A Journey Through Time
Chapter 4

For a moment after Dale closed the door, I panicked and completely froze. Tommy yanked hard on my hand and I found myself running alongside him and Cayla.

“Snap out of it Ness, we can’t do anything for them now!” Tommy yelled. I blinked a few times and I realized that Tommy and Cayla were pulling me along, I wasn’t actually running. I forced my legs to move and almost instantly, we sped up. I kept a tight grip on both Cayla and Tommy’s hands; I was determined not to lose them no matter what the cost.

“What about the others?” Cayla panted. I knew she was referring to the rest of our friends and I had to choke back tears when I realized we didn’t have the time to try to replace them. I looked back at Cayla and shook my head slightly. Her expression fell.

“I’m sorry Cayla, we can’t risk getting caught. They’ll have to replace their own way out” I said. Cayla faltered for a heartbeat before she took a deep breath and planted a hardened look on her face.

“Don’t worry, they’ll make it out. Dale and Ruth can’t be the only people in this building willing to help kids on the run” Tommy said. We ran on in silence after that, trying to save our breath. We took so many right turns that I lost count until we swung around a corner and literally slammed into a D.D.S. officer. The weight and momentum of the three of us threw him back into a wall and knocked us to the ground. But the officer barely looked dazed. He slid down the wall groaning and rubbed the back of his head when he hit the ground. He looked around out of one eye and when he spotted the three of us sprawled on the ground, his other eye popped open. I didn’t wait after that; I scrambled to my feet, pulling Cayla and Tommy with me.

“Hey wait!” he shouted. Instead of running passed him, in the direction Dale had pointed us in, I turned around and sprinted in the other direction. I’d made it half way back down the hall and was about to take a sharp right turn when Tommy yanked hard on my hand.

“That’s the wrong way!” he hissed. His strength took me by surprise and he yanked me and Cayla to a complete standstill. In the brief moment that we weren’t moving, I watched the D.D.S. officer gain on us. I pulled roughly on Tommy’s hand until we were moving again.

“Trust me! We have to hide!” I whispered. Tommy risked one glance over his shoulder and his eyes widened. He didn’t argue after that and let me lead. After another right turn and two left turns, I spotted a tall slender door marked ‘Utility’. I stopped so suddenly at the door that Cayla and Tommy would’ve run passed me if I hadn’t been holding their hands. Luck was on our side as the doorknob turned easily in my hand. I heard shouting from around the corner farther down the hall as Tommy shoved me and Cayla into the closet before squeezing in behind us. I put a hand over my mouth to silence any sounds that could come out and we waited with our ears against the door. A few seconds later, the stomping sound of the officer’s running footsteps passed the closet and receded down the hall. Tommy and Cayla let out sighs of relief but something inside me said not to relax just yet. Sure enough, his footsteps returned, slower than before; he was walking. He stopped a few feet down from the closet door and I heard the static of a walkie-talkie.

“Barry, do you copy? I lost them.” I glanced back at Tommy and he nodded his head once. Cayla had both hands over her mouth and it looked like she was fighting back tears. Even Tommy’s hands were shaking. More static distracted me from the fact that I should have been terrified too.

“Yeah, I lost the ones I was after too. These kids are smart; they know how to keep away from us.” I pressed my ear harder against the door so I wouldn’t miss anything.

“Even more of a reason to catch them before they figure out how to leave. We can’t let them go.” I felt a shiver run down my spine and I glanced at Tommy again. He didn’t appear to have heard anything; probably a good thing.

“Copy that. I’ll keep looking.” More static followed that and the officer’s footsteps stomped off down the hall. I let out a small breath of relief and turned around to lean back against the door. Cayla had her forehead leaned against one of the walls while Tommy rubbed her back gently. Normally the sight would have made me jealous, but my friends knew how I felt about Tommy and I knew Cayla had no interest in him. She was just scared and Tommy was only trying to comfort her. He saw me watching them and left Cayla’s side to come stand by me.

“What do we do?” he whispered. It was so strange to hear him ask me for guidance when I always turned to him, but I found it comforting. It meant he trusted me. I glanced at Cayla over his shoulder and crossed my arms over my chest.

