Part III
Kathy opened the door to the boys’ room holding her flashlight down so that it wouldn’t shine in anyone’s eyes. She was followed by Estelle, then the older girls (including Bettina, who had managed to sleep through the entire caucus, but who was roused once it was time to put the plan in action) and finally Grace and Lucinda. The boys’ room was the mirror image of the girls: a row of five bunk beds filled the room. To the right was a closet; to the left, a bathroom. Opposite the door to the hall was a small window overlooking the back yard. All the boys were in lower bunks: Corey, Robert, and Andrew. Grace was struck by an odd feeling that there were fewer boys here than there should be.
And that was true. Todd and Raymond were missing, after all. But somehow that didn’t quite account for the sense of incompleteness. She shook her head.
There was no time to think silly thoughts.
Alice nudged Robert, then Andrew awake. It took a moment to explain Grace’s idea to them. They both sat and considered it, rubbing their eyes and trying to come fully awake.
“I won’t argue with the plan,” Robert finally said. “But we should remember the law of unintended consequences.”
Lucinda nodded. Then Alice and Judy nodded, too, but Grace suspected that it was just so everyone would think they knew what Robert was talking about. Grace had no idea what he meant, but she wasn’t interested in objections to her plan. She wanted to bring Raymond back, period.
“What‘s the law of unintended consequences?” Kathy was honest enough to ask.
“It’s what Miss Crawford encountered when she started playing music to help Corey out of his shell and ended up with a house full of prodigies.”
Andrew nodded.
“It’s also what Raymond encountered when he read Grace and Corey a comic book and ended up dead.”
“I’m not saying Grace’s idea isn’t good,” Robert continued. “I guess it’s the only chance we have. But there are risks.”
“Major risks,” said Andrew.
No one said anything for a long while. Alice finally broke the silence.
“I think we have to take the chance.”
The children gathered around Corey’s bunk. He was sprawled on his back, the covers fitfully kicked to the foot of the bed. He slept uneasily; his breathing was ragged.
“Corey,” said Grace. “Corey. Can you hear me?”
“Try waking him up,” said Andrew.
Judy moved in and nudged the sleeping boy gently on the shoulder.
“Wake up, Corey. Please wake up.”
Corey stirred. He made a low gurgling sound.
“Wake up, Corey.” Their was urgency in Grace’s trembling voice. “We’re all in trouble and we need your help.”
“Only you can help us,” said Judy.
“We need you, Corey,” said Alice. Tears streamed down her face. “Please help us.”
“I know you sleep like this when you get sad,” Grace continued. “But don’t be sad. We’re not mad at you. Nobody’s mad, not even Miss Crawford. Not even — ”
Grace looked up at the other children. There it was again, the puzzling sense that someone was missing somehow. The sense that there was someone who should be angrier even than Miss Crawford at the loss of Raymond.
But there was no such person.
“Nobody’s mad,” said Robert. “We’re your friends.”
Andrew moved in close to the bed, next to Grace. He took her hand.
“You don’t have to wake up,” he said. “Just dream a dream for us. Like the other times.”
“Dream a dream,” said Estelle, who stepped closer and took hold of Grace’s other hand. “Bring Raymond back to us.”
“Dream a dream,” said Bettina, joining hands with Estelle. “Make him okay.”
Lucinda squirmed her way in between Andrew and Grace.
“Dream a dream,” she said. “Make Todd better.”
“Dream a dream,” said Robert, taking his place next to Bettina. “Bring them both home.”
Kathy was next. She leaned over and kissed Corey on the forehead.
“Dream a dream,” she said. “Make yourself better.”
“Dream a dream,” said Judy, joining the chain. “Make everything okay.”
Alice took Judy’s hand on one side and Andrew’s on the other, completing the ring around the sleeping boy’s bed.
“Dream a dream,” said Alice. “Just like you always do.”
“Dream a dream,” each of the children said in turn. Again and again, a little more loudly each time. And then on some unspoken cue, their voices joined as one.
“Dream a dream, Corey. Dream a dream.” They said the words over and over. It was a cadence, now. A chant. They repeated it again and again. They began to sway with the rhythm of it. Grace let the rhythm take her; she closed her eyes as she continued to chant and sway.
