“No!” Beck snatched his arm away. “What happened?!”
Finally, Alex said it. “There was an accident, Beck. A bad one. We lost Jessie.”
His mouth dropped open, then his hands went to his face. He produced an aching squeal of pain.
“We tried to save her. But… she passed away.”
“Oh God.” Beck turned his body, his knees buckling as he fought to stand.
“There’s more,” Alex said.
Beck turned around. His hand slid down from his face. “Where’s Mera?”
“We… we don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Beck snapped, enraged. “Where’s Danny?”
Alex shook his head.
“Alex?”
“Beck, listen,” I intervened, “we don’t know how it happened. Someone took Mera, Danny, and the babies. I know it sounds inconceivable.”
“Oh my God. How long?”
Michael answered, “Four nights ago.”
Beck growled. It was a growl of pain and anger, everything mixed together. Oddly enough, he focused on Alex. “Have you looked?”
“Yes,” Alex snapped. “I’ve been looking.”
“Four days? They’ve been gone four days and no one found them? No one knows where they are?”
“Beck, listen to me,” Michael said, attempting to be the peacekeeper. “Staying calm is the best—”
Beck ignored Michael and moved even closer to Alex. “How did you let this happen?”
“I didn’t let this happen.”
“I trusted you!” Beck shouted. “I trusted you with my family and they’re gone.”
“Maybe, Beck, if you weren’t away from you family, playing Sleeper hero,” Alex shot back, “none of this would have happened.”
Crack!
It wasn’t just the punch heard around the community; it was one that was felt by anyone in earshot. Beck, who towered over Alex in height and bulk, delivered all he had in that punch, nailing Alex right under the eye and sending him at least five feet back.
Alex hit the ground, rolled over, and blood dripped from his face. He was disoriented and Michael hurried to him.
Alex tried to get up. Beck lifted Alex, spun him around, and hit him again.
“Enough!” Michael yelled. “Beck. Stop.”
I hollered the same then told Michael to get Miles.
Beck hit Alex again, another shot to the face, to the side. Alex didn’t see it coming and despite his best efforts and ours, he was losing.
Alex landed one hit. Beck didn’t flinch. Beck was a man motivated by emotions and Alex was a man beaten by the previous week.
“Stop,” I pleaded. “Please.”
Another hit. Then another. Was Alex even conscious?
“You’re killing him! Stop it. Stop it!” I screamed and then doing the only thing I could think of, I jumped on Beck’s back, wrestled my arm around his neck in an old school chokehold, trying to cut his airflow to pull him back.
Despite my hold, Beck still went for Alex, and Alex still tried to stand.
It took the next biggest man in the community, Randy, to stop Beck.
Bravely, he stepped in, blocking Beck’s strikes.
“You have done enough!” Randy yelled. I didn’t even think he could yell that loud and deep. “Back off! Now!” He shoved Beck. “There’s enough shit going on right now. Go inside, see Michael. Calm down and we will deal with this.”
“I won’t be staying. I’m going to find my wife,” Beck said. “Sonny, you can get off my fucking back now.”
Beck shrugged me off like a bug then stormed toward the buildings.
Randy then turned and saw Alex. His voice dropped to one of concern. He reached for Alex, and Alex turned his head, swatting Randy away.
“You need help,” Randy said.
Alex shook his head.
Whispering to me, “Talk to him,” Randy cleared the area of the onlookers and I went over to Alex. He wouldn’t get up, wouldn’t lift his head. He was beaten, hurt, humiliated.
“Alex, come on. Let’s get you looked at.”
“Go away Sonny,” he said flatly.
“Alex…”
“Please, leave me alone.”
I wanted to help my friend, but unfortunately, Beck’s physical reaction was the icing on the cake of beatings that Alex had taken recently.
“I’m here if you need me,” I said, then walked away.
43. Alex
The pool of blood that formed on the ground wasn’t big, but it was large enough for me to see the reflection of the sun behind me. It grew larger with each streaming drop of my blood.
I had sunk to further depths than I ever imagined. I wished I could sink into the ground and make it go away.
That was the last straw. If I wasn’t before, I certainly was a broken man at that moment. Heartache and pain ricocheted through my entire body, and it wasn’t from the beating I took from Beck. That pain would come, I was certain.
I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to face anyone. I had given all I could and lost all I had. If I didn’t firmly believe Mera and the kids were out there and that I could find them, I would just leave. In fact, that was my plan. Once things settled, I would slip quietly away and never return to the Haven. There was no reason to be there if Mera and the kids weren’t there.
I couldn’t love Danny, Keller, or Phoenix any more if they were my biological children. I adored them. Felt like a father. In fact, I was a father and my child would be born in the next several months. I wanted to be there, I needed to be there.
As much as I wanted to deny it. I wanted that baby.
And Mera... she drove me, kept me alive, made me laugh as much as she made me angry. All those months without Beck, she was my best friend. I loved her. More than I admitted or should. While I would never do anything about it, truth was, I was in love with Mera.
We lost Jessie and that broke my heart. Not having Mera, Danny, and the babies… that took the last bit of life from me.
