Deadly Passion, an Epiphany

by Gabriella Bradley

  “What is this place? Where am I now?” he said softly while gazing wonderingly at the spectacle outside the window wall. “Where are the other people I just met? The beach? The lake?”

  Italian arrivals, a confession and Jonas disappears…

  Harry woke as soon as the bright sun came up. He sat up, rubbed his eyes and gazed at the lake. “So it wasn’t a dream,” he said aloud. Around him, people stirred. Several ran to the water to swim. He saw Jonas standing in the water hauling in a net filled with fish. Harry stood and ran to join him. “Can I help?”

  “Sure. Grab the other side. I did my daily headcount this morning before sunrise and about twelve more people have disappeared. Dennis arrived with you and Beth, but he’s already gone again.”

  “Really?” Harry frowned. “Well, at least I won’t have to be near him. I found it very hard to be in his presence.”

  “I’m not a father, but I can understand it. Though the man seemed genuinely sorry for what he did.”

  “Like I’m sorry for what I did to those men, but that doesn’t take away how wrong it was. What gets me is the trial. He kept talking about that and I don’t know a thing about any trial, or even that the man was still alive. I guess he must have been and dug himself out of the hole I put him in.”

  “But wouldn’t you have known about it? You said you come from a small town.”

  “Yes, that’s what I don’t get. Maybe he stumbled to the highway, got picked up by someone and they drove him to the city hospital.”

  “It’s possible I guess. But how would they know in the city that he’d raped a girl and have him stand trial? And wouldn’t they have investigated a shooting? And didn’t you say the three men were still listed as missing? No, none of it makes sense. Let’s take these fish to the beach so that people can cook their breakfast. We’ll talk more later.”

  Most people were eating when Harry spotted a group at the far end of the beach walking toward them. “Jonas, look, more people. Where did they come from?”

  Jonas stood up and shading his eyes gazed at the straggly group of men and women. “I’ll be damned if I know. We’ll find out soon enough I guess.” He started walking toward them.

  Harry followed along with Cassie and a few others. The group, counting about thirty, looked dirty, bedraggled, and confused. Jonas spoke to them. “Hi, I’m Jonas. Who are you? Where did you come from?”

  A man stepped forward and spoke fast in a foreign language. It sounded like Italian.

  “Does anyone here speak Italian?” Jonas shouted, turning toward the still eating people.

  “I do,” a young man said. He jumped up and ran to the group. “My parents are from Italy. I’m quite fluent.” He spoke to the man then turned to Jonas.

  “Apparently they were on a bus tour to Russia. That’s the last they remember, being on the bus.”

  “Ask them if they saw anything unusual,” Jonas said.

  They waited and listened while a lot of the newcomers started to talk.

  “I speak English,” a man shouted. “My name is Guiseppe. We were all sleeping. It was middle of night.”

  “Is the driver here?” Harry asked.

  “No. Not all people here. Where this place? How we get here?”

  Jonas looked at the Italian-speaking young man. “Anthony, isn’t it? You’ll have to translate. Let’s get all these people situated first.”

  Once they had the group sitting on the beach, the women served them fruit and water. Jonas sat with them and spoke slowly in understandable English with the man translating. Harry listened to the rapid conversation that ensued when Jonas stopped talking, watched their hand gestures, and fully understood and sympathized with their agitation. He noticed one man desperately punching at his mobile phone, then throwing it to the sand. The man looked angry and spoke in Italian to his neighbor, so Harry presumed he was complaining there was no signal. Quite a few of them had bloodstains on their clothing, yet none seemed to be visibly hurt.

  “Well, Jonas, yet another mysterious occurrence. A bus full of people all sleeping suddenly appearing here. How? No one seems to know anything.”

  Jonas nodded. “I fully believe now they were abducted, like all of us. But just like our group, they said there are people missing.”

  “But something happened to that bus before they were taken off it. Look at their blood stained clothing,” Harry said.

  “True. An accident? None of them look hurt.”

