Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

thousands of light bugs, which kept a respectable distance away from them, as if solely there to provide light for them.
    “What is this?” she asked, walking in a circle around the swing set, staring at it as if it were made of magical candy. She looked at the light bugs with a smile that lit up her face.
    “A swing,” Luca said, with a smile.
    “No, I mean this place,” she said with a smile. “Is this real?”
    “Are you warm?” he asked, taking a seat.
    “Yes,” she said.
    “That’s all that matters then,” he said, kicking his feet out and setting the swing into motion. The swing’s chains squeaked and the set moved slightly up and down with each motion. Rebecca took the opposite seat and kicked her feet out too with a big laugh.
    “This is so weird!” she said. “You did this, all of this, didn’t you?”
    “I dunno,” Luca said, not wanting to call attention to the things that made him different. “Let’s just swing.”

    **

    Luca wasn’t sure how long they’d been swinging, but it seemed like a good while. She told him about her sister, Alexis, and how her mother hadn’t always been so mean, or scared.  
    Luca talked about his family, Will, and a lot about Dog Vader. He got sad talking about Dog Vader, so he changed the subject to the rest of his friends.
    “Is she your girlfriend?” Rebecca asked of Paola. “She’s soooo pretty.”
    “No,” Luca said, feeling weird talking about Paola with another girl. Luca looked up at the sky, noting how the stars looked a bit different than usual, though he wasn’t sure how. Perhaps he had dreamed them into being, as well.
    Looking at Rebecca, as she told her story, Luca felt incredibly sad for her. She’d been through so much, and he wanted to make her happy. But what could he do? If he tried to get her out of the box, they people would surely further punish her, and him. He tried to remember how his dad made his mom happy, and then an idea came to him.
    “Hold on a second,” he said, hopping off the swing.
    He walked past the light bugs and into the snow, towards the trees which surrounded them, and thought a rose bush into being. The bush sprouted from the snow, pushing up, and growing within seconds, sprouting perfectly red flowers.
    He picked one and then thought the thorns away, and they were gone.
    He walked back to the swing holding the flower, and outstretched his hand, “Here. I know it’s not much, but at least you can be happy here. For now.”
    She hopped off the swing, and stared at the flower, tears in her eyes, a smile on her face. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen! Nobody has ever given me flowers before.”
    They stood awkwardly, like two young teens who didn’t know what to do or say next. He wondered if he should hug her, when she leaned forward and hugged him.  
    Her hug was warm and felt so good and so real, he never wanted the moment to end.  
    Luca felt butterflies stirring in his belly, and giddy.
    Suddenly, his arms were empty.
    Luca opened his eyes and she was gone.
    “Rebecca?”
    She didn’t respond.
    The light bugs scattered all at once, looking like a million candles flying apart and flickering out, casting the world into darkness.
    Snow began to fall down upon the protected haven and cover the ground with increasing speed as if making up for lost time.
    The swings vanished.
    Someone was watching him.  
    At first, Luca couldn't tell who it was, but he saw a shadow in the snow, about 20 feet away. Luca had to get closer and closer, until he could almost smell him – the man from a few nights before. The Dark Man; the Man in the Middle, standing behind the rose bush.
    The Man in the Middle should have scared him. Luca was pretty sure he was born inside of the Terrible Scary. But for the first time, Luca wasn’t really afraid at all.  
    The Man in the Middle was wearing all black – pants, shirt, and a big long coat like he’d seen cowboys wearing on TV. He was holding something in his black gloved hands, but it wasn’t until Luca was standing a few feet away that he could see what it was – a large red rose, but different than the one he had picked for Rebecca, which was now gone, with her.
    The rose looked like it had a million petals, and its deep color looked like blood against all the white of the surrounding snow. When Luca was only a few feet away, he could hear The Man in the Middle saying, “She loves me; she loves me not,” as he pulled petals from the bud, then