THE CONDUIT
The Underworld Adventures – Book One

Copyright 2016 Jeff Comer, Jr.

 

“Robby, Jeez hurry up in there!” Rachel always got impatient when her brother took more than one minute in the bathroom for a shower.

“Go away you little pest!” Robby yelled.

Robby really was taking a long time that evening, but it was not to agitate his little sister, which by the way, was quite easy to do – and well, a lot of fun. No, this time he really didn’t want to leave the bathroom because it was almost time for the annual Valentine’s Day dance at the Junior High he attends. The thought of it made his stomach churn. He wasn’t exactly talented at speaking with girls and he was much more likely to win the biggest lottery ever than to actually summon the courage to dance with a girl. But everyone was going, and well, you never knew maybe Kay would be there too.

Of course she’d be there, Robby thought, but he also knew good and well she’d be with her over grown steroid loaded boyfriend Niv.

Niv had always picked on Robby. At least since Robby tripped and practically fell into him in the cafeteria which knocked Niv’s lunch all over him. But that was like five years ago. Wouldn’t you think he would have gotten over that by now? And of course Robby had a crush on Niv’s girlfriend, but for his own safety from Niv, Robby never intentionally went anywhere near her. Sadly to Robby, it wasn’t like she paid much attention to him at any rate. Although Robby did get his hopes up once when she dropped her purse in the hallway between classes and Robby heroically swooped in to pick it up. That got him a “thank you.” Ok, so maybe that’s not much but it was something wasn’t it?

Robby had stalled as long as he could. He did one last check in the mirror, and actually thought he looked pretty decent. His blond hair had the messed up look that it always had. How silly that was he thought – some people spend all kinds of time and put a bunch of stuff in their hair to get the messed up look. Robby just got out of bed and left his hair alone – so he was quite proud of his truly messed up look which was, well, truly messed up. He also actually had some scruff on his face which in his mind made him look like a rock star. Girls love the rocker look he thought. Messed up hair, scruffy face – He had that going for him at a minimum. He threw on his new skinny cut jeans and retro t-shirt, and most importantly, broke out his new chucks – red without laces. Satisfied with his appearance he braved leaving the safety of the bathroom for the teasing his sister would most certainly deliver.

He went downstairs to grab a Red Bull to “give him wings” like the commercial says.

“So who’s the lucky girl tonight Robby?” his dad said.

“Oh Robby likes Kay Dad!” his sister giggled, “Can you say out of your league?’”
“Well you’re not going to score any points with peach fuzz on your face son. Perhaps I could put some milk on your face and have the cat lick it off?” His dad bellowed out a laugh proud of his insult. Of course his dad had been waiting for a couple of days to make fun of Robby’s scruff fully knowing it would embarrass him. Why do dad’s do this? Robby thought.

“Can we just go?” Robby asked painfully and a bit irritated.

The Junior High was all decked out with balloons, streamers, and pictures of fellow students hanging on the walls – Not Robby of course, just the popular kids. The dance was packed and the music was already playing. The girls had been looking forward to this big event for months. So of course they were completely decked out for the occasion, wearing clothes of every fashion category carefully matched with color coordinated accessories and shoes. Most of them had also been to the salon to get their hair, nails, and makeup done in the latest styles. In Robby’s mind, the effect of all of this was that none of the girls looked the way they normally did and he actually had trouble recognizing many of them. Of course the boys were, well, the same they were everyday at school.

Robby looked for Brad, his best friend and saw him just outside the entrance to the gymnasium. Brad stood by himself looking awkward as usual. He wore jeans, sneakers, and a badly wrinkled polo shirt of some sort.

“Wow you really dressed up huh Brad?”

They made their way into the gym. The pit in Robby’s stomach stirred even more. The truth was he actually wanted to ask a girl, just about any girl, to dance, but he couldn’t do it…well, maybe for a slow song, but those were few and far between.

Kay and Niv were already dancing.

Robby had known Kay for some time but rarely talked to her. She was Native American from somewhere in Arizona. She had dark skin and eyes that Robby found exotic and mysterious. Her hair was jet black and flowed down to her waist. She usually wore her in a braid, but not the night of the dance. For the dance she looked like she had a glamour shot done, her hair was dancing along with her body reflecting the movement of the music. Kay was very different from anyone else Robby knew. She kept to herself in a quiet yet confident way, but she was popular with everyone.

Niv saw Robby looking at Kay, and waived to Robby sarcastically, like he was saying, “Hey nerd, stop watching my girl or I’ll have to womp on you!” Niv was one of the biggest kids in his class and a line man on the football team. Although Kay never spoke much to Robby, Niv certainly did – usually to taunt or call him names, and always in the presence of Kay (and everyone else for that matter).

“Hey stop staring…” Brad said.

“Huh?”

“You’re staring at Kay – do you have a death wish?”

“Um… I’m not staring.”

Brad just rolled his eyes and continued to act like standing there was exactly what he wanted to do.

