The Gatekeeper's Sons

by Eva Pohler

  Chapter Seven: Visitors

  Therese blinked her eyes as Carol leaned over her saying, “Wake up, sweetheart. The lieutenant is here.”

  Carol smelled like her mother. She smelled like Haiku perfume and Jergen’s lotion.

  A memory of her aunt teaching her to blow into the flute distracted her for a moment. They had given one another manicures and pedicures, and when the polish had dried, Therese had asked to try the flute, which Carol had played in high school years before. She had the scent of Haiku and Jergen’s even then.

  “Therese?”

  “I’m still in the hospital? What day is it?” Therese tried to sit up. Her neck was stiff, but slightly better. She rubbed it and noticed the IV was still attached to her hand.

  “It’s Tuesday morning. You woke up from your coma yesterday,” Carol said. “There’s a tray of breakfast for you here. Are you hungry? You slept through yesterday’s dinner.”

  Therese looked across the room at a short, round man with gray hair and razor stubble. He wore a policeman’s uniform and looked to be in his late fifties.

  “Maybe I’ll eat something later.”

  “Hi there, Therese.” The lieutenant approached her bed. The smell of body odor wafted above her head. “How are you feeling?”

  “My neck is stiff, but I’m okay.” She pulled the covers up around her.

  “Good. I’m glad to hear that.” He scratched the stubble on his chin. “Look, I know what happened to you was pretty scary. I’m really sorry it happened. But I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to find out who did this, okay?”

  Therese nodded as the tears welled in her eyes.

  “I’m Lieutenant Hobson with the Durango Police Department.” Beads of sweat forming on his forehead dripped around his temples as if he had run all the way to the hospital.

  “Hi.”

  “What can you tell me about what happened? What do you remember?”

  She told them what she could, and then cleared her throat, her mouth suddenly dry, her chest tight. “I couldn’t save them.”

  Carol stroked Therese’s arm. “It’s not your fault, sweetheart.”

  Therese grabbed Carol’s arm. Panic overtook her as it had beneath the water trapped in her mother’s car. Her throat burned, like it had when the water rushed through her lungs and she had hit at every space around her. “Tell me I’m dreaming!” Therese wailed. “Tell me I’m going to wake up and it will all be over!”

  Carol kissed her cheek and started crying. “I wish I could.”

  The lieutenant took a small notepad and pen from his front shirt pocket and gave Therese a moment to recover. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Can you remember anything else?”

  The face. It popped into her head and startled her as much as it had the night her parents were killed. “I might have been imagining this, but right before the shooting, I thought I saw a gruff-looking face outside my car window. It was a man.”

  “A man’s face? Can you tell me what he looked like?”

  “His skin was dark.”

  “Black?”

  “No.”

  “Native American?”

  “No, oh, I don’t know. He had dark brown eyes, black hair, kind of short, like yours, and a scruffy beard.”

  “How old would you say he was?”

  “I don’t know. Not too old. Younger than my dad.”

  “Would you describe him as heavy-set, thin, tall, short?”

  “I just saw his face. I don’t know.”

  “Do you think you can remember enough details about his face to work with an artist from my department?”

  “I can try.”

  “Anything else you can remember? Anything at all?”

  “Right before I went out, I saw a bright light and someone swimming toward me.”

  The lieutenant nodded. “Yeah, that would have been the rescue crew. They went in and pulled you out of the car.”

  “Oh.” She wondered if they got her parents out then, too.

  “Therese, do you know if either of your parents had any enemies?”

  “What? You mean you don’t think this was just some random school shooting? An angry student gone postal? Like Columbine?”

  “That’s a possibility, Therese,” the lieutenant said. “But your car seems to have been the primary target. Other people suffered some minor injuries when the perpetrator drove recklessly through the parking lot, but your car was the only one shot at.”

  The hair on her neck stood up and she felt her heart go wild. She could hardly breathe. She never imagined someone would want to murder her parents.

  “Do you know if your parents had ever received any threatening phone calls, emails, or letters?”

  “No, sir. I don’t know of anything like that. My dad got letters and emails from his readers, but they were fans, not enemies. My mom’s students all loved her. Both of my parents were well liked by everybody, I think. I can’t imagine why anyone would want them, want them…” She lost her voice and broke into sobs again. “I’m sorry.”

