“The gifts you have come, in part, from me,” he said in his familiar, peaceful tone.
I glanced up and noticed a proud grin hugging the edge of his lips.
“Which ones?” my voice shook.
“Well, I cannot feel the soul of others, if that’s what you’re asking.”
My stomach dropped. Did everyone know? Feel the soul of others, his rendition of what I did seemed more poetic.
“There are many empaths, Willow. You should never feel alone.” His arm tightened a bit around me. “Here, I’ll admit, I doubt many come close to the clarity of your ability. It’s time for you to be proud of this, to stop managing your symptoms.
Once home, Dad led me around the side of the house through the back gate. As we passed by, he knocked on the kitchen window to get my mother’s attention. Her excitement and anticipation rattled me.
My heart hammered as I sat down in a patio chair. I swore to myself that my parents loved me too much to send me away—or unveil my weirdness to the world. I could believe this all I wanted, under it all I knew an awakening was about to slam into me. I’d expected it near daily when I was little, right when I figured out how different I was. The day never came, no one said a word, but I never let the fear go that one day ‘a talk’ would come.
I knew my mental freak out was causing me to feel things that were not real. But right then, I’d swear the star on my wrist was burning my flesh as the largest spotlight in existence focused on it.
No nightmare, no star, no talk.
That freaking demon was about to turn my life upside down. He’d successfully broken into my reality.
Mom made her way out to the patio with three glasses of tea and set them around the table. She then ran back inside and returned with her phone, iPad, and laptop. I kept my eyes down, waiting for her to settle. When she did, Dad continued.
“Do you want to what I can do?” he asked, settling in next to my mother,
I met his stare, silently answering.
“I can see what is wrong inside the body.”
“Anything?”
A shallow nod.
“You’re a good doctor.”
Maybe this was a college talk? A course change? No New York? Could I use this empath trait in a career choice as he did with his ‘gift’?
“Do you have a weird gift, Mom?”
“Oh, no, I wish. I’m from this dimension,” Mom said innocently.
My father closed his eyes.
“Um...do what?”
I wasn’t freaked, yet. Mom liked to talk about breaking into a zone when she found a creative flow. For all I knew, she was calling it a dimension these days. I avoided all ‘creative’ conversations with her like they were the plague. It was the way my father tensed, like he was expecting an explosion of emotion, that had me even more on guard.
“Grace...we haven’t gotten that far yet,” Dad said under his breath.
Mom’s eyes widened, as her anxiety built.
I sat forward in my seat. “You mean an actual ‘dimension’ not a state of mind? What are you trying to say? I’m part—alien? Seriously, you guys better be messing with me.”
Nope, this was not ‘the talk’ I’d imagined. I expected weird, but not this weird.
Dad leaned forward and put his hand on my knee.
“Willow. Listen, you’re not an alien, this is your plane of existence.” A pained smile touched his eyes. “Your blood is from a different part of it, that’s all.”
That’s all? No. This was not real. Wake me up!
I squinted my eyes closed willing myself to shoot up in my bed. Maybe that was it? I never woke up this morning. I was still having a wicked night of dreams. My mind was trying to reason why the nightmares were back. That’s all.
Dad patted my knee to get my attention. “Listen, when you do what you did tonight, you’re using a string, and those strings connect other dimensions. I’m from a different one.”
“String—?”
He cleared his throat. “This is a lot. I get it. It’s fine to feel upset, but it’s not okay to deny you didn’t sense how different you are from others. How aware you are.”
A not so comfortable silence fell over us. Dad had a way of making crazy not seem crazy. He called it as it was. When what was bothering me was right there in black and white I knew I was never far from reaching a balance. Getting the issue in black and white was the hard part.
“Ready?” he asked when he saw me relax a bit. I was overdue to get me right. I was over outrunning myself.
I must’ve nodded or something because he said. “The string is like a hallway that leads to other doors. Behind those doors are dimensions much different from this one. Honestly, I do not completely understand the way you’ve taught yourself. But you do pass through the string.” His eyes raced across my confused expression.
I went to speak a few times before the words finally came. “Those—those people I help are normal. They don’t look any different than we do,” I claimed. I was only half lying. They may look as human as the next person, but I never got what culture they came from. Some seemed futuristic, others like they were in the past. Hardly any fit the world I knew.
I couldn’t breathe.
“These dimensions are only different because of the choices made as a whole,” Dad assured.
“Wh—why are you telling me this now?” I asked unconsciously rubbing my wrist.
Dad glanced at Mom, then back to me. “It is time to go home.”
“What? This is home. This town is perfect, safe, and beautiful.”
No. No. No. I was not leaving my safe zone. Not until I had a chance to absorb this reality check.
“My dimension would make this world humble in its beauty.”
“Why are we here? Why have you had us live a lie? Why have you not told me I’m not crazy for all these things that I can do?” I stood up and shifted my weight back and forth.
Mature thoughts were no longer holding back the rightful reaction anyone would have when they were about to be ripped away from all the knew.
