Chaos (The Realmwalker Chronicles Book 1) (5 page)

“Hey look, there’s my school!” I’ve seen programs on the Internet that let you view satellite pictures of your town, but this is different. The picture is so clear and detailed. As I try to find my house, I notice a few lights in the streets are moving. Are those cars? That’s when I realize this image wasn’t taken sometime in the past. I’m viewing my hometown as it is, right now.

“Whoa! How are we seeing this? Wouldn’t you have to have access to a satellite? I didn’t think just anyone could do that. Don’t you have to be part of the government or something like that?”

Crank grins at me and winks conspiratorially. “We can access any satellite at any time. We’re cool like that.” He brushes some pretend dust off his shoulders. Pointing to some data along the bottom of the screen, he says, “It says here that in your hometown, right now, as we are speaking, it’s 5:46 a.m.” He pulls up an input bar and types in my address. The map zooms in once more and I see an aerial view of my home. From the glow of a street lamp, I can see my truck parked in the driveway next to my mom’s white compact sedan. If it really is 5:46 in the morning, my alarm clock is due to go off in less than an hour.

“So, I’m supposed to be sleeping in there? Right now?” I ask dubiously.

“Unless you sleep walk.” Mel says next to me. “Hey, Crank, can you start a new file for Addy while you’re in the system? And could you input all her data?”

“Would you like me to repeat it? Or write it down somewhere?” I ask Crank.

He shakes his head no and taps his forehead. “Eidetic memory. It’s one of the beautiful things about Chaos. We all have it.”

“Is that like a photographic memory?” I ask.

He explains as he types my data into a file on the screen. “Even better than that. Photographic memory means you can remember images with exact detail. We, however, can not only perfectly recall images, but also sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. It comes in pretty handy.” He’s typing rapidly, and I can’t help but be impressed at his ability to multi-task.

I’m beginning to grow frustrated with how much I don’t understand about this dream, so I turn to Mel. “What is Chaos exactly? And what are Calms?”

Mel rubs her temples as she thinks. “I’m not sure how much to tell you now. You’re still convinced you’re having a dream, which means you won’t take anything I tell you as the truth. I’m tempted to not tell you anything until you accept you aren’t dreaming.”

I’m floored by this. “You’re saying I’m not asleep? But you just showed me my house and told me I was sleeping.”

“Your body Earth-side is sleeping. Your body here, in Chaos, is very much awake. You must be asleep there to be awake here. For us, sleep is the gateway to Chaos,” she explains, as if it’s common knowledge and not confusing at all.

“So … you’re telling me I have TWO bodies?” I ask her.

“I’m telling you,” she pauses and looks me in the eyes, “you have one body that resides in two realms of existence. Hence the term ‘Realmwalker.’”

I stare back at her, waiting for her to start laughing and tell me she’s kidding. She really expects me to believe this? I must have a very active imagination to dream all this up.

“I can see you still doubt what I’m telling you. You can’t believe there is any other existence but the one you have known all your life. And why should you? It sounds too incredible to believe. It took days to convince me when I was first called to Chaos. But consider this.” She reaches over and gently pokes my injured knee.

I feel a sharp pain and jerk reflexively.

“If you’re dreaming, Addy, then why does that hurt?” She waits for me to consider what she’s said.

Goosebumps rise on my arms. For a second I’m at a loss for words, completely dumbfounded, then I find my answer. “Maybe I’m not really feeling pain. Maybe my dream is activating that area of my brain that simulates pain, and it seems so real that I’ve convinced myself I’m hurting.”

“Clever girl!” Crank laughs over his shoulder. “She’s a stubborn one, Mel. Give up. She’ll know soon enough, maybe even tomorrow.”

“I hope so. That would be great. I’m pretty sure Boss is already out that way. And Crank and I’ll be here to say, ‘Told ya so’!” She grins at the thought.

