Twinepathy (Parts 29 and 30): A Bit of A Surprise

Hullo, everyone! I hope you’ve had an enjoyable weekend! As you may have noticed from the title, I’m actually posting TWO parts today. This is happening for two reasons. First, yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the publication of Paralyzed Dreams!!!!! If you haven’t bought it yet, you should definitely go check it out and leave a review on Amazon or on Goodreads! The second reason is that Part 30 has a terrible cliffhanger… So my apologies. 😉 If you missed the part posted on Friday, you can see it here, and if you’re new, start at the beginning! 🙂

—-29—-

My fingers fly over the keyboard as I search for Keller Stone. There are a few options, but now that I know that Keller is a girl, I’m able to find the right one. And I’m astonished to find that she lives right here in town.

Perfect.

I’m about to hurry downstairs to get Denver when I realize he’s not here. No. I don’t want to let anyone else in on this, so how am I going to get there? I check the address. It looks like it’s within walking distance, but I need to check. I pull up a map and enter the address. Good, it’s pretty close, just past where I think the Lava Java café is. Perfect. Now I just have to get out of the house without getting stopped. I grab my shoes and wrack my brain for a good excuse.

“Where are you going?” Maddie asks, watching me in her perceptive way.

I pause. Again, Maddie can be my perfect excuse. “Would you like to do some shopping?” I ask.

She glances towards the door, towards Brooklyn. I don’t think I need anymore clothes.”

I grin. “Not that kind of shopping. I was thinking more like books or something. Whatever you want to look at.”

Maddie’s face lights up. “Sure, that would be nice.”

“Cool. Then go ahead and get ready to go. I’ve got a place we can walk to.” I grab my wallet. I can probably delay my investigation a little for a trip to the bookstore. And it’s a much better reason than just “going for a walk.”

After Maddie’s ready, I motion toward the door. “Let’s go, then.”

“We aren’t going to wait for Brooklyn?” Maddie asks.

I shake my head. “She’ll be in the shower for ages. And if she comes, you’ll probably end up with more clothes.”

Maddie smiles and follows me downstairs. Mom greets us as we pass through the living room. She’s doing something on the TV, probably setting one of her shows to record. “Going somewhere?”

“Just a little shopping,” I tell her.

“Without Brooklyn?” Mom asks, surprised.

I nod. “We’re not getting clothes, and she’s in the shower, anyway.”

“Well, be careful,” Mom says. “Make sure your phone’s on.”

I smile. “Got it. Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll be fine.” We’ll be fine while we’re shopping, but I’m a lot more worried about the meeting with Keller. What am I expecting to learn, anyway? She’s just a friend of Genesis. What would she know that could be helpful?

I shrug off my doubt and wave goodbye to Mom as Maddie and I leave. I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s all I have to go on right now, and I can’t let all my hard work go to waste, right?

—-30—-

Maddie and I have a lot of fun in my favorite bookstore. I point out some of my favorite books from when I was younger to Maddie, ad she gets a couple of them. I pick up a few for myself, too. After we pay, we go out and start walking towards Keller’s house.

“Where are we going?” Maddie asks.

I search for a non-dangerous answer. “I thought we’d stop at Lava Java,” I say, pointing at the building ahead. I’d never been there before Jen showed us – in fact, I’d never noticed it before.

“Sure,” Maddie agrees. We pick up the pace a little as we near the shop. I reach for the door handle, frowning at how dark the shop is. But when I tug on the handle, the door doesn’t budge.

“It’s closed!” I exclaim. I step back and notice there’s no sign. “That’s weird…” That’s something I will definitely be asking Jen about.

“I guess we won’t do that, then,” Maddie remarks. She looks curiously at the shop, then around the street.

I nod. “Guess not.” I pause, trying to find the best way to put this. “We can go visit someone I know while we’re in the area. I think she might like to meet you.” Probably a dead lie. But I can hope, can’t I?

Maddie looks up at me. “What are we really going to do, Albany?”

Caught. Maddie’s really perceptive for a little girl and an amnesia victim. Or maybe it’s because she’s a little girl and an amnesia victim. I sigh. “I’m trying to find the person who hurt Brooklyn.”

Maddie frowns. “But isn’t that what Jen is doing? Can’t you just let her find the person?”

I sigh again. “I could, I guess. But I don’t want to sit around doing nothing! I want to help.”

“You are helping,” Maddie says thoughtfully. “But anyway, I guess if you’ve gotten this far, you might as well keep going.”

I reach down and squeeze her little hand. She’s so young to be caught up in all of this. I’m so young to be caught up in all of this! “Thanks, Maddie. Let’s go.”

