Requiem of Humanity

by Catherine Stovall

  She fought against her fear and the overwhelming dizziness that was nauseating her now. Struggling against human nature, she tried to force herself not to scream. She choked on her sobs and realized that she was lying in the fetal position crying. Jenda felt ashamed of her weakness. Here in the real world Jenda was not brave. She did not have the reserves to face nightmarish monsters. In reality, Jenda was only a girl but she would not lie on the floor like a toddler and cry for her mother. Helpless in her fear and confusion she stood, crying quietly. If she woke her parents, she would not know how to explain any of this and surely, no one would believe her anyway. Well, one person would have, but she was gone now. How she wished Soborgne could be there.

  2

  Jenda was a petite girl. Standing at five foot three and weighing only ninety-six pounds, her lithe lean frame would have singled her out from other girls at Fairview Prep School even if she had not been a beauty. Jenda turned the heads of every man, woman, and child in the small Indiana town. Her long auburn curls, jade green eyes, and prominent facial features were a captivating mix. A perfect blend of cultures and races had chimed in to give her the look of an exotic fairy.

  In contrast to other girls her age, Jenda was not self-consumed. Oblivious to the effect she had on those around her, Jenda walked through life believing she was plain and unimportant. She gave a sweet smile and a kind word to everyone. She spoke softly and mostly kept to herself. The other girls in her class thought that Jenda’s self-inflicted isolation meant she was conceited and snobby. What they could not see, with their narrow minds, was Jenda’s need to stay unattached.

  Born in Chicago to a young unwed mother, Jenda was given up for adoption at the hospital. She was premature, probably due to the lack of prenatal care her unknown mother received. The first two months of Jenda’s life were spent surrounded by strangers and cared for tenderly by the nurses of Comer Children’s Hospital. Even in the very beginning the three pound little girl, who lay in incubator eight fighting with every tiny breath, stole the hearts of those around her.

  The nurses nicknamed her Baby Bell because her weak cry reminded them so much of the twinkling of bells. One such nurse, Janine Myer, so loved the tiny infant that she spent every moment she could with the child. So often, these unwanted babies came to the NICU. Most of the mothers were young girls living on the streets. Drug addiction and prostitution were common and many of the girls were victims of rape. Janine was known for her kindness to these wayward souls. She offered them comfort and compassion when other nurses on the ward treated them like the plague.

  Despite her kind nature, Janine felt the injustice of it all stab deep in her heart. At thirty-two, she had given up on having a child. She and her husband, Neil, had tried for years. Medical science had its miracles and prayer had been a constant facet of the couple’s lives, but to no avail. Neil and Janine had discussed adopting in the past but an agreement was never reached. Neil, though understanding the value of adoption, could never quite find it the right thing to do for their family. He compared the entire process to ordering a new toy from a catalog. How was it right to choose one child, one life, over all the others. Their little family of two seemed to be destined to remain just that, until Baby Bell came.

  Janine fell in love at once with the little baby. Her skin was so white that it reminded her of warm milk. Her head was crowned with a shock of deep auburn. Her tinkling cry pulled the heartstrings of anyone near. To Janine, Baby Bell was an angel sent to earth.

  At first, Janine only mentioned Baby Bell in what she considered the same casual way they always discussed their workdays. Neil, on the other hand, could see compassion and love burning in her eyes. Janine went into every detail about the baby. Neil did not have to feign interest. Janine always spoke with care about her tiny patients and he respected her dedication. He also knew that it helped her cope with their own disappointments. Yet with this new baby, it seemed more of an obsession for Janine. She was so bound to this little, unwanted child.

  Neil felt for the child but he was more concerned about his wife’s heart. What would happen when the child left the hospital, either in the arms of an adopting couple or as a ward of the state? How bad would it hurt Janine to say goodbye? He could not quite understand what made this one child more special than any of the hundreds of others his wife helped care for, but it drove him to understand the emptiness even more keenly.

