stone arches, glowing in the blue light, as it passes through a hole in the ceiling.
Penny watches them until they disappear from view, then she rushes forward. “What the hell is this place,” she says, spinning around. My eyes follow her as she unbuttons her coat, revealing her tight purple top.
She notices me staring and a small grin spreads across her face for a second.
“It’s like a freakin’ sauna in here,” Maz says, removing her coat too. “It’s getting hotter every second.” She throws her coat at Steve. He catches it without batting an eyelid, like he’s used to doing it.
Penny walks over to the upright ice block. “What are these things?” She glances up to the ceiling. “If it was ice, surely it would’ve melted by now.” She turns back to the block, taking a few shots with her camera. “Oh my god.” She reaches for my hand. “Look.”
The pulsating blue light illuminates the outline a person inside.
“There’s someone in there,” she says, trying to peer through the ice. It’s covered in condensation. Drops of water roll down the front onto the floor, dripping like a leaky faucet.
“Hey, look at these.”
I spin around. Steve has one of the white gloves on his hand. He turns it around in the light, following the twinkling reflections on the wall from the diamond like disks covering the material.
“What are they for?” Penny whispers under her breath as she turns back to the ice block. Her camera flashes as she takes another series of shots.
I wipe my left hand over the front of the block to clear away the water. Pain. An intense burning rips through my hand like it’s on fire. I fall over, clutching my hand tight to my chest. My heart races fast. The pain clouds my mind. I can barely take in what’s happening.
“What happened,” Penny asks as she drops next to me. She cups my face in her hands. Her touch, combined with her vanilla scent, instantly calms the pain until only a dull throbbing remains in my hand.
“As soon as I touched the ice, my hand exploded with pain, like it was on fire.” I hold up my hand to the pulsing blue light from the ceiling.
Maz stifles a scream.
Penny pulls back, her eyes open wide with terror as she stares at my hand.
It’s withered, almost skeletal. Wrinkled, translucent skin highlights the bones underneath. It’s an old man’s hand at the end of my arm. I move my fingers and the old man’s fingers move.
“What the…” Steve stops mid-sentence as he sees my hand.
Penny’s eyes glaze over. “Are you OK?” she says, taking my injured hand in hers. She gently rubs her warm fingers across the wrinkled skin.
“Be careful,” I say. “I don’t want it spreading to you.”
“Can you feel anything?” she says, stroking along my fingers.
“No, it’s numb,” I say.
Maz looks away, unable to hide the disgust on her face. She leans back, almost touching the ice block.
Penny jumps to her feet. “Don’t touch it!” she says, sharply.
Maz steps away from the block with her hands up. She glances at my withered hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t.” Her voice falters.
Steve drops the white glove and puts his arm around her shoulder. “It’s OK, Babe.”
The diamond glove. Reaching across the stone tiles, I pick up the glove and slide it over my withered hand. The twinkling disks do look like diamonds. I jump up and run my gloved hand over the surface of the ice block.
Penny gasps. “Logan!”
“Protective gloves,” I say, waiving the dripping, diamond glove in the air. “That’s why they were wearing them.” I turn back to the ice. A face stares out from inside. “Who is it?”
Maz leans over, careful not to touch it. “Oh my god.” Her hand shoots to her mouth. “It’s Mr. Randall,” she says. “Our history teacher.”
“Our missing history teacher,” Penny adds, as she stares at the block.
There’s a silver band wrapped around his chest; it’s the source of the pulsating blue light. “Is he still alive?” I ask, wiping away more water. His eyes are wide open like he’s been caught in a moment of shock. “It’s like he’s frozen in a—”
“—piece of time,” Penny says, finishing my sentence. Her green eyes fill with tears. “Is this what happened to Sean? To Cassie?” She swivels on the spot, wiping her eyes.
“What are you looking for?” I ask.
“There has to be some kind of index to all this.” She waves her hand in the air. “A computer database… or something.”