Grace thought about the Dream Place, trying to summon it with her mind. Images from her dreams teased her, never quite coming into focus. She knew that she could never get there without Corey drawing her in. (And, besides, she was awake.) But it was where Corey needed to be if he was going to help Todd and Raymond.
For a moment she had a glimpse of something scary. She remembered that the ants weren’t the only scary dream. There had been another, weeks ago, about a hidden threat. She couldn’t quite remember the dream. It was something that ate. No, something that…erased.
And it was hidden, but it was right where everyone should always look.
Then the scary thought dissolved.
Grace saw a white city on the mountainside. It was the dream of the Mountain People. She knew more about the Mountain People than the rest of them did. She had been dreaming about them with Corey almost from the beginning. She knew that Corey had always been fascinated by the mountains. That whenever he sat in the backyard staring at nothing, some part of him was studying the mountains — looking for a hint of the white walls, the blue domes, the sky-piercing towers. The Mountain People lived there. Someday they would come and make Corey better.
That was the dream.
Yes, thought Grace. The Mountain People. The Mountain People.
They could do it.
They could.
Let them come, Corey. Oh, let them come and be real and be here. Let them come. Oh, let them come.
“The Mountain People…let them come,” she said aloud. Her words broke the rhythm of the children’s chanting.
“The Mountain People, let them come,” she said again, Lucinda joining her. “The Mountain People, let them come,” they all said together. It became a new chant, replacing the earlier one. The children slowly began to circle the bed.
A dazzling light filled the room, a light brighter than daylight. It’s happening, thought Grace. The light was coming from the mountains. The children stopped their chanting. They started to the window to see what it was.
Then Kathy cried out, jolting all of them.
“Who’s that?” she said, terror in her voice, pointing the unnecessary flashlight in the direction of one of the empty bunks. With the room now lighted, it was plain to see that there was someone, a boy, hiding under the bed.
“Raymond?” said Grace, somehow knowing that it wasn’t.
“Come out of there,” said Robert, approaching the bed. Andrew followed. They reached under the bed and slid the hiding boy out. The light was dimming, now. Then the room was dark again.
Robert and Andrew brought the hidden boy to his feet.
Kathy shined the flashlight in the boy’s face and screamed again, followed by the rest of them.
It was Corey.
But Grace knew it was not. Corey was stilling lying there in his bunk, twitching as he slept. This boy was more like Dream Corey in the way he looked around. He could fix his eyes on things, on people. With the flashlight shining directly in his eyes, he turned his head this way and that trying to get a better look at the other children.
Instinctively, Kathy lowered the flashlight so that it didn’t shine directly in his eyes. The boy who somehow both was and was not Corey looked directly at her.
Grace looked down. There was a flashlight on the floor. What was it doing there? Had someone brought a flashlight? She looked at Robert and Andrew, standing there holding the Corey thing in place. She looked at Lucinda and Estelle and Judy and Alice. What had happened. Was there someone missing?
It ate, she suddenly remembered. It erased.
“Don’t look at him!” She cried out. “Don’t! Don’t! Don’t look at him!”
---
From the frantic expression on the nurse’s face as she dashed passed him and into Todd’s room, Darryl could tell that there was something terribly wrong. Some alert from one of the boy’s monitors, no doubt.
Darryl felt sick. The fear and dread that had lingered in the background these past two days welled up.
This is it, he thought. He’s gone.
No longer interested in hospital protocol, he stood up and faced the door, which the nurse had left ajar. He pushed it open. The scene before him took a moment to register.
The nurse was walking towards him, frightened. Enraged.
“Where did she take him?” she demanded.
A light was flashing on a screen next to the bed. The device emitted a shrill beep. Another screen showed a flat line, refreshed, and then refreshed again. On the bed there was a rumpled sheet and a tangle of tubes and wires that were no longer attached to anything.
Todd was gone.
---
“I don’t understand,” said Asher. “If she’s normal, why would you keep her here?”