  His questions were soon answered. Neil snuck into the NICU with the help of the front desk nurse and found Janine standing before an incubator smiling sweetly. Neil peered into the incubator and his heart swelled. He never thought that he could love anyone as much as he did Janine, until that moment. The tiny, helpless infant captivated him instantly. She lay there covered in wires and tubes, seeming to stare back at him. Vivid green eyes held wide, the baby gave a single cry and Neil fell to his knees beside the child’s incubator exclaiming at the beauty of her.

  In that moment their future and Baby Bell’s was decided. Neil and Janine adopted the baby girl and christened her Jenda Belle Myer. The couple had never been happier. Neither Neil nor Janine had known how empty their home had been before, but now they understood it well. Jenda filled up that emptiness. Life was precious and each day was better and more memorable than the one before.

  The next sixteen years passed in bliss and harmony, with the exception of one day. That single day created a fear for their daughter’s safety so deep in Janine and Neil that it would uproot their happy little family. The couple would turn from their long-time home, their jobs, and all they knew to keep their daughter safe.

  The week before Jenda’s third birthday had been busy. Janine and Neil were planning a party for Jenda and ten of her best toddler friends. Friends and family would all be there to celebrate the joyous occasion. Janine and Jenda sat on the floor of their comfortable little apartment playing together when the door buzzer sounded. Jenda’s bright eyes lit up and she asked her mother “Is it time for Gamma, now?”

  Janine smiled and patted Jenda’s hand before standing up to answer the door. “No, not yet honey. Daddy is picking Grandma up from the airport and they will not be back until after lunchtime. But maybe it’s Mrs. Jennifer and Chloe!”

  Janine opened the door expecting to find her friend and neighbor Jennifer on the other side. The two women often had impromptu play dates on their days off. Their two little girls loved to play together. It also gave the moms time to gossip and talk to someone above three feet high. Instead, Janine found a disheveled, dirty woman standing in front of her.

  The woman, if she could even be old enough to call her that, was around nineteen. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was matted and filthy. Her clothes were an odd mixture of a man’s baggy army style coat, a ragged set of sweats, and two mismatched tennis shoes that could not have been the correct size. She stood in the doorway chewing her grimy nails and shaking badly. She had the sallow-eyed look of a drug user. Dark circles formed around each eye socket, her lips were chapped and raw, and her skin looked as if it was stretched too tightly across her bones. She was so thin that she looked as if the tremors she was having could break her.

  Her eyes grew wide with surprise and fear when she saw Janine standing on the other side of the door. Her trembling grew more violent and she jerked her head around in spastic motions. It looked as if she was frightened by some unseen threat, as she stood there in the hallway surrounded by rose-colored wallpaper.

  At first, Janine was so confused she could not speak, but at the realization that the girl was staring past her and at the child who stood only a few feet behind, Janine regained her voice quickly. All Janine could think was she had to remain calm. If this girl was there to hurt her or Jenda, Janine would have to be strong enough to stop her and collected enough to do it without getting herself killed.

  With a quick, “Stay here” to Jenda, Janine pulled the door almost shut. She looked directly at the woman and spoke in a voice she hoped sounded clear and authoritative. “We do not ha
ve any drugs here, prescription or otherwise. I also do not keep any money in the house except for a few dollars in my purse. If you are hurt or lost I will call someone for you but we do not want any trouble.”

  As Janine spoke, she held herself steady, and she centered her body in front of the door. She did not know much about fighting but she would not let anyone near Jenda. She would die before those dirty hands ever came near her child.

  The woman began to weep and Janine was so caught off guard she took a step backwards. Her resolve faltered and that same caring heart that had been her most praise worthy attribute in the NICU felt for this woman-child standing in front of her. The woman had no weapon that Janine could see and her posture wasn’t of an attacker but of a frightened victim. Janine softened her tone and asked the girl, “Are you okay? What do you want?”