“I don’t know, they won’t stop looking for us so it isn’t safe to go back out there until we know exactly where we’re going. I don’t think we can outrun them” I said. He half glanced back at Cayla before leaning forwards slightly towards me.

“I don’t know how much more of this she can take Ness; she’s really freaked out. We need to replace a way out soon” he said. The way he put emphasis on the word ‘soon’ told me how uncomfortable he was with this too. I sighed and reached out to take his hand. He squeezed mine gently and I saw his shoulders relax slightly. That alone must have been what gave me the nerve to step forward and fold myself into his arms. Tommy stumbled back in surprise but he immediately wrapped his arms around me and I felt him rest his chin on the top of my head. I almost laughed because I was the perfect height for Tommy to do that; I literally came up to his chin.

“Vanessa.” The tone of Cayla’s voice instantly put me on edge again and I pulled away from Tommy to turn to her. She’d pulled out her flashlight and the beam was lighting up another room in the back of the Utility closet. Tommy and I pushed passed Cayla into the room and we pulled out our own flashlights. The room seemed to just be used for storage; there were fallen stacks of boxes with the contents spilled out, cobweb covered holiday decorations, and even an old dusty couch. For some reason, a light went on in my head and I crept forward to investigate. The couch was against the biggest portion of wall and there were a few plastic packing crates filling the cushions. On the right, as close to the couch as they could get without tumbling onto it, were a trio of brass light up reindeer. They were covered in dust and cobwebs, and the smallest figure was completely missing an antler. In the corner closest to the reindeer was a pile of deflated dusty inflatable holiday pieces. Like giant Santa Clauses and huge turkeys for Thanksgiving, I even saw a giant Frosty the Snowman. In the corner, on the opposite side of the room, was the stack of boxes. Some were stacked so high that I couldn’t see the tops, others had toppled over and there was a pool of Christmas lights and fake spiders to wade through. Some of the boxes had just collapsed in and sunken down to the one below it. The more I looked at the miserable stack of boxes, the more the little voice in my head urged me closer. ‘Whoa’ I thought. ‘Shouldn’t you be telling me to go the other way?’ I’d never had a conversation with myself before but I found it so odd that I was compelled towards something that could possibly injure me. ‘Don’t complain, check it out.’ The voice startled me, especially because for some reason, I heard my mom’s voice. I choked after the first step and stood staring at the boxes. ‘Trust me.’ That time it was my father’s voice. I felt a chill seep into my blood and I shuddered. Why was I just now hearing my parent’s voices when they’d died over a year ago? And why in this of all places? I followed my instincts and crept closer to the boxes.

“Vanessa, what are you doing?” Cayla’s voice startled me but I didn’t look up. By now I was ankle deep in the innards of the boxes that had toppled over and I had to concentrate or I would fall.

“Ness, be careful” Tommy called. His voice was slightly harder to ignore and I stumbled slightly on something round. Tommy growled in frustration and I swallowed the scream that was prodding at my lips.

“I’m okay” I muttered flapping my hands at them. I shuffled forward, keeping the soles of my shoes glued to the floor, until I came to the first column of still standing boxes. The highest box was just above my head so I pulled it down and dropped it on the ground. There was a dull thump but it wasn’t loud enough that anyone outside the room could hear it. I kept pulling boxes down until I could see past the column. More stacks of boxes stood in the way but I calmly waded forward and started taking another stack down.

“Ness, what’s the point of this? All you’re gonna do is clear the wall” Tommy asked. I dropped another box on the floor and turned towards them.

“It’s just a feeling. Come help me” I said. Tommy and Cayla looked at each other and finally Tommy shrugged his shoulders and they started towards me. They left their flashlights on the couch pointing across at us so we could see and then they started on their own stacks of boxes. After a few more minutes, I finally got to the stack of boxes that would be blocking the corner of the room. I didn’t realize there was a box I couldn’t see until after I’d grabbed the one under it and brought the whole column down on top of me. I felt decorations pierce parts of my body as I went down and I landed hard in the only clear circle on the floor, on my cheek.

“Nessa!”

