AN: Sorry it's been so long since a post, but it's been slow going. I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long, so here's the next chapter. More should come soon, as I'm hoping to get more done this weekend.


Chapter 25: La-LaLand


Jesse once again experienced the strange sensation of the world tilting on its axis while he passed through liquid air. After it stopped, preparing himself for anything, he quickly rose to his feet inside the mental construct. He dusted himself and took in his surroundings.

And found them bizarrely normal. He found himself standing on a street corner in a nice, mid-scale residential neighborhood. The signs above his head told him he was standing on the corner of Cherry St. and Willow Ave. Jogging across the street toward him was David.

"Is this weird or what?"

Jesse frowned. "What do you mean? It looks like your nice, normal, average middle class neighborhood. Including white picket fence and swing set in the backyard," he pointed out, indicating said objects.

"I know. That's what's so weird. I know you haven't had a lot of experience actually being in someone else's mind, and the experience you have had wasn't really normal, but remember how I told you there's usually a dreamscape or absolute nothingness?"

"Yeah…this doesn't count as a dreamscape?"

"Well, I mean, it could be. But it's too precise, too accurate. Usually dreamscapes have a fragmented perspective – kind of like looking at the world through the bottom of a coke bottle. But this…this is so pristine, so clear. It's almost like I'm inside a movie or in the real world."

"Huh. Never thought I'd see the day when normal was weird. So what do we do now?"

"Find Jessica. There aren't exactly a lot of people here, in case you haven't noticed, so it shouldn't be too hard." David walked past Jesse and headed down Cherry St. As he did so, Jesse looked around more and was startled to realize that David was right. There didn't seem to anyone around besides the two of them. No kids playing in the yard, no mailmen, no cars driving down the street – though there were a few parked in random driveways. The streets were deserted; the backyard swing was moving slightly in the breeze. Shaking his head, Jesse followed David.

Two blocks later, they found her. Sort of. They only person they saw, in fact the only person they had seen at all, was a little girl. She looked to be about five or six years old, all knobby knees and skinny limbs, dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a bright green top. Her chin-length brown hair, held back from her face by a pink headband, bounced freely as she hopped along the sidewalk on one foot. Jesse watched her hop down the sidewalk, bend down on one foot to retrieve a small rock, straighten, turn around and promptly hop back the other direction. Looking at the small boxes traced onto the sidewalk with yellow chalk, Jesse recognized what the girl was doing. She was playing hopscotch, a game Katie had played when she was this girl's age.

David stepped into the girl's line of sight. "Jessica?" he asked softly.

The little girl looked up and froze, just as she was about to toss the rock into one of the chalk boxes. "Who are you?" she asked candidly. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers. Daddy said so." Turning back to her game, she threw the stone and started hopping again.

David looked over to Jesse, who shrugged. Turning back to the little girl, he said, "Your daddy was absolutely right. But I'm not a stranger, not really. I've known you for a long time, you just don't remember me."

"Oh yeah?" she countered.

"Yeah," David said evenly, kneeling down to be at eye level with the girl, though staying several feet away.

"Prove it."

"Okay," he said, hoping to hell he remembered enough about Jessica from their limited days together at Genomex. "Ask me a question."

"If you know me, what's my dog's name?"

David relaxed a bit. "Her name's Birdy. You called her that because you said her legs looked like a bird's legs. But your daddy called her bird-brain, because she was so stupid."

Little Jessica seemed to think on this. "Okay, I guess you're right, you do know me. What's your name?"

"I'm David, and this is my friend Jesse."

"Jessie? That's a girl's name. That's what Daddy calls me sometimes."

"Well, his name is Jesse too. It's spelled different, so then it's a boys' name."

"You mean with different letters? I guess it's okay then."

Jesse looked down to David and made a circling motion with his hand. David took the hint and decided to get to the point in his discussion with the little girl. "Jessica? Can you tell us where your mommy is?"

"I don't want to go to mommy's house. I like it here with daddy."

"Oh, no. It's okay. We're not going to take you to her; we just want to know where she is. We've got a problem and we think she might be able to help us."

"She's at work right now."

"Do you know where her work is? Have you ever been there?"

"The mean old law-er took me there once. He said I had to live with mommy. She lives at her work. Don't tell her, but I came back to Daddy's house because I don't like it there. But mommy still loves me. I know she loves me because I do what she says."

David sent a glance up at Jesse. This girl may look like she was 5 years old, but she certainly sounded like the older version of herself. Turning back to the little girl, David asked, "Do you think you could help us find your mommy's work?"

I don't member where it is 'xactly. But we have to take two busses to get there from here. And it's near the water. And it's a green house. I member because I said it didn't look like a work because it was a house not a big building and it was green 'stead of black or brown. But there's a park 'round the corner. It's only a little park, but that's okay. It's still fun, because it's got a jungle gym. I can hang upside down on the inside? Can you do that?" She tossed the stone again and started hopping down the squares.

"I don't know if I can do that. But I think we can find your mommy's work." David ignored Jesse's heavy hand on his shoulder. "But we're a little lost right now. Do you know where we are now?"

Jesse, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly unsettled. The dreamscape, or what ever they were in, was getting stranger. Of in the distance, he swore that he had seen a couple of trees start to swirl, as if they were images painted on water going down the drain. He increased the pressure on his friend's shoulder.

Either David didn't notice or he ignored Jesse's silent warning completely. "Do you know what city we're in, sweetie?"

For a moment, he saw that the little girl shook her head. The next moment Jesse had grabbed a hold of his collar and dragged him to his feet. "What?!" David shook Jesse's hand off. "We need to get all the information we can."

"No. We need to leave. Now." Jesse pointed to the trees across the street.

David looked over at the strong maple trees swaying in the breeze. "What are you talking about?" He turned back around to ask little Jessica another question. Jesse stopped him with both hands on his shoulders this time.

"David, we have to go now. The place is becoming unstable. I don't know why you can't see it. Maybe you're too close to the situation or something. But this dreamscape is falling apart. Let's go. Now."

Again, David shrugged out of Jesse's grip, taking a few steps back. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"David. I'm the anchor here. Your perspective's obviously been compromised. You're a psionic, you're vulnerable to her actions, conscious or unconscious. I'm the anchor, and I say we leave. Now." Jesse's voice was surprisingly harsh.

"Fine." Grudgingly, David closed his eyes and concentrated on pulling both himself and Jesse out of Jessica's mind. He looked up at Jesse, shock clear on his face. "I can't. I can't pull out."

Jesse swore.