The next day wasn't any better. Whatever it was that Liam was noticing,
Nadia was noticing it too.
Nadia
actually paid attention to Foreign Issues class today. The United
States were up to something again. She felt a strange creepiness
in the room.
Ahhhh....yes. The bell. Nadia gathered her bag and went outside,
Liam was there.
"Dude. I know what you're talking about. I can feel it too.
It's creepy." She said.
The air was thick with turbulence. It was windy, but there was something
else. A sort of uneasiness in the air. The wind picked up.
"Man, I hope it rains." Nadia observed.
That something else in the air, it was gnawing at the back of her mind.
Nadia said goodbye to Liam and walked home. On her way home, she
stopped by the public library. She noticed the flag that flew outside.
On it were the words 'The Republic of Texas'. Nadia remembered her
history class, and some boring lecture about Davy Crockett.
Nadia walked some more. She ran into a strange man. About 25,
he was tall and thin, and he had black hair . And he wore leather,
black leather jacket, black Beatle boots, and black leather pants that
were supposed to be tight, but they weren't, due to the fact that he was
incredibly thin and lanky. He looked very rock star-ish. But
not like anyone in paticular.
"Oh! I'm sorry, sir." She apologized, "I didn't see you until it was too
late."
"No, it's OK, really."
Their eyes met, and she saw something. She culd see deep into his
soul, but his soul was one very sad thing. But at the same time,
very strong. It was really pretty scary.
On her way home, Nadia started feeling uneasy, like someone was following
her. She walked faster. And faster. Eventually she started
running. She ran all the way home.
Nadia went down to the basement. While she was playing pool, she
thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Some kind
of movement. She ignored it. It wasn't anything unusual.
Awhile later she saw it again. This time it got her attention.
She looked, but there was nothing there.
Then she actually saw it. Right next to her pool cue. It was
strange. It looked like matter was Jell-O. And it had just
been poked. Forgetting about her game, Nadia stared at it, baffled.
She kept staring at it. She stared at it for a few minutes, not believing
or understanding what she saw. She stared at it as if staring at
it would somehow explain it. It didn't. It could only be described
as a twinge in reality. It was exceedingly strange.
Nadia finished her game. She didn't get to sleep until 1:00.
And when she did, it was an uneasy, restless sleep.
By morning she didn't feel any better. The school day crawled by
slowly. Infinitely slowly. She met Liam outside after school.
They walked to her house together and talked over pool and Cokes.
"I don't like this." Liam said.
"I don't like this either." Nadia said, "Not one bit. A lot
of weird things have happened to me lately."
"Like what?"
"I ran into this guy yesterday."
"And..."
"And, well, he was just this weird guy. Not weird really, just out
of the ordinary."
"So what did this weird-but-not-really-just-out-of-the-ordinary guy look
like?"
"He was tall and really skinny, 25ish, and he had dark hair and dark eyes.
And he had one of those weird 80's haircuts that's like, long, and then
it's like, short on top, you know? And he was pretty fair-skinned."
she added, "Why are you asking so many questions? Just curious?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." She saw how absorbed in the game Liam was. It reminded her,
"Yesterday I saw something else weird. I know I saw it. At
first I saw it only out of the corner of my eye. Then it happened
again, only slightly more noticeable. Then it happened right in front
of my face. Right here." She pointed to a spot on the table.
"What are you talking about?" He was starting to wonder about her sanity.
"I don't know. It was as if matter and space and all that stuff-"
Nadia started over, "It was as if they were all Jell-O and someone poked
it from another dimension. I guess I could be a sci-fi nerd and call
it a flaw in the space-time continuum. But in our world of reality,
things like that don't exist, at least, they shouldn't exist. Right?"
"I think you're going crazy." Liam observed.
"Maybe so. Either that, or the world is going crazy."
"Holy crap!" Liam cried out in shock.
"That's it! That's what I saw yesterday!" Nadia exclaimed.
