Dream Walker

By day Seth is an ordinary teen. He plays soccer in the park, rides his bike with his friends, never cleans his bedroom, and loves eating pizza. But by night Seth is something much different. Seth is someone much different.

It began shortly after his 13th birthday. The night started like any other. Mom was working her second job so Seth helped his brother and sister with their homework before making them mac-n-cheese (he had a gourmet rotation of mac, ramen, grilled cheese, and hot dogs.) Ruby and Thomas both fell asleep in front of the television trying to wait up for Mom to get home so Seth was the only one still awake when the front window lit up from headlights as the car pulled into the driveway.

"They tried to wait up again?" Mom walked through the front door and looked sadly at her sleeping children.

"Yeah," Seth yawned widely. "Thomas only lasted until 8:30 but Ruby just fell asleep about 15 minutes ago."

"I was hoping I'd be home earlier, but we had a big party come in and I had to stay to take care of them. At least I got a decent tip out of it," Mom sighed. "I wish I didn't have to work so much."

Seth hugged his mom tightly. "We know, Mom. You'd be here every night if you could."

Seth yawned again and Mom shooed him up the stairs to bed. He was so tired he didn't bother changing from his jeans and t-shirt before he flopped onto the bed. As he nestled himself into the blankets he echoed to himself Mom's wish that she wouldn't have to work so much. But he took his wish one step further, he wished his father hadn't died and left his mother with so many hospital bills and no life insurance to help pay for them. They had to take out a second mortgage to help pay for his three years of expensive dialysis while they waited for a matching kidney that never came. Mom was determined the children would get to grow up in the home they knew after Dad died so she went back to work as a nurse during the day and worked four nights a week at a restaurant to help cover everything. Seth's final thought as he drifted off to sleep was that he wished he could somehow help her more.

Just as he fell into the comforting embrace of slumber, Seth felt a peculiar tugging sensation near his navel pulling him upward. There was a loud suction sound as every molecule of his body started to tingle before he became weightless, floating in cold darkness seemingly aimlessly. It lasted several uncomfortable minutes before he felt the same tugging sensation near his navel, this time pulling him downward, followed by the same tingling and suction sound.

Seth's eyes flew open and he sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath. Early morning light was just peeking into the window enough for him to see his surroundings and he recognized nothing. Wood paneling covered the walls of the spacious bedroom. A bookshelf in the corner boasted an impressive array of old comics, still in mint condition. A poster on the wall depicted a basketball player soaring through the air with a ball clutched in one outstretched hand. Timidly, he climbed from the bed and looked out the window. There was a giant oak tree in the middle of the lawn with a tire swing. Something about it tickled the back of his mind. In the driveway sat an old fashioned green station wagon with wood paneling. Across the street was an open field with a couple of cows meandering aimlessly through it. Seth looked over at the pile of school books and papers on the corner of the dresser next to the window. There was a name scrawled on the top left corner of the papers that made Seth's heart race excitedly. He had no idea how he had gotten here but he knew exactly where he was now.

He raced out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen where he could smell bacon and pancakes cooking. There was a woman in her bathrobe with her hair in curlers busily flipping pancakes on the stove. When she turned around, her warm smile stopped Seth in his tracks. He knew her face, just a much older and sadder version of it. When the version he knew smiled, it never quite reached her eyes. They always seemed haunted by a heartache she never could let go. But this younger version was full of joy and her smile seemed to be the natural state of her lips.

"Good morning Monkey," her voice even sounded lighter. "Go get dressed and then come help me set the table, please."

Seth looked behind him to see who she was talking to but there was no one else there. She clearly saw him as someone else. He'd passed an open door to a bathroom as he came down the hall, so he went in and looked at himself in the mirror. Except, it wasn't him, not quite.

He still had slightly unruly brown hair. He still had the same hazel eyes and long slender nose. But this nose had a smattering of freckles on it. The shape of his face was just a little different too. Seth had his mother's slender oval face with her slightly pointed chin. But the face in the mirror was a little more round and the chin was more square, just like his father's. Seth took a deep breath and splashed some water on his face and looked in the mirror again. It was still unmistakably his dad looking back at him.

"Jared," the woman from the kitchen called out. "Can you also make sure Tommy is up?"

