What might have been, or what will be

Have you ever thought about what might have been?  How the world might have been different if, say, we had won in Vietnam, or if Cuba had been successfully invaded at the Bay of Pigs?  What about the smaller things?  What if I had asked that cute girl at the restaurant for her number?  Would we be sitting down to dinner now, or watching the world end in a cheesy movie?  What if I had sent in my college application to UT on time?  Would it have made a difference?  Or would I still be here?

I've just turned 7.  My cat, who was always such fun to play with, can't be found.  He isn't in the back yard.  He isn't in the house.  We let him out a while ago, but he hasn't come back.  The neighbor's dog is making a lot of noise.  Is that where Ragu is?  Why do we let him play outside?

I've just turned 8.   My neighbor is moving to Europe.  I guess I won't get to spend time with his daughter anymore.  Or their cat.  I'll miss them both.  Will she ever know?  Will I see her again?

I've just turned 12.  One of the girls in my class is sitting near me on the bus.  I think she's cute.  But she'll never talk to me, except to play Uno with all of us in the back.  What would she say if I asked her to a movie?

I've just turned 16.  I have a car and a summer job, working at a hotel restaurant.  One of the hostesses, Ashley, is very cute.  Her accent sounds so good.  Is it British, or Australian?  It is just subtle enough I can't tell.  I want to see her outside of work.  In something besides the blue polo and khakis we both wear.  But would she want to see me?  I don't know, and I don't ask.

I've just turned 17, and I want to do something fun this weekend.  A friend of mine, Katie, is sitting at lunch with me.  There are several of us at the table, but she is the one sitting across from me.  She always sits there.  Everyone else may shuffle around, but she always sits there.  I wonder if she wants to do something fun this weekend.  But I'll never ask her.  I don't want her to say no.  She wouldn't, but I don't want to risk it.

I've just turned 18.  I'll be going to college in a few months.  Right now, I'm working as a stock boy and banquet organizer for a fast food shack at an amusement park.  At least this one has pools, and lifeguards, and girls in bathing suits.  But I have to work.  There is a party at the pavilion, and I have to take 45 burgers, as many hot dogs, 4 tubs of potato salad, and a big pan of baked beans over there.  I can't take the time to look at the scenery.  Why am I here?  And why don't I go chat with Melissa, the lifeguard I know from school?

I've just turned 20.  I'll be home from college soon.  I don't want to work the same summer jobs I have before.  Foodservice tires me.  I'll do construction.  I know a guy who needs good carpenters, painters, etc, and I'm pretty competent with a hammer, saw, paintbrush, whatever.  I meet the job requirements.  The only downside?  The only people on the job are us 4 guys.  But I can't do what I did before.  How will I meet new people?

I've just turned 24.  I know the perfect girl for me.  She is just as random as I am, but I don't want to ask her.  What if she says no?  Why is this still a problem for me?  I'm moving away soon, graduating and getting a job, and she'll never know.  Why is it like this?

I've just turned 35.  I got two kittens at the pound.  They're very cute.  I would rather have children, but I still haven't found the one.  Or maybe I have, and I just haven't asked her, because I can't bear the thought of her saying no.  Now I'm past my prime.  Who's left?  Or should I start singing "Here's to the losers, bless us all"?

I've just turned 70.   I've gotten new kittens.  They're just as cute as the last ones.  But they will never be what I really need.  Retirement sits well with me.  I have all the time in the world to play with my kittens.  But no one else knows I exist.  How could they?  The biggest part of my life at this age should be my grandchildren, but I can't even find a woman to have children with.

I've just turned 90.  I've moved to this "retirement community".  What they really mean is "home for old-folks-with-no-family".  They don't let me have cats anymore.  One of the other residents is allergic.  So I sit and watch TV.  I found a cat while I was out walking.  He reminded me of my first one, Ragu.  He played fetch with me.  I threw a stick, and he went and got it.  I tried to sneak him in, but I got caught.  I wonder if I can keep him as an outdoor cat.  He's the closest I'll come to a family now.  I'll have to go to the grocery store tomorrow and get cat food.

I've just turned 24.  I need to ask her out.  Before its too late.  Before I leave this town.  Before I can't.  Before I become that crazy old man with the cats.  And if she says no, I'll get over it.  It won't be the first time.  It probably won't be the last.

Text messages

"I just had an awesome dream about you.." Words on a cell phone screen. An interesting start for a Monday morning. But what kind of dream are we talking about? Was it a romantic dream, an adventurous dream, or something else? Was I her knight in shining armor, or her companion in the jungle? Did we scale a mountain, or walk downtown? Or was it a flashback to the good old days, when we walked the forest hand in hand behind the school? Or was it something more bizarre, her and I in some less friendly setting, locked in combat with the forces of darkness, or with each other?

Besides all that, what was the catalyst for this? Was she thinking of me yesterday? Or did it just come out of the blue, like dreams so often do? "I meant to send you that recipe too..but didn't remember til last night :(" Oh, that explains why I was on her mind. I had almost forgotten about that. She was going to send me a recipe for churros. Those are always tasty. It has been a while since I've had them.

I still wonder about the dream. Was I the hero, or the villain? Maybe part of the supporting cast? Or nothing quite so exciting? Would I have made the headlines, or the tabloids?

"You kept trying to keep my movies in my dream". Ok, what? I don't know why.... ok. Apparently, I wasn't the hero, maybe only a little of the villain. Who knew I would play that role? I wonder what role I'll have in her next dream, and what role she'll have in mine...

"You had a crib in your room". Huh? "It was for your little sister". I give up. Dreams are too strange to try to understand. I don't even have a sister. Maybe this one, like most, was just too much random. But it makes a good story for a Monday morning. Where else do you get things like this? I wish I could remember my dreams the way she does. I would have such stories to tell. But they would make no sense. Especially retold through text messages.

Scales

"She needs more scales." It had become a litany for Jacob, and Matt was getting tired of it. "There aren't enough scales on her tail, she doesn't look like a mermaid."

Matt had been designing this thing for 6 months. Why this guy wanted his robot to look like a mermaid.... well, Matt just about no longer cared, except that he was going to get to be the first android designer in history to build a mermaid. There was a lot of credit for that, amongst his circles. He would definitely get more contracts after this. But he was almost at the end of his rope, just from working with Jacob.

"I can only do so much with the scales at this point. If you had wanted more scales, you should have said something two months ago. Besides, mermaids are fictional creatures. What they look like is completely up to the artist creating them. But I'll add some more scales, if it will make you happy." Matt turned back to the table to work on the robot. She was beautiful from the waist up. Even from the waist down was impressive, in a fishy sort of way. Her scales shown in a rainbow of colors, from red to green to gold. And from the waist up, she was incredible. A bit of a bluish tint to her skin, hair a lovely shade of deep green, perfect curves.... she was amazing. Matt was half tempted to try a full woman shaped android based on this coloring and shaping. She would be exotic, and irresistible. An interesting idea. Perhaps later, for now, he had to finish this one.

Jacob, meanwhile, his opinion expressed, had started to wander over to the couch in the corner. Matt had put it there for customers who were waiting for finishing touches to be put on their androids, and there were times like this when he was glad it was there.

The android itself was nearly done, she was watertight (as requested) and could live underwater down to a few hundred feet. She would glide when she swam, flicking her tail like a fish, and she was smart, talkative, and humorous, if you could appreciate humor with a nautical twist. And, as mentioned before, fantastically beautiful.

Finally, he felt like he was done. The last few bits of the android's programming were in place, and she was ready to be carried off into the pool that would be her home from now on. Matt turned to Jacob. "Alright, here is your mermaid. I hope she works out for you."

Jacob got up. "Yeah, thanks. I'm so excited about this. I've never owned one of these androids before. I hope she is as much fun as everyone says." He looked at her again, a huge smile on his face, as she turned to look at him.

She returned the smile. "Hello Jacob. Is there anything I can do for you today?"

"Not yet." He turned back to Matt. "She's perfect. Now I just have to get her home to the pool." He paused a moment. "How am I supposed to do that...." His voice trailed off into silence.

"I can help you carry her down to your car, but from there, you're on your own." Matt volunteered. He was happy to help in this case, because the sooner Jacob and his mermaid were gone, the sooner he could call it a day. And the sooner he would stop having to listen to his requests, and stories about his "future with the mermaid".

Jacob grabbed the girl off the workbench, and, like a man carries a woman across the threshold in those old romances, carried her off down the stairs. He carried her out the front door, which Matt held open, and to the waiting car door, which Matt was standing right next to. Jacob closed the door, and turned back to Matt one more time.

"Thank you so much. You've made a dream of mine come true. I hope someday you will feel as happy as I do right now." And with that, he climbed into the seat of his car, and drove off.

The weekend I found out about her

From the day we met, I could tell she was something special. She had a smile so warm it could melt butter, and so sweet it could give you cavities. She was quite possibly the prettiest girl on the planet. And when she spoke, I swear I could hear music. But the oddest part was, she spoke to me. See, I was a nobody in this area. In a world where people thought more then spoke, and almost everyone could read minds, I was an outcast. I hadn't been able to hear thoughts as a child, and while this condition usually passes with puberty, for me it had not. I was the only man in our town of nearly 100,000 who had been born this way, and it made me an outcast. Women would hardly speak to me, and most of the other men avoided me, or made jokes about me that I couldn't hear. Now I was 20, and alone, and mostly unwanted. The only reason they hadn't kicked me out of town was that my parents were fairly influential, and I was the only one in town who understood how to fix and maintain the last few gasoline engine vehicles, owned by some of the older rich folks. But that left me as the outcast mechanic who no one talked to, except to get their car fixed. Until this weekend. For some reason, this girl was talking to me. And smiling at me.

I met her on Friday afternoon. She came to the shop with her grandfather, who was getting his car fixed. As he was looking over it, she came over and started talking to me. She said she had just turned 18 a few days ago, and was looking for something fun and exciting and different to do, and asked me if I had any ideas. I suggested that she get in touch with Chris, a pilot I knew from high school. He was one of the few people who still respected me, and I knew he would be nice. I also knew he had started running skydiving flights for folks who wanted an adventure. I had gone a couple times, his payment for me keeping his plane in the sky, and knew how much fun it could be. She liked the idea, and asked if I had gone before. I said yes, and she asked if I would like to go again, with her, on Saturday. She said it was only fair, since I had been so nice as to give her the suggestion. I could hardly refuse.

She brought four other people with her, all about her age, and we went up in the plane, and came back down again. She described it as the most fun she had ever had, and looked forward to doing it again sometime.