And that was the night. Song after song played with Robby and Brad standing around trying to get their courage up, but not quite ever getting there. Robby became embarrassed thinking that everyone was silently making fun of him for not dancing. Funny how we always think other people pay more attention to us than they really do.

But then, something hit Robby like a brick to the stomach. He even lost his breath and dropped to the floor. He felt an incredibly intense pain in his head. He had heard people describe the blinding intensity of a migraine headaches – they were right because he saw nothing except a red glow – no, actually he saw flames – literally flames from the middle of the basketball court bursting up to the ceiling! All the students were right there in the flames, they must be in agony he thought. He wanted to do something, anything. He desperately wanted to get these people out…He tried to move, but couldn’t – the pain was too intense and he felt paralyzed.

He heard a calm, soothing voice but couldn’t tell where it was coming from or who said it. “Robby, Robby, listen to me.” He knew the voice. God, the pain. He was certain he was burning in the fire.

“Robby, it’s me.”

Who is “me”? I know this voice, Robby thought. Robby braved the pain, looked up, and saw his mother in the flames looking right at him. “Mom get out of here! You’re on fire!” he yelled with all the strength he could muster.

“Robby. Listen to me,” she said calmly.

What on earth was going on Robby thought?

“Robby, you are in danger, great danger. They will be coming for you. You must be on guard. Always.”

Coming for…me? Who? Danger? What was she saying? These thoughts and many others raced through his tortured mind. Robby briefly gained a moment of clarity among this confusion, Wait, he thought, mom’s dead – so who is this lady in the fire? God, the pain….

And then everything stopped – the pain, the fire, his mom…everything. He remained sprawled on his back looking up at a disco globe spinning from the gym ceiling. And even worse, Niv stood there looking down at him. It was like the light from the disco globe provided a cool illuminated backdrop behind Niv making him look rather sinister to Robby. “Hey Blondie you really freaked us all out,” he said.

“Shut up Niv!” Kay said.

Of course the disco globe highlighted Kay from behind too, but unlike Niv, it made her glow like a Christmas scene with angels coming out of the sky and a chorus singing in the background.

“Are you ok?” she said with deep concern in her voice.

Robby was so completely not ok. Was he awake or asleep? Was he even alive? He couldn’t tell. What was going on? “Where am I? Where is the fire?”

“Well there’s no fire here Blondie…Just you on the floor. And you ruined the last dance…” Niv said with a frowning smile.

“Let’s get you off the floor and outta here.” It was definitely not a question. Niv yanked him up hard onto his feet. Robby would’ve fallen but Kay took his arm and led him out. A dance chaperone, Mrs. Pribly, who taught Algebra, said an ambulance was called and would be there soon. She told Niv and Kay to sit with Robby until it arrived.

The visit to the hospital did not take long. The doctor said Robby experienced a panic attack which wasn’t uncommon for someone his age to have in light of his mother’s traumatic death. He referred him to a psychiatrist.

Yes, Robby’s mom died tragically in a fire at her work, and he missed her terribly, but what could he do? Being sad couldn’t bring her back and it seemed silly to sulk and mope. He also knew that his mom would not want him or anyone else to mourn that she was gone. She’d want everyone to go on with life. The truth was he probably had not dealt with her loss. But how does a 14 year old know how to deal with the loss of his mom?

Of course Robby did not tell the doctor that the school was on fire and his dead mom warned him that he was in grave danger. Even at his age, he knew some things were best left unsaid.

Robby could not help but wonder if he really was crazy. Was he in desperate need of a shrink? Or medications of some sort? A padded cell perhaps? But the pain during the fire was so real, so intense – it seemed that all of it really did happen. And yet, there was no fire, no damage to the school, no one was hurt. There was just the entire group of students at the dance who watched him roll around on the floor. He could still see the confused, shocked looks on their faces, well except Niv – he had the same confident, patronizing smile he always had. Jerk.

Robby’s dad was distraught beyond belief. He looked terrible. Not that he ever looked remarkable. He was the epitome of a suburban dad. Medium height, very light blonde hair, fair pale skin, glasses, hair parted straight over to the side, and worse of all he wore those horrible Docker’s pleated, pressed khaki pants, knit polo shirts two sizes too large, and penny loafers (that actually had pennies in them). Robby knew one thing in life – he would never wear actual penny loafers. But even if Robby’s dad would never be in GQ, he was a good person and caring father.

Sadly, his dad felt that he had failed in his role of a father, blaming himself for not helping Robby deal with his mom’s death. But the truth was he just couldn’t deal with it himself. Robby’s dad had never really loved anyone else in his life. He just couldn’t accept that she was gone – and in such a horrible manner.

So Robby’s dad was convinced he had not handled it well – that he had not stepped in and gotten his children, her children, the help they needed. But after Robby’s panic attack, he was determined that he would not let them down any longer. And to start the healing process he planned a trip. A trip together – just the three of them. And when they returned he would make sure that both of them got into counseling. But for now, they needed a break together.

Boy was Robby’s dad wrong…