Purgatech: Aaron's Terrible Realization

Chapter 14

"Hey Sparks, do you have a minute?" I yelled. She had been about to disappear into her electronic lair when she stopped and turned around.

"What's up?"

"Well, Jada and I were hoping that you could help us out."

"Yeah," said Jada from beside me, "we wanted to see how it works when you bring a ghost through."

"Oh?" Sparks eyed us both suspiciously. "Why?"

"We liked Anna," Jada said simply. She shrugged her shoulders. "We didn't really have anything else to do so we though maybe we would try to spend some time with her. She seemed really lonely."

Sparks didn't look like she cared much at all about whether Anna was lonely but she rolled her eyes and said, "Alright. Give me a few minutes and I'll go outside with you guys."

Sparks disappeared into the computer room and Jada and I set about ransacking the kitchen. We figured if we were going to spend a sunny afternoon outside with a ghost, we might as well bring along a picnic. I mean, why not, right?

Just as we were finishing wrapping the sandwiches and gathering cans of soda, Sparks reappeared.

"What's all that?" she asked.

"A picnic lunch," I said. "Do you want to join us?"

She looked me up and down like she thought I was joking. "No," she said, and pushed her way out the back door.

"What's up her butt?" said Jada and we both burst out laughing. She grabbed the cooler and I picked up a radio we'd found in a cabinet. We hurried outside.

Sparks was at the bottom of the steps checking her watch.

"Hurry up, guys. I've got a lot to do. You both have your devices?"

"Yep," said Jada. She'd been wearing her purgoogles like a headband and now slid them into place over her eyes.

"Right here," I said, pulling my phone from my pocket.

"Good. Pull up your downloads screen. This is really simple actually, I'm not sure why you wanted me to walk you through it."

"Every time we try to do something on our own, Turner pitches a fit," Jada said.

Sparks made a funny grunting, snorting sort of noise and threw her hand up to cover her mouth. When she pulled it away, I could see the smile that she was trying to hide. The noise had been a laugh.

"Fair," she said. "He does like for things to be supervised. You both have Anna pulled up on your list?"

We nodded in unison.

"Good, literally all you have to do is tap on her name."

I looked at Jada and asked, "Are you ready?"

She nodded her head.

I gave us a count down, "Three... two... one... go!"

We both tapped Anna's name.

Nothing happened.

"What are you waiting on?" Sparks asked.

"We’re not waiting, we both tapped," Jada said. She looked at me, frowning. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Does her name appear in blue on your devices?" said Sparks.

I shook my head. Jada grabbed my wrist and turned my hand toward her to try and see my phone screen. The moment she touched me, Anna's name turned blue.

"It just lit up!" she said.

"Hm... Let go of him," said Sparks.

Jada did and the blue color faded from the name. She touched me again and it immediately returned.

"Are your glasses doing the same thing?" I asked. Jada nodded.

"It must have something to do with the two of you having been together when she was downloaded. It told you that was still a new thing for us. We don't fully know how it works yet." She started off toward the house. "I need to go in and make some notes. You guys go ahead and bring her through and have a nice lunch. I'll see you later."

Once Sparks was back inside, Jada looked at me and nodded. I gave the countdown again and we both tried once more.

Almost immediately, the temperature of the air dropped. I could see Jada's smile and I was glad that she was pleased. I liked to see her smile.

A familiar sphere of blue light appeared at the base of Anna's tree. It grew slowly to the size of a beach ball and then stopped, hovering in place.

"Anna," Jada called. "Anna, would you come and have lunch with us?"

A hand appeared. It reached down until it was resting on the ground. Another followed and then Anna came tumbling out of the sphere in a somersault.

"Tada!" she proclaimed. Jada and I both laughed.

It was the first time that I was actually seeing Anna. She was a pretty young girl, even with the disconcerting blue pools of light that took the place of eyes. She would have grown up to be a beautiful woman. She had straight, light colored hair and an easy smile. It was no wonder the boy's had teased her. They had probably been too intimidated to speak to her any other way.

"You guys brought food and I can't eat. That's not fair!" She crossed her arms and squinched up her face into a pout. I was about to apologize when she burst out laughing. "I'm only joking, it's okay. I'm just glad you came to see me."

"Aw, we're glad to see you too, Anna," said Jada. "Come and sit down with us, let's talk."

We spent the next hour or so in conversation about nothing in particular. Jada said that it was nice where she was, but that it was good to spend time back on our side as well. She said that some things, like the birds whistling in the trees, weren't quite the same.

"I'm sorry you couldn't eat food with us, Anna," Jada said, "but I think that Aaron brought something along that you will enjoy."

"You did?" Anna said, looking at me.

"I did?" I said, looking at Jada. She motioned to the radio. "Oh, that's right! I did. See what you think."

I switched the radio on and began tuning through stations slowly. Anna's face wore a stream of different facial expressions as I flipped through music from multiple decades that she never experienced.

"What is all that?" she asked.

"Music? Haven't you ever heard music?"