  The lieutenant closed his notepad and stuffed it back into his front shirt pocket. Then he added his ballpoint pen. “Thanks, Therese. I’ll follow up with you again soon. I’ll have an artist meet with you for that description later today, while your memory is fresh.”

  A panicky feeling threatened to surge through Therese again. “Lieutenant Hobson?”

  “Yes?”

  “What do you know so far? Who do you think did this?”

  “I shouldn’t discuss the case with you, Therese. You just focus on getting better.”

  “That’s not fair.” Therese’s voice was desperate. “I have a right to know. They were my parents.”

  “Get some rest, and I’ll come back and tell you something when I know more. Maybe your description of the face will give us the lead we need.” The lieutenant reached out and took her hand, shook it, patted it, and said, “You take care, now. Call me if you think of anything else.”

  “Okay.” She wiped the tears streaming down the sides of her face.

  The lieutenant handed his card to Carol.

  “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Carol said.

  Just as the lieutenant walked out of the hospital room, Therese’s three best friends—Jen, Ray, and Todd—walked inside carrying balloons and a toy stuffed animal lemur.

  “She’s really awake!” Jen cried, rushing in and grabbing Therese’s hand.

  “Hi guys,” Carol said. “Therese? Are you sure you’re ready for company?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I need some cheering up.”

  “Well, if you’re really sure…”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Then I’m going downstairs for a bit. Enjoy your visit.”

  Once Carol left the room, Ray said, “Todd wanted to get you the lemur. You should have seen him moaning and groaning in the shop if either one of us picked up anything else. So if you don’t like it, blame him.” Ray was tall, chubby, and Native American.

  “I love it. He’s cute.”

  “His hands have velcro,” Todd said. “You can wear him around your neck, like this.” Todd put the lemur’s long, skinny black arms around his neck and attached them. “You can wear him here in front,” he moved the monkey to his back, “or back here. It’s quite a fashion statement.” Todd was tall and thin with sandy-blonde hair and a face full of acne.

  “Just what everyone wants, Todd,” Ray said. “A monkey on their back.”

  Therese and Jen laughed.

  “I like him guys,” Therese said. “Let me have him.” She was glad they hadn’t said anything about her parents. For a little while, she wanted to pretend everything was normal again.

  Todd handed the lemur over. “He’s going to miss me. He wants me to come visit.”

  Therese smiled. “I guess I can allow visitations.”

  “When I called yesterday, your aunt said your neck has been hurting. Are you any better today?” Jen asked as she tied the
balloons to the railing at the foot of the hospital bed.

  “Some. Still stiff.” Then she thought, please don’t say anything about my parents. “How did we do at the championship meet?”

  “Pagosa Springs won by thirteen points,” Jen said. “We came in second. Bayfield got third.”

  “Did Lacey swim breaststroke in the first heat?”

  “Yeah. She got first. You would have beaten her though, I just know it,” Jen reassured her.

  “Maybe. I guess we’ll never know.”

  “There’s always next summer,” Todd said. “Hey, listen. I finished rebuilding the engine for my truck.”

  “The fifty-seven Chevy?” Therese asked. “Are you serious?”

  “You should see it,” Ray cut in. “He painted it yellow, of all the colors in the universe.”

  “I like yellow,” Therese said.

  “It looks awesome,” Jen added. “Todd’s going to take us for a ride as soon as you get out.”

  “Hey,” Todd said, coming close to her, his face taking on a more serious expression. “I haven’t told you yet how sorry I am about your parents. I know you already know it, but I wanted to say it, you know?”

  “I know.” Therese clenched her jaw as she fought off tears. She supposed she couldn’t go on pretending, and it was nice to know he cared.

  “Me, too,” Ray murmured. “What he said.”

  “Me, too,” Jen said, taking Therese’s hand.

  “Thanks guys.”

  Her three friends stood there now in awkward silence, brushing away tears they didn’t want one another to see. Luckily, Carol eventually returned and asked the visitors how they were doing, shifting the focus from Therese. She lay there in the bed wiping more tears from her face.

