A Journey Through Time

I hardly slept that night; I just kept tossing and turning, going over what I should’ve said to Cayla to keep her from going. The little sleep I did get was riddled with horrible nightmares about the Slateman Mansion collapsing with all my friends inside it and us never being able to find their bodies. My unconscious mind made the decision for me; I was going with them because I was too afraid of what would happen if I didn’t. Another nightmare woke me up at 8 A.M. the next morning and I didn’t try to go back to sleep. I threw myself out of bed and went across to Cayla’s room. I knocked lightly with one knuckle and when she didn’t answer, I pushed the door open. Her bed was a mess and her bathroom door stood open.

“Cayla?” I called tentatively. No answer. I padded across her room and peeked into the open bathroom. I wasn’t anxious to get a glimpse of a naked Cayla but I had to make sure she was still there. I found an empty but still damp shower and a mirror that was still fogged over. Cayla was already gone, I was too late. I sprinted back to my room and threw on a pair of jeans, a long sleeve button down shirt and my tennis shoes. I struggled to force my phone in my pocket as I ran to the door. I hit the pavement running and I found myself at Tommy’s just a few minutes later. I took a few minutes to settle my breathing before knocking on the front door. Tommy opened it a few seconds later and he must have read the look on my face because he stepped out on the porch and pulled the door closed behind him.

“We’re going with them?” he asked. I took a deep breath and nodded my head. Tommy didn’t look surprised or angry that I’d changed my mind, just resigned. He crossed his arms over his chest.

“What did she say to you?” he asked. I shook my head and looked down. I noticed that Tommy was still in his pajamas; a pair of flannel sleep pants and an old KISS t-shirt.

“It wasn’t anything she said, it was the dreams I kept having last night. We can’t let them go in there alone, Tommy. Will you please come with me?” I asked. Tommy unfolded his arms and grabbed my hand in one of his. The memories of the night before rushed back and my face flushed.

“Of course, come on, let me get dressed” he said. I followed him back inside and he ran upstairs to get dressed. Tommy’s mom and little sister came out of the kitchen and when his sister saw me, she squealed.

“Vanessa!” Sadie was several years younger than Tommy, making her about eight, but she was loved by all of his friends. Sadie sailed into my arms and she giggled when I spun her around. Sadie had soft straight dirty blond hair while Tommy’s mom Matilda, had his curly black hair. (Although she kept it straightened). But they both had his beautiful green eyes, so I knew where they came from.

“Good morning, Vanessa, would you like some breakfast, dear?” Matilda asked. I dropped Sadie back on her feet and brushed my hair behind my ears. I’d forgotten to put it up in my rush to leave the house and I had no ponytail holder with me. I blew a strand out of my face.

“Oh no thank you Mrs. Collins” I said. Matilda raised an eyebrow and sighed in defeat. She’d been trying for years to get me to call her by her name but it seemed too weird, especially since I had a huge crush on her son. But she didn’t know that, and calling her by her first name seemed like I was part of the family already, and that was too weird. Tommy thundered down the stairs at that minute, dressed exactly like I was, except the top three buttons on his shirt were open. He held out a ponytail holder for me before heading across the room towards his mom.

“I won’t be gone long mom, I’ll be home for dinner at least” he said kissing her on the cheek. Tommy was never afraid to show how much he loved his family and that made my heart ache. I shoved my hair up into a ponytail as I waited.

“Okay honey, you two be careful now” she said. Tommy met me at the door and gently ruffled his sister’s hair. He looked up and locked eyes with me and I nodded once. He turned and opened the door and I turned to his mom.

“Bye Mrs. Collins, we’ll be back later” I said. She waved us out the door not knowing just how much later she would have to wait. Tommy led me to his jeep and we took off without a word. I began to wonder if maybe Tommy didn’t want to go.

