by Rik Johnston
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I
A DEFENSIVE SHOW OF POWER
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1995
“So much for not attracting The Nightmare.” Tuesday thought to herself. She didn’t know how she was going to get around that. She would have to kill at least two of the attackers to pay for the blood of her and her mother, and she didn’t look forward to that. If she tried to save all the lives, then The Nightmare would come and demand two of his choosing, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing anybody else she knew. What if The Nightmare made her kill Doctor Frederiksen, or Jason? She couldn’t stand the thought of it, so she knew she was going to have to take two of the lives of the mobsters who were coming to kill them.
Faster and faster Tuesday flew, through the dark, reaching speeds she didn’t think she could reach until she reached her front yard. “This isn’t going to be pretty.” Tuesday thought to herself, trying to think of a strategy that she could use to take out The Blackbirds without drawing attention and waking all the neighbors. But then perhaps, maybe what she needed was to make a spectacle of the entire thing, to send a crystal-clear message that her mother was no longer to be messed with. The entire town needed to know that Megan Moxley was no longer a target for their suspicion, their ridicule, or their harassment.
When she reached her house, Tuesday perched herself up on the roof, where she had the high ground. A good vantage point would give her a tactical advantage, to monitor every aspect of the situation, even though The Blackbirds would not be able to see her. Of course, Osprey Vision would give her an edge with seeing the dug in targets, and the best way to nullify them. And while she hadn’t quite planned how to proceed in the defense of her home, she knew that her objective would be to keep all targets out of the house itself, and keep them off balance. Tuesday felt real fear that her mother might be killed or injured in this attack, so priority one for her, was to protect herself at all costs, because if they managed to wake her, she wouldn’t have the power to protect anybody. Priority two was to keep the invaders away from her mother at all costs. Tuesday had to do whatever she could imagine to keep her mother safe. The time for planning ended as the first of the Suburban’s appeared down the road, blocking off the far end of the street.
The second Suburban appeared at the other end of the block, turning in and pulling up to the house, while the third closed off the street where the previous one had come in. Should the plan go awry, there would be no escape.
Tuesday smiled a little, trying to boost her confidence. She was looking forward to the challenge of stopping some really bad guys, and saving her mother’s life. “Time to put on my game face.” Tuesday thought to herself, as she began to think of a variety of defensive measures to protect the house.
Three groups of two men departed from the Suburban in flanking formation, making their way up the drive way to the house. Tuesday spotted them immediately and decided to have some fun with them, by imagining a sprinkler system on the lawn which she used to soak them. Unaware of the presence of the sprinkler heads, the gunmen found themselves unexpectedly being drenched in water. They were not pleased, but they were undeterred in their approach to the house. The first Suburban came up from the far end of the street and began to unload, waiting for orders.
Tuesday decided that she was done playing around as the thought of defending her mother occurred to her. As the first teams made their way to the top of the driveway, the ground began to rumble without warning, so much so that the assailants lost their footing and fell to the ground. Apparently, the entire neighborhood felt the tremor as lights began coming on, and dogs began barking in the distance. As the rumbling continued, several large stones began to rise from the ground creating a solid perimeter around the house, a wall that was nearly impenetrable. As the rocks grew into place and the wall was completely formed around the house, the rumbling and shaking ceased, leaving the aggressors picking themselves off the ground, staring in astonishment.
Osprey Vision snapped into focus, inside the house where Megan was stirring from the shaking that had just occurred outside. Tuesday could not allow her mother to wake her, no matter what. It was imperative that she stayed asleep until these antagonists were neutralized for good. As Megan got up from the bed, her first thought was to go and see if her daughter was alright, so she tried to leave the room.
Tuesday was on it. She thought about the door fused to the door frame, so that it would not open, and by the time Megan arrived at her bedroom door, it was stuck tightly and would not budge. Her Osprey Vision soon snapped back outside for the moment, alerting her to the danger of the third Suburban arriving in front of the house. There were now eighteen men on her front lawn, all with orders to execute her and her mother, trying to discover a way to get around the rocks that were blocking them from getting into the house. One of the men brought out a rocket propelled grenade, and placed it on his shoulder to fire at the rocks.
