Chasing Christmas Lights
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“I can’t believe it,” said Kip. “Look at that thing!”
The street was as empty of pedestrians as a haunted house in an amusement park. The only people he could see were three little girls and their mother, who walked in front of them with the biggest grin Kip had ever seen on a human face.
Her cheeks were pink with excitement as she pointed to the sky. She turned back to her kids and then shouted something into their ear-protected little ears, and they giggled like crazy.
Kip glanced behind him. There wasn’t a soul anywhere near. He looked at the children again. They were so excited, he felt a bit left out. Maybe he should find some lights too.
He pulled open his closet, looking for a bag to put over his head. But he didn’t need one. The streets were already full of light. His room had a lamp, and his bathroom, too. A soft glow shone through the curtains.
What a stupid idea. No way could he go outside and just start running after lights like some kind of idiot. The streets would be empty. And the only place he’d be able to see lights anyway was the side of his house. Or the roof. And it wasn’t even Christmas yet. What did it matter?
Kip turned around and slammed shut his closet door.
He walked to his bed, sat down, and curled up on his side, facing away from the window. He took a deep breath and started counting. Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven…
The doorbell rang.
Kip jumped straight to his feet. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said. He ran out the door and threw himself through the living room and out the front door. He stood on the porch, listening for footsteps. No one was there. The bell rang again.
“Oh great,” he muttered. “Now I have to answer the door.”
He opened the door. “Hello?”
A girl was standing there, her eyes wide. “Are you Kip? Is this your house?”
Kip glanced up and down the street. “Yeah. What’s going on?”
“My name is Jada, and I’m here to ask you for help. Have you heard about what happened yesterday?”
***
“I heard that your parents are dead,” said Jada.
“Huh?” said Kip. He tried to wrap his brain around the idea. But nothing made sense. “Wait a minute. Yesterday?”
She nodded.
Kip felt like the ground was tilting under him. His stomach knotted and started to hurt. His breath caught in his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He stepped back, almost falling down the steps.
“No…” he gasped. “They’re not dead, are they? They’re just missing? You must be mistaken.”
Jada shook her head.
“That can’t be right,” he said. “It can’t.” He looked at his hands as if by staring hard enough, he’d discover that he had been holding two large wooden sticks and a black leather bag full of gold coins. But all that remained were two ordinary, pale-looking arms and hands, each holding a door open.
“My friend told me,” she said. “Your parents are dead.”
Kip could feel the blood rushing from his head. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” said Jada. “But I do know that you need our help.”
“How did you find me?” Kip asked. His heart was beating too fast. He couldn’t speak, but the words just came out.
“My parents and I drove up to the city,” said Jada. “We thought it would be fun to check out the lights. Then my dad pulled over, and we got out of the car. We walked around a little bit, and then…I don’t know.
I guess someone threw a rock at my dad and hit him in the head, and he fell down. My mom ran after him, but he was already dead when she got there. The police didn’t believe her story about how people are trying to kill us, so they took us all down to the station.
But then my dad’s ghost came back as a spirit, and he tried to attack them with the spirit sword, but he only hurt himself. They put him away somewhere. And now they’re trying to send us home because it’s almost Christmas. I’ve been here ever since.”
“Your parents are dead,” said Kip.
“Yeah,” said Jada. “You probably already knew that. But I wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t think I was crazy.”
Kip nodded. “Did anyone else see what happened?”
“No. Not even the police. My mom and I were the only ones who saw the whole thing.” She glanced up and down the street. “Do you know any other way to get to my house? I’m not going back there. Not if they killed my parents.”
Kip shook his head. “No, I don’t. This is the first time I’ve ever come down this far. Why did your dad pull over?”
“It was probably a rock or something. He thought it might be a drug dealer. It was a strange place for a drug deal, though. There were no lights or anything. I guess he thought if he stopped right there on the side of the road, people might be less suspicious.”
“Wow,” said Kip. “This is starting to sound like some bad Indiana Jones movie.”
