The Children Who Time Lost by Marvin Amazon Page A

light ran up and down it. Then it started to open. The rumbling grew louder and louder. The gap that appeared a few seconds later was easily ten feet high and wide enough to fit two large men. She stepped beside it and extended her right hand.
    “Rachel Harris, please go through and claim your child.”
    I looked through the gap. I saw a faint light and heard female voices. I stared at her. She still held her hand out. The haunting smile hadn’t left her face either. I nodded at her and stepped in.

Chapter Eight

    Chapter Eight

    I ’d taken five steps before I heard a thud. I looked back to see that the opening had disappeared. The woman wasn’t there either. More voices came, and I turned around. Lights started coming on all around me until the whole room was lighted. I continued telling myself I wasn’t dreaming. I was walking around in 2108.
    I was in some kind of waiting room where large floating curved chairs with no legs—at least two feet in the air—were in the corners. I counted twelve women around the two chairs directly in front of me. Seven sat down. The rest stood. They all glanced at me briefly and then looked away. Some held their gazes for a few seconds, but that was it. Thank god. They don’t recognize me.
    To my left were four tall Chinese women. Two Indian women also sat on the same chair. They were beautiful. Their eyes looked hazel in the light. I guessed it was Asia. The chair beside them had two blond women and four brunettes. But they mostly looked Caucasian, with some Spanish-looking. It was either Europe or America. I looked each woman in the eye, but neither Amelia nor Monique was there. It was definitely Europe.
    I walked between the chairs and smiled at one of the brunettes. She looked at me with anything but friendly eyes. Then she continued her conversation with one of the blond women. The women spoke only to the others on their chair.
    I stepped onto a glass platform that felt much sturdier than it looked. Then I approached the other chairs, five yards away. I walked past a chair on my right with eight black women. Two were fair-skinned. Africa, perhaps. The segregation continued like that as I searched for Monique and Amelia. I walked toward a chair in a corner and saw a number of white and black women interspersed with each other. I heard one speaking patois. Caribbean Islands?
    Beside them in a slightly higher chair were a number of blond women in close proximity to each other. Perhaps this was America. A number of black women then came into view, but they didn’t dress like black people did in America. They wore far less clothing than most, as well as headbands, necklaces and bracelets. I couldn’t place them. I had already seen what I thought was Africa and the Caribbean Islands. I squinted and then it hit me. Of course! Aborigines. This must be Australasia.
    I stopped walking when I saw two Hispanic-looking women talking. They stared at me and whispered to each other. I looked at the other women on the chair. Their gazes all seemed to be fixed on me. I’d just finished counting fifteen women on this chair when I heard my name whispered.
    I squinted until I noticed Amelia waving in my direction. I smiled and rushed around the crowd of women toward her. Amelia embraced me tightly, and Monique rose and joined in the hug.
    “How weird is all this?” Amelia said. “I feel like I’m in school, waiting to get called into the principal’s office.”
    I smiled and looked at the other women on our chair. They no longer focused on me but now talked in small groups, oblivious to anyone around them. I guessed the same could have been said of us.
    “How freaky were those corridors earlier?” Amelia squeezed my wrist.
    I turned and looked at her.
    “After you walked down the corridor,” she said, “this freaky woman came out.”
    “You saw her, too?” I said.
    “Yes. A blond woman. Really evil eyes.”
    I half-laughed. “She was so scary. She kept asking me questions. It’s as