Chapter 23: Into the Unknown

Allison was out by the pool when I came home from school Tuesday afternoon. She was in her usual sun worshiping attire, apparently working on her homework. Her head was bobbing to the music on her CD player so she didn't hear me come in. I quietly set my things down and crept out the back door. Crawling as low as possible I made my way close up behind her. I lay down on the concrete, reached as far as I could under the chair and slipped my finger up through one of the gaps in the pattern of straps to tickle her along the edge where her suit met skin. She gave a shriek and flew out of the chair. There were paper, pens, and books flying every which way.

"Jimmy! That's not funny!" <<oops>> She was furious. "Don't you ever sneak up on me like that again!" She looked like she wanted to kill me. Her fist was clenched at her side and I was pretty sure that if it was anyone but me it would not have stopped there.

"Oh geez, sis, I'm sorry. I was just playing. I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Suddenly she was shaking and tears were coming to her eyes. I jumped up and took her in my arms. She sobbed against my chest for a couple of minutes then pulled back.

"I'm sorry," she said with a sniffle, "I didn't mean to react like that. I know you were just trying to play. It's just that with everything that is going on, I guess I've been more scared than I wanted to admit."

"Scared of what?"

"I don't know, everything, nothing. It's just this whole thing with you getting dragged off into someone else's dreams without any idea of what is going on. It scares me to think that someone knows about you, and we don't have any idea who, or how they found out, or what they want. Jimmy, I finally have you and now I'm afraid I'll lose you." She started crying again, clinging to me tightly.

All I could do was to stand there, hold her, and stroke her hair. After a few moments I reached down and scooped up her legs, and then carried her into the house. I went to the living room to my mom's favorite chair. It was one of those rocker-recliners. I just dropped down into it and continued holding her and rocking her as she cried herself out. I hadn't even noticed but apparently she had been holding this in for a while, never a good idea when playing with emotions. Always best to let them out and deal with them in the open. Slowly the shaking and sobbing stopped and she fell into a light sleep. I just sat and held her and thought about what she had said. Right then I determined that one way or the other, I was going to find out who was behind these events.

Allison woke up after just a few minutes. She stirred and looked around as if to remember where she was.

"I'm sorry, Jimmy," she said, trying to sit up.

I held her firmly where she was. "Why? Did you do something bad?"

"I got you all soggy." She plucked at my shirt for emphasis.

"It's just a shirt, it'll dry, and it's not like you're going to stain it. Besides, I started it."

"No you didn't, you were just trying to play and I over-reacted. You couldn't know."

"But I should have known," I said, and this time I sat her up so I could look her in the eye. "Allison, next time something is bothering you, tell me. Even if I can't do anything, I don't want you to feel like you have to handle it all by yourself. I'm always here for you, just like you are for me. That being said, there are a couple of things I need to talk to you about."

She laid her head back down on my chest. "Okay. Like what?"

"I'm going to try to go through the other door tonight."

"Yeah, I figured you would be. Not that it would be tonight, but I knew it was just a matter of time. That's probably what's been making me so scared. Knowing that the only way to find out what is going on is to pursue it and either look for clues or hope to get lucky. Just be careful. First thing when you go in, I want you to try to come back out."

"That's pretty much the plan. Go in, come out, if that all goes well, go back in and see what is on for tonight and if I can pickup any information. And I promise I'll be careful. Try not to worry. Do you want me to try and leave from the glade?"

"I don't think you can. That's not where the door is."

"Yeah, there is that."

Then it was time to get up and start the evening routines, do the homework, set the table for dinner, start the laundry I had set aside this morning. Dinner was a reflection of the rest of the day. Before I even thought I was ready, it was time. I lay in the darkness of my room trying to relax and prepare for what lay ahead. Allison had wanted to be with me but knew that she was more likely to be a distraction and keep me from sleeping. Especially given her level of anxiety. I had gotten used to falling asleep with her snuggled to my side. Even though we didn't do it every night, I still missed her when she wasn't there. I eventually went back to the old trick of thinking about my social studies class.

