Piercing The Fold (2 page)

I bat my hand at Elisha. “’Kay, I got it! I’ll call them tonight!

I start to walk to the back room and turn toward her once more. “And I have not always been ‘out for justice’!”

Elisha responds with a half laugh. “Yeah? Okay, Super Girl.”

The Art History and Economics sections need restocking. I get to work on the boxes. I vaguely hear the front door open to two soft-spoken guys. Elisha and I both look up. Elisha greets them, then turns to me. Elisha’s blue eyes are wide. She is relentless. She mouths, “Hotties!”

I smile, roll my eyes at her, and turn back to continue stocking. I hear a clicking sound and then humming. It sounds like the air-conditioning kicking in. I stand up and go over to the air-conditioning vent to see if that is where the sound is coming from. Elisha leans over the front desk and looks at me.

She mouths, “You okay?”

I whisper, “Can you hear that humming sound?”

She stops chewing her gum and looks up while she listens. “Uh, no. Do you?”

I look at her, then close my eyes. “Never mind. I thought I heard thunder.” I walk quickly back behind the stacks.

I lied to my best friend. I don’t want to explain to her what I hear, especially when I don’t know what the hell I am hearing from the get-go. I feel my heart flutter with nervousness. The hum is now taking on a physical presence in my body, a vibration in my chest. It starts small, like a flicker of a sensation. Then the vibrations radiate to my arms. Then to my head.

I hear a thick voice. “She knows…”

I feel the little hairs on the nape of my neck shift direction. Someone is near me, behind me. I turn around quickly, but no one is there. I can still hear whispers, but it is far away now. I slowly shift to the other side of the aisle and peek between books to try to find where the voice is coming from.

The thick whisper comes again from a different voice. “She won’t say anything.”

I close my eyes and try my hardest to clear my thoughts of everything but the heavy whisper. I search for the sound that I caught and lost a few seconds earlier.

The hair on my neck shifts again. I can feel someone, no, two people now. It is like these two people speaking are on either side of me. My breath comes faster.

“Do you realize how destroyed her reputation would be if anyone knew what she did with five of us last night? She won’t say a word, IF she remembers.”

I am tempted to open my eyes and look for them, but I don’t. I keep my eyes closed and calm my breath so I can stay focused in the moment. If I open my eyes, I will lose the voices and what they are saying. What did they do to this poor girl? I wanted to get up, find them in the aisle they are conspiring in, and confront them. The feeling of solid flesh next to me slowly begins to fade. My anger is distracting my focus. I refocus on calming myself. I need to hold on to the voices. I need to hear the rest. I need to know if she is all right.

“Man, I don’t know. Are you sure we didn’t hurt her? When we left, she was crying a lot. What if someone found her and got her to talk?”

All I can feel is hate for these two guys. I feel tears on my cheeks. The feeling tilts my focus, and I start to lose the conversation again.

“We are not having this conversation any more, man. Jana said she would cover for us. Make her think she knew what she was doing and was okay with it! We are clear, man. We are golden.”

I hear one of them scoff. It is amazing how one small sound can set you off. My eyes pop open. I start to move forward to find the voices when the dizziness hits me like a ton of bricks. Then the nausea hits. My stomach feels like it is knotting up.

I close my eyes, but that makes the spinning feeling worse. My body has a mind of its own and is pulling me down; I am out of control. I lean against the stacks for balance. I feel myself slide down until I am sitting on the floor. I open my eyes, but all I see is flashes of light.

Oh no. I am going to pass out.

I hear the bell at the front door.

I mumble loudly, “Elisha. Don’t let them leave.”

My voice sounds tired and breathless.

I hear Elisha rush to me. “Jes! What are you doing?”

“Those jerks were just talking about…they were with this girl, and there were five of them, and…”

Elisha puts her hand on my head. “You’re burning up, Jes. Hold on.” She leaves me for a minute. I hear water running in the bathroom; I figure she is getting a wet cloth for my head.

I open my eyes. She is back with the wet cloth and puts it to my head.

