R.E.birth

by Thomas W. Everson

  With a potential attack imminent now I have to wonder if he was from Lady Eve’s camp. She would no doubt be angry to find me alive, and Ami with me. How am I going to fend off an army?

  Finding my way back to the ridge leading down to the house Ami and Agatha stand in the yard looking at me with hopeful eyes. I shake my head and climb slowly down the sand dune. I sigh loudly coming to a stop in front of them.

  “This is not good,” I tell them. “I think he was from Lady Eve’s camp.”

  “Weren’t they headed for the mountains though?” Ami reminds me.

  “Hopefully they made it all the way there and are busy enough that by the time she sends a group out here to take us, we will be gone. However we had better prepare for an attack.”

  “How strong are these people?” Agatha asks.

  “They have rifles and explosives. If they make it here, we are in serious trouble.” I shake my head. “If they show up I want both of you inside at all times.”

  Heading back to the house I leave my shoes outside but still manage to dredge more sand into the kitchen. We sit down at the table and I stare at the wall, trying to brainstorm a way to provide us an advantage. Many ideas come to mind, but none seem feasible.

  A trap in the sand would be nice, a hold to hold off several people at a time, but I would have to place them everywhere and hope that there are more holes than there are people. Even if that worked, they would quickly find their way out.

  I let out a large sigh and reach out for Agatha and Ami’s hands. They both look at me caringly and take my hands into theirs.

  “I know you will protect us Rain. I have faith in you,” Ami says reassuringly.

  “I wish I had that same faith in myself.” I shake my head. “I can’t think of anything to do that though.”

  “Well, maybe something will come to you if you go rest a bit,” Agatha suggests.

  Shrugging I slouch back in the chair and stare at the white ceiling for a while before retiring to my room. Lying down on my bed I rest my head so that I can see the sky out of my window and stare into the blue.

  I don’t know what to do…

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Opening my eyes slowly, the room has gone dark. I feel a little refreshed, but my mind is too groggy to think about anything other than looking for Ami or Agatha. Standing up I turn and find light seeping from under the sewing room door. Putting my ear to the door I listen for sound and when I don’t hear any I knock lightly. There is no response and I open the door to find Ami sitting in her chair, leaned over and asleep on one of her work desks.

  I step lightly, trying to get the boards in the floor to keep quiet while I make my way over to her. She’s snoring lightly with her mouth open a little and a drool puddle forming on a pattern she was apparently working on. Slinging her arms over my neck causes her to stir a little but I keep going. I lift under her knees with my arm around her back. She clamps onto me and I begin heading toward the door. Carefully, I take the stairs one step at a time and make my way to her bedroom. It takes some very careful maneuvering to not drop her, but I’m able to grip the knob and twist it open. With the blinds drawn open and a little moonlight pouring in I can see her bed silhouette easily and I set her down on it. When I attempt to remove my arms Ami grips my neck tightly.

  “Rain, sleep with me,” Ami mumbles.

  “No Ami, I can’t do that,” I whisper to her, my face flushing.

  “Why not? I’m cold,” she mumbles more.

  “I’ll cover you up then.”

  “Thank you Rain.” She rolls over so I can pull the covers back and then rolls onto the cleared area.

  I pull the covers over her body and tuck them under her arms, which she has pulled to her chest. She smiles with her eyes closed and I realize that she’s not likely to even remember this in the morning. Heading out of her room I shut the door behind me and though I am doing my best to be quiet my stomach growls. Heading to the kitchen, I find the light on, but Agatha is not there. Looking out the window I do not see her, or anyone else.

  The refrigerator door gives little resistance when I pull on it. Looking inside I can see that our cold supplies are running low. There is a little milk left, a jar of pickles is a little under half full, and there’s not much for leftovers as we’ve been conserving what we make and eating as much of it as we can. Closing the refrigerator I decide on a peanut butter sandwich instead of anything from in there and it does not take me long to make and consume two sandwiches.

  A trench? How big of a trench can I make in a couple days? Maybe a series of holes to slow them down? I would need a shovel.

  After cleaning up my mess I wander down to the basement and to the door that leads to the second half. When I open it I find a wide variety of tools but focusing only on finding a shovel I move along quickly, finding two of them toward the back, hung on the wall. Grabbing one I head back upstairs and out the door to the yard. It takes me a few moments to get my shoes on with the sand attachments but I am soon across the yard and begin to dig, tossing the shovelfuls of sand toward the already massive dune.

  Hours pass and it feels like I am not making any progress, but I keep digging away at the border of our land, determined to do whatever I can to keep them safe. Finally I realize that I have started making a dent in the desert when I can only see the top of the house, but having left myself a ramp back up I use it to escape and continue on with digging.

  Losing track of time I find the dawn creeping up on me and stepping into the yard I look at the work accomplished. Though I have made a dent in the ground I find that my work is nowhere near complete and I know the sun is quickly going to turn it into an oven out here. Debating for a minute, I decide to rest and pick it up again at dusk. Making my way back inside I kick my shoes off at the door and feel the cool air wash over my sweaty skin.

