by Mark Boliek
Chapter 8
“‘You little worm!’ Kali yelled at Michael, who threw up his hands to shield his face in case the fuming young lady beside him decided to strike again, this time with her fists.”
I reminded the children who sat by the fire in the great hall of Warhead Dale that I had to watch my language when I spoke to them. I also reminded them, in case they had forgotten, that JT, Michael, and Kali were in their early twenties and used adult language. I didn’t want to use that language here because I really wanted their parents to let them continue listening to my story. I also said that the word “worm” could be replaced with whatever description they chose.
The lights suddenly flickered in the renovated mansion and then popped back on. My grandson came running, almost skipping, into the great hall with a large grin on his face. He beamed with a sense of accomplishment. To our astonishment, however, the children and even their parents in the room mumbled. The whispers reached a crescendo and I heard them state that they actually preferred the lights off. My grandson, feeling on top of the world one second, looked dejected the next. He hung his head, but only for a second. As soon as he was about to shut the back lights off, a loud boom of thunder cracked through the stormy sky. The lights wavered and then snapped off once again. Silence raced through the great hall. A few seconds passed, but then a colossal cheer echoed through the house as the warm flames from the fire filled the chamber and cast their dancing shadows upon the walls.
My grandson’s cell phone chirped, and he went into an adjacent corridor. After a few minutes and more silence, he came back to the fire’s glow and told the group that the roads leading out of Warhead Dale and some of the streets in town had begun to flood due to the storm. He said that the reports on the radio warned of large tree branches and other debris blocking roadways along with the deep standing water.
The group rumbled. Most of the chatter came from the grown-ups, who discussed whether they should take their children home immediately in the bad weather. I saw the children become restless and then slowly turn back to me. “Please keep telling the story,” a sandy blonde-haired boy spoke up and the grown-ups became silent. The rest of the children agreed with enthusiasm.
When the lights had come back on just before my grandson’s phone call, I was about to suggest that we continue the story tomorrow. Now, I settled back into my black leather chair because it looked as though we might be stranded for a while. With the streets closed and the storm continuing to ferment, I looked out at the children with their eyes begging for me to go on with JT, Michael, and Kali. Before their parents could object, I began again.
“‘What in the world have you done you little, creep!’ Kali screamed at Michael. She picked up the crumbled pie from the plate with the letter still buried in it and threw it at him. The pie just nicked his glasses and knocked them crooked on his face.
‘Nice to see you, Kali.’ Michael fumbled with his glasses and straightened them as well as he could. His quavering nerves after the encounter with Kali made it impossible for him to recover completely, and his glasses remained slightly off center. ‘Good way to start after two years. Aren’t you even going to say hello?’ Michael reached around quickly and twisted his body back toward the counter, hoping his back would give him added protection against any further altercations or inbound food from Kali.
JT tried to hold back a laugh as the interaction between Michael and Kali became more animated. It seemed funny to him, though the two participants didn’t seem to think so.
As JT volleyed his head between the bickering, he caught the blazing sapphire eyes of Kali. He almost fell inside them. Michael had mentioned during their ride to Athens Eden that Kali was pretty, but even as the young woman grimaced, ready to pounce on Michael, ‘pretty’ was a brazen understatement.
Her short, auburn hair that fell just above her shoulders was cut into a bobbed hairdo. Her nose was quite normal and fit her face perfectly, and her complexion was as smooth as porcelain. She wore a pewter green, V-necked sweater with a white T-shirt underneath; a pair of snug jeans and sandals completed her outfit.
JT felt his body tighten as he stared at her. She flipped her hair through the air as she lashed out at Michael again, and as JT caught the whiff of lavender, a tingle shot through his legs. He seriously began to think that he might have feelings for this girl. Even though he understood that he must have known her in the past, he still couldn’t remember her. The bond he felt toward her was very strange, and it was one he hoped to explore.
‘And you!’ the irritated Kali snapped toward JT and punched him in the shoulder with her index finger. ‘You actually let this little monkey talk you into coming back here?! Are you crazy?!’ She crossed her arms and let out a prolonged sigh.
‘Well - I, I...’ JT sputtered. He started to feel slightly more frightened of Kali than he had been of Billy when he first saw the enormous red eyes bearing down on him in his dream.
‘You know he can’t remem-,’ Michael started, trying to remind yet another person of JT’s condition. Again, he could not express a complete thought.
‘I know he can’t remember anything. But I can!’ She turned quickly toward Michael bowing her chest and clenching her fist as if she wanted to hit him. Linda pursed her lips together and shook her head at Michael.
