Desert Son Trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, Spiritual Intervention (Books 1-3)

by Glenn Maynard

  “Who’s this girl?” asked Brenda.

  “Her name is Brenda too,” said Carter. “It appears that your ex has a fascination with girls named Brenda. I knew he was a sick man, but I didn’t know to what extent. He’s stranger than even you made him out to be. Man, you know how to pick ‘em.”

  “Hi Brenda… I’m Brenda.” Basement Brenda extended her hand for an introductory shake. “I’ve been with Reggie for over a year now, and Carter here found me by accident… when he snuck into the basement trying to get to you. He just had the wrong Brenda, at first.”

  Brenda wiped sweat off her face and pushed her black hair back so it would not stick to her face, getting a better view of Basement Brenda. “My God,” she said. “Look at your face! That asshole did that to you? You were down in the basement? I never even heard a thing!”

  “When I found her,” said Carter, “the scumbag had her hog-tied underneath the basement stairs. She was in bad shape, but not as bad as… the other girl.”

  Brenda stopped and looked at Carter, thinking about what he had just said. She looked at Basement Brenda, then back at Carter, and the question had to be asked. “Other girl? What do you mean other girl? There’s a third girl? Is her name Brenda too?”

  “That was my thought exactly,” said Carter. “I opened up the closet door down there and a girl fell… collapsed right by my feet.”

  Brenda looked horrified. “Is she still down there? Is she going to be okay?”

  Carter grabbed Brenda by the shoulders and said, “She’s dead, Brenda. She’s been dead for several days… weeks… I’m not sure.”

  Carter then saw the two Brenda’s eyes grow into gourds as they both looked above Carter’s head. Neither of them had time to warn Carter that Reggie had risen to his feet and had drawn a gun on him. Carter quickly spun around and grabbed Reggie’s wrist, lifting his hand up until the gun was pointed toward the ceiling. “Move away,” he yelled out to the Brendas, and they scrambled away from the kitchen. A struggle for control of the gun ensued. Carter and Reggie had both of their hands vying for control of the weapon, and they were both using what was left of their energy in order to save their own life.

  They continued to battle, becoming more tired and wobbly. Something had to give, and eventually it did. With both hands drained of strength, the gun spun to the ground and Carter kicked it into the corner by the stove. He ran to get it, and Reggie tried to beat him to it. As Carter bent down and reached for the gun, Reggie reached for the cast iron skillet on top of the stove. He swung it around hard, instantly knocking Carter out cold. Carter hardly felt pain. His knees were suddenly too weak to hold his body up, and he descended, feeling nothing, as he dropped to the ground.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  An airy feeling enveloped Carter’s world. It was very quiet. Time was very still, ticking by in the slowest of increments. Carter was not sure where he was, or what was happening. He kept on slowly rising upward, drifting away from what he had once known as life. This wasn’t the first time for him, but he still wondered if he was dreaming. This surely couldn’t be happening again.

  He looked down and saw Reggie, who apparently had done something to him, because he was standing around hyperventilating with a skillet in his hand. Carter wasn’t so sure that Reggie had hit him with the skillet, though, because he would have felt something. But why on earth would he be so high and looking down at him? He had this question, and many more to ponder.

  Carter tried to feel his body to make sure everything was kosher, but it clearly was not. He wasn’t too concerned though, because he felt okay. He had no pain. If he was in trouble, then he’d surely feel something… some sort of pain. It seemed that Reggie and Martin always had it in for him. He could have done without them during his stint called life. He wished he had never crossed paths with them in his lifetime. They were just no good, and Carter began to wonder if they were partners in crime.

  Some people are just useless to this world and have nothing in their lives. They serve no real purpose, really, other than making other people’s lives purely miserable. They are not happy unless they are miserable or creating misery for others. Both Martin and Reggie should have that on their tombstones: I was not happy unless I was miserable and wreaking havoc upon others. Carter thought that would be a perfect engraving for the both of them.

  He looked over from where Reggie was standing and saw his Brenda. She was in hysterics, and he could only watch from above as she charged after Reggie, viciously slamming him into the kitchen window. She flew into a rage and charged him at top speed. He actually heard the window smash and saw Reggie contorting his face.

  Carter tried to help Brenda, but he could not get any closer than his current positioning up in the corner of the kitchen, somewhere in the vicinity of the ceiling. He looked for his legs to figure out why he couldn’t save the love of his life, but nothing was there. Then he looked down and saw his own body face down with blood oozing from his head. He still felt nothing. He saw a gun in the corner of the kitchen on the floor by the stove. If he was shot, then why couldn’t he feel pain?

  It was odd and a bit frustrating that he couldn’t comprehend what exactly was happening. Why wasn’t anything that he tried to do… working? He watched as Brenda retreated from Reggie, and the other girl charged him for another push toward the window. She then retreated and they both stared at Reggie as he remained standing in front of the smashed window, which had smashed some more with the second shove. Now only the girls were hyperventilating.

