Chasing the Sunset, page 7
The two sat together to enjoy the rest of the show. As Lucy suspected, none of them could follow Daisy.
When they arrived back at the B&B, a group was in the dining room, not eating, but playing some sort of game. Lucy peered around the corner in curiosity, wondering if she might join in the fun, but Gabe held his hand up. “I think that’s for Vision Catchers only. Besides, tomorrow might be the first day of your quest. Have you thought more about whether you want to join?” He looked at her with the same hopeful desperation he’d had when he’d asked her for a ride the night before.
So many secrets. The scales seemed unbalanced. He could peer into her mind at least when she let an idea slip and maybe more. How could she know? Lucy looked up to toward The Tower. It was a free place to stay for over a month, but she had the ring money. She didn’t have to do this, but what if she could find her calling like Daisy? Biting her lip, they stood in silence as Gabe gave her space to think.
She felt a slight tingle on the top of her hand. When she looked down, a ladybug was crawling toward her ring finger. It flew away after a few moments, landing on a beautiful potted plant near the door. She took it as a good omen. So many times she’d ignored the signs that she should change her life. The constant stomach aches, the weight loss, even Anna flat out telling her she missed the old Lucy. One night after Colt called her a bitch and screamed at her, she sunk into the couch. Garfield immediately cuddled up next to her, a rare posture for him. Even her cat was trying to signal that he knew what was happening wasn’t okay.
This ladybug had centered her in a way those more obvious indicators hadn’t. She turned to Gabe and felt him tugging on her heartstrings. With the same spontaneity as last night in Booneville, but this time with more conviction, she said, “Okay, I’m in.”
“Yes!” Gabe drew his arms in a celebratory pump.
Lucy’s adrenaline was coursing through her veins from the excitement of the decision. From the dining room, she heard Rae shout, “We win again!” Looking into the room, she really wanted to join in the fun, or at least read the magazine Gabe had confiscated.
He cut off her curiosity again. “We need to start early. I’ll come get you around eight and hey, don’t worry about the car. I’ve got a plan for that, too.”
“How did you know about … ” her voice trailed off. Of course, he knew. He didn’t know Colt, though. Not completely. In the excitement, she’d lost sight of that obstacle. Colt had been stewing a whole day after her disappearance. Fear surrounded her heart.
Reading her, Gabe touched her lightly on the shoulder. “Seriously, I’ve got you. You should go to bed.” His eyes met hers and then looked over her shoulder with delight. She looked behind her, but couldn’t find what he was fixing his gaze on. He stepped around her, crouched down to pick something up, but Lucy still couldn’t see his object of distraction.
He turned around and held out the tabby cat she tripped over that morning, Penelope.
“Maybe she can bring you some comfort. She loves a good snuggle, and The Tower is one of her places to be.”
Giddy, Lucy reached out and gingerly took the creature from Gabe’s arms. “Awww … hi Penelope. Do you want to stay with me tonight?” Penelope lifted her head toward Lucy’s and purred.
“I think that’s a yes,” said Gabe.
“Okay. Thank you. Have a good night.”
Lucy turned and climbed the stairs carefully, cuddling her new furry friend.
Gabe watched Lucy leave and was glad that he’d been able to distract her with the comforts of Penelope. She’d comforted him many times, especially moments when he missed his parents. As he turned to go to his room in the basement, he leaned in the doorway to observe the game. Rae spotted him and motioned for him to come to her. “Come on, Gabe, hang out for a bit.” He was tired, but had also caught some of Lucy’s curiosity. It couldn’t hurt to just check it out.
7
The Game
Gabe approached Rae and the other three people still in the dining room. “Hi folks, you remember Gabe?”
“Oh sure,” said Randy. Randy was rather plump, with red hair. Smoke from a cigar permeated the air around him. “It’s been a while. So, it looks like you’re starting your first vision quest, eh? Good luck,” he chuckled.
“Yes. Well, she’s ready,” Gabe boasted, trying to hide his insecurities.
