STORM: IT'S A CURSE TO REMEMBER

by Gurpreet Kaur Sidhu

  He leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed at the chest. Tonight, when Marvin was fast asleep in his home, Bruce was going to end the life of Marvin Stone. It was going to be a clean job, one that would bring peace to his mind.

  He looked at the pot boiling on the stove. For the past few days, Bruce couldn’t keep anything down other than oatmeal. The thought of Evan being in the hands of an agent made him hurl.

  Meanwhile, agents surrounded the premises, keeping all areas covered as the other two sat in the black sedan, ready to go on order. One of the agents carefully unlocked the front door, minimizing the sound as much as he could. He signaled the other to enter. Both stepped inside, carefully stepping on the wood floor. To the right, there was the living room, and on the opposite side was the dining room. Straight down the hallway, the kitchen was on the left, across from Bruce’s bedroom.

  Bruce’s house wasn’t old but it wasn’t fairly new either. The only sound to come from Bruce’s home was from the hallway. It made loud creaks, even with the slightest pressure.

  In the black sedan, the agent sat in the passenger’s seat with a tablet in hand, giving direction to the agents on Bruce’s whereabouts.

  “I wonder what this is all about,” he said to the driver.

  The dark-skinned chauffeur spoke in a deep voice. “I don’t know, man. Have you seen Bruce’s file? It’s clean, man. Every mission he’s been on, he gets the job done without having blood on his hands.”

  “And…?” asked the other agent, keeping his attention focused on the screen. “That just means he’s too scared to get blood on his hands. Marvin is the real deal. He’s what we need more of at the agency.”

  “Do you even know what the purpose of the agency is?”

  “Target is present in the kitchen, facing northwest,” he said into his microphone.

  The agents cautiously started to navigate to the hallway.

  “What did you say again?”

  “The agency was founded to protect the people from the bad guys, but Marvin…he is one of them.”

  “I don’t care, man.” He chuckled, still being attentive to the screen and watching carefully. “The paycheck for this assignment is going to get me loaded, man, you know what I’m sayin’?”

  The dark-skinned agent scoffed.

  “Why you being so uptight about this, man? You didn’t have to do this. You had a choice.”

  “Nah, we don’t have a choice. I’m only here cause I got bills to pay and support my kid.”

  “You have a kid?”

  “Yup. He’s gonna be five this month. Gotta save up for college. I don’t want him ending up here, like me.”

  “Ah, come on. It ain’t that bad, man,” he said, looking away from the screen, meeting the agent’s eyes. “Get out when you’ve saved enough to be set for life. That’s what I’m gonna do.”

  “It all depends on your assignments and missions. We’re not gonna get ten of these kinds of missions.”

  “True. But I’m sure your other assignments and missions ain’t all that bad.”

  The driver glanced at the screen and then faced forward, placing his right hand on the steering wheel. “Yeah, you’re right,” he mumbled.

  “Shit!” the agent shouted. “Bring in backup! I repeat, bring in backup!”

  The driver’s attention shifted to the screen.

  “Straight down the hallway to your left!”

  The two agents who’d been circling the home dashed toward the front door.

  Bruce had stabbed one of the agents in the stomach. The kitchen floor was covered in oatmeal and pool of blood from the now unresponsive agent. He lay on the floor, limp. His face reddened by the hot oatmeal Bruce had thrown in his face.

  Bruce threw a punch at the other agent. Bruce trained him during one of the boot camps the agency held. Agent 322 was pretty damn good. After all, he had learned from one of the best.

  Agent 322 staggered to his feet and lunged toward Bruce with full strength. Bruce took a punch in the stomach—once, twice and then one right in the face. Bruce lost his balance with the last punch and his vision became a little blurry but that didn’t stop him from giving up. He stumbled forward with a fist, trying to fight back.

  Agent 322 shoved Bruce in the corner of the kitchen and jabbed Bruce in the stomach two more times. Bruce grabbed hold of Agent 322’s neck, tightening his grip but once the other agents entered the kitchen, they separated Agent 322 and Bruce. Within a split second, Bruce was shoved to the ground. Bruce struggled to break free, but the pressure of one of an agent’s feet against his back kept him firmly planted on the ground.

  All he could think of was Evan. It was over.

  The three agents exchanged uncertain looks with one another. No one was supposed to get hurt, let alone killed. This wasn’t going to end well for anyone on the job.

  “Call the agency. They’ll send over agents to take care of this,” the agent said, looking over at the dead body.

  Bruce heard the scattered voices. His eyes slowly opened. Everything was slowly coming back into focus. He felt his hands being cuffed and shortly afterward, he was being peeled off the ground.

  Moments later, Bruce was walking out into the dark night with the two agents holding a firm grip around his arms. The headlights turned on and so did the engine. Bruce got into the sedan following the first agent without any fuss. The following agent sat on his left side. The fifth agent stood outside of the vehicle.

  “You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay back until the other agents come,” he said, tapping the window then walking back into the home.

