Obsolete Dream
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The world had gone on, but she hadn’t. She’d watched the years pass with little more than a flicker of recognition. The faces around her were all familiar yet somehow foreign at once, and it was difficult for her to keep them straight in her mind’s eye.
But when they looked away from their conversation, she couldn’t remember what they had been talking about. It made her uncomfortable as if they didn’t like being reminded that she wasn’t who she used to be.
They weren’t even speaking English anymore. Some kind of language, though; one of the girls had called her “sweetie” and asked whether she was ready for another drink. When she nodded slowly, she heard something fall into the empty glass before it slid across the table toward her hand.
It was only a sip this time—a single mouthful she knew she could swallow down and feel nothing after, just a dull burn of alcohol against her tongue and throat. As she lifted it up between two fingers, the girl next to her said again, “So tell me how you’re going to do this.”
She took a deep breath, trying to clear the fog of fatigue and the lingering aftereffects of the first shot. She’d tried not drinking too quickly or taking much at once. Her body seemed to have its own rhythm now, which would eventually work itself out over the course of many such sessions, so she let things take their natural pace, knowing that soon enough it would get easier.
And it did make her less susceptible to getting drunk—not that there was anything wrong with being buzzed.
But right then she was already feeling unsteady. “What?” she said, glancing back at the others. Their attention was still fixed on each other; none of them paid any heed to what she was saying. One of them laughed loudly, drawing the others’ laughter along with his own until he fell silent.
“You know,” the girl said, leaning forward, “this whole thing is insane. Like some kind of elaborate practical joke.” She reached for the whiskey glass and took another long draw of the warm liquor, smiling slightly as she swallowed down a few mouthfuls of the bitter liquid.
“Who’d go through all this trouble to put a bunch of people in your room together? You’ve got no idea how much it sucks to be stuck here without the Internet or phone service. Not even the damn TV works anymore.”
Lori had felt the same way for a while—that they must have done it on purpose, that maybe someone was testing them. The girl sitting beside her leaned forward again, staring earnestly at Lori’s face. “Look, sweetie—if we can just figure out where you’re from and get back home, I mean, then we’ll be okay.
We can do whatever it takes to help you get back on your feet.” She paused a moment to look Lori in the eyes and nod reassuringly before continuing. “I promise we won’t abandon you.”
That was when it happened: Lori suddenly understood what the girl had just said—that she hadn’t known she spoke English, or that she needed help from anyone else at all, until those words came out of her mouth. The realization hit her so hard that she almost choked on a mouthful of alcohol. She blinked rapidly, looking around her at the faces of her friends.
They were smiling kindly, nodding gently. She realized they were all trying to reassure her. And suddenly it all made sense, even the strange looks and odd phrases they used. This wasn’t an illusion; this was the reality as it really existed today. These people were her real family.
A tear rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it quickly away as she shook her head, laughing softly at herself. How stupid! To think that she thought she’d never fit in anywhere. That had always been the problem, wasn’t it? No matter how far she got from her old life, it followed her everywhere like a shadow.
It was true that these people weren’t exactly the sort of friends she expected to find, but then neither had she anticipated the circumstances that led to her meeting them.
And now that she understood everything, she saw that she’d been mistaken in believing that her old self had been left behind forever when she moved away. It had simply found new forms and ways to come and go, and the more distant she ran, the more easily recognizable it became.
“Okay, I admit it,” she said, turning her gaze to the ceiling and letting her shoulders relax. “I’m scared.”
One of the girls patted her shoulder and nodded, smiling gently. “Me, too,” she said quietly, and Lori knew they all meant the words sincerely.
***
The next morning brought rain and mist, the sky gray and cloudy overhead. The sun had barely risen in the east by the time they all gathered outside on the porch of the cabin. After the events of the day before, Lori had slept late, and when she finally woke up she couldn’t bring herself to leave her bed until well past noon.
She didn’t mind the rest, but she was starting to worry about how things might be progressing with everyone else, whether they’d managed to reach their goals the night before.
