HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yeah, I know it's a day late, but I just couldn't sit down to blog in the last few days. So here's a quick catchup of the last few days: Son and wife came down for Christmas for a couple of days; daughter and husband couldn't make it due to illness. Thank goodness everyone's recovered at this time (son's wife also was feeling ill). Christmas day-first ever White Christmas in the Valley. Wife and I walked around taking pictures of the neighborhood. This was actually the first time in my lifetime I've seen so much snow. In the past we've had flurries, small snow fall, barely enough to make a snowball, but this time there was snow all over the place, the roofs, the lawn, enough to make snowmen and have decent snow fights. Got great gifts for Christmas, scifi books and dvds I'm looking forward to reading and watching. And my daughter and son-in-law sent me a laptop they no longer use, to replace the one that was lifted. After Christmas, we went to visit them in Austin, and I believe their doggie was actually glad to see us. We stayed there a couple of days, enjoying each other's company, but of course we had to return in time for New Year down here. We got together with some other family members and enjoyed our time with them, then we got home to welcome the new year at home.

One of the things that I'm glad about is that I had just made backups of my documents file in the laptop the day before it was stolen. A few days before I had woken up with an idea for a short story, which I sat down and wrote that day. The story takes place in my fictional universe, where such things as UFOs and some creatures considered imaginary by people exist, such as aliens and ghosts, etc. And so there exist people who see things and interact with things that are not considered normal. This story is about one of them. The day my laptop was stolen, I had just started a follow up, since the story itself seems to be part of a longer work. But since I had just started that other story, I didn't have a full backup, so now I need to rewrite that part and continue. Anyway, I noticed that tomorrow a new program called Medium will premier, and I don't want to be thought of as a copycat, so I thought I'd place the first story here. It's called Remnants.

Remnants

I

Six AM. A new day was dawning, and I stretched out on the bed, trying to shake the vestiges of sleep off my body. I looked out the window, the curtains open, so that I could glimpse the brightening sunlight as it shone into my bedroom. The sun was coming up over the horizon, and the rays hitting the bedroom shone brighter and brighter.

The window glowed, letting in the unusually bright sunlight into the room. But it was too bright. What was going on?

The light coming through the windows suddenly got brighter and brighter, blotting out everything else. I was fascinated, my eyes captured by the unusually bright light, as I tried to detect its source; I knew it couldn’t come from the sun.

A figure appeared in front of the light, blocking the light hitting me. The light was so bright, though, that the figure looked dark, dimmed by the bright light that came from behind it.

The figure walked toward me, and as it came closer, my eyes focused and I started to make out details. I recognized the figure standing in front of me.

“Mel?” I asked. “What are you doing here? How’d you get in?”

I realized I was still lying on the bed, and I sat up on the bed then stood.

I realized that I wasn’t fully dressed, but Mel and I had moved beyond that, once upon a time.

She reached out and took my hands in hers. She looked me sadly in the eyes and said, “Avenge me, Danny.”

She released my hands, turned toward the window, and seemed to walk into the light, vanishing as the sunlight returned to normal morning light.

“What…? Did I just have a dream?” I wondered.

I looked around the room. I was standing up, so I hadn’t dreamed that part. I think.

But why Mel? Why did I dream about her? I haven’t even thought about her in months. And I haven’t seen her in an even longer time. We’d had a disagreement; all right, we’d had an argument, and she had told me not to call her, not to see her anymore. I had told her, “If that’s the way you want it…” And I hadn’t. Later I had wanted to call her, to see her, but...sometimes pride gets in the way.

Later on I heard she had started seeing someone else. By that time, it was too late to try to make up. So I put her out of my mind, regretfully.

OK, so what was I doing dreaming about her now? And what was that “Avenge me” bit?

I took a quick shower and shaved. After fixing my cup of coffee and getting some cereal, I was ready for another day. I jumped into my car, tuned the radio to a morning talk show, and drove to another day of teaching high school kids.

I walked into the teacher’s lounge and headed toward the refrigerator, checking to see if I still had some sodas in there. Yes; nobody had taken them. I wouldn’t be able to survive the rest of the day without my morning Dr. Pepper. I popped open a can and sat while I quickly read the paper. Jeannie came in, making the day seem brighter as she smiled a greeting at me.

The rest of the day was pretty routine. Seeing students all day long and interacting somewhat with some of the other teachers at the school, I didn’t even think of Mel. At noon I’d finally managed to talk to Jeannie, but once again, I didn’t ask her out.

The next morning, I woke up to Mel looking down at me. I sat up and, looking at her face, noticed she was looking at me sadly. Again she took my hands in hers and said, “We really messed up, didn’t we?”

