by Cege Smith
Deciding those thoughts weren’t helpful; David hurried from building to building. He was relieved to see that the numbers were gradually decreasing. Following a hunch, at “4320” David ducked into the alley and cut across to the next street over. As he suspected, he found himself coming up on the backside of “3320”. He needed to course correct.
David was crossing the street and heading into the next alley when he heard voices approaching him. Swearing, David dug his chin into his chest and stayed tight to the wall. He didn’t look up as he heard the voices get closer. Two distinct voices were evident: a high-pitched female voice, and a low tenor that told him a male accompanied the woman. It sounded as if they were arguing.
“It’s so unfair! All’s we do is work, work, work. There’s nothing fun to do around here,” the girl whined.
“I think that’s kind of the point,” the man replied. His voice was gruff.
“How am I ever supposed to get out of here if I never see anybody and never do anything other than watch a bunch of dead people dream about their fake happily ever after?”
Braz’s words ricocheted through David’s mind. “We have a job, and we do it. Purgatory is an effective machine.”
At the time, David thought Braz’s comparison a metaphor, but now he wondered if Braz had been literal in his analogy. If Purgatory was a machine, he wondered if it served some other purpose other than simply safeguarding souls until they moved on to their final destination.
“S’cuse us,” the man said.
The couple passed him, and David felt the scrape of the man’s shoulder brushing against his in the narrow alleyway. David said nothing but nodded.
“Hey! You!” The woman’s voice behind him halted David’s feet, but he didn’t turn around. “I gotta ask you a question.”
His heart thudded in his chest, and he winced before he slowly turned his head and glanced over his shoulder. He tried to keep his face in the shadows. “Yea?” He kept his voice low.
“You got a cigarette?” The woman coasted to a few steps behind him with an expectant look on her face. David saw now that the woman was probably just a few years older than him, but with her shoulders stooped and the way she carried her thin frame, an air of despair clung to her. This wasn’t someone that he needed to fear.
He shook his head. “Sorry. Don’t smoke.” Then he turned back and started to move again without waiting for her reply.
“Rude!” The admonishment carried back to him, but David didn’t care. He had a job to do, and right then he needed to find Lila.
The next two alleyways were empty, and David felt like he was finally making progress when he emerged next to the building numbered “1320”. Then he cut to his left and watched the numbers climb.
At first David thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but then he realized that the buildings were indeed getting larger. That slowed him down as the “blocks” seemed to take longer than ever to cross. There were fewer and fewer people on the street, and David sensed that he needed to reach his destination soon or risk standing out.
Finally, he found himself in front of building 1582. The building was at least three times the size of the building where he had been held, and he was left wondering again what happened inside each one. The front stoop was much larger and wrapped around both sides of the building. It had an air of importance.
He hesitated as he dragged his feet to the top. The doors held no clues about what he was going to find inside. His hand reached out to touch the door handle and then fell away. He had no story for why he was there. He had no name other than her first name. He had no idea what she looked like. He was flying almost completely blind.
Then Ellie’s face floated across David’s mind. The sooner he found Lila, the sooner he would be able to get to Ellie. Drawing in a shaky breath, David grabbed the handle, yanked the door open, and stepped inside.
CHAPTER TEN
Ellie heard a child wail from the second floor. It took a moment for her to remember that she had left the three Palmer children in the mansion while she was out gallivanting around the Afterlife. She pushed up onto her feet. As she looked down at her torn, bloody clothes, she realized that she must look like a mess.
“I need to go see what’s wrong,” she said to Lucy. Then she glared at Mikel, who had pulled himself up onto the window seat that ran along the back wall of the landing. “I’m assuming you can find somewhere to hide yourself for the moment? The less I see of you right now the better.”
Mikel shrugged. “I have a few hidey holes around here.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Figures.”
Ellie put her hand on Lucy’s arm. The crying was getting louder. “Let’s just hope that he doesn’t decide to jump into somebody’s body for fun, okay? I’ll explain everything as soon as I take care of these kids. Make sure he disappears?”
