Chapter 5

  Eric Walker

  April

  Chicago. Springtime. Afternoon, after school, after remembering to pick up some ice cream for Leah on the way to her elementary school. In the shadows of tall buildings on a partly cloudy day, Eric Walker stepped out of the ice cream shop with a cup of the weekly weird flavor. He was a short kid with blonde hair and hazel eyes, in jeans and a blue t-shirt with a red jacket, who wore sunglasses on his face and headphones around his neck. They knew him by sight at the ice cream shop. He didn’t like ice cream.

  He scuffed his shoes on the sidewalk to make a simple rhythm with his steps, holding the cup of ice cream in front of him like a compass guiding his way, tapping his fingers on the paper cup, embellishing the rhythm. Distracted. Thinking about weekend plans, homework, where that fire truck was going.

  He passed by the park. People walked dogs in the brisk afternoon, sat on benches with coffees, herded small children. Eric was waiting for the stoplight to turn, tapping his foot to an imaginary beat, when he caught sight of a kid, probably three years old in a puffy blue coat, walking along the edge of a raised concrete embankment a yard off the ground.

  Eric saw it coming before it happened: the kid fell. The little guy just missed a step and dropped right down sideways onto the sidewalk. The kid was fifty feet away, too far for Eric to do anything about it, too far for Eric to catch him. Nevertheless, Eric had dropped the ice cream and got three steps into a running start by the time the kid hit the pavement. The child began crying; his parents materialized out of nowhere; Eric pulled to a stop when he was not even half, not even a third of the way there. And then he just stood there like an idiot while the streetlights changed and people glanced at him, the bawling child, the fallen cup of ice cream, while they went on their way.

  The parents’ full attention was on their kid, for which Eric was grateful. Awkward and unsure, he slunk back to where he had been standing, observed the cup of weird ice cream splattered onto the sidewalk. “Stupid,” he muttered.

  He disposed of the ice cream cup in a nearby garbage can, returned to the ice cream shop, and bought another. He arrived some minutes later at Leah’s elementary school, this time without making an absolute chump out of himself.

  School was over here, but a handful of children still scampered around, probably waiting to be picked up like Leah. She must have seen him arrive at the gate, because she met him just inside the entrance, suited up and ready to go. Eric’s adopted little sister was Korean. She was six years old, and starting to get a little obnoxious. She wore a blue coat and a fish-themed backpack, and she was holding some kind of craft project. Eric thought he knew what it was.

  She watched him arrive with a fiercely expressionless face, and they departed in silence. He offered his hand as they left the school together. “So,” he said. “What you got there?”

  She held it up, a boxy object made of glue, construction paper, and pipe cleaners. “It’s a radio tower,” she told him, confirming his suspicions.

  “I thought you grew out of the radio tower phase,” he said. “Don’t you have like ten of those back home?”

  “This one can get radios from the future. Is that for me?” She knew damn well the ice cream was for her.

  “Maybe,” he said. “I haven’t decided. Might give it to some random kid, or like a squirrel or something.”

  “What flavor is it?”

  “I don’t know, it’s like roast beef or old shoes or whatever. You know I go in there, I tell ‘em, ‘hey get me one for Leah,’ and they just go spelunking back in these frozen dairy catacombs of bizarro ice cream flavors that nobody else in the world wants.” His claim at ignorance was a lie; motivated by horrified curiosity, he always checked the weird ice cream flavor. Today it was pizza. He waited for her to stow the new radio tower in her backpack before handing down the cup of ice cream.

  It was a short walk from Leah’s school to their apartment. When they were almost there and Leah had gone through most of her pizza-flavored ice cream, she said, “Let’s play a game.”

  “What game?”

  She turned to stare up at him with the most serious countenance Eric had ever seen. This was her default expression. “Let’s play All the Cars.”

  “Is this like the one where you pretend to have all the elephants in the world? But with cars this time?”

  She nodded. “All of them.”

  The problem with Leah’s games was that Eric had no idea how to play them. “Uh, maybe later.”

