by JH Terry
XXII: Gone!
Suddenly June Reed awoke from a strange dream of traveling birds, talking otters, and men of glass. She had hardly ever had dreams, but that was the worst, that her son Tom was on an adventure more serious than any she had ever known. Even that time he and Peter had gone to the Sudbury Forest to camp one time, in the fog, did not measure to that dream. Surely the only outcome to this dream was his death.
Her body was tired and strained. She got out of her bed, noticing that it was 7:15. That was odd, why hadn’t Andrew woken her up to prepare breakfast? Walking out of her room in her bathrobe, June walked into the hallway but heard the hushing of voices down below. Walking down she saw a police officer and Andrew talking in the kitchen. Astonished she rushed back up the stairs, as Andrew walked from the kitchen shouting, “June!”
June opened the door to Tom’s room to see his bed made up, his pajamas upon the floor, and his shoes gone. Andrew soon reached June and held her in his arms.
“June, I’m sorry.”
June began to cry as Andrew turned her around letting her tears fall upon his shoulders. Suddenly a commotion was heard downstairs. There were raised voices shouting profane and inaudible words. It could only have been Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. June and Andrew walked down the stairs to the kitchen where the Sergeant and his wife were.
“Where is he?” asked Mrs. Wilson. “Where is that horrible boy of yours?”
“Gone,” said June with a sob.
“Good.”
“What do you mean by saying that?”
“He was a nuisance. He warped Peter’s mind, and now he has taken even my Kate from me.”
“Kate as well?” asked Andrew and June together. “That is strange.”
“Perhaps she was looking after them as she always does. I just hope that she is all right. It is all their fault anyway, Kate is such an beautiful angel.”
“More like a demonic demon!” exclaimed Andrew.
“How dare you say that about my daughter!”
“How dare you even talk about my son with that filthy mouth of yours. He was a thousand times more of a person than even your imagination could amount to, a zillion more than you!”
“Your son was nothing but a nuisance, always bothering my children. I only let him around because he was June’s child, but it seems that some of his genes had to be warped by you!”
June walked over to Mrs. Wilson and slapped her in the face. Mrs. Wilson’s face turned bright red at being so embarrassed. “My son was wonderful,” said June with a quiet dignity. “He was smart, funny, curious, patient and courageous. He was more than either of us, so beautiful in heart. I do not compare him to others, because he was incomparable. He was beyond the filth of this world and now he is gone. If anything, not only I have lost the greatest part of me, and not only has Andrew lost the greatest part of him, but the world has lost the greatest part of it. Nothing will bring back my son, and even though there are a billion Kates, there was only one Tom. That is why I loved him so much because he was that precious, not only to me, but to all of those who knew him. It is sad that at the age of seventeen he knew more than even you know, or I, but that was Tom. People like that are not born everyday, and I was blessed with him. He might have been my only child, but then again that is all we ever wanted. Now go and leave me and my husband alone.”
With this Mr. and Mrs. Wilson left. “Mr. and Mrs. Reed?” asked an officer.
“Yes?” asked Andrew.
“Well, overall we found glass shards in your kitchen, the source is unknown. Strangely enough it seems that it came from your refrigerator by the pattern.”
“That is impossible,” said Andrew. “It doesn’t move.” However, June remained strangely silent.
“We did have some strange sightings though last night. Some people talking about birds, others about a man with a black cloak walking about the streets. Even at Sudbury High the school is closed as the principal, Mr. Baldeye, is missing. Another teacher, Mr. Lutid, was knocked unconscious and is in the hospital. They have sent in some maintenance crews to clean the hallways as they are flooded with some strange black-dyed water. Perhaps some prank, but that was a lot of water. We think it might have been some students reprimanded the day before, who are being interrogated at this time. These same students had an argument with your son and Peter Wilson. It is the only lead we got so far, though one teacher is not accounted for, a Miss Fairdy, who seems to have left town.”
June began to walk outside the front door as the man finished talking. Andrew nodded his head in understanding with the police officer, but then walked over to June as she looked up into the sky.
“June?” asked Andrew concerned. “What are you looking at?”
“Is it possible?” asked June.
“What?” asked Andrew concerned.
“Oh, nothing Andrew. Nothing,” said June as she still looked to the sky, thinking it better that she did not tell Andrew about her dream. Perhaps it was a reality, and yet its result would be too sad for June, for she knew that nothing good would come of where her only child was going, only the anticipation of death.
As June looked out the window she saw a unique looking man staring at their house. He seemed to be swarthy and thin in appearance. His face looked heavy and worn. As if he could sense her stare the man looked at June in the eyes. Somehow she could not describe the color, but there was a depth of pain, sorrow, love and joy that she had never seen before.
“June?” asked Andrew. June turned to Andrew the gaze broken. She looked back to see the man was gone. “Let’s sit down in the living room.”
June nodded her head in agreement. Then, into the house both Andrew and June walked as June was strangely quiet, knowing fully well that never again would her son be as lively and youthful as he had been before, if she ever saw him again.
Across the street from them Elziwarry Figg watched the house in curiosity. It was by chance that he saw the open portal to Altium in the night sky. He had travelled miles to find who had opened it only to find a mess at the school and learn about strange happenings the night before. He could not help but think that they were strangely interrelated. Titans, Altium and Sudbury, NY - there was a connection there that was foreign to him. As he contemplated the association between them all he hardly noticed where he was at. Suddenly there was a loud squeal of tires. He did not have time to look as an ambulance slammed into him. He flew into the air and was thrown to the ground ten feet away. As he lay writhing in pain he began to cough up blood. He could not know for sure what was broken or fortified but he could not lift himself up to walk. From the ambulance two men rushed from the vehicle and placed Elziwarry onto a stretcher. He had his neck in a brace and was strapped down as they carried him into the vehicle. One man sat in the front and drove with the siren on as the other attended to Elziwarry. He placed a drip in his arm and he spoke with Elziwarry trying to keep him away. However Elziwarry hardly noticed the man or his words. He was transfixed by the other creature in the car. Sitting towards his side, invisible to the other man, was a pink haired witch of a woman who wore a scary, maniacal smile on her face. Elziwarry watched her in horror as she continued to stare at him. In her eyes he could see his mangled face and blood dripping from his mouth and nose.
“Elziwarry,” she said with her smile still present. “How does it feel to go so far only to be used so viciously?”
“What do you mean?” said Elziwarry out loud. The paramedic heard Elziwarry and saw he was speaking to no one at all. He urged his colleague forward to the hospital as Elziwarry’s condition was worsening.
“The Titans. They have used you to do their dirty work, all of them, and for what? What have they ever done for you? Allowed you to travel the world to inflict pain on others for work they are too coward to do on their own. Look at where it has left you Elziwarry, merely a corpse soon to slide into the realm of shadow.” As that moment Elziwarry thought of Etlen and how he h
ad let her down. “Oh Etlen? She is not what she seems, none of them are. They are so far from the earliest teachings that they are all cast out by the Infinity Titan. Yet they do not know that there is a change coming Elziwarry. A change so definite that this world will never be the same. Neither you nor anyone else can stop it. You might as well give up your quest and return to the others.”
Elziwarry stared at her most curiously and then he knew. “Heldan,” he hissed under his breath.
“You are clever Elziwarry, but even you do not know. You better keep away or you might find yourself dead.”
It was then that Elziwarry’s eyes lit up and he knew who it was. Yet before he could say anything the witch placed her hand upon his head. As soon as she touched him the light dimmed from his eyes and Elziwarry was no more.
