The Parallel Abduction

By W. C. McClure

THE PARALLEL ABDUCTION is a short story jigsaw puzzle involving a mysterious inter-dimensional adventurer, a university campus experiencing increasingly odd events, even stranger oddities happening in the city, time meddlers and the enigmatic figures of the game designers with their secrets and surprise appearances. Pieced together, the stories form a picture that is best viewed from several angles. Perhaps also from several dimensions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329716001

Book preview

The Parallel Abduction

W. C. McClure

The Parallel Abduction

A Jigsaw Puzzle in Stories

THE PARALLEL ABDUCTION. Copyright © 2015 by W. C. McClure.

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. None of the characters depicted in this book

are meant to represent any person living or dead.

FIRST EDITION

Cover by SelfPubBookCovers.com/Shardel

LULU PRESS

ISBN 978-1-329-71600-1

Forward

These stories originally aired on my weekly short story blog, www.FarSideofDreams.com. I’ve taken liberties with the arrangement and characters since their first entrance into the world, so if you recognize someone in an unexpected spot or remember the story a little differently than how you find it here, there’s a good reason for that.

I’ve arranged these stories in an order meant to inspire the urge to draw connections, inviting you to join me in the storytelling by connecting the separate pieces together into the larger storyline that speaks to you. It was for this reason that I resisted the urge to place them in chronological order or bind them into a locked narrative. There are several overlapping stories being told here and it is my hope that you may have a different experience every time you visit these pages. If you’re adventurous, perhaps you’ll leave the order in which you read them to chance. I look forward to hearing how that goes.

However you approach it, I do hope that you enjoy yourself.

W. C. McClure

Contents

A Light in the Meadow

Shadow in the Film

The Game

The Final Exam

Book of Doors

The Parallel Abduction

Clara’s Warning

The Happenings

Gone John

Little Sanyon

The Roommate

Static

Tattoo

Pieces

The Vanishment

Otherly Eye

Sunflower Girl

Windows of Opportunity

The Kissing Tree

Sphere

Jump

The Secrets We Keep

Game Dimensions

Paper Dragon

A Light in the Meadow

Sarah fitted her old twin lens into its hard leather case and slipped the strap over her shoulder.

Don't be gone so long this time, her mother called after her as she let the screen door fall shut. Jennie and Mike are coming for dinner. Blaine will be there, she added in a tone meant to make Sarah blush.

Sarah kept walking. She was blushing, and her mother didn't need more fuel for teasing. She paused to snap a picture of a dandelion pushing through the sidewalk and continued on to the old rail yard where she wanted to catch the sideways rays of the sunset through the cracked windows of the retired passenger cars. She checked her watch and decided she'd give herself an hour before heading back.

The light was amazing, and the anticipation of developing the images after dinner made her nearly giddy. As the sunlight outside diminished, though, errant flashes began to confuse her shots. She looked around for passing cars but the road was empty and the woods on the other side of the rusting fence were dark.

Suddenly, a bright flash lit the trees like stringy silhouettes. Sarah had explored the neighborhood all around the edges of town in her hunt for photographic moments, but had not thought to cross this fence. As far as she knew, nothing should be back there.

Shoot, she muttered as she glanced again at her watch.

She'd lost track of time again and would have to run to get home in time. She was going to be a sweaty mess when she came in through that door. She wondered for a second if it wouldn't be better to miss the dinner completely and be in trouble rather than stink in front of Blaine. Another flash lit up the trees and she hesitated with indecision. Leaving a wistful sigh hanging in the dwindling light, she turned and ran homeward.

Where'd you learn to do this? Blaine asked as Sarah dropped the paper in the stop bath.

After dinner, Sarah's parents had suggested that she show Blaine the makeshift darkroom she had built in the downstairs bathroom. She was self-conscious at first, but as soon as Blaine saw the images ease into existence his enthusiasm matched hers.

I took a class a couple summers ago, she said, turning her attention to the next negative.

Blaine fished the finished photograph out of the water and clipped it onto the string web-work Sarah had woven above the tub.

It's amazing how much detail there is, he marveled. There's a weird reflection in this window.

It's the larger negatives, she explained, turning to study the image. The bigger the negative, the more detail it holds.

She stepped over to the tub to see what he was looking at. Also to stand a little closer to him. She realized that Blaine was right. There was something odd in the reflection. She checked the other drying photos and frowned.

A lot of my shots were skewed by some kind of light flashing in the woods, she said.

She slipped the negative back into the enlarger and turned the crank, expanding the image and focusing the reflection. She exposed the enlarged reflection on a new sheet and dropped it into the developer tray. The silhouettes of trees blackened onto the paper, backed by a round light source.

I'll have to check it out tomorrow, she muttered.

What, alone? Blaine scoffed.

I always go on photo shoots alone.

That's not safe. I'm coming with you, Blaine declared, and whether it was chivalry or an attempt to spend more time with her Sarah didn’t care. Either way it sounded good.

Really? she asked, thankful for the red darkroom light, which was now covering an embarrassing warmth in her cheeks.

Blaine met her at the rail yard the next afternoon and soon they were skirting around the fence. Autumn had thinned the usually dense woods so the going was smooth. Before long a meadow opened before them strewn with huge, half buried boulders.

This has to be it, Sarah said, climbing a cluster of boulders at the center.

