A Journey Through Time

I didn’t give Tommy any information about what I knew; I didn’t want to see his face when he realized how much trouble we really were in. I rushed him while he got dressed and told him to have the others meet us at the park. He must have seen the fear in my eyes because he didn’t argue. While he was downstairs talking to his mom (she was going with us, she needed to know what I’d learned as much as the rest of them), I tried to sort out what I was going to tell them and what I was going to keep to myself. I definitely was keeping the fact that we had no hope of rescuing Sean to myself. Moira wouldn’t react to that very well. I knew enough to answer any questions they might have but how did I explain that I might have a connection to the Hidden? I groaned and leaned over the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands. Tommy must have come in at that point because suddenly my head was in his lap and he was smoothing my hair back from my face.

“I wish you would tell me what’s making you feel like this. I hate seeing you so frustrated” he whispered. I sighed and reached for his hand so I could intertwine our fingers together. I sat up slowly and turned slightly so I was facing him. How much could I tell him before he figured out what I already knew? We were in huge trouble, that was obvious, but the bigger problem was that we had no way of knowing what was coming after us. The Symtrix symbol could appear on absolutely anything! I felt my face morph and I tried to hide it from Tommy, but he’d already seen it. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his lap. I buried my face in his shoulder.

“Tommy, I’m scared. I didn’t feel it while we were there, but now I know the D.D.S. aren’t going to stop coming after us and I don’t know what to do! I’m so scared!” I whimpered. Tommy shushed me quietly and I felt his hands smoothing down my hair again. I usually felt so relaxed and calm in Tommy’s arms but right now, it wasn’t helping at all.

“We’re all scared Ness, and we’re gonna be until this has sorted itself out. Now will you please tell me what it is that you know that’s got you so panicked right now? I’ve never seen you this way before” he said. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the musky scent of Tommy’s cologne, and climbed to my feet. He looked up at me expectantly.

“I don’t want to have to try to explain it twice so I’m not gonna tell you any details, but I learned more about the dimension we were in” I said. Tommy’s eyes bugged and he jumped to his feet. He stopped me from going out into the hallway and hunched over slightly so he could look me in the eye. I frowned slightly and for a second, my thoughts were somewhere else. ‘Was Tommy really that much taller than me?’ I wondered. And then the look in Tommy’s eyes put me back on track.

“How?” he demanded. I put my hand on his shoulder and he immediately straightened. It only took a few seconds for him to realize what he’d done and a look of chagrin crossed his face. He scratched the back of his head and smiled a crooked smile that only showed off one dimple. I couldn’t help but smile back. He gave me a one shouldered shrug.

“Sorry” he muttered. I shook my head and pushed my way passed him into the hallway; he followed right behind me. Tommy wasn’t usually so demanding but I knew he was just excited at the thought of more information. Maybe we would actually have an idea of what to do now. We made it downstairs at the same time that Matilda stood up from putting her shoes on. She dressed so normally, in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, it was almost easy to forget she had two kids. She nodded once to us and Tommy led the way out to his jeep. I hadn’t fully prepared myself for the assault that awaited me once we got to the park. As soon as Tommy helped me out of the passenger seat, I was ambushed on all sides and I couldn’t tell the voices apart. Tommy kept his arms around me.

“Alright, back off! I know you don’t know what’s going on, I don’t either! Just breathe and Nessa will tell us!” he yelled. They fell quiet after that and we made our way to the picnic tables. Matilda remained quiet as she situated herself on my other side and though everyone stared at her questioningly, no one said a word. Well, almost no one. Moira raised her hand.

“I have a question: why is she here?” she asked. The tone of her voice had Matilda lowering her head in shame and Tommy shot Moira the dirtiest look I’d ever seen. I scoffed and shook my head. Okay, so Moira was still mad about yesterday, but she didn’t need to take it out on Tommy’s mom.

“Alright Moira, I know you’re still made because of yesterday but you don’t need to take it out on Matilda. She’s here because she deserves to hear this as much as the rest of you do” I said. Paul and Jesse exchanged a look and Cayla sighed somewhat angrily but only Moira voiced her thoughts out loud.