  “Where have you been?” Agatha asks with her motherly tone from the table.

  “Digging a trench, or at least what I could for now.” I get a tall glass of water from a pitcher in the refrigerator and chug it down.

  “Are you sure you should be working alone? That animal wasn’t too far from here, right?”

  “Thanks for the concern Agatha, but you two need your rest at night. I will keep watch and work at night and you two can guard in the day.”

  “If you insist, but I want you to promise that you’ll be careful. You still need to heal too.”

  “I will try.” I smile, setting the glass down.

  Heading toward the living room I grab a piece of bread and devour it. Just before I reach the swinging door it swings wide open and I’m nearly knocked over. Ami has appeared with a large smile on her face and she throws her arms around my neck, pulling me in close. I hug her back.

  “Morning Rain!”

  She’s awful chipper. Must have gotten decent sleep.

  “Hey, I need you to do me a favor,” I tell her, releasing the hug.

  “What’s that?” She lets go and heads for the refrigerator.

  “I need three long and wide sheets of material sewn together and some stakes,” I push the door open and stop to look at her.

  “Okay!” She turns her attention to the refrigerator and rummages.

  “Thanks Ami.”

  I push through the door and head up the stairs. Upon entering my room I close the door and strip down to my undershorts. Taking a moment I brush myself off before getting into bed, but I reach a point that I’m satisfied and lie face down, covering my head with the pillow.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Standing atop the dune I scan the horizon and am thankful to still see no sign of anyone coming to us. With the sun illuminating the yellow and brown landscape for miles, all that exists is sand, but when I look down behind me I see our little oasis in the desert, and the large trench that reaches half way around the perimeter.

  I suppose I should have made it deeper, but I can only do so much. Maybe there will still be ti
me after I finish digging these holes.

  Turning my gaze back to the desert I look into the holes that I have begun to dig at the top, hoping that they come from this direction. I plant the shovel into the sand and lean against it while looking at the three holes that I have started. Though they are not as large as the trench and will likely not be effective enough to stop an army, I find that doing this gives me a sense of worth to the house.

  He had to have made it back to Lady Eve by now, if he was in fact from her camp. What will she bring with her? How many?

  Standing, I retrieve the ladder from the hole closest to me and on my way to the house I pluck the shovel from the sand. Carefully, I make my way down the hill and find Agatha there removing clothes from the lines. Using the ladder as a bridge, I cross over into our territory and pull my bridge across.

  When I reach the house I place the ladder and shovel against the side and shoot a smile over to Agatha. Concentrating on her work, her face looks neither happy nor angry and I find it difficult to tell if it’s Agatha or Evalyn. Looking around the decimated yard the fourth clothing line is looking quite pitiful, knocked over by the sandstorm, the garden is ripped to shreds, and the apple tree a husk of what it was before.

  We are going to have our work cut out for us when we enter a new time.

  Kicking off my shoes and dusting my body off, I turn to head inside and find Ami making breakfast. The delicious smells waft over my face and I inhale deeply while looking into the pan. My stomach growls, telling me it wants this salty smelling food sizzling on the stovetop.

  “That smells wonderful Ami, what is it?”

  “Potatoes and bacon,” she replies cheerfully. “It’s almost done. Why don’t you wash up and set the table up for the three of us.”

  “Okay.”

  I lather my arms all the way up to the elbows, rinse them in the sink filled with cool water and then dry myself off with a nearby towel. Cleaned up as much as I am going to get for now, I set the table for the three of us and place some glasses for water.

  “I made some orange juice,” she mentions. “It’s in the refrigerator.”

  “You made some? From what oranges?” I am confused.

  Ami laughs, “We didn’t have any. I made it from frozen concentrate.”

  “What is that?”

  “It’s where they take the water out of the actual juice and what you have leftover is a compacted form of the original stuff. You just put water back into it and it makes it into regular juice again,” she explains while dishing the plates up.

  “Amazing. What will this world think of next? Or, I should say, what has it thought of in the future?” I head to the refrigerator to retrieve the pitcher.

  “A good question,” she shrugs at me and returns to the stove.

  Pouring the juice, I watch out of the corner of my eye as she heads outside to retrieve Agatha for breakfast. I fill our glasses to the brim, nearly overflowing mine waiting for Ami to reappear but I catch myself just in time. They reenter the house, Agatha with a basket full of clothes, and join me at the table. Agatha sets the basket on the ground and I wait for them to both sit before I do.

  “Thanks Ami,” I tell her while taking a bite.

  “Of course.” She smiles at me. “I enjoy taking care of you.”

  I blush but before I can respond Evalyn blurts, “Enough. You’re making me sick.”

  Eating quietly, I eye Evalyn and she glares at me.

  What can be done about her? Does she have the power to break this cycle at will and is just keeping it going out of spite? I wonder if there is a way to put her spirit to rest.

  Shrugging it off, I return my attention to the food and find that I have already eaten most of it, but my stomach doesn’t feel full yet. I know that all of it has been divied up between the three of us and they too are nearly finished. Instead of wishing for more I take one bite at a time, savoring the delicious saltiness of the bacon and the earthy texture of the potatoes. When it’s gone, I guzzle the orange juice in a few gulps and upon placing the glass down on the table I find Evalyn staring at me again. I sheepishly grin. She scoffs and it makes me laugh.

