Dying to Remember (The Station #2) (16 page)

Rush pats the
older man on the shoulder, effectively zapping him hard enough that I see Niles
flinch. I'm unsure whether he intended on hurting him, or if the touch was just
a way to calm my upset Intake Specialist down. As the two men step back from
each other and Rush strides toward Sloan with a less than friendly expression
on his face, I finally snap like a weathered branch.

Jumping to my
feet again, I scream as loudly as my vocal chords can handle, "I can't
take this anymore, I can't! I didn't ask for this, for any of it! Stop screwing
around and tell me what's going on!
What the hell is going on?!
"

My eyes start
doing the funny thing they do when I get upset like this: they leak. Firmly
locking my quivering jaw in place, I refuse to allow any other part of my body
to betray me. The tears may be flowing freely down my hot cheeks, but I ignore
them. I don't even wipe them away. Otherwise the rest of me will realize I am
indeed crying and will join in on the party.

Everyone
turns around slowly to stare at me. The fact that no one is speaking just
upsets me more, so I do my best impression of an eighteen year olds
temper-tantrum. I stomp. I flail my arms madly. I wail, I holler. I scream
profanities. I double over and curse at the always cool, mysterious ground. I
stand upright and point my finger at everyone in the room while my mouth spews
a garbled string of curses matching the spastic gestures of my hands. I'm
shaking so badly I think I might fall over, but before I do, I decide to finish
my tirade by shoving my hand up once more, displaying a solitary slender middle
finger for the group to see.

And then - I
bolt. But I don't even make it to the door before Rush's long arms wrap around
me from behind and effortlessly lift me from the ground. I squeal in anger,
attempting to kick the first soft part of his body my feet connect with. But
his stance is too wide, and I'm only able to flail my legs awkwardly in the
air.

Stop this
now, child. Enough!

He's called
me a child again. I relax until his arms do the same, and then with a quick
jerk of my hand I strike at his face behind my head. He grunts, but still does
not release me. I almost cry out from the sting that spreads along my palm. I'm
most certain the slap hurt me more than it did him. His electrical aura engulfs
me as I thrash in his arms.

"Let go!
Let go of me!" I scream.

Sloan is
yelling, but he sounds far away. Arching my back, I struggle to make space
between us, but Rush simply won't budge. His arms are hard as steel, his hands
clamped around me in a death grip. He won't let go. And I can't fight him off.
After what seems like hours, I slump against him, more exhausted than I am
pissed.

Gently, as if
he's afraid I might shatter into a million pieces, Rush lowers me to the
ground. He doesn't fully release his grip on me, not immediately. He waits
until my heart beat slows and my legs stop shaking and then leaves only his
finger tips on my arms as I breathe in deeply. Ashamed, I'm afraid to turn
around and look at him or the others, especially Sloan.

He called me
a child.
Because I had truly acted like one.

I'm sorry.
I whisper the thought to him, knowing he would pick it up.

Nothing.
There's no response, and I realize he's not touching me anymore either. I pivot
slowly on my bare feet, turning around until my side faces him. Staring at the
ground, I compare the size of my small feet to his larger ones. He wiggles his
big toe, and my head snaps up to see him smiling down at me.

"Do you
feel better?" he asks quietly.

"Actually.
Yes, yes I think I do," I say under my breath.

I peer up at
him, ignoring the blonde hair that had gotten mussed up and is now draped
across my face like a thick curtain. The left side of Rush's face is glowing
red and I bite down on my lower lip, regretting the slap. He had restrained me,
but hadn't actually injured me, yet I had reacted by practically setting one
side of his face on fire.

Rush reaches
out and takes my left hand, the one I had slapped him with, and rubs his thumb
along my palm. The pain that throbs there ebbs away until all that's left is a
dull ache. I blink at him, and he raises his jet-black eyebrows in response.

How'd you
do that?

