Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1)

Parallel (Chapter 24)

Chapter Twenty-Four
Basement Confessions

The last thing I remember is being in Jaime’s bed. I don’t even know if she’s okay. I’m totally disoriented at this point. One minute I’m in her bed and the next, I’m sitting here in the dark. After a few minutes, my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. I’m in some kind of basement. Two narrow windows sit near the ceiling. They are way too high for me to reach and too small for me to crawl out, even if I can manage to get up there. Since there’s no moon tonight, there isn’t much light coming through the windows, only a small glimmer coming from the lamp posts.

Afraid to move, I scan the area. Against several storage boxes, I see a dark outline of a person crouching in the shadows in the corner of the room. I just hope it isn’t a dead body.

“Etta?” I hear the shadow figure say. This time it isn’t Mr. Thornberry.

“Who are you?” There’s no chance in hell I’m crawling over there.

“How did you get here?” He asks. He doesn’t answer my question.

Now I’m positive it’s not Jaime’s dad. “That’s a good question. Who are you?” I ask again. Maybe he’s kidnapped too. If he’s stuck here like me, I now have someone willing to help me get out of this. Then again, if he could, he would have already gotten out himself.

The shadowy figure moves in slow determined steps over to the center of the floor where I’m currently standing. I shift further back, but then realize at some point I’ll be pinned up against the wall behind me, so I stay where I am. Thinking over my options, I figure I have nothing to lose. “I was at my best friend’s house, her dad injects me with some kind of drug, and the next thing I know, I’m stuck here in this basement. Is that what happened to you?”

His footsteps get closer and what little light from the outside lamp posts offers gives me a better view. “Do you know who I am?” He asks.

I stare back at the figure emerging from the shadows. I strain my eyes for a better look at the man. For a split second I fear he isn’t real. But he has to be. In my heart I know he’s the real deal. The shadow-man is my dad.

“Is it really you?” I ask.

Over the years, what little recollection I had of my parents slowly faded over time, but seeing my dad again after all these years spark something in me I can’t explain. All those lost memories come flooding back.

“Etta,” he says with a cracked voice.

I try to reach out to him, but my hand goes right through him. I try to touch him again. Why can’t I physically touch him? The drugs that were pumped into me must have numbed my senses. I can’t feel a thing. My dad is finally in front of me and I’m not even able to hug him. What’s wrong with me?

He didn’t seem alarmed over my failure to assume physical contact. “You said you were at your friend’s and then you just appeared here? Which friend would that be?”

I nod vigorously. “I don’t know what happened exactly. I was at Jaime’s. At some point in the middle of the night, her dad comes in the room, subdues me, and bam, here I am. That’s the last thing I remember.”

“You’re not really here,” he explains slowly. “You’re undoubtedly being held in some other room in this house. I always wondered what other abilities you were capable of. It appears as if you can astral project.”

“What? You mean like leaving my body?” Jeez, I wondered what other powers were lurking within me. So that explains the all the dreams I had.

“It’s rare, but it seems as if your mind has voluntarily opened itself up to other psionic abilities. I certainly did not induce that in you. But it makes perfect sense.” He’s getting excited at the prospect. “It’s complimentary to your other power. Both psychokinesis and astral projection are governed by the same principle. Not only do you have the ability to move objects, you can project your own body and motion.”