Not a test, a preview.
My eyes flew open and I sat up instantly. The room was lit and Valerie was standing in the doorway wearing a nightgown. I was breathing hard and trying to remember exactly what happened before it fluttered away forever. Mr. Hankerson put his arm on my shoulder and softly pushed me back against the pillow.
“What happened?” He asked.
“What was I doing?” I said, trying to catch my breath.
“You started screaming. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I saw the creature again, the cloud one.”
Mr. Hankerson sat back in his chair and started t write in his notebook. “Tell us exactly what happened. Did you see the tunnel?”
“No,” I said quietly, “I was dreaming that I was right here. I saw you in the chair and me in the bed. I went through the back door and stood in the yard. I left the ground and went way up into space where I saw the cloud creature again. It communicated with me. It told me that everyone was in danger. It said that there was death. It tried to tell me something else but I couldn’t handle it. It was something worse than death, at least it thought it was. And then I woke up.”
Mr. Hankerson quickly wrote down what I said and then put the notebook down. He sighed and looked at me pityingly. “This creature you’re seeing, I wonder if it’s trying to warn you.”
“That’s what I was thinking. It seems to know about everything going on.”
“It must have sensed all the turmoil and is trying to help. If it ever comes back make sure to ask it how you can help. It must have chosen you for a reason.” He turned to Valerie. “How about you, did you have a dream?”
“I hadn’t gotten to sleep yet.” She said.
Mr. Hankerson decided to stay in that chair for the rest of the night in case I had another dream. I was wary to try to sleep again. I was very tired and knew I would, but I was a little nervous about it. Talking with the creature was great while it was happening, but when I looked back on it I was scared to know what it meant. I tried not to think about it and closed my eyes.
8
The morning came without another dream. That cloud creature must have drained me enough to keep the dream from coming. For that I was thankful.
I slept in late again and by the time I woke up Mr. Hankerson already had breakfast on the table. He made us all eggs and bacon. I hadn’t had anything but cereal or bad fast food in the morning for a long time. I ate quickly and then immediately wished I had savored it.
Valerie was ready to leave after breakfast. Mr. Hankerson wasn’t quite so keen on seeing us go.
“But you just got here.” He said. “I haven’t had enough time to study Agate here.”
“Dad, I have to get to work tomorrow. We can’t stay another night.”
“What if I drive Agate back to the city, will that work?”
“I’m sure he has to work as well.”
Mr. Hankerson came up to me. “Agate, do you have to work tomorrow?” He winked.
“I don’t think so, I’m actually thinking about quitting my job.”
Mr. Hankerson clapped his hands. “You see that? He’s quitting. He can stay here for days.”
“You shouldn’t quit. Where do you work?” Valerie asked.
“The Jewelry Palace.”
“That sounds familiar. You can’t quit. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t work if I can’t get any sleep at night. I’ll be a zombie all day.”
Mr. Hankerson nodded. “He definitely can’t work like that. Look, I’ll take Mr. Agate home tomorrow. I just want one more night with him.”
Valerie looked at me to decide. “I’ll stay the one more night.”
She shook her head. “Alright, you’re appointment is in a few days, don’t miss it.”
“I’m not going back.” I said.
“Why not?”
“You told me yourself she’s not a real psychic.”
“Well at least keep in touch then. I’ll email you if I have any realizations about the dream.”
Valerie drove away a few minutes later. As much as I probably should have gone with her I wanted one more night to see if her father could figure anything out. We spent the day looking through a bookcase in the living room of old books he collected throughout his life about spirituality and the afterlife, and even some about aliens. He was determined to find out just what this shadow was and where it came from. He had me look through several fiction books to find the answer.
“You know I don’t think these books will help.” I said after a morning filled with reading random pages out of fiction books. “These writers all made up what’s in here.”
Mr. Hankerson was sitting on the floor with books all around him and his white cat sleeping by his side. “Where do you think they get the ideas?”
