Magnetic

by David Lisenby

  “I will,” Jerry said. “Thanks for the talk. I guess I needed that.”

  “Me, too,” Arlene said. She hesitated a moment at the door, looking at the man sitting beneath the dim light. She turned, walked out the door and closed it behind her. She then leaned on the door jamb and sobbed silently. Her heart ached.

  In the darkness, Victoria walked softly into the living room and over to where her mother stood crying. She wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly, kissing her on the side of her head.

  “You ok, Mama?” she asked softly.

  “I’m alright, Baby,” Arlene answered with a forced smile.

  “We laid out some sleeping bags for the night,” Victoria offered. “We can finally get some rest.”

  “That sounds so good, Baby,” Arlene said. “It’s been such a long day.”

  On the other side of the door, Jerry sat in silence, feeling somewhat relieved that he had told someone, anyone, his innermost secret. He felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his heart.

  That silence was broken by a feeble, yet strong voice. “It’s alright, boy,” Bobby said keeping his eyes closed as a tear rolled down along his hairline. “Nobody blames you for anything. Let go of those demons and start livin’ again.”

  Jerry, with his chin on his chest, sat and stared at his father. It was at that precise instant in time that his faith in God returned and filled his heart with pure joy. Everything was, indeed, right with the world.

  Chapter 12

  Whisper Will

  Whisper was trying so hard to keep her eyes closed and get some sleep. It was soooo hot. Will was laying right beside her, under the sheet, snoring like a big dog. How in the world can anyone sleep so soundly when it’s 100 degrees in the apartment? And he was under the sheet!

  Ugh!

  She rolled over – for the one-hundred-eightieth time. Maybe this would be the time when she could finally drift off. She lay there for a few more minutes and turned over again.

  Oh. Emm. Gee.

  She thought about getting up and getting a glass of water. Can’t do that. A. There is no water. B. There are no lights and it would be just her luck to trip over something and break a leg. C. Emma was laying across both her legs and she certainly didn’t want to wake her up.

  So Whisper just lay there. In the dark. Listening to her snoring boyfriend. She could tell that their roommate, River (who names their kid River? Someone from Phoenix), was also asleep because between Will’s powerful snores she could hear a more feminine snoring (well, not really feminine) coming from the second bedroom on the other side of the living room. Even Emma was snoring.

  As she lay there trying to desperately to fall back asleep, Whisper thought she smelled something. Smoke, maybe? Was that smoke? Emma’s ears shot up, followed by her nose. She sniffed. The young puppy (that felt like she weighed 200 pounds) rolled off the bed and started sniffing in earnest around the bathroom door and along the bedroom wall.

  She barked. Emma jumped up on the bed and bounded about, barking wildly.

  “What’s wrong, girl?” Whisper asked as she tried to reach out and comfort the dog. “You smell something?”

  Whisper rolled off the bed and almost hit the floor as she stood. Her legs were both numb because the sleeping dog had cut off her circulation. It didn’t take but a second to recover and stand upright in the darkness. She walked over to the bathroom door and took the doorknob in her hand, feeling for heat. It was warm; not hot. She turned the knob and opened the door. A gust of smoke made her eyes water.

  “Will,” she shouted as she ran back to the bed and shook her sleeping boyfriend by the foot. “William! Get up! There’s a fire!”

  Will awakened from his deep sleep and jolted upright. “Did we have a flat?” he asked in a daze.

  “Not tire, Dude,” Whisper said confused with the reasoning, “Fire!”

  “Oh shit,” Will said as he jumped out of the bed in one leap. “We need to call 9-1-1.”

  Whisper shook her head. “Yea, you do that,” she said as she ran out the bedroom door. “I’m going to wake River up. Good girl, Emma.”

  By the time she reached the other side of the living room, Whisper could hear people shouting outside. There was a commotion outside the front door, which was to the right of River’s bedroom. The bedroom door swung open and River appeared, carrying a flashlight that accentuated the smoke that was increasingly filling the air.

  “What happened?” River shouted as her light fell on her roommate’s face. Whisper winced from the sudden flash of light to her eyes.

  “Fire,” Whisper said. “We’ve gotta get out of here. Grab what you absolutely need, and we’ll meet you in the parking lot; out by the dumpster.”

  Whisper turned quickly to return to the bedroom. As she took her first step toward the room she tripped over Emma, who was obediently following closely behind her. Whisper hit the floor with a thud.

  “Whisper,” River shouted. “Are you alright?”

  “Yea,” the girl on the floor said. “I think I bruised my pride, but I’ll live. Go!”

  Will mysteriously appeared at her side, grabbing Whisper by the hand and helping her back to her feet. The two rushed back into the room. Whisper ran to the closet and grabbed her backpack, emptying the books and folders she used for her business classes onto the bed. She started shoving clothes and underwear in it, along with a couple pair of her favorite sneakers.

  “Don’t forget the bong,” Will shouted from the darkness. “I’ve already got the stash.” The young couple had recently returned home after visiting Will’s family in Colorado. They brought back some premium herb and Will wasn’t about to watch it all go up in smoke … at least not in an apartment fire.

