Chapter 9
Exit is where the entrance is
Gelia wasn't that angry already. Her smile flashed like a ray of sun in the stormy sky:
“You've passed the test – now you can relax and watch the cutscene! Take a token,” she pointed at the metal panel with an outline of a palm that was mounted in the wall.
Selena recognized the Memory Screen room. Everything was the same – even the door is in the same spot, even though it doesn't lead into the corridor. Kevin approached the panel and put his hand to a contour, barely touching it. The shutter immediately opened, revealing a token. Evanford put it into the slot, and the screen lighted up.
...White walls of the office were decorating with abstract paintings. There were a few desks with chairs, and a dozen of soft pillows of different shapes were lying on the floor. A fair-haired boy was drawing something behind one of the desks. Another person in the room, lounging in the comfortable chair, was none other than Henry Evanford.
“May I take a look?” professor spoke.
“I guess,” the boy replied. There were many colorful crayons, markers and chalks lying on his desk, but he was using a simple pencil. Evanford approached the desk and said after a pause:
“I asked you to draw a picture. Where did you get these from?”
Camera panned in to the table, and the viewers saw a paper with neatly written equations. Kevin noted that they're quite simple, but not so bad for a child of that age.
“I came up with them myself. I'm writing something first, and then try to solve it,” the boy raised his head. He looked about twelve. The girls looked at Kevin and back at the boy, comparing. Facial features were very similar – no doubt that it was young Evanford in the past.
“That's really nice, but could you please draw something, too?” gently insisted Henry. The boy shrugged nonchalantly and sketched a human figure. One could only guess that this was a female with short, most probably dark hair.
“Who is this?”
“I don't know, I ran into her in the hallway,” young Kevin returned to his equations. “She shoved me aside and said: 'Get out of my way, little snot'.”
“Don't worry, soon you'll grow up, and no girl will push you away,” Evanford smiled with reassurance.
“We both know it won't happen,” he spoke seriously, not just like an adult, but like someone who already lived a better chunk of his life.
“I understand, equations aren't usually written with crayons... But still, is there any specific reason you've picked this pencil?” it felt like professor felt awkward and just decided to change the subject.
“Because, if you make a mistake, it's easy to erase the pencil and write over again,” Kevin replied.
“Perhaps, but the paper will never be as clean as it initially was... Almost invisible traces of past will still remain,” he seemed to talk to himself. After a moment of pondering, Evanford spoke: “Come to my office tomorrow at half past two.”
The boy nodded, and the screen went black.
“I don't remember this,” Kevin shook his head.
“This screen must be showing the past we didn't know about... Before October 12th,” Selena said. “Last time I saw a girl whose picture the clerk in the shop has later showed me, saying that it's me.”
“You've been here before?”
“Yes, when I was in a coma. There also was a note next to my token, saying that it's a prize for making it through some room. Now I understand who wrote it,” Silver glanced at Gelia from under the brows.
“Well yes, and what's your problem,” Gold grinned. “I told you I'll help you once in a while. And now I'll also tell you something: those tokens were given to each of you for getting through the Room of Immersion. A great adventure, wasn't it, Kevin?” she winked. “But now you've passed a new test, you should receive another token.”
Kevin pressed his hand to the contour again. Shutter opened, but there was nothing inside. Selena frowned and tried the same, but the compartment was empty again.
“I'd rather give you a hint, or you'll struggle with this for a few more days,” Gelia smiled. “None of you will get it by himself. And I bet you don't get the solution either, even though it's so simple...”
“Thanks for the tip,” her twin replied harshly. She firmly took Evanford's hand, entwined her fingers with his and pressed it to the panel. The token that appeared was bigger than previous ones and had a different pattern. Selena took it with her free hand and put it into the slot.
The screen came to life and showed a couple sitting in doctor's office. Silver was surprised to recognize her own parents, though they looked at least ten years younger than now. They looked concerned, almost frightened.
“I will speak frankly,” the doctor said. “Unfortunately, the diagnosis was confirmed. As I said, it's a rare form of disease, and there is basically no effective cure at the moment. We'll do all we can, but I give no guarantee.”
“If so... How much time there's left?” father's voice was breaking. Mother was barely keeping herself from bursting into tears.