‘And what about the big, bad Billy? How did that monster get out of his cage? I just don’t believe this. I thought it was over. I thought we were done with all of that. It was fun at first, but nooo - here we go again.’ Kali brushed the hair from her eyes. ‘And then all the other times, Michael - I swear!’ Kali flopped on the stool beside JT. Linda slid a piece of pie and a soda in front of her without batting an eye. The slightly smug glance she shot toward Michael and JT made it obvious that she agreed with Kali. Michael, sitting on the other side of JT, squeezed closer to him in an effort to use his body as a shield in case Kali decided to throw pie rockets at him again.
JT panned around the diner as Kali was finishing her tantrum. Like before, he noticed the diners scoffing and shaking their heads as the young lady wailed at Michael. He even observed one customer get up and walk out without paying. The direct animosity the townspeople projected toward the three was palpable.
Kali stabbed a piece of pie with her fork and started to talk, punching it towards JT and Michael. The two blinked with every sharp motion of the utensil, expecting the pie to fly off the end and hit them in the eye. ‘I don’t know how you did it.’ Kali shook her head and snatched the pie from her fork with her mouth. ‘I had no plans to come back to this…’ Kali swallowed, whirled around on her stool, and screamed out to the patrons in the diner, not caring who heard her or how they took her announcement, ‘WRETCHED PLACE!’
The diner rumbled and Kali swiveled back, facing the counter and Linda. ‘I should have burned that letter and took my chances with Billy on the outside instead of coming here… going back into that house; into Bruinduer.’
‘Look, I didn’t know Billy would figure a way out.’ Michael began to pout, his chin buried in his chest. ‘I knew you would think this was like before.’
Linda crossed her arms. She noticed the patrons becoming more and more uneasy as their argument grew louder. She motioned to Kali with a quick nod of her head toward the front door of the diner. She wanted them to take their discussion outside. Linda was running a business, and even though she sympathized with Michael, JT and Kali, the manager in her still wanted to provide good customer service. Kali agreed with a quick nod back and the three gathered outside around Michael’s car.
Without hesitation, Kali lit into Michael again. ‘I wasn’t coming here! I swore I would never come back to help you after the last time! All these crazy people in this crackpot place!’ Kali plunged her heel into the ground with every syllable. ‘That is, until I got a visit from that monster last night! What did you do?! You better be glad I love Linda so much!’ Kali pushed Michael, kicked a few rocks toward him, and then lifted her rear onto the trunk of the car.
> ‘I just knew you thought it was going to be like last time.’ Michael’s voice was low and begging. ‘But to tell you the truth, I’m glad he came to you in your dream last night!’ Michael looked away shamefacedly.
‘GLAD?!’ Kali shook her head. ‘GLAD?!’ her voice cracked.
JT could almost see smoke coming out of her ears from anger. He thought his temper was bad, but it was miniscule compared to the temper Kali was displaying. JT had an idea quickly pop into his mind like the beam from a distant lighthouse on the darkest night. Michael may have had a hand in Billy visiting Kali.
‘Look, Billy said he needed all of us to go back,’ Michael said hesitantly, with a calm tone in his voice primed for Kali to explode.
‘SO YOU DID HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT MONSTER COMING TO SEE ME! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!’ Kali slammed her foot on the back bumper of the car and a thick piece of rust fell to the ground. ‘OH NO - WAIT! I CAN BELIEVE IT!’ Kali hung her head and looked as though she were going to cry. The little energy she had left oozed from her body. She began to mumble to herself, looking up to the sky. ‘I really thought you were going to change Michael. All those get rich quick schemes you used to write me about. A sure thing you’d say. What, two years ago it was the ostrich farm? I just don’t believe this.
‘I thought you sent this last letter because you were mad that I ignored the last one. Since we couldn’t find JT all those years, I swore I’d keep in contact with you, but after that stupid letter about the ostrich farm, I’d had enough. I was just going to ignore you again... that is until Billy came screaming at me last night.’
JT had no idea what was going on. His thoughts were racing again. All of the confusion and questions that he had kept pinned deep inside of him erupted. ‘Look, I wish I knew what you guys were talking about! This is starting to tick me off! Round and round, no straight answers, real or not!! I know I don’t remember anything, but I wish I could. I think I deserve to know what’s going on.’ JT slammed the tip of his cane on the ground and flopped his body against the side of the big blue car. The serious look on his face masked the fear gripping his insides.
