by CS Yelle
By the time I reached home my cell had buzzed in my pocket over a dozen times. I didn’t take it out to look at it, too embarrassed to speak with them right now.
I walked up our driveway and punched the code into the keypad and the door inched open. I walked through the empty parking spaces, closing the door behind me. Glancing out the back garage door window as I passed, I paused, taking a step back to look out again.
The little shed sat in the back corner of the yard, the windows dark and the narrow path calling to me. I walked out of the garage, down the path, stopping in front of my abandoned pottery shed. I reached out and turned the knob. The door swung open with a creak and I stepped inside the dimly lit room, moving over to sit down on the old recliner covered in a sheet and pulling my knees to my chest as I wrapped my arms around my legs. What was I going to do now?
Glancing over at the pile of papers awaiting recycling stacked next to the chair, the light coming in through the window lit up the headlines.
Couple Found Dead in Park I froze, staring at the picture. Under the bold letters, it showed the empty bench where the lovers sat when I saw them in my vision. I pulled it from the stack and read frantically. The official report said heart attacks, although the coroner had his suspicions on such a strange occurrence and planned to look closer.
Could he tell that their souls were gone? What was I saying? No one knew the real reason they died except me, and whoever was doing this. Was there a telltale sign that might tip him off that a serial killer was on the loose?
I reached a shaky hand and pulled the previous edition from the pile. Reading it once already didn’t stem the panic that built up reading it again.
Councilman Found Dead in Alley Apparent Heart Attack. The man’s blank eyes staring at me from his picture made my skin crawl. I never really saw the face of the first woman I’d witnessed being killed by the nurse’s assistant. The councilman and the couple happened in a public place and made headlines, but what about Jessica, who they believed succumbed to the stresses of her cancer? How about the man watching the baseball game? The woman alone in her living room? Their deaths may never even be mentioned except in the obituaries.
As the thought crossed my mind I tore through the pages in my hands and dropped to my knees, spreading the paper on the floor. I ran my finger from one obituary to another searching for a key word or phrase.
It seemed that the nurse’s assistant went for younger, healthier victims as opposed to the old and dying. I thought of Jessica as being an exception and then realized, after healing her, she was no longer sick and dying. The pattern still held true.
In that first paper, three possible people met the criteria. They were between twenty and forty who died unexpectedly. Was the nurse’s assistant killing more than what I saw?
I sat back on my haunches contemplating the unthinkable. Could he have killed more than those I witnessed? I wouldn’t see anything if I awake, right? If I didn’t walk in on him taking Jessica’s angel, I would never have known about her.
He continued to kill with no one even aware of it but me. A shaky hand rose to my trembling lips as tears ran down my cheeks. My ability to heal felt insignificant compared to the overwhelming damage the killer wrought with no one to stop him.
I slid over on my side, laying my head down on the newspaper, and cried at the sheer magnitude of what I knew and my helplessness consumed me.
Chapter 9 I moped around the house the rest of the weekend ignoring phone calls from Trish, Cassie, and Elisa. Thankfully, the nightmares remained absent from my sleep. But the question remained: how could I be around anyone, especially my friends knowing I was linked with a killer or at least was an accomplice to a killer? I waited for the Sunday edition of the Duluth Tribune to come out, dreading what the headlines might read. My worst fears came true when the apartment building appeared on the front cover with the headlines:
Another Suspicious Death Has Police Baffled “Suspicious,” I thought. So at least experts can tell something is off when they’ve had their souls or whatever sucked out.
Late Sunday night, all the amigos texted me they were sorry. I was too. Sorry for being so horrible. I ignored several more texts until Trish texted she would pick me up at the normal time the next morning for school.
What was I supposed to do to avoid harming anyone in my personal, waking world? I didn’t recognize any of the locations or people until they were noted in the paper. Maybe the amigos were perfectly safe with me as long as I kept them close. I texted Trish “thanks” and hoped my reasoning was sound.
The next morning I climbed into the Jeep and sheepishly looked at Cassie and Elise in the back seat before looking to Trish in the driver’s seat.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Mistakes happen,” Trish said with a curt nod and
a smirk, stepping on the gas and sending the Jeep racing down the street. I looked over my shoulder to the girls in the back seat and they nodded.
“You guys are awesome,” I smiled.
“Don’t you know it,” Trish said laughing.
I found a note in my locker at school that morning.
Britt,
Meet me at my car in the parking lot after school.
Allister Finally, maybe I’ll get some answers.
The day dragged on and on as I anticipated the meeting with Allister. He didn’t let on anything at lunch, sitting at a table with Angelina and a few other students while Trish, Cassie, Elisa, and I stared at them from a distance, entranced.
“Why don’t you sit with them,” Trish stated, “you’re at their table anyway?”
“I’m sorry,” I muttered, turning back to the three glaring at me.
“What is it about them?” Cassie asked.
“I don’t know, they’re rich and gorgeous? Maybe we’re just jealous, but I can’t stop thinking about them either,” Elisa admitted.
