"I guess you're right," Sonia returned, "but once you are aware of what you have out there, you know within yourself that you're probably missing out on a whole lot. Just some food for thought." She got up, ironed down the front of her skirt with her hand, and helped her friend up off the floor.
* 3 *
At 9:50p.m., the phone rang.
"Hello..." Trent answered, barely awake.
"Hey, it's Peter. Did I wake you?"
Sitting up in bed, Trent answered: "No…no. I'm up. Are you all right? You don't sound so good."
"I really need to talk to you about something, bud. It's on my mind real bad and I feel like I'm losin' it here! You're the only one I trust enough to confide in right now."
"Sure. We can talk, Pete. What's on your mind?" Trent was concerned.
"I can't talk over the phone. I'm out here at the beach; came out to try and clear my head. I hate to do this to you, but can you come meet me here?" Peter asked. "I think being out here, at least for a while, is what's stopping me from going over the edge."
"Okay. I'll come. Just tell me where you are," Trent said.
Peter told him and waited alone in the dark on the long stretch of sand as the waves rushed in vengefully against the shore-line.
Trent arrived at the beach exactly 10:16p.m. He noticed Peter's car, the only vehicle in sight, parked a little ways off from the main entrance of the parking area near the sidewalk. Trent switched off his headlights and proceeded outside.
He walked onto the beach and looked around, but didn't see Peter anywhere. As he stood watching the waves splash against the shoreline, Trent wondered what could have disturbed Peter so much that he needed to speak with him at that hour of night.
"Pete! It's Trent," he cried. "Where are you?"
"I'm right here, bud." Peter was approaching him from behind with hands tucked inside of his pockets. "I was over there sitting down by the rocks. Didn't see when you came." He glanced at his wristwatch.
"Uh…huh. So what's going on?" Trent asked. "Did something happen between you and Stacey?"
"Na. We're good," Peter replied. They started walking together. "I'm really sorry I dragged you out of your warm bed just to come down here. It's just that so many things are going on right now and I feel like I'm at a crossroads in life."
"How's that?" Trent asked.
"Remember when you and I were in college… I believe it was our junior year when we first started talking about our hopes and dreams, what we wanted to do with our lives and accomplish within ten years of graduation?"
"Yeah. I remember that," Trent said.
"Do you remember what I said my biggest dream was?"
Trent thought for a moment. "Yeah," he nodded. "You said you wanted to be super-rich and run one of the finest companies North Carolina has ever seen. I can't forget that," he smiled.
"And you said… you wanted to find a nice girl, marry her and have a great family," Peter said.
"Yeah. I guess I'm on my way there almost sixteen years since graduation." The thought of soon having a real family with Tina made Trent feel like he had conquered the whole world. "I'd say you're pretty much living your dream too," he added.
"Na." Peter shook his head, glancing at his watch again. "Sure, I'm rich… but not super-rich. First Provincial is one of the finest for sure, but I'm just a partner - not even C.E.O."
Trent sensed a tinge of resentment in Peter's voice, all of a sudden, and his behavior was now making him uneasy.
Peter put his arm on Trent's shoulder. "You know that little clause we included in our agreement when we decided to become partners in your late grandfather's business - the clause that stated if either partner 'kicked the bucket' before the other, fifty percent of shares belonging to the deceased partner would automatically be transferred to the surviving partner, thereby positioning him as head of the company? You know… that way, no spouse or other family member could take control of what we helped build together fair square. Only best buds could've signed an agreement like that." He chuckled.
Trent stopped walking and faced his partner. "What's this all about Peter?"
"It's all about me getting rid of you, Trent," Peter replied, pulling out his .44 Magnum and pointing it directly at his partner's head. "It's about me finally getting what I want - what I deserve! And the only way I can do that is by getting rid of you!"
"Pete, what on earth has gotten into you?" Trent asked, shocked by Peter's actions. "I thought we solved that little problem we had already."