  Brenda cried loudly as she dropped to her knees on the floor, crouching beside Carter. She flipped him over onto his side and hugged him as tears generously flowed out of her. Carter felt okay, and wasn’t quite sure why Brenda was so sad. He then felt himself moving back to the ground. He got close enough to Brenda to hug her, but was disappointed that she didn’t reciprocate, much less even know he was there.

  He kept hugging as Brenda stood up and looked at Reggie with a killer look in her eyes. The other girl was bent over, still trying to catch her breath. Brenda began pacing back and forth, and every time Carter went to get in the way for a hug, she walked right through him as if he was invisible. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t even get a hug out of her. He wanted to hug her so bad because that’s what he did whenever she was upset.

  He looked over at Reggie standing by the window, and saw that his eyes were wide open. Brenda slowly walked back over to him and said, “You son of a bitch!” She then placed her foot on his stomach and pushed him back gently, just a little further, and the sound of more breaking glass crashed to the floor behind him, shattering into even smaller pieces. She slowly backed up, and the two girls took solace in seeing blood trickling from Reggie’s mouth and eyes. He lunged forward and fell face first onto the kitchen floor. Blood splattered on the walls, tables, chairs and floor. Reggie was lying on the floor with two large shards of glass projecting from deep within his back.

  Carter felt himself drifting once again. He saw Brenda turn him on his back and she was pushing on his chest. It seemed that the more she pushed, the faster he rose. He wanted to tell her to stop doing that because he didn’t want to go any further away than he was. Now he was above the ceiling, and he kept going as if he was a balloon that had been released at a birthday party. He was really soaring now.

  There were clouds, and they were drifting, floating, easing along. Carter was moving along with them, slowly, and then he suddenly tumbled through this tunnel-like cloud formation, until he thought he was in the eye of a storm. He moved further along and felt himself being whisked away, losing contact with whatever was going on in the kitchen.

  The suction increased, and then stopped on a dime. He began a leisurely stroll in what he felt was the heavens. He didn’t think he was hurt that bad, so although he felt
like he was walking through this heaven-like place, he was certain that he was not. He felt too damn good to be dead.

  Carter looked down and the kitchen scene was no longer visible. He looked around, wondering what was going on, because although he did not remember getting shot or harmed in any other way, it looked like it from above. He had seen a gun and some blood on his head. Maybe it just looked gruesome. Reggie appeared to be knocked unconscious, and even had blood dripping from the window glass after the impact. He couldn’t see Reggie anymore, nor could he see the two Brenda’s. They were gone from his si... wait a minute… he saw them again, but a large cloud erased that scene. There was far too much going on up here anyway, and it was far better than what he had been experiencing below.

  Every few minutes he would get this glimpse below, but he became more and more disinterested in returning there. He kind of liked it up here, and then it occurred to him that this place actually looked familiar. He had been here before. Last time he was returned, but he was hoping that was not going to be the case this time. After all, he had been returned because of unfinished business, or something along those lines, and he was fairly certain that he had captured whatever it was in life that needed capturing. Sure, he would miss Brenda, but he’d catch up with her again, and once she did arrive, she would totally understand. There would be no hard feelings. He was positive of that.

  Carter was greeted by a woman who said, “Welcome, son.” She was drifting by a bit higher than his level. When he turned around to see her, he discovered that it was his adoptive parents; together beyond death do them part. They wore smiles and were happy to see him, even though it meant that he had passed away. He wasn’t sure how to take that. There was no further communication between them, perhaps because Carter had just arrived and there was a weak connection. Last time he was in this predicament, he found that the connection strengthened the more time he spent there, like a dead battery in a charger.

  As his parents lead him through this place, a woman was reaching for him, but he could only pass by her, even as she was reaching out to him. It was his biological mother, Alexandra, who he originally met and got this whole about-face started in his life. His mother looked the same as she did that fateful day four years ago. Her dirty blonde hair danced in the wind, and she moved along to try to catch up to them, but they were moving too fast.

  He observed that people up here don’t age. His mother had the same look as she did four years ago. As he thought of that moment, he bent down and pet Sparks, his pooch that got into it with several cars one day, and made him cry for weeks. Sparks was healthy now, and just as spunky as the day he died.

  His Aunt Beth approached. It was always great to see her, looking the same as always. People are so worried about getting old down below. If only they knew that going to heaven was like being preserved in a pickle jar. Nobody seemed to age up here. In fact, everybody seemed to be in the best shape ever. It was a great secret to have.

  Carter felt a jolt and a tug on the arm, pulling him downward. Then he felt another tug and another pull downward on that same arm. He saw that tunnel again, and his mother was just hanging around, doing nothing to keep him there. She had turned into a spectator. He kept looking at his mother, and then at the tunnel. Whenever he looked at the tunnel, he could see through it to Reggie’s house. There was still the three of them in the kitchen, so Carter believed that not a lot of time had passed. Either that or they were hanging out in the kitchen for a long time.

  This window to the world below was not enticing enough for him to want to rejoin it. Carter really loved the feel of his new world. He’d had a taste of it before, so he knew it was the real deal, and he was convinced he should stay. Plus, he was reunited with his mothers and fathers. He could visit all four of them, if he so chose.

