The fire faded from Eli’s eyes as he reached for her.
“Take my hand, Laice,” he said as she looked at him fearfully. “Your time has run out.”
The bridge began to collapse, and the section of rock that Eli was standing on fell away. He didn’t move, floating in the air with his hand outstretched.
Taking a deep breath, Laice closed her eyes and reached for his hand.
TOCK!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Laice’s vision went dark, and she felt a sudden jolt as her body landed on a soft surface.
It’s time to remember, Laice.
Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around in confusion. She was sitting in the passenger seat of a car, and when she turned, she could see the familiar face of her sister, Amy, in the driver’s seat. Her throat ached, and she looked at herself in the mirror on the visor. The ugly, purple bruise was still there, but the bright sunlight that flooded through the windows erased any other sign of the hell she had just experienced.
“It was…it was…a dream?” she whispered, her eyes wide as she stared down at the jeans and T-shirt she was wearing. Music blared through the car’s speakers, and Amy pounded on the steering wheel, swaying with the beat and singing at the top of her lungs.
Laice shook her head in disbelief, then a sudden wave of giddiness washed over her.
“It was a dream!” she shouted, bouncing up and down with relief. “It was a dream!” She began to laugh, then she turned to Amy.
“You have no idea what kind of nightmare I just had!” she cried. “Turn that down and listen to me!”
Amy’s face froze and she stopped singing, quickly reaching for the volume button.
“Okay, so I woke up in this camp, and my arm was missing!”
Amy picked up her phone, glancing down at the screen, and Laice went on.
“There were all these men around me and it hurt so bad, but then IT. GREW. BACK! My arm grew back! It was the freakiest thing I’ve ever seen, but it gets so much worse! Are you listening to me?”
Amy didn’t answer, instead pushing a button on the side of her phone and holding it up to her lips.
“Call Laice,” Amy said, speaking into her phone.
“What are you doing? I’m right here!”
The line began to ring through the car’s speakers, then there was a click as it went to voicemail.
Hi, you’ve reached Laice. Leave me a message and I’ll call you―
Amy hung up the phone, muttering under her breath.
“I’m trying to tell you something,” Laice huffed, crossing her arms.
“Text Laice,” Amy spoke into her phone. A tone played, and she began to speak. “Hey, I just tried calling you but you didn’t answer. I’ll be there in a couple hours to take you out, dad’s gonna watch the little Dill Pickle while we’re gone. Love you!”
“Stop it, Amy!” Laice shouted angrily. “Stop playing games!” Amy didn’t answer, her face darkening with worry, and Laice hit the dashboard in frustration.
“Listen to me!” she cried.
“Okay, enough of this,” Amy said to herself, pressing the button on her phone again. “Navigate to Laice’s house.” The phone began to speak directions as Amy turned the car around.
“What are you doing?” Laice asked, her voice pleading. “I don’t understand why you―”
Amy and the car evaporated, and Laice was suddenly standing in the middle of a store aisle, racks of greeting cards on either side of her. A man stood in front of her, facing away, but Laice would recognize him anywhere.
“Dad?”
The man turned quickly; his eyes were looking right at her, but somehow it seemed like he was seeing through her.
“Weird,” he muttered, shrugging as he went back to looking at cards.
A woman pushed her cart into the aisle and stood next to him, glancing at the card he was holding.
“Oh no, the big twenty-one!” she prodded jokingly. Laice’s father smiled and nodded.
“My daughter,” he answered. “Seems like just yesterday she was a tiny little baby, and now she’s all grown up!”
“Did I forget Amy’s birthday again?” Laice asked, wracking her brain. Her father didn’t answer, his attention focused on the woman.
“Who are we kidding?” the woman laughed, shaking her head. “They never grow up, not for us!”
“That is true,” Laice’s father agreed. “But we have to let them pretend, don’t we? Seems like my Laice’s been convinced that she’s a grown-up since the day she was born, but I’ll always see her as my little girl.”