"Well," she said, "there was a piano in church. It sure didn't sound like that, though."

"I bet not," I said, laughing. Then, a crazy thought struck me. "Anna, would you like to dance?"

She gasped. Then she put a hand to her mouth, so that I couldn't see what she was saying, and asked Jada in a stage whisper, "Is that okay?"

Jada was grinning ear to ear. She mimicked Anna's hand placement and whispered back, "Oh course! It's not everyday a good looking guy asks you for a dance."

I'm not sure if it was Anna or me that was blushing harder as I reached out to take her hand. It was cold but soft and not unpleasant. We spent the next several songs whirling around in the grass together, soaking up the sunlight and laughing fit to burst. It was the most fun I'd had in days.

"Thank you, Anna," I said as we began to wind down from our third song in a row. "You’re a much better dancer than me." She giggled and ran to Jada. She grabbed her by the shoulders and tired to haul her up from where she sat on the ground.

"Your turn, your turn," Anna said.

"Okay, okay," Jada said, laughing, "I'll dance with you." She stood up.

"No, not me," said Anna. "Him." She pointed in my direction.

Jada looked at me and asked with her eyes. I was petrified but I held out my hand and tried to pretend I wasn't.

Anna sat in the grass, clapping and giggling, as Jada and I moved around the yard. Sometimes we danced to slow songs, taking them seriously. Sometimes we danced to fast songs, flailing around like lunatics.

Suddenly, Jada's foot slipped and she started to fall. I tried to grab her but ended up going down myself. We both landed, sprawled out on the grass, laughing like mad. I'd never felt so comfortable with someone; all of my self-consciousness was gone. I looked over to Jada and before I knew it her lips were on mine. I was lost for a moment, aware of nothing except her and our kiss. Anna soon fixed that problem.

"EWWWW! Gross!" she teased.

Jada and I separated and sat up to wipe the grass off of our clothes.

"Oh hush, Anna, you're embarrassing him."

It was true. As hard as I tried to make it stop, my ears were burning. I couldn't believe the way Jada made me feel. It had never been like that with Katie. I realized with relief that it had been days since I'd even thought of my ex. Sure, it hadn't really been that long since our break up but with everything that had been going on at Purgatech, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Fine, I'll leave you guys alone about it," Anna said, still giggling.

I looked up and noticed that the sky was beginning to grow dim. We'd been outside a lot longer than originally planned. I suddenly remembered the reason we'd wanted to talk to Anna in the first place.

"Hey Anna," I said. "Do you think that we could ask you a few questions?"

"Of course," she said. "What kind of questions?"

"Oh yeah," Jada chimed in. "We wanted to ask you about the Slades."

Anna's face fell immediately. Any trace of her former mirth disappeared. "I don't know what that means."

"You know, Mr. And Mrs. Slade that used to live here," I said.

"I don't know anything about them," she said, flatly. I shot Jada a look and could tell that she was as confused as I was.

"Please, Anna," Jada said. "If there is anything you could tell us, we could really use the help."

"The best way to help yourselves would be to leave."

That had not been what I was expecting.

"Is something bad going on? Do you know something?"

"I can't," she said. "I just can't." Her hands came up to cover her face and she began to sob.

"What's the matter, Anna?" I could tell by Jada's voice that she was rattled.

"I don't want anything to happen to you guys, your so nice, please leave, I like you, don't stay, don't get hurt."

My heart was pounding. I looked over my shoulder at the house. It looked ominous in the late afternoon light.

"Anna if you just..."

"I want to go back now," she said.

"But if you could just..."

"SEND ME BACK."

Her voice had picked up a growling bass that did not belong to a young girl. I jumped back, completely startled.

"Okay, Anna, okay," I said.

"We're sorry, honey, we didn't mean it," Jada added.

Anna just sat with her face in her hands crying. Jada took a deep breath and scooted closer to me so that we could hold hands again. Together, we tapped Anna's name on our download lists.

Anna was suddenly sucked back into her sphere at the base of the tree. There was a small "pop" and Jada and I were sitting alone in the back yard of the Purgatech house. We sat still, not speaking, until well into twilight.

Then the back door banged open.

"You guys still out there? Come one, dinner is ready," Omri yelled.

"Yep. Coming," I called. Jada and I stood up. I pulled her into a brief but total embrace and then we walked back to the house, hand in hand.

"I think everyone is sleeping," Jada whispered. I'd been dozing with her on my chest, waiting for the middle of the night to come when we thought we'd have the least chance of being discovered.

As silently as possible, we slid out of bed and across the room to the door of the bunkroom. I turned the knob and lifted up to keep the door from squeaking as I pulled it open.

My heartbeat quickened and I could tell from her breathing that Jada was also excited. Or maybe it was terror? Probably both.

We crossed the landing and paused at the top of the stairs, listening hard. There was nothing but silence.

She flashed me a mischievous grin and pulled the stolen key that she out from its hiding place beneath her sweater.

Jada took a deep breath and grabbed my hand. Then she slid the ancient skeleton key into the lock and turned it. The bolt clicked open.