The Gathering Read online

  Sean had looked at his friend, shaking his head in disbelief. Hadn't he heard what he had said? He had let her drown. He hadn't loved her. He hadn't even tried to go after her.

  Again, Paul smiled.

  "Sean, you did try to save her, but the second wave took her before you could get to her. If you had gone after her, the next wave would've killed you, too. What, you're supposed to sacrifice yourself when you know she's gone? What purpose would that have served?"

  Sean could hear the words that Paul was saying, but couldn't let go of the guilt. He looked at the ground trying to find a way to explain it to Paul.

  Paul put his hand on Sean's shoulder.

  "Sean…we all go when it's our time to go. It doesn’t matter if it’s by means of an accident or someone else’s hand or by God's plan, we all go when we are called to go. You weren't meant to save that girl. You were meant to save my girls. You were meant to save Kaley and Alisha, Sean. If you had died, my girls would be dead now… get it?"

  Sean looked over at his friend.

  Sean had been with Paul and Alia for three weeks when they almost lost the girls. They and the others were busily building the foundation of the

  main hall. The children had been gathered together to continue their education.

  During their recess, the children had run to the edge of what was once the Lake Hollywood reservoir; but the dam had broken during the War. The earthquakes had caused ravines and land changes that created a continuous flow of water down both sides of the mountain from underground springs, with rapids, ponds and pools every few hundred yards. Not far from their class was one of these ponds. The land around this pond was still unstable with rapids only a hundred yards further down. Although the adults had warned them to stay back, children by their nature often forget what they have been told, and this day was no different.

  They had chased a squirrel to a tree by the edge of the pond. Kaley was seven and Alisha six and even though several of the other children had tried to warn them to come back, the girls were determined to catch the squirrel. They would later report that they had stood on the side of the tree closest to the water. Kaley had put out her hand for Alisha to step into, and then hoisted her up to the hole where the squirrel had gone. They had been there only a moment when the earth gave way and they both fell into the water. The current swept them out of the pond and into the rapids.

  The screaming of the children had brought several nearby adults, who barely saw the heads of the girls as they bobbed towards the falls.

  Without hesitation, Sean had run towards the banks, pulled off his shoes and dove into the water. He felt his heart beating wildly and could hear the screams echoing in his head as the cold water enveloped him. He kept the girls in his sights every time he lifted his head for air, his arms pulling him ever closer to them. Kaley and Alisha were good swimmers, as Alia had insisted that all of her children be as water safe as possible, but they were too small to fight the current. Kaley was trying to kick and paddle her way back, while Alisha clung to her sister's skirt, all the time kicking her little legs as hard as she could, as both of them tried to keep their heads above water.

  Sean had almost reached them.

  "Sean!" Kaley yelled, and then disappeared.

  He saw them vanish under the water and quickly dove under as well.

  The water was murky and brown. Sean could barely see a foot in front of him. He swam frantically towards the area where he had last seen them. His head darted around as he pushed himself forward.

  He heard the screams in his head. He could feel his lungs beg for fresh air. He felt his body attempt to rise to the surface, but he forced himself to stay down. He knew they were there. He continued moving forward and just when he thought he couldn't stand anymore, he saw the hand, that tiny hand. He pulled himself down to see Kaley holding on to a rotted log with one hand and to Alisha with the other. Just beyond them was the whirlpool that had pulled them down.

  As Kaley's tiny fingers were giving way and slipping from the wood, Sean's hand grabbed hers and he pulled the girls towards him.

  With both girls in his arms, he kicked off the bottom towards the surface, the current pulling them closer to the edge of the falls. The girls' bodies felt weightless in his arms as he kicked and kicked. They broke through the surface and once again he felt the cool air rush into his lungs. They were all choking as the air fought its way into their bodies. He felt their tiny hands and arms around his neck.

  He felt the strength leaving him as he struggled against the current, concentrating only on keeping them all above the water. Sean hadn't felt the rope being thrown around him or the drag against the current as the villagers pulled him and the girls back to shore.

  He held tightly to both of the girls, who clung to him in terror until Alia broke through the crowd and grabbed her daughters.

  She held them to her and checked them to make sure they were all right. Then she turned her gaze to the dripping, panting Sean. Alia could see that he was crying. She reached forward and grabbed his head, pulling him into their embrace. In that moment, they knew they had a bond that would never be broken.

  Alia had held all three of them until Paul joined them and the relief had begun to set in.

  The memory faded as the sun rose higher and Sean turned and stared at the castle. At the north end was a turret where red and gold draperies blew from the inside, Alia's room.

  He took a deep breath and turned, walking towards the barracks.

  "Guilt is an ugly emotion," he thought.

  5

  The rustle of the breeze made the skin on Sam Hearst's skin prickle. He looked up at the sky and the surrounding ruins of old Pasadena, the atheist village. He felt uneasy and so did his horse and his dog, Madison. He shook his head and smiled to himself.

  "Nerves," he said under his breath.