I didn’t share the news of the date with the amigos, but told Trish I didn’t need a ride after school.
“Okay,” she said, looking at me curiously.
I waited to see Allister walking out to his car before leaving the school, not wanting to look too anxious, though I doubt it worked. Once he cleared the main entrance, I exited the side doors and walked over to him as he stopped before his shiny, black Camaro. Cars didn’t normally excite me, but this one, was kind of awesome. I finally pulled my eyes away to look up at him.
“I thought we could go for a drive,” he smiled.
“Sure.”
“We giving rides now?” asked a musical voice. Angelina walked up looking not too pleased.
“Not ‘we.’ I need to talk to Britt.” Allister told her calmly, opening the passenger door so I could slide in.
“I have to drop my sister off first,” Allister said, opening the other passenger door.
Angelina took hold of Allister’s shirt sleeve and pulled him away from me, not quite out of earshot.
“Are you crazy?” she started.
“I need to talk to her, I owe her that,” Allister argued.
“You know what you should be doing,” she fumed.
“It wasn’t her fault, it was my doing,” he said, walking back to the car door before looking back at her.
Angelina paused. Staring at Allister, she sighed heavily and walked over to slide into the back seat.
I turned, questioning, to Allister and he merely shrugged. I slid into the seat and he closed the door after me. I could feel Angelina’s eyes glaring at the back of my head.
We drove in silence, uncomfortable silence, until I stepped out of the car in front of their house. Angelina slid to the door, pausing to share a meaningful look with Allister, and then stepped out. We exchanged glances, her eyes filled with nothing but anger for me. I got back in and Allister pulled away from the curb. I caught a passing glimpse of Angelina on the porch. Not happy, not happy at all.
“Don’t worry about Angelina,” Allister said, reading my mind.
“Why doesn’t s
he like me?”
“She doesn’t know you like I do. Give her time.”
“So I’ll be around long enough to ‘give her time’?”
“If I have my way,” he grinned. “This is your town, where can we go?”
“What do you want to do?”
“Talk.”
I felt a little uncomfortable, but knew just the place. Somewhere I went as a kid to get lost in my thoughts.
“Take a left here.” I pointed as we approached an intersection.
We drove out of town, past the high school and around a small lake, heading to my spot. I directed Allister until we pulled into a gravel parking lot and swung up along the far side. As we rolled to a stop, Allister gasped. The area before us dropped off into a vast ore mining pit, thousands of feet across and nearly as deep, thick steel cables strung between large posts, the only thing separating us from the pit.
“This is incredible.” He looked excitedly to me.
“My dad brought me here as a kid.” I got out, walking to the covered observation platform; the metal floor clanked under my feet. I paused by the
informational plaque.
Allister followed stopping next to me, reading the plaque quietly. “It must have been amazing when they were digging here.”
“I’m too young to remember, but this was always a good place to think.”
“What do you need to think about?”
“You,” I said boldly, looking at him out of the corner of my eye.
“Me? What’s so interesting about me?”
“You’re different than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“So are you,” he grinned.
“I, I, I…I’m sorry about the other day. I’m afraid you think I’m crazy.”
“No, I don’t,” he assured me.
I took a deep breath and spilled. “Not only do I think you and your sister saved me after I went over that waterfall, but I think you’re angels and cured my cancer somehow.” There, I’d gotten it out, my crazy thoughts hanging out there, exposed, for him to see. I couldn’t look at him, staring out over the large pit, waiting for the laughter to start. It didn’t. I cautiously glance over at him, expecting to see a frightened look on his face as he considered the crazy girl. Except the look wasn’t there. Instead, he gazed at me with such compassion it brought tears to my eyes. I stared up at him, afraid to speak.
“Britt, there are a lot of things you don’t and can’t know about what’s going,” he said and then turned away. “I don’t want you to believe in fantasies, but I can’t lie to you either.” He stared at the pit, avoiding my eyes.
“Are you saying it’s true?”
“I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I mean, I can’t. There are things that should remain secret, and I messed up more than I thought. Meeting you at the hospital and telling you to stop healing people was a huge risk as well.”
“So you’re saying it didn’t happen and at the same time you say it did?” I could feel the confusion twist my features.
“I’m saying you’re not crazy, but I can’t explain why.” He turned to me, his eyes urging me to believe him, to trust him.
“That’s fine for you, but you just messed me up even more.” I wanted to believe him as I stared into his deep blue eyes, only something felt off, like there was more to the story. More that I wasn’t going to like.
“I don’t want to do that.” He hesitated a moment and then turned to look out at the pit again. “I’m pretty sure you should stay away from me.” He didn’t look back at me.
“Why?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Ah.” I threw my hands up. “You’re talking in circles. So you don’t want me around? Will you stop with the bullshit and come clean?”
I glared at him, my anger and frustrations rising.
“Britt, take it easy. I like you and know I can’t avoid liking you. There’s something about you that draws me to you. I feel it inside, attracting me to you, making me want…It’s just, being around you is going to be very…difficult.”