“It’s my birthday?” Laice mused, dumbfounded. “How could I forget my own birthday?” It was if she was invisible; they couldn’t hear her, and an odd sense of dread began creeping up in her heart.
“I remember my twenty-first,” the woman winked. “I hope you’re not planning on going along with her!”
“You can stop right there! I don’t want to think about it!”
“Come on, you know how it works! We were both young once, too, remember?”
“I know, I know,” Laice’s father chuckled, shaking his head. “But I don’t think she’ll get too crazy. When my wife, Eva, passed away a few years ago, Laice is the one who managed to hold us all together. She’s a strong young woman, and more mature than most kids her age. At least that’s what I’m going to be telling myself all night tonight!”
Laice waved her hand in front of her father’s face, but he didn’t even blink.
“You mean every night!” the woman playfully corrected. “I still worry about my son, and he’s almost forty-three! Good Lord, makes you feel a bit old when you think about it, doesn’t it?”
“My girls and my grandson keep me on my toes,” Laice’s father said, beaming proudly. “I don’t have time to feel old!”
“Daddy,” Laice said, her eyes brimming with tears as she reached her hand out. “Something’s wrong, I don’t―”
Before she could touch him, her surroundings shifted again, and this time she found herself standing in the doorway of an apartment. Recognition slowly set in as she looked around at the worn furniture and tattered carpet. Dirty dishes were piled in the sink, and a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich sat on a child’s plate on the table. Drawings of stick figures with smiling faces and spindly arms were plastered on the refrigerator, and Laice’s eyes grew wide when she read the squiggly letters that adorned each one.
“Dylan,” she breathed, reaching out to touch the crayon marks.
She felt a presence behind her, and she turned to see Eli standing there.
“You’re here!” she exclaimed in surprise, then she frowned with dismay. “How are you here?”
“It wasn’t a dream, Laice,” Eli told her sadly. “But you already know that.”
“It…it had to be,” she stammered, taking a step back and gesturing around her. “I recognize all of this, I know it’s real!”
“It’s time to remember,” he said quietly, holding out his hand. “Come.” Something about his voice scared her, and she swallowed hard.
“I don’t want to,” Laice whispered anxiously. “Please, I can’t.”
“You must,” Eli replied. “You must bear the pain for just a moment, you have to know the truth.” Everything in her wanted to run away, but the look on his face told her that she had no choice.
Laice took his hand and allowed him to lead her down the hall. There was an open door ahead of them, and she heard a child’s giggle drift towards her.
“Dylan!”
Laice stepped forward, but Eli shook his head. She obeyed, sighing with disappointment as she followed him around the corner.
They stopped in front of a closed door. Her heart began to pound the moment she saw it, and a wave of goosebumps raced over her skin.
“What’s in there?” she asked nervously. Eli didn’t answer, and Laice took a deep breath as she reached for the doorknob.
She blinked and looked behind her; the door was s
till closed, but somehow she was standing on the other side of it. She glanced around; she was in her room, and she stepped towards her bed, gently running her hand over the comforter.
“So what am I supposed to remember?” Laice asked over her shoulder. Eli moved to her side, then silently turned to face the open door of the bathroom.
“Okay,” she sighed, reading his expression. “I’m going.” She slowly moved towards the door, trying to swallow past the lump in her aching throat as she caught a glimpse of what was inside.
Bright pink flamingos adorned the room, basking in the light of a cheery row of suns that danced along a wallpaper border near the ceiling. Waterlogged bath toys were strewn across sky-blue floor tile, and makeup was piled high on the counter of the sink. A birthday card was stuck to the mirror, and tiny wisps of smoke floated off of the plates of a hair straightener that dangled from a towel rack on the wall.
Laice turned towards the bathtub, a shower curtain printed with seashells neatly closed across the front, and her heart stopped. There was a shadow behind the curtain, and she felt her mind begin to close in on itself as she reached her hand out. She pulled the curtain back and recoiled in horror.
It was her. She was the shadow.