The disappointment Seth felt in realizing he was not about to see his father was quickly replaced by his excitement at finally being able to meet his Uncle Tommy, who had died when his dad was a teenager.

By process of elimination, Seth determined the other door in the hallway had to be Tommy's bedroom. He pushed the door open a crack and peeked in. There was a boy about ten asleep on the bed. Seth was stunned by the resemblance between the boy on the bed and his little brother Thomas. Seth finally understood why his grandmother would tear up every time she looked at her youngest grandson. If Thomas was a few years older, they could almost be twins.

Seth went to his bedside and gently shook his shoulder.

"Wake up Tommy," He whispered. "Grandma made pancakes for breakfast."

Tommy opened his eyes, "Grandma's here?"

"Did I say Grandma? I meant Mom." Seth laughed awkwardly.

A few minutes later, Seth and Tommy were both dressed and back in the kitchen setting the table. Seth kept stopping to watch his grandma. She seemed to be an entirely different person. She hummed happily and almost danced about the kitchen as she made breakfast. Then Grandpa came in and Seth's jaw actually dropped open when Grandpa wrapped his arms around Grandma's waist and kissed her good morning.

Seth only had a few memories of his grandfather; he had died of liver failure when Seth was only six. The memories Seth had of him were hauntingly sad. Mom was always super tense and guarded when he was around. Grandpa would grumble angrily at everyone and usually retreated into his bedroom after only a few minutes of visiting. Seth remembered his grandma and father looking at his grandfather as though they were missing the man he once had been. As Seth watched this man so full of life sit down with his family and lightheartedly tease his sons and show such loving affection to his wife, he fully understood what they had missed.

After breakfast, Seth followed Tommy to the bus stop and headed to school. After a few awkward interactions with friends his father would have known but Seth had no clue about, he finally saw a familiar face. The man Seth knew had a graying beard and the beginnings of a pot belly, but when the scrawny, pimple faced red head came toward Seth in the hall, he knew exactly who it was. There was no mistaking that impish grin. Doug Reagan had remained best friends with Jared his entire life. In the end, Doug had spent every free moment either sitting by Jared’s side in the hospital or helping around the house. It had been almost two years since his father had died, but Seth still saw Doug every week, sometimes more often. He dropped by to help Mom with things broken around the house. He and his wife would take the kids out some nights when Mom was working extra late and get them pizza. Seth’s favorite thing about Doug was that he would still talk about Jared and tell stories without getting somber and teary eyed.

Fortunately, Doug was in Jared’s class so Seth was able to follow him to the right room while they chatted. Throughout the day, Seth kept wondering why he had been brought to this day. What was he supposed to do? Did it have something to do with the wish he had made as he had fallen asleep? Or was he here just to get a glimpse of his father’s childhood?

Just after a very awkward lunch where Seth may have alienated his father’s adolescent crush unwittingly, the teacher got up and made an announcement that instantly answered all of Seth’s questions about why he had been brought to this day.

“Today you are each going to write a letter to yourself,” She began passing envelopes out to everyone. “Seal them into these envelopes and write your address on the front before passing them back to me. In 15 years I will send these letters back to each of you. Write to yourself what you hope you will remember about your dreams for the future.”

This was it. Seth’s chance to make his wish come true. If his Dad got this letter in 15 years, he would only be 28, it would be five more years before he would get sick and eight more years before he would pass away. That would be plenty of time for his father to get a decent life insurance policy so that Mom would not have to work so hard all the time.

“Dear Jared,

You have to make sure your family will be taken care of no matter what happens to you. Make sure you get a life insurance policy, a really good one, before you turn 32.”

He hoped his dad would get the letter and take it seriously, but he could not think of anything else to add to convince him. But since he was already messing with the future he decided to go for broke.

“You are going to get sick, really sick for a long time, and then you are going to leave your family. Mom works really hard to make sure we can stay in our house but she is always tired and always sad. I can’t make her sad go away but if you make sure there is a life insurance policy, then she at least won’t have to work all the time.

But I want you to know that we are okay. You were the best Dad ever and even though I miss you everyday, I just still feel so lucky that you were my Dad. You taught me to be strong and I am doing my best to be strong for Mom, Ruby, and Thomas. I love you.