"We never solved anything, bud. I just made you think we did. If you had been smart enough to take my advice and sold me your piece of the pie, it never would've come to this. You always wanted to be the chief, Trent... now, I'm gonna be the chief," Peter said excitedly.
"Pete, I really think you should think this thing over. You're not a murderer. Look, if you want my shares that bad, I'll sell them to you... tomorrow morning first thing. I was thinking of selling them after Tina and I got married anyway. I have all the money I need; I don't need the company. I realize that now. You don't need to do this, Pete; believe me." At that point, Trent was more than willing to tell Peter anything he felt he wanted to hear.
With a flagitious glare, Peter said, "Yeah I do, Trent. I do need to do this. If I had the choice between letting you live and becoming millions richer, I'd have to choose the money. Sorry, buddy."
Peter pulled the trigger back slowly, his heart pounding with anxiety and excitement all at once. The weapon was about to go off when suddenly, he felt a sharp object hit the center of his back. Reflexively, his head jerked backward and frame stiffened. He turned his head and looked behind. "Ri...chard?" He stammered before finally collapsing face-down on the sand.
Richard emerged into the light of the moon with beaming green eyes, a bloody spear, and a cunning smirk on his strikingly handsome face.
Stunned by what he had witnessed, Trent charged: "So, it was you all along, you demon!"
"What can I say? I enjoyed terminating your worthless workers like the slimy pigs they were. The bonus was having you come under suspicion with your police. It was all so easy..." Richard grinned. As he spoke, his voice gradually altered to the one Trent had become all too familiar with. "The season is nigh, weakling and I will have dominion!" Tarrow laughed loudly, his voice reverberating in the air.
"You haven't won, demon! You're not even close!" Trent retorted.
Suddenly, darkness emerged. Trent looked up and beheld the moon slowly converging to a deep blue shade and within seconds, his own appearance began to change. He suddenly knew why Peter had kept glancing at his watch: Tarrow had set the whole thing up knowing when the exact time would come - the season he had often spoken of - and Trent was totally unprepared for it. He grew ten inches taller, his body expanded and became muscularly cramped. His bodily hair thickened and lengthened, and his nails became long, yellow, bent claws. His face altered to that of a hideous beast like that of a gorilla and alligator combined, and he screamed in agony as his human body underwent a complete metamorphosis.
As Tarrow synchronously underwent his, he became much bigger and stronger than Trent did, and laughed loudly as he witnessed the fear in his enemy's eyes.
Trent looked up again. The moon was almost completely blue and he was almost completely beast. Seconds later, he was facing his opponent, both eyes beaming with pure hatred.
As if on cue, they flew through the air with stupendous speed, each with intentions of quickly and easily obliterating his opponent. Trent elevated his long, muscular arm and was about to strike when Tarrow slipped him a powerful blow to the chest which sent him reeling across the sand. He landed with such a heavy thump that the ground below him shook.
Trent instantly sprang to his feet and dashed at his opponent again, determined not to miss. Tarrow deserved to die and that was all he could think about. He belted him a blow to the neck which did nothing more than stagger the powerful beast. Again, his vile opponent struck back, sending him flying
through mid-air, this time, landing approximately one hundred yards away in the sand.
"You are worthless, weakling!" The Evil One charged. "There's no way you can beat the mighty Tarrow! You are doomed forever!" He opened his mouth widely and spat a ball of fire that caught Trent directly in the face.
Trent's face went ablaze for what seemed like hours and he writhed on the sand in agony until the flames finally dissipated. His body was weakening and his will-power slowly dying. He could barely manage to stand, but refused to stay down.
Through burning, aching eyes, he suddenly beheld the glowing image of his father. "Get the eyes, Son! That's the only way you will defeat him. Once they are gone, he is lost. He will no longer be able to see into your world. Do it now, before the moon returns to its natural shade or else you will be forced to enter our world as one of us - forever."
His father's words were all it took to rejuvenate Trent. He decided there was no way he would become one of them even if he had to drudge up the last ounce of energy inside to defeat the evil beast. He had to win: Tina, the baby, the marriage - everything he ever wanted in life depended upon it.