The cue ball had disappeared. It was the same thing she had seen
the day before. Only now it happened in the same space-time location
as the cue ball. The result was disturbing. No more cue ball.
Liam could do nothing more than gawk.
Nadia noticed how stale the basement air was. "I think it's about
time we got some fresh air. What do you think?"
"I think that's a great idea. Let's go. I need to chill out.
Maybe we could go to Starbucks."
"And we need to get a new cue ball."
Nadia was starting to wonder if they would've better off staying at the
house. They almost got hit by a car, and they got some nasty looks
from some gangsters while they were walking through the ghetto.
For awhile they were able to forget the uneasiness and join the oblivious
Houstonians.
It was a beautiful night, the air was thick and moist as it usually was.
But a cool breeze blew. It was a clear night, and Nadia looked up
to a nearly full moon. The sidewalks of Westheimer were alive.
They watched all the weirdness that walked down the streets of old Montrose.
Nadia saw a girl with hair that was dyed green. It was a deep forest
green, and her hair had a lustrous shine to it. She looked over at
Liam, he too, was caught in the beautiful oblivion.
I feel so romantic, it's dippy. Nadia thought to herself.
She looked over at Liam again, they were walking in step. She fell
in step with anybody she was walking with. It was something that
came naturally.
She looked at the ring on her finger, it was a claddagh, sometimes known
as a "Buffy ring". It was one of those things with two hands holding
a heart with a crown over it. It reminded her of The Claddagh, a
local pub, located in a strip center, next to some Mexican restaurant,
probably a taqueria. There were millions of taquerias in this town…
"Oh! Damn those flower pots!" Nadia had just collided with one of
those large, concrete flowerpots "full of stupid little idiot flowers and
trees and various other forms of floral shit. Ugh! I hate those
things!"
Liam
was laughing so hard, his face was turned red and tears rolled down his
cheeks.
"That's not funny."
"Yes it is." he laughed.
Nadia pushed him into a hedge and kept walking. After awhile he dug
himself out of the hedge and caught up to her.
"You're right. It's not funny." he said, almost too solemnly.
They walked into some pool hall. Nadia bought a brand new cue ball
from a nice man behind a counter. They walked outside to the street.
"I was just thinking-"
It hit her. A thought, a memory, a vision, something to come later
in time. Whatever it was, it was terrifying. Nadia saw herself,
petrified, staring down the barrel of a loaded and cocked AK-47.
It was held by a tall man who was saying something in German. All
she could see was herself, the man, and the gun, nothing else. No
background, no surroundings, nothing else. Then it faded.
Nadia stopped dead. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak.
She couldn't say anything. She could barely breathe.
Liam had no idea what had just happened, "What happened? What did you see?
Please tell me." he asked.
"I ... I..." she freaked out, "I saw a man with a gun and he cornered me
in a room and he was speaking in some other language and I had no idea
what he was saying and he had me cornered and I had nowhere to run and
nowhere to hide and I couldn't scream and he was going to kill me and there
was nothing I could do about it and-"
"Slow down. Please. Just chill for a minute, then tell me."
Nadia was still quite shaken. But at least now she could think.
She sorted things out as best she could. "I saw this...this... I
don't know, like, a vision or something."
"OK."
"I was in this place, I don't know if it was inside or outside, but there
was a wall behind me, two actually, I was cornered. And there was
this dude. He was like, German or something, and he was holding an
AK-47. It was cocked and loaded and aimed straight at my face."
"You've been watching too much TV."
That reminded Nadia of something, "Hey man, you know all this stuff that's
been happening, I think this could lead to something." She said.
"Umm...yeah."
Nadia continued, "And you know it. Maybe not consciously, but you
sense danger. I've been watching you, you're nervous as hell and
it's not very good for you, or anything for that matter." She said "have
you been paying attention in Foreign Issues class?"
"No." Liam replied, "who does?"