“You know you don’t have to go with me Tommy, you can just drop me off and go back home” I said. Tommy looked over at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Are you crazy? There’s no way you’re going in that place without me. I don’t trust anyone else to watch out for you” he said. Although his words made me blush, they made me smile too. Tommy really did care about me. The jeep remained silent until Tommy turned down Slateman Street and we looked up at the looming mansion. It was deserted as usual and the rest of the block was completely bare.

“They won’t even build anything on the same block as the mansion” Tommy whispered. I glanced over at him out of the corner of my eye in worry. He was gripping tightly to the steering wheel with both hands, his eyes staring out the windshield. The Slateman Mansion didn’t look scary, it didn’t even look abandoned. It was a three story mansion, with beige colored paneling that looked freshly painted, and a pale blue trim around the roof and windows. The second and third floors had balconies running in complete circles around the house and the bottom floor had a wraparound porch. Every inch of the old building was in perfect condition, there were even curtains in all the windows, but there was always a strange aura radiating from the place that made people stay away from it. Even in the jeep, all the way down the street, I felt the urge to run in the opposite direction screaming. I could tell by Tommy’s white knuckled grip on the steering wheel and the tense muscles in his jaw, that he felt the same. After a few minutes we got close enough that we could spot Jesse’s truck parked behind the mansion in the alley. The group of our friends stood in front of his truck looking up apprehensively at the house. The only one who looked eager was Sean. Tommy pulled in beside Jesse’s truck and we climbed out together.

“Well well well, decided to join the party after all?” Sean sneered. I glared at him while Tommy flipped him off. Okay, that was normal behavior for Tommy. Sean just laughed it off.

“Way to go Tommy, I knew you could convince Ness to come” Paul said. The look Tommy gave Paul made him cringe and he quickly looked down. Tommy crossed his arms over his chest.

“It was Ness’s idea; I came with her because I didn’t trust any of you to watch out for her. And we both still think it’s a brainless idea” he said. Sean sauntered over to us and planted himself right in front of me. I instantly leaned away from him. He reached up and pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. I slapped his hand away and tucked it back into my ponytail.

“Were you worried about me, doll face?” Sean cooed. I pushed against his chest hard, making him stumble back a few steps and I stepped closer to Tommy. Sean raised an eyebrow and I crossed my arms.

“You? No. The rest of my friends? Yes. I don’t care what happens to you Sean, but I won’t let you get the rest of my friends in trouble. Besides, at least now there’s someone with a level head going inside” I said. Paul and Jesse started cheering and Cayla tossed me and Tommy flashlights. I took a deep breath and led them to the back door, with Paul and Jesse still cheering. Tommy stayed right behind me and I could feel the faint pressure of his hand on the small of my back. It equally flustered and reassured me. I looked over my shoulder at them as I put my hand on the door knob.

“Here’s what is gonna happen: we explore for a few hours and we get out. We stay in one group, no one breaks off, and no one does anything stupid” I said. I looked pointedly at Sean with my last statement and he blinked at me innocently. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the door. The silver doorknob turned easily in my hand and I pushed the door open. My uneasiness grew as the door creaked open and I heard someone curse behind me.

“Remember, stay together” I whispered before stepping over the door jam. As soon as everyone was through and Sean swung the door closed, we were pitched into darkness. Leigh-Anne screamed and I fumbled with my flashlight. As soon as the beam came on, I turned around to check on everyone. Leigh-Anne had her hands over her mouth and Jesse had his arms around her. Sean and Paul had their hands over their ears, and Moira and Cayla were trying to figure out how to get their flashlights on. Tommy flipped his on and put his hand back on the small of my back. This time I was so scared, I barely noticed.