“I can't say for certain,” the doctor lowered his gaze. “It depends on various factors... Five years... Seven... Maybe ten.”
Tears appeared in mother's eyes, but before they ran down her cheeks, the screen turned dark again.
“Those are my parents,” Selena said quietly, not knowing what else to add. An awkward silence fell. The girl realized that she's still holding Kevin's hand. Releasing her fingers, Silver said:
“All right, we saw the video. What's next?”
“Let's go look for some more adventures, what else?” Gelia grinned.
“But really, where is all of this going?” Evanford spoke. “We didn't come here for some cheap thrills. The only thing we want is get this game over with as quick as possible. If you want to throw yourself from one danger into another, it's up to you, but we'll be going different ways.”
“Whatever,” Gelia nonchalantly waved her hand.
“Wait, what's that you're holding?” Selena squinted with suspicion.
“Nothing,” her twin put both hands behind her back. Now Evanford also noticed that Gold was squeezing something in her left hand.
“No, show us,” Selena tried to play it cool, but her uneven voice was betraying her. Making a wry face, Gelia unclenched her fist and threw the keys at Evanford.
“I meant to give them to you... You've left them in the car,” the blonde muttered.
“You got out before I did,” Kevin remarked coldly. The girl shrugged, but avoided meeting his eye. Evanford said to Selena in a low voice: “We have to decide what to do next. Maybe this is the case where we should check what the book has to say?”
“I don't know... I just want to go home,” Silver replied wearily. She opened the door and froze – what she saw behind it was more than familiar... Realizing that there's no time to waste, she jumped outside, pulling Kevin behind her. “And you stay where you belong!” Selena shouted over her shoulder, closing the door.
“Yeah, as if you belong there,” she heard in the last second before the lock clicked.
They were standing on a porch of a private house – the door they came through was its front door. The house was surrounded by a small garden and a white picket fence. This neighborhood looked quite neat, though didn't seem wealthy. Suddenly, a big collie ran onto the porch and barked at Kevin a couple of times, wagging his tale affably. Wary, Kevin stepped back.
“Don't worry, it's his way of saying hello,” Selena pat the dog's head. “Mitch doesn't bite anyone... He can't even tell a friend from a stranger, happy to see anyone – that's one silly dog... But he's so cheerful, everybody loves him and got used to him long ago. It seems like we had him for as long as I can remember,” she smiled and slightly pulled the dog's ear. Mitch shook his head and barked friendly. The front door opened, and a woman appeared.
“Selena?” she smiled in surprise. “I've heard Mitch barking, I thought he wants to get in... I'm glad to see you
, didn't expect you to come so soon.”
“Well, it was on the spur of the moment... I wasn't planning anything specific when we spoke last. That was on Tuesday, right?” she asked cautiously. Mother nodded, and Selena looked at her companion with relief.
“So, we didn't jump in time?” Kevin whispered in Selena's ear. “But what about space? Are we far from Texven?”
“About five hours by car,” Selena answered just as quietly. Her mother interpreted their private conversation her own way:
“But you still didn't introduce us,” she was looking at a handsome young man with a smile. Glancing at the license plate in his hands, slightly raised her eyebrow.
“This is my mother, Adeline Silver. And this is Kevin, my... friend,” she said with some hesitation. But after a few seconds of thinking Selena looked her mother in the eye and repeated firmly: “Yes, he is my friend.”
“A friend, huh,” the woman said with a knowing smile. Kevin spoke:
“She's right, we are friends.”
“I got this, you're not obliged to play along,” the girl whispered again.
“Did you lie, then?”
“No...” Selena replied without looking at him. “After all we've been through... If you aren't my friend, then who is? I told the truth.”
“Me too,” Kevin said without much emotion in his voice.
Seeingh them whispering to each other, Adeline got even more convinced that her daughter for some reason cenceals her true relationship with this guy. She had no idea how uneasy it was for them to call each other friends.
“All right, whatever you say,” she smiled. “Come in. You're right on time – the food is almost ready.”
“Great! I'm really so angry that I'd eat three Mitches,” the girl laughed, patting the collie's head again, and they entered the house.