A Human Element

by Donna Galanti

  "What did he say?"

  "It was so strange. I asked him why he was watching me and he said 'I need to know what you are'."

  Ben stopped and stared at her. "Know what you are—" He remembered his dream of Laura at the lake when she had asked him, 'Do you know what I am?'

  Laura tugged at his sleeve. "What is it?"

  "Just tell me another time you saw him."

  "The last time I saw him my parents had just been killed. He stood across the street watching our home burn down. I remember he shimmered in the sun. Then he just…vanished. I don't know how he did it. I know it had to be him that left these notes, who else could it be?"

  Ben stared off into the distance, thinking. "Laura, what else do you remember about how he looked?"

  "He had the strangest eyes, they almost—"

  "Glowed? Like neon green?"

  Laura grabbed his sleeve again. "How do know about the man in black?"

  Ben didn't answer her. He squeezed his temple and flipped back his bangs, not daring to look at Laura. Part of him now wished he had run off in his car last night and had never unraveled this growing mystery.

  "Answer me, damn it! I just told you my darkest secrets." Her voice rose, and she shook his arm. "Did you have anything to do with my parents dying? My friends dying?"

  Ben stared into her angry eyes and put his hands on her shoulders. "No. I swear I didn't have anything to do with killing anyone you loved."

  Laura covered her face and cried. Ben put his arms around her and drew her close into him. She was so warm. Her curves hugged him. Her hair smelled like coconut from her shampoo and memories of Hawaii flooded back.

  "I'm so glad," she said, muffled into his chest. He didn't want her to move away from him, but she stepped back and wiped her face. "But then how do you know about the man in black? And how is it we're both connected to him?"

  Ben drew her back down to sit on the boulder. "I don't know how I'm connected with him but I've seen him twice. Once, at my foster mother's funeral. The second time was in Hawaii, where he saved my life."

  Laura's eyes grew wide.

  "And when I went back to Hawaii to visit an old friend, I dreamt of you." Ben stroked her hair.

  Laura shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  "You and I were here at this lake. We kissed and you asked me if I knew what you were. Then I saw the meteorite coming and you pulled me toward the spot where my parents had been crushed. I ran from you to save myself, but you wouldn't come with me. And so I left you standing there under the moon. I was terrified but you were smiling. So you see, when you said this man in black said he needed to know what you were, I thought it couldn't be coincidence."

  "And so you knew it was me when you first found me here?"

  "Right away."

  Laura looked down at her feet swinging from the boulder. He stared at her profile, tracing it with his mind's eye.

  "So we are connected, Ben. And did the man in black speak to you too?

  Ben looked away. "Yes, in Hawaii he did."

  "You said he saved your life, how?"

  "It was a long time ago. I was a different kind of guy then and I just got into trouble. That's all."

  "That's all? Really?"

  "Really." He pursed his lips and offered no other information. He couldn't tell Laura of that long ago night of sin and terror. Shame seeped into him. She let it be and touched his knee.

  "So what do we do now, Ben?"

  "I can help you find out who your real parents are."

  "But if this evil person comes for me next, aren't you afraid? He kills people I know."

  "I'm not afraid. Can't you read my mind?"

  "Actually, no, I can't. I can sense your emotions. That's all."

  "That's all, hmm? Along with everything else you can do, that's a lot."

  "I didn't wish for it. I wouldn't have these abilities by choice, you know."

  "I understand." Ben didn't want to make her angry again. "I'll help you in any way. And I'm not afraid. Besides, I have nothing to lose."

  "You're so sure of yourself."

  "No, I just hate evil and want to stop it. There's too much of it in the world."

  They sat looking out over the lake for a while until she spoke again. "Well, I'm supposed to go in town today with Mr. B and track down this doctor who delivered me. You could come with me instead. Mr. B is sick and I need to go check on him."

  "I can do that."