“Alright come on guys, calm down. Stay together” I muttered. They all nodded and I turned back around and swung my flashlight beam around the room. We must have entered through the kitchen door because the first thing I noticed was the stove. It was a normal four burner electric stove and it looked in good working condition. There was a dishwasher too, hooked up to the sink, and a space for a fridge but no fridge. A huge rectangular table was pushed into the back corner of the room and the chairs were stacked on top of it. Everything looked either brand new or still in working condition; there wasn’t even any dust on anything. I took a deep breath and swung the flashlight beam around until I found a two door sized archway out of the kitchen. The minute I took a step towards it, Tommy grabbed a handful of my shirt. He was determined not to lose me apparently. We passed through into some sort of lounge area; all there was in the room was a huge twelve seater table, with all the chairs stacked on top of it again. The next room we entered was definitely the living room. Two slip covered tan leather couches faced a wall with the biggest flat screen TV I had ever seen hung on it. Sean froze when he spotted the TV and a huge smirk formed on his lips.

“Sean, don’t even think about it” I snapped. Everyone looked at me and then over at Sean, who’d taken a step towards the TV. He looked over at me, his eyes wide.

“Oh come on, it’s not like anyone’ll miss it. Plus this TV’s gotta be worth a fortune” he said. I broke Tommy’s grip on my shirt as I stalked across the room and grabbed the neck of Sean’s shirt. I shined the flashlight directly into his eyes and he groaned and raised a hand to shield them.

“I know you can feel whatever is going on in this place. Don’t. Take. Anything” I hissed. Sean’s eyes widened and I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed nervously. Finally he nodded his head and I released his shirt and went back over to where Tommy waited. Sean took one last longing look at the TV and then he followed us away from it. We passed another set of slip covered couches with a coffee table in front of them and Paul slammed into it. There was a thump as he hit the ground and a muffled scooting noise as he shoved the coffee table across the carpet.

“Are you okay, Paul?” Tommy asked. Paul sat up with his hand clamped over a portion of his right shin and nodded his head. Cayla helped him back to his feet and Jesse slid the coffee table back where it was before. We left the living room after that and entered a room that immediately filled with piano music. I heard a squeak as I spun around that I later realized was me. Moira darted over to a small piano and ducked under the lid. The music shut off and she made her way back over to us.

“It’s a player piano, it must have been set to go off with a motion detector or something” she said. I shared a look of disbelief with Cayla but no one said anything. We avoided more slip covered furniture and filed into a narrow hallway.

“Single file guys” I muttered. For some reason there were brooms, mops, buckets, and all kinds of other cleaning supplies that kept tripping us. I knocked into a bucket full of supplies, tipping it over, and staggered through the mess I’d made. Tommy kept a tight grip on the back of my shirt so when I finally made in through the hallway, he almost slammed into me coming out. Of course that might have been my fault since I’d completely frozen when I took in the sight in front of me. We’d stepped into another, wider hallway, with doors spaced about five feet apart on each wall. Each door had a bronze or gold plaque on the wall with a number on it.

“Room numbers? Is this a hotel?” Leigh-Anne’s voice broke the eerie silence and I glanced back at Cayla. She shook her head slightly. I knew exactly what she was thinking; this wasn’t a hotel, it was an apartment building. I turned around to start pushing everyone back down the narrow hallway, except there was no opening behind Sean, just the same tacky cream and pale green paint job that was on the rest of the walls. The look on my face must have startled Sean because he whipped around to face the wall as well.

“What the hell?” he questioned. He put his hands on the wall and pushed but it didn’t budge. Paul and Jesse joined him while I caught eyes with Cayla again. Her bright blue eyes were wide in terror and she was holding hands with Leigh-Anne. The boys broke into an argument a second later and I looked away from Cayla’s panic stricken face. I caught on just in time for Sean to turn and shove Paul back.

“Alright that’s enough! Fighting isn’t gonna help us get out of here!” I called. Sean turned to face me, his dark eyes fiery in fear and smacked his balled up fist against the wall.

“And just how do you plan to get us out of here, Vanessa? ’Cause in case you haven’t noticed, our way out is kinda blocked” he snapped. I raised one eyebrow and stared down Sean with an icy look. He shuffled uncomfortably.

“Don’t start blaming me Sean, this was your idea so therefore, your fault. And there is always another way out. We can’t afford any panic now, we have to stay calm” I said. Sean took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. The action seemed to calm him somewhat because he sent an apologetic look in Paul’s direction.