  The girl looked up at Janine and her face took on a blank and startling expression. She spoke in a hoarse, dry whisper. “She…she sent me here. She said to tell you that the baby is not safe and that you should leave. She said to take Bell and run.”

  Panic shot through Janine like a lightning hot rod down her spine. How did this stranger off the street know her child’s name? Fear collected in the pit of her stomach, as heavy as stone. She looked around her in the hall. Was someone here, were they watching? The idea of some stranger spying on them tore through her mind. Was someone purposely trying to frighten them? “Who,” she screamed, “Who sent you here? What do they want with my little girl?”

  The woman’s silence frightened Janine even more than the words she had spoken moments before. Her careful façade fell away. She could not be calm and non-threatening. This woman was a danger to her child. The woman tried to shrink away but Janine grabbed her by both arms and shook her, “Who, damn it?”

  The woman whimpered, “Please ma’am, I don’t know her name. She promised me money if I came here. She said you needed to know so you could protect that baby. She said the little girl would die if I didn’t help. I…had a little girl once and I lost her.” The sob racked the girl’s tiny body and tears streaked through the dirt on her cheeks. This woman was very afraid of Janine but obviously more afraid of whoever sent her. “Please lady, I only wanted to help. I would have done it without the money. I just wanted to help that baby.”

  With that, the girl broke free of Janine’s grasp and ran crying down the hall. Janine stood frightened and shaken for a long moment. Then she heard the door behind her creak and she turned to see one large, green eye peering at her from the crack. Janine sank to her knees in the doorway. Jenda opened the door slowly. Her face was full of questions her baby mind could not form into words. She did all she could do by wrapping her chubby little arms around her mother’s neck and saying, “It’s okay Mommy.”

  After a moment, Janine regained her composure and led Jenda back inside. She shut the door and locked both the deadbolt and the chain lock. Her heart was still beating heavily in her chest. She held Jenda to her while she rocked back in forth. She whispered comforting words to the little girl but they seemed to be more for herself. She had to remain calm. She did not want to upset or frighten Jenda any more than the scene in the hallway already had. After a moment of self-collection, Janine sat Jenda down at the kitchen table.

  “Okay honey, let’s get you some lunch.” Her voice sounded oddly high-pitched and a quiver of fear was still audible.

  “Mommy, who’s that lady?”

  “Just a very sick lady, honey. She’s gone away so there’s no reason for my baby girl to be scared now.”

  “Mommy, I no scared. Does she need a doctor?”

  “She will be fine and so are we. Now here’s a peanut butter and honey sandwich just for my big girl. You sit right there and eat. Mommy’s going to call Daddy. If you need me just holler. Okay?”

  “Okay, Mommy.”

  Janine left the kitchen and entered the living room, positioning herself so that Jenda could not hear her but she could keep a close eye on her child. She quickly dialed her upstairs neighbor’s number. Janine explained a brief version of the story and asked if Jennifer and Chloe could come down and sit with them. Being a good friend and frightened for the woman and child, Jennifer promised to be down as fast as she could gather some things for Chloe.

  Immediately after hanging up, Janine called Neil. Tearfully, she went through the details of her encounter with the strange woman. “Neil, she frightened me and there was Jenda watching it all through the crack in the door. Oh Neil, what are we going to do?”

  The anger in his voice was not for Janine’s reaction, it was for the woman who dared frighten his daughter and wife in their home. “Janine, listen to me. Stay calm, keep the doors locked, and don’t let anyone in except for Jen and Chloe. My mother’s plane will be unloading in about fifteen minutes. I should be there within the hour. If anyone knocks, don’t answer. If the woman comes back, call the police right away.”

  Thankful that even from thirty miles away Neil was able to take control of any situation, Janine felt herself calming. “Neil honey, what about Jenda? What about what she saw and heard?”

  “Baby, you didn’t do anything wrong. You said yourself that Jenda was fine and eating her sandwich. She will be okay and so will you.” Neil sighed, “I love you, babe.”