“Oh, I can make him disappear,” Lucy said with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t you wish, witch,” Mikel said looking bored.
Ellie sighed in frustration and then escaped down the stairs to the second floor. She quickly made her way to the bedroom that Bobby had chosen and knocked gently. “Bobby? It’s Ellie. Can I come in?”
“Ellie!” It was Beanie’s voice crying out for her.
“Come in,” Bobby’s reply was tired.
Ellie entered the dark room and flipped on the light switch. All three children were sitting in bed. Bobby sat in the middle, and Beanie and Melissa were both curled up on either side. Fat crocodile tears slid down Melissa’s face while Beanie was openly crying.
She quickly made her way to Beanie’s side of the bed and sat down, swinging her legs up on the firm mattress. She pulled Beanie into her side, and he immediately quieted.
Bobby looked relieved. “I tried knocking on your door when he started fussing, but you didn’t answer, so I just brought them both in here with me.” His voice held a slightly accusatory tone and Ellie felt a wave of guilt sweep through her.
“I’m a heavy sleeper,” she lied.
“You look like shit,” Bobby said, looking her over.
Ellie smoothed her hair with the hand that wasn’t holding Beanie. She thought for a moment about correcting Bobby on his language, but decided to let it go. In the end, she wasn’t his mother, and the kid was dead. He had bigger things to worry about than his choice of words. “Well, I wasn’t sleeping too well.”
“Us either, obviously,” Bobby said. His eyes were wary. “I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face.”
There was no need for him to remind Ellie who “her” was. A mother who would murder her own children was a monster.
“I’m sorry, Bobby. I am sure that is difficult.” Ellie stroked Beanie’s hair and felt the small boy’s arms wrap around her stomach. “How about if I stay here with you guys until you fall asleep? Tonight you can all sleep together. Maybe it was too soon to have you each in your own room. You’ve been through a lot today. “
“Will you tell us a story?” Melissa’s eyes peeked up from the other side of Bobby. “A happy one.”
Ellie smiled. “Of course.”
Bobby was still watching her, but Ellie understood that it was concern for his siblings that was driving his mistrust of her. Of course, the fact that she had just rescued someone from Hell possibly meant that he was justified in that feeling.
Ellie still wasn’t sure why, in those last few minutes in the cell in Hell, she had decided to bring Mikel back with her. She knew that Lucy was ticked. But what was done was done, and if Mikel could help her, then she had done the right thing. She just wasn’t going to know that right away. She had to hope it was a decision she wouldn’t regret.
“Is that okay with you, Bobby?” Ellie was conscious that the young man before her had assumed a role far beyond his years for the sake of his brother and sister. She wanted to be respectful of that and not overstep her bounds with them. He paused and then nodded, leaning back against the headboard. He looked exhau
sted. Even in death, peace seemed to escape him.
It felt perfectly right to sit there with the children gathered around her. As she soaked in their warmth, Ellie thought back to when she was a child. She would sit next to the fireplace and gaze up at her father, who would have a large book lying over his knees. It seemed as if every story possible was contained within those pages. Ellie would curl up with a blanket covering her whole body from shoulders to toes, and lean against her father’s step stool, staring into the flickering firelight. It had been her favorite place in the entire world and one of her happiest memories of her childhood.
Now, with the Palmer children waiting expectantly, she ran through her favorites of the stories that he told her. Then she remembered the story of Belinda and the Bear. It seemed perfect. She cleared her throat and began.
“Once upon a time, there was a lovely little girl named Belinda. Belinda was an only child, and the apple of her parents’ eye. In fact, Belinda’s parents were so protective of her, and so worried that someday she would accidentally come to harm that they moved to a little house deep within the forest away from everyone else they knew.”
“Why did they think someone would hurt Belinda?” Melissa said with wide eyes.
