You're Not in This Alone

We all fell asleep quickly that night. After a quick kiss, Gerard was out cold. Sarah had fallen asleep even before that. It didn’t take me much longer.

In the middle of the night I awoke to Gerard mumbling my name. I opened my eyes, and even though it was too dark to see I knew he was still asleep. He was dreaming about something; probably about me. He sounded urgent when he said my name. It made me worried, but I knew better than to wake him up in the middle of a dream. I had a feeling it would be bad.

So I took his hand in mine and waited. I was glad I couldn’t see the look on his face. It was bad enough to have to listen to his pain, but watching it would’ve been too much.

“It’s too hot,” he whimpered. “Ebony, I know they’re lying.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine and reached the tips of my fingers and toes. I knew he was dreaming about the fire again. And he was also dreaming about me at the same time.

Suddenly his eyes shot open. When he felt my hand, he let out a long breath. I kissed him and felt something wet on his cheek. I pulled away abruptly in surprise. A tear? That scared me more than anything else. He hadn’t cried at all yet through this whole ordeal. What terrible thing – more terrible than anything that had already happened – had he dreamt about?

I opened my mouth to ask him. Before I could make a sound, my mouth clamped shut. I hadn’t told it to, but some instinct – an impulse stronger than any I’d ever felt before – overpowered my will. I tried once more, and it happened again. I panicked.

A strange serenity tried to wash over me then, but it felt fake; it was too sweet. I knew then that I couldn’t ask Gerard what he had seen in his dream because he wouldn’t be able to tell me. Something had already made up his mind not to.

I feel back down on the bed, feeling defeated. In a small voice, I asked, “Why can’t you tell me what you dreamt about?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, avoiding the question. “Ebony, I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“I know.” My voice cracked. “It’s not your fault.”

And so began the first and last thing Gerard intentionally kept from me. Although I knew it wasn’t his fault, it sent pain down all of my nerves, and I started to shake. We weren’t supposed to keep things from each other. We never had before, and I already despised it.

I started shaking, and I wondered if I was having a panic attack. Gerard pulled me on top of him and stroked my hair. The alien serenity in me that was trying to take over scared me more than helped me. I kept shaking, and I eventually got too exhausted to stay awake, but I think Gerard did. My dreams weren’t nice the rest of that night.

When I woke up I was still scared, but the calmness had finally defeated the panic I’d been trying to hold on to because I’d found comfort in the fact that the panic seemed to be my own. I felt as if serenity was being forced upon me. So I was ready for the day.

Gerard’s eyes begged me to trust him, and so I did. But now that there was something between us, it was hard to think about anything else.

While some of us made breakfast, some helped Shelby and Leo work on the generators. By the time we were eating breakfast, every house we were currently using had power.

When Sarah approached me and asked me why I was acting so strange, I waved her away and told her I was tired. Everyone, including Shelby and Leo, looked to me for direction. And, surprisingly, I had a direction to point them to. A very definite direction.

“We’re going to find more people today,” I told them. They looked surprised. “We’ll split up into three groups and teleport to three different places. There are people in Oregon, Colorado, and Texas. It’ll know what city they’re in when we finish breakfast.”

I was done talking, but they kept looking at me like they were expecting more. “I don’t know!” I exclaimed irritably. “That’s all I know for now!”

Gerard flashed me a concerned look. At least I knew he still cared about me. The others left me alone from then on.

After breakfast I took a deep breath. Turning to Nadia and Ethan, I asked, “What information do you need to teleport somewhere? I mean, if I told you to teleport to a city in Oregon, would you be able to do it without knowing what part of Oregon the city is in? Can you do it with just a name?”

Nadia nodded. “We only need a name.”

I nodded back. I turned to the others. “Ethan, Leo, and Shelby, you’re going to Elgin, Oregon. Ethan will teleport you there. When you get there, you’ll be looking for a boy and a girl in their early teens. I don’t know their names or what they look like, but you’ll find them.”

“Lance and Miranda, you’ll go with me to Berryville, Texas. We’ll find a boy and a girl in their mid teens. Nadia will have to teleport us there, and Lance will be able to tell her when we’re ready to come back.”

“Nadia, you’ll take Gerard and Sarah to Aspen, Colorado. You’ll find a boy there. He’s been all alone, and he’s only Sarah’s age. Is everyone ready?”

They stared at me like everything I’d just said had gone in one ear and straight out the other. I bit my lip.

“How does she know these things?” Shelby asked in awe. She didn’t direct her question to anyone in particular.

“How do you turn into animals?” I countered. Without waiting for her to answer, I continued, “Come on. We’ll all be back by dinner. Lance, warn them we’re coming to get them, and then let’s get going.”

Lance blinked. I almost screamed in frustration, but after about a minute I heard his voice in my head. If you’re still out there, listen. There are nine of us here in Catskill, New York now. We have a fast way of transportation. If you live in Oregon, Texas, or Colorado, three of us will come and get you today. Don’t be scared. We want to help you. We’re all really just kids too. He looked over at Leo and Shelby, but they didn’t object. They knew he was right.

Ethan walked up to Shelby and Leo and touched their shoulders. After he met Nadia’s gaze, they disappeared.

“Ready?” Nadia asked the rest of us.

“Wait,” Gerard said. He walked over to me and took my hand, pulling me up. “I love you,” he murmured. “Please don’t forget. You can’t.”

“I won’t forget,” I breathed. “I promise.” But a part of me knew that my chest was hurting so much because we loved each other and something was driving a wedge between us. I almost wanted to forget.

Gerard let go of my hand. The rest of them were looking at us worriedly, especially Sarah. We ignored them, and Nadia put her hand on Sarah’s shoulder.

The scene around me disappeared. I was suddenly standing next to Lance and Miranda in a city. The air was hotter and drier.

“Where do we start looking?” Miranda asked.

“We don’t,” I replied. I felt the presence of not only Lance and Miranda, but also of two other people. “They’re right behind us.”