Dad shifted in his seat and looked at Mom. She smiled, encouraging him to go on. My father then stood and put his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. His hazel eyes had shifted to a light green, which matched the tranquility I felt coming from him now. He smiled faintly, “My dimension, Chara, has a trait: we all leave to find our soul mates. We are driven by a feeling deep inside.”
Oh dear God, the only thing I could think about when he said that was my blue-eyed boy. Every part of me seemed to become aware at once. What if I could find him? What if he was real? A wave of heat washed over me—my body was humming. I was more willing then than ever to hear Dad out. My blue-eyed boy got me in a silent world. I knew he could get me anywhere. I needed that right now. I needed to feel like I wasn’t alone. Like I could handle anything.
Dad grinned when he saw my eyes light up; he let his hands fall from my shoulders.
“I left at twenty to find your mother. When she decided she would rather live in my dimension, I went to find another traveler to help me lead her home. The storms inside the string closed my passage. I found other passages over time, but by then you were born. It was safer to stay.”
I knew this man. He was holding something back. Like details. “Storms,” I repeated, still not understanding what a ‘string’ was.
“Not like rain and thunder. The string is made of energy; it flows, sometimes too aggressively. We always guide a new person home with the help of a seasoned traveler. If our dimension is not in your blood, all you will see is darkness. It can be frightening,” he said, glancing back at my mother, trying to warn her of what she would have to face.
“So, is the storm over now?”
“Not really. We just think it’s time,” he said as I sensed dread saturate his emotion. He wanted to go home, but he wanted to go on his terms. Something had pushed him. Me, it had to be me.
“If you couldn’t get Mom there, then how are
you going to get us all there?”
“I met a friend of mine, Ashten, last night. He’s on his way home to get his family. They’ll help us all get there.”
Shifting my eyes between my mother and father, I tried to imagine what they were not saying. I didn’t trust my imagination right about then.
“What’s your plan? For us to just vanish? I have friends here. I have a life here. We all do.”
“Willow, trust me,” Dad said. “What are you not telling me? You didn’t wake up this morning and say, ‘Gee, I think I’m going to tell Willow that we’re from another dimension, ha ha, she will love that,’ did you?”
My mother stood and put herself between my father and me.
“We’ve been thinking about it for a while. Libby is already six. We want her to grow up there.”
“Why didn’t you want me to grow up there?” I asked sarcastically.
“It was different then,” Dad said.
“Sure.” I breathed, pointing out how unbelievable that response was. “Same storms, storms bad enough that you need an entire family to help us abandon our lives, but now is better than then. It was better for me—,” my voice became thick with emotion as my eyes filled with tears I wasn’t going to let fall. “—it was better for me to bring people in my life. Love them. Better for me grieve for them as I deal with this bombshell.” I swayed my head. “There’s no reason you could have worth the pain I’m about to go through.”
I expected shame, perspective—something to flash into their emotions. The steady course they remained on promised me whatever their reason was, my pain was worth it. A necessary sacrifice.
“Listen,” Dad said across his firm tone, “We were told someone dark-evil was in the string. It wasn’t safe for you then or now,” a sea of dark emotions swarmed through him. “If I have one chance to take you to dimension in your blood, I’m going to take it. You need this, Willow. More than I’m ready to tell you.”
He dropped his head; the regret for how this was all playing out was evident in the expression of his body. “I wanted you to have all the time you could in this part of your life. You deserved to understand the human condition the way this dimension teaches it.”
“Teaches,” I repeated.
He lifted his eyes. “The youth of this dimension displays elements you will find in each you visit. You were safe, learning an unspoken lesson.”
“I’m happy,” I pointed out through emotion that was threatening to flood me.
“You will be happy and safe where we are going.”
“If we get there, right? Gotta make it past the darkness and storms in some passageway full of energy. We gotta get Libby through that; she’ll never understand what’s happening. I can’t even make it click.
“Ashten has powerful sons. They are the elite of the travelers from Chara. They’ll make sure we weather the storms and make it home safely.”
Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “Willow, tomorrow we’re going to tie up some loose ends, then the next day we’re going to go home where we belong.”
“Are we never going to come back?” I felt the tears burning, begging to fall.
“We’ll come back to visit, but we belong there,” Dad said.
“What am I supposed to tell my friends? I have known them my whole life. You want me just to disappear, like they mean nothing to me?”
As I spoke, both of them were shaking their heads no.
“I’ve called their parents tonight,” Mom said. “I told them a school in Paris accepted your application. They’re happy for you.”
The phone rang, and my mother reached to answer it. When the person on the other end of the line spoke, I heard her begin a well-practiced goodbye speech.
Too stunned and angry to ask any more questions, I rolled my eyes, then stormed into the house, toward my room.
I pulled myself into a ball on my bed and swayed back and forth. I thought everyone I knew, how they got me through things without even knowing they had. Somewhere in the middle of my tangled back and forth thoughts, tears fell. I started to mourn a life I wasn’t ready to leave.
I heard something hit my window.