  He had been looking forward to the Gathering. Although Pasadena was only twenty miles from Lia Fail, Sam didn't get to go as often as he would have liked. While the nineteen-year-old was capable of traveling by himself, he was often obligated to help his father, the president of Pasadena, which left little time to travel.

  "What are you looking at?"

  Sam jumped as his brother's voice filled the air. Corey laughed.

  "Sorry."

  "Help me with this, would ya?"

  Corey wandered over to help his brother pack the horses. He looked at Sam.

  "Are you okay?"

  Sam looked at him and nodded.

  "Yeah, I guess. I just thought I felt something."

  "What?"

  "I don't know…something in the air, I guess."

  The breeze kicked up again and blew Sam and Corey's long ginger hair into their faces.

  A large man with the same red hair stepped outside onto the porch of the old home.

  "You boys almost ready? I want to get to the Gathering before nightfall."

  "It'll only take us a few hours, Dad," Corey yelled back.

  Larry Hearst looked out at his sons.

  "Not if it takes you all day to load the wagon and pack the horses. There are about three or four hundred of us traveling up the hill, Corey. Maybe you should leave the packing to your brother and see if the others will be ready to go soon."

  A small smile began to cross Sam's face as he tried not to look at his younger brother. Corey sighed and turned to his father.

  "How come I always have to run around and see if everyone is ready?"

  "Because I said so," Larry responded.

  He then went inside and closed the door.

  Corey threw up his arms.

  "Do you think things are any different in the other colonies?"

  Sam looked at Corey. They were only two years apart but sometimes Corey seemed a lot younger to Sam.

  "You mean besides the obvious?"

  "Naw, just this kind of thing."

  "No, I don't think it's any different."

  Sam finished putting food in a bag and placed it in the b
ack of the wagon as two young men came towards the brothers. They were Scott and Henry Forrester. Scott had been Sam's best friend since kindergarten. Scott was a strapping boy of nineteen, who intimidated even the biggest of men. He was quiet, thoughtful and patient. Henry, although also tall, was thin as a rail and prone to the grand gesturing of a diplomat, his most prized ambition.

  "Aren't you finished packing yet?" Henry quipped.

  "Not yet."

  "Is everyone else packed?" Corey asked.

  "Yeah," Henry answered. "Almost."

  Corey turned to go tell his father that the others in their colony were ready to leave.

  "I didn't tell you to ask someone else. I told you to go and see."

  Larry Hearst was again standing on the porch, an imposing figure. He was fair-minded and understanding, but he took no time to indulge the frivolous. Corey's shoulders slumped and he walked off.

  Scott moved to help Sam pack and Henry smiled and walked towards Larry, who, seeing Henry coming, began to move back into the house. Unfortunately for him, Henry caught up to him before he could enter the house, forcing Larry to take him inside.

  Sam laughed.

  "Your brother is determined to get my dad to recommend him for congressional status."

  "I know. You'd think with the destruction of the old political system we wouldn't have the politicians of old, yet, I find myself related to a junior ladder climber."

  Sam smiled. Scott moved forward and threw another sack of food in the wagon and then leaned down to pet Madison. He continued to scratch the dog's ears as Sam worked. He then stood up and leaned against the wagon, crossed his arms and thoughtfully watched Sam. After several minutes Scott looked down and took off the dusty cowboy hat that covered his short brown hair. He wiped the sweat from his brow, then put the hat back on his head and looked over at Sam, who finally turned around.

  "What?"

  "Are you gonna ask her?"

  Sam looked at Scott and shook his head.

  "I don't know…I’m kind of pathetic, huh?"

  "Kind of."

  Scott smiled at his friend as Sam sighed.

  "My mother thinks I’m gay, did you know that?"

  Scott leaned forward and patted his friend’s shoulder.

  "You should tell them you're planning to move to We Ho."

  "Shut up."

  Scott started to laugh, but Sam continued.

  "I don't even think she knows I’m alive."

  "That's probably true."

  "Thanks."

  “It's not personal, Sam. She only has about a dozen guys following her around at every Gathering."

  "Tell me about it."

  "Not to mention the fact that you never talk to her. You watch, but you never speak. No, I'm sorry… I think you have told her hello about a dozen times. Then you watch her walk away."

  Sam frowned at his friend and moved to grab more items to lift into the wagon, when a breeze brushed past both of them, but the air was not just cool, it was freezing. All the hairs on their arms stood at attention and Sam could feel himself shudder, but it wasn't from the cold.

  He looked up at the spot where he had looked earlier and he thought he saw a mist moving quickly and darkly towards his village.

  "Scott?"

  He looked over at his friend, who was now on the ground, grabbing the back of his head. Sam tried to move towards him, but his muscles seized and he felt himself falling. Then he felt as if something were stealing his very breath. He could feel the air being taken from him, the lack of oxygen making his lungs constrict. He wanted to scream for help, but he couldn't.

  He struggled to get air, but the darkness was coming. Just as his eyes closed, he swore he saw a light. “A light,” he laughed to himself. “I knew there was a god.” Then, black.

