Denise and John

Chapter Twenty Four

As the day settled in, Alex drove relentlessly toward his destination. Passing through Utah was easy once he merged on the 84. From the border of Idaho to Boise it should've taken him four hours, Alex managed to crush it in three. As well as from Boise Idaho to Baker City Oregon, it should have been another three hours but he managed to cut that down to two. Eating only the snacks that he bought at the convenient store before actually taking his drive. He kept his rest room breaks down by only going when he stopped for gas no matter how strong the urge became to relieve himself in between.
It wouldn't be long before he was in La Grande Oregon, and from there it would only be another four hours to Portland, Alex was making good time.
                         ***
John liked having Michael around. With his help the chores were done quickly. Brianna, JC, and Graham settled into Brianna's room for the rest of the afternoon which gave John, Denise and Michael time to think about their next course of action.
Without hesitation, once he heard the door shut to B's room, John asked. "So exactly how long do we have to prepare before this guy gets here Beastman?"
Sitting opposite John and Denise, Michael smiled. "I don't know, how long are you going to call me that?"
"Why? Does it bother you?" John smiled.
"Not really." Michael stated, returning the gesture. "I kinda like it actually."
Denise interrupted quickly. "You know I don't mean to break up the family bonding of freaks. But we need to figure out how long we have before some psycho serial killer comes knocking on our door."
Denise must've been reading John's mind as she silenced herself awaiting a response from Michael. He shifted his gaze between Denise, John, and back to Denise again.  Adjusting his position to be more comfortable he asked. "Why are you guys looking at me for an answer to that? I really don't know."
"Yea but." John asked. "Didn't you come from around the same area? I mean, how long did it take you?"
"John my circumstance was different."
"How so?" he asked.
"Well for one thing I wasn't in a hurry to get here, and honestly I didn't time myself." he said.
Before John could continue Denise said. "Yea I understand that, but you must have some idea of the time it took you."
"Um…not really. A day and a half maybe two days."
"Ok." John said. "He left the day before yesterday." Sitting straight up, he finished. "Shit he could already be here."
"No not necessarily John." Michael said calmly. "Remember it was late in the afternoon when you noticed he was at the rest area. He was still in Colorado. So leaving late we have to take that into consideration, also, we don't know he may have stopped for the night. You have to take in all factors…" Michael shifted his gaze toward John. "… or better yet you can try that mind meld thing you do and see where he's at."
"Yea but." Denise interrupted. "He knows Johns there, he would know John was spying."
"Yea." John agreed.
"Ok, so what. He obviously is not shy. I mean he did say see you soon right. I don't think he really cares at this point do you?" Switching his gaze between the two of them.
Denise looked toward John and gestured disapprovingly. John raised his hands towards her. "You know what Denise, fuck it. I mean we might as well. Beastman's right this guy is not playing in the shadows he's ballsy, so…" he shrugged. "We might as well. Least we could do is show him we're not afraid."
"Precisely." Michael smiled. "Might as well give it a try. Ok John prepare yourself. Or make yourself comfortable and do what you do…. Whichever works" Placing one leg over the other Michael leaned back and smiled at Denise. "Don't worry, he's got this."
Taking the MP3 out of his pocket John placed one ear bud in each ear. Flipping through his music he quickly chose "Uprising" by Muse and closed his eyes. Leaning back on the sofa, he allowed his mind to drift with the music. Without any help he made his way through the distant plain he became accustomed to. This time he was met with a surprise. Expecting to find the perp driving toward their destination, he instead was transported to an area he was familiar with from past camping trips.
Standing in the forest of Green Peter  the landscape was bright and enticing. As a replacement for being like the actual camp ground, the area was decorated in pink cherry blossoms reigning from the trees. As the music played it sifted more into the background of his mind and John could hear birds in the distance as though he were really in the designed area. Looking up, the cherry blossoms swirled and danced, lightly touching his skin before hitting the ground lifeless. Extending his arms he was surprised he could feel every petal.
Turning in a semi-circle he looked on in wonderment unsure of what was taking place. Looking up it was raining cherry blossoms and looking down the ground was now covered in the pink beauty. Making his way in a complete circle he noticed off in the distance a stump, and there sitting with her hair tied back, in a pink and purple flower print dress, was Brianna. With one hand placed partially behind her, the other hand she held up to her face twirling a single pink rose. Her bright blue eyes gleamed as they moved from the beauty of the rose up to meet John's confused gaze.
Unsure of how to respond John didn't pull back from the area.
"Brie?" he said, bewilderingly.
She smiled at him and responded. "Hi John."
