“That was very brave of you.”
“Thanks. But…I have you to thank for that.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah you did. You were my friend. I needed a friend. Plus… Well, this is kind of weird, but do you remember how I told you I had that connection to my family? I could feel them? I was in their thoughts?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, after you left, I realized I have that with you now, too.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. So I’m kind of in your thoughts now.”
“Oh. That’s…”
“Weird and kind of creepy? Yeah. I know.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
“I know you weren’t.”
“Okay, yeah, it’s weird and kind of creepy.”
“I know. But hey, I may not be able to get back to my family, but I can at least move around. And I found out I can talk to you.”
“Yeah. How exactly are you doing this?”
“I found a way to hop into the phone lines. And since I’m in your thoughts, I know your number. I’ll be able to talk to you any time I want, as long as you have a phone. Any phone.”
“That’s…cool,” he replied. And he meant it. After assuming she was lost, it was incredible to actually be able to talk to her again.
“In fact, even without a phone, you can always talk to me. I’ll always be able to hear you. And I think I can help you, too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve learned a lot after all these years of being stuck in Altrusk’s house. I have all that he knows, for starters.”
“You do?”
“And the knowledge of all the other people trapped in that house. Plus, I think the house itself gave me an intimate connection to the fissure. I could even feel Father Billy a little bit. I’m not sure if it was because he’s in the fissure or because he was with you, but I could see where he was and how to guide you back to him.”
“Wait… So that was you sending me those text messages?”
“Yep!”
“How did you—?”
“I’m in your head, remember?”
“Right. That’s useful. Thanks.”
“By the way, Father Billy’s fine. He might’ve lost some of his hearing, but he’s definitely not dead.”
“That’s good news. I was worried.”
“I know.”
“This you-being-in-my-head thing is a little weird.”
“I know that too. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m just happy you’re safe.”
“I’m just super excited to be able to talk to you!”
“Me too. Where are you? You said you could go to other houses like Altrusk’s?”
“I can. And not all of them are super-scary. This one’s kind of nice. It’s in Australia.”
“Australia? Really?”
“I know, right?”
“So there’s a fissure in Australia?”
“There’re fissures all over the place. They’re not all well-defined. And they don’t all connect to nightmare worlds like the one you’re in. Like I said, it’s nice here.”
“Cool.”
“But I should go for now. You need to concentrate on the path. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Oh. And can I call Karen?”
“What? Oh. Yeah. I guess. You can do that?”
“Of course. I can call anybody now.”
“Even your parents?”
Isabelle paused. “Um. Yeah. I can. But…”
“What would you say?”
“Yeah. They’d think it was a cruel practical joke. And that wouldn’t be cool. But Karen’s a real nice person. And she already knows about me. I’d like to talk to her.”
“Knock yourself out.”
“Thanks!”
“But she’s going to be a little surprised to hear from you.”
“I know. But she’ll be cool with it. I’m sure of it.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll talk to you later. Bye-bye!”
“Bye.” Eric hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. That was probably the single strangest telephone conversation he’d ever had. But it was also very likely the happiest.
Smiling to himself, he continued on.
Chapter Twenty
The road carried him past more pastures and a lot more cornfields. There was even a soybean field. That made for a nice change of scenery.
Yet the usual peacefulness of the rolling farmland was gone. He was constantly watching these fields, waiting to see something dark and green rise up above the corn stalks and peek at him. And of course, if there were such things as corn creeps, why not soybean creeps? Cow creeps? Hay creeps? Or even just another pissed off monkey.
The sun had begun to sink in the western sky, but he still had a few hours left before dusk. The temperature had not even begun to drop yet. He considered what Father Billy told him about the corn creeps not coming out at night and wondered if it would really be safer after dark, or if those horrors would only give way to even more dangerous creatures.
He had a feeling that, regardless of the time of day, there would always be something in the fissure to fear.
For the time being, however, the only threat seemed to be sunburn. His arms and neck had grown noticeably hot from his time in the August sun. It was going to be an uncomfortable night. But at this rate, he’d count himself lucky if he lived long enough to suffer through it.
He was also starving. He’d now missed both breakfast and lunch. If he was stuck out here much longer, he might find that he’d gladly go a round with Furious George for a McDonald’s drive-through.
In the dream, he recalled making his way along this path. He also began to recall something else. An injury. His arm was bleeding. It wasn’t bad, but in the dream he kept looking at it. It burned.
Looking at his right arm now, in the waking world, Eric saw no sign of the injury, of course, but he could remember it vividly. It looked like teeth marks.
During the time he was off the path, taking his unplanned detour through Father Billy’s church, he was supposed to be continuing along the road, across that wooden bridge. Because he hadn’t gone there, the memory of that part of the dream never came back to him like it did in the other places he’d visited. Only vague snippets recurred to him.
He wondered why he’d been able to recall perfectly the details of the rooms back at the resort building without entering them. Merely standing in the doorway and looking toward those rooms had brought back vivid recollections of the dusty, empty spaces behind those doors. Similarly, he realized that he’d remembered much more of the grounds surrounding Altrusk’s house than he had actually seen. He’d even used the memory to save himself the trouble of searching for the path leading away.
Perhaps it was his proximity. After all, he recalled getting as far as the wooden bridge, though he never saw that structure during his flight from the corn creeps.
Maybe it had to do with straying so far from the path he took in the dream.
All he could recall was some sort of building. A house, he thought, but he couldn’t quite be sure.
A series of incoherent images rolled around deep in his mind. A porch. A driveway. A decorative well. Something strange about a tree… Something watching him…? Noises. Panic. Running.
He couldn’t make any of it come together. It was no use.
But somewhere along the way, he’d been bitten. And the shape of the teeth marks in his arm was almost human…
He couldn’t even tell himself that it was only a dream.
But at least he hadn’t been seriously harmed. He’d continued on, little worse for the wear, meaning that Dream Eric had still probably ended up with the preferred path. He had only traded a bite mark on his right arm for a painful scratch on his left.
Around him, the fields were quiet. These were mostly fallow, empty, allowing him an unobstructed view all around him.