Your Son, Seth”

The rest of the day Seth was on cloud nine. Maybe it would work. Maybe he was given this chance to make his Mom’s life a little easier. Maybe when he got back to his life, everything would be fixed. So he turned his focus to getting to know the Uncle he had never met. After school he helped Tommy with his homework and chores so they would have time to play Super Mario Brothers together on the NES in the living room. Later, Seth eagerly helped his grandma in the kitchen and drank in the joyful side of the woman that he never got to see. After dinner Seth volunteered to help Grandpa work on his truck so that he could get to know the man who had become nothing more than a sad shell. He was exhausted and struggling to keep his eyes open when Grandma finally sent him to bed. Reluctantly, he made his way down the hall to the bedroom that he had woken up in. He turned around to look at his Grandparents, cuddled together on the couch in front of the TV, committing the scene to his memory the best he could. As he walked past Tommy’s room, he opened the door and peeked inside, getting one final look at the Uncle he would miss in the future. Then he climbed into bed and hoped he had accomplished what he came here to do.

Just as had happened before, as he drifted into sleep Seth felt a peculiar tugging sensation near his navel pulling him upward. There was the same loud suction sound as every molecule of his body started to tingle and then he became weightless, floating in cold darkness. After several uncomfortable minutes, he again felt the tugging sensation near his navel, pulling him downward, followed by the tingling and suction sound. Seth opened his eyes expecting to be back in his bedroom. But he wasn't, at least not the room he expected.

All the stuff was his, the posters on the wall, the stuffed animals in the corner, the clothes and toys strewn across the floor. But the room was bigger than the one he shared with Thomas and none of his brother's things cluttered up the space. Suddenly, a second set of memories slid into his mind and nestled in next to the ones he had before. He remembered his Dad coming in the room when he was four with tears in his eyes and a letter in his hands. He didn't say anything to Seth, he just picked him up and held him tight. After that, there were several new memories of Dad deciding to take the kids out fishing or to play in a park instead of working on a weekend. There were also more memories of his parents leaving them with Doug and Shelby for the weekend so they could go on a little getaway. He remembered hearing a conversation between his mom and Doug after his Dad died go two different ways.

"Are you going to be okay, financially?" Doug asked in both versions of his memory.

Originally, mom had replied, "I don't know. I can go back to nursing. But there's so many bills and we didn't think we needed to worry about life insurance until it was too late. I can't make the kids move from this house after losing their Dad. It's the only place they've ever known. I just hope I can make it all work."

But now there was another, stronger memory where she replied, "Thankfully Jared decided one day eight years ago to go get a life insurance policy. I actually didn't think we could afford it, but now I'll be able to pay off the house so we don't have to move and have plenty left for the kids to go to college. He set us up really well. I'd rather have him, but at least I can focus on the kids and not worry about the money."

She paid off the house and paid to have the basement finished so Seth had his own room. She still went back to nursing, but only worked three days a week. Doug and Shelby still took the kids out when she was at work and there were still nights that Seth had to be in charge of his brother and sister. It was still hard, but everything was way better than it had been.

After that his nights were normal for a bit. But then Doug came over to help him fix his bike a couple weeks after everything changed. As usual, Doug was telling Seth a story about his Dad he wanted to make sure Seth would remember. When he finished, Seth realized he wanted to hear a story about someone else.

"Hey Doug, you knew my Dad's brother Tommy, right?" He waited for the nod. "What happened to him?"

Doug got an uncharacteristic look of sadness on his face, "That was a real tragedy, Seth. Your Grandparents used to be so fun. Your Dad's house was the hangout place for the neighborhood. Your Grandpa would take as many boys fishing on the weekend as he could fit in the bed of his truck. Your Grandma always had cookies and snacks ready to feed a herd of boys. But losing Tommy broke them. Your Grandpa started drinking to the point most of us weren't allowed over and finally he lost his job and the house. Eventually it killed him. Your Grandma forgot how to smile. She spent hours in Tommy's room, hugging his stuffed animals, crying uncontrollably. She stopped cooking and baking. No one would mention Tommy anymore. That was the worst. When your Dad got sick he made me promise I would never stop telling you kids stories about him. He didn't want his memory to become something that haunted you and no one would talk about, like Tommy."

"So what happened? Did he get sick?" Seth asked.