“But are you?” Randy replied as he took another puff on his cigar and blew a ring of smoke right into Gabe’s face. Gabe coughed and then looked back up at Randy like a deer in headlights.
“Randy, stop that! Of course he’s ready,” Aunt Rae interjected. She turned to Gabe, grabbed his chin, and put her face close to his. “This is the moment we’ve been preparing for, sugar. Don’t let him get in your head.”
It was too late. He was in his head. Before yesterday, he’d feared his powers were weakening because it had been three weeks since he’d perceived any hopes or dreams from Lucy. He caught glimpses of nightmares she had for her life that were just miserable. Then, it came to him! An abstract dream, but a dream just the same, of Lucy chasing the sunset. There was hope in it—so much hope that, in fact, he knew she was ready to move on from her miserable life with Colt.
He drew the vision and then went to making a plan FAST! He came up with the idea of the shirt with Lucy’s favorite Bible verse, at least one he knew that would ring a bell. He knew her mom had hung the youth group self-portrait art project in their house for at least a few years, if not more. And he used all of his powers to will her toward him. It felt so gratifying, and he was on such a high on the drive up from having beckoned his first Originator to go out on a vision quest.
As he looked around at all the others in the room, he felt so small.
Rae always said, “Fame and giant accomplishments aren’t what we’re trying to help our Originators achieve. We want to guide them to live their best life, whether that’s being a novelist, a mom or dad, or a waitress. We want them to not lose sight of their dreams and have been given the gift to hold on to their dreams for them when they do.”
Still, Randy was rumored to be pair-bonded with famous Originators that led to the creation of blockbuster movie hits and famous works of art. Next to Randy was Hannah. Hannah was a scientist. Aunt Rae told Gabe recently that Hannah had just finished a quest to help someone get on the path to be a researcher to develop a cure for lung cancer.
Then there was Theo. Theo was in the class above Gabe in Vision Catcher’s school. Theo was one of the “cool kids” and an excellent artist. Gabe imagined Theo might be there on his first or second quest, though he seemed exhausted.
Rae turned to Randy and exclaimed, “Let’s play!” and Gabe sat down. “Gabe, you can take my spot. Hannah and I were a team before you got here. I’ll referee since we don’t have even numbers,” Aunt Rae instructed.
“You were referee and playing before; that’s the only reason you were winning,” Theo said smugly.
“Do you know the rules, Gabe?” Hannah asked. Gabe hadn’t even bothered to see what was on the table. There were square cards on the table with the word “Visionary” on the back of them. He’d only played the game a handful of times in school when they were all still harnessing their powers, but he LOVED it. He smiled and nodded at Hannah.
It was sort of like Pictionary. Each card had the image or description of a realized dream. One player would look at the card and then try to transfer it telepathically to their teammate. The teammate would have ninety seconds to draw it. You couldn’t project the words to your teammate exactly; you’d have to think of images that described it. The referee decided if the drawing really conveys what’s on the card. The team with the most correct drawings at the end of eight rounds would win.
When he was younger, Gabe always had the upper hand when they played this game because it catered to how his mind worked in images. Others could often only write lost dreams. Remembering his victories from years ago, he looked at Hannah and said, “Oh, this is gonna be fun.” He leaned back in his chair, raising his eyebrows mischievously.
Randy and Theo were first. Randy drew a card, looked at it, and placed it in the discard pile. Aunt Rae turned a sand-filled timer over, and Randy closed his eyes. Ninety seconds later, Theo had drawn a mouse, duck, earth, and roller coaster.
Aunt Rae looked at it and exclaimed, “Oh, going to Disney World! Good job, Theo, one point for y’all.”
“Good job, Theo? I was doing all the hard work over here,” Randy retorted and laughed.
“Okay … good job, Randy too,” she said as she patted him on the head. “I would’ve hoped a grown man of your stature didn’t need that kind of validation.”
He rolled his eyes and turned his focus to Hannah and Gabe. “Your turn!”
