Twenty-nine
The subbasement of Armstrong High was filled with
soft sounds of motors humming and relays clicking. Mort locked them in a
tool crib, a wire mesh cage the size of a small room, then hurried away
without looking back.
"You're not going to get what you want from her!"
Rick called out after the boy. "She doesn't know how, Mort!"
Yelling hurt his bruised side. Mort slammed the
metal door closed at the top of the stairs. Rick sat on a tool box in the
middle of the floor and tried to ignore Becky pacing quietly behind him.
He didn't want to be told that the pain in his side wasn't real. He
didn't want to deal with any more white dogs, or orchids growing from the
walls. He wasn't certain he wanted to hear about how she had brought Mort
Braggs back to life.
After a time, Becky circled in front of him and
dropped to her knees. Always captivated by her exotic beauty, Rick was
focused on little else as she grew near. Incredibly, she reached out and kissed him on the
cheek. He
closed his eyes to savor the tender moment.
She followed the kiss on the cheek with a kiss on his
lips. It hardly qualified as a kiss of passion, more a warm promise of
friendship should he be interested. Only when she disengaged did he
discover that she had ulterior motives.
To begin with, he had reached
out and touched her with his bloodied hand. He snatched it back,
fearing he had stained her blouse. But his hand was clean.
"You wouldn't have done anything so dumb, would you?"
Becky whispered at him. "Grabbing that knife like that? You were
dreaming. At some deep level, I think we all realize that this isn't
for real."
He thought about it. It seemed entirely possible.
"Like my dog and the flowers," Becky said gently.
"If you let yourself get distracted by something nice, it goes away."
And when Marla had passed out, the crystal plating
had vanished.
A feeling of unreality washed over him like a dark
cloud. Rick edged away from Becky Marple and her scary magic tricks.
"You make happen what you believe in," Becky said.
"Good or bad, it works either way."
Becky turned in place and studied her surroundings.
"All of this is being fed into our minds. But it's all static. None of
it does anything. The only thing that has any power over us..."
"Is our beliefs and dreams," Rick said. "I take it
you've met the janitor."
Becky frowned. "Met who?"
"The janitor?"
Becky shook her head slowly. "I haven't met the
janitor. But I talked with Bobby Randolph. It might be the same thing.
If we have mentors helping us, then we can be sure that we're being monitored."
"I'd still like to know why this is happening." Rick
said.
"I don't know why," Becky confessed. "We may never
know until it's over."
"Are we supposed to end it? Is there something we're
supposed to do before we can get out of here?"
"We have to cooperate with each other. I'm sure
that's why there are four of us. Left by ourselves, we wouldn't stand a
chance."
Rick rose to his feet and shook the cage door in
frustration. "We're stuck in here because we believe we're locked in a
cage?"
Tears came to her eyes. "I know. I have the key,
but I don't know how to use it. I know how to believe. I don't know
exactly what to believe. And I'm scared, too, because we can hurt
ourselves. Maybe it's not really physical injury, but that doesn't make
it feel any better."
"At least we're safe locked in here."
"Mort and Marla aren't."
"Is it our responsibility to help them?"
"No, but do you want to just sit tight and not try?"
Sitting and doing nothing would wear on his nerves.
Becky put her hand on his arm. "I was never able to
do that before."
"What?" Rick said, frustrated by how easily Becky
could confuse him.
Becky gave him another kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, that."
She smiled and blinked away tears, but Rick
understood what it meant to a girl who had spent a lifetime avoiding being
touched.
"It wasn't so bad, was it?" Rick said.
"It didn't hurt a bit."
"When we get out of this, I'd like to be your
friend."
"I hope we can."
"What you said about memory webs scare me," Rick
said. "I'm scared of being here, and just as scared of what will happen
when it ends."
Becky struggled in silence with something she was
reluctant to voice.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I'm thinking there might not be an outside world to
escape to," Becky Marple said in a frightened whisper. "What if it never
ends?"
