Between Time

by Bond, Carolyn

  He continued, “The dark ones lose everything when you choose love. It’s the one thing that trumps them every time. They can work with greed and self-righteousness. They get very powerful with anger. They are nearly unbeatable with hate. Nearly. Love trumps it all.”

  “So,” Marie constructed out loud, “if you disagree with someone and you still show them love, it’s more powerful than just loving your mom or your boyfriend that agrees with you?”

  “Exactly. Love that is harder to show has more potential energy for good than love that would be expected. Loving someone that does not deserve that love is the most powerful energy in the universe. It’s irrational, it has no logic. There is nothing that can explain it or defeat it.”

  “So Tom and Jenny’s love for me as their child is expected, but Tom choosing to stay in Kentucky after I was murdered made no sense. Sense would have taken him back to Virginia to protect his other children.” Henry said.

  “And Sarah choosing to love her dad even when he cut her off didn’t make sense. She had every right to turn her back on him. And her dad had every right to turn his back on her. But they didn’t. They still cared about each other and chose love.” Marie paused. “I get that they might have it in for my family, but why is this happening now? Why not at some point before now?” she asked.

  “Maybe it has more to do with what’s to come. The dark shadows are putting two and two together. Allen’s family are a passionate bunch as well. Maybe as you both become closer, the Shadows see a potential for the next generation to be even more powerful.” said Lorenzo. “Sometimes their choices are not rational. Sometimes they don’t see truth as it really is. There isn’t any way to predict why they do what they do.”

  “So I’m not just fighting for me, or for all of the ancestors, I’m fighting for the generations that don’t exist yet.” Said Marie, overwhelmed. “Lorenzo, why can’t you just destroy them?”

  He laughed. “I could. But that’s not why I’m here. The ones you would have me destroy, I loved like I love you. They made their choice to be what they are. I will not deny them their eternity because I loved them enough to let them be different from me without retribution. I am here for you and anyone who chooses love.”

  Marie thought for a minute and said, “I need some time.”

  “Here there is plenty of that. In fact, there is no time, so take all you want. Makes no sense, does it!” said Henry who got up and wandered to the others. After a minute, so did Lorenzo.

  ***

  Marie thought about the ones that attacked her in that barren land. They were spirits just like her. They had had a life. They had made decisions. Things had happened to them. She thought about the woman. In different circumstances, would she have chosen the life she had? All of those people had been born and raised by someone. Was there a parade of people who had cried for them when they made bad choices? Were those people here now, fighting for others? Lorenzo said he had loved them, but how could he? Did he still love them now? Could she love them?

  She tried to imagine the woman as a normal person, without the dark lines in her face. She tried to imagine her as a teenage girl just looking for someone to notice her and see who she was. Maybe she just had one too many people bully her when she just wanted to be cared about.

  Whatever the case, they were warped now and set on a path with no return. Their time for choices was over. Even so, she thought, what if she chose to love them. They could do nothing in return and it would make no difference in their life. But, what if it made a difference in her life?

  CHAPTER 15 – PEOPLE AND SOULS IN THE HOSPITAL

  Marie stood up and joined the group. They were talking strategy. She had an idea, but she needed to learn some things first.

  “Hey, Henry!” she called.

  “Yes, Ma’am” he called back.

  “Would you show me what you do to keep the shadows away,” she asked.

  “Sure thing, darling. Let’s go over here.” He motioned toward an unoccupied spot on the portico.

  “First thing, I bet you thought we were fist fighting back in the hospital room, right?” he asked.

  “Well, yeah, it looked like that.” She said.

  “Well, it wasn’t. We do use a type of force and we use bursts of it that look like we are hitting. But, since none of us have actual bodies, hand-to-hand combat is useless.

  “What we are doing is concentrating emotion, specifically love, into a burst of energy and throwing it at them.” He paused, “or stomping it into them.”

  “You’re throwing love at them?” she said perplexed.