“What do we do, Ness?” Leigh-Anne asked. Oh, the poor girl, she sounded terrified. Jesse wrapped an arm around her shoulders but she didn’t let go of Cayla’s hand. I sighed and turned around to look down the hall. The lights were on so I flicked off my flashlight and shoved it in my pocket.

“Well I think it’s safe to say that we’re probably not in the Slateman Mansion anymore, and I don’t know how that’s possible. But this doesn’t look anything like what we’ve seen before and I don’t feel as weirded out as I did earlier” I said. I felt Tommy slip his hand into mine and squeeze my fingers. For once my face didn’t start burning but I did still get butterflies.

“I don’t feel it either” he agreed. I blinked up at him gratefully and he gave me a small nod. Everyone else started mumbling their agreement and I let out a breath of relief. Finally someone broke the silence.

“So where are we then?” Paul asked. I shrugged my shoulders. I had absolutely no guess as to where we were. There were plenty of apartment buildings in Black Hollow, but that didn’t explain why the doorway we’d just come through had vanished. Tommy put his other hand on my shoulder.

“Look, it doesn’t matter where we are, what matters is how we’re gonna get out” he said. I took a deep breath and looked down the hall again. There weren’t any turns until the very end, where two halls split off the one.

“First things first, somebody find a window and find out how high up we are” I said. Jesse immediately broke away from Leigh-Anne and crossed to a set of double windows I hadn’t noticed before. He pulled the curtains back and I watched his face grow pale and his eyes widen.

“Uh Vanessa……………………………………………………………………….I think you need to see this” he said. I frowned at him for a second before dropping Tommy’s hand and joining him by the window. Second story; we’d ended up on the second floor of this building without ever climbing stairs, but that wasn’t what had freaked Jesse out. In front of the building was a beautiful bright green lawn that extended to the curb and then……………………………………nothing. A thick grey fog hung in the air just passed the curb and it was there in any direction I looked, and the fog was thick enough that I couldn’t see anything through it.

“Where the hell are we?” I murmured. There was something eerie about the fog and why it started at the curb like there was no street. I backed away from the window and Jesse let the curtains fall closed.

“Nessa, what is it?” Tommy asked. I looked up but I couldn’t conceal my look of worry quick enough and his eyebrows jumped. I quickly shook my head and he frowned but nodded once.

“It’s nothing; we’re up on the second floor so we need to find stairs. I hate to do this but we need to split up; Cayla, Paul, Tommy, and I will go right; the rest of you go left. We’ll meet back in the middle in exactly fifteen minutes and we’ll go from there” I said. They all nodded and we all headed towards the end of the hall where the turns were. I grabbed Jesse’s arm and pulled him back as he started to lead the other group left. I had to pull him down so I could reach his ear but he caught on quickly.

“Whatever you do, don’t let any of them look out a window” I whispered. Jesse turned his head to look at me and swallowed before nodding his head. I took a deep breath and fell into step with Tommy, who slipped his hand back into mine. For the first few feet, nobody said anything and then Cayla’s nervous voice broke through.

“Vanessa, where are we?” she asked. I glanced back over my shoulder and watched Paul take her hand before I shook my head and turned forward again. Why was I the only one who wasn’t completely freaking out? Even Tommy’s hand was shaking slightly.

“I don’t know Cayla” I said. I heard her small intake of breath and Paul quietly shushing her but I didn’t look back. The hall sloped downward gently before twisting suddenly to the left. We followed the turn in silence and I counted down the room numbers until we passed a huge break in the wall. We stopped in front of it and Tommy sighed in frustration. It was where the elevators were except the doors were wide open and there was yellow caution tape blocking them off.