“Because Belinda was a special little girl. She could hear things that other people couldn’t hear, so her parents didn’t want her to know that she was different. They wanted Belinda to have a safe and happy life, so they took her away and the three of them lived for a long time, happy in their own little corner of the world. Then one day, Belinda was gathering berries in a clearing that was further away from the house then she had ever ventured before. You see, Belinda and her parents had eaten all of the berries close to their house, and the winter seemed to be lingering on for a long time. So Belinda had to go beyond the boundaries that her father told her that she could go.”
“Bad girl,” Beanie scowled.
Ellie laughed. “Well, Belinda was a clever girl, and she thought that she could go quick, find the berries, and be back before anyone even knew that she was gone. The clearing that Belinda discovered had an abundance of berries, and she ended up spending a lot more time there than she planned. When her basket was practically overflowing, Belinda turned to leave, and found a bear standing there blocking the path that led back to her house.”
“A bear?” Beanie’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“A bear,” Ellie confirmed. “Belinda had seen a bear before, but she was with her father and they had stayed far away from it. Now, this bear had Belinda right in its sights, and Belinda froze.”
“What did she do?” Even though Bobby had been trying hard to appear disinterested, Ellie saw that he was just as caught up in the story as Melissa and Beanie.
“Well, she had to do some quick thinking. She was entirely alone, so no one was close by if she screamed. If she tried to run, she was pretty sure that the bear would catch her because it could run faster than her. She wasn’t good at climbing trees, so she didn’t think that she would be able to get up into the tree branches before the bear would get to her.”
Ellie paused to let the full effect of Belinda’s dilemma sink in. She remembered the fear that clutched her throat the first time her father told her the story. She thought for sure that Belinda was going to die. “Belinda made a decision. She sat the basket down slowly and showed the bear that her hands were now empty. Then she said the only thing that she could think of.”
“What?” Melissa asked.
Ellie dropped her voice. “She said…Hello Bear.”
Beanie burst out laughing. “No she didn’t! The bear’s gonna eat her.”
“Nope. She decided that her only option was to find out if it was a friendly bear. So she greeted it just like she would greet any friend. Then an amazing thing happened. Do you remember when I told you that Belinda could hear things that no one else could hear?”
Three heads nodded.
“Belinda heard a voice in her head that said Hello. The bear was talking to her! Belinda had never thought to try hearing animals before, and so she was as surprised as you are right now. Belinda asked the bear if he was going to hurt her. The bear assured her that he had no reason to cause her harm. He had not seen a human in the forest for many years, and so he was curious about stumbling onto Belinda picking berries in the clearing. Once Belinda was satisfied that the bear was not going to hurt her, she picked her basket back up and told the bear that she needed to get home before her parents got worried about her.”
Ellie could see that Beanie’s eyes were starting to flutter closed. As she hoped, the story was calming their nerves and putting them at ease. Sleep was just around the corner.
“The bear followed Belinda home to make sure that she got there safe, but just before it left her, it warned her not to go out into the forest alone like she had done that day. He told her that there were creatures within the forest much more ferocious than itself and that she had to be careful. Belinda promised the bear that she wouldn’t stray beyond the boundaries again.”
Beanie’s head was heavy on her shoulder, and his breath had gone to an even inhale and exhale. He was asleep. Melissa’s head was turned away from her, but Bobby nodded at her unasked question.
“There’s more to that story, isn’t there?” he whispered.
“We’ll consider that part two,” Ellie said.
“Belinda does something dumb like goes back out into the forest even though the bear told her not to.” Bobby seemed angry at the idea.
“You’ll have to wait to find out,” Ellie said lightly. She carefully untangled herself from Beanie and rearranged him so that his head rested on the pillow. Then she went to the other side of the bed and helped Bobby move Melissa down so that he could stretch out on his back.
“You going to be here when we wake up?”
Ellie frowned. “Of course I am.”
