The Catcher's Dreams (FEATURED)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - a mirrored rock

"Wendy, your parents know you have friend over?" Yup.

Wendy nodded. "I told them he was coming before they went shopping. Uncle, listen – Drake's one of your people."

Uncle squinted at Drake. "Zh...Zhi-Rae? Come."

His room was made up of a desk covered in papers, two bookshelves, a splash of chairs, and a cupboard lined with small photos Drake couldn't see from the entrance. It smelled like books. But there was also a buzzing. The voices and the glows came back, as indeterminable as ever. Drake clutched his head. "Ow."

"You alright?" Wendy asked.

Uncle frowned. "He's one, yes. Sit, sit." He ushered Drake into a chair. "Zhi-Rae, look. Look at me."

Drake looked up, despite the crescendoing throbbing in his head. "I'm...I'm looking."

Uncle raised his hand. It was a bare and glowless hand, streaked with the undertones of age. The whispers increased, and Drake pulled at his hair.

"My hand – there is strange about my hand, yes?" Uncle asked.

"No," Drake said.

"No, there is a strange thing, and you see. Here. Look at it in sun. You know what I mean."

"The sunlight makes no difference," Drake said. "It's a hand."

"Missing a thing," Uncle prompted.

Drake bit his lower lip.

"Missing something."

"It's not glowing," Drake blurted out.

"Glowing," Uncle repeated, caught off guard. He adjusted his glasses. "Glowing. Shining? You mean the shine? You mean shining?"

"No," Drake said. "They're glows for me, Mr. Fujimoto. Glows with color. See, Wendy here has an orangey pink one, like salmon."

"Color? Glow? You have it wrong," Uncle said, shaking his head. His hands, suddenly dizzy, fumbled with some papers on his desk. "No. It's shines. No color. Looks shiny. Shines for everyone. No glows."

"I'm not sure," Drake said. "It's glows for me. I had this friend and he saw shines too, but for me it's glows."

Uncle shook his head, hands rushing to his temple. "Well, if this glow and this shine the same thing..." He turned around to the cupboard and inserted a key. There was a click and he pulled it open. The voices screamed and Drake covered his eyes.

"You alright?" Wendy asked again. She was standing in the corner of the room, next to the bookshelves.

"Just my eyes," Drake said, cringing as the voices shouted. "I'm fine, really."

"Let me tell you, Zhi-Rae," Uncle said, "it's this. This. Did it to all of people who can see shines."

Drake forced one hand off his eye. Uncle was coming towards him. In his hands, he held a fist-shaped rock, rugged with years of being cheated by the sun and rain, like too many rocks these days. The voices screamed and tugged at the insides of Drake's mind. He covered his eyes again.

"What is that?" he asked.

"No, no hands. Take your hands off," Uncle said.

"I...I can't."

"Take your hands off eyes."

Drake bit his lower lip and obeyed. Uncle moved his hands away to slip the rock into half, each part resting in his fingers. The insides were completely smooth and reflective, like someone filled the hard grey shell with molten mirror.
"Stay back, Wendy," Uncle said.

"Okay," Wendy said. "I'll be outside."

The insides sparkled. The voices yelled one last time, then melted away. The serenity of the mirrored insides apparently had a ripple effect.

"What is it?" Drake asked.

Uncle frowned. "You never seen this?"

"No," Drake said.

"Sure?"

"Yes."

Uncle eyed Drake. "Everyone who can see shines, they seen into...into this...mirror rock."

"Then I'm different," Drake said.

"Yes, yes," Uncle muttered. "I think I cannot help you."

Drake peered back at the rock halves. "Can I..."

"Oh, yes, of course." Uncle handed one half of the rock over and deposited it in Drake's cupped hands. It was surprisingly heavy. Drake looked into it and saw his own face. And something else. He gasped, almost dropping the rock.

"Careful," Uncle said, placing a hand on Drake's shoulder. "Take it."

Drake paused. "Take it?"

"I think you will want time and...study it."

"Thank you," Drake said, tearing his gaze from the mirrored mercury-thin surface.

"You are welcome. Please...please do not show Wendy. Looking into it for first time, seeing shine, it can be...painful."

Uncle patted his shoulder. Drake had some tea and left.