The Risen (Book 1): Dawning

by Marie F. Crow

  I answer him with the press of my body harder against his. It allows me to see over his shoulder to the woman standing behind us. I let my eyes hold the same glow, of the same unspoken message, Lawless had given Dolph only hours ago. He claimed me with his strength. I claimed him with my heart. For never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

  CHAPTER 44

  If we thought with the many happy endings of yesterday that things would magically revert back to the way they were long ago in those days of the cabin, we were naïve. Yes, Aimes and I are now talking, and even share a laugh with her flair for verbiage. Yes, Lawless and I can now sit beside one another without a phantom of dread between us. There is laughter again in our family. There are more smiles than haunted stares. Slowly the wounds J.D. has caused us are healing into faint scars. Scars that will forever serve to remind us of our words, our tears, and our pain of having been torn apart. The scars will remind us that we belong together. They will remind us so that we know, no matter where we may be, our home is found within each other.

  “We need a Christmas tree.” Aimes offers to our conversation. She is almost pouting with the realization.

  “Who is this “we” shit?” Rhett asks over a mouthful of toast.

  The men laugh over his brashness, earning them disapproving looks from Aimes. “Come on, there are little kids here. There should still be some type of Christmas.”

  “Think Santa got the vaccine?” Lawless looks to Rhett with his question. They both smile with the joke and the chance to annoy Aimes.

  “Nah, just the elves. They’re freaky little things to begin with, who then ate the fat bastard.” Rhett answers him. They are refusing to take her suggestion seriously with their routine sense of dark humor.

  Lawless is rubbing his foot against mine with a private flirtation. It is his new game to see how much contact I can handle from him, and for how long I can keep quiet about it. So far, he has won every round with his stone face, refusing to admit what he is doing to me under tables or in corners holding me against him.

  “Fine, Hells and I will get one. We don’t need your help.” Aimes tells the table through their smirking laughter.

  “Who is this “we” shit?” I ask her, mimicking Rhett’s opinion. It causes our family to fully join in the laughter. Even the pixie has to laugh.

  “If you girls want a tree, we will get you a tree.” J.D. tells us, finalizing the deal among the many groans from the men.

  “Marxx, check with Paula and see if she has something that can support it. The rest of you layer up. It’s going to be cold.” J.D. tells us as the meal is winding down.

  A chorus of “Yes, Dad” is his answer to the command, earning us all a glare from which we scatter.

  “I can help with a damn tree.” Marxx is having issues with his new non-active role. The man that we trusted with our security is now resigned to rest as we wait for his arm to heal. He is not waiting patiently.

  “Don’t worry Marxzy, the boys here will be all out of stamina when we return, and you will be my knight in shining armor, saving the day with your tree prowess.” Aimes tells him, patting his shoulder. He smiles at her while shaking his head.

  “I think I liked it better when you were silent and fighting.” He tells her but his smile hints at a different answer.

  “Any time you want to test my stamina Little Girl, you just let me know.” Rhett leans down to say in her ear, turning to be on other side of her to avoid her playful shove from his words.

  “What are we going to put on this tree?” I ask her, attempting to stop Aimes’ and Rhett’s game of tag. They are racing up and down the stair well around us, using us as obstacles to protect them from being tagged. Have I mentioned how much I hate morning people?

  “I guess we are going to have to do another run to find decorations. I know there are things we are starting to run low on anyway.” Chapel has no joy in his voice with the idea. Who can blame him with how well the last one went?

  “If we do, it is just us.” J.D. leaves no room for argument.

  “I thought everything was all punched out between you and them?” Aimes missed his implication as she dodges Rhett. I am tempted to trip her. I am not proud of it but I am.

  “It is.” He tells her. His eyes fill in his missing words.

  “Oh.” She got it that time and Rhett gets her too as she starts to run again. Just one little trip?

  Lawless wraps his arms around me, walking tandem with me to my room. “You OK with that?”

  “Yeah, I am.” I tell him, and I am.