“Vanessa!” Tommy and Cayla’s voices met my ears and I slowly lifted my head and opened my eyes. There was a thick cloud of dust in the air and I coughed lightly, stirring what was around me. I wiggled my arms and legs experimentally but nothing hurt, except for my jaw, and the boxes weren’t heavy. I carefully slid out from under them and brushed my hands off on my jeans. Besides my jaw, which was aching fiercely, I was unharmed.

“I’m alright!” I called. I coughed again as I inhaled a cloud of dust and I waved my hand through it to try to clear it. I could hear Cayla and Tommy shuffling boxes and piles of decorations out of the way as they made their way towards me, but something else caught my eye. It was barely visible through the dust and the lack of light but there was no doubt in my mind what it was. Behind where the tower of boxes had been, was the faint silhouette of an extremely thin door, like the utility room door we’d just come through. I scrambled to my feet, stumbling into another tower of boxes, which fell and added another cloud of dust to the room.

“Don’t move Ness, we’re coming” Tommy called. I pulled my flashlight out of my pocket where I’d stashed it earlier and shined it on the door. It looked like it was the exact size as the door we’d come through except this was a plain wooden door.

“Hurry up guys, I think I just found our way out” I called. Their movements ceased for a few seconds for I don’t know what reason, and then started up again. I followed Tommy’s advice and stayed where I was, staring at the door. Finally, after five more minutes of shuffling stuff out of their way, Tommy and Cayla broke through a thin cloud of dust to stand beside me. Cayla followed my eyes to the door but Tommy put a hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him.

“You’re bleeding” he said. That caught my attention and I felt my eyes widen. Tommy grabbed the bottom of his shirt where it was already ripped a little bit, and tore a piece off of it. Then he grabbed my chin and turned my face to the left before dabbing at my jaw. I realized I must have scraped it when I fell. I put my hand over Tommy’s when he pressed the piece of cloth against the scrape. He looked up and even in the dim lighting; his soft green eyes were bright. I had to swallow a couple of times before I found my voice.

“I’m okay” I murmured. Tommy sighed and his eyebrows furrowed but he didn’t break eye contact. Cayla cleared her throat to get our attention and I felt my face heat up. When we turned to look at her though, her eyes were glued to the door so I relaxed slightly. Tommy gaped and Cayla and I followed him as he waded his way to the door. He glanced back at us once before turning the door knob and pushing the door open. The room we entered was dark as well and had the damp musty smell of a basement. Tommy cast a confused look at me and I shrugged my shoulders. So we’d gone from a second story utility closet to the basement; weird.

Tommy swung his flashlight beam around the room before cautiously slipping out from behind the door. I pushed Cayla out before me and then I slipped through. Tommy caught my hand before I could slip passed him and laced our fingers together. I smiled slightly but Tommy pushed us forward into the basement so I didn’t get the chance to see his expression. The basement wasn’t big, about the size of the storage room we’d just come out of, except there were water pipes and electrical cables running along the walls and ceiling. A huge rectangular hot water heater sat in one corner and there were about two dozen or more breaker boxes spread out along the walls. There was what looked like a deep freeze against the wall to the left of the hot water heater and as we watched, a head peeked over the top.

“Cayla!” Paul shot out from behind the deep freeze and scooped Cayla up into his arms. Jesse, Leigh-Anne, and Moira were right behind him. The next few minutes were filled with hugging until finally Paul pulled away from Cayla just enough that he could see passed Tommy to me.

“Do you guys have any idea where the hell we are?” he asked. I shared a look with Tommy before we both nodded our heads. That grabbed everyone else’s attention, even Cayla’s. Apparently she hadn’t caught up yet.

“Roughly we know that we’re still in Black Hollow, that this building is an alternate dimension from the one we live in, and the people that are chasing us are like the cops for this dimension” I said. Paul looked over at Jesse, who glanced at Leigh-Anne, who turned to look at Moira. Finally, they all turned back to look at me.

“Explain the Slateman Mansion” Paul demanded. I was used to his blunt nature but for some reason, everyone jumped to my defense. Cayla put a restraining hand on his arm, Jesse clapped a hand on his shoulder, and Tommy hissed something at him through his teeth. I sighed and shook my head.