Knowing it was Dane; I wiped my eyes as I walked to the window. I opened it and climbed out onto the rooftop. I grabbed the branch of a large oak tree by my window and made my way down, feeling Dane’s anxiety as he braced himself to catch me if I fell. Once on the ground, we crept to the edge of the yard where we sat on a small bench. Dane’s pained emotion grew heavier. I knew then my mother had already called his.
“You were suppose to use the nightmares as an excuse not to move to New York, not send yourself to another continent.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find an excuse to keep me here,” I whispered.
“You’re eighteen; you could tell them no.”
“Yep, and you could tell your mom that you don’t want to have anything to do with that diner.”
It wasn’t that we were afraid to go our way; it was that we had no idea what we were suppose to be doing. Until that moment came, we would listen and follow.
“What am I going to do without you, Willow?”
“I don’t know. If you’re not hanging around me so much you might find a girlfriend,” I teased.
Dane crossly glanced my way.
“What? I know Monica still has a crush on you,” I said, trying not to laugh out loud.
“Monica likes everybody,” Dane bit out, rolling his eyes.
“Hey!” I said in her defense, even though it was true.
“I didn’t mean it in a mean way. She’s not what I’m looking for,” he said as he leaned forward.
“You’ll find her,” I promised, rubbing his back.
“I’m going to tell you something weird, Willow,” he said letting his gaze meet mine.
I wasn’t sure how much more “weird” I could take tonight. “I’ve never seen you as more than a friend,” he said with a wan smile that held volumes of memories of the two of us. “But, I get this feeling that if I stay close to you, I’ll find what I’m looking for.”
We sat in silence for a while, staring at the night sky.
“Dane, will you do me a favor?”
He glanced at me, surprised that I had to ask.
“Will you watch out for Olivia while I’m gone?”
Dane nodded, understanding why I was so concerned. Olivia had lost her parents when she was only ten. She lived with her cousin Hannah. Those two could not be more different. I understand Olivia because I can still feel her grief and loneliness—no one else does.
“You’re coming to the lake tomorrow, right?” I asked.
“I have to work most of the day, but I’ll meet you guys out there after my shift.”
“They said we were staying that long?” I thought we were going to get some sun and go home, but I hadn’t read a text in hours. The plans could’ve changed a hundred times. Monica’s planning skills were erratic and always evolving.
“Yeah, they’re supposed to build a bonfire. I think a lot of them are camping out. It’s meant to be a big farewell thing for you.”
“You know I love you guys, but I’m not sleeping out there,” I teased, elbowing him.
“Ahh, come on. You’re not scared, are you?”
The back porch light kicked on, and my father opened the door. I felt a little anxiety rise inside of Dane. My Dad stared in our direction. A surge of confusion came from him. Dane stood with me, reaching for my hand as he walked me to the patio. He hugged me then nodded to my father before he left.
I kept my eyes down and passed by Dad. I made it halfway up the stairs before he said anything.
“Willow.”
I stopped mid-stride, then turned to look at him standing at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn’t understand why his confusion.
“You sense the way I feel about your mother and the way she feels about me, right?”
I lifted a brow to point out the obvious yes to that question.
/> “Do you feel that way about Dane?”
“Yeah, right, not even close, Dad,” I said as I started to climb the stairs again.
“Are you sure? If you did, that would change everything,” he said, climbing the stairs after me.
I froze and looked down. It would be so easy to lie right now and say that I did, but would they let me stay here, where I knew it was safe?
“How?”
“I told you that our dimension believes you are suppose to be with your soul mate. If you feel that way about Dane, then he’s your soul mate, and we were wrong about you,” he explained.
I sat down on the step where I was standing. The emotion between my parents is beautiful. It’s a love that’s unconditional. I felt that way about the blue-eyed guy. I couldn’t remember ever not loving him. I would even say that I loved him more, but then I realized that my father had let something slip.
“Who was wrong about me? What am I?” I demanded as my body tensed.
Dad sighed, as he climbed the few steps between us and sat down next to me.
“I’m going to tell you a story,” he said.
Trepidation washed over him.
“Every dimension has different beliefs, rulers, and ways of living. There’s one dimension, Esterious, which is very dark.”
My heart began to hammer as my nightmares flashed in my thoughts.
“Donalt Blakeshire rules this dimension. He has ruled that dimension for longer than anyone can remember.
“When I was young, I was a traveler. We had taken numerous people to that dimension.” His eyes drifted to distant memories. “It always felt like a rescue mission rather than a love story.”
He paused and looked over at me, grief echoed in his emotion.
“We never brought home someone who lived in the palace, but a good friend of mine, Justus, came to me and told me it was his time. He wanted my help to bring his soul mate home, so I went with him. Esterious didn’t unnerve me; it was the approach to the palace.”
Dad’s eyes turned green as he smiled, remembering his friend.
“Justus walked to the gate of the palace like he didn’t have a fear in the universe. There, on the inside walking by, was a young, beautiful girl. Justus looked at me and said ‘That’s her.’”