Darkness Comes (25 page)

She laughed, remembering the explosive flavor of hot peppers and tomatoes. The thought that she had never made salsa before wiggled through her head but she shook it off, like she had been shaking off so much that morning. It had been a hell of a dream and she was pretty sure it had actually caused some temporary brain damage. At least, she hoped it was temporary. “I was thinking of making a couple of batches; Toby is not a big fan of spice.”

“Well, I think the hotter the better,” he waggled his eyebrows for emphasis, making her laugh. “I’ll put in a request now for some with habanero peppers.”

“You’ll burn your esophagus!” she laughed in mock horror, feeling the familiar rhythm of their bantering. She couldn’t feel completely at ease because she was losing her mind.

The backdoor opened and within moments, Toby was standing next to her, looking at Jay with admiration. Toby liked their neighbor a great deal; it helped that Jay frequently took Toby fishing in the local stream and they seemed to share a love of digging… for… worms… in the garden. Why didn’t that sound like something Jay would do, even though she could picture it so clearly in her mind? Or, at least, she thought she should be able to…. “Hey, Mr. Jay.”

“Hey, kiddo,” Jay said with a much warmer smile for her son. “Looks like you’ve got a busy day of playing ahead; mind if I join you?”

Toby giggled slightly at the man’s absurdity, but it sounded a little forced. Then he slid his hand in hers, the tiny fingers shaking slightly. Was he feeling the strangeness of the day as well? Giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, she smiled at Jay, “Is it just me or has the world been royally fucked over while I was sleeping?”

As soon as the words were out, her eyes nearly popped out of her head and she gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand. “That came out so wrong! It has just been the strangest morning and….”

“Oh, I understand,” he said with a commiserating chuckle when her words simply trailed off. “I’ve had days like that, too. I find the best thing to do is to take a hot bath and drink a glass or two of wine. Or find a warm and wet woman….”

This time he let his words trail off, a slight blush tingeing his cheeks as he glanced down at Toby as if he wasn’t used to talking in front of children, and she had the absurd desire to giggle. Without thinking, she blurted, “I prefer men.”

He met her eyes and they shared a rare smile and she almost stumbled and fell; he was an extraordinarily handsome man and while she suffered no attraction for him, there was something heartbreakingly familiar about him. Concern clouded his gaze and he reached out but she stepped back before he could comfort her. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” he asked softly. At her nod, he straightened and gave her a wry smile, “I wish I could stay and chat but I have to get to work; you know how it is….”

“I do,” she murmured, staring at him in a desperate attempt to figure out who he reminded her.

Tipping his head to her, he turned around and left them alone once more. She shook her head for the umpteenth time that morning and turned to begin work in her garden. But Toby tugged on her hand and she bent down to talk to him. With a reassuring smile, she asked, “What’s up?”

“I couldn’t find my tennis shoes,” he said softly and she glanced down at his stocking feet and had to bite back a laugh. Her son was obviously distressed but it was so absurd seeing him outside with just his socks on. And after the strangeness of the morning….

Taking his hand, she led him back inside to do a full house search if necessary to find the missing shoes. And put some sunscreen on him since they were back inside anyway. They entered through the kitchen doors and she paused, realizing how very… large her kitchen was, how ultra-modern and unused the appliances appeared. She didn’t get to contemplate too long because Toby was tugging on her hand, leading her through the house to his bedroom.

And with each step she took, the general sense of surrealism grew. The house, while beautiful and very nicely decorated, was simply too large for just her and Toby. Each room they passed through was… enormous and when they headed up the stairs to the bedrooms, she briefly wondered why she would have a house with eight bedrooms when they logistically only needed three: one for her, one for Toby and one for guests, if they ever had any guests. She might have justified it if one of the bedrooms was an office or a crafts room, but those were located on the ground floor and basement respectively.

No, the upstairs had eight bedrooms; eight mammoth bedrooms.

Why hadn’t she ever noticed how big her house was before? And however did she afford it since she didn’t have a job of any sort? Did she wake up in some sort of alternate reality?

“Mommy,” Toby urged, waiting for her at the entrance to his bedroom.

Blinking, she followed him into his room and nearly gasped at the number of toys, all perfectly in place. How did he get so many toys without her realizing it? She was going to have to pull back on buying him toys, though most of them looked brand new. “No wonder you can’t find anything; look at all of these things.”

He rolled his eyes at her teasing, going over to the closet where he normally kept his shoes, “Look, mommy; my shoes aren’t in there.”

She looked in the closet and saw rows and rows of tiny little shoes. Frowning, she kneeled down and pulled out a pair of perfectly good tennis shoes, “What about these ones, sweetie? What’s wrong with them?”

“They have sticky ties,” he said, referring to the hook and loop fastener. “I can’t find my tie shoes.”

Digging through the closet, she had to concede that he was right. There was every type of shoe in there except for regular, laced tennies. Sitting back on her butt, she let out a sigh. “Huh. I could have sworn I bought regular tennis shoes for you.”

“You did,” he assured her, sitting down next to her, mimicking her pose – legs stretched out in front, palms flat on the floor behind, unbent elbows and arms holding them up. “They had Robo-monsters on them and they were green.”

An image of the shoes flashed in her head, but the last time she had seen them was in their old house, the small quad-plex she shared with her father. No, that couldn’t be right; she hadn’t lived with her dad for nearly seven years and she wouldn’t have had that type of shoes back then; Toby hadn’t even been born yet. With a frown, she handed Toby a pair of shoes, “How about you put these on and we’ll make a trip to the mall and get you a new pair?”

He nodded, taking the shoes and doing as she requested while she wondered once again if she was going crazy or if her memories got messed up somehow. Maybe it was very early onset dementia; that would suck beyond belief. But she was only twenty-five so it couldn’t be that. The alternate reality theory was starting to sound more and more plausible; except she remembered her life in this house. It just seemed… off.

