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

crossed the courtyard and went into his room. He slipped into bed and turned toward the wall with his hands cradling his stomach. Since Scott was gone, Luca had the room all to himself. The woman who cleaned the house, Sister Louise, was scrubbing the hallway on the other side of his door. Luca could hear her thoughts and they were making him sad. Louise was nice on the outside, and always smiled whenever she said hello, but today Luca could hear her thoughts, wondering if Luca were indeed possessed.
    He turned   toward the window, wanting to find Rebecca, since he lost her in his dream last night. He’d been worried about her all day, and was glad that the funeral took place outside The Sanctuary so she didn’t have to hear Brother Rei talking about Scott’s “Heavenly reward,” which he got when he was fighting the bleakers, or the Demons, as everyone at The Sanctuary always called them.  
    Luca kept listening for the sound of Rebecca’s thoughts, but her thinking was nowhere to be found.  
    Listening for people’s thoughts, he’d discovered the prior day, was like TV channel surfing, like his dad used to do. Sometimes his dad would know what he was looking for and go straight to that channel. But most times he didn’t. When his dad didn’t know what he wanted to watch, he would point the remote at the screen, press the arrow, and flick from show to show until he found a station that looked promising. Often, his dad would watch the channel for a few seconds, lose interest, then move onto something else. When he finally found something entertaining, he’d drop the remote in the “Remote Boat,” then sip his glass of water, smiling. Picking up on people was the same way, but less entertaining.
    If Luca knew whom he wanted to hear, or when he was looking at the person directly, getting in their thoughts was easy. But when he didn’t know, he had to do a lot of dipping . Dipping was what Luca called it when he had to go into someone’s thoughts just long enough to figure out whose mind he was inside.  
    He kept trying to find Rebecca’s thinking, but he couldn't go dipping since the only person he could hear thinking was Louise.
    “He picks his nose . . . and all that urine around the toilet! That’s all bad enough, but it’s his eyes that are the worst. That boy’s been branded by the Devil as sure as he misses the bowl.”  
    Luca didn’t want to be inside Louise’s head anymore, but he still couldn't find Rebecca. He was almost ready to turn back to face the wall, since his tummy hurt less in that direction, when he heard her.
    “Are you trying to find me?”
    “Rebecca!”
    Luca heard her think in a giggle. “Yay! I found you,” she thought.  
    “How long have you been looking?”
    There was a moment of silence, then Luca heard, “All morning.” There was another moment of silence then she added, “How was the funeral?”  
    “Terrible. I left at the beginning. I was crying like a big baby. Everyone probably thought I was stupid.”
    “That’s not true,” Rebecca thought. “No one thought you were stupid. They understand that you’re just a kid.”
    Luca thought. “They didn’t understand that you are just a kid.”  
    Rebecca went quiet.  
    He said, “I’m sorry” in his head.
    “It’s okay.”
    “Where did you go last night?” Luca wondered.
    “I’m not sure. I think I went into a different part of the dream. I looked for you but I didn’t see you anywhere. I kept looking, but I couldn't find you. I was lost for a while. And I couldn't escape from the man who was watching me. He was watching both of us, actually. At the same time, too. Like he had eyes all around him. I wanted to follow him because I thought he might show me where you were. But I was too scared. I ran away when he saw me behind him.”
    “That’s The Man in the Middle,” Luca thought. “Did he say anything to you?”
    “He said, ‘you can’t watch the watcher, unless your eyes are made of sky.’ He disappeared into the snow after that. Is The Man in the Middle bad?”
    Luca had to think before he thought his answer. “Yes, I think he is. But since I’m not scared of him, I don’t think he can hurt me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because the voices didn’t say anything bad was going to happen. I think The Man in the Middle has to stay inside the Terrible Scary.” Luca didn’t want to think about The Man in the Middle or the Terrible Scary anymore, so he wondered if Rebecca wanted to go