by S. B. Niccum
They were still holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes when a golden light engulfed them. The flames that surrounded them filled them not with pain, but with love—full to the brim. They remained there, engulfed as it were, in an inexplicable love that consumed them.
Suddenly, from the corner of their eyes they saw them approaching. There were hundreds of them—a whole throng of white figures—were converging on them. Turning their heads they watched with amazement how a few of them flew forward with unspeakable speed, and flung their arms around them.
Dazed, Katie shut her eyes, then opened them again and pulled away from the embrace to see who it was that was giving it. It was a woman she had only seen in pictures—her grandmother, Nancy.
Katie blinked a few times, hoping that the process would give her some perspective. Then she saw him hovering a ways away. “Grandpa?” she asked confused by his appearance.
“Yes, sweetie, it’s me.” Russell floated to her, looking exactly as he did in his mid twenties—sideburns and all! “Do you know who this is?” He pointed to Nancy.
“Grandma Nancy?”
Nancy groaned at the sound of those words and embraced Katie again. The uncanny resemblance between the two women was extraordinary. From the cloud-like whiteness, another form appeared, a tall redhead with chocolate brown eyes. She came with arms outstretched and a wide smile.
“Estelle…” Katie recognized her from pictures as well. She was mesmerized at the love she felt coming from these two women that she didn’t even know. The love consumed her, and only increased when more forms emerged, arms open and welcoming.
Not far away, Jase was being received in much the same manner. Katie couldn’t suppress a smile when she saw that the spirits who surrounded her husband, resembled him in height, accent, and mannerisms. The reunion reached an incredible mass when Jase insisted that they come and meet his wife. See-through forms came together, shaking hands, nodding, chatting, and laughing. No one was sad; no one lamented the end of Jase and Katie’s lives—because they continued.
It wasn’t until much later than Katie realized the full extent of what had happened.
“Jase!”
He turned with his dimpled grin.
“Our daughter.”
His look darkened as well, and sadness spread from him to all who were assembled.
“If you’ll follow me,” said a spirit who wore a long pendant around his neck. “There are only a few things you need to do, if you’d like to visit her.”
“Visit?” both Katie and Jase said at once.
“Yes, visit. But your influence over her can still be very powerful.” He ushered Katie and Jase through the crowds, and led them along a golden path. On either side, nothing but whiteness could be seen.
“As parents of a young child, you have priority. So I’ll skip a lot of the … red tape, if you will, and take you right to the Guardian Angel’s training center.”
Katie and Jase exchanged puzzled looks, but followed quietly.
The Angel leading them stopped in front of a huge golden gate. It was shut, and on either side huge, winged creatures stood like Sentinels.
“Before I let you through, I have to ask you … because it is granted for you to choose since technology back on earth is sophisticated enough these days. But once you cross that gate, you cannot change your mind.” The Angel waited for that to sink in. Then turning majestically around he asked, “Would you like to live, or would you like to die?”
Chapter 30
Life hung on the balance for Katie and Jase, who were both in a coma since the plane crash. Because of their severe burns it was unclear if they would survive, and even if they did, what kind of life they would have? “Vegetables,” one of the doctors had predicted. “It’s doubtful that they’ll ever wake up, and if they do, their burned skin will be a constant threat of infection from bed sores. Needless to say, they will need around the clock care.”
I watched as Valerie stroked a single patch of Katie’s hair, that hadn’t been singed. Tears bleached a path down her cheek, that I was sure would never disappear.
Dane too looked as if he might never recover from this crushing blow. His usual peaceful face showed visible signs of having aged ten years. Hollow dark circles under his eyes, and creases from worry and exhaustion marked his face.
Alex and I took Robyn home with us, and tried our best to make her life happy. As her legal guardians we suddenly became parents—not the way we hoped to be, but parents nonetheless. Even if Katie and Jase ever pulled through, it looked as if they would never be able to fully recover enough to take care of Robyn.
While Alex was busy with his work, I brought three-year-old Robyn with me to the shop. She loved being there as much as I did. Carla, my assistant, manned the storefront while I sewed in the back and Robyn played in the store with the fabric swatches, the lace and the mannequins. She showed great taste in fashion, and watched me carefully as I made her one of my famous rag dolls. I spared no details, and made the doll to resemble her mother. I even made her dress out of Katie’s favorite outfit.
“This is your Katie doll,” I told her once it was finished.
Robyn took the doll reverently in her arms, and cradled it. “This is mommy?” she asked innocently.
I nodded, fighting back the tears.
“Where’s daddy?”
“Of course!” I said, cursing myself for being so calloused. “I’ll make you a Jase doll right now.”
Once that was done, she asked for another doll, a baby one. So the Robyn doll, much smaller was made. With this little family, Robyn played every day. It was therapeutic for her, because the rag family had whole conversations that were very … interesting.
Laying the Robyn doll on a makeshift bed of fabric ends, she held the other two suspended in mid air. “What should we do Robyn, dear?” the Katie doll asked with a high pitch squeak.
