The Bringer

by Jennifer Park

  They ran over to the door and Jerom grabbed the knob and pulled. He poked his head out and looked both ways.

  “Hey, how’d you…” He cut her off with a, “Quiet. Later,” and dragged her down the hall to the other door she had seen earlier when she had looked through the window. There was another one of those numbered keypads on the wall next to the door and Jerom placed his hand over the keypad and closed his eyes. Brynn felt totally exposed, but the adrenalin running through her body was quite a rush. She was turning into a danger junkie.

  The door made a buzzing sound and then released toward them. Sunlight slanted through at them and they stepped outside. Then Jerom pulled the door closed behind them. They were behind the station, in a parking lot full of garbage dumpsters. Jerom took her hand and they jogged down between the back side of several retail stores and a restaurant. “If we stick to the back streets until we get out of town, we’ll probably be okay.”

  They got a couple of streets away from the police station before Jerom let them slow to a fast walk. They found themselves in the alley of a neighborhood. Jerom kept looking over or through the fences into the backyards of the houses that they passed. Eventually, he found what he was looking for in the middle of the neighborhood. He grunted and stopped.

  “There are a couple of bikes here in this backyard. I don’t think anyone is home. Do you see a gate?” he said as he looked down the fence.

  “We’re going to commit grand theft bicycle? Are you sure that’s a good idea. So far, we really haven’t done anything wrong, except spoil a barbecue,” she whispered.

  “We’re just going to borrow the bikes. We’ll leave them at the edge of town.”

  “Okay, that makes me feel so much better.”

  He just gave her hand a quick squeeze and then dragged her through the gate and into the backyard. There were a couple of mountain bikes up on the patio behind the house.

  "We'll stick to the alleys. On the bikes we should be able to get through town pretty quickly," he said.

  They hadn’t heard any sounds of pursuit by the time they reached the outskirts of the little town. Jerom stopped, got off his bike and leaned it against a drug store building, so Brynn did the same.

  “Let’s head across the street and down that road, it looks pretty rural.” He took her hand and they started walking. After about a mile the houses had several acres between them. "Oh, look horses," Brynn pointed, "and sheep too. Are those chickens in that side yard?" They both stretched around to see.

  "That's kind of nice actually," responded Jerom.

  "Hard to believe that we're trying to find a girl carried off by a flying demon."

  “Do you hear that?”

  “No, oh, wait, yeah, a siren,” she said.

  “We’ve got to get off this road, out of sight.” They walked down between two properties, toward the back, behind the houses. They were soon hidden from the road by all the bushes and trees and when they got to the back of the property they walked in the little gully where the land sloped up to a canal bank. There was a line of trees that separated them from the neighbor’s backyards. They crouched down under the low hanging branches of a tree as the wail of a siren passed by.

  "Let's wait a couple of minutes and see if they send another police car after us," Jerom said.

  "Well, while we're waiting why don't you tell me how you got the interrogation room door to stay open since that keypad thingy was on the other side."

  “Oh, yeah, that.” He squeezed her hand and gave her an arrogant little grin. “When the cop came in I made a little ball of air and stuck it in the doorjamb so the door couldn’t close all the way. All I had to do was push.” He pantomimed grabbing the doorknob and pushing then shrugged his shoulders in a “no big deal” kind of way.

  “You’re good. I felt you do something but I didn’t know what it was.”

  “You were pretty impressive yourself pulling the chair out from under him.” Brynn shrugged her shoulders too.

  Chapter 38

  It took them another hour of walking before Jerom felt safe that they had gotten away. They had stayed on the the little dirt road that ran next to the canal bank. They had walked next to a few small farms but mostly the properties were expensive homes on acreage.

  “Let’s stop for a second.” Jerom pointed to a large house. “I think this place will work,”

  “For what?”

  “Lunch. I’m starving.”

  There didn’t seem to be anyone around that she could sense. They scurried from tree to bush until they got to the back patio of the house.

  "I feel like a spy. What are we doing?" Brynn asked.

  "We're just going to grab a bite," said Jerom as he focused on the lock and they were inside. The house looked like something out of a magazine. Brynn noticed floral patterned oversized sofas, dark wood tables and plants everywhere as they made their way to the kitchen.

  They found a fresh loaf of bread, peanut butter and jam and started making sandwiches. Jerom laid out the whole loaf by slices on the counter.

  “I’m hungry, but I don’t think I can eat that much,” she stared at the spread before them.

  “We can eat some now, and some more for dinner.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “You know, this is kind of like our first date.”

  “You have an interesting idea of what a first date is.”

  “Next time, we should go to a movie too.”

  She’d never been on a date before because she lived out in the middle of nowhere with overprotective parents. Maybe they weren’t so overprotective, but anyway, she liked the idea of a date, even if it was pb&j on the run, and she really liked the idea of a second date…with him.

  “I feel kind of bad taking their food and not paying them for it,” she said.

