Chapter 20: Emille's Reasoning

Sept. 23rd, 2015

West stood outside the police station, feeling sour. It had been three days since the events with his friends had taken place, and even with the kidnapping being national news, no one had found them yet. The day was sunny, but a cool wind had seemed to blow into town with the coming of Fall. A moment later, he watched as Cadi and Rick’s parents slowly walked out of the building, looking morose and tired.

“Any luck?” he asked hopefully.

“No…” Charles Wille murmured. His wife did not say anything. West took a deep breath.

“I think I might know where they are.” he told them under his breath as he walked with them to the parking lot. The Wille’s looked up at him.

“I know Emille owns an old house up north. I’m going to go up there alone and see if I can talk some sense into them. I’m worried about what would happen if the police went after them again, and this might be our only chance.”

“We’ll come with you.” their father told him, sounding determined. West shook his head.

“No. We need people here just in case… something happens…”

Cadi and Rick’s parents nodded in solemn understanding.

“Be safe West.” Carlene whispered.

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Rick was woken up rudely the next morning when the door to their little room slammed open and Harry and Emille came in.

“Good. You’re doing better. Time to get to work.” the woman told them icily, grabbing Rick by the arm and pulling him out of the room. Cadi scrambled to follow, clutching onto her brother’s shirt so she wouldn’t be left behind.

For the first time, the siblings then got to see what lay outside their little room. They went down a dimly lit hallway and into a living room/kitchen that was only separated by a little counter and the line where the carpet and the tiles met. It seemed as if the scientists that had taken them had been busy since they had gotten there. Parts of machinery were placed in different places around the room, trying to avoid the places where there were leaks in the roof only fixed by buckets on the floor to catch the drips.

Rick glanced at the window to see that it was probably midday, but raining.

If he could only see outside, maybe he could see where they were…

“Ok. Harry-can you hook them up so we can get some readings?”

Harry seemed to be in a bad mood. The man took in a deep breath, and then pulled open his laptop without saying anything to her. Emille stood there staring at him.

“What is up with you? You’ve hardly said two words to me the past few days.”

“We can talk about it later.” he mumbled.

Emille made some sort of aggravated sound in the back of her throat, and then turned to Rick and Cadi.

“Sit down at that table and don’t do anything stupid.” she told them, pointing. Rick and Cadi exchanged glances and then sat down.

“I bet you they’re going to fight.” Rick whispered to his sister.

Emille took a moment to gain back her composure, taking her blonde hair out of her bun and running her fingers through it. Then, she took a deep breath and sat down next to her boyfriend.

“Please tell me what’s wrong.”

Harry twitched, staring at the computer screen.

“You killed someone Emille.” he said steadily. “And… I’m starting to wonder why we’re even working on this thing anyway. This isn’t just about researching the time stream anymore. This is getting serious. You keep saying that it’s going to save the world, but I don’t see it.”

Finally, he looked up to see that Emille was crying.

“I-I really didn’t mean to kill that officer.” she whispered. “I don’t know what came over me… I just… reacted…”

“But Emille-you act like you don’t even care most of the time! Almost as if it didn’t even faze you!”

Emille sniffed and wiped away her tears. She swallowed and wrung her hands like she was a little nervous about something.

“Harry… I… haven’t been completely honest with you…” she gulped. Harry stared at her.

“What are you talking about?”

Emille took a shaky breath and then put her hands over his.

“The whole reason I got into this… it wasn’t just for the research… I’ve… I’ve had contact with people within the time stream before.”

Rick and Cadi sat frozen at the table a couple of feet away. Rick knew that he probably should be trying to figure out some way to get the two of them out of there, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.

Emille’s eyes glistened with tears.

“Harry, that woman we keep seeing glimpses of is a murderer. I was warned that if I didn’t stop her, that… she would kill you.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open.

“What? How-how do you know this?”

“Please Harry-I can’t bear the thought of losing you. I love you.”

At this, his face softened and he put a hand to her face.

“Aw babe-if I had known…”

Rick and Cadi grimaced as he kissed her.

“Get a roooom!” Cadi called out to them, stopping them in their tracks. Rick looked down at her in surprise.

“Cadi! Do-do you even know what that means?” he asked, glancing nervously at the irritated faces of the scientists. Cadi shrugged.

“I just know that they always say that in the movies when two people start kissing and they think it’s gross.”

“Cadi-now is not the time!”

Emille flicked her hair over her shoulder and eyed the two siblings with no compassion in her eyes whatsoever.

“I think it’s time we ran some tests…”

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For the next few days, Harry and Emille ran several different tests, which included hooking them up to a bunch of different gadgets and seeing what they could do with their abilities. By now, Rick could actually pause time without passing out, but he would always get a nosebleed and a nasty headache that would leave him hardly able to function for the rest of the day. Emille also theorized that the reason why the two of them seemed to have a connection had something to do with the time stream itself-whatever that was supposed to mean.

Despite being fugitives, Harry and Emille seemed to be in high spirits. All they had to do when getting supplies was pause time and peruse the town while Rick and Cadi were miserably locked in their little room.

The worst part of testing however, did not come until the extractions.

Unsuccessfully, Emille and Harry attempted over and over again to extract the time stream out of their systems using a plethora of different gadgets and gizmos, and every time they all failed. Rick hated it. It felt wrong. Many times, it felt like they were trying to tear something from his body-or his soul, almost like the time stream had fused with his essence. And Cadi even more so. This only frustrated their captors more.

