by L. J. Fox
“I guess the time for pleasantries is over.” Layne mocked him.
He threw another push at her and she felt the pain as the attack penetrated her block. The pain hit behind her eyes and she cried out with the shock and pain of the attack. She opened her eyes and felt one of her eyes was watering. Frantically she blinked and realised it was blood as her vision was blurred in a scarlet haze. Summoning all the strength she could muster, she threw a large push at him. It was enough to leave her breathless and cause her to cry out with the effort. Dustin cried out again and his hand went up to his face. For a few seconds he stood there with a hand over his face and when his hand fell, she saw blood dripping down the outside of his eye.
Layne knew this was not going to end well. The two of them were so well matched with their powers that neither one could overpower the other. To continue would mean the two of them would end up battle-weary, exhausted and bleeding yet with no discernible winner.
She did the only thing she could do, she connected with her mother and called for help.
Chapter 78
The office door opened and Beverley stood there. Again Dustin looked surprised, not realising that she had been waiting in the outer office in case she was needed. She looked different, defiant, proud and confident. Dustin blinked the blood out of his eye and looked at her trying to understand what it was about her that had changed. She was wearing the same clothes, her hair and make-up looked the same, but she didn’t look like the Anne-Marie he knew.
“Anne-Marie?” He queried.
She looked at Layne who nodded to confirm she was alright. Then Beverley put her hands on her hips, a defiant stand and looked at Dustin arrogantly.
“I am leaving for Australia with Layne on Saturday. This is your last opportunity to accept this situation and be compliant, or there will be consequences.”
She had never spoken to him in this manner and he almost laughed at her. Who did she think she was talking to? He wasn’t just her husband - he was the worldwide leader. No one spoke to him like these two women had.
“Consequences?” He was starting to get loud. “What can you do to me? You are nothing. I was told you had great powers and I got an empty shell.”
Beverley looked at Layne and a small laugh escaped. They both knew Dustin was in for a shock. Quick as a flash, he reached across the desk and hit a black button that was sitting next to his blotter. Neither woman had seen that coming and they both wondered what that button meant. Was it to call security? If so, they were not worried about low-level security guards. Dustin stood up again and looked pleased with himself.
Layne looked at her mother. “Phone a friend?” and they both laughed at the joke.
Sure enough, within a few minutes the door to the office opened and in stepped John Springer. Layne had not seen him since she arrived in Los Angeles and had never seen him dressed in a suit. Obviously he was the help, the back-up support Dustin needed to overpower these women. John walked over to where Dustin stood. He saw the blood trickling down the side of Dustin’s face and realised that a battle of sorts was underway. He raised his eyebrows and looked at the two women, wondering what was happening to set this off.
“Dustin?” John asked questioningly.
Dustin picked a tissue from a box on his desk and blotted the blood from his face. He pointed vaguely to the women with the bloody tissue.
“This hybrid thinks she can take my wife with her to Australia and overpower me. Can you believe it?”
John looked at the two of them and saw such hostility on Beverley’s face that it almost sent him reeling backward. Of course, he thought to himself, she has not seen him since the incident where he impersonated a police officer and captured her and her normal husband. He guessed she was pissed at him. Inside he giggled a bit at the thought.
Layne could see the anger raging on her mother’s face. She realised the reason for the anger and without intervention, knew what would occur next. She put her hand out and touched her mother’s shoulder. Her mother spun her head around to look at her daughter. Her eyes were wild with pupils dilated. Layne knew the feeling when all the senses were in overdrive.
“Me first.”
She directed her mother. Her mother looked at her for a moment then nodded.
Layne turned back to John and Dustin. It was like a Mexican stand-off with both sides poised and ready for action, the equivalent of a Bray punch-up. Suddenly, John reached down into his coat pocket and brought out a gun, a small black handgun. Idly, Layne wondered if that was the same gun that had captured her parents years ago. He pointed the gun at them, first at Beverley and then at Layne, and back again. Every Bray knew you could not outrun a bullet.