  “Just promise me you’ll be careful?” I ask him. “And that you won’t grow used to leaving me behind.”

  His playful smile graces me before he pulls his lips together in a tighter grin. “I can do that.”

  “Which part?” I ask him, turning in his arms to fully see him.

  “All of the above.” He pulls his body from mine, leaving me feeling cold without his arms around me.

  Lawless kisses me gently, then pulls door shut between us. He does his double knock pattern on the other side before walking away. It is his private message letting me know that he is giving me the space I have asked for, but he is still here should I need him. We both know, I will always need him. Smug Bastard.

  The High School’s Lost and Found has been very helpful with supplying the needs of clothing with the changing weather. Years of coats, and other articles, were stashed deep inside an unused office space. The coat I have chosen for myself was one of the most basic of color. The pattern though, not so much. Its many white slashes over the dark blue is not something I would have picked for myself before. Now though, warmth is warmth. Add in as many contrasting, horizontal, and vertical slashes that you want if it keeps me warm. The lack of mirrors also helps.

  Aimes pops her head into my room. Knocking was never a huge skill set of hers before, why start now? “Come on, Tweedle Dee.”

  I smile. “Right behind you, Tweedle Dumb.”

  “Yeah,” she pauses, watching me finishing my layering, “that didn’t go as well as I planned there.”

  “It never does.” I tell her, forcing the doors to stay shut that are rattling in my mind. “I can’t believe you want a tree. Really, a Christmas tree, Aimes?”

  “Not you, too.” She groans. “Everything is on a constant downward spiral. Can we just try to have this one thing? It is not like I am asking us to go caroling.”

  “Yet.” I smile at her.

  “Well we could go room to room-” Her mind is already wandering.

  “No.” I cut off her thoughts before she has us all dressed as Frosty or other random classic winter characters traipsing down the hall to melodies in mismatched pitches that were not enjoyable before, much less now.

  Snow has started to fall, sending winter’s greetings swirling around us. It kisses our cheeks and eyelashes with its many hellos as we exit the high school’s gate. Aimes runs in circles trying to catch the first of the season’s flakes on her tongue. She is lost in her child-like wonder and it carries the rest of us along in her joy.

  “What’s the big deal about this tree?” Rhett asks watching her twirl.

  She shrugs, which for her means an in-depth conversation of past trauma. The only time she is silent is when she is avoiding speaking of her parents. I am not ashamed to say that sometimes I would ask about her Mom, just for a moment’s peace. Completely, not ashamed.

  “It was the only time we all got along. I can remember every tree, because it is the only time they stopped fighting.”

  Her parallelism is not unnoticed. It is our first morning without poison and sarcasm as weapons held in our conversations. We are not fragmenting into smaller clusters, but together as a whole in this moment. Her somber mood has a blanket effect on ours leaving only the sound of the snow underfoot. The dark entrance of the forest that surrounds one wing of the school does not help to bring any positive changes either.

  A dark forest; possible Risen lurk
ing; no immediate exit; great plan Aimes. Merry Christmas to one and to all.

  Rhett and Lawless take the lead into the darkness as expected. Aimes make a great show of twirling the axes we were loaned, trying to comically prove she is ready for whatever is ahead when they pass by us. Her show is not half as amusing as the sudden appearance of Chapel’s hand taking the axe from her without a word spared.

  “So much rudeness.” She tells me with a mock pout. “Why does she get to keep her axe?” She turns to ask Chapel, still wearing her pout.

  “She’s the one that always finds the damn things.” We cannot argue with his logic as unsettling as it is.

  “Then maybe she should go first.” Rhett tosses me a teasing smile over his shoulder. I know, as brave as they both are, how unsettling that dark ring of trees must be. Humor makes everything less scary, even in the dark.

  “I can if you are too scared, Rhett.” I taunt him with my smile.

  “She does smell better than you.” Lawless ups the dare to his partner in crime.

