by Stratton, M.
“Yes, Dominic, yes I do.”
When you have overwhelming feelings for a psychic, you have to ask. “Can you see our future?” I knew it was a double-edged sword to be asking, but I had to know.
She frowned and shook her head. “If I’m too close to something or someone, I can’t see. I’m sorry.”
“No.” I tipped her chin up so she’d look at me. “We don’t need to know, we can create our own future. After all, what is life without some surprises, right?”
“Right.”
“Now, I was thinking we could go make out like a couple of teenagers in the Tunnel of Love. What do you think?”
“I think it’s about time. I’ve been wanting to go on this ride all night.”
“You should have said something. I’d be more than happy to rent the thing out so we could go round and round.”
“And have all the teenagers miss out of their first fumbling kiss tonight? No, that wouldn’t be fair.”
I leaned in closer to her until our lips were almost touching. “There should be more than fumbling to a first kiss. An anticipation, a longing, a wanting that fills your body for the other person to finally touch their lips to yours. You focus all of your attention on their mouth, until the rest of the world fades away. And you count the beats of your heart until their lips finally touch yours.”
“What are you waiting for?” she whispered. “Do it.”
“My grandma raised me to be a gentleman and make sure I had permission first.”
“Your grandmother would have said you were being a slow poke and maybe you didn’t deserve the girl if it took you this long to read the signs.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “Yes, you are right. That is exactly what she would say.” I kissed her quickly and pulled back. “Let’s go on the ride, I want to have you to myself.”
“I like the sound of that,” she smiled.
At that moment, everything was perfect. Once the car went through the doors of the ride, I turned to her and, without the hesitation I would have had as a teenager, I kissed her. As her arms came around me, pulling me closer to her, I wanted this ride to never end. Finally having her in my arms was a dream come true. When we burst through the doors leading back out to the ticket taker, we sprung apart to cheers from people who were passing by.
As Es hid her face in my shoulder, I waved to the crowd. When we stopped, I handed the guy enough tickets so we could ride again, and then I pulled her back up and started kissing her to the sounds of louder cheers.
This time around, there was more urgency to our kiss. Our hands wandered more and neither one of us could stop the moans.
“Stop,” she said breathlessly, placing her hand on my chest. “We have to stop.”
“I know, just one more kiss.”
Slapping her hand against my chest, she laughed. “We both know one will not be enough. Let me catch my breath before the ride is over.”
“Good idea.” I leaned back and put my arm around her, pulling her close to me. “So, any ideas on what you’d like to do next?”
“Well… I have a few ideas…”
“I hope we are having the same ones.”
“Oh, I think we are.”
“We are, we-”
I couldn’t tell you if it was her stopping mid-sentence or something else that put me on high alert, but something was wrong. Sitting up straighter, I looked around. “What is it?”
“Something is wrong here. Something is very wrong.”
The car came to a sudden stop and we were flung forward.
“I want to get out of here. I need to get out of here,” her voice shook.
“Calm down, tell me, what do you see?”
Closing her eyes, she took a couple of deep breaths. “Darkness, so much darkness.”
“Like last time?” I didn’t want that thing to come back.
“I can’t tell. We need to get out.” She reached down and unbuckled the seatbelt. “Follow me.”
Since the ride stopped, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I was completely ready to get out of here. “Hold on. Let me get my phone out, we can use the flashlight.”
Carefully, we followed the tracks around one bend and then another in the darkness except for the light from my phone. The carnival noises were muffled, it felt like we were completely cut off from everyone else. With every step I took, my anxiety increased, and based on the stiffness in her shoulders and her quick steps, I could only surmise she felt the same.
As far as I could tell, we were approaching the end when we came around the last corner and we both came to a dead stop. While up to this point we’d been in pitch blackness, even the emergency lights were out, but here there was a light shining on two bodies hanging from the roof. One was dressed as a mechanic with the name “Henry” on his pocket. The other was wearing a waitress uniform, her name was “Catherine.”
“Dominic,” she whispered.
“They aren’t fake, are they?”
“Not exactly.”
“Shit.”
“You have no idea.” She spun around, her eyes huge and tears running down her face. “Those are my parents’ names.”
“Could they… are they?”
“No, no. It’s not them, but what are the odds?”
I watched in horror as slowly the bodies began to swing back and forth, bouncing off of each other. Henry’s head turned one hundred and eighty degrees and he smiled at us. “Hey girl, look who I found? It’s your mama.” It grinned, showing black, rotten teeth. “She was still in the grave I buried her in all those years ago. Bled like a stuck hog, she did. Best night of my life when I stabbed her over and over and over and over.” It raised its arm and brought the knife down on Catherine. “See, just like that.” Blood started to stain her clothes and drip on the floor.
