Erasing: Shadows (The Erasing Series) (20 page)

That’s when Mira saw him. Paul. He was standing on the other half of the bridge, waving to her. “Hey kiddo!” she heard him say. She started to get up to run to him. Mrs. Ross was still holding her hand though.

Mrs. Ross repeated, “Never, never….”

Mira turned and looked at her. “But it’s Paul! Nothing’s gonna happen just by going to Paul!” She tried to wriggle free from Ada’s hand, but Ada had a tight grip and then reached for Mira’s waist. She grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down on top of her. Mira was struggling.

“Why are you doing this?!” she yelled at Mrs. Ross. “I just want to see Paul!”

“Kiddo, what’s wrong?” said Paul from the other side of the bridge.

“Let me go!” screamed Mira.

Mrs. Ross didn’t loosen her grip. She spoke to Mira in soft tones. “Why is Paul over there?” she asked.

Mira didn’t know. Why did it matter? “Paul!” she yelled. “Come over here!” Mrs. Ross still had a tight grip on her.

“I can’t kiddo!” yelled Paul back. “Got chickens to feed.”

Mira’s mouth dropped slightly. “Paul!” she yelled, “please!” She knew the chicken house was over here, at the Thomas farm.
What on earth was he talking about
?

Mrs. Ross spoke again in soothing, low tones. “Is what he’s saying making sense, honey?”

Mira could feel tears start to form in her eyes, but she wasn’t ready to cry. Not now. Not ever. She just needed to see Paul. She looked at Mrs. Ross’s face. Ada’s eyes had filled with tears of sadness.

That’s when Mira knew. She looked again across the bridge. Paul was still there, but he was hazier.

“Paul!” she yelled. She started to cry. “Paul!” Mrs. Ross held her close. Mira collapsed in her arms. “Paul!”

Mira looked at Ada and finally said the dreaded words, “He’s dead, isn’t he? That’s why you won’t let me cross the bridge.” She felt the hot tears, and she choked up again.

At this point, the image of Paul had disappeared entirely. All that was left was a hazy outline of the Bridge of Forever.

Mira looked up and said again, “Paul’s dead.” Only this time it was Ada’s turn to cry.

“I’m so sorry, Mira. My friends and I, we tried everything to stop it. Nothing worked. We couldn’t save him. I’m… I’m so sorry…” She cried some more, her voice raspy and her cheeks red.

Mira looked down at the ground, still hugging Mrs. Ross err... Ada. Her face was flushed and wet, but her mind was putting puzzle pieces together.

She looked up at Ada again and could barely choke out, “This is why we’ve never been close, isn’t it?” She kept crying. It wasn’t because she had married Michael. It was because Mrs. Ross had been burdened with guilt all these years.

Ada just nodded; she was too busy trying to wipe the tears from her face to talk. She looked Mira in the eyes. “I’m so sorry…” Her eyes filled with tears again.

Now it was Mira who spoke in a low, soothing tone. She grabbed Ada’s other hand. “Ada, it’s not your fault.” Her lips trembled. “Paul and I both explored and had adventures, and neither one of us knew what we were doing. There was nothing organized back then.” She didn’t how Paul had died, but she said, “One day, when we are both feeling better, Ada, I would like it very much if you would tell me about it.”

Ada’s eyes filled with more tears. “Of course I will,” she said, voice muffled.

Mira pulled away. She felt different. She looked at herself. She had grown. Up. Way up. She was ready to accept herself and her past Mira was an adult.

Ada smiled through her tears and cupped her hand around Mira’s face. “I am so proud to have you as my daughter-in law.”

This made Mira cry all the more, and the two women hugged. The gang far behind stood silent waiting for the two women to finish and compose themselves. Michael sighed a great sigh of relief. Even he hadn’t known the weight of the guilt on his mother. His mother looked younger now than ever . And Mira— Mira was her regular age and so beautiful. He was so grateful for these two strong women in his life.

The High Five gang was busy also putting puzzle pieces together while the two women near the pond bonded.

“So Mira probably was reminded of Paul’s death when Brandon disappeared in front of her. That started her regression…” pondered Lu aloud.

“Makes sense to me,” said Ed.