“Oh, no.” I inhale sharply. “Please don’t tell me I have to go through all of this again tomorrow night. That beast out there was the scariest thing I’ve ever encountered! And before I was falling, that evil demon-Tori thing with its claws and eyes and its shadow face! I can’t do that again!” I start to panic as I imagine that twisted face and the unfathomable horror hiding just beneath the shadows.

That was its true face, I realize now. The one behind the shadows was there all along, hiding in the illusion of Tori. I was able to glimpse it only as its rage caused its control of the illusion to slip away. I’m shaking just thinking of it.

Mel puts her hand reassuringly on my arm. “No, Addy. You won’t have to go through that ever again. You’re here now in Chaos. Every time you nod off top-side, you’ll wake up here and find you’re right where you left yourself. And the next time you have to face darkness, you’ll be better prepared.”

“And protected by us,” Crank interjects as he jabs a thumb at his puffed-up chest. I can’t help but wonder what such a little guy like Crank can do to protect me from beasts the size of the one I encountered earlier.

“That’s right,” Mel says adamantly. “You’re one of the family now, and we protect our own.” She gives my arm a gentle squeeze.

I do feel like they’re family. My chest fills up with that warm feeling again and my eyes get misty. It’s difficult to talk through the swell of emotion.

“What is this I’m feeling? About this place … about the two of you?” I’m almost embarrassed, having such tender feelings for Mel and Crank.

Crank finishes working at the big screen and comes to sit on the coffee table by my feet. He smiles endearingly and says, “Do you mean the warm, squishy feelings? Like Mel and I are your most favorite people in the world and that you never want to leave Minor Calm as long as you live?”

I laugh through the embarrassment and wipe away tears. “Yes! That’s exactly what I mean!”

Mel explains it further. “We all feel that way about each other. And about being in the Calms. I know it can be overwhelming at first, but you get used to it. We share a connection. We’re among the chosen few who are called to Chaos, and coming here physically changes us. We feel that change in each other and it connects us. It helps us band together more tightly, and to be protective of one another. It helps us survive.”

“Survive?” I ask. “What happens when you don’t survive? Do you just wake up …” I fumble over the new term, “…‘top-side’?”

Mel shakes her head and says, “That’s a lesson for another day. Anyway, it’s certainly not something you have to worry about now.” Her tone is reassuring but I don’t miss the meaningful look she and Oscar exchange. “As for the Calms, I believe the reason we feel so happy and comfortable here is to provide us with some relief from what we have to face outside.”

I wager a guess. “And outside of the Calms … where we were before … that’s Chaos?”

“She’s catching on. I said she was clever, didn’t I?” Crank looks smug.

“Of course she’s clever, Crank. We’re all clever here. Not just anyone is called to Chaos,” Mel says matter-of-factly.

“Called? You mean like, we were summoned here? By what?” I ask through a yawn. The trauma of the dream must have worn me out. I’m sleepy.

“She’s yawning,” Mel says to Crank who jumps up and returns to the screen on the wall. He pulls up the satellite image of my house again and it’s obvious it’s gotten lighter out.

“It’s 6:28. What time do you normally wake up?” He asks me quickly.

My eyes are drooping as I open my mouth to answer, “My alarm is set to go off at-”

EEERRRR-EEERRRR-EEERRRR-EEERRRR!

I reach over and hit the snooze button on my alarm clock. It reads six thirty in bright red digits. Just ten more minutes. I’m not ready to wake up yet. I smile sleepily. I was having the nicest dream.

Chapter 5

I lie still
and try to hold on to the memory of the dream. I know it will only be a matter of time before the details begin to fade. Dreams are like that. They’re fresh in your mind the moment you wake, but later in the day when you try to remember them, they’re fragmented. They come back to you only in bits and pieces. I don’t want that to happen.

I think of Mel and Crank and am happy to find that I can still see them in my mind’s eye so clearly. I can still feel that warmth in my heart when I think of Minor Calm. I think of our fascinating conversation. What a wild dream! I can’t wait to tell this one to my mom.

Then I remember the rest of the dream: the pitch-black beast that almost crushed me, the Tori-demon that tried to keep me from answering the call to Chaos.