Later that evening, she came by my house. She was excited about something. Very excited. She said she had to tell someone, and she thought I'd understand. She had found a place for herself, outside of her father's house, where she could live on her own, as an adult. But she didn't know what all that would entail. She asked if I could provide some advice, if she showed me the place. I agreed, and she took me to her new apartment. It was about 2 blocks from where I lived, in an apartment that mostly catered to the young folks who attended the local college. I would have fit in there, were it not for my lack of telepathy and my job as a mechanic. She invited me into the place, which was still empty, save a mattress in the bedroom. She said she was going to get furniture tomorrow. She wanted to know if I wanted to come over when she got the place together. I said sure.

The next day, she stopped by again. It was weird that she kept coming to me to talk, or spend time. She invited me over again, saying she had gotten everything together. She said she wanted to show me something that not many people had seen before. So I went. When I got there, she showed me an old TV. I recognized it, because I was one of the few other people who had one like this. It was a replica of an almost 500 year old model, from before they developed the mental projectors that everyone used now. It was a good old fashioned rear projecting moving light style, with a speaker that produced sound.

"I rebuilt this so I could watch very old movies. The ones from before mental projection. When the people spoke to one another, and you had to use your ears to hear them. And to hear the sound. I don't like the new movies, they aren't as much fun. But the old ones were great. Have you seen one of these before?"

"Yes, I have one. I modified a player from a mental projector to display images and play sound through one of these. But I haven't seen any of the old movies."

We sat and watched Somewhere in Time, an old movie I had never heard of. And at the end, she turned to me, and said "There is something I have to tell you. Something that may surprise you. I was looking for you. My father hates it, but he accepts it. You are one of the few people I can relate to well, because, you see, I hate the telepathy. It is bad for us. The way we think with each other, the way we force our thoughts into other peoples minds. The way we sometimes broadcast what we shouldn't. I have hated it since I was 8, when I heard my parents in the next room. Perhaps heard is the wrong word.... I felt them. They were broadcasting everything they were feeling and seeing, and they were doing something no 8 year old girl should know about. Which is why I sought you. You have a unique ability, in this world of telepathy. You don't hear the noise of your neighbors thoughts. Only your own. I wish I could experience that, just for one day. But instead, I hear the voices."

We sat in silence for a while after that, until I had to go. But I knew we would see each other the next day. And I told her so, and bid her farewell. I hope this is the beginning of something good.

Survival of the Fittest, Part 6

Morning came too soon for Jack, and the rain came with it. Being the first to wake again, he climbed out of his tent, and took a look around. Interestingly, there was a car parked behind the truck. Sitting in the passenger seat was a man that looked mildly familiar. The man climbed out when he saw Jack getting out of his tent.

"Well, this isn't too much of a surprise Jack. I guess you picked up a lot from my class." Once the man started talking, Jack immediately knew who he was. This was clearly the TA from the wilderness survival class.

While the man might not have been terribly surprised by Jack's presence, Jack was certainly surprised by his. "What are you doing here?" Jack began. "There is almost no reason that I can think of for you to be here randomly. Why aren't you at camp? Where's the professor? And what is the deal with that plane crash?"

"Well..." the man paused, and walked over to the truck, leaning against the side. "You may have guessed by now, this was actually your final. You all jumped out of the plane, with gear to last a couple days, and your tents had tracking devices in them. Interestingly enough, in four years of administering this test, you are the only ones to successfully find your way back to civilization, though to be fair, we didn't really count on anybody finding a truck that worked. Also, I am the professor. The guy who stood up every week was my TA."

Jack walked over to a tree stump, and sat down. "Don't you think this is a little cruel? For an exam, this is a little over-the-top. What if somebody died?"

The professor paused for a moment as if in thought, then smiled. "That hasn't happened yet, and I feel fairly safe about that. After all, you people just went through a wilderness survival training class. If you guys had trouble lasting the woods for a week or two, then you really shouldn't be passing a class on wilderness survival, now should you?"

As Jack contemplated his next question, he noticed that Alli had woken up. She was still a little silent, so it was entirely possible that their visitor he had yet to notice that she was up. "Still, there is no way that the administration actually endorses this test. In fact, they probably don't even know about it, do they?"

"Do you honestly think that I would do something like this without some kind of higher up knowing about it? Do you really think I'm that dumb?"

Without warning, Alli's tent opened, and Alli came charging out, carrying her gun. She quickly swung it around, pointing it straight at the professor, who promptly dropped to the ground.

"Are you mad woman? Don't point that gun at me! If you're not careful, you'll kill someone!"

Alli looked at the man as he cowered on the ground, anger clearly visible in her eyes. She had every right to be angry; she had been dumped in the middle of nowhere, without warning, as part of a test for a class. "I don't think there's a jury on earth that would convict me after this fiasco of yours. You threw us in the middle of the jungle, and asked us to fend for ourselves for a week without warning. I'd be surprised if no one took a shot at you in the past some time."

"Look, look, just calm down, there's no need for violence here. Just get in the car, we'll go to the airport, and you can get home, get a shower, get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning. I promise."

Jack got up from where he was sitting, and walked over to Alli. "Look, he's right, you know. We can't exactly get out of this country easily without him. So don't go blowing his brains out until we get back home."

Alli smiled and then started laughing. "I wasn't going to shoot him. I just wanted to scare him a little. I wanted him to feel a little bit of how we feel we right now."

The professor got back up, and started making his way back towards his car. "Wake up your last guy, and let's get out of here. I want you three to be on your way back home, by noon."

Jack went over and gave Jon's tent a shake. Jon came climbing out a few seconds later, and the three of them packed up their gear, throwing it in the trunk of the car.

The trip to the airport was uneventful, as was the flight home. When they got back, they all headed to their respective houses, to get cleaned up. After quick showers and changing clothes, they all met up in front of the administration building for their college. They were determined to make a change to the wilderness survival course. They were sure that they could get something to happen. But hours of conversation with administrator after administrator was futile. No one knew what was going on in that class, and no one believed them when they said that they had been thrown out of the plane with almost no equipment, and no way to get home. Finally, after all the administrators had gone home, they gave up hope. After a while, they resorted to simply telling the story to anyone who would listen. No matter how often they told the story, no one believed them. It seemed like a runaway ghost story you'd tell at a campfire, not anything that could possibly have happened in real life.

Survival of the Fittest, Part 5

Morning came again, and the rain with it, making that familiar sound on the tent wall. As Jack got out and looked around, he noticed the others were still asleep. Taking the opportunity, he grabbed the rifle and started to look for some prey. After an hour of fruitless searching, he headed back to camp. As he got there, the familiar sight of a pistol coming from the open door of Alli's tent greeted him.

"And good morning to you too, Alli."

She smiled as she climbed out of the tent. "Since we don't know how far it is to the next town, I think we should skip breakfast today, so we can stretch our supplies a bit longer."

"Yeah, that's not a bad plan. We'll do that today."

Jon started to climb out of his tent, and they all grabbed the gear and packed up. As they were loading it into the truck, Jack started to think. the distance and speed they were going at should put them back in the city they flew out of within another day of traveling, if this road led there. Assuming his sense of direction hadn't been too messed up from the jump and the days in the woods, he was sure it would be close, at least.

As they got back into the truck, they took the same places as last time. He started them moving and tried to maintain a good speed. Finally, the trees backed up and the road opened up, and he shifted up to fifth gear. Now they were making good time. He saw the light starting to fade, but he also saw the lights of the city ahead of him. He didn't want to slow down, didn't want to let up. He wanted to get there, now. They started to enter town, and the small houses at the outskirts were clearly much nicer then the village. These houses looked more like the houses back home, at least in this area. They started to look for an open area, an empty lot, someplace they could stay. Finally, they found a park. It was empty, so they pulled into the parking lot, put the cover on the truck, and pitched the tents.

Survival of the Fittest, Part 4

Rain came with the morning. The tone of the drops changed on the roof, as the tin roof made the sound more solid, more defined. Jack woke to the sound and looked around. Alli had already gotten up, but Jon still lay there. Jack decided to let him sleep in for a bit, and stepped out of the cabin. Alli was across the way, trying to get into one of the houses. As Jack walked across the open area, he looked around at the rest of the village. There were about twelve buildings in total, in two rows separated by a wide dirt road. In the gaps between the buildings, various undergrowth had taken root, making the village feel that much smaller, with the jungle encroaching on the village. All of the buildings looked mostly the same, with one exception at the end of the row. Each was roughly fifteen feet by 25 feet, built of jungle wood with corrugated tin roofs. The odd building out was taller then the rest, deeper, and wider. It looked to be a barn of some type, with a large double door occupying the bulk of the front wall.

As he reached the door Alli was struggling with, she turned and looked at him. "Good of you to wake up this morning. Can you help me with this door?"

"I'll see what I can do." Jack wandered around the building, finally finding a window he could see the door from. He could make out the braces on it, and it looked like the door was barred. But, the window was too small for him to get through. "Hey, Alli, come here. I can get you in the house so you can open the door."

She came around the corner, looking at him. "I already tried that. I can't reach the window. I'm not that tall."

He smiled. "You don't have to. I can, and I can get you up there. Assuming you don't have a problem with that."

She shrugged and walked up to where he was standing. He grabbed her, lifting her up to the window easily. She pulled herself in, while he helped keep her steady. Once she slipped the rest of the way in, he walked around to the front door. As he walked up to it, she pulled it open. "Welcome to my home, handsome stranger" she said in a fake southern accent. "Won't you come in and enjoy a nice glass of fresh squeezed lemonade?"

He laughed at her joke, and stepped through the now open door, looking around. This house was already empty, and had nothing of use in it. Even the beds were gone, leaving the house completely useless.

They checked the rest of the houses, searching each one for anything ever remotely useful. They didn't find much else, just a few more cans of food and a few more rounds of ammunition. But it was something. Finally, they got to the barn. It wasn't locked, and they fully expected it to be empty. But they got lucky. There was a truck in it. It was an old toyota pickup, probably from the 80s. It had what looked like a 50 gallon drum of fuel in the back, and a couple extra drums in the barn. There was also a toolbox in the back of the truck, which had some sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers, and a hammer, just the basics. Jack hopped into the truck, finding the keys in the ignition, and tried to start it up. No luck. Expecting the battery to be dead from age, he decided to try plan B.

"It won't start, but I think we can push start it. Let's go drag Jon out of bed."

Alli smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he shouldn't be sleeping right now anyway. See, the rain has almost cleared up."

They walked over to the cabin, and found Jon sitting up in bed. "I was just about to get up and find you guys. Find anything useful?"

"A bit more ammo and food. Also, a truck," said Alli.

"A truck, huh? Did you try and start it?"

"Yeah, but lets walk and talk," said Jack. Jon hopped out of bed, and followed them out the door. Jack continued "I tried to start it, but it didn't start. I'm not sure why, but my guess was the battery. It has to have been sitting here for a couple of years. I think we should try push starting it, and if that doesn't work, we'll try some other things."

"Sounds like a plan. If that doesn't work, I'll take a look at it and see what I can make out."

They pushed the truck out of the barn, and got it pointed down the road in the middle of the village.

