Absolution

by Jennifer Laurens

  Trapped. Afraid.

  And gone.

  Cool relief sighed from my chest. I pressed Weston’s cheeks gently with the palms of my hands, and he reached up, covered my hands with his. “You make me crazy, Zoe.”

  “That’s cool.” I grinned.

  “I want to make you crazy,” he murmured.

  “Well, you’re getting close.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  He tilted his head back, smiled. “Yes!”

  After Weston left, I offered to babysit Abria for Mom and Dad so they could go out. I wanted to make sure they had all the time they needed to talk.

  I didn’t like the idea that they might succumb to Albert’s influence, which could tear the family apart. After everything we’d been through with Abria and Luke and even my issues, I’d do everything in my power to see that Albert had zero opportunity to hang around and spread his malicious intent.

  I bathed Abria, allowing her the freedom to splash and play in the water like a seal without screaming at her to stop drenching the walls, tile and everything in the bathroom. Telling her to behave was useless, anyway. Her cherubic face, framed by damp curls, was irresistible and she smiled up at me as if to say, ‘thank you!’

  Abria thrived on predictability. I dried her with a towel, amazed that the smallest and often oddest things made her happy and content. Like water. The same Disney towel. Holding a toy in her hand. Jumping.

  “If all I had to do was jump to be happy, that’d be pretty sweet,” I told her, slipping one of my old t-shirts over her head. She wouldn’t sleep in anything else and loved to run, naked, into my bedroom after her bath and

  ‘steal’ one from my collection. I kept a bunch in the bottom drawer of my dresser just for her.

  “Jum! Jum!” After the t-shirt fell into place on her squirmy little body, she climbed onto her bed and started jumping.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I grinned. “I get it.”

  “Hey.” Luke’s bass voice came from the open door. He stood with his hands in his pockets.

  “Hey. Have you been with Krissy all this time?”

  He blushed, nodded and leaned in the jamb.

  “So… what was that all about?”

  “Just talking.”

  “That’s a lot of talking.” Abria continued to jump and I held my hands out, ready to catch her, just in case. “What did she say?”

  Luke’s shoulder lifted. “Stuff. Where’s Mom and Dad?”

  “They went out. They needed it.”

  “What happened?”

  “They were fighting,” I said.

  “They’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

  “I know. I hate it.”

  “Yeah, well, there’s not a lot you can do about it, Z. It’s their choice.”

  He was right. Ultimately, even with Albert—or any negative influence—the choice was up to the individual. But it was hard to see this close to my heart.

  “Back to you and Krissy,” I said, smiling. Luke’s cheeks bloomed a soft pink shade and he dipped his head. “What happened when you took her home? Was her psycho dad on a leash or did he attack?”

  “She had me drop her a block away. I’m telling you, that guy’s a loser.

  He needs to be locked up.”

  “What? Did Krissy tell you something?” My mind raced with the image of Krissy’s dad’s evil infestation along with all of the other insidious prospects my imagination had conjured since I’d met her.

  “That girl can talk, I’ll say that much.”

  “Yeah, but about what?”

  “About a whole bunch of stuff. She needs somebody to listen, you know? She and her mom don’t talk, and her dad’s this control freak who talks at her. I hate people like that. Man, if Mom and Dad were like that, I would have been out of here years ago. I don’t know how she takes it.”

  Abria jumped higher, her head coming within a foot of the ceiling.

  “Hey, tone it down, Abria,” I warned. She swooned louder and jumped higher so I grabbed her, held her wriggling body for a minute in hopes of calming her down then put her feet on the floor. She scrambled right back up on the mattress.

  “So,” I fished, “she wasn’t specific about anything?”

  Luke yawned and scratched his belly. “No. But I get the feeling there’s something bad there. I’ve seen it at my friends’ houses, and it stinks. She kinda has that beaten down personality thing.”

  “Well, you were sweet to listen to her.”

  He cracked another yawn. “Don’t mind.” He lifted his arms overhead and stretched. “Wish there was something I could do.” His cell phone vibrated, and he reached into the front pocket of his worn jeans and pulled it out. “Speaking of.”

  “She’s calling you?”

  “Texting. I told her she could.”

  “I’m surprised her dad lets her have a phone,” I mumbled, grabbing Abria into my arms again. “Okay, time for bed, pretty girl.”

  Abria howled in protest.

  “No kidding.” Luke read the message then tapped out a response.

  “Another way for daddy-o to keep tabs on her, I guess.”

  I pulled back the sheets and blankets on Abria’s bed. “Get in, Abria.”

  She stiffened. The effort was like putting a stone slab under the covers. “Come on.” Trying to press her statue-like body down was impossible.

  The sound of the front door slamming caused the house to shudder.