  Into the building, up the elevator to the ninth floor, and down the hall to their apartment. “Got something for you,” he told Leah as they entered. She must have been able to tell from his tone what it was, because she dropped her backpack, hurried to the cluttered table, and scrounged around in the mess until she found a pencil.

  Eric dug around in his backpack, found his algebra homework, and slapped it down in front of her. “Have fun.”

  He used to feel guilty, not to mention a little embarrassed, about having his six-year-old little sister do his high school math homework. Those feelings had not lasted long. For one thing, she liked doing it; it was a game for her. For another thing, fuck homework. He already knew how to do it, mostly.

  She was probably going to end up doing college-tier math soon. Would she be in university classes? Getting some kind of degree before she could even spell the word “calculus?” Eric didn’t know. It was “in discussion” between their parents and a school advisor. Apparently, she might even spend part of the year in some special school outside Chicago. Eric hoped not.

  He left Leah at the table, grabbed a soda, and settled down at the desk in his room. He cracked the can, took a sip, and set it in a clear spot among the tangle of wires covering the left side of his desk. These wires connected his computer to the keyboard, and both of these to the amp on the floor, and all three of these to a small mixer/soundboard, and all of the above to an electronic drumkit over on the far end of the room. And of course all this shit had to be plugged in. His room was a catastrophe of wiring, like someone had just gone nuts spraying around black silly string.

  He had shoved the bed into a corner as far as it could go. The desk took center stage, surrounded by all the above-mentioned musical paraphernalia. The swiveling black office chair stood like a throne in this miniscule kingdom of technological chaos. Eric spent a lot of time in this chair, and often he repositioned it in front of the drumkit or the keyboard. Other items of interest in this small, cluttered room included a basketball, a pile of military recruitment brochures, a Frisbee, a wall chart of chords and chord progressions, some low-level piano books gathering dust in a corner, a strange assortment of metronomes, a coat rack with a collection of hats and jackets, and a number of crayon and fingerpaint drawings (not his) scattered here and there on the walls. These small works of art shared equal honor with the larger and admittedly superior paintings Eric had received over the years from Jimothy.

  Eric spent some time on non-math homework before he got bored and opened one of his recent digital music projects. He was contemplating the indecipherable muddle of layers when a voice spoke behind him.

  “Eric.”

  Eric swiveled around to face the door. His adopted little sister stood there. “Leah, I told you to knock.”

  “I did knock. You were talking to yourself.”

  “Okay. Well, I’m busy. Leave me alone.”

  “You’re not busy; you are just listening to music.” She handed over the completed homework. It was a mess. She had doodled random shapes and indecipherable images all over the margins. Eric had learned early on to grab two copies of his math homework. All he had to do was transcribe.

  “Is there more?” Leah asked.

  “Nah, just play the math game on the tablet. It’s on the counter.”

  A sound came from his computer, alerting him that someone had messaged him. He swiveled back around to check it out. “Buzz off, Dragonfly. I’m busy.”

  She made an annoyed noise and slammed his door. Eric shook his head as he read Kate’s message.

  KC: yo! what up dog?

  KC: sorry

  KC: dawg

  KC: :)

  EW: don’t do that

  KC: aight homie

  KC: for shizzle

  EW: no

  EW: stop

  KC: hehehe :)

  EW: thats not even how I talk

  KC: it so is!

  EW: negatory

  EW: i have never said for shizzle

  EW: ever

  KC: oh, are you TOO COOL?

  EW: you know it

  EW: too cool for school

  EW: the educational establishment cannot deal with this excessive cold front moving in

  EW: its all like whoa step off dude you better get outta here this place is fucking frigid

  KC: sooo cooool!

  KC: bro! ;)

  EW: bro is fine i say bro all the time

  EW: so what’s up?

  KC: I have exciting news! you’ll never guess!!!

  EW: well?

  KC: you’re not even going to try guessing?!

  EW: why would i you literally just said i wouldnt guess

  KC: I’m not telling you until you at least try

  EW: fine

  EW: my guess is that your uncle finally cracked and blew up a city or something

  KC: that is NOT FUNNY

  KC: and that would be horrible if it did happen!

