Chapter 2

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

An uncomfortable quiet filled the car as it drove down the desert surrounded highway. Hesper’s head rested on the window, slamming painfully against it whenever they drove over a pothole. She started out at nothing in particular. Ednea’s eyes were unfocused as she stared out the windshield, obviously lost in thought.

They’d packed up their things and left the hotel room a few hours ago. Since that point, they’d been stuck in the car, smothered in the unholy silence. A few times, Ednea had opened her mouth as if to say something, only to shut it abruptly a few moments later without uttering a word.

Tired of trying to identify road kill on the side of the highway, Hesper decided to attempt to break the silence.

“Mom, look...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of those things. I didn’t mean it; honest.”

Her mother didn’t answer, so she went on. “It’s just that I have a really bad headache, and last night’s sleep wasn’t exactly the best I’d ever had, and I kinda just want to feel better.”

Her mother continued to be unresponsive, focusing only on the road as it disappeared beneath the tires. Hesper chewed her lower lip, nervously waiting for what her mother’s reaction would be.

“I’m sorry, too,” Ednea said finally. “I know that it’s been a long time, but it’s still really hard for me. I don’t know why; it just is. But that’s no reason for me to completely ignore the subject.”

“Does that mean you’re finally going to talk to me about it?” Hesper’s face brightened.

“No.” The twinkle left Hesper’s eyes. “But when I’m ready, I’ll tell you. I promise.”

“Oh, okay.” Deciding not to press her luck, she changed the subject. “So where are we heading this time; Nevada? We can stop at Area 51, hit up a few casinos.”

“There are two things wrong with what you just said,” Ednea replied, glancing sideways at her daughter. “One: there is no Area 51.”

“Of course there is. It’s a bit egotistical to believe that we human beings are the only intelligent life in the entire universe. It’s vast and completely without boundaries. Even if there is no other life on the planets in this galaxy – and that’s a big if – we still don’t know what lies in all the other solar systems and galaxies. And why shouldn’t the government be in on it?”

“Are you finished?”

“For now.”

“Okay. Anyhow, reason two: you are too young to be gambling in casinos. Or anywhere else, for that matter,” she added.

“They don’t know that I’m under-age. And they don’t need to, really.” Hesper smiled mischievously.

“How about we don’t break the law, huh?”

“So where are we heading?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Hesper didn’t really expect her mother to tell her where they were heading; she never had. Her mother refused to. But still, Hesper liked to try once in a while just to see if her mother would slip and say something

“Are going to have a house or an apartment?”

“A house.”

“Thank the gods.” Hesper groaned as she stretched her legs and rested her feet on the dashboard. She winced at the pins and needles pricking them. “When will we get there?”

“We should be there in a few days. Oh, there’s a restaurant coming up,” Ednea said pointing at a sign on the side of the road. “Are you hungry?”

“Not at all,” Hesper replied, not bothering to mask her sarcasm.

Ednea smiled to herself. Maybe she could outrun them.

-

About half an hour later, they were sitting in a tiny restaurant next to a gas station. As they were studying their menus at their table, the waitress came over and set down the drinks. She was, Hesper noted, the stereotypical small town waitress. Her scratched and faded nametag read ‘Betty’. Her fingernails were long and fake, painted the same bright red shade of her lipstick. The apron she wore over her pink-striped uniform was stained with soup and – Hesper hoped – ketchup. She pulled a pencil from her beehive hairstyle and took her pad from her apron pocket.

“What’ll it be?” Her voice sounded as though it had been worn down with a piece of sandpaper.

Hesper bit down on her lip to keep from giggling. “I’ll have two eggs scrambled, bacon and white toast, no butter. Please.”

Scribbling on her pad, Betty turned to Ednea. “And how about you?”

“I’ll have the same, but with rye toast.”

“It’ll be up in ten minuets.” She stuck the pencil behind her ear and strutted back to the kitchen. Hesper and her mother burst into laughter. After her breath came easier, Hesper looked around the room at the other people eating. As much as she hated to admit it, she liked the long drives across the country. It gave her a chance to see something that she rarely got to: other people.

Some of the other people she could clearly tell were tourists; maps out on tables, small children complaining that they didn’t like the food. Others were obviously regulars; sitting at the counter, chatting with waitresses, ordering ‘the usual’ and getting a free refill of their coffee.

After a few more minuets, her mother announced that she needed to use the bathroom, and obliged herself. The food arrived, and Hesper contented herself with chewing on a piece of bacon as she stared absent-mindedly at the other patrons.