Elisha has a worried look on her face. “You are so pale, Jes. Just sit here for a minute. I will be right back.”

I am too weak to ask her where she’s going.

She is gone for a bit. The cloth on my head is helping. My stomach is unknotting, and the dizziness is going away.

I want to try standing. I push my hands under me and start to pull my legs up to stand when Elisha comes back; she pushes me back down softly.

Elisha sits down in front of me and looks at me. Her look is uncomfortable.

“What?”

Her smile weakens. “Jes. I’m your best friend, and I love you. That is the only reason why I’m telling you what I’m about to tell you.” She puts her hands on both of my arms. “I think you may be on the edge of insanity. I mean, you are acting really loco!” She lets out a short laugh.

I push her arms away slowly and roll my eyes.

More seriously, Elisha says, “Look, you need to go home. You pulled in extra hours last week. I will cover you. Just take care of yourself! I know those nightmares have come back full force. Your mom and dad told me. And now you’re fainting at work. I don’t want my bestie being put away in a loony bin when she has her whole life ahead of her!” Elisha gives me a weak, sarcastic laugh. I can hear some fear in that laugh, too.

Elisha sits with me until I feel somewhat normal again. I pack up my things in the back room and think of how insane I must look to my best friend. I can only shake my head.

I feel like I slept for days. Truthfully, it is almost a full day. Twenty-two hours, give or take. I woke up around 8:30 a.m. long enough to use the restroom and get a glass of water. The sound of the heater turning on is what finally wakes me up from my self-induced sleep marathon at 3 p.m. It is so strange how the smallest, yet distinct sound can catch your attention. The click of a heating system as it kicks on. The sound of the warmth moving through the air ducts above. As my body wakes, my eyes remain shut, taking in the sound. I imagine being the heat moving through the aluminum, swaying from one side of the piping to the other, like I am on an inner tube on a crazy water ride. I open my eyes. The sun is retreating behind the almost-barren trees. I lie there thinking of the events of my life lately. It seems like a distant, crazy, insignificant set of circumstances that I could chalk up to being sleep deprived. I am hoping the sleep I have gotten takes care of the craziness in my life.

I feel energized enough to head out for a run. Mom always said that running brought me to my center. It definitely helps me work things out in my head. I desperately need that time right now. I leave the apartment and head northwest toward Kennesaw and the lake. It is a good distance, about seven to eight miles round trip. It is a familiar trek, though. Running it reminds me of the fun and comforting times with Dad.

The concrete turns to gravel, then dirt, and then rock. I enter a trailhead in the Kennesaw Mountain National Park. I descend into a more densely wooded area. The sun is shimmering on the fallen leaves and damp mulch. The cool air that hits my face and legs is much appreciated. I focus on my breath, on the ground, on the music, and on the movement of my arms and legs. All my senses are centered, and I am aware of everything. Dad and I used to call it being “in the zone”. This is different, though. It feels like every part of me is hypersensitive and hyper-focused on what is around me and inside of me.

Then, I hear the humming. Then twigs begin to break close by. I stop and look around. I feel the vibration start as soon as my body stops moving; it is strong. I feel my heart flutter in my chest and my stomach twitch. The dizziness doesn’t come this time. My heart is pounding. Not just from the run, but from anxiousness. I see a dark flash out of the corner of my eye. It is upright, not low to the ground like an animal. I turn my music down just to be more in tune with my surroundings. I pick up my pace. My legs begin to take larger, faster, stronger, unnatural strides. My vision and hearing is fine-tuned. The crumbling, bright green leaves under my feet sound like a trash compactor crushing plastic. My arms work quickly to push away stray shrubs, twigs, and twine in my path. I sense something, a presence coming up on me. It is closing in quickly. I have had this feeling before in my nightmare.

I quickly look behind me while running. I see a black, smoke-like entity. It doesn’t have a face or details to reveal if it is human. It is like a blur of darkness in the landscape. Its quick movements and ability to shift around the wooded obstacles heighten my anxiety. The humming is even stronger now, clouding my thinking. I can feel the vibration throughout my body like a jackhammer. I see an opening to the trailhead, a clearing.

