The Lone Star State gave way to Cajun Country as gray skies followed Justin and Allison across the former state line. They made it through the checkpoint without incident with Justin playing the typical law-abiding citizen, his national ID card in hand for scanning. Few words were spoken except when he asked Allison, with extreme caution, for a refill of coffee from their thermos. The decision to drive to Shady Oak came after Justin received another message from Michael, stating, we’re off to Shady Oak with Paige. It’s show time. Justin knew he’d blown it. Paige would soon be face-to-face with Vincent, exposed to the truth, vulnerable to mind control and surrounded by the Doucet twins, but his two sons were also in on the plan. He trusted his Billy Boy, and Ashley, well, Ashley hasn’t been the same since Gabriel died, he thought. Allison often accused him of playing favorites with their two boys, but Justin argued that he loved them equally, though admitted to feeling a deeper connection with Billy. There’s just something special about the first born, surely he’ll protect Paige. Allison glared at her nails and filed them down as Justin cleared his throat and dared to engage her.

“We’re playing a dangerous game here, Allie. I know your heart, I know where you’re coming from, but don’t you think Paige would want to remember? It’s not fair to her. We were being selfish, so I did what I did.”

Allison held up her hand, “I’m done talking about this.”

“Fine, sit there and listen. Did you really think things would go back to normal? That Paige would finish college, go on about her life? This was inevitable! We’re lucky it lasted as long as it did.”

Allison gazed at the passing scenery. “It could have lasted longer,” she said.

“No, it couldn’t. Her memories will return sooner or later, then what? I did the right thing, Allie. Made some phone calls, contacted our son and set it up. I played your game. If it were up to me, I would’ve already told her the truth.”

“You don’t know the truth!”

“Neither do you,” Justin said, “but we certainly know more than Paige! This isn’t fair to her.”

“I’m done talking about this… You didn’t even believe it was really her!”

“I know, but I do now,” he said, “and the more I think about it, the more I think Michael might be on to something. They have a plan, honey, we just have to trust that everything will be okay.”

“Oh? A plan?” Allison asked, crossing her arms. “So the Doucets are trustworthy now? Unbelievable.”

“Billy and Ashley are with her too,” he answered, “but I think there’s been a slight snag in the plan. Paige wasn’t supposed to go to Shady Oak without us.”

“Unbelievable,” Allison said again, shaking her head.

“We can’t keep playing make-believe as if time stood still,” he continued. “We can’t keep her locked in the house like a prisoner. I’ll say again, this scenario was unavoidable, but everything’ll be fine, Allie, you’ll see.”

Allison turned and looked out the window, “I’m done talking about this.”

A fleet of tan-colored army tanks passed to the left while Justin slowed the car down and fell in line with the traffic. He figured he wasn’t the only person hoarding gas, a code violation according to the Green Police, but with the electricity out and no gas reserves, well, you better wear your walking shoes. Retreated back to their corners, Allison, an unbeaten champion of the silent treatment, embraced her favorite weapon. Sipping his coffee, Justin cracked the window, inhaled the crisp air and re-evaluated his decision to trust the Doucet children. Through all the betrayals and bad blood that existed between the two families, Michael always remained loyal to Billy and Ashley, and Regan, though corrupt and self-serving, did deliver Paige to them. Justin stretched out his arms on the steering wheel and grunted as his wandering mind picked up where it left off.

Shady Oak fell into mourning after Valley’s suicide. Every mirror in the house was covered with a black cloth, the storm shutters stayed closed and Vincent worked and slept in his finest black suit. Whiskey became his new companion. He refused to accept Valley’s suicide and believed he could heal her with his elixir–few modifications, an I’ll have duh cure for death. Justin and Allison fled Shady Oak, but not before the gruesome discovery. A familiar odor lingered around the laboratory for days after Valley’s death, and Justin finally worked up the nerve to confront Vincent. He pounded on the door and then forced his way in when he didn’t get a response. Vincent had been passed out drunk on his cot, but sprawled out on a metal table, covered with a white sheet, rested Valley. Justin knew, he never peeled back the thin layer of fabric, but he knew who it was, the white sheet stained red where it covered her head. The discovery haunted him and the scent of decomposed flesh erased his sense of smell, something not even the elixir could revive. They fled Shady Oak. Packing up their two boys and a few belongings, they left that same night, without even a thought for the safety of Vincent’s four children.

The two boys had difficulty adjusting to the move, Ashley more so than Billy. They’d grown up with the four Doucet kids, homeschooled together and raised like brothers and sisters, they shared a bond no one else understood. The children knew they were different, but Justin remembered the exact moment he realized just how different they were. Aside from beauty, brains and immunity, they also showed signs of paranormal capabilities. When the playroom fell eerily silent one day, he and Allison ran upstairs and nearly fainted after they peeked through the door. Holding hands in a circle, the six children giggled as their stuffed animals hovered above their heads. Vincent beamed with proud enthusiasm but quickly pointed out that Dr. Faraday must never find out about their newfound talents–Justin agreed.