“I don’t know, Mel. It’s what you wanted, me leaving you alone. You’re probably better off without me.” I told her.

“No, I realized later I should’ve let you do what you wanted, that I shouldn’t have treated you like that; by then it was too late. Too much time had passed and you seemed happy with your life.”

“What do you want, Mel?” I asked her. “I mean, are you really here, or am I dreaming again?”

She sighed, then said, “This is no dream, Danny. Find me...avenge me...don’t forget me.” Backing away into the bright light behind her, she started to grow dimmer.

“Mel? What do you mean? What’s wrong?” I asked her, but turning toward me, she vanished.

I quickly got up and picked up the phone. I dialed her number, still remembering it after all this time, and waited for her to answer. After a few rings, her answering machine beeped. I hanged up and decided to try again later.

After I showered and dressed, I tried calling her again. Once again, her machine came on.

At school, the first this I did was go into the teachers’ lounge and grab a Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator. Then I went toward the office to use the phone to call her again. Once again her machine answered; frustrated, I slammed the phone down and went to class.

I was talking to the class about how history is whitewashed, so that what we read about in history books, although factually correct, might not be exactly how things happened. I was about to give some examples when the principal’s secretary knocked at the classroom door and signaled me toward the hall.

I stepped out of the classroom, and she told me I was wanted at the office; she’d stay with the class.

Stepping into the office, I noticed two men sitting with the principal. She introduced me, and the two, showing me their badges, introduced themselves as FBI agents. I wondered what they wanted with me, why they wanted to talk to me.

“You called Miss Martinez a couple of times from your home and probably a couple of times from the school today,” one of them told me.

“…yes, but why is the FBI interested in that?” I replied, “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with calling up an old girlfriend, is there?”

“And you haven’t been out of town during the last week or so?” the other once asked.

“Well, I’ve been to San Marcos and to Roundrock in the last week,” I replied. “Is that a problem?”

“Can anyone verify that?”

“I went with Miss Sloss, who’s a math teacher here,” I told them. “Now, what’s this all about? It’s not a crime to go out of Austin, as far as I know. And what does this have to do with Mel? Why is the FBI involved in this?”

I glanced at them, and then I realized why they probably were there.

“Wait. She’s dead or something, isn’t she?” I asked, standing up. “Is that why you’re here? I mean, those haven’t been dreams I’ve been having about her. It’s her remnant, isn’t it?”

They looked at some notes briefly; then one of them said, “Remnant…ah yes. According to some information we have, you were involved with some cases several years ago, telling police you could see…what you call remnants…and helped in those cases. Is that what you’re telling us, that you’ve seen her…‘remnant’?”

“I might have been dreaming her,” I replied. “That’s two mornings in a row that I see her in front of me, so I decided to call her.”

“Could you explain what you mean by ‘remnants’? You don’t mean ghosts, do you?” one of them asked.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” I asked the agents.

“Can’t say that I do,” replied one of them, the other nodding in agreement.

“I don’t believe in ghosts either,” I answer. “But what I used to see were like faint traces of a person who had died. And I said ‘used to’ because I stopped seeing them years ago.”

“So if they’re not ghosts, what are they?” one of them asked.

“It’s like a residue…I did a lot reading up on different subjects, and I especially researched auras. In the 1960’s, a Russian researcher managed to photograph people’s auras, and since then, some instruments have been developed that can measure and verify their existence. I understand that there are even some people who can see auras…what I could do was similar to this. When a person dies, the aura doesn’t fade away; it…goes somewhere else. But some type of residue remains. It’s like a...like an echo of a person, not really the person but a reflection of the person’s aura. And I could see these echoes, these...remnants...and get information from them…and that’s how I helped in those cases back then, by getting information from...the remnants of those people.”

“So you’re saying Miss Martinez is dead?” one of them asked me.

“I’m not saying that; I asked you that. All I said was that I’d had vivid dreams about her these last two days, so I decided to call her...now would one of you tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

“And you haven’t seen her in the last few days anywhere else except in...in your dreams?”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“She’s been missing for a few days. The fact that you don’t live in Edinburg anymore kept you off our list of suspects; but because you were once involved with her and you’ve called her place several times today, it seemed like something we had to look into. Being an old boyfriend, you must know why we have to follow up any little thing.”

“You mean because of her family...”

“Yes; they expect some sort of ransom demand and want to get through this as quickly as possible,” said one of the FBI agents.