  Her friends chatted with her and her aunt for a few more minutes, and then they said their goodbyes. Therese put the lemur’s long, furry arms around her stiff neck and closed her eyes.

  Carol said, “Your lunch is here. You never ate your breakfast. Do you think you can eat something now?”

  “I think so.”

  A different nurse was standing over Therese with a tray. She moved a few things on the rolling bedside table and set it down. “Today we have a turkey sandwich, vegetable soup, fruit cup, and chocolate pudding.”

  “Thanks,” Therese said.

  The nurse studied the machines near Therese’s bed. “Everything looks in order. My name’s Letty. Just call if you need anything. How’s your neck?”

  “Better. Still a bit stiff.”

  “I can give you something for the pain.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll bring it in a while, give you time to eat.” Letty left the room.

  Carol gave Therese an update about her pets while Therese ate. They chatted about school and Therese’s friends. Therese really didn’t feel like talking, but she could see it made Carol feel better. The food tasted good. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. Not long after she finished her pudding cup, Letty returned with the medication.

  “Thank you,” Therese said.

  “You’re welcome, mija.” The nurse removed the empty tray and left the room.

  Carol must have noticed the tears welling in Therese’s eyes, for she leaned over the bed and took Therese’s hand. “You know, when your grandpa died, even though we knew it was coming, it was so hard. It felt like a part of me died with him. And then when your grandma died two years ago…gosh, I can’t even believe it’s already been two years. Then all I had left were you and your mother. Now that my big sister’s gone, well, Therese, you’re all the family I have left.”

  Therese sucked in her lips as she watched the tears slide down her aunt’s cheeks. “And you’re all I have left.”

  “I’m coming to live with you, Therese. I’ve already moved out of my San Antonio apartment. I hope that’s what you want.”

  Therese hadn’t thought that far ahead. She was still trying to get used to the idea that her parents were, that her parents had....she couldn’t even think the idea through in her mind.

  “I mean, I could take you with me to San Antonio, but you have your life here, and I can live anywhere. Since I work from home, my boss has no problem with me coming to Durango. Now that grandma’s gone, there’s really nothing keeping me there.”

  “What about Richard? And I’m sure you have friends.”

  “Richard and I will work something out. We’ve dated long distance before. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, you know.” Carol gave Therese a smile.

  “I do love my house,” Therese murmured.

  “I do, too,” Carol said.

  “I guess we can see how things go, right?”

  “Oh, sure. We don’t have to decide anything today.” Carol kissed Therese’s cheek. “You know, I’ve always been so grateful for you in my life. I don’t know when or if I’ll ever have children, and having you for my niece has kind of fulfilled that maternal part of me. I know I can’t replace your mother—and I don’t want to—but I want you to know I will be there for you. I’m not just a babysitter. I’m not just a temporary fix. I’m here for you for the long haul, through thick and thin, and the works. Okay?”

  Therese nodded, more tears piling up in the corners of her eyes again.

  “Now, sweetheart, I can ask them to bring me one of those hideaway beds and sleep here with you tonight if you want me to. I’ve been staying at the house because of Clifford, but he can go a night without me if you want me to stay here now that you’re staying awake for longer periods of time.”

  “No,” Therese said. “I’d be worried about Clifford. Go ahead and go home. I’m just gonna go right back to sleep.”

  “Good. You need the rest,” Carol said.

  Therese sighed, nodded.

  Carol nodded too. “I’ll come back this evening to check on you again. Go to sleep.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Carol kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. Then she crossed the room and waved one more time before disappearing through the door.

  Therese sat in her ninth grade AP English classroom with the rest of her classmates taking a multiple choice exam, but none of the questions made sense. They seemed written in a different language. Therese pressed her pencil into the bubble next to “E. None of the above,” but the lead on her pencil broke. She raised her hand. Mrs. Spencer stood with her back to the class writing something on the dry erase board and didn’t notice.

  “Excuse me,” Therese said.

  When Mrs. Spencer turned around, Therese saw she wasn’t Mrs. Spencer at all. Her eyes were red, her ears pointed, and when she opened her mouth to ask, “Yes?” blood dripped from her lips.

  She’s a zombie, Therese thought, frozen in her chair.

  She looked around the room. They were all zombies.

  That’s when she knew she was dreaming.