“Then Trina, no offense,” said Onie, “blurted out the information that Paul was dead and Mira just wasn’t ready to hear it, causing her to regress more.”

Michael wondered why Onie had said ‘no offense’ to Ed, when she was speaking about Trina. He had been so busy searching for Mira; he forgot to ask about her.

“Lu,” he said, “is Trina going to be all right?”

“Yep,” said Ed, only Michael thought it was Stu.

“So it was a success!” said Jonathan.

“You could say that,” said Ed.

***

Leave it to Stu to be circumspect
, thought Michael. Then he banished the thought from his mind. All that Stu had done for everyone deserved a medal.
And what did I do?
Traipsed around the astral with Jonathan to find Mira to no avail
.
I need to get over my distaste or competition or whatever it is about Stu. Stu is a regular member of the gang now, no doubt about it, no matter how young he is.
Michael put his arm around Ed.

“Glad to have you here.” he said as a peace offering. The rest of the gang each thought one of the other members had let Michael know that Ed was actually Trina. But that hadn’t happened yet. Michael still thought Ed was Stu.

Chapter Nineteen

Reconciliation

While the gang was talking, Ada and Mira were still having a bonding session by the pond.

“I’ll never call you Mrs. Ross again!” Mira smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

Ada’s eyes teared up. She looked younger, like a weight had been lifted.

Ada then explained Brandon to Mira, and the danger that Mira had been in. Mira was aghast.

Mira hugged Ada again. “So you’ve been following Brandon around when he comes here,” she figured out. “But he’s so young!”

“All the more reason to carefully monitor him,” said Ada. “Like it or not, this is a family of prodigies.” She whispered for emphasis, “He took his whole body here, Mira, his whole body at three! Like it was nothing!”

“Wow, we have some work to do. Like figuring out how to set up safeguards. You’ll help me won’t you Ada?” Mira asked. “This will be complicated.”

“Of course I will, dear!” Ada smiled. “And I have a book for you to read when we get back. About my gang when we were young.”

“You had an astral gang?!” Mira was incredulous. There was more about this woman she didn’t know than she could have ever imagined.

“More like a scientific research party.”

“Then you must have thought we were a bunch of losers,” Mira said with a frown. “Only in it for the adventure.”

“Not at all,” said Ada. “I just couldn’t get involved in it, that’s all. It is the right of every interested person to explore the astral. Whether they do more than that, or decide to make changes, study, or whatever, is up to them. I’m just here as are many others to support the exploration, but in a safe manner.”

“Hence the astral tour,” guesses Mira.

“Yes, those things were set up for the safety of all. You will need to know all of them since you have Brandon already wandering off. But you don’t need to worry, dear, he is not being taken anywhere against his will or kidnapped. He’s simply doing what little boys do—exploring—albeit a bit young.”

Ada and Mira turned back and looked at the gang who seemed to be chomping at the bit to come forward. Ada motioned them onward. “Time for reconciliations,” she said.

“I assume you remember them all?” asked Ada to be careful.

“Why yes, every one of them!” said Mira. And she did. She remembered them all now! All her friends who had just gone through so much for her. For her! Just to keep her safe. She teared up.

Ada chose not to bring up Trina at this point. The subject needed to come up naturally.

“Oh,” said Mira, looking at the group jogging toward her. “My husband is twelve! I think I will change to be younger again, or I will feel really…um weird.”

Ada laughed. “I would do the same dear.”

In front of her, Mira concentrated on her younger self: her features, her emotions, how she felt when she was twelve. Then she started changing. Some of the gang weren’t sure if this was good or not, but not seeing alarm from Mrs. Ross, they figured it must be on purpose. They looked at Michael and guessed why.

Michael and Mira ran to each other and threw their arms around one another. They didn’t kiss but seemed more intent on hugging the breath out of each other and never letting go. Some of the gang got teary-eyed at the sight. Then when they had finally held each other for as long as they needed to feel that each was real, that this was their own husband and wife and not some phantasm, they kissed. Something about their ages, though, made them shy. It was like back when they were teenagers. The gang turned away to give them privacy. Their kiss was tentative but real. Then they held each other tightly once again. After some time of this they walked toward the gang, holding hands.

The gang congratulated them, and there were hugs all around.

Then Michael went to check on his mother, still down by the pond.