  “I know what you mean, but maybe we’ll be able to pay them back sometime.”

  They packed the sandwiches back into the plastic bag the bread came in and washed down the counters and the knives they used. They left by the back door which Jerom locked and then they snuck back the way they came, by ducking behind trees and bushes until they got back to the canal bank.

  Chapter 39

  Brynn startled awake realizing that she had fallen asleep while walking. She looked around to make sure they were alone then stretched her arms up over her head yawning.

  “You ready to stop for the night?” Jerom pulled his shirt up and wiped his face.

  “Um, hmmm. We’ve been walking for hours. I haven’t seen a farmer for a while,” she gestured lazily flicking her hand out at the fields, “maybe they all went home to do what farmers do when they aren’t out here doing whatever they do.”

  “You mean like growing stuff?”

  “Yeah, grow stuff. Like, how do they do that? I mean, doesn’t stuff just grow by itself? What do farmers do?” she stumbled over a stone and into Jerom.

  He steadied her and put an arm around her, leaning in, “I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t grow if you don’t watch it or something.”

  Brynn found this incredibly funny and had to hold on to him to stop from falling over. Overbalanced and exhausted Jerom’s knees buckled and they ended up in a pile on the dirt road they had been walking down.

  “I think it’s definitely time to stop for the night,” he added laughing into her hair that had somehow found itself across his face. He brushed it off his face and back behind her ear as she turned to look up at him.

  “Here?” she asked.

  “Here what?”

  “Here on this road?” she patted the road.

  “Huh?”

  “Sleep?”

  “Oh,” he caught on to what she was asking. “No, haystack.”

  She looked around trying to find a haystack. “Oh, haystack. Nice.”

  “You’re wasted, come on,” he pulled her to her feet and almost stumbled over backward.

  “I’m not the only one,” she pulled him back upright and they wandered over to a pile of hay in a field. The
big country homes had mostly transitioned into small farms and by evening into larger commercial farms.

  Brynn pushed on it with her foot, “What do we do now, just jump in?”

  It was mounded up about six feet tall and every time she poked at it with her foot a few stray pieces of hay sifted down.

  Jerom pulled out several armfuls and started arranging them into a long rectangle, “This is more what I had in mind.”

  Brynn, feeling a bit more alert now pushed her arms all the way into the pile and dragged out a huge load of the prickly, dry hay adding it to the bed and scooting it around. They piled it about a foot thick and settled in.

  “I was hoping when the sun went down, the humidity would ease up,” Brynn said pulling her damp shirt away from her body.

  “Nope. It’s still pretty miserable isn’t it.” Jerom pushed and rearranged the hay beneath him. Brynn shifted around several times, trying to get comfortable and realized it was just not going to happen, so she rolled up on her side facing Jerom.

  “So how do you propose we find Miranda?” she asked.

  “Well, I can feel her.”

  “You can feel her. That’s a start, but really not much of a plan. Would you care to elaborate?”

  He rolled up on his side too, so they were only inches apart. His breath smelled faintly of peach jam and peanut butter. “I can tell she is somewhere north and west of us. I just feel pulled that way. So, I figure we head in that direction until we find her and then…well, we’ll figure something out. We haven’t done too badly so far.”

  She wasn’t so sure he was right. Her parents dead and his sister captured and possibly dead sounded pretty bad to her. He was trying to be brave for her. She really did appreciate that, so she decided to change the subject. “Tell me what it was like growing up a witch.”

  He rolled over onto his back and then put his arm around her and pulled her down so her head was resting on his shoulder. They both gazed up at the stars and he started talking.

  “It was cool, learning about my powers and using them, but at the same time it was lonely. I have friends, a few, whose parents are open-minded enough to let them hang out with me. We don’t talk about our powers or use them in public, but there are always rumors and we’ve all been called witch in a negative way more than once.”

  “Is it just you and Miranda and your parents?”

  “As far as I know, it is. I mean there might be other witches in the area but since we all split up after the witch trials we only know of a few people like Ben. My family’s purpose has always been to protect and help the Bringer. That’s what we do, that’s what our powers are for. That’s what defines us.”

  The vibration of his voice through his chest was totally relaxing and she started to drift off. Then he slipped out from underneath her and leaned over her. She was suddenly very wide awake as he stared down at her, brushing the hair from off her face. His hand was large and slightly rough. He cupped her cheek with his hand and then closed the distance between them. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips touch hers.

  She had never been kissed before, not like that. She melted right into him, couldn’t get enough of him, and never wanted to stop. But, it did stop as he pulled gently away, kissed her nose and then tucked her against him and wrapped himself around her.

  Chapter 40

  Morning found Brynn stiff and sore, but snuggled into Jerom, and for a little while she could forget about everything. She stayed still, so she didn’t wake him up, and she could hear the sounds of farm life in the distance. Dogs, chickens, cows and tractors and then she thought, we better get moving before someone finds us here. As much as she didn’t want to, she twisted around to face Jerom and stroked his face with her hand to wake him up.