  The two new friends sat in comfortable silence after their strange and amazing discoveries of one another. The sun grew high in the sky, burning away the fog and mist tendrils that hid the woods and water earlier. The world around them sparkled clear.

  "But how can I help you, Ben?"

  "You already are." He took her hand. "Just by meeting you."

  "What about your parents? You came here looking for answers."

  "Yes, but I didn't expect to find answers. I really just expected some closure. Growing up in foster homes was no fun."

  "What if we go to the place where your cabin used to be?"

  "But there's nothing there. Everything was flattened and the government cleaned up any debris years ago."

  "There is something there I might be able to find."

  "What could you find?"

  "Memories. I can try and find memories."

  Laura explained how she sensed the sad man years ago that had crashed at the lake and how she felt connected to him.

  "Wait a minute, my head is still spinning with everything else you told me." Ben interrupted her, letting go of her hand and shaking his head. "You mean to say you think a spaceship crashed here, not a meteorite?"

  "I do. And I dream about the strange man from the spaceship. The other evil man chases me in my dreams and I run to the strange man underground where he's trapped in his spaceship. That's the same dream I've been having for years. I can never see the evil man's face clear but he is there, behind me, chasing me through the woods. A monster. I know if he reaches me he'll kill me."

  Ben burst out laughing. "I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you, just the situation. It just sounds all so ridiculous." He paused then as his dream flashed back. "And last night I had a dream a monster chased you and me. And he wanted to kill us both."

  "Like the man that chases me in my dreams."

  Ben nodded slowly. "So, what memories can you find here?"

  "Memories of your good times there, memories of what your parents felt. I don't know for sure but it's worth a try, isn't it?"

  Ben thought about it.

  "Maybe even their last few minutes here, Ben."

  He stood up and held out his hand to her. "Let's do it."

  Laura took his hand and they walked down the shoreline to the fenced-in area toward the crash site.

  CHAPTER 18

  X-10's stomach growled with hunger. He concentrated on forcing the sensation to go away. It was his first day on his starvation diet. The time had come to make his escape. He only had a day or two more of starving himself before Bjord would gas him and pump him full of drugs to dull his powers.

  However, there was one ability the good doctor wasn't aware he could do—hold his breath. X-10 had been practicing for months now to slow down his heartbeat and force his lungs to be still, placing his body in a coma-like stage. He had built up to five minutes, according to the digital clock built into his cell. It would be enough time for the doctor to think he had been knocked out from the drugs, enter his cell, and inject him with mind-altering drugs.

  What a surprise the doctor will get when he discovers his science project is not unconscious. The next day X-10 would put his plan in motion. Escape would follow soon after. Only after he killed his keeper.

  X-10 had deciphered Bjord's mutterings throughout recent months and understood that only one guard worked on duty beginning at midnight in his section of the facility. A tall, fat human called Norm. X-10 looked forward to trying on his clothes, after ripping out his th
roat. After all, he couldn't go running around naked in the streets.

  Then he could kill Laura face-to-face at last. A thrill surged through his grotesque body and his veins pulsed faster. He stretched out on his cot and forced himself to calm down. He needed to seek out Laura to prepare for his escape. She was somewhere in New York, but he needed clues to find her on foot. He hoped once he got outside his prison walls his senses would tell him what direction to go in.

  He massaged the hard mass protruding from his forehead and closed his eyes, letting his mind's eye soar outside. Over the city of D.C. he flew, through Maryland and across Delaware. He followed the New Jersey shoreline and headed west into the woods of New York. He couldn't see his route in detail. He just sensed which way to fly.

  And then he found the lake. There was Laura, with a man. They held hands and walked through the woods. She stopped and knelt on the ground. The man stood over her, his hands on her shoulders. Had she found a lover? How delicious it would be to kill them both. He watched them. A smile spread across his face, twisting his skin into bulging mounds. Soon he wouldn't need to close his eyes. He zoned in his mind's eye over her and sent driving spikes of pain into her.

  "A little torture before the big event, my girl."

