Annihilation: Love Conquers All Read online

  Thomas laughed and said, “Because no one can catch the tag master; he’s uncatchable. No one in the universe can catch him.” Then Thomas poked Eric in the ribs and laughed even louder.

  “I want to know why I can’t catch you.”

  Thomas looked at his best friend, who had a very serious expression, and said, “I don’t know. I just go in another direction than the one you’re going. I see which way you’re going and I go the other way.”

  “How do you see which way I’m going?”

  “Your shadows give you away.”

  “Duh, if you haven’t noticed, it’s dark.”

  “I don’t mean that kind of shadow,” he said, just as Eric’s mother came through the front door and shouted, “Eric, get in this house right now. You’ve left your room in a mess and you know you’re supposed to be in when it gets dark.”

  “Eric’s in trouble, Eric’s in trouble,” Thomas began chanting as they jumped up, and they both laughed as they ran up the grassy slope and through the front door, their game of tag forgotten as they headed upstairs.

  One of Thomas Gardner’s favorite games was tag. He was the tag master in his class at school not because he was so fast, although he had good speed, but it seemed just before you could touch him he would dodge just out of reach. No one could catch him. His schoolmates started calling him by his initials, T A G. Somehow the name stuck and from the first level on he was just known as Tag. If you asked his playmates if they liked Thomas, they wouldn’t know who you were talking about; everyone knew him as Tag. Even his teachers began calling him that. His playmates didn’t give much thought as to why he was uncatchable but just assumed he was really quick. If you asked Tag why he couldn’t be caught, he’d say, “I go one way, they go another.” His teachers noticed occasionally that he would start to stand up just before they would ask him a question. They thought this was due to his paying close attention and seeing he was about to be called on. All in all, if you asked anyone who knew him they would tell you he was just a normal, everyday five-year-old. Nothing was farther from the truth.

  At home his father would talk with him about life and the things he would have to do to be successful. Often they would lie on the floor in their family room and his father would lift him up and he would pretend he was flying. He would close his eyes and feel all the things surrounding him in the room. Tag always looked forward to this time of day. His father had a good job but he had to work long hours, so Tag was always excited when he came home and his father was there.

  “I’m flying, I’m flying,” Tag yelled and held his arms out as his father lifted him and swung him back and forth and side to side while they rolled on the floor.

  “You’re landing now,” his father said as he dumped Tag on the floor. Then he said, “Oops, crash landing,” and began tickling him until they both were laughing hysterically. “Thomas, when you grow up it’s important that you study hard and have good scores in school. You could be a pilot of one of our star ships and see the galaxy. Then you’d fly for real.” With that his father picked him up and ran with him to his room to get ready for bed.

  “Aw Dad, let’s play some more. It’s not late. Please!”

  His father handed him off to his mother and said, “We have an angry space pilot here. See if you can land him in bed,” and then they both laughed as she hugged him and swung him around in circles.

  At night his mother would hold her little boy close to her breast and feel the life beating within him as she read to him. From the day he was born she had loved him more than life itself. He was such a good boy who never gave her any problems, and he seemed to always know what she wanted. Sometimes at night she would watch him sleep and wonder just what the world held in store for him. She often thought he was pretending to sleep and that he knew she was there the whole time. She didn’t know it, but she was right. No one could look at Tag without him sensing it. He didn’t know this was a special ability; he thought everyone could do it. He was seven years old when he discovered that just wasn’t the case.

  It was the year of his fourth level in school, and one day during playtime his teacher suggested they learn a new game called hide-and-seek. She explained that someone would hide and then she would try to find them. The only rule was you could not go outside the blue line surrounding the playground. She quickly found the first ten students that had tried to hide. There just weren’t very many places where they could completely conceal themselves. They all stood in a playground that was only sixty yards square. One side was totally bordered by the school building and cafeteria. The far side of the playground had a fence but the two interior sides simply emptied out into streets. No one had successfully hidden. Then it was Tag’s turn, and he didn’t try to hide behind anything. When the teacher closed her eyes and counted to ten, he simply walked around behind her and waited for her to start looking. The teacher then began walking around the playground searching everywhere. Tag bent low and followed her around the yard, and each time she turned he would step around her, away from the direction she was turning, so that she would barely miss seeing him. The other students thought this was hysterically funny and began laughing out loud. After ten minutes the teacher put her hands on her hips and demanded to know what was so funny. The students told her that Tag was right behind her. She turned around quickly and he wasn’t there. She turned around the other way and he still wasn’t there. They only laughed harder. With exasperation in her voice, she finally said, “Okay, I give up. Where are you?” Tag stepped out from behind her and the teacher noticed they were standing very close to the blue line. Play time ended and his teacher asked Tag to stay a few minutes after school.

