White Space Season 1

like something bleeding from one TV channel to another. She could see through him, to the window beyond, as if he were maybe 20 percent there — just enough to see.
    Roger was nude, his body pale, and his hair messy, as if he’d been awake for days. He turned to her, tilting his head sideways, as though surprised to see her there.
    “You can see me?” he said, his voice barely there, from behind a wall of what sounded like static.
    “Roger?” she whispered back and began to approach him, the hairs on her arm all standing on end.
    As she inched closer, Roger’s body flickered on and off like a bad TV signal.
    On-off. On-off. On-off. Then he was gone.
    Liz stared at the empty space where her husband had occupied the impossible. She waved her hand through, as if she’d feel something. And she did feel something — a cold chill which started at her hand and spread over her entire body.
    “Da-da?” Aubrey cried.
    Liz could do nothing but stare at the still empty space that swore she was losing her mind.
    She remembered Roger’s last message: Eleven.
    1:11 a.m.?

    **

    Saturday morning…

    Liz woke to the hostile bray of the telephone ringing.
    She wasn’t sure what time it was, but it felt late.
    What about Aubrey?
    Liz ignored the phone, then ran into the hallway and down the stairs to find Alex and Aubrey sitting on the couch watching Nick Jr.
    The time on the TV read 9:28 a.m.
    “You’re up,” Alex said, looking rather exhausted, holding the phone and looking at the Caller ID as the voicemail picked up in the kitchen.
    “Yeah, I woke up with her last night, and couldn’t get back to sleep,” Liz said, not daring to mention the impossible sighting of his father, which, in the cloud of her headache, seemed like it must’ve been a dream.
    On the voicemail, a man’s voice began to speak, “Hello, Mrs. Heller. It’s Chief Brady…”
    It was now or never. He was probably calling to find out if she’d found Alex yet, and if so, how soon could she get him to the station? Maybe he’d already heard from Katie’s mom.
    Liz swallowed, went to the kitchen and picked up the phone, “Hi, chief.”
    “Hello, Mrs. Heller. I heard that Alex came home last night?”
    “Yes, I was going to call you this morning. I figured we could all use the sleep,” she said, suddenly wondering if maybe the chief had been up all night looking. She felt a flash of guilt for not having let him know sooner so he could call off the search, if officers, were in fact, out looking for the kids.
    “It’s okay, Mrs. Heller. I was actually calling you with some good news.”
    Tears started to swell in her eyes. Good news would be warm sun in December.
    “Jake Brewster came out of his coma. He’s got a few bumps, but other than that, he’s in great shape. His parents aren’t pressing charges. They feel like enough has happened, and just want to let bygones be bygones.”
    Liz was speechless.
    Just like that, everything is okay?
    Did she dare believe her prayers had been not only heard, but answered?
    “Mrs. Heller, are you there?”
    Her tears answered for her for a half-minute or so before she said, “Yes, I’m sorry, “ I’m just so happy.” she sniffed. “So that’s it. Everything’s over? We don’t need to come in?”
    “Not unless you want to press charges for the kids attacking your son. But I’ve gotta be honest, Mrs. Heller. It might be best to just move on.”
    “Of course,” she said.
    Before Alex had gone missing, she never would have dropped the matter. Two boys had jumped her son. They might have killed him had his girlfriend not been there. But as she looked at him sitting on the couch beside Aubrey, together like one almost happy family, she said, “I’ll talk to Alex. But I would like to put this behind us, too. Thank you, Chief Brady. Thank you for everything.”
    “Take care, Mrs. Heller,” he said. She thought she felt something else in his voice. Something he’d wanted to say or ask, but she figured maybe she was just overly emotional, and it was probably best to just hang up.
    So she did.
    As she stood there, overwhelmed by joy, Alex was staring from the couch, waiting to hear the news.
    “They’re not pressing charges. Jake is okay, and his parents said they want to put this whole thing behind them.”
    She wasn’t sure how Alex would respond, maybe he was still holding his anger, maybe he was ready to move on. A sudden creeping sadness swallowed his face.
    “I saw on the news this