A Way (The Voyagers Book 1) (13 page)

Ellie was tired. She would be happy when it ended.  She still had Peter, but when the voyager’s learned that Dex was working against them, he would be taken from her.

“Good bye,” she whispered, to nothing, but an empty space. 

PART 3

JESSIE

1963

CHAPTER 25

The room was hot, and while she stared out the window, she wondered why the building wasn’t constructed with ones that opened.  She saw the slight spring breeze rustle the maple leafs; jealous of the air they were receiving.  Even the multi-colored garden of tulips, in full bloom, were enjoying the soft gust. She didn’t hear her friend whisper her name, until she felt a rolled up piece of paper bounce off her shoulder.

“Jessie, didn’t you hear my question?”  Becky hissed.  She glanced nervously towards the front of the classroom, hoping their teacher didn’t hear her. 

Jessie pivoted in her chair and stopped chewing on the pencil that she had wedged between her teeth;
bad habit
.  “Sorry, what?” 

She touched the pencil to the notebook sitting on her desk to give the impression that she was actually doing math problems, and not day dreaming about being able to breath air that wasn’t stuffy and stale.

“Tomorrow night, do you want Will to pick you up?” her friend repeated.

Right, the dance.
  She forgot that she promised Becky she would go.  Actually, Becky had promised Will that she would convince Jessie to go, so his friend, also named Will, wouldn’t feel like a third wheel. 

“Sure, why not?” She tried to hide the reluctance she felt from spreading to her voice.  “I’ll be at the diner until 6:00, so he might as well just swing by there. I can get changed in the back.”

Friday night would be Jessie’s second shift at the restaurant and she already knew she was going to like the job her mother had suggested she apply for.  She had always been friendly, and being able to interact with the customers, gave her inspiration for writing the short stories, that filled up most of her free time. It drove Jessie’s parents crazy, when she would spend the day shut in her room, but it felt good to get her constantly streaming imagination down on paper; especially if she had one of her dreams the night before.  She never told anyone about them and kept the dreams safe, in a book, where she could revisit them. Reading the words back and trying make sense of them helped.

She realized that she had been distracted by her thoughts again, and tried to focus on the end of the conversation Becky thought they were having.

“I couldn’t do it, all those dirty dishes and stuff.  And what about free time?  When would I ever see Will if I had to work after school?”  Becky finally took a breath.  She noticed their teacher watching her and Jessie, and lowered her head to the assignment they had been given to complete, by the end of the class.

“I think I’m going to like it,” Jessie shrugged. 

Her friend had stopped listening to her.  Instead, she was flipping her raven black hair over her shoulder, and sparking a smile at whichever boy in their class she had decided to pay attention to.   Jessie knew it annoyed the girlfriend if it happened to be their boyfriend Becky took special notice of.  She didn’t get it, she thought it was kind of amusing, watching her friend trying so hard to gain attention.

Jessie finished her school work, seconds before the final bell of the day sounded.  The students noisily gathered their books and metal chairs scraped across the gray flecked, tiled floor.  Becky and Jessie sat near the back of the class, on the far side from the exit.  Even if they hurried to the door, to free themselves for the day, they would still be the last two students to leave the sauna-like room. 

“Do you need to go to your locker?”  Becky asked. Her eyes were already out of the school.  She was anxious to start the free time that she treasured.

Jessie surveyed the books she was carrying and did a quick inventory of them in her head.  She was pretty confident she had everything she needed.  Their homework load was light, for a change, this day.

“Nope, I think I’m good.”  She scarcely got the words out.  Becky skipped down the hall in the direction to where her boyfriend, Will, was waiting in the school’s main foyer.  ‘Will 2’ was standing beside him, looking down at his shoes.  When Jessie got closer, she could hear Becky instructing her Will that he would be picking Jessie up at the diner, the next night. 

He moved his attention off Becky to her. “Great Jess.  Will and I were just saying we could grab a burger there before heading to the dance, so that’s perfect.”  Becky showed her agreement, by squealing and jumping up and down.  

How many times I’ve I told him my name is Jessie?
“Great.” She sounded as enthusiastic as she did when Becky reminded her about the dance. She made the commitment to go before really thinking about it.

“My older brother said he would give us a few beers for before, if we wanted them,” ‘Will 2’ said, trying to sound conspiratorial.  Becky’s eyes widened, like having a pre-dance beer was something only James Dean dared to do, in the movies. 

