A Hole in Time

The List - Chapter 25 - The Doorway

Walking along the street, hand in hand with Liam, and I can almost forget that we are on our way to do something important. I can imagine spending every day like this. Walking down the street, holding hands with the man I love. Love. It is a strange sensation. I feel tingly from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. My breathe catches in my throat whenever he smiles at me. I cannot stop smiling or feeling the warmth of his hand. I try to imagine what life would be like without Liam and I feel sick to my stomach.

We walk along the street, two Healers children, walking towards the centre of the Dome. The centre of the Dome is a full kilometre high, and the Hierarchy building is about half that height. At the very top of the Hierarchy building is the clock. No-body uses that clock anymore, but it still works. Which I am very happy about. Because in exactly 45 minutes, the hands on that clock will show Liam and I where to go to find the computer room. We are so close to stopping this man, so close to destroying the computer and freeing everyone.

There is a spot near the building where you can clearly see the clock. This is where we stop, so we can watch the clock. There are lots of buildings around the Hierarchy building, so the room could be in any one of them. Or maybe it is not even in a building. Maybe it is out in the open, but hidden from view, Outside of this time. Lots of thoughts go through my head. The one that makes the most sense is about the time. At 25 minutes past 5, all members of the Hierarchy will be at home, or close to home. No-one will be here Outside of the Hierarchy building, except Liam and I. It is no surprise that the room has remained a secret for this long. No-one has been here to see it.

Liam and I sit in silence for the next 40 minutes. We watch everyone leave the building at 5 minutes past 5. Our own parents will be arriving home in 25 minutes. With all the time that Liam and I spend out at our field, we will not be missed for a few hours. So we have at least three hours to shut down the computer before our absence is reported. If the computer finds out that we are missing, it will search for us and will find us on the doorstep of the secret room. The hands on the clock move closer together, marking 5:24. Liam reaches over and grabs my hand. I hold tightly, not wanting to let go of the strength that Liam gives to me.

My breath catches in my throat when the clock marks 5:25. A blue beam of light flows from the centre of the clock, down the hands, and out into the thin air. The light beam disperses when it hits a solid object. That cannot be the room. It is like the hole in the field. It looks like a doorway, an entrance into a hallway. The answer hits me. The room must be under ground, and we have to go down this hallway to get to it. Liam must have figured this out before me, because I have no sooner formed the thought and Liam pulls me out from our hiding spot and towards the doorway.

The minute is almost over, so we must hurry. If the light beam shuts off, we will not be able to find the doorway. It is placed in a smart spot. Right in the centre of the street, where no-one walks. Liam shows me just how brave he is when he walks straight in. I am so lucky to have Liam with me. I would have stood Outside the doorway and wondered about it until the light beam turned off. With my hand still wrapped in Liam's, I follow straight through the doorway into a cold hallway. I look around and find something strange. It looks like we did not go anywhere. I can see the Hierarchy building, the clock, the time still reading 5:25, and everything else looks the same.

Liam is staring up at the clock. "Gracie, is the clock still ticking? I cannot hear it." I look up at the clock and listen intently. "No, It is not ticking. The clock has stopped." Liam laughs and it surprises me. "No, Gracie, I do not think it has stopped. Remember the original riddle? He said he was "forever" free. Outside of time. We are still feeling time go by, but it isn't. I think this whole hallway and the room it leads to are Outside of time, or at least frozen in time."

"Okay, Liam, that does make sense. What is the next step?" Liam drops my hand to pull out the paper from his pocket and I feel the loss instantly. When Liam holds my hand, I feel happy, safe, and complete. Away from Liam, I feel alone, anxious, nervous, and empty. I do not know what this means, but I never want to be away from Liam. I feel that I would stop living if I ever lost Liam. I shake my head to banish these thoughts. This is not the time to be thinking about this. I need to focus on destroying the computer.

Liam finds the next step on his paper and reads it aloud.

"First you must find that which you need

Then will the door to you be freed

I have keys that open no locks,

I have space, but there is no room,

You can enter, but you cannot go in.

What am I?"

"So, Gracie, I think that the first two lines are telling us what the other lines are talking about. 'First you must find that which you need' could mean that we are looking for a key." I nod my head. "That would make sense with the next sentence. 'Then will the door to you be freed.' But then, why does the clue include a key?" Liam stares at the paper, and sighs. "Okay, let's get back to the top part. The clue itself is what we should focus on. Now, what has keys that do not open locks, space, but no room, and you can enter, but cannot go in?" I smile and giggle, and I must look strange because Liam starts to laugh with me.

"What is it Gracie?" I stop my giggles and tell him. "Lee, 'Space' and 'Enter' are 'Keys' on a keyboard for a computer. We are looking for a keyboard." Liam pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. "You are too smart for your own good, Gracie. We must need to enter some sort of password to open the doors. Has your smart brain figured that part out yet?" I feel happy in Liam's arms, hearing his heartbeat, listening to the laughter in his voice, and I almost miss the question.

"No, Lee, I do not know the password. Was not there another step in the book?" I feel Liam's chin nod against the top of my head and I can tell that he is just as reluctant to end our embrace as I am. It is the coldness of the hallway that slowly brings us back to reality. There is only one reason we are in here. We have a job to do.