Children of Eternity Omnibus

by P. T. Dilloway

  “Who?”

  “Your sister. The fat one.”

  “She’s not my sister!”

  “You could have fooled me the way you two been acting.”

  Wendell bristled at this thought. How could anyone think he was related to Prudence? They didn’t bear any resemblance in looks and definitely not personality. “She’s not anything to me,” Wendell said. “Just a stupid fat girl.”

  After Wendell climbed into the automobile, Mr. Pryde lit another cigarette and shook his head again. “You ought not talk about her like that, even if she ain’t your sister. Because she’s heavy ain’t no excuse to look down on her.”

  “Why not? She can’t do anything but sew clothes.”

  “Nothing wrong with that. People need clothes.”

  Wendell said nothing. Mr. Pryde didn’t know anything. He’d only known Prudence for a couple days. He didn’t have any right to judge anyone, especially Wendell.

  Prudence chugged down the hill, her legs wobbling as she neared the base. She dropped into the snow at the bottom, unable to go any farther. She watched her stomach heave beneath her jacket with every breath. So many times she wished she could sink her hands into the fat and peel it away like crust from a piece of bread. A stupid fat girl, that’s all I am, she thought. That’s why Samantha had left her here with nasty little Wendell, who delighted in tormenting her.

  She heard snow crunching and then saw a hand in front of her face. “Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Mr. Pryde said. Prudence batted his hand away.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here.”

  “You can either get up or I’ll drag you back to the car myself. Your choice.” Given the alternatives, Prudence decided to take Mr. Pryde’s hand. He grunted as he strained to pry her out of the snow. She started to cry again at the sound.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find your cousin,” Mr. Pryde said.

  “It’s not that. I’m tired of this.” She flapped her stomach with both hands.

  “Ain’t nothing to be ashamed about. God makes us in all different shapes and sizes.”

  “Why did He make me like this? It’s not fair.”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s a good reason.” He ushered Prudence into the truck’s cab to squeeze in beside Wendell. She tried to put the seatbelt on, but it wouldn’t stretch far enough. She waited for Wendell to make a snide comment, but he only stared straight ahead through the windshield. “There ain’t too many places for them to have gone,” Mr. Pryde said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find them.”

  Prudence nodded, although she knew it didn’t matter. Samantha was lost to them and with her, any hope for the children in Eternity.

  Chapter 22: Hide and Seek

  At first Molly thought the noise she heard must be part of a dream, but then it continued after she opened her eyes. Someone banged on the front door, trying to get in. A monster? She rolled under the bed, taking the blanket with her to cover her face. “Veronica?” she called out. “Mama Veronica?”

  Where had Veronica gone? Molly couldn’t see her anywhere. The fire in the hearth had gone out. Other than two cans of tomato soup left on the floor, she didn’t see any sign of Veronica’s presence. She left me, Molly thought.

  The banging continued, followed now by muffled voices. It wouldn’t be much longer until the monsters outside found their way in to devour Molly. She thought back to her dream, remembering the door in the floor Becky had opened. Molly shook off the blanket and crawled out from under the bed to find the door in the same place as her dream.

  She opened the door and scurried down the dark steps into the cellar. All around her she found clothes of different colors and styles, most of them grownup clothes.

  A sound like thunder rumbled over her head. The monsters had finally gotten through the door! Molly ran through the cellar, looking for a way out, but found only another room with an empty safe. She was trapped.

  She heard footsteps from upstairs and more muffled voices. Maybe they would leave without finding her. To her horror, the door in the floor creaked open and heavy footsteps descended the stairs. Molly searched about the room for somewhere to hide. The safe! No one would find her in there. She scampered over to the safe, yanking out the empty shelves so she had enough room to squeeze inside. She pulled the door shut, blotting out any sound except for that of her own breathing.