It worked, as usual, and once again I was standing in my room, facing an unknown doorway. I stepped past it to my bedroom door and out into the glade. Allison was there. She watched as I tried concentrating on the mystery door. Nothing. Apparently I had to enter the door from where it appeared. I kissed her cheek and stepped back through to my room. My ring had gone from here to gone in the glade, somehow it didn't seem to matter how I got to the glade, it was still Allison's dream and the ring disappeared. I felt the weight return as I stepped back to my own room. So this was definitely my own dream. I took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped across the threshold.

My ring faded out again and I found myself in a small glass-walled cubicle. The outer office was the usual scene of controlled mayhem one would expect in a busy environment. Fortunately, the glass did a pretty good job of sound-proofing and it was quiet in the small room. I was looking past a woman working through a stack of files from just behind her. I was pretty sure I knew who it was. The phone rang and she answered, "Hampton" in a crisp professional manner.

"Yeah, I'm just finishing up the file now. Go ahead and send him up, it'll be ready by the time he gets here. Yeah, I know, it's nothing personal, standard procedure, blah, blah, blah. Just let me know when I can go back to work. I've got bad guys to catch. Thanks. Hey, how's your mom doing? She get through that surgery okay? That's great... She's still the same, no change but you know me; I'm not giving up on her. The doctors still don't know what to think, the EEG keeps changing so there is something going on in there. I'm going to go up this weekend and spend some time with her... Yeah, I know, kind of a one sided conversation but I actually get to work through a lot of issues that way. I'll tell her you asked."

She hung up the phone and the scene froze, even the activity in the outer office stopped. I looked around to see what may have caused it. I stepped past the desk and turned to look once again at the face of Special Agent Rebecca Hampton. She was wearing a simple cream colored turtleneck shirt with long sleeves over a pair of khaki colored slacks. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face as she worked. I assumed her gun was in the desk somewhere. I sat down in one of the chairs facing her and just looked at her.

I almost jumped out of my skin when a voice said, "She's my sister."

There, sitting in the chair next to mine was the girl from the bus stop on Rodeo Drive. She looked just as I remembered; seven or eight years old, shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing the same white dress trimmed with pink ribbon, and black patent leather shoes with white socks accented in pink to match the dress.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. I'm not very good at this. Not like you," she said.

This gave me time to recover some sense of composure. "She's your sister?"

"Yes. That's my big sister. I miss her a lot. Do you like her?"

I just stared for a second. It didn't appear that she was suddenly going to grow fangs. Could this little girl actually be the person behind all this?

"Well, I don't know, I don't really know her. I'm sorry," I said holding out my hand. "I'm James Edward Matthews, but you can call me Jimmy. What's your name?"

She smiled and shook my hand. It was a typical little kid handshake; she just took it and pumped it up and down once. "I'm Amy, Amy Lynn Hampton."

"Well it's very nice to meet you Amy Lynn Hampton. Are you the one who has been showing me things about Rebecca?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry for scaring you. And I'm really sorry for scaring Allison. I didn't mean to scare anyone. Would you tell her I'm sorry?"

"Can't you tell her?"

"No," she said sadly. "I can't go places like you. It's really hard just to do this stuff. I can't go to other people's places the way you can. I mean, I can go some places, but it hurts if I try to do it too much. It's easier if you are there though. But I can't go to other people's places even if you are there."

"Then how do you know Allison was scared?"

"I don't know. I just do."

I should have known. "But you were on Rodeo Drive." I pointed out.

"Where?"

"Rodeo Drive, I was there with Allison looking for something."

"Oh, the shopping street. That was a nice place. But it hurt a lot to be there." Her eyes clouded for a moment, "I don't want to do that again."

"I'm sorry it hurt, Amy, is that why you ran away?"

"Yes, I really just came to see you and once I did that I didn't want to stay anymore. So I went away so it wouldn't hurt. By then I already knew you were the right one so I didn't need to stay."

"I'm the right one? What am I the right one for?"

"To stop the bad man."

"Really? What bad man is that?" This was getting interesting.

She looked kind of sad for a second, "I don't know. I don't know who he is or why he is a bad man, but you can stop him. Rebecca can help. So you needed to meet her and stuff because you two are the only ones that can stop him."

"Stop him from what?"

"Hurting more people?"

"He hurts people? And you think we can stop him, your sister and me?"

"Yes! You have to stop him, Jimmy. He's a really bad man and if you don't, something terrible will happen!" She was getting very agitated now.

