Yesterday's Gone: Season One

Paola’s mom, Mary.  
    She smiled at him because she knew he had helped her daughter, but Luca could see behind the smile and her thinking didn’t trust him.  
    She thinks I could hurt Paola if I wanted to and that maybe when I helped her it was only by accident. She wants me to stay away, but feels bad for feeling that way. Like when Daddy has work to do.  
    Mary cradled Paola. “I was so, so worried. Thank God you’re safe.”  
    Will and Luca went into one of the hotel rooms that had a bunch of suitcases laid out and open. “I’ll wait out here,” Will said, leaving Luca alone in the room. “You find some clothes that fit you, okay?”
    Luca didn’t bother to ask whose clothes these were. People who had disappeared. Like his family.
    He found a pair of blue jeans, a red tee shirt, and some underwear, socks, and sneakers that were a close enough match to his new size. As he got undressed, he saw hair in places he’d not had hair before. Though he was curious about his new body, he was also embarrassed, as if he were looking at someone else, so he got dressed quickly, so he didn’t have to see so much of himself.
    He wanted to talk to Will alone, but when he came back out of the room, Will was already in the lobby. Luca joined the group, feeling more self aware and shyer than normal. Though the people weren’t staring at him, he could feel them looking when he was turned away, like they were trying to figure out how he did what he did.
    Everyone could tell Mary and Paola wanted to be alone, so Jimmy and Will went to the bar. John and Desmond went to guard their areas. Luca was left to wander the lobby, looking at his feet and keeping away from the mirrors. He wondered where Dog Vader was. Then he spotted the dog curled up near the front door, sleeping. Probably tired from all the adventuring and walking from the past few days, Luca figured.
    I sure could use a friend right now.
    He thought about his best friends back home. Scott, Omar, and Billy. He’d been missing his parents so much, he’d hardly thought about his friends at all. He wondered if they were missing too. Or if maybe they were looking for their parents, too. He hoped they were okay. Luca laughed when he thought of how Omar might react if he saw Luca now looking so much older. Omar was the oldest of the bunch, by six months, and he never let anyone forget it, often acting like he was way older, and therefore more experienced at things than the others. Sometimes the other kids would get in fights with Omar because of the way he was, but Luca never minded. Omar was just being Omar, and Omar was his friend, no matter what.
    Luca stopped in front of a wooden shelf with lots of pockets, all stuffed with brochures, then began pulling them out one by one, starting at the top left corner and moving row by row, and skipping the duplicates, until he pulled the 23rd brochure from the bottom right.  
    Luca took his pile of brochures, then sat in a chair to read the sad spiders away.
    He read about the “bird’s eye view from the Gateway Arch,” the “thrills and spills at Six Flags St. Louis” and the “exciting dioramas on display” at the Lewis & Clark Boat House and Nature Center.
    They all sounded like fun adventures, and the pictures looked nice, especially the roller coasters at Six Flags. But none of the 23 brochures helped the sad spiders go away. He still missed his mom and dad and Anna, and couldn’t keep from thinking about how he was making everyone afraid.  
    I wish I knew if everyone was really thinking the stuff I think they’re thinking, but I can’t tell where my thoughts stop and their’s get started. Hearing their thoughts seems un-possible. Even if Will thinks it isn’t.
    He was wondering if sad spiders filled the entire hotel when he heard Jimmy’s voice behind him. “Hey, little man, how you doing?”  
    “I’m okay,” Luca said.  
    “No you aren’t,” Jimmy shook his head. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
    “I was only trying to help, but I think I might have made things worse.”
    “Don’t be silly.” Jimmy threw himself into one of the oversized chairs next to Luca. “It’s just that we’re all getting used to seeing all sorts of strange shh...stuff we’re not used to seeing. And you gotta admit, that was pretty weird back there.” Jimmy leaned toward Luca. “Any idea how that happened?”
    Luca shook his head.
    “Well, it’s not like it matters anyway,” Jimmy said. “Hey, wanna play a