Layne concentrated on John. She knew there was no time to lose and that John fully intended to fire that gun, probably at her first, thinking Beverley would then concede. Layne had overpowered John before so she pushed forcefully at him and penetrated his mind on the first try. He had not been expected it to happen so fast and he was unprepared. Outwardly, the only sign that something had happened was his sudden intake of breath and the blink of his eyes.
“Shoot her!” Dustin instructed, pointing the bloody tissues at Layne. “Get on with it.”
John stood still as if transfixed. The gun was still pointing at Layne. She pushed again and again, relentless in her goal. She may not be able to overpower Dustin, but she could overpower John.
“Come on. Stop fucking around. Shoot the bitch.” Dustin ordered.
BANG!
Suddenly without warning, John turned and shot Dustin in the forehead at point blank range. Dustin stayed on his feet for a few seconds, the bullet hole a neat indent and centred between his eyebrows. Then he crumpled, hitting the desk with his body as he fell. Everyone was still, looking down at the form on the floor where a red puddle was spreading out across the carpet.
John was standing looking down at Dustin with the gun still in his hand. He was unmoving and still, waiting for his next order. Layne looked across at her mother, knowing she needed revenge.
“Your turn.”
Beverley looked back at John who still had not moved. She closed her eyes and pushed a suggestion at him. His mind was in neutral and waiting for command, so the order was received easily and immediately actioned. He raised the gun, put it in his mouth and without hesitation, pulled the trigger. Blood and other gore sprayed across the room behind him. As his body fell backward on to the floor, Layne muttered.
“Yes. Pleasantries are over.”
On their way out, they stopped at the secretary, Isla’s desk. She sat in her chair quietly, her mind in neutral and waiting for an order. Beverley spoke to her.
“Isla – it looks like John and Dustin were having an affair. Dustin threatened to leave John so John shot Dustin and then himself. You did not see us today. You can now take Jason and be his mother.”
Chapter 79
Andy had finished classes on the Thursday afternoon and was chatting with a few friends outside the building. They were trying to talk him into going out with them on Friday night to a popular nightclub in the city. He shook his head and politely declined. He just didn’t feel like going out partying when Layne was overseas, and the future was in so much jeopardy for the both of them. He had many sleepless nights thinking of her and trying to come up with a solution. He couldn’t bear the thought of a life without her. Everyone around him had commented in the last few weeks of how miserable and stressed he looked.
Each weekend he had driven his little orange hatchback up to Katunga to visit Ross and Nina. At every intersection when the little car bunny hopped, he smiled to himself remembering when Layne had tried to drive it. He really enjoyed the time he spent with Ross and Nina and had even learned to help with a few things on the farm. Ross wasn’t as young as he used to be and Andy was happy to help out with the heavier lifting. They had a warm friendship and he felt closer to Layne when he was at the farm.
They had cleaned out a spare bedroom and now he had
his own space to stay when he visited. A neat little double bed with a patterned doona cover, bedside table and a cupboard. Nina cooked fabulous food for him, which beat his quick 2-minute noodle and frozen dinners at his accommodation.
His own parents had noticed a change in him since the stabbing incident. Naturally, they did not know about his new low-level powers but they did notice small things about him such as how he tasted and appreciated the taste of his mother’s cooking more than he ever had, how he commented on her perfume or flower scents in the garden. They thought that he was growing up and looking at life as an adult now instead of a boy.
“When are you going to marry that girl?”
His father asked one night at the dinner table when he was visiting. Andy looked across at his father curious at why his father would be asking that question. He noted his mother was watching and waiting for the answer.
“Dad, I haven’t finished my studies yet. I don't have a qualification and I haven’t got any money.”
“You don’t need money to be happy and love someone. Your mother and I married when we had nothing. Nothing but love.”
The two of them looked at each other and smiled, an intimate smile of best friends.
He wished it were that simple, that he could just marry Layne and live happily ever after, but the chances were that it would never happen. The Brays would not let that happen, not now and not ever. He was surprised the Brays had not come after him, even though they had assured Layne that they would leave him, and her grandparents alone. He still thought they might.
He started walking back to his accommodation, kicking at stones when he thought of Layne marrying Gregory. The thought made him sick. He didn’t think Layne would ever consent to that, but maybe she would not have a choice, just as her mother had once had her choices taken away.