“That’s gonna wake me up!” Tuesday thought to herself as she watched the goon take aim at the rocks. Tuesday instantly thought about soundproofing her room, to keep the explosion and any other audio interference from waking her. Her bedroom was instantly sealed in a protective cocoon of soundproofing, that would keep her snoozing away until she was ready to wake up. The assassin fired the rocket, which did not escape Tuesday’s attention, transforming it in flight to a water balloon, which splattered harmlessly on the rocks. Tuesday giggled to herself, marveling at the use of her power.
The neighbors were beginning to come outside and see what the commotion was about. Tuesday knew that the neighbors were innocent bystanders in this, so she moved to protect them from The Blackbirds, by turning taking the far side of the street and bending it up sideways at a ninety-degree angle, turning the Suburbans on their sides. The turned road formed a protective barrier between the neighbor’s houses across the street and the mercenaries who were doing their best to get into the Moxley house. The sound of the road bending on its side was deafening to The Blackbirds, but barely audible to the neighbors. Tuesday had designed it that way to keep from alerting any more suspicion to the neighbors, and to cause damage to the invaders.
Megan was still working furiously at her door, doing her best to get it open and check on Tuesday, but it would not shunt in the slightest. She was feeling desperate to get to her daughter and see if she was alright. Like a flash, she flew across the room to her window and threw the curtain open, only to discover there was a large stone directly in front of it, blocking her from going out that way. The stone appeared to go all the way down to the ground, and was as large as the entire house, as well as she could ascertain. Screaming in frustration, Megan began pounding at the wall and began screaming for her daughter. “Tuesday!! Honey, are you alright!!”
“Never better, Mom!” Tuesday replied calmly, Megan hearing her daughter’s voice in her head. “Calm down, I’ve got this.”
Had Megan just imagined her daughter speaking to her? And why were there rocks around the house? And why wouldn’t her door open? Megan let out a roar of frustration, which apparently, The Blackbirds Boss could hear from out by road. Either that, or he had chosen that exact moment to address her.
“Moxley?” The Blackbirds Boss yelled toward the rocks where the house should be. “We’ve got your kid, give us what you owe us, and she can go home.”
Megan froze upon hearing the words come out of his mouth. “How did they get Tuesday?” She wondered, puzzled by the statement.
“Come out, and we will give her to you!” The crime boss reasserted.
“They’re lying, Mom.” Tuesday spoke again inside her mother’s head. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me, and don’t go out there.”
Infuriated by the deception of The Blackbirds, Tuesday squeezed her eyes shut, thinking of the most imaginative way to bring closure to the situation, and quickly.
Suddenly, the sound was sucked out of everything, leaving a deafening silence. The Blac
kbirds looked around, confused, not knowing what to expect next. The next sound they heard was the rustling of the grass and the leaves, followed by the cracking of the asphalt wall behind them. They could hear the rushing of water, and the grumble of the air blowing, tempestuously in every direction. The Blackbirds were ordered to stand their ground, but some of them weren’t having it, too freaked out by that point to carry out the orders they were given.
And just then, it felt as if the whole environment came alive.
II
BLACKBIRDS IN A TREE
Though they could not see her, Tuesday stood atop her vantage point, a calm spot in the center of a mighty cacophony, controlling everything happening below. The pavement from the road, which was still sanding on its side, began to move in toward the front lawn, sending dead, dried leaves as projectiles in the direction of The Blackbirds, cutting across their arms and drawing their blood, which dripped to the ground. As the asphalt wall moved in, it flanked the sides of the yard, enclosing the criminals between the wall and the rocks surrounding the house until they were circled up with the two trees from the yard enclosed with them.
The trees in the yard began to rumble, their limbs whipping and knocking one of the assailants off his feet and onto the ground. The other Blackbirds turned and looked in astonishment, stark looks of horror upon their faces. They began to run in every direction but were trapped inside the wall as the limbs of the trees twisted and moved, creaking and groaning as they pummeled their targets. Mighty roots arose from the ground and twisted themselves around the legs of the trespassers, breaking and snapping their limbs as easily as one would break spaghetti noodles to place in a boiling pot. They needed a clear message, never to come here again, never to mess with Megan Moxley or her freaky kid, and Tuesday was going to deliver that message as strongly as she could.