Kali slid off the trunk of the car, looked at the cane and then to JT. She set aside the anger she felt toward Michael momentarily and regained her composure. ‘He didn’t tell you, did he?’ She turned her back away from Michael and JT and faced the diner, a blank look on her face. The breeze delicately danced through her hair. ‘You are so lucky not to be able to remember anything.’ She looked down toward the gravel lot and brushed the pebbles with her foot. ‘Well, if you want to know. You just have no idea.’ Kali smirked and whirled back around.
‘Tell me what?’ JT garnered a look of confusion, one that he had mastered in the last few days.
Michael shrank behind the car and Kali, noticing the skinny man cower, called him out. ‘Oh, no - you come out here.’ Michael shrunk and tiptoed beside JT.
‘Have you even noticed anything going on around here, JT?’ Kali continued. ‘I mean, I know you can’t remember anything, but surely you can see how the people around this town are acting toward you. You know, they aren’t acting crazy. It’s not like, “POOF” they are suddenly mad at you. I’m not angry at Michael because he’s a dupe and can’t find a job or tries in vain to promote his silly little get rich quick schemes. It’s much deeper than that.’ Kali glanced over her shoulder as a patron walked out of the diner; the little, old lady shook her head and snorted at her. ‘They’re all insane! These stupid hicks! Can’t leave anything alone. Gotta stick their nose into places it doesn’t belong. Even after nine years!’ Kali barked in the direction of the woman.
‘How dare you,’ the woman bellowed back at Kali, turning her nose in the air, and grunting one more time. She picked up her pace.
‘How dare me? How about, how dare you?’ Kali raised her arm and gestured to the fat little lady in a most unladylike manner. She then turned to JT. ‘You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed the utter hatred they have for us.’
The plump, little, old lady opened her car door and threw her pocketbook onto the back seat. She revved the engine and peeled out of the parking lot.
JT then remembered the people at the bank. He thought about the strange looks the man in the blue tie gave him and the lady rushing off with a young child as she caught his glance. He then recalled the people in the diner who avoided eye contact and the confrontation Linda had with the man at the cash register.
‘I thought they were looking at me because of my cane, or maybe because they just never saw someone new or something, but now that you mention it, I remember that they weren’t very nice looks. So what’s this all about?’
‘Tell him Michael - you ungrateful, greasy, nasty, little blob. Tell him why we aren’t even wanted in our own hometown.’
Michael looked at JT as though he had been punched in the gut. He then reluctantly turned to Kali. ‘Charlie,’ he muttered. His head dropped.
‘That’s amazing!’ Kali interrupted. ‘Wow! He finally got something right!’ Kali crossed her arms and with a quick flick of her foot, launched a few rocks at Michael. ‘Charlie Blackburn; also known as the “Incident”.’ Kali began to pace back and forth. She shook her head and muttered under her breath as though she were debating with herself about whether or not to continue. She stood still, took a deep breath and like little Willy and Michael, began her own tale. The mention of Charlie’s name registered in JT’s mind. He seemed to remember Michael mentioning a Charlie at the farm under Gregory’s old oak tree.
‘I don’t know how I started going through that door with you guys. I don’t know why I even hung out with you two clowns at all. You were just so stupid. But I guess I got caught up in all the magic that was going on. The adventure of a lifetime, you’d say. The adventure of Bruinduer.’ Kali spit on the ground. Her hostility amplified.
‘Charlie Blackburn was a sweet kid. He was cute, but he was a little weasel. He always talked about how much he liked everyone and their family when he was around a crowd, but then if you were alone with him, he would talk down about the same people he just told you he liked. He was a master at manipulating this little fool.’ Kali motioned to Michael with her head, lips pursed.
‘He moved into Michael’s and my neighborhood only four months before the “Incident” but made friends very quickly and easily. I guess that’s a credit to his slimy weaselness. He talked Michael, you, and me into letting him into our little circle. Then he talked us into letting him go through the door with us. He just couldn’t go by the rules. Heck, we could barely go by Billy’s idiotic rules ourselves. That monster always had no problem spouting them out. “Rule number one: blah, blah, blah. Rule number two: blah, blah, blah....” No, Charlie had to go and fight with that army he got Michael to conjure up and he got himself killed.’ Kali paused for a brief second and sighed, ‘I guess Charlie didn’t take the rules seriously either -- especially rule number five: If you bleed in Bruinduer, you bleed.’