  “Sure, you have heard of a ventriloquist that throws their voice? We throw emotion. In fact, when we are talking to the new ones, we do the same thing, we just don’t throw it. We sort of whisper it. Think of how much you love your mom.”

  “Okay” she said.

  “Now ‘will’ that emotion on to me,” he said.

  She tried it. It wasn’t as hard as she thought. He smiled. “Nice!”

  “Now imagine Allen is falling off a cliff and if your love could save him, you’d grab him by the arm and pull him back,” he said.

  She closed her eyes and imagine the scene. She tried to feel the fear of losing him. It struck her. She reached out in her mind and wrapped that protective love around Henry and yanked. Henry, stout fellow that he was, fell forward to the ground.

  He got up and straightened out his clothes, “By Job! You are one tough fighter! Let’s go play with some shadows!”

  He turned back to the group and called, “Hey, we need to make a trip back to the hospital. Anyone up for it. Joan of Arc here, needs some practice!”

  They all smiled. They’d all seen her throw down Henry.

  “Sure,” said Tom. “Come on, Ben!” Henry took Marie’s hand and in a flash of light, they were gone.

  ***

  The hospital room was dark. Marie’s mom’s sat in the chair dozing with a light blanket around her shoulders. Marie’s body was now on her side facing her mom. Apparently the nursing staff had changed her position to avoid bed sores. Marie had lost tract of real time.

  “How long has it been,” she asked Tom.

  “Three weeks” He said sadly. “It’s starting to wear on them. I talked to Jacob a little while ago. Things aren’t going well. Your dad went back home because he had to get back to work or lose his job. Your mom is determined, but doesn’t know how much longer she can continue at your bedside. She wants to have you moved back to your home town. Allen is not doing well. As if he wasn’t already having a hard time with depression, you being moved seems like you are never coming back to him. He is at a loss.

  On top of that, the Shadows have been relentless. They are all over Allen all the time.”

  “Where is he now?” she asked.

  “Back at the dorm. Jacob’s with him.” Tom said.

  Marie started to look around. Sure enough, like roaches crawling along the edge of the floor, a shadow was loaming in the corner. She concentrated on Allen’s face in her mind. She thought of his smile as they walked hand in hand. When she had the emotion firmly in her mind, she threw it toward the shadow, mimicking pitching a fast ball with her arm. With a slightly audible hiss, the shadow evaporated! Pleased with herself, she turned to Henry for his approval, which he smiled grandly in return. He mockingly polished his nails on his pretend tux lapel and smiled smugly at Tom.

  “Yep! That’s my girl!” he crooned.

  “Not bad at all for a first timer!” Tom added pleased. “Let’s go find some bigger fish.” Tom headed toward the door.

  They wandered down the hallway of the hospital floor. Marie wondered what he was looking for. He seemed to know it had to be somewhere close. She decided to test her limits in a world with no boundaries and stuck her arm first through a wall, and then feeling confident, stuck her head in. She saw a break room with staff sitting around a table eating fast food sandwiches.

  “The family of the man in room 257 is about to get on my
last nerve! They all take off their shoes and sit around and when I open the door, I could pass out from the smell of stinky shoes!” Marie giggled and stepped back into the hallway.

  “Ah, here we go,” Tom said as he motioned for her to go in a room.

  “Whose room is this?” she asked.

  “Someone who’s not very well protected.”

  The room was quiet and stark. No flowers. No cards. An old man was sleeping on his side, wheezing slightly. The IV dripped away into the line. Marie could sense they were not the only ones there. Sure enough, the shadows were crawling along baseboards and hovering in the curtain folds. Marie stepped toward the man’s bed for a closer look. A shadow lay curled in his folded arms. His breathing stopped a minute and then he started a gasping, wheezy cough that sounded like he’d smoked too many cigarette in his lifetime. He caught his breath and then woke up. Eyes wide, pale and watery. His mouth gaping as he gasped for air. Shaky stick-like arms shot out and he grabbed for the rails with long bony fingers and pulled himself up. He looked around the room with a scowl on his face.

