Chapter Six
On Fire
I can’t get the what-ifs out of my mind. What if I could go through the screen into any place and time I want? What if I could change real life, not just movies?
When there’s nothing more to do in the kitchen, I tell myself I could go to my room. I haven’t really unpacked yet, so I probably should. Eric was telling the truth—Uncle Karl set up a really nice room for me. It’s just that it doesn’t feel like my room. My room is back in Bozeman.
Instead, I head back to the pit. I drop into one of the seats down front, turning the remote control around and around in my hands, staring at the blank screen. Did I imagine it all? Did Eric and I watch a movie, and then I fell asleep and dreamed that I went into some other movie and changed it somehow?
But I remember watching the first version of the movie with Eric—there was no kid who looked like me in it that time.
Am I going crazy since my parents died?
I read that somewhere. People can go crazy with grief after they lose someone they love, because they want them back so badly. I want my parents back....
I push the power button on the remote, and the screen lights up. I don’t want to watch one of Eric’s doom and disaster movies. I change the video input to regular satellite TV and flip channels until I find what I’m looking for.
I don’t think I’m going crazy, no matter how much I miss my parents. I’m sure I can remember the original movie, and I’m sure I went into it and changed it. I don’t know how I did it, but I’m sure I did.
I find the local news—real life, not a movie. I’ve got to test this if I’m going to figure out how it works. Because if I can get it to work right, maybe I can—
And maybe I can’t. I don’t want to put my what-ifs into words. Not yet, anyway.
The news anchorman looks serious as he talks about the danger of wildfires this summer. There have been fires everywhere for the past couple of summers, because of drought and record highs, but it’s too early for them to really get going yet.
“Wyoming almost had an early start to our fire season,” he’s saying, “when a family cookout got out of control due to a hidden leak in a propane grill. The Gordons’ house near the woods caught fire before the family realized it, and high winds blew the blaze toward the trees and showered sparks on neighboring houses.
“While volunteer firemen were able to prevent the fire from spreading, the Gordon family was not so fortunate. Mr. Gordon perished, apparently trying to put the fire out, and Mrs. Gordon was taken to the hospital after firemen pulled her out of the collapsed living room. She had been trying to reach their two younger children, who were napping in their bedroom. She did not survive the ambulance ride.”
The news station shows a picture of a happy family: a little boy riding on a man’s wide shoulders, their two smiles matching, even though the man is definitely out of shape and his cheeks look flushed. Beside them, a laughing woman is holding a little girl’s hand.
It’s now or never. I put the remote control down and move closer to the screen. Last time, I was thinking I wanted to help Roger. I think hard how much I’d like to help the Gordons. I wish I could warn them about the fire before it happens. I reach out my hand…
And it bumps into the screen.
I pull it back, and try again. Same thing.
Why did my hand go through last time, but won’t do it this time?
My stomach knots. I was really hoping.... But maybe I can only change something that’s not real, like a movie. Maybe I can’t change real life.
Or maybe I can’t get in because this is a static picture of the family, not moving video, like the horror film. I slump back into the seat. If only the news station had some video of the family.
I grab the remote and try the other local channels. Maybe a different one will have different footage. The first one has film of the burned house, but I don’t even try to go in. What good would it do to get there after the fire? I want to get there before, in time to warn them.
I flip channels again. No luck. Then again—and the last one is showing video of the Gordon kids playing in their backyard. The voiceover says this was shot just a week ago. I don’t stop to think. I let the remote slide out of my hand. I stand up and walk straight at the screen.
And straight through it, into a sunlit yard where I hear a woman scream.
– End Chapter Six –
