In Tenebrae chp. 6-10

Chapter Six



Sierra Wash







              I drove around town for twenty minutes before I finally stopped at the mall. If anything, I could shop around and blow off some steam at my mother. My phone buzzed on the way inside and I answered because I saw it was Todd.



              “Hey Todd,” I sighed.



              “Hey. Where are you?” he asked nonchalantly.



              “Walking into the mall. Why?”



              “Well I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch. I’ve been sitting at home and I’m bored as crap.”



              “Yeah same here. Meet you at the food court in ten minutes?” I suggested.



              “Okay, see you there.”



              “Bye Todd.”



              I made my way through the thick crowds of hungry people and found the only table that was open. It was so crowded that I decided to just sit there and look stupid until Todd came waltzing up to me.



              He looked pretty good in a pair of khaki pants and a red polo. I’d probably have a crush on him if I hadn’t known him since I was two. I thought of him as my brother, not my friend. Because it was a Sunday afternoon I found it odd that Todd wasn’t out doing something with Fey –his girlfriend –or one of his guy friends. He didn’t have that huge, sweet smile on his face that I’ve learned to love so well. In fact, he looked downright sad.



              “Hey, why so Glum?” I asked while he pulled out his chair and plopped down.



              “I talked to Fey this morning,” he mumbled, “Apparently she wants to ‘see other people’.”



              Oh, so this is the answer to his loneliness.



              “Todd I’m sorry! She has no clue what she’s missing out on,” I reassured him.



              “Nah, I’m fine. It’s no big deal anyway. We hardly ever talked. I guess I could see it coming.”



              I knew that was a lie because Fey and Todd had been dating for over nine months. He really liked her, but I figured I should just let it go and change the subject.



              “So what do you want to eat?” I asked him.



              “I don’t know,” he mumbled. By the look on his face he was in another world.



              “Okay pizza it is!” I said cheerfully while pulling Todd to his feet.



              He followed glumly and I thought to myself, “He’s going to bring my mood down even more. I’ve got to do something.”



              “Hi Todd!” a high-pitched voice squeaked behind us. Oh no. Sierra Wash stood behind us smiling her biggest, brightest smile.



              Todd looked up from staring at his shoes and his face immediately took on a confused expression.



              “Uhm… hey…” he said slowly.



              Sierra’s face went from a smile to a puppy-dog frown while saying, “I heard about you and Fey. I’m really sorry.”



              “Yeah… thanks.”



              “No problem. Hey do you guys mind if I join you for lunch?”



              “Heck yes I mind!” I yelled in my head.



              “Not at all,” Todd hurried to say. They turned to look at their food choices and left me standing there, dumbfounded.



              “Just lovely, just lovely,” I mumbled sarcastically. I’d come to the mall to blow off my steam, not make a whole new fire. I ate quietly while trying to block out their conversation. Sierra sat there giggling at everything Todd said, and believe me, none of it was funny. I finally couldn’t take it any longer so I stood up, gathering my things.



              “Where are you going?” Gale asked, looking up at me.



              “Oh, well now he knows I’m alive,” I thought angrily.



              “Uhm I have to go do… that… that thing for english,” I said backing away from the table.



              “Oh, okay. I’ll see you later then?”



              “Yep.”



              “Bye Tara!” Sierra waved at me. I didn’t wave back.



              Now I really didn’t know where to go. I wasn’t going back home, that was for sure. Gemma would be busy with Todd’s party, so I didn’t want to interrupt.



              “Man, I’ve really got to make some new friends,” I said to myself.



              I went to the park and sat on a bench. I’ve seen other people do it before, so I didn’t think it was too weird or anything. People-watching was pretty boring. I soon became tired after about two hours. Sitting on a park bench half asleep probably did look strange to other people, so I stood up and walked over to my car. It was only six o’clock, which meant mom would still be awake. I decided to just sit there in my car until I knew she would be asleep. Soon I became very sleepy while waiting in my car. I told myself I’d only close my eyes for a second, just to give my body what it wanted, but I ended up falling asleep.



              I woke up four hours later. It was ten o’clock at night.



              “I better get home,” I thought, “Mom is probably asleep, so I can sneak in without her noticing.”



              I sluggishly drove home and climbed into my room through the window. I always left it unlocked in case I ever needed to get in, but I doubted that even my mother knew I did that. This sounds kind of bad, but I sneak out at night all the time. Gemma would climb in an old tree house her dad made us and flash a light in my window, which meant that I needed to come up right away. We could stay up for hours and talk about nothing –and everything –at the same time. I love living right next to my best friend.



