Chapter 12

I don't know what I expected but it didn't happen. He just lay there, not breathing, his heart stopped. We did all the usual tests as soon as he died. I laid my head on his chest for over a minute, listening for a heartbeat. Bev was checking for a pulse on both his wrist and his neck while I was doing that. After a time, she pulled out a mirror (it wasn't on the list but women always have mirrors and Kleenex) wiped it off on her shirt, then held it near his nose for a minute or two. It was just as clear when she pulled it away as it was when she started.

People have different ideas about death. Some shiver at the very mention of the word, others feel uncomfortable in the presence of a body, others are hardly affected at all. I think the two of us were normally in the "I'd rather not be around it" category.

It felt strange to me, but it didn't even bother me that he was dead. It seemed the same with Bev. I thought maybe this was how my sister felt when my wish for her not to be able to talk of this place or my abilities kicked in. Like there should be something there, I should be doing something about this but I didn't. The two of us did what tests we could to verify what we saw was true, then accepted it. Both of us had done youth CPR courses yet neither of us thought to apply it.

When she took the mirror away, Bev said, "I guess we should cover him up."

I helped her with his sleeping bag, draping it over him, including his face.

We got our own bags and spread them out in our alcove. We zipped down one side, across the bottom and a couple of feet up, leaving an opening for us to get in when we were ready. It was mid afternoon and was still light enough to see. I put the radio-light outside to get some sun while Bev started the water going for more coffee. We took our cups back to our alcove and sat on the sleeping bags.

"Did you go through this when you were here?" she asked me.

"God, Bev, I wish I knew. I have no idea what happened. What I remember is soaking my frostbitten foot in the pond, then pouring some of the water on the infected wound on the back of my leg. I may have drunk the rest of the water in the boot then, I'm not sure. I do know I drank some of the water. For all I know, I could have gone into a coma or died and little green men picked me up, transported me to their ship and injected me with nanobots. That would explain the absence of body wastes when I woke up."

"Well, we'll have to keep an eye out for little green men."

"Bev? Shouldn't we be panicking or crying or want to move the body away from us or something?"

She thought about it as if it wasn't anything personal, like, shouldn't these trees have moss on them?

"Yeah, I think we should," she finally answered. "But it doesn't bother me. Something tells me we just need to leave him back there near the pond and let whatever happens happen. I don't think it's going to be anything bad or weird. I do feel that if there's something we should do, we'll know about it and want to do it."

"Yeah, that's about the way I feel about it. I was thinking, I bet this is the way Vicky feels because of that wish I made to keep her quiet. Which means there's someone or something out there who can do the same thing I've been doing. Oh, I'm sure whoever it is is a lot better at it than I am. And whoever it is could make it so we had no idea we were being influenced if he wanted. It's like he's letting us keep that awareness for a reason."

"What reason would that be?"

"I think it's like a training thing. Maybe I went out to study and I'm back on an apprentice program or an internship. Or advanced training."

We talked until the sun started to go down, my father's body less than a dozen feet away from us, covered in a sleeping bag. I went out and got the radio-lamp and Bev found something for dinner. We were both ready for something other than coffee so she poured a packet of lemonade mix into one of the canteens and I got to shake it for a couple of minutes.

We ate and we talked and we had lemonade. We were both tired after getting up so early and our hike. Our dishes went in the ice chest for washing when we went to the river.

We got out of our clothes and Bev went over to the pond and dipped her mug in the water.

I checked Dad real quick. He wasn't as gray as he'd been and, though colder than normal, wasn't as cold as I expected a corpse to be. There were no signs of rigor that I could detect.

Bev was sitting on the sleeping bag, leaning against the wall.

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" I asked as she swallowed a mouthful of the water.

"I had this urge to," she said. "It's like something's pushing me to drink it, but I really want it, too."

She grimaced and grabbed her stomach with her free hand. Then she drank the rest.

Bev got in the sleeping bag first, ending up next to the wall. I got in and worked my arm under her head. I noticed a ten or fifteen degree temperature change underneath her. Her side was definitely hotter.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I just had a feeling that something wrong inside me."

"I notice it's a lot hotter on your side."

"Uh huh. It feels good. Maybe you should take your arm away."

I pulled it back and was going to say something about not being wanted but she was already asleep.

I leaned on my elbow and watched her. My enhanced vision made it just as easy as if it were during the day or the lamp was still on.

She looked peaceful and I'd never seen her more beautiful. She lay perfectly still, only moving when she breathed. It took a while for me to notice that her breathing had slowed way down. By the time it hit me, she was only breathing once every couple of minutes. Well, at least she hadn't died or whatever had happened to my father.

I slept well but I was lonely. I was less than a foot away from Bev but something had kept me from touching her.

In the morning, when I woke up, she still had that beautiful, relaxed look and her breathing was still slowed down. I was about to kiss her on the forehead when something stopped me. I got up and went outside to pee.

The sun was just up and it was still on the cool side. I felt good.

I ran down the hill and headed back the way we came. It wasn't long until I hit the river and not long after that till I found the shallows. I waded in, the water up to mid-thigh, then I sat down. It was cold but not freezing. It felt invigorating.

I rubbed my body all over, bathing in the clean water. When that was done, I dunked my head underwater and ran my fingers through it, then sat up, using the palms of my hands to clean the water off my face.

I got up and ran back to the cave. By the time I got there, I was dry.

I checked Bev and Dad. Both were pretty much as I left them. Dad didn't seem quite as gray as he had before we went to bed.

I put the water on and waited for it to boil. What's that saying? A watched pot never boils? Let's just say it takes a long time to boil water over a Coleman stove at this altitude. I suppose I could have wished it to go faster but that didn't seem like a good use for a wish. It's not like I was in any hurry. From the looks of things, I was on my own and finding things to keep me busy was a good thing. I would put on the water before my run and bath tomorrow, if there was one.

I had my coffee and some instant oatmeal. Both tasted especially good out here in the wilderness, after my run to the river.

Bev slept for five days. On the third day, she turned her head away from the wall. About a half hour later I could see her nose moving, like it itched. Shortly after that, it started dripping what looked like mucous only it was dark brown. It only came out of her left nostril, the one closer to the ground, and dripped onto the sleeping bag. Something told me to slide the bad down so she was over the sand. I did, and more of the slime fell onto the sand and disappeared. I got a little water from the pond and poured it on the drop that had hit the sleeping bag. It made a hissing sound and then it started to smoke or steam, like acid burning something. After a minute or so, it stopped. The sleeping bag was clean and dry, as if nothing had happened.