  “No. But look at Vera. She claimed she had third degree burns all over her body, yet there isn’t a mark on her. Only her hair is missing.”

  “Communication with these people isn’t going to be easy,” Harry said, rubbing his chin.

  “No. We’ll need to exercise patience. Let them settle a bit first, calm down and then we’ll try and have a conversation with them.”

  Harry glanced at the group. Anthony was busy conversing in Italian with a number of them and Guiseppe, the English speaking man, was questioning several people.

  “Anthony, ask them what year it was?” Jonas asked.

  Anthony asked the question and Jonas noticed the puzzled expression on the man’s face as he answered. Anthony looked shocked.

  “We’ve been here over thirty years, Jonas,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t seem that long. Ask again. Maybe you misunderstood.”

  Anthony repeated the question, the Italian man now becoming annoyed. “Same answer, Jonas.”

  “None of us have aged, so I find it unbelievable. Maybe the man’s suffering from shock, confused. I need to go and get some water. Come with me, Harry?”

  They walked slowly to the stream.

  “I’m dumbfounded,” Harry said as they headed for the stream.

  “I don’t believe it. I’d be almost sixty.”

  “And I’d be going on eighty. It’s crazy.”

  “Harry, have you thought any more about Dennis? The man did nothing but talk about how remorseful he felt,” Jonas said.

  “Yes, I have. I still can’t come to terms with it. Forgive him for what he did? I don’t know, Jonas. I know Jesus forgave the man on the cross, but I’m not Jesus.”

  “We are all God’s children.”

  “True. Maybe in time. I don’t know.”

  “I did something I deeply regret. I haven’t spoken about it to anyone, even Cassie, but I wish I could undo everything,” Jonas confided.

  “You’re in love with Cassie, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. We were together for about six months, but she broke up with me. I think it’s because I’m black. She now admits she’s never stopped loving me.”

  “Maybe you should tell her what troubles you about your past.”

  “I’d like to, but I don’t know if she’d understand when I don’t even know how I could have been so callous. I got a girl pregnant two years before I met Cassie and didn’t want to be tied down. I didn’t love the woman. I offered her money for an abortion and that was the last time I saw her. I don’t know if she had the child or not. I could be a father of a four year old without knowing it. To top it all, I’ve neglected my parents, my siblings, and no way to make up for it anymore now.”

  “It sounds like you’re truly sorry for it all. Maybe you should tell Cassie.” Harry glanced at Jonas’ thoughtful face. “You don’t seem like that kind of man, Jonas.”

  “I was different. I’ve changed, grown up. I’ve thought about it all so much, especially now that we’re stranded on this planet. I wish I could tell my family that I do love them, that I’m sorry, and I wish I could find Sarah to tell her how sorry I am for the way I treated her and if she had the baby, be a father to that child.”

  They’d arrived at the stream. Harry bent to scoop water into his shell, when suddenly everything around them lit up. It was as if the moon’s beams concentrated solely on the spot they were standing. He glanced at Jonas who was looking up at the moon. Suddenly, Jonas began to fade, became almost transpa
rent, and in seconds, was gone.

  Harry called out, “Jonas! Jonas!” but the light faded and Jonas was no longer there. “I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “Another epiphany and he’s gone. What am I going to tell Cassie?”

  He drank some water from his shell, then filled it again before going back to the group, his mind troubled. He found Cassie sitting alone near her campfire.

  “Cassie?”

  “Hi, Harry. What’s up? Where’s Jonas? I thought I saw the two of you walking down the beach.”

  “Yes. We went to fetch some water. Honey, Jonas disappeared.” He watched Cassie’s face pale.

  “No! Not Jonas! Harry, are you sure? What exactly happened?”

  Harry described what he’d seen the best he could. How did one describe such a phenomena? “Cassie, he faded, was almost transparent before he disappeared completely.”

  She jumped up, raised her fists and stomped on the sand. “Fucking assholes! How dare you play with us like we’re puppets?” she shouted.