"Alright, so who rides, who pushes?" asked Alli.

Jack looked at her. "Can you drive stick? Have you done a push start before?"

"Yes and no" she answered. "I hadn't even heard of push starting before today. How does it work?"

"Well, basically, you have a couple people push the car to get it rolling. Once it gets moving a bit, you let out the clutch and gas it, just like if you were starting at a light. If you do it right, the engine will catch and start, and you can recharge the battery. Do it wrong and the car jumps hard against the people pushing."

"Hmm" she answers. "I don't have the experience, and it has been a while since I've driven stick. Why don't you start, we'll push. I think that'll work."

Alli and Jon take up positions behind the truck, and Jack climbs in. "Ready?" he calls.

"Ready!" they answer, and start pushing. They get a bit of speed as the truck reaches the edge of the village, and Jack starts to let the clutch out. He feels the catch point, feels the engine resist, and punches the gas. The truck roars to life, dumping a little smoke and throwing up dirt as the wheels spin. Jack eases off and makes a turnaround in the field, then comes back to the barn. Leaving the truck idling, he puts on the parking brake and hops out.

"Let's grab the gear, and the two extra barrels of fuel, and try and get out of here. There is a tarp car cover in the barn, lets take that too. It'll give us a way to keep the gas drums in the back safe." They all scramble to grab the gear, weapons, and gas drums, loading up the truck, tying things in place, and preparing for the trip. Once it was all tied down, Jack hopped back in the drivers seat. Jon grabbed a spot in the back with the gear, and picked up the shotgun, while Alli hopped in the passenger seat. They started off along what was left of the road, making good time now, with minimal obstalces. They climbed over the couple of downed trees with the truck, only once stopping to clear an obstacle, which was a very large tree. As night approached, they debated trading spots and pushing on through the night. Jack tried the lights. When they didn't come on, the debate was settled, and they looked for a clearing to stay the night in. They found one right by the road, and set up camp for the night.

After making camp, they grabbed some food from the supplies, and put the cover on the truck. They talked for a while, and finally lay down for the night. As Jack lay down, he thought how things were looking up. They had fast transport, and hopefully this road led somewhere civilized, where they could contact home. The night sounds caught up to him, and he fell off to a deep, restful sleep.

Survival of the Fittest, Part 3

Rain came again in the morning, and Jack woke up to the pitter-patter sound on the tent walls. After taking a moment to push the memories of home from the forefront of his mind, he prepared himself mentally for the day. Once he felt ready, he stepped out into the morning rain. Looking over the camp, he saw Alli, sitting at the base of a tree, munching the last of the venison from yesterday.

"You snore, y'know."

Jack shrugged. "If you say so. I've never heard it."

Alli chuckled, then tossed the last piece of meat into her mouth. As she chewed it, Jack turned to the other tent, and started to wake Jon. "Jon, morning again. We gotta get going if we want to make that village by nightfall."

Jon opened the tent, climbing out into the rain. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's do this, I'm really looking forward to getting out of here tonight, and hopefully that village is the key."

Quickly, they set to work on the tents, then got on the way. As the rain cleared, the air warmed up again, and by afternoon, it was clear they wouldn't make it to the village without more food. There didn't seem to be any animals in the area, so they were keeping an eye out for plants that might be useful. Towards the middle of the afternoon, they found one. A small berry plant, completely safe to eat, was planted just a little off their path, and provided enough for them to eat for the afternoon.

But there was no time to stop for long, so they continued at a good pace, reaching the clearing that held the village, just as the sun was setting. The dim light made everything a bit eerie, and the long shadows from the sunset made the village look odd. But something else was wrong - the village was empty. There was no movement at all, and no people, alive or dead. The whole area was deserted, abandoned at some point long ago.

As the three explorers searched the buildings, they didn't find much. A small cache of weapons and ammunition, including a shotgun and a rifle, provided relief for the pistols and dwindling ammo they carried, while four beds in one of the houses provided a good place to spend the night. A stockpile of canned vegetables in one of the other cabins provided some small amount of dinner, and they agreed that perhaps it would be best to look over everything else in the morning.

Night in the cabin was a bit quieter, and the three occupants slept well, a metal roof and wooden walls isolating them much more from the outside then the tents ever could. Jack fell asleep last, thinking about the work he had tomorrow, and the disappointment of the empty village. The lack of people was disappointing, but at least there were some resources they could use. He wondered what the other cabins held, but there wasn't really time to think about it. At last he drifted into sleep.

Survival of the Fittest, Part 2

Morning came with the sound of rain again. The rain woke Jack again, so he started to get ready. As he got out of the tent, the camp was silent, save the sound of the rain. He decided to take this as a chance to get cleaned up, and maybe find something to eat. He grabbed his gun and took a few steps out of the camp. He used the rain drops to get some of the dirt off his hands, wiped it off his arms and hair as he felt the water accumulate. The water was cold, and the air felt good after the heat of yesterday. He shivered a bit whenever the breeze blew, and he wanted desperately to be back in bed. But he knew that he needed food for the day. And with three of them now, it was even more important. He walked quietly, ears and eyes open, trying to find something to eat.

Suddenly, he heard something off to his left. Looking towards it, he saw the shape of a deer. A large buck, it was clearly a strong animal. And it looked like it would be good eating. He moved slowly, knowing the rain and the wind were on his side for this kill. He brought his gun around to his target. Pressing the safety button, he felt the power of the weapon, knew the death he carried in his hand. He felt the rush as he gently squeezed the trigger, knowing that this moment was the last this deer would ever have.

The animal fell to the ground, blood flowing from the wound in it's side, where the bullet had entered.Moving fast now, he ran over to the deer, grabbed the legs, and pulled them together. This would be good eating indeed, and Jack couldn't wait to get it back to the camp. As he hauled the beast back to the camp, he felt good about his kill. It had been a fair hunt, the animal had just fallen victim to bad luck. Had they met later in the day, it would not have been so easy. But then it would not have been raining.

Walking into the camp, he saw the gun again, Alli pointing it at him from the open door of her tent. "You woke me, you know. I don't like waking up to the sound of gunfire. Although to be fair, I didn't know that until this morning."

"I'm sorry. But if it makes you feel better, I brought breakfast. Venison is a very good way to start the day. And Jon apparently slept through the gunfire."

Jon's voice came from his tent, obviously annoyed. "No, that woke me up. I was just trying to get back to sleep. Of course, with you two yammering out there, that is pretty hard."

Alli smiled, climbing out of her tent, carrying matches and a small bundle of kindling. "I was planning to use this tonight, but I can collect more today while we travel." She grabbed a couple of the better logs from the wood pile, and used them to isolate the twigs from the water accumulating in her fire pit from the previous night. She put the fire together pretty quickly, having the fire going in just a few minutes. Meanwhile, Jack grabbed his pocketknife, and started working on the deer. He got the skin off fairly quickly, and in a good sized chunk. Then he went to work on the meat, pulling the chunks off, and piling them up. By the time he was halfway through the deer, Alli was already working on cooking it. She had them on a couple of thin planks of wood she had collected, sitting near the fire, but not so close as to catch. The smell of smoke and venison filled the campsite, making both their mouths water.

As the first chunks came off, they started tearing off smaller, bite-sized pieces. They started munching, feeling better from the food and the night of rest. As the last chunks were coming off the fire, Jon finally got out. He grabbed some of the pieces, chowing down. After eating, they started to tear down the tents. By the time they were all packed up, the rain was starting to taper off, and the fire was dead. There was still a lot of meat left, all of it cooked, so they packed it up and spread it through the bags, then started off through the woods.

Jack led the way, keeping an eye out for anything interesting, and trying to figure out how far they had to go. "We won't make it to the village today, since we got off to a late start. But the food was good, and much needed, so I don't feel too bad about that."

Jon spoke up from the back. "Yeah, we'll have to make a good effort tomorrow. I'm glad you managed to take a deer down, though, since that means good eats all day, and some tomorrow."

The day was long, and even with the late start, they made good distance. The day warmed up, just like the last one, and all three travelers were eager for the cool of night to come. Trying to keep spirits up, Jack and Alli started talking.

"Who would have expected this?" Alli said. "Stuck in the woods with minimal gear, and no way to get home, or call. Lucky they had these mini-survival packs on the plane, huh?"

"I'm not so sure about luck on this one." answered Jack. "Enough packs for everyone, and each pack with a handgun we were required to train on in class, and a small tent, a good, durable sleeping bag that is extremely light weight, and a pocketknife. Almost too perfect. Like they expected trouble, and wanted to make sure we could all survive. Plus the professor never jumped. I was the last one out, and after I jumped, the plane righted itself, stopped smoking, and turned around. Like it was a false emergency to begin with. I think this is the final, not whatever camp we were supposedly flying to. It seems reasonable, for a wilderness survival course. And I intend to pass it."

"You might be right. But still, there is no way the university staff would go along with this. If half the students die on the final, there has to be some kind of investigation, right?"

"I don't know what is going on, but I intend to survive this."

They continued to walk, occasionally talking about various things of interest. As the light began to wane, they started to look for a good place to sleep. The trees were thick here, and the underbrush heavy, so they had to keep pushing on. Finally, as the light was almost completely gone, they found a small clearing, just large enough for their tents, and set up camp.

Alli assessed the site, looking it over as she pitched her tent. "I think we should forgo the fire tonight, guys. There isn't enough space here for a fire, not if we're going to set up these tents."

"I agree," said Jack. "Besides, we want to get going first thing tomorrow, so we should go ahead and head straight to bed."

Jon nodded in a agreement, and headed into his tent. Jack and Alli both went in as well, leaving the camp empty. The sounds of the forest took over, and the evening dragged on into night.

Survival of the Fittest, Part 1

7:30 am, Tuesday. It was raining. Again. For the fourth time in as many days, Jack woke up to the sound of the rain on plastic. The sound was always soothing, a reminder of home. It used to rain a lot where he grew up. At least his tent didn't leak. This tent was a good place to sleep in that way, though it was definitely not as good as his home from childhood.

Since he was awake now, it was time to get going. He folded up his blanket, dropped it in his bag, and stepped outside. It was very wet, and the smell of wet wood, that smell you get in a forest in the middle of the storm, was very strong. He loved that smell. Jack had spent many days of his childhood sitting on the back porch of his parents' home, smelling the rain. To this day, that smell was calming.

Jack looked over at the other tent in this area. It was much the same as his, small, green, two poles and a couple of ropes. Pup tents are nice because they pack small, but the setup time, and the need to use stakes, make them a bit inconvenient. After the four days straight of rain to start this adventure, though, he was glad of anything that kept him dry through the night.

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he started towards the tent. "C'mon Jon, it's morning now. Time to get going, if we want to get out of here." Jon was his travel companion, for now, though they had only just met. Two days ago, he came across Jon in a small clearing in the woods. Before that, they had seen each other in class, but they hadn't really talked.

