Chapter 2 Private Thoughts
"It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."―Erma Bombeck
Artie closed the door behind Mrs. Frederic and stood alone in the hallway for a minute. He was a very private man, rarely letting his agents see his vulnerabilities. Myka had quietly been encouraging him for years to allow them in – they were a family after all, but still this came hard to Artie. He was their boss and he believed a certain distance should be maintained in order to make that work.
He didn't have to acknowledge his feelings for them to know how he felt. Claudia was like a daughter to him, and he was protective of her. Pete was his alter ego – macho and self-confident. On many levels Myka was his favorite – and reminded him of himself – bright, eager, wanting to be the best agent she could be but with a heart he could never match. Leena brought the sense of family that bonded them together. Then there was HG. He had come a long way with his feelings for her. Their relationship in the beginning was tumultuous at best. Mistrust and anger were conceived as soon as she got there. Myka's pleading with him to give her a chance finally got through. Aside from the perpetual disregard for protocol and authority, he found HG to be a good agent. She was bright and when he finally wasn't so intimidated by that, he realized she could be a real asset to the Warehouse. He got past the fear of her being a bad influence when he realized what a good influence Myka was on her. In Myka, he had faith, and when he didn't want to deal with HG, Myka was the buffer for him. He admired each of his agents and never once did he entertain a romantic interest in any of the women. He loved them like daughters or sisters but never felt a passionate pulse for any of them.
Which is why his dream was so disturbing to him.
Then a horrible thought crossed his mind; if Mrs. Frederic knew he was dreaming about HG, did she know the context? He banged his head against the front door at the very thought, which is why he jumped when Myka came out to check on him. "Are you okay, Artie?" she asked out of concern, but her voice was an intrusion on a very private thought.
"Yes I'm okay!" he said louder than he needed to. Myka pulled back from the harshness in his voice. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" he asked a very confused Myka. "Why does everybody have to ask about what we're thinking? Is nothing private anymore? I don't understand that about you people," he ranted unnecessarily. His overreaction was not lost on Myka but she attributed it to lack of sleep. It was not lost on Helena who stood there not caring what the reason was; no one spoke to Myka like that. She glared at Artie who met her eyes and opened his mouth but nothing came out.
When did he start to notice how flawless her skin was?
Mrs. Frederic was right; they all needed something to do and Artie set out to find out what it was. He barked orders for Pete to check the neutralizer pipes and for Claudia to find out if they had all come into contact with the same thing recently. He passed Myka and HG in the hallway without looking at them.
"Wow, that was weird even for him," Myka said but HG had already lost interest.
"Tell me, darling, have you remembered anything else about your dreams?" she asked Myka.
Myka's eyes darted back and forth as she tried to remember anything and then tried to decide how much she wanted to tell Helena. It was less detail she remembered and more a feeling that stayed with Myka and it wasn't a very good feeling. That is what she hesitated to share. Telling Helena that 'something' didn't feel right was like releasing the dogs on a fox hunt; she wouldn't stop until she got at what it was. HG never just sat with something and let it play out. Oh no, the answer was there somewhere and she hunted it down – even if it lie in Myka's subconscious.
"I can't seem to remember anything else other than you are locked in a building," Myka offered as her only piece of the dream.
"What does building represent to you, Myka?" HG started and Myka knew even the smallest crumb of evidence was going to be scrutinized. She also knew that the questions would not stop.
"Hmmm, let me see," Myka said getting their coats from the closet. "A building is a structure," Myka started and HG listened with great interest. "The Warehouse is a building," Myka continued as she gently nudged HG toward the front door.
"Yes, it is," HG agreed happy to hear Myka doing this analysis.
"We work at the Warehouse," Myka said and HG started to get suspicious that this line of thinking was getting to easy. "We should go to work," Myka said smiling at a very dissatisfied HG.
"You really do think you're funny, don't you?" HG said to her friend. "It's sad really."
Myka ignored her partner's jab and waited for the others to join them in the car.
Emily didn't like going home right after school so she told her aunt that she had joined the choir and had rehearsal every day. This gave her time to do what she really want – exploring. She got on her bike and rode for what seemed like miles. It was something she started weeks ago and each day she went a different route until something interested her. A couple of weeks ago she found the most interesting thing yet. She had ventured out past the town limit to the forest. The ground was flat and she rode her bike through the trees until she reached the clearing on the other side. There in front of her was a spacious opening. The next time she visited, she rode out into the flat area. At first the rocky terrain looked void of anything. Then she travelled further out and discovered what looked like a structure in the side of a hill. She rode her bike from behind the structure and noticed that she was now standing on what might be the roof of the building. The top was flat with no distinguishing marks.
