The little girl put her hands up, covering her face.
"Hey, it's okay. I'll figure something out, hold on."
Alex sized up the room looking for anything to aide in their communication. Staring at the half-fogged mirror, his eyes widened. Hastily, he turned the shower back on and twisted the knob until it rested solely on the hot water. Within moments the air thickened and a veil of steam covered the reflective glass. With his pointer finger, he laid out the alphabet across the balmy surface. Turning back toward the child, she was smiling.
"You understand?" Alex pointed to the letters.
Clapping her hands, she nodded yes.
"Okay. I'll ask you a question and then starting with A, I'll point to the letters. You nod to let me know if it's the right one. Good?"
Rapidly, she agreed.
"Let's start with something simple. What's your name?"
Alex pointed to the letters one at a time until he hit H. The girl drew up a hand to indicate stop.
"Okay great. Now let's go to the vowels. A?"
She nodded yes.
Once again, he started pointing. When he reached V, she jumped up.
"Let's see we have, H—a—v... huh. I'm not sure, let's keep going. It's probably another vowel. How about, I?"
She adamantly shook her head no.
"E?" Alex outlined the letters on the bottom corner of the mirror.
The clapped once again
"H—A—V—E... Haven? Is that it? Are you Haven?"
The girl grinned and patted both hands on her chest.
"Nice to meet you, Haven. I'm Alex."
The little girl pointed to her eye.
"Something's wrong with your eyes?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head. First pointing to her eyes again, she then pointed to him.
"Eye? Eye—or wait, I? Haven is it I?" Alex tapped the letter in the alphabet string.
She replied with a nod and pointed to Alex again.
"Hmm. What are you trying to say? I, me, I, Alex, I'm Alex! Haven, you already know who I am?"
Haven nodded her head in agreement.
"Did you know me before you died? How do you know me?" Alex fired the questions like bullets.
Without warning, Haven's face dropped, and her body stiffened. Snapping her gaze to peer over her shoulder, she turned back to Alex, wide-eyed and gaping mouth—she was screaming.
"Haven. What's wrong? Haven!"
Before the last syllable escaped his breath, she was gone.
Stunned, Alex furiously retraced the last few minutes in his mind, hoping to find something he might have missed. Nothing.
Frustrated, he ambled to his bedroom and pulled on some sweats and a t-shirt. Turning back the covers, he slid underneath the solace of warm blankets and feathery-like pillow. Reaching for his phone from the table beside his bed, he called the one person that always made him feel better, Margaret.
She picked up after the first ring.
"Hey, I thought you were going to bed after I left?"
Margaret's voice soothed Alex's tension.
"I decided to take a hot shower. Tesoro, something happened," Alex's voice cracked.
"What? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. A little off balance. This young girl, Haven, came to me. She couldn't be more than seven or eight. It was strange. She spoke, but there was no sound. It was like watching a damn silent film," Alex sighed.
"How do you know her name then?"
"It was crazy. The room was steamy, so I wrote the alphabet on the mirror. I felt like I was in a Wheel of Fortune nightmare. She was smart though, caught on right away."
"What did she want?" Margaret cleared her throat.
"That's it, I don't know. One minute we're having a conversation, and the next she gets this horrified look in her eyes and she's gone. I think she was screaming. I don't know what to do. I have no idea who she is, or where she came from. Just this overwhelming sense of needing to help her. I think she really needs me."
"Maybe tomorrow you should call your Gram. She might be able to give you some ideas."
"Yeah. I'll try her in the morning. She's probably gone to bed, which is what I'm gonna try and do. You still working on homework?"
"I am. A couple more minutes and I'm done. My eyes can barely stay open. I'll see you at school tomorrow," Margaret's voice trailed off.
Alex set his phone down on the table.
Rolling over to face the wall, he traced the encounter with Haven in his mind. Frame by frame—until sleep ushered in the darkness.
At the break of dawn his phone alarm sounded, and Alex fumbled to shut it. A restless night focused on dreams of Haven left him feeling exhausted. Thank the gods it's Friday, he thought. Throwing back the security of his comforter, he rolled out of bed. Retracting his feet from the bite of the cold floor, he hesitated before releasing them again and hobbling to his dresser. Pulling out a pair of white crew socks, he quickly put them on. Better. His hunger churned the acids in his stomach, echoing a loud grumble.
Breakfast before a shower sounded like a good plan.
Ambling down the stairs, he grinned. There was a loud commotion of voices coming from the kitchen—his aunts had arrived. Jennie and Carla were his moms’ older sisters, and the three of them were glued at the hip.
He could hear his little brother, Wilby, begging to sit in the front seat of the car, and his mom issuing a firm no. Walking through the gateway to chaos, he was greeted by his exasperated mom.
“Alex, there you are, I thought I was going to have to come up and get you.” His mom continued to pack a small cooler with water. “We're heading out, and we should be at your uncle's house in two days. Tonight, we're stopping in Jacksonville, the hotel information is on the fridge.”
“You guys all cramming in one car?” asked Alex.
His aunts were piling luggage in their arms, they looked like they were evacuating a sinking ship.
“Of course, mia prezioso,” Aunt Jennie continued, “it would not be safe to split the family. What if there's an accident? Or one of us gets lost? We stay together.”
“That's right,” Aunt Carla interjected, “we're always stronger as a family.”
Alex understood. They were stronger together, much like any other family, but they also shared a special bond—their abilities. As one, they could do some awesome things, but as a group, they were nearly unstoppable.
“Mio figlio, stay out of trouble while we're gone. You hear me? No new cases. Gram is still in town if you need anything. But take this time to rest, we all suffered a huge loss, and the wounds have only begun to heal. I wish you were going with us, I'd feel much better,” said his mom.
“Ma. I'll be fine. Margaret and I are gonna study, and we have some movie time planned. It's all good. Don't worry about me, okay?”
“Come here.” His mom squeezed him tight.
“Gina let's go. We'll hit a load of traffic if we leave any later.” Aunt Jennie huffed. “Alex, listen to what your mom said, no funny business.”
Alex nodded, he knew nothing he would say was going to satisfy their worry, he'd just have to hold on a few more minutes until they left. After an eternity of kisses, and hugs exchanged between everybody, the front door slammed shut.