"You do have a point there, I must say." She admitted, "I'm thinking that
maybe we should."
The United States had nuclear weapons. Texas had nuclear weapons.
Lately, both countries were getting more prepared than ever.
But there was no need to worry, at least, that's what Mrs. Smith, the Foreign
Issues teacher, had told the class. Nadia didn't believe one bit
of it, neither did Liam, nor Jacqueline.
Nadia met Jacqueline outside.
"There's something I have to tell you, but not here."
"Sorry man, I gotta go, bye." Jacqueline was not interested.
"OK, fine. I'll make it short." She said simply: "We're headed
for war."
"What the hell are you talking about? We are not going to war."
Nadia was taken aback.
"There's no reason for war," Jacqueline continued, "OK? None. You
can't go on relying only on your inside and all your little signs.
You have to wake up and look around. Do you see growing paranoia?
Or anything like that? No." She smiled and turned on her way home.
"OK fine." Nadia said calmly, she was mildly pissed.
Jacqueline turned and went on her way home. On her way she ran into
a guy who introduced himself as Mike. Her told her that she should
listen to her friends, Liam and Nadia. He told her that she should
watch out, that something really was going to happen.
Jacqueline was mildly freaked out. She took a shortcut through an
alley, as soon as she turned the corner, the atmosphere changed completely.
She felt as if though she were in a completely different time and place.
It was not an uninviting place, but the time certainly was. It was
almost like a bad dream. It felt dreamy. She thought she saw
Nadia, but no one was there.
Jacqueline continued on her way to Nadia's house. She had to tell
Nadia about this weird dude that she ran into on the street. She
walked up to the door. It was unlocked, so she went inside and went
downstairs to the basement. Nadia was there, of course, playing billiards,
of course. Jacqueline stood in the doorway for awhile. Nadia
knew she was there, but pretended not to. Jacqueline watched and
Nadia was about to hit a ball. As soon as her pool cue touched the
ball, it disappeared. Nadia was surprised, but for some reason she
was only mildly surprised. Jacqueline was freaked.
Nadia finally looked up and saw Jacqueline gawking.
"I know, it's really strange, it's happened to me about three times already.
I'll explain later."
"I stopped by to tell you something-"
"I know exactly what it is."
Jacqueline ignored her, "Yes, well anyway, I ran into this guy on the way
over here. Her was tall and thin about twenty-something and he had
one of those 80's haircuts and lots of black leather, and he said his name
was Mike-"
"And he was an Irishman, no doubt." Nadia grinned, "Yeah, I ran into that
very same guy just the other day. He knows so much about us, I think
maybe he works for the government."
"You got it." Jacqueline went over to the fridge and got a Coke.
"So, do you know anything else about this dude?"
Nadia snorted, "No. I think he's a ghost or familiar or shapeshifter
or something. He's probably a tree when no one's looking. You know,
weird, devious little dude."
"I had a boyfriend like that once."
She laughed, but stopped when she was startled by the opening of the door.
Liam walked in, with Mike trailing behind him. "Hello people!
Meet my new friend, the Weird Guy That Y'all Keep Talking About.
I say let's all find out what's going on, since The Weird Guy Y'all Keep
Talking About seems to know more than we do."
Everyone agreed.
Sodas and pool cues were passed around, the radio was turned on and a surprisingly
friendly atmosphere was created. Except for Mike's complaining, "No
beer?"
"Nope. No beer."
"OK," Jacqueline said, "Someone please tell me. What the hell is
going on? Mike, you should know, you seem to be behind a lot of this.
So tell me, what's going on?"
"How do you know all of us?" Nadia asked.
"Because I know things." Mike answered simply.
Nadia was slightly annoyed, "Could you maybe, oh, I don't know, give us
a more direct answer?"
"No." Mike stated.
"Why?" Nadia pressed on.
"--" Mike started to say something.
"Nevermind." Nadia gave up.