Even though there’s a little morning light seeping in through my blinds, my room is still dark enough to leave the corners steeped in shadows. My eyes are automatically drawn to the darkest parts. I squint and study them to see if there’s anything there. My mind imagines rusty red eyes glowing out of the darkness. I know I’m being ridiculous but I can’t seem to shake the fear away. I decide it may be a good idea to get up and turn the lights on.

As I reach up and turn on the lamp next to my bed, a sharp pain shoots through my chest. The pain makes me cough, which makes my chest hurt even more. I force myself to relax and steady my breathing. I must have slept on my side wrong.

With the light on I can see there are no shadow demons hiding in the corners. Relieved, I pull back my covers and sit up slowly so I don’t hurt my chest too badly. I freeze. I can’t believe what I see. This can’t be right.

My cream-colored sheets are marred with dark patches of red. I blink repeatedly, trying to make it go away. The knees of my pajama bottoms are intact but they are clearly blood soaked. I reach out to touch the fabric but I see something on my hand that stops me. Slowly, I turn my hand over and inhale reflexively as I stare, wide eyed, at my palms. They’re completely scabbed over and covered with dried blood.

What’s going on?

My hand starts to shake visibly. Am I losing it? How could this have happened? I need someone to help me understand this.

I get out of bed as quickly as I can without causing myself too much pain and walk down the hall to Mom’s room. Her door is open a crack, so I push it farther and peek inside. She’s lying in bed and though she’s facing away, her heavy breathing tells me she’s still asleep. I walk softly across her room, carefully climb into bed, and lie facing her.

She looks so pretty and peaceful that I’m almost tempted to let her sleep. But I think of the blood-covered sheets and my hands and knees and change my mind. I need my mother now. I need her to tell me everything is okay. I start to cry quietly. I pray she has an answer for me, something that explains everything.

She starts to stir. I force myself to stop crying so I don’t frighten her too much when she opens her eyes and sees me. “Momma?” I say softly, the way I used to when I was young.

She looks at me sleepily and smiles. “Good morning, sweetie,” she says as she stretches.

“Mom, I need your help,” I say quietly.

She rubs her face and really looks at me, concern instantly apparent in her eyes. She puts her hand on the side of my face. “Honey, what is it? What’s the matter?”

“Something’s happened, Mom. I’m confused and I’m scared.”

She sits up in bed and faces me. “Addy?”

I hold my hands out for her to see. She stares at them for a few seconds before saying anything.

“Addy! What did you do to your poor hands?” She looks me over. “My gosh, child, your clothes! What happened?”

“I don’t know how it happened. I woke up this way. There’s blood all over my bed too. And my chest hurts.” I’m worried she won’t believe me. I wouldn’t blame her.

She gets out of bed without saying anything, walks over to the phone on her dresser, and grabs her address book off the shelf next to her door. She thumbs through it quickly until she finds what she’s looking for. Punching a number into the phone, she looks up at me and says, “I’m going to have Ronnie come over and look at you.”

Ronald Mack is our next-door neighbor. He’s a paramedic and he and my dad were good friends.

“Ronnie? Hi, it’s Margaret. Listen, Addy’s been hurt. I don’t think it’s too serious, but I was hoping you could come have a look at her just in case.” She pauses a second, then, “Oh, thank you. You’re wonderful. I’ll see you soon.” She comes and sits on the bed next to me, smoothing my hair back out of my face. “You really don’t have any idea what happened to you?” she asks.

“Not really. I mean, I went to sleep fine and woke up like this.” I hesitate a second, trying to decide if I should tell her about my dream. I’m afraid she’ll really start to worry about my sanity. Maybe she’ll even make me see a shrink.

“Addy, I can tell there’s more you’re not saying. Are you afraid I’ll be mad?”

“No. It’s not that. It’s just … it sounds so crazy I’m worried you’ll think I’m losing it.”

She smiles warmly at me. “Addy, I know you better than that. Tell me and we can work it out together.”