"Jon, c'mon man, we've got to get going" Jack said again. Seeing that there was no movement in the tent, and eager to get a start walking for the day, Jack pulled back the flap on the tent. "Are you ok, man? We've got to get moving." Jon was lying there, still, not awake yet. Jack reached in and grabbed his ankle, giving it a good shake. "Wake up, man. This isn't funny."

"Huh, whatsat?!" Jon sat up suddenly, kicking loose Jack's hand. "Oh, it's you. Man, you freaked me." Jack had settled into this routine, having gotten used to waking Jon already, even though they had only traveled together a couple of days. Jon seemed to be having a bit of trouble with it, though, as he wasn't quite used to being woken up by other people.

"Get packed, I want to make it a good ways today, hopefully get out of these woods and into a village. We passed one on our way down here on the plane, so hopefully we can get up there and get a good days rest. Also, it's a bit wet, so be prepared." And with that, Jack went back to his own tent. He started pulling it down, packing it up. He finished about the time Jon got out.

Jon wasn't really cut out for this. He was a bit of a bigger guy, though not terribly fat, just out of shape. He got tired easily, and these days of travel were really wearing him out. Still, he was getting better. He had given up on his hair, which was a bit shaggy, blond, and now speckled with dirt where it stuck out of his black ballcap. He was wearing the same thing as yesterday: blue jeans and a black tee, both of which had gotten a bit dirty.

Jon started to break down his tent. "Ok Jack, what's the plan for the day? We going to keep going south?"

"Yeah, and hopefully we'll find something else to eat. That deer last night was good, and the nuts were too, but we're out now, so we'll have to find something else. There's some berries near here, but I recognized them as something poisonous from class, so no go on those."

"Hmph" responded Jon. "That is unfortunate. We were lucky we found that food. Maybe we'll get lucky again today."

"Sure, just let me be the one to take the shot this time. You have terrible aim, and usually terrible luck." Having both finished packing up, they grabbed the gear and set off southward. With each step, the ground gave a little, the mix of leaves and mud as soft as any plush carpet. The sound of the rain continued all around them, and as they walked, they passed by occasional pools of water, though they were far too dirty to drink.

Within a couple hours, the rain had died off, as it had the previous couple of days. As the rain cleared up, the sun began to poke through the leaves, and the air began to feel warm. The humidity was high, and the air felt muggy. Without the rain cooling things off, they both were starting to feel warmer.

As they walked, there was very little to disturb them. There were almost no animals to speak of, and the few that were around were smaller. The wind was slight, though the heat was annoying. As they walked on, Jack began noticing some things that were off. Some of the fresher tracks looked like footprints, from people, instead of from the usual deer and squirrels. Jack was getting a bit on edge, as this would be the first person he and Jon had run into. And either way, the person was ahead of them. Whoever it was, they had already gotten a lot further along the way to the village, so maybe they could meet up there. There was a good chance that whoever had left the prints was someone else who had been on the plane.

Evening came faster then either of them would have liked, and as the light grew dimmer, they pressed on, hoping to reach some kind of clearing or something. As the woods grew darker, they began to grow creepier, as they did every night, making the woods a place of shadowy beasts, making each dark space a place where something could leap from at any moment. The sounds of the forest began to change, and as the owls started to come out, they both knew it was time. They started just looking for any space large enough to pitch the tents, and that is when Jack noticed the glow. It wasn't much, but it was there. At least 200 yards away, there was a slight glow behind a tree. The thickness of the woods here must have blocked it from view, but it was clear they needed to get there for the night.

"Jon, look up ahead. See the glow? I think that's a campfire. Hopefully, whoever is there will be nice enough to share the warmth." They both started to move on a bit faster, having a renewed energy from this sighting.

As they approached the tree that hid the glow, the woods around grew blacker. The fire was beginning to dim, and the days walk was beginning to take it's toll. Finally, Jack reached the small clearing that held the fire. Sitting beside it was a petite woman with light skin covered with patches of dirt, which matched the dirt on her clothes quite nicely. Her red hair was also a bit dirty, and pulled back behind her head. She was holding a small pistol, pointing it in their direction.

Jack recognized her immediately as Alli J., one of the girls from their class. She seemed to recognize him too, and lowered the pistol. "Jack, I'm surprised to see you. You were towards the back of the line of jumpers, and I was off first. You must have been moving quick to catch up to me."

"Yeah, I have been. I want to get out of here, so I've been up early every morning, trying to make a lot of distance, even in the rainy hours of the morning. Jon and I trekked about 2 hours this morning before the rain stopped."

"Hmph. I try, but it is much easier to stay in the tent until the rain starts to die down. I don't want to get caught in the real bad rain, if I can avoid it. But that would be a lot faster way out of these woods."

"Well, that is true. And the rain isn't too bad if you get under the trees. But anyway," Jack said, pausing for a moment to try and word his next statements carefully. "Would you mind if we joined your campsite here? We need a place to rest for the night. And in the morning, you can join us on our way out of here."

Alli shrugged. "You're welcome to camp here, I don't mind the company. As for tomorrow, we'll just have to see about that. I'm not sure if joining up with you guys will help me, and if we go separately, I don't have to share what little food I find."

Jon looked at the two of them. "Well, that is good enough for me. I need to get some sleep." He grabbed an empty area and started setting up his tent.

Jack shrugged. "You know, that probably isn't a bad idea. I'm going to do that too."

"Well, I'm going to bed then. Put the fire out when you guys are done with the light." Alli climbed into her tent and closed it up. Jack smiled, grabbed his own tent, and set to work. Once he and Jon were both set up, they grabbed the loose dirt that was next to the fire, and threw it on. The fire began to smolder, as the dirt smothered it, and the light began to dim. With the fire mostly out, they covered the firewood pile with a jacket and went back to their tents.

New posts!

Starting next week, I have a new story finished, which will start posting next week. It's a few weeks worth, and hopefully I've finished my next one by the time that story is through. Or maybe I'll just write a couple of one week shots. I haven't decided yet.

Lack of posting

Sorry about the other lack of posting this week, and next, but I was unable to finish my story for this week or next. Not enough time. I will be back on the 30th/31st, hopefully with something new to read.

The Phone, part 4

The shopping was uneventful, and when they got back, Winters was waiting for them. She had dressed up nice, in a very nice dress. She had let her long blond hair down, and it flowed beautifully. Forget coed, she could pull model if she tried. They spent a bit of time doing their makeup and hair, getting prettied up for a night out.

"Alright, here is the plan." Winters had a look of focus on her, in utter contrast to her dress. It was almost comical, but for the serious set to her face. "I've got a wire, and it is hooked up to a radio. We're only going to order non-alcoholic drinks, and hopefully stay sober enough to pull this off. We'll go to a different place tonight then last. We're going to hang out and hope they show. Do whatever you would normally do on a night out, and act a bit tipsy. If anyone asks, I'm a friend from out of town. We'll say Vegas. Real names, and call me Jess. Sara and Kati, you're with me. The rest of you girls can stay here or go home, though it'll probably be best to stay here. Any questions?"

Kati put up a hand, then pulled it down once she realized how silly it was. "When does the cavalry arrive?"

"Good question. They'll come in if they hear the targets, or one of us says 'I've never had a chocolate shake like that before.' You girls can say it too, in case they some how take me down. Remember, no alcohol, just act tipsy. We'll head out at about 10. Any other questions?" A moment of silence, and a few head shakes indicated it was done. "Alright. You've got about an hour to kill. You girls might want to get dressed. I've disabled the cameras in here, and the viewing room is locked, so you should probably do it here."

A little over an hour later, they were walking into the Eternal Summer bar, another tiki lounge style place, with the masks and the fake straw roof and everything. They were there for about an hour, with Sara playing pool and winning a few bucks, and Kati dancing her brains out on the floor. Winters sat at the bar and flirted with anyone who looked male, and quickly collected a stack of phone numbers. Finally, around 11:30, Jack came in. He was dressed in his usual blue jeans and t-shirt. And Ben, the stalker-boy, was with him. They walked in, and both spotted their targets.

Winters was on the ball, and made the call for backup quickly. She started to move towards where Sara was, as Kati was fairly insulated, and also fairly alert, on the dance floor. Sara spotted Winters moving towards her, and made the connection. "Sorry boys, this game is over. Enjoy the cash, I've got to go." With that she headed toward the bathroom.

She and Winters had the same idea, getting to the door pretty much at the same time. They moved in, and backed up. "Somehow, I don't think he'll respect the women's room. He'll be in here in a moment," Winters said.

"No, I don't think so. Remember, last night I hid out in one of these. Worked pretty well, too."

The door swung open, and there was Jack. "I'm wise to your tricks, this time. No escaping out the window. I've even got one of my boys in the alley. And who's your little friend, here? She's so cute. I think someone here will want her for some fun. Ain't that right, boys?"

There was silence behind him, where he obviously expected a yell, so he turned in a panic. Just in time to see an officer with a taser reaching for him, and then all went black. Kati came running off the floor to where they were standing, and ran in to Sara. A huge hug was in store for her. And one for winters.

Winters called to one of the swat boys, "Check the alley. He said he had a man there. And get these guys in cuffs, and get them back to the station. I assume you guys tracked them on entry, right?"

"Yeah detective. We saw him go in, and we made all his guys. They're all here and tased, so I think we got them all. Good work men."

"Good work indeed." Winters then turned back to Sara and Kati. "You girls did good too. Thanks so much. And you can keep the dresses. I'll have an officer take you back to the station, and you and your friends can go home."

"Alright" said Sara. "I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight."

They both went to the parking lot, where an officer gave them a quick lift to the station. They went in and found Heather and Alexis playing gin, while Leslie was asleep on a small cot.

"You girls look like jailbirds, y'know," Sara called out as they entered the room. "But enough about that, let's get home and get some good rest."

They woke Leslie, headed out, and piled back in the car. They dropped by Kati's place, and she got out and headed for the door. She went in and straight to bed. That had been a tiring day for her, to say the least. But she knew one thing for sure: it had been a good day. She helped a friend in need, helped the police bring in a bad guy, and just felt good about it overall. There were still questions, but all that could wait. She had solved the hard problem, what happened to Sara. The rest would come, in time, as needed. But for now, that was enough. She thought these things, then felt the calming embrace of slumber.

The Phone, part 3

The trip to Emily's house was uneventful, and fairly quiet. Alexis let Kati think, interrupting her only occasionally to ask about something unusual they passed, trying to jog her memory.

Once they got there, Emily answered the door. She looked like a mess, her hair had a plastic fork sticking out of it. Her clothes were wrinkled, and had a few spots on them that looked like they were probably beer from the previous night. She seemed like she had just woken up. "Hey Kati. What's up?"

