by Caleb Smith
His mind was now outside that of a fourteen-year-old enjoying a summer vacation. Thoughts of life beyond physical life weighed heavily upon him, and he knew he would be called upon to search for unearthly things. Noah wasn’t sure why he had ended up in this position, but he did know that for some reason, unseen forces believed in him and would depend on him to keep moving toward truth.
He stopped chewing mid bite when a particular news report struck a chord.
“A local gas station was consumed in flames yesterday, sparked by ignition of a gas pump, as Todd Mossier, who is at the scene, now reports.”
“Thank you, Tracy. Police and fire trucks raced to the scene of this Mid-Town gas station yesterday to extinguish a devastating fire that was allegedly started by this Buick.”
The camera panned to a burned and blackened shell of a car of smoldering metal and then zoomed on the store manager who provided testimony to the crime.
“I saw this car pull up and didn’t think much of it – it was just like any other car pulling in for gas. But, then I saw the smoke and flames. I started to yell, telling everyone to get away from the open flames, while calling the authorities. I watched three men run off into the distance and after that, everything turned to disaster. The car and then the gas tanks exploded. It was really scary.”
The news clip then cut to the reporter at the scene. “As you can see, Tracy, it’s a war zone down here at the Quick Stop gas station on State Street right now. Police and fire officials have the roads blocked off near the entrances here while they investigate. But authorities have released a preliminary sketch of the three men who fled the scene and who are wanted for questioning right now as persons of interest. Authorities are asking the public to contact local police with any information about these individuals. That’s all we know now, Tracy.”
Noah turned his attention from the television as the wheels in his head began to spin. Whatever had escaped from his room two nights prior was now on the loose and he felt like he had to help find it and get it back to where it belonged; under the twins’ lock and key. He knew the mistake he made was something that could not be taken lightly. There were going to be consequences, he was sure.
He didn’t know if the men who had been driving the exploding car had anything to do with the renegade demons that had escaped from his room, but intuition told him the events were related and that he must take charge. He had a queasy feeling in his gut, and then the phone rang. It was Wendy.
“Umm, you need to get over here; we need to talk.” She blurted. Noah could hear a sense of frustration in her voice. “You are working today, right?”
Noah didn’t want to; he wanted to start his investigation to begin to repair the damage he had done, but his kindness overruled.
“Yes, Wendy, I’m just finishing up my breakfast, and I will be over shortly.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon, then.” She hung up abruptly.
When Noah pulled in to the auto ranch, Wendy was waiting impatiently on the Gator.
“Well, it’s about time. I’ve been waiting. Park your bike and hop on. We have some parts to find and strip.”
Noah was torn by annoyance and the feeling that he owed his only friend for all that she had given him. For this reason, he was determined to sacrifice his happiness. His heart was simply too big to disappoint anyone else, especially on the heels of his epic disappointment with the twins.
He hopped onto the utility vehicle and Wendy floored it, barely giving him time to find his seat. She held a stone-cold glare as they flew through the open alleyways of the junkyard and approached the back end of the lot where the few crab apple trees grew. Far away from the ears of anyone else, she slammed on the breaks as the dry, summer dust billowed and engulfed them. Noah tucked his nose down his shirt in and effort not to breathe it in.
“Are you all right, Wendy?” He wasn’t sure if she was just having another moody day.
“No. I’m not OK. Do I look OK?”
He looked her over, noticing her displeasure spreading wildly over her face and body. “Jeez, Wendy. I’m sorry you’re upset. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes, there is something you can do, Noah. You can tell your mother to stop dating my father.”
This comment hit him like a hammer. A look of confusion covered his face and anxiety squeezed his guts.
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I just said. My father and your mother. I caught them kissing in her car in front of my house.”
This news made Noah’s knees feel mushy, and it was a good thing he was seated. He remained silent. Wendy waited for him to say something – anything. But Noah could only stare at his feet.
“Aren’t you gonna say something like ‘ewww, gross; yes Wendy, I’ll tell my mother to stop dating Earl Friggin’ Sherman.’”
Noah just sat there. He had never had a father figure or had prospered from wise fatherly advice. It was hard for him to think about his mother being with anyone other than him. He knew she was a great lady who deserved happiness – but not with Earl Sherman. That was just too weird, considering his friendship with the family.
“There is no way we’re becoming brother and sister, and I will not be a daughter to your mother,” Wendy ranted. “Say something, damn it!”
Noah slowly broke the silence. “Why don’t you tell your dad to stop kissing my mom?”
“Oh, I have, Noah Thomas. I’ve told him over and over to stop seeing your friggin’ mother, and he won’t listen. You have to do something, or we’re just going to have to part ways. There is just no other way around it.”
He had put up with Wendy’s antics since the conception of their friendship. He was easy going and understanding and didn’t want to say anything abrasive because she had been good in so many other ways. The anger and disappointment finally surfaced after her words had been processed.
“You know, Wendy, you have been great to me and have given me more than I would have thought a good friend could give. But sometimes you’re just a jerk. Don’t you ever talk about my mother like that. You have no idea what she’s been through, and it’s your father that seems to continue showing up at our front door. I thought he was just being nice, but now I know what he wants. And I’ll be damned if that will be my mother. She’s too good for any of you!”
