finger as if to say, “Wait one second,” but that made Mark wave even harder. He would not be denied.
Courtney frowned and tossed the ball to one of her teammates. “You serve,” she said and headed toward Mark.
“What?” the teammate yelled in shock. “It’s game point!”
“I know. Don’t blow it.”
The guys watched her in wonder for a moment, then turned back to the game with a shrug. Though none of them would admit it, the guys from the other team breathed a little sigh of relief.
Courtney headed straight for the door and threw it open to find Mark waiting in the empty hallway.
“This better be good,” she said impatiently.
Mark waffled back and forth nervously, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Courtney watched him for a second and then said, “You have to pee?”
“N-No. I…I…it’s about Bobby.”
Courtney’s gray eyes focused. “Where is he? Why didn’t he play last night?”
Mark hesitated as if not wanting to ask the next question. But he did. “D-Did you guys make out at his house last night?”
Courtney stared at him, not exactly sure she heard what she thought she just heard. Then she blew a gasket. “That’s what you got me over here for? He missed the biggest game of the year and…wait a minute…did Bobby tell you about us? I’ll kill him!”
“C–Courtney…wait…it’s not like that.” Mark tried to stop her angry tirade, but Courtney was on a roll.
“I don’t care who he is. He can’t go around telling private stuff that-”
“Stop!” shouted Mark.
Courtney did, mostly because she was so surprised Mark had made such a bold move. That wasn’t like him. They both looked at each other, not sure of where to go next.
Mark now had her attention and it was up to him to make the next move. When he spoke, it was slow and thoughtful. He didn’t want to stutter and he didn’t want to make a mistake. So he pushed his glasses back up on his nose and said, “I think something strange happened to Bobby. What went on between you two last night was a part of it. I…I’m sorry if it upsets you, but I’ve got to know. Did you two make out at his house last night?”
Courtney tried to read Mark. He was a shy guy and the fact that he’d ask a personal question like this was hugely out of character. Clearly there was more going on here than guys bragging to each other about getting to first base with a girl. She could see it in his eyes. Mark was scared.
“Yeah,” she said. “We did. Where is he?”
“I…I don’t know,” he said, downcast. “I hope he’s at his house. Will you come with me and talk to him?”
The two held eye contact for a long time. Courtney was trying to read Mark’s thoughts, and Mark was praying that Courtney would come with him so he could share some of the burden of what he knew. Maybe she could even help him figure things out.
Courtney walked past Mark and gave him a simple, quick, “Let’s go.”
Courtney was now on a mission. She wanted to talk to Bobby. If she had to go to his house to find him, so be it. Mark was relieved that he now had an ally, but he had no idea how to tell Courtney what he knew, or if she’d believe him. For now though, he was happy just to have someone to talk to.
The Pendragons lived on a quiet cul-de-sac not far from school. It was lunchtime, so Courtney and Mark figured they could reach Bobby’s house, get to the bottom of what was going on, and be back at school before anyone missed them. As they hurried up the sidewalk, Mark had to walk quickly to keep up with Courtney’s long, purposeful strides. He wanted to tell her about the visitor he had had the night before, and the ring, and the parchment with Bobby’s story, but he was afraid she’d dismiss him as a mental case. He had to choose his words carefully.
“Do you know Bobby’s Uncle Press?” he asked cautiously.
“Yeah.”
“Did, uh, did you see him last night?”
“Unfortunately. He’s the guy who caught us making out.”
Mark’s heart sank. Not that it mattered if Bobby and Courtney made out, or that they were caught by Bobby’s uncle. The problem was, Courtney’s answer confirmed more of the story contained on the parchment papers. Mark feared that if some of the story were true, then maybe all of it was true. The thought made him sick.
They were nearly at Bobby’s house now. Mark hoped that Bobby would be there to settle everything. He imagined walking up to Bobby, holding out the parchment paper, and seeing Bobby bust out laughing. Bobby would say it was all a goof and that he never expected them to think it was real. It was a prank, like Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast that made everybody think the Earth was being invaded by Martians. That’s what Mark was hoping for, but what they both saw in the next instant dashed that hope entirely.
Two Linden Place. That was the address. Mark had been there a thousand times. Ever since kindergarten they’d trade off playing at each other’s house. Bobby’s house was like his second home. Mrs. Pendragon called Mark her second son. That’s why nothing could prepare him for what he was about to see. Courtney and Mark walked up the sidewalk that led to the split-rail fence that surrounded Bobby’s front yard, and stopped cold. They both looked at 2 Linden Place, stunned.
“Oh my god,” was all Courtney could whisper.
Mark couldn’t even get that much out.
Two Linden Place was gone. The two of them stood together, wide-eyed, looking at a vacant lot. There were no signs that a house hadever been there. Not a single piece of wood, brick, stone, or blade of grass existed in the space. The ground was nothing but dirt. Mark looked to the huge maple tree where years before Mr. Pendragon had hung a tire swing for the boys. The tree was there, but there was no swing. Even the branch that had been rope- scarred by years of swinging was clean. No marks. Nothing.
Courtney broke first. “It’s the wrong address.”
Mark said softly, “It’s not the wrong address.”
Courtney wouldn’t accept it. She stormed onto the empty lot. “But I was here last night! There was a sidewalk to the house right here! And the front door was here! And Bobby and I were standing…” Her voice trailed off. She looked to Mark with dread. “Mark, what happened?”
Now was as good a time as any. Even though he had no idea what had happened, seeing the empty lot confirmed his worst fears. Everything he had read on the pages from Bobby was true. He had more questions than he had answers, but he did have some answers, as strange as they were. He wanted to share them with Courtney. Knowing all this by himself was too tough. So he reached for his backpack and took out the yellow parchment papers.
“I want you to read something,” he said. “It’s from Bobby.” He held out the pages to Courtney, who looked at them, then back to Mark. Reluctantly, she took the pages from him and sat down. Right there. Right in the middle of the empty lot at Two Linden Place, not far from the spot where she and Bobby shared their first kiss.
She looked down at the pages and started to read.
Journal #1 (continued)
Denduron
Ithought my life was over. All that was left was to wait for the pain. Would it come fast and hit me hard? Or would it start at my feet and gradually work its way up my legs, over my body, and zero in right on my head in a brilliant, searing flash of agony before everything went dark?
I was voting for fast. But it didn’t come fast. In fact it didn’t come at all. There was no pain. I didn’t die. Instead I found myself falling through this snaking tunnel. It was like sailing down one of those water-park rides. But the water-park rides are actually more violent than this. Now that it’s over, I can look back on it and actually say it was kind of fun. But that’s now. At the time, I was freaking out.
Once I realized I wasn’t being sucked into some giant garbage disposal, I opened my eyes and looked around. It felt like I was moving fast.
Like I wrote before, the walls of the tunnel were craggy, like rocks. But they were translucent, too, as if they