  His little buddy, Sparks was there. Who wouldn’t want to reunite with a dog once loved and then lost. There was a three week period following the death of Sparks, when he was in such denial that he actually thought his dog would come walking up to him one day, alive and well. He had been so distraught that he kept having recurring thoughts that it wasn’t his dog after all. It was another dog that was run over by a car… one which very much resembled Sparks. In his mind of denial, Sparks had just run away and was out there somewhere. No… not Sparks! Not Sparks! Say it isn’t so. He’s too young to be killed! It was a very dark period in Carter’s life.

  Oh my God, he thought. He looked in the distance and saw Charlie. There wasn’t anyone there that he did not know. There were no extras. Everyone up there had a connection to Carter. It was almost as if he was having a family and friends reunion. He found that he could not stop smiling. Peace and love filled the air thickly. It was as if these two things were in the oxygen up here. Of course, the lush landscape did not miss a beat, nor did the choral concert that performed the harmonic background music that he had heard once before, and the band played on.

  Charlie was moving toward him and having trouble doing so, but then he noticed that Charlie had progressed close enough to communicate with Carter. He began transmitting a message of thanks to Carter for what he had done for him, knocking off Cynthia and Trevor the way that he had. He was forever indebted. He gave Carter the sign that the two of them had created themselves, to indicate true friendship. Carter remembered the day they created that secret sign, that sideways V, and flashed it back to him. It was actually a greater than sign, because neither of them had a friend that was greater than each other.

  There are evil people in this world, and two of them snuffed out Charlie’s life at such an early age, so helping to remove them was the least that Carter and Brenda could do. They were satisfied with the way things had ended. It may not have been intentional, but they were very happy with the results. They could easily live with it. They could sleep well at night. They believed that no other couple deserved that fate more than Trevor and Cynthia. Carter then flashed Charlie another sideways V sign. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a tear drop down Charlie’s cheek.

  Carter thought of Angie. Ironically, they had switched positions. She was where he had been and he was where she had been. If Angie was still in a coma and detached from her body, then Carter might have found her. He and Brenda had been trying so hard to connect with her, but had little luck. Now he was where he may have found her and received answers hot off the press, but he believed that he already had them, so there was no need to connect with Angie on a spiritual level any longer.

  As he moved along the heavens with Charlie and his biological mother, Alexandra, Carter noticed the vibrant flowers dancing in the jolly breeze and the green leaves in the trees waving back and forth to the sound of that chorus, which softly filled the airwaves. Music existed in the molecules here in heaven.

  There was another thing that Carter noticed. Everything that had stressed him out during each step on earth was absent here. He noticed it instantly from the moment he switched over from earth to heaven. He was still Carter, but minus the pain and suffering.

  He looked down the tunnel and into the kitchen again. He looked at Alexandra and Charlie, and they had their hands out as if they wanted him to move into that tunnel from whence he came. He did not want to do that. He even looked back down the tunnel and into the kitchen to see Brenda blowing into his mouth. Her puffs of air were meant to return his soul to earth. That was quite a tall order, but she was working hard at it.

  Again he felt that jolt on his arm, but when he turned to look, there was nobody there. Alexandra and Charlie had distanced themselves from him for some reason. He sniffed his pits and looked back at them, then did a 360-degree swirl. It felt so cool and liberating, so he did it again, and again, and again, each time gaining speed. He had gained so much speed that he was engulfed by the tunnel before him, and sucked down the throat of that giant asp.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE<
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  Carter opened his eyes and looked around again. He noticed that Alexandra and Charlie were no longer standing around, not even from a distance. The tunnel had disappeared too. There were no flowers or trees or music. There was pain, though, and lots of it. His giant headache was very much alive, and the throbbing at the top of his head had never been worse in his capsule. He felt cuts and bruises on his body, and there was blood trickling from his head. He knew this because it was dripping down his forehead and into his eyes. More blood was oozing from lacerations on his arms.

  Brenda was above him. Her head was about a foot away from his head, and she was looking straight down into his bloodshot eyes, somewhat relieved. She was also panting and distraught. She had blood-soaked towels in a pile to her right, and she was continuing to dab his head and arm wounds, making that pile even bigger. Carter didn’t know if she had just returned from a jog or what was going on with her. He was in a fog, not exactly aware of where he was or why he was lying on his back.

  He moved his head to the left and saw the other Brenda leaning against a wall, finally recognizing her and beginning to remember what had happened prior to his checking out. He noticed that she was in bad shape, and he remembered finding her that way in the basement. He also remembered that she was freed by his hands, but something happened in between and he somehow lost track of time. It was very confusing and he was struggling to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

  Basement Brenda was so disoriented that she didn’t even notice Carter looking at her. He turned his head to the right, noticing that his Brenda was still looking at him from above. He looked past her and saw Reggie lying face down in a puddle of his own blood. He did not look good either. In fact, he looked dead. Two large shards of glass protruded from his back; deadly daggers from the smashed windows behind him. There was still a stream of blood coming from his wound, and it continued to trickle actively. That picture told a story, and Carter began to remember more of the story as he surveyed the room before him.