AEZg82
Time on the road is long, but it is made easier by good company. Kevin didn’t know Alia at all when the two escaped what was essentially government custody in the Pacific Northwest, but he came to know her over the long days of their trek across the county. It was Kevin’s second cross country trip, and he was happy to cut a trail across northern US states that he had missed on the first trip that took him across the southern states. Alia’s trip to the northwest was against her will and she had been transported in vehicles and planes without windows that she could access. It sounds worse than it was for Alia who had lived much of her life confined and monitored, and though that was not an ideal upbringing, it made it easy to navigate her stay at the Institute for Brain Function, or IBF, where she was studied by doctors because of the uncanny physiology and capabilities of her neurology, and at the secret CIA facility where both she and Kevin were tools of the agency. Any other person would go stir crazy; she was essentially held as a prisoner in solitary confinement for much of her day. But the Alia is not other people. And Kevin learned this over the course of their trip, that she has an impeccable memory that lends itself to excellent story telling (Alia can tell other people’s stories just as they were told to her or as she had overheard them, word for word), and she anticipated his every need; offering water or food before he even realized he needed it, and keeping him awake when his eyelids got heavy. They have much in common. They were both born in the state of NC, they both grew up lonely despite good people who honestly loved them, and they were both petrified of themselves and the destiny that seemed to be unfolding before them. Alia assured Kevin that he was a very important man who had very important things to do. That bothered Kevin a bit. Her apparent psychic abilities included access to possible futures, as she explained to Kevin, and he hoped that she was crazy sometimes when she said eerie things that made him fear tomorrow. She was hardly ever ominous, though, and the two enjoyed one another’s company.
Escaping from the CIA is hard in our technological age, so Kevin was sure to avoid any interaction with technology. He and Alia made cash when they needed it performing tricks with their abilities for crowds, and they would disappear at the end of each show thanks to Kevin’s ability to make real his imagination (he would imagine a commotion of smoke and sparks, then encase Alia and himself in a reflective aircraft that camouflaged easily in daylight and transported them away to their car). They mostly slept in the car they were driving and they avoided places that had cameras, tvs, and computers. The trip was good for both of them. Alia loved the fresh air against her face, and Kevin liked that despite the many mistakes of his past, he felt that he was exactly where he was supposed to be and he was happy that he had been able to save Alia.
When they arrive in NC, they are both relieved as though their journey has come to an end, but they drive out to the coast, to Wilmington, NC where Kevin eagerly rushes from their car to stand next to the Atlantic and watch it beat against the shore. He is home, though he is not at his actual home that he had ignored as the two drove through the piedmont region. He realized shortly after he left it that his parents’ home could never be his again; he had changed too much and he felt that he would never be able to explain himself to the people who had loved him. They had sent him out into the world with the belief that he could make it better with his preternatural ability, but that had not been the case. It was a hard thing to accept at first, but he is determined to make this stage of his life better than the last by avoiding all of the pitfalls that had snagged him before. And he was happy to live a quiet life, hopefully with the woman Alia, who was proving to be his favorite person in the world.
Alia stands next to Kevin as he marvels at the ocean.
“This is it. We will live close to here…” Alia looks back over her shoulder and points, but Kevin cuts her short.
He approaches Alia and puts an arm on her shoulder. “No more magic tricks between us. Don’t read my mind anymore. Don’t read my future, that’s work stuff. Let’s just be.” Kevin kisses the top of Alia’s head and hugs her.
“Let’s just be.” She says smiling and letting go of all the strings vibrating her consciousness. She only hears Kevin’s words and she is happy that she can let go of what is calling them for a moment. She’d known that she would come to love Kevin, but she is surprised that they make it to their new home already in love, and before she knows what comes over her, she is crying.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin is concerned.
Alia can’t talk anymore and Kevin takes her back to their car. When they are inside Kevin calms her and the two look one another in the eyes.
“I’m just sorry, I’m sorry for…”
“No,” Kevin says, “stop. We’re gonna be happy. We’re gonna make good money and live like the rulers of our own world. Just you and me. No other possible future matters.”
Alia forces a smile. Maybe the fact that Kevin’s fate is the same in all futures that have presented themselves to her isn’t as ominous a sign as she thinks. Maybe the Alia is overreacting.
The two prove to be very good at making money. Kevin learned from an old friend that his preternatural ability could draw a crowd willing to pay him for defying their imaginations and shattering their understanding of the physical world. Though Kevin’s magic show looked nothing like the traditional magic show with women sawed in half and rabbits in hats, no one ever assumed that he was the very special man that he was with alien technology in his head. Kevin’s show is an exotic show filled with sights that leaves his audience speechless. When the two are settled into a modest home that they rent close to T street, they pepper the local college campus with fliers that advertise the coming of the Amazing Elroy. The fliers don’t contain any information about a show, but they work to seed interest in the hipster element of the coastal city that craved exclusivity, mystery, and novelty above all else. Eventually, Kevin introduced a second flier at the swanky college bars and smoking lounges with the GPS coordinates for a private beach where he waited one Saturday night for a small and curious crowd to gather as he shaped objects of wonder out of invisible dark matter that is ubiquitous. The small crowd sat in stunned silence as Kevin formed glowing orbs of lights in the three primary colors that he manipulated into various swirling patterns. He also had the orbs interact with the audience, they were essentially weightless water droplets the size of balloons and the audience put their hands through them in wonder. And when they were done marveling at them, Kevin directed them up where they exploded into a tiny fireworks show complete with sparks that were actually small droplets of the liquids in the various colors that disappeared on contact with the beautiful twilight scenery on the beach. After the show, Kevin introduced himself and he set the high price for a ticket to his next show that he insisted be intimate and invitation only. He gave himself and Alia about a month to figure out exactly how they would make the show worth the price of admission.
Kevin did much of the planning for the show on his own to allow Alia plenty of time for sun gazing. She insisted on time outside without any distractions, and even if Kevin had tried, he would have been unable to stir Alia from her standing position with her face up and eyes wide. Kevin worried about her the first time he really looked into her eyes as they were driving across the country and he could see the hazy white circles starting to form on her pupils. But Alia insisted on sun gazing alone and she was more focused afterwards, insisting that Kevin take certain roads that helped them stay below the radar.
When Alia first saw the fliers that Kevin had produced in advance of their first private show, she stood looking at the second one with the GPS coordinates that Kevin had designed himself. “What is this?” She asked.
“I told you, we’re gonna make good money and be happy. This is how we do it, appeal to the artists and the cool kids and we’ll charge hundreds for a ticket.”
Alia shook her head, frustrated. “I get that, but what is the image?”
Kevin looked puzzled at one of the fliers. He’d absentmindedly drawn it up with markers on construction paper. It looked like an abstract work, mostly patches of primary colors underneath heavy streaks of black that were chaotic throughout. It was completely haphazard and random.
“What is it? Where did this come from?” Alia said, pointing at the image as she glared at it thoughtfully. “I didn’t see this Kevin. This is new.”
Kevin is confused at first, and then he remembers that he loves the Alia who is like no one else in the world.
“We don’t do this at home, remember? Shut it down.” Kevin says playfully.
“But Kevin, I’m not doing anything. That is the point. I don’t know what this is. It feels completely out of place, out of time…”
That was the eerie that Kevin hated. “Don’t stress over that. We’ve got a show to create.”
Alia had a hard time tearing her attention away, but they went to their backyard to practice a show that would captivate audiences and send them on a journey that even the Alia cannot anticipate.
PRL Serials 