by H. T. Night
“All I’m saying, Josiah. Be aware of who you are. We are all very aware of what you become. You need to trust it, starting right now.”
I stood up and said, “Thanks for your concern, but I better go up and be with Lena.”
“Hey, Josiah!” Tommy yelled I stood up and turned around.
“Merry Christmas.”
I looked at the clock on the wall and it was six in the morning. It was the time I used to open presents with my family when I was a kid. “It is Christmas, isn’t it? My two sons are going to be born on Christmas Day.”
Of course they are, I thought sarcastically.
Chapter Eighteen
Lena continued to scream as she pushed.
I sat in the corner of the room waiting for my cue. That cue would be when I felt Lena needed healing. As I sat there waiting for a signal from the doctor, it was the most unusual moments of my life. I was waiting for him to say she was too sick. At the same time, I was prepared for him to tell me she had given birth to one of the two boys.
So, I sat there, waiting. The waiting was making me nuts. Then, suddenly, I became highly aware that I could heal whatever was bothering her at any given time. Why couldn’t I? Healing is healing... it doesn’t matter when the person needed it. I popped up and made my way over to Lena. I knelt down on the floor right next to her head. “Lena! Baby! Look at me!” I said, almost screaming. I needed for her to hear my voice over her own screaming. “Honey! Look at me,” I continued. “I’m going to heal whatever is happening to you.”
“Where have you been?” Lena screamed at me.
“I’ve been right here in the room.”
“Josiah,” Lena’s voice was weakening. “Josiah, something is very wrong with me.”
“I know. I’m going to heal you. Close your eyes.”
Lena was in so much pain. She could hardly process what was happening to her.
So, I placed my hands over her upper body. I focused on the healing of her body. I closed my eyes and tried to have as much power come out of me as possible and go directly into her. I did this for about a minute. But... there was a problem. Nothing was happening. I looked at Lena and she screamed like she was in even more pain.
What the hell was going on?
This was the first time I was afraid. For whatever reason, I couldn’t heal her. I touched her again, this time on the head. I put my hand on her moist forehead. I tried to summon power from the Triat like the way I did that night with Goliath. Again, nothing happened.
My heart sank to the floor. This couldn’t be right. Had I lost the ability to heal? When Goliath was beating me up, I gave myself to the Triat. I offered myself up. Maybe that was the only way that Lena could be healed. We needed to offer ourselves up. Lena needed to release herself to the Triat.
“Lena,” I said. “Open your eyes and look at me.” Lena’s eyes didn’t open. “Holy shit! This can’t be happening!” I yelled out.
“We are going to have to do a Caesarean section!” Dr. Kukoc called out to the nurses.
“Do what you need to do. Please make sure each of them is safe!” I said to the doctor.
The doctor looked at me and sighed. The nurses were in position to get the C-section going.
Within minutes, they had administered a general anesthetic and moved Lena to a position to slice her open and to remove both my boys from her uterus.
Then just like what happened when I got into a fight, time began to go still. They first removed my first son from her opened belly.
“That’s Joshua,” I said.
One of the nurses cut the cord and removed my son from the room. I looked at my child as he left through the door in the nurse’s arms. I didn’t get the chance to feel the magic of the moment. There were so many things going through my head. Lena was passed out and I wasn’t sure if she was dying, and I’m pretty sure the doctor wasn’t sure either. All we could go on was we all could hear her heartbeat on the machine as well as my son who was still in her stomach. I looked down and noticed there was a problem getting the second child out.
“His umbilical cord is wrapped around his neck two times,” one of the nurses yelled out.
I looked down as I watched as the two nurses undo the cord around Jason’s neck. As they were removing Jason, something phenomenal happened. As Jason was being picked up, his tiny hand touched the inside pelvic area of Lena’s body; right on the outside of her body. As my son touched his mother, something supernatural started happening in that room. A tiny, glowing light glowed off my son’s hand. The shot of light ignited off his hand and lit up Lena’s body like a Christmas tree.
No one quite knew what to do. The nurses tried to remove Jason from Lena’s body, but they couldn’t move him.
“Let him be!” I yelled out. “He’s healing her.” This went on for another twenty seconds and then the glow from Lena’s body went off just as if someone turned off the light switch.
The nurses finally removed Jason from Lena’s body. Within seconds, Lena’s entire body was healed. Even the C-section incision had magically disappeared. Her body was free of cuts, bruises, incisions and scars. This was truly a miracle.
I took a step back, trying to take in what had happened. My baby boy, Jason, not even 20 seconds old, touched and healed his own mother. His accidental touch was able to heal her? Or was it accidental? Could a baby who was a few seconds old even understand the severity of the situation? This was blowing my mind.
I looked down at Lena and her eyes opened. “Josiah, what happened?”
“You’re okay, that’s what happened. Something miraculous occurred in this room and you have your youngest son to thank for it.”
“My youngest?” Lena asked.
“Yes, they both have been delivered. It was a Caesarian section operation, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at you.”
The doctor and nurses were pretty overwhelmed. It was going to take a lot of money to shut them up. Thank goodness, we had Hector for that.