  Emma bounded around the apartment barking excitedly.

  All three roommates arrived back in the living room at about the same time. River ran to the front door and swung it open. That proved to be a mistake. Flames shot through the door and danced across the ceiling of the apartment. If it weren’t so life threatening it would have been an awesome sight. However, it was intense, so River slammed the door, cutting off the flames.

  “What are we going to do?” She asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

  “The balcony,” Whisper said. She ran over to the sliding glass doors, unlocked them and slid them open. The fresh air that burst into the room was very welcome.

  Will stood with his feet firmly planted, staring at the blackish streaks on the ceiling. River almost knocked him over as she passed by him on her way to the patio. She reached the railing and stared down at the sidewalk beneath them.

  “I can’t jump,” she said. “I’ll break my freakin’ leg.”

  “We’re only on the second floor,” Whisper said as she heaved her backpack over the railing. She climbed over the railing, squatted down and jumped, landing on the grass beneath the patio. As she hit the ground she rolled and stopped standing upright.

  “See,” she said as she looked up at her roommate. “It’s not bad at all. Just act like you’re a ninja. It’ll be fun.”

  River looked down at her roomie. She tossed her backpack onto the grass and climbed over the railing, sure to hang on until she was facing the right direction. She looked down and swallowed hard.

  “Hi-ya,” she screamed before leaping from the patio and onto the ground below her. She also rolled onto her back and then came to a stop standing on her feet. The two girls looked at each other and smiled. Without speaking a word, they both jumped into the air and gave each other a high-five.

  “That was fun,” River said. “Can we do it again?”

  “Hell no, girl,” Whisper said, losing her smile. “There’s no way I’m going back in that apartment. The building’s on fire, remember?”

  The girls looked up onto the patio to see Emma standing there with her front paws on top of the railing. She was whimpering.

  “C’mon, girl,” Whisper said, clicking her tongue against her inner cheek. “Jump.”
/>   Emma was having none of that. She turned around and ran back into the apartment.

  “Will,” Whisper shouted. “Come on. Bring Emma with you.”

  Suddenly there was a whooshing sound followed by a burst of flames shooting out the patio door and snaking their way across the ceiling and up the brick wall. Will crawled out onto the patio and clumsily climbed over the railing. He had a backpack clinging to his torso.

  As he made it over the railing, he hung on with his hands and dangled his feet in the air below him. He hung there for a good minute before letting go and falling to the ground, scraping his stomach and nose on the brick wall of the lower floor on his way down. When he hit the ground, his legs were stiff. The weight of the backpack caused him to teeter backwards and land on the ground solidly, knocking the breath out of him.

  “Where’s Emma?” Whisper asked excitedly. “Emma!”

  Just then the black lab puppy bounced around from the corner of the apartment building and playfully began licking Will’s face. He was still lying on the ground trying to catch his breath and really wasn’t in a mood to play. Whisper laughed a little. She couldn’t help herself.

  “You alright, Babe?” she asked, sounding non-sympathetic. Will couldn’t answer. He just tried in vain to push the hyper pup away.

  “You should’ve rolled,” River said as she turned away and reached for her backpack. She actually turned so Will wouldn’t see her laughing at him, too.

  Whisper squatted down next to her boyfriend and pulled Emma off his chest, giving him a little room to get some air his lungs. It didn’t take but a minute for his breathing to become a little more regular. Brick-burn had caused a streak of redness the length of his nose and across his forehead. It looked funny, but it had to burn.

  The trio could hear the snapping of the glowing flames above them. Will climbed to his feet (with a little help from his girl) and stumbled away from the wall. He then leaned down and patted Emma behind the ears.

  “Good girl,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it down the stairs without getting fried.”

  From the burning building and the surrounding apartments, people were flooding outside to see what was going on. The flames were breaking through the roof and the next building over was starting to catch fire. The entire situation was rapidly turning chaotic.

  As they walked around the building toward the parking lot, the roommates saw their neighbors, a young couple that lived in the apartment that was totally engulfed in flames, standing toe-to-toe screaming and shouting at each other. They had a history of arguing, but this time things were worse than ever before.

  “Let’s go to my car and I’ll grab my first-aid kit,” Whisper said. She was glad she had grabbed Emma’s leash as she reached down and affixed it to her collar. Emma was way too excited to just let her run free. The trio then made their way to the Whisper’s car.

  “Crap,” Whisper exclaimed when they reached the car. “I forgot my keys on the bar.”

  “You want me to go back up and get ‘em, Babe?” Will asked obliviously.

  “Oh, that’d be great, Babe,” Whisper answered. “We’ll wait here for you. You want me to hold your backpack?”

  Will started removing his backpack as he turned toward the burning building. “That’d be cool,” he said as he looked at the flames engulf the staircase leading to their apartment. He stopped and stared.

  “Oh,” he sighed.

  If nothing else, the fire lit up the apartment complex. With each minute that passed more people joined the crowd mesmerized by the flames. As they grew, the more buildings were either caught up in the fire or were in jeopardy of burning. The realization that there was no fire department to extinguish the flames hit and a feeling of dread took over.

  “We need to go,” Whisper said.