"No, it was a terrible accident. Your Dad and I blamed ourselves for years. There was a swimming hole we used to go to a few blocks from their house. One day Tommy wanted to go swimming but Jared and I were trying to finish a project for school. We told him to go without us and we'd be there when we were done. It was only a half hour but when we rode our bikes to the swimming hole it was too late." Doug took a deep breath and closed his eyes, gathering strength to continue. When he opened his eyes they were wet with tears and his voice cracked with emotion as he continued. "We could see Tommy floating just below the surface with blood all around him. We jumped in and pulled him out. Your Dad tried CPR while I ran to call an ambulance from the neighbors house. But he'd been dead for at least twenty minutes before we got there. There was no hope of saving him."

"Wow, that must have been terrible to go through," Seth shook his head. He couldn't help picturing the boy he'd spent a day with, so full of life and energy, suddenly gone.

"Later we found out some farmer nearby had tossed a bunch of rocks in the pond to get them out of his field. Tommy hit his head on them when he dove in."

"How old was Tommy when he died?" Seth had a funny feeling he already knew the answer.

"Tommy was ten. Your Dad and I were only your age," Doug confirmed Seth's suspicions. He had met his Uncle only a few weeks before he would pass away.

"I wish I got to know Tommy," Seth felt a single tear roll down his cheek. "But you're a pretty great uncle, even if we're not related."

That night Seth couldn't wait to go to bed. He was desperate to see if he could make one more wish come true. He laid down in bed and repeated over and over in his mind, "I wish I could know Uncle Tommy." Until finally, sleep wrapped its arms lovingly around him. Seth felt the tugging sensation near his navel pulling him upward followed by the loud suction sound as every molecule of his body started to tingle before he became weightless, floating in cold darkness for several minutes before the same tugging sensation near his navel pulled him downward. He opened his eyes and found himself in the wood paneled room with the basketball poster on the wall.

Excitedly, he leapt from the bed and raced down the hall to the kitchen. Tommy was already helping Grandma set the table. She was humming happily as she stirred the scrambled eggs she was cooking. Grandpa entered the kitchen and whistled at her. Then he looked at Seth as though he'd grown an extra head.

"Everything okay Jared?"

Seth realized he had started to cry and rubbed his eyes, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just got something in my eye."

Seth drank in every detail of that breakfast. He enjoyed his Grandpa's jokes and his Grandma's fussing. But mostly, he enjoyed listening to Tommy tell his story of what had happened at school the previous day and regale them with his plans for the weekend. After a mostly uneventful day at school, Seth planned to spend the evening playing games with Tommy as he had done the last time he was here. But they were just getting started when Doug came in asking for help with some homework. Seth reluctantly stopped his game and started working on homework with Doug while Tommy played the NES alone. After a bit, Seth had to go to the bathroom and when he got back he saw Doug was alone.

"Where's Tommy?" Seth asked as he entered the room.

"He decided he wanted to go swimming. I told him we'd join him when we finished," Doug explained.

A block of ice landed in Seth's stomach. "He went swimming by himself? No, we've got to go with him. We'll finish later."

Doug shrugged his shoulders and closed his books. Seth ran out the front door and grabbed his bike. Unfortunately, he had to wait for Doug since he had never been to the swimming hole. But Doug wasn't panicked like he was so he was meandering out the door at a normal teenage boy pace.

Thinking quickly on his feet Seth shouted, "Let's race there. Last one buys sodas on the way home!"

That got Doug moving; he jumped onto his bike and took off like a bullet. Seth pedaled as fast as he could without getting ahead of Doug. They rounded a corner to a street lined with trees and then Doug turned onto a dirt path. In the distance, Seth could see Tommy's bike laying on its side in the grass, but there was no sign of Tommy. He picked up the pace and quickly overtook Doug. As he got to the edge of the pond he could see Tommy floating face down with blood pooling around his head. Seth vaulted from his bike into the pond, tears streaking his face. He heard someone shrieking and realized it was himself. He wrapped his arms around Tommy and started dragging him through the water. A few seconds later Doug was at his side, pulling Tommy with him.

As soon as they were on dry land Seth shouted, "Go get help!" He couldn't believe he was too late. Why didn't he get here in time? Unwilling to give up, Seth remembered the first aid training he had in Scouts a few months earlier and began checking for a pulse. To his relief he found one, weak and unsteady but there. Tommy coughed out a bit of water and took some very labored breaths, but remained unconscious. Seth pulled off his shirt and held it against the gash on his Uncle's head and waited for help to arrive. The seconds dragged on but finally he saw flashing lights as an ambulance rounded the corner.