  Slouching in my chair I let the food settle and it seems like it was enough after all. With my hunger quelled and my stomach heavy I let my eyes shut and realize that it’s about time I should head to bed. Slowly standing up I grab my dishes and turn to head to the sink, but two steps forward and my knees buckle and all I can do to keep from collapsing onto the dishes and injuring myself is to toss them out in front of me. Hitting the ground I let out a loud grunt and quickly Ami and Evalyn rush to my side.

  “You’re overworked Rain.” Evalyn leaves and Agatha begins to mother me. “It’s time for you to rest and I don’t want to see you out of bed until I say so.”

  “What about the bathroom?” I joke.

  “We’ll get it over with so that it’s out of the way,” she says while grabbing me under my left arm while Ami gets my right.

  Though they haul me to the bathroom I feel the ability to move my legs return and they let me do what I need to. When I’m finished they assist me up the stairs and half way up I can feel the bones and muscles aching all throughout my body.

  By the time they get me into bed I feel shooting pain welling up from inside, building up to something. Squirming around, I can’t seem to get comfortable. Agatha puts her hand on my shoulder comfortingly and heads back downstairs. Ami moves to leave too and I try to stop her but I can’t get anything out of my mouth. She heads into her sewing room and I expect that she is going to work on her sewing, but to my surprise Ami returns to my room dragging chair and a lot of folded up cloth. I look at her puzzled but she doesn’t notice my gaze.

  She sets the chair by the head of my bed and then acknowledges me by looking over and smiling. Footsteps make their way up the stairs again and Agatha appears with a familiar tray. There is a silver bowl and a glass of water on it that I can see. Setting it down on the floor she grabs a rag and dunks it into the bowl. Wringing it out, Agatha hands it to Ami and she puts it on my forehead. Though it does nothing for my pain, it feels good.

  “Here, drink some water.” Agatha grabs the glass.

  Ami takes the rag while helping me sit up, and I take the glass. My hand shakes heavily and I feel the building pressure inside me intensify, but I ignore it and push through to drink the water slowly.

  “Thank you,” my voice comes out raspy.

  “Rest now. Ami will watch over you,” Agatha says.

  Ami lowers me back down onto the pillow and I stare out the window while trying to get comfortable. Agatha leaves again and Ami settles in after placing the rag back on my head. The pillow does nothing for the uneasy feeling and my body can’t take much more of the pain, deciding to remove me from consciousness to compensate.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I’m surrounded by darkness. My feet appear to be on solid ground but there is nothing around me; I’m unable to even see my own body. Bending down I touch what I think is ground but feel nothing. There is nothing below where I am, even under my feet. I move to take a step but my legs won’t cooperate. Air, or what feels like air rushes all around me like a whirlwind but then switches to being directly from under me. Light appears and I find that I’m falling straight down into a forest. I try to yell out of fright, but my voice is locked up also. Shutting my eyes, I expect impact any moment with the trees growing ever closer.

  It does not come though. The air stops and I find that the fall hasn’t turned my body to a crumpled heap on the forest floor. When I open my eyes I find myself in the middle of the forest that I was rushing toward and the clearing where the house is supposed to be, but it’s not there. Instead the clearing is covered in a purple aura.

  Is the aura supposed to represent the house grounds? How is that possible if it isn’t there?

  I try to take a step toward the purple covered field, but before I can I am pulled away deep into the woods by an unseen force
. My body stops suddenly and I become a witness to a strange spectacle. Two shadows appear to be fighting, colliding multiple times and as I watch intently, pieces become more visible. There are swords involved. But I am mystified when I notice things are not flowing normally. Everything is backward; movements are in reverse. Swords clash together but in such an abnormal way that it almost looks like a strange dance with over-exerted movements where the persons are trying to actually hit each other’s swords instead of one another. However the shadows never become fully illuminated and I’m unable to determine if it is who I think it is, but I assume they are Drake and myself fighting.

  Who else would be out in the woods?

  They stop fighting and appear to be having a lively conversation, waving their swords at each other, and then they put them away. Attempting to move again I discover that I’m still stuck, paralyzed in place watching this scene, but my body snaps and I’m hauled back into the black above.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I wake, startled, sitting straight up in bed and dropping the wet cloth from my forehead. My heart beats so heavily that I fear it will burst through my ribcage and I breathe heavily to try and calm it. My body has become drenched with sweat and I feel like I am burning up.

  “What’s wrong Rain?!” Ami asks, alarmed.

  “I just had the strangest dream where I saw two shadows fighting with swords, but everything was moving in reverse.”

  “A dream? You’ve only been asleep for five minutes,” she says while pushing me back down onto the pillow and replacing the rag.

  “How is that possible? It feels like it’s been hours.” I am affected by vertigo as I close my eyes.

  “I’m not sure. Just rest now okay?” Ami touches my bare arm lightly for a moment.