I didn’t know where to turn, where to look. There were no clues to where they went. I had listened to Michael for three days. God this, God that. Yeah, well, where was God when I needed him?
I was a pathetic being bleeding from my soul and body onto the grass.
Where was He? Where was a sign He could so easily give?
I guess I hadn’t moved in a while. I saw the jeans and boots, then Bonnie squatted down before me. She was probably there to tell me I deserved it. More than likely she had a salt shaker in her hand.
“This is pathetic,” she said. “Get up.”
I didn’t reply.
“This is not you. This is not the strong man that I know. You’re better than this. Get your ass up, Alex. Right now. Her leaving was not your doing. Find her.”
I lifted my head and raised my eyes to Bonnie. “I don’t even know where to look.”
“Yeah, well…” she held her hand out to me, “I do.”
I grabbed her hand and used it as leverage to stand, my heart racing. “Repeat that.”
She turned away from me, folded her arms. “I do. I wasn’t supposed to tell you. You were supposed to figure it out on your own. You’ll know the reason when you find them. Mera’s fine. I’m supposed to meet up with them in a month if she doesn’t come back for me.” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I should have said something. I promised her, though.”
“How are you supposed to meet up?”
“If I tell you, will you come back for me?” she asked.
“Absolutely.”
“Right after the field, just before you get on the exit for the turnpike, there’s a Daisy Donuts.”
“We saw that.”
“There’s a car there. It looks abandoned. It’s not. It’s got gas. Enough to get you there. Map is marked in the car. So they said.”
“Where, Bonnie?” I asked. “Where is she?”
“Where would you go, Alex? Where would you go to get a little piece o
f life and Jessie?” Bonnie asked. After a moment, she said, “She went home.”
I wanted to cry. I felt the emotion build in me as I breathed out. “Do not tell anyone. I’m going okay?”
“I’m not saying a word.” She held up her hand. “I promised. But you needed to know.”
“I did. I did. Thank you.” I started to walk, and realized it was difficult.
“Alex, let me clean up your wounds.”
“No. I’m fine. I’ll be just fine.” Another step, I stopped, turned around, grabbed Bonnie and kissed her “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
She smiled, wiping her mouth. I’d left a blood mark. For the first time in a while, I smiled.
I was hurt, yes. However, pain and injuries be damned, before the sun set, I would find Mera.
44. Mera
Daniel had a Coleman stove in the garage with his camping supplies. It worked for one usage and then we were back to eating cold meals. I suggested that we make a cooking grate for the fire instead of just sticking Spam on a poker and heating it that way.
Ed had a better idea. He brought up the Bronson family down the street and how they had an old potbelly stove. I asked him how he knew and he said I had told him.
He and Danny went out in the morning and got the stove. It took them an hour to move that heavy stove to the back porch and that was where they were playing with it and setting it up all afternoon. The babies and I stayed warm in the living room.
“It’s time to start working with Keller,” Ed told me. “He can hear, he just doesn’t know he is hearing yet.”
On the floor, a safe distance from the fire, I sat with the boys. Phoenix was playing with Jeremy’s old wooden blocks, and I had Keller perched on my lap. How to teach him that he was hearing was the question.
Then it hit me. I would take it one step further than I did with my other kids.
I leaned close to him and said, “Ma. Ma.”
Then, because I knew he couldn’t see. I gently placed my lips on his, my finger to his chin, and repeated ‘Ma.”
After a few times, and no response. I kept saying, “Ma,” while moving his mouth opened and closed.
“Ma,” I said.
Phoenix said, “Ma.”
“Phoenix, I know you know how to talk. I’m trying to teach Keller.”
“He talks to me.”
“I know he does. I need him to talk so everyone can hear him.” I put my finger to Keller’s chin. “Ma.”
“Ma,” Keller said.
I wanted to scream, in fact I did. Not too loud, because I didn’t want to scare him.
“Yes, sweetie, yes.” I kissed him. “Do it again… Ma.”
“Ma.”
“Oh good boy.” I hugged him and smiled. “I am so proud of you.”
Danny and Ed came into the room. “We got it working,” Danny said proudly.
“Oh, yeah?” I said. “Good job. Ready for this? Keller spoke. I mean really spoke. He said Ma.”
Danny and Ed cheered.
“Mom,” Danny said, “get him to say it again.”
I happily obliged. “Keller, again for me. Say it again. Ma.”
“Al… lex.”
I blinked. I looked at Danny and Ed.
“Alex,” Keller repeated. “Here.”
Little Phoenix tugged my arm. “Alex is hurt.”
Keller turned in my arms and pointed. I put him down and stood. Without hesitation, I raced to the door, flung it open and looked outside.
Alex was staggering down my street, holding his side. He spotted me the moment I bolted out to the walk and as if he weren’t hurt at all, he picked up his momentum, moving as fast as he could.
I ran to Alex. A few feet from him, I stopped. His injuries were fresh. His face was swollen, eyes black, and his shirt was drenched in blood. “Alex. My God. What happened?”
