CHAPTER NINE
Invitation
Chevelle thanked the guard for the ride and stepped out of the car to survey her street. For such a small and brief tornado it had done a lot of damage: trees uprooted, houses torn apart, cars tossed aside, and debris strewn across the road. Her house was still standing, that was good, but Eric’s house was gone; as if the tornado just decided which houses were on the menu, who it wanted to make miserable today.
Several medics dotted the neighborhood. One lady sat on a stretcher, her head wrapped in gauze and bandages. At the end of the block a couple firemen were digging through a pile of two-by-fours to get to a man underneath. There was no warning with this tornado. No chance to get safe from its ferocity.
She spotted Eric and that blond from the bike standing in front of the foundation of his house. She started walking over to them. Chevelle had already figured out why the tornado appeared, and so quickly. One of the benefits of science class, she supposed. There were five classes of tornado indicating severity, F1 being the lowest. This tornado couldn’t have been more than an F1 or an F2. It didn’t have enough time to form.
The buildings in South Mapiya were the clue. Everyone in Mapiya knew the basic facts around the disappearance of half their town, even though it happened so long ago. The town disappeared in the winter, in December. If those buildings came back, then the air mass probably came back with them. Quickly mix cold and warm air and you have the makings of a tornado.
Chevelle stormed up to Eric. “You left me back there. You just left me.”
“I’m sorry,” Eric said, putting his hands up. “I had to get back here. I had to see.”
“And who is this?” she said, pointing to the blond.
“This is Heaven.”
Heaven walked up to Eric and hugged his arm casually. “I don’t know who you are,” she said. “But he just lost his dad.”
Chevelle stepped back, aghast. “Eric, I—” She wanted to step up and give him a hug, tell him she was sorry and everything would be okay, even if it didn’t seem like it right now. She wanted to be supportive like a best friend should, but it seemed almost pointless with his new friend, Goldilocks, hanging on to his arm. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking at the foundation of his house anew.
“It’s okay,” he said. She could tell from his voice that it was not okay, but she didn’t know what to say it. How can I make this better for you, Eric? “Heaven, this is my best friend, Chevelle.”
“Nice to meet you,” Heaven said, holding out a hand.
Chevelle nodded, but ignored the hand. Instead she stared at Eric’s house. It was just gone. Across the foundation she could see into the back yard. The tree fort they had built together when they were younger had been plucked out of the tree.
“Yeah,” she muttered. Not the response she meant, but this whole thing was just overwhelming with the tornado, the town, even that bike Eric had been riding. This girl must have been from 2012.
“And your nurse? What was her name, Beth?”
“She’s okay.” Eric glanced back at one of the ambulances. “She’s pretty banged up, but she’ll be okay.”
“Well, you can stay with me,” Chevelle offered. “On the couch downstairs, probably.”
He chuckled. “You sure? What about your parents?”
Chevelle shrugged. “They’ll be fine with it, considering.” Both Eric and Chevelle’s parents had forbid sleepovers around the time they entered puberty, not that she ever thought of him that way. They loved the friendship they had, growing up their whole lives together, but they didn’t want to take any chances. “You can stay, too,” she offered to Heaven. Chevelle, do the right thing. “You can use my bed.”
“You sure you don’t mind?”
Chevelle shook her head. “Think nothing of it. I’m sure you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in—”
“Oh, about 90 years or so, from what I hear,” Heaven said, rolling her eyes with a grin.
“Right. You know, the Summer Dance at school is going to be this Saturday. You should come.”
“Chevy, this is no time to worry about your dance and your stupid crush,” Eric said, a bit harshly. “A school dance is not what this town needs right now, not what I need right now.”
“It’s exactly what you need,” she insisted. “It’s the perfect thing to take your mind off the tragedy of what just happened. You know, to lighten the heart with a bit of joy.” And so what if I get to have a night out with that cutie, Blayze?
“Heh, I still don’t even have a date, Chevy.”
Chevelle looked over at Heaven. “Whatever. You can take her.” She wouldn’t think Heaven would win any scholarships, but she’d be nice for Eric to look at, at least. And, Chevelle would admit, she had gone out with boys for less.
Eric looked at Heaven for a second, then shook his head with a blush and little nervous smile. “Whatever, Chevy. Anyways, I should probably go get my bike now. Heaven, would you mind giving me one last lift?”