Maz runs across to an alcove on the opposite side of the room. There’s a gray metal filing cabinet against the wall. Opening the top drawer, she pulls out a file and leaf’s through the pages. Her lips move, but the Heartprint hum dampens her voice.
“Can’t hear you, Babe!” Steve shouts, bringing a hand to his ear.
Maz sprints back over. “What’s the M-Chromosome?” She points at a report in the file. “This place is an extraction vault for the M-Chromosome…” Her voice trails off as she reads another page. “Sunburst. It mentions something about pure Sunburst.” Her eyes open even wider as she runs her finger down the page. “Agitating the M-Chromosome with Sunburst,” she says, reading the words out like it’s a foreign language. Her finger zig zags further down the page and onto the next. Then she slowly leans back and looks up at the ice blocks hanging from the ceiling. “Oh my freakin’ god… It’s not ice.” She nods at Penny. “It is time… Those blocks are all frozen pieces of time - just like you said.” Her finger taps at the page, like an old typewriter, while she glances at the block with Mr. Randall trapped inside. “It’s called a Desino Lapse.”
Penny takes the file from Maz, eager to read the contents.
My hand suddenly starts to ache. I pull off the diamond glove. My swollen knuckles throb with heat. “Feels like my hand is cooking from the inside,” I say, not wanting to touch the withered skin.
Penny drops the file. The pages spread out across the shiny stone tiles. “Are you OK?” she says, reaching for my hand. She examines my swollen knuckles. “It looks like arthritis.” She half-smiles. “My grandad suffered with it.”
Steve leans in close, scrunching up his nose as he stares at my hand. I slip the diamond glove back on and wiggle my fingers. “I think… I’ll keep this on for now.”
Maz collects the fallen papers from the floor. She stuffs them back inside the file and then frowns at my gloved hand. “You need a hospital.”
“We need to get out of here first,” Steve says. He heads over to the spiral staircase and tugs at the railing.
Maz slaps the file against Penny’s chest and then runs over to him. Penny wraps her arm around my waist and guides me over to the staircase.
“There’s a balcony up there,” Steve says, looking up. “I can see shadows moving behind some glass. There’s people up there.” He glances at Maz. “We need to get out of here, Babe.” He glances around the crypt. “Before they see us.”
“What about Mr. Randall?” Maz says. “We can’t leave him.”
“We could carry him out.” I lift my injured hand. “Are there any more of these gloves back there?”
Steve nods and points at another small alcove. “There’s a shit load of them in there. Coats, too.”
“Let’s find
out where we are first,” Maz says, glancing up the spiral staircase. “We can always come back for Mr. Randall.”
We climb the metal staircase. The higher we get, the louder the beating Heartprint hum gets; it masks any noise we make on the metal steps. I keep my eyes fixed on the balcony Steve mentioned. It glows in the pulsating blue light. The metal banister in front shines like a neon light as dark shadows move behind three tall frosted glass windows.
“Can they see us?” I say.
“I doubt they can see us through that glass,” Steve says. “Unless they’ve got video cameras.”
“We can see them,” Penny says. “So, they can see us, if they start looking.” She glances over her shoulder. “There were no cameras down there. No CCTV or computers. Just that filing cabinet.” She stares at the balcony again. “Let’s not hang around.”
I keep focused on the balcony until we reach the opening in the ceiling. Several hanging blocks, Desino Lapses sway near the staircase. “Be careful,” I say. “Don’t touch them.” The pulsating blue lights inside them beat slowly together. It’s almost hypnotic…
“Logan,” Penny whispers, snapping me out of it. “You’re miles away.”
“Sorry.”
The staircase rises through a carved hole in the ceiling. It opens out into a dark stone corridor. A small archway glimmers at the end. The change in light is almost as harsh as when we first came into the crypt. We run down the corridor and through the archway into another corridor. This one is brighter. Flaming torch lights adorn the walls. The flickering flames cast spindly shadows. It’s like we’ve walked into a medieval castle. The corridor appears to rise the further we walk up it, but, in contrast, the temperature falls. Strangely, there is no heat coming from the torch lights. Our breath is once again visible in the chilly air.