With his surroundings a blur, he bounced to his feet and vigorously drove himself toward his heinous foe with claws wide open. He was closing in with ferocious force. The moon had already begun its conversion to its natural shade and just before it was about to rid itself of its last pigment of blue, Trent buried his claws into Tarrow's eyes, shredding them like paper as Tarrow's guttural roar pervaded the air.
Trent slumped onto the sand, breathing heavily as he watched Tarrow's body slowly disappear. Then he became aware of his own transformation: He was human again. Looking toward his right, he saw his father still standing there a few feet away and with deep appreciation, smiled.
"You are free, my son. You are free," his father said before vanishing into thin air.
Tired and relieved, Trent made a joyful shout that echoed into the distance. Everyone he knew was safe again and life for him would begin anew.
* * * *
Five Months Later…
"Oh my goodness… the phone's dead!" Tina muttered as she frantically pressed the dial. The sharp, sudden contractions that suddenly came on made it very difficult for her to breathe. She struggled off the sofa, pressing her right palm against her back and then walked over to the open window. It was dark out and slivers of wind seeped in through the dusty screen.
"Trent should've been here by now," she said, standing there. "Where in the world is he?" She glanced at her watch. It was 8:55p.m. Agreeing to spend her last month of pregnancy at Trent's house just in case the baby happened to come at night seemed like a solid plan. However, she couldn't help wondering if her uncontrollable craving for vanilla ice-cream that night would be the thing to cause the plan to go awry.
Suffering intense discomfort, Tina tried her cell again - which when last checked - had no signal. This time was no different and she was now entering 'panic mode'. She knew she was definitely in labor and considering that there was nothing except dense woods all around her, she could only pray that Trent would pull up soon.
Stooping over in pain and screaming as another contraction hit her, she held her stomach as if on the verge of falling. Breathing heavily, she carefully descended to the floor. The excruciating pain made her entire body feel inflamed. Sweat gushed out of her pores like water spewing from a faucet and she screamed again in agony as another ferocious contraction struck her. "Oh, God!" She cried. "I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die right here!"
As she lie flat on her back with legs partially spread, she desperately hoped that Trent would walk in at that moment and rescue her. She could not imagine giving birth to their child right there on the floor - all by herself. Her heart was beating rapidly and she was absolutely petrified. Looking down at her stomach, she saw it heaving as if the baby were eager to escape. She managed to slip down her panties as she could clearly feel a ball of something now sliding toward the opening. Not feeling even the slightest need to push, Tina seriously wondered if everything was transpiring the way it should. These thoughts, however, were abruptly interrupted when she felt the baby rapidly ease its way all the way out of her body with a gush of blood flowing behind it.
Relieved that her ordeal was now over, Tina struggled up to see the beautiful, new-born baby whose arrival she and Trent had anxiously awaited - the jewel that would make their lives complete.
Leaning forward, she soon cried, "Oh Jesus, no!" She was looking into the beaming green eyes of the infant with the hideous, distorted face and yellow, flaky nails who was staring at its mommy with great expectancy.
REBIRTH
1
New Addition
Her blood-curdling scream filled the air, yet the woods behind the mansion was eerily quiet and paid no attention to her desperate cry for help. Tina Sheffield was staring at the thing that had just slid out of her — still attached to the other end of the umbilical cord. She wanted to get up and run out of there as fast as her legs could take her, but her physical connection to the one that shared her DNA prevented her from being able to do so. Furthermore, blood and a watery substance had settled beneath her and between them. She wished she had a pair of scissors, a knife or any sharp tool to cut the fleshy cord and separate herself forever from the newborn with the beaming, green eyes and grotesquely distorted face. She was hyper-ventilating and felt that she was about to lose all sense of consciousness when she heard a dangling of keys near the front door, then the door opening and shutting again.
"Tina, I'm home!" went the voice she was so relieved to hear.
"Trent!" She cried at the top of her lungs still staring at what lay in front of her. "Hurry! Please!"