“You told her?! What happened to ‘Don’t tell anyone, we don’t need to cause any more trouble?’ I can’t even tell my mom where Sean is and yet………………………………………………..” I finally had enough and lunged across the table, slapping my hands down on the cement top in front of her. Moira leaned back away from me and Tommy and Cayla jumped forward to grab hold of me.

“I didn’t have a choice Moira, they murdered Sadie’s cat yesterday! I couldn’t exactly lie my way out of that one, now could I?!” I shouted. Cayla and Tommy finally got me to sit down again and Moira swallowed uneasily. It seemed like I’d really startled her. Good, maybe she’d keep her mouth shut then. I sighed deeply and leaned against Tommy.

“Well Vanessa, why did you have us all meet here? Surely not to tell us you told Tommy’s family what happened, so what’s going on?” Leigh-Anne asked. Her soft voice calmed me slightly and I looked up to meet her dark blue eyes. It felt like looking into a starless night sky and I relaxed easier.

“I don’t know how and I don’t know why but somehow……………………………………….I got in touch with Ruth and Dale last night…………………………………………….At first I thought I was just dreaming but then I realized I could feel Tommy’s arms around me even in the dream. They’re in trouble too; they’re on the run from the D.D.S. just like us.” I paused for a minute so they could take it in and I saw Leigh-Anne whispering across the table to Matilda. Probably telling her who Ruth and Dale were. Tommy nudged me so I would continue. I cleared my throat.

“They told me that the true name of that dimension is the Hidden and that the D.D.S. will keep coming after us until we’re pulled back or killed, and they won’t stop before then. We tripped some kind of sensor when we went through the portal and it alerted them. The symbol that we’re supposed to be looking out for is called a Symtrix. It’s the Hidden’s birthmark; everyone that was born there had one. The D.D.S. must have created it because they have a certain power over it. I was right about them being about to suck us back to the Hidden and trap us there but Dale told me that each Symtrix is also programmed as a beacon. If you touch it, it sends up a signal to your exact location.” I blurted out the story in a rush and waited with my teeth clamped together until one of them spoke. I kept my eyes trained on the fading red paint on the table top so I didn’t know who it was until I heard their voice.

“Did you happen to ask how they knew so much about the D.D.S.?” Paul asked. I kept my eyes on the table top but I nodded my head. Tommy put his hand on my back and patted it gently. It was comforting in an odd way.

“Dale used to work for them but he decided he didn’t agree with what they were going and he quit” I said. They were all quiet again and I caught them glancing around at each other out of the corner of my eyes. I pulled my hands under the table and squeezed them in tight fists in between my legs. That helped with the nerves a little.

“Nessa honey, how did you manage to go straight to the people that helped you while you were there?” Matilda asked. Great, a question I couldn’t answer. I wished I knew because then I’d know how to do it again and I could find out if they were alright or not. I sighed.

“I don’t know, but do you guys remember how that photographer looked when she appeared to us down in the basement?” I asked. From the shudders I received from Leigh-Anne and Moira, it was clear they did. Matilda and Tommy leaned together behind me and I heard Tommy explaining to her what we’d seen. I waited until he was finished before I continued.

“That’s how I appeared to them. Dale said that only people who had been trapped and branded by the D.D.S. could look like that. He said he’d never heard of anyone else who could do that” I said. Tommy’s arm wound around me tightly and he pulled me against him tighter. I didn’t realize how scared he was until then.

“Did they have anything to say about that? About why you could appear like that without really being there, and how you knew so much about the place before they told you?” Jesse asked. I finally looked up at them and there was a collective gasp. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes so I knew why; I hardly ever cried but I was so terrified and I felt so powerless. Tommy held me even tighter.

“They didn’t have an explanation for it either except that I somehow have a strong connection to the Hidden. Dale thought I might have actually been born there” I said. Cayla frowned and cocked her head to the side. Only her and Tommy knew the truth about that issue; the fact that there was no birth place on my birth certificate. Whenever I brought it up around my parents, they always told me it was a misprint on the birth certificate and that I was born there in Black Hollow. But that didn’t explain this connection I had to the Hidden.

“That’s ridiculous though, right? I mean, you were born right here in Black Hollow, just like the rest of us” Leigh-Anne said. I quirked my head to the side and let my eyes move down to the table again. I saw Cayla and Tommy share a glance from the corner of my eye. Paul spoke up then.