It has to be the lake.

I put more power into my pumping arms and stretching stride. The sunlight becomes brighter as the trees open their canopy to unleash me from the woods. The pull of the darkness from behind releases me like a rock in a slingshot.

I am out of the trail. I stop and turn to look back into the wood. I am close to the ground.

That’s odd.

I look down at myself. I am in a combat crouched position. My breath is ragged sounding. I try to focus on calming it.

I stay crouched for a while. Nothing appears in the shadows at the trail’s edge. Just rustling leaves on the rocky ground. I stand and slowly pace in front of the opening to the wood, looking, watching, and waiting as my breath becomes more even. I must look like I am stalking prey with the way I am pacing. The humming sound is diffusing quickly, and the vibration is minimal compared to my racing heart.

I turn and look out at the lake. A man is staring at me from a boat.

Mr. Ezra Kahn?

I feel my cheeks get hot from embarrassment.

I was crouching like an animal.

I look down and turn away from him for a minute. Maybe he was baiting his line and didn’t notice my animal-like behavior. Damn it, I have to acknowledge him. I turn back and smile.

“Hi there, Mr. Kahn.”

Mr. Kahn tips his fishing hat to me. His light brown hair is ruffled under his cap.

“Jesca Gershon-Sera. You okay?”

He saw it all. Crap. Why did it have to be Mr. Kahn?

I ran into him, literally, last semester before my class with him. He was a few inches taller than me. When I ran into him, I bounced off like I was running into a wall. For a professor of academia, he was quite sturdy. I thought then that he must have worked out. He quickly pulled me up with one hand. His light brown eyes were terrified that I had gotten hurt. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine. Just fine. I wasn’t watching where I was going. I am trying to find the physics department.”

As we made small talk, he led me to the physics department, his department. He was the reason I decided to pursue coursework dealing with cosmology, astrophysics, and quantum physics this year. Yes, it sounds boring by title, but the content was mind boggling.

“Yes, it’s Jesca. Hey, have you seen anything or anyone odd running around before I came out of the woods?”

Looking more concerned for me now, Ezra says, “Yes, I did see a man heading into the woods about ten minutes ago. Is everything all right?”

I feel my nerves heighten again. “Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. Well, it is nice seeing you. I better head back.”

Ezra smiles. “You too. Be careful heading back, all right?”

I wave as I jog along the exterior of the woods to enter from another trailhead. I head along the edge of the woods, not wanting to get too deep into the forest. I fall back into my normal pace quickly.

I can’t help thinking about the coincidences of seeing Mr. Kahn around town lately. I wonder what his life outside of campus entails. Did he have a family? A wife? Did he live alone? Divorced? He seems like a nice enough man to have a family and maybe a couple of children. Contemplating Mr. Kahn’s life freaks me out a bit, but it passes the time perfectly to get me home without too much thought on what I experienced in the woods.

Back at the apartment, I take a much appreciated hot shower. The air turned frigid very quickly near the foothills, making the run home colder than on the way up to the lake.

After my shower, I decide to head into town to see Elisha at the store. I dress quickly, bundling up with a scarf and hat for the short, but chilly, walk. I hadn’t talked to her since the twenty-two-hour sleep marathon. I owe her a big thank you since she covered for me.

On my walk, I put a call in to Mom and Dad and get voicemail.

“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. Just wanted to let you know that I’m doing fine. Have caught up on some much needed sleep. I am feeling so much better. Love you. Bye.”

Well, it is partly true. I did catch up on sleep. And for now, everything seems fine. Well, other than the eerie, dark someone chasing me in the woods. Oh, and the supernatural, high-velocity running I apparently possess now.

I make it to the store just before Elisha locks up.

“Hey there, Jes. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be home sleeping?”

I stutter a bit. “I just wanted to say thanks for covering for me so I could rest.”

I reach in and give her a hug.

“Don’t be silly, Jes. We don’t need you collapsing at work or falling asleep during lectures, do we? You call your mom and dad? I love your parents, Jes, but you need to talk to them. They have left me eight messages and four texts in the last twenty-four hours.”