I sat there, looking at the FBI agents sitting across from me, hardly aware of the principal in the office until she said, “I’ve explained that you haven’t taken time off or been absent in the last few days, so there’s no way they should suspect you of anything.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Garcia. I’m sure they can verify everything easily,” I said, and turning toward them asked, “can’t you?”

"Could you explain what happened when you saw her in...in your dreams? Why you called her?”

Not wanting to think of the implication of “Avenge me,” I replied, “Nothing really; she just walked toward me and stood looking down at me lying on the bed. I sat up and she took my hands; then she vanished. I think she said something like ‘Find me.’”

“Find me?” one of them repeated.

“Yes.”

Standing up and shaking my hand, one of them said, “Thank you for your cooperation.” Turning toward Mrs. Garcia, he once again said, “Thank you.” They left the office and walked out of the building.

I continued sitting for a few minutes, looking at the chairs they had occupied but thinking of Mel, remembering her, her face, her smile.

My thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Garcia said, “I don’t recall anything in your resume about you working with the police.”

I turned toward her and, after a few minutes, explained, “When I was in college, some high school girls went missing in the Valley. For some reason, I somehow started seeing those missing girls, but it wasn’t really them. It was like I saw their shadows or something, and they started talking to me, telling me what had happened and where their bodies could be found. I didn’t know what to do; I thought I was going crazy, seeing things that weren’t there. But they kept urging me to do something, telling me that another one would soon die if nothing was done. When a little girl disappeared, I didn’t know what to do, so I approached someone I knew in one of the police departments, and explained what I was seeing. Of course, no one believed me, but I started giving them names and details that the girls had given me until I convinced them that I knew something they didn’t. The police eliminated me as a suspect and followed up on some details I gave them, and they caught the ones responsible. Sometime later, the department contacted me about a missing person, a young boy this time, and when I walked along a street he was last seen on, the boy’s...shadow, or remnant, as I was calling it then, led me to where his body would be found. Of course, only I could see him although there were a couple of policemen with me. In both cases, I convinced them to keep my involvement out of the papers, so except for the police and now the FBI, no one else knows. But I lost whatever ability I had; after a while I couldn’t see those...remnants anymore. But by then I’d had enough of the Valley and moved up here.”

“I know this isn’t any of my business,” said Mrs. Garcia, “but is Miss Martinez the reason you moved here?”

I looked at her concerned face and replied, “I guess that was one of the reasons. I’d always liked Austin and had wanted to move to this area. Mel and I, we’d been together for about a year, on and off, and it started getting serious. But she wanted me to do something else, and I just couldn’t see myself getting out of teaching, so we had a huge disagreement about my choices in life and we just....broke up. I eventually moved up here. Her family owns several businesses and they’re pretty well off, so I guess that’s why the FBI is involved if she’s been...kidnapped or something.”

In the back of my mind I kept hearing Mel tell me, “Find me; avenge me.”

Deciding quickly, I said, “Mrs. G., you understand if I take the rest of the week off? I need...I need to go find her. I think I can find her, wherever she is...I think I can explore things the FBI can’t...”

She was silent for a couple of minutes, thinking about my conversations with her and with the FBI.

“All right, but be very careful. You did say that perhaps you were dreaming and that you don’t have your...see them any more. Just take care, will you?”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

That afternoon, I took off for the Valley as soon as I packed a few things after school and filled up the car.

I arrived in Edinburg about five and a half hours later, having stopped on the road to eat. I’d been starving, having lost my appetite at noon after talking to the FBI, but once I was on the road, I had started getting hungry. I pulled over at a Luby’s in San Antonio and walked around the mall for a while afterwards, trying to see any familiar store or bookstore. Afterwards, I made pretty good progress, seeing the highway patrol pull over a few cars on the way down. I kept to the speed limit pretty much, so I wasn’t worried about being pulled over.

I drove through Edinburg until I arrived at the Edinburg Inn at the southern side of the city. I figured it was pretty well centralized for my purposes. From there, I could hit any major road that would take me to any area of the Valley I wanted to get to, and maybe in the morning I’d get some idea of where to go.

I checked in, and once in my room, I lay on the bed and thought about Mel. I remembered my last words to her, after she’d told me that maybe she wasn’t the girl for me after all, and I had told her, “You’re right; you’re not.” I’d left her place, gotten in my car, and driven away. I didn’t see or call her again, even a few weeks later when she called and left a message on my machine, wondering what I was up to. But later, when I wondered if maybe I should call her, it was too late; she was seeing someone else. I’d thought it was all for the best; we were really very different, and then there was her family...I just felt uncomfortable with them being so wealthy.

And now here I was in the Valley again because of her. What was I supposed to do? “Find me,” she’d said.