  After school his teacher handed him an envelope and asked him to take it home and give it to his mother. Tag smiled, took the envelope, and put it in his backpack. It didn’t even occur to him to open the note and see what it said. He laid it on the kitchen table when he got home and told his mother about it when she walked through the front door. She opened the envelope and read the note. She sat down, and Tag could see that something was bothering her. “What’s wrong, Mom?” he asked.

  “Tell me what happened at school today, Thomas.”

  Tag walked over and sat down on the little green footstool in front of her chair, looked up at her, and said, “Nothing, really; we spent the first part of the day studying history and we had a playtime learning to play hide-and-seek.”

  “Tell me about how you played hide-and-seek.”

  “It was really pretty simple and fun. When the teacher closed her eyes, I walked around behind her and then moved so she couldn’t see me.”

  “She thinks you left and hid outside the blue line against her instructions.”

  “No, Mom! I was right behind her the whole time. All the other kids saw me. You know how you move when you don’t want someone to see you.”

  His mother looked him in the eye with a furrowed brow and slowly said, “No, Thomas, I don’t. What do you mean, so they can’t see you?”

  “Well, you know how there are shadows around every person that shows where they are not looking or going to look.”

  His mother looked even more puzzled and said, “I’m not sure I understand what you are saying. Why don’t you show me?”

  “Great, do you want to hide first?”

  “No. I want you to do exactly what you did today. I’ll count to ten and you hide, but you can’t leave this room.”

  “Okay.”

  She stood up and placed her hand over her eyes, counted to ten, opened her eyes, and began searching for Thomas. She looked behind the sofa, the desk, the chair, and in the hallway. After five minutes she was certain that he was nowhere to be found in that room. Then she had a thought. “Thomas,” she said, “stay exactly where you are and don’t move.” She turned around and there he was, right behind her.

  “How do you do that?” she asked.

  “You know, Mom. I just move away from where you’re going to look.”

 
She looked at her little boy and said, “I’m still not sure I understand. Do you mean to say you know where my eyes are looking?”

  “No, I just know where you’re not looking; the shadows around you show it. Don’t you know where I’m not going to look?”

  “Let’s try it this way, Thomas. You’re standing right here in front of me. How long would I have to close my eyes for you to hide?”

  “Mom.… Just close your eyes and count to one.”

  “Oh, one more thing, Thomas. When I say Neil, you immediately reply with Armstrong. This will make it harder for you to hide. Understand?”

  “Sure, Mom.” He liked this because Neil Armstrong was one of his favorite ancient heroes.

  She blinked and Tag disappeared. She would say Neil and she would immediately hear from right behind her, “Armstrong.” Try as she might, she could not see him. She turned left, jerked back to the right, and turned circles, saying Neil as fast as she could and hearing Armstrong in reply each time, but she was still unable to see him. Finally she just lay down on the floor and turned her head from side to side. It was then that she saw him right next to her, laughing.

  “I knew you were going to lie down, but you told me not to leave the room. So you win, you caught me.”

  She laid there on the carpet for a moment and then said, “Thomas, if you could leave the room, would you have avoided me seeing you when I lied down?”

  “Sure, but rules are rules. You always taught me to play by the rules.”

  “So you didn’t leave the playground this morning.”

  “No, Mom. Rules are rules.”

  She got off the floor and went back to her chair. Then she said, “Thomas, tell me how you do this. I need to know what you do to avoid being seen.”

  “Mom, I just go where the person looking for me is not looking. I move into the shadows I see around them. As you turned around, I moved toward the shadows I saw on the side away from your turn. The shadows appear whenever I want to avoid being seen. Unless I look for them, they aren’t there.”

  “How do you know where I will be looking?”

  “There won’t be any shadows. There’s a sort of shadow that I see when I move to hide. It looks like the shadow you have behind you when a light is shining in front of you. If the light moves right, then your shadow moves left and I move left to stay in the shadow. I guess if you think of your eyes as looking in the direction of the light, then the shadow will move away from where you’re looking. Then all I have to do is go wherever I see the shadow, and I won’t be where you’re looking. I don’t even have to watch the person looking for me, I just move toward the shadows I see behind them. When you turn as fast as you just did then I have to move quickly, but the shadows show me where to go.”

