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

a mom, almost. So her fear of him made him sad. He didn’t want to be the target for her Mama Bear rage, and was offended that she felt that way about him, like you might an outsider. They’d known each other for months, and Luca thought he’d earned more trust from Mary.  
    Besides, Luca didn’t even feel the same about Paola anymore. Not since Rebecca, anyway.
    Even though Rebecca was locked in the box outside, he felt as if she’d been by his side nearly every night.
    Over the course of the past few nights, they’d journeyed to the mountain, his home, a lake she used to swim in, and even Disney World, or at least the version informed by TV and painted by Luca’s imagination. They even went on rides, and though it couldn’t possibly have been real, it felt real to them. Though Rebecca was locked in a cold box with barely any food or water all day, she was having the time of her life when she closed her eyes at night.  
    Luca felt like they’d known each other for years, not days. In many ways, Rebecca, at 13, was closer to Luca’s age, than Paola, who seemed way older than her 12 years, and was growing more jaded by the day.
    Rebecca would be freed from the box after her week was up, and Luca couldn’t wait to finally see her in person. But he was also afraid. Once she got out of the box, her mother, and the others, would surely be keeping a close eye on her. If she even talked to a boy, let alone Luca — the outsider — they might both wind up in boxes.  
    Luca tried not to think about the stuff that would stop him form enjoying his time with Rebecca. Even if they had to spend the next year together only in their connected dreams that weren’t really dreams, it was a lot better than nothing. Luca wasn’t sure what romantic love was like,   or if it was possible to feel it so quickly for someone — someone you technically didn’t even know in person — but he felt something for Rebecca. If it wasn’t love, it had sure fooled his heart.
    So why am I still wondering what Paola   is thinking?  
    I have to listen in. Just one more time..  
    He closed his eyes, and tuned into the voices. But he didn’t hear Paola’s.  
    Instead, he heard Black Pieces, the voice he hadn’t heard since they came to The Sanctuary.
    “Hello, Luca. I missed you.”
    “Black Pieces?” Luca thought, excited and a bit nervous that his old chess-mate had resurfaced.
    “Yes, I’ve been looking for you.” Black Pieces said, his voice today like Cheshire Cat’s from Alice in Wonderland , but with a bit of a hiss at the end of his words.
    Luca felt a chill. “What do you want?”
    “He’s here, isn’t he? The Man in The Center, Man in the Middle, whatever you’re changing voice is calling him today. I feel him with you.”
    “Yes,” Luca thought, “But he’s not like he was in the dreams. He’s not killing people.”
    “Not yet, but you know the dreams can’t be changed, right? Because they’re not dreams.”
    “Yes, they can. I can change them.”
    “Do you even remember what happened in the ‘dreams,’ Luca?”
    “No, not everything. I haven’t been having them lately. I thought maybe they wouldn't come true. Maybe things would be okay.”
    “Yes, I see what you’ve been doing, but I wouldn’t get too attached.”
    A vision flashed before Luca: Rebecca’s dead eyes staring up at him. She was skinny, and her skin blue, as if starving and cold.
    “ No ,” Luca thought. “ She’s not going to die!”  
    Dark Pieces laughed.
    “She’s already dead, silly. Heh-heh. She died two nights ago. You’ve only been imagining that she’s still alive. Tsk, tsk, you’re even more messed up than they said you were. Poor Luca’s first love is a dead girl.”
    “ No! ” Luca thought. Or thought he thought, but then realized, by the stares from his classmates, that he’d shouted it out loud.
    “Are you okay,” Ms. Autumn asked as the kids up front giggled. Paola stared at Luca, concerned.
    Luca’s heart pounded, and he felt short of air, sucking in deep breaths, his thoughts a jumbled mess.
    No, she can’t be dead!
    Luca got up from his desk, heart pounding in his throat, and said, “I don’t feel so good,” and raced from the classroom, into the hall, and out of the house, headed for the Box of Shame.

    * * * *

LUCA HARDING: PART 2

    Luca raced from the women’s house, toward the courtyard where the Box of Shame stood in the morning sun and last night’s four inches of snow.
    He