Bobby mouth scrunched up as if he wanted to say something else, but then he shook his head as if he changed his mind. “Good night, Ellie” He rolled over and rested an arm around Beanie’s shoulders.
Ellie made her way back to the door. “Good night.” She flipped the switch and then slid out of the door, pulling it gently closed behind her. She turned, and her hand flew up to her mouth to block the small cry that escaped her lips. Lucy stood there, looking grim.
“We need to talk, El. The fairytale thing that you’ve got going on with those kids is cute, but you’ve got bigger fish to fry at the moment. We gotta get this straight before the transports show up to pick up those kids and smell Mikel all over the place.”
“Is that possible?”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t decide to mess with them. Just for fun. Because that’s the kind of crap that Mikel does, Ellie.” Lucy grabbed her hand and dragged Ellie back up the stairs and into Ellie’s bedroom. Then she quickly made her way around the room chanting. Ellie knew what she was doing; she was creating a barrier so that no one could eavesdrop on them.
Once done, she looked at Ellie. “Talk.”
Ellie felt the weight of the day and was suddenly exhausted. She flopped down in a chair next to the window that looked out into nothing. There was nothing but blackness outside. On the Other Side, the window had a breathtaking view of the Lake of the Isles. She still missed that.
“I did what I had to do, and I’m not going to apologize for it,” Ellie said.
“Let’s hope you aren’t sorry about it later,” Lucy grumbled.
Ellie agreed, but she wasn’t about to tell Lucy that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
David wasn’t sure what he expected when he opened the door, but it certainly wasn’t what greeted him as he crossed the threshold into the dimly lit room. The booming bass of music rattled his rib cage, which had been entirely muted by the heavy outside door. He quickly realized watching dim shapes moving in time to the music that he was in the equivalent of some kind of nightclub.
He felt a sort of panic. He didn’t know
how to locate Lila. Communicating at all in the cavernous room was going to be difficult. Before he could take more than one more cautious step into the room, a tall woman appeared beside him. She was wearing a long grey dress that fit her shapely form like a glove. Her blond hair was cropped close to her ears, but her dramatic cheekbones gave her face an exotic appeal.
“You look lost. First time to Zero?” she said loud enough so that David could hear her over the music.
David nodded. “Yes. I was supposed to meet a friend here. Lila?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. She looked David up and down and sighed. “Too bad. If you get tired of chasing after her, you let me know. I’m Pearl.”
Pearl turned to leave, but David caught her arm. “You know where she is? It’s kind of dark in here.”
Pearl flashed a smirk. “Just the way we like it.” She sighed again and cocked her head toward the dance floor. “Lila is where she always is. One day, she’ll fall off that golden pedestal Braz set her on and hit her head.”
The woman’s animosity toward Lila was clear, and David wondered what other game he was getting thrown in the middle of. It was obvious that Pearl wasn’t going to be more helpful, and so he smiled and nodded, then dove deeper into the room.
As his eyes began to adjust to the dim light and roving beams that shot through the room, David saw nuances that said this wasn’t a normal dance club. First, he couldn’t see a bar, and no one had a glass or any kind of beverage container in his or her hands. Then he saw that although there were easily over a hundred people in the room, the actual number on the dance floor were less than twenty. Finally, everyone was dressed in the same type of clothes that he saw on everyone in the street. So although this appeared to be a gathering place for Purgatory employees, it still operated within a confined definition of fun. Moderation seemed to be the norm in Purgatory.
Then David spotted her. She was an exception to the rule, and he knew immediately that he had found Lila. She danced in the middle of the floor and moved with an abandon that told him that she was wholly lost in the music. Her sinewy and fluid movements spoke to her comfort with herself and her body. Lila wore black knee high boots, a white miniskirt, and a formfitting grey t-shirt. As the roving beams of light caught the top of her head, David saw her streaming locks of strawberry blonde hair. As David looked around, he saw that almost every eye in the room was on her. He was starting to understand Pearl’s chagrin.