  Luke and I exchanged glances. “Will you try to put her to bed? I need to check on Mom and Dad.” I passed him in the doorway.

  “Check on them? They’re not kids, Z.”

  “Just do it,” I snapped, panic seizing me. Until I was certain Albert wasn’t stowing along with them, I wasn’t going to do anything else.

  I skipped down the stairs, ears alert for raised voices. Sure enough, the heavy tension that accompanied Albert like a putrid smell slugged me in the face once I was on the main floor.

  Dad passed me in the entry hall, on his way upstairs, his face drawn, serious. He didn’t say anything. My heart pounded with each step as I neared the kitchen.

  Mom stood over the sink, staring out the corner window into the black night. The expression on her face was icy.

  Albert hovered around her like a menacing crow. Had he gone with them or was he simply returning to the scene to do more damage?

  He glanced over when I came into the room but quickly returned his intense focus to Mom. “Lovely woman, your mother.”

  I ground my teeth to keep from spouting off in front of Mom.

  “Things went exceptionally well, Zoe. Hearts are harder now than they were before they left.”

  My hands fisted at my sides.

  “Mom.” I crossed to her, struggling to remain composed in spite of Albert’s menacing presence and words. “Are you okay?”

  Her stare remained fixed and cold. “Fine.”

  “What happened? I thought you two would be better after a night out?”

  “One night can’t change months of issues,” she said.

  I moved closer, positioning myself on her right side. Albert mirrored me on her left. His teeth flashed in a grin. “One minute can change anything, if you want it bad enough,” I told her.

  Her eyes met mine. She studied me for a few quiet moments. “You’re right. Maybe neither of us want it bad enough.”

  Chapter Eight

  ____________________

  My heart crashed to my feet.

  “Brilliant!” Albert clasped his hands at his chest. “So, so brilliant.”

  I took Mom by the arm and led her a few steps away. “You can’t think like this. You have to work it out. Go up there and talk to him.”

  Mom ripped her arm free. “Excuse me?”

  Beaming, Albert came up behind her.

  “Yes, now,” I insisted. “He’s upstairs. Go.”

  “Zoe,” Mom’s tone was baffled. “I just spent two hours talking to your dad and I don’t need to s
pend another minute hashing out the same problems.

  We both need a break.”

  “Yes, breaks are marvelous.” Albert nodded. “Left unattended, breaks widen the gulf between hearts until they separate irreparably.”

  “Please go talk to Dad again,” I begged, gripping Mom’s arms. “Please.”

  Shock covered her face, then her expression blanked. She pulled away.

  “I’m going to sleep.” She started for the stairs. “Is Abria in bed yet?”

  “Yes,” I mumbled, devastated that my attempts to help reconcile them were brushed off.

  “Good.” Mom disappeared in the darkness of the unlit hall. Her footsteps thudded up the stairs. Overhead, I heard a plunk. Albert radiated black light into the room, pleasure and victory on his face.

  “I thought you said she was asleep!” Mom shouted from upstairs.

  “Luke’s up there with her!” I shouted back then cringed at my harsh tone. I glared at Albert.

  Albert’s eyes closed, and his hands lifted into the air, moving like an orchestra conductor directing a symphony.

  “You’re pathetic,” I hissed, glad we were alone so I could ream him.

  Faintly, Luke and Mom’s raised voices seeped out from Abria’s room.

  “We can end this right now.” Albert stepped closer. My body went into a fit of shivers. “Give yourself to me, Zoe. Save your family.”

  Fear and panic loose inside of me whirled fiercely at his words. For a second, I entertained his suggestion. Then I remembered Matthias’ warning: Albert was a liar.

  “You don’t want me, you want Matthias,” I said.

  “Yes, I do. You’re a nice bonus.”

  “Sorry. I’ll never be another link in your tie. And neither will Matthias.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t going to put you or Matthias with these poor souls.” He stroked the tie of bound, writhing prisoners and their screams lifted into the air, the screeching sound like ice water rushing through my veins. The taut weave of the ghastly noose recoiled beneath his touch.

  “They don’t like you.” I nodded at the tie.

  He ignored my observation. “I have somewhere special prepared for you two.”

  The breath in my chest sucked out. My knees wobbled; I was sure I’d crumple into a heap. “Forget it,” I managed. “Matthias will never fall, not even for me.”

  Albert’s brows arched over an amused smile. “How little you know him, my dear.”

  “I am not. Your. Dear.”

  “But you are. We’re almost family. Once you and Matthias join me, it will be—”

  “We’ll never join you! He’d never do that. Never. You really have lost it, haven’t you?” Fury pumped through my blood. “You lost your soul, your son and your wife. You’re alone, Albert! Face it.”

  His bright eyes darkened.