I mean, we knew if you got hurt after you walked through the door, you really got hurt. It wasn’t a game. That’s why you don’t conjure up war.’ Kali lifted her jeans leg and revealed a pink scar that started by her heel and ended halfway up her calf. By the way she looked back up at JT, with eyes ready to release a flood of tears, he could tell that it was a cavernous cut that had never healed completely.
‘Among the three of us, I’m the only one that got sliced up that day in the war. Poor Charlie didn’t even make it. It was too late. Bruinduer was about to collapse around us. Billy opened the door somehow just in time and we never got Charlie out of there. He died in that place; there in that awfully hot sand.’ Kali shook her head as though she was trying to empty herself of the memory, but the memories grew worse, one after the other. ‘Why is Billy so mad NOW? He was always crazy, but I don’t get it.’ Kali wilted back onto the trunk of the car.
Michael scanned the ground, careful not to glance in Kali’s direction.
‘Why didn’t you say anythin
g, Michael?’ JT asked, never expecting this. The comfort he had felt toward Michael turned to disappointment and he became even more frustrated.
‘It’s all a game to him - the little fool,’ Kali answered, ignoring Michael’s presence.
‘You wouldn’t have come here if I’d told you,’ Michael whimpered as his eyes stayed focused on the rocky parking lot.
‘What about Charlie? I mean he died. Did you tell anyone?’ JT asked.
‘Of course we told people, JT,’ Michael answered, picking his head up. His eyes widened. ‘We tried to tell people. They didn’t believe us. I even showed them this.’
Michael pulled a gold watch out of his pocket. Its luster was gone and the faceplate was cracked. A blood stain crusted the wristband. ‘They told us we were crazy.’ He fiddled with the watch between his fingers and rubbed the cracked faceplate with his thumb. ‘They even went into Warhead Dale. Nothing. Then the theories started after that. Some thought we were trying to cover up that he actually fell off the rocks around the house and drowned in the ocean. Rumors also surfaced that he didn’t fall off the rocks but that we pushed him.’
‘What? We? There is no “we” in this!’ Kali shot back. ‘You’re the one that still carries around that watch. For goodness sake put that thing away.’ Kali turned to JT pointing at Michael. ‘They thought he did it.’ Kali crossed her arms and bobbed her head up and down. ‘Little Mikey was jealous because in his mind everyone liked Charlie better. The sheriff even opened a case against him and wanted a trial. The only reason he’s standing here is because they never found a trace of Charlie. Our families were the only ones that gave a flying rat about him. ‘If you ever cared about me...?’ He wrote in his letter. Ha! We were basically forced to leave Athens Eden after all of the mess surrounding Charlie and little Mikey. My dad even resigned his position - they said on account of compensatory reasons. Yeah right! It was because he cared about this little squib and actually stood up for him.’ Kali’s temper rose again, her voice wavered and she held back tears. ‘My dad decided to pick up our family and leave. The stress and feelings of being rejected in his home after Michael’s trial eventually led him to lose his mind. He felt he couldn’t do anything right and he felt he let all of us down, including Michael.’ Kali breathed deeply. The memories were now taking their toll on her, but she continued.
‘I still have no idea how Linda stayed in this miserable place. I’ll never understand that. She’s a lot stronger than we are. Everything - the trial, Charlie, the speculation - all destroyed us. Somehow she just kept it together.
On top of all that JT, your mom dies.’ Kali looked up and grit her teeth with frustration.
Kali pointed at Michael, ‘I can’t believe I even kept up with the little worm.’ She swallowed. ‘And what’s so funny, JT, is that he knows all of this, and after all that pain, he still doesn’t care.’
‘Of course I care,’ Michael squeaked, his voice cracking. He then mumbled under his breath. ‘You guys are the only ones that ever cared for me. I gotta make this right. I gotta make this right.’ The lump in his throat was palpable. His hands were wet with sweat.”
“Michael thought about Charlie as he slumped back up against the big, blue car. Kali sat on the trunk shaking her head, her eyes gazing off at the fading afternoon sky. JT stood to the right of Michael, gripping the skull and crossbones handle of the black cane with a glazed over stare.
It was true that Michael wanted to forget about the whole incident. He saw Charlie lying on the hard desert sand in Bruinduer, not moving. He remembered the sudden feeling of emptiness as JT grabbed for him during the commotion that happened around him. He desperately reached for Charlie and was only able to snatch the watch from his still-warm hand that was painted with blood. He lifted and studied the watch he held in the fading rays of sun; the golden body, rusty blood stains, and the wristband. He had reviewed the image so many times since that day in Bruinduer, trying to think of how he could have changed the outcome of that wretched moment. Was there something that he missed?