Steve pushes open a heavy wooden door at the end of the corridor. It leads into a church hall. Rows of empty pews sit either side of a red carpeted aisle, leading to a pair of large wooden doors. The exit.
“Where the hell are we?” Steve says, as he focuses through the arched windows lining the wall. He holds up his cell phone, trying to get a signal. “Damn it. “He smacks it with his palm of his hand.
Maz turns around. Her eyes open wide. “I know where we are.” She breaks away and sprints down the aisle to the main doors, her blonde hair streaking out behind her. She tugs at a large brass handle and the doors creak open. “I was right!” she shouts, shivering as a chilly wind rips into the church hall.
Steve runs to her, unfolding her coat. “Here you go, Babe,” he says, wrapping it over her shoulders.
I link arms with Penny and we follow down the aisle. As soon as we touch, time stops. The tall darkened windows change to bright shining glass, flicking over like falling dominoes. Bright sunlight pours through them, warming my face. We’re somewhere else. A different church. Penny squeezes my hand. I turn to look at her. She’s now wearing a beautiful white wedding dress. Her emerald green eyes shine with happiness as the wedding march fills my ears. Then, the vision snaps back to the darkened chapel.
“Did you see that?” Penny asks, her eyes open wide. “Was that our—”
“—wedding,” I say. “You looked beautiful.”
Maz bangs on the wooden door to get our attention. “This is the Meridia Memorial Chapel at the university,” she says, her breath swirling in the icy air. She turns, glancing back down the aisle. “I’ve been here before. Lots of times.”
“How can we be here?” Steve says as we walk outside.
Four white columns flank the chapel entrance. It looks like a Greek temple, complete with a chess piece like freeze above the doors.
A sudden gust of icy wind nips at the skin on my good hand. I quickly slip it in one of my gloves.
“The university is only five minutes away from the cinema,” Penny says, wrapping her arms around me. She glances over her shoulder. “Back where we started.”
What do we do now?” Maz asks, shivering in the cold breeze blowing from behind the chapel. “Both trucks are still in the middle of Hellgate Forest… Freakin’ miles away.”
Steve’s eyes glaze over. The weird events finally hitting home. “How the hell did we get from there…” His jaw drops as he pauses for a second. “To here?”
I take a deep breath, ready to explain from the beginning, but Penny shakes her head and sighs, just as Maz cuts in.
“Look, we just did, all right?” Her teeth chatter in the cold. “Get back on point.”
Steve looks over his shoulder. His eyes narrow with determination. “I can get a car from the garage.” He takes a bunch of keys from his pocket. “Then we can get our trucks back from the forest.”
“I’ll come with you,” Maz says, her teeth still chattering.
“No. Wait with those two at her place.” He glances at Penny. “I’ll meet you there.”
Steve turns. “Look after her,” he says. “I’m Steve, by the way.” I shake his hand. Then he dashes off down the shadowy path next to the chapel, his footsteps echoing in the darkness as he disappears between a row of trees.
Maz turns to Penny. She thrusts her hands against her hips. “Did you know Steve already?”
“Yes.” Penny nods. “He’s repairing my grandad’s car.” She half-smiles and stares into the swirling mist. “Come on, let’s get back to my place.”
19:41 GMT-4
THE MERIDIAN CINEMA | MERIDIA FALLS
Penny struggles with the cinema door. She slams her shoulder hard against the frame, but it’s like the door is fighting back. It won’t budge. I lean forward and push with her, instantly regretting using my injured hand. Hot pain swells around my knuckles and my fingers tense together. “Crap.” I fight the urge to scream and switch hands, pushing harder against the frame.
Finally, the door opens with a soft hiss and cold air rushes out into the street. It’s like we’ve broken a vacuum seal. My eyes sting at the sudden blast of chilly wind.