Celia sighed. She drummed her fingers on her desk. It hurt having the question about Grace put to her in these terms. By law, she knew that she should have turned Grace over to an orphanage as soon as she took over the home. It was something that Myra had refused to do, stemming from the guilt she felt about how she had handled the situation with Jolene. Myra had said that she would place Grace with a family herself, but had never taken any steps to do so. In her turn, Celia had made the same pledge. She, however, had taken steps and would in time make good on the promise. There had just been so much else to do. And Grace was so much a part of the place, so much a part of Celia.
“There’s a long history that you need to be aware —”
She stopped. The curtain on her office window, which faced the common room, was closed. But even so, she could see a brilliant light traced around its edges. It looked like sunlight. The two men, sitting with their backs to the window, were oblivious to the change.
Something very strange was happening. How long had it been going on?
What now, she thought. God, what now?
“Um, it’s a long history,” she started again. Why say anything? “It begins with the child’s mother. She…she was brought to the home at age four. Autistic. A fairly severe case. At, ah, age 12, we noticed a
remarkable —”
The front door banged closed.
What? Why would Caroline go out, now? Or was she letting someone in? Celia could hear footsteps approaching her office door. Caroline and someone? The cop?
She looked up, the light around the edge of the curtain was gone. There was a knock at the office door.
“Ah, were you expecting anyone?” Celia asked Jepson.
Jepson shrugged.
“Our escort may need to go off duty,” he said, sliding his chair back. He pushed the office door open without getting up. Then he stood and turned to look at Asher.
“Two of your charges,” he said. He swung the door open the rest of the way. “What’s this about, Officer?”
Standing in the doorway, with the police officer behind them, were Todd and Raymond. Celia gasped with terror and elation, uncertain which to feel and somehow feeling both at once.
“Oh my God,” she said.
They were both all right. She could tell at once. They were both fine.
“Thank…thank you. God. Thank you,” Celia said.
“They said they live here,” the police officer said tentatively. “And that they needed to talk to you.”
Asher and Jepson looked at Celia, trying to make sense of her response. Of course, she thought. They don’t know who these boys are.
“Miss Crawford,” said Raymond, smiling.
Celia was suddenly aware that there were was something else going on in the home. Shouting from the dormitories. The children knew, somehow. That’s what it was. They knew what was happening. Caroline had gone to tell them. It was a celebration.
She made her way across her office, brusquely sidestepping her two guests. She threw her arms around Raymond. She hugged him tight, lifting him up for a moment, although he was really too big for that.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Both of you?” she asked, turning to Todd.
Todd nodded as well. She pulled him in close, never letting go of Raymond.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “Did you see Darryl? Dr. MacHale? Does he know.”
“No,” said Todd. He eyed the strangers. “We, uh, came straight from the hospital. If you see what I’m saying.”
Celia turned back to face her guests.
“What’s going on?” asked Jepson.
Celia laughed. She no longer cared what these men thought or said. She no longer cared about the authority they had been given over her home and her children.
“Well, Mr. Jepson. I wonder what the court will have to say now? You don’t have any idea who these boys are. Do you?”
There was a scream from the staircase. It was Grace. Celia turned and saw her running down the stairs, following Corey. So he was awake. Everything was going to be all right.
“Don’t look at him! Don’t look at him!” the little girl shouted, unable to keep up with the older boy.
“Don’t be afraid, Grace,” said Celia. “You don’t understand. Everything is all right.”
“No, you don’t understand,” she cried. “Hide your eyes!”
Todd and Raymond followed Grace’s instructions. They turned their heads away and put their hands over their eyes. The police officer did not.
“What the hell is going on, here?” Asher demanded. He was on his feet.
Celia ignored him. Just for a moment, she wondered why…someone…hadn’t done something about the children being so upset. But there wasn’t anyone, was there? She shook her head.
Corey was now at the bottom of the steps, walking towards her. There was something different about the boy.
Was it possible that he, too, had been healed?
He smiled as his eyes met hers.
---
Grace screamed and screamed as she reached the bottom of the stairs. There were four people in the common room: the three boys and herself. Had there been more? She couldn’t remember. Logic told her that there must have been some grownups there at some time, but she couldn’t remember them.
There was just this sick, awful feeling that somebody was missing.
There were footsteps on the stairs behind her. She turned and saw that it was Corey, the real Corey, coming down the steps. He leaped from the landing to the bottom of the stairs and headed directly for his twin.
