Ava saw Henry get to his feet and come at her again. He had the axe thrown back and at an angle – like a baseball slugger with his bat. He swung around with all his strength. He aimed for Ava’s head. Ava ducked, and she heard a loud whiff of air sweep by her head. She again fell to the floor, and once more, so did Henry. He lost his axe, which slid under a table. He crawled on his knees after it. He tore off a tablecloth and threw it aside. He hurried under the table.
Ava got to her feet again. She knew she’d never make it out of the room without Henry catching her. She limped for the door that led to the back foyer – twisting, straining, frowning uncontrollably. She pushed her way through the double doors. She hoped she could get into an
office back there and somehow hide.
Ava limped to the first door; it was locked. She then made her way to the door next to it. This one was also locked.
“Damn it!” she yelled.
Then, pure horror took control of her soul, as the madman slammed open the double doors. His eyes looked as black as the devil’s. He held the axe in both hands. He walked towards her, taking his own good time. He reeked of confidence. Ava could tell, he was sure she couldn’t escape. But what was worse, she didn’t seem to be able to disagree.
Ava limped across the hallway to another door, leaving a thin trail of blood behind. She grabbed hold of the knob. She shook it like crazy and screamed at it angrily. Meanwhile, the madman closed in on her. He was relishing every second of her terror; the smirk on his face tormented her so.
Ava decided that it wasn’t worth trying any more doors. She just had to keep moving. She had to find a way to keep out of his reach. But as she moved down the hall and towards more locked doors, she began to see that the only thing that could save her – was divine intervention. And Ava had years ago gotten on His bad side. The woman was in serious dire straits.
Ava limped to the corner. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she saw Henry quicken his pace.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Henry!”
The words fell on deaf ears, and the pace quickened yet more. The only place left to go was up the stairs to the roof. Her ankle feeling worse by the second, Ava hopped up the stairs, feeling she would collapse at any moment. Her ankle felt as though it were on fire.
She managed to make it to the top. Ava turned and saw the madman appear at the bottom.
He stopped briefly, and he and Ava’s eyes stared fiercely into one another’s. The smirk left Henry’s face. Nothing but pure evil lived there now. It was time to get to work. It was time to get serious – deadly serious. Henry wore a gruesome sneer. And Ava knew that her life was only worth a few more minutes. Henry began taking the steps very deliberately.
“I’m so sorry, Henry!”
Ava turned and pushed open the door. She stepped out onto the roof, and then her ankle collapsed. Ava fell face-first onto the tarp. She broke a tooth, but that was the least of her worries. She rolled over on her back. The shingles had her trapped. There was nowhere to go, and she heard Henry’s footsteps. An instant later, he appeared in the doorway.
Ava raised up and slid backwards.
“No. Please don’t do it. Please . . .”
Henry walked leisurely towards her. He raised the axe high over his head. Sweat dripped from his face. His dark, bloodshot eyes lit up. They were filled up with brutal murder. They craved revenge.
Ava pushed herself back until she was at the edge of the roof. She grabbed hold of the brick edge. She looked down into the parking lot. It was easily thirty feet down. With Henry getting ever so close, she found herself with a choice. She could either throw herself over the edge and suffer briefly, while her head splattered against the pavement. Or, she could stay where she was at, and let a crazy man splatter her entire being all over this section of the roof. She knew it took much longer to splatter an entire body, rather than just a head. Thus, it would take much longer for suffering.
“No!” she screamed futilely. "It's all wrong. It's all gone wrong!"
Choice made. She hoisted herself over the edge, freeing herself from Henry’s wrath. She felt herself flying downward. She heard her own maniacal scream. She felt the pressure of the air slamming into her body. She turned a somersault. All her hopes, her plans, all her dreams, everything – it was all over. Princess Ava crashed violently to the pavement.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Ava’s head had not splattered. That was obvious to her, because she was aware of her surroundings. That made the situation worse, because she felt every inch of the pain that now agonized her body. She lay on her back. Her face was covered in blood. She occasionally coughed blood. Her legs were spread. Her arms were outstretched. Every single bone in her body felt as if it were broken. For Ava, it was as if she had been stabbed in every conceivable organ her body possessed. She wanted to writhe in pain, thinking that somehow it would make it a little easier; but she couldn’t even do that. Her body was too weak. All she could do was lie there and suffer. She was sure that she was going to go out of her head with pain. She was going to lose her mind. She just hoped that the loss would come soon.
Her sight went in and out from blurriness, but she could make out the fact that there were people gathered around her. She could move her head a little bit. She moved her head slightly to her right. And that was when she saw him. He stood over her, looking down at her solemnly. There was sorrow in his face, but there was something else there as well. Ava wasn’t sure, but it appeared to be victory of some sort. The longer she stared at him, the more it seemed to grow. It even seemed to make him loom even larger than what his body would have normally appeared. He seemed to tower over her.