Her face was blue and lifeless, her eyes dull and unseeing. Her body dangled from an extension cord that had been wrapped around her neck before being looped over the showerhead, and her feet rested limply on the floor of the tub.
On her throat, right under the cord, was an ugly, purple bruise that stretched from ear to ear.
Laice staggered back, losing her balance and catching herself on the counter. She glanced up at the birthday card on the mirror, anguish filling her heart as her memory came flooding back.
I’m sorry.
In her mind’s eye, she could see herself writing the two simple words, then sticking the card to the mirror. She could see herself wrap the cord around her neck, then gingerly step into the bathtub and fix the other end to the showerhead. She watched herself tug at the cord, testing its strength, before letting her knees give way.
“No,” Laice managed to gasp. “No!”
She ran out of the bathroom and into Eli’s waiting arms, burying her face in his chest. A sob lay trapped in her aching throat, fighting to break free, but her clenched jaw wouldn’t open to let it escape. Her body trembled as she fought to deny what she had just seen, as she fought against the truth that lay before her, until finally it was too much to bear. She collapsed, crying hysterically as she beat at the floor with her fists.
“Why?” she screamed through her tears. “Why would I do that to myself?” She remembered feeling empty, like everyone would be better off without her and that life was too much to bear, but suddenly those reasons seemed meaningless. Her mind flashed back to the child in the dungeon, and she sat up in terror.
“What about Dylan?” Laice shrieked, clutching at Eli’s robe. “What about my son? Who will protect him now?”
The sound of a door opening caught her attention, and she froze, gulping back her tears and craning her neck to listen.
“Sis?” Amy’s voice called out, and Laice felt a new kind of fear rise up in her heart. “Dylan?”
“Aymee!” a tiny voice answered, accompanied by the sound of little footsteps running down the hall. “You came to see me, Aymee!”
“They can’t find me!” Laice cried, her eyes frantic as she looked at Eli. “Please, you have to do something! They can’t find me like this!” Tears streamed down Eli’s cheeks as he gazed at her, and she knew she couldn’t avoid the inevitable.
“Hey, my little Dill Pickle!” Amy greeted him.
“I’m not a dill pickle, I’m Dylan!”
“Nope, you’re a DILL PICKLE!” Amy teased. “Are you being good for your mommy? You know, it’s her birthday today! She’s really, really old!”
“I’m always good,” Dylan scoffed, then broke out in peals of laughter.
“And I always tickle good little boys!” Amy squealed.
“Stop, Aymee!” Dylan giggled, gasping. “I can’t breathe!”
“Okay, okay,” Amy said. “Now where’s your mama?”
There was no answer, and after a long moment Amy asked again.
“She’s gone,” Dylan finally responded, his voice barely audible.
Laice’s eyes darted back to Eli.
“What does he mean?” she asked fearfully. “Does he know?”
“He is a child,” Eli answered quietly. “He can feel that you’re not here anymore, but he doesn’t know any more than that yet.”
“But I am here!” Laice cried. “I’m right―”
“What do you mean, she’s gone, babe?”
Amy’s voice was tinged with concern, and Laice instantly fell silent as she listened.
“I dunno,” Dylan answered. “She’s just gone.”
“Let’s go find her,” Amy said. “Come on.” Laice could hear footsteps approach the bedroom door, and she bolted back to the bathroom.
“Wake up!” she screamed at her lifeless body, falling to her knees. “Wake up!” She heard the bedroom door open, and she buried her face in her hands.
“Sis?” Amy called. “Are you in here? I know I wasn’t supposed come over until later, but I got a really funny feeling while I was driving and I needed to see you.” Footsteps crossed the room, and Laice looked up to see her sister’s shadow appear at the bathroom door.
“You better not be naked,” Amy joked. “Just cause it’s your birthday doesn’t mean I wanna see your birthday suit!” She began to giggle to herself, and Laice’s heart wrenched with sorrow.
“Mommy’s naked?” Dylan’s voice chimed in. “Yuck!”
