“There’s a switch here,” said Stephen. “Should I flip it?”
“Let me look,” said Jack. He approached and brushed past Stephen to see the door and the switch. He flipped his flashlight around and used the butt of the light to flip the switch. Stephen jumped — surprised by Jack’s quick action.
Overhead, dim red lights came on slowly. They looked up and saw that recessed in the black ceiling were dozens of small red lights that cast red circles on the floor in a regular grid.
“This must have taken years,” said Jack.
Stephen followed Jack's gaze to the walls. Lines flowed around, up, and down; at first Stephen thought they just wound randomly around the room. Looking at the whole wall he could see there was something more here. He took a step back and it started to come into focus. He was looking into a giant eye. He turned quickly to his left and saw there another eye staring at him. It was as if he was inches from a giant, carnivorous animal. But the eyes weren’t looking at him. The way they were painted they focused on something farther away.
Stephen felt a chill up the back of his neck and he spun around. More eyes. Diagonally across the room another face was painted on the opposite wall. These were different though — smaller and perhaps younger. Stephen realized that the pattern didn’t end with the bottom of the wall. The painting was enhanced by the spots of light on the floor and somehow the effect formed a whole face that seemed to float, independent of the walls and ceiling.
“Jesus, that’s fucking creepy,” said Stephen.
“It’s amazing,” said Jack. He trotted over and stood at the ladder again. “Come over here.” Jack ordered. “You can see it all from the center here.”
Stephen joined Jack and they took in the full mural. The effect was startling, two faces painted into the corners and yet the perspective was so perfect that the faces seemed to transcend the walls. Between them, in the other corners there wasn’t much light, but Stephen could make out flames and small people who looked to be dancing. The door and light switch that Stephen had found were also in one of these corners.
“Let’s see where that door goes,” said Stephen. He was anxious to get out of this room.
“It might not be so easy,” said Jack. “There’s probably a challenge associated with it.”
“That’s what we’re all about,” said Stephen. “Let’s do it.”
“Nah, I think you’re right, maybe we should head back for the night,” said Jack. “It must be getting early.”
“Yeah, okay,” said Stephen. “Oh, what about my pack?”
“I think we’re going to have to get that next time,” said Jack.
Stephen looked at the ladder. He wondered how to climb it — it didn’t start until his chest. He thought about it for a second and then jumped up to grab the highest rung he could reach. Next, he tried to pull himself up to grab the next rung. He managed to grasp it with his right hand, but he couldn't pull himself up more. Instead he bent his knees and raised his legs up to wrap them around the ladder. He felt his heel hit the back of the ladder and he pushed himself up to the next rung. At the top, he had to turn around to get his torso into the plywood passage.
Before sliding all the way in, he looked down. Jack still stood there, next to the ladder, admiring the artwork.
“Hey,” said Stephen. “You coming?”
“Yeah,” Jack replied. “I’ll be right there.”
Stephen waited a few more moments, but Jack hadn’t moved. “Today?” he said.
Jack looked up — “I said I’ll be right there.”
“C’mon, wake up.”
Stephen woke to Jack shaking him.
“Get up,” said Jack.
“Jeez, what time is it?” Stephen looked at the clock on the nightstand. “What’s wrong — it’s only seven-thirty. That’s like three hours sleep.”
“We can’t skip breakfast and act all tired,” said Jack. “My mom will get suspicious.”
Stephen wondered how suspicious she would be if she could see Jack right now. His face looked haunted by a much older Jack — the rings under his eyes, and fierce, determined stare were a far cry from Jack two weeks ago. To avoid an argument, Stephen decided to acquiesce and threw off his covers.
“Okay,” said Stephen. “Let me go brush my teeth.” He walked over to the dresser and rubbed his eyes. With one eye half open, he reached and opened the wrong drawer — the drawer that Ben had been using.
“Hey,” said Stephen, “You talk to Ben yet?” he turned and Jack had left the room. He thought of how different everything had been when Ben was around; he really missed Ben. Ten more days and he would be going home too. Stephen grabbed his toiletries from his drawer and headed off to the bathroom.
In the kitchen, Jack’s mom was making a large quantity of pancakes and Jack sat at the table.
“Good morning Stephen — sleep well?” Jack’s mom asked.
“Yes, thank you Ms. Randolph,” said Stephen.
“Hey Jack,” Stephen sat at the kitchen table, across from Jack, “have you gotten a call from Ben yet?”
“Nah,” said Jack, “he must have gone somewhere with his mom.”
“So what do you boys have on your agenda today?” asked Jack’s mom.
“Well, if it’s nice, we’d like to go outside,” said Jack. “But it’s up to you, mom. What do you think?”
“I think the weather is supposed to be good, so why don’t you go out and be back by lunch?”
“Okay, thanks,” said Jack.
Stephen took the juice that Jack’s mom offered and took a small sip. It tasted bad against the toothpaste flavor in his mouth, but he held it up to his face while he studied Jack. Stephen couldn’t tell if Jack was being sincere or not. He decided it didn’t matter; Jack's mom looked satisfied.
They ate in silence. Jack’s mom attempted to engage Stephen in conversation about his family, and school, but Stephen kept his answers short and eventually she stopped asking.
Jack finished first and cleared the table. “Thanks mom, that was great,” he said.
“Yeah, thanks Ms. Randolph.”
“It was my pleasure — you’re both very welcome,” she replied.
“You want to go upstairs for a little while?” Jack asked Stephen.
“Sure, Jack,” he followed Jack out of the kitchen and up to Jack’s room.
Jack closed the door behind them and went over to his dresser and opened his sock drawer.
“I want to take some of the letter money,” said Jack.
“What for?” asked Stephen.
“Just in case we have to buy something,” said Jack.
“Like what?”
“If I knew that, I’d probably tell you,” Jack smiled. Stephen didn’t trust Jack’s smiles lately.
“Okay,” he said. “I trust you’ll let me know at the time.”
“Oh yeah — you bet. Let’s get going, we have to be back by noon.”
Stephen packed up Ben's backpack — it was one of Jack’s old ones. It already had a bunch of appropriate gear, so it didn’t take long before he and Jack were on their way. Jack set a blistering pace, just short of a run, but Stephen kept up.
“Hey,” he called up to Jack. “What’s the deal with Ben? Looked like you didn’t want me asking about him in front of your mom.”
“Oh, I heard from him,” said Jack.
“Really? Why didn’t you say so — I want to talk to him.”
“We can call him later,” said Jack. “I didn’t want my mom to get all involved talking to Ben’s mom. My parents both think that she’s a bad mother, and I’m sure my mom will say something to piss her off. I just figured Ben could probably do without that right now.”
“Yeah, but you could have slipped the phone my direction,” Stephen argued.