Sorry this chapter took a little longer than usual to update. I started researching the 1960s and before I knew it I'd gotten caught up in it all. :) Yay nerdiness!
January 11, 1964
In one hour, twenty-three minutes, I will be Mrs. Lauren Walker. I feel like...like...gah! I'm so excited I can't even come up with a good simile! Or maybe that's just nerves. Probably a bizarre combination of the two that I never knew could exist until one hour and twenty-two minutes before my wedding.
We talked about getting married this summer, but neither of us could wait that long. So that is why I'm here, on the second Saturday of the new year, wishing time would move just a little bit faster so I could actually do something! The way it is, I can't fix my hair or put on my dress or even my makeup because there's still over an hour left and I don't want to risk disaster.
I know one thing for certain: It will be weird going back to school on Monday. "So what did you do over the weekend, Laurie?" "Oh, nothing much. I just got married on Saturday. So I'm Laurie Walker now. Like I said, boring weekend."
...I just giggled like a psych ward inmate. Is that a bad thing, or is it normal for a bride-to-be?
Grandma just said it's normal. Okay, panic gone.
ONE HOUR, TWENTY MINUTES!
Laurie had learned from experience that no matter how graphic the news footage might be, it could never compare to seeing it all in person.
Refusing to go any further, the cab driver dropped her off a safe distance from Amity Park. She gave him a hefty tip to settle his nerves, grabbed her suitcase and started walking.
The news clips had shown only a few areas of town hit by this ghost, whoever he was. But it seemed everywhere she looked was his handiwork: a scorched wall here, a broken window there. Plaster dust coated the sidewalk beneath her feet, and she had to pick her way through pieces of rubble and broken glass. A dark spot on the side of a building made her stomach turn. She'd seen enough spots like that to know it wasn't another burn.
"Psst. Lady. Over here."
Laurie jumped, then spun in search of the voice. "Over where?" she said as loudly as she dared.
"Here." A hand waved, then dropped. She hurried into an alley and ducked behind a dumpster, kneeling beside a blond who leaned against the metal. His right shoulder was sticky with blood, soaking his T-shirt.
Laurie dug through her suitcase until she found the small first aid kit she'd brought. She gently pried his hand from his shoulder, tore the sleeve and began dabbing at the blood with a wad of bandages. The blond winced and tried to pull away, but she held his arm firmly. "How far is the hospital?"
He sucked in a breath. "Not too- ow!- not too far."
"Mind telling me how this happened?" She poured water onto the burn and waited for him to speak.
"It was that ghost- attacked a couple days ago, and then he left? Well, now he's back, and..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I wasn't even doing nothing. Just walking. He came up in front of me and just...attacked, you know?"
Laurie nodded. Not the most detailed explanation, but she could imagine most of it. "I'm going to finish cleaning this and then I'm taking you to the hospital. Do you think you can walk that far?"
"I...uh..."
"Let me put it another way: Do you think you can walk until I can flag down a car headed in that direction?"
He nodded.
"Okay then. What's your name?"
"Dash."
Laurie recognized the name of Danny's high school bully-turned-white belt. "All right, Dash. I'll help you stand, and then you're going to have to walk with me. Okay?" She draped his good arm around her shoulder and, with a bit of effort, stood. He pointed in the direction of the hospital, and they ducked out of the alley, watching the sky for any sign of the ghost's return.
February 25, 1964
I know this might sound odd, but I'm worried about Elijah.
I've heard accounts of officers in other parts of the South beating protesters, and while I'm one hundred and thirty-four percent certain Eli wouldn't do that, I worry what might happen if things started to get ugly. Would he be ordered into the fray? And if so, how could he stay out of it? I guess he could just hang back, and that's probably what he'd do, but still...
Maybe I'm overthinking this. I know Eli would try his hardest to not get involved if things got ugly. He'd probably be the only one trying to stop it. He's already the only one trying to stop all the ugliness in his department. (You should hear his rant about the Klan's influence on the officers. I'm not being sarcastic here; it's really quite inspiring, and I can't see how anyone could still support the KKK after hearing it.)
And I just realized that's what terrifies me the most. As far as both of us know, Eli is alone in his convictions.
After dropping Dash off at the hospital, Laurie walked the relatively short distance to her daughter's house. She felt a stab of guilt for leaving an injured and obviously frightened boy like that, but she had to find Maddie. The fact that Elijah was wherever Maddie might be made the entire situation more interesting- and urgent. She pushed aside her shock at the state of the house and entered through a hole in the living room wall.
Downstairs, the lab was much the same as the rest of the house: broken glass, scorched walls, overturned tables. This ghost, whoever he was, had trashed the place carefully, leaving just enough intact to make a point.
The portal, however, was untouched, the ON button within easy reach. Remembering Maddie's warnings about the cold, she hurried back upstairs, grabbed a coat from the closet by the door (one of Jack's, if the comically baggy fit was any clue) and darted back downstairs. She pressed the button, and the portal hummed to life.
Casting one last glance over her shoulder, Laurie took a deep breath and stepped through.
I really, really hope my inclusion of the KKK in this story doesn't offend anyone, because that wasn't my intention at all. My research has shown me that the Klan was pretty strong in the South in the 1960s, and Mississippi had a lot of turmoil as a result. Elijah and Laurie's story happens in a place that included the KKK, so the KKK is an important part of their story. That's the only reason I'm including them. Again, please don't take offense. I don't want to take any sort of political or scholarly stance through this fic; I just want to tell the story as honestly and as accurately as I can.