  6

  Aaron Levine and his wife Lorraine sat in the front of their wagon looking out across the low desert of the old San Fernando Valley. Aaron was the president of Bethel Israel, the Jewish camp, which was located in the area once known as Simi Valley.

  Riding along side the wagon were their oldest children, David and Rachel. At sixteen, David was tall and thin with short dark hair and brown eyes that were gentle and wise. Rachel was fifteen and a spitfire. She and David fought often, but they were fiercely protective of one another and their younger brother, Joe, who was twelve and was leaning on the seat between his mother and father. David looked over at his sister.

  "Hey, Rach?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Do you think Rebecca would dance with me tonight?"

  Rachel raised her eyebrows and looked ahead, smiling.

  "If nobody else asks her… maybe."

  David let his shoulders slump and looked ahead, disappointed. Rachel could see she hurt his feelings and stared at the back of her horse's head. She then raised her glance to her older brother.

  "I'm sorry, David."

  "No, that's ok. I was just wondering."

  "Honestly, I don't know. I don’t see why not though. I mean I guess you're good-looking enough."

  As she said this last sentence, she shook her head and had a look of distaste. After all, he was her brother.

  Aaron and Lorraine had heard the conversation and were trying not to laugh. Joe popped his head up.

  "I don’t get why you want to dance anyway. What's the point?"

  Aaron pushed his youngest son's head back down.

  "In a few years, you'll know why. For now, don't worry about it and leave your brother alone."

  David blushed as he realized that his parents had heard the conversation.

  "I don't think so," Joe announced.

  Lorraine turned to her youngest.

  "Didn't your father tell you to leave it alone?"

  Joe sat back down and made a face at his parents behind their backs. Lorraine sighed.

  "I saw that, young man."

  Rachel and David laughed quietly. Aaron found himself smiling at the thought of this Gathering and seeing his friends. It had been six months since the last Gathering and he always enjoyed seeing Alia and Sean as well as the Hearsts, Turners and Forresters. Lorraine looked at her husband.

  "You look happy."

  "I am."

  "You love a good party. You always have."

  "Sure do. Besides everyone is envious that you're my date."

  "Shut up."

  Aaron laughed. He looked at his wife and it occurred to him that he still had no idea why she had married him. Lorraine Levine was, by all accounts, gorgeous. She was blond and curvy with the biggest brown eyes Aaron had ever seen. She had been out of his league when he first asked her out twenty years ago, but she had still said yes.

  They were the youngest of all of the dignitaries, but Aaron was a rabbi in great standing. That was why he was chosen to lead his people five years before when Rabbi Goldfarb had passed away. Aaron was forty and Lorraine was thirty-eight. He often missed the Old World and the Gatherings were a piece of that, something that was still tangible about the past.

  "Knock it off, Rachel!"

  Aaron looked over to see his two oldest going at it again. He looked at Lorraine who just shook her head.

  "This is gonna be a long trip," he said.

  She nodded and settled in. She could not wait to get to the Fail.

  7

  Rebecca Stark was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book about King Arthur. She mulled over the picture of Guinevere and Lancelot and sighed. Alisha walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the large bowl near the sink and turned around, leaning against the counter.

  "What's the matter, Beck?"

  Rebecca turned around and shrugged.

  "Nothing."

  Alisha walked over to the table and sat next to her sister. She reached over and moved the book so she could see what her little sister was staring at so intently and smiled.

  "An undeniable love."

  Rebecca started to blush and looked down at the picture. Alisha smiled and pushed the book
back.

  "Anyone in mind?"

  Rebecca smiled.

  "No, not really. Lish?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Do you think any boy will ever like me?"

  Alisha cocked her head and shrugged. She looked at the teenager, her shoulder-length brown hair, nose covered in freckles and those warm brown eyes hidden behind the wire-framed glasses.

  "Sure. Why do you ask?"

  Rebecca shrugged and continued to look down.

  "C'mon, Beck."

  "It's just that I'm not exactly beautiful like the rest of the girls in this family. I mean I wear glasses and have this awful dull hair. I heard some of the other girls at school say how plain I was. Why would anyone like me?"

  Alisha dropped her shoulders and leaned on the table.

  "Well, first things first. You're only fifteen. You're just starting to grow up, Beck. Give yourself a chance. You probably weren't paying much attention when I was fifteen 'cause you were still playing with dolls, but I was a mess."

  "But boys still noticed you."

  Alisha laughed.

  "No, they noticed these."

  Alisha pointed to her chest and continued to laugh.

  "I developed early and they weren't interested in me, only these two."

  Rebecca blushed and looked down.

  "I don't have that problem."

  Alisha took her sister's hand.

  "Do you know why Vance fell in love with me?" Alisha asked.

  "Because of your boobs?"

  Alisha smiled.

  "Although he likes them, no. He fell in love with me because of who I am… every part of who I am, not just what I look like. He thinks I'm beautiful because he loves me."

  "He likes your boobs."

  Alisha laughed and shook her head.

  "Do you want to fall in love right now?"

  Rebecca shook her head.