Gabe’s hands were shaking as he drew a card. It suddenly felt like he was in the middle of his finals at the Essential School of Vision Catching. Hannah sensed this and whispered firmly, “Stop worrying, it’s just a game.”
The card read “Going to the Moon.” Rae flipped the timer again. Gabe closed his eyes, imagined a moon with an astronaut walking on it, and tried to latch into Hannah’s brainwaves to push it to her. He imagined the stars twinkling, and when he opened his eyes, Hannah had drawn a circle with a stick figure on top with a bunch of stars around. Time was up.
Aunt Rae said, “That kind of looks like one of those men who walks on the ball at the circus. Is that right? A man who had a dream to start a circus!”
“No, Aunt Rae, it was going to the moon,” Gabe huffed in frustration at Hannah’s artistic ability.
“Why didn’t you send her a rocket ship, son?” Randy said. “Did he send you a rocket ship, Hannah?”
Hannah shook her head and laughed quietly with a sympathetic gaze pointed toward Gabe. “I’m a writer and scientist, not an artist. I think there’s fault on both sides.”
“No. That’s clearly an astronaut on the moon surrounded by stars. I want a different ref,” Gabe said while laughing along. “Seriously though, can I draw y’all what I was picturing in my head?”
“It won’t count,” Theo said.
“I know. I just want Hannah to tell me if what I draw is what she saw.”
“Of course you can,” Aunt Rae said reassuringly while turning the timer over.
Gabe drew quickly—an astronaut, standing on the moon, surrounded by stars—accurately, quickly, and beautifully.
When he was done, there was no joking anymore; everyone just sat in stunned silence at the masterpiece Gabe created so quickly. He looked at Hannah. “Well, is that what you saw?” Hannah smiled and nodded.
Satisfied, they continued to play. They lost when Gabe sent Hannah a vision of a writer being on the New York Times best-seller list and Rae guessed it was someone who fantasized about reading books all day.
He let out an enormous yawn. “Sorry, y’all, I’ve got to go to bed.”
“Of course! Big day tomorrow!” Aunt Rae said enthusiastically as she stood up and embraced him.
Theo sighed and said, “I’m tired too, but I don’t want to face tomorrow.”
“Why’s that?” Gabe asked.
“Because my Originator’s a prick.”
“Theo, language,” Aunt Rae said, slapping him gently on the arm.
“You’re having a hard time?” Gabe asked. His nerves about his abilities returned.
Before Theo could answer, Randy interjected. “That’s what you get when you flunk your first time around. They assign you a lost cause. You’re gonna have to dig deep to get Mr. Moneybags to embrace his purpose.”
“Wait, that guy Gerald is your Originator?” Gabe asked, shaking his head slightly remembering how Gerald had treated him at breakfast.
Theo just nodded. “Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it.”
Gabe was glad his Originator wasn’t a jerk, but was curious how Theo flunked his first quest. “That sucks. I’d love to talk later. Maybe you can give me some advice.”
“Sure thing.”
Gabe said goodnight, gave Rae a hug, and turned to leave when Randy called out after him.
“Pay up. We won.”
“Pay?” Gabe said, confused. “What were you playing for? No one told me there was a bet.”
“Come on, Gabe,” Theo retorted. “There’s always a bet.”
“Fine. What do we owe you?” Gabe huffed.
“You each owe us an idea. An invention from one of your Originators,” Randy said with a tone of superiority.
“No way. I protect my Originator’s visions, and you know I don’t have full status. Until I finish this quest, Lucy is my only Originator. She’s had a rough go of it lately; I’m not taking anything from her. Besides, she’s not really an inventor.”
“Please, I’ve peeked in your studio. She’s got more visions than three lifetimes can hold. Like she hasn’t come up with a song or an app idea I can give as kindling to one of my Originators? Everyone’s got something,” Randy said, still smiling.