I respond with a small smile. “Already done.”

Elisha finishes locking the door. “Where are you heading now?”

“Back home. I wanted to make sure you knew I was okay. You know, in person. I think you were right about all the stress and no sleep thing.”

Elisha’s face seems to relax. That was my intention for her, since I didn’t truly believe what I was saying myself.

You don’t believe that for a second, Jes.

Elisha sighs. “Well, my mom and dad have requested me for dinner. Hope they aren’t going to spring another surprise on me. Like, ‘Sweetheart, we are considering renting our house and traveling around Europe for a year.’ Seriously, I don’t know how they can be so spur of the moment. Such a carefree and liberal lifestyle. I mean, really, c’mon.”

I laugh a bit, amused by Elisha’s attempt at a serious conversation about her parents. “Love you, Lisha. Hey, I’ll be in tomorrow at noon after class, all right?”

“Sounds good. Go home and sleep!” Elisha smiles, turns, and starts walking in the opposite direction.

I yell after her with sheer sarcasm. “Yes, ma’am.”

I turn to head in the opposite direction. I begin humming a Christmas jingle as I walk briskly to beat the chilled air.

As I walk, I recollect something my mom and dad always told me when I was in a rut. Sometimes life gets set off balance. Sometimes it’s a good thing, and sometimes, not so good. Remember to keep your guard up and push through the rut. Never back down or away from seeking and surfacing the meaning, the purpose of the imbalance. It is the seeking and surfacing that will help you transcend it.

I’m distracted by the humming and vibrating sensation that shoots through my body. It feels like an electric surge from my toes, up my spine, and into my head. I hear someone walking a few steps behind me. I turn just enough to see peripherally. Nothing is there. I walk more quickly. The whispering comes again, quick and raspy.

It is impossible to decipher the words. Waves of people are passing me on either side, walking in the opposite direction.

Could I be catching pieces of their thoughts, internal conversations?

A woman passes to my right.
“Soymilk, Tums, and meat tenderizer.”

Then, a man passes to my left.
“Tommy needs to finish his project by Saturday.”

A young couple is ahead of me with their heads down, walking toward me.

“Why is she being so unreasonable?”

“I don’t know why he is being so quiet. What did I do?”

I feel like I am under attack. I need to get inside, away from the voices. I look for a shop that is still open. Small-town shops close pretty early around here. I hear the raspy voice again, very deep and very close.

“Jesca.”

I see a light two doors up on the left and rush for it, Margot’s Deli. A cowbell rings me in at the entrance.

It is very quiet, except for the music,
The Doors “People are Strange”
playing in the background.

I walk quickly to a booth and sit on the side facing the front door. I eye the door as I tap my finger on the countertop. An older waitress named “Sally” brings me a menu and a glass of water. We exchange smiles, and she leaves me to browse the menu.

The cowbell sounds. My eyes dart over to see Mr. Kahn taking his jacket off. He hasn’t seen me yet.

He looks back toward the kitchen. “Hey there, Stan. Slow tonight?”

Stan must be the cook I see through the serving window over the bar. Stan comments on the dining traffic, but I am still looking beyond Mr. Kahn. I am looking for a sinister person to pass on the sidewalk, when Mr. Kahn steps in front of me. “Jesca. What brings you here? This is my hotspot in town.”

I am caught off guard by his presence. “Uh, hi there, Mr. Kahn.”

I start fidgeting with the peeling corner of the menu.

Kahn smiles, and it immediately takes the edge off of my anxiety.

“Ezra, please. We’re not on campus. And even if we were, I would feel more like myself if you called me Ezra.” Ezra must have picked up on my awkward feelings about this and quickly adds, “Most of my students call me Ezra.”

I blink, realizing I hadn’t answered his original question.

“I was walking from the bookstore where I work and got, um, got hungry.”

Ezra shifts his satchel to his other arm. “This is a great deli. They have the best Ruben sandwich in town. And their peach cobbler is amazing. Are you meeting someone? You keep looking at the door.”