  “Maybe that’s it. All this time we thought it was noise that attracted them. Maybe it is just a girly scent that is luring them to her.” Rhett smiles at me, ending the game. We both know that if the Devil himself is ahead waiting for us, he would still be the one to go in first. What he fears is not an excuse that he will ever hide behind allowing one of us to come to harm.

  “If that were true, Ross would be one dead puppy by now.” J.D. stirs their anger. It is an easy emotion to wrap around, and like a shield, they use it to draw bravery. Great pep talk Coach.

  “He is.” Lawless’ anger is thicker than our winter coats. It gives him just as much warmth with its fire.

  The dark forest swallows us with its dark paths and ice-heavy trees. The branches sparkle with their frozen limbs around us. The dusting of the snow falls more evenly now without the wind to stir it around us. The forest has a feel of another world with her white, winter dress. She is beautiful in her coldness, with the many sparkling jewels that adorn her. I wonder if this is how Alice felt the first time she stepped into Wonderland with its dark enticing beauty. Will we meet the White Queen or the Red Queen? Or just a rabbit to annoyingly remind us how of precious time is?

  “What is it exactly we are looking for?” J.D. asks our Christmas Champion. His mood is on a rapid decent as the temperature mimics it.

  “I’ll know when I see it.” Aimes does not let his gruff mood deter her mood, still wrapped in her seasonal joy with the many thoughts of seasons past.

  “See it soon. We are only going so deep.” J.D. is creeping along as cautiously as the rest of the men. Their eyes are always scanning the spaces between the hidden trees. Every noise pulls their attention, setting them tense with the curiosity of the source.

  “You guys act like we are in the middle of a horror movie. It’s just a forest.” Aimes dramatically announces after watching them spook and twitch with the many noises around us.

  “With snow...”

  “….and trees.”

  “….and deer.”

  “….and birds.”

  “….and two annoying women.”

  Rhett sneaks into our volley, ending it with the laughter of the men.

  “You know, in the movies, it is always in the forest where people die the most.” Lawless raises any eyebrow at Aimes trying to frighten her.

  “Yeah, but we aren’t camping, Mr. Brightside.” She tells him, not amused with his teasing but she does glance behind her a lot more now.

  “Yeah,” Lawless starts again, undeterred by her refusal or the frozen log in his path, “what was the one all about a wrong turn?”

  “Look, we are not going all Donner, party of six, today OK?” Aimes asks, and I watch as the light comes to Rhett’s face.

  “Spare us the innuendos, Rhett.” I tell him as he laughs.

  “Then spare my toes and find a tree already.” He is still chuckling to himself. With my luck, he is storing that missed one-liner I deprived him of for later. Oh happy days.

  “That one!” Aimes startles us all with her excitement. She is going to get shot one day doing that. Literally, I will shoot her.

  “Of course it is.” Lawless sighs as we all turn to the tree she has picked out.

  The tree has a light dusting of snow on it giving its green limbs an emerald shade. It is thick with its many full branches spared from the ice. The very round base gives no clues to its trunk protecting its heart from harm. It is a monster of a tree if trees were cast as such. Luckily, we already have enough monsters in the world sparing us from such a threat, but I am not the one that has to cut it down either.

  Chapel slides, rather ungracefully, under the large tree with his stolen axe. His vocabulary is four-letter-word tinted with his effort to find the base through the thick sharp needles of the tree’s limbs that fight against him. We can’t help but silently laugh listening to his many expletives that are so unlike him. Not everyone is in the holiday spirit it seems.

  Rhett nudges Lawless, pointing to the other side of the tree. They exchange a smile that would make the mothers of adolescent boys cringe with the fear of wondering what they are going to do next. They position themselves across from each other, on either side of the tree, still wearing Mischief’s trademark smile.

  “Now.” Rhett says, and they both begin to shake the tree between them.

  It scatters the fresh soft snow on the limbs around the tree’s base, and also cascades it down onto the base, sending white waves over Chapel.