“I don’t know, I miss you mommy,” the Robyn doll answered.
“If we stay, we may not be much help to you, but we’ll be here with you,” the Jase doll said in a grave tone.
“What happens if you don’t stay?”
“We will watch over you, always.”
“Will I see you?”
“No.”
“Will I hear you?”
“No. Not really, but we’ll be … around.”
As predicted by the mysterious text from that lady, Eugenia had been promoted that same day to field reporter. She had her own little crew, the camera guy and a makeup person. She tried hard to win their devotion and respect, but apparently they suspected that Eugenia had gained her position through nefarious means, so they did very little for her. But right now, her crew and what they thought, was the last thing on Eugenia’s mind. She was standing amid the throng of reporters, right outside the building where Alex Preston was currently giving a speech.
Like a schoolgirl she felt butterflies at the thought of seeing him again. This was the perfect place to catch him too, she was sure that he’d give her an answer once he saw who was asking the questions. At the very least they had grown up together, so he owed her that.
When the doors opened, people started coming out. Some reporters would rush to the side of one representative or another, but Eugenia waited for her target. She wasn’t alone, apparently wind of Katie’s plane crash had gotten out and lots of reporters wanted to know what Alex had to say about it.
Alex stepped out of the building and shielded his eyes against the glare from the sun, then he briskly started going down the steps, but didn’t get too far before he was swarmed with reporters.
“Come on, come on! Stay with me!” Eugenia called to her sluggish cameraman, who didn’t care much if she got a question in.
A bombardment of questions assailed Alex. He made no comment on any personal questions about his sister, but the pained look on his face said a more than words. A couple of reporters shouted questions about the bill he was working on, and these questions he did answer brie
fly and professionally. Eugenia wiggled her way in right as Alex was resuming his descent, “Alex,” she asked intimately, then she cleared her throat, “I mean, Mr. Preston.” She hoped that the mere sound of her voice would make him notice her, but it didn’t.
“Mr. Preston!” she called again, louder now. “I have it on good authority that your sister and her husband had third degree burns in ninety percent of their bodies, who will take care of their daughter, your parents?” Why did she ask that? That was the dumbest question, but for some reason that’s all that her mind could come up with once faced with him. He looked striking in his suit, and more handsome than ever. He was hot in high school, but he only seemed to be getting better looking with age.
“My wife and I are the Godparents to my niece. She will be raised by us,” Alex said matter-of-fact, and turned in the general direction of where the question had come. His eyes glossed right over Eugenia, and then turned right back, making a hasty exit for his waiting car.
Disappointment didn’t come close to describing what Eugenia felt. He had answered her question, and the cameraman pointed this out as he packed up his equipment. Then he mumbled about getting a good close up shot of his face while he was answering, and he thought that they might be able to spin his look into a nice little quip about how distracted he is about his family drama, that he can’t focus on his promised bill.
“We can’t do that!”
“And why not? It’ll get us air time.”
“You don’t understand, I can’t show my face in the camera and say that about Alex.”
“Alex? You mean Mr. Preston?”
“I know him, you idiot! I can’t trash him.”
“How do you know him?” The cameraman had a dubious grin on his face.
“I was raised with him!” Eugenia said haughtily, “our parents are best friends and we dated all through high school!”
The cameraman broke out in a fit of hysterical laughter. “Wow! You must have made quite an impression on him; he didn’t even recognize your voice! He looked right over you like you weren’t even there!” He slapped his knee and the makeup girl joined in with a giggle.
A murderous mood sized Eugenia and she glared at the two with sheer hate.
“I thought that he had married his high school sweet heart?” the makeup girl asked amusedly.
“Yeah, I remember hearing that too!” the cameraman corroborated.
“I broke up with him during our senior year! We dated up until then!”
“You mean, he broke up with you!” They laughed again and Eugenia stormed away, too upset to face them. When had she become the butt of jokes? When had the tables turned? She thought of all the times that she had been the one laughing, and Tess the object of ridicule. Now Tess had it all, and she had nothing!
After watching the clip of the question several times, Eugenia made up her mind. She would take the weekend off and go back to Texas. She hadn’t seen her parents in a long time—since her wedding—so why not go back now and hear all the “I told you so’s.” It might also afford her a chance at seeing Alex and wedging her way back into his life.
It was, as it always is, easier said than done—both hearing the “I told you so’s” and the wedging. As it turns out, the Preston’s were not seeing anyone, not even their old family friends. More often than not, Eugenia found herself more in the position of a stalker, than that of a concerned friend. It started innocently enough, with her intending to go up to Alex the moment he stepped out of the car. But all that changed, when she saw the exchange that took place between him and Tess.
Alex had pulled into his driveway, when Tess happened to be on her way back from a jog with a running stroller and a toddler strapped inside. The reunion between the two was tender enough to melt anyone’s heart, unless that heart happened to be murderously jealous. Everything in Alex’s movements and expression said that he was madly in love and completely crazy for his wife and niece.