While she was putting some ketchup on her eggs, a man of about thirty came over and sat down next to her. She warily glanced sideways at him, and then refocused her attention on her eggs.

“You from around here?” he asked her.

“No. We’re just passing through.” Hesper’s headache returned, increased by twofold.

“Well, that’s a shame.”

“I’m heartbroken.” She still didn’t look up from her eggs. This got a few snorts of laughter from some of the man’s friends, who remained seated at the counter.

“You are a funny little thing,” he said, resting his hand on hers. Her headache intensified again. “We could have a lot of fun.”

Her head seared with a bright, white hot pain. Her eyes fogged over with gray shadows, leaving her sightless. All noise left her ears and she blacked out.

When Hesper came back to her senses she looked with horror at the sight that lay in front of her. The man was unconscious on the floor, blood trickling down his face. Food was all over the ground; plates and glasses lay in shattered pieces. The three other chairs were strewn about a few feet from where the table had stood, which was now laying on its side. Everyone in the restaurant was standing up, looking over each other at the scene.

As realization of what lay before her started to kick in, Hesper’s breathing and heart began to race and her eyes welled with tears. She wiped her eyes with her eyes with her sleeve, and after realizing it was running, her nose. She glanced down and saw that the cloth was smeared with blood. Her nose was bleeding on its own accord.

She looked up with horror at he crowd, searching for her mother’s face. She was standing in the front, eyes as wide with terror as everyone else’s.

The only person who wasn’t shocked was the man sitting alone in the corner. The Cloaked Man had been unable to resist following Ednea and Hesper after the hotel, abandoning his stalk of his past prey. He was filled more with surprise than shock or horror.

Well, he though. She is much touchier than I had expected. Stronger than I imagined, also.

‘Yes; her small mind does have quite a defense mechanism.’

I suppose she is ready now, is she not?

‘Physically: yes. But not yet mentally. Look at what just happened. She is still much too fragile.’

The Cloaked Man watched silently as Ednea grabbed her daughter and rushed out the door, practically dragging Hesper behind her.

Yes that is true, he thought finally, as the two women got in their car and drove away. But should we not get to her before Angor does?

‘No; he is preoccupied with the others. We have more than enough time to move in. We don’t want him informing his superiors of us, either.’

Yes, that would be an annoyance. He sat back in his booth and waited for the chaos to ensue.

-

“What the hell happened back there?!?”

Ednea and Hesper were racing down the highway after running out of the restaurant. They’d managed to get out before people started to get unruly.

Hesper sat in the passenger seat, knees pulled up under her chin, arms wrapped tightly around them. Her eyes were glassed over, staring at the window at nothing. One of her eyelids twitched slightly.

Ednea tore her attention away from the road to look at her daughter. “Well?”

“I never touched him. I don’t know what happened,” Hesper answered. Her voice was low and monotone.

“Then how did he end up on the floor, unconscious, if you didn’t touch him? Can you explain that?”

“No.”

“Then tell me what happened!”

“I already told you, ‘I don’t know’,” Hesper’s voice rose as she got more agitated with her mother. “I blacked out, and when I came to, he was lying on the floor. What more do you want me to tell you?”

“You could tell me why you did it.”

“I didn’t do anything!” she screamed. “How many times do I have to tell you that? I never touched him. I have no idea what happened. Get that through your head!”

Ednea slammed on the brakes and pulled into the shoulder, she killed the engine and turned in her seat to look directly at her daughter. “You are telling me that you never touched that man.”

“Yes.”

“And you have no idea how he ended up like that.”

Silence.

“You don’t, right?”

“I’ve told you already, I don’t,” Hesper responded, glaring.

Ednea looked hard at her, searching for a hint of untruth. When she found none, she sighed and leaned back in her seat, rubbing her closed eyes. “Okay, I believe you. I have no idea what happened; you have no idea what happened. I think the best thing to do is pretend it never happened. We never speak of it again.”

“I’ll try.”

“No; that’s not enough. No talking about it at all.”

“Who cares if some one hears about us. No one will know us in our new home.

“That doesn’t matter. We don’t need any rumors following us.” Or any more, at least.

“Fine; whatever. I won’t say anything.” Hesper folded her arms across her chest to show she was unhappy.

“Thank you, honey.”

Ednea started the car again, and they drove silently down the highway. There was no attempt to make conversation to pass the time. Neither of them had the energy.

I wish I really knew what happened back there, Hesper thought to herself. Then at least I could explain it to Mom.

‘You’ll figure it out soon. It won’t be that much of an enigma,’ the little voice in her head reassured her.

Hesper smiled to herself. It would be okay. The voice had never lied to her before.