The Game (20 page)

Chapter 44

C
andice woke up yet again in complete darkness. She looked around in a panic until her eyes adjusted. Blinking away the sting from her eyes, she tried to roll out of the bed, but was stopped by side rails.

At first, she thought she was in a hospital but there was nothing to indicate as much except for the style of bed.

After maneuvering the side-rail down, she slid her legs to the floor. It took her a while to gain her bearings but she walked to the large windows and looked out onto the ocean, and the beaming moon that painted the waves.

She wasn’t sure where this was. But unlike the last time she woke up, she knew who she was. Every memory of her life was there. She was Candice Marie Laguna.

Her bare feet shuffled across the cool tile floor. As she got to the threshold of the large door-less opening, she made the connection that she was at Lukas’ beach house. She looked back to the bed, noticed the plants, and realized she was in the large secondary living room area. She had only spent a couple days there before, but that was definitely where she was.

“Hello?” she called as she slowly made her way through the rooms.

“I knew you’d come back.” He startled her.

“Lukas.”

He stood up from the lounge chair and embraced her. “I’ve missed you so much.”

He hugged her long and lovingly. She felt a release of so much, and at first, she didn’t understand why so much sadness was rushing out of her. Then it all came back. That night in the woods, the cabin, her mother.

The tears spilled like a waterfall. She cried so hard that her legs literally let go. She would’ve dropped straight to the floor if not for Lukas holding her. He carried her over to the couch near the ocean view and eased her onto the seat.

It took her a long time to get ahold of herself. Her mother wouldn’t want her to fall to pieces, as easy as that might be to do right now. What she wanted to understand was why she’d become someone else.

She took a deep breath. “How long was I gone?”

“One month, to the moon phase.”

Candice shook her head. “It didn’t seem like that long.”

“You probably weren’t leaping the whole time. There seems to be a lot of lost time between bodies sometimes. I failed to mention that.”

“When was the funeral?”

“The day you were released from the hospital.”

“What happened to me?”

“Rena shot you in the back and you nearly bled to death. I stayed with you in ICU, every single second. They delayed the funeral a couple days.”

Candice knew her mother wanted to be cremated. “Where are her ashes?”

“They’re right next to your bed, on a marble pedestal.”

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I can never repay you.”

Lukas nodded. “You just have.” He reached up and touched her face, brushing her hair back behind her ear. Then he kissed her, softly, on the lips. “You came back to me.”

They just sat there on the couch in silence until the sunrise warmed the room. Candice wanted to attach some meaning to everything, but there was nothing. Not one single thing made sense.

Soon after sunrise, the doorbell rang.

Lukas stood and stretched his legs. Candice was barely awake, but she stretched, yawned and stood.

“Why don’t you rest?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been resting. At least my body has. I need to move around, a lot.”

They got to the front door, and she could tell by Lukas’ expression that he was just as confused as she was.

A man in a pink suit, with matching top-hat and cane, thick-framed glasses, and a shockingly white beard and hair, stood smiling at them.

Candice wanted to laugh. “Is that Colonel Sanders covered in Pepto Bismol? Or am I still catatonic?”

“No, you’re not catatonic.” Lukas opened the door.

“Hello, good folks. Dandy sunrise, don’t you agree?”

Candice and Lukas shared a look.

“I might have thought to call, though I’m afraid I don’t use the phone. May I come in?”

Lukas shook his head. “Who are you?”

The man tipped his hat. “Forgive my manners, the name is Kellogg.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question. What do you want?”

“I’m here to talk to you folks about your, ah, situation.”

Candice swallowed hard. She didn’t know how, but things were about to get even weirder. “What situation?”

Kellogg smiled. “Candice, you of all people should know. You just learned today what Lukas here has known for years.”

Lukas sighed. “What are you taking about?”

“I’m the keeper of the secrets.” He bowed, then tapped his pink cane on the concrete twice. “I think you can let me in.”

Chapter 45

L
ukas poured the man in pink a cup of tea from a silver pot. “Okay, we’ve let you in and made you tea. Now tell us who you are.”

“I told you, I’m the keeper of the secrets.”

Candice sipped her tea, then softly placed her mug down on the slate table. “What secrets?”

Kellogg smiled. “Candice, do you know how many leapers I’ve seen? Don’t answer that.” He snickered. “I’ve seen many, but I’ve never seen two of them find each other the way you two did.”

Lukas sat down. “What do you mean, leapers?”

Kellogg sipped his tea. “It’s a crude moniker. But it’s a simple way to relay a complex reality.”

Lukas shook his head. “I still don’t understand.”

Kellogg waved his hand. “Imagine you had the ability to come back from where you were all those years. Lukas, you chased the truth longer than anyone I’ve ever seen. You were dogged and determined. You pushed the envelope way past the edge. You played the game better than anyone.”

“What does that mean? What game?” He looked at Candice.

“Well, everything’s a game. Life is a game. Everything that’s orchestrated by man or God is a game. It means, my dear Lukas, that you are a very special man. You found a way back, and no one ever has. And that was impressive to everyone, all the way to the top. The very, very top.”

“To the top of what?”

Kellogg pointed to the sky. “To the very, very top!” He laughed.

Candice raised her hand. “Wait, are you telling us that what happened to us, happens to others?”

Kellogg snickered. “My dear girl, you’re catching on quick. Indeed, that is what I’m saying. There have been and will be others. I gave you a taste, just so you could understand. Because you’re the reason he came back.”

