Demicore

He looked again at his watch. It had only been an hour since he had gotten on the plane. It seemed like much longer. The in-flight movie was dull. He kept thinking about the reason he was on his way to China. He thought about her. The time was drawing near and he was no closer to solving this mystery. If he could not find some answers here, she could be lost forever. He closed his eyes; it would do him some good to try to rest . . . They were arriving home from a day with his parents . . . The girls had not fallen asleep in the car like he had hoped, but were eager to tell their mother about their day out . . . Something about the house didn’t look or feel right. The door was ajar . . . He called to his children not to go in yet . . . He ran to get to the door before them. Cautiously he walked in to the house, but it was too late. Carol, his wife’s mother, was lying there on the floor in a large pool of her own blood and – Erik’s own scream woke him. Several people asked him if he was alright and the stewardess offered him a cool washcloth. He had had the nightmare again. He had seen her unconscious, gasping for air that refused to fill her lungs and beyond any medical help of the day. He went to the restroom where he could have a small amount of privacy. The images flashed before his wakeful eyes. Tears streamed down his face as again he saw the flash of green that had swallowed them both. Somehow he knew he had created a portal that would keep them for one hundred fifty years, but how? What had happened? How was he supposed to open it or would it reopen on its own? He had held onto life by the thread of hope that someday he would see her again – that she was not dead – and for the sake of their children. Their daughters, Sonya and Katlin, had been two and four at the time and had not stayed outside. When he screamed they came into the house and saw the horror that lay before them. Sonya still remembered the scene. He had buried himself in studies after the initial shock and grief wore off. He had studied martial arts and every field of medicine imaginable. To be able to have family time with his children, whom his mother and several friends were taking turns to watch, he involved them in as much of his studies as he could get them interested in. As a result, the three of them were blackbelts in many styles and the girls had each graduated early from both high school and college, but the most noticeable result was their extended life. He was sure some piece of the puzzle was missing. Feeling that he had himself under control again, he returned to his seat to ponder the issue some more. It did not seem to him that he had done anything unusual, but he had lived - he did not care to add up the years anymore, it was over a hundred – and had not aged. He felt nauseous. Even with his doctorates and extensive studies he had not found any information about what might have happened that day. There had been nothing to indicate the portal could even have been reality. Nothing to say would it open again let alone that she would be alive if it did. Had not the psychologist said that he had suffered shock from the trauma of finding his wife and her mother missing, a murder weapon and pools of their blood? And further that his mind had overlaid something to suggest that she might not be dead? The only reason they had not sentenced him to prison was because they could not find bodies. It had not mattered that he had been found in a fetal position and his fingerprints had not been on the weapon – which, incidentally, had still been lying on the floor next to where his wife had lain. "Elizabeth . . ." he whispered. "Excuse me?" the lady next to him asked timidly. The seatbelt sign came on overhead saving him from trying to come up with an answer to her question. Had it been that long? It seemed like an age longer, and yet only a few days ago. Even the extensive court scenes and law suits ran through his mind as though it had just happened. As time rolled by, he wandered around to the libraries and asked for permission to study people’s private libraries. Most granted him his requests. He had learned the customs well. Still it seemed information eluded him. There was nothing to be found about portals that was not in a fiction book. The nightmares were growing steadily worse. On May 9th, he was in a public library when a buzz went off at his side. Looking down to find his cellular phone blinking at him and see Sonya’s name on the call display, he stepped into the restroom so he didn’t disturb others with his call. "Dad, where are you?" she sounded perturbed. "I’m doing some research," his tones revealed the fact that he thought she was overreacting for not hearing from him for the past couple weeks. After all, they had talked recently . . . hadn’t they? "Dad! We have about four hours until we find out if the portal will reopen! I have all the medical equipment on hand. How long will it take you to get here?" she asked exasperated. "What?! I’m in China at the moment!" He stared down at the phone as it dropped from his hand. He looked at his watch. 149.364.19.54 God, no! I can’t have lived this long, done this much learning and made this many medical advances just to lose her now! "Dad?" He heard Sonya’s voice drift up from the phone on the floor. In a split second, there was a flash of green in front of him. He scooped up the phone and stepped through it knowing where it would lead and wondering how he knew at the same time. "Dad?" she asked again in confusion as he stepped out of the portal beside her. He looked up at the sound of her voice. "Dad!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck. He smiled as she pulled away and looked into his face. Images of her smiling at four years old as she eagerly waited to tell her mother all about her day out with Grandma flashed across his mind and he remembered why he was there. "We have to get to work. This stuff has to be set up correctly, or there is no hope. You have been keeping the blood?" "Dad, you know I have. There should be enough between the three of us having drawn and saved it over this length of time to re-supply them both completely," she gave him a ‘you-should-know’ look as she said it, but her tones were not harsh. They worked together to set everything up and have it in place where it would be accessible. "Where is Katlin? I thought she would be here by now." "She is bringing the medical staff and keeping them outside until the portal is opened and they are here. We thought it would be better if a whole slew of people didn’t see what exactly happened," Sonya looked up from what she was assembling, "There they are. It must be almost time. . ." her voice trailed off. She finished what she had been working on. "You modified the plan? Why didn’t you talk to me about this?" "Because you have spent more than a hundred years obsessing over this day. Even when you were with Andy you didn’t stop. We didn’t want to worry you over small details such as where the staff would be when the portal opens," then, quieter she added, "If it opens." "Now," he said to the air in front of him as he turned to face where the portal would open and green light again filled the small room. The next few hours were a blur of motion. As soon as he had opened the portal, his wife and mother-in-law were again on the floor of what once had been their living room but had since been transformed into a clutter of medical equipment. Katlin had been looking for the green flash and brought the staff in. Sonya had helped Erik get started as soon as the women had appeared.