Chapter 17 Dreamscape

It was an odd group that met at Michael Guerin's apartment that evening. On one side of the room sat Max, Michael and Isabel, while on the other side of the room, Liz, Kyle, Maria and Alex perched uncomfortably on Michael's faded, threadbare couch.

"What's he doing here?" grumbled Max, looking pointedly at Kyle who glared right back at him.

"He's a part of this, too," said Liz.

"I thought we agreed to keep this between us," said Michael. "You know we can't tell anybody about it."

"She didn't tell anybody," said Maria, stepping to Liz's defense.

"She obviously told the Laughing Buddha over there," said Michael, his face growing red as his temper flared. "Or else he wouldn't be here."

"Stop it all of you!" shouted Isabel. "Something's going on here, I don't know what it is, but I think Liz is the key. So if she thinks that Kyle needs to be here, then I think he should stay. Besides," she said in a quieter voice, "I have a feeling we can trust him."

"Look, we don't even know what's going on," said Alex, trying to be the voice of reason. "Can we please start at the beginning and bring everybody up to speed, and go from there?"

Max looked at Michael and Isabel, he knew they had to reveal their secret to two more people, but he was unwilling to do it unless he had the approval of both of them. Isabel was biting her lower lip thoughtfully while Michael glared angrily at everyone. Finally Isabel nodded slightly. Max looked to Michael who gave one angry jerk of his head before he threw himself down on the floor and reached for a piece of pizza from the box that rested on the decrepit coffee table in the middle of the floor.

Max made short work of explaining who they were, and what had happened in the past several weeks. When he was finished, he sat back expectantly and waited for the barrage of questions he was sure would come. He was shocked when both Alex and Kyle seemed to accept what he had told them.

"Why aren't you freaked by all of this?" Max asked, looking at both men, a curious expression on his face.

"Well, I can't answer for Kyle," said Alex, "But I kind of feel like your telling me something I already knew. Like it was a story my mom used to read to me as a kid, and I just heard it again."

"We've all been having feelings like that lately," said Liz, who had begun to relax a bit now that the truth was out. "Or at least I have."

"I still don't know why he's here," grumbled Michael with another pointed glare at Kyle.

"Well, I didn't know why I was here at first," snapped Kyle, giving Michael his own angry glance. "I told Liz about this crazy dream that I had, and she just about freaked out and said she had to go find Evans and talk to him right away."

"What dream?" asked Isabel. "Max never told us about your dream, Kyle."

"That's because I never got the chance to tell Max," Liz said. "Tell them Kyle. They need to hear this."

"Well, I dreamt I was in that cheesy UFO Museum, and I got shot. I guess it was getting robbed or something," said Kyle. "Anyhow, I was dying, and my dad was there begging Max to help me. Next thing I know, I was sitting in a lotus position contemplating my existence in this world."

"A lotus position?" laughed Maria. "What like Buddha and meditation and all that stuff?"

"I guess," said Kyle. "Anyhow, I woke up, but I was totally freaked by it. But the dream stuck with me. Usually, I don't remember my dreams, but I remembered that one. I can still feel the bullet ripping through my,"

"Through your stomach," said Max. "The bullet hit you in the stomach like the one that hit Maria."

"Or the one that hit Liz if you go by Michael's drawing," said Maria.

"You know, maybe I am starting to get a little freaked," said Alex. "This is like an episode of the Twilight Zone or something."

"I'm not finished," said Kyle. "I finally fell back to sleep, and I had another strange dream."

"You didn't tell me about that, Kyle," Liz said.

"Did you give me a chance," said Kyle. "After I told you about my first dream, you went on your quest for Max Evans, and you dragged me around half the school looking for him. It wasn't conducive to intimate conversation."

"Sorry," said Liz, blushing slightly. She had been a bit of a termagant this afternoon dragging Kyle all through the school.

"Anyhow, all of us were someplace pretty fancy, I mean, we were all dressed up, and we were paired off in couples," said Kyle.

"How's that work, there isn't an even number?" asked Maria.

Kyle ignored Maria and continued his story. "Liz and Max were together, and Alex and Isabel were together. You looked great by the way," he said to Isabel.

"Of course I did," said Isabel. "So go on, there doesn't seem to be anything to ominous about this dream."

"I'm getting there," said Kyle. "Maria and Mr. Personality over there were an item."

"What!" Michael and Maria shouted together.

"And I was with this cute little blond chic," said Kyle, ignoring the outburst. "She was really hot, and I do mean hot. Anyhow, my dream kind of flashed to a different time, you know and we were all at a funeral, well, almost all of us were," he said, softly.

Isabel reached down and grabbed Alex's hand and squeezed it tightly and tears began to fall silently down her face.

"How did you know?" Kyle asked in amazement, watching the sadness play across Isabel's face. "Alex was the only one who wasn't there," he added for the benefit of the others, but he could see it wasn't necessary.

"Is that it?" Max asked, his voice thick with emotion.

"No, I wish it was," said Kyle. "After that, I was standing in my room and Liz was sitting on my bed drumming on something. I was looking in my mirror, and I saw Alex and that cute blond chic I was telling you about, or their reflections, anyhow. They were fighting, and she scrunched her face up and Alex fell to the floor. I woke up screaming and didn't sleep for the rest of the night," finished Kyle.

"Tess," said Liz, her voice bleak. "Her name is Tess."