Into the Beyond Books 1-3

I'm losing my mind, thought Lewis. There was no way Mr. Gray could be real. The two-foot-tall creature followed behind him spryly as he quietly opened his bedroom door and walked downstairs to the kitchen to retrieve the requested snack.

"Sugar cubes."

Definitely losing my mind. Mr. Gray had to be a figment of his imagination. The creatures brown shoes, laced tight to his tiny feet, made no sound as he walked. He seemed perfectly comfortable wandering through Lewis's house, uninvited as he was. He was too small to walk down the stairs with a normal stride. He hopped between steps, one at a time, landings softly on each of the carpeted surfaces until he was finally at the bottom. Lewis watched him curiously. Funny little guy, he thought. He probably would have been more concerned with the situation had he not been certain Mr. Gray was only in his head.

Once in the kitchen, Lewis pointed to the jar by the coffeemaker that held the sugar. Mr. Gray lifted his hands above his head like a toddler, requesting a lift up onto the counter. Lewis bent down apprehensively. He half-expected his hands to pass right through the creature when he tried to grab him, but he was, in fact, solid. He weighed less than the Graham family's large orange tabby cat, Melon. His patchwork jacket was soft to the touch. He placed Mr. Gray down next to the sugar jar and watched with amusement as his slender fingers quickly opened the container and began to rummage around inside. He retrieved a cube, looked it over carefully, and then placed it into his jacket pocket. It filled his pocket, leaving a large lump visible at his side. He then went back in to grab another one to munch on.

"Hey," came a whisper from behind him.

Lewis jumped. He spun around to find his sister, Jenny, at the base of the stairs, staring at him, sleepy-eyed.

"What was that noise?" she asked. Jenny was one year younger than Lewis, but she had never acted like a typical little sister. She was bossy.

Lewis's eyes shifted back to Mr. Gray, still munching away happily on his sugar cube. "She can't see or hear me either," he said between bites. "Only you can."

Lewis looked back at Jenny. He didn't know how to answer his sister's question. "A tiny creature blew out my window." He knew he sounded absurd.

Jenny stared back at him, unblinking. "You are so weird," she said. "I love you, but you should really try not to say stuff like that. Not around anyone anyway. No one's going to want to be friends with you if you're weird."

It was sad to Lewis that his little sister was giving him advice on making friends. She would be starting as a freshman. He should have been giving her the pep talk. She must have seen the downtrodden look that fell across his face.

"It'll be okay," she said as she walked over to him, "it's a new year. A new chance to make a good first impression. If you start being more social now, people will come around." She placed a consoling hand on his shoulder before glancing over at the open sugar jar. She picked up the lid, sitting on the counter beside Mr. Gray, and placed it back on top of the jar before grabbing a glass from out of the cupboard and filling it with water at the sink. "Just try to avoid Landon. If people see him picking on you, it might set the tone for everyone else for the whole year again." Jenny flashed him a sad smile before disappearing back upstairs to her room.

"Don't worry about Landon today," Mr. Gray added after Jenny was gone. "Once you do everything I say, you have a much better day than him." It was perplexing to hear Mr. Gray talk as if the day had already happened.

The flap of the cat door opening sounded from down the hallway. Mr. Gray's head turned sharply. His black, stringy hair flipped to one side of his head. Melon, probably thinking Lewis was his father, came trotting down the hall into the kitchen to his food bowl. The cat stopped short of his bowl, immediately taking notice of Mr. Gray, perched high on the counter. Mr. Gray stared back guardedly. Melon took a slow step forward, inching closer. Lewis could see the tension growing in Mr. Gray's body as Melon lowered his hindquarters to the floor, readying to pounce.

With a surprisingly graceful leap for the large cat, Melon hopped up onto the counter, directly on top of Mr. Gray before he could react. Mr. Gray screeched horribly as Melon flattened him to the counter. For a moment, Lewis was worried Melon intended to bite Mr. Gray, but his concerns dissolved immediately once Melon began tenderly licking the creature's alabaster face instead of sinking in his teeth.

"Get him off of me!" Mr. Gray cried out.

Lewis had to hold back his laughter. Apparently he wasn't the only one who could see Mr. Gray after all. The confirmation that Mr. Gray was real sent a shiver down his spine. He reached over and nudged Melon with the back of his hand until the cat stepped off Mr. Gray with a disgruntled meow.

"Horrible creature," Mr. Gray spat. "You leave me alone!" Mr. Gray hopped down from the counter unaided. He landed softly on his feet and then scampered quickly over to the stairs. Lewis followed behind him, leaving Melon alone in the kitchen. Mr. Gray struggled to climb several of the steps before Lewis scooped him up and carried him the rest of the way back to his room.

He stepped carefully over a squeaky patch in the floor in front of his parents' room. He didn't want to get in any more trouble by waking his father again. He moved as quietly as possibly to his open door and slipped inside.

"You were talking about my destiny?" Lewis prompted after placing Mr. Gray back down and closing his door.

Mr. Gray waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about that yet," he said. "I will keep you on track – just do everything I tell you."

Lewis nodded slowly, completely unsatisfied with the answer. "So you're a fate? Like the three fates of Greek mythology?"

"Yes, yes," said Mr. Gray, "they are my kind. We guide humans from time to time to keep everything running smoothly. Immortals visit your realm more frequently back then." Mr. Gray walked over to Lewis's backpack and unzipped it without giving any explanation. He removed a binder and pencil pouch and tossed them both aside with a tiny grunt.

"What are you doing?" asked Lewis.

Mr. Gray ignored the inquiry as he stepped into the backpack and sat down. "Wake me when you get to school," he said. He reached a hand out and zipped the bag most of the way shut before retracting his fingers back through the opening. The dismissal was final.

Lewis still wasn't certain that he wasn't going insane. His head ached where he bashed it on the dresser. Maybe Mr. Gray was just a night terror lingering around extra long because of the head trauma. It didn't really make sense, but Lewis didn't know what else to think.

There was an hour left before he needed to get up for school, so he turned out the light and got back in bed. He glanced over at his backpack. He could just make out one of the creature's red eyes peeking at him through an inch-wide opening.

Another shiver ran down his spine.

The eye withdrew as Mr. Gray settled down deeper into the bag. Lewis stared at his backpack for several minutes before turning over to face the wall. It was a bit disconcerting knowing he wasn't alone in his room. He didn't even let Melon in at night. His room was the only place where he got to withdraw from everyone and everything. His safe place had been invaded. As creepy looking as the strange creature was, he seemed harmless enough, at least.

Although Lewis had no expectation of being able to fall back asleep, short on rest, he soon felt his eyelids growing heavy, and before he knew it, he'd somehow managed to drift off again.

***

Lewis woke up, yawning as his mom, Betty, knocked on his door.

"Time to get ready for your first day of school!" she said enthusiastically from out in the hall.

Lewis rolled over. "I'm awake," he said groggily. His dreams had been so vivid.

A breeze blustered into the room and rustled his hair. His eyes shot across the room to the busted out window.

Mr. Gray... he can't have been real....

He hopped out of bed and ran over to his backpack. His hands were shaking slightly as he slowly shifted the zipper open and peered inside.

Empty.

A wave of relief washed over him. Only his school supplies were present.

It must have all been a crazy dream....

He couldn't explain the broken window, but with no Mr. Gray present, it must have all been in his head.