Descent

14 - "I got a drama thing for you"

Tommy woke up easily that morning. He was disappointed he'd been unable to travel where he wanted, but he admitted a certain nostalgia in visiting Clara's life at a happier time. Her memory of being held by her dad made him ache for his. He was seeing him this weekend and couldn't be more excited--things with his mom had been so weird, and getting away from Rosshaven for a few days would be a gas.

His mom was gone by the time he went downstairs. He tossed his lunch together and hopped on the bus, where Arjun was waiting for him. The other boy talked excitedly but Tommy wasn't really listening--he was waiting for Leslie to get on the bus. When she finally did, he turned to Arjun.

"Hey, listen, I need to sit with Leslie this morning."

Arjun knit his brows together, "Why?"

"I need to talk to her about something."

"Something you can't talk to me about?"

"Yeah it's about drama class."

Arjun stared at Tommy for a bit. The town blurred by outside.

Finally: "Sure, fine."

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

"We can hang out at lunch."

"Maybe."

"K."

"K" They sat in silence for a bit, then Tommy hopped up and slid into Leslie's seat.

"Did you dream?" He asked.

"I did."

"Me too, but not what I wanted..." He went on to describe what he'd seen. She listened patiently. "I wasn't able to affect anything this time, I wasn't even aware of myself."

"How do you know you changed things in the first place?" She asked, the first time she'd spoken since he sat down.

"I.." he stammered, "I thought about doing something and did it."

"How do you know that was you? Maybe it was the girl-"

"Clara."

"...Clara acting and you are so in her head you think it was you giving the command."

"No, I know I did something. It hadn't felt like that before." He felt a shiver up his spine, like he was being watched.

"Clara Rourke's father kills her, and her brother and her mother. Everyone knows that."

"How do you know that?"

"It's part of the town's history. Didn't you have to take that test when you moved here?"

Tommy had never heard of anyone taking a test before moving to a new town. He shook his head.

"Well, I did." Clara explained: "I had to study the history of the four major families of Rosshaven and the big historical events of the town. One of them is the Rourke Murders--a whole family wiped out in one night. No one ever found out why."

"Hey..." Arjun called from the next seat over.

"It was like some kind of ritual. I was lying on a stone slab in front of a big hole in the ground. Her dad had a knife in his hand and was chanting something."

"...K, well, the test doesn't say anything about that."

"But I saved her! I kicked one of the guys into the hole!"

"Tommy..." Arjun again.

"If you changed something in the past, I mean really Marty McFly changed things--wouldn't I know? Or, I guess, wouldn't I not know? Wouldn't that test I took say Clara survived?"