Kati was still a bit distracted, so Alexis spoke up instead. "We're trying to find out if something odd happened to Kati last night. She doesn't remember much after she left, and we think someone put something in one of her drinks."

"Shhh. Not so loud. I have the biggest hangover ever. Hold on, let me go get Jen. She was our designated sober for the night, she is most likely to know what happened."

Emily ran upstairs, and a few minutes later, Jen came down. Jen was a smaller girl, and she was obviously pretty wired. She was wearing a loose t-shirt and jeans, and had a bouncy step. She was carrying a coffee cup, and had on her usual red framed glasses. She looked very stereotypically nerdy, but outside of that was pretty non-unique.

"Hey Kati. Feeling alright this morning?"

"Yeah, I'm OK. Not too bad, at least. Though there is a slight problem with my memory of last night."

"Yeah, Emily mentioned that. So is there anything I can do to help?"

"One thing. Was there someone hanging around me a lot, or someone really weird at the party you didn't recognize?"

"Now that you mention it.... there was this one guy. I'd never seen him before. He kept offering to bring you drinks, kept trying to hang around you. I thought he was just a really bad crush, but a little before you left, he just vanished. I did get one picture of him, in spite of his efforts to always be looking the other way. Let me go print it out for you."

She ran back upstairs with the same amount of energy she ran down with, leaving her coffee on a table by foot of the stairs. Kati cleared a space on one of the couches, throwing all the cups into the garbage bag, then sat down, still unsure what to make of last night, especially with the new information.

Jen came running back down the stairs again, and handed the picture to Kati. Looking hard at it, she realized this was the guy she had seen that morning on campus, the guy who was kinda stalker. How could she have forgotten? Even with all the drinks. Still, it answered some questions, while raising several more.

"Thanks, Jen. If you think of anything else odd from last night, let me know. I still have a lot of unanswered questions."

"No problem, Kati. And I'll let you know if I think of anything else."

So Kati and Alexis headed back to the house. They got back just as Heather and Leslie were returning as well. They all headed inside, and proceeded to swap stories. Heather and Leslie had visited the station and the church, and they learned a few things. For one, Sara had made it to the church. She had left a few photos with the guy running the shelter, and an address, so they could try and find her. She had apparently taken a cab there last night. As for the police, they said they were aware that Jack was back in town, and that they had been told a few days ago. He was apparently back up to his old tricks of stalking coeds, but this time he had found a few accomplices. They weren't sure where he was, but they wanted to know, and were offering a reward.

Kati went over the things she had learned during her visit to Emily's, and let them know about the stalker. She figured he might be one of Jack's net gang, and they might be able to use that to their advantage.

But for now, they had to find Sara. Taking Heather's car, as it was the largest, they all headed over to the address they had been given. They knew it immediately. It was a sorority house for Chi Omega, before that drug bust last year. Man, was that a weird story. Now it was empty, while the sorority fought the charges and tried to keep the house. But Sara had managed to keep a key, since it was an illegal copy anyway, and apparently thought it would be a good place to hide out.

They pulled in to the driveway, and headed up to the door. Sara was waiting there, and she opened it when she saw them. "Oh thank God. I'm so happy to see you guys. I thought you wouldn't figure it out and I would have to try one of the neighbors. But you made it. Can we go now?" Her green dress was a bit rumpled, and her makeup was smeared. She had no footwear, she probably abandoned it in the escape. Her purse was spilled on the floor right inside the door.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," said Kati. Sara scooped up her mess into her purse, then turned to face the group. She hugged them each in turn, starting with Kati, and then headed for the car. They all piled in and started back towards the house.

"So," Sara started, "I think we have to do something. Jack and his posse are gonna be trouble real soon. They're not gonna like that I got away last night, and they sure aren't gonna let me get away tonight."

"Well, we could go to the police" offered Heather. "They want to get Jack put away. They might be able to help us with this, and we might be able to help them."

"Alright, lets give that a shot. The worst that could happen is they tell us to go away."

They turned to go downtown again, to the police station, and that's when Heather spotted the car behind them. It was following a ways back, but it is hard to follow someone and not get spotted on a street like this. It was a small car, with sporty lines, but there was no way to identify it at this distance. She called it out for the others to know, and they tried to form a plan. Everyone started throwing ideas out at once.

Kati cut them all off. "Stop! The best way to deal with this is the simplest. Head for the McDonald's over there. I'll trade you spots, then we'll have us a nice drive, yeah?"

Heather thought for a moment, then made the turn. Once they pulled into the lot, she and Kati both hopped out of the drivers side. Making a quick swap, they were back in the car and moving before their tail had caught up to them. Kati hit the gas, taking off out of the lot with a burst of speed across two lanes of traffic, and back the way they had come. Cornering quickly, she made the car groan from the stress. It was not made for this kind of driving, but she found the sweet spot for it fast enough. Once she had that, it was easy. Lefts and rights, illegal (and stupid) turns, and she quickly lost him. And fortunately enough, was near the police station. Rounding the last corner, she made it into the lot, then pulled around behind the building, where the car couldn't be seen from the street.

They all got out and ran for the backdoor, getting there quickly enough. The officer at the desk greeted them as they ran through the door.

"Whoa there, why the rush? Where's the fire?"

Alexis led the answer. We're on the run from a wanted Jerk, who is currently trying to do who knows what with us. We need to talk to an officer about a stalker named Jack. Now, if that can be arranged."

The officer checked her computer. "Yeah, the officer'll be right down. In the meantime, the lot you parked in is for official vehicles only. You'll need to move your car."

Alexis wasn't sure what to say to that, and Kati could read the expression on her face about that. Before Alexis could cause any trouble, she spoke up. "Sorry officer, but I think it's best we leave it there. He had someone tailing us, but I lost him. If we put it out front, the tail will knew we've been here, which could get him on the run. If it stays hidden, we might get an advantage."

The desk officer thought for a second, then let it go. "I think that might be doable."

As he was speaking, two officers came down the hall. They were dressed in plainclothes, so Kati assumed they were detectives. The taller one was a man, a bit older, with a touch of gray to his hair. He looked well built, like he used to be on the football team. The shorter one was a younger woman. She didn't look much older then the college girls, and she was beautiful. She had a killer figure, and could probably pull of "sexy coed" without too much effort. The older gentleman spoke first.

"Hi girls, I'm Detective Craig Sholes. This is my partner, Detective Jessica Winters. We're assigned to the Jack case. The officer said you had some information."

Alexis started the talking again. "Yeah, but this could take a while. Why don't we go sit somewhere?"

They walked down the hallway to a little conference room, where there was some hot coffee waiting, and they all sat down. Kati and Sara proceeded to run through the story, showing the cops the picture of the stalker boy, and trying to explain it in a way that made some kind of sense. After getting through the story in as much detail as they could, they fell silent. The two detectives were quiet for a minute before Detective Winters spoke up.

"That is quite a story. And shows a lot of creativity and resourcefulness. Certainly more then I could have managed on either front, I think, with so little prep time. I just have one question. Why did you have all the numbers in your phone?"

Sara let out a deep sigh. "That.... is quite another story. I put those together for a code project with a friend from high school. She has a bit of.... well, paranoia, but she liked me. So I took the numbers when she gave them to me, and I still get coded messages from her from time to time, so I keep them around. Never thought I'd need them myself."

They sat for another moment. Finally, Winters spoke up again. "I hate to impose on you girls, especially after all that information, but do you think we could.... well... use you as bait? At least Sara and Kati, who seem to have stalkers in this."

Sara spoke up quickly. "Absolutely, if you get this creep off the streets, I'll gladly play bait."

Kati didn't hesitate a moment either. "Me too. I just want this to be done."

"Great," Winters said. "We're going to go come up with a plan. As for the rest of you, these two need some 'night on the town' clothes. Think you can get them something from home? Or walk them to a store right here and get it, on us? We'll send a plainclothes officer with you, just in case. She's pretty good, so just act like you know her." She looked through her pocket, and pulled out a credit card. "Here, buy some nice dresses and shoes. Try and match the purses you already have. And pick shoes you could run in, just in case. Just don't go crazy."

The Phone, part 2

The entire drive back was silent, as both driver and passenger were last in thought. As they pulled back into the driveway, they spotted Leslie coming out of the front door. Kati Jumped out and ran over to her. "Hey Les. Where are ya headed?" She immediately realized it was kinda a dumb question, since Leslie had her hair pulled back in a pony tail, and was dressed in her usual workout attire.

Leslie smiled. "I'm headed to the gym on campus. It's that time of the day."

Alexis was just catching up, having finished parking and getting the car settled. "Hold on, Les. We need your help with something. Sara's gone missing, and we're trying to find her. Plus, we have a puzzle for you."

"And it's a hard one" added Kati. "Seems to be a code of some kind, we just don't know what, or what the key is. And we know how you like puzzles. Get ready for one that'll be challenging and help your roommate."

"Alright," said Leslie. "Just let me go back upstairs and get changed. I'm not dressed for puzzling."

"OK," said Alexis. As Leslie started up the stairs, Alexis added "Oh, hey, can you get Heather, if she's up there? I think we should all work together on this one."

"Yeah, sure," called down Leslie.

A few minutes later, Heather came running down the stairs. She was wearing her PJs still, but her hair had been cleaned up a bit from bed-head to slightly-out-of-control. A few minutes after that, Leslie ran down to join them, now in a floral print skirt, weird tie-dye shirt, and with her long hair let back down. Most people would have just assumed she was a hippie, straight out of the 60s, but really she just dug the style.

"Alright, why don't we start from the beginning," she said. "Some of us haven't been filled in all the way, yet."

Kati and Alexis proceeded to run through everything they knew, thought they knew, and suspected about the previous evening, as well as the steps they had taken to learn it all. Finally, they presented the note and the phone to the others, and opened up the floor.

"Why the phone, though?" Leslie was obviously as stuck on this point as Kati.

"Maybe it was just a good way to ensure the note was found," said Heather.

Kati spoke up again. "Maybe, and we thought of that. But there had to be a better way of doing that, if that was all it was for. Why not give it to the bartender, or send it as a text message to one of us? Surely one of those would be an option, and would let her hang on to the phone for use today. I still think she left it as a hint to the meaning of the numbers, or a clue for us, in addition to making sure the note was found. Maybe it has the key to whatever code this is on it."

Alexis continued, "And we thought of that too, but if the key is on there, it is extremely non-obvious. Which I guess makes sense. If you put the key with the coded document, then it has to be a well hidden key. Which still leaves me wondering about the note with the hamster. What is up with that? Is that the key?"

They stopped for a moment to think about that. Finally, Heather spoke up. "She told me once that she had a pet hamster growing up. I think she said his name was George.... maybe." She paused for a moment, trying to remember. "Maybe it was Greg. Anyway, it was a G name, for sure."

Leslie picked up the phone, and started flipping through the names in it. "Huh. That is odd. She has an entry in here labeled 'Greg from childhood.' The number is 411."