We head off down the street, our pace slowing as we get nearer to Keller’s house. What are we doing? Everything in me screams Run! Finally, we come to a stop in front of the house. It’s small, fairly nice, but plain. The most eye-catching feature is the motorcycle parked out front. Why does that scare me even more?

We walk up to the front door together, and Maddie grabs my hand. Somehow that gives me extra strength, and I reach up and push the doorbell.

There’s some shuffling noises inside, and the door is opened by a woman, who is clearly an older version of the Keller in the picture, right down to the bright red hair.

She starts when she sees me, surprised. “Well. You’re not Genesis.” Then here eyes flash down to Maddie and double in size. “Lila!” she cries before bending down and enveloping Maddie in a hug.

Twinepathy (Part 28): Monopoly And Bingo

Hullo, everyone! For once, I actually remembered to post an extra part on Friday like I wanted to! How awesome is that? Enjoy, my friends! Check out part one if you’re new.

After I recover from my laughing fit, I head upstairs to check on Brooklyn. The door’s still closed, but I’m pretty sure I hear her moving around inside, so I knock softly. “Brooklyn?”

I hear a muffled “come in,” so I open the door cautiously. Brooklyn’s shuffling through her drawer, trying to pick out her clothes. Her eyes are surrounded by dark shadows.

“Sleep good?” I ask, concerned.

She shrugs. “Good enough, but my head still hurts. I hope we’re not doing anything strenuous today.”

I smile. “Monopoly?”

“Mmm…” Brooklyn pauses, considering. “I don’t think that’ll be too strenuous, but I do think Denver will have a better chance of beating me than usual.”

“Actually, he already left with Ezra,” I say. Brooklyn’s expression darkens, and I hurriedly move on. “But we started a game, and Maddie seems to be a master already. I’m not sure you’ll be able to beat her.”

Brooklyn gives me a doubtful look, but I think she picks up on the challenge. She grabs her clothes and heads towards the door. “We’ll have to play, then.”

I grin to myself as she leaves and sit down at the computer. I pull up the same search I used to find Genesis and type in the name Keller. Generally, that’s not a common name at all – I’ve never met anyone with that name – but since I don’t have a last name, there are still a lot of options. I scroll through the list. Hundreds of people. How will I ever find the right Keller? I need more to go on. How can this guy be connected, anyway? It doesn’t help that this person could live anywhere. Genesis could know someone named Keller who lives in England, or India, or Russia, or some tiny country no one’s ever heard of.

Besides, how do I know that Genesis is telling the truth? Maybe she is the person, and the Keller idea is just a stupid red herring. I rest my chin on my hand, glaring at the computer. I feel like I’m missing something. Maybe… could Genesis be on some social media?

The instant the idea hits me, I flip over to a social media site and search for Genesis, only hoping that she’s on there under her real name and not some crazy username. No luck. But I do notice that you can search by location, so I do that. White Bluff is pretty small, so maybe…

Yes, it’s small, but pretty much everyone in town has a social media account, apparently. A lot of them can be ruled out, but it’s still not good enough. What am I supposed to do? I grab my hair and growl to myself.

Maddie wanders into the room. “Whatcha doing?” She peers over at the computer.

I shrug. Nothing really incriminating on the screen. “I’m trying to find someone, but all I have is their first name and the name of one of their friends. I’m not sure where they live, either.”

“Who is it?” she asks.

I tap a finger on the desk. “Someone named Keller.”

Something sparks in Maddie’s eyes for a second, something I haven’t seen on her face before. But it disappears, and she frowns at the computer. “I don’t know. You could ask Data or Volt to find it for you.”

She catches on quick. I shrug again. “I don’t want to bother them. It’s not that big of a deal. I just need to find him.”

Maddie pauses, and it looks like she’s struggling to think of something. “It… might not be a him,” she finally says, giving up. “Keller doesn’t have to be a guy name.”

I hadn’t considered that before. But that strikes another idea in my head. “What if he’s her husband? Or a relative?” I mumble, quickly returning to the search I used to find Genesis and add “Fabel” to the name Keller. A minute later, I growl and bang my fist on the table, immediately wincing. No results again.

But then I see it. A small link at the bottom of the search, where things are listed that are close, but not exactly right. It’s an old-ish newspaper article. I click on it. In the main picture, two women stand holding a trophy, smiling happily for the camera. One is clearly Genesis – same raven black hair and face. The other has bright red hair and a face that looks almost familiar, but I can’t place it. I look at the caption on the photograph.

Genesis Fabel and Keller Stone…

Bingo.

Twinepathy (Part 27): You Have No IDIA

Hullo, everyone! I hope you had a great weekend, and a wonderful Valentine’s day! I hope you’re enjoying all of the post-Valentine’s sales… Enjoy the part, and check out part one if you’re new.

