The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves

by Richard Heredia

  On the right hand side of the wire and wooden structure was a very large hole, but not just any old run of the mill hole. The wire bent outward from the middle on that side of the cage. When she studied it, inspecting its’ strange configuration for a few minutes, she realized she wasn’t looking a hole caused by someone or something breaking into the cage. Rather, she was looking at a hole caused by something breaking out.

  Comprehension stunned her. She reacted before she thought, and frantically swiped at the light switch, turning off the lights. The backyard was plunged into soggy darkness, as she rushed through the plated glass door, slamming it behind her. Twisting a small locking mechanism with her thumb and forefinger, she ran from the door.

  With all of the strange activity lately, she couldn’t afford to ignore this. This was almost as weird as the ugly old man or the Isighünd Anthony had cried about when he’d retold his story. As she put the rabbit’s food away, she had already made up her mind, she was going to tell her siblings… they needed to plan, something, anything… this whole situation was spiraling out of control. It was moving too damn fast for even the three of them to keep up with. Their enemies were now playing mind-games. They weren’t being fair. They’d stolen Mr. Patas.

  Or, had they?

  She was nervous. Somehow the disappearance of her pet made it all worse, a seemingly insignificant event threatening to overwhelm her. She knew this, and yet, the image of his cage was burned into her mind. It was unnerving, because the more she thought about it, the more she was certain - Mr. Patas hadn’t been taken from his cage. He had blasted his way out of it.

  What happened to you Mr. Patas? Where are you? I hope you are you ok?

  ~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼ }>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

  ~ 29 ~

  Transformation

  Tuesday, November 23rd, One Minute Before…

  He never had much of a memory of anything that had occurred in his short life. Always, it had been what was in the now, in the moment. Whether it was hunger or thirst, fear or wakefulness or sleep, it had always been in the immediate. If he was hungry, there would be food. He ate. If there were no food, he would call for it by tapping against a small bell the others had put in his cage. Within a passage of time, there would be food. If he needed a drought of water, it was always available, so he partook of what the others had left for him, quenching his thirst until the urge to drink vanished altogether. Seldom had he felt fear, as protected as he was by his large cage. But, whenever he had felt it, it was always something new, something so startling it often made him vacate his bowels, which somehow seemed to calm him. He would back up against his cage and do the very best thing he could do in such a situation. He would quiver and stay still, his eyes and ears on full alert.

  Sleep had always snuck up on him, expectedly and without notice. One moment, he would be awake, smelling the thousands of scents in the air, on the ground or hearing the multitude of noises about the landscape. The next, he would be in another place. A faraway place, a place of color, smells and tastes, though those didn’t seem quite right. Images came quick, piled fast one upon the other, repeatedly, again and again, until he awoke. Once more, he would find himself in the world of the now, in the place with the others.

  All of that had changed, a few minutes ago, when he had seen the light before his eyes (or was it in his head?). He couldn’t discern which was which, but it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t important. What was important was he remembered the light. After the light had come and touched him, and defused into every cell of his body, it spread throughout his hunched form. With it, had come the pain. That was when he felt fear unlike anything he’d experienced before, so profound, so incalculably meaningful he couldn’t merely sit at the back of his cage and shake with it.

  No, he had to act, he had to do something.

  He had to leave!

  Uncertain, uncaring, of where the thought had come or why it had even popped into his brain, he lunged for the wire mesh of his cage. His teeth fit easily around the thin wire, and before he knew what he was doing, he bit down.

  Nothing…

  Then, the pain hit him again. It wracked his body, tearing through his skin, shattering his bones. His vision blurred for the first time in his life, forcing him to bite down again. It was more out of instinct more than anything else. Bite down, bear down on the pain. Fight it. Fight it! Was all that kept flashing across his mind.

  To his amazement, he felt the wire bend beneath the onslaught of his jaws, as tiny tears welled and dropped from his eyes, dancing along the waterproof hairs of his coat before they fell onto the metal tray below.

  Once more, he strained under the incredible yoke of the agony in his body, realizing, at the same time, his cage suddenly looked different, as if he were looking at it from a slightly altered perspective. All the while, he was gazing about from the periphery of his vision. His teeth were still locked upon the wire.

  He understood!

  He was holding the wire from an alternate angle than before, slightly downward, whereas before he’d been biting onto it with an upward tilt of his head.

  Had he grown?

  Again, the pain, another white light popped inside his skull, blinding him. Heat spread from his very center to the very edges of his limbs. Within his jaws, the wire mesh of his cage finally gave way and he yanked as hard as he could, ripping off a square and a half of the stuff from the rest of it.

  He had to get out!

  He bit onto another section of the wire cage just to the side of the first place he’d chewed through. This time, his jaws sliced through it like butter, his stubby snout bulging with muscles he hadn’t possessed moments before. He pulled again and even more of the wire parted from the cage. He quickly tossed his head to one side a let the mangled wires fall from his mouth. He immediately bit onto another spot, then another, repeating the process until the hole was big enough to fit his head through. This was amazing, since he was certain it had already grown to twice the size it had been throughout his adult years.