Gabe stood up, frustrated, and slammed his chair on the ground. “You guys make me sick. You wouldn’t give it to someone else in need; you’d just sell it on the black market. What happened to the oath we took? Selling people’s ideas that you catch before they expire is just wrong.” The words spewed passionately out of Gabe’s mouth. Gabe glared at Theo and silently told him, “You can’t think this is right, man?”
“How do you think your aunt paid for this place?” Randy said, holding his hands in the air, palms up, with his eyes directed at the chandelier that hung over the grand dining table. “We all got to bend a rule or two to survive.”
Gabe looked around and realized he’d never really thought about it. Black market deals and bets on games weren’t the ideals his aunt had raised him on, but he also hadn’t asked her what she’d done to have such a nice place. He’d always assumed it was because of her role as a host. He stood unmoving, in shock from Randy’s offensive implications.
Exasperated, Gabe turned his gaze toward Aunt Rae, who looked at him with what seemed to be a mix of empathy and remorse.
“Let him go to bed, Randy,” Theo spoke up. “He can pay us later.”
Gabe looked at them all in disgust and then hurried to his room. He needed his sleep. Tomorrow was a big day, and there was no way he was going to let Lucy fail.
In the hallway, he heard footsteps behind him.
“Wait, Gabe,” Aunt Rae’s voice called out.
He stopped and turned as she ran toward him. “Honey, I … ”
“You what? How do you have this place? I thought you earned this. You’ve served on the Guild, even. All the stories you’ve told me over the years about the Originators you’ve helped. Did you rip them off?”
“No. I never sold a vision on the black market or even through legal means.” She let out a deep sigh and stepped toward him, grabbing hold of his hand gently.
Gabe said nothing, leaving space for a confession to fall from her lips. Aunt Rae looked toward the doorway to a small reading room to their right.
“Let’s sit down for this.”
Gabe reluctantly let her pull him to a couch and they sat. Aunt Rae closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and as she exhaled, she began to speak again.
“Many years ago, I was in your shoes. Pair-bonded with my first Originator. I knew he was special the moment I stepped into The Center when I was thirteen.”
Gabe thought back to his own ritual at The Center when he was the same age. A place in the VC realm where lost ideas swirled in the air. He approached the sacred ground with trepidation. He knew the next two decades or more of his life would follow this soul. This ceremony had weight. If successfully pair-bonded, his aging would slow based on the amount of dreams that passed through him. If there was no match, his life would be shorter and he wouldn’t have the role of a Vision Catcher. He’d heard the story of his family’s legacy from Aunt Rae’s stories. Now as she spun one more tale, for the first time, he felt the fear in her own experience from The Center.
The feelings of apprehension he sensed from her soon lifted as she spoke of capturing her first Originator’s lost idea, mentioning the silence and the peace of the place. He’d felt that too. Something about the air shifted the moment he’d stepped on The Center. So many ideas zoomed around him, but when he reached out his hand, one floated to him—like it was riding the wave of a gentle magnetic force. Lucy’s vision was simple and fantastical. She wanted to be a superhero. Rae described the dream she captured vividly. Etched in her memory. She felt a strong wind push it toward her. It was also simple, but more noble than Lucy’s. Her Originator was formulating ideas on how to help his community through solar energy.
She continued her story. “As I went through the years of training following him, just as you have with Lucy, the brilliant and creative visions I captured for him along the way filled me with immense energy. His dream of powering his town with the sun took root in the 1950s. But as with many great minds, his was riddled with self-doubt. When his peers dismissed his dream as fantasy, he began to spiral. I tried to pull him into his vision before his ideas reached the point where I’d have to mark them as expired. No matter how much I pushed, his ideas kept slipping away as he listened to the naysayers. He settled into life as a researcher and grew a family.”
“Why didn’t you invite him on a quest?”
“I tried. I petitioned for a quest, but the Guild didn’t think he was worthy or that I was powerful enough to help him reach his goal. So I bent the rules just a little.”
“Bent them, how?”
“Well, I just held onto them. Like I said, they’d reached the statute of limitations.”
“So, what happened then?”