“Let’s clean you up and put you into a fresh bed,” one of the nurses said.
“Are they healthy, Jo?” Lena asked.
“They are amazing. They are the two of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen.”
“Can I see them?”
I looked at the two nurses who were holding Joshua and Jason and motioned for them to bring the children over to Lena.
I placed a pillow behind Lena’s head, so she could sit up.
I watched as the first nurse put Joshua in his mother’s arms for the very first time.
“This is Joshua,” I said. Joshua had the blue tag on his toe. I guess this was so we could tell them apart.
“He’s so tiny.” Tears dripped from her eyes. I had never seen so much love pour out of her.
“Don’t forget this guy.” The nurse had handed me Jason—he was wrapped in a blanket, with just his head peeking out.
I handed Jason to Lena. “This is the reason why you’re pain-free, sweetheart. Your son healed you on his way out.”
Lena looked at me, surprised.
“How is that even possible?”
“Not exactly sure, all I know is that I couldn’t do it. Then this little bundle of joy was being removed and he touched you and the rest is history. It looked like something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in how you both lit up when he was healing you.”
Lena’s expression said it all. Then she closed her eyes and said, “I’m so tired.” Lena looked up at me, her face filled with love and exhaustion.
“Why don’t you get some rest, sweetie?”
“I don’t want to give them back,” Lena said lovingly.
“Well, they will be with us for a very long time.”
Lena looked up at me and said, “I love you so much, Josiah. Thank you.”
“Thanks for what?” I said. “You did all the hard work.”
“Thank you for choosing me.”
“We chose each other, babydoll. We chose each other.”
Lena gave back her children to the nurses. We all left the room and went downstairs to give Lena some well-deserved rest. The boys were put in the nursery in the cribs that Tommy, Hector and I assembled. The nurses were working together to make sure everything was safe and healthy for the babies.
I sat down in one of the rocking chairs we had set up in the room and looked at my two sons. It was the first time I had a chance to stop and smell the roses in regard to my boys. These two beautiful boys were my flesh and blood. They were the two most beautiful babies I had ever laid eyes on. I thought my chest was going to burst with emotion.
I stood up out of the rocking chair and walked over to Joshua’s crib and picked him up. He was a little fussy, but I held him anyway.
“Hey, little guy,” I said. “I’m your daddy.” I kissed him on the forehead and brought him over to the rocking chair and rocked him for about twenty minutes. My shoulder was killing me where the werewolf had taken a bite out of it. Injuries were a common occurrence to me, but it was bothering me nonetheless.
I eventually stood up and put him gently back in his crib. The nurses watched me like a hawk, being that I was a new father and they were making sure that I was gentle.
I walked over and looked down at Jason. He looked up at me but I was pretty sure he couldn’t see me. This amazing eight-pound boy had done a miraculous thing tonight. It was pretty overwhelming. I looked down at him and said an unusual thing to a newborn, “Thank you, son. You did something for your mother not even your father could do. You’re an amazing child.”
Then something odd happened. This little tiny baby reached out to me with his right hand. I looked down and was confused. I stuck my finger in his palm and smiled. Then the most amazing thing happened. His little hand lit up once again and a power surged throughout my body. Every pain and ache left my body. Holy crap! My son was healing me!
This went on for about thirty seconds and when it was over. I took off my shirt and my bite mark was gone. I was completely healed.
What the hell kind of child was this? It appeared that he was even greater than me, the Chosen One.
Chapter Nineteen
It had been 48 hours since the twins were born.
I had spent just about every waking minute of those 48 hours with the Lena or the boys. Lena was doing amazingly well. Whatever healing our son Jason did on the way out of Lena’s body made her as healthy as she had ever been. One would have never known that she had given birth only two days ago. Jason, however, made me extremely nervous each time I touched him. It was like holding the ring in Lord of the Rings. I had no idea what kind of power the kid possessed. All I knew is that he was a healing machine. My other son, Joshua, appeared to be a normal baby. These days, that was a wonderful thing.
But it was time for Atticai and Donya’s reunion. Although Donya had assimilated nicely into our home, this was not why we went out and rescued her.
I let Donya know the day before that I was planning on bringing her to Atticai on the following day. I had put it off for the obvious reason of the babies being born, but there was also a part of me that was afraid of how Atticai would react. Would he be grateful that she is still alive? Would he be pissed that The Deity knew of her whereabouts and never told him? Would he be upset that once again I was the one who showed him up? Or would he be practical about it and just be happy that the love of his life was back in his life again?
I wondered how Atticai would feel about her being so old. Not to be weird, but I thought of Donya as beautiful and even sexy, even at sixty-plus years old. She had a strong sex appeal. She had cleaned up pretty good since being back. Yari had made it her mission to get her looking as beautiful as she could. Yari dyed her hair a silky black color, leaving gray streaks in it. It looked incredibly classy. She reminded me of an old-school Hollywood actress, such as Lauren Bacall or Elizabeth Taylor.
I knew by this point that looks and age were the last things that mattered when two lovers had been separated as long as they had. I also understood that she really wanted to look good for their meeting.