Eugenia thought with bitterness about their moments together, he never looked at her like that, he never touched her or kissed her like that either. Clenching her jaw and pursing up her lips, Eugenia reached for the camera and snapped a few pictures. What am I doing? she thought, with reproach, but almost as if propelled by some unseen force, she kept taking pictures until they disappeared behind closed doors.
Eugenia stayed up almost the whole night studying those pictures. With a magnifying glass she looked closely at their faces trying to read their expressions, hoping to detect the slightest trace of trouble. But she found that quite on the contrary, every time their eyes met, they quite literally lit up. Anger, seething and unchecked writhed within her to the point that she had to act on it somehow.
Reaching for her cell phone, she searched for that text she had received a few months back.
“I want Tess DeLeon out of the picture and I want Alex Preston back. Can you make that happen?” She hit reply and waited in complete silence.
A few minutes later the phone chimed and showed a new message.
“I can.”
Katie and Jase passed within hours of each other. Their bodies just shut down on their own and we had to abstain from resuscitating them. We decided that it would be good to get away for a while, Alex had some time off and hanging around familiar places was just too painful. So we all decided to take a trip back to Argentina. Dane admitted that Valerie needed a change of scenery and they had never seen our home there, the only problem was that she had to be sedated for most of the trip, due to a new phobia of flying.
The whole trip she kept rambling about a bad dream and darkness that ate us alive. She seemed to be teetering on the verge of another major nervous breakdown, so Dane was scaling back on his job, just to take care of her.
Robyn on the other hand, seemed content enough. She would not part, day or night with the dolls I made for her. They had become her surrogate family and indeed they were. I heard no spiritual voices, but I knew that Katie and Jase were communicating with her somehow. It was odd actually, that at a time such as this, Celeste had chosen to remain silent. There were times in my life when she would not leave me alone, and others where she stayed away completely. There had to be a reason for this, I just didn’t know what it was.
Eugenia had no idea why the mysterious woman sent her a round trip ticket to Buenos Aires, but she knew that somehow this was connected with her earlier request. Maybe Alex was on a business trip; maybe … she hated the thought of having to do something about Tess herself. Surely the woman knew that she wouldn’t go that far. Would she?
Once she got to the hotel that was reserved for her, she found an envelope with some contact information and a picture of Tess. She was to call that number and set up an appointment with that man.
“I’m hiring a hit man?” Eugenia shook her head, “but—but—.” Feeling caught between a rock and a hard spot, Eugenia thought about all the implications. If she were ever caught, the trail would lead back to her. Whoever this mysterious woman was, she was very shrewd. She was making sure that her own hands wouldn’t get dirty. This thought angered Eugenia. She paced her room impatiently, not knowing what to do. Here was her chance to get what she wanted, would she take it?
If she got caught, what would happen? Then again, she could call the man from a phone booth. She could explain this trip in so many different ways, she could actually go out, and have some fun and pretend that she’s always wanted to come here. There would be no way to trace this man to her.
After making the call and setting up the meeting place, Eugenia took herself out to dinner; met some very friendly guys and they took her dancing. She stumbled into her hotel room, early the next morning and crashed on her bed, not noticing the outline of a man sitting by her window.
Chapter 31
We should have listened to Valerie, me of all people knows how real these gifts are. Yet it was easy to forget, when you saw her drugged up and acting crazy. It was easy to think that perhaps she was just losing it. She had always
been delicate, and something as harsh as the death of a child was excuse enough for anyone to lose your grip on reality—for someone like Valerie—it would surely be worse.
Everything happened so fast. We had made it to our home in Tigre, exhausted and sore from the long hours of sitting uncomfortably. We stayed in the island as long as we could; recuperating and watching Valerie slowly drift into madness.
Robyn was her only diversion and calming influence. She played with her and the dolls, and Valerie pretended right along with her, that the dolls were real. Dane sat dismayed and helpless as he watched his wife slowly lose her mind.
“You two should go into the city, get some groceries and spend some time away,” Dane suggested. He had made the decision, before the trip to retire and take care of his wife full-time. The man had a well of compassion and patience that was bottomless. We insisted that he should go and take a break, but he would not have it. “I’m fine,” he lied. “I take my breaks while she sleeps. Besides, I don’t mind.”
Alex and I took the smaller motorboat and headed into the city. We forced ourselves to have some fun, but neither one of us felt like laughing. Alex had been unusually quiet lately, too and I left him alone with his thoughts, mainly because I knew he needed to sort a lot of things out.
“I feel like we’re cursed,” he finally confided. “I mean … look at us! Our family—both of ours—our parents, Katie and Jase. What’s this all about? How can life be so harsh? What did we ever do wrong?”
“Or right?”
“What?” He looked at me like I was crazy.
“What if we didn’t do anything wrong, but all of this happened because we did something right?”
He shook his head, “Then this is one messed up world.”
“What if, we are a threat to those who do evil?” I thought of Agatha and the evil voices that she listened to. The idea was new to me, but I could see it taking shape in my head as I spoke. “I think that there are powers at work that we don’t see, forces of evil that want to stop us from thwarting their plans.”