  “Where?” River asked.

  Whisper’s mom and step dad were both at work when everything went dark. She had been talking to her mom on the phone about a long shift of overtime to come when her phone died. They couldn’t go there. River’s parents had moved back to Arizona after she graduated high school, so that was out.

  “We’ll go to my Dad’s place,” Whisper answered. “It’s in Silsbee, but I know he has plenty of room and probably enough food to feed an army.”

  “I like your dad,” River said. “He’s so weird.”

  “Right,” said Will. “One of the strangest humans I’ve ever met.”

  “Ya’ll don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Whisper said defensively. “Emma and I can find our way just fine.”

  About that time there was an explosion from an apartment on the back side of the burning building, sending debris all around. People scampered away in all directions.

  “Let’s go see your dad,” Will said. “Anyplace is better than here.”

  Simultaneously the three roommates started walking away from the burning building into the darkness. Everything and everyone seemed so hectic until they made their way to complex exit. They had to squeeze through the security gates since there was no electricity to open them.

  Once outside the complex and onto Major Drive, the roommates stopped and looked around. The sight was eerie. It looked like all of Beaumont was on fire the way the sky was lit up with an orange hue. To the south, another complex up the road was also in flames. There were people running around in all directions along the roadway.

  “This is not good,” Whisper said as she took in the sights. “What has this world come to?”

  “It looks like the Purge,” River said. “I hope nobody wants to wipe us out.”

  “Nobody wants to kill us,” Will answered. “I hope.”

  “We just have to keep moving,” Whisper said. “We’ve got two or three hours of darkness left to help keep us hidden from the crazies. We should take advantage of it and get as many miles in as we can before we lose that advantage.”

  They all looked at each other and started walking south. Even Emma seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. She walked quietly beside her master with no problems.

  As they walked along the four-lane road, the sounds of the night filled the air. These weren’t the same sounds they were accustomed to. They were sounds of people shouting, screaming and crying. They were the sounds of gunshots and barking dogs. They were the sounds of a society breaking down.

  Each time they passed by a business they were saddened to see that almost all of the windows of the stores, restaurants, even dry cleaners were busted out and doors hung on their hinges. The light of the moon wasn’t very bright, but it was enough to enlighten the trio as to how bad things were.

  Coming to the intersection of Hwy. 105, the small group decided it would be best to make their way over to RFD Road and then to the main highway. Since there weren’t any cars traveling on the roads, they figured, it was less likely that they would come across as many people. At this point, the less human contact, the less chance of coming across someone who was bad.

  As they walked through a field, cutting across behind a convenience store and fast food joint, they were surprised when Emma raised her ears and started growling. Out from the darkness, two men walked toward them. This was uncomfortable. The trio stopped.

  Caution.

  Will turned to look for a place to retreat when he saw two more men approaching from behind. This was definitely not good.

  “Hey guys,” he said nervously. “Nice night for a stroll.”

  All four men laughed. “Nice night for a robbery, you mean,” sneered one of the men.

  “Look,” River said, “we don’t want any trouble. We’re just trying to get to a friend’s house.”

  “Just give us them bags,” another of the men said. “An maybe a lil kiss.”

  Again, the four men laughed.

  Will suddenly had a surge of adrenalin. He stepped between the girls and the closest men. “That’s not necessary,” he said. “Take the bags and let us be on our way.”

  One of the men, the b
iggest of the four, stepped up and grabbed will by the shirt, pulling him nose-to-nose. “You think ya got the balls to stop us from takin’ anythen we want?” he asked through gritted teeth. “Well, white boy, do ya?”

  It was difficult to hear anything else but the man’s booming voice, but there was a small Click from behind Will. It was hardly noticeable. When a loud Bang erupted, there was no way it couldn’t be heard. A sudden flash of light accompanied it.

  “Shit,” the big man shouted as he released Will from his rather large hand and started hopping on one foot. “That bitch just shot me in the foot!”

  Will seized the moment and shoved the big man, causing him to lose his balance and fall on the ground. Will immediately stomped on the man’s injured foot, causing him to shriek in pain once again.

  “Bitch?” Will said in an even tone. “You really should watch your language in front of ladies.” He then stomped the man’s foot again.

  Emma took the cue and pounced on the injured man, almost tearing his nose off his face with a violent bite. The second bite was just as effective and left the man’s left ear barely hanging on his head. The other three men stood for a couple of seconds, watching their friend being torn apart before they turned made a hasty retreat into the darkness.

  “Emma,” Whisper said in a stern voice as she pulled back on the leash with one hand as she held the small handgun in her other. Emma reluctantly released the vile man and crouched at her master’s side.

  In a swift move, River glided by her fiery friend and landed a solid kick to the big man’s left cheek, sending him reeling in pain onto the muddy ground.

  “Who’s the bitch now?” she asked as she stood over the crying man.

  There was no sign of the three men, or any other would-be bad guys as the trio continued their journey through the field.

  As they crossed the highway they all stomped the mud off their feet. Emma looked at them as if she was confused at the human behavior but kept stride with her master.

  “Where did you get the gun?” Will finally asked.

  “My Dad,” Whisper answered.