It was 2:52
And like all days, Henry was coming home from school.
He dashed up the stairs as fast as he could. Now on the third floor, he started on the last flight of stairs. Faster. Almost home. Have to beat Mom home from work. Half of the next flight of stairs. Need to delete that email from the teacher. Go faster. He almost tripped over his feet as he made it on his floor. He ran to the house and unlocked the door with their hid away key. Quickly tossing it away, he stumbled into the door.
"Hey kid."
'Crap. What is she doing home so early?' He thought closing the door slowly and and locking the bolt. "Hey mom. What's up? Why are you home so early." He put his backpack down by the table and causally went into the pantry to get a snack. He chose a pear and closed the door behind him. He sat down at her normal seat and took a bite out of the pear.
"I wasn't feeling well this morning, so I decided to call out of work now." She said walking over to him and sitting down in her seat at the table. "But I am feeling a little better now."
Emma was telling the truth. Almost an hour since her last visions. Thank goodness. Of course she hadn't left the apartment, turned on the tv, or even played games on her phone with fear of triggering another on of those visions. Of course that hadn't stopped her from checking her email. "But by what your teacher tells me, you haven't been feeling well either."
Henry grinned and took another bite from his pear. "Glad to here that you feel better."
His eyes widened and he lowered the pear from his mouth. "Oh, so you heard about that." He said quietly.
"Yeah she sent me a long email about it. Napping two days in a row in Pre Algebra. I know it is not one the most interesting of classes, but an important skill that you will use the rest of your life. One that you most certainly can not sleep through. You should not be sleeping at school at all. That is why you come here at night. To eat a good meal and to get some sleep." She declared.
"I am not trying to sleep in class!"
"Then what are you doing falling asleep? Have you not been sleeping here at home?"
"No I have."
"Then why?"
He waited a moment before thinking through his options. Emma would call him crazy if she knew the truth, that he would have visions of that woman when he slept. He didn't even mean to fall asleep, it would just happen, and then he felt as if he never wanted to wake up. So comforting, so soothing. Made him sound even more crazy. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her."I don't have to tell you anything."
She cocked her head in surprise. "If this concerns your well being, as your mother, I have the right to know."
"But, I'm fine."
"Henry, you know I can tell when you are lying. And you, you are lying." She tried to say as lovingly as she could.
Henry's eyes instantly darted away from Emma's. "I have homework to do." He pushed his chair away from the table and got up. Emma grabbed Henry's arm.
"Wait Henry."
"I really have to-"
"Why have you been falling asleep in class?"
"I am just sleepy. That is all. Mrs. L is really dull and I guess I just drift off."
It was a lie. Emma knew that. But she knew that nothing would come of asking again. "Fine then. I will expect you to be in bed earlier at night now. I can't have you falling asleep in class any more."
Henry took a bite of his pear and chewed. "I guess so..." he wiped the juice on his pants and then grabbed for the tv remote.
Instantly, Emma had thought of the last time she had turned on the tv. "Henry!" The boy looked up with surprise, his thumb hovering over the power button. Emma swallowed hard and then continued. "Don't you have homework you should be doing?"
He set the remote down and took the last bite out of his pear and threw the core into the trash can. "Fine, I guess I will be off to do that then."
He took his bag and flung it over his shoulder. He looked back to Emma, she gave a reassuring smile, and he walked away into his room. Once there he discarded his bag onto his chair and ran to his bed. Out from under it he culled out the book with the golden writing on the cover and flipped through to the first few pages.
No title page. No copy right. Not even an author. The first page just help the words in plain script:
Once Upon A Time
There was an enchanted forest filled with all the classic characters we know.
Or think we know.
One day they found themselves trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen.
Our World.
This is how it happened...
The next few pages detailed the awakening of Snow White with true love's kiss from Prince Charming. He found himself smiling like an idiot down at the painted pages. Why was he smiling. He quickly tossed to book away. It was a children's book. Meant to sooth a four year old to sleep. Yet he found himself entranced by it. This was so childish!
He rubbed his temples and crawled over to the book. Open to a picture of the evil queen, he traced the outline of the illustration. She looked so much like the woman in his dreams. What if it was her?
There is no proof that it couldn't be. Like she could be an evil queen. She was too nice. But maybe, she created the book? There was no author listed. Although he had no memory of her writing the book, she could have done it at times he didn't remember.
He looked around for the card that had been with the book but couldn't find it anywhere. The name on it was RM. RM is not a name. It was initials.
He walked over to his desk and opened up his laptop and opened a new tab. In the search bar she typed in names that start with R and clicked on the first website. Up came a list of names. Maybe one would jog his memory.
Ra
Possibly means "sun" in Egyptian
Raakel
Finnish form of Rachel
Raanan
Means "fresh, invigorating" in Hebrew
Rab
Scottish short form of Robert
Rabab
From the Arabic word rababh, a musical instrument
Raban
From a Germanic byname derived from hraban meaning "raven"
Who names there kids these names? How many more of these names to look through anyway? At the top of the page he read in italicized writing:
There are 856 names matching your criteria.
856? I am going to be here for a while.
Emma knocked on Henry's door. "Can I come in?" His eyes widened and he placed his binder over to cover his Once Upon a Time book and opened up a paper he had written for English class.
"Yeah sure mom."
She opened the door and entered his room and walked over to his closet. "I just want to take your laundry. I am going to go to the basement and wash our clothes. I will be down there if you need me."
"Kay mom. Sounds good. I'll just finish up my homework." Emma grabbed the basket and dumped it into the basket that had some of her clothes in it.
She left the room and he reopened the website he was looking at. "This is pathetic. None of these names are normal." He skipped the rest of the first page and skipped straight to the second.
He skimmed through the first names when the one with the longest definition caught his eyes.
Regina
Late Latin name meaning "queen"
Queen. It all makes sense. Regina. That's the woman's name.
Regina.
Emma began throwing the laundry into the washing machine separating the dark and light clothes into separate machines. Towel, whites. Work shirt, colors. Henry's jeans. She pulled them up by one of the legs and something fell from the pocket. A card.
Even the possibility of a happy ending is possible. Thank you for believing in me, Henry- RM
RM? Regina! She had been communicating with Henry? No. What did he tell him? How long have they been talking.
She flipped it over.
I love you Henry
That is it. No more secrets. Henry is going to tell her exactly what is going on here.