The drive home is gloomy and quiet. Denver must be thinking about our failure, while I’m just trying to figure this puzzle out. I’m smart, you know. I might not be able to match up with Jen’s brains, but I’m not an idiot. Right now, though, I feel like one. Why can’t I figure this out?

Mom and Dad are up when we get home, and Maddie’s helping them make breakfast. Denver gives them our story: we wanted to go for an early morning hike, which we actually do sometimes. They accept it without questions. Brooklyn’s still asleep, and I don’t blame her. We’ve had a rough week, her most of all. She deserves the rest. But that also means that I can’t go on the computer and check out this Keller person. Everyone else is too touchy about their computers to let me use them, especially since that one time I accidentally deleted Dad’s important twenty-one page paper. And that was five years ago. Yeah, my family holds grudges.

I help my mom with a few little things around the house and then turn my attention to Maddie. I think it’s high time she learned how to play Monopoly. I mean, she’s been here for about a week already, and we haven’t played with her yet! It’s basically a family tradition. So I convince Denver and Dad to join us, and we sit down in the living room, ready to play.

We play for about an hour, with me helping Maddie. She’s far, far ahead of all of us when the doorbell rings. Denver shoots up and races to the door like he’s on fire. What is he…

Ohhh. When he opens the door, I hear Ezra’s familiar voice. No wonder he was so eager to get to the door. He didn’t mention that they had any plans today.

Denver brings Ezra into the living room. “Let me just go get my stuff,” he says, moving towards the stairs.

Ezra nods and sits down, giving us a shy smile. She doesn’t know Dad very well, I know that much, and she always seems to have a little trouble talking to adults. Dad says hello and chats politely with her before excusing himself and leaving. I lean forward, moving my game piece to Go. “Hi, Ezra. Had any good IDIAs lately?”

Ezra gives me a confused look, but then it dawns on her, and she gives me a nervous look. She looks around and then leans in. “Does… does your family know?”

I know what she wanted to ask. Does Denver know? I shake my head. “No.”

Denver walks back in. “Okay, I think I’m ready. Albany, I think I heard Brooklyn moving around. You can probably go check on her.”

Finally. It’s almost lunch time. I don’t think she’s ever slept in this late. I nod. “Okay, I will. Have fun, you two. Make sure your phone’s charged.” I wink at Ezra.

Ezra and Denver both give me odd looks, but Ezra’s has so much more meaning. The front door shuts behind them, and I burst out laughing. Maddie gives me that funny look little kids give grown-ups when they do something that makes absolutely no sense. “You’re weird.”

I laugh harder. “You have no IDIA.”

Out of Place – Part Two

The conclusion to the story of fantasy, time travel, and the differences between the past and the present. Click here for Part One. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think in the comments below.

It took us a while to get out of the woods, but when we did, we both were astonished. In front of us, to our left and in the distance, we saw a town that looked a lot like the pictures I’d seen of small colonial-period villages. Its small buildings, cobblestone streets, and horses trotting down the streets, pulling buggies, really surprised me. Kayley gripped my hand tightly.

“What’s going on here?” she whispered fearfully. I couldn’t help but feel a stab of fear, too.

“Let’s try to figure this out,” I said, trying to sound brave. “Why don’t we check out the town?”

“Okay,” Kayley replied. She followed me reluctantly down a dirt path, which the residents probably called a road. We passed a small two-story farmhouse where a lady was taking down her laundry. She spotted us and gasped.

“Girls!” she cried. “What are you thinking, going around in those?” She rushed over and handed both of us a skirt. “Keep them, and make sure to wear them!” The lady walked back to her laundry, muttering to herself and glancing back at us.

I glanced over at Kayley, who was slipping on the skirt over her jeans. It reached all the way to her ankles. I glanced down at my jeans. “What’s wrong with these?” I asked, insulted.

Kayley nudged me. “Don’t you get it? We’re in a different place or time or something. Girls don’t wear jeans here, they have to wear…”

“Skirts,” I finished, wrinkling my nose at the thick, heavy fabric in my hands. Sighing, I slipped it on. “Let’s go,” I told Kayley. We started off on the path to the town.

When we reached the town, we strolled along the sidewalk, trying not to stare at everybody and everything. We were getting quite a few stares and disapproving looks ourselves. I guess it was because of our mismatched clothing. We certainly did look out of place among the women with huge powdered wigs, and the men with long ponytails or wigs. The men and boys were dressed in knee breeches and horribly stiff-looking shirts, while the women and girls were wearing ankle-length dresses.

“This is so weird,” Kayley whispered in my ear.