“No! Don’t look at him!” she cried, but she wasn’t sure that was the right thing to say. Anyway, Corey never looked at anybody.
The other Corey was standing in front of Raymond, bending this way and that, trying to meet his gaze. Todd was watching from behind. He tapped the false Corey on the shoulder. He turned back swiftly to face him, but by then Todd had looked away.
Grace watched in horrified fascination.
The eater, eraser Corey looked up and saw his other self headed his way. He smiled.
Corey reached his twin and put out his hand. The other boy took it. There was no fight, no struggle of any kind. The other Corey simply vanished.
It was relief, but it wasn’t enough. Grace wanted to be able to forget him, as she must have forgotten some others. But she could still remember. The wrong Corey, the bad Corey. She could remember.
The other children came out into the hall and started down the stairs. Corey was now sitting on the floor, staring at nothing. Raymond and Todd stood on either side of him and watched the procession: Bettina, Judy, Estelle, Lucinda, Robert.
Five of them. Plus Corey and herself. Seven. And no grownups.
It seemed like everyone, but it wasn’t. She was sure it wasn’t.
---
Traffic in downtown Greenwood was at an absolute standstill. Main Street was not moving, and every side street leading into it was clogged. Darryl couldn’t believe it.
At this time of night? Where were they all going?
He knew where he wanted to go, but he was less clear on why than when he had left. Todd was missing. Darryl needed to get to the home so he could see…who? One of the kids? It didn’t make any sense.
People were beginning to abandon their cars and form small groups in the intersections. Darryl got out of his car and joined a small group that was forming directly in front of him.
It was a small group: a big man in blue coveralls who had apparently just finished a shift at the ceramics plant, a very thin, scruffy-looking younger fellow, and an older couple.
“Good evening,” the older man said.
“Evening,” said Darryl, nodding to the others. “Why have we stopped?”
The thin man gestured up the street.
“Roadblock,” he said. “The State Police are blocking off everything leading into the mountains.”
“And I just heard that they’re going to declare a curfew,” added the man wearing coveralls. “They’re afraid there may be a panic. Maybe riots.”
Darryl looked from face to face, trying to make sense of what he was hearing.
“What the hell?” he said. “What’s going on, anyway?”
“Haven’t you heard?” asked the older man.
“Haven’t you seen?” asked his wife. She pointed towards the mountains.
Darryl couldn’t make out what she was referring to. The he saw it. There was something unusual happening on one of the big peaks. Lights. Not in the foothills, where lights were supposed to be, but way up. And there were structures, dimly visible in the distance. It almost looked like a city skyline.
“What…?” Darryl stammered. “What?”
“It’s an invasion,” said the younger man. “Aliens.”
None of them disagreed.
Darryl shook his head.
“Didn’t you see the sky light up?” the woman asked.
“This is crazy,” said Darryl. “It’s insane.”
He turned and started down the street. He wasn’t that far from the home now. He would cut over on one of the side streets and be there in a few minutes.
He continued down the street, passing the occasional group of gawkers. Darryl didn’t bother to look at the mountain any more. There would be time to think about that later. He turned off Main Street and walked three blocks towards Emerson, the street that the home was on. Turning the corner, he noticed a weight in his pocket.
Oh, yeah, he thought. It’s the thing.
But there was something wrong. For some reason, he couldn’t quite remember what “the thing” was.
It was some idea of Todd’s. Some crazy idea.
But Darryl had been willing to go along with it. He had even been kind of excited about it, hadn’t he?
Yes. He had.
And come to think of it, he was pretty sure that he did know what it was. But it didn’t make any sense.
He stopped under a street lamp. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, heavy box that he had been carrying around for two days. He opened the box.
As soon as he saw it, Darryl remembered it. He remembered going to the store and picking it out. He remembered wondering whether he could really afford it. He remembered wondering whether this was really such a great idea, and at the same time sensing that it was. A great idea. The best idea yet.
What he could not remember was who he had bought it for.
It was a ring. A diamond engagement ring.
Posted by Phil at March 1, 2004 12:00 AM | TrackBackThe link to chapter 22 is broken.
Posted by: Virginia at February 13, 2004 11:43 AM