"Umm… ok. This is some twilight zone bull shit I mean what the fuck? You're like in the room." Turning in a circle once again he finished. "Seriously what the fuck?"'
Brianna laughed. "Shut up John and listen for once."
Suddenly a feeling of excitement hit him. "Wait a minute. Holy shit B is this your ability? Like seriously some genjutsu shit from Naruto. This is bad ass." He smiled at her.
"John, seriously shut up." She laughed. She stood up from the stump and placed the flower on the end of it, and proceeded to walk towards him.
Unable to stop himself John asked. "Really though how do you do this. Like what exactly is your ability? Cause this is cool as shit."
"Ok." Brianna said. "I will explain a little if you shut up and listen we don't have a lot of time."
"Sounds fair." He chuckled.
"Because we are connected I can talk to you through time."
"Wait connected? How?" he was confused.
"To explain it easier brother I can pull people into time. Everyone is connected through time and by time. Everything shares that one common bond we are all affected by time."
"Time?" he contemplated. "Oh shit. Is this how you talked to Graham?"
"Something like this, yes." She smiled. "Now I want to help you out and we can't waste any more time."
Gesturing mockingly at her he asked. "You help me, but how?"
Ignoring his question she continued. "Don't be deterred by what you can't do, you are going to need to focus on the things you can."
"Ok. Thanks captain obvious. Geez." He chuckled.
Looking sternly at him she stated sharply. "John you need to focus." Holding up her hand she covered her left eye. "Now follow me brother do what I do."
"This is some totally weird shit." He sighed. "Guess I will humor you." He placed one hand over his left eye mimicking his sister. "But after this, I'm getting you out of your room, you're obviously spending way too much time in there."
"Pay attention." She scolded. "This is where you will see the world normally… but when you do this…" she uncovered her left eye and placed a hand over her right eye. "…this is where you will see the world through his eyes…" she smiled and finished. "Close your eye and open it again, you will awaken part of your subliminal side, and he will never know you're there. Do it."
Uncovering his left eye he placed his hand over his right eye and closed his left eye briefly. Listening he could hear a faint buzz and then a radio. Opening his eye John pulled his hand away and lost his balance, stumbling he fell to the ground. While the right eye was looking at his sister the other eye transported to an open road unfamiliar to him.
"Holy shit." He said, closing his eyes. "That shit could totally fuck up your equilibrium."
John rubbed his eyes and focused back on the world in front of him. "That was cool, how did you know to do that B?" he asked.
"That's one my time keeper showed me." She smiled broadly.
"Awesome… what's a time keeper?" Rambling on, he quickly got to his feet and said. "Let me try that again."
Brianna laughed. "You can do that again but not here. We're out of time brother. Now wake up."
Before John could dispute; a hole opened underneath him and he fell. Instantly John jumped to his feet and pulled the ear buds from his ears, back in the confines of his living room. Looking around, Michael looked at him puzzled, as Denise clutched her chest confusingly.
"What the hell John. You scared the crap out of me." She stated.
"I'm guessing no success?" Michael asked.
As John scanned the area, Brianna must still have been in the room. John jumped past the couch and made his way toward her door.
"Johnny." Denise yelled. "What's going on? What are you doing?"
Before he could open the door, Denise and Michael were by his side. Looking at Michael he asked. "Did Beep come out of her room at all?"
"No, why?"
"What the fuck happened John?" Denise asked.
Ignoring her question John opened the door. Unsure of what he expected to find. JC was playing with cars in the corner of her room while Brianna sat on the bed reading Graham a book. Looking up from her book, she met Johns gaze and smiled.
"Did you get it brother?" Brianna asked.
"Get it, get what?" Denise inquired confusingly.
Before Denise could say anything more John answered. "Yea I got it." He nodded as he closed the door and Brianna went back to her story time with the child.
"What was that all about?" Denise asked.
Heading back to the couch John said. "Don't worry I will tell you. It's fucking trippy."
Denise sat next to her brother as Michael, once again, sat across from them. Keeping his focus on John he said. "Ok so explain."
"Well you know how I was doing that mind meld thing? When I closed my eyes I was…" Trying to find the words, he sat forward and finished. "I don't know transported or something to somewhere else. Brianna was there." Sitting straight back again he said. "No… no… better to explain Brianna took me there."
Puzzled Denise asked. "What do you mean, Brianna took you there, took you where exactly?"
"Actually you know the area we camp at past Sweet Home?"
Denise nodded.
"She took me there. Except it was like covered in Cherry Blossoms."
"What camp site are you talking about?" Michael interposed.
Before John could say anything Denise spoke his thought. "Green Peter. It's where we used to camp before mom got more time for work and less time for us."