It was Reverend Holt. It was the Goody-Two-Shoes. For once, Ava wouldn’t have minded walking in his shoes. She would have loved for him to have been where she was at. But no such luck. That was the breaks, which her body knew only too well.
Ava knew that Reverend Holt was the last thing she would ever see. Everything around her began to fade to black. She was grateful. The end was coming. The slashing torture of her body was about to be relieved. Everything faded. Ava Edwards closed her eyes.
Up above everybody, sitting on the edge of the roof, his feet dangling – was Henry. He had dropped his axe, once Ava had thrown herself off the roof. He watched, as the people below pointed up at him. A couple of police cars drove into the parking lot, lights flashing, sirens blowing. Henry was oblivious to it all. He had his arms crossed. With a scoff on his face, he looked down at the sprawled woman below. He wondered why she had drawn so much attention. She didn’t deserve it, he thought crudely. She was an animal.
“Damn Ava,” he mumbled. “Killed my baby . . . Killed my baby . . .”
That was all Henry desired to say. That was all he would ever say – until the end of his time.
PART THREE
Chapter Forty-Nine
Tori stood outside one of the many bathrooms in Del Toray General. She waited for Simone to come out. Ever since Simone had been on crutches, Tori had been babying her. Whenever she was around Simone, she would always keep a close eye on her and do anything she could for her. She had even wanted Simone to move in with her while she recuperated, but Simone had declined. Simone had gotten quite tired of the babying. She had started doing a good deal of scolding at her friend. It had been useless. In fact, even on this occasion, Tori had wanted to escort Simone into the bathroom. But Simone had sternly told her to go on to Susy’s room. She didn’t need a pee helper.
“I’m a big girl. I can tee-tee all by myself,” she had sarcastically remarked.
Tori had let her go alone, but she still waited outside. If she heard a crash of any kind come from the bathroom, she would be in there in a flash.
As Tori stood there, she couldn’t help but think of what had transpired in the past few months. She thought about it a lot.
She had learned that fateful day that she had been locked in the basement, who had been calling on the phone. Hours later, when the police
had come to the house and freed her, they had informed her it had been the hospital calling. The news had been great, though obviously tempered by what she’d learned of her daddy.
Susy had moved. First, she had moved a finger, then her entire hand. Tori had found herself crying both tears of joy for Susy, and tears of sadness for her daddy.
Susy had moved nearly every part of her body in the months since. However, she still hadn’t opened her eyes or talked. The doctors had been encouraged, though. Still, they had made it clear that Susy was not out of danger of dying, or either remaining in the coma forever. But they had also come up with a time frame. If Susy regained consciousness in a certain amount of months after her first movement, then they believed she would make a full recovery. That was what all tests indicated. She would need therapy, but she would be fine. However, that time frame had gotten narrower. It was down to just two weeks.
Tori wanted to believe the best, but she was finding it harder and harder to not give in to the inevitable. She had been at the hospital on a regular basis, aiding the nurses in massaging and exercising Susy’s limbs. That way, the blood would keep circulating properly in them. But despite the occasional movement from Susy, there had been no real signs of life, at least not for Tori. The movement in Susy had only signaled for her what could be, rather than what was. It was like being taunted. She wanted to see those eyes come open. That was all which would satisfy her.
As if the thought of Susy wasn’t troublesome enough, there was also her daddy. Henry was in the Blevins Mental Hospital just outside Del Toray. The doctors weren’t optimistic that he would ever recover. Day in and day out, he sat in his room looking out the window and mumbling: “She killed my baby . . . She killed my baby . . .”
When he didn’t say those words, he said nothing at all. Tori just shook her head.
She then thought of Jimmy. He was in an orphanage, and he was miserable. There was no other family to take him in. He had begged Tori to do so; he had pleaded to her that he would change. Tori didn’t like being so ruthless, but as long as there were orphanages, there was no way he would stay with her. Let the orphanage deal with the brat, she thought crudely. She wanted nothing to do with him.
And then, there was Ava. Tori had despised her so. Still, she couldn’t help but feel some sorrow for her. Only one thought went through her mind in regards to Ava.
. . . So horrible . . . So horrible . . .
She knew of no other way to consider things. It was tragic.
The bathroom door swung open, and out came Simone, hopping on her crutches.
“Girl, what are you still doing out here?” she asked.
“Waiting for you.”
“I swear, you can get on a person’s nerves. So stubborn.”
They both headed down the hallway for Susy’s room.
“What can I say? I love you.” Tori threw her hand to her chest and turned melodramatic. “I’d do anything for you. I’d kill for you. I love you so much.”
