Free Jump When Ready by David Pandolfe

really?”
    “You might as well call us Will and Karen. Those are as
good as any other names. Besides, you already think of me that way. Why change
that now?”
    Bethany kept blinking and shaking her head like she was
still trying to wake herself up. “Why did you take me here? What do you want?”
    Will chose a blackberry this time. “These really are
good. You should have one,” he said. “We want what everyone wants. Can you
guess?”
    Bethany frowned, confused. “Money?”
    Will shrugged. “Good guess.”
    Bethany stared across the table at him. I knew what she
was thinking since I was thinking the same thing. “But we don’t have money! Not
like that. I mean, we’re not poor or anything but—”
    “Sometimes people have surprising resources,” Will said.
“But let’s not go into that right now. Let me tell you how it’s going to be. If
you make things easy, we will too. If you don’t, we won’t. Is that clear?”
    “But you just finished telling me you’re not—”
    “Simple question. Yes or no?” Will’s voice rose and his
eyes hardened. “Do you understand?”
    The change in him had an effect on Bethany. She started
to tear up again. “When do I get to go home?”
    Will exhaled slowly, like he was annoyed but trying to be
patient. “Good, a simple question. I’ll give you a straight answer. When we get
what we want. Got it?”
    Even though he hadn’t come close to answering the
question, Bethany nodded.
    “Okay. Now, drink your water.”
    Bethany’s eyes locked on the glass Karen had left in
front of her.
    “You’re totally right,” Will said. “It’s a sedative. Nitrazepam,
just so you know. You might have heard of it referred to as Alodorm. Easy stuff
to come by, actually. Then there’s its cousin, Xanax. Not nearly as strong but
good for anxiety and the like. We might just mix up a few of those, depending.”
    Bethany shook her head. “Whatever it is, I don’t want it.
It makes me feel like I can’t breathe.”
    Will thought for a moment, then shrugged. “You were just
scared. Now, drink. Remember what I said, hard or easy.”
    I couldn’t just sit there listening any more. Even though
I knew it wouldn’t matter, I ran at him again. To hit, to scream, to make the
bastard know I was there seeing all of it. But suddenly I started getting
dragged backwards. Slowly at first, then faster. I looked behind me, expecting
to see Karen or someone even though it made no sense. I called out, “Bethany!”
for no reason. She couldn’t help me and I couldn’t help her.
    I rose into the air against my will, uselessly fighting
against whatever had hold of me. I lifted through the ceiling. Within seconds,
I was back in the darkness. I saw the light of the cabin window below but it
disappeared quickly as I was pulled through the sky. I saw the lights of a town
in the distance. At one point, I shot directly through a jet passing far above
the earth, for one second hearing and smelling the passengers worn out from
travel. I was accelerating so fast now that everything became a blur, even the
stars above.
    Then I saw nothing but darkness while I shot through
space.

 
6
    River Rat Can
Speak
     
    I felt the light against my eyes but kept them closed, both
out of fear and confusion. I had no idea where I might be or how long I might
have been there. It felt as if everything had simply stopped and gone quiet.
    Then someone asked me a question. “What happened to you?”
    I opened my eyes to see that I was sitting by a pond on a
sunny day. I knew where I was immediately, although I hadn’t thought of the
place in years. The pond had been close to the first house we’d owned and John
and Bethany used to take me there when I was just a little kid.
    Nikki looked down at me. “What’s got you so freaked out?
You look like crap.”
    At any other time, I might have laughed. Leave it to
Nikki to be blunt. But everything that had just happened came rushing back at
me. It was almost like the