Noah hopped out of the Gator with a full head of steam and began walking back to the front of the yard without waiting to hear Wendy’s reaction.
“Fine, Noah. You’re no longer welcome here,” she yelled. “You or your stupid mom.”
He continued walking ahead, holding both hands over his ears. Wendy ripped the ATV around and sped past him, leaving him to chew on her trail of dust.
The bike ride home was painful. He had a hard time accepting the truth of what had just happened. Halfway through his journey home, he decided he didn’t want to see his mother, either. He didn’t want to deal with the drama. The best thing that would ease his mind was escape – getting away from all this craziness. He diverted to the book shop, the only place that might offer him clarity.
Pushing through the unlocked door, he saw that the shop was seemingly vacant, as always, and he called out: “Hey. Are you guys in here? Anyone around? Hello!”
He heard nothing but an echo in response. He thought about going up to the second floor, but what was the sense? He now knew of the twins and their magic, and if they were present and wanted to communicate with him, they would barely have to try. He then felt a soft ball of fur rub against his leg. He looked down, and a white cat looked up at him. Noah was mesmerized by the feline’s eyes, which seemed to be changing color.
“Is that you, Enoch? How about you, Elijah? Is that you?”
The cat purred but did not shape-shift into the mighty giant he had hoped. The cat rubbed against his legs. He felt something familiarly soothing about this cat, and so he reached down and picked it up. He held it close and whispered, “Where are they, buddy? Have you seen them?”
The cat meowed back. After a few minutes with no luck finding the twins, Noah wasn’t sure what to do next. He didn’t want to go home to face his mother, at least not alone. He peered down at the now heavenly blue eyes of the cat and whispered, “Would you like to come home with me, buddy?”
The cat seemed to understand him and meowed back enthusiastically.
“OK. Let’s go.”
Noah carried the cat out from the vacant book shop and gently placed her in the basket of his parked bike. He then cranked the motor start with one pull and looked up to his furry new friend in the basket who was nestled in with loving eyes.
“Here we go,” he said, pushing the throttle forward. The ride home was quick for a summer evening, and it wasn’t until he rounded the corner wide on Hill Crest Boulevard that he saw his life flash before his eyes; an on-coming car headed straight at him. His eyes grew wild as the distance closed in. But just as the vehicle (operated by a teen who was texting while driving) was ready to strike, he felt himself lifted off the ground.
Oh dear, he thought; I must be dead.
He opened his eyes and saw that he was soaring above the craft, and the cat in the basket was glowing bright white. She was standing on two legs, bizarrely but comfortably, and then the animal morphed into what Noah believed was an angel—clearly this being was protecting him. With great wings and bright cloak, the angel guided his body and bike safely through the air and gently down again. Once Noah was planted on the street, the angel again took the form of the white cat, sitting proudly in the bicycle basket. Noah stared intently.
“I don’t know who you are, but you just saved my life. Thank you!” He gently lifted the cat, hugging it to his neck and face. The feline purred, licking Noah’s cheek and sending shivers down his spine. This was no ordinary cat. Noah had a feeling that this was a guardian sent here for his protection.
Once he gathered his senses, he placed his new friend in her preferred seat, front and center in the basket, and motored his way home. He didn’t care what his mother would say, he was keeping the cat. As far as he was concerned, it wasn’t even up for discussion.
He came through the front door and could hear pots and pans rattling in the kitchen. Noah appeared in the doorway facing his mother, who had her back turned while preparing food.
“Mom, I have a new friend who will be living with us from now on!”
Chapter 33
Although it was important for the twins to rid Mid-Town of the evil doings of late, their presence was needed universally. On this particular day, they had been sent to restore order on the opposite side of the planet. Another tablet had fallen victim to the hands of an influential witch doctor of a tribal colony somewhere in the jungles of South America.
Most tribes of this region were peaceful, respecting the lands upon which their lives depended, while also respecting the boundaries of other tribes. Yet, once in a while, some tribe members would cross over into foreign grounds in the pursuit of wild game. They did not like crossing tribe boundaries, and two of the three tribes in the area were of good faith and character.
But there was a tribe viewed as a dark force in their midst: the Red Tooth tribe. This tribe was known to eat meat only: meat of hogs, snakes, rodents, goats, birds – and humans. They ate the meat raw and dressed themselves in black paint, and the tribe’s shaman practiced black magic and held a firm grip on his followers. Others who knew of the Red Tooth tribe feared its members, and many stories were relayed nightly over camp fires telling of evil ways and of men who had disappeared, leaving only blood-stained bones as remains.
To deal with this threat, a protocol had been established. Peaceful tribes were constantly on watch and many members slept in trees to protect their communities. Hunting tended to occur at night, and the screeching battle cry of the Red Tooth hunters was said to wake the dead. To avoid an ambush, the peaceful tribes had also begun smearing mud upon themselves in the evening to stay better hidden and to block their own scent. Life in such a secluded place was one of caution – and tribe members began planting vegetables away from the mobile camp sites, always migrating so that they never spent too much time in one particular area. They had become nomads of the Amazon, and the great river’s channels served as a guide. The logical way of dealing with the errant tribe would be for the other tribes to team up and overrun the Red Tooth – but this had not happened.