  The inside of the safe was so warm that she began to sweat and the air so stale that she gagged. Sweat dripped into her eyes, but she didn’t have enough room to wipe it away. Bile rose in her throat and her stomach rumbled. How long would she have to stay in here before the monsters left?

  What seemed like an eternity passed inside the safe. Molly’s breathing turned shallow and dark spots obscured her vision. She imagined herself emerging from the box years later as an old woman like Veronica, her hair gray and skin always wrinkled like she’d just taken a long bath. The thought of this made her laugh and cry at the same time.

  She could barely keep her eyes open when the door flew open and a pair of chubby arms reached in to grab her. Molly didn’t have the strength to fight back. The arms yanked her out of the safe and laid her out on the floor. They’re going to eat me now, she thought without concern.

  “Molly, oh thank God! You had me so worried. Are you all right? Answer me, sweetie, please,” Becky said. As in her dream, Molly reached out to touch Becky’s nose. Becky took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “That’s right, sweetie, I’m here. I’m going to take care of you.”

  Becky held out a leather flask, filling its cap with strange, glowing water. She eased the cap towards Molly’s mouth. “Here, drink this and you’ll feel all better. Come on, sweetie, you can do it. Open your mouth a little bit.” From the way Becky talked, Molly thought her dream must have come true and that somehow in the safe she must have shrunk into a baby. She tried to say something, but no sounds would come out. “That’s a good girl.”

  Becky poured the capful of glowing water down Molly’s throat. A warm feeling ran through her body, filling her with strength. She sat up and croaked, “What are you doing here?”

  “I thought you might have found your way here.” Becky hugged Molly to her chest and only then did Molly realize Becky was crying. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you in that safe? You could have suffocated.”

  “I’m fine,” Molly said.

  “I was so worried. I thought you were dead.” Becky held Molly out at arm’s length to add, “You’re never, ever to do anything like that again. Do you understand?”

  “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not my mother.” Becky slapped her across the face hard enough to snap Molly’s head to the left. Molly stared back at Becky in shock, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Becky hadn’t ever hit her.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have done that.” She kissed Molly on the cheek and hugged her again. “Now let’s go home and clean you up.”

  “I don’t want to go home with you. I want to stay here with Veronica,” Molly said.

  “Who?”

  “Veronica. She’s my friend and she’s much nicer than you.”

  “I see. And what does Veronica look like?”

  “She’s an old lady, much older even than Samantha. She has gray hair and brown skin and pretty gray eyes.”

  “I’m sure she’s very nice. Where is she now? Is she in the room with us right now?”

  “No. I’m not sure where she is.”

  “When we get back home you can tell me all about her.” Becky helped Molly off the floor and put an arm around her shoulders. “Then we’ll have a long talk about everything.”

  Upstairs, Molly found Uncle David waiting for them. “You found the little brat.” He reached down to his belt. “Becky, go outside and I’ll teach this one some respect.”

  Becky interposed herself between Molly and Uncle David. “No, David. She’s been through enough already.”

  “You spoil this girl to
o much, that’s why she’s such a little monster. She needs some discipline.”

  “Beating her isn’t going to help anything. Let’s go.” Becky pulled Molly close, keeping her on the other side of Uncle David. He glared down at Molly, his fists clenching.

  Along the way, Molly kept looking back for any sign of Veronica. Once she thought she saw movement in the trees, but it turned out to be a deer. She doesn’t care about me, Molly thought. She hates me. All that time Veronica had only been waiting for Molly to get better to leave her.

  They reached Eternity by nightfall, by which time Molly’s legs had gone to sleep from sitting too long on Becky’s shoulders. Becky set her down on the front step and then turned to Uncle David. “Thanks for helping me find her,” she said.

  “Are you two going to be all right?”

  “We’ll be fine now.”

  “I’ll go look in on the kids then. Goodnight.” To Molly’s surprise, Uncle David leaned down to kiss Becky on the lips as Molly had seen John and Helena doing in the pantry cellar.