  “You don’t even have a body,” I continued, momentum fueling my words. “You think you do, but those sensations you have? They’re just ghosts.

  Ever wonder why they’re all the same, never new? Because you’re a pathetic impersonator. Matthias told me, the followers of Satan can’t have a body. That means whatever you think you’re sensing is only a memory. Sucks to be you.”

  Albert remained eerily silent. Was he going to strike me down now? I readied for an assault. But if I was in mortal peril, Matthias would be here.

  Albert and I remained alone.

  Upstairs, Abria’s door slammed. Luke mumbled something at Mom.

  Then another door closed with a whack. Followed by another.

  “You’re done here,” I said, relieved my family was in their bedrooms.

  Everybody go to sleep, fast. You can’t invite evil when you’re asleep. “And I’ll carry my sister on my hip for the rest of my life if I have to.”

  “You could never keep up with me, Zoe.”

  “I’d die trying. Then Matthias and I would be together, living happily ever after in Paradise. That leaves you alone with your pathetic tie.”

  “Your family will be mine then.”

  A boulder formed in my throat. No. “Abria will keep them safe. Besides, they love each other enough that they’ll work past this.”

  Albert inched closer. “You think this is a temporary condition?

  Temptation? Discord? Dishonesty? Infidelity?” His voice sliced me to the bone. “No, Zoe. These conditions have always existed and they will always exist, fertilized by those like myself who are more than willing to help spread destruction.”

  My body shook with the reality of his words. I was mortal. When my life ended, my efforts to help my family would go with me. No, they wouldn’t.

  I knew for myself that guardians were there to help. That evil would never triumph over good.

  “You’re wrong,” I said. Nothing Albert said or did could change an eternal truth. Surprise flashed over his face. He straightened. Had my conviction really been that powerful as to render him shocked?

  His strong resemblance to Matthias reminded me of Matthias’ undying hope that someday his father would be redeemed. I marveled that Matthias could see a thread of decency somewhere in this lost soul standing in front of me.

  I sighed. “Kudos to Matthias for thinking you can still be salvaged,”

  I mumbled. “I’d have bailed on you by now.” I didn’t need to spend another second in Albert’s presence. This was my life. My home. I hadn’t invited Albert into it.

  I turned and headed to the peace and safety of sleep that awaited me.

  Blinding night surrounding me. Pine needles pierced my arms, my bare thighs. Frosty air sliced my naked skin like razorblades. Shivers erupted through my body in endless, voracious shudders from the soles of my feet to my head. I was naked. Running. Alone. In the forest.

  Fallen pine needles carpeted the ground, their shards poking into the tender soles of my feet as I raced on, heart pounding against my ribs Albert’s heavy presence bore down on me, into me, an invisible, suffocating cloak of evil that kept pace with my frantic feet as if to torment me. His deep laugh strangled my throat, the sound fingering through the reaching branches of the towering evergreens disappearing into the midnight sky overhead.

  “You can’t outrun me, Zoe.”

  I yearned to cover myself. Survival forced priority: run. Branches slapped my cheeks. Skin stung. Feet ached. Breath slowly evaporated. How long I darted through evergreens and spindly aspens I don’t know. My body bled. Couldn’t breathe fast enough. Muscles began to shut down, each pulling tight in rebellion as if to scream: I’m finished.

  Albert’s laugh rang around me, filling the quiet eeriness.

  I pushed on, forcing my legs to keep going. Couldn’t feel them anymore. Not even the sharp prickling of needles beneath my feet.

  “Give yourself to me.”

  I jerked upright.

  My lids opened. What day is it? Had I slept?

  Sleep lured me, but the thought of returning to the awful nightmare pricked me to complete wakefulness. I scrubbed my face, relieved I’d only dreamed the horrifying scene. A bone-wracking shudder overtook me. I thought I was safe in sleep. Had Albert invaded my dream? Or was overwhelming stress clamping its jaws in my subconscious? I couldn’t take it.

  If only I could bail on school and catch up on sleep. The last few days had taken a toll—more than a toll— I was exhausted.

  I reached for my cell phone. Five calls from Chase. One message from him. Three texts from Krissy. Another from Weston.

  luv u

  Seeing Weston’s message soothed my crimped nerves a little, but the eeriness of the nightmare clung to me like black spirits clung to their hosts, and I glanced over my shoulder just to make sure one of the grotesque creatures hadn’t latched onto me.

  I texted Weston back: u 2 even though he’d texted me that he loved me hours ago. I didn’t care. The words sent a fresh flurry of birds in my stomach.

  Prom was coming. Would we go together? I couldn’t wait to see him, and a familiar excitement tingled in my blood thi
nking about being with him.

  I opened Krissy’s texts next:

  your brother is nice

  he is sweet

  does he have a girlfriend?

  I smiled.