  The rest of the group became quiet and stared at the frustrated young woman.

  “Cassie, calm down. You’re scaring everyone,” Harry said and tried to get her to sit down. She pummeled him with her fists until her tears broke loose.

  “I love him, I truly do. I never should have broken up with him in the first place,” she sobbed, now relaxing against his shoulder.

  Harry patted her on the back. “There, there. Let it all out. Let’s hope he’s with Georgia and the others that have disappeared.”

  “If I’d told him that I was pregnant when we were together…I…I…” she wailed.

  “You had a baby?” Harry thought about what Jonas had just told him, but that woman couldn’t have been Cassie because the woman had told him about the baby, so Cassie must have had hers.

  “No. I had an abortion. I was ashamed of dating a black man and scared stiff to have his child. I never told him a thing. He doesn’t know. He’d hate me if he knew.”

  “Honey, we all have our demons. Jonas had his. It’s not for me to tell you what, but just before the light and his disappearance, he had an epiphany, just like some of the others. See the pattern here?”

  Cassie pulled away from him and angrily dried her tears. “Really? You can’t tell me what he told you?”

  “No. I wish I could, but it wouldn’t be right.” Harry felt awful for the young woman. She started to cry again, softly this time.

  “I feel so alone now. Georgia is gone and now Jonas. What are these aliens doing to us?”

  “Honey, I don’t know. I have no answers. None of us do.”

  “I’d like to be alone for a while. Thanks, Harry, for being there for me.”

  “Are you sure, Cassie? Someone should be with you. Would you like me to get one of the women?”

  “No. I need to be alone. Thanks again.”

  Harry left her, but instead of going back to his own little campsite, he sat a little ways away from Cassie to keep an eye on her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The little girl…

  Cassie stood and walked to the water’s edge. Her throat ached and she felt like screaming. She’d finally given in to her love for Jonas, and now he was gone. Her heart felt like it was tearing to shreds. She wanted to scream, to shout out her wrath to the alien beings that were playing havoc with all their lives, but how? There was nothing to scream at except empty sky. Yet it seemed like the aliens could hear them, could read their minds, and snatch them away at will.

  She walked along the water’s edge toward the stream. That’s where it had happened, where they’d snatched him away from her. She knew she shouldn’t be going there alone. It was against the rules Jonas had set down for them all. Damn, he was their leader, the person everyone looked up to. Now who was going to take his place? She sat on a rock near the stream and watched the water bubble into the lake. Tears started again, ran unheeding down her cheeks. It didn’t matter. No one could see her here. “Jonas, where did they take you?” she whispered. Her words carried on the breeze, down the stream and into the lake. No one could answer her, she knew. “I love you so. I’m so sorry I broke up with you when I should have told you the truth. Bloody hell, I should have told you now why I broke up with you, and I didn’t. Why? I was scared out of my mind you’d ditch me now. I did an awful thing, Jonas. If you knew, you’d hate me.”

  “Mommy,” a little voice near her said.

  Cassie startled and looked beside her. It was the little girl she’d seen at the edge of the jungle several times. As pretty as a doll with curly brown hair, golden skin and brown eyes, she resembled a little elf. Wearing a pretty yellow dress, the doll dangling from her little hand, she was as cute as a button. “Wha—wha—what?”

  “Mommy…”

  “Oh my God. You’re what my baby could have been, maybe would have been. Are these aliens capable of showing me that?” The toddler pointed a chubby finger at Cassie.

  “Mommy…”

  “Stop fucking playing with my mind, motherfuckers!” Cassie shouted, balling her fist at the sky. “I’m sorry I ever killed my unborn child. Don’t you know that, if you can read my mind? I’m even sorrier I never told her father! But stop playing with us all! I’ve seen her. That’s enough! Do you hear me?”

  Cassie felt two little arms wrap around her neck, a warm little body snuggle up to her. The little girl felt real, blood and flesh, as she in turn hugged her. “Oh, baby, if you’re really mine, what’s your name?” Does she even have a name? Maybe she can’t talk properly yet. How would she even know that I’m her mother?