The hands of the watch never moved. Through the cracked face, it was as if time had stood still since that day. It read 3:16. He took it to a watch shop one random afternoon to see if a watchmaker could get it to work again, but it was beyond repair. Michael kept it to remember Charlie. He felt it was the proper thing to do.
Kali’s right, Michael thought to himself. He twirled the watch on his finger and then stuffed it into his front pocket. ‘What am I doing here? I’ve lost control of myself. Why do I have to even be here? Why should I have to go back through the Mahogany Door to show that I have any will power? Am I trying to fulfill some kind of destiny? What destiny? Yeah right.’ He shook his head and stared at JT and Kali. Kali rolled her eyes at him and huffed. JT continued his long, vacant stare. ‘I brought them here - and for what - me?’ Michael, still not uttering a word aloud, opened the driver side door of the car. He climbed into the seat and gripped the steering wheel; his knuckles turned bleached white.
He remembered what Kali had said about him being jealous of Charlie. He guessed it was true. How could Billy have liked him more? Michael threw his head back to the seat cushion. What does he know anyway? That monster always hated me.
JT and Kali walked over to Michael, who opened his window.
‘So what do you want to do?’ JT asked, still unable to grasp all of what was happening. His head was dizzy from the thoughts that rummaged through his brain.
‘I don’t know. What do you guys want to do? I really just feel like going away. It might have been a bad decision coming back here and bringing you guys,’ Michael replied as another patron from Linda’s diner walked by shaking his head toward the three young people. ‘This is too much.’
‘Fine,’ Kali growled. ‘I still don’t have a clue as to why I came back to this stupid place anyway.’ She walked to her car, a sporty little silver sedan, but as soon as she put her hand on the handle and pulled, she stopped. She looked to her left and then to her right, snapped the door handle back, and flung her pocketbook over her shoulder. She then twisted around and marched back to the old blue car gesturing angrily with her hands.
JT sat in the passenger’s seat of the old rusted car and was talking to Michael. ‘Well, I still think I want to go to my granddad’s house. No hurry now. Since you want to leave and all, you can take me tomorrow if you don’t mind. You can just leave me there if you want.’ Uncertainty hung from JT’s words. Michael had dragged him to Athens Eden on a wild idea to chase some mystical destiny. Only now, he found out, someone had died in his grandfather’s house. Though he couldn’t remember, he still felt some bit of responsibility. What else had Michael not told him? What else was he lying about? The simple life he had led on the farm seemed so far away. His innocence deflated. Kali, though rough with her retort, was right. It may not have been so bad that he couldn’t remember what happened.
Kali opened the driver’s door and stood with her leg cocked and her arms crossed, tapping her foot. JT and Michael, stunned by her presence, leapt from the car.
‘What are you doing back here?’ Michael asked. His face betrayed his astonishment but he kept his guard up. He wondered if Kali was going to barrage him with punches for a few last parting shots. ‘I thought you were leaving.’
‘I hoped I was, but I gotta go with you, you stupid idiot!’ Kali stated brashly to Michael and then looked at JT with a sense of worry. ‘There’s just no way I can go back home yet.’ She cleared her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘I said I’d rather take my chances out here than go back into Bruinduer, but then I thought about Billy - and came back to my wits.’
JT and Michael looked at each other over the faded-out canvas roof of the car, surprised and dumbfounded. The whole time they sat there and discussed Charlie and what had happened in Bruinduer, they had forgotten about the real reason they were called to Athens Eden.
Michael and JT nodded their heads in unison. They were, as Kali stated so simply, stupid idiots. Did th
ey really think they were just going to go away from Athens Eden and Warhead Dale and live their normal lives and not experience retaliation from him? Why had they not thought about that minor consequence? Surely if they left right then, the rest of their nights would be sleepless. How could they have forgotten about the angry brute that had haunted Michael for so long and now set his sights on JT and Kali?
The three travelers to that sleepy little town they used to call home, where all of the residents now seemed to loathe them (except for Linda of course), were not going to get off that easily. No, they weren’t going to be able to run from their destiny this time.
Michael, JT, and Kali looked at each other with wiped, flushed faces. Only one word came to their mind that would make them go back to Warhead Dale and vanquish any thought of running away. The one word that haunted them in their dreams, the one word that would never let them sleep again if they left Athens Eden without going back to ‘Ol Captain Luke’s house -- Billy.”
