“Let go of me!” I cried, but it sounded muffled because a hand was clamped across my mouth.
Unexpectedly, they complied, and a strange, resounding snap filled my ears. I turned to run, but somehow my feet physically froze to the ground. But I wasn’t quite thinking about how odd it felt. I was pondering the face of the man before me.
His hair was silver, and so were his eyes. He wore jeans and a mud-tinted ripped flannel, as though he’d been hard at work in the fields before he’d stalked me. His face was curiously almost familiar, as if I’d seen him before; however, not him specifically, just the same knowing, I’d venture to say caring smile I’d seen on others’ faces.
His fingers, still pressed together from the snap I’d heard, glowed with a warm gold twinge.
“Hello Jenifer,” he spoke in a half sad, half indescribably ancient type of voice.
“Do I know…you?” I asked slowly.
“No,” he shook his head. “But I know you.”
I blinked.
“Look, the point is,” he quickly glanced around and then looked directly into my eyes. “I know you won’t fully understand what that means, and I have not been granted a terribly great time to explain—”
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I asked again, while looking down at my legs and trying to move them. They were firmly planted and I seemed not to have any control over them anymore.
“Nevermind who I am. All you need to know is this: the lake of time has been disturbed by a ripple that went deep into the past—”
“Dr. Jarred’s experiment was a ripple?” I interjected.
“More like a tsunami,” the warden replied with a look that hinted at his urgency. “He is meddling in things that ought not to be tampered with.
“But Jenifer, listen. I have come to you because you have protected the children thus far. I saw you, on the night Gwenllian came—”
“It was you!” I exclaimed in shock. “In the rain, by the forest, I saw you!”
“I know you did,” he smiled a little. “But more importantly I saw you and your grandfather, and I knew she would be in good hands until I could help.”
“How could you tell? You were so far away,” I wondered.
He smiled broadly. “Do you love Christ, Jenifer?”
“Yes,” I nodded seriously.
“His light is in you.” He pointed to my heart. “Anyone who loves our Lord shines a physical glow unseeable by the human eye—”
“But you can see it,” I began to smile. “So, you saw my Grandad and I glowing that night.”
“Yes,” he grinned an encouraging smile. Somehow, I felt relieved. “But listen! I have stopped time—that’s why you are frozen where you are. I can only do this for a few minutes, so soon our time will be up. You must get the children back…and the organism that came from the past with them.”
“I thought you said till you could help—”
“You will be given exactly what you need in time. I will be watching over you, as well as those who have more power than I. You will not be doing this alone.”
“But I don’t know how to reverse the experiment,” I pleaded.
“Greg does.” He looked me straight in the eye.
“But Greg…” my voice trailed off as he raised an eyebrow.
“People are capable of change, Jenifer.” The warden’s voice had become more labored and now it was softer. His body was starting to shimmer, like a mirage fading into mist.
“Wait—” I tried one last time but he just nodded and placed a hand to his heart as he became just barely visible. “God be with you Jen.”
And then he was gone, and I could move again. Once more I was aware of my surroundings, as well as someone pelting towards me down the dirt road. He had a distinctive mop of rusty brown hair and a rumpled t-shirt that I recognized.
It was Greg.
“Jen!” he panted, slowing to a halt beside me.
I stared at him.
“Jen, come on! Don’t be a fool, the kids in the hospital are fading, we don’t have much time!”
“What?” I said, a little dumbfounded. Even so, I began to speed walk back towards my house with him.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he sighed, kicking a stone out of the way as we began sprinting. “For getting mad, you know. You were right, Jenny. About God, and all that.” He bit the corner of his lip.
I stared at him. “Go on, Greg.”
“I talked with your Grandad,” he looked straight ahead, letting the wind blow into his face. “I had gone into town to buy some things at the hardware store, and I saw him and your Gram coming from the hospital looking real worried.
“Your Grandad saw me and asked me if I thought the kids were fading. That’s when I explained the argument and…he and I had a talk.” Greg nodded, as if making up his mind to keep talking.
The farmhouse was in view now.
“You were right about God, Jen,” he said, turning to look at me. “You were right about all of it.”
I nodded, not really knowing what to say.
“And after,” he kept talking as we reached the porch. “Afterwards I prayed a bit. I haven’t prayed in a long while, so I just said the Lord’s prayer…I suppose that’s all I could remember.”
“That’s wonderful Greg,” I smiled. “But what about the children?”
Just then the screen door slammed, and turning, I looked up expectantly for the faces of my Grandparents.
However, I was met with the grappling hook of a tail, the dripping ooze, and the vile blackness of the thing, as it glided more quickly over the old wooden beams than a ballerina. And he was heading straight for me.
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