“Yeah,” I whispered back. “It feels so awkward.” I grimaced when a snobby-looking woman glared at us. “Let’s go in this store.” I pushed Kayley into the building. An old gray-haired man stood behind the counter, rearranging the penny candy. He looked up as we entered the store, raising his eyebrows at our clothes.

“Millie!” he called into the back room. A tiny lady with gray hair pulled back in a tidy bun stepped out. A look of shock flew across her face when she saw us.

“Girls, do you need dresses?” she asked hurriedly. “I have two that you can have.” She did appear to be close to our size. I opened my mouth to turn her down anyway, but Kayley jabbed me with her elbow.

“Sure, we’d love some,” she agreed, giving me a warning look. I groaned inwardly. The lady led us to the back of the store, which was apparently where the elderly couple lived. The lady pulled out two checkered dresses and handed them to us. “You can change behind that curtain,” she told us, pointing. We both obeyed, ducking behind the long piece of fabric used as a makeshift curtain. I slipped into my dress, wishing I didn’t have to wear it. I spent most of my time in jeans or shorts, and I hated wearing skirts and dresses. I couldn’t help sending an unhappy glare in Kayley’s direction. Unfortunately, she didn’t notice. She was too busy swirling the dress’s long skirt.

“I love this dress!” she exclaimed. “I always wanted to wear an old dress!”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “You’ve always been the dressy type.”

Kayley laughed. “Come on, Syd, let’s go. We need to find out how to get home.” She pulled me out from behind the curtain.

“Right,” I agreed.

The old lady smiled at us. “Good,” she told us. “You girls look much better now.”

I gave her my most adorable smile, the one my mom calls my oh-you’re-so-sweet smile. Kayley calls it my fake-sincere smile. Probably because I only use it when I have to fake being sweet. “Oh, thank you so much!” I struggled to keep my smile pasted on. I was disgusted. “I was wondering, what town is this? We’re new here.”

“I could tell,” the old woman said, her eyebrows wrinkling. “It’s Canyon Creek.”

My eyes widened, and so did Kayley’s. That was the same town where our grandparents lived! But this was way different. Something weird was going on.

Kayley recovered from her surprise first. “Thanks,” she said. “I think we’ll look around in the store. Thanks again!” she called over her shoulder. I followed her, shaking off my shock.

The two of us “shopped around” a little, until Kayley suddenly pulled me outside. She led me down the street, going back the way we came. “What’s up?” I asked curiously when we were out of earshot of most of the townspeople.

“I saw a date on a newspaper,” Kayley told me. “It said that this is 1799!”

“Really?” I asked, astonished.

My cousin nodded. “We should go back to the cave,” she suggested. “I think those bats had something to do with us changing times.”

Sometimes Kayley’s a lot smarter than me. I think those Sherlock Holmes stories that she’s always reading help a lot. “Sounds good,” I told her.

We reached the cave and entered it, but not without a slight bit of hesitation first. I had only taken a few steps into the cave when Kayley stopped me. “Let’s pray,” she suggested. I nodded, and we grabbed each other’s hands, bowing our heads.

“Dear Lord Jesus,” I prayed out loud. “We have no idea what’s going on, but we know that You do. Please fix this mess. Amen.” I looked up and made eye contact with Kayley. “Let’s go,” I stated. Kayley nodded.

We walked into the cave together. The blackness quickly enveloped us. I trailed my hand on the wall to help us find our way through, and to keep us from running into the walls. The rough sound of my hand on the rock echoed in the cave. The thunk made when my fingertips hit each wooden beam stood out. Other than that the cave was eerily silent.

“Wait,” Kayley said. I jumped not expecting her voice. “I think I still have my flashlight.” I hear her rustling through her skirts to the normal clothes still underneath. “Here it is!” she exclaimed. She clicked the flashlight on and light flooded the cave. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. We went around a corner, and the light lit up bunches of bats clinging to the ceiling. Kayley and I instinctively hit the ground, and we heard the bats flapping around above us and leaving the cave. Their squeaks eventually faded away.

Kayley and I stood up. Kayley shown her flashlight around the cave, illuminating numerous stalactites and stalagmites that had reappeared.

“Yes!” I cried. Kayley hugged me ecstatically. I noticed a bright spot on the wall and walked over to it. My flashlight, still on, was shining on the cave wall. I picked it up. It was a little beat up, but, other than that, it was fine.

I heard Kayley laughing. I walked back to her. “What’s up?” I asked, confused.

She grinned. “We’d better change out of these dresses.”

I laughed. “We probably should.”

~~~

We continued exploring the woods and the cave throughout the rest of that summer. We always brought our dresses with us. Just in case.