Chapter 1—HOW IT HAPPENED

The day was hot and warm. The sun was heating up the pickup truck. The green leaves were changing from light to dark, as the season seemed to be overcome with color.

A young woman was driving east on Denison-Chattaroy Road. Making her way from highway 395. Just a few miles south of Deer Park, Washington. She was heading home from Spokane Community College. Where she was a student, from her long day of schooling.

She had just turned into her driveway. Surrounded by pine and aspen trees. To her, it was full of life, during the last days of May. Lyra Luhr loved spring/summer months the most of all, over other seasons.

She drove to the right, where she parked her blue Ford Ranger. Lyra opened the truck door, grabbed her backpack, and headed towards the house. As she was heading towards the house. A white single-story house with dark blue trim, Lyra heard barking as she has gotten closer.

"I'm coming, Fred." Lyra smiled.

The young woman put her backpack on the ground and made her way to the fenced in area. Where her family dog Fred was barking at her from. He was a mix breed of a Border collie and Rottweiler. Fred had the coloring of a Rottweiler but had the face and long hair of the Border collie. Even though he may be a big dog, he had an even larger heart, when he was around Lyra and her mother.

Lyra let Fred out, who ran around her a couple of times, and then he ran towards the front door, where he wanted to be let in. She ran after her beloved dog, laughing. She grabbed her backpack and headed to the front door, where she unlocked it and went into the house.

She took her small wallet out of her back pocket. A cell phone from another pocket and turned it off, and place both in a cupboard and her keys.

The cupboard was next to the front door, next to the living room. Next to the living room was the kitchen.

Then down the hall was her mother's room. On the other side of the hallway was her room, then the bathroom between the two bedrooms.

All the walls were an off-white color. A marshmallow type of white. Along with paintings decorating the walls with a few family photos here and there.

Lyra found herself in a country kitchen, where she had made herself a sandwich. A snack before dinner.

The kitchen had its modern-day refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, toaster oven, and wooden cupboards. But what makes it a country kitchen was its wooden looking salad bowls. Her mother has used them to hold nails, notes, glasses, and other odds and ends.

Inside the cupboards are where her mother would have typed up notes of Bible verses. Things to remember to live by important recipes like brownies that were the best. Her mother loved to cook. Along with notes, phone numbers of friends and family.

There were even notes upon the stove, either for Lyra's mom or for her to do something at a certain time. Like bringing the meat out of the refrigerator. Meds for the animals that they need to have, or other things that were important to do.

Once Lyra had gotten her sandwich, she moved back into the living room and sat before the TV. Where she turned on to channel 7, which was PBS. Where she learned that Nova was showing something that she was learning in school. A fragment on the Missoula flood.

Earlier that day. She was learning in class about the end of the last ice age, Glacier Lake. How it had burst open and flooded parts of Montana, Idaho, and Eastern Washington. Making the Columbia River Gorge.

The show helped Lyra to see the magnitude of the flood with computer diagrams that they showed. It was much better than just hearing her teacher talking about it with some maps.

She loved history, but it always seemed, black and white. It had no expression and no real solid information on what it was like during that time, period.

Lyra had wished a while that she wanted to experience life of the past. Seeing life how it was like at that time and see for herself that it was not so black and white.

None of her teachers could ever explain what history was like. Nor would they provide what they had believed had happened and what it had looked like in their own minds. She had a problem with her teachers not providing more than what the text tells them.

Once the show was over with. Lyra glanced at the anniversary clock and saw the time. She changed the channel to CBS news just as her mother was walking into the house. "Lyra, come help bring in the groceries, will you?"

"Yes, mom," answered Lyra.

She had gotten up and out of the door, to do what her mother wanted her to do. She went to the burnt orange colored Chevy Blazer. And picked up a fifty-pound bag of dog food from the back and swung it over her shoulder and headed towards the house.

"Lyra,” exclaimed her mother. “Let me help you.”