She had been gone for four weeks now and he had not even heard from her for nearly one week. They had never gone that long without talking or messaging each other. He was terrified that something had happened to her, or that she no longer wanted to come back to Australia. In a moment of despair, he had even considered traveling across to Los Angeles to find her and bring her home. Just dreaming, he knew but the dreaming was better than pure destitution.
His phone alerted him to a message and instantly he thought of Layne, trying to work out what the time was in her time zone. There was a wooden park bench just ahead, so he sat on it to read the message. His eyes widened at the text which was all in capitals, knowing that this was the online method of shouting.
ANDY! YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT!
MY MOTHER IS COMING BACK TO AUSTRALIA TO LIVE
OMG I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT. SHE WILL BE BEVERLEY HARRISON AGAIN.
PLEASK ASK NANA AND POP IF WE CAN BOTH STAY AT THE FARM TEMPORARILY.
DUSTIN HISTORY, WARREN SOON HISTORY. MAYBE WE WILL RUN AUSTRALIA OR THE WORLD.
FLIGHT ARRIVES SAT 4.30PM QA245
BTW WE ARE HAVING A BABY!
LL
Andy put the phone down on his lap and looked up at the sky. He closed his eyes, feeling the warm spring air on his face and thanked the universe for this message. A baby? A baby!
Was that true? He read the message again. It definitely said it was from Layne and the LL was how they always signed off – Love Layne. No one else knew that but them. A baby!
Startled, he realised he was quietly sobbing. He hadn’t cried since he was about ten years old and his budgie had died. He didn’t even care that he was crying in public. Who cared? A baby!
Layne was coming home, and Beverley was coming home. A baby!
He couldn’t wait to tell Ross and Nina. A baby!
Warren and Dustin history. They could be together. A baby!
Startled again he realised he was laughing, laughing and crying at the same time. A baby!
One more thing to do before he phoned Ross and Nina. He picked up the phone again and typed a reply.
MARRY ME.
LA
About The Author
L. Fox
I am from Victoria, Australia and consider myself a story-teller rather than an author. My primary writing goal is to entertain you, keep you turning those pages not anticipating what will come next, not to mention - the story must involve mystery, death or the unknown.
If you found the stories easy to read, fast-paced, interesting, enjoyable and little bit quirky then my work is done.
Books By This Author
Viktoria
A female prehistoric creature is discovered on a remote island in South America and taken into captivity for research. She had killed an Australian backpacker and skeletal remains suggest she had killed humans before. Escaping from captivity, she journeys across the United States seeking her homeland and her own kind.
Viktoria tells the story of how the creature became stranded on the island and her fight to survive, the woman left widowed by Viktoria, and the scientist dedicated to looking for her.
White Lilies
Ellen was a successful city girl with a banking career and a lonely life since the death of her beloved mother. Suddenly a solicitor contacts her with the news that she had a grandmother, now deceased, and was the beneficiary of a property in Warburton. Ellen is heartbroken that her mother kept her family a secret all her life.
After renovating the old house and moving to Warburton, Ellen discovers that her previously unknown family held many secrets including a missing grandfather, a nasty older neighbour who seems to have run away with her mother thirty-five years earlier and disappeared into thin air, and that this nasty older neighbour may well be her father.
White Lilies is a mystery with a touch of murder, romance and family history. From a lonely city girl with no family or ties, Ellen transforms her life into a happy country girl with a sense of belonging, and seeks to solve the mystery of the missing men in her family.
Babies Garden
Jared and Elise can't believe how fortunate they are to be living in an old house in Clifton Hill that has been in Elise's family for over 150 years. Immediately Elise begins hearing a baby crying at night and Jared often finds her searching for the crying baby in the house or in the garden. She begins to exhibit some strange behaviour and Jared believes she has a physic connection with one of her ancestors.
Digging in the vegetable garden, she unearths the skull of a baby, and police discover the remains of over a dozen more babies. Some have died of natural causes and some have been murdered.
What happened in this house over 150 years ago?
Will it impact upon Jared, Elise and their unborn child?