“Of course she was born here; if she’d really been born in the Hidden then she would have that mark on her. Do you, Vanessa?” he asked. My level of respect for Paul skyrocketed and I looked up at him with grateful eyes. Leave it to Paul to stick up for me against something like this. Cayla wrapped her arms around the arm he had resting on the edge of the table.

“No, I don’t, but what else explains the connection I have to this dimension?” I asked. Tommy reached under the table and grabbed my hand, interlocking our fingers together. He squeezed it gently in reassurance. They were all silent for a few minutes and eventually Matilda took hold of my free hand.

“Maybe it’s not actually a connection, maybe something happened to you when we crashed into that D.D.S. officer. It could be completely random” Cayla said. I couldn’t help the breath of relief that slipped out of my mouth and Tommy kissed the back of my hand. I knew I could always count on Cayla.

“She’s probably right, but connection or not, you do seem to know stuff about the Hidden that we don’t. Which means we need to listen to you, you can keep us safe from getting sucked back there” Jesse said. He very pointedly turned to look at Moira who had started to sulk.

“Look Moira, I know you want to help Sean but there isn’t anything we can really do. Dale said that we’d only cause more trouble for ourselves……………………………” I trailed off when Moira jumped up from the table, her dark eyes stormy. Jesse and Paul moved to go after her but after two steps, Moira spun back around to face us.

“You promised me you’d help me save him! You promised me Vanessa, does that not mean anything to you!” she screamed. That did it for me; I pulled my hands from Tommy and Matilda’s grasp, climbed up from the table, and marched over to where Moira stood, where I slapped her across the face. Not as hard as she’d slapped me, but hard enough to get her attention. It got everyone else’s attention too. My friends knew that I took the promises I made very seriously and I never, ever broke one.

“I am not going to risk mine or my friend’s lives to help your brother! He’s done nothing but harass me since the day he met me! He deserves to sit where he is!” I cut off when I watched Moira’s mouth drop open in horror and a look of anguish form in her eyes. As much as I hated Sean, I couldn’t do that to his sister. I sighed deeply.

“But I wouldn’t do that to anyone. Moira, I know what I promised you and we will do everything we can to help Sean but it might not be right away. Until we know exactly what it is that we’re dealing with, we’ll have to let Ruth and Dale do what they can. They’re closer to him than we are” I said. Moira nodded her head and put a hand over the cheek I’d slapped. I waited for the rush of shame at that action but it never came. I didn’t feel guilty for slapping Moira, she’d deserved it.

“Keep looking out for that symbol but whatever you do, don’t touch it. Sending you back to the Hidden and trapping you there isn’t the only thing they can do” I said. Everyone nodded and stood from the table. Jesse, Leigh-Anne, and Moira headed for their cars but Paul and Cayla followed Tommy and his mom over to me.

“Way to go Vanessa, it was about time somebody hit Moira. I would’ve myself if you hadn’t beaten me to it” Paul said. Cayla elbowed him hard in the stomach and Tommy and his mom shot him disapproving looks. I sighed in slight annoyance and shook my head.

“It’s not funny Paul, she was being hysterical again, that’s why I slapped her. She needs to be able to think straight right now or she’ll end up doing something stupid” I said. Paul rubbed his stomach in the spot where Cayla had elbowed him and he shrugged at me.

“Besides that, only Nessa had a real reason to slap Moira. Now they’re even” Matilda said. Paul, Cayla, and I broke into laughter while Tommy stared at his mom with wide disbelieving eyes. She just shrugged at him. I loved watching Tommy interact with his family because it was so obvious how much he cared for them. He wasn’t afraid to show that in front of his friends and I envied that.

“Anyway, Paul and I were going out for lunch, do you guys wanna come with us? You can come too if you want, Mrs. Collins” Cayla said. Tommy looked at his mom and then turned his eyes to me. Whatever he saw made a small smile form on his lips and I shuffled my feet nervously. Tommy’s stare still made me so self-conscious.