  EW: but exciting

  KC: >:(

  KC: the news is that you get to see Heidi!!

  EW: is this some april fools shit

  EW: cause just let me say

  EW: i had more than enough of that shit from Isaac the other day

  KC: didn’t we all?

  KC: WHAT WAS WITH THE TURTLE?!?!

  KC: 8|

  EW: the fuck is that emote

  KC: trying to roll my eyes :p

  EW: lame

  KC: you’re just mad you got pranked by Isaac!!

  EW: youre just mad you cant spam emotes in this new chat client

  KC: no, I just have to be MORE CREATIVE

  KC: ;)

  EW: winky face?

  EW: thats not creative thats just basic level one shit

  KC: >;(

  EW: thats better

  KC: ?:]

  EW: what

  KC: :^)

  EW: this is too stupid

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  KC: =O

  KC: you try one!

  EW: no

  KC: Eric you are being a STICK IN THE MUD

  KC: >:|

  EW: @#^%$!

  KC: your emote game is peculiar! It could use some improvement

  EW: ok im out

  KC: HEIDI IS GOING TO CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  EW: damn chill

  EW: that is pretty cool though

  EW: i havent actually talked to her that much

  EW: shes coming to chicago?

  KC: yes!

  KC: you’re going to meet up

  EW: ok cool

  EW: so was that like

  EW: a directive or a prophecy

  KC: don’t be silly, Eric! Of course it’s going to happen!

  KC: it will be

  KC: ...

  KC: exciting!!!

  EW: wow fuck that sounded kind of ominous

  EW: but ok

  EW: when is she coming?

  KC: she’ll land in three days

  KC: and something interesting is probably going to happen then too :o

  EW: what

  KC: when she gets there you should share your sick jamz

  EW: my ill beats?

  KC: your unwell tunes

  KC: your most afflicted flows

  EW: but really whats going to happen in three days

  KC: I don’t know!

  KC: :(

  KC: but it is something important!

  KC: and we’re all part of it! Heidi too

  KC: so you take care of her okay mister?

  EW: ok but is her dad guy coming?

  KC: her dad guy has a name! >:|

  EW: yeah shepherd or something right?

  KC: *Sheppard

  KC: ^spelled like that

  KC: and he’s not her dad!

  EW: yeah but hes like a total badass

  KC: yeah he is!

  KC: but he won’t be there

  KC: at first

  KC: in fact

  KC: he’ll be in danger!

  EW: yeah see this is what I mean like how do you know that

  EW: will I be danger?

  KC: I don’t knoooow!!

  KC: maybe

  KC: <:(

  EW: cool

  EW: im all about that danger

  EW: shady guy on the street corner says to me

  EW: ‘hey kid how bout some danger?’

  EW: im like hell yeah ill take like six

  KC: SIX danger?!?!?!

  EW: for shizzle

  KC: 8O

  KC: so coooooool

  KC: ;)

  EW: ok well thanks for letting me know

  EW: gotta go whip up some sick jams for heidi

  KC: !!!

  KC: send them to me when you’re done!!

  EW: duh youre like my biggest fan

  KC: <3

  KC: see you later!

  EW: see ya

  Eric leaned back in his chair.

  Heidi coming? Three days? Danger? Cool. He could skip school, no problem. Did Heidi go to school? Based on what little he knew of her, he sort of doubted it. He pictured her Tarzan-ing it up on some wild jungle island while also being some kind of legit hacker. Like swinging from a vine with one hand while typing super fast on a holographic keyboard with the other and walking a secret agent through disarming a nuclear bomb on her cool headset. That was probably Heidi exactly. Yeah.

  He should text her to find out when her flight arrives, be a gentleman and wait for her at the airport. Eric got the vibe that this Sheppard guy would go all Liam-Neeson-from-Taken if anything were to happen to Heidi. Eric wanted to meet him, despite some preemptive intimidation.

  He swiveled to face his keyboard. He had only started mixing music a couple years back, but he thought he was getting pretty good at it. At least, he almost believed his friends when they told him they actually liked to listen to it. So he may not be some genius musician like Isaac, or an artistic savant like Jim, or some kind of Young Stephen Hawking or whatever like Kate, but he must be improving. Even Leah liked his music. His parents…they hadn’t listened to it much as far as he knew, or provided much in the way of feedback. They weren’t around too often.

