Cries of the Children(18)
“What are you doing here?”
With a silent gasp, Julie swung around, and found herself nose-to-chest with a strange creature. It was shaped like a man, but all covered up by a helmeted white suit. She backed away in fear, thinking he looked like some kind of outer-space creature.
“I asked you a question,” the man said. His voice sounded strange from behind the black visor of his helmet.
He made a grab for her, but she turned and ran away as fast as she could.
“Get back here!” bellowed the man in white.
And then there was another voice. Someone she couldn’t see was calling to her. He had a young voice, one filled with kindness. Carefully Julie stopped and turned. The corridor was gone now. All that remained was a soft blue light that obliterated any possible view. In the distance she could see a shape that was vaguely like a young person’s.
“Don’t be afraid of him,” a boy said in a kind voice that immediately reassured Julie. “He can’t hurt you.”
“Who . . . where . . . ?”
“The ‘who’ is Marty,” the boy said. His silhouette opened out its arms and turned a slow circle. “The ‘where’ is . . . well, I’m not sure. I don’t remember being brought here, or where I was before. It’s a building of some kind, with labs and strange rooms. They do tests here. They think I’m sleeping now. They don’t know when I walk around.”
Julie gazed at the blueness.
“I don’t see anything at all,” she said.
“That’s because you’re not really here,” Marty told her. “I am, but you’re not. Only your mind is tere. I heard you screaming—”
“I didn’t scream.”
“You screamed in your mind,” Marty insisted. “That’s why I heard you. Somehow, we can talk with our minds.”
“We? Who are ‘we’?”
“I don’t know,” Marty said. “But there are others like us, I’m sure. We need each other, or we’ll never stop what is happening here.”
“What do you mean ‘like us’?” Julie answered. “I’m not ‘like’ anything!”
“Oh, yes you are,” Marty insisted. “You’re special.”
“I am not!” Julie cried, suddenly as fearful of this soft-spoken boy as she was of the creature in white. “And I’m not going to listen to you. You aren’t real! You’re just a vision!”
“I’m as real as you,” Marty said. “You’ll see. You’ll see. You need me.”
“I don’t!”
Instantly the blue dissolved away, like dissipating clouds. Julie found herself in the playhouse once more. For a few moments she studied her surroundings to make sure she was really here. The dogs backed away from her, hackles risen stiffly. Julie regarded them, wondering what they had seen. Then she raced back up to the house, suddenly needing the comfort of Samantha’s presence.
In her office, Samantha had had a sudden feeling that Julie was in danger. She had closed her eyes to bring about a sense of reason, but instead had seen the frightening image of a man in a white cleanroom suit chasing her young friend. Trusting her instincts, she went looking for the child. The moment she entered the kitchen, Julie walked in the door.
“Are . . . are you all right?” Samantha asked uncertainly.
How do you tell a child about instincts?
Julie shook her head.
“I’m scared, Samantha,” she said. “I’m really scared.”
Samantha opened her arms and Julie ran to hug her. At the moment, there was no need for words.
9
AS SOON AS Nina had gone, Rachel left the living room to go upstairs and take a shower. Eric followed her, shaking his head.
“I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “I can’t believe what we just did.”
“We agreed to help a little boy in trouble,” Rachel said, stopping at the foot of the stairs. “I know it was a quick decision, but I feel really good about it. Don’t you?”
Eric wasn’t exactly sure how he felt, but he smiled for his wife. Rachel wasn’t given to making snap decisions, so if she felt in her heart this was the right thing to do, well, then, it was.
He followed her up the stairs. Her exercise clothes showed off her body very well, and he couldn’t help admiring her. She was a beautiful woman, with the most perfect face and body he’d ever seen. There didn’t seem to be a single flaw in her. And her beauty was complete, mental and spiritual as well as physical. She’d certainly proved that a few minutes ago by opening up her home to a needy stranger.
“Have a good workout this morning?” he asked.