Omniscient Leaps (15 page)

“I have an entire class full of boys with two left feet. You can’t be any worse than that,” I laughed. His face fell and I felt penitent before the words even drifted from my mouth. “There’s no way they’re going to play period music for the entire dance. Don’t sweat it. We can always sit part of it out.”

“Thanks Kara. I knew I asked you for a reason.” He pinched my arm and strode off down the hall towards the gym.

Jenna appeared out of nowhere to join me. “Was he complaining about the dance lessons again? I swear boys these days need some education in etiquette.”

“And who are you going with?” I teased.

“Scott,” she murmured. “I bet he’s one of the worst. Hailey Reeves and her cronies will be making fun of us for years after we graduate.”

“It can’t be that bad. Does he have gym right now?” She nodded her head. I grabbed her arm as we bypassed the library in favor of the gym. “We can sneak a peek and see how dire it truly is.”

We waited for the bell to ring and tardy students to finish shuffling into the gym. Then we cracked the door and waited for the music to start. Even in the third or fourth week of the dance lessons, all the males in the room seemed to be moving as though it were their first day. A few of them even slipped on the practice trains the girls were wearing. The dance instructor threw her arms up in the air in frustration.

“Scott and Jer didn’t seem to be doing nearly as bad as some,” I whispered.

“Nearly, being the key,” Jenna snickered. “Is your class this bad?” I nodded. “Oh they are
so
going to have to put on some music for today’s generation for part of the dance or it will be the shortest prom in the history of proms.”

“The committee really didn’t think this through, did they?”

“Hey,” she protested. “I was one of the co-organizers. I guess I just had more faith in our male population than I should have. This is a sorry sight.”

“I’d have to agree with you ladies,” a voice behind us added. “But considering you’re supposed to be in study hall right now and not picking apart these pathetic dancers, I suggest you get a move on.”

“Yes ma’am,” we squealed as we took off for the library. Busted by one of the study hall teachers herself. At least we didn’t get detention.

Jenna convinced me to stay after school to help with the flower arrangements her committee was making for the dance. She went into a lengthy explanation about all the work that had been put into making this dance possible and I felt like a slacker. I hoped my assistance with this one task would give her the support she seemed to be craving. Thankfully her committee members had also done a good job of recruiting people.

“A few more days, people. We really need get a move on,” one of the teachers in charge announced. “It’s going to be a late one.”

My weary face glanced over to Jenna immediately. She gave me her best puppy dog eyes. “Are you kidding me? My fingers are already starting to blister.”

“Just a few more Kara, please?” she begged.

It was ten o’clock on a school night by the time I made my way into the house. Thankfully I had called my mom ahead of time to give her a heads up. Although slightly disappointed she wouldn’t get to spend her night off with me, she was jubilant to hear I’d finally involved myself in an after school activity. Better late than never, I guess.

As I clamored into the bathroom, I realized my head was throbbing from the two cans of coke I’d downed. I wasn’t going to get any sleep, or relief, if I didn’t take something soon. I reluctantly grabbed one of my nighttime headache pills and headed towards my bedroom. An unexpected fear brushed over my skin and the light flickered around me. It was going to be a much longer night than I had anticipated.

I prayed this would be the last time I’d be digging up my safe. If I could find a trustworthy individual to hand the evidence over to, I was certain Fred Parton would be locked away for a very long time. My strategy for narrowing down whom I could trust was not something I had thought out. I planned to make my way down to the police station and observe the officers at work.

My hooded sweatshirt masked my face slightly as I held on to my mom’s bag stuffed with the envelope of tapes. I was thankful that it was late afternoon and the weather wasn’t too warm. I had worked up a sweat digging in the woods and the sweatshirt wasn’t helping matters.

The charming downtown street lined with stores, restaurants and small alleyways was buzzing with people. The unexpected event taking place was an added security I hadn’t expected. Our rural Pennsylvania town generally wasn’t deserted, but on any given day there were usually only a few people scattered around. Our diminutive populous is what made it easy for Fred Parton to take the measures he did against the petty criminals.