“I’ve never shied away from difficult,” I said, putting my hands on my hips.
“I can see that, but this may test even you.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
He gave me a nod and turned back to the pit.
I stared at him for a while and followed his gaze into the mine. The frustration drained from me and I felt my heart slow while I stared into the abyss, in awe of its sheer magnitude.
An arm slipped around my waist and my heart took off to the races again. I felt his warm body against me and the scent of his cologne filled my nose. I sighed, leaning my head against his shoulder. His head came down to rest on top of mine and we stood watching the birds swoop into the pit in search of food and nesting on the pit’s walls.
I’m not sure how long we stood there, but the sun touched the tree tops before either of us moved. I looked up and straightened as a thought came to me; he stepped away and stretched.
“So you and Angelina are angels?” I tried again, more directly.
“Not exactly.” He shook his head.
“But you brought me back. I was dead and you brought me back. If you’re not angels, what are you?” My answers weren’t coming as clearly as I had hoped.
“You were dead,” Allister agreed. “I touched you and brought you back, only it was as something different than you were before.”
“Uh, I kind of noticed,” I said, waving my hands around my body like a model showing him the latest fashions. “And that little thing about being able to heal people is new. So what did you bring me back as?” The words came out and I wanted to catch them and shove them back into my mouth. Fear swelled within me as I realized I wasn’t sure I wanted the truth…if it was bad.
“I want you to know it wasn’t my intention. I had no idea this would happen if I touched you.”
“So you go around touching dead people all the time?” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Not dead people. I’ve never touched a dead person…until you.” He looked at me and read my confused expression. “I’ve touched people who were sick; healed them so they could get better. I’ve done that hundreds of times, but never has anything like this happened before.”
“Cut to the chase, Allister,” I said in a low, firm voice, only hesitating for a moment when hearing he healed people too.
“I’m an Eternal,” he said. He looked at me like I should know what that meant.
“Okay, so you’re an Eternal. Good for you. I’m a Scorpio. What is that supposed to mean?” My voice cracked as my frustration rose.
“My family and I are different from other people. There are things about us that no one else can know. It would change the way people view the world, and the afterlife.”
“Allister.” My tone turned hard as the need to know overwhelmed me.
“Some people are born without guardian angels because they are born without souls. That is what I am. That is what my family is. We don’t have guardian angels and are destined to live soulless lives forever with no salvation or redemption. We are Eternals.”
Now he had my attention. We were talking about something my Catholic educated brain could
comprehend. Every person has a soul with a guardian angel to watch over it. Kind of like a personal bodyguard for your eternal spirit. I stared at him, trying to wrap my mind around what he was saying. He had no soul?
My eyes shot wide as I looked at him, the realization of why this information was pertinent to me becoming clear. “Allister, did you do something to my soul?” I asked slowly, the words coming out in a whisper.
“I’m so sorry…” he started, unable to hold my accusing gaze as his eyes looked to the floor.
“What do you mean, ‘you’re sorry?’ What did you do to my soul? My eternal soul, the only thing that I hoped would bring me to a better place. You brought me back from the dead without a guardian angel, or a soul?”
My voice continued to rise in volume until I screamed the last word.
“I didn’t intend for that to happen,” he defended.
“Then what did you intend to happen?” I flailed wildly as I spoke.
“I really didn’t know what would happen.” He turned from me, walking over to the railing to stare out over the pit, gripping the railing in his hands. “I saw you laying there, your life slipping away, and knew I couldn’t let you go. That I had to try. I had no idea you would turn into an Eternal.”
No. I shook my head as the idea of what Allister said sunk in. No. This wasn’t possible. This wasn’t how it worked. You lived, you died, and your soul went to heaven for an eternity of happiness.
“No,” I said flatly.
Allister looked back to me from the pit, his expression confused. “No?”
“No,” I said shaking my head.
“This isn’t something you can just ignore and it will go away,” Allister said.
“I don’t buy it. What is an Eternal anyway? Why haven’t I ever heard of Eternals before? No, I don’t believe you.”
“Britt, be reasonable…”
“Reasonable? Really?” I shouted. “You tell me this and expect me to just accept your word? Maybe you’re some guy who gets a kick out of freaking people out.”
“How would I have known about the waterfall?” he argued.
“Because I told you at your house. You could be a sick twisted person wanting to drive me insane so you’re throwing it back at me now. My soul is safe and sound right here.” I pointed to my chest. Even as my finger touched my chest, my doubts crept up. Did the dreams come from me being soulless? Somewhere deep down, did I know?
Allister moved closer, causing me to step back. He was beginning to scare me.
“What are you doing?” I threatened.
“I need to convince you I’m telling the truth.” He moved forward, reaching to take hold of my arm.
“Let me go. Are you some kind of frea…?”
The last word never finished as we suddenly stood on the far side of the pit, looking back at the reviewing stand. I panicked and stumbled along the edge of loose, spent taconite tailings and Allister took hold of me, pulling me back from the edge and spinning his back to the pit.