Over the next few days, Rick started to see a change in specifically Harry. Knowing that someone might be out to kill him had really worked as motivation. It also made him a bit meaner to them-almost as if it was their fault that someone wanted him dead. Rick couldn’t help but wonder who this mysterious woman in the time stream was and why she was killing people.

And why she specifically wanted to kill Harry Penegar.

One morning, Rick woke up to a frigid air that turned his breath into a little cloud in front of his face. Shivering, he held the covers tighter to himself, and then noticed Cadi sitting up in her bed, trying to keep warm with her blanket.

“Come o-over here…” he told her, his teeth chattering. The eight year old didn’t have to be told twice. She lept from the bed and brought her blanket with her and crawled under the covers with him.

“Why-i--is it s-s-so cold?” she asked.

“I don’t think there’s any heating” Rick told her. “Either that o-or it was t-turned off. Maybe they c-couldn’t pay the b-bill or something.”

A moment later, the door opened, and Emille walked in-covered in a large white coat with fur around the collar.

“Put these on and get out here.” she said, dropping a couple of coats on the ground. There was a smaller one that was obviously meant for Cadi-and a bigger one for Rick. They were both neon orange, and Rick figured that it was so if they ran for it, they’d be easier to spot.

“I guess we better do what she says…” Rick said grimly, feeling a bit warmer now that he had a coat on.

“Mine’s a little big though…” Cadi whined.

“It’s ok. Just come on…” he told her, grabbing her by the hand.

The two of them sat down at the table, waiting for whatever tests would be happening that day, when they suddenly heard a car coming into the driveway.

The four people in the living room froze, hardly daring to breathe. Rick glanced at the back door-something that he had been keeping an eye on for a few days now.

“Is-is someone here?” Harry whispered, glancing at the window.

Rick glanced back down at the table where the remotes to their bracelets were.

If he could plan this out just right…

“Cadi, stay close to me. We’re going to run for it.” he said under his breath so only she could hear. His sister looked up at him fearfully and nodded. The moment Harry stood up to go look at the door, Rick lunged across the table and grabbed the remotes.

“Hey!!” Emille exclaimed in surprise.

“Run for it Cadi!!” Rick yelled, grabbing his little sister by the arm and bolting for the back door.

“Harry!! They’re getting away!! I’ll deal with whoever is here!” Emille screamed.

“STOP!” they heard Harry rage.  

Rick and Cadi did not look behind them as they ran out into a snowy landscape filled with trees.

Rick had no idea where they were, but he knew they had to get away. Maybe they could use the remotes to pause time or something? As they ran, he tried the button he knew would pause time.

“Password?” an electronic voice asked.

“Dang it!!” he seethed, stuffing the remotes in his pockets. Finally, the two of them came into a clearing. Rick looked around, trying to figure out where to go. He turned back to the bushes that he had just come through.

“Cadi!” he called out in a whisper. Cadi come out of the bushes a second later, out of breath and near to tears.

“I can’t run anymore!” she gasped. “He’s going to get us and-and.”

“Shh. He’s not going to get us…” Rick assured, even though he felt unsure himself. “Get on my back.” Gratefully, the little girl climbed onto his back.

Without warning, there was a gunshot, and Cadi screamed. Rick began running, this time with Cadi on his back.

“It’s-it’s ok Cadi-we’ll get out of this-I promise! We’ll-”

Rick didn’t see the change of elevation until the two of them were tumbling down the hill filled with trees. Cadi screamed again and Rick closed his eyes and braced himself as he rolled. It all happened so fast-he felt Cadi fly off of him and then-.

WHACK!

Rick hit a tree hard, getting the breath knocked out of him. Wincing, he tried to get up, only to see stars.

“C-Cadi-.” he struggled, pulling himself up with great difficulty. His vision swam, and he staggered over to another tree to support himself.

“Rick!”

In his daze, he could feel his sister pulling on his coat, trying to get him to continue on. He stumbled forward, trying to get his bearings back when he jolted forward as someone grabbed his arm. He looked behind him to see that it was Harry, a furious look on his face.

“Let go of me!!” Rick yelled, struggling against him. “Cadi! Run for it!”

But Cadi did not move. She was frozen in her place, unsure of what to do.

“Cadi-!”

WHAM!

Rick coughed as Harry punched him hard in the stomach, sending the teenager to the ground. While he lay on the cold snowy ground, he could feel the man standing above him reach into his pockets and pull out the remotes.

He looked up at Harry, his heart beating fast, wondering what he was going to do to him. Surprisingly, the scientist really only looked aggravated now, and he grabbed Rick by the arm and forced him up. Without a word, he also grabbed Cadi and dragged the both of them back up the hill and towards the house that Rick was seeing on the outside for the first time.

It was a bit run down on the outside as well, a little yellow house with a broken wooden fence and faded blue shutters. There were also some dead bushes underneath a few of the windows.

Emille was waiting for them at the back door.

“Someone’s here.” she told Harry, a blank expression on her face.

“Then what should I do with-.”

“They can come inside. It won’t matter.” she said, turning to go back into the house.

Harry furrowed his eyes in confusion and then pulled the two kids inside.

Sitting at the table in the living room, a man stood up.

It was Mr. West Johnston.