“As far as we can tell, the Slateman Mansion was the portal. Nobody from this dimension knows it’s there though” I said. Tommy let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. It was then I realized I was shaking.

“What about the people chasing us? How did they know we were here?” Jesse asked. I opened my mouth to explain but Tommy squeezed my shoulder slightly. I frowned and glanced up at him. He just shook his head.

“They’re called the D.D.S.; Department of Dimensional Security. I’m guessing they have an alarm or whatever that goes off every time somebody that’s not supposed to be here, comes in. We’re not the first this has happened to. Apparently every time someone gets in, it’s a kid our age, and the D.D.S. chases them down and locks them up” Tommy said. Moira gasped and instantly all eyes were on her.

“They have Sean” she whispered. Leigh-Anne and Cayla reached out and each put a sympathetic hand on Moira’s shoulder, but she just shrugged them off. Tommy sighed deeply and scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.

“I know Moira, and I’m sorry, but we can’t do anything for him” Tommy said. His voice was gentle and consoling but if anything that just made Moira angrier. Her arms stiffened until she held them rigidly at her sides and her hands were clenched into fists.

“He’s my brother” she snapped. Whatever I had been feeling before melted away as ice cold fury took its place. Was Moira really going to stand there and defend Sean when he was the cause of all this?

“Yeah, and this was all his idea! He did this to us, Moira! Look at the trouble he got us into!” I snarled. Tommy’s arm tightened around my shoulders and I found myself pressed flush against him a second later. I knew what I’d said was harsh but I was so tired of Moira turning a blind eye to everything Sean did just because he was her brother. Cayla glanced over at me and I crossed my arms over my chest. I wasn’t going to apologize; I meant what I said. Cayla sighed deeply and rolled her eyes.

“Look Moira, Vanessa is right, all of Sean’s plans only end in trouble. This is no different. He might not have known what was in here but he dragged us all along anyway. He’s gonna have to replace his own way out, we can’t risk ourselves trying to replace him” she said. Moira’s eyes darkened and I saw the muscles in her jaw tense but she didn’t say anything.

“What about the fog? And why does it seem like time is moving so much slower here?” Jesse asked. Tommy looked down at me and I saw confusion in his eyes. But I didn’t know how to explain that either. I took a deep breath but I kept my arms crossed.

“I don’t know, all I can tell you is that we’re the only ones who can see it. The people that live in this building, the ones from this dimension, it seems normal to them. And they can either see through the fog or they can’t see the fog at all” I said. For a few minutes, everyone was quiet and I pulled Tommy’s arm off my shoulders so I could take hold of his hand again. The action should have embarrassed me like it would’ve before, but I’d held hands with Tommy so much recently that it just felt comforting. Finally Paul sighed in what was unmistakably defeat.

“What do we do?” he asked. The question seemed to be aimed at everyone but for some reason, they all looked at me. Even Tommy. ‘Hang on’ I thought. ‘When did I become the one everyone looks to for guidance?’ The longer they stared at me though, the more ideas came to my head. I’d never been much for being leader before but I could feel the urgency to get my friends out of there.

“Well, we’re not gonna be able to run forever and the longer we stay in here, the more likely we are to get caught. We need to figure a way out of here” I said. Tommy squeezed my hand gently and I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. His eyes were glued to me. Even when he saw that I’d caught him staring, he just smiled. I fought back a noise of frustration. ‘Let me get us out of here first and then I’ll deal with Tommy.’ It was just like him to wait until we were in potential danger before he showed his real feelings for me.

“Is there even a way out?” Leigh-Anne asked. I didn’t get the chance to answer before Leigh-Anne had screamed and shuffled backwards quickly. Her dark blue eyes were wide and focused on a point behind me. Cayla and Moira followed her gaze and they both gasped before stumbling back as well. Paul and Jesse were gaping at the same spot too and finally I heard Tommy curse in surprise. He pulled on my hand to pull me forward but there was another, firmer ice cold grip on my other wrist. Fear paralyzed me and I slowly turned my head to see what they were seeing. A point of light had formed behind me, a soft glowing oval filled with swirling grey mist. The next second there was a woman standing in it and Leigh-Anne screamed again. Even I had to admit, she wasn’t in the best shape. Her hair hung in thin wispy strands and it blew around her face like she was standing in front of a fan; except there was no breeze here. She was extremely thin and gaunt looking, like a victim of starvation. Her skin was stretched so tightly over her bones that I was afraid it would rip. And her eyes were easily the creepiest thing about her. They were sunken in so deeply, I almost couldn’t see the irises. One bony papery hand was clamped around my wrist. As much as this woman scared me, I immediately recognized her.