  “Good morning,” she greeted him when he opened an eye. He didn’t say anything, he just kissed her, a quick little peck.

  “I guess we better get going again,” he said then turned his head like he heard something.

  “What is it?” Brynn asked, looking around. She hadn’t heard anything.

  “I thought I heard a train whistle.”

  Then she heard it too. Off in the distance, but coming closer.

  “Come on, maybe we can sneak a ride.” He pulled her to her feet and they ran down the side of the canal bank looking for train tracks.

  Brynn spotted the tracks as they swung in toward the canal up ahead. “There they are, let’s find a way across.” They sprinted toward a bridge over the canal.

  “We can cross over on this little bridge here,” said Jerom.

  “Bridge, that’s not a bridge. That’s a very, scary, rickety, see through to the canal, sort of nailed together bridge thing. I am not crossing that,” she pointed to a couple of boards unevenly nailed together crossing over the canal.

  “Oh yes, you are.” He grabbed her hand and started running. They didn't stop running though, even when the bridge bounced and jumped as they passed over it. They could see the train coming.

  “What kind of train is that?” she huffed out between breaths.

  “It must be a cargo train. See all the empty cars with their doors open. You can see right through them,” he answered.

  They ran over to the train and watched for a second as it passed by them.

  “Okay, we’re really going to have to run now! Like demons are after us or even police,” he laughed. The train wasn’t going that fast. Some of the cars had steps that led up to the open doors and there were vertical hand holds that ran up beside the steps.

  “Okay, just match your speed to the train and grab the handrail, then swing your foot up to the step,” Jerom yelled at her over the sound of the train.

  “You go first and show me.” Brynn said terrified.

  “I won’t leave you. If you can’t do this, we’ll have to find another way, but I know you can do this,” he shouted back at her.

  She gave him a look, but she thought if she was going to do this, she’d better do it. She starts jogging trying to match her speed to the speed of the train. She watched the hand rail that seemed almost out of reach, the stairs started up above her knees, but she reached out and wrapped her hand around the rail.

  The train almost pulled her off her feet, but after a couple of quick steps she was keeping up. The momentum of the train almost sucked her into it, so she decided to use the extra force to her advantage and swing her body into it. Grabbing the rail with her other hand, she swung one leg up and onto the step and was surprised when her plan worked. Now she had two hands on the handrail, one foot on the step and one foot dragging the ground. She didn't feel terribly graceful. She took a deep breath and shifted her weight under her on the step and pulled her other foot onto the step. She hurried and climbed into the train car. There was a rope attached to the handle of the open door and she grabbed it to steady herself and turned to see Jerom with one hand on the handrail.

  He ran ahead of the handrail a little bit and then grabbed it with two hands and swung his legs up and onto the step. He made it look totally easy as he spun around and sat down on the floor of the train car, pulling his legs in after him. She gave him her hand to help him up, but instead he pulled her down to sit beside him.

  “What next?” she shouted because the train was picking up speed and it was pretty noisy.

  “I have a friend a couple of towns north. We’ll take the train as far as we can, then make our way to Phillip. Maybe we can borrow a car or something from him. I bet he’ll let me use his phone to call Mom and Dad too.”

  He put his arm around her and he wound his hand into the rope that she was holding. They passed through farmland and ranches. The land was rich and green and smelled of growing things. Cows and horses dotted pastures and pretty soon the rocking of the train was lulling her to sleep. Her body reminded her that it hadn’t had enough sleep and since it was really too loud for talking she crawled into the middle of the car and lay down. Jerom crawled over to her, stretched out beside her and stroked her hair and back.
It was only moments before she was out.

  Chapter 41

  Jerom shook her awake and nodded toward the open door. “Come on, we need to get off.”

  The train had slowed down to a crawl because they were passing through a town. They both stood up and Jerom grabbed the handrail, turned to look at her, and then swung down off the train. He kept his hand on the handrail until his feet caught up with the speed of the train and then he let go.

  Brynn tried to do the same thing. She stumbled a few steps but managed to catch herself before she fell. She let go of the handrail and Jerom was right there to steady her.

  “Thanks for catching me,” she said untangling herself.

  “No problem, happy to. My friend doesn’t live too far from here, only a few miles.”

  Brynn looked left and right then said, “Which way should we go?”

  Jerom took her hand in his and pulled, “This way.”

  It didn’t take long to get to Main Street and another little perfect New England town. The store fronts were colorfully painted wood with lots of windows displaying everything from high-end clothing to hardware. Trees overhung the sidewalk with shade and underneath the trees were lush plantings of flowers. There were lots of tourists stepping in and out of antique shops, little romantic sidewalk cafés. It was the kind of place you wanted to spend a weekend in.

  Jerom seemed to know his way around town because he turned off Main Street and they walked through quiet neighborhood after neighborhood until they ended up in front of a small bungalow style house with a little flower garden out front.