Mira stayed with the gang who still surrounded her, hugging her, and that’s when they told her about Ed. She was flabbergasted. She hugged and kissed Trina/Ed.

Michael turned away from the pond, looked twice, and blinked. It couldn’t be what it looked like. But there it was. Mira, arms thrown around Ed, kissing him up and down. Jonathan was in the group too and didn’t notice Michael standing too far away to hear.

Mira was telling Trina how sorry she was for what she’d been through and how happy she was that they had found a solution. She wanted to hug Stu when she saw him again. She looked around and wondered why Michael wasn’t coming back. Then she threw her arms around Ed again and kissed him again.

“Hey now!” said Lu, joking.

The group laughed.

Michael wondered what the hell was going on, but he was sure of one thing, it wasn’t to his liking. His twelve-year-old hormones thought of Mira and Stu together and his blood began to boil. He started walking over there to give them a piece of his mind.

Jonathan noticed Michael’s expression and started over toward him. Like everyone, he had just assumed someone else in the gang had told Michael.

Michael was stomping over, but with every step he took his body became smaller and smaller. He was regressing from the impact of the sight of Mira and Ed, whom he thought was Stu.
Stu—who had been his rival from the beginning of this endeavor. Stu who took over his family and his life to save Mira just because he knew a little more about the astral. Stu with his fast mouth and arrogant attitude.
Michael’s thoughts and emotions regressed as did his age.
He was no longer thinking rationally.

Mrs. Ross and Jonathan started running toward him before any more damage could be done. He was already down to age ten. Any further and who knew what would happen. Michael looked at Mira who had a confused look on her face. He stopped stomping over there. He regressed even further. Michael was now as he was when he was nine. Mira ran as fast as she could to him, but it was too late. He had already made up his mind.

It just so happened that the Emergency Meeting Place was only a few blocks, if you could measure a field in blocks, from the Circle of Illusion. From the direction she was running, it was apparent that Mrs. Ross knew exactly where he was headed. She yelled at the gang to head him off.

Michael began to run. He didn’t know why these people were after him anyway, they obviously didn’t really care about him or they wouldn’t have let Mira fawn all over Ed right in front of him. Disgusted, he decided he would just break up with her
. Who needed girls anyway.

Jonathan almost caught up with him but tripped, leaving Mira next behind him.

“Michael!” she called out in her twelve-year-old voice. “Michael! Stop!”

Michael was at the edge of the circle now. He turned his head around and gave a withering look to Mira. “I’m done with this!” he said. Then he stepped into the Circle of Illusion and disappeared.

Chapter Twenty

The Age of Understanding

Mira wasn’t allowed to wait for Michael then and there. She had still been in the astral with her full body for a long time. Her feet were starting to tingle.

Ada counseled her. “It’s only seven days max—some people start shutting down sooner. Mira, you’ve been through so much, it probably depleted your energy faster. You have to go back right now.”

“But what about Michael?”

“We’ll figure out a plan. However, none of us can go running in there willy-nilly. I can tell you that Michael already has a new life and is doing who knows what in there at the moment. It’s a simulation of the real world.”

Mira started crying.

“There, there,” said Ada. “We will figure a way out of this, just like everything else. But we all need to rest and to think. And we need Stu.”

Mira thought that was a strange thing to say, but let it pass.

But she had one more question before she went back peacefully. “What about Michael—he—he’s here in full body!” she was almost hysterical.

“You need to read the book I give you when we get home,” said Ada, with kindness. “Suffice to say, Michael has taken an antidote, and you have not. I gave him the antidote before he left, just in case something happened. He’s the only one who has taken it.”

“Thank God,” said Mira, relieved. At Ada’s urging she traveled back home.

Her children were ecstatic to see her, and she was overwhelmed with emotion. After all, to them, she had been missing for five days. When they asked where dad was, she decided she couldn’t put them through this again. “Dad had to make a research trip for his job,” she lied. Ada lied with her, and the children believed. Morgan was disappointed he didn’t say goodbye.

“It was a last minute thing,” explained Mira. “Besides, I’m sure he’ll have lots of goodies for you when he gets back!” She feigned enthusiasm. Mira reminded herself to buy some goodies for when he returned.
If
he returned. No, she couldn’t think like that.