Ashley and Michael grew particularly close during those years, but after Justin moved his family to Texas, Ashley began having nightmares about his friend. Justin recalled being stripped out of sleep more than a dozen times to the sound of his thirteen-year-old son screaming, terrified that Michael’s life was in danger. Grudgingly, Justin called Vincent and left several messages on the answering machine, but no one returned his calls. Sleep deprived and panic-stricken, Ashley’s nightmares persisted. He described the dreams to his father and insisted that Michael was held captive in the attic and close to death. When Ashley threatened to steal the car and drive to New Orleans himself, Justin finally caved. He refused to let his youngest son return to Shady Oak, but Billy Boy, his sixteen-year-old firstborn son, helped him tackle the nine hour trip. Taking turns behind the wheel, they drove straight through in a days’ time.

Justin remembered the moment with reluctant clarity. Tear-stained and underweight, Regan had met them in the courtyard and led them upstairs to the attic. Saturated with urine and decay, the damp air paralyzed him as he stood in the entryway. Ashley had described the scene in perfect detail. Michael lay unresponsive on a dirty mattress in the far back corner, his ankles and wrists bound together with fishing twine and his frail body bruised and covered in bite marks. After checking his pulse, Justin cut through the twine, slung him over his shoulder and carried him downstairs with Billy and Regan following behind. Vincent stood waiting for them as they turned the corner. He remembered the look on his old friend’s face, composed, lucid and unaffected by Michael’s exposed condition. Vincent calmly shrugged off the incident as some big mix-up, stating, he did it to himself, Justin. Duh other children, dey fine, but dat one, dat one tried killin’ me in my sleep. He’s bein’ punished, dat’s all.

With Vincent’s blessing, they brought Michael back to Texas where Ashley eagerly awaited their return. He never left Michael’s side during his recovery, curling up next to him and watching him sleep until Billy finished mending his wounds. Before leaving Shady Oak, Justin listened with mild interest as Vincent issued a warning about his firstborn son. He described duh happenin’s that had befallen the grounds and insisted that Michael was possessed by demons. Justin knew Vincent had far surpassed that invisible fine line separating genius from insanity, but he felt it too. The atmosphere changed when Michael lived with them, heavier and electrically charged, he felt the change, but he witnessed the happenin’s.

Justin called Vincent about a month after Michael’s arrival. He needed to talk to his old friend, the old Vincent, the one he knew before the trips to Egypt. He needed his scientific input. It had been the worms that sent him running into his office where he locked the door behind him and picked up the phone. Everything else could be explained away as telepathic phenomena, but not the exodus of the worms. He’d gone outside for the paper one morning and noticed a trail of earthworms covering his walkway, hundreds of them crawling away from the yard, evacuating the yard, that’s what Vincent had said, duh worms, dey were evacuatin’. Admittedly alarmed, Justin rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders for the last time. He had called Vincent to compare notes and find answers, he received neither. After hearing Justin’s eye-witness account, his old friend laughed and told him to lay off duh weed. Justin deserved the ridicule, but before hanging up the phone, Vincent told him what else he could expect, reminding him that Michael was banned from Shady Oak.

The next happenin’ occurred in the middle of the night. Ripped from his sleep, Justin shot up from the bed and awoke to a sharp pain down his back. He stumbled to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, stunned to discover five deep scratches running from his neck down to his lower back. The burning sensation brought tears to his eyes, just as Vincent had described. Duh pain was so bad, Justin, I awoke with tears in my eyes. Vincent had also warned him about duh sticky rain that fell in his bedroom. It was comin’ from duh ceilin’, an it was sticky, an it just kept fallin’. Justin experienced the same phenomenon when he noticed the upstairs bathroom flooding. He ran upstairs and swung open the door to find water dripping from the ceiling like raindrops. The dry Texas summer ruled out a leaky roof, and Vincent had been right, the heavy liquid felt sticky to the touch. Justin tried masking his discomfort, but Michael knew visiting hours were over.

He left in the middle of the night. Thirteen and naive to mainstream society, Michael boarded a bus and left for Houston with Ashley by his side. Michael truly had nowhere to go, but Ashley chose his fate, Justin thought. He didn’t have to live on the streets. Rolling up his window, he sipped his coffee and tried to skip over that part of his life, the part where his teenage son became a heroin addict, the part where his youngest boy catered to perverted old men. He didn’t know much about that part of his son’s life, but figured he knew enough. He knew that Ashley and Michael did whatever they needed in order to survive.

They eventually met up with Billy in Houston. Billy Boy, the valedictorian, the firstborn son, the healer who graduated at the top of his class dropped out of college (Rice University of all places) his second semester. Justin smiled and shook his head when he remembered how disappointed he and Allison had been. Billy was supposed to have changed the world, but instead, became a directionless burnout that drifted up and down the West Coast aimless and lovesick. While his older brother chased after women, Ashley played with Michael in a local band until he opted out of the music scene and followed his true passion, becoming a well-known street artist. Kendal and Alain eventually made their way to Houston, and once Billy returned (fleeing another relationship gone sour), Limbo Diver formed.

It would be convenient to say the rest was history, but Justin knew all too well about the spaces between, the gaps that no one talked about, the holes that were avoided like another more deadlier flu strain. The past was a crowded place to dwell, not nearly as empty as one would expect to find, but congested with causalities, mishaps and unfinished business. Justin could feel in the pit of his stomach, the 20th Century colliding with the next and all the spaces in between.