“Oh now, Henry,” a high voice said from the other hanging body. “You’ll scare the girl. Besides, the only reason it wasn’t you in the grave was because you killed me first. You always were lucky, too bad your mind is gone.” The thing spread its arms wide. “Come give me a hug, baby girl, I’ve missed you so much.”
“This can’t be real.” I shook my head, hoping to clear it and these two would disappear.
“Listen here, boy,” said Henry. “I saw what you were doing with my daughter. You want to fuck her. I’m going to tell you this once. If both of you want to survive, you’d better never see each other again.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” her voice was quiet but strong. “You’re not real.”
“Not real?” Catharine shrieked. “I’ll show you not real. When I’m done with you, there will be nothing left for the maggots to feed on. I’ll grab onto your soul as you take your last breath and drag you down to hell where they will dine on it.”
“We’re leaving.” She grabbed my hand and we walked past them, hugging the other wall as they tried to swing and touch us.
“You’re going to die, you’re going to die.” They both sing-songed after us.
“Don’t you know?” Catharine screamed after us. “Love destroys all.”
Neither one of us looked back. As soon as we pushed through the doors, all the lights came back on the ride and we jumped up on the platform. We waved off the worker trying to apologize and kept walking out of the fair and to the car, not saying a word to each other. There were times when words weren’t necessary, or even able to be formed.
Chapter Nine
Esmerelda
“Take a left here,” I told Dominic as we were driving back to Happy Endings. I needed to see my dad and I couldn’t take the time to go all the way back to the trailer to get my car. My body was shaking and I couldn’t get warm. Clutching his hand, he was my lifeline right at that moment.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s someone you need to meet.”
I was happy when he didn’t argue, he simply followed the directions I gave him. When he parked the car, I turned to him. “I’m sure you’ve done your
research on me. This is why I work so hard, for my dad. The man who gave up so much to help me, to always be there for me. Now it’s my turn. I need to make sure he is okay.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Could he have killed your mother?”
I shook my head. “No, he didn’t. Besides the fact he never would hurt anyone intentionally, I’ve seen my mother since she left. I was curious. She did die a couple of years ago, but it was from cancer, not anything anyone did to her.”
“Good, good. Does your father have any psychic ability?”
“No, it seems I’m the lucky one in our family.”
“I was wondering if that thing could get to him.”
“Me too, that’s part of the reason we are here.”
I got out of the car and walked up to the front door. It was after visiting hours, but because he’d been there for so long and most of the nurses liked me, the rules were bent.
“Thanks, Linda,” I said to the night shift head nurse. “How’s he doing tonight?”
“He actually has had a pretty good day, a couple of them in a row. Go on back, he’s complaining about Fallon on The Tonight Show while laughing and enjoying the show.”
“Great, thanks again.”
Since I wasn’t sure what to say to Dominic about my father, and knowing he’d done his research already, I decided sometimes silence was the best. As we approached the rec room, I could hear him laughing and I smiled at one of the most beautiful sounds to me.
“Daddy?”
The man who had been my rock all my life turned towards me and smiled, smiled like he knew who I was. My body sagged with relief and if it wasn’t for Dominic holding me up, I probably would have sat down on the floor right there.
“Ahh pumpkin, come see me.” He held his arms wide and I flew into them. There was nothing that could replace a hug from a parent, filled with love. I stayed in his arms for a few minutes before pulling away.
“How are you, daddy?”
“Great, I’ve had a great couple of days. It’s like a fog has been lifted. I think they have me on a new medication.”
“I hope it works.”
“Me too, now who’s this young man here?”
“This is Dominic McKay. I used to read for his grandmother before she passed away.”
“Mr. Boswell.”
As the two most important men in my life shook hands, I felt like everything was clicking into place. This was what I should be focusing on. These two men. As the three of us sat there and talked, it became more apparent this was what was important. I had to figure out why things were coming into my life right now.
“You know what I’ve been thinking of lately?”
“What, Daddy?”
“Do you remember the old fairy tale I told you? About the Guardians and Destroyers?”
“No.” I frowned, trying to remember my childhood and all the stories he used to tell me.
“I can’t quite remember either, but Guardians will pop into my head all the time. Maybe you can remember it.”
“Sure, I’ll try.”
“Sir, it was nice to meet you.” I looked at him strange when Dominic suddenly stood up and held his hand out to my father. “But we need to get going.”
“Sure thing, sure thing. I understand. You take care of my girl now.”
“With my life.” “Thank you.” My father had tears in his eyes as we walked out of the room.
Chapter Ten
Dominic
“What was that all about?” Es asked me.
“Don’t you realize what you father said? Guardians and Destroyers. How many times have we heard the word ‘destroy’ when talking to that thing? Too many. We need to do more research.”
“Yes! You might be onto something. And since we have something specific to look up, I might be able to find something in the book.”