  “I need to find Hip,” Therese reminded herself, so she took off flying from the school, looking for the Underworld.

  Then her parents appeared in front of her, and she couldn’t resist stopping midair and looking at them. Could they possibly be her real parents?

  “Mom? Dad?”

  They smiled and held out their arms. She ran to them and felt their warm embrace. Then another zombie appeared and ruined the delusion. Therese willed it to disappear.

  “You’re just figments, aren’t you?” she asked her parents softly, stepping away from them just a bit, but not too far.

  Her mom and dad shrugged.

  “Tell me you’re real!” Therese commanded.

  “We’re real?” her father laughed. “What are you talking about? Of course we’re real.”

  The zombie English teacher approached, scolding Therese, “You didn’t finish the test, young lady!”

  Reluctantly and full of sadness, Therese said, “Figments, I command you to show yourselves.”

  Her parents and the evil teacher transformed into eels, giggled, and flew away, leaving Therese hovering in the air alone in t
he middle of nothingness.

  “Hip!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, full of anger. “Hip! I need you!”

  The handsome twin appeared. “You called?” he had a smirk on his face.

  “I want to rescue my parents from the Underworld, and I want you to help me.”

  “Impossible,” he said. “And you owe me a kiss.

  He moved against her and touched his lips to hers. She froze, waiting.

  “Aw, what kind of kiss was that?”

  “If you’re not going to help me, go away.”

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve, giving commands to a god. I could kill you, you know.”

  She looked him dead in the eye. “Do it.”

  He rolled his eyes. “My brother would cause trouble for me.” He backed off and shook his head. “He’s obsessed with you, Therese. He can’t stop thinking about you. He thinks he’s in love with you. He’s trying to work out some kind of deal with our father.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Than? My twin brother? The one you threw yourself at saying, ‘You’re so lovely. You’re so lovely!’ Ring a bell?” He crossed his arms and sulked.

  “You mean the god of death?” she asked with some hesitation. This was sounding a little crazy. Maybe this wasn’t Hip. Maybe he was a figment. “Figment! I command you to show yourself!”

  Hip rolled his eyes again and said, “Give it a rest. I never should have taught you that.”

  “Hip, please tell me what you’re trying to say.”

  “My brother’s coming for you.”

  “What? The god of death is coming for me?”

  Pound, pound, pound!

  “What was that?” Therese asked.

  “No! Don’t wake up! I want a real kiss this time!”

  Pound, pound, pound!

  “Hello?” a woman’s voice called out.

  Therese opened her eyes and saw an ultra-thin woman with chocolate skin and blonde hair and outlandishly colorful clothing enter the hospital room. She carried a sketch pad.

  “Therese?”

  Therese gave her a nod and then winced from the pain. Her neck was better but still tender.

  “I’m Margo Brewster. Lieutenant Hobson sent me over to sketch a suspect.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “How you feelin’?” The artist sat down in the chair next to the bed and opened her pad to a blank page. She pulled a pencil from behind her ear, which was studded with rings.

  “Okay.”

  “Well, I’m so sorry you’re here and can’t imagine what things are like for you, but I’m here to help, okay?” A little diamond shone on the side of one nostril.

  “Okay.” Therese described the face she had seen in her car window as best as she could, fighting the tears without success.

  The artist would show her the drawing in progress, and ask, “Eyes like this? No, how ‘bout more like this? Okay.” And then, “So, okay, more of a pointed jaw, like this?”

  Eventually they came up with something that Therese thought looked eerily like the man she saw before the shooting began. Chills ran down her spine. “That’s him. Wow, you’re really good.”

  Letty came in and checked on Therese, took her temperature, checked the machines, and asked how she was feeling. “Do you need more medicine for your pain, mija?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Letty left the room.

  Margo Brewster was nice, but Therese was glad when she left and Letty gave her the pills, and she could close her eyes again and go to sleep.

  When she found herself running through the hospital, Therese was immediately suspicious. She stopped at the end of a hallway and walked into a room. Todd, Ray, and Jen lounged around on living room furniture laughing at something on the television.

  “Hey,” Todd said. “Look who finally made it.”

