Tomorrow's Light
Written by Drew Clements
Conceptualized by Drew Clements and Bryan Hester
(Part Four - IV)

T,
I have the answers you seek. I will call upon you this evening at 6:30. I hope you find this suitable.
Cast away all fearful thoughts, as you will find that your troubles for the day are over. Do not be afraid and please do not speak of this to anyone.

A shiver went up her spine as she felt an assault of emotions. Any feeling of safety had been obliterated at the thought of a stranger being in her room. A feeling of complete exposure and nervousness struck her; the long slender fingers of her right hand rattled the piece of paper.
Tomorrow hadn’t heard the crunching of the paper last night when she hit the bed, but then again, that should be the least of her worries. Someone had been in her room, recently; her eyes danced around the room to see if anything had been disturbed; nothing she could see.
Once again, nothing but questions danced about her mind; how can someone else know what is going on? She wasn’t exactly broadcasting it on the evening news! Hell, her mother doesn’t even know! How did someone get in her room without her or her mother knowing it? Just how recent was it? Last night?
This morning?
One thing was for sure: she was getting damn tired of all the questions.
And the fear.
“Tomorrow!” Her mother’s voice called from the hall. “I need to talk to you.”
Her body quaked as Donna’s voice thundered from just outside the bedroom door.
Was it time to tell her? Time to tell the woman that she was bleeding from any hole in her face, seeing dragons, blacking out, and getting notes from people that had snuck into her room?
No.
“Okay mom.” She looked at the piece of paper, re-reading it.
Folding the note twice over, she stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans and tried to forget about it.
“Come in.” She composed herself.
The door opened and her mother stepped in.
“Matthew called this morning. There’s a conference in Atlanta that I am being sent to.” She said uneasily.
“What? Why do YOU have to go? How long?” The news hit her hard as the thought of being alone made her stomach turn even more.
“Peter is away on vacation-something about a sick family member, so that leaves me with the bag. I’ll be gone until Monday.”
The words fell on Tomorrow’s ears like fifty-pound weights.
“Monday? That’s a long time. Can I go with you?” She asked, already knowing the answer.
“I’m sorry. But look, when I get back we’ll do something special.” Her mother smiled.
Doing something special wasn’t exactly what Tomorrow was worried about; the thought of being alone with someone coming over tonight--someone who had left a note in her room--was what made her extremely nervous. Her thoughts wandered.
If the person had wanted to kill her, couldn’t they have already done so? They’d already made it into her room without her knowing, so if they had wanted her dead, she’d be dead. There’s no doubt about that.
There was a little comfort for her in using logic to decide that the person didn’t want her dead. That left her with the question of what did they really want? She didn’t want to be cynical, but someone just wanting to explain what was going on was a bit too good to be true. Oh, and how could anyone know what was going on in the first place?
She was a bit relieved, but the nervousness would, understandably, not be going away any time soon. Earlier she had the intent of telling her mother what was happening, but after seeing the note, despite her wariness, she decided it best to take the person’s advice-again, after realizing they obviously didn’t want to kill her--and not open this can of worms. She was a terrible liar anyway, which made it much worse to think about since she would be lying to her mother, something she hadn’t done since she was eight years old.
“Okay.” She relented.
“You’ll be fine. I’ll leave money for food and some extra so you can rent some movies or something. Think of it as an adventure.”
“Okay mom, I’m not five, you don’t really have to lay the warm motherly ploy so thick.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “But, extra money is always welcome!”
“Aren’t you going to be late for school?” Donna asked.
“It’s possible.” Tomorrow smiled and bent down to pick up her sneakers. She carried them over to her bed and sat, figuring she was actually putting on a pretty good show for the woman. Any nervousness that might show through would be considered a response to hearing the news of her mother’s weekend trip.
“I need to go by the store and pick some stuff up for the trip, so I’m going to leave a little early. Promise me you’ll be careful this weekend?” She gave a worried look.
“I dunno. I was thinking of hanging out on campus near the bars so that I could get raped by a hunky, no-brained frat guy after injecting heroine and mustard into my veins.” She cocked her eyes to the ceiling in a thoughtful glance.
“Well, just make sure he’s cute. No fun in getting raped by an ugly man, now is there?” Her mother smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
“You be careful too. Try not to have too much fun with those stuffy business people in Atlanta.” She finished tying her laces and hugged her mother.
“I’m thinking of hitting the bars and getting wasted while I’m there.” Her mother’s voice trailed off as she exited the room.
“Be careful with that, I don’t want any siblings!” Tomorrow smiled and grabbed her car keys from the dresser near the door.

Fiction Index