Children of Eternity Omnibus

by P. T. Dilloway

  “He’s had enough for now. All of you go on to bed and in the morning we’ll talk,” Mr. Pryde said.

  The concern in Samantha’s voice told Wendell it was too late. Nothing he said or did now would make any difference. She cared too much for this brute on the floor. He had somehow captured her heart in one day in a way Wendell couldn’t over four years. He slunk up the steps into his room, hiding himself in the dark closet again so no one could hear him cry.

  Prudence led Samantha up the stairs, torn between concern for her friend and joy that Samantha had come back. Though never had she seen Samantha like this, so helpless and vulnerable. More like a little child than she ever had even at six years old. Prudence continued to stroke her hair and reassure her Joseph would be fine all the way up to the bedroom.

  On the way to the bed, Samantha insisted they stop at the dresser. She grabbed a bottle of rose-colored liquid and squirted it twice onto her face. “What’s that?” Prudence asked.

  “Medicine for my pimples,” Samantha said.

  “You look fine,” Prudence said. “There’s nothing to worry about.” She took the bottle from Samantha to set it back on the dresser and then helped Samantha into bed. Prudence pulled back the covers to tuck Samantha in like one of the young children back in Eternity. She brushed hair back from Samantha’s forehead to give her a goodnight kiss on the forehead. “Go to sleep and in the morning everything will be all better.”

  “Thanks,” Samantha said. Prudence turned off the light, but lingered in the doorway a moment to look down at Samantha. The kiss she had seen earlier had done this. That boy and his lips had made Samantha weaker than Reverend Crane and the Fountain of Youth ever did. That was the power he held over her. Yes, tomorrow they needed to have a long talk and set everything right. Then Prudence would have her friend back.

  Chapter 26: Payback

  Samantha felt someone shaking her. Was it time to get up already? It seemed like she had just gone to bed a few minutes ago, after that awful scene last night with Joseph’s dad. Why did Mr. Pryde have to be so mean? She and Joseph hadn’t done anything wrong; they only kissed once in the snow and then once at the doorway before they were interrupted by that fat girl. What was her name? It started with a ‘P’: Paula, Pauline, Patty, Patricia, Polly, Penelope…

  “Wake up Sleeping Beauty,” Joseph whispered into her ear. “It’s time to get up. We have a lot to do today.”

  Samantha opened her eyes and turned to Joseph. He looked different. His beard had grown bushier and his muscles looked thicker, like a wrestler or boxer. She would love for him to take off his shirt so she could rub down those huge muscles with some baby oil until his whole body shone. “Hi there, handsome,” she said. “What time is it?”

  “Almost nine o’clock. I thought you’d sleep the day away.”

  “I had a long night.” She sat up in bed and pulled back the covers. Right away she noticed the clothes Joseph had bought her yesterday didn’t fit as they had when she went to bed. The shirt had become tight around her breasts while the jeans fit more loosely around her waist. She looked down at her hands; the skin on the back was now a very light tan, as though she’d spent a few hours in the sun.

  She jumped off the bed to hurry over to the mirror, sighing with relief when she saw no pimples on her face. She squinted into the mirror to find a faint line of freckles along the bridge of her nose between eyes that had turned from brown to dark blue. A tress of honey-brown hair fell across her face; she pushed it back to find it extended now to her waist. “Do you still think I’m pretty?” she asked.

  “How can you even ask that? Of course I do,” Joseph said. He stood next to her in the mirror, smiling to reassure her. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  “No I’m not. There are lots of pretty girls out there.”

  “Not to me there aren’t.” He kissed her on the cheek and then whispered, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  “Won’t your dad be mad? He said not to take the car.”

  “Don’t worry about him. I’ve taken care of it.”

  “Well, in that case let’s go,” she said. She returned his kiss on the cheek, trying to find a spot not covered in hair. He really should shave that before they went anywhere. It’s so scratchy when we kiss, like kissing someone with a sandpaper face, she thought. “While I get ready, you think you could do something with this?” she asked, rubbing his beard.

  “You don’t like it?”