"Anything else odd in the phone book?" asked Alexis.

"Well, maybe. There seems to be about 20 entries that start with a period, which puts them at the front of the list, but they are all 555 numbers," responded Leslie. She sat for a moment thinking over the consequences of this setup, when it dawned on her. "The note! Of course, she had to leave the phone because it has the key, which is the phone book. The first however many entries are the key. The numbers are in pairs because the first number gives an entry in the list, and the second a letter in that entry."

With some effort, the girls decoded the message, Alexis reading numbers, Leslie finding the entry and letter, and Kati writing them out on the whiteboard. Through their team effort, they put together a translation of the note. It said "Send help. Jack is back. Has a posse. Seems to be stalking me. Followed me to this bar after three others."

Great, thought Kati. Jack. He was always trouble, but disappeared a few months back after a run in with the cops. He used to live near here, and had always hit on Sara. She had always turned him down, but he kept trying. Finally, he seemed to get the hint that she wasn't interested. Or so it seemed. A few weeks after that, he had started following her to parties and the like, until he ran into Nick at a Kappa Phi party, and Nick shoved him through a table for something Jack had tried to do with Nick's girl. After the cops came, they tried to pick up Jack on some outstanding warrant, and Kati thought it was over. Apparently not, since he was back.

As they sat there staring at the board, Heather was the first to speak up. "Maybe we should let Nick know. I bet he wouldn't mind kicking Jack around again."

Kati frowned. "No, that won't work. He graduated in December, moved out of town. Not much he can do about it. The police might be some help, though. Jack was arrested last time he was here for something. Whatever it was, I doubt he finished his time for it."

Leslie jumped in. "But she could have gotten a message to the police. Went in to the bathroom and gave them a call, or something. If the police could help, they would be in this already. Might not hurt to give them a call and see if Jack is still wanted. One of us could call and say we thought we saw him at the bar last night."

Kati leaned back on the couch. "I don't know. I think there is more going on here then is obvious. After all, Sara wouldn't have just given up. And she tried to make sure we could get this figured out."

Silence returned to the room, as the girls tried to think of what to do next. Kati kept returning in her mind to the phone call she couldn't remember from last night. There must have been something important there, but she couldn't think of what it was. She tried to remember, and as she struggled, she started to remember only bits and pieces. She remembered Sara saying "This will be a night to remember" and "There he is again. You have to do something! Help me, Kati, please!" The words began to come back to her, starting from where the last sentence left off.

"There is nothing I can do for you, Sara. I'm way too drunk to come get you," she had said.

"You have to, Kati. Call Alexis. Call Heather. Call Leslie. Call the cops. Call McGuyver for all I care, just call someone and get me some help, Kati."

"I don't even know how I called you. Like I said, I am way too drunk. Plus I think someone put something in my drink. My head is so fuzzy right now."

"Kati, he's here. I think he sees me. He's coming this way. Look, I left you a note here. I hope you're not so drunk as to forget this call. I have to go, try and run. Just remember, Jack is here again, and he's coming after me again. I'm going to try and get to the old church on fourth, and slip into their homeless shelter. Come find me tomorrow." Then a click. Silence. She must have hung up.

Leave it to Sara to carry duct tape in her purse, and use that to plant a note and a phone.

As she focused back on the moment, she realized Leslie was speaking. "... have to search the area, see if anyone law anything last night. Any ideas where to start?"

"The church on fourth. She said she was going there on the phone last night." The others looked at her, with a look that said "why are we just hearing about this now?" Kati took a moment to collect her thoughts, and replayed the conversation she remembered for them. "I'm still trying to figure it all out. We were on the phone for an hour last night, but I don't remember any more then just the end part there. I guess whatever I had was starting to wear off. But I don't know who spiked my drink, or why. I mean, if you go to that much trouble, why not do something to me while I can't remember it? Why just let me talk on the phone for an hour? I know I don't look that bad."

"That is a good question," said Alexis. "Maybe whoever did it was working with Jack, and just needed to get your mind blanked for the night. Sara would've known that the rest of us had things to do today, and wouldn't have been up late enough. So you were her only option for help. If jack knew that too, he could have had someone make you helpless too. But I do agree, why stop there. He must have whoever did it pretty freaked to make them afraid to try something more, especially when you were that vulnerable."

Leslie jumped in. "Before we get too carried away on that, we need to check the church. Sara may have made it there." She paused a moment. "OK, Heather and I will take the church. Lexi, take Kati and go back to Emily's. Try and figure out what happened with her drink, and what happened to her on her way home. Kati, keep trying to figure out what you talked to Sara about. There had to be something more to it. While we're going to the church, we'll drop by the police station, and see if we can't get some information about Jack's criminal record."

"Sounds like a plan," said Alexis.

"OK," said Heather, as she got up and started heading up the stairs to change.

Kati got up, and started to head for the kitchen. "I'm just going to get a drink first. I need some water to clear my head a bit." She got in, grabbed a glass from the cabinet, and filled it from the tap. The bubbles in the water flowed up, reminding her of all the booze last night. The bubbles filled the cups, little white balls on a sea of amber, surrounded by white walls of plastic. Her mind caught on the bubbles, seeing them over and over, rising and bursting. As the water flowed over the edge of the cup, covering her fingers. Snapping back to the moment, she turned off the tap, set the glass down on the counter, and grabbed the towel from the oven. She wiped off her hands and the glass, then gabbed it and took a drink.

Alexis came in as she was taking her second drink. "You OK? You look a little out of it still."

"Yeah, I am. My mind was wandering, and I spilled water all over my hands. I don't know how I got so distracted."

"Let's go. I imagine that as you remember more of last night, you'll start to feel a bit less out of it. Hopefully, we'll find what happened to you last night."

Alexis headed back towards the door, and Kati turned to follow. She let her mind think back to the bits of conversation, trying to grab more threads of the discussion, but they all seemed just out of reach. No matter hew much she tried, she just could not get a good grip on the words that she and Sara had spoken the night before.

The Phone, part 1

As she passed him, he knew she was someone interesting. She strode by with confidence, looking amazingly beautiful. He thought to himself Surely this is what an angel must look like.

She barely even noticed him. That isn't to say she thought he wasn't worth the notice, but her mind was elsewhere. For all her confident stride, her mind was rarely where her body was. As she was walking, her thoughts kept returning to the previous night. Why couldn't she remember the end of it? She hadn't had that much to drink.

She remembered the party. It was a big one. Her best friend had just turned 21, so they had to celebrate in style. And celebrate they did! They had several kegs, and lots of people to share them. She remembered Emily, her best friend, starting the night off with some of the good stuff. She remembered the cops coming at about 1, giving them a warning about the noise. And she remembered deciding it was time to sleep, and leaving to go back next door to her house. But she didn't remember walking there, or getting in bed, or anything. Where did that hour go?

"Hey." A man's voice interrupted her thoughts. "You alright there? You seem kinda out of it."

"Yeah, I guess." She responded. "Just lost in thought.... Do I know you?" The guy in front of her was young, a bit scruffy, but in a rugged sort of way. Not quite the lumberjack beard, or build for that matter, but a bit rough on the jaw, and a bit ripped in the arms. She thought he looked handsome, in a way, but rough.

"No, I don't think so." He answers, looking at her with a bit of a curious expression. "I wouldn't mind changing that though. I'm Ben. I see you here everyday, but I never say anything. Today you just look like you could use a friend."

Ugh. This guy seems kinda stalkerish. "OK, no, I don't think that'll be needed today. I'm kinda on my way out of here anyway."

"Right. Well, have fun, and I hope that you figure it out, whatever you were so lost in thought about." And with that, he got back on the move, heading back the way she had come from. Weird, she thought. That guy seemed so familiar. Was he at the party last night?

She ignored it, and turned her thoughts back to where they had been. She dug back into her memories, trying to sort through the events of the previous night. It was all blurring together more and more, especially as the events got further into the past. She continued on her way. With each step, the events grew blurrier. With each person she passed, the images grew darker. She knew she wouldn't figure it out. Time to get desperate.

She dug into her purse and grabbed her phone. Checking the call log, she looked to see who she called late that night. She saw that she had called Sara around when she left, so time for another call. Pushing the button, she heard the phone ring. And again. After the third, a man's voice: "Hello."

"Hey, this is Kati. Can I talk to Sara?"

"I'm afraid she isn't available right now. Is this her phone?"

"Yeah. What kind of question is that? Who is this, anyway?"

"I'm sorry. My name is Eric, I work at The Burnt Lounge bar. We found this phone here last night. Can you tell Sara to come pick it up?"

"Sure thing. I'll let her know you have it." With that, she hung up the phone, and started trying to think of what to do next. First things first, she thought it might be a good idea to get in touch with Sara's roommates. Flipping through her contacts list, she started searching for them. She called all three, but got no answers from anyone. So, since she was heading home anyway, she decided to drop by their place.

The bus ride was uneventful, and when she got off at the stop, she started towards their house. It was a fairly nondescript house, and there wasn't anything different today then yesterday. There wasn't anything in particular about it that set her on edge, but for some reason today it felt weird. She walked up to the door, taking a look around, and gave the doorbell a ring. A few minutes later, Alexis answered. She was average height, petite, with long black curls around a light face. She was dressed in blue jeans and a tight black shirt with "Love" written across her chest in sparkly silver.

"Hey Kati, whatsup?"

"Hey Lexi. Is Sara around? I'm trying to find her, if I can."

"No, sorry Kati, I haven't seen her. I don't think she came home last night. I'm a bit worried, she isn't usually like this."

"Well, her phone is at The Burnt Lounge. I was supposed to tell her about it, but I think now I'm going to head over that way and see if I can find out what happened to her. You're right this isn't like her."

"Alright, let me grab my shoes, and we can head over there together. Hopefully we can find out what happened."

Kati followed Alexis inside, and took a seat on the couch. Alexis runs off up the stairs, and comes down a minute later in shoes. "Alright, let's get going. We can take my car."

Kati followed her out the door, looking towards the driveway. They headed for Alexis's car, an old blue Accord, and then headed downtown. When they got downtown, they started taking turns looking for The Burnt Lounge. When they found it, they pulled into the parking lot, and headed inside. Beside the doors were a couple of largetiki masks style decorations, part of the Hawaiian theme they had going here. As they headed in to the bar, Kati started to look around. She hadn't actually been in here before. There were largetiki masks on many of the walls, and there were some artistic flowers and seascapes painted on the walls. Over the bar was a fake roof, with the straw style of atiki hut. Kati thought the whole place looked kinda corny, but it worked for the style.

As they walked towards the bar, they noticed that the place was much empty. There was one guy behind the bar, and no one anywhere else on the floor. So they headed for the bar. The guy saw them come towards him, and waited patiently while they crossed the dance floor and table space. When the got there, he said hello.

