I heard the television turn on downstairs and automatically looked at Hannah.
“Your mom’s home,” she said.
I let out a sigh and decided to go downstairs to see her so that she wouldn’t come up to my room. As I walked down the stairs, the television grew louder with a breaking news report and I stopped halfway down to listen.
“Only a few hours ago, a young boy and his nanny were gunned down across the street from Promise Academy,” the reporter said. “There were several witnesses, but no one was able to catch the gunman. Let’s go to Kristy Geller for an on-scene report.”
The television scene switched from the news studio to a woman with brown hair standing on the sidewalk.
“Thanks Troy,” Kristy Geller said. “I’m here in front of Promise Academy where only hours ago a young boy and his nanny were shot and killed. Now, you can see the police behind me working on the crime scene. They have been out here since several 911 calls were made during the shooting. As far as we know, there have been no leads on catching the gunman, but witnesses have managed to piece together a sketch of the gunman.”
Kristy Geller disappeared from the screen as a black and white police sketch appeared. The sketch was of a man with a goatee and a skinny face. His eyes were round and his left eyebrow was pierced.
The sketch remained on the screen as Kristy Geller described the man. “The gunman was said to have black hair, a black goatee, and numerous tattoos on the back of his neck and arms, along with the facial piercing shown on the screen.” The sketch went away and Kristy Geller reappeared. “The police are asking anyone who can identify this man to call the local tip hotline. Any information will be useful at this point.” A phone number appeared at the bottom of the screen.
At that point in the broadcast, my mom turned around and saw me standing on the stairs.
“Oh, Matthew, did you hear about that awful shooting? It was right across the street from your school.” She seemed troubled and scared for me.
“Yeah, I heard about it,” I said.
Her breath caught in her throat and her hand flew to cover her mouth. “Were you there? Did you see it happen?” She stood and stared at me as I decided how to answer her.
“I just saw a bunch of people running around.” I thought lying was best at this point, seeing as how my mom was really scared for me and nothing actually happened to me. No, nothing happened to me, but the actual victims were in my room.
“Oh goodness,” my mom rushed toward me as I went down the rest of the stairs. She swept me up in a hug and said, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re all right. I bet you were so scared.”
I tried to extract myself from her monstrous grip. “Mom, really, I’m fine.” She released me and I stumbled slightly. “Uh, I just came down to get some water. I have a lot of homework to do so I’ll be in my room all night.”
“Okay.” Tears were welling up in her eyes.
I left her before the flood came and went into the kitchen to get some water and then hurried back upstairs. I felt her gaze on me the whole time.
When I stepped back into my room, Hannah was sitting on my bed and the woman and child were still where I had left them.
“Are you thirsty?” I asked the woman.
She shook her head no.
The boy looked up at me and stopped crying. He nodded his head.
I walked a few steps towards them and set the glass down on the floor. He shuffled forward on his knees and drank slowly from the glass. Then he tilted the glass up to take a big gulp. Water poured out of the glass and onto the floor. The boy started crying again.
“You can’t do that anymore. Everything goes right through you,” Hannah said absentmindedly.
“Why didn’t you say that before?” The woman asked darkly.
“Because he needs to learn for himself. He’s dead now, grow up.”
“He’s still a little boy! You have no right to talk to us this way,” the woman yelled.
“Okay, okay! Can we just move on?” I turned to the woman and boy. “What are your names?”
The woman gave one last long look in Hannah’s direction and then turned to face me. “I’m Ellie and this is Bill.”
Hannah laughed.
“Ellie, I’m Matthew and this is Hannah,” I said. “How did you guys find me?”
“We were drawn here. I don’t know why. Just were,” Ellie answered, stroking Bill’s hair.
“The same as me,” Hannah commented.
I looked around the room, looking for something I knew wasn’t there. I felt like I was melting. Like someone was stirring me in a glass, trying to blend me with other liquids. It was weird, but I had felt that way before.
“Hannah,” I said nervously.
“Oh my god. Matthew, what’s going on?” She said nervously as she stood slowly to her feet.
“I … I don’t know. I feel weird.”
“Matthew, you’re … you’re disappearing!”
“What!”
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