"What will happen?"

"I don't know, but it's really, really, bad."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it. Do you know who he is going to hurt?"

"Girls."

"He hurts girls?"

"Yes, he hurts them a lot. Lots and lots and no, no, you have to make him stop, you have to make him stop... stop him..." Her eyes were closed and she started shaking her head back and forth, she was covering her ears with both hands and getting louder and louder, practically hysterical, "Make him stop! Make him stop!"

I grabbed her and hugged her close to me, "Amy! It's okay, Amy!"

She threw her arms around my neck and sobbed. "Please make him stop, Jimmy. Please?"

I held her to me until she recovered and then released her as she started to pull away.

"Are you okay now? What happened?"

"Yes," she said with a little sniff, "I'm okay. Sometimes I hear them screaming. Will you stop him, Jimmy?"

"I'll try, Amy; is that what I need to meet your sister for?"

"Yes, she can help you. You can't do it by yourself; you need her. And she needs you. She will want to do it by herself but you can't let her. Promise me you won't let her do it by herself, okay?" She suddenly sounded very anxious.

"Will something bad happen if I don't help her?"

Tears started forming in her eyes. She looked away from me and nodded her head.

"Amy, will Rebecca get hurt if I don't help her?" Again she nodded and I had to ask. "Amy? Will Rebecca die if I don't help her?"

She burst into tears and threw her arms around my neck again. "Help her, Jimmy. Don't let her die. I love her so much and I need her, Jimmy. If anything happens to her no one will read to me and I won't get better."

I pulled her into my lap and rocked her while I tried to get a grip on all that she was saying. "I'll try, Amy. I'll try to help her. I don't know what to do, but I'll try. Okay? I promise I will try." I paused for a second. "Amy, you said you can't get better without her. Are you sick?"

"Yes."

"What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask her. I just know I won't get better without her."

"Have you been sick for very long?"

"Really, really, long. I don't know what they call it, but it's when you sleep and sleep and you can't wake up."

She was in a coma! Somewhere this little girl's body was lying in a hospital, unconscious and unresponsive.

"Am I supposed to meet her here?"

"No silly, this is just a dream. You have to meet her for real. I have to go now, Jimmy. I can't stay here any longer." She climbed down out of my lap.

"Okay, but can I see you again?"

"Maybe, I'll try. But for now I have to go. Find Rebecca. Help her. Remember, you promised."

"I promised I would try, Amy. Are you going to be okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine. Rebecca's going to come and read to me. Tell her to bring one of the Narnia Books; those are my favorites! Bye." And she was gone. No doors, no fading away, she was just gone.

The scene in the room started moving again. Agent Hampton was putting some papers into a folder. As she closed it a young man opened the door to the office.

"Hello, Miss Hampton, er, Agent Hampton, er, Special Agent Hampton. They said you had a file I was supposed to pick up?"

"Yes, Paul, here you go."

"Thank you, Miss... uh. How's your sister doing?"

A cloud seemed to pass over Rebecca's face. "Paul? Did they tell you to ask me that?"

"Uh, yes ma'am."

"Paul, I'm going to give you some advice. Don't ever ask a field agent, or a former field agent, a personal question about any subject that they have not brought up and discussed with you personally in the past. Do you understand that?"

Paul stopped and thought about it for a second. It was clear he was unsure of what to think.

"Paul, you don't ever get personal with a field agent unless they do it first. You can talk about yourself and your life all you want, but don't ask about them unless they bring something up. You never know when you will hit a really bad spot, like you just did. You don't know me, you don't know my sister, and, until I say otherwise, it's none of your business. Now do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm really sorry. I didn't know." He was practically tripping over himself apologizing.

"That's okay, Paul. You didn't know any better. But the people who told you to ask do know better. Keep that in mind next time they give you advice."

You could see the muscles in his jaw tighten. "I will definitely keep that in mind. Thank you, Agent Hampton. Will you require anything before I leave?"

"No, that will be all." Then she stopped him as he went through the door. "Paul?"

"Yes, Miss Hampton."

"Amy's doing fine. I'm going to see her this weekend. Thank you for asking. I'll tell her you said hi."

You could see his face light up and he stood about six inches taller. "Thank you, ma'am, I'm glad to hear she is doing well."