Jada looked at him. “Have you never heard of an Indiana Jones movie?”
“I’ve heard about them,” Kip admitted, “but I haven’t seen any of them.”
Jada smiled. “I’ll have to show you sometime.” She pointed up the street. “That’s where I live. Do you want to come in and wait for my mom to finish wrapping presents?”
Kip shrugged. “Sure.”
“She won’t be home for another hour,” said Jada.
They went inside. “What do you think happened?” Kip asked Jada.
“I don’t know. But maybe your parents were murdered.”
“That doesn’t seem likely,” said Kip.
“Well, how else can you explain why they’re missing? If you ask me, there’s something going on in the city. And someone’s trying to kill all of us.”
Kip shook his head. “No one’s trying to kill anyone.”
“What?” said Jada. “Have you met the police? They’re the ones who got me kicked out of school and took me away from my mom. I don’t know how anyone could say that they aren’t trying to hurt people.”
Kip sighed. “I know. But there must be some other explanation for what happened to your parents. Maybe something bad happened to them, but I’m sure it wasn’t anything serious. And no one is trying to kill anyone.”
Jada shook her head. “I know, but…”
Kip sat down on a couch and crossed his legs. Jada followed his example. The couch was comfortable—far more so than the chairs at school or his bed back at home.
“So tell me about your house,” said Kip. “I bet I’ve never been there.”
“It’s pretty small, really,” said Jada. “And it has a basement too. My mom works nights as a nurse, so she sleeps most of the day. My dad died when I was little, which was sad, because he was such a nice guy. I guess the only other thing you should know is that they had another kid before I was born, and she moved out after I was born. She still comes to visit sometimes.”
“So you’re an only child?” asked Kip.
“No,” said Jada. “But my dad always called me his favorite.”
Jada went on to tell him more about her childhood home and its occupants. By the time Jada’s mother came home, the two boys were fast friends. When she found them, they were sitting in a corner, sharing stories.
“Are you still my daughter?” Jada’s mother asked as she sat down on the couch beside them.
“Of course, Mom,” said Jada.
“Is it true that your father was killed?” Jada’s mother asked, and Kip nodded.
“What about all this business with the police? Were you ever questioned by the police about the fire?”
“Yes, and then they took me away from my mom,” said Kip.
“Why?” said Jada.
Kip shrugged. “They said I’d set the fire myself. But I didn’t do it.”
“That’s absurd,” said Jada’s mother. “How could you have set the fire? You were sleeping at the time.”
Kip shrugged. “Maybe someone else did it. But I don’t think so. Whoever set the fire must have done it for a reason. To hurt me.”
Jada’s mother frowned. “You were not at fault. Your parents would never have harmed you.”
“But if they hadn’t been murdered…”
“Who cares about that?” said Jada’s mother. “We’ll figure out what happened to your parents later. Right now we should focus on getting you two someplace safe.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jada.
“I’m going to take you to my house until all this is resolved,” said Jada’s mother.
“My house isn’t safe anymore,” said Kip.
“It’s fine,” said Jada’s mother. “All I need you to do is promise me one thing: Don’t leave the house. If you feel like you’re in danger, call me and I’ll come home. But if anyone comes knocking at your door, don’t open it.”
“What about school?” asked Jada.
“You’ll have to go back and finish out the semester,” said her mother. “As far as your teachers are concerned, you’ve just gone on vacation for the holidays. We’ll get you caught up when things settle down. You can talk to your teachers and your friends later about the fire.”
Jada and Kip nodded their agreement.
“Good,” said her mother. “Now I’ll get you some food while you boys chat. And I think I saw some of your clothes upstairs in a dresser.”
She then left them to go downstairs to fetch Jada’s clothes and to start a meal for the three of them. As Jada and Kip waited, they talked about their respective lives. They had both spent most of their lives alone and found comfort in each other.