I lay on the bed, thinking of what to do. Maybe I’d think of something in the morning, I thought.

I opened my eyes to the bright light again, seeing her looking down at me. I recognized her smile, remembering it...

Her smile turned into a frown. “Hurry,” she said, “before it’s too late.”

“Where are you?” I asked her remnant, her shade or shadow, whatever it was. “What happened?”

“Get in your car,” she said, “I’ll guide you.”

I dressed hurriedly, grabbed my backpack where I carried my small laptop, and rushed outside. Stepping into the lobby, I hurriedly got some water and snacks from the vending machines, put them in the backpack, and went to the car.

“Where to?” I asked her as she appeared on the passenger side.

She pointed north. I drove down Canton Road, hit the expressway, and turned north. A few miles north of Edinburg, she told me, “There’s a street coming up. There’ll be a gate, but key in my birthday and it’ll open. Drive until you see a small building.” I looked at her, and reached to touch her, to see if she were real, but my hand just went through air. She didn’t appear to notice anything.

I followed her instructions, finally stopping at the small building.

I quickly walked around the building but didn’t see anything. Once again she stood in front of me and pointed toward a trail. I followed the trail and came to a deer blind, a green thing on stilts as high as the tree tops. I started climbing up the ladder, and looking down, I saw her at the foot of the ladder, smiling at me. As I looked at her, at the shade of the person I once knew, she vanished. I turned and hurried into the small structure on top. I saw Mel, the real Mel, lying on the floor, her legs and arms tied.

“Mel...Mel,” I kept calling her, as I lifted her face and dabbed some water on her lips. I wiped her face with a paper towel and dabbed some more water on her lips. I lowered her head to the floor once again; then I cut the bindings on her arms and legs, massaging them to get the circulation going. I lifted her head once again, and poured a small amount of water in her mouth.

“Mel, I’m here; please don’t die on me. Come on Mel, you know we have a lot of catching up to do. Mel, don’t leave me again,” I told her, slowly putting a little more water in her mouth.

She opened her eyes slowly, looking at me and giving me a weak smile.

“Danny? It wasn’t a dream?”

“No Mel, it wasn’t a dream. You really came to me somehow,” I told her.

“I’m not dead? I thought I’d died and I wanted you to avenge me,” she whispered. “All I could think of was you, how we’d messed up...”

“I’m here now. Here, have some more water,” I told her. After a while, as she slowly sipped some water, I used my cell phone to call 911.

She was put on a glucose IV once the EMR vehicle arrived. At the hospital she was diagnosed with starvation and dehydration and continued on the IV.

The two FBI agents who had seen me in Austin arrived and interviewed her, learning the details leading up to her disappearance. Once they left, her family started arriving to see her. He parents arrived, and recognizing me, gave me a smile in greeting.

After they asked what her condition was, how she felt or if she were hurt in any way, she told them,

“Mom, Dad. You remember Danny, don’t you, how serious we were? I just want to let you know that as soon as I can, we’re getting married. We’ll be living in Austin, but we’ll be visiting often. He’s a teacher there, and I’ll be very happy being a teacher’s wife...”

We had discussed this, right before we broke up. This had started our argument, her wanting me to give up teaching and go into a different field. Perhaps some business with her father, she’d suggested...

“Mel, think about what you’ve said,” I told her once her parents were gone. “Do you really think you’d be happy? Would you really want to leave this area for Austin?”

“Like I told you in my dream,” she said, “we messed up once before. But when I thought I was going to die, you were all I could think of. I’d rather be with you than without you, and if you’re happy living and teaching in Austin, that’s where I’ll be."

The FBI agents came to see her again in a couple of days. One of them finally asked me, “So how did you really find her?”

I explained, “She thought she was dying, so somehow a part of her detached and found me...her remnant, as I call it, found me and led me to her, the real person. When I found the real Mel, her remnant vanished, becoming a part of her once again. At least, that’s what I think happened.”

“Well, we caught the people behind her abduction. They went to check up on her, falling into a trap we’d set for them. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about them anymore,” he said. “Oh, I understand congratulations are in order...”

Several weeks later, Mel and I were settled into our new house. One morning, as we woke to a bright morning light, I looked at Mel and followed her gaze to the foot of the bed.

There was a young couple holding hands, looking at us sadly. I realized that after her experience, Mel could somehow see the same things I could see.

“Help us,” said the girl.

------------------------

And that's where that story ended. I had started the next one, where Danny recognized the girl as one of his former students and he and Mel were discussing whether to let the parents know what they suspected. Now, I can rewrite it anyway I like, I guess.