  “I’d rather see that handsome jaw of yours,” she said.

  “Your wish is my command. I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes.” This time they kissed on the lips, though not as long or as deep as on top of the hill. This was a brief, dry kiss, the promise of more to come later.

  Samantha grabbed her jacket and went downstairs to find those other two kids in the kitchen. The little redheaded boy looked on the verge of tears. He ran out of the room as though someone had lit his rear end on fire. The fat girl asked, “Samantha, what happened to you? You’re different.”

  “I don’t know, but I feel so much better than last night. Do we have any fruit?” She opened the refrigerator door to root around for anything healthy to eat. She certainly didn’t want to end up like this other girl, fat and alone. Samantha shivered at the thought.

  Buried in a bottom drawer she found a pear and sat down at the table to wait for Joseph. “Samantha, what’s he done to you?” the fat girl asked.

  “He hasn’t done anything to me. What kind of question is that?” She sliced off a piece of the pear and held it out. “You should try some of this instead of eggs. There’s a lot less fat in fruit.”

  “What?”

  “I’m just saying, not to be mean or anything, but you could stand to lose a few pounds. About a hundred fifty or so.”

  The fat girl’s eyes welled up with tears. “How could you say that?”

  “I’m sorry. What’s your name again?”

  “Prudence. Don’t you remember me?”

  “Prudence, that’s it! What an old name, like someone’s grandma or something. I suppose you’re too young to be anyone’s grandma though. Have you considered changing it? Or maybe go by your middle name. What’s your middle name?”

  “Elizabeth,” Prudence said.

  “That’s almost as bad, but at least then you could go by Liz or Lizzie, that would be cute.”

  Prudence started to cry even harder, tears streaming down her fat cheeks. “Why are you acting this way?”

  “I’m sorry. Go ahead and keep being Prudence. Gain another hundred pounds while you’re at it. It’s none of my business.” Samantha pushed away from the table, leaving the remains of the pear. She started to pace around the front hall, wondering why Joseph needed so long to shave that silly beard.

  Prudence waddled out of the kitchen, her face red but her cheeks dry now. “Are you leaving again?” she asked.

  “What we do or don’t do is none of your business.”

  “Samantha, how can you do this? What about the others back home? They’re depending on us.”

  “Who? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Eternity, don’t you remember? Becky and Molly and David and Annie and the rest? They’re going to starve if we don’t bring them back some food soon.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible, but I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re a big girl, though, I’m sure you can figure out some way to help them.”

  “You heartless, cold-blooded, self-centered monster! Don’t you care about anyone else?”

  “I care about Joseph,” Samantha said. “I don’t see why I’m such a horrible person just because I’m not broken up over some friends of yours. Have you thought maybe if you didn’t eat so much your friends might not be starving?”

  Prudence moved to slap Samantha, but she grabbed the chubby hand aimed at her face and twisted Prudence’s arm around. Prudence cried out, dropping to her knees and cradling her arm. Tears resurfaced on her
cheeks. “I don’t understand what’s happened to you, Samantha. You’ve become someone else.”

  “Someone better,” Samantha said. “You’re just jealous because I look so cute and you’re so ugly. As if it’s my fault. I’m not the one who made you so big. I didn’t stick food in your mouth and force you to eat it.”

  Prudence ran away as fast as her stubby legs could go. Samantha shook her head. The nerve of some people. I try to give her good advice and she tries to hit me. Bitch.

  “What’s going on down here?” Joseph asked. He had trimmed the beard so only a hint of stubble remained. A few red marks indicated where he’d nicked himself with the razor. She ran a hand along his square jaw, stopping at his lips.

  “Nothing much. I made the fat one mad because I told her the truth,” she said. She kissed a red spot on his cheek. “Where’s my handsome tour guide going to take me today?”

  “I’m not sure. Wherever the wind takes us.”

  “Sounds like fun. Before we follow the wind, I don’t suppose we could stop somewhere so I can get a new bra? This one is killing me.”

  “You could always go without one.”