“What? Oh. No, just me.”

Ezra hesitates a bit, and then asks, “Can I join you? I mean, unless you would like to be alone.”

I feel kind of bad for him. He looks eager for company. And his being close to me at this moment in time is kind of comforting.

“No. I mean, no, I don’t want to sit alone. Please join me. The company would be really nice.” I crack a smile again to make him feel welcome. I eye the menu absently, still on edge from the earlier event.

Ezra looks at me with concern. “Everything all right?”

I’m pretending to focus on the menu. “Yep. Just fine.”

Ezra returns to the menu, but I can sense his concern.

Sally, the waitress, comes back around to our table. “Are you two ready to order?”

All of a sudden, she sighs upon seeing Ezra. “Ezra! I didn’t recognize you, my boy. I guess it’s because you are always sitting alone.” Sally winks at Ezra and pats his shoulder with her hot pink fingernails.

Sally looks over at me accusingly. “Oh. Is this one of your students?”

I’m mortified. I know what she is thinking.

I hope she is one of his students, little vixen. She can’t be much older than twenty-one. She’s gorgeous. Oh, Ezra. And here I thought you to be an honorable man. This young spring chicken is…

Ezra starts in immediately. “Now, Sally, this is Jesca. She is one of my students from the university. She seemed lonely over here, and I thought I would accompany her, being she is new to your deli. Plus, the only gal I sit with at this deli is you.”

With that comment, Ezra winks at me.

Did he hear her, too?

Sally giggles and puts her hand on Ezra’s shoulder again affectionately.

She is awfully touchy.

Ezra shoots me a look just as my thought sprung from my mind. I shrink back in my seat.

“Oh, Ezra Kahn. You are young enough to be my son. You are such a charmer!”

Sally looks over at me with soft eyes this time. I meet her eyes with mine. “Well, sweetheart, what would you like to eat?”

I look over at Ezra then back at Sally. “The Ruben and peach cobbler, please.”

Sally turns to Ezra.

“Good selection. I’ll have the same, Sally.”

Sally takes the menus. “Coming right up, chickadees.” Sally gives me a wink and a smile.

Ezra starts, “Sorry about that. It was mortifying for me as well.”

I laugh it off, but wonder what a coincidence it is that his emotions are the same as mine.

“Jesca, you seem really tense. Is everything okay? Is the semester going all right?”

“The semester is fine. I just have…I have been…” I shake my head.

I can’t lie to him. He is not interested in my drama.

I lean forward and lower my voice. “No. I am tired and nervous and fidgety and anxious, and it is pissing me off. I have been having these thoughts, dreams, whatever, about this dark thing, and now I’m feeling it, seeing it, sensing it, hearing it in real life, I think. Oh, and the fact that I’m seeing all of the unsavory behaviors of the public around me magnified. And I feel like I’m going nuts! I’m not sleeping. I’m hallucinating and seeing people’s faces contorting to faces of monsters. And…before I saw you at the lake, I was hauling ass with crazy, ultraspeed through the woods trying to escape this, this thing!”

I stop and look up to halt the tears from falling down my cheeks. I take a deep breath to clear the lump that has developed in my throat. I close my eyes for a second and breathe. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I just unloaded all that shi…stuff on you. You don’t need to hear all of that. I just…never mind.”

Ezra looks at me with sympathy.

All of a sudden, I see a change in his facial expression. It turns from sympathy to something neutral and emotionless. “Is there anything I can do?”

Noticing the shift and a bit taken aback by it, I scoff. “I doubt it. Can we pretend like I didn’t just unload the last week of my life on you and start over with something more academic?”

I know that will be a safe topic, void of emotion.

Ezra smiles with understanding. “Sure.”

I shift my mood for Ezra’s sake.

“Okay, so tell me what your latest graduate lectures have surfaced from the theories of the universe, time, space, etc.”

Ezra’s eyes light up. “Well, let’s see. Have you heard of the Einstein-Rosen bridge theory?”

I look at him with a vague nod. I remember catching something on The Learning Channel about it once.