The act caused a nurse passing by to look at them both rather strangely.
“Be quiet,” said Simone. “You know, we really need to work on our social lives, anyway. We’re too gorgeous to be out in this world – dickless.”
Another strange look – this time by a doctor.
“I love it when you talk dirty,” Tori answered. They both giggled.
They arrived at Susy’s room. Ironically, just a couple of doors down, Max Herndon also lay in a hospital bed. He had been shot by a jealous husband. A scandal had evolved. Herndon was not only sick currently, but unemployed as well. Poetic justice, Tori had happily considered. She just wished the husband had aimed a little lower than the bellybutton.
In Susy’s room, there she lay, looking as she always did. The tubes protruded from her nose. The cords taped to her head showing brainwaves revealed nothing new. The waves were still a bit slow.
Seeing her had a sobering affect on Tori, as well as Simone. Tori let Simone enter the room first. She went in behind her. They both walked up to the bed.
“I miss my sister so much,” said Tori. “Why won’t He bring her back to me? He is supposed to be God, right? He can do anything, right?”
“Well, sometimes, it takes time.” Simone didn’t sound very optimistic.
“Why does He let me hurt like this?” Tori’s voice became a whine. It was something she did a lot of lately, whenever she was in Susy’s presence. She began to whine.
“It’s not fair. I want my sister back . . . I miss her so much.”
Sick of crying, which she had done so much in the past months, she nevertheless found herself about to do so again. She took hold of Simone’s shoulder and buried her face against it. She could feel her eyes glazing over. Simone lay her head down against Tori’s.
“ . . . I missed you too . . . Tori.”
The words had been low, and a bit slurred.
Tori raised her head. She looked into Simone’s eyes. There was definite shock there. But it was shock which Tori was extremely glad to see, because she knew it meant that Simone had heard the exact same thing. Tori slowly eased her head back around to look at the bed.
Susy looked up at her, her aqua blue eyes wide open. She had a groggy, yet somehow, still pleasant expression on her face.
“ . . . I missed you too,” the weak voice repeated.
Tori was too stunned to talk. All she could do was stare. A tear ran down her cheek. When that tear had started moments ago, it had been filled with misery. But as it now rolled downward, there was nothing in it but joy.
Susy slightly raised her hand. Tori was fearful at first. It seemed too good to be true; but gradually, she reached her own hand down to the bed. She took hold of Susy’s hand. She noticed the unsightly scar on the wrist, but it didn’t matter to her in the least. That hand – it was so warm. She could feel the blood flowing through it. That hand was alive again. Truly alive. Tori felt the life of Susy’s entire body. It oozed from her sister’s body and into her own. It was indeed a tremendous sensation.
More tears ran from Tori’s eyes. She was simply speechless. She glimpsed at Simone crying as well. Tori’s face became soaked with water. Her body became impassioned with a feeling she hadn’t experienced in months. A warmness, an inner peace was already steadily moving through her entire being. A large burden had been lifted from her shoulders. In just a few seconds, life had become good again. Extremely good. Tori could only do one thing – look upward.
“Thank you . . . Oh thank you so very much.”
This religion bit, Tori had never paid it the attention she felt she should have. However, she now was very well aware, that she had become hooked – for life.
For some people it was simply a matter of tragedy. However, for her, it was a curse. At least, that was what she believed. She was in a convalescent home. The wheelchair was a permanent partner now. The nurse wheeled her out of her room. The nurse then temporarily left her, telling her she needed to go to the front desk.
Ava’s survival was considered nothing short of a miracle; just like Susy’s. However, sometimes miracles could be overrated. She wore a nightgown covered by a housecoat. There were bedroom slippers on her feet. She could move nothing on her body from the neck down. She could see nothing. Surgery on her brain had caused undue pressure on her eyes; they were no more. She had nearly strangled on her blood once she had regained consciousness in the hospital the day of her fall. Her larynx had been severely damaged as a result. She hardly talked.
But her mind, it was just fine. There was no serious brain damage, thanks to the surgery. However, there would continue to be headaches. Still, she was alive. Like the doctors had continuously stated months ago, it had been a miracle; their powers had done little to help. And now, Ava would have plenty of time to contemplate that miracle. There would be so many days and nights. There would be so many years. Oh yes, she was indeed a lucky one. She would have the rest of her life to realize, just what a lucky lady she had become.
About the
Author
Roger Williams is an author of thriller and young adult novels. Dangerous Bureau, his first thriller, is now followed by a new thriller: Princess Reigns. Williams received a Bachelor’s degree in English from the Ohio State University. He also owns Master’s degrees in the Business arena from Strayer University of Washington, D.C. Williams lives in Newport News, Virginia. He loves to envelop himself in the world of writing.
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