Chapter 17
Devon had served up tacos, the twins’ favorite. By the time they were done, the kids got up and left without helping out in the kitchen at all. And, for the first time, she didn’t mind.
The less time she spent with them right now, the better. As soon as they headed up to their rooms again, she waited a bit to see if anybody would start caterwauling about people having been in their rooms. When it was all quiet, she took a cup of tea and sat outside.
She wasn’t even sure she wanted to sit outside because it seemed to be some Halloween holiday dance gone wrong out there. Yet apparently hardly anybody else could see it, which she found absolutely mind-boggling.
How she got through her night and into the next morning was anybody’s guess because it really wasn’t easy, but she headed to work, hoping there would be some answers by the time her day was done.
Being back at work again helped her since she had to keep her focus on everybody else and on maintaining a job, so that she could afford the house.
By the time she was done with her workday, she was shocked at how quickly it had gone by, and she really had no clue how it had gone by.
She’d just been focused on the task at hand and kept on going, so things moved along pretty quickly.
Now as she walked back into the house, she realized that the kids weren’t home yet but would be soon. She checked the backyard and saw that the ghouls were still present everywhere.
Most were generally contained to the backyard, which was very convenient, and hopefully nobody else would ever see them.
She didn’t know what happened to the ones in the front yard, unless they had returned to the back to hang out with their friends, but how the hell did that work?
As she sat here, her phone rang, and it was the teacher from Toby’s classroom.
She shared that he had forgotten his homework at school, and, since it was due tomorrow, she didn’t want him to miss out.
So she asked if it would be okay if she dropped it by on her way home.
Surprised at the generous offer but thrilled because it meant Devon wouldn’t have to run back out again, she agreed.
The homework arrived just as the kids did, and Toby’s face fell when he realized that the homework still had to be done.
Apparently he had hoped that, if he left it behind, it was no longer on his plate.
The teacher laughed at the look on his face. “Yeah, sorry, bud. Homework is homework.” She smiled at Devon and asked how everything was going.
Devon smiled and nodded. “Fine, I think,” she replied, trying hard not to let anything slip. “We have our days, but, for the most part, it’s going okay, considering.”
“Good,” she replied. “Parent-teacher conferences are coming up. Whenever you get a chance to book one, please do. Then we can talk more.” And with that and a friendly wave, she was gone.
Toby frowned at Devon, asking, “Does that mean it won’t be a good parent-teacher conference?”
“I have no idea,” she declared, considering him with a sense of disquiet. “Have you been doing something that would cause a bad report?”
He shrugged. “I don’t think so.” And then he raced upstairs, calling back, “I have to do my homework.” Since she knew that was true, she didn’t call him out on the hasty exit but turned to Tabby, who was staring down the road in the direction the teacher had gone.
“Have you heard that he’s having any trouble? ” Devon asked Tabby.
Tabby just gave her an odd look, shook her head, and replied, “Nope, haven’t heard anything.”
Devon felt Tabby was holding back a bit but didn’t say anything. All in all, it gave Devon another very odd sense that something was definitely off, and again she had no clue how to handle it.
The kids came down for dinner, ate, and then left again just as quickly. It was almost as if they felt a need to avoid her, and maybe they did. Maybe that’s what this was all about—people doing their own little conniving things in the background, and who the hell knew beyond that. She sure didn’t.
Later that night, she was walking through crazy dreams again, but this time she had this weird sense of actively wondering whether it was dreaming or not dreaming. She kept asking herself, trying to figure out what was going on and if she were in a dream state.
When she came across somebody up ahead who was not familiar and yet in a way was, she stopped. She wasn’t sure who it was, but he was standing with a group of people. They looked off somehow. She wasn’t sure. The man turned to her, a surprised expression on his face, but he nodded.
“Hello.”
She frowned at him and said hello back.
“Are you okay?” he asked in that same quiet voice.
It was an easy voice, easy on her ears, easy on everything. She couldn’t really get a clear picture of who he was, but something was very reassuring about him. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. She just nodded and smiled. “It’s a beautiful evening, isn’t it?”
He gave her a gentle smile and agreed, “It absolutely is. That’s why I’m outside now, just enjoying it myself.”
She nodded happily. “It’s a great evening to be wandering.”