  The agent cautiously looked into the rear view mirror at Bruce, who was looking right back.

  Bruce gave him a glare as he fidgeted in the back, as they headed back to the agency.

  ***

  Evan stood before Derek in the parking lot as if they were going to settle an overdue feud. He threw up his hands and stepped forward, his heart beating a little faster now. “You’re not real!” He hissed.

  People who were coming and going starred at Evan and made sure to stay as far as possible. As far as anyone knew, he was either on drugs or was having some sort of mental breakdown.

  Derek chuckled. “What are you doing with her? You’re going to hurt her Evan. Just like you did before.”

  “I’m not you! Not anymore. And you don’t scare me anymore.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, Evan. Deep down, you’re still the same person in a different time, in a different body, a different life. Stay away from her. You can’t save her. You’re going to hurt her.”

  “Stop saying that!” he hollered. “I’m not going to hurt her!”

  Shadow walked out of the restaurant to see Evan going ballistic.

  She proceeded forward with caution. “What…is…happening to you?!”

  Evan quickly looked in Shadow’s direction. He was speechless.

  Shadow stood far off but still close enough where Evan could see the horrified look in her eyes. She was on the verge of tears. She’d never seen someone out of their mind like this and to witness Evan go crazy terrified her. Who was Evan really? What was he hiding from her?

  “Answer me!”

  He opened his mouth and then closed it.

  Her voice quivered when she spoke. “I want an answer,” she demanded.

  Evan took a few deep breaths. He needed to gather his thoughts. “Okay, okay,” he said calmly.

  “Let me go pay the bill and I’ll explain everything.”

  “I took care of it.”

  He pursed his lips. He scanned the parking lot before meeting her eyes and gave her a pleading look. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Home.”

  “Okay.”

  For the entire ride back, neither of them said a word to one another.

  Shadow s
truggled to wrap her head around what happened at the restaurant. With a blink of an eye, everything changed. This night made her question everything about Evan. She questioned her own judgment.

  Once they pulled into Knight’s Drive, Evan parked his car by the sidewalk. Before he took off his seatbelt, Shadow was already out of the car. The door slammed shut. Evan, who refrained from puking on the drive over, took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. He slowly walked over and met Shadow on the sidewalk, making sure to keep his distance. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she didn’t want him anywhere near her, which he understood and respected.

  “I wanted…” he started but couldn’t make out the rest of the sentence. He let out a deep sigh, knowing whatever or however he explained himself, it wasn’t going to end well. “I wanted to tell you but I wanted to wait until the time was right.”

  He scratched his head, still unclear about how he was supposed to tell Shadow the truth.

  “I actually remember who I was in my past life. For the past six months, I’ve been waking up from these night terrors early in the morning. I’ve been reliving a part of my life that I’m disgusted by. I beat up my wife. I made her life miserable.”

  He took another sigh feeling the anticipation of ripping off the band-aid. He couldn’t stretch out the truth any longer.

  “It makes my heart ache to know what I did in that life.”

  He looked at Shadow, whose eyes were wide and filled with concern.

  “You were my wife, Shadow.”

  Her eyes brimmed with tears. She took a moment before saying anything.

  “You remember your past life too?”

  His eyes widened. It felt as if someone had punched Evan in the face. “Yeah… We both remember then…”

  She nodded. “Well…isn’t that something.” She wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

  Evan ran his fingers through his hair. “How come you didn’t say anything?”

  “The same reason why you didn’t say anything. You wouldn’t have believed me,” she said, pausing for a moment. “What did you see in the restaurant?”

  “I saw the old me…about to strangle you. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  She had delusions just like Evan years ago. Over time, they went away on their own. “Makes sense.”

  Evan stood quiet for a moment.

  “But we get another chance—”

  “No, Evan, we don’t.”

  “Yes, we do,” he insisted. “We remember these things for a reason. The universe is giving us another chance, Shadow. I want to take that chance.”

  Shadow looked out into the street, knowing in her heart what was best for both of them.

  “Our circumstances are different now. Being in each other’s lives is only going to help rewrite history.”

  Evan scoffed. “Is that what you really believe?”

  “I want to,” she said, looking back at him. “It’s easier. No one gets hurt this way.”

  “You’re wrong. I don’t believe the universe put us in each other’s paths for no reason—”

  “That’s the problem. We believe two different things. Marvin is the biggest reason why you and I shouldn’t be around each other. On top of that, your grandma’s vision is another reason why we should keep our distance from each other. It just makes sense.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. Look at it—”

  “How doesn’t it make sense?!”

  “Because I remember things from a previous life, and so do you. Don’t you see? We were brought together for a reason. We owe—”

  “Evan,” she pleaded, “stop. I don’t want to hurt you again. The universe is also telling us what will happen if we do stay in each other’s lives.”

  Evan ran his fingers through his hair. “This isn’t fair.”

  “And when has life ever been fair?” She looked around the street, feeling sadness overwhelm her heart. “I know how I treated you in my past life. I don’t want to go through this cycle again.”

