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

by Glenn Maynard

  Brenda spoke up at this point and emphasized to Martin that Shirley and his parents had moved on, and if he ever wanted to be with them again, then he was going to have to move to the afterlife. There he would be able to reunite with his parents, and eventually Shirley’s spirit would arrive. She stopped short of indicating that he would be reunited with Shirley upon Brenda’s death because she didn’t want Martin to be encouraged to rush things along.

  Martin was agreeing to nothing, and trying to ignore everyone. He marched to the beat of his own drum. That was Martin’s personality, his spirit, his general make up. Even his long separation from his parents wasn’t enough to sway him. All of the prompting was of no use, but Evelyn was giving it her best. She then sent a telepathic message to her son about how much she and Evan loved him and had joined forces to recreate their family.

  Suddenly the house went into an uproar as the dark swirl of Lucas Adam increased in speed threefold. Objects began flying about the room. Carter and Brenda ran and hid behind the couch. Adam Spence was caught up in the spirit realm and vanished before Carter was able to bring him to safety. Evelyn and Evan walked away from the scene. They were both so calm, cool and collected from all of the years they had been performing paranormal investigations. This event was still in full swing and they still walked around as if nothing much was going on.

  Carter noticed that Martin’s parents were no longer around. He didn’t see them go, but they too had vanished. Brenda didn’t see anything either, but now she was securely tucked away from the commotion. Curtains flew around on the closed windows. Debris flew through the air. The swirls sucked the oxygen right out of the room, and sucked Martin right up into the vortex before he knew what was happening. His swirl was no longer. He was sucked into that vacuum cleaner that Lucas Adam had created, and this cataclysmic event knocked the wind out of the room and violently knocked everyone in it to the ground.

  CHAPTER 34

  There was silence, and nothing but silence when Carter lifted his cheek off the hard, cold floor. He looked over and saw Brenda lying on the other side of the kitchen floor from him. She was not moving. He tried to pick his head up and could not. It was too heavy, and he didn’t have the strength. He could hear his head buzzing more distinctly through the silence. There was nothing he could do to ease the pain. There was also nothing he could do to remember what had happened that planted his cheek on the ground and rendered him unable to move.

  He looked over again and remembered that Brenda was across the room. She was not moving, and it looked like she was seriously hurt. He saw that her eyes were closed. He didn’t see blood, so he was relieved, but it didn’t make her any less hurt, or worse. He jolted himself awake as he realized the precarious position he found himself in. He knew that he was in the kitchen, and then remembered Brenda being there, but that’s all he remembered for now, and rested his cheek again on the cold, damp floor.

  When Carter realized that his body was not operating the same way it used to, there was reason for concern. The first thought that came to his suddenly alert mind was that he was paralyzed. He was unable to move anything more than his eyes, but even those had stiffened up a bit. He looked back over at Brenda, and then around the room. Nobody else seemed to be around, but he could not see into the living room.

  As time passed, he began to remember the spiritual intervention that had taken place, and how it became charged up with negative energies. There was an explosion. He had never been a part of such paranormal explosions of negative energies, but he felt like it was something along the lines of what a Ouija Board might usher in.

  Carter tried to speak, but even his voice was on hold. Whatever it was that had just happened obliterated his entire living zone, not to mention the people within it. He had been debilitated by whatever it was, and lost consciousness for a bit, losing his ability to move or speak. However, he could move his tongue and make soft groaning sounds, and this ability began to get nominally stronger as time passed by, so he was hopeful.

  Within about 20 minutes, Carter was able to get facial functions back and lift his head up a bit more. Then he made it to one elbow. He tried calling out to Brenda, but he received no response and began to get dreadfully worried now that his memory was starting to return to him. He soon remembered a lot about the meeting of the spirits and what Evelyn was trying to accomplish. He remembered her enticing her son to bring Martin to the promise land and rejoin his parents. He did not, however, remember what happened after the catastrophic event that knocked everybody to the floor. That part was an enigma to him.

  As more time elapsed, Carter recalled Martin’s apparition becoming part of the evil swirling motion of Lucas Adam. He also remembered that Evelyn was trying to push Martin into the afterlife. Carter was never made aware of the plan, but knew that the plan had been implemented and Evan had somehow become a part of it, planned or unplanned. Still, Carter didn’t know where Martin’s parents ended up or where his son ended up.

  Carter was jolted alive and terrified by this thought. When he first saw Brenda lying lifeless, his brain was not functioning and it didn’t faze him much. Now that his brain waves were firing better, he was beginning to remember. He had Adam on his mind, but then realized that Brenda may be dying on the kitchen floor. He slowly made it to his knees, and with the help of a wooden chair, he rose to his feet.

  He was frantic, but trapped in a body that was having trouble functioning. He grabbed the series of kitchen chairs at the top to support his weight and balance en route to the living room to see if Adam happened to be in there. He was not. In fact, nobody was in there. The place looked like a bomb had gone off, but that was not his immediate concern. He had to check to see if his family was alive.