"Hey" Kati responded. "I want to pick up a phone you guys found here last night. It belongs to a friend of mine, and we're trying to track her down. We're hoping the phone will help."

"Yeah, OK. Can you give a description of the phone?"

Alexis described it, including the stickers on the back, well enough for him to hand it over. Once they had it, the girls started looking through the call log for some hints. There was nothing unusual, so they decided to ask the bartender for a bit more information. Alexis waved him over. "Hey, can you tell me where in the restaurant you found this? It may help."

The bartender looked at her, not quite sure what to make of her, and finally decided. She looked trustworthy enough. "Yeah. I found it taped to the underside of one of the tables on the far side of the dance floor. I just happened to put my hand on it when I was moving the table back out there. It was that table right there." He pointed to a table near the restrooms, towards the back of the bar area.

"Thanks," said Alexis. "If you don't mind, I think we're going to go take a look."

"Sure, no problem. Just don't flip it and don't break it."

"We won't" said Kati, and they went over to the indicated table. It was just like all the other tables, so they took a look underneath. Sure enough, there was a napkin taped there too. Carefully removing it, Kati put it on the table, and they both sat down. It was a set of number couplets. 7-4, 13-11, 2-9, 18-4. They didn't know what to make of it. Alexis started playing with the phone, while Kati tried to figure out the numbers. They had to be a code of some kind, but what did they mean. There was no way to be sure.

"Hmmm, that's odd," said Alexis. "The phone is set to extra loud ringing. Sara never set it that loud, because it was too annoying. Even when she went out."

"I guess she did it when she taped it to the table. Had to figure one of us would call her today, so that would make sure someone found it when we called."

"That makes sense. But why not just call one of us? Why the napkin full of numbers and the phone taped to the table?"

"Still working on that. Maybe she couldn't call because someone would notice, so she wrote a note. But, she wanted to make sure only we would figure it out, so she put it in code. And maybe she had to leave the phone so we could decode it. Quick, see if there is anything in the notes section of the phone."

"Just one thing. It says: 'If this note is found, there is a code. If not, there is a hamster.' What on earth could that mean?"

"A hamster. Good question. Why don't we go home and see what the rest of your roomies think? I'd hate for them to miss out on all this fun."

"Right. Fun. But yeah, maybe they can help." Alexis turned to the bartender. "Thanks for the help" she shouted.

As they headed to the car, the numbers and their meanings were still bugging Kati. She thought for sure she should know what they meant. She checked her phone again. No missed calls. But something still felt off. She checked the call record for the previous night, and saw that she had been on the phone with Sara for nearly an hour that night. Why didn't she say anything then? Maybe she did, and Kati just couldn't remember. But why not? The questions just kept coming.

Sorry, no story this week

So, unfortunately I haven't been feeling too good this week, which is kinda making it difficult for me to write a good story. So instead what I'm doing is just posting a little note to say I'm not writing a story this week. I hope that this weekend I can get a little bit of free time to write a couple stories, then I can have a little backlog in case I get sick on a weekend and lose all the time that I would usually take to write my stories. Anyway, that is pretty much the short of it. Hopefully I don't have to do this again. But, I make no guarantees.

Multipart stories

When I first started this, I wanted to post only shorter stories, things that could be easily handled in a week, and would be good to read. But this past weekend, I've spent so much time on two stories that have been ongoing almost since I started this blog, and they are way to long to post in just one week. So I'm going to start allowing myself to post partial stories, which are a bit longer, with the follow ups in the week to come. Who knows, maybe I'll even past a novel that way. But some of my stories will be long enough to need more then one post, and I will make the effort to make them break at reasonable places. I think I'll target a length in between "The Warrior" and "The Escape" for most of them.

The Ice Monster

One by one, the street lights were clicking on. Jenny imagined that there was a switch and a hand in each one, connected to an eye that looked for the sun to drop too low, and made the hand flip the switch and turn on the light. Jenny had always been like that. She had loved the fantastic, and as she grew up, that stayed with her. She would invent the most amazing explanations for the mundane, and even when she knew how things worked, she would love to spin a tale of fantastic devices that did it instead.

She was walking down the street, and as she did, everyone she passed looked away. She pulled her torn jacket closer to her, trying to fight off the bitterness of the cold air, and the chill of the breeze. Her clothes were dirty, and her hair was a mess. What was left of it, anyway. It was spotty, falling out in places, showing the bald scalp. Whatever color it was supposed to be, you couldn't make it out know if you tried. Of course, that didn't matter.

Her jacket quite clearly used to be tan, but it was covered in darker brown spots of dirt, and black spots that looked like soot. There were flecks of ash, and all the colors just seemed to blend together, like camouflage on a soldier. Through the holes in the jacket, a dirty blue sweater could be seen, covered in the same mix of dirt and soot and ash, making it blend well with the jacket. Her jeans looked cleaner, but they had their holes as well, and through those, her skin showed. She was obviously in need of a bed, warm meal, and a change of clothes, not to mention a shower, but no one would give it to her. They all just looked away.

They didn't know her. They didn't even want to. She was just another thing to ignore. But before you assume she was crazy, with her fantastic world in her mind, dear reader, let me assure you she was not. She knew just as well as you or I what is real and what is not, she just had an imagination. She let it work to create the fantastic world around her as a distraction from the pain, and the cold, and the hunger, but she never mistook it for reality.

Anyway, she continued down the street, being ignored by everyone around her, and thinking about the little hands, and the eyes, and the switches in the streetlights. She hoped to one day share the fantastic things she saw in her minds eye, but she knew that day would probably never come. As I said, she knew her reality.

So she looked about for someplace just a little warmer. She had accepted that no one would take her in, no one would even pay any attention to her. But as she walked, looking for a little bit of relief from the cold, something surprising happened. She met a man, someone who didn't ignore her. Someone who said hello to her as she passed. She was still dirty and smelly, but this man said hello. She looked at him, and saw a man who stood upright, with his head held up. She wasn't sure what to make of him, but she saw that he was looking directly at her.

"You look like you could use a night away from the elements, friend." The man said to her. As he spoke, he smiled, and she thought... well, honestly she didn't know that to think.

"Yes, but where can I go? No one here but you will even talk to me, and they certainly won't take me in." Her voice was raspy, and she sounded like she was on death's doorstep.

But the man didn't care. "Follow me, friend. We have been working all week on setting up a place for people like you to rest." Her eyes lit up like torches, and she knew this was going to be a good night. "By the way, I'm Bill, and I'm from the church shelter on 5th street. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it."

"No," she said, "but I am excited. I haven't slept inside in many years, and these nights have gotten so cold lately. I can hardly believe I've survived as many of them as I have. And I'm Jenny." He turned, leading the way to this new place, and as she followed, she let her mind wander to see something wonderful. She imagined the man in bright, shining armor, standing before a monster of pure ice, which for so long had held her prisoner, freezing her blood by simply being in the same place. The ice monster gave him a look of anger, almost heated, though that was hardly a good description, as he cut the ropes that held her, and slashed at the bars of ice that imprisoned her. The monster came closer, swinging his hand back for a fantastic blow. But he would not be destroyed.

As they walked the four blocks to the new shelter, Jenny tried to find out more about this man. She had not heard anything about this church and their shelter, nor this man and his God. He answered what questions he could, and when they arrived, he showed her in to the beds. She had been on the streets so long, she imagined that she didn't remember what a bed was like. How wonderfully soft and comfortable they looked before her, not like the sidewalks she had become so accustomed to. And as she looked out across the sea of beds in this room, she saw many others in them, people she had seen on the street, but who she had never really talked to. Every one of them looked so excited, because they had a place to sleep, that wasn't cold.

As the weeks went by in the shelter, she learned more about this man and his God, and why they cared. She began to understand more of this church, and began to stop thinking of "his God" and start thinking of "The God". The church helped her to find work, and eventually she found herself a home. But she always came back to the shelter, every weekend, to tell the street children a story from the fantastic world in her mind. And when she saw Bill, she would say hello, and they would talk for a while.

I remember it like only yesterday, Jenny's first night here. And that was so many years ago. She still comes by and tells her stories, of fantastic worlds and amazing creatures, of daring heroes and heroines, of the amazing things that there are in there. And every time she tells one, the children are so excited, to hear of the worlds in her head. But I am excited too, because I know the ones she won't tell them, about the knight and the ice monster, and the king who sent her to that monster. But every now and then, she'll tell that story to a few of us who work there, and it reminds me why, when no one else cares, we do. Because of the people still out there with that ice monster.

The escape

The lights wake me up. I know it was the lights, because its always the lights. I'm lying in a bed. My clothes are in a heap in a corner, but aside from those and the bed, the room is empty, blank white walls and ceiling with a single door in front of me. I figured it would be a good time to get up and get dressed (nudity is not my favorite thing in the world), and see where I was. So I did. Or rather, I started to. I sat up, then tried to get out of the bed, but my feet were tied to it. Ok, that is somewhat odd, since my hands are free. So I grab the ropes, untie the knots, and slip out of the bed. I grab my clothes and start to get dressed.

Just as I'm getting my pants on, I hear the door opening. Turning to see what was coming in here with me, I see a woman, young, well shaped, absolutely gorgeous. She looks at me, and says with a smile "And just where do you think you're going? We've hardly begun." As she says this, I notice she has a couple more pieces of rope, among other things in her hands.

"I'm just going to get going now" I respond. She gives me an evil eye, then, with surprising speed and strength, grabs me and shoves me at the bed. I grab at it to try and stay up, reeling from the blow. Even the mattress can't keep that one from hurting where my stomach hit. I turn to her again and she gives me another shove, but this time I'm ready. I shift a bit to the right, grabbing her wrist and using the strength she has to more or less throw her onto the bed. I can't keep this up, but I see her keyring, dangling on her belt' I hope it has the key to get me out. I grab for it, and she gives me a punch, followed by a sharp kick. I can feel both blows, where the bone in my arm feels broken from the kick, and where my shoulder took the force of her punch. But I have the keys, now. I run for the door, grab the handle, and swing it open.

I step through the door, slam it shut and turn the key, then take a look around. There are two men standing in this room, and a door behind them. Very big men, they aren't exactly the types of guys you ever want to see, especially not coming towards you. My fight or flight kicks in, and I start to shift back, hoping to draw a lunge from one of them. The one on the right takes the bait, making a lunge. I shift left, drawing him further off balance, then push off, running past him with a spin, heading towards the open door behind the two bouncer wannabes. The second one makes a reach for me, but the spin throws him off, he can't get a good grip. I make a push for the door, shoving through and into.... a hallway. It is empty, save the doors that line each side. The walls and doors are all white, just like everything else I've seen, but with large black numbers painted on each door, 17-2, 17-3, 17-4. I take off running towards the near end of the hallway, where there is another door, labeled with an emergency exit sign. I don't remember getting here, but that seems to be how I get out. The door has a push bar, so I just run for it. I hit the bar and the door swings open letting me out into another hallway. The doors are much more spaced in this hallway, and simply numbered. The one across from me is marked 18, and there is no indication which way I should go.