              I crept over to my door and locked it, not wanting my mom to come checking on me during the night. After all, I am a big girl. I can handle myself.



              I was too tired to get even angrier with her or Gale for the night. I plopped onto my bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.















Chapter Seven



Arguments







              It was a Saturday. I knew that. I also knew where I was, Cascada College. How I knew this information, I did not know.



              I had that sinking feeling, the one that made me feel like gravity was purposefully trying to pull my body into the ground. I’d gotten pretty used to the pain, so that was no big deal.



              The cool breeze was flowing over me. I was lying on the grass, my belly facing the sky.



              “Tara?” I heard him say. Oh was I going to kill him! Why would he do this to me?



              “Why did you bring me here?!” I screamed because I knew the only people that could possibly be here were me and him.



              “I had to talk to you… alone.”



              “Well there’s nothing to talk about,” I said, getting up and marching off.



              He stood up and angrily yelled to my back, “How about we talk about the world that I grew up in? The one where all my friends and family live. How about we talk about the world that is about to be destroyed because of a sixteen-year-old girl that doesn’t want to talk about it? What if we have a conversation about all of the children that are going to suffer because their parents are all killed? Would that be okay with you Tara? Would it really be all-right with you?!”



              I wasn’t giving in. No way would he turn this whole thing around on me!



              “No Gale, it wouldn’t! I’d rather tell you that I wouldn’t care. It’s not my world! I’m not going to drop everything I’m doing just to help a bunch of aliens! If you need some help up there in space you should call Buzz Lightyear, not me,” I said smartly.



              “Well if you’d let me talk to you,” he replied, “then you’d know that The Seam isn’t even in space.”



              “I don’t care if it’s up my butt, I don’t want anything to do with it.”



              “You have everything to do with it! It’s your home world Tara. Heck, your dad still lives there. You’re even calling yourself an alien. Am I an alien to you? Is that how you see me now?” he asked me, looking hurt.



              The truth is that I’d never see Gale as anyone but Gale, even if he was an alien. I wasn’t going to say that though. That would just make him think I was giving in.



              “I don’t know anymore. I just know that you don’t belong here.”



              “You don’t either Tara! The Seam needs you more than ever now. Do you think I would have spent a whole year learning how to make it to Earth if we didn’t?”



              “No… I guess not.”



              “All that I’m asking of you Tara,” Gale pleaded, “is for you to help me. It’s my life and my world –it’s going to be destroyed. DESTROYED Tara! There’s only one stubborn girl standing in my way. You.”



              I spun around with my arms out wide like I was trying to soak up the sun and said, “This is my world. I love mine too. I don’t want to leave it.”



              “You can come back, Tara. Nothing would stop you from coming back. You don’t have to live there forever. I just need you to help me,” Gale said, walking forward.



              How could I refuse him? He had a pleading look in those big, purple eyes. Maybe whatever it is that he needs me to do wouldn’t take long.



              “How long is it going to take?” I asked.



              A look of relief passed across his face and he smiled. “Honestly… I don’t know.”



              “You want me to go with you to a different world, but you don’t know how long it’s going to take?”



              “Well I haven’t exactly saved a world before Tara.”



             



              Okay what would you do in a situation like this? I wanted to sleep, which is why I came home and went to bed in the first place. Obviously I can’t sleep in my sleep anymore.



              “Okay! Alright, I’ll help you! But if I ever want to, I’m coming back home.”



              “Deal,” Gale said, “So we leave tomorrow night.”



              “No way! I’m at least staying for Todd’s birthday party,” I argued.



              “Okay one week and we’re gone.”



              “Okay then. How do we get there?”



              “I’ll tell you tomorrow afternoon. Meet me here after school, I mean in real life, not dreaming.”



              “Well how do I get out of this dream?”



              “Whenever I let you out,” he said playfully.



              I smiled. “So what are you going to do? Keep me here all night?”



              “Maybe.”



              “Well then I may just have to abject to that,” I said, walking toward him.



              He looked down at me and smiled. He was about a foot taller than me. “What are you going to do about it? Hold me down and force me to let you leave?”



              “Maybe.”



              Right then he leaned down and closed the distance between us. “Goodnight Tara,” he whispered in my ear. Then everything went black.





