“What do you say, Ness?” he asked closing the space between us and wrapping his arms around my waist. I saw the smiles form on Cayla and Paul’s faces and despite the blush I could feel burning my cheeks, I leaned sideways into his arms. I’d liked Tommy for over six years, I shouldn’t be this nervous to have Tommy hold me, especially since I was officially his girlfriend. And yet my cheeks continued to burn; I sighed in defeat.

“Sounds great” I answered. We left the vehicles at the park and walked the few blocks to the town’s only food truck. It didn’t have a name but it was extremely popular and it served all kinds of food. Cayla, Paul, and Matilda all got their famous greasy tacos, while Tommy and I went a little healthier and got chicken wraps. We walked while we ate, talking and laughing, and once we were done eating, we walked some more. It was so relaxing to spend a normal afternoon with my friends, although having Matilda with us was a little strange. She joked right along with the rest of us though and it didn’t take away from the happiness we all felt. The fun was short lived however, when we rounded the corner by the old rundown museum and spotted detective Rodriguez climbing out of his car. We all stopped walking and I heard Cayla sigh in defeat, like she knew it was going to happen. How Rodriguez knew we would be walking up that street at that exact moment, I didn’t know, but he didn’t look surprised to see us. He smiled a guarded sort of smile and pushed his sunglasses up into his dark hair.

“Well, what do we have here? Out for a little stroll?” he asked. I looked over to lock eyes with Cayla and she rolled her eyes at him. I couldn’t but share in her annoyance. We were just walking around town, minding our own business enjoying the afternoon, what had we don’t wrong? I crossed my arms over my chest.

“It’s called walking and it’s not illegal. What do you want?” I snapped. Rodriguez chuckled darkly and slipped his hands in his pants pockets. He wore black slacks and a short sleeve grey polo shirt. Around his waist was a thick black belt and hanging on it was his holstered government issued pistol.

“I want the same thing I wanted two days ago; answers. You kids mysteriously vanished and then reappeared two years later looking exactly the same, not a scratch on you, and even wearing the same clothes you disappeared in. Now that’s bound to make some people curious” he hissed. Matilda sighed deeply and shook her head but she didn’t say anything. ‘Looks like we’re on our own’ I thought.

“Why does it matter? It happened and it’s over, what more do you want?” Cayla asked. Rodriguez took one hand out of his pocket and pointed at us as he took a few steps forward. We all automatically backed up. What was it with this guy? What did he think he would get out of pestering us?

“You know my partner doesn’t believe me, but I know you know more than you’re letting on. I think you know exactly what you’re hiding and I find that very…………………………………….” He paused as he searched for the right word and I watched his hand flex into a fist and then relax over and over again. He looked up at us suddenly, his dark eyes wide and sparkling.

“Aggravating. So you’re going to tell me what you know” he finished. I stopped moving and crossed my arms over my chest again. Tommy froze beside me, his arm still around my waist, and Matilda froze on my other side. Paul and Cayla took a few more steps back before they stopped too. Rodriguez stopped directly in front of me.

“You seem pretty confident that we’re going to spill what we know, but if we didn’t tell you before, what makes you think we’re gonna tell you now?” I challenged him. Something sparked in Rodriguez’s eyes and I felt Tommy pull on me gently, trying to get me to back up. But I wasn’t scared or even intimidated. Rodriguez was frustrated because he couldn’t explain what had happened to us and he was humiliated because I’d scared him into letting us go. There was no real danger there. For a second, Rodriguez didn’t speak and I saw my chance. I took a step towards him, making him stumble backwards. Paul stifled a laugh.

“I’d be careful detective, hollow threats won’t get you anywhere” I teased. Rodriguez’s nostrils flared and he pulled his other hand out of his pocket so he could clench them both into tight fists. Still, I didn’t back down. I could see the muscles in his arms quivering with the strain of keeping his fists clenched but all he did was try to stare me down. I waited patiently. Finally, he smiled a small cruel smile.

“I wonder what your parents would think if they knew you were withholding information from the police” he said. I gritted my teeth and dug my nails into my arms. He was hitting low by bringing up my parents and he must have known it, judging from his sinister smile, but I wasn’t going to play into his game. I took another step forward and he stumbled back again.

“There is no on-going investigation into our disappearances, there have been no deaths, and no one has committed a crime. Therefore we have no legal reason to tell you anything. And my parents are dead, so what’s your next move?” I seethed. Tommy put his hand on my shoulder.

