It was a hot and humid afternoon. I readjusted the duffel bag containing the clothes that William had insisted we bring, to sit better on my shoulder. We'd been sitting out here for ten minutes, since he had insisted on arriving early, and my patience was beginning to wear thin. I loved my friend, but enough was enough.
“Will,” I said, exasperated. “Nobody's going to come. We've been here for ten minutes already.”
“We got here early,” he said anxiously. “It's barely a few minutes after two. Have patience, Eric.”
I shook my head, but stayed quiet. I'd give it five more minutes, but no longer. I craned my head to try to find Elizabeth, and saw her perched on another bench about ten feet away.
“You know,” William said, watching my gaze. “Children are very sensitive to the supernatural. The ability to sense changes in reality is something we lose as we get older. I wonder if I can even sense it now, outside of dreams.” He sighed.
I looked at him, and felt bad about my impatience. He looked so sad at that thought. In his late 50s, he had certainly left childhood behind a while ago, and I could imagine how he felt about that. I tried to catch his eye to apologize, but he was looking past me.
“Elizabeth!” he said. “Where are you going?”
I turned around and saw her halfway to the field already. She had stopped, and turned around to look at us, puzzled. “What?”
“We're waiting here,” I said. “Where are you off to?”
She shook her head. “We're on the wrong side of the park, she's waiting for us over there.” She pointed to the bathroom shack.
I looked in the direction she was pointing; there was nobody there. But William leaped to his feet and exclaimed, “What was I telling you? Children can see stuff that we can't. Come on!”
Elizabeth was still standing there, completely bewildered, arm still outstretched. “I don't get it,” she said.
“That's fine,” William, said sprinting up beside her with more energy than I'd expect for a guy his age. “Where is she?”
“You mean you can't see her?” she said, frowning.
“I might just need a little help. What's she wearing, and where exactly is she standing?” He knelt down beside her and stared intently where she was pointing. I couldn't see a thing, but I stood behind them anyway and watched.
“She's wearing a long white coat with a hood,” she said, squinting. “I can't tell what else, it's really long and she's pulled it around herself, and the hood is up. She's standing right under the tree, on the mens' side of the bathrooms.”
William stood up again, and turned to me. “See! I still can't see it quite, but she described exactly what the woman was wearing in my dream. And you can't say it's the power of suggestion, because I never told her what the woman was wearing! Remember?”
I looked at him in astonishment. That was entirely true. And Elizabeth's interpretation of a hooded white cloak was likely to be a long white coat with a hood. But why couldn't William or I see it too? Was it really what he was saying about only children being able to see into other realms?
Elizabeth looked back as us uncertainly. “Can't you guys see it? Is it okay?”
William turned back to her. “It's fine,” he assured her, grinning. “Lead us there, okay?”
“Alright,” she said, slowly starting to walk across the field, looking over her shoulder occasionally to make sure we were following.
I resettled the bag on my shoulder, and walked quickly to catch up to her and William, who were already several steps ahead of me.
When we reached the bathrooms shack, I looked around. “Okay,” I said. “I still don't see anything.”
William looked frustrated. “Me either! Wait-” He stared at the tree intently. “I know what she's doing. She's only projecting herself halfway, so that those who are looking can find her, but everybody else won't be able to. So, we don't have to fully go into the other reality – yet – but only halfway. Once we get halfway, she can probably help to bring us the rest of the way over.”
“Wait!” I said. “Once we get there, can we get back?”
William blinked. He clearly hadn't given that possible consequence too much thought. “Well,” he reasoned. “That woman sent me back before, so I'd imagine that something like that could happen again. So there's really nothing to worry about from that end.”
Well, that did make sense. Time to work out how to get there in the first place, then. “So how am I supposed to see this?”
“Okay,” he said. “The way I did it before was like one of those 3-D picture cards, where you have to sort of cross your eyes and look through the picture. Do the same thing you do for those, except instead of through the picture you're looking through the world.”
“Like this?” I crossed my eyes and tried to stare through the tree in front of me. Elizabeth burst out laughing – presumably I looked ridiculous – and William stifled a snicker.
“Er,” he said. “You don't have to cross your eyes. Sorry.”
“Oh.” I uncrossed them. “You should have said.”
“Yes, sorry.” he said again, distracted. I abandoned my headache-inducing attempt at seeing through solid matter and watched him as his eyes slid out of focus.
Suddenly, he said, “Ah! I can see it, she's right there!”
“Right where?” I said, looking around. “I still can't see anything.”
“She's bringing us through,” he said. “Oh, you fool!” He grabbed my arm, and I felt a surge of nausea as the world doubled and floated about in front of my eyes. Before I could get used to this new sensation, there was an abrupt jerk and they both zoomed off in entirely different directions. I fell to my knees, trying not to throw up at the disorientation, and shut my eyes. I'd never been good with boats or planes, or even carsickness, so this was an ordeal.
After a few moments, an unfamiliar voice spoke. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Um, I presume so,” William said uncertainly. “Eric?”
“Dad?” I heard Elizabeth's voice, and felt her shake my arm.
I said something along the lines of “Nnungh,” and lifted an arm to push hers away. The shaking felt bad.
“Did I hurt you?” William sounded concerned.
I mustered all the effort and coherency that I could, and managed force out one word. “Sick!”
“Ah, yeah,” the woman's voice spoke again. “That can happen to some people. Sorry. I guess we'll just wait here until he's feeling better. It's daylight, so there's no danger, and I told them not to worry unless we're not back by dinner. It's quite a walk, but even so we can afford to wait a few minutes for him to recover.”
A short while later, I regained enough control over my body to open my eyes. The world was blissfully steady – at least the patch of grass that I could see of it – so I tried raising my head. William and Elizabeth were seated on the grass under the tree, with the woman. She was indeed dressed in a white cloak, though she'd pushed the hood back to show her head. She looked much younger than me, perhaps in her early twenties, and she had straight mousy brown hair that was cut just at her shoulders. “Are you feeling better?” she asked me.
I nodded, as I didn't fully trust opening my mouth yet.
“That's good.” She smiled. “My name is Lynne, I'm a Senior Sister at the temple we're going to, though you'll usually hear us referred to as just Sisters. We serve under the temple mother, who was the one who entered into William's dream, and because she has to oversee the temple she sent me to come meet you. Can you stand?”
I nodded, then decided to try my voice. “Yes, I think so.” I put the palms of both hands on the ground, and when I was satisfied by its solidity I pushed myself to my feet. William rose with me, and stretched out a hand in case I lost my balance, but I shook my head and he withdrew it. I was fine now.
Lynne stood up as well, and beckoned to Elizabeth. “Let's get going.”
We set off into the suddenly eerily empty city streets, following the woman in white.
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