  “Mommy…”

  Cassie felt her face slobbered with wet kisses, a soft baby cheek against her own. Her heart flowed over with love for the toddler and she hugged her even tighter while the tears still ran down her cheeks. A little hand wiped them away, a smiling little face close to her own, a smile that could melt anyone’s heart, and sweet velvet brown eyes that gazed at her filled with love. “Angelina,” Cassie said softly. The name she’d always vowed she’d give to her firstborn daughter if ever she had one.

  Merry laughter bubbled from the toddler’s lips at the sound of the name. The little one let go of Cassie and stood in front of her, grinning widely. “Angelina?” Cassie asked. In reply, the little one jumped back on her lap and cuddled up to her again.

  “Cassie? Are you okay?”

  A male voice interrupted the interlude. Cassie almost resented the intrusion but knew Harry was worried. She was about to respond when a bright light bathed her and the child in its glow. Cassie held on to the toddler tight and looked up wonderingly. Peace filled her heart and she closed her eyes as Harry’s voice slowly faded.

  Harry prays…

  Harry stopped in his tracks when he saw the brilliant light surround the young woman. Cassie acted strangely. It was almost as if she was holding onto something as she disappeared slowly, just like Jonas had done. He shook his head. This was just too much in one evening. He felt tired and useless as he walked back to his campfire. Many of the newcomers were still talking avidly. He tried to drown out the droning of the voices, but it was hard. Georgia was constantly on his mind.

  He lay on the warm sand, his hands under his head and looked up at the starless sky. Where are you, my sweet wife? Did you go the same way as Cassie? Will she end up wherever you are now?

  He lay awake for a long time. Everyone else had settled down for the night, but he couldn’t find peace. His mind was in turmoil. His heart ached so much, it felt like it would jump out of his chest. He seldom prayed anymore, his faith having taken a beating a long time ago. Now he found his way and called out to God. “God, if you can hear me, You must have created these aliens like You created us. What is the purpose of all this? I’ve never asked Your forgiveness for the murders I committed, but God, I truly do regret what I did. I’m asking Your forgiveness now, Heavenly Father. Please reunite me with my family?” he whispered softly.

  Would God even hear him from this godforsaken planet
? He snickered sarcastically. Suddenly he heard a soft voice, so soft he had to perk his ears to hear the words.

  “Can you forgive what they did? Can you forgive yourself?”

  Startled, Harry sat up and looked around. Everyone seemed asleep, huddled under their leaf blankets. “I’m losing it. I’m hearing voices,” he mumbled and lay down again. Closing his eyes, he turned on his side and pulled a leaf over his body. “Cassie, I hope you’re okay,” he mumbled before sleep finally overtook him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Reuniting in an alien building…

  Cassie felt as if she were a snowflake. Her mind was almost blank as she drifted on what felt like a soft cloud, then twirled slowly downward until her body touched something soft. The little girl she’d held was gone. She looked at her new surroundings, at the white, sterile room, the huge glass windows taking up a whole wall.

  Feeling beneath her, she felt a very soft mattress. Confused, she sat up. One minute she’d been sitting beside the stream hugging a toddler, and now she was here, wherever that was.

  After scrambling out of the bed she realized she now wore a very soft dress. Wonderingly, she ran her hands over the fabric and gazed down at it. It was a very light blue, the material resembling chiffon that hung in graceful folds to the floor. A darker blue ribbon was tied just under her breasts. She noticed a metal clip on the right shoulder with a number on it. It could have been a lovely negligee on Earth. But this wasn’t Earth. And how had the dress miraculously appeared on her body? Did it somehow magically slip on while she drifted like a feather through space? Her feet were bare. Exasperated, she bit her lip and walked to the window wall to gaze at a sea of lights. Towering over all the buildings was a very tall building, its top a rotating globe resembling the shape of an onion. Bright light emanated from it and she noticed it changing color several times sending out pastel beams of light.