CHAPTER TWENTY
Ellie knew she was dreaming. Her whole body felt heavy. Consciousness, though, seemed so far away that the effort required to wake up wasn’t worth it. She would stay here, wherever here was. That decision made, she tried opening her eyes.
A moment of panic followed when she realized that her eyes were open, but the blackness was still complete. That seemed odd for a dream and it didn’t help that Ellie was scared to death of the dark. It was a childhood fear, something that afflicted her after her parents’ death.
She remembered advice that a child therapist had told her. “I want a beautiful dream,” she said out loud. Her voice reverberated back at her and she winced. She was on her knees, and the floor underneath her was carpeted. She stretched out her hands and touched something solid. A wall. Carefully she stood up, not wanting to hit anything or knock something over. She felt exhausted from the effort. Why was she so tired? She was sleeping, for Christ’s sake.
She followed the wall, shuffling forward slowly. Eventually she ran into a corner so she turned to her left, following that wall. Ellie hoped that eventually she would find a door and not just four solid walls in a black nightmare.
Under her breath she continued to mutter, “I want a beautiful dream. I want a beautiful dream.” She tried very hard not to remember the dream that Jake told her about. “This is just a dream.”
The texture of the wall changed, and Ellie was relieved. She had found something. She could feel the smoothness of glass under the pads of her fingertips and then frames of wood. Then she found two handles. She realized she was standing in front of two French doors.
This reminded her of someplace, but she couldn’t remember where at that moment. She braced herself, grabbed the handles of the doors, and pulled the doors open. She brought her arm up, surprised by the brightness after the complete gloom of darkness.
“Emma?” she heard a voice ask. Her eyes started adjusting to the light, and she blinked. She knew that voice.
“Linda?” she croaked. Her voice sounded awful.
“Emma! What is the matter with you?” The voice was filled with concern.
“Is that you, Linda?” she asked. Her eyes were adjusting, and she could make out details now. Linda’s hair was pulled up high on her head with ringlets framing her face. It was her face, though, that made Ellie gawk. Linda was younger, much younger. And although her voice was the same, it had a lilt to it that Ellie didn’t remember. Linda was wearing a lace A-line dress that fell to tips of her shoes. It was quite old-fashioned.
But Linda walked right past her and stopped in front of a figure that was standing just off to Ellie’s left. Ellie took a small step backward. The girl standing next to her looked like she was barely out of her teens and was pale with a pained expression on her face. And as Linda started fussing over the girl, Ellie realized that Linda did not see her. In this dream, she was invisible.
“Emma?” Linda asked again. She placed a hand on the girl’s forehead. “Are you not feeling well? Do you want me to tell Henry that you aren’t well enough to go out?”
Who is Henry? Ellie wondered as Linda pulled the girl forward. Ellie realized that Linda was not the only one that was wearing strange clothing. Emma was dressed in mauve skirt that fell to her ankles. Chunky black heels with straps dressed her feet. Her blouse was loose, pale yellow, with mauve flowers that matched her skirt. Emma’s hair was short, like a pageboy, with curled tendrils coming forward and framing her face. A mauve hat hugged her dark curls and completed the outfit.
Ellie saw that Linda held out a pair of mauve gloves to Emma, who slowly took them from her. The girl still had said nothing.
“Honestly, Emma, you are being silly. There’s nothing there! I was just coming to see what was taking you so long. Henry was worried,” Linda said, putting her hands on Emma’s shoulders and looking at her sternly.
Emma’s head swiveled to her left, and Ellie realized with a bolt of surprise that Emma was looking right at her. Ellie reached out her hand and saw a look of fright cross the girl’s face. Emma whimpered.
“Girls! Are you ready? We’re going to be late!” Ellie recognized Randall’s booming voice.
Emma skittered in front of Linda and allowed the older woman to guide her down the hallway. Ellie followed.
“Emma, you are acting so strange. Henry is very worried about you. Let’s try not to do anything that would cause him to get upset, okay?” Linda whispered to her as they approached two men standing in a foyer just around the corner.
The men turned as they approached. Ellie stopped in her tracks. A man who looked very much like David stood there with Randall, although Randall had taken on the same youthful features as Linda had. Instead of being in his sixties, Randall could easily now be taken for a man in his thirties.
The other man (Henry?) was by Emma’s side in an instant. “Emma, I’m glad to hear that you are feeling better.”
“Oh, yes, thank you,” Emma finally spoke. Her voice was soft and had a faint Southern lilt to it.
Had Emma been sick? What was this strange dream all about? Ellie wondered.
“Henry, I know she is delighted to see you,” Linda said in a mothering voice that Ellie knew well.
Linda patted Henry’s arm and her hand lingered just a few moments too long, in Ellie’s opinion. Then Linda walked to Randall’s side and clasped his arm, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. “And I am delighted to see you,” she said flirtatiously.
Ellie felt ill watching the exchange.
Then she watched Emma double over, groaning. Henry was trying to hold her up. She thrashed away from him, falling to her knees. Emma wiped her hand across her mouth and was trying to take deep breaths. Ellie saw blood on the back of the girl’s hand at the same moment Emma did, and then Emma started to shriek.
Henry was trying to calm her. As the edges of reality started to get fuzzy, Ellie saw Linda and Randall watching Emma, apparently unfazed by her condition. Their faces were emotionless. Ellie felt nauseous and felt bile rising at the back of her throat. Why didn’t they try to help? The world stretched and disappeared. Then Ellie’s eyes opened to her own living room.