It didn’t seem like she was forgetting anything, just… misremembering.

“Okay, mommy, I’m ready.”

Gathering her scattered brain cells, she smiled at Toby, holding out her hand for him. He readily slid his hand into hers and followed her back down the stairs. Grabbing the car keys and her purse off the side table, the two of them headed out to the car, not bothering to change into decent clothes.

She stopped when she saw her car sitting in the sun, all gleaming and shiny and new. And very expensive. She could have sworn that her car was a beat up, reliable old sedan but when she pressed the button on the keychain, the sleek, silver convertible chirped. Before she could protest, or think, Toby was climbing into the gorgeous car. “Are you coming?”

“Uh huh,” she managed dumbly, thinking that perhaps she should have dressed up. It seemed wrong to be wearing such scrubby clothes while driving such a beautiful car. Settling behind the wheel and running her hands over the buttery-leather interior, she could almost remember. Almost, but not quite. As beautiful as the car was – and it was beautiful – it didn’t really seem to fit her personality. It seemed more like… like…. Damn it, why couldn’t she remember? It was something important, someone important.

“Mom?” Toby asked, an edge of impatience creeping into his voice. “When are you going to start the car?”

She chuckled nervously. Again. Putting the keys into the ignition and turning over the engine, she listened as the car purred to life. “I don’t think I’ve ever driven such a nice car.”

“Mommy, we always take this car,” Toby reminded her. She looked over and saw the conviction of his words on his face.

“Of course,” she agreed, hoping to sound convincing when she didn’t feel so convinced herself. It was odd that she had memories of driving the car but the experience seemed so new. Maybe it was the opposite of deja vu. Jamais vu? Backing up, she looked around the familiar neighborhood; the oversized houses situated on oversized lawns, and wondered when she woke up in Wonderland. Giggling at the thought, she asked, “Do you feel like we’ve fallen down the rabbit hole?”

He simply looked at her with nearly six-year old exasperation, making her giggle harder. As she drove, she had to admit that it was a beautiful neighborhood; all of the yards were exceedingly well groomed, the houses very well maintained, the cars in the driveway all new and top of the line. And she felt completely out of place, a pigeon in a house of hawks.

And if that imagery didn’t just chill her to the core, she didn’t know what did.

All of her neighbors seemed to be outside and working in their yards, waving at her as she drove down the perfectly smooth streets. They were all smiling and all extremely beautiful and they seemed to avidly follow her with their eyes as she drove, turning in perfect time as she passed by. It was almost flawlessly synchronized and a whole lot creepy. But as disconcerting as that was, it wasn’t nearly as upsetting as realizing that there were no other children in the neighborhood. It was a warm and absolutely beautiful day but there were no children outside anywhere.

“Can we get cinnamon rolls at the store?” Toby asked.

A flash of… something hit her and she sucked in a breath; something about cinnamon rolls and Christmas music and…. She glanced at the purse; wasn’t that the purse she lost when… when… it was all wrong?

Toby reached out and turned the radio on, dragging her out of her thoughts. The radio station was playing the last bars of a familiar winter song when the deejay came on. “Wow, with only a few weeks left of winter, I have to say, have you seen such incredible weather? 80 degrees and sunshine sure does beat the three feet of snow dumped on the east coast last night. To remind us to count our blessings, here’s an old favorite.”

And the familiar strains of music filled the car and Mal automatically began singing along, Toby joining her at the chorus. “Da da dada da dum, da dada da dum."

As she sang, her worries and doubts just sort of faded away and she felt… good. The little bits of her day that had been odd weren’t so very important; it was a beautiful day, she was driving in a luxurious car with the top down, her son was with her and they were singing along to the radio; who could ask for anything more?

She pulled into the parking lot of the mall and found a parking spot up front. Smiling, she looked at the familiar mall; it wasn’t large but it had everything she wanted: a toy store, a book shop, a food court with a kiosk that sold those delicious cinnamon rolls, an anchor store that had everything else. Turning to Toby, she grinned, feeling really good, “Ready?”

“Yup,” he beamed at her, climbing out of the car.

The good mood lasted long enough to get her through finding a pair of shoes for Toby and half of her cinnamon roll. That’s when she felt cold eyes on her and an unnamed fear creeping over her. Looking around the surprisingly busy food court, she couldn’t help but notice how many people were staring at her, almost as if they hungered to get closer but reluctantly kept their distance. She knew that if she offered even the slightest encouragement, they would approach her in a heartbeat, eager to be a part of her inner sanctum.

And then there were the others who watched her but almost cowered away when she looked directly at them. They kept mainly to the shadows but she could see their plastic perfection, even from a not inconsequential distance. But the longer she stared at them, the more grotesque they became; emitting death and decay.

She wasn’t sure which group was more disturbing.

“Mommy,” Toby began in a hushed voice, leaning closer and lowering his voice even further. Tearing her gaze from the shadowy creatures, she bent her head closer to her son’s. His eyes were wide and scared in his head and she wanted to whisk him away and take him home where he would be safe…. “What’s wrong with those people?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, though she felt she should know; that once upon a time she did know. Gathering up her packages and the remains of their cinnamon rolls, she took Toby’s hand in hers and offered a reassuring smile, “Let’s go home, sweetheart. Those strawberries aren’t going to pick themselves.”

He nodded but the excitement simply wasn’t there and she knew that he was as uncomfortable as she was. Trying to prove to Toby that there was nothing to be afraid of, she deliberately walked closer to the shadows, dumbfounded when the mysterious people shied away from them. Before she went to bed that night, she was going to take Jay’s advice; not the part about taking a lover, the part about taking a hot bath. She just wanted to put the day behind her and get back to normal.