“You’re reaching detective, Nessa is right, we don’t have to tell you anything. And the more you continue to harass us, the worse this is going to look when we report you” he said. I knew immediately that Tommy only said that so Rodriguez would back off. The detective looked back and forth between me and Tommy, his dark eyes wide.

“You’re bluffing” he accused. I looked back at Tommy and watched him raise one eyebrow, putting a convincing look on his face. The detective frowned harshly. This was it, either he was going to give up and leave us in peace or things were going to get ugly.

“Am I?” Tommy asked. I kept my eyes on his face, watching Rodriguez through his eyes. He finally took a deep breath and turned around to get back in his car. Tommy let out a breath of relief and looked down at me at the same time I turned to watch the detective get into his car. Just as he got to his car and put his hand on the door handle, a small portion of the brick on the old museum wall blazed with dull grey light. Unfortunately Rodriguez saw it too and he took his hand off his door hands. The light faded after a few seconds and in its place was a Symtrix, burned into the old brick building. My heart jumped into my throat and someone gasped behind me. Rodriguez cocked his head to the side and took one step towards the symbol. I lost my resolve.

“No!” I yelled stepping out in his direction. Tommy reached out and pulled me back at the same time the detective looked back at me. I don’t know what he saw on my face but it made up his mind for him. He stared at me for a second more before striding purposefully towards the wall. I broke into a run after him, dragging Tommy with me.

“Don’t touch it!” I shouted. Rodriguez ignored me and his hand reached out towards the wall at the same time that mind closed on his shoulder. I jerked on him as hard as I could but his fingers grazed the symbol anyway. There was no hesitation in the shift; one second we were all out on the street and the next second we were in a huge, dark, cluttered room. It looked like a cellar of some kind. My anger peaked and I spun towards Rodriguez, pushing him back against a rotted wooden pillar.

“This is why you don’t ask questions, you imbecile! Look what you’ve done! You’re gonna get us all killed!” I yelled. My shoulders were pulled on from behind and I stumbled back into Tommy’s arms. Somehow we’d all managed to stay connected because Matilda, Cayla, and Paul all stood there too. That was slightly comforting but it didn’t lessen the anger I felt at Rodriguez. I couldn’t really tell how big the room was because it was pitch black except for the places where the windows let in sunlight. Two windows didn’t let very much light in though. The windows were high up, higher than Tommy could reach, level with the ceiling. That told me basement or cellar.

“We need light guys, use your cell phones” I said. Tommy, Cayla, and Paul all pulled their phones out but when Matilda checked her pockets, she found them empty. I saw the look of terror in her eyes and I saw how badly her hands were shaking. Except her and Rodriguez, we’d all been through this before; this would be the first time they’d experienced anything like this. I felt sorry for Matilda but this was Rodriguez’s fault, so my sympathy didn’t extend to him. I turned my flashlight on and handed my phone to Matilda before grabbing her free hand. She gave me a brief grateful smile and focused the light in front of her. Tommy took my other hand and when I turned to look at him, he gave me a thankful look. I smiled and squeezed his hand gently.

“What the hell just happened and where the hell are we?” The sound of Rodriguez’s voice sent waves of anger flowing through me again and I spun around to face him, breaking my hold on Tommy and Matilda’s hands. Rodriguez held a small but bright black stick flashlight and he’d drawn his pistol. I scoffed in annoyance and stabbed my finger into his chest. He looked down at me with wide dark eyes.

“What happened was your stupidity getting the better of you. What kind of man sees something like that appear out of thin air and automatically thinks it’s okay to touch it?! Here’s what’s gonna happen: you’re gonna put away your gun because there’s nothing down here for you to shoot; you’re gonna stay behind us and keep your mouth shut, and you’re not gonna touch ANYTHING else” I said. Rodriguez cocked an eyebrow and attempted a stern look but the level of fear in his eyes overpowered it.

“I don’t think you know who you’re talking to, little girl……………………….” I hissed in sharply and grabbed a fistful of his shirt at the collar. I heard a shocked squeak from either Cayla or Matilda and Tommy mumbled a warning under his breath. I ignored him.