Holding the plastic bag that contained the large bowl of vanilla ice-cream, Trent came upon a sight on his living room floor that absolutely shocked him.
"Oh my God! What in the world…" He quickly put the bag down and rushed over to Tina.
Tina was drenched in tears. "Get a scissors or a knife quickly, Trent! Cut the cord! Please cut this frigging cord!" She pleaded.
"Okay," Trent was suddenly feeling nauseous; his mind racing and unearthly thoughts flooding his brain. He ran to the kitchen for a large knife and seconds later, was back.
"Cut it!" Tina demanded.
"Where?" He asked nervously.
"Here!"
Trent's hand was shaking as he attempted to sever the umbilical cord. He looked away as the thing snapped cleanly in two. Tina backed away hurriedly, still on her buttocks as more liquid gushed from her body with the hasty movement.
"I'll… I'll get some towels," Trent said, rushing upstairs.
Tina sat against the wall shaking violently as if on the verge of a melt-down. The baby had managed to get a thumb near its lips and was now lightly sucking it. Trent returned moments later and took the large towel over to Tina. He helped her as she placed it against her vagina to stop the dripping. He then hurried over to the baby, knelt down beside it and gently picked it up.
"We have to get you to the hospital," Trent said to Tina.
With her eyes still fixated on the infant, she asked, "What is that?"
Trent grimaced. "Tina, it's our baby."
"No!" She protested. "It's not! It's not our baby, Trent! How could it be our baby?"
"Tina…"
"What do you mean it's our baby? Look at it! It's a monster! Can't you see?"
Trent was at a loss for words.
"What're we gonna do with it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I have to go to the hospital, so what're we gonna do with it?"
"Tina, the baby's coming with us," Trent said matter-of-factly.
"Oh no, it's not." She shook her head. There was now a strange calmness in her voice. "That thing is not coming anywhere with me. No one's gonna know that I gave birth to such a hideous, ungodly creature."
Then suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw that the child had instantaneously and inexplicably assumed full
human form. His black hair was pencil straight and his eyes, brown and entrancing.
"Oh my goodness, do you see that?" She asked, as if disbelieving her own eyes.
"Yes, honey. I see our beautiful baby," Trent replied, realizing that something on the inside of Tina had snapped.
"What's wrong with me? Am I seeing things?" She asked earnestly.
He was afraid to answer. The baby started to cry.
"Bring him to me," Tina urged.
Trent carefully handed the child to her.
"He looks just like you, honey." She held the infant closely. "He has your eyes."
"He does. Doesn't he?" Trent smiled.
They gazed lovingly at the child whose arrival they had anxiously awaited. However, not envisioning for a moment that he would arrive into the world on his father's living room floor.
"We have to get you two to the hospital," Trent reminded Tina.
"Okay," she smiled, now accepting of the idea that both mother and baby would be going.
He took the baby and helped Tina up off the floor.
2
Preparation
Trent sat in the Waiting Room as hospital personnel tended to Tina and the baby. The newborn had been transported to the Pediatric Unit immediately after they had arrived at the hospital.
"Mister Matheson, that's a fine one you've got there," Nurse Annie Rodgers remarked. A woman well into her fifties, her smile was virtually angelic.
"Thanks Nurse. Is it possible for me to go in and see my wife now?" Trent asked, prematurely assigning the title to Tina.
"Not just yet. We'll need a few more minutes with her just to make sure that everything is fine and dandy, but I can check with the pediatrician to see if they're ready for you to come over."
"Thank you, Nurse. I'd appreciate that."
Nurse Rodgers walked off cheerfully as if she hadn't a care in the world. Watching her, Trent was immeasurably grateful for his own recent happiness. The worst part of his life was over since he had defeated Tarrow that night at the beach. In fact, his father had pretty much confirmed it. Sitting there, he envisioned a bright future ahead as he was now a father and would soon be wed to the woman of his dreams.
Immortals- The Complete Real Illusions Series Page 19