“You’re that photographer they trapped here” I whispered. The figure closed its eyes and instantly her form changed. Her skin plumped and lost the pale grey hue, her hair grew in length and color seeped back into it, and when she opened her eyes, they weren’t sunken in anymore. She looked normal now, except for the grey mist shrouding her, and a lost less creepy.

“There is a way out, I can help you” she said. Her voice was muffled like she was speaking with something covering her mouth. I glanced back at Tommy and although his eyes were huge in fear, he nodded his head once. I turned back to……………………………………what was she? A ghost?

“How do we get out?” I asked. She released her hold on my wrist and I pulled it to my chest. I could still feel her cold clammy grip on it so I dropped Tommy’s hand to rub it. He put an arm around my waist. He seemed determined not to break contact with me and for once, I didn’t mind.

“The people from this dimension, they can’t leave the building, once you get outside you’re safe. But there is a limited amount of time you can spend outside before you’re sucked back in” she said. Okay, so we just had to get outside this building; that seemed easy enough.

“How do we get back to the Black Hollow we know?” I asked. The woman leaned forward and I instinctively pulled back but she kept moving forward. However as soon as her hand left the oval of light, her skin began to sizzle. I screamed and she jerked her hands back to her chest.

“Run into the fog, there is a reason you’re the only ones who can see it. It will send you back” she said. That made sense too. I nodded my head and turned to lead my friends out of the basement but she reached out and grabbed my wrist again. Since my arm was outside her circle of light, her skin sizzled where it touched mine but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Once you get back to your own dimension, know that it won’t stop them from looking for you. No one outside this world can know it exists. They will continue to come after you. Watch for this symbol, it will tell you when they are close” she said. She pulled down the collar of her shirt and on her chest was a brand mark. It looked like an old Egyptian hieroglyph, but one I’d never seen before. It was made of the shape of an upside down J or an old fishing hook, and overlapping that was a symbol in the shape of all those pink breast cancer ribbons they passed around at school. It was strange enough that I wouldn’t forget it and I would easily recognize it if I saw it again. I pushed my arm back inside her sphere of light so her skin would stop sizzling and she let me go.

“Thank you” I whispered. A ghost of a smile formed on her face before she disappeared. I sighed and turned back to my friends. Leigh-Anne’s face was pale and Jesse had his arms wrapped tightly around her but he seemed fine. Moira must have recovered as well because she was pacing behind Jesse and Leigh-Anne with her arms crossed. Tommy grabbed my hand again and I glanced at him. He smiled slightly but I could tell he was still shaken. Paul and Cayla seemed to be the only ones that weren’t bothered by it, which kind of worried me.

“Alright guys, I guess we need to replace a way to get outside” I said. Tommy squeezed my hand lightly, just enough to let me know he was still with me, but he didn’t say anything. Before anyone could get a word in, Moira spun towards me, her dark eyes fiery.

“We’re not seriously gonna listen to……………………………………….to that thing, are we? She didn’t even look alive!” she exclaimed. Her words floored me but everyone else looked just as surprised.

“Have you got a better idea, Moira? It’s our only lead!” Tommy yelled back. I was surprised to hear a slight shake in his voice and I suspect that’s what silenced Moira. No one had ever seen Tommy as scared as he was, including me, and he was following me blindly, which was comforting but also intimidating. Tommy had blind faith in me and he was trusting me to get us all out of there, so I wasn’t about to let him down. I took a deep breath and turned to face Moira.

“Tommy’s right Moira, right now we don’t really have any other choice. No one else is going to help us, we’re on our own. I’ll take any help we can get” I said. Moira sighed in frustration but for once she remained silent, although she didn’t uncross her arms. Paul cleared his throat quietly but he still gained everyone’s attention.