  “Damn hospital!” and then he yelled loudly, “Why does it have to be so cold in here? A man could freeze to death and you all wouldn’t care!” He slumped back against the pillow and stared at the ceiling. He looked at his bedside table and groped for his cup of water. He took a sip and screwed up his face.

  “NURSE! Nurse! This water is old! I need ice. Can anybody HEAR me?” and then under his breath, “Damn screw-up nurses don’t give a rip about anybody. Nobody cares about anybody anymore!”

  A very capable looking woman came in the door and crossed her arms. “MISTER Green, how may I help you? Is there a problem?”

  “You’re damn right there’s a problem! This water is so old there’s lint in it! I can’t drink that! Get me some fresh water, WITH ICE, or so help me, I’ll...”

  Interrupting, the nurse said, “You’ll what, Mr. Green? Report me? You already did that earlier today, remember? I’d be happy to get you fresh water if that will make your stay at Sonora Regional more pleasant!” With that she turned on her heel and was gone in a flash of white uniform, her head held high.

  Mr. Green let out a quick sigh and put his head back on the pillow. He grumbled something else under his breath. The shadow crept around his head again. It was small and barely there but it rested right next to his ear. Marie could just make out a hissing voice that said, “No one cares about you. They all abandoned you. That nurse hates your guts. She wishes you would go ahead and die and lighten her patient load. You son wishes you would die and he could finally have your house. You’re a burden on them all and you always have been.”

  A tear ran down Mr. Green’s cheek. “Damn them all to hell,” he whispered to no one.

  Tom motioned to Marie to give it a try. Marie closed her eyes and thought of a time when she was laying on the couch with her head on her mother’s lap. Her mother was smoothing her hair away from her face. She felt so loved and wanted. With all her strength, she balled up that emotion and then hurled it at the shadow around the man’s neck. It hissed and recoiled. It stood up taller and spread out. This was no ordinary shadow. It was used to having this old man for a steady source of negative energy. It grew to the height of a man and stood on the floor and then the dark cloud dissipated until Marie could see a vile, monster of a man. His eyes were bloodshot with dark circles. His pale, pasty skin looked waxy. A smirk was on his mouth as though the confrontation seemed entertaining.

  Marie looked at Tom with concern.

  “It’s okay Marie, give it another shot. I’m right here to help.” Tom encouraged.

  Marie tried again. She remembered the shadows coming after Allen in the hospital room. A fierce protective emotion came over her. She balled it up and hurled it at the dark Frankenstein-like fiend. He wavered but didn’t budge. Then he let out a guttural gloating laugh that made Marie’s hair stand up on the back of her head.

  “A little game of tennis, perhaps? I’m game.” The ghoul closed his eyes and concentrated. Marie looked at Tom worried and then felt an unmistakable sense of loneliness. Cold loneliness like the bottom of the reservoir. Death. Everything was dead. Marie tried to scream but somehow the air had become water. She could only gargle out a pathetic muffled baby cry. Tom seemed to be receding into the distance at a fast pace like she was being sucked into a whirlpool.

  “Marie. Look at me.” Tom said calmly. “Remember what Lorenzo told you about the most powerful love of all.”

  Marie felt like she was losing her grip on conscious thought. “What… who… said?” and then she turned her gaze on the monster. She looked right into his eyes. Sad tired eyes. Why were they sad? What had happened to him? There must have been a young man in there at some point. Then she could see it like he wore his pain on his sleeve. He was a little boy. Same pale eyes, but soft sweet cheeks and a beautiful cherub mouth. He was about 3. There was screaming. His mother was screaming. His father was hitting her. He was too little to help. He just wanted his mommy to hold him and tell him she was ok. He crawled up to her and his father smacked him away. It hurt. He cried and reached out to his mommy, but she turned on him and said, “Stupid brat, this is your fault!”

  Marie was horrified. How could anyone be so cruel? They were all so cruel to each other. He was just a baby. A tear slipped down her cheek as she looked at the grown, angry version of that sweet little boy. She wished she could have grabbed up that little boy and loved him. Maybe if someone had loved him, he would have never become so hollow.