“Where is it you are wandering to?” His tone was curious, and he wore a smile on his face.
“Anywhere. Somewhere. Wherever I want to be. I don’t know. I’m just out taking a gander,” she shared, with a laugh.
He smiled and asked, “Before you disappear, do you want to give me a hand with these people?”
She looked at them and shrugged. “Sure, I could do that. What are we doing?”
He looked at her steadily and asked, “Why don’t you tell me?”
She was surprised. “How would I know? This is your thing.”
“No,” he countered, with emphasis on the single word, dragging it out a bit. “I think it’s your thing.”
She stared at him, looked at all these people milling around, and realized several more now joined them.
The nice man speaking to her had an intent look on his face. “They all died in a plane crash,” he shared.
She gasped. “Oh, that’s terrible.”
“I think we could help make it easier on them.”
She stared at him and asked, “How?”
He just gave her the faintest of smiles. “Why don’t you tell me?”
She glared at him. “I don’t know.”
“That’s because you’re trying to think. Just close your eyes and do whatever comes to you naturally.” He kept staring at her expectantly.
She shrugged and muttered, “What a weird dream.”
“Ah, it is, indeed.”
But such a note of laughter filled his tone that she frowned at him. She had to wonder out loud, “This is a dream, isn’t it?”
He eyed her steadily for a long moment.
She closed her eyes and whispered, “Dear God, I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“Nope,” he confirmed. “This isn’t exactly what I would call a dream.
You’re walking through dimensions, and this dimension, that you seem to have an affinity for, is one that we sometimes call the waiting room.
People are here, and they’re stuck. They need to go over to the other side, but they don’t really know how. ”
“How can they not? The light is right behind them,” she exclaimed. “How is it that they don’t see the light?”
“Mostly because they’re not looking,” he replied, his tone ever-so-gentle. “So come here. Why don’t you show them?”
She turned to the first group. Appeared to be a family hugging each other, and she smiled at them and pointed. “Hey, there’s a light right behind you. It’s really beautiful.”
The woman asked her, “What light?”
“Behind you, just turn around and take a look at it.” En masse, the family turned and saw the light.
The mother looked back at her with a questioning expression.
Devon smiled and nodded. “Walk toward it.”
Urging the children along, and, with a last glance behind her, the mother asked, “Is it safe?”
“Yes, it is,” Devon stated. “It’s very safe, and it’s just where you belong.”
With a wondrous smile on her face, the mother urged the children forward until suddenly all of them disappeared as a group into the light.
Devon turned back to the man who’d been standing beside her and said, “That works, I presume.”
He nodded. “Exactly. Now we have to convince everybody else here.”
“I don’t understand why we have to convince them. I understand that we’ll help them,” she clarified, “but I don’t understand why they don’t see it for themselves.”
“Because they’re in shock,” he explained. “Because they haven’t figured out what’s happened, and they’re still looking for answers.”
“Ah, answers,” she muttered. “Yeah, I’ve got a few questions myself.”
His smile lit up with real amusement. “I’m sure you do,” he noted, “but first let’s get the rest of this lot moved over to where they belong.”
It didn’t take them long, between the two of them. They held hands, and everybody came toward them at once, as if she and this man would have the answers they all so desperately needed. With her assistance and his, almost everybody started walking toward the same light.
Devon was holding a young girl by the hand, and the man she was with told her, “Make sure you don’t go into the light yourself.”
She turned to him and asked, “How can you be sure that I don’t belong there?”
“Oh, I’m sure,” he declared.
“What happens if I do go in there?” She stopped just short of the light, letting the child run ahead. She turned to look back at the man and added, “There’s a certain joy in going in that direction.”
“Absolutely there is,” he confirmed, “and your time will come, but it’s not right now.”
She wanted to argue with him, wanted to glare at him and to tell him that wasn’t fair. The light was so peaceful. It was calm. No problems were where the light was. She just looked back at him and repeated, “I really want to go. It’s nice and peaceful.”
“You can’t go though.” His tone was stern, and his gaze equally hard and searching. She glared at him, and he burst out laughing. “You’re not dead. You’re alive, and, until that time comes when you get to cross into this other world,” he shared, “you do not get to cross that light.”