“Come on guys, the stairs shouldn’t be far” I said. We continued down the hall, taking a right and another left before it split into two hallways again. I glanced down at my watch and according to it, we still had thirteen minutes left to explore. That didn’t make sense, how could we have come so far in only two minutes? I shook my head but before I could say anything, the sound of running footsteps made us all turn around. Jesse, Leigh-Anne, and Moira ran up to us panting and Moira had tears in her eyes.

“Moira, what’s wrong?”

“What’s going on?”

“Did you find the stairs?” I pushed my way in between Cayla and Paul, who had planted themselves in front of Jesse, and grabbed his arms.

“Where is Sean?” I asked. As much as I disliked the guy and how much of a creep he was, he was Moira’s brother and the only reason she’d be crying was if something had happened to him. Moira sobbed out and buried her face in her hands.

“They took him!” she howled. I was instantly on my guard and I looked up and down the hall way before pulling Moira’s hands away from her face.

“Who took him, Moira?” I asked. Moira sniffled lightly and blinked back her tears but she never got a chance to say anything because Leigh-Anne stumbled into her from behind. Jesse looked back to check on her and he stumbled forward too.

“They did!” Jesse yelled. Running up the hall towards us were three men dressed in dark blue jumpsuits and tan hiking boots. I caught a glimpse of a patch on the chest that read D.D.S before Tommy caught my attention.

“Run!” he yelled. He reached for my hand at the same time I reached for his and we all took off running down the hall. Tommy and I ended up in front so everyone else was just following us. I knew immediately that they would catch us eventually if we stayed together so I turned and motioned for them to split up.

“Break off and find someone place to hide!” I yelled. Jesse and Leigh-Anne immediately took the next left and one of the blue clad men sprinted after them. Moira and Paul took the next turn and I grabbed Cayla’s arm before she could follow. I wasn’t going to lose Cayla. Finally we were down to only one pursuer. He remained several feet behind us and showed no signs of gaining on us, but he showed no signs of falling behind either.

“You gotta find us a place to hide” I muttered to Tommy. He glanced back at the guy chasing us before darting around a corner, dragging Cayla and I with him.

“Working on it” he huffed. We turned two more corners before I caught sight of an open door. The man chasing us had fallen behind a little so he hadn’t come around the corner yet.

“There!” I gasped out. Tommy sprinted through the open door and I caught the knob on my way through and swung it gently shut. Cayla quickly turned the locks and we all put our ears to the door. It wasn’t long before we heard the man jog passed, his hiking boots making a hollow sounding bang on the floor. Cayla, Tommy, and I let out sighs of relief and I leaned my forehead against the door.

“What the…………………………hell do those…………………………………..guys want………………………….with us?” Cayla panted out. Tommy coughed lightly and leaned back against the door with his eyes closed. Cayla copied my actions and took a few staggered deep breaths.

“It can’t be anything good if they took Sean already” Tommy muttered. I let out a cough and shook my head. I turned my head slightly and looked at Tommy. Strands of his curly black hair were stuck to his face and neck in sweat and his cheeks were flushed from running.

“Maybe they’re just………………………………………..the building security or something” I muttered. There was a small thump on the door as Cayla nodded her head against it.

“And this is one of those high security apartment building that you can’t get into without keys or a pin or something” she added. I breathed out in relief and closed my eyes. Good, that seemed like a good enough explanation. I opened my eyes again and found Tommy looking back at me.

“Thanks for not letting go” he whispered. I knew he meant not letting go of his hand while we were running and I smiled slightly.

“Thanks for finding us a place to hide” I murmured back. He smiled slightly and let his eyes fall closed again. I took a deep steadying breath and for some reason decided to check my watch. My eyes widened and I took a step back from the door. Cayla’s eyes followed me. According to the time on my watch, the fifteen minutes I’d given us to look for the stairs wasn’t even up yet. And yet I was sure we’d just spent the last fifteen minutes running. I closed my eyes and wiped a hand across my forehead. Either I was going crazy, this place was messing with my perception of time, or my watch was dying. I hoped it was the last one. I had just taken another deep breath in relief when somebody cleared their throat from behind us.