46. LEXINGTON
♫ https://youtu.be/sPHxLFJyPwk
BESIDES HOWIE AND HIS FAMILY BEING PLACED IN PROTECTIVE custody, things were surprisingly normal for the next two weeks. Each day I expected The Strangers to barge into our school with guns blazing, but they never came. Jason and I brought our combat gear to school every day just in case they did, but it was starting to look like Wells was right about them being too weak to attack again after we captured so many of their men.
I finally decided to take advantage of that sliver of normalcy and spend some quality time with Monica before things got crazy again. As far as she knew, I was still working on renovating 3D with Jason and Howie, which was taking up most of my time. She was surprisingly cool about not seeing or hearing from me as much, so naturally I felt even guiltier about misleading her. I offered to make up for my absence with a trip to Lake Victoria, which she gladly accepted.
When we arrived that evening, the lake was crowded, but as the sun set and the moon climbed higher into sky, the crowd dissipated and only the two of us remained.
We lay beside each other on beach towels, staring up into the night sky as the darkness changed Lake Victoria. The river of fog that drifted above her blackened waters gave way to an elegant yet much more ominous version of her.
It was hard not to think about PJ. The flickering stars that littered the inky-black sky above reminded me of him. He and I used to stargaze all the time when we were young. But that was before his rebellious phase. That was before The Strangers took him away from me.
“What’s on your mind?” Monica suddenly asked.
“Nothing, I’m just taking in the scenery,” I lied.
“You looked like you were deep in thought to me,” she replied. She didn’t come right out and accuse me of lying, but I could tell that she knew that I was holding back. It amazed me how well she knew me despite having not really known me for that long.
“You’re right,” I responded, “I was thinking about my brother. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. I understand if it still hurts. I still think about my father all the time.” Her voice cracked as she mentioned her father.
My stomach turned as the guilt I felt for not saving him surfaced. I didn’t respond. I knew that if I did, I would either continue to lie to her about his death or confess the truth and risk losing her forever and I wasn’t prepared to do either at the time.
Instead of the stars, she was looking at me when I glanced at her. The cool breeze that enveloped us gently blew her raven hair out of her face as she lay still in the glistening sand. Even the stars above paled in comparison to the beauty that lay before me in that moment.
“What made you think about your brother?” she asked.
“The stars. We used to stargaze together all the time. PJ would often slip away at night and lie on top of the old broken down van in our backyard and stare at the sky. After a while, I decided to join him. We never really spoke to each other while we did it. We’d just lie there in silence listening to the crickets and looking at the stars overhead. I did it mainly because I enjoyed spending the time with my big brother. But for him, I could tell that it was more than just that. I could tell he did it because he wanted to leave.” I looked to the sky once more as a cool breeze swept over us.
“He wanted to leave home?” Monica asked.
“We both wanted that, but that wasn’t it for PJ. He wanted to leave Earth altogether. He had that look in his eyes, you know? I could tell that when he looked out there, it wasn’t simply because he enjoyed the view. It was because he wanted to actually go there.”
“Why do you think he wanted to leave?”
“Why wouldn’t he want to leave? We were miserable in that house. ”
“What about you? Did you ever think about leaving us troublesome earthlings behind?”
“I definitely thought about leaving Lexington, Florida behind,” I said as I gazed in her eyes. “But I wasn’t as imaginative as PJ. I never really thought about leaving Earth.”
“Do you think there’s anything out there?”
“Anything’s possible, I guess. It’s a big universe. What about you? Do you think anything’s out there?” I asked.
She was silent for a few moments before replying.
“I’m not telling,” she finally said.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because you’ll think I’m crazy. That’s why,” she playfully shot back. She refused to make eye contact as I sat up and looked down at her.
“I just told you that I think there may be something out there. What makes you think I’ll call you crazy for thinking the same thing?” I questioned.
“You wouldn’t understand,” she muttered.
“Try me,” I coaxed, curious as to what was on her mind.
“Well, like I said, you’re gonna think I’m crazy, but the reason I believe that there are other planets with life is because I’ve seen one.”
I was tempted to laugh at her remarks, but I held it in when I realized that she didn’t appear to be joking.
“I had these dreams…when I was much younger, about a planet called Eden. There was this song that was always playing. It was such a beautiful song…played by instruments the likes of which I’ve never seen or heard of here on Earth. Each night I’d fall asleep here, but I’d awaken worlds away as the sound of that melody would pull me out of my sleep. I was always standing in the center of this sort of palace surround by thousands of strangely dressed people. I remember the massive marble walls that surrounded us seeming to glow in the brilliant silvery light of the moons that shined through the crystal ceiling above. The people that surrounded me were all looking to the sky, but they weren’t staring at the enormous full moons that hung high overhead. They were focused on a massive starship that was descending upon us.” She finally trailed off into silence while she continued to stare at the stars.
I didn’t know what to say or think. Hearing her talk about that dream as though it was real was honestly a little weird to me, but I kept reminding myself of how vivid my own recurring nightmare was. As I stared at her in silence, I could tell that there was probably much more to the dream than she was telling me.
“What happened next?” I finally asked.
“Then I’d wake up,” she whispered. “But I knew it was more than just a dream. It was far too vivid. It just felt entirely too real. And even though I had never been there before outside of my dream, it all somehow seemed familiar.”
“That’s interesting,” I said as laid down beside her and pulled her into my arms. “If it is real, maybe we’ll go there someday.”
I felt her body grow tense for a fraction of a second before she relaxed. It was odd that instead of replying, she just laid there in my arms with her eyes closed. I wanted to ask her more about her dream, but I could tell that something about it was bothering her. Instead, I continued to hold her and marvel at the ocean of stars above as they glimmered and winked down at me like the scatted embers of a dying fire.
As their beauty seemingly called out to me, I suddenly realized that leaving Lexington and Earth behind didn’t seem like such a bad idea. I had never truly found happiness in that city and I didn’t think much would change anywhere else in the world. As I lay there, stroking Monica’s hair and listening to the sound of her breathing, I knew that the only thing anchoring me to that place was the goddess that I held within my arms.
47. PRIORITY