  Yet, the anguish never stopped. His muscles, his tendons, his cartilage, and his bones burned like molten lead, and at times, it appeared to him as though he was melting right before his own eyes. Seeing himself turned to mush, frightened him more than anything. Only he would reform a while later, solidify, and strengthen. He would be different, bigger, stronger… smarter.

  Only, the pain wasn’t finished, moments later, it would begin again.

  He had to get out!

  He pushed his head through the hole in the wire of the cage, the sharp edges where his teeth had sliced through the metal poking into his skin, puncturing him, adding to the pain he already experienced. Normally, he would have backed away from it, shied, huddled, but for some reason his mind was set. He was determined. He pushed even harder, feeling the wire bend under the pressure he was exerting. His hind legs and feet dug into the metal he was standing on, his nails gouging through its’ painted surfaces. It broke when he applied even more force, as more torment befell him. He couldn’t ignore it. He was unable to force it aside. He had to run from it, at all costs.

  He had to get out!

  He was vaguely aware there was new mass somehow injected into his body. Under the unbearable agony, he felt himself gain weight and double in might. The wire holding him back began to bow, then bend outward, evermore. It stretched, lengthened, the small welds keeping its’ structure together were failing.

  More pain, more melting, more growth, and then…

  He was out, somehow able to run – upright!

  Instead of hopping, as he should have been doing, he was running, clumsily, upon huge, elongated feet, gripping the wet ground with incredible power, catapulting him forward at a blinding pace. Ahead of him, stood the wall marking the edge of the property of the others, something should’ve loomed over him even from afar. It had always seemed intimidating, daunting, in the past. This night, though, it wasn’t. For reasons unknown to him, it no longer appeared as tall as it onc
e had.

  All about fell the rain, a steady downpour would’ve soaked through to his skin, if his hair hadn’t been waterproof. It sloughed off, making a ringlet of pebbles around his giant feet.

  He strode toward the wall, closer and closer, with more and more alacrity, as he came toward it, his great paws possessed greater agility with each passing step.

  Before the thought had time to develop, he did the impossible - he leapt over it. Within a fraction of second, he was gone, away from the only environment he had ever known, trying to outrun the pain, trying to understand why this was happening, trying to comprehend how he was able to comprehend!

  He was out!

  He ran down the adjoining properties and leapt over the short rod iron fence at the front of the yard. Then, he was in the street, running downhill as fast as he legs could carry him – faster than a dog, faster than a cat, twice as silent as either of their kind.

  Wild…

  …Free…

  …Though the pain was still eating his very soul. Now that it seemed he finally had one.

  ~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼ }>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

  ~ 30 ~

  A Gift

  Wednesday, November 24th – The Day Before Thanksgiving - 7:27 am…

  Elena had been up for a while now, washing up, getting dressed, the normal rituals of the day. She began gathering her things for school – her lunch (knowing her school cafeteria would serve nasty, dried up turkey and gravy the last day of the Thanksgiving week – unfortunately today. She knew it was to commemorate the holiday, but the fare typically tasted like dooky to her). She made sure had her pens and pencil, and lastly, her homework, which she placed in the correct folder in her backpack. It was really more of an extra credit assignment. It hadn’t been mandatory she complete it, but she and Mikalah had both done it anyway. They had both needed a distraction of some kind to get their minds off everything else going on.

  She was deathly worried for Mr. Patas. He was out in the cold, all by himself, so tiny and defenseless. He was up against the weather, stray dogs and cars, whizzing by on the roads. No one paid attention to something as small and insignificant as a rabbit. He could get lost or worse – eaten or crushed. Just the thought alone nearly brought her to tears.

  With their minds going a mile-a-minute, her and her sister had decided to do the extra credit project. It had helped them get through the remainder of the evening until their digital clock had displayed their bedtime. Half an hour later, they both had drifted off into a restless and troubled slumber.

  A few minutes ago, she had emptied her backpack of nearly half of the books she normally would’ve carried, because today was going to be an easy one in academic terms. Her class was going to watch a movie after nutrition and then have a party after lunch, so only the first two hours of day were going to be devoted to any type of schoolwork. She knew it was destined to be an easy day. She was looking forward it, especially after the difficult week she’d endured. A nice simple day of fun and play with her friends was what she needed.

  She gave her room a quick once over, double-checking to see if she’d missed anything. She was about to leave when she remembered she hadn’t retrieved her “big” winter coat from her closet.

  Last night, her mother had told them all the forecast for today called for cold, real cold. It would most likely be one of the coldest days of the past decade. She had said they would need their heaviest coats to ward a chill like that and still manage to keep the sniffles at bay.

  Elena chanced a glance outside and was amazed to see what was falling from the sky. She couldn’t help it. She’d gazed upon it a hundred times since she’d crawled out of bed.

  It had stopped raining sometime overnight. Nevertheless, that didn’t mean the precipitation had stopped altogether. It had merely changed form. With the dim dawn it had become gooey, wet snow, angling down from the clouds, blanketing the city ever since. She could hardly believe her eyes. Snow in Los Angeles! It wasn’t even winter yet!

