13

Bobby

Saturday: 12:07 PM

I knew I’d been gone.

The floor was solid under my feet, the heat of the sun warm on my face. I had the vague sense of a space that began and ended somewhere, and that within that space were living people. But they were blots against the hazy ribbons of color that flashed and blinked around me, like millions of movie clips projected onto swaying strips of silk.

The dead girl stood a few feet away from me, clear against the shifting mist.

I felt a hand on my arm. “Don’t you see me?”

Glass’s voice was vague and distorted, like the hum of distant traffic. Other voices murmured gibberish in my ears.

My heart pounded. I took a step toward the girl because I was lost and she seemed to be guiding me somewhere.

“I think you need to sit, Pendell,” I thought I heard Glass say. His voice seemed to be bouncing from place to place in the void. “You had a rough night.”

I waved my arms around in front of me. He had to be somewhere in the colored fog. “Why don’t you stand where I can see you, Glass?” I thought I said. But I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure if I was awake.

“I’m right in front of you.”

I knew that couldn’t be. His voice was everywhere and all that was in front of me was the dead girl. She nodded, then whispered, soft as the sound of paper tearing, “Tell him what you saw.”

I looked around me. Half-formed images danced in and out of the mist. I shivered and hugged my arms around my waist. I just wanted to be with Gabe. But I didn’t know how to get back to her.

Hands rested firmly on my shoulders, leading me somewhere. How could I know I if I could trust them?

“Let go of me,” I growled.

“Bobby, please,” said another voice.

It was Gabe. She was nearby. “Where are you?”

“I’m right next to you, baby. Just let us help you.”

I couldn’t fight them. They walked me forward into the mist and pushed me down onto a soft surface where I lay, helpless, like a turtle on its back.

The dead girl looked down at me from above. She seemed agitated. “Tell them what you saw. You can’t follow me here. You have to help me.”

“But where is here?” I asked her. I was afraid. I didn’t really remember how I’d gotten here. Or exactly where here was.

“Bobby! Snap out of it!” Then there was darkness and only vibrations. I searched for the girl, but she was gone.

A sudden, wrenching shock of cold jerked me from the half-dark.