The scene froze again but Amy did not reappear. I started to open the office door, but decided to try something else. I closed my eyes and pictured the glade. When I opened my eyes, I was in the glade exactly as I had pictured it. I was just inside the door I normally entered through. I stepped past the hedge and Allison was waiting on the blanket reading what appeared to be a textbook. She looked up as I approached, then set the book down and stood to meet me. Without a word she moved into my arms and hugged me.

"I'm glad you're okay. How did it go? Did you find anything out?"

"I'm fine. Sit down; this is going to take a while." I went through the whole conversation with Amy. As usual she sat quietly through the whole explanation before responding.

"A little girl? All of the stuff that has been going on was done by an eight-year-old girl?"

"Well, I'm guessing at the age, but that's about how old she looks. The outfit certainly matches. Oh, and she said she was really, really sorry for scaring you."

"Well, that was sweet of her anyway. And she says that there is a really bad man that is going to do some really bad stuff if you and her sister, the FBI agent, don't stop him?"

"Yeah."

"And that if you don't help her, this bad man is going to hurt and maybe even kill her sister?"

I sighed, "Yeah. That's what she said."

"And you believe her?"

"I think I do. You didn't see her, Allison, it was like she could see it in her mind, and hear it, like she was trying to block it out but couldn't. It really freaked her out, and watching it freaked me too. Regardless of what I think, she believes it."

"And you think she may actually be in a coma somewhere in 'reality'?"

"I'll have to ask Bob, but that's what it sounded like to me."

"Weird. So what do you think we should do?"

"I have no idea. So what were you doing when I got here?"

"Reading my history homework, I figured that I could do it now rather than wasting 'real' time."

"How can you read a history book 'here' if you haven't read it 'there'?"

"Well, I haven't 'read' it there, but I went through the whole book one page at a time, so my mind has actually 'seen' all the pages. So when I read it here, I already have the images to draw from. The real question is will I remember it when I wake up? I'll let you know how it goes. Are you going to go see Bob tonight?"

"No, I think I'll try to talk to him about it at lunch. Nice idea about studying though. Let me know how it works out, I may want to try it. Right now, I think I just want to lie down and relax and let my brain sort this all out. Want to join me?"

"I already have, I snuck in after you went off to explore behind the mystery door, but if you mean here. I'd like that too, your hammock or mine?" Hers turned out to be a lot nicer. What else is new? We just curled up together and enjoyed each other's warmth.

When I woke up back in my bed, it was like nothing had changed. There was Allison, spooned up against me. I tried not to wake her as I got up for my morning routine but it was no use. She lay and watched me get dressed. I kissed her lightly before heading off to the bathroom, and then out to run. Since making the Cross Country team I'd decided I needed to start working a little more. No more 'wake up' runs. I was running at least two tracks each morning. This put the shortest run at four and a half miles and could go as high as nine depending on which ones I combined. I decided to start out slow and only run the longer combinations on weekends. At first I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up, especially since I now ran after school with the team as well. And I certainly didn't want to run out of steam two miles from home and be late for school. Not to mention worrying the 'rents. This morning I ran six miles and by the time I got back I was sweating hard and my muscles were definitely awake. Not only awake, but protesting. I took extra time trying to cool down and stretch before heading inside to shower and change for school. I was already showered, dressed and coming out of my room when I ran into my dad just getting back from his run.

"Either you're getting faster or you didn't go very far this morning," he said. "Normally you're getting back about the time I leave."

"Both. I started a little early and I only ran six," I answered.

"Only six miles? Ah to be young again. Well, I need to hit the shower or I'll be late for work. See you tonight."

"Yeah, later."

As we turned to go our separate ways, the bathroom door opened and Allison came out. "Hi, Daddy!" She bounced up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Oooh, stinky."

"Love you too, Sunshine, and I was just on the way to fix that. See you in a few minutes."

Before I left for school, I called Bob and let him know I needed to talk to him. We agreed to meet at break to discuss events and then possibly at lunch to follow up. The morning passed quickly and I looked for him around the teacher's patio. As I was looking he walked up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped but then realized who it was.

"You're getting kind of jumpy. Normally I would take that as a bad sign. Convince me otherwise," he said. The smile did little to conceal the concern in his voice. We found a quiet table and I filled him in on the basics.