Chapter Eight



Theory Confirmed







              I woke with a start. Realizing it wasn’t a dream that I had last night; I bolted up to look at the clock. It was sick o’clock, almost time for school. Tons of thoughts were flooding my mind.



              “I wonder what’s so wrong with The Seam that it may be destroyed without me? Todd and Sierra were hanging out together. Why? Was I just totally clueless about everything? How was Gemma coming along with Todd’s- ” I suddenly stopped talking to myself.



              No way! Gemma had asked me to make the party guest list. I felt terrible, but it wasn’t my fault that I was faced with this extremely difficult decision between staying on Earth or trying to save another world!



              On top of everything, I had said yes! At the time when Gale had asked me in that “dream” I was half asleep. I’d have to tell him that I wasn’t exactly sure I wanted in on this, but I was slightly afraid that he might hate me. I really like Gale. I didn’t want to lose him as a friend.



              That morning I waited outside for Gemma because we always walked to school together. Hating the moment when she would ask if I have the party list, I walked slowly up her front porch and rang the doorbell.



              She opened the door with a bright smile and asked, “You ready?”



              “Yep.”



              We walked to school while Gemma babbled hysterically the whole time. I nodded and agreed at all of the right pauses, only half listening. She finally stopped talking and I looked over at her to see why.



              “Well?” she asked anxiously.



              “What?”



              “Do you have the guest list?”



              Here’s the moment that I was pretty much dreading. She really should have warned me sooner about the invites. I paused while trying to think of an excuse.



              “I… I… uhm… I left them at my house,” I stuttered.



              “That’s okay. You can go get them during free period.”



              Well crap! I never thought about going home to get them during the day. I paused again while trying to think of another excuse as to why I couldn’t go home.



              “I can’t,” I tried to explain.



              “Why not?”



              “I have a… a… a study session with Gale today during free period.” I really didn’t, but Gemma didn’t have to know that.



              “Can’t you cancel just this once?” she pleaded.



              “Nope. I have a major test tomorrow that I have to cram for.”



              “But I thought you had a huge test today.”



              “I do. We’re taking two tests for one chapter,” I thought quickly.



              “Oh okay. Just make sure that everything is perfect with them so I can give them out tomorrow.”



              “Don’t you think that’s a little bit late to be notifying people?”



              “No,” Gemma explained, “I’ve already sent out a warning about it over e-mail. I just think it would be proper to send out real invites.”



              This kind of ticked me off. She was putting something on me to do that she didn’t even really need? I’d have to do them though because I just told her I already have them done.



              “Okay I’ll have them tomorrow,” I said while walking into school.



              “Alright see you later.”



              “Bye.”



              My locker was on an upper floor so I always barely make it to first period on time. I walked in right as the bell rang and smiled to myself for not being late. Mrs. Scrawl gave me a strict warning look. Rolling my eyes, I went to take my seat. I really hated learning history, so that’s probably part of the reason that I disliked Mrs. Scrawl so much.



              First period went by sluggishly. I’m guessing the reason why was because yesterday was so hectic that nothing could compare to that. Mrs. Scrawl put me in a fowl mood because she knew that I was in la-la land during the whole class period, yet she continued to call on me when my hand wasn’t raised. By the end of the class period my theory of hating all teachers was confirmed. This year there was only teacher that I did not hate. My math teacher –Mrs. Simms –was not entirely unbearable. I’m also fairly certain that the only reason I didn’t hate her was because she actually acted like she cared about my grade. Other teachers make it seem like their only goal in life is to humiliate you and make you feel way stupider than what you really are.



              Another reason that I was totally messed up was because I kept thinking that it was Saturday because that’s what Gale had the dream set on last night. My day was already down the toilet by first period.



              “Yes, Miss Morgan?” I heard someone ask.



              “What?” I snarled, thinking it was only one of my classmates trying to imitate Mrs. Scrawl.



              Mrs. Scrawl was standing right beside my desk with an unpleasant scowl stuck to her too thin, bird-like face. She’s the teacher that you see in all the movies. You know, the one that has those really thin glasses that she wears on the very end of her nose?



              “Do you have the answer Miss Morgan?”



              Oh man, I just wanted to blow up at her! Could she not torment me for one day? I looked up at her, trying to imitate the ugly scowl that I’d seen moments ago and said very politely, “No I do not have your bloody answer Mrs. Birdface!” I smiled as I finished the sentence. I almost laughed when someone gasped.