  Eric rolled over to his workstation, a cobbled-together mess of wires and digital mixing devices centered around his keyboard, and got to work. He had learned most of what he knew by watching such YouTube legends as Ronald Jenkees. Unfortunately, the keyboard of a piano remained daunting. He was a drummer, and as such, his compositions were typically rhythm-heavy. Just the way he liked it.

  That evening he wrapped up a pretty simple song he had been working on. He posted it to YouTube and made sure to send Kate the link. Kate really did seem to be his biggest fan. She seemed to be everybody’s, actually. He had never met or seen her, but there was something strange going on, because he was pretty sure he had encountered her in his dreams the other day. He rarely remembered his dreams, but this one had stuck with him.

  Danger, she had said. Danger, but no specifics. Not helpful.

  He ended up staring at the paintings on his wall, which gave him an idea. If anyone knew about bizarre happenings that may or may not be actually real, it was Jim. He shot Jim a message, and Jim answered back almost immediately.

  EW: been having some crazy dreams jim

  JW: I know!

  EW: oh no not you too

  EW: wait you mean you’ve also been having crazy dreams

  EW: like in addition to myself

  JW: Yeah that

  EW: good i thought you were pulling a kate on me

  EW: bein all up in my business mysterious like

  EW: telling me what I ate for breakfast

  EW: how many fruit loops were in my bowl

  JW: She does that?

  EW: nah

  EW: she just does lame stuff like give ominous hints about possible future danger

  EW: anyway

  EW: jim you always have crazy dreams

  JW: yeah

  EW: remember how you got all mixed up in banana quest?

  JW: haha! yeah

  EW: well just let me tell you

  EW: a couple times now

  EW: i think ive been seeing kate in my dreams

  JW: That’s not so weird. I see her sometimes too.

  EW: im not talking about the crazy dreams you have

  EW: im talking im having just a normal dream right

  EW: and boom theres kate

  EW: like not even part of the dream but just dropping by to check it out you know?

  JW: But I thought you’ve never even seen her? How do you know what she looks like?

  EW: thats the thing its straight up fucking uncanny

  JW: Uncanny?

  EW: as uncanny as an empty vending machine jim

  JW: Haha!

  EW: wait how do you know what she looks like

  JW: I have an idea. You tell me what she looks like and then if it matches what I see then we’ll know its really her

  EW: yeah youre right

  EW: ok so

  EW: when I see kate shes like this cute girl with round glasses and long black hair and always wearing like a colorful dress

  and this complexion like shed explode into flame if she saw the fucking sun

  EW: and of course shes all laughing and hyper

  EW: thats a dead giveaway

  JW: Yeah, that’s her

  EW: damn it

  JW: What’s wrong? Don’t you like Kate?

  EW: of course i do

  EW: i just dont want to deal with the fact that i might be seeing her, like the real her, in my dreams

  EW: between your paintings and her psychicness or whatever ive got enough weirdness in my life

  EW: oh yeah and elizabeths demon cat

  JW: I think it’s a lynx

  EW: i think its creepy as hell

  JW: That’s probably why Callie doesn’t visit you.

  EW: wait does she visit you? out in LA?

  JW: She did once but Hazel chased her around and she doesn’t like that.

  EW: i bet leah would like seeing callie

  EW: shes into cats

  JW: Eric?

  EW: still here bro

  JW: I think something is about to happen.

  EW: yeah?

  JW: I have been having nightmares. I keep dreaming that everything’s going to be in danger and on fire and the sky is breaking and a scary man is following me

  EW: did you t

  EW: fuck maybe you should talk to kate about it? she might know something

  JW: I did!

  JW: She said its all going to be okay. It made me feel better.

  EW: and then she backed up and unloaded a truckload of cryptic hints and vague admonitions?

  JW: I guess.

  EW: well you just let me know if a scary man actually does start following you

  EW: and michael obviously

  JW: Thanks Eric!