The Last Traveler

Paxton Graves buried her feet in the moist sand and let the tide lap over them as she looked out to the horizon at the setting sun. The warm sea breeze sent her long black hair dancing in every direction. Her cool, gray eyes squinted in the sunlight to marvel at the tangerine sky. As she stood soaking in the tranquil silence, she was filled with unease. She reached down and grabbed a handful of the rust-colored sand, letting the grains fall through her fingertips. Suddenly, the truth dawned on her. A rush of memories came flooding back. Memories of this same sunset on this same beach that she had seen a thousand times before. Except she hadn’t actually been there at all. “This isn’t real,” she whispered to reassure herself. “This isn’t real!” she shouted at the sky. Then, as if she’d angered the sea, the roaring waves grew louder and louder. Her confusion became complete terror as the ear-splitting roar of an engine filled her ears and the ground beneath her began to shake. “No!” she screamed and covered her ears. Her vision blurred until she could no longer see that beautiful sunset. Suddenly, she was falling. It was as if she had been sucked into a black hole. Her chest grew heavy, but her body was weightless as if she were only a whisper drifting through an infinite void. Then, in a split second, the impact of cold, hard tile against her face. Her eyes flung open. It took a moment for her vision to focus on the face of her science teacher, Mr. Hornsby. His beady blue eyes stared intently down at her through the lenses of his thick glasses. “Ms. Graves, if you please, next time you decide to use my class for nap time, could you be sure that you do not disrupt the rest of the class?” Her classmates snickered all around her as she gathered herself from the floor and dusted off the back of her favorite slouchy black jeans. “Yes, Mr. Hornsby.” “How gracious of you. And you will see me in the office after class.” “Ooh!” the rest of the class taunted in anticipation of the reproof to come. “And unless the rest of you would like to join her, I suggest you wipe those grins off your faces and keep to your own business. Now, as I was—” Mr. Hornsby’s lecture was promptly interrupted by the sound of the school bell reverberating from the intercom overhead. “Bollocks,” he muttered under his breath. “We will continue this tomorrow. Hopefully without interruption.” Pax ignored his pointed jab and quickly shoved her notebook into her backpack before slipping out the door behind the throng of her classmates. Eyes. That was all Pax could think about as she trudged down the long corridor of Golden Valley High. She could feel them on her back, watching her every step, as she descended among the crowd of teenagers swarming through the hall. She was used to the stares by now. The feeling of being watched had become second nature to her. In the pristine suburbia of Golden Valley, she was practically an alien. The girl whose mom had vanished without a trace. It was the biggest news in the little town for most of her childhood. She used to wish that one day everyone would wake up with no eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the pity on their faces. But now she was sixteen, and the pity they once held turned to outright disdain. The poor, sad little girl whose mom vanished became the tall, lanky girl who wore her clothes two sizes too big and wouldn’t look you in the eyes when you spoke to her. In the town of shiny families who drove shiny cars and flashed fake porcelain smiles, she was always the freak. She wasn’t an heiress or a future CEO. She was nothing to them, which was just fine with Pax. Aside from the two best friends she’d had since middle school, she didn’t care much for the people of Golden Valley either. She had grown comfortable with being invisible. But then the dreams came. At first it was only at night, but this past year her dreams seemed to have taken on a life of their own. They would come at any time—in class, in the passenger seat of the car, in the middle of the school assembly—whenever they pleased and without warning. One moment she was awake, and the next she was sprawled out on the floor of her science class, screaming and covered in sweat, staring up at the faces of her peers whose expressions ranged from amused to outright horrified. She could hear the snickers, the whispers, the jeers of her classmates as she made her way down the hall. She rolled her eyes as she shouldered past Gordy, a large basketball player. “Hey! Looks like one of the aliens escaped from the spaceship,” Gordy muttered to his friend as she slipped past. Pax snorted. “Original,” she said loud enough for him to hear. Then a hard tug at her scalp forced her head backward and she let out a gasp. She looked back to find Gordy had grabbed her long, messy ponytail with his meaty hands. His face contorted into a dark smirk. Embarrassment and anger tinged her cheeks red as she met his eyes with disdain. Fear rose inside of her, but she mustered enough courage to grit her teeth and grumble, “Let go.” “Randy, did you hear something?” Gordy asked the freckled boy standing next to him with acne scars sprinkled on his cheeks, clad in a matching red Golden Valley jersey. Randy guffawed. “No, I don’t speak Martian. Do you, Gordy?” Gordy shook his head. “I wonder if the human mask is glued on to her face. Let’s find out.” He tightened his grip on her hair and tugged. Pax clenched her jaw, resisting the shriek of pain that climbed up her throat. He wanted a scene, to humiliate her, but Pax was sick of these games, and today she decided she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. When the dreams started to come more frequently and the teasing became relentless, she had always kept her head down and her mouth shut, trying to remain invisible. But she was tired and angry, and against her better nature, she growled, “Let go of me!” and stamped down hard on his foot with the heel of her lace-up black platform boots. “Agh!” he yelped. The bustling hall grew silent as eyes from every direction zeroed in on the exchange. The boy loosened his grip on her hair and sent Pax tumbling to the sticky floor. “What in the name of Satan’s child is going on over here?” a voice called from behind. The crowd of bystanders parted as Mr. Hornsby came pushing through the crowd. He was a small man who stood with a hunch and wore old, wrinkled blazers that seemed to swallow him whole. In spite of his stature and quirky disposition, he had a commanding presence and a gruff British accent that, for whatever reason, seemed to make the otherwise feral students of Golden Valley respect him. He stood squarely in front of Pax, and his gray bushy eyebrows furrowed as he squinted at the two of them from behind his thick, black-rimmed glasses. Pax’s chest tightened as she picked herself up from the floor. She stammered but couldn’t find the words to explain herself. “Nothing,” Gordy grumbled, and he smoothed his basketball jersey. “She just came up and stomped on my foot for no reason.” Her mouth dropped and the anger came flooding back in a rush. “What?” “Hush, Ms. Graves.” Mr. Hornsby put a hand up. “Did anyone else see what happened?” he called to the crowd. “Yeah!” Randy piped up. “Gordy was out here minding his own business, then this girl pushed him, and when he said, ‘Excuse me,’ she came back and stomped on his foot.” Gordy nodded as he lifted his foot and massaged the toe of his shoe for effect. “Why would Pax do that?” Mr. Hornsby questioned. He actually seemed dubious for a moment. “I don’t know, sir, she’s a psycho. Maybe it’s her time of the month or something!” Gordy offered, still massaging his toes. Against her will, she heard herself fire back, “Of course. A woman couldn’t have any other reason to be angry except when she’s on her period.” Her peers chuckled behind her. “Enough, Ms. Graves!” Mr. Hornsby started. In frustration, he pushed a hand through the thin tuft of wiry white hair that sat at the top of his head, causing it to stick out in every direction. “I would write you a referral, but if I recall, you should already be on your way to the principal’s office for your little outburst in fifth period.” The boys snickered from behind him. She shot them a piercing glare before saying, “Yes, sir.” “And don’t forget about detention on Monday.” Mr. Hornsby waved his hand toward the front office. “Off you go then.” “Yeah, go see Daddy,” Jordy whispered. “The rest of you, bugger off!” Mr. Hornsby shouted to the crowd as he waved his hands above his head, shooing the students in each direction. Pax sighed in resignation, then turned on her heel to head in the opposite direction, leaving the hoops of laughter and taunting behind her.