"Who sent you and where did you come from?" now it was Liam's turn to ask
questions.
"I work for a guy who calls himself Mr. MacPhisto. But he calls himself
that just because he can't think of a better name so he has to steal it
from someone else."
Jacqueline was doing all she could to keep her Coke from coming out of
her nose. She failed.
"Wow man, you must specialize in being vague." Liam observed.
"I'm sorry," Nadia was laughing, "but that is the stupidest thing I have
ever heard."
"Mr. MacPhisto!" Jacqueline couldn't stop laughing, "That's like, the bad
dude from Batman, isn't he?"
"Actually, he's one of the more demonic alter-egos of The Vox, you know,
lead singer of Bloody Sunday."
Mike was irritated but dealt with it.
Jacqueline wouldn't stop laughing so Nadia whacked her with a drumstick
that was lying nearby.
"I think it's about time I do some talking." Mike said, "All that weird
stuff you've been seeing lately is all connected. You're not going
crazy. But when you see something strange out of the corner of your
eye, understand this: Yes. It was your imagination, but not just your imagination.
That something was real, but not completely, your imagination fills in
the gap. And if you actually understand what I'm trying to say, then
I am truly amazed."
"I know exactly what you're talking about" Nadia said as-a-matter-of-factly,
it's that thing you see that looks like air and matter are made out of
Jell-O, and someone poked it from another dimension."
"I guess you could put it that way." Mike said.
"Well Mike," Nadia said, "what is it?"
"I flaw in the space-time continuum."
"Are they dangerous? And how come they tend to congregate around
this pool table? I've lost about three cue balls already, where do
they go?"
"Balls, balls, balls." Jacqueline snickered, Mike and Liam both glared
at her.
Mike
continued, "No, they are not usually dangerous, these are small.
When something disappears into one of these things, it goes somewhere else.
Usually someplace many miles away. The other interesting thing is
that they seem to work like a two-way tunnel. Let's say there's one
here," Mike pointed to a spot on the table, "and then there is another
one over here," he pointed to a spot on the other side of the table.
"These two spots make a pair. If something goes in right here, then
it'll come out over there. And when something goes in over there,
it comes out here. Got that?"
"How do you know this?"
"Because I just do."
"OK." Nadia said.
"Wow freaky man. So these things are like a teleport." Liam suggested.
"Ummm...yeah. I guess you could say that."
"Freaky." He said again.
The next day at school was strange, kind of dreamy almost. Mrs. Smith
told the class what was going on, Nadia already knew. The United
States was going to make Texas a state. But now it wasn't just The
U.S. and Texas, Russia had decided to join the fun on the US's side, while
Germany sided with Texas. A major war had just started.
When Mrs. Smith told the class that Russia was joining the war, everyone
automatically turned around and looked at Nadia, who cowered in her chair.
When Mrs. Smith saw this, she called on Nadia.
"And what do you have to say about this, Miss Litvak?"
"Ummm...well, what makes you think I have anything to say?" Nadia said
"You are Russian. Right?" the teacher smiled, she was just trying
to start a friendly discussion, not knowing the damage she would end up
doing.
"OK," Nadia was already irritated by the teachers blatant, oblivious cheerfulness.
Nadia Anastasia Litvak was about 5'4". She had brown hair and eyes
that were never the same color from day to day. Her parents were
from Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Nadia thought that her mother
was a crazy communist. Her father was dead, and her mother would
never tell her when, where or why. She wasn't popular, but she had
friends. She was often labeled in the same group with the military
punks. But she wasn't one of them. With her Doc Martins, cargos,
camo anything/everything, and the red star, she was voted most likely to
overthrow the government and start a revolution. She thought this
was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard. But what she didn't
know, is that this was who she really was. Inside, she was a fighter,
but she didn't know that, because at the moment there was nothing to fight.
That would eventually change.
© 1999 Laura Hutchinson