  He laughed and continued his attack on her from afar.

  Laura knelt down on the ground where Ben believed his cabin had been. He remembered a large black walnut tree that grew just above his cabin up on the mountain. It was still there. At nine years old it seemed like a monster outside his bedroom window standing taller than any other tree around it. Its gnarled branches reached out to the sky in a scary embrace. In stormy weather it would shake and bend, a prisoner trying to free itself from shackles. It was angry to be bolted down.

  Ben had been terrified of that tree. He believed it would free itself and come marching down the mountain, reach into his bedroom window, and crush him between its thick arms. Back then anything seemed possible. Now it looked small and tired to him. It ached for a good wind to blow it over so it could finally rest, rather than stand at attention year after year.

  "Are you sure this is the spot, Ben?"

  "As sure as I can ever be after more than twenty-five years."

  Laura knelt down and placed her hands flat on the ground and closed her eyes. "Nothing is coming yet."

  Ben stood over her, willing her to find something there.

  "Wait…now I see pictures. Like a movie."

  She described it to him. She saw many families who had been at the old cabin over the years. Then she saw a young boy with bangs. It was Ben. There were his parents. His mother danced on the grass playing a flute and his father sat at a hammered dulcimer. They made graceful music together. And there sat Ben on a tree stump, twirling a stick in the dirt and cocking his head to look up every once in a while.

  His mother grabbed him with one hand while the other hand still held the flute. Her lips flew fast over it. She did a small jig and twirled, taking Ben with her. At first he resisted and then laughed as they swung around and around. His father laughed too and his fingers moved faster and faster over the dulcimer strings in a vibrant melody.

  The scene changed. Ben and his father fished on the edge of the lake on a pier. They had a covered basket full of fish. Ben caught a fish and yelped as his father dropped his pole and ran over to help him. Together they dragged the fish in and his father scooped it up in a net to place in the basket. Then they headed home on a path, his father's hand on his shoulder as Ben leaned into him.

  There was his mother, a shadowy figure at the doorway clapping her hands to see all their fish to fry. Then the picture went dark again. Now Ben yelled at his mother. His father stepped in, looking angry. Ben ran off to his room. He crawled out his bedroom window in the dark and headed down the lake path.

  Ben bent down and put his hands on Laura's shoulders as she spoke. He relived those memories she witnessed now.

  "There's a green light in the sky. It's growing bigger and bigger. I see you, Ben, looking up at it. You get up and run fast along the lake. Your parents are in the cabin calling to you to come out of your room. Your mother is saying, 'We love you. Come on out.' Your father says, 'We'll work it out, you'll see. Don't go to bed mad.' They don't know you snuck out. But then your father sees the green light through the kitchen window. He calls to your mother. They go out on the front porch. Your mother looks worried. Your father takes her hand and they continue to watch the sky. It's so bright now I can only see their outlines. And then…"

  Ben fell to his knees on the ground next to her and shook her shoulders. "What? Then, what?"

  "Nothing. Then…nothing." Laura opened her eyes and looked at him.

  "What do you mean nothing?" Ben stopped shaking her, but kept his hands on her shoulders.

  "They died peacefully, Ben. They never knew what hit them. It hit so fast. They never knew you ran away either. They wanted to work it out. I sense they felt bad about pushing you so hard to do what they wanted you to do."

  He looked at the ground and wondered if they had been crushed right there.

  "Did you hear me? You can let go of your guilt. You didn't cause their deaths. Don't punish yourself your entire life just because you lived. And your parents loved you. I can feel it. They wouldn't want you to feel guilty for surviving. Not only would they want you to survive, they would want you to live. Really live."

  Ben sat back, feelings swirled through him. Of peace and hope. Strange feelings he hadn't felt in years. Laura took his hand. He turned her fingers over in his. For the first time in a long time he felt like he wasn't alone. They sat together in silence for a long while when suddenly she cried out. "Stop it. Just stop it." She gripped her head in her hands.