Heaven nodded and followed Eric’s lead back to her bike, a sporty if over-sized machine with a long orange flare. Eric tossed her duffel bag over his shoulders and got on the bike behind her, holding her at the waist for support. Seeing them, Chevelle almost felt a tinge of regret at having suggested he take her out, but she waved the thought away. She had to go tell her parents, and get the house ready for visitors.
***
Eric slid off the bike as soon as Heaven shut it off and he handed her bag back. “Thanks,” he said. “For everything.”
She shrugged it off. “I can’t imagine doing any less for a cute boy like you.” Eric smiled, looked away, and his cheeks turned red, which was just what she was going for. “So tell me,” she said. She slipped off the bike, too, and followed Eric to his. “How does it work?”
“My bike?” He climbed on top and pulled a key chain from his pocket. At least, it looked like a key chain, but instead of keys it mostly had little colored sticks about the length of her pinky finger. “One of these chips is the key. I keep it in my pocket and there’s a sensor in the bike. It knows when I’m riding it so when I press this button,” he pointed to a big round black button just in front of the handle bars, “it just starts right up.”
“But—” Her eyes went to the side as she tried to figure out how to say it without pointing out the obvious. “Um, it hovers.”
Eric laughed. “Oh, that.”
“Yeah, just that,” she said with a smile. “Simple, right?”
“It’s not that it’s simple,” he said, looking up at the sky now thinning out from the storm. “Well, how does anything work? Let’s see, in your time they had light bulbs and TVs, oh, actually your motorcycle is a good example. How does that work?”
She shrugged and wrinkled her nose. “It’s just a motor. Sparks ignite gas that pushes pistons that turns the motor and, well, it goes.”
“Right. And most people probably didn’t know more than that, even when they were common use.” Were common use, she thought. So long ago. “It’s the same here.
“What powers most things today runs on a nuclear principle. Housed in a box about, so big,” Eric said, holding his hands apart as wide as his chest, “something to do with the radioactive decay of certain particles provide energy and ultimately electricity to power things, and well, make them go.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” she wondered.
Eric shook his head. “Not as bad as back in your time. If you broke the housing on one of the power cells and, like, slept near it for a while, you might get a bit sick, but nothing that’ll kill you.” He laughed and her heart jumped a little. “At least, I hope not. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed. Diseases and disorders are still just as prevalent these days, maybe even worse. One thing gets cured, two other disorders replace it.”
After a chuckle, he became quiet and looked down at his bike, getting serious now. “Heaven, it’s not a bad idea, you know, coming with me to the dance.” He glanced back up at her and she could tell he was trying to read her response.
“Eric, I... I don’t know what to say.”
He nodded. “You know, it’s okay if you don’t want to. Just a thought.”
“It’s not that, Eric.” She sighed. How could she make it clear? Not more than 24 hours ago she was on the run, escaping from her foster family, from the system that sent her from one bad foster parent to another. She even stole the motorcycle he admired so much, not to mention the money she kept hidden in her bag. She wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye. “Eric, you don’t want me. I— I’m just damaged goods.”
He reached out and tilted her chin up so she could look him in the eye. “Don’t I get to decide what I want?” he said. That just made it harder, him being so kind and chivalrous. But he had this perfect life in the suburbs — she sniffed, and laughed a little — and a great best friend. “Don’t commit to the dance, then. How about just one date? Tomorrow night.”
“You’re not giving up, are you?”
“Is that a yes?” he asked with a smile.
She nodded. “Sure, one date.”
***
Kevin was driving back to the police station from Sweeny’s house when he noticed a man walking slowly on the side of the road, looking over his shoulder. The Sheriff pulled up alongside him and slowed down to the pace of the man’s walk. “Motega, I presume?” he called from his car.
Motega stopped, checked his pocket briefly, and stepped up to the car, bending over to look inside. “I’m sorry, Sheriff. Do you know me?”
Kevin nodded. “A man contacted me yesterday, a Dravin Davidson from the FBI, and informed me about your science experiment. Said he was coming into town to check up on it as a bit of a heads up, in case he needed local help, he said.” Odd enough that an agent would ask for his help, but even stranger that he thought Motega would be any kind of a threat. “So I looked into it.”
“I probably don’t have to explain to you how uncomfortable that makes me,” Motega said. “So how can I help you?”
“Get in the car. I’ll give you a ride to your office. I think it’s time you explained what’s going on around here.”