  He didn’t see Adam in the living room, so he slowly made his way back to the kitchen to check on a member of his family that he knew would be there. He called out to her. “Brenda!”

  When she didn’t reply, he dropped to his knees and with tears in his eyes, hugged his wife tight in hopes of squeezing the life back into her or somehow jolting and restarting her heart. “Brendaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” he cried out. He wondered where Evelyn and Evan had gone. Did they disappear in the explosion or whatever it was that decimated the area?

  He kept trying to pump Brenda’s chest and breathe life back into her mouth, but he was getting nowhere. It couldn’t be, he thought. Brenda couldn’t be dead. He would not allow it. Then he envisioned Adam growing up without a mother. He further wondered if Adam would grow up at all because he had not yet been found. He wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. He sure as hell better not have accompanied all of the others.

  Carter’s panic was now amped up. He wasn’t getting any answers. It was a nightmare, but he was pretty sure he was awake. It very much seemed that way. He cried tears of anguish as he got up and left his beloved Brenda dying, or perhaps dead, on the kitchen floor, and sensing the worst. He stumbled his way through the house, calling out for his son, Adam, who had gone missing along with the rest of them. Tears continued to stream down his face as he moved from room to room in search of his son. He could not locate anyone. The only one he could locate was his dead wife; his dead Brenda.

  There was a loud noise on the other end of the house, and Carter stumbled his way to that end and into the garage. He opened the door to the garage and the large tree was still poking through the ceiling from the big storm. Perhaps it shifted and thus created the noise, but he couldn’t be sure of that. He went back through the house, sweating, crying, filthy, and just downright sad. There were no words for the grief that was surging through Carter at this time. He’d had some harsh luck in his past, but never did he feel this empty.

  There was nobody he could talk to. Everybody was either dead or missing. As his consciousness strengthened, he became more panic-stricken from a clearer reality. He th
ought he was better off back when he couldn’t feel his legs. At least the reality of what was happening in his life, directly and indirectly, was only a cloudy reality. He found himself running from room to room calling Adam’s name. If he wasn’t going to get Brenda back, then Adam was the last of his family. He would truly have nobody if he didn’t find his son. His closest family tree after Adam was poking through his garage.

  “Adam!” he shouted out. “Adam, where are you?”

  The last he remembered, Adam had been pulled into the spirit world by Martin, so that he could use him as a puppet. However, Lucas Adam had swirled Martin into the afterlife, as far as he knew. He wasn’t exactly sure where they ended up, but he had to believe that wherever they did end up, Adam could possibly be with them. Actually, he couldn’t think of another place where his boy could be.

  Carter could not accept that Brenda was gone, either. They were meant to be together through eternity, and had been through so much in such a short period of time. He looked at her clammy face, saw the life that had been ripped from her shell, and felt the life being ripped from his own. It was an unfair world, and he was not going to accept it. Without Brenda, there was no reason to live. He sat on the ground and propped her floppy head onto his lap and his tears fell into her eyes, moistening them. He was inconsolable, and seemed to be out of touch with the fact that his son was missing. Carter was a broken man.

  He thought about the fateful day he had met Brenda. It was a chance occurrence, which was the result of her turning around too quickly with a cup of coffee in her hand. That moment set off a chain of events that would forever change the course of both of their lives. He took another peek at his deceased soulmate, who would be alive if they had never met. He thought of the time they spent together in Colorado. He thought of being part of reuniting her with her parents. He thought of making that dreaded phone call to her parents with this terrible, heart-breaking news, and he surged into another crying fit. He kept glancing down to see if she somehow, miraculously, breathed life into herself, and after each disappointing glance, reality would set in even deeper.

  He could not accept this. He would not accept this. He always promised Brenda that he would protect her and that when they were old and gray, he would be the first one to go. He always made that promise to her. She would always whack him playfully and tell him that if he went first, then that would mean she would have to grieve, and she didn’t want that. It didn’t matter to Carter. He wanted Brenda to live, and he felt as though he let her down as he continued to cradle her lifeless body in his arms.

  His anguish reached yet another level, which made him feel as if his head was about to explode. He realized that she was getting her wish by passing first, but the timeline was way off. It was supposed to be a timeline for when they were both old and gray and had lived a fulfilling life together. She had been cheated. It was a miracle that he had found Brenda in this lifetime, so he was unwilling to give up so easily on her returning. He looked at her stiffening body and still believed in her. There was not a breath remaining, but he kept with these thoughts. He was in full-fledged denial.

  Carter continued to stare at his lovely bride, whom he admired even in death. He always knew that he would be with her until the end, but the end came much too soon. He could not accept this. She had taught him so much in their short time together. She showed him how to let loose and live, and think outside the box. He felt so alive and free around her. She brought out the best in Carter, and she was the mother to their son.