Looking down at his hands John felt bad. He could hear the scorn in his sister's voice. Quickly getting back on topic he said. "Yea well, back on the subject she took me there to help me. Or actually she showed me a trick."
"What trick?" Denise asked, her attention focused back on her brother.
Michael leaned in as John explained about the eye and being able to open a piece of his subliminal mind.
"Basically I start out by placing my hand over my left eye, I guess it does something to my mind subliminally, because then I put my hand over my right eye, and blink my left eye, and it opens to wherever he's at." Sighing John finished. "But it's kinda hard to do because I can see both the area he's at, and, in the other eye, the area we're at."
Observing Denise and Michael, they both fell silent. Sitting back Michael asked. "Well would it be easier to do if you're sitting down? You know like you are now?"
Thinking about it John identified. "Shit worth a try. I mean Brianna had me standing so…. That might work better."
"Well try it then." Denise stated.
"Alright." John said. "Worth a shot."
Relaxing his hands on his lap John proceeded first with his left eye, placing his hand over it and looking around with his right. Denise and Michael stared at him quietly. Placing his hand down, he took his other hand and placed it over his right eye. He blinked his left eye and pulled his hand away from his right eye.
On one side he could see Michael and Denise staring at him awe struck. On the other side nothing but open road. Focusing mainly on the left eye, there was no identifying marker to tell John how close the perp was.
Breaking his concentration Denise exclaimed. "Holy shit John, your eye is like a glowing red."
Rubbing his eyes he could feel them tear up. "Thanks Denise, you broke my concentration you tard."
"That was cool. Your eye was glowing, like literally glowing bright red dude." She said pointing in the direction of his left eye.
"Yea it was." Michael said. "It actually was the same color as the one that hung above your head when I got a glimpse into your gift. Interesting. But I don't think that really matter's, I mean it looks cool but what matters more is…" Peering at John he asked. "What did you see John? Was there anything like a mile marker or road sign, something?"
"Actually no." Switching his gaze between the two of them he finished. "He must be in like an area that has no markers because I didn't see shit. Maybe he was already in between signs or something."
"Could be." Michael said. "Try it again."
"What's the point if he's off the grid?" Denise interrupted.
"Well." Michael turned his attention to her. "If he's in between destination signs, then if John intercepts now he will most likely be there when he passes another. Other than that if we only take a look, say, once every half an hour, well, we can possibly miss every mile marker he passes. So best thing to do is have John keep an eye out as much as possible." Relaxing once again he said. "I mean it couldn't hurt right?"
Before Denise could fight the idea John interjected. "He's right Denise. Besides Brianna said that this way he won't know I'm there. So it's kinda like I'm spying which gives us an upper hand because we will know where he is, and when he tries to come here."
With the ear buds in his ears once again, John placed his hands down, and repeated the steps. Michael and Denise watched him quietly. Still nothing on the end of the perp, just solid roads and cars passing. Seeing everything the killer could see he watched as he grabbed something from the passenger's seat and flipped it in his mouth, then he proceeded to change the radio dials. Before John could continue he saw in his right eye the front door began to open.  
"Shit, mom." He thought. Quickly taking his hands and placing it over his eyes, he broke the connection.
"Hey guys." She said making her way through the door with a bag of groceries. "What's going on?"
Before Johnny could answer, Michael quickly took over the conversation. "Hey we were just discussing an idea."
John looked surprisingly at Michael. Meeting his gaze for a moment Michael turned toward Brianna's room. John followed his gaze. Brianna was standing in the hallway smiling at Michael.
Unaware of the sudden change in atmosphere, his mom asked. "Yea what idea?"
Denise looked over to John mimicking under her breath something John caught instantly. "What's going on?"
John shrugged, as Michael continued. "Well we were thinking of maybe a camping trip."
"Camping?" she asked. "Whose idea was this?"
"Um…." Michael stared confusingly at Denise and John. "Actually it was all of ours. Maybe for a weekend or something."
"Hmmm… we will have to see. For now you want to help me with this bag it's kinda heavy. I figured tonight, homemade pizza. Always the best."
"Sure." Michael quickly got up and took the bag following their mom into the kitchen.
With the moment free, John asked. "What the fuck just happened?"
"Totally clueless." Denise chuckled.
Making her way to the couch Brianna said. "I think you guys need some time to work more on what you can do."
Before Denise could say anything John asked. "Wait a minute B, was that you?" Shifting his attention completely on the small girl he asked. "Did you plant that thought in Michael's brain?"
Smiling at Denise she answered. "Maybe."
Denise looked at John, wide eyed and confused. "Am I missing something here?"
"No more than I am." John laughed.
Brianna chuckled and headed back into her room.