  Therese sensed something behind her, outside of the door in the hallway. It felt bad, dangerous, frightening. She sprung to the door and pushed it closed, but it didn’t have a lock. In fact, the door didn’t even fit properly in the door frame, as it was bordered by a one-inch gap all the way around. Even the hinges seemed loose. Whatever was out there would have no problem getting inside.

  Therese quickly recognized that she wasn’t in a hospital room, but in her grandmother’s house back in San Antonio. Strangely, she recalled that her grandparents had both passed away—her grandfather several years ago and her grandmother in more recent years. So she wondered now how she could be standing in their living room trying to keep their front door from being busted open.

  A bright light spilled through the one-inch gap around the door.

  “What is that?” Jen asked.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Todd added.

  “Very good, Obi Wan Kenobi,” Ray sneered.

  “Wait a minute!” Therese burst out. “This can’t really be happening.” She jumped into the air and turned a somersault. Then she turned to her friends. “Figments, I command you to show yourselves!”

  Three scaly, eel-like creatures flew about in a tizzy, giggling wildly.

  Then the door crashed in and the bright light illuminated the room. The three figments rushed out through the opening and into the light. Out of the light a figure emerged.

  “Figment, I command you to show yourself!” Therese said.

  “None but my father commands me.” The figure stepped within inches of her. He was tall and muscular and wore a fierce look on his beautiful face.

  It was Than.

  Therese dropped with weakness to her grandmother’s old green carpeting, which still smelled like wet dog. Than rushed to her side and helped her to sit up. She leaned against him. Her grandmother’s blue merle Australian Shepherd, who had died the same year as her grandmother, strolled over to Therese and licked her cheek.

  “Hello, Blue,” Therese said to the dog in a faint, weak voice.

  “I don’t have much time, so listen,” Than said. “I came to tell you three things.”

  Therese felt inexplicably drawn to him. “Am I dying?”

  “Not if I can help it,” he replied. “Now shut up and listen to me.”

  His cold, hard glare suddenly frightened her, so she kept her mouth shut, her eyes wide.

  “First, I’ve asked the Furies to seek you out. Look for them in the waking world of the living. They can help you solve your parents’ murder.”

  “Who or what is a Fury?” She felt faint.

  “I’ll let them explain. You could die if I don’t hurry. Let me speak.”

  She gave him a weak nod.

  “Second, don’t let my brother keep teasing you. He respects your powers but not you, and I don’t like it.”

  Therese managed a smile. “Jealous?” She would never be so bold outside of her dreams.

  “Absolutely.” He looked deeply into her eyes, his face close to hers.

  “Do you want to kiss me?” The air left her body and her mouth flooded with moisture.

  “Absolutely.”

  She closed her eyes and leaned in.

  “Listen,” he said, swallowing hard. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that day you kissed me, and that brings me to the third thing I want to say. Thank you for your affection. Know that I stay away, not because I want to, but because if I don’t, you’ll die.”

  Therese found it hard to breathe. “Don’t go,” she barely managed to say. “I want to die. I want to be with my parents. And then you and I could, we could spend some time getting to know each other.” She was really faint now, on the verge of collapse.

  He leaned close and took a breath of her scent. Then he clenched his jaw. “You’re not the same when you die. You lose your free will, and that’s what is so attractive about you. It’s what sets you apart from the others. You have a strong will.”

  Therese gasped for air and none came.

  Than vanished.

  Therese heard a loud beeping sound next to her ear. She gasped and gasped, and finall
y her lungs opened up and the air rushed in, burning her chest. Someone rushed up beside her.

  “Mija!” the nurse shrieked. “You okay?”

  Therese lay on the hospital bed. Was she awake? “Figment, I command you to show yourself!” she said to the Letty.

  The nurse bent her brows. “Mija, what are you talking about?”

  “Oh. I thought I was dreaming.” Okay, Therese thought. I’m not saying that ever again.

  Letty looked at the oxygen monitor. “Well, what is wrong with this thing? It was beeping like crazy just a second ago, but now it looks fine.” She checked the probe taped to Therese’s big toe. “Maybe it’s come loose. Well, it looks alright. You feel alright?”

  Therese nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “Well, alright then. Call me if you need me. I’ll be back in a little while with your dinner tray.” The nurse left the room.