There is
much that I can do, Piper. I simply want to show you the world beyond this one.
I don't want to take you away from your friends forever. You are more like me
than you realize. And I only want you to see that. I want to share the beyond
with you.

I sit in a
sobering silence on the rim of the blue fountain as Kerry-Anne chats on and on
about her last few cases, stopping only long enough to catch her breath and
glance around us if she has something to say that she considers private. She's
bubbly, more than she ever has been at the Station. Being a Volunteer has been
good for her.

Nodding in
all the right places, and keeping a smile plastered on my face, I let my mind
wander to my time spent here. I had only been on three cases, and not once did
I feel completely confidant in my abilities. Not completely. And then there was
my time spent in the Ones building. It was rewarding, and I missed the children,
but it drained me. I would never be able to stay there indefinitely, as the
other Ones staff had obligated to. Being able to accept the self-inflicted
death of a child would be something I could never do without spiraling down
into my own depression. Obviously I wasn't meant to be there forever.

And now there
was this 'seer' thing. The Mentors had unanimously agreed that it would be
unfair for me to return to Volunteering. I was crushed at their words. I was
gutted from the inside out. And I wasn't ready to move on and leave my friends
just as I was getting to know them. Rush had changed everything. He brought to
the surface things in me that I didn't even know existed, like he peeled back
my skin and studied me with a microscope. Every fiber of my being wants to stay
here.
But to do what, exactly?
As much as I love the fountain, I
couldn't sit here forever.

Or can I?

"Piper?"
Kerry-Anne's voice is low, soothing, and when I look over at her, she's staring
hard at my features.

"I'm
sorry, Kerry-Anne. There's something I need to tell you." I brace my arms
against the rim, taking a deep breath while Kerry-Anne wiggles into a more
comfortable position.

"Okay,
anything," she says happily, but still with a serious expression on her
face.

"I'm
leaving." I said it bluntly on purpose. I can't stand the thought of
explaining it all to her. It feels sort of like ripping off a band-aide…it just
needs to be done quickly.

"Leaving?
You already have your next Assignment? But you just got back, didn't you?"
she asks me with large, brown eyes. They were the sort of eyes you would expect
to see from a startled doe, not a girl as tiny as she was.

I turn around
so that I'm facing her with my whole body, folding my legs into a pretzel
shape. Slight lines crease on her forehead as I take one of her petite hands in
mine. The moment we touch I feel waves of energy leave me and pass into her,
like we created a bridge between us.

With a sigh,
I smile my best smile and squeeze her hands gently. "No, honey. I'm
leaving the Station. And I don't know for how long, but I
will
be
back."

Slowly she
blinks, as if processing my words a few dozen times. "Leaving?" her
voice squeaks, barely above a whisper.

I nod.
"Yes, but I will come back, you understand that, right?"

Her chin
trembles as she whispers, "Where are you going?"

"I don't
know." It was an honest answer, and I didn't want to lie to her.

Her hands
jerk from mine and I'm knocked slightly backwards as she launches her much
smaller body into my lap, wrapping her thin arms tightly around my neck. She
doesn't cry, at least not then. But I sense the emotion bubbling up below the
surface.

"It's
okay. I'll be back before you know it, just watch."

"You
better be," she says as she stands up abruptly and steps away from me, her
chin beginning to pucker as she struggles to hold back the trembles.
"You're my best friend." She rushes off, and I quickly lose her in
the crowd.

You're my
best friend too, Kerry-Anne.
I haven't had a best friend in a long time.
Not since Bree. My eyes well up at the thought of her, but it isn't guilt I
feel as I remember Bree's soft face and always present smile…it is love. And I
have the same love for Kerry-Anne. Some friends come and go, but the best never
really leave the heart. I know I'll take a piece of both of them with me,
regardless of where I end up.

***

I stand
before the closed door oddly relaxed. Sloan is beside me, holding tightly to my
hand. Though I wasn't sure how much influence I truly commanded, I insisted I
would not leave without Sloan, and though obviously irritated with the idea,
Rush finally agreed.
He's getting two for the price of one - that can't be
bad, right?