  “We’re different people now. We’ll do things differently. Clearly, we have a lot to talk about.”

  “Why are you being so stubborn? There’s nothing to talk about.”

  Evan shuffled around to find his keys. “You’re letting fear cloud your judgment.”

  “No, I’m not. You’re the one who’s not thinking right.”

  Evan pursed his lips. “Think about the first day you met me up until now. If there was even a second where you thought I wasn’t good for you, then I’ll let this go. I don’t need an answer right now. You can tell me tomorrow when we talk.”

  He could see Shadow was irritated with him as he walked closer to her. “I love you, Shadow,” he said as he kissed her on the forehead.

  Shadow stomped her foot out of frustration. “Why aren’t you listening to anything I’m saying?”

  “Because you’re afraid of what can go right when you’ve been used to having everything go wrong,” he said as he walked down the sidewalk, leaving his car parked where it was.

  He had a lot of questions but for the sake of both of them, he needed some time to wrap his head around everything that happened.

  ***

  Bruce was stripped down after they entered the agency. It was protocol, regardless of the fact he had nothing on him. Wearing the white jumpsuit made him feel almost like a prisoner; color being the only difference. His hands were cuffed in front of him. He was led by one of the agents from the black sedan while two others remained by his side in case Bruce decided to do something stupid. Walking down the bright white hallway reminded Bruce of the times he’d come down here to check on his clients who were in danger. An agent who believed their client was at risk, brought them down to the basement for a short period until they believed it was safe. Bruce never imagined himself being sent into the dungeon, as some called it.

  The leading agent opened the door to a windowless room. He looked Bruce straight in the eye, where swelling on the right side of his face had begun to appear.

  “You’ll be here.”

  “What’s he going to do?” Bruce asked before entering. The agent standing in front of him looked past Bruce to the agents behind him, unsure of how to answer his question. All the agents except for the driver shot back blank faces. Bruce looked back and analyzed each one of them, knowing none of them knew. He turned around and entered the white room.

  The agent motioned the driver to accompany Bruce while they received the say-so from Marvin to release Bruce from the premises. Quietly, the driver joined Bruce in the room, closing the door behind him.

  Bruce looked down at his cuffed hands and then slowly met the driver’s eyes, who stood in front of the door. He was a six-foot black man, a shaven head and eyes that pierced with intimidation. However, Bruce knew who he was. This was Agent 431.

  Bruce’s eyebrows crinkled and eyes widened. “I’d kick your ass if I wasn’t locked into these damn cuffs. How the hell did you let this happen?”

  “Look, I tried to do the best I could. I tried to distract him,” he said. “You’re the one to talk. Killing an agent, you know you’re gonna be suspended for that, right?”

  Bruce looked around the room. There was a bed in one corner and another door that led to the bathroom. That was it. If he had to spend a couple of days in the room, Bruce was certain he’d fall into some sort of depression. Nothing severe, but the bright walls and no windows would indeed have an effect on him. It would have an effect on anyone, to be frank. He walked to the corner of the room with his heart in the pit of his stomach.

  “Yeah, I know,” he responded, glancing over at the driver. “I should have picked a different guy to be my lookout.”

  “Man, do you know how hard it is to distract someone who’s glued to the screen like they’re watching porn? The guy looked away from the screen twice. Only twice, man.
” He held up two fingers as if it wasn’t clear enough.

  “If you knew what you were doing, this wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t be in here, cuffed, while he’s out there!”

  “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know what you want from me.”

  “He’s not really good at picking agents to do his dirty work, is he?”

  The driver shook his head, ignoring the comment. “Whatever, man. You came to me. Not the other way around.”

  “And I paid you a shit load for this job. I guess it’s safe to say I won’t be getting my money back.”

  “Hell nah,” he said, shaking his head.

  For a while, both of them remained quiet.

  Bruce scoffed. “How long am I gonna be in here for?”

  “Don’t know, man. I’d let you out, but the way this operation is ran, ain’t nothing I can do. He’s got agents outside of the premises just in case you find a way to break out.”

  Bruce lowered himself, dropping to his knees in front of the bed. He pressed his palms together as his fingers pressed underneath his chin.

  “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” he said in a soft voice.

  All Bruce could think about was what was happening right now. His conscience reminded him of the only possibility that would occur with Marvin in charge: The death of Evan. Bruce lowered his head, trying to get the thought out of his mind. He didn’t want to think about it. But over and over, he kept picturing himself at Evan’s funeral and regretting every single decision he’d made that led him up to here.

  Chapter 21

  Marvin sat at the desk, looking through a stack of pictures in a box. To his surprise, there were a lot of pictures of Geneva. She was smiling and looked as if she was enjoying herself with her family, but the real story behind it all—behind the attempted suicide, which was off the records, or the affair—was never brought to light. After the realization of what really had happened, it made Marvin more curious about the Storm family. So many secrets and lies. He wondered how Evan would take all of this.