              Mrs. Scrawl’s face turned red with anger as she sputtered, “How dare you insult me like that… and… and in front of the whole class! I’m giving you detention for the next two weeks! Starting tomorrow afternoon you will stay in my class for two whole hours while I give you some sentences to copy.” She marched over to her desk to write out my detention slip. The bell finally rang and I stood up to leave as Mrs. Scrawl handed me the slip.



              I smiled and waved nicely as I walked out of the room and added, “I’m sure I’ll enjoy my detention more than you will.”



              The whole rest of my day was about as bad as my first period. I had thought that maybe Gale would have cheered me up, but it turns out that he wasn’t even at school that day.



              “Why,” I wondered, “Did Gale decide not to come to school today?”



              Obviously he couldn’t have gone back to The Seam. He’d said that it took him a year to learn how to get here, so I didn’t think that he could just pop here and there by the snap of his fingers. I guessed that it took at least a whole day to get there.



              When I told Gemma that I had gotten detention she was shocked. See, I never get in trouble, so this was a first for me. She asked me if I would show up or not.



              “Of course!” I answered.



              “Well sorry. I wouldn’t.”



              “Why not?”



              “I don’t know. The worst that could happen would be you getting OSS. But then you’d get out of school. What could be better than not even having to come here?”



              “Hmm… I never thought of that.”



              “Well it’s not like you’d ever do it,” Gemma laughed.



              “You want to bet?”



              “Oh, come on Tara! You don’t have the guts!”



              I smiled and said, “Okay I won’t show up at all tomorrow.”



              “What if you do?”



              “I’ll kiss Todd!”



              “Okay, okay,” Gemma said slowly, “Deal.” She held out her hand to shake.



              “No way! What if I don’t show up?”



              “Then I’ll  kiss Todd!”



              “Fine,” I said



              “Fine,” Gemma repeated. We shook on it and then walked all the way home, laughing at what a horrible kisser Todd probably is.



















Chapter Nine



Dream Maker







              That afternoon I was somehow looking forward to my meeting with Gale. I rushed over to Cascada College only to find Gale waiting for me.



              “Hey,” he said with a shy smile.



              “Hey. Why weren’t you at school today?” I blurted out without thinking.



              “Oh, just thinking of ways to teach today’s lesson,” answered Gale.



              “Okay! So what are we doing today?” I asked eagerly.



              “Well I want you to learn how to get to The Seam on your own. It’s really quite simple. But first you have to know how to make your own dream,” Gale told me.



              “Don’t I have to be asleep?”



              “Yup. But I’m sure that will be pretty easy. All you have to do is turn on your sleeping sensor when you go to sleep,” he said, handing me a small, silver chain with a plain silver circle attached to it. “You have to hold it up to your eye for it to turn on. You can tell if it does by the circle turning purple.”



              I held it up to my eye and sure enough, it changed to a bright lilac shade of purple. “Cool! This’ll make a great bracelet,” I said, sliding it onto my wrist.



              “Just make sure you take it with you everywhere –no matter what,” Gale said sternly.



              “How do I pick what person to be in my dream?”



              “You move the circle down on the chain. If you move it down once that’s me, two times is Kelton, three times is Freia, and four times is all of us. Like I said before, the other person has to be asleep too, so the fourth one hardly ever works. Most likely one of us is awake at all times,” he explained.



              “Yeah, but how does this help me get to The Seam?”



              “Well it really doesn’t, but you’ll need to know how to use it if we get separated there. I want you to try it on me tonight when you’re asleep.”



              Gale looked tired. His hair was sprawled in different directions and his purple eyes had a milky glaze over them.



              “Hey, are you okay?” I asked as he leaned back on the stone table and rubbed his eyes.



              “Yeah, I just didn’t get any sleep last night.”



              “Why not?”



              “Worried… about my family.”



              “I’m sure they’re fine.”



              “Nothing is fine anymore,” Gale mumbled, staring off into space. I didn’t ask what he meant by that, but I didn’t want to know.



              “Come on,” he said, getting up and walking towards the school. I followed hastily.



              “What are we doing?” I asked. Gale opened the gym doors and gestured inside.



              “After you, Tara.”



              “Oh no, no, no!” I said because now I realized what he was doing. “I’m not going in there!”



              “Yes you are. If you’re going to The Seam you need to get over this fear of the dark.”



              “Well good luck with that because it’s never happening.” He was looking me straight in the eyes and I was holding my glare.