  “I will not, Mr. Dirty Boy. At least not now. Maybe if you’re good,” she said, winking at him. He took her hand and led her out to his father’s car, the one he’d forbidden Joseph to drive the night before. “You sure your dad won’t be mad?”

  “Fuck him,” Joseph said. “I’m not scared of him.”

  She got into the passenger’s seat, checking out her window as they pulled out of the driveway to make sure no one was following them. She didn’t need anything else ruining her day after that fat girl acted like such a snotty brat.

  Joseph parked in a handicapped space in front of Designs By Suzie. “Aren’t you going to get a ticket for parking there?” she asked him.

  “So? Daddy will have to pay it, not me.” She couldn’t argue with him there. She followed Joseph into the store, her nose wrinkling at all the tacky clothes. Nothing as nice as the stores in the Bangor Mall. She should ask him to go back there, but she didn’t want to wait another two hours to get rid of this uncomfortable bra. Her breasts might explode by then.

  Among the racks of lingerie, she found the group of high school girls who’d made fun of her pimples, hair, and clothes. What right did they have to insult me? she wondered. Look at them in drab, puffy coats with all that permed hair and blue eyeliner that had gone out of fashion fifteen years ago at least. They’re walking fashion disasters.

  She picked up a bra—one of the biggest in stock—and held it up to her chest. “You know, I saw the training bras over there,” she said as she inspected the undergarment. “I thought I might save you some time.”

  The girls looked at one another and then the blonde said, “Who are you? I don’t remember seeing you around before.”

  “I’m just passing through with my boyfriend.” She turned and called out, “Joseph, darling, what do you think of this?”

  Joseph came over, a wolfish grin on his face. “I think it looks great,” he said. “Go try it on.”

  “Sure. Why don’t you come with me to see how it fits? Unless you want to wait until later?”

  “I don’t think I can wait that long,” he said. Samantha took his head and winked at the high school girls as she led Joseph into the fitting room. As soon as the door closed, she tore off her jacket, shirt, and old bra. She pressed the new one into Joseph’s hands. He licked his lips as he fit the new bra to her breasts. “A perfect fit.”

  “Excuse me, but only one person is allowed into the fitting rooms at a time. I have to ask you two to leave,” Suzie said.

  Samantha threw open the door, Suzie gasping and the high school girls gaping at her in only the bra and her jeans. “Fine, we’ll leave. Joseph, dear, pay the woman.”

  He handed some bills to Suzie as Samantha glided past the shocked high school girls. She kept her back rigid to make sure they got a good look at her breasts. That’ll teach them, she thought with a sly smile. She continued walking almost nude all the way out to the car, suppressing a laugh when an old lady gasped at her. Only when she got into the car did she put the shirt and jacket back on, her body shivering from the cold.

  Joseph took a ticket from off the windshield and wadded it up. “That was a great performance,” he said. “I thought those girls would faint for sure.”

  “Can you believe I ever cared what they thought? What a bunch of losers. Is there anywhere else fun in this town?”

  “I think I can find something,” he said. He backed out of the handicapped space without looking, cutting off some little old man, who honked the horn on his little old car. Samantha laughed, turning around to stick her tongue out at the old man. His horn couldn’t stop them, nothing could.

  Chapter 27: Emergency!

  Prudence made it to the bathroom before she collapsed to the floor. The throbbing in her arm reminded her of a time nine years ago when Samantha broke Prudence’s arm in a fit of rage. That time had been an accident, a case of Prudence’s arm being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time Samantha had done it intentionally. She had wanted to hurt Prudence.

  The pain in her arm hurt less than those awful insults coming out of Samantha’s mouth. The jokes about Prudence’s weight and her name; Samantha had never said such terrible things before. Once, four years ago Samantha had embarrassed Prudence in the dining hall, but they had attributed that outburst to Samantha’s period and stress about her responsibilities in Eternity. Maybe that’s how Samantha had really felt all this time. Maybe this girl with the blue eyes, blonde hair, and superior attitude was the true Samantha.