Alex whimpered once, grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. His arms wrapped with a hunger around my body, grabbing me to him, holding me tightly. “Oh God, Mera, I thought I’d never see you again.” He pressed his lips to my cheek, kissing me over and over again. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
I felt bad for him, really bad. My heart broke. What had he been through? What had he endured? Was I the cause of this?
“Alex, sweetie, stop.” I reached for his hands and stepped back. “I am so glad to see you. But you’re hurt. You’re hurt bad. Come inside, let’s get you cleaned up, okay? We’ll tell you everything.”
His hand shook and he lifted it to his face. He was so emotional he couldn’t even speak.
“I’m sorry you went through this.” I said, laying my hand on his check. “It’s okay now.” I signaled to Danny to come and help me. Danny hustled over and placed his arm around Alex for support.
“Danny,” Alex patted his check. “So glad to see you.”
“You look like hell, dude, what happened?”
Alex shook his head. “Not important. Finding all of you is.”
I held one side of Alex, Danny the other, and we walked to the house.
“We expected you earlier,” I said. “But, hey, at least you found the clues and got here.”
“Clues?” Alex stopped moving. “What clues?”
45. Sonny
The only clues left behind were those of a religious fanatic. Michael partly agreed with me and stuck by the feeling that maybe Ed was from the future.
Beck returned that night, just as we were wrapping up our conversation.
Michael left and Beck looked exhausted.
“Any luck?” I asked.
Beck shook his head. “Randy and I went south. You know Since Michael and Alex went east. No luck. I feel … I feel really bad about what happened with Alex. That wasn’t me. Mera and the kids are gone. Alex left.”
“You did beat him up pretty bad.”
Beck glared at me.
“Just saying.” I held up my hands. “You were tough to stop. I should know. Although I did hold my own with you.”
“You did well, Sonny,” Beck said with a slight smile.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Get a few hours’ rest then head out as soon as the sun rises. Gonna send my men out as well. Cover all the bases. What were you and Michael talking about?”
“Ed.”
“We’re sure he took them?”
“No one else is missing and… and he’s a religious fanatic.” I pointed to the things on the table.
“What does religion have to do with taking Mera?”
“What if he read the Doctrines that state Keller is the Antichrist? I don’t know, maybe he got ahold of them. What if he sees Mera as some sort of vile fornicator?”
Beck laughed. “A what?”
“You know, a loose woman, because she’s pregnant by an unknown man while with you.”
“We know who the father is, don’t we, Sonny?”
I lowered my head. “Beck, I swear to you, I never meant to hurt you with it.”
“Excuse me?”
“The baby, you know, being mine.”
“The baby isn’t yours, Sonny. Wait a minute. Why would it be yours? Please don’t tell me you were with Mera too?”
“Not that I remember. I assumed, you know, it was me because I remind her of her husband. I don’t recall, I just, you know, thought it happened during the ‘Beck is dead’ frame and I just didn’t have a recollection.”
“It’s not yours.”
“Wow. Okay. Man, was I off in my thinking or what?” I paused. “Whose is it?”
Beck opened his mouth, shook his head and stepped back. “I’m gonna leave this conversation as is. I need to rest so I can think clearly and find them. You keep working on your religious angle.”
After waiting for Beck to leave the main room. I sat down alone with the items. They baffled me and there wasn’t much more to figure out. The bible was small, the inscription inside simply stated: ‘A, just until you find your way home.’
This ‘A’ per
son was probably dying and the message was sadistically indicating he was on his way home to meet his maker.
The book, I was familiar with, though I’d never read it. T gamer he magazine was published a year before the Event. How odd, that someone who knew Mera would create a game that partially came true.
I flipped through the magazine and saw there was an entire article on Bill Logan. He looked like a nice guy. Nerdy in a way. I skimmed through it. He delivered pizzas then started inventing software. It talked about his historic little town in Pennsylvania.
Maybe I was wrong? Maybe Ed just had weird taste in literature and the bible, book and magazine meant nothing at all.
After closing the cover, I tossed the magazine on the table. I rubbed my eyes and grumbled out loud, “What does Bill Logan’s game have to do with it?” I looked down at the magazine. The cover was face up. I looked passively, then quickly looked again, pulling it to me.
The mailing label. How did I not pay attention to it? Not only that. The name and address.
William Logan
1516 Hawthorn Street
Hawthorn.
My eyes shifted to the book, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hurriedly I pulled the bible to me. As I did, I noticed the drawing on the wall. The one Keller did, the one we said was drawn by Jessie. I added up the clues:
A house. A yard. A number.
1515 was the house number on the home.
Bill was Mera’s neighbor
William Logan
1516 Hawthorn Street
The bible with the message to ‘A’.
‘A’ was Alex.
I stood up and ran into the dorm room where Beck was just lying down.
“I’m stupid,” I announced.
“Sonny, don’t give it a second thought. You thought the baby was yours. No big deal.
“Not the baby, Beck.” I stepped in the room. “The things in Ed’s room. They weren’t telltale signs of a crazed religious fanatic. They were clues, left behind to taunt Alex. I know where they went.”
Immediately, Beck sat up. “Where?”
I showed him the magazine and pointed to the label. “He took her home.”
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