“Then it’s set.  It’s going to be a blast!” The overly excitable Becky, exclaimed.  She linked her arm through Will’s, and left Jessie and the other one, trailing behind uncomfortably.  She watched them bounce down the steps, and was about to follow, when ‘Will 2’ put his hand gently on her arm, to hold her back. 

“Listen Jessie, I know this isn’t a date or anything. I mean, it can be, if you want it to be.”  He was having trouble looking her in the eyes; a blush crept up from under the collar of his t-shirt. “I just wanted you to know that it’s ok, if you want to back out.” 

He had never spoken more than five words to her before, even though her best friend and his, had been dating for a few months.  His attempt to give her an easy out, softened the regret she was having, for blindly promising to do something before knowing what it was.

Jessie smiled at him.   “There is something that has been bugging me. Before I start calling you Will 2, would you prefer something else?”

He looked up at the cloudless blue sky, considering her question.  “I don’t mind William,” he decided. 

“Well, now that we’ve cleared that up, I would be happy to go to the dance with you, William.” 

She may as well make the most of it, and try to have a good time.  He would make a suitable distraction for her wild imagination. She would be happy to turn it off, for at least one night, to prove to herself that she could have fun.  Jessie mimicked Becky, by looping her arm through his, and they rushed to catch up with their friends.  Becky was already settled in the front seat, beeping the car horn impatiently.

CHAPTER 26

After a short ride from the school, dropping William off first, they arrived at Jessie’s house; situated on a quiet street, just south of the middle of town.  The windows of the car were rolled down, finally giving her the fresh air she had been craving most of the day.  Will brought the car to a jerking stop.  The muggy air covered her in a damp sheen, almost instantly.  Jessie said her good byes and squeezed out of the back seat, through the small space Becky created by pulling her seat forward. 

Her father’s car wasn’t in the driveway yet, but she could see her mother sitting on the front porch, fanning herself with the latest fashion magazine.  Jessie was overjoyed to see a pitcher of fresh lemonade sitting on the table beside her.  Condensation was dripping down the sides and pooled around the base.  She headed straight for the refreshing yellow liquid, hardly acknowledging her mother, who was critically observing her.

“
Well hello mother, how was your day
?  Fine daughter, would you like some lemonade? 
Sure mother, but I thought I would say hello first.
” 

Jessie could tell her mother was only half joking, but put the pitcher down and leaned to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Sorry mama, it’s just so hot out. I feel like I’ve spent the day wandering the desert; it was so warm in school.”  She took a long satisfying gulp from the glass.  The aftertaste stayed on the back of her tongue;  a spicy sour flavor, not one she expected.

“Did you put some of that awful tea in this?”  Jessie asked. 

Since she could remember, her mother made her drink this horrible flavored tea every morning.  She claimed it was full of antioxidants, whatever they were.  Jessie thought it was disgusting and had started pouring it down the drain, without her mother noticing.

“You should take Sammy down to the pond, when your father gets home with the car.  She should be off the school bus in a few minutes,” she suggested, ignoring Jessie’s question. “She would love that.”

Her mother was right, Sammy would love it.  She welcomed any excuse to spend time with her big sister.  Jessie felt like she had been neglecting Sammy lately.  She had been and spending most of her time with Becky, since they had both learned to drive.  Jessie salivated at the idea of a quick dip in the chilly water, to put out the fire out that burned under the surface of her skin the majority of the day. 

“Do you think Dad will let me take the car?  The last time I mentioned driving Sammy to get some ice cream, he wasn’t too happy about it.”  She didn’t like arguing with her father, but it seemed to be happening more and more, especially when it came to her little sister.

“I’ll talk to him,” her mother gave Jessie a reassuring smile. “I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“Ok, I’ll go change into my bathing suit and grab some towels.  We can leave as soon as he gets home.”  She opened up the screen door to head upstairs, when her mother’s voice stopped her.

“Just remember Jessie, Sammy’s still little, don’t leave her alone.  You have to watch her at all times, which means no swimming to the island.” 

Jessie was confused by the warning.  She would never leave her little sister alone in the water and had never even attempted to swim out to the island.  The place gave her the creeps.  Her parents really had been acting strangely lately.

“Sure, no problem,” Jessie called back over her shoulder; tripping a bit as she climbed the stair case.

*******

It didn’t take much convincing, on her mother’s part, for their father to agree to let Jessie to borrow his car so she and Sammy could cool off at the pond.  While Jessie waited for her sister to put on her bathing suit, the vehicle baked in the sun in the driveway.  She yelled up to her to hurry up, and occupied her wait time by munching on few cookies; washing them down with her third glass of lemonade.  Finally Sammy, towel in hand, appeared on the porch declaring she was ready to go.