Kip told Kip that his parents had been killed in a car accident when he was five years old. His father had been driving drunk, and Kip’s mother was a passenger. He had no memory of her after the accident; only that she had cried for days afterward.
Jada had never known her mother, but she did have memories of her father. His name had been Derek. She’d always thought that his name suited him. It was like a name from a fantasy novel—strong and majestic. But he’d died when she was seven. Jada didn’t remember much about him, but she remembered that he loved her very much.
Jada and Kip’s friendship deepened over the course of the next several weeks. Kip continued to insist that he didn’t know anything about the fire. Jada continued to believe him, though she couldn’t be sure of anything anymore.
The fire investigator who had first interrogated them had disappeared shortly after Kip had told him that he hadn’t set the fire. His boss said that he was on vacation in New York. Nobody had heard from him since. Jada’s mother said that the fire investigator had quit shortly after they had talked, and had asked Jada not to call him anymore.
It was now two months after the fire, and Jada’s grades had fallen substantially. Her mother was worried, and she knew that she wouldn’t get into college with the way that her grades were going. Jada went to her mother every night after dinner and complained to her about her schoolwork. “It just isn’t working,” she would say.
“Maybe you should talk to Mr. Green again about the problems at your school?” her mother suggested. “I know he was pretty upset about the way things were handled at your old school.”
Jada nodded but didn’t reply. She wasn’t going to go back there. It felt like a betrayal.
As she walked home one afternoon, Jada began to wonder if it really had been a bad idea to trust Kip. Was he lying to her? Did he know more about the fire than he was letting on? She began to worry that he might be part of the people who had set the fire.
And then, as she reached the top of her street, she saw a man walking toward her. He wore a hooded black coat and an oversized scarf pulled up over his mouth and nose. As he came closer, she recognized him.
“Hey!” said Kip, catching sight of her before he got too close.
The figure raised a hand and pointed. “You!”
Kip drew his pistol. “Who is it? What do you want?” he demanded.
“Let’s just say I need to borrow your friend for a little while,” said the figure, keeping his hand pointed at Jada.
“He’s not my—” started Jada.
The man turned to face her, lowering his hood. “Your boyfriend set the fire, didn’t he?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’re taking him.”
A few minutes later, they had kidnapped Kip and bundled him into the backseat of a car parked down the block from Jada’s house. The man driving didn’t say much, but Jada could tell that he was very nervous.
He drove as fast as he dared without drawing any attention to himself. They ended up in a parking lot next to a park, and the man got out of the car. Kip followed him, and Jada looked around nervously, wondering if anyone might see what was happening. But no one appeared. She relaxed, thinking that maybe the man’s story about Kip wasn’t true.
“We’ll take care of the rest,” said the man.
“Okay,” said Kip, looking a bit relieved.
As soon as Kip and the man were gone, Jada ran toward the park and began calling Kip’s cell phone. She couldn’t find it anywhere. When she checked Kip’s pockets, his cell phone was there, but nothing else.
She ran back to the car where Kip was sitting. The man who’d kidnapped him came back to get him. “Can’t wait,” he said.
“Where are you taking us?” asked Kip, still worried that they would hurt him.
“Just follow me,” said the man.
They got out of the car and started to walk, heading toward the main entrance of the park. “What are we doing here?” Kip asked.
The man glanced at him, then continued walking. “It’ll be obvious once we get inside.”
They walked into the park and headed straight for the nearest building. A sign outside reading: Welcome Center. Inside, there was a small cafeteria where people could get coffee or tea while they waited for their buses. The man went in and came out again with a cup of tea. Kip got out his wallet and paid for it.
“Come on,” said the man.
Jada followed him. They went out through the front door, then into another building, and up a set of stairs. Once they were upstairs, the man opened a door and gestured for them to enter. The room they entered was dimly lit, with one wall made entirely of glass.
“This is where you live?” asked Kip, staring out the window at the other side of the park. There was a large group of people down there, some sitting on benches and talking, others standing around a statue.