Candice felt like she was going to be sick. “You did this to me?”

“No, your break from reality did it. I just showed you what you had inside you. To understand fully what Lukas had been through. And to help you understand how you can help.”

Lukas said, “What do you mean? Are you telling me, it’s going to happen again? Because I can’t live through it again, I just got back. You can’t do this to us.”

Kellogg shook his head. “No, no. Lukas, relax. You and Candice are here to stay. But I need your help, to help others.”

Candice shared a look with Lukas, then she said, “Who are the others?”

“Trapped just like Lukas was, unable to get back. They’re leaping and lost.”

“How can we help them?” Lukas asked.

“You can help them by showing them the way home. You can unravel their true past to them and get them where they need to be, when they need to be there.”

Lukas shook his head. “But I don’t know how I did it.”

“Oh, but my good man, you do. When the moon is right, you can rule the night.”

“How?”

“Because of her.” He pointed his cane at Candice. “She was your anchor, your hook. She reeled you in.” He laughed. “Big fish!”

“What can we do? Don’t people have to find their own way?” Candice asked.

Kellogg sipped his tea. “Whenever someone’s mind breaks from reality, it becomes a lost entity tied to a soul. And it has to happen at a special time, under a silver moon, a leaper’s moon. Our bodies are mere vessels, and when it becomes mortally wounded, that’s one thing, but when the body becomes severely wounded and the mind breaks at the same time, there is a divergent response. It forces our mind and soul into oblivion and reunites them in a vessel wherever it can find one. Usually, one of two things happen. The mind and soul reunite in another body and reside there until that vessel dies, too. If too much time has passed, then the mind and soul become inextricably tied to that vessel and they die with it. And that’s your job. You must keep the cycle moving, you must keep the leapers leaping. You must keep the game alive.”

“But how can I do that?” Lukas shrugged.

“You know that feeling you got when you met someone who could help you learn the next clue in your journey?”

“I remember.” Lukas looked to Candice. “It was how I met you, on the street when you threw the record into the trash.”

Candice gasped. “That was you?”

“It was.”

“But…how
did
you know?”

“I’m not sure how it works. It’s just a gut feeling.”

Kellogg tapped his cane on the table and cleared his throat. “And that, my good man, is how it will work. I’ll tell you where you need to go, and you’ll unravel the mystery.”

Candice looked at the ceiling, into the slow moving palm tree style fan pushing the air. “This is ridiculous.” She drew their attention. “I know some weird stuff has happened. But are you telling me that Mr. Pink here is…I mean…what the heck are you? Huh? What is this?” She stood up.

Lukas stood and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Candice, relax.”

Kellogg wrapped his cane on the table again. “My dear Candice. That’s why I gave you the glimpse. That’s why you were Eve and Victoria. I needed you to understand what Lukas understands. I needed you to know what these people are living through so you can better help them.”

Lukas asked, “How do we help them?”

“You guide them home.”

“But how?”

“You’ll know as you go along. You’ll see it as it comes.”

Candice crossed her arms. “I don’t want to help them. Don’t you get it? I just want to live my life.” She wanted to cry again. But something her mother once said to her was playing over and over in her head. Sometimes in life it’s the things you can’t explain that make the most sense. That had never really made any sense until this moment.

“Hey,” Lukas put both his hands on her shoulders and faced her. “This is going to be okay.”

Kellogg cleared his throat. “You don’t have to help them, Candice. But know this…if you don’t help them, no one else will. No one else can. Do you remember how scared, how alone you felt waking up in a place you didn’t belong? Where no one knew you? Now imagine that you’re a child. You’ve just witnessed something horrible, and suffered such physical pain your soul literally jumps out of your body. They deserve a chance, and Lukas is the only one who has ever been able to thread that needle back. He did it over and over and leapt his way back. He not only found the key, he thrust it into the cylinder and he twisted the lock.”

Candice could only sigh. What he said made too much sense.

Kellogg stood and put his hat on. “I think it’s time I take my leave of you. I’ll contact you when it’s time.” He turned away but stopped, then looked at them again. “Oh, and there’s one more thing. There are certain arms of fate that will be working against you on your missions.”

Lukas stepped towards him. “Arms of fate…what, like bad guys?”

Kellogg lifted his chin. “Not exactly. But know that obstacles of fate will be thrown into your path from time-to-time. Not everyone,” he pointed to the floor, “wants you to succeed.” He cupped his hand over his mouth. “A lost soul is easy to steal.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will. You find them, reach them, and convince them they’re supposed to be somewhere else.” Kellogg walked slowly toward the front door, then stopped. “Oh, and Candice…I’m not here to ruin your life. You two deserve to have peace. I need you two together to make this work. This isn’t a fulltime job. But there are young ones who deserve to get back, faster than Lukas did.” He walked outside and disappeared around the corner.

“Great.” Candice shook her head. “Just when I thought the weirdness was over.”

Lukas laughed. “Welcome to my life. The weirdness is never over.”

They both turned to look at the ocean.

Author

S
HANE SCOLLINS IS A FREELANCE writer and author. From New Jersey, he now resides in Upstate New York with his wife, Heather. He has worked as an automotive service manager, a website developer and a computer network engineer. Primarily a science fiction and paranormal novelist, Shane enjoys taking readers on surprising and unexpected journeys that twist reality. He is currently working on his next book.

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