It didn’t take long to get back to her trailer. Once inside, she went right to the book and paused for a minute. “Hold on.” She went back to her bedroom and brought a couple of new books out and handed them to me. “Check in these, there might be something. At least this way, we’ll both be doing something instead of you sitting there staring at me.”
“But what if I like staring at you?” I tried to lighten the mood.
“Save it, Romeo. Work now, fun later.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Briefly, she smiled and sat down on the couch and pulled the large book onto her lap and started searching. Knowing it would go quicker if I did the same thing, I sat down at the table and started to see if I could find anything about Guardians and Destroyers.
It didn’t take as long as I thought it would have before she found something.
“Here, right here.” She tapped the page. “Guardians and Destroyers are basically good and evil put here to walk amongst humans, influencing them to either do either something positive or something negative.. While they aren’t technically angels and demons, they are a sub-category. They are scattered around the world, trying to tip the balance one way or the other. That’s why there are some areas of the world that are more dangerous, while others are peaceful. Is says everyone can be influenced, however, we choose which way we lean, either good or bad, they simply are there to nudge us along.”
“Does it say anything about how we can kill it?”
“No, while they are powerful, they can be killed, but it has to be by something just as strong, or stronger than they are, not by a mere human.”
“So there’s nothing we can do?”
“No, I think there is.” She closed the book. “If I had to guess, I would say it’s like they feed on energy; obviously any fear, anger, any negative emotions would allow the Destroyer to gain strength. While love, hope, and positive emotions would weaken it and it would leave.”
“How do we even know if that is what we are dealing with?”
“I could try to communicate with it.”
“Oh no, no, no, no, don’t even think about it.”
“But-”
“No.” I got up and sat down next to her, framing her face with my hands. “No. You didn’t see what I saw, I will not have you put yourself in harm’s way.”
“You weren’t where I was, locked away. I know what I’m dealing with, and this time I know I could break free and come back to you.”
“What if you can’t? What if it does something completely different to you? What then?”
She sighed. “I hate it when you are logical.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Don’t get all excited, it doesn’t mean you are right.”
“Sure it does. Logic equals being right.”
“Weren’t you listening, Spock? I said emotions, not logic. All of this fear we have, wondering what that thing is, when it’s going to attack, what it’s going to do, is only feeding it. We have to stop it, and the only way is by emotion. Positive emotion.”
“Well, I can’t think of anything more positive than how happy I am that I came to prove you are a scam.”
“I’m so happy you didn’t believe psychics were real. And I’m so proud you actually came here to uncover the scam because you didn’t want anyone to be taken advantage of. That you were actually looking out for people, wanting to help them.”
“It goes without saying how ecstatic I am that you are the real deal, and how amazed I am by you. You’ve opened my eyes up to so many things I never knew were real.”
“Even in this short amount of time, you’ve shown me it’s okay to rely on someone, that there are people out there who will accept me for who I am and not try to change me.”
“And you, my darling Esmeralda, have shown me strength, you have so much strength it amazes me. I know you could walk through life on your own and be perfectly fine, but I’m hoping you’ll allow me to walk through it next to you.”
“There is no one else I could see myself with than you, and that is the biggest irony. Because I cannot see our future. In the past, I
’d always been able to see what would happen with a boy I was interested in, but with you, there is nothing, which means you are the one for me. The only one for me.”
“I love you. I never said those words enough to my parents or my grandmother, but I’m going to make sure you hear them every day, that you know in your heart of hearts that I mean it with all of mine.”
“I love you too. Simply, truly, wholly, I am yours. I’m creating my light with you.”
As we gazed at each other, I could feel the love building around us. I leaned down to seal it with a kiss. When our lips touched, a loud boom filled the room and the pressure I didn’t realize was on me was gone. “Is it just me?”
She smiled at me. “No, it’s not, it would appear the Destroyer is gone.”
I rolled my shoulders, amazed at how much better I felt. I hadn’t even realized it was weighing me down until it was gone.
“That’s how it gets to us, little by little, day by day, applying pressure, the negativity building until it is able to influence us to do something we normally wouldn’t. But if we are positive, we can fight it, we can destroy it.”
“The way I see things, that’s where the Destroyer got it wrong at the carnival. Love will destroy it, not all, not us.”
Sitting there in a little trailer at Happy Endings Resort, I’d never been happier. “Is it just me or did that seem too easy?”
“No, it was too easy, but you know what?” She snuggled into me. “I’ll take it, I’ll totally take it and you. Be mine?”
“I think you have your holidays mixed up, that’s Valentine’s Day, this is Halloween.”
“Fine then, do you want some candy, little boy?”
“It would be a treat.”
Epilogue
“You tricked me,” he hissed.
“Of course I did. What, you think you are the only one capable of using a bad situation to your advantage?” I looked down at my nails.
The Destroyer roared with rage. “I’ll kill you.”
“Good luck with that, it’s going to take more than you to destroy a Guardian like myself.”
