Mind Gap by Marina Cohen

Author:Marina Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2011-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jake waved a hand in front of Cole’s face. The guy didn’t flinch. Instead, Cole looked away. He glanced at the door, as though he was expecting someone to walk in any second.

“Cole, quit messin’ with me. Say something.”

No response.

Something wasn’t right. Jake’s heart shifted into overdrive. He could feel it revving in his chest.

Cole picked up his phone and checked the time. He gazed at the door again.

“Cole!” Jake shouted. “What’s your problem? Talk to me, man!”

Cole’s thumbs danced across the keys on his phone. Was he going to play another game?

“What are you doing?” demanded Jake, his pitch rising as panic grabbed his throat and squeezed.

In that same second Jake’s phone buzzed. He froze, his eyes widening like canyons. With trembling hands he pulled the cell out of his pocket and peered at the screen. Jake’s knees buckled. The coffee shop began to spin. Cole had sent him a text.

What’s taking you?

Jake gulped down the bitterness that rose into his throat. He found his voice but managed only a thin whisper. “If this is your idea of a joke, it’s not funny.”

Cole placed his phone on the table. He glanced at the door once more, then leaned back in his chair and yawned.

The world around Jake cracked and crumbled. Either Cole was messing with his mind or …

No! Jake squeezed the thought into an iron box in his mind and bolted it shut, but it forced its way back out. His mother wasn’t talking to him. The guys in the elevator didn’t see him. Mr. Borrelli nearly ran him over.

Standing up, Jake took a step backward. No, he told himself. He refused to let his mind go there. Instead, Jake moved toward Cole and grabbed the guy’s shoulder. He could feel it — the bone, the flesh, the muscle. Cole was real. But Cole didn’t move. He didn’t seem to feel Jake’s hand. He didn’t seem to see Jake. How was that possible?

Jake tried to shove Cole, but he couldn’t budge him. He threw his whole weight forward, both hands pushing as hard as he could against Cole’s back, but Cole was a cast-iron statue.

Cole reached forward and picked up his doughnut. Jake tried to stop him. He tried to yank his arm down, but it was impossible. It was as if they were both made of totally different substances, completely different matter. Or maybe different states of matter, as if Cole were solid and Jake were gas. Or maybe they existed in entirely separate dimensions. Alternate realities.

Losing it, Jake balled his fist and punched Cole’s shoulder as hard as he could. A searing pain raced through his knuckles, as if he’d just struck a tank. Cole went on eating, though, oblivious to Jake’s attempts to reach him.

Jake screamed at the top of his lungs, “What’s happening to me?” He spun around and around, but no one in the coffee shop took any notice of him. Not Cole. Not the lady behind the counter. None of the other customers.

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