George tossed and turned in the dark, hoping that this was all a bad dream. He thought back to the morning he led Eddie into the boathouse. Inside, he screamed at himself, Why? Why did you show it to him? Why didn’t you just lie to him, and say you were playing in some dumb old boathouse? He would have believed you. He would have just walked away! It’s all your fault!
His emotions were going from one extreme to another. There wasn’t anyone he could even talk to.
Help me be strong, Grandpa. Please.
Finally, after crying until he had given himself a headache, a strange sense of calm took over him. He began to reason with himself. George understood that to get through this, and to help Eddie, he had to be in control. More importantly, he had to protect the secret of the boathouse. He was in this mess because he couldn’t keep a secret. He certainly didn’t want to make it worse. The entire time he lay in bed, he wondered if the police or his parents would come question him about Eddie’s whereabouts. Why would they? They knew Eddie would never spend a waking moment out of this house with his kid brother. The calm must have had a sedative effect on George, because he fell asleep without another moment’s thought.
“Hey, Moose.” Eddie grinned at his younger brother, who was now propped up in his bed.
“Eddie? Where have you been? Mom and Dad have been going nuts! They’re going to kill you!”
“Calm down. You’ll wake yourself up.” Eddie paused until George quieted down. “That’s better. Now, we have a lot to talk about. I need you to concentrate. It’s going to be really hard for you to remember what we talked about when you wake up, so you might want to start by getting a journal. You have to keep it hidden. Mom and Dad can’t find it. First thing you need to do tomorrow morning is work on fixing the boathouse door. I walked around and looked at the outside, it doesn’t look too hard to fix. It just needs a couple of boards replaced. You can do that yourself. I have faith in you.”
“This is all a dream?” George wasn’t quite sure what was happening.
“Focus, George. I don’t know how much time we have.” Eddie sighed. “Okay, from what I can figure out, I am trapped fifteen minutes in the future.”
“How are we talking right now?”
“Because we have a close bond, I guess. You’re dreaming, so we’re able to connect.”
“How are you in the future? When we went through the boathouse before, it made us go back in time.” George had so many unanswered questions.
“I guess because I never went out the side door. The boathouse has more secrets than we know about. That’s not important right now. Right now, I need you to focus. We gotta fix this, George—”
“George? George? Wake up, sweetie.” George wanted to stay asleep, but he could see his mother’s strained face leaning over him in the dim light.
“Mom?” George wasn’t sure what was real anymore.
“Honey, Eddie didn’t come home last night. Did you see him yesterday at all? I need you to think real hard, baby.” He’d never seen his mother like this. Her eyes were blood shot, her hair was uncombed, and her clothes were wrinkled and messy. She seemed to have aged ten years since dinner.
“No, Mom. I didn’t see him. I’m sorry.” Vomit rose in his throat as he choked out the lie. He could taste last night’s meatloaf in his mouth. He hated himself at that moment.
“Please, George. Someone had to have seen him. I’ve talked to all of his friends. They all tell me the same thing. No one saw him. He would never want to be by himself. Not my Eddie.” Tears now streaked his mother’s tired face.
“Kelly, come to bed.” His father stood in the doorway of his room, still dressed in his clothes from the day before. “There’s no need to frighten George. I’m sure he’ll be back any minute. You know teenagers.” He forced a fake smile and took her hand.
“Not while my baby’s out there. I’ll start another pot of coffee.”
George watched as his mother scurried from the room in a complete daze.
“She’ll be fine. You know how your mom likes to worry about you boys. Now, get some sleep.” His dad pulled the sheet up around George’s shoulders like he did when he was younger. George rolled over and faced the wall, but he knew that his father stood in the doorway watching him until he fell asleep.