  “Funny.” Is the only response they receive from our ever-restrained Preacher’s son with only his lower legs in our view.

  It is enough and it sends the two clowns into hysterics.

  Cutting the tree down was a three team effort. How much of that is from having to battle the thick trunk with a hand axe, or lack of trust for being the center of a male mischievous joke, goes unsaid. Finally hearing the snapping of the trunk’s surrender, Rhett and Chapel guide the forest’s monster to the ground. The forest echoes with its fallen comrade, sending the birds scattering through the skies with their farewell.

  Aimes claps again with her excitement and childlike joy. She tackles Lawless in a hug as he stands, causing him to laugh with her appreciation, and return her hug. She begins to clean off the forest floor from his back and arms as I watch them in their friendship.

  “Let’s not cue that rerun.” J.D. says beside me. My face must have shown my feelings and I fight to regain its placidity, ignoring his private message.

  “Man was in the forest.” She says, as they look down upon the giant tree.

  “You can call me-.” Rhett begins, but she cuts his sentence short.

  “I am so not calling you anything.” She tells him trying to keep a stern face amid his teasing.

  “Not even Wolf?” Rhett lowers his voice with sexual tension hinting his knowledge of a not so long ago conversation.

  Her cheeks flush at her own memories of that morning. Rhett wins again.

  He looks to me in his victory over her. We exchange smiles of our own over that morning, and I know his mind is now remembering a different game played. A game he lost.

  “Any time.” I tell him. “You don’t even have to ask.”

  I taunt him with his own words. The color of his eyes deepens with his excitement at the memory. I am watching his face become one of a pure hunter with his racing thoughts of our rematch. His smile grows in proportion to Lawless’ shrinking.

  “Seriously, not again.” J.D. mutters to me under his breath. “We’re all still too fresh for this little show of yours.”

  “I’m not showing anything.” I force my smile to stay frozen, sliding my words out between locked teeth.

  “Really? Seems to me you are showing him you don’t forgive them yet.” J.D. tells me, turning his body to appear as if he is scanning the area to cover our conversation. “You were a daisy until she hugged him.”

  His words steal the smile from my lips and pulls my face t
o him. It is all the confirmation he needs to the power and truth of his words.

  “Get over it.” He tells me, walking to the rest of the group to help them figure out how we are going to carry our kill back to the high school.

  The very last thing you want to tell a woman is to “get over it”. That phrase is the exact opposite of what a woman will do when told to do so. Now, I am willing to sit in this funk all day, just to prove to J.D. that I will not simply “get over it”. I am completely secure in the fact that I will be the Grinch who stole “over it” in the middle of their Whoville celebration. Unless I have to paint myself green. Then all bets are off.

  CHAPTER 45

  It is the peek of her white nightgown that I see first above her bare ivory feet when she goes by me. The delicate white eyelets of its lace float above the white snow as she runs, keeping pace with me. The trees shield her, keeping her in a peek-a-boo pattern. I can almost hear her giggles as I watch her golden hair trail behind her.

  I am not surprised that my mind would bring Lilly forward now. If innocence has a mascot, it would be her. The only thing that made this season bearable for me was her, with her loving heart. In the past, this season would always bring the best of humanity from mankind. Those that were already blessed with such depths, only added to its heights of peace and goodwill.

  There was not a heart that Lilly could not melt with her white-hot smile. Years of frost would loosen from any soul that she touched with her laughter. This season was her playground, and she has come back to play.

  She runs beside our group, keeping a line of trees between us, in the winter cold. Sometimes she runs ahead of me to see what the men are doing with their heavy evergreen burden. Sometimes she keeps pace with me, running from thick tree trunk to tree trunk, keeping hidden from my full view. Other times, she waits behind, only to have to run to catch up. She runs beside me now just as silently as she stalks me in my mind at night.

  There is a clearing ahead, and I know I will finally see her fully in the parting of the trees. My heart elates with it. My mind shivers with the dread over what she may show me.