After doing my research, I realized he generally arrested people from out of town. It made sense. Who would believe a thief who wasn’t from around here? Moreover, if Fred mistreated too many people from Kenton, the local citizens would become suspicious. He had worked out the perfect plan to make himself look good or so he thought.

I pulled my hood down and made my way into the police station lobby. All the employees and their positions were listed on the wall. It definitely simplified things for me. The police chief’s name wasn’t one I recognized. I assumed he was older and long gone in present day time. I walked up to the front desk and was greeted by a friendly young woman.

“I was wondering if I could speak to the police chief,” I asked hesitantly. I wished my confidence about the case would have provided me with the strength to sound tough; thankfully the girl didn’t even seem to notice I was nervous.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but they are about to have a parade on the strip. The chief is part of the show. You should go outside and watch. Maybe you can come speak with him tomorrow.” She couldn’t have been more than a year or two older than me and although her tone wasn’t condescending it still irked me. Maybe I was just upset that my plan wasn’t working out as smoothly as I’d hoped.

“Thanks, I’ll do that,” I said as I headed out the door.

At least I understood why a crowd had gathered on the streets. It appeared to be a Shriners parade. I scoped the area until I found several police officers waiting on their motorcycles. The police chief was standing beside his employees laughing and patting backs. He appeared trustworthy, and my gut generally warned me when something was amiss. I couldn’t exactly hand him the envelope in public. No, it was better if I waited to give it to him afterwards.

I pulled out my marker and wrote his name on the front, sure to include a letter from ‘a concerned citizen of Kenton’ in the envelope. My eyelids drooped slightly as I sat patiently on a bench. I’d never felt tired in one of my flashes and it was unsettling. If that weren’t bad enough, all the hair on my body stood on end all at once. Someone evil had positioned himself behind me. I could sense the hatred.
Weird
.

“I knew you’d show up eventually, you skank,” Fred’s deep voice purred. “I don’t know what you were doing in the police station, but you’re going to wish you never interfered in my life.”

I stood up and bolted forward without hesitating. With my bag clutched to my chest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get away. To bystanders, he was an officer chasing an unknown woman. Chances were that he could accuse me of anything and the crowd would believe it. Surprisingly, as I weaved quickly through the mass of citizens, he didn’t yell anything after me. One backward glance and I breathed a sigh of relief. Fred was nowhere in sight.

“He’s watching you,” a voice said. “You’ll never get away.”

I turned around to see Gage standing beside me with a poignant expression on his face. I just wanted to hug the young kid and tell him his days of torment were about to be over. I couldn’t though. I wasn’t sure I was going to succeed after all. I wondered if failure meant God would remove me from the position of leaper. Letting down the one and only heavenly Father couldn’t be a good thing. Then there was Luke. I couldn’t bear it if I never saw him again.

“Listen Gage,” I said with obvious desperation. “I need you to do something for me. Your life and your mom’s life depend on it.” He nodded silently. “In this bag I have evidence that I need the police chief to get. Do you think you can put it someplace safe?”

He took the bag from me. My surroundings flashed briefly, but then I realized I was still standing on the street downtown. I wasn’t home in the safety of my bedroom like I had hoped. The parade seemed to be over, but the decorations were still scattered about. I was completely mystified. Did I flash forward an hour or so?

I walked around aimlessly wondering what I was supposed to do. Gage had my bag and I could only pray that he’d turned it over to the authorities without his father catching him. I felt horrible for putting his life in danger, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time.

“Looking for this?” Fred stepped out from the shadows of the nearby alley. “My son was running around with your bag. So good of him to give it to me.”

The puke rose in my throat and I swallowed hard. My plan was definitely botched. “Don’t touch me,” I snapped as I stepped backwards. Why did I feel so dizzy?

“Don’t you want your bag?” He swung in forward and whacked me sharply in the side of the face.

“You’re a sorry excuse for a police officer, you know that,” I replied, wiping a spurt of blood from my cheek. The zipper had struck my face with a powerful blow.

“Oh, I’m only getting started,” he hissed. “I don’t know who you are girly, or why you decided to mess with me, but you’ll be sorry you did. Deadly sorry.”