              “I’ll be right there with you.”



              “You promise?”



              “Promise,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me in. Of course, it was pitch black. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.



              It was very quiet. The only thing that I could hear was our steady breathing and quiet footsteps as we slowly made our way a little further into the gym. Then Gale let go of my hand, probably thinking that I no longer needed it. Boy, was he wrong!



              “Gale! Gale!” I squeaked as I blindly searched for his hand.



              “I’m here,” he reassured as he took my hand again, “I promised that I wouldn’t leave.” I could hear the smile in his voice



              “Okay just don’t… don’t let go,” I stammered.



              “I wouldn’t dream of it.”



              “I think I need to sit down,” I said breathlessly, feeling like I was going to hurl.



              “Okay. That’s fine,” he said, pulling me down to sit with him on the gym floor. Again, he let go of my hand.



              Trying to catch his hand, but ending up with his arm I said, “You promised.”



              “Oh sorry,” Gale mumbled as he rearranged himself so he was sitting beside me and not in front of me. We sat there for a few minutes not talking at all. After awhile I soon became comfortable and let go of Gale without even thinking about it, only to find his hand catching mine again. I didn’t say anything and neither did he.



              “Is this what you planned for so long today?” I asked after what seemed like a lifetime of silence.



              “What?” Gale asked as if I had just woken him up.



              “Was your plan of teaching me to try to get me to like the dark?” I said sincerely, “I’m really sorry that I ruined you plans that you worked so hard on all day. I’m so hopeless. I don’t know why I even agreed to- ”



              “Everyone is scared of something,” Gale interrupted.



              “I know but I- ”



              “You don’t know, Tara. Not yet, but you will. You’ll see.” He gripped my hand tighter.



              “Sometimes,” I hesitated, “You… you kind of scare me when you talk like that.” That was very true. Gale always talked about The Seam as if it were the scariest, darkest, deadliest place in the universe. He had to be wrong though, right? There are some pretty horrible places here on Earth that I know of.



              “I know. I just want you to be prepared for the worst. This will all be new to you. It’s not going to be easy either. Things have probably gotten worse since I’ve been there, so I need you to be prepared for anything,” he sighed and I could feel him looking at me, even though he probably couldn’t see anything. I knew that I would have to be strong no matter what, because if I were in his shoes I’d be counting on him to help me. If I were him, I’d probably just need someone to be there helping me to not go completely insane. “I need you now Tara. Our whole world needs you.”



              No one had ever really said that they needed me. That a whole world needed me. Those two sentences were the highlight of my day, despite having heard them in both in pitch-black darkness. I kept replaying them over and over again in my head as I help my special bracelet up to my eye that night and fell asleep.





















Chapter Ten



Tenebras







              Rainbow, neon flashes of light were all around me. It was all very beautiful, not scary at all.



              “Number please,” a female machine-like voice said at once. Some high-pitched ding went off one time. “Number confirmed.”



              A giant big-screen popped up in the middle of all the lights. It was right in front of me. The screen had to be at least fifty feet tall.



              “Whoa! You’re a giant,” I said out loud to no one in particular.



              “Thank you,” the same female voice said. “Please pick the year of this meeting.”



              The screen went to a list of possible years, but I didn’t know how to select the right one. It’s not like I could touch it with my hand. It was too high up for me to reach. Finally I decided to just say it out loud.



              “Twenty thirteen!”



              “Year confirmed. Please pick the month of this meeting.”



              The screen changed to a list of months as I said, “June.”



              “Month confirmed. Please pick the day and time of this meeting.”



              “Sunday at seven in the afternoon,” I picked at random.



              “Day and time confirmed,” the voice boomed, “Information complete.”



              “Finally,” I thought, “By the time I get done with this it’ll already be morning.”



              Everything suddenly went completely black. There were no more neon lights and the big-screen either wasn’t there or I couldn’t see it. I started breathing faster and my heart sped up. This was exactly like standing in a dark room. Trying to calm down, I closed my eyes and imagined myself standing on the beach, with the warm ocean breeze flowing by me. I could feel myself growing calm again.



              I thought to myself, “Calm down, Tara. You’re at the beach looking out over the misty, blue ocean. Don’t scream. Don’t scream. Don’t- ” Whoa! I could really feel the ocean breeze on my face. The water was washing up around my toes.



              “No way this is possible,” I said out loud while opening my eyes.