Niles stands
on my left with his older and wrinkled hand resting comfortably on my shoulder,
as if it had been there forever as an extension of myself. I reach up and grip
it, feeling the roughness of his skin beneath mine. I daren’t look at him; my
tear ducts can't handle it.

Pushing
carefully on the door, Niles leans forward until the heavy wood swings inward;
practically blinding me with bright white light. It burns from beyond like a
flame, temporarily blurring my vision. How anyone could possibly see in it, I
have no clue. But soon a tall figure comes out of the light, stopping just
inside the glowing room. Rush. His eyes pierce mine as he smiles warmly,
extending a hand for me to take.

In a panic I
half-hug Niles, afraid to let go of Sloan for just one moment. I'm almost sure
that something sinister will reach out from the blinding room and drag me away.
The horror-movie lover in me screams, "Don't go into the light! Stay away
from the light!"

But I will. I
know I will. I'm going to walk through this doorway and leave the Station
behind me because I have wanted to know
more
the instant I arrived. And,
as Rush has ensured; I'd return after our journey the same Piper I was today,
though perhaps a bit more knowledgeable and Seer-like. I still don't quite
understand what that means, but the Mentors, aside from Niles of course, were
excited for me. I'm getting to do something all of them had dreamed about for
decades. I was leaving…to see what lies beyond.

"Piper,"
Niles says as he hugs me close, "I want you to follow your dreams - follow
your heart. But please, don't forget about us. Return if you can. Okay?" I
nod against his shoulder, the worn argyle sweater vest softly scratching the
underside of my chin.

"I'll be
back. I promised, remember?" We release and I step forward, reaching my
left hand out to Rush's extended one. He waits patiently, knowingly.

This is
tough for me. It's so hard to leave them.

You will
return. You said so, yourself.

As I move
further across the threshold, my right hand is met with resistance and I glance
over my shoulder to see Sloan standing firmly in the same spot. He hasn't
moved. Not one inch.

"Sloan?"
As soon as his name leaves my lips, a single tear trickles down his cheek.

"I-I
can't, Piper," he says quietly.

I'm blocked
from his mind. As I stand in the light, I see only with my eyes. His fingers
begin to loosen around my own, but I clamp down on him harder still.

"No!
Please, please come with me!"

"I
can't. I'll wait for you here," he says as Rush moves us backwards deeper
into the room, further away from the door. As his arm slips around my waist,
Sloan's fingers slide off mine.

He's gone!
No!

He cannot
come with us, Piper Willow. Only a true Seer can move into the beyond. If he
passes through this doorway, he can never return to the Station with you. I
told him this. And yes, I blocked it from you. I'm sorry. He cannot come.

"Wait!"
I scream as Niles puts an arm around Sloan's sagging shoulders, and watch in
horror as they step away from the door that is now slowly closing. Just before
it shuts me away from them, Sloan lifts a hand and presses it on top of his
heart. It is the last thing I see before the brilliance swallows me whole.

I'm pulled
apart, cell by cell and thrown together again, all with Rush's arm firmly
around my waist, holding me to him as if we are twirling around a dance floor.
I feel everything inside me as it expands and then retracts, separating and then
reattaching to my being. Pain does not begin to describe the feeling.

There is
nothing below, nothing above…just bright, empty space and my cells spinning
wildly around Rush's as the light heaves us onward. Where it takes me, I don't
know. I don't remember.

It's just the
two of us and the light…jettisoning us into the beyond.

The End of
Book 2

The Station - Volume 3

I must be
dying…am I dying?

Piper
Willow, you have already died.

Stop.
Please stop with the 'Piper Willow' stuff. Just call me Piper. Where are we,
why can't I see?

Open your
eyes…Piper.

I do as I'm
told, feeling my eyelashes lift off of my cheeks as I hesitantly squint at my
surroundings. There is nothing to see.

Where are
we? Why is it so dark?