The paramedics pried Tommy out of Seth's arms and loaded him into the ambulance. A kind police officer put Seth and Doug in his car and followed the ambulance to the hospital where their parents eventually joined them in the waiting room. Seth watched his Grandparents cling to each other's hand as they waited. Finally, a doctor came out and approached them.

"Well, these two boys saved Tommy's life," He smiled. "You must have gotten to him right after he hit his head. He had a little water in his lungs and it's going to be a bit before it clears up, but it should be no worse than a mild case of pneumonia. His MRI shows no internal bleeding from the hit on his head so he should be fine there. He'll just have a nasty scar on his noggin."

"I'm okay with a scar," Grandma cried. "Is he awake?"

"No, but I expect he'll wake up soon. You can go in and see him now." The doctor pointed to Tommy's room.

As his Grandparents entered Tommy's room, Doug grabbed Seth's shoulder and pulled him aside. "You knew something was going to happen, didn't you? How did you know?"

"I just got a really bad feeling when you said he went swimming." Seth shrugged.

Doug shook his head, "I don't know, there's something different about you today."

Seth wanted to tell him, but he didn't know if he should. He looked into the eyes of the boy who would become the only man he trusted as much as his own father and began telling his story. "One day my Dad's best friend told me about the day they couldn't save his little brother from drowning. When I woke up the next day, I wasn't me anymore. I was my Dad. And when you told me my uncle had gone swimming alone, I realized it was the day Tommy was going to die."

Doug laughed nervously, "You're telling me you're Jared's future son?"

"Yep and we just changed the future," Seth smiled.

"I almost believe you," He shook his head.

"Well, you should. My name is Seth and I'm named after you. You are like an uncle to me."

Doug's face went pale, "I never told you my middle name was Seth."

"Well apparently you told my Dad eventually 'cause he named me after you. You were his best man at his wedding and he was your best man when you married Shelby."

"I never told you I have a crush on Shelby," Doug's eyes got wide. "Wait, how do you even know about Shelby? She lives by my grandparents."

"Jared," Grandma poked her head out of Tommy's door. "He's awake. Do you want to come see him?"

Seth smiled coyly at the stunned look on Doug's face then walked into Tommy's room. The rest of the night was full of tears, relief, and hugs as everyone realized what disaster had been averted. Eventually, Doug's parents said goodnight and took him home. Seth sat in an uncomfortable chair at Tommy’s bedside until finally his eyes grew too heavy and he slipped off to sleep. He barely noticed the tugging sensation and the weird suction noise. This time the cold darkness felt comforting and when he felt himself tugged back down he didn't immediately open his eyes, he drifted into a deeper dreamless sleep.

He woke to a gentle shake of his shoulder and the feel of someone tussling his hair. A familiar voice called his name and it was a few seconds before Seth was awake enough to realize it was impossible to hear that voice.

"Dad?" He opened his eyes and saw his father's smiling face looking down at him. "You're here?"

He wrapped his arms around his Dad's neck as tight as he could and wept like a baby. Slowly new memories slid into his mind snuggling in with his old memories. There were memories of Grandma and Grandpa throwing parties at the house with the tire swing on the old oak tree in the front yard. Grandma still smiled and hummed while she baked cookies. Grandpa took the grandkids on adventures and teased them. Grandpa never drank or got sick and he was still alive. There were memories of Uncle Tommy, his wife Karen, and their children. Seth had cousins now. But the loudest memory of all, the day they found out Uncle Tommy was a match and he could give Dad a kidney. The day Tommy finally paid Dad back for saving his life all those years ago.

"I remember both ways too," Dad whispered through his own tears. "I remember how my life went when Tommy died. I remember having to leave you. But you saved us both! You saved our whole family."

After that, Seth learned he had a special ability. Doug had researched it for years, shared his findings with Jared and the two of them helped Seth learn to control his ability. So by day, Seth is an ordinary teenage boy. But by night Seth is a hero in the form of a dream walker, slipping into someone else’s past in the moment that everything went wrong and making things right again. But no matter how many lives he fixes, his favorite will always be the first.