“No, I don’t think you know what’s going on here! If you were alone, you’d be dead by now. We are the only chance you’ve got. So if you want to stay alive, you better listen to me” I snarled. Rodriguez swallowed thickly and nodded his head. I released my hold on him and watched as he shakily holstered his gun. I couldn’t help but smirk. This guy really scared easily. I turned my back to him again and slipped my hands back into Tommy and Matilda’s. Tommy squeezed my hand tightly and I smiled up at him. Five flashlights did very little to light up the room because it was quite a bit bigger than I’d anticipated. It was huge! Like the size of an entire prison cell block. Everything was made of either metal or wood with some glass. There was no furniture that I could see or boxes like people stored in a basement, just wooden and metal pillars everywhere. The floor was damp and I could hear water dripping nearby but that wasn’t very surprising. The walls looked like concrete and there was water running down them from cracks along the edges of the ceiling. The cellar looked normal; it smelled normal, even the sounds were normal; so why did I have a permanent cold shiver running down my spine? There was something really not right with this place and I couldn’t figure it out.

“Vanessa?................................................................................Where are we?” Cayla whispered. I kept my eyes forward, reaching into the darker parts of the cellar. As my eyes adjusted, I saw the back half of the cellar filled with tall chain-link cells, roughly the size of a phone booth, but they seemed to be empty. I took a deep breath and looked over at Cayla. Her eyes were wide and she was holding hands tightly with Paul.

“I don’t know Cayla” I replied. She took a shaky breath and nodded her head. Paul tore his eyes away from whatever he’d been staring at and blinked rapidly. I recognized what he was doing; he was trying to clear a picture out of his mind, which brought up the question, what the hell had he seen? When he focused his eyes on me and I saw the hollow fear deep in his pale blue eyes, I decided I didn’t want to know.

“Are we…………………………………………………….” he trailed off and looked back at detective Rodriguez, who was shining his flashlight around at the walls. The beam of light lit up the moisture on the walls, making their color darker than it probably was. Paul looked back at me. “There?” he asked. It only took a few seconds for it to click that he was asking if we’d been shot back to the Hidden.

“I don’t think so…………………………..it doesn’t feel the same…………………………………It’s alike, so very much alike but……………………………the atmosphere is darker…………………….like…….” It was in that sudden instant that I remembered where I’d felt this feeling before. Not of this strength but it was definitely the same. The feeling hadn’t been strong enough to register the first time, but I felt like I was near someone who’d been trapped by the D.D.S. I felt the same as when I’d stood in front of the photographer back in the basement of that apartment building. I looked straight forward again, my eyes immediately finding the telephone booth cells. This time through, I could see the faint dark shape of figures inside them. I gasped out and my hold on Tommy’s hand tightened so much it hurt my hand. He didn’t complain.

“I think I know where we are” I whispered. Horror made my voice thick and hard to hear, but they must have heard me just fine. Tommy glanced down at me, his eyebrows furrowed harshly, and a deeply confused look in his eyes. Paul and Cayla shared a look of confusion as well before they both turned their eyes on me. Matilda took a deep breath and swallowed hard again. Before any of them could ask and before I could begin to explain, there was the sound of a heavy metal door being forced open and light flooded the basement. Every figure in the chain-link cells stirred.

“Hide!” I hissed. That was a little bit easier said than done, there was nothing to hide behind! Tommy, Matilda, and I dove behind a huge metal pillar; Cayla and Paul hid behind a wooden pillar on the other side of the room, and Rodriguez just slid back into the darkness and flipped his flashlight off. Okay, I had to give him credit, that was pretty brilliant. We all waited in silence as the sound of heavy boots on metal stairs descended into the basement.

“Move it kid, you don’t want to piss me off again, do you?” A gruff voice echoed throughout the basement and then a low groan as he kicked whatever kid he had with him. The chain-link on one of the cells rattled as he opened the door and something heavy hit the other side of the chain-link. The man chuckled darkly and secured the door. After his footsteps climbed back up the metal stairs, all I could hear was heavy breathing, and then the kid spoke.

“Asshole.” It was a single word, in a distressed, detached sounding voice but my eyes widened to match Tommy’s wide-eyed expression of complete surprise. He knew that voice as well as I did, and I knew Paul and Cayla recognized it too.

“Sean!”