Laice couldn’t breathe, her eyes growing wide as she clenched her teeth in anticipation. This was the last normal moment of her sister’s life, of her son’s life and the lives of everyone else that knew and loved her, and she couldn’t bear the knowledge of what was coming next.
“Please, Eli,” she begged. “Wake me up, please don’t let them find me!”
“I’m coming in!” Amy warned, and Laice turned to see Amy’s face peek through the door.
“Eli!” Laice cried, clutching at his robe in desperation. “Please, I beg you, wake me up!”
“Sis? Are you okay?”
Amy stepped towards the closed shower curtain, her face creased with worry, and slowly reached her hand out.
“LAICE! Oh my God, Laice, no, oh please, no!”
“Mommy?”
“Enough,” Eli whispered, and the room melted away.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Pure, white light radiated through Laice’s body, bathing her in warmth. She glanced around to see that Amy and Dylan and the horrific scene in her apartment had disappeared, and she was surrounded instead by a palette of dancing colors that blurred together to create a shimmering rainbow of bright pastels. She was still wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and Eli was beside her in his tattered, brown robe.
She looked up at him in panic.
“Take me back!” she begged, falling to her knees. “Please, Eli, take me back!” Eli slowly shook his head as he knelt down on the ground next to her, gently cradling her in his arms.
“You don’t belong there,” he told her softly. “This is where you were meant to be.”
“I’m meant to be with my son!” Laice cried. “I made a mistake, a horrible mistake! Who will protect him now?” She shuddered with fear, remembering the fate of the child in the dungeon.
“I will,” Eli said, his voice firm. “I will walk with him every step he takes.”
“But you’re here!” she wailed, choking on her tears. “How can you be with him if you’re with me?”
“I am everywhere, Laice,” Eli answered. “I am with him now, as we speak, just as I am with you.”
“How is that possible?” Laice sobbed. “That’s not possible!”
“It is,” he told her. “I am not constrained by time, I am not limited by place. I am everywhere
for everyone, and always. I will care for Dylan, he is no longer your concern.”
“How can you say that?” she wailed incredulously, lifting her head. “He’s my son! It’s my job to protect him!”
“He has always been mine,” Eli corrected her. “He was given to you for a time as a gift, but he still belongs to me. He is and always will be mine to care for, just as you are.”
“But I’m his mommy!” Laice cried hopelessly. “He’s just a little boy, he needs me! I don’t care what happens to me, just let me go back! Don’t make him live with what I’ve done! He doesn’t deserve this, he doesn’t deserve this!” Her sobs grew louder as her shoulders heaved with grief. “Please, Eli, send me back,” she pleaded. “For his sake!”
“Beloved,” Eli whispered, his eyes full of reassurance. “I already went back for his sake.”
As the words left his lips, images began to flash through Laice’s mind. She saw Eli standing alone in the midst of a crowd of jeering people, their faces filled with hatred. His body was streaked with blood, his skin torn to shreds and his eyes full of sorrow. She saw him staggering beneath the weight of a wooden cross as he struggled to carry it along a muddy road, taunting peals of laughter ringing out from the spectators that stood on either side of him. She heard the sound of tearing flesh as nails were pounded through his feet and hands, then the sickening thud of the cross’s post dropping into place as he was lifted into the sky, his broken, dying body hung on display for all to see. She saw him shudder as death took hold of him, and his linen-wrapped corpse lying alone in the cold silence of a cave.
Then, she heard a booming voice cry out from the heavens, causing the earth to tremble as a flash of light pierced through the darkness of the tomb. Eli’s chest heaved as life was poured back into his veins, and he stood to his feet, his skin shining like the sun as the linens fell to the ground.
Laice blinked as the images faded, her eyes wide as she stared at Eli.
“Who…who are you?” she breathed.
“I am the Deliverer,” he told her, his words resonating through her heart. “I am Elohim, the One who saves.” His face broke out in a grin, and he winked. “But you may call me Eli.”
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