Nightmares Alive

Apartment

3 minutes, 4 burning legs, and 114 rungs later, we finally reached the top of the ladder. Sarah grinned as she tried to push open the grate. It wouldn't open.

"Oh no," she said.

"Locked?"

"Yep. But I have a screwdriver that I can use to open it. But..."

"What...?"

She winced. "It's in my backpack."

I groaned. "Which zipper?"

"She paused for a moment, trying to recall. "It should be in the 2nd pocket from the front, closer to you."

"K, what next?"

"Do you see the package of sea salt dark chocolate squares? Sorry, that's been eaten. Inside is some breath mints and some tools."

"Found it!"

"OK, now carefully, hand it to me."

I slowly moved my arm up, balancing on 2 sore legs and one sore arm.

"There you go."

"Thanks," Darla answered, unscrewing the screws and letting them fall into the green sewage water below. She lifted the grate off, sliding it against the cement above. We both shimmied our way up and out.

I looked around to realize that we were at the intersection of Sutherlin and Francis. I recognized the intersection, but I had no idea how to get to anywhere from there. "So where are we headed, Darla?"

"To my apartment. It's safer there than underground with my.. relatives.." She took a left down the sidewalk.

"I understand. But are why are we going to the apartment instead of my house? Mom is probably worried sick!" I followed right behind her, making sure I didn't lose sight of her.

"Your gift is unnatural. It's wonderful, but unnatural, unusual. We need to find a way to practice it. You need to gain control of it. The first place Chuck and Bernie will check for you is your house. They don't know where my apartment is, so it will buy us more time. Especially if they don't think about how you could be at my place."

"Smart."

"Thanks. And you're slow. Pick up the pace."

"Sorry," I apologized.

Darla spun around. "No, sorry, I should be the one saying sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that discussing about my family, old and new, has reopened a new, wound, shall I say. I was remembering my anger I had against my family." A lone tear full of memories washed down Darla's cheek.

"You're good. I understand. It can be pretty difficult with all of those changes in your life." I grinned, trying to stay positive with her.

"Thanks for understanding."

Only moments later had we arrived at Darla's apartment building. It was a simple, brick building squashed in between the police station and the library. After a quick flight of stairs, we finally reached her apartment room.

"Here we are!" Darla proclaimed. "Home sweet home."