Had she lived in Univille all her life, Emily might have remembered the talk about the building being on government property. But she was relatively new to this area and had no idea where she was or what she was standing on. Off to one side of the expanse was a small opening, a chimney it looked like. Curiosity got the better of the young girl and she peered down the vast shaft. "Hello?" she yelled down but all she heard was the echo of her voice. She held onto the sides of the opening and looked down. Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound and with that, she was sucked straight down the chute. As Emily braced herself for what her brain told her was going to be a terrible landing, the airflow gently carried her down and she landed softly at the bottom. Emily didn't know it but she had just entered the Warehouse through one of the only openings that was not detected by the security system.
Emily opened her eyes and looked at the expansive space in front of her, filled with shelf after shelf of items. She must have fallen through an airshaft at a factory, she thought. She crawled out of the space and stood up. Amazed at the size of the room she was in, she didn't think she could see where it ended. Oddly enough, she realized she didn't feel afraid. That was because any place was better than home. She stood still for a few minutes as she tried to figure out where she was. She slowly walked down an aisle and figured this was the back area of a warehouse where items were stored. She could see tags on things but didn't bother to read anything. Emily wasn't sure how far away from home she was but she knew it would take some time to get back, if she could get out of there.
She walked back to the chimney that had delivered her and wondered how she was going to get back up the thing. Then she read the tag on the mantel: Clement Clarke Moore's Fireplace – it read. That name rang a bell to the girl who had spent countless hours in the library or at home reading. "Of course," she said to herself when she remembered he was the author of the famous poem, "Twas the Night Before Christmas". She started to think – how was it that she came flying down the chimney but didn't crash? Emily was very bright but she was still only fourteen years old. She still hung onto the hope that there was still magic in the world.
With no one around to see her, Emily slid back into the opening, placed her finger to the side of her nose, closed her eyes and nodded. The return trip seemed a lot faster and more direct as she shot up through the opening like an arrow. Emily landed safely on the roof, unharmed and unshaken.
"I am so coming back here!" she out loud.
Emily did go back and each time she went to her entry way she was delivered safely to the floor below. Feeling a little braver each time, she started to explore the strange room downstairs. Once she thought she heard voices off in the distance and so she decided to stay very close to her egress. That is how she happened upon the room of first edition books. Emily ran her fingers across the binders and her excitement grew as she read her favorite titles. She thought this must be a pretty cool place to work if they gave their employees their own library. By the time the first week was over, Emily had her visits down to a science. She left school and went straight to her wonder room. She stayed an hour so that she could be home by dinner and her aunt never suspected anything. Only once did she panic that she would be found out. The other day her aunt, who never noticed anything, asked Emily where her earring was. She grabbed at her left ear and sure enough, the earring was missing. She knew she had it on when she went down the chimney that day because she felt it swinging in the breeze. She worried that she may have dropped it in the library room where she was reading a book that afternoon. What would happen if she was discovered hiding out there? At the very least, they would make her leave and probably call her aunt. She hurried there after school the next day and thankfully found the earring in the chimney, seemingly undetected. She was grateful to have found it. She treasured the handmade earrings - they were a gift from her mother when her parents visited a Native American reservation. The earrings were circular in the middle with webbing across the each sphere. Three beads were strung on the webbing in each and below each circle hung a silver feather.
Each part had a special meaning. Her mother explained to Emily that Native Americans believed that dreams were messages from the sacred spirits. The hole in the center of the dream catcher earrings allowed good dreams to reach the sleeper. The webs were there to trap the bad dreams and hold them until they disappeared in the morning light. The beads were the good dreams that could be caught throughout then night and her mother said she liked that there were three beads just like there were three of them. The feather was the symbol for air – essential for life – and allowed the good dreams to travel softly to the sleeper.
Emily loved everything about the story her mother told her especially because now dreams were the only place she saw her.
Thank you to everyone who posted comments - please keep them up if you can. I appreciate you taking the time.
Thank you to Polar Dawn - for his careful eye ...and abundant patience.
This is a slightly different story line for me - so thank you for any thoughts/suggestions/comments.