  Somehow that boy had unlocked this dark side to Samantha’s personality. His kiss had turned Samantha into a monster. The pain in Prudence’s arm reminded her she couldn’t do this alone. Samantha would not go willingly and Prudence couldn’t fight her. She needed help to bring Samantha back to her senses. The only people she could count on were Wendell and Mr. Pryde. Not that Wendell would be much good, the little coward who’d run away to leave Prudence alone with Samantha. Mr. Pryde could help them; he could bring Samantha back.

  Wendell sat on the bed in Samantha’s room, trying to figure out what had happened. Last night her eyes, skin, and hair were all brown while this morning her eyes had turned blue, her skin white, and hair blonde. It was almost as if someone else had taken Samantha’s place during the night. An imposter.

  No other explanation made logical sense. Having lived with the Fountain of Youth for over three hundred years, though, he knew about how sudden transformations could occur. But this couldn’t be the work of the fountain. Its waters could only make someone younger; they couldn’t alter a person’s eye or skin color. Something else was afoot here, but what?

  He looked around the room for something that might have caused this overnight transformation. A group of perfume bottles sat on a dresser. He sprayed a bit of each into the air to smell them. Each had a flowery scent that made his nose twitch. No, of course it wouldn’t be right in front of him.

  Wendell hurried down the hall into Joseph Pryde’s bedroom. He opened desk drawers, dug through piles of clothes on the floor, and ransacked the closet, but didn’t find anything suspicious. He must have taken it with him, Wendell thought.

  The only solution then would be to track down Joseph and make him confess what he’d done to Samantha. Going after Joseph Pryde would be difficult. The brute had Samantha under his control; Wendell would have to incapacitate her somehow before going after her boyfriend. Even then, Joseph could break Wendell in half with the ease of snapping a twig. This required someone with more strength, like Mr. Pryde. As for Prudence, let her stay and fill her face. This wasn’t a job for girls.

  He burst out of Joseph’s bedroom and ran into Prudence, her bulk knocking him to the floor. She yelped in pain and clutched her left arm. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

  “My arm hurts. I’m going to wake Mr. Pryde up so he can help me find Samant
ha,” she said.

  “No, I’m going to wake him up so he can help me find Samantha,” Wendell said.

  “Let’s go in together and we can both wake him up.” Prudence took a step forward, but then stopped. “Don’t you think it’s odd Mr. Pryde isn’t up yet? I thought he usually went out early to check on his boat.”

  “Maybe he decided to sleep in after last night.”

  “I don’t know. Something isn’t right about this.”

  “Let’s go inside and find out,” Wendell said. He squeezed past Prudence in the hallway to reach the door first. He threw open the door and reached for the light switch.

  Mr. Pryde lay in bed, sleeping fully dressed. “Mr. Pryde, wake up. It’s Wendell and Prudence. We need your help, sir. Something terrible has happened,” Wendell said. Mr. Pryde didn’t move at all.

  “Mr. Pryde, please, get up,” Prudence shouted. “This is important. Samantha and Joseph have gone.”

  When Mr. Pryde still didn’t move, Wendell stepped forward to shake the man’s shoulder. Nothing happened. He shook him again with an identical result. Finally, Wendell slapped Mr. Pryde across the face as hard as he could. Mr. Pryde didn’t even twitch. “Someone’s drugged him,” Wendell said. “It must be Joseph. First Samantha and now his own father.”

  “We’ve got to get help,” Prudence said.

  “From who? The police? They’ll never believe us. They’ll think we’re making it up.”

  “Then what are we supposed to do? We can’t go after them by ourselves.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Wendell said. “There isn’t anyone else who can help us.”

  “We can go back to Eternity and ask David and Rebecca for help. With four of us—”

  “They’ll be gone by then and we’ll never find them.” Wendell shook his head. “We don’t have any more time for arguing. I’m going into town and see if I can find them. You can do whatever you want.”

  Wendell brushed past her on his way out and stomped downstairs to put on his jacket and boots. He had no choice but to walk and hope he could get a ride from some passerby. This time he didn’t bother waiting for Prudence to catch up. He ran along the road as fast as he could, trying to think of what he would do if he found Samantha and Joseph. No plan availed itself to him.