“I know where the stairs are, I can get us out” he muttered. I took a minute to ready myself before nodding to Paul. He pulled out his flashlight and I released Tommy’s hand to do the same. Almost immediately, he reached out and grabbed my hand again, twining our fingers together so tightly it almost hurt.

“Don’t let go. Promise me that no matter what happens, you won’t let go of my hand” Tommy pleaded. I was stunned for a minute after hearing the emotion in Tommy’s voice and I felt the heat of a blush on my cheeks. Luckily it was dark enough in the room that nobody but Tommy saw. I finally nodded my head and a look of intense relief spread across his face. I looked back at Paul and nodded again.

“Lead the way. Everyone else stay together, we don’t need to get separated if we can help it” I said. Paul and Cayla led the way through a small door on the opposite side of the room. Leigh-Anne, Jesse, and Moira followed and Tommy and I brought up the rear. The hallway we emerged into was small but a small stair case took us up into the main hall. Paul stuck his head around the door frame before waving everyone up. He and Cayla had dropped hands but Tommy still held tightly to mine. Almost as soon as we were all out in the hallway, two D.D.S officers came around the far corner. I felt Tommy tense up beside me and somebody in front muttered “shit!” Paul took off at a full sprint in the opposite direction, the rest of us right behind him. Paul took us around two left corners before we ran into another D.D.S. officer. Paul yelled in frustration and slammed into the guy, knocking him down and half way down the hallway.

“Keep going left, we’ll distract these guys” Paul said. Cayla reached out and grabbed Paul’s hands before he could turn around. Jesse and Leigh-Anne looked frightened but ready, and Moira had already disappeared.

“What happened to not getting separated again?” Cayla pleaded. Paul pulled his hands out of her grasp so he could grab her face. The D.D.S. officer at the end of the hall groaned and Paul cast an anxious look in his direction.

“This is the only way. We’ll catch up” he said. Before Cayla could argue further, Paul leaned forward and pressed a firm kiss to her lips. Cayla went speechless after that.

“Paul, windows” I muttered. Paul gave me a confused look before his eyes lit up and he shot me a half-hearted finger gun salute.

“Gotcha” he muttered before taking off the way we’d come with Leigh-Anne and Jesse following. I got Tommy moving and then grabbed Cayla’s hand so she’d stay with us.

“Did you seriously just tell Paul to jump out of a second story window?” Tommy murmured. He kept his voice low enough that Cayla didn’t hear him but she didn’t even seem to be paying attention. Still in awe from Paul’s kiss, I guessed.

“We can’t risk getting caught by these guys and the fall won’t kill him” I replied. Tommy fell silent after that I knew he got what I meant. A two story fall wouldn’t kill any of us but who knows what the D.D.S. would do if they caught us. The next left turn had us all skidding to a stop in shock and confusion. We stood at the top of a wide set of stairs leading to the entry way of a mansion. A crystal chandelier hung over the bottom of the stairs and men in blue jumpsuits milled around in the foyer.

“More D.D.S.?” Cayla whispered. Tommy seemed to agree with her but the closer I looked, I knew that wasn’t what they were.

“No, look at the walls and the ceiling. They’re not D.D.S., they’re builders” I said. I didn’t know how it was possible but we’d entered a part of the building that hadn’t been finished being built yet. The walls were just wooden beams and there were still wires sticking down from the ceiling. Even the staircase looked like it had barely been put in.

“Hey!” A sharp voice from behind us sent us moving again and we all thundered down the stairs. We got to the front door just as another worker threw it open and tried to step inside. When he saw us flying towards him, he jumped out of the way with a loud “whoa!” Cayla, Tommy, and I ran out onto the greenest lawn I’d ever seen and straight towards the swirling grey fog on the street. About halfway across the lawn, I heard the sound of glass breaking and looked over my shoulder to see Paul, Jesse, Leigh-Anne, and Moira all flying out of a double paned window on the second floor. Figures only Paul would be crazy enough to listen to me; Jesse would have followed instantly but I wondered how they convinced Moira and Leigh-Anne to jump.

“Brace yourself!” Tommy yelled. I turned back around just in time to plunge face first into the fog.