When the dark shaman took his own life so that he could be transformed into a powerful, evil force free to roam inter-dimensional space, leadership of the Red Tooth tribe passed on to his ruthless son. But, before the shaman left the physical plane, he had held his life’s tablet hostage, allowing the evil from its pages to escape into open space – a feat that had taken years of dark study to accomplish.
Now, under the son’s heartless rule, the tribe was more powerful than ever, and its members had resorted wholly to cannibalism, set on decimating anyone in their path.
The two peaceful tribes knew nothing of this and, while they had long ago decided that staying mobile would be their best course of action, there was no urgency in this decision. They could not know the extent of evil that was heading their way. The Red Tooth tribe, arrogant and aggressive in their hunting persistence, likewise had not a clue about the mighty forces who had recently arrived to thwart their evil efforts.
Two giant forces of power set down in the Amazon cloaked in white. Their assignment was to make concealed tablets of each evil member and to lock them away for judgment. They were also attempting to catch the evil shaman in spirit form, lock his book for eternity, and to cast his soul to hell in the great lakes of fire. Arrangements were made as directed, and the ruling demons of hell were ready to welcome their newest addition. The devil would not send his hounds and forces to capture this dark shaman, but would allow the twins to drag him down through the scalding hot chambers and deliver him on a cast iron platter. The evil witch doctor had been acting on his own accord and had encouraged his own rule on earth. His punishment in hell would be grand.
The twins were ready for war, axes held aloft and blades shining. Their landing on the jungle floor shook the earth with authority, and they stood out in the jungles on this humid South American night. But they also had the power to camouflage themselves in invisibility, lurking at will in a higher dimensional space. They had to be careful, too. The only potential assailant who could see beyond the physical third dimension was the highly evil shaman who had transformed his body to permanent, darkened spiritual form.
As the Red Tooth tribe honed in on their victims who were sleeping in the trees above, crouched around the bases of trunks, the twins waited for the signal. And when the war cry sounded out, the twins struck like lightning from above. They sliced through the warm, darkened bodies of the cannibals one by one, as blood spattered and screams of death saturated the scene. Like so many of the tribe’s past victims, its own members now experienced the same fear. Karma had punched their number, and slaughter was now upon them in the form of the Almighty.
With agility and strength, the twins moved through the forest, now permeated by a demonic smell, as the devil sent his minions to collect the fresh souls bound for eternal hell. Growls and moans added to the fear and misery of this declining tribe that could not be saved.
When it came to the shaman’s son, the twins made themselves visible, standing side by side, staring with stony eyes. Enoch reached out with a hand to his throat, and though he was pained by the assignment, he knew this crushing grip was necessary. He squeezed until flesh, muscle, and bones popped and cracked. The body went limp, as he held him off the ground. Three demons hovered around in hissing cheer, like rabid dogs waiting for their treats. Enoch tossed the lifeless body to the dogs, and they extracted the soul, each grabbing a limb. The victim’s screams were heard only by immortal ears.
The twins then safeguarded the tablets of life, quickly collecting them and tucking them away into deep pockets. Their mission was nearly complete, but one task had been left un
finished. They still needed to send the soul of the evil shaman to hell. He had had a jump start, but the twins could smell his rotting scent. Like two bolts of lightning, they were off after him, speeding and flashing their way through the thick trees and natural life, leaving a force of wind in their path that kicked up the forest floor, spreading dead leaves in the air.
The shaman spirit, who had witnessed the annihilation of his tribe at the hand of the two mighty towers of light, realized his time of reckoning was imminent. He was the hunter turned prey. He moved fiercely through his native lands with a keen understanding of the terrain, weaving in and out of the trees, knowing that the presence of powerful light was not far behind.
The light then caught up with him, circling him in a ring of containment, and though he tried to penetrate its confines, he was thrown back at every attempt. With hateful rage, he stood in the center of the circle and summoned his dark magic in balls of red light, which he began to hurl. But these fiery orbs merely bounced against the invisible barrier like pin balls in an arcade machine. The shaman next summoned nature and commanded the tree vines to creep down and choke the twins in a death-grip vice. Enoch and Elijah merely raised their hands and caressed the vines into loving submission. In one last futile attempt, the shaman seized control of a hive of killer bees, ordering the insects to direct their attacks at the twins. But this assault, too, was quickly extinguished with a light protruding from the angels’ fingertips, as pure as love itself.
Elijah, in one swift motion, then put an end to the spectacle, driving his over-sized fist down the shaman’s throat until he could feel the seat of his black soul, and he then released an orb of light. The shaman quivered and shook violently, and his own dark magic began to eat him from the inside out. Enoch then twirled his axe like a baton in the air, and in once slicing swing, it was over.
The twins looked at each other briefly before collecting the tablets left behind from the energetic discharge of the shaman and his tribesman and locked them into protective custody. The evil Shaman’s soul sunk down through the ground to the ranks of hell, and fell on the Satans lap as arranged.