  When Becky turned around, Molly saw her cheeks had turned bright red. “Let’s go inside and I’ll warm up some water for a bath,” Becky said.

  “Are you and Uncle David—”

  “That’s none of your business, young lady. Come on now.” Becky led Molly inside the cottage and had her take off her dirty clothes. As they waited for water to boil, Becky went into the kitchen to fetch a stale loaf of bread and some watery gravy. Molly refused to take any. “This is all we have, eat.”

  “No. I want tomato soup like Veronica gave me.”

  “What soup? Molly, I don’t want to hear any more of your stories about this Veronica person. She’s not real.”

  “She is so! She found me in the snow and she took me to her grandfather’s house and fed me tomato soup and she told me a story all about a magic book and she promised when I got better she would take me to my parents in Dublin and—”

  “That’s quite enough, Molly. We don’t have any tomato soup here, so you either eat what’s in front of you or go hungry.”

  Molly folded her arms across her chest. She’d rather go hungry than eat this slop. How could Becky say Molly had invented Veronica? She never believed Molly about anything.

  Becky had eaten all of the bread and gravy by the time the water came to a boil. She mixed some of the hot water with snow from outside in a bowl and then used a wet towel to give Molly a bath. Molly stood there in the center of the cottage, wishing she were back with Veronica in her grandfather’s hut. She wanted to hear more about the magic book and the golden land where Veronica’s grandfather had gone. Maybe that’s where she went, Molly thought. She went to the land of golden hills and she didn’t take me with her. Molly started to cry.

  “Did I get soap in your eye?” Becky asked as she washed Molly’s hair. Molly didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

  Molly continued to cry even as Becky dried her off and combed her tangled hair straight. “Don’t worry, sweetie, tomorrow I’ll get out the curlers to fix your hair and you can help me at the bakery. How would you like that?”

  “Fine,” Molly whispered. She didn’t care about curling her hair or going to the bakery. She would never get to see the magic land of Veronica’s story. She would never see her parents. She was a prisoner and the only person who could have broken her out had abandoned her.

  Becky carried her to bed and then tried to kiss her on the forehead, but Molly rolled over so that Becky kissed wet hair. “Everything will be better in the morning,” Becky said.

  She closed the door, leaving Molly all alone. Tomorrow wouldn’t be any better than today. She would never be free of this place. Never.

  Chapter 23: On the Town

  Samantha enjoyed riding with Joseph in his father’s automobile until she saw him check the rearview mirror for any sign of someone following them. Then the word popped into her head: fugitives. She and Joseph had become fugitives. “Isn’t your father going to be mad when he finds out you took his car?” she asked.

  “No, I do it all the time,” Joseph said. He smiled at her, causing her to blush. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Oh, all right,” Samantha said. She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t stop thinking they were on the run from something. Just like when she showed up at the Seafarer Bed and Breakfast before losing her memory. “Did we do anything wrong?”

  “No, how could you think that? Don’t you trust me?”

  “I trust you.”

  He started to pull over towards the snow-covered shoulder of the road. “Maybe we should go home right now so you can hang around with those friends of yours.”

  “No!” She didn’t want to go back to Prudence and Wendell. She didn’t want to face them after what she’d learned about herself, the kind of person she had been. She wanted to spare them from that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to get in trouble is all.”

  “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m going to take good care of you. Sit back and enjoy the ride. We’ll be there soon.” She thought about asking him where they were going, but she didn’t want to upset him any further. Wherever they went would be better than Mr. Pryde’s house or Eternity.

  They passed within sight of Seabrooke, but avoided driving through the town. Instead, Joseph took them down the highway, away from the sea. Trees gradually replaced the water and shoreline and before long Samantha leaned back in her seat, Seabrooke and her past far behind. Joseph turned on the radio to a song with an up-tempo beat that matched Samantha’s mood.

  “I like this song. What’s it called?”

  “I’m not sure. It’s from the ‘60s or something. Older than my dad even. Do you guys have music where you’re from?”