I recount my dream from start to finish. I tell her about Jordan’s party and the Tori-imposter. I describe how I fell through the bathroom door and plummeted toward the neighborhood. I try my best to explain getting pushed through the barrier. I tell her how I cut up my hands and knees on the street and hurt my ribs. I explain how Mel rescued me and how she and Crank insisted I wasn’t dreaming but actually in another realm of existence. By the time I finish saying it aloud, I realize how impossible it all sounds.

“Well that is definitely strange, Addy, but you shouldn’t have been afraid to tell me. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for this.” She chews on her bottom lip. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I know what happened.”

Already I’m relieved. I knew I could count on my mom to bring me back to reality, so I wait eagerly for her theory.

“A few years before Dad died, there was an awful leak in our bathroom sink.” She points to the open door leading into her bathroom. “It would drip, drip, drip all night and drive us crazy. The night before I finally made your dad fix it, I was listening to it drip as I was falling asleep. That night I had all kinds of dreams that had that noise in it. In one dream, I remember I was trying to finish a résumé for an interview. The interviewer was standing over me, waiting and tapping her foot with impatience. The beat of her heel was the sound of the sink dripping. In another dream it was the turn signal in my car.”

I look at her confused. “I’m not sure I understand. How does that explain my hands and knees?”

“Well, I’ve never known you to sleepwalk, but what if all this mess with finals and graduation has stressed you out enough to change your sleeping habits? What if last night you went sleepwalking?”

I give her a disbelieving look. “I don’t know, Mom. That’s kind of a stretch. I mean, you’re saying I hurt myself in my sleep, and instead of waking up, my mind worked it into a dream?”

“It’s not unheard of, sweetie. There are all kinds of sleep disorders. I saw a news show a few years back where they covered a story of a man who murdered someone while he was asleep.”

“Oh, get out of here!” I exclaim. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Killed someone? And didn’t wake up?”

“Yes, I’m serious! They proved it scientifically and he was found innocent. Since then there have been all kinds of studies done to see how much a person can do in their sleep without knowing it. One woman would get up every night and eat food out of her refrigerator, not knowing why she couldn’t lose weight. Think about it, Addy. You’ve always been a heavy sleeper. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. You must have tripped over something and hurt yourself.”

Just then, the doorbell chimes, so Mom goes to let Ronnie in. I get up carefully and check myself in the mirror to make sure I’m decent before following her down the hall. As I sit at the kitchen table, I look around for any signs that I might have been out here last night. Nothing appears unusual or out of place. How violent an accident would I have had to have to hurt myself badly enough to shred the flesh on my hands? And how could that not wake me up?

“Good morning, Maggie, you’re radiant as usual.” Ronnie kisses my mom on the cheek.

“Oh nonsense, I just woke up. Anyway, please come take a look at Addy.” They come into the kitchen and Ronnie sets down a bag he brought with him on the counter behind me.

Ronnie’s a middle-aged man of average height and average weight. In fact, he’s pretty much average in every way. He’s the most average person I know. He’s kind and was a good friend to my dad, but place him in a crowd of people and he would be the last person to get noticed—though I bet the people whose lives he saves don’t think he’s average. That’s what’s so neat about Ronnie. He’s a quiet hero. I really like him.

“So, Missy, what have you gotten yourself into?” He asks with a smile and a wink. He pulls a chair over so he can sit and face me. Noticing my bloodstained pajamas, he whistles. “How’d ya do that?”

“I’m not really sure ….” I show him my palms. He takes my hands in his and examines them closely.

My mom is leaning on the wall behind Ronnie chewing her thumbnail. “We think maybe she went sleepwalking last night and hurt herself somehow. When she went to bed, she was all in one piece, but this is how she woke up this morning.”

“I think I would call that sleep-
adventuring
,” Ronnie chuckles. He examines my wounds and determines that my ribs are only bruised, not cracked. He wraps my hands and knees in simple bandages. “I suggest you take Tylenol or Ibuprofen for the pain. If you find that’s not enough, then you’ll have to go see a doctor for a stronger prescription. I also recommend you rest. Stay in bed today. Be lazy.”