As soon as she walked into the kitchen and saw the three young men sitting at one of the tables, she asked, “How are they doing?”
She sat across from them, and the conversation immediately started flowing between them like water. They were talking so fast that she had trouble understanding every word, although she did catch enough for it not to bother her overly much.
“Oh, yeah,” the boy said, pointing to the girl standing beside him. “She’s a freak of nature, you know that? Can you believe what she could do last night? She just turned off the power, man. Just shut it down.” He looked at her curiously. “It’s like it went dead all on its own.”
Lori frowned, shaking her head slightly. She wasn’t sure why this surprised them since she’d mentioned it to them several times already over the course of the evening, but still she wanted to explain. “Well, I don’t understand electricity very well myself,” she said, “but there was a switch—a circuit breaker, actually—on the wall right in front of the light. All I had to do was turn it off.”
Their eyes widened, and they all stared at her, waiting expectantly for her explanation. She shrugged and gave a small smile. “You see, that’s something else I’ve got mixed up in my head: electricity and lights—or rather, how you make them work.”
The young girl who’d brought the food over for breakfast leaned toward Lori and whispered urgently in her ear. “Are you serious?”
“No,” Lori answered softly back, looking up at her friend. “I mean I really don’t know much about it.”
Her voice trailed off and she glanced nervously around at the others. It seemed that no one believed her now. At least, not entirely.
After a few seconds of silence, though, one of the boys cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him. “So how would you turn it back on?”
There was laughter behind her and she felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. She tried again to tell them how it was done, but nobody was listening. Instead, one of the guys said, “Come on, Lori! You can’t be telling us your power’s that good.”
She shook her head as she stood up and walked over to the stove where they were heating up some soup. Her face was bright red with embarrassment and the way the two other young women both reached out to take her hands only made it worse.
Their smiles were warm and comforting, and the warmth came through despite her reluctance to return it. But she forced herself to nod slowly and try to smile back.
When she was ready, the two girls let her go and took their seats once again while the boy who’d spoken first followed her to stand beside her.
“Hey,” he said gently. “That’s all right. You can trust us.”
She swallowed hard and nodded again as she picked up an empty bowl and began pouring the broth into it, hoping they would stop staring at her and focus instead on what she needed to say. When she finished, though, she was still unsure if anyone understood even half of it.
The young man sitting next to her took a bite of toast from a piece of bread he was holding between his fingers. She saw him frown and tilt his head to one side as he chewed carefully, studying her with curious eyes. As soon as he put the bread down in front of him and took another sip of coffee, he asked, “What exactly does ‘mixed up’ mean?”
A couple more seconds passed in silence, and then she found herself answering without really thinking about it. “Well, sometimes it’s easier to remember things when they’re broken apart in parts.”
They all watched her with rapt attention, and a part of her wished they wouldn’t be so focused on her, but most of it was a thrill. This is unbelievable something I’m telling them!
As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t lie to these people. She knew she couldn’t. So, reluctantly, she continued. “You see, the problem is that I don’t always know where I am or what time period I’m in. That’s why I need you guys to help me figure it out.” She paused to look at each of them in turn before adding, “If you want.”
They didn’t answer immediately, and she wondered if they were too busy trying to digest everything she’d said so far; however, they quickly recovered, nodding and speaking eagerly all at once.
“How many times have you been here before?” a woman asked, and she realized it was the girl who’d brought the food over for breakfast.
Lori shrugged and looked down at her hands, suddenly embarrassed to hear herself talk so freely in front of strangers. But she also had to wonder, how could these people possibly believe her when she hadn’t even told them what had happened yet? And how did they already seem to know so much about this place?
“Um, like six,” she answered, wondering how long she should wait before saying anything else.
But none of the others said anything about her answers, and soon she felt the need to fill the space with something new. “And when I was born, my mother said I came out of the wall, so it’s probably the same thing.”