  Carter then remembered that his son, Adam was missing too, and he was praying that he did not just lose his family in one fell swoop, just like Evan had a decade before. Carter had even lost his family once before when his parents were killed in a car accident, leaving him as the only child. That scenario cannot become commonplace in this community.

  Carter began to lose power and a will to live. Everything had been swiped from him. He tried to get up, but tipped over like that tree in his garage, smacking his head against a coffee table without even realizing it. His eyes were closed as they faced the ceiling. He couldn’t feel anything. He had just enough energy remaining in his world to muster one final thought. He thought about how much Brenda had taught him in this lifetime. He thought about the shame it would be to waste all that knowledge because of death, and his will to cash in his chips. He was so oblivious to this world at the moment, but was still able to form that thought. It was the perfect time to disconnect willingly from this world. Changing realms was part of that knowledge Brenda had taught him. They would then be together again.

  He began mumbling her name. “Brenda,” he said. “Brenda, wait for me.” He was too weak to open his eyes to even look at the ceiling. His few words exited his mouth in faint whispers. Some time elapsed, but Carter could not tell how much. A strange feeling overcame him as he continued to mumble messages to Brenda.

  Suddenly he was there. He was where Brenda had gone, and he didn’t mind being there, because they were together again. What mattered most was that they were reunited. He reached out for Brenda, but she was just slowly circling around him and hardly even looking at him. It was almost as if she didn’t know him.

  Every time Carter reached out for Brenda, she would float past him or through him. This was not the state he wanted them to be in. He didn’t want to be reunited with Brenda if she was in a condition such that she would not know who he was. He didn’t want to be another Martin. That was not good enough, and he knew he had to get her out of there and back home.

  Carter had to make a mental connection with Brenda and try to persuade her to go back with him. This was a nice place, sure it was, but his love for Brenda was so strong that even a place like this was not good enough without all of her. He needed her back, and he realized that the only way to do that would be to take her back. He lobbied hard for her return, and nobody was trying to prevent this from happening. He pressed hard for her to recognize him.

  “Brenda,” he said. “Brenda, it’s me…Carter. I can’t do it alone. Please come back with me.”

  Brenda continued to softly swirl around him, but at least she was becoming more aware of his presence and making sporadic eye contact with him. He continued to pound away at convincing her to return, and then he stopped talking and attempted to transplant these thoughts telepathically. He was perplexed that she didn’t recognize him. He concentrated hard on her return, and as he made a slight move toward the nearby tunnel, he did not see her make any moves. He did it again, but to no avail. She then stopped completely and looked at him, grabbing his hand and leading him to the tunnel, where they both quickly passed through.

  CHAPTER 35

  Adam Spence looked at his parents curiously, then proceeded to slowly explain what had happened to him. “Martin took me to where everything was cloudy. He said he lived there. It was weird, like I was flying. There was another boy who was coming at us, and he wasn’t…he wasn’t like me, or any other boy my age…I think he was my age. Then there was this huge swirl, and the boy disappeared, and I saw Martin go flying through the swirl. When I saw an opening, I escaped from wherever I was to here, but I think I had help. There was a hole I went through. Martin was being pulled one way and I went the other way.”

  Carter opened his eyes, rubbed the large welt on his forehead, then weakly pulled Adam in for a hug. “Where did you come from just now?”

  “Next door,” said Adam. “Nobody was home, so I just stayed on the front porch. I came back to check on you, hoping I’d find you and there would be no more bad things.”

  “That’s good,” said Brenda. “You’re right. No more bad things, Adam. I definitely hope not.” She gingerly lifted her head from the ground and made it to her feet, joining the family hug. The deep scratches on her face were part of the small price she had to pay.

  “There’s not
,” said Adam. “He’s gone.”

  “Who’s gone?” asked Carter.

  “Martin.”

  Carter looked at Adam. Evan and Evelyn had just come into the house and were looking at him too. Adam smiled the best he could under the circumstances.

  “How do you know for sure that he’s gone?” asked Carter.

  Adam looked his parents in the eyes, looked around at the rest of the onlookers in the room and said, “It happened fast, but as I was leaving that place, Martin and his parents were coming in. I saw the three of them shoot up in the sky. They were gone really fast and I went in the other direction.”

  “What happened after that?” asked Evelyn. She was asking him because she had a vested interest herself. Her son was the driving force behind the movement to move Martin to the place where he belonged, and away from this earth, a journey that he couldn’t seem to make. “Was there anybody else with them? Just the three of them? You didn’t see my son during all this?”

  Adam smiled and said, “Yeah, he was there. He kept going with them. He was the one who brought Martin and his parents higher than the place everybody was trapped in. He must have got there safely. It all happened fast, but they were all smiling when I passed them. They were happy. They got there. Nobody was stuck anymore…not even Mr. Jenkins. I got out too, but I was pushed the other way…by that boy.”