Mom is nodding her head, but I speak up before she can agree. “Mom, I have to go today. I have my oral presentation.”

“I’m sure your teacher will understand if you explain it to him. If you like, I can call and leave him a message. You can stay home and rest the whole weekend and then do your report first thing on Monday.”

I consider this while Ronnie packs up his bag. My mom gives him a hug and thanks him. He waves and tells me to take it easy as he leaves. When Mom comes back, I’ve made up my mind.

“Mom, I’m really not hurting that bad. Honestly. This is nothing that Tylenol can’t fix. Let me go and give my report. I’m pretty sure that I’m one of the first to go. If I’m feeling yuck after that, I’ll come home. Okay?”

I know she would much rather have me home for the day, so I’m surprised when she says, “All right, Addy. If you’re certain you’ll be okay, then you can go. But I want you to let me or Jana drive you there and pick you up afterwards. If you feel it’s too much for you, call and we’ll come get you. Understand?”

“It’s a deal,” I say.

I take the pain relievers Mom hands me and head back to my room to get ready for school. I look for something to put on my hands to cover the bandages. I don’t want people asking me what happened. It’ll get to over one hundred degrees by lunchtime, so mittens won’t fly. I can’t find anything and I’m running out of time when Mom calls me for breakfast. Jana is sitting at the table, talking with Mom.

“Well, I always knew you were a world-class klutz, but this really takes the cake!” Jana laughs. I make a face at her as Mom reaches over and swats the back of her head with the morning paper. By the time I finish eating, I only have time to grab my stuff and go. Jana gets her keys, so I gather she’s taking me, which worries me a little. Jana doesn’t have the best driving record—and that’s putting it nicely.

“Try to get me to school in one piece please,” I quip.

“You’re not worried I’ll hurt you, are you? You seem to be handling that pretty well yourself.”

“Hardy-har-har,” I say lamely.

As we back out of the driveway in Jana’s little car, she nearly backs into a dark truck driving past. It was such a close call I’m surprised when the driver doesn’t honk or give us the finger. They do, however, slow down a little to check us out through their tinted windows. I’m unable to see who’s behind the wheel, but the license plate is from California.

That makes me think of my dad’s mom, Gram, who lives in Glendale, California. Summer is almost here, which means it’s almost time for my annual trip to see her. I’m really close to Gram, and I look forward to my visits with her all year.

Jana is surprisingly quiet the entire trip to school. As we pull into the parking lot, she stops next to the curb and gets out of the car. I’m shocked as she opens the door for me. I gather my stuff and climb out of my seat. I’m about to deliver some witty remark about her managing not to kill me when she spontaneously hugs me. She’s gentle so she doesn’t hurt my ribs.

“Please try to be careful with yourself. You’re my only sister, and even though you can be a twerp, I kinda like ya,” she grumbles.

A show of affection like this from Jana is rare. “Thanks, Jana. You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Have a good day, sis.” She gets back in her car and pulls out to leave, narrowly missing another car driving by. It’s so typically Jana that I can’t help but laugh.

I make it to first hour without anyone asking what happened to my hands. Once I’m called to give my presentation, I grab my visuals and charts and head to the front of class.

Mr. Perry immediately notices my bandaged palms and says, “Good gracious, Addy, what did you do to yourself?”

Because I’m not even sure what did happen, I decide to stick close to the version of events in my dream.

“I fell in the street last night and skinned up my palms,” I mumble, hoping to avoid further questions.

“Bummer. All right, well, good luck.” He smiles and motions for me to begin.

My presentation goes off without a hitch, and when I’m finished, I feel pretty good about it. Technically, I could go home now and sleep the rest of the day, but as I take inventory of my injuries, I find they really don’t hurt so much. The medicine must be doing its job. I use Mr. Perry’s phone after class to call my mom and tell her I’m doing fine and that I’m going to stay and get a ride home from Tori.