  “I love you, too. Hurry home.”

  Janine heard a knock at the door and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Then she heard Jennifer’s voice outside the door. “Janine, let us in. I’m a little freaked out to be standing outside like this.” Janine hurried over and opened the door. She quickly ushered Jen and Chloe into the apartment. After a quick look up and down the hallway, she slammed the door shut and redid the locks.

  No other incident occurred that afternoon. The two toddlers played together in the living room with their mothers watching over them carefully. Janine retold the story for Jen and then again for Neil and his mother. The four of them spoke quietly so that the children did not become aware of how alarmed the adults were. Safely tucked into the crook of Neil’s supporting arm, Janine’s horror was fading. The others began rationalizing the events that took place.

  “She probably came here trying to find a way in so that she could raid your medicine cabinet. When she realized that you weren’t going to let her, she made up the rest to frighten you.” Theresa Myer spoke the words, sounding so sure of herself. Her soft wrinkled hand patted Janine’s shoulder.

  “Janine, you’ve seen these druggies first hand, you know that they are capable of some fantastic stories when they are strung out,” Neil reassured her.

  “It’s just, there was something about her. She looked so frightened, like there was someone really waiting for her to tell me to run away.” Janine dabbed at her eyes again. The tears had been coming off and on since the incident and she hated to cry so openly.

  “She probably thought there was. I heard that a girl downtown jumped into the middle of traffic because she was high last week. You never know what those people will do,” Jennifer chimed in, determined to help ease her friend’s mind.

  Janine shivered and looked around the table, “How did she know Jenda’s nickname? She called her Bell. We almost never refer to Jenda by her middle name.”

  The group fell silent. No one had an easy explanation for this. No one wanted to think about it. There was no answer. “The woman said that whoever sent her wanted us to ‘take Bell and run.’ There’s something else, too.” Janine had not even realized it herself until she spoke the words. “The girl looked like Jenda. The hair was lighter and her eyes were clouded but the face, the nose. She looked like Jenda. What…what if she was Jenda’s biological mother? What if she’s come back and she wants to kidnap her. What if today was just some kind of drug induced warning?” Janine was hysterical.

  After a few moments, they were able to calm her, but her eyes were still wild with fear. The terror of losing her little girl to anyone was too much. The thought of that drugged, filthy woman holding Jenda in her grimy hands made Janin
e want to vomit. Neil did not look much better. The whole situation scared the hell out of him, even if he would not admit it.

  The decision was made quickly but with pure conviction. The couple would do as the strange woman told them. They would take Jenda and they would move away from here. They would find a new home, in a new town. In the recent months, they had considered moving anyway for Jenda’s benefit, but they loved their apartment in the city too much. Now they felt they had no choice in order to protect their daughter. Janine was a practiced professional and could easily find work in another hospital or private practice. She could even choose to stay home with Jenda if she wanted. Neil’s lucrative software designs had long ago provided them with financial freedom. He could continue his same contracts from anywhere in the world, only needing to fly in to meet clients on occasion.

  In no less than six months, the apartment was sold and the little family relocated to the small town of Porter, Indiana. They bought a French Provincial in an upscale neighborhood. While still considered a luxury home, it was smaller and more tasteful in Janine and Neil’s opinion. They shared a love of quality and beauty that went beyond the ostentatious design of the area. Instead of being dwarfed by the mansions that stood like white marble beacons nearby, their new home commanded its own place. Its charm and magnificence combined to make a safe and loving home for their daughter.

  The little family remained tight-knit and devoted over the years. Their bonds were strong, and Jenda was treated as if she were a princess. She was a healthy child who wasn’t often ill. She experienced normal childhood illnesses, but nothing critical. Despite her very diminutive size, Jenda’s doctor assured her parents she was very healthy. In fact, Jenda’s childhood was perfect. A fairytale had more action but less happiness. That is, until the day Soborgne disappeared.