I decide to run right, and take off. I can hear the two thugs running behind me, and I can tell they will be making a race of this. I run, looking for any signs that this is where I need to be going. This hall, like the last, is empty, no people, no signs, just the doors. I notice that the end of the hall is approaching fast, but there is no exit sign over that door. I slow down, grab the handle, turn it and pull the door open. Not sure what else to do, I push through, even though the room is so bright I can't see. As I step in, my eyes adjust, and I can see the skylight. Well, more of an open roof, a glass dome keeps out the elements, but the sun shines brightly. In front of me are some bushes and trees, and the whole room smells like nature, like my hikes through the woods. The walls curve off to the right and left, giving me the impression this room is round. I turn right, following the wall, avoiding the shrubs, which can't possibly help me escape. There is a door on the wall, marked "A". I shove it open, but keep going. I hear my pursuers, still behind me, and I hope they get thrown by the door. I continue, passing another door, not opening this one. I hear the door I opened closing, and I don't hear my pursuers, but I can't be sure. I find another door, "C", and decide to try it. It opens, and I run through it. Another hallway, doors with numbers on them. I run down the hall, hoping to find an exit. As I run, I pass door after door, nothing different but the numbers. I'm nearing the end of the hall, and I hear the pursuers again, but much further behind. I kick the speed up again, as I can see the door at the end now, and the small light above the door, which hopefully means that that is the exit.

Suddenly one of the doors in front of me opens up, and a third thug enters the hallway. I try and maneuver around him, but the hallway isn't wide enough. He grabs me, and I can't get free. I lash out with a kick and a punch, thrashing with my arms and legs and hoping to hit a sensitive spot and get free. My thrashing hasn't made a difference, and the other two are fast approaching. I draw my knee up, hard, hoping to catch him off guard. I hit his groin hard, causing him to loosen his grip. I plant my feet, shove, and get free, breaking away towards the exit door. He tries to grab me, but he's still feeling my blow and is easy shake off. I start running towards the door again, making the best of the fact that he is going to slow down my pursuers. I hit the door, which has another push bar, running full steam through it. As it opens wide, I hear the alarms going off in the hallway. No time to worry about that now, I have to focus. I seem to be outside, in an open, grassy area. About a hundred yards in front of me the trees begin, filling the horizon. I keep running towards the woods, and I hope that will provide some cover. I look behind me, and the building looms large, mostly grey steel. As I run, the woods get closer, and I can see movement. Behind me, the door opens again, and I glance back to see the thugs, charging at me again. I call out, hoping the movement in the woods was friendly. "Help me! Somebody! Help!"

The movement in the woods stops, and suddenly I see it. A small man comes charging out. I can hardly believe it. He runs out towards me, stops as I get close, and waits as I reach him. He catches me as I run, grabbing me and pulling me behind him. The men chasing me stop about 30 feet from me, unwilling to approach the small man who came out of the woods. They look at him, and he stares back, making no moves, just intimidating the men. They turn, heading back towards the building, one of them shouting a warning "This isn't over. He can't always protect you, you know."

As they leave, the man turns to me. As he does, I can see him smile. "Welcome home. You've run to me, and I have saved you from those things that chase you. But he spoke the truth. I can't always protect you. But if you stay with me, there by my side, I can. When you walk away, you are beyond my protection."

"You've saved me, and you say you can protect me from those who wish me ill. But I fought them, and I survived. Surely I can go it alone." I start to walk away, towards the woods.

"You fought them, yes. But you can't win on your own power. You knew you had to get out of there, that that place would only cause you problems. You ran, and ran, and ran, but you got tired. They got closer. They came at you from a new direction. And you ran. And you struggled to get free of their grasp. They were catching up to you again. They would have eventually. I won't stop you from leaving, but can you make it on your own, if they come back? Can you make it to where you're going on your own? Do you even know where you're going? If you stay beside me, I can protect you. But only if you stay with me."

I stop, looking back at him. Could this really be? Those men, they hurt me. Trapped me in a room, chased me, made me feel pain. And they were smart. I only escaped because this man intervened. He waited for me to come to him, then he chased off my pursuers. But he said they would be back, and I know he was right that I couldn't take them. But would this man really protect me? "Ok, lets go. Where are we going, and what do you want me to do?"

"Come, follow me, and we will see many great things." He walks to me, a few steps from him, and then continues towards the woods. I turn and follow him, into the woods. I want to see these great things he says we will see. And I want to stay away from those men and their pain.

As we walk through the woods, the sun is shining on me through the leaves. The woods seem bright, friendly, like home. The man still walks in front of me, showing me the path through the woods. "What was all that? Why the room, and the pain? And how did I get in there in the first place?"

He looks back at me, still smiling, as he says "Well, here's the thing. They don't like anyone who wants to get away from their guards. You've been thinking about it for a while, yeah? You've known there was more to life, something missing that the guards didn't want you to have. And you started asking questions about it. So they made every effort to keep you. To see how much you wanted it. That's why the room. When you get isolated like that, and everything seems hopeless, so many people just break down and accept the prison. But you didn't. You wanted to get free so much that you were willing to run out of the hole you were in. You may not remember it, but you walked into that place."

As we walk, I ask more questions. And I start to feel so sore. My arms and legs, from thrashing against the man. My sides, where he grabbed me, and my shoulder, still sore from the door. In this peaceful time walking in the woods, it is so easy to look back on my escape, and feel my wounds. Wounds that will be bruises and scars, some day, but right now are just soreness and aches.

We approach a break in the trees, and as we come to the edge, I see the sun shining bright, and through the trees I can see a few small buildings. Brick walls, flat roofs, along a small street. A dumpster is overturned on the left, and garbage is spread out all over the street. The street itself is cracked, potholes all over, though it doesn't look like its been driven on for a while. There are no cars on the street, but a few mangled looking bikes stand in a pile on the corner about 200 yards from where we came out of the trees. "Where are we? Where are we going?" I wonder aloud.

"We're going to where there is someone else who needs to escape." As we step into the street, we start heading for a building on the right side of the street. The brick walls show signs of age, chips, fading, some spray paint in parts. The door is green and wedged open, though inside the building looks dark. We step in, me being bold and going through the door first. He follows me in, and I turn back to him.

"Where to now?" I ask. He points to the door on the right. I step up to the door and give a knock. The door swings free, opening in and showing a room full of junk. The piles are high, and I see boxes, bags, candy wrappers, soda cans, mixed in with games, movies, books, clothing, and other things I can't identify immediately. The smell of rot comes through the door, and I almost immediately gag. A pile of what looks like fruit that hadn't been touched is in one corner, and that is where the smell must be coming from. I push in through the doorway, looking around for anybody. I hold my nose, trying to block the smell, but that doesn't help. I look around, but I don't see anyone. I finally see the person we're here for, laying on the ground in the next room, with a larger man standing nearby. As he sees me approach, he turns to me, moving aggressively. I step back, and he sees the man behind me. He immediately stops, turns away, and leaves through a sliding glass door behind him. We approach the body on the ground, and she looks up at us. I notice that she has some dirt on her, and her hair is a mess, though the red color shows through strongly. Her clothes look as though they haven,t been washed for months, and she looks like she has been laying there for at least that long.

"Come with me," comes the voice behind me, "and I will protect you from him, so long as you stay by my side." The man looks at her, smiling, and she smiles back. He steps forward, in front of me, and kneels down beside her.

"I can't believe you came back for me. I'm so dirty, I can't possibly go with you. How can you even be in the same place as me? This filth that covers me, surely you can see it." She starts to cry, and I just want to go to her, and do something to comfort her. I start to step forward, and the man puts his arm out to his side and stops me.

"She must make this decision for herself. I will take her back, clean her up, but she must make that first step, again."

She looks up at him from where she lies on the floor. "You'll really take me back again? Even after I turned away from you, and came to this filth? Even after I led others away from you, and hurt so many, and hurt myself? You'll really wash me of this filth, and take me back?"

"Of course. I will always take you back and clean you up. Though I prefer when you walk with me, instead of coming and going," he says to her, holding his hand out to her. She grabs it, pulling herself up, and gives him a huge hug. She pulls away, and he starts to lead us back out the way we came. As we reach the street again, stepping back into the sun, I feel so good, like things are improving around me. I feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing, finding people in the mess, and helping them out of it.

She turns to me, smiling, looking so much more alive then when she was lying in the filth of that place. "I'm Sandy. I haven't been here in so long. Not since I was a child. But I ran away. I was drawn away by things that looked interesting, and I felt so safe, so in control. Like nothing could touch me. And I finally figured out why that was. When I was with Him, I was safe. He protected me. But when I turned away, tried to make it on my own, I was lost. I don't ever want to go through that again. I'm going to stay right here, by his side."

"And I'll stay by you, if you let me," he says to her. "There is a lot out there that wishes you harm, but stay by me, and you'll never have more then you can handle."

As we walk down the street, I look around at the things that are here. Many of the buildings look run down, like they've been unmaintained too long. I catch glances of people through many of the doors and windows, always with those big thugs standing near them. Many of them seem happy, smiles and dancing, but their eyes look empty, sad, hollow. So many of them just look like they want to run, but they don't know where to go. "Why do they all look so empty? Don't they know they can be free of those men that stand there? I've only seen one or two fighting or trying to run."

Sandy answers me, "Many of them don't know to call out. Many of them are happy, or think they are, because some of the things you do feel good. And many people can't imagine a life without the guards, who keep them from doing anything too crazy. Some of them can't even see the guards."

"But they hurt you. Why would you stay with them, not try and find something else, if they hurt you?"

"If you don't run and fight, then they don't hurt you. Sure, the scars from the things you do will last forever, but they don't hurt right away. And after a while, the pain from your scars isn't as much a factor as the good feelings."

"So what do we do about it? If we tell them that they can be free, surely they would come away from the guards and be free."

"Some will, some won't. But we don't know who."

The man steps into the conversation again: "And that is something you'll just have to try. Talk to people, tell them they can be free of their guard, if they just want to be. And I will be with you, when you need me. I will convince people, and if you turn to me when the guards came back for you, I will keep them away. You just have to turn to me. For now, I have to go help someone else. But I will never be further from you then you want me to be." And with that, he turns and heads into a building on the left.

Sandy turns to me. "So, should we go and find someone else who needs to see that they can be free?" She starts off towards one of the other buildings on the street. I look where she's headed, and I know for sure, that is where I need to go. I take a couple quick steps to catch up, then walk alongside her down the sidewalk. This is the beginning of something wonderful, and now I understand why I am here. There are so many buildings on this street. How long before we have visited them all? Talked to all those in them who need this freedom? As we go on, I know that this is where I belong.