“From their minds.”
“And where do you think their minds got it?”
“They thought it up.”
“Some yes, but most are sent by highly intelligent beings so that we might find out more about them. These writers simply add crazy storylines.”
I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. He didn’t sound like it. I was beginning to wonder if I had chosen the right person to be with that day. As long as he helped me figure things out it would be alright. The main problem; and I realized this halfway through reading a picture book about laundry stealing aliens, is that I wasn’t sure what I wanted accomplished. Sure I wanted to know what the dreams meant, but I also wanted them to stop. Could a regular person like Mr. Hankerson do that? I didn’t even know if he was sane.
Sometime in the early afternoon he gave up, mumbling something about how he knew it wouldn’t be there the whole time. He made sandwiches for lunch and after that he amended his plan for the day.
“Books didn’t help. I wish I had the internet. I do have a phone, though. I know! I’ll call around. I’m well respected in the psychic community. I think someone I know should have some ideas on this.”
He went over to the coffee table and picked up his phone and started dialing. I stayed in the dining room and sipped sweet tea while he went down his list of fellow psychics.
“Debs, guess what? Oh, you’re working for the government, really? They’re desperate. Well I say so, have you seen the news? What? No I didn’t hear about that. Sorry, I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up the phone. “Debs says nuclear missiles are on launch pads somewhere.” He yelled to me. “I hope that wasn’t top secret.” He added in a whisper.
I finished my first tea and refilled my glass. Mr. Hankerson called maybe forty people that afternoon. Most, the good ones apparently, were being called in to various places where their expertise could be better used in such a mixed up world. Others were in states of shock as their clairvoyance showed them such horrible things that have since altered their minds and rendered them as vegetables.
“Margot? Oh, she’s not feeling well.” He hung up the phone. “That’s another one.” He shouted.
I raised my eyebrows and took another sip of tea. He came into the dining room and collapsed into a chair, almost knocking the jug of tea over.
“You alright?” I asked.
“It’s worse than I thought. Psychics all over the country are experiencing horrible reactions. They can’t handle whatever it is that’s happening. I’ll tell you something and I want you to keep it between you and me.” I nodded. “Invasion, that’s what I’m thinking.”
“What?”
“An alien invasion. I think it’s finally happening. I’ve known it for a long time. I once had an encounter with a being that looked human but wasn’t. And he said that an invasion was going to happen in my lifetime. I’ll tell you I think this is clearly the time for it. And that shadow thing you met. It’s part of a good clan that’s trying to warn us. It’s the last of its kind or something and it doesn’t want anybody else killed by those evil aliens that are
coming. You sense it too don’t you?”
“Sure do.” I said sarcastically.
“Oh, you think I’m crazy don’t you?”
“I think it sounds impossible.”
He sighed. “How can someone who has seen what you’ve seen call anything impossible?”
He had a point there. “And what about the tunnel then?”
“That’s the key to it all. That’s what they sent ahead. Val’s got the sight, got it from her mom. And so do you. You two are seeing what they sent down. It’s a sign that they’re coming. It may be a passageway or something that leads them through space and time right to Earth. You weren’t meant to see it. They knew that humans couldn’t see it and so sent it for more of their kind to see. You two are special and saw the signal no one else can see. You two have to be the ones to tell the world and save everyone.”
“If there really was an invasion by a species smart enough to get here in the first place then I don’t think that me telling anyone is going to stop them or deter them.”
He shrugged. “You never know. It would be a shame to let this knowledge go to waste.”
“What do you want me to do, tell the government?”
“Oh, no. That would be the worst thing to do. They can’t even work together to get budgets passed. How do you think they would react to this?”
“They must think something is going on.”
“No,” he said slowly, “they don’t have any clue, no one does. I’ve heard theories on T.V. that have ranged from mind altering gas to tainted water. If you leave the fate of the world up to those fools we’re all