There was no sign that this meadow had been touched by mankind at any point in its history. The spotted old stones were worn from weather and time. The tall grasses fell in random patterns without even deer paths. The only external presence was the line made by Sarah and Blaine.

I don't get it, she said. The...

Whatever she had been about to say vanished when a man appeared before her, swathed in light. Beside her, on one of the boulders, seemed to be the light source. Shadows shifted and swayed around them but Sarah could only focus on the man. He had been doing something, but he straightened in surprise when he saw her. Just as quickly, it all vanished. The man, the light, everything.

When her eyes focused again in the dimming evening light, Blaine was cowering in the tall grass with his arm over his eyes.

What was that? he gasped.

I don't... there was a man...

Sarah couldn't form a complete thought.

Blaine grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the boulders. He kept pulling until they stood together in the shade of the trees. The meadow lit up again, only for a second. She thought she saw the man gazing out at the meadow, as if he was searching for her.

The world seemed especially dark after the scene disappeared. Three more times the meadow flashed, the man still standing there, looking. When a half hour passed without further activity, they stumbled back the way they had come.

I don't like it, Blaine said repeatedly once they had reached the road.

The normality of the painted lines was reassuring. It made it safe somehow to discuss what they’d just seen.

He saw you, he said. And didn’t it seem like he was looking for you after that? He shuddered. Creepy, he said. You can’t go back there. Not ever. Did you see that glow behind him? It was huge… whatever it was.

Sarah wasn't sure how she felt about the whole experience. She had questions. Millions of them. She also had cameras. It was childish, but her fingers were crossed when she finally promised Blaine that she wouldn't go back to the meadow.

She crossed them again when she told her mother the next morning that she was bringing the bulging camera bag to school for a project. She crossed them one last time at the end of the school day when she told her friends she had to do something for her mother and couldn't meet up with them.

She positioned three digital cameras around the meadow and set them all to record. Then she sat and waited. By the time the first light flashed, Sarah had paced the meadow in its entirety, as well as circling it four times within the woods. Paths now crisscrossed the grasses. As soon as the light appeared she raced up the boulders and stood atop the center one, waiting for the next flash.

Sarah, no!

Blaine appeared from the shadows of the surrounding trees. He sprinted up the boulders and wrapped surprisingly strong fingers around her arm.

I told you not to come! he shouted, pulling her away.

Another flash lit behind her, blinding Blaine. She wrenched her arm free and turned back but the light had already gone. Blaine had hold of her again and this time he didn't let go until they were well into the trees.

We have no idea what it is, he hissed into her ear. You're crazy coming out here alone.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah snapped.

You weren't with your friends and you weren't at home, Blaine said, guiding Sarah more gently through the trees toward the rail yard. It didn't take a lot to figure out where you'd go. You promised, he added, sounding wounded.

My fingers were crossed, Sarah admitted, feeling all of five years old.

She couldn't see the look Blaine gave her in the darkening light but she had an educated guess.

Sorry, she added.

We can come back tomorrow for the cameras, he said. We'll come back together, okay?

Okay, Sarah agreed.

Sarah and Blaine hovered over her computer until her mother interrupted them for dinner the next day, and directly after being excused, returned to continue breaking down stills from the video feed. The pictures took refining once they had been isolated. Pulling back the contrast, a scene began to take shape. In some images the man seemed to work over a globe of some kind. It was large, standing to his waist.

There were other shadows at play, too. In some frames they seemed to be seeing him through a stand of tall plants that looked an awful lot like sunflowers. Other images looked as if there were up to three women helping him. They were all tall, with light hair and similar features. It could have been a refraction of the same woman, Sarah guessed.

In the shots during the third flash, the man turned toward one of the cameras. In the fourth flash, a broad grin spread across his face. In the fifth flash, he was no longer visible in any of the pictures. The women were, and at times the sunflowers and the top of the globe, but not him.

What do you think it is? Blaine asked.

Don't know, Sarah said, flipping through the images from the fifth flash one more time. Whatever it is, it doesn't make sense.

It's the most precious treasure this world will ever know, a voice said from behind them.

Sarah nearly fell out of her chair and Blaine scrambled away on all limbs until he sat with his back cornered against the wall. The man stood in the center of Sarah's room, grinning as he took in the photographs she had plastered across her ceiling.

Nice, he said, turning to take in the full array. A gifted eye. Name?

S-Sarah, she stammered.

Blaine, added Blaine.

The man nodded. Walk with me, he said.

Sarah and Blaine followed him downstairs and out her front door.

I should tell my parents where we're going, she remembered on the doorstep.

No need, the man said. They won't remember tonight. Neither, for that matter, will you.

Why? What're you going to do to us? Blaine asked, his voice thick with fear.

The man just smiled and started walking in the direction of the train yard.

It's dark out, Sarah said, still hovering on her doorstep.

Do you want to satisfy your curiosity or not? the man asked.

He continued walking. Sarah and Blaine shared a long gaze. They followed his silhouette down the darkened street.

What's your name? Sarah asked to keep herself from panicking once they delved into the trees on the far side of the fence.

John, the man answered.

What are you? Blaine asked.

A spot of moonlight illuminated John’s reply. His grin.

What are you doing in the meadow? Sarah asked. "We’re not going to