For a second there was a pause, but then, one by one, they turned to stare at her. A few of them frowned slightly and a few laughed out loud, but no one argued with her. She took the compliment silently and decided to go on. “So, I need you guys to help me find my way back home again.”
***
The four young men and five women all stared at her for a few seconds after Lori finished talking. Then one by one, they broke out into excited chatter. It sounded like all of them were chattering simultaneously, which Lori wasn’t used to hearing and making it difficult for her to keep track of what they were saying.
The only thing that seemed clear was that everyone thought her story was fascinating and that she was lucky enough to be here with them.
When they finally settled down, and the buzz of conversation ceased, the older man standing nearest to her spoke up. “So, if you’re not sure how many times you’ve been here before, does that make you feel like you’re losing your memories?” He leaned forward to study her closely and added softly. “Or maybe you just can’t quite remember everything.”
He waited patiently while she looked at him and tried to think of how to explain. I guess that depends on how you look at it… She considered. Sometimes when I come here, some things are clearer than others … She shook her head and decided she shouldn’t say any more. If they wanted to know more, they would ask.
Instead, she asked the question that kept bothering her the most: “Why do you all know so much about this place?”
It took a moment or two to realize that they were all looking at her strangely. One young man even chuckled lightly and whispered to someone else behind him.
“I beg your pardon?” she exclaimed loudly.
Everyone looked away, leaving Lori feeling very awkward. Her cheeks heated up as she fought to control her temper. “Do any of you guys mind if I call you by name instead of ‘the girl’ or ‘you’?”
This time they all turned to face her, and several of them exchanged glances. The one who had spoken to her earlier stood up, walked across the room and sat on the edge of a low table in front of the fireplace. “Of course, we mind. Please, it’s embarrassing.”
“Okay. Sorry.” She lowered her eyes and took a deep breath before asking another question. “What are your names anyway?”
Now they all seemed hesitant to reply, although the youngest girl—who looked a little younger than she was—was the first to break the silence. “We don’t usually use our real names outside of the castle, because—” she hesitated, “we don’t want anyone knowing too much about us.”
Lori raised an eyebrow. “So, what do you call yourselves?”
“The Keepers,” one of them responded, and all the others nodded in agreement.
That’s kind of strange…
She couldn’t quite figure out why the rest of the names didn’t sound familiar until one of the other young men spoke up. “Our last name is also Keeper.”
As he answered, a door opened at the back of the room and the sound of soft voices filtered through the doorway. When Lori turned to see what was happening, she saw three of the men walking over from the kitchen area. They carried large wooden platters between them, which must have held their dinner. She noticed that one of the platters had two slices of cake on it.
When the three of them reached the table, they set the platters down on either end of it and started filling their plates.
Lori watched them with great interest and tried to remember how many times she’d eaten at this table with them. It was hard for her to recall exactly, so she decided she should count each meal. That way she could remember what she ate and whether it tasted different.
A couple of minutes later, all four of the men returned to their seats around the table where they began eating with gusto. It was a bit of a surprise to her that they weren’t shy about stuffing themselves, because none of them were as thin as she remembered from the past.
But it wasn’t only her. Several of the people who came to eat with them looked a lot fatter than she recalled from previous occasions. And all of the desserts that had appeared on her plate since yesterday were gone now.
The woman who was still sitting in front of the fire suddenly rose to her feet. As she approached her friends, Lori realized that her clothing was completely different this evening compared to last night. Instead of a loose-fitting robe, she wore a tight-fitting tunic that showed off every curve of her body.
After they finished eating, the three men stood up and helped the woman carry the empty platters to the sink in the corner of the kitchen, while she washed them quickly with cold water. Once again, they left the kitchen without saying anything.
Then the five women who had stayed at the table gathered together and walked to the far end of the room, disappearing behind a curtain that ran along one wall.
Lori stared after them for several seconds before turning back to the group at the table. Now that they had eaten, there was nothing to distract her from thinking. So, I wonder…how long will they let me stay?
The End