One of the more defiant Blackbirds began firing his weapon at the tree, which clearly did not please it. A limb from the shot forward toward the accoster and struck the weapon, breaking it into four of five different pieces. The branch moved toward the man, grabbing him around the neck, and ripped his head from his shoulders, and dumping it on the ground. Some of the other Blackbirds took notice of this, and began to flee toward the edges of the wall with as much speed as they could muster, but there was no escape as the grass rippled in the opposite direction they were trying to escape, sending them back toward the trees. The Blackbird Boss stood insolently against the onslaught of the trees, firing his weapon at them and shouting obscenities. A root snaked its way underground toward the unsuspecting crime boss, shooting up from the ground and wrapping itself around his legs, dropping him down instantly as it pulled him toward the tree. One of the branches from the tree arrowed down toward him, wrapping itself around his torso, cleaving his body from his legs. The branch then discarded the upper half of the boss’ body into a group of Blackbirds taking refuge near the rocks at the house, filling them with dread. It was all over in less than a minute and had occurred so quickly that most of The Blackbirds were caught off guard. Apart from the dead, the remainder of them had been wrapped up by the limbs and branches, and picked up from the ground to await the arrival of the authorities.
III
THE ARRIVAL OF CADENCE FALLS’ FINEST
It wasn’t long before sirens were heard in the distance. The Cadence Falls Police Department was coming to investigate what was going on. Tuesday could hear them coming, as so she concentrated hard and put everything back in order. The rocks around the house subsided into the ground, the road went back to the way it was, and Megan’s door unstuck itself. The only things she left out of place were the three Suburbans sitting on their sides in the front yard, and The Blackbirds, who were tied up in the trees.
As soon as Megan’s door came free, it popped open, and she ran to check on Tuesday, who was still asleep in her room. She woke her daughter up, and the two of them went outside to see an incredible sight. The trees on their front lawn were filled with men. Men who were apparently unable to free themselves from those trees.
A moment later, the Cadence Falls Police arrived, their blue and red lights cutting an uncomfortable swath in the darkness. One of the first to leave his car was Douglas Downe, who was more interested in Megan’s well-being than the random sight of humans who were tied up in a tree. He rushed up to her, checking her condition, hoping that she was unharmed.
“Megan, are you alright?” Douglas Downe asked her, clearly afraid for her. “Is everything okay?”
Megan could see the concern on his face, she could tell that he was absolutely terrified of what had happened, and was thankful for her safety. This was a side of him she had never witnessed before, and she kind of liked it. “Yeah.” She replied, trying to lower her defenses just a little bit. “I’m good. We’re good.”
“Girl, you can’t scare me like that!” Douglas said, walking up to and wrapping his arms around her.
Megan was genuinely and appreciatively thankful for him, and wanted to show it. “I’m sorry Doug.” She said, changing her voice to a much softer tone. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Megan stood up to her tippy toes, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you!”
As the other officers arrived on the scene and tried to figure out how to get The Blackbirds out of the tree, Doug pulled Megan aside to take a statement from her. She didn’t really know anything about what had happened other than there were giant stones around the house, that the boss had tried to bluff her, and that she was locked in her room. The whole thing seemed quite unbelievable to Douglas Downe, who kept going back over it with her to see if he missed anything. He asked Tuesday if she wanted to make a statement, and all she had offered him was that she had been asleep the entire time.
The neighbors were much more forthcoming with their statements, talking about the road turning on its side, and large rocks and trees attacking henchmen. The statements from the witnesses had all sounded like something from a fantasy novel, and the police knew they couldn’t use those reports.
Then there was the matter of the two dead Blackbirds. Despite the word of several witnesses who had seen the entire ordeal from their upper bedroom windows it was problematic for the police chief to accept the truth that The Blackbirds were cloven apart by a tree. The whole thing was too farfetched to comprehend.
It wasn’t long before the fire department arrived and pulled up onto the lawn and began removing The Blackbirds from the trees, one at a time. Strangely, when The Blackbirds had tried to fight their way out of the limbs, they wouldn’t budge, but when the firefighters touched the branches, they released their grip on the criminals as if they were surrendering their prey to another authority, who were then cuffed and put into the police cars.
After the last of the statements had been taken, and the last of The Blackbirds had been released from the tree and taken into custody, Megan walked up to the spot where Douglas Downe was looking over the crime scene one last time, trying to make sense of everything that had transpired.
“I was thinking.” Megan began with some nervousness in her voice that she had never known in the past. “I’ve been thinking that I’ve been so unfair to you.” It was true. All Douglas Downe had ever been to her was nice and supportive, and she had thanked him by breaking the law, using him and discarding him when she was done having her fun with him. She suddenly had an awakening, realizing how wrong she had been, and knew that she needed to make amends with the only man who had faith that she could find the strength change all along.