  “Are you telling me that you know where someone will look before they know?”

  “I don’t know, Mom. I just see the shadow and know they won’t be looking there. I’ve noticed them before, but I didn’t really pay attention to them unless we were playing tag; that is until the game today, and it worked.”

  “What else do you know about someone looking for you?”

  “Well, I know whenever anyone is deliberately looking at me.”

  His mother gave a startled look and said, “What? What do you mean?”

  “Well, you know the machines that are on all the walls in town that take your picture?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I like playing a game with them so that I always turn my head when they turn toward me. I don’t think they’ve ever gotten a picture of me and I can see places around me where the machine isn’t looking.”

  “So you can tell if anything or anyone is looking at you whether it’s a man or machine?”

  “Sure. I know at night when you’re watching me. Can’t you tell when you’re being watched?”

  She thought about what he was saying and then said, “Thomas, stand in front of me looking away from me.” Tag got up and did as she asked. “Now, whenever I look at you say ‘now.’”

  Tag closed his eyes and sensed his mother behind him sitting in her favorite green chair. She looked out the window and then quickly looked at Tag and heard him immediately say, “Now.” She looked at the floor and then glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Now,” Tag said. She waited a minute, then again quickly looked. “Now,” Tag said.

  This is impossible, she thought. “Thomas, if there were many people looking for you at the same time, would they see you?”

  “I don’t know. They wouldn’t if there were shadows to hide in. Besides, I just learned to play today. I’ve never tried to do this like today. It sure is a lot of fun though.”

  “Thomas, I want you to listen to me. This is important. The most important thing I’ve ever told you.” She lifted him up and sat him in her lap. “This ability that you have to see shadows and know when you’re being watched or where someone will look for you is a gift that no one else has. It could get you into a lot of trouble if other people learned about it. You can’t let anyone else know about these things you’re able to do.” His eyes got big and he thought that his mother must be wrong. “Thomas, what other times do you use this gift?”

  “Well, whenever we play tag I use it to not get caught. I also sometimes use it to sneak to the front of the lunch line.” Tag laughed and said, “People wonder how I got there, but no one has caught me yet.”

  “Thomas, no one can do the things you just described to me; absolutely no one. You’re able to sense things no one else can. This is a unique gift, but it’s dangerous,” his mother said very seriously.

  She then explained to her seven-year-old that the world operated by everyone strictly following the rules, and a lot of his education was designed to teach him to follow every instruction he was given. That’s why his teacher was so upset when she thought he had disobeyed a rule by leaving the playground. Tag’s mother told him that he could be smart and learn all his studies, but if he could not follow the rules the government would place him in a job that would let them keep a close eye on him in the future. She said that those who could not follow rules were also not allowed to marry and have children. If the government had the slightest idea that he could prevent them from watching him, then they may put him in a place where he would have no freedom.

  “Mom, I didn’t break any rules.”

  “I know,” she said. “But if you have the ability to break the rules without being seen, then the government would be very nervous about someone like you. Thomas, it’s extremely important that only your father and I ever know about your gift. I know it’ll be hard not to share it or use it with your friends now that you know they can’t do what you do. But someday they will tell someone and the government will come looking for you. Promise me, promise me to the bottom of your heart, that you will never reveal or use this gift you possess. Have you told anyone else about what you’re able to do?”

  Tag sat back down on the footstool in front of his mother and thought for a few moments and remembered starting to tell Eric, but he remembered that they had been interrupted. “No, I’ve only really learned about it today. I promise! I promise, Mom, I’ll keep it hidden.”

  “Thank God the teacher doesn’t know the truth,” his mother thought. Then she thought about how to explain to the teacher what happened. “Thomas, you also need to let them catch you in tag, maybe not every time but a lot of the time, and no more sneaking to the front of the line. I am going to write a note to your teacher apologizing for your leaving the playground, but tell her that you did not hear her say you couldn’t, that you were writing the next day’s homework assignment when she explained the rules. I know this isn’t the truth, but I don’t want this incident to hurt your future. Telling her the truth about your gift would cause you a lot of serious problems. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “Also tell her when no other students are around, because they will say you didn’t leave the playground. Thomas, you must learn to fit
in and not do anything that would cause anyone to think you’re different or could or would break any rules. Make everyone think that you’re normal and want to do what everyone tells you to do.”