Jessie muttered, “finally,” under her breath.   She wondered when she had become so impatient.
It must be the heat. 

The siblings climbed into the car. Jessie pulled the bench up so she could reach the pedals, her bare thighs already sticking to the scorching hot vinyl.  Sammy, may have been the younger sister, but she was smart enough to put her towel down before sliding onto the seat.

“You ready?”  She asked.  Their mother helped Sammy shut the -heavy for her- door and leaned through the open window to kiss the top of her head.

“Have fun, you two,” she said. And then to just Jessie, “remember what I said about the island.” 

“I know, geez.”  There was her impatience, again.  “Can we go, now?” 

Her mother nodded and waved to them, as Jessie maneuvered the bulky car out of the driveway. 

The pond was about fifteen miles out of town, making it a solid twenty minute drive from their house.  She turned onto the dirt road, that ended at the lake, then onto a grassy area that had been turned into a make shift parking lot by the summer visitors.  Jessie pulled her father’s car into a spot, beside the only other car that was there, and smiled across to her sister. 

“Ok, bug, we’re here.” She could tell by the look on Sammy’s face that she was just as excited by the thought of cooling off in the water as Jessie was. 

They gathered up their towels, and walked to the short path, that would led them to the water.  Jessie glanced back at the car and noticed she had parked it on a bit of an angle. She silently reprimanded herself,
I’ll have to work on that.

Sammy skipped ahead, to dip her toes in the pond, screeching and jumping back, when the temperature took her by surprise.  Jessie glanced around for the occupants of the car that was parked at the landing, and saw no one. 
They must have hiked further down the rocky shoreline, probably looking for privacy
.

Sammy reached down into the water and threw a splash up at Jessie.  It fell just short of her, but a few drops sprinkled her legs and landed on her feet.  The small amount brought relief from the pounding heat and she eagerly wadded into the water, until it covered three quarters of her body.  Jessie braced herself and pushed off the bottom, to dive below the surface.  She stayed submerged for a few seconds, letting the pond wash away the day’s stickiness, then emerged, to check on her little sister.

Sammy was making mud pies in the shallow water, just off the shore.  The sun sparkled off the fading ripples, that her feet were kicking up from below, and she brought herself around to face the island.   She thought she saw movement behind the trees and swam towards it, trying to bring it into focus.  She was halfway across the large pond, when she heard Sammy calling to her.

“Jesssieeeee, look what I made,” she was pointing to a mound of mud in front of her.

“That’s nice, Sammy.  Make it a bit higher, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”   She continued towards the island.

She had heard stories about the island in the middle of the lake.  Someone told her once that it was full of snakes, or had she dreamt that?  Either way, she wasn’t about to risk finding out, and stopped where she was in the water.  She had gone far enough, she had also heard that snakes could swim.

The flutter in the trees had stilled.  She decided it was the wind, or the shadows playing in the sun that touched the bottom of the thin tree line.  Jessie flipped in the water and swam back to the shore. Sammy was watching her, covered in mud up to her elbows.  She kicked her feet a bit more furiously and wished she hadn’t allowed her mind to conjure up images of snakes gliding towards her through the water.   She reached a spot where she could easily walk out of the water and up the bank.  A wall of heat hit her.  Jessie knelt down in front of the muddy sculpture that had taken shape in front of her sister.

Sammy rubbed her hands over the top of it.  “Did you see him?”  She asked the dripping wet Jessie.

“See who?”  Jessie was just catching her breath, after her sprint away from the imaginary water creatures, and looked around them.  There was no one there.

“The man on the island.”  Sammy looked past her sister and pointed one muddy finger in the direction of the island. 

Jessie felt the hair on the back of her neck stand at attention.  Goose bumps, that had no business showing themselves in the summer heat, appeared on her arms.

“There is no one out there, Sammy,” Jessie reassured her. 
Then why am I afraid to turn around and look? 

“He was right there.  Don’t you miss him, Jessie?  I do.”  Her sister’s eyes filled with tears. 

Jessie had heard enough.  She lifted herself off the ground, bringing Sammy up with her and hurried back to the car; trying to shake the paranoia that they were being watched.  Sammy stumbled and tried to keep up with her sister, but before she did, she lifted her hand, and sadly waved at the island.