  Like a whooshing wave of water, the sound came back. She was free of his grip. He seemed to melt into the floor and vanish. Tom looked at her with great respect.

  “You did it, little lady! I think you got the hang of it!”

  “That was hard. It was so draining, so sad.” She grimaced.

  “Yes. That’s the thing. Most of the dark shadows have really sad stories that affected them. Some are truly just evil, but, most of them are just sad and they got swallowed up in their own mess until it consumed them. Eventually they knew no other way than hurting others. Of course, they had shadows sucking the life out of them along the way and so it goes, on and on.”

  “So there is no hope for them once they cross over?” she asked.

  “No. they are so deep in their own evil by the time they get with their little friends in nowhere land, that they are unable to feel love when it hits them over the head. In fact, it is repulsive to them. It makes them flee.”

  “Wow. That’s awful.” She thought about that a minute. “Well, I want to sit with my mom a little bit. I need my mom.”

  Tom smiled and stretched out his arm to indicate the way.

  ***

  Marie’s mom was still dozing at Marie’s bedside. Marie sat in the chair with her mom, overlapping but as close to curling up on her mom’s lap as a spirit could get. Marie could hear her mom’s steady reassuring breathing. She stirred a little and opened her eyes. She looked around the room and then down at the blanket over her. She looked at Marie’s body on the bed, still and serene. Then she hugged herself instinctively. Marie, the spirit, closed her eyes and felt the love her mother had for her. It was a strong resonating energy.

  “Marie, I don’t know if you can hear me. I am remembering the time when you were little, just three years old, when you drowned in the neighbor’s pool. You wandered off. In just few minutes, you’d fallen in. We searched around the house. We ran. There was only one place left and your father and I realized where you had to be. It was spring and the pool had been half full and the weather had been warm enough that it was green. You couldn’t see the bottom. Your father jumped in and went under. He felt around the bottom for you. Sure enough, he found your little body and pulled you up. You were gray. I screamed, ‘Dear God! Save her!’ I tripped and fell and scraped my knee trying to get to the phone. All I could think about was how I couldn’t lose you. We loved you so much! Your father breathed into you and turned you over. We both willed you to l
ive. You threw up the green pool water and sputtered and cried.” She stopped a minute and the tears came.

  “I can’t lose you, Marie. Fight! You must wake up! Come back from wherever you are. You are strong and pure. I know you can find a way.” Marie’s mother closed her eyes and tears kept streaming down her cheeks. Marie sat curled up in the safety of her mother’s lap for a long while.

  Some hours later, Marie stood up and looked at Tom who was patiently looking out the window into the starry mountain night. Marie’s mother slept soundly, better than she had in weeks.

  Tom turned and looked at her, “Look at you!” Marie held her arm in front of her. She glowed an ethereal light like moonlight but it came from within her.

  “What’s this?” Marie turned her arms in all directions.

  “You newbies would call it a halo.”

  “What? Like… I’m holy?” she stammered.

  Tom laughed. “No, it’s love. It’s the energy of love all around you. It’s powerful in this war. If only there was a way to focus it.”

  “Yeah, if only…” Marie pondered.

  CHAPTER 16 – PUTTING TOGETHER THE CLUES

  Marie looked back at her mother sleeping with her arms crossed under her head leaning on the bed side. She hadn’t noticed her before, but a woman stood a few feet behind her. She was short and had black hair pulled back in a neat bun. Her gray eyes took in everything. She stood with her elbow leaning on the counter behind her and she seemed to be kneading her hands, absently rubbing her thumbs over the tops of her hands. Marie realized she was her mother’s Protector. Some distant relative of theirs, as she had come to understand was the way of things. Marie smiled a tentative smile at her and the woman closed her eyes and nodded briefly in approval. Marie realized this woman must have known Marie all her life as well, since she was always with her mother. It was like she was meeting parts of her family that had always been separated from her, parts of the other side of a mirror. They were not frightening or spooky. They were family she’d never met. Marie felt such a rush of relief.