We were set to take off to Atticai’s ranch at 9:00 p.m. I planned on driving her over there in my truck. I wanted to make it as normal a meeting as we possibly could. I asked Lena if she wanted to go. I thought it would be a welcoming gesture if we both delivered Donya to Atticai. After all that the three of us had been through, I thought it was a bit poetic. Lena loved the idea, as I knew she would.
We both got ready and went to Tommy’s room to pick up Donya and take her to her man. Donya had been staying in there the last couple of days, thanks to Tommy’s generosity. I knocked on the door. In a moment, Donya answered it. My mouth dropped. She was a vision of loveliness. She was wearing a light green dress that accentuated her eyes and complexion. “You look stunning,” I said.
“You are absolutely beautiful,” Lena added.
“You both are too kind. I’m an old lady,” Donya answered.
“So what?” I said. “In the history of the world, no one deserves this more. You deserve this moment. Don’t worry about age or time. Just think about how wonderful it is to see him again.”
“How does he look?” Donya asked.
“He’s handsome,” Lena said.
“Yeah, if you were into the whole beanpole with moppy-hair thing that they had going on in the sixties. He hasn’t changed much,” I added.
“He still looks twenty-five?” Donya asked.
“Not really,” I said. “If it’s any consolation, the last time I saw him, he looked pretty aged.”
“How so?”
“He isn’t happy. Atticai hasn’t had much joy, probably since you went missing. To be honest, it explains a lot, knowing now that he lost you so many years ago. I’m hoping that seeing you lights a fire under his ass, and he will want to start living again.”
“Do you think he’ll be that excited?”
I looked at Donya and took her in and honestly said from the bottom of my heart, “Yeah, I think he is going to be elated.”
“Well, let’s get going. It’s going to take about an hour to get there.”
Around 10:00 p.m., we pulled up to Atticai’s ranch. “Wow, I’m nervous,” I said. I looked at Donya. “How about you?”
“I definitely have anxiety. Then again, I have had anxiety for the last forty-plus years.”
“Why don’t you and Lena stay back and I will go to the door first? I don’t want to overwhelm the poor guy.” I stepped out of my truck and walked up to the muddy pathway that led to Atticai’s house. I looked back at the girls. Donya was in the front seat and Lena was in the seat directly behind the driver.
All right, here goes nothing.
I turned around and walked up to his big wooden door. I knocked. No one answered. I waited and knocked again. Again, no answer. I checked the handle to see if it was unlocked, and it was. I opened the door and peeked my head inside. “Atticai!” I said loudly. “Are you here?”
Then I heard footsteps at the top of his staircase. “What do you want, Josiah? I’m tired,” Atticai bellowed down to me.
“We need to talk.”
“For the love of God, go home!”
“This time, I’m positive you’re going to love what I have to say.”
“Love? I don’t love anything. Especially something that would come out of your mouth.”
Atticai was going to make this hard, but what else was new? “Please come down here, so I can speak to you.”
Atticai grunted and made his way down the stairs. Damn, he was tall. He took his sweet time, making sure he put both feet on each step, staring at me with a glare that suggested this better be worth it.
Finally, he was downstairs. He walked over to his living room where his rocking chair was and sat in it.
“You know, you might be 300 years old in age, but your body is still damn healthy. I don’t know why you have a rocking chair.”
“Please don’t give me any advice. I came down here. I’m tired. So, please. Tell me. What
is this great bit of information you have to tell me?”
I looked at Atticai for about ten seconds before I spoke. Then I simply said, “Donya.”
Atticai quickly looked up at me. “Who told you about her?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is this next bit of information I’m about to share with you.” I now had Atticai’s full attention. “She is still alive.”
“That’s impossible. I searched every nook and cranny in Europe for her. I spent years doing so.”
“What if I told her I know where she is?”
“I’d say you’re a damn liar.” Atticai was now agitated. I think there was a part of him that thought I just might be screwing with him. I needed to speak to him in a manner that he would trust.
“Atticai, she was on an island just south of the Philippines for the last forty-plus years.”
“What is she doing there?”
“She was in a prison camp.”
“Was? Where is she now?”
I smiled. When I did, Atticai’s expression was that he was about to crap his pants. “Hold on,” I said.
“No, fuck you, Josiah. Where the fuck is she right now?” Atticai stood up and in the blink of an eye, was up in my face. I think if I was anybody else, he would have struck me with his hand. But at this point in my life, even Atticai knew better.
“Atticai, I need for you to relax and listen to me.”
Then Atticai’s eyes opened wide like a kid on Christmas morning. “She’s here, isn’t she?”
“Hold on...”
Atticai was not holding on. He ran to the front door and flung it open. I quickly followed him. Atticai sprinted to my truck from the front of his house. He ran up to my vehicle and stopped, staring at Donya through the windshield. He didn’t say a word as he was stuck in his tracks. He was paralyzed from the waist down. Then I saw something I thought I would live a thousand years and never see. Atticai began to cry outwardly. Not light tears dripping down his cheeks either. Atticai began crying out loud. “Donya? Is that really you?”