Yesterday's Gone: Season One

his wrists. He slipped on the tee shirt, which fit him better than he thought it would, and balled up the shirt he’d been wearing and tossed it in the SUV.
    Ed went to the fridge. Stuff was still cold. He inhaled a Coke, then grabbed a box of cookies from the pantry and threw them on the passenger seat of the SUV as he climbed in the driver’s side. He turned on the radio to a static assault and hit the scan button, watching the digital display race through the FM spectrum without slowing.
    All the stations are down?
    Something was very wrong.
    Ed hit the garage door opener before remembering it ran on electricity. He hopped out of the SUV and flashed the light at the ceiling, finding the motor for the garage door opener. A red cord dangled from the center. He yanked it, disengaging the opener, opened the door manually, got back in the SUV, and backed out of the driveway.
    He figured he had maybe two hours until the state was crawling with feds.

    * * * *

LUCA HARDING

    Saturday
    October 15, 2011
    morning
    Las Orillas, California

    Luca’s skin was burning. He opened his eyes and put an end to the dream where Mommy was making eggs on his arms.  
    But he was still too hot. The sun outside was brighter than it was supposed to be. It looked like the last day of school, but it was already a week before Halloween. Light poured through the window like Daddy was hosing it down with sunlight like he did with water sometimes when he washed the car.  
    Luca never slept past six but it definitely felt later than that. Dad got up at 5:30, even when he wasn’t working. Luca had been no more than a half hour behind him for all but one of his eight years.  
    I don’t like the feeling in my arms. Tingly bad and burny. I want to scratch them but maybe it’s like the bites that Mommy says I shouldn’t scratch because it always makes it worse. The itchy hot burny will probably go away if I ignore it.  
    His Cars alarm clock wasn’t working and the screen on the computer was black. The house sounded like when mommy went across the street to talk to Mrs. Susan, only quieter. Luca went to the closet and peeled off his Lego pajamas, replaced them with jeans and his favorite Star Wars T-shirt, then went to the window and stared at the rainbow.
    It was brighter than usual. Most rainbows looked like they were already erasing. But this rainbow looked like someone just plugged it in.
    The sun was past the start of the rainbow, so it was maybe as late as eight. Mom was gone, he could tell. But he couldn’t hear his dad either, even though it was his day off. Anna should be up, but he couldn’t hear her either. And he could always hear his sister.  
    Luca left the bedroom and looked around the house, even though he knew he’d find no one. “Mom, Dad, Anna?” Luca waited for an answer, counting to 10 as he always did when Mom said to wait.  
    After 10 seconds of less than nothing, Luca opened the door to a blanket of heat. The air felt like hot sand and made his hot burny feel worse. Something moved at the corner of his eyes. He turned to see his cat, Lucky, leap to the front porch where it settled a stare on Luca and licked it paws. The cat looked somehow different than it did the day before. Luca would swear. But he didn’t know how.
    Inside out. Yeah, the cat feels sorta inside out. It looks normal, but feels like someone made all its thoughts go on the outside.  
    Luca crossed the street to Mrs. Susan’s house, put his nose to the window, and saw exactly what he expected. Since Mom didn’t like him on Mrs. Susan’s side of the street unless he was visiting Mrs. Susan, he went back home.  
    Instead of going back in the house, Luca decided to walk to the mailbox under the stop sign all the way at the corner. That’s where Mr. Hassell lived. Mr. Hassell probably didn’t know everything about the entire world, but he knew a lot of things about people on Oregon Avenue. That’s probably why he was always talking about it.  
    Mr. Hassell’s empty house was the farthest Luca had ever walked alone. Mr. Hassel wasn’t on his porch like usual, so he rounded the corner and kept going, all the way around the block. When he got back to his own number at 314 Oregon, he sat on the stoop and looked at the rainbow.  
    I should go to Coach Michael’s. Mommy and Daddy said he’s safe. And he is driving close. We even walked there two times before, like that time last June. His house will be easy to find because the rainbow is