  Grinning like a fool, she made her way back to her closet, opened a sticker-laden door, and peered within. Of course, it was jammed with toys, tons and tons of books as well as her stash of Barbie dolls and all of their accompanying clothing and jewelry and whatever else she had crammed in with them over the years. Since she shared the closet with Mikalah, they each had exactly half of the space to use as their own. Elena being Elena, had organized her clothes accordingly from right to left. Directly in front of her were her school clothes that needed hanging versus the ones folded in her dresser. They were followed by her fancier blouses and shirts, which were, in turn, followed by her dresses, each one covered in plastic. Finally her jackets and coats from thinnest to thickest came last. That said, her heaviest coat, the one she needed for today, was at the very end of the closet, completely buried.

  She stepped up on her tiptoes, and after a bit of tugging and pulling, she spotted the collar of the coat, but couldn’t reach it. From the way things were jammed into the space before her, she figured she had to go from the bottom and worm her way toward it from underneath. Then, she would have to yank at it from below until it literally fell off the hangar. From there, she hoped she could pull it the rest of the way out.

  She ducked down below the lower edges of her clothes and wiggled her way into the closet, and was plunged into almost complete darkness. She couldn’t even discern the color of her clothes in the blackness before her.

  She was about to back her way out of the closet when she heard the noise of someone in the hallway, right outside the room she shared with Mikalah.

  “Hey!” she called. “Can you bring me some light?”

  She waited for a second or two, her butt still sticking out of the closet, her head buried under the whole lot of clothes. From behind, she heard a faint rustling as a dim, yellowish-white light came on and then dimmed, struggled and came back on. It flickered like a flashlight whose battery-charge was too low to keep a steady beam.

  “Thanks, whoever that is,” she offered gratefully. “Even though you got the old flashlight, I think it is just enough, so I can see which one is the jacket I need.” She pushed herself deeper into the closet. “Yeah! There it is! I can just about reach it. Could you just move the light a bit lower?”

  The unsteady beam changed position.

  “Perfect, thanks!” she said. She was finally able to grab a hold of the furry trim of the bottom of her coat, and gave four quick yanks before hearing a brittle crack! As the hangar holding up the jacket broke and she pulled the garment free.

  “Yes!” she cheered and came out of the closet on her knees. She was pulling the jacket behind her and turned to gaze upon her savior.

  Instead, she came face-to-face with a lemon colored sphere of light that blinked and bobbed right before her eyes – an impossible ball of light, a small illuminant sphere that shouldn’t have existed, but did somehow.

  She squealed in surprise, sucking in her words of thanks. There wasn’t anyone there to thank.

  Before her, the sphere of light popped like a soap bubble without sound and was no more.

  A faint tingling along her temples reminded her she was awake and not dreaming.

  ~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼ }>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

  ~ 31 ~

  Taken

  Wednesday, November 24th - The Day Before Thanksgiving -

  6:25 pm…

  The day had come and gone. For all three of them, it had gone faster than they’d expected, which was a good thing. Today, their grandmother had picked them up from school. Not their father as was the norm. This was a special day, wherein their usual routine was altered. It was a day that came only once a year - The Day they all helped their grandmother prepare and cook for the Thanksgiving holiday and feast to come.

  It was a day unlike all the others. It was a day without homework. It was a day all three of them looked forward to and enjoyed. It was the only time, they’d actually prepare grand meal for their parents with the direction and help of their grandmother.<
br />
  It was a sweet twist of family responsibility, this evening before Thanksgiving. Over the years, they’d become thoroughly enthusiastic over it, because the rewards were priceless. They got to see the looks on the faces of their parents as dish after dish was brought from the kitchen – homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans with French onions dipping in clam chowder and cheese piled high. They’d bring out macaroni and cheddar, mashed potatoes, fresh dinner rolls and loaves of bread, yams and tossed, green salad. Each item would illicit compliments and high praise from their parents, excited over the fruits of their own children’s labor in celebration of their family. There was nothing more fun for the three of them than watching the many faces about the tables light up, together, when they brought out the Turkey and the Gravy made from its’ drippings. The “Ooo’s” and “Aww’s” were well worth the hard work, worth the late night preparations.

  Of course, for Raymond and Myelly Herrera, it was a gift - a special gesture from their children. It was a telling of thanks for all of the care and love they had lavished upon their children throughout the year. Ray and Myelly were very grateful to the children’s grandmother, who had turned this event into a family tradition of sorts. Over the years, it had grown into The Event that officially kicked off the Holiday season.

  Therefore, immediately after school, the three siblings and their grandmother had gone to the local Vons supermarket near the intersection Figueroa Street and La Loma Road. They bought the last minute items their grandmother needed to complete the feast they would begin to prepare that night for service the following afternoon. After, they’d arrived at their grandmother’s house, put their school stuff aside and washed their hands. Ready then, they had spread out all of the things they would need to commence the preparation of what Anthony had coined many years ago as “The Best Meal of the Year”.