  "Laura, what's the matter?"

  "The pain. It's so bad. Make it stop. Make it stop!"

  Ben didn't know what to do. "A migraine?"

  She huddled on the ground, clutching at her head, and shivered. "B-b-bad."

  Ben shook his head to re-focus. "Mr. B's cabin. Where is it? I'll take you there." He touched her hair.

  "The path." She opened her eyes to small slits and raised her finger past him, then curled up into a ball of pain.

  Ben put his hands under her and lifted her up. She was tall for a girl but light. He cradled her and headed up the path to find the cabin. The sunlight poured through the trees as they peeled back their layers of leaves to welcome autumn. Laura clung to his neck. Her eyes remained closed. She smelled like clean soap. He breathed her in with each step he took up the rough path. At last, the cabin peeked through the trees. He was thankful he had kept in shape.

  He stepped up on the front porch stoop and unlatched the door with one finger, hugging Laura close to his chest. She moaned and he placed her down on the couch in the screened-in porch.

  "Laura, I'm going to find your friend, okay?" She just hunched up on the couch in a fetal position. Ben threw a blanket over her from the back of the couch and went inside the cabin. He called out but heard nothing. He peered into one room. A lumpy figure moved on the bed under blankets. The man coughed and the bed shook.

  "Mr. B? I'm Laura's new friend, Ben. She had a terrible headache and I brought her back here to rest."

  "Laura?" The man wheezed and coughed again. "She's here?"

  Ben turned on the light. The man tried to sit up but a coughing spasm kept him huddled on his side. Ben stepped closer and felt his head. He was burning up. The old man was in bad shape.

  "Laura, your friend. She's staying with you."

  "No, no, she's in New Jersey."

  The old man's clarity suffered, probably from the fever. He coughed for a long while and then gasped as he tried to get a breath in. "Sir, I'm calling for an ambulance, okay? I think you need to be hospitalized."

  "No, damn it. No hospital. Got…to…find Doctor Britton for Laura. She needs help. I have to help her."

  "I think you need help and that's the best way to help Laura. Just hang on."

 
Ben wondered what he gotten himself into. Within two days he had gone from being alone in the world to connecting with Laura and caring for her with a migraine and her elderly friend in bad health. Ben turned off the bedroom light and found the phone to call for an ambulance. He didn't know the address but dispatch had a connection online of his location via phone. The local ambulance was already in use, but they could send one from the next town over.

  Then he went to sit with Laura and wait. She was asleep. He hoped her dreams pushed her pain aside. He hoped she dreamed of him. He hoped she would wake up and this debilitating headache would be gone. He had never seen someone so affected by a headache. It didn't seem normal. But then nothing about Laura was normal. She was an incredible woman.

  He rocked on the porch next to her and gazed at her face so peaceful in sleep. The revelation hit him hard. He wanted to be with this woman. He wanted to love this woman. And he had known her for such a short time. He caught his breath in realization and wondered what he was to do with this new feeling. Could he feel love for a woman, finally, at thirty-six years old? It felt foreign and terrifying yet it pulled him in like an addiction.

  "I'm not going to let you go. Not yet, anyways," he told her. Her head moved as if she could hear him. "But you just might let me go when you find out my past. Can I keep it from you?"

  He knew he couldn't. He would have to bare his soul to this woman. She would accept nothing else but the truth. But he sensed, or hoped rather, she would accept him for what he had been and what he was now. He hoped.

  CHAPTER 19

  Laura woke up to darkness falling. She lay under a blanket on the couch in the screened in porch. Her nose felt cold but the rest of her was warm and snug. She heard the tinkling of dishes in the kitchen, but didn't want to crawl out from her warm spot just yet. Then the day all came back to her in a flash. She bolted up and ran into the kitchen. There stood Ben ladling soup into bowls. A delicious bread toasting smell filled the air. A fire crackled in the stone fireplace in the great room next to the small kitchen.