“Well, in short, this theory deals with quantum physics. The potential of negative mass being harnessed and used to fold space and allow a wormhole to open to other worlds. Worlds already in existence and worlds not yet discovered.”

My face must have “skeptic” and “confused” written all over it, since Ezra gets out a pen and grabs a napkin.

“Imagine this napkin here has a point A and point B. A is one edge of the napkin representing world A. B is the other edge of the napkin, representing world B. If I fold this napkin in half, fold time and space with negative energy and mass, this will create a dense weight on world A. The weight will be so strong that it will pierce the fold to the other side of the napkin, hence connecting world A to world B. That is what will bridge the distance between the two worlds. It’s called a traverse wormhole.”

I am curious. “But isn’t it impossible to find negative mass anywhere on the Earth. Even engineering it has posed barriers. How can you say that a hole could be created big enough to teleport a human, let alone an atom. Teleporting from world A to world B quickly, safely, and smoothly. How can that be?”

“That is where Einstein and Rosen left off, and years later, physicists expanded the theory into numerous ideas and possibilities to achieve negative mass.”

I am eager to hear. “What are they?”

“Well, that is a conversation we can have another time.” He ruffles his unruly hair and blows out his lower lip.

Moments later, Sally returns with our Ruben sandwiches and dishes of cobbler. I frown a bit, feeling cheated out of an intriguing conversation. I always loved it when Dad and Mom talked about theories. This conversation with Ezra brought back good memories.

Ezra smiles and takes a huge bite of his sandwich. He says through the bite of food in his mouth, “Your food is getting cold. Eat up.”

Ezra is right; the Ruben is fantastic. The cobbler doesn’t disappoint either. We eat in silence, enjoying our meal thoroughly.

My cell phone vibrates on the table. It is Mom texting to make sure I call when I get home.

Ezra eyes my phone curiously.

I respond, “It’s just Mom checking on me. They have been worried about my stress, lack of sleep, and the invisible me over the past few weeks.”

Ezra looks at me with sympathy again. “I can completely understand their concern. I mean, life can get pretty intense. Your parents want to be there for you, just in case you…if you need guidance. That is their purpose.” He drops his gaze to his plate.

“Yeah, I know. With this, I just think…I think what I’m dealing with is beyond what they can handle. Even though talking to them relieves the stress for a short time, I keep falling back into this, this rut. It’s like the twilight zone lately with these intense experiences. My dream state is bleeding into my reality.” I blow out my lower lip and snicker. “Just lock me up and throw away the key.” I scoop up the last bit of vanilla ice cream and peach chunks on my plate.

Ezra brushes his hand through his dark hair and sits back. “Jes, you aren’t experiencing anything that I would consider you needing to be institutionalized. You need to practice some relaxation techniques, imagery, to help you. And you need to buy some chamomile tea and drink it before bed to relieve tension.”

Did he just call me Jes?

I shift in my seat a bit. “So what is this camel tea that can help me sleep? Where do I get it? It sounds exotic.”

Ezra laughs. “It is chamomile tea not camel tea, Jesca. And you buy it at the market in the tea and coffee section. Now, on to imagery for relaxation. Have you ever tried it?”

I think back because that word “imagery” sounds so familiar. “Yes, my parents showed me how to use it to calm my nerves before bed. I was very anxious the nights following nightmares, so we would practice together. You know, I haven’t even considered it. Thanks, Ezra.”

My phone vibrates again. It is Mom texting me.

Mom: We will be waiting up for your call, honey.

Translation, we will wait up all night and make you feel guilty if you don’t call. So call us now!

I look up at Ezra. “Thank you so much for the company. I’m glad we ran into each other. Believe it or not, you made me feel much better about the things that have been going on in my life lately.”

Ezra sighs. “Well, I’m glad I could help. Wish I could do more. And dinner is on me, so get out of here and call your parents already. This is the second text in under thirty minutes. They will not give up, believe me.” Ezra smiles.

I reach into my pocket to find my spare cash. “At least let me leave the tip. I don’t want to feel like I didn’t contribute.”