With a grunt, Lyra answered her mother by saying, "Just open the door, mom." As she walked up the steps towards the house. Her mother opened the door and then went to the closet door and opened it as well. Where Lyra carried the dog food into the closet and set it upon the floor and moved back into the living room.

"Well, thank you sweetie, but you are going to throw your back out one of these days."

Lyra smiled. “Sorry, mom. But if I am able to carry fifty pounds of dog food for you to where you are not going to end up hurting yourself, then I am going to do it." She looked around for a moment, "Now, is there anything else you need help with?"

"No, but I must ask. How are you able to carry that much weight when I know you don't work out in a gym?"

Lyra hated working out; if she was not walking in the woods, then it was not worthwhile to work out in a gym. She hated the fact that everyone wanted to work out at the same time, every day.

Lyra had a thing against physical education. While heavy set children were exposed to the world of their flab. While others were looking at them like they were animals. She had experienced it in high school, she really did not want to deal with it while in college too.

"That is easy mom, I carry a backpack full of books on a daily basis. Somewhere between three or five books. Which can have all of them ending up with a total close to sixty pounds.” Lyra smiled. 'Sometimes the books can go up to eighty pounds. Depending on certain quarters at school.'

She had wondered more than once. If schools were going to get a device to allow students to read something that was lightweight. To where the students would not have to worry about the backbreaking weight. It would be much simpler for everyone.

"Okay, sassy; I can see what you are saying now," sighed Jane Luhr. "You are your father's child. He was a strong man, from his time bucking hay on his grandparents’ ranch. Which then became his parents’ ranch."

The mother sighed deeply, almost not wanting to talk about it. "The last thing I remembered about him. He was able to carry up to five hundred pounds. Where he was able to throw ten strong men off him, when a few guys from his work we're playing around."

Lyra gave her mother a small smile. She enjoyed some of the stories that her mother had told her about her father. But it might as well have been a different time, altogether. Her father was not dead by any means, just not part of her life anymore.

"Oh, speaking about work," her mother went on, "I need you to follow me to the car shop and take me to work, please. I need to have an oil change done."

Jane was working at a call center, where doctor offices would call in and ask for help with their computers. Lyra was able to come in after school and do her homework at an empty desk. She was also able to talk to some IT guys, at the other end of the building. Watching them as they were rebuilding computers.

Her favorite was a forty-year-old guy, by the name of Dave. He made learning about technology fun with his stories and jokes. But he was serious about the equipment that he handled. Nearly everyone at Jane's work was an aunt or uncle to Lyra; it was a very caring place to be around.

During 9/11, Dave had pulled Lyra away from her mother to watch at the TV screen. It was where she saw parts of the country being burnt up in flames. Lyra was there to drop her mother off at work, she had just stepped into building to use the bathroom. It was when she found out the country was in trouble. It was something that no one would forget out, not anytime soon.

Lyra answered her mother, "Yeah, I can do that. I do not have anything planned with crowd control or Charlie, so yeah. I can hang out at your work, tomorrow."

Lyra worked at a part-time job for a local crowd control company. Where she was working around singers, Broadway performers, and dancers. Her job consisted of taking people's tickets, checking their IDs, ushering them to their seats, and guarding the backstage door.

Charlie was a female friend of hers, from her time at Riverside High School in Chattaroy, Washington area where she had met her southern friend, who stood at five foot two with a toothpick figure, long flowing black hair, and deep brown eyes. When she had first met her, all the guys at the school had fallen for Charlie, and Lyra was being picked on by bullies.

The reason that she was being picked on, was because of her non-model size figure. Then one day, all the bullying had stopped, and Lyra had no idea that it was because of Charlie. The two girls had ended up wanting to fight. Not realizing Charlie really wanted to be Lyra's friend. It was during that time that she was questioning everything. She was only tired of the lies that people had told her.

Jane had spoken up while Lyra was deep in thought. "Thanks, I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes."

"Okay," answered the young woman as she tried to shake the fog from her mind and focus on what was going on around her.