“Be careful with your hand.” Penny glances at the diamond glove. “I don’t want you to make it worse.” She lets go of the door and flicks at the light switch. Nothing happens. “Shit. The breaker’s tripped again,” she says, frantically searching through her pocket. “I dropped my flashlight in the forest.”
“Here, take mine.” I pull the flashlight out of my pocket and hand it over. Keeping my foot against the door, I lean back out into the street. Maz stands with her hand resting against the wall as she stares down Main Street, looking for any sign of Steve. “Are you coming in?” I ask. She turns, lost in a thought for a second, then charges past me into the lobby.
She shivers as I close the door, her breath swirling in the flickering light. “It’s freakin’ colder in here than outside.” She glances over her shoulder as I turn the last key, locking the door.
Penny aims the flashlight through the lobby entrance and into the darkness of the restaurant. “Do you think you can make it up to my apartment?” she asks, pointing the flashlight towards the staircase at the back. “While I sort out the breaker… and the furnace?”
Maz flips open her cell phone. The tiny screen hardly makes a dent in the darkness. “We’ll be fine,” she says, linking her arm around mine.
I catch a fleeting glimpse of Penny’s scowl as she waves the flashlight. “I’ll not be long,” she says. “There should be power in my apartment. I had a separate line put in…” She pauses for a second, shining the flashlight around the lobby. “It’s the new power line that keeps causing the breaker to trip. For some reason, it shuts down the furnace too. I was going to get it fixed…” Her voice trails off. “Not much point now.”
“You got any extra heating up there?” Maz presses herself close to me. “Shared warmth,” she whispers in my ear.
The flashlight beam hits our faces, like a prison searchlight targeting a convict on the run. “No. Just the extra power line.” Penny keeps the beam fixed on Maz’s face. “Don’t worry, the furnace is old, but it’s a good one. It will warm th
e place up real quick,” she says. “If I can get it back on, that is.” Her voice fades into a quiet whisper.
Maz shields her eyes with her hand. “You better get it back on. I’m freezing my ass off.”
“Come on,” I say, before Penny hurls the flashlight at Maz.
“Wait, Logan.” Penny hands me the file we took from the crypt. “Take this up with you.”
I tuck the file under my arm and pull out my cell phone. Together with Maz’s phone, we have just enough light to weave between the tables to the staircase.
“We had dinner here a few times,” Maz says, putting her foot on the bottom step. She twists her foot around on the carpet, like she’s trying on a new shoe. “Well, we used to… before mom and dad got divorced.”
I resist the urge to ask her what happened between her parents. I could just touch her hand - maybe I could find the answers through this weird connection thing - but I’d feel too guilty. She has no idea what I can do. I don’t want to intrude on her thoughts, her secrets. Penny is different. We’ve given ourselves up to each other - given each other free reign to our minds.
“Are you coming, Newb?” Maz stands halfway up the staircase. She shines her phone screen at me. “You were miles away… again,” she says, rolling her eyes.
We head up the stairs and through the open door marked ‘Private.’ A thin crack of light shines from under Penny’s apartment door at the end of the corridor. I push open the door and bright light blasts into our faces. It’s almost like being back in Hellgate Forest with the blinding floodlights from the crypt shining through the white door.
Maz runs over to the first window. Still shivering, she pulls back the red curtains and leans forward into the gap. She presses her head to the glass and stares down Main Street. “I can’t see anything,” she says, her breath forming a patch on the window under chin. “The mist is getting worse. It’s like Halloween out there.” She pauses. “I mean a horror movie kind of Halloween.” She wipes her hand over the glass. “I hope he’s okay.”
“Steve won’t be long,” Penny stands in the open doorway, smiling. “Horton’s Garage is only five minutes away.” She hangs her camera strap over a hook on the back of the door, then kicks it closed with the heel of her boot. “The power is back on downstairs and, more importantly, the furnace is, too.” She rubs her hands together. “It will warm up soon in here.”