“Don’t worry yourself about it.” Doug replied, turning to look at her. “It’s in the past, so forget about it.”
“No.” Megan said, shaking her head. “You’ve been so good to me, and I’ve been a spoiled rotten child.”
“If you say so.” Doug said, teasing her and trying to lighten the mood. The two of them laughed for a quick moment.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.” Megan told h
im, looking directly into his big, brown eyes. “And if you want to, I’d like to give us an honest chance.” Megan couldn’t believe that she found herself asking for this moment, she certainly didn’t deserve another round with him, and she knew it.
“I’d like that.” Doug replied, a slow smile stretching across his face. “How about lunch in a day or two?” Megan felt a swell of happiness inside her that she wasn’t aware existed upon hearing the words of the police officer. She knew that if she was going to truly clean up her life, she would need a good support system. It seemed to her that Douglas Downe and her daughter Tuesday would make an excellent foundation for the support system she was looking for. It was time to use Doug in a positive way than all the negative ways she had in the past.
“Yes!” Megan responded enthusiastically. “Just so long as we don’t go to Tuck’s Diner.” The last thing Megan wanted was to have a date at her place of employment and have to suffer all the teasing that came with that.
“Deal.” Doug said, with a slight smile forming. “I’ve got to get back to work, I’ll call you later, okay?”
Tuesday sat off to the side, just admiring an exceptional beautiful moment, and wished that all moments could be this moment. Megan had turned away from Douglas Downe and began walking over to Tuesday, trying to process everything that had happened over the course of the last several hours.
“Tuesday, are you alright, sweetheart?” Megan asked, leaning down next to where Tuesday had been sitting on the front porch. She extended her arms to hold her daughter close to her, thankful that they had come through this ordeal without so much as a scratch.
“Yeah Mom, I’m fine.” Tuesday confessed, trying to be dismissive of the set of supernatural events they had just gone through. “I slept through everything.”
But that wasn’t what Megan was talking about, and it dawned on Tuesday that her mother had been looking for other answers. “Look, about last night. . .” Megan began, earnestly. She never got the chance to finish as Tuesday cut her off in mid-sentence.
“It’s okay, Mom.” Tuesday replied, trying to explain her feelings as best as she could. “I’m not angry with you at all, I’m just a little disappointed, that’s all.”
Megan immediately became worried that she had failed her daughter on some monumental level that she couldn’t have foreseen or understood. “You’re disappointed in me?” She asked, her lip quivering a little bit in anticipation of the sting of the answer she was expecting to receive.
“No Mom, I’m not disappointed in you at all.” Tuesday admitted, realizing that her words were primed to do some damage if not correctly chosen. “In fact, I couldn’t be more proud of you these last few weeks.” It was true, the change in her mother had been like night and day, and Tuesday was beginning to have the kind of relationship with her mother she had always dreamed of. Instead of disconnected and intoxicated, her mother was interested in her, and focused, and above all, attentive to her needs. But perhaps the most important thing of all was that she could feel the love from her mother for the first time since she could remember.
“I was so excited to find out who my father was, you know?” Tuesday continued, offering up a clarification for her disenchantment of the situation. “I’ve always dreamed of meeting him, since I was a little girl. It was a shock to find out that you don’t even know who he was. It’s not like you want to take any of those guys on Maury Povich or anything like that, I don’t blame you.”
Megan was quick to reply, looking for something that she had never asked for before. “I was hoping that you could find forgiveness in your heart, for the problems that I’ve caused you.” She seemed truthfully remorseful over everything that her daughter had been through, from her neglect of her, to the dangers she had put her through, including her nightmares. Throughout her life, Megan hadn’t known forgiveness. She certainly didn’t offer forgiveness, and had never been forgiven for anything significant. She had contemplated the scope and reach of the damage she had done to others, and the thought was a sobering reminder that no life needed a newer trajectory more than hers did.
“Oh Mom, there’s nothing to forgive.” Tuesday said, her eyes welling up with tears as she found herself unconsciously reaching her arms around her mother. “It’s all in the past, and it’s something we can’t change.’
The two of them sat together on the porch sharing their morning together, until it was time for Tuesday to get ready for school. Tuesday couldn’t remember a time of her life that was better than that morning had been, and it was a memory that she would cherish for the rest of her life.
ACT III
CONQUERING THE FEAR