The words pierced deep and I felt a fighting strength from within me. I swung my elbow upwards towards his eye and used all the force I could rally. He wailed, loudly. He grabbed me by the hair as we both fell towards the concrete. The already injured side of my face hit the ground with an excruciating smack.

As I listened to Fred groan beside me, I forced myself to my knees and tried to pry my bag from his grasp. It felt heavier than I remembered, but then again I wasn’t completely coherent. I managed to get to my feet and I quickly bolted. He was stumbling somewhere behind me, yet I forced myself not to glance back. Why wasn’t I flashing out?

My jumbled thinking and panic had unfortunately led me to make a wrong turn. I found myself trapped in a dead end alley with no hope of escape. Fred was blocking the only way out and I doubted he’d let me take another swing at him.

“Take a look in your bag, little girl. You might be surprised by what you find.”

I swallowed hard as I undid the zipper. Inside I found a stack of books. The envelope was gone. “What have you done?” I whispered.

“Oh you’ve just stolen a bunch of really important books from the town’s archives. But I’m just getting started.” His smile was a taunting one and I suppressed the urge to cry. “This is what you were looking for, right?”

Fred pulled out the large envelope filled with the tapes. My face fell and all my hope dissolved. “You’re not going to get away with this.”

“Oh, I can, and I will,” he said, stepping closer to me. He was cackling, never bothering to wipe the blood from his face. My elbow had done more damage than I thought.

“Why?” I whimpered. I hated that I was crying. It only gave him more power over me. I suddenly realized why Gage had turned out the way he had. I couldn’t imagine growing up with this man, especially without a mother.

He didn’t answer me. Instead he hit me over the head and I blacked out, at least temporarily. I woke up in the trunk of a car. I felt nauseous and woozy. My head was throbbing and I could barely move. I felt around for my bag and my heart sank. Then I remembered he’d taken my envelope and probably destroyed all the evidence I had spent weeks gathering. How could I have been so careless?

The trunk swung open and he forced me out, pulling me by the hair. I let out a scream as I tried to fight back. It was useless. It was dark and we were in the middle of the forest. He was dragging me towards some kind of broken down shelter. I shuddered when I thought about what he might do to me once we got there.

When he swung open the door to the small shack, I was shocked to see another woman tied up and leaning against the wall. Her battered appearance made me cringe. “You can’t actually believe you are going to get away with this,” the woman cried out. “She’s just a child!”

“She’s been poking her nose where she shouldn’t,” he snapped as he smacked her bruised face. “Now shut your mouth!”

He shoved me to the ground and immediately began to bind my hands behind my back. He tied the bindings so hard I couldn’t suppress my pain. Tears streamed down my face as a yelp escaped. It was a nightmare. How could God allow one of His leapers to suffer like this? Then I thought of my dad and immediately found myself angry. How did my dad die at peace, even leaving graciously?

“Now you two enjoy your stay. I have to go figure out how exactly I’m going to dispose of you.” He was cackling once again as he exited the shack.

“I don’t know who you are sweetheart, but I’m sorry this evil man has pulled you into this,” the woman said kindly. “I’m Gail.”

“Kara,” I sobbed. “Why are you here?”

“My husband was running a sting to try to catch this bastard in the act of crossing the line. He’s new at his job and Fred is clearly more disturbed than anyone thought. I never should have gotten involved in his affairs.”

My mind flashed to the meeting I observed with Fred and the supposed drug dealer. “Whom does your husband work for?”

“A federal agency. They’ve received several complaints from outside sources about Fred, but the local people here don’t seem to believe he is capable of anything. They say he is just going through a rough marriage,” Gail explained. “I’d hate to be his wife.”

“Was your husband posing as a drug dealer? I’ve seen Fred meeting with some shady characters.” I said cautiously. “Not that it’s any of my business.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “No, but he is working with one of them. The guy turned himself in. Then my husband offered him a deal if he cooperated,” she explained. “Apparently Fred threatened the man and his family and I got caught in the cross hairs.”