  “We sing a few hymns,” she said.

  “I don’t know how you could stand to live in a place like that. What do you do for fun?”

  “We have plenty of fun. We—” She broke off, trying to think of the last time she did anything fun. Not since she was a little girl playing tag with Prudence and some of the other girls could she remember doing anything purely fun. “There’s really not a lot of time for fun.”

  “That sucks. Don’t worry, though, we’re going to have plenty of fun now. I promise.” She didn’t say anything. Until now she hadn’t realized how these last four years had crept by without her doing anything for herself. Her entire life had become about looking after the other children to make sure they could survive. Meanwhile this dark past of hers lurked in the shadows. How long would she have lasted before it reared its ugly head and she wound up hurting those she loved? “Is something wrong? You’re crying. Do you want to go back?”

  “No. I’m sorry.” She reached across the front seat to touch the warm flesh of Joseph’s arm. The solid muscle she felt beneath his skin reassured her about the rightness of her decision. She didn’t have to worry about anything now. Joseph would keep her safe.

  The road widened and traffic thickened around them. Buildings became closer together and much larger, some with parking lots bigger than all of Eternity. On the horizon a cluster of buildings rose into the sky, touching the clouds. She pressed her face against the window in disbelief that such huge, magnificent places could exist in real life. “What is this place?” she asked Joseph.

  “This is Bangor, or at least one of the suburbs. The actual city is over that way where those big buildings are.”

  “Are we going there?”

  “Maybe later. Right now we’re going to have some good old-fashioned teenage fun,” Joseph said. He turned into a parking lot, a sprawling white complex filling the windshield. This must be bigger than the whole island, she thought.

  Joseph stopped the automobile in a parking spot at the edge of the lot and turned off the engine. “We’re here,” he said. He opened his door and then came around the front of the vehicle to open hers. He held out a hand to her. “Let’s go.”

  She took his hand and followed him through the parking lot to a
pair of tinted glass doors with the words, ‘Bangor Mall’ printed on them in white letters. A shopping mall, she thought. She stood in the doorway with Joseph for a moment, gaping at the rows of shops that seemed to go on forever.

  A group of teenage girls drifted past them, giggling about something. She thought back to the girls in the high school, a hand instinctively touching her face. “You’re beautiful,” Joseph said. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

  She lowered her hand, scraping it across her dingy jacket. Underneath, she still wore the ill-fitting clothes of Mr. Pryde’s dead wife. The taunts of the girls at the high school rang in her ears. “I shouldn’t be here,” she said. She spun around and ran out the door, back towards the parking lot.

  Joseph caught her arm, whirling her around to face him. “Samantha, get a hold of yourself. There’s nothing to be scared of. You’re more beautiful than anyone in there.”

  “But nobody in there is wearing a dead woman’s clothes.”

  “Is that the problem? We can fix that. Come on.” He tried to lead her back inside, but she refused to move. “Sam, you have to trust me. I’m going to take care of everything.”

  She looked into his eyes and relented. Nothing bad could happen with him at her side. She nodded to him and they went back into the mall. Joseph led her along a line of shops, past a candy shop Rebecca would like and a toy store with a host of flashing lights and buzzing noises that would have prompted Molly to squeal in delight. They’re gone, she told herself.

  She stopped at a window with a picture of a blonde woman dressed in pink denim pants that barely clung to her hips and a white T-shirt with a glittery butterfly covering her breasts. The woman looked off into the distance, her face painfully serious, which somehow heightened how beautiful she looked. Here was someone pretty who didn’t seem to care about it. Samantha didn’t think she could ever look like that.

  Through the window she saw more girls her own age prowling the aisles, holding up shirts and pants against their bodies and discussing each item with their friends. Samantha turned away from the window, wanting to run back to the parking lot again. She didn’t belong here amongst all these pretty girls in their expensive clothes. She should go live under a bridge.