“You have no idea,” said the man. He gestured toward a sofa against the back wall and took a seat next to it.
Jada sat down beside him, and Kip sat next to her.
The man set the tea on the coffee table in front of them, then reached over and picked up a remote control. A screen sprang to life on the wall above the sofa. It showed Kip’s face. “Kip, I’m going to let you know exactly what’s going to happen in this room, but when you look out that window, don’t talk.”
Jada looked out the window and saw a man and woman standing on the edge of a cliff. They were looking down. Jada realized it was an overlook overlooking the park. She couldn’t tell how far they were from the ground, but it had to be quite high up.
The man held the remote control and slowly began pressing buttons on it. The two people on the cliff were walking down toward them, moving very carefully so as not to slip. The man continued pressing buttons, and they kept walking. Suddenly, one of the people lost her footing and started tumbling. As she fell, she let out a loud shriek, which turned into a scream of pain.
A couple of people nearby turned around and started screaming. The man hit another button, and the screaming stopped. Another button and the person was back at the top of the cliff.
“Who are these people?” asked Kip.
The man didn’t answer right away, but he did keep hitting the remote control buttons.
The two people on the cliff now walked over to a small waterfall and began jumping off. As one of them jumped, a few other people in the crowd screamed and turned around. A few more buttons and everyone was back where they’d been before the jump. The man hit a button again, and the waterfall disappeared.
“Okay,” said Kip. “What is this? Are you watching everything that happens in the park?”
The man smiled. “Yes.”
Kip took a deep breath. “That’s creepy. How can you do something like that without being caught by someone?”
The man shrugged. “I’m not trying to be caught. This isn’t the kind of thing anyone will ever talk about if they know about it. I’ve made sure of that.”
Jada thought about that for a moment. If no one knew what was happening here, then it wouldn’t matter if someone had seen it. “And why are you doing this?”
“To stop people from hurting themselves,” said the man. “This is how you see the world when you’re depressed: You see only the negative things and assume the worst is going to happen. It makes you want to hurt yourself.”
“But we’re not all like that,” said Jada.
“You’re right,” said the man. “Many of us never think about hurting ourselves. But some of us have a harder time seeing things any other way. And it doesn’t help that those who do hurt themselves are made fun of.
People say that they aren’t really hurt—that it’s just an attention-seeking cry for help. They don’t understand what depression feels like, and because of that, they can’t believe it when someone says he wants to kill himself.”
Kip put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “They don’t understand anything, do they? I guess they’ll have to learn the hard way.”
“That’s my point,” said the man. “We all have to learn our lessons in life, but with this kind of lesson, it’s best if the learning process comes after we’ve already done something bad. If there hadn’t been a car accident, then maybe your friend wouldn’t have learned to drive at all. Maybe she would still be walking. This kind of thing is why I’m doing this.”
Jada took a deep breath. “So what happens to people who see it?”
The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “There are certain things I can’t tell anyone. Not even you two.” He pointed to Kip and Jada.
Kip clenched his hands into fists. “What? Are you serious? You’re going to force us to live in a world where we’re going to die if we look out that window?”
“You know, you seem like an angry young man,” said the man. “And I can appreciate that. I was an angry young man once myself. But that doesn’t mean I want to hurt anyone.”
Kip and Jada looked at each other. It seemed like the man’s story made more sense now. They were no longer sure of his motives, but he seemed genuine. And they had to admit that at least a few of the people in the park were probably depressed.
“What about my mom?” asked Jada. “Shouldn’t I be able to know if she’s okay?”
The man shrugged again. “I can’t do anything for her, but you can watch yourself to make sure you don’t get depressed. That’s all you can do.”
Jada nodded. She felt better knowing that she didn’t have to worry about her mother. She’d heard from Jaden that he wasn’t doing too well either.
Kip put his hand on Jada’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Jada. We’ll figure this out.”
She smiled at him. “I hope so.”
The End