Mistaken Identity, Part 1

Night had fallen on Tacoma.  The cold, black shadow bathed the town, only partially dispelled by lights.  The skyscrapers stood out, sending eerie beams through the moist night air.  It was cold, and slush covered the ground from an earlier storm.  The City of Destiny was sleeping.

At least, it would be slumbering in a few hours.  It was winter, which meant that it was only seven o’clock.

Inside his room, Jack Barnes sat at his desk, the glow of a lamp reflecting off his face.  He wished snow was present, but that wasn’t what he was focusing on right now.  He was working on homework, but not just your typical homework.  A science fair was coming up at Jack’s school, and this year, he aimed to win.  He’d come in second the year before, and the person to best him had gradu—well, moved on to another school (keep in mind Jack was only 12).

“There,” said Jack, tightening a screw.  “That might be it.”  The weather had calmed down outside, and the atmosphere inside was now more tense.  Through his closed door (or through vents), Jack could hear his younger sister, Emma, crying about something.  It sounded like there was some dispute between her and Jack’s mom.  Jack didn’t know what it was about, nor did he care to know.  He put his experiment down on his desk and thought how glad he was to be in his room.

“Now all I need to do is test this,” said Jack to himself.  “I wonder what the range will be on—”

The door swung open.  It was his dad.  “Jack,” he said.  “Could you by any chance take Emma for a walk?  She’s really driving your mother crazy.”

Taking Emma for a walk was the last thing Jack wanted to do.  “If I have to,” he said.  “I’m almost done with my project, though.”

“I understand,” said his dad.  “Tell you what.  You take Emma for a good twenty-minute walk, get her to stop crying; and I’ll buy you a ticket for whatever you want to see at the Movieplex this Friday.”

“The Movieplex?” said Jack.  “Okay!  It’s a deal!”

Pocketing part of his device, Jack headed downstairs with his dad.  Mrs. Barnes and Emma stood in the living room.  Emma looked distraught.  Mrs. Barnes, on the other hand, looked relieved when her husband and Jack came in.  She gazed at them, not daring to hope—

“Jack’s going to take Emma out for a little walk,” said Mr. Barnes.  “They’ll be back soon.”

Mrs. Barnes knew her role of a mother too well to start cheering, but you could see the relief in her eyes if you looked carefully.  Instead, keeping her composure, she said, “Make sure you all bundle up.  It’s in the forties.”

“We will,” replied Jack.  Emma sullenly stalked to the hall closet.  Jack wisely let her grab her jacket first before he attempted to meddle.

When the two of them had their boots on, they left the house, Jack leading the way.  Their footsteps made soft splunching sounds in the wet mix outside.  Exhaust from trucks had left traces of brown all over the road, but you couldn’t see them at night.  It was partly cloudy, but the moon was visible, and a cool breeze blew.

Jack led the way down the street, with Emma following silently behind.  After waiting a tactful five minutes, Jack said, “Okay, what happened?”

Emma looked up, a tear glistening off her cheek.  “Mom was cleaning my room, and she stepped on Whizzy.”

Oh dear.  That was bad. Whizzy was a mouse.  A wind-up mouse made out of plastic.  Jack had no doubt that the miniscule toy was now quite misshapen.  Cheering Emma up wouldn’t be easy.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “Whizzy and I had a lot of fun together.  I’m sure Mom’s sorry about it too—”

“Now I can’t sleep with Whizzy anymore!”

“What about Sparkle?” asked Jack, referring to Emma’s rainbow unicorn toy.  “Sparkle used to sleep with you all the time.”

“No!” said Emma.  “We had an argument.”

“Oh,” said Jack.  “What about?”

Emma thought.  “I can’t remember,” she cried, “but I’m still mad!”

As the pair walked under a streetlight, Jack ran over the list of other toys.  Surely there was something—“What about Teddy?”

“I’m mad at Teddy, too,” said Emma.  “He hopped too much the last time I slept with him.”  Contrary to what you might think, Teddy was a rabbit.

Apparently, none of Emma’s toys were in good standing with her.  There were two options.  Either try to get Emma to make up with them (a difficult thing to do, considering the toys were only alive in Emma’s mind), or—

“Emma?” said Jack.  “Remember Patches?”

“Your dog toy?” asked Emma.

“Yes,” said Jack.  “Patches outgrew my bed a couple years ago, and he’s never really had a place to sleep since.  If you’d take him in, he’d greatly appreciate it.  Your bed would be so much more comfortable than the plastic box—”

“I’ve seen that plastic box,” said Emma.  “You’re right.  Alright, I guess I’ll sleep with Patches tonight.”

Problem solved, Jack focused on the street ahead.  It was quite dark.  His and Emma’s boots made soft sounds in the slush as they tramped down the sidewalk.

All at once, Jack was aware of another set of slushy footsteps coming from slightly behind them.  He turned to see who it was, but it was too dark for him to make out anything.  However, the noise stopped when he turned around.  Jack kept looking, then turned forwards again.

Instantly, a third set of footsteps was heard.  Or was that two other sets of footsteps Jack was hearing besides his and Emma’s?

Jack didn’t know.  Nor did he care.  Instead, he quickened his stride, only to hear the footsteps behind him quicken their stride as well.  Worse, they were not in rhythm with his, meaning they were not just the product of a mysterious echo.

A side street was coming up to Jack and Emma’s right.  Quickly, Jack took Emma’s hand.  “Get ready,” he whispered, “’cause when we hit that side road, we’re going to fly.  Got it?”

Emma gave him a funny look.  Jack gave her an urgent one in return.  She nodded.

They reached the side road and, without the least bit of warning, took off down it as fast as possible!

Behind them, the mysterious footsteps did exactly the same thing.

[Catch part 2 next week!]