While Jane was busy making dinner in the kitchen. Lyra was watching the news. A local meteorologist came upon the TV screen saying, "Hello ,everyone. It was a nice, lovely weather today with all that sun for the flowers. But the map shows that we will be getting some thunderstorms up in the northern part of Spokane County. Traveling into Stevens County moving and into northern Idaho and Canada tonight. But tomorrow looks like it will be sunny with a chance of scattered showers…"

"Mom, it looks like we're having a thunderstorm tonight," Lyra told her mother.

"What about tomorrow?" Jane asked.

"Sunny with a bit of rain," yelled back Lyra. Jane came into the living room with a plate of Chinese food and milk for Lyra who took the plate and glass and put them beside her on the tray. "Thank you, mom."

"You're welcome. Well, I am going to have to drag out my umbrella before, I go to bed tonight. You need to find yours as well before we leave tomorrow."

"Yes, mom," answered Lyra automatically. She knew not to argue with her mom. Even though she could wear one of her windbreaker jackets with a hoodie.

"Well, eat up while the food is still hot. You're going to have to go to bed a little earlier than normal," said Jane as she was walking away to get to her own food.

Time passed since the women had their dinner. Watching a few television shows until it was time for bed. Which happened to be around nine o’clock that night.

Lyra had gone into her bedroom, where she changed into a white silk nightdress that came down to her knees. There were three roses, stitched across the neckline. Along with a blue ribbon across the waistline. Around Lyra’s room, it looked like it belonged to a country girl. There were pictures of horses, dream catchers, a few pictures of her through the ages.

Along with all other things. There was a full-size bed, dresser, and bookcase. Which was full of pictures, knick-knacks, and a few books. Lyra had pulled back her sky-blue blanket, a medium-colored blue under blanket, and a full sheet of roses.

She pulled everything back and climbed into bed. As she laid her head upon the pillow. Lyra heard Fred lying down next to her doorway, who seemed to guard her every night. She heard a great sigh, from her dog.

"Goodnight, Fred," Lyra called out to him. Just as she had closed her eyes, she heard the distance rolling of thunder coming into the area.

***

A man had been watching the house for some time. When he had noticed that the young woman had gone to her bedroom for the night, he did not have to wait long. He saw that the lights had turned off and heard her saying goodnight to the dog.

Not only that, but he had been hiding in the shadows of the woods. "It's time," he spoke to the surrounding darkness. He made his way towards the house; waiting for the rolling thunder that was progressing its way in.

"It's time for moving across time."

***

After a few moments, the sound of thunder was coming closer at an alarming speed towards the Luhr house, which was placed half in the forest and the other half in the clearing. Lyra’s side of the house was in the clearing.

Lyra opened her eyes for a second just as a great big flash of light had lightened up her room. Once the light was gone, a great sounding thunder shook the house, causing the dog to run into Lyra's room and find her gone. Fred started barking.

"Lyra," called out her mother as she tried to find her daughter. She looked so very scared, for she found no evidence of her child anywhere. "Fred, where is Lyra?" asked Jane.

Fred's only answer was jumping up on Lyra's bed and barking out the window, where Jane saw that it had broken glass as tears fell upon her aged cheeks.

To Jane, the world might as well have ended, for her only child had been taken from her. She fell upon the floor. Hoping and wishing that this were a nightmare. Because she hated the feeling of a broken heart that she was experiencing. She also hoped that God was watching over her little girl, for she feared for her safety.

She called out, “GOD, WHY?” Jane gasped as she was trying to find the energy to yell some more. “GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

The only replied she got was the sounds of thunder and a dog barking. They were the only answers to her troubles as the rain and wind made their way into the broken window. With a heartbreaking wail, Jane fell upon the floor.

“PLEASE,” cried a desperate sounding Jane. “Protect her.” She raised her head to where she could see out the window. Even though the dog was